Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 174 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 154-160). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Rick L. Bunch; submitted to the Dept. of Geography. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed May 17, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-68).

Topic of the thesis is Consumer Engagement. Goals of thesis were exploration innovation of Consumer Engagement in international market and reparation of concept for applications in the Czech market. The first part was theoretical. It was implemented exploratory research in the second part. All information about Consumer Engagement was used for two concepts. One concept is for real company Triola a. s.. The second concept is for fictitious pizzeria Lazio.

Cui, Xizhen. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-46). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; some questionnaires in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (ENGLISH) --- p.i / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iv / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research Overview --- p.5 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Attitude Polarization and Dissatisfaction Aggravation --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Attitude Polarization --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Explanations of Attitude Polarization --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Attitude Polarization and Consumer Dissatisfaction --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Downward Comparison and Dissatisfaction Alleviation --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Downward Comparison --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Downward Comparison and Dissatisfaction Alleviation --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Content of Negative WOM and Research Hypotheses --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- The Evaluative Focus of Attitude Polarization Research --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- The Experiential Focus of Downward Comparison Research --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Hypotheses --- p.14 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- EXPERIMENTS --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1 --- Experiment 1 --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Participants and Design --- p.16 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Procedure --- p.17 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Manipulations --- p.18 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Dependent Variable --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- Results --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.6 --- Post Hoc Analysis --- p.21 / Chapter 3.1.7 --- Discussion --- p.22 / Chapter 3.2 --- Experiment 2 --- p.23 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Overview --- p.23 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Participants and Design --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Procedure --- p.25 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Results --- p.25 / Chapter 3.2.5 --- Discussion --- p.29 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- GENERAL DISCUSSION --- p.30 / Chapter 4.1 --- Theoretical Contribution --- p.30 / Chapter 4.2 --- Managerial Implications --- p.32 / Chapter 4.3 --- Limitations and Future Research --- p.33 / REFERENCES --- p.35 / APPENDIX / Chapter I --- Questionnaire for Experiment 1 --- p.47 / Chapter II --- Questionnaire for Experiment 2 --- p.52 / Chapter III --- Samples of Thoughts for Experiment 2 --- p.59 / LIST OF TABLES / CHAPTER THREE / EXPERIMENT 1 / Table 1: Study 1 AD Means Across Two Groups --- p.20 / Table 2: Study 1 AD Gender Difference in Alleviation Condition --- p.21 / EXPERIMENT 2 / Table 3: Study 2 Hypothesized Predictions Across Four Groups --- p.24 / Table 4: Study 2 AD Means Across Two Groups --- p.26 / Table 5: Study 2 AD Means Across Four Groups --- p.27

The history of consumerism shows that consumer movements in developed countries with capitalist economies in general, and in the United States in particular, have had great success in helping customers get safer products (car seat belts), more information (product labels), and better market regulation (the Consumer Product Safety Act). Consumer interests in developed countries are represented by several sets of organizations with different concerns. These consumer interests are fragmented but well articulated, whereas in developing countries, consumer interests are homogeneous and unarticulated. Moreover, compared with the hyper-connected world we live in today, in the past greater efforts were required to mobilize consumers for consumerism actions such as protests, boycotts, calls for policy change, and demands for more government regulations. The purpose of this study is to develop a testable model of consumerism, with a focus on market settings within a developed country, the United States, and a developing country, Saudi Arabia. The goals are to (a) understand why some consumers go beyond the norm to engage in consumerism behaviors, and (b) whether their level of consumerism differs between that of a developed and a developing country, and if so, why. To this end, a consumerism model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was developed. The research provides the first set of data and the first quantitative analysis regarding consumerism behaviors in conjunction with the use of an online platform (Twitter) among Saudi Arabian and American consumers. The developed model explained consumerism behaviors. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that the Saudi sample had a higher level of intent to engage in consumerism behaviors than did the American sample. Also, this study shows that the Saudi sample had a negative perception of government regulatory practices and a higher level of intent to engage in consumerism behaviors on Twitter than the American sample. Thus, in Saudi Arabia, a country with a restricted civil society and only one semi-independent consumer protection organization, more consumers use Twitter as a consumerism platform than in the US, a country with an unrestricted civil society and numerous independent consumer organizations.

Background: Since the dawn of internet shopping there has always been consumers who show resistance. Researchers have identified several relevant barriers which inhibit these consumers from shopping online. Now that e-commerce has developed to the point that it could be regarded as mainstream, the resistance that remains is most evident in certain industries, such as the e-grocery industry.        Purpose: To identify which general e-commerce barriers are also applicable to the industry of e-groceries, and to understand the resistance shown towards the sector. Also, to evaluate how countermeasures could impact these barriers.                    Method: A qualitative and abductive approach was used in the study to analyze which barriers are relevant and which are irrelevant. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants located in the south of Sweden who have distinct opinions about e‑groceries and show resistance to embracing their services.         Conclusion: Six of the original ten e-commerce barriers were deemed irrelevant to e-groceries. The other four were relevant and impacted the embrace of e-grocery services for potential customers. Two new barriers specifically linked to e-groceries were discovered. Countermeasures have to a certain degree influenced how customers have managed to overcome certain barriers.

Essa pesquisa tem como tema o comportamento socialmente indesejável do consumidor. Tal comportamento pode impactar significativamente no resultado das organizações, uma vez que esse tipo de consumidor pode trazer prejuízos tanto financeiros, quanto à marca ou até mesmo a outros consumidores. A finalidade da pesquisa é desenvolver uma escala que seja capaz de discernir, indiretamente, o consumidor que possui tendências de agir de forma socialmente inadequada daquele que não possui tal tendência. Para tanto lançou-se mão de uma metodologia híbrida de desenvolvimento de escalas, a proposta por Churchill (1979) e a metodologia C-OAR-SE. A coleta de dados foi feita através do MTurk®, que coleta respondentes de várias regiões do mundo pela Internet. As técnicas estatísticas utilizadas na pesquisa foram as análises de agrupamento e discriminante. Os resultados mostraram evidências de que é possível discriminar os consumidores através de uma função discriminante. Contudo, ao contrário do que se esperava teoricamente, os indivíduos com maior índice de insatisfação não foram aqueles que apresentaram maior tendência de agirem de forma socialmente inadequada. As demais hipóteses (influência dos aspectos de personalidade e de terceiros) foram aceitas pela pesquisa. Ao final chegou-se a uma sugestão de escala para separar os dois tipos de consumidores - podendo essa ser utilizada para novas pesquisas acadêmicas, ou para acompanhamento em programas de relacionamento com o consumidor dentro das organizações. Uma das principais limitações desse estudo é a impossibilidade de generalização dos achados, dada a metodologia utilizada. / This research has the theme the Dysfunctional Consumer Behavior. This behavior can negatively influence in organizations proffits, since this kind of consumer can imply financial prejudices, or negatively impact in brand equity, or cause harm to others consumers. This research aims develop a scale to discern, indirectly, the consumer that tend to act in a dysfunctional manner than the other ones. For this propose, the methodology used to reach this objective was an hybrid one, mixing Churchill\'s (1979) with C-OAR-SE methodologies. The data was collected through MTurk®, how collect respondents in different places in world through the Internet. The statistical methods used to the scale development were cluster and discriminant analysis. The results showed evidences that is possible differ consumer through a discriminant function. Nevertheless, on the contrary of what was theoretically expected, the individuals most dissatisfied weren\'t the ones that presented dysfunctional consumer behavior. The other hypothesis (interpersonal influence and personality aspects) has been accepted. At the end, the research produced a scale that can be used to differ the consumers - and this scale can be used for both academicals and managerial propose. One of the limitations of this research is the generalization impossibility, because the methodology didn\'t select the individuals in a statistical random way.

The study of consumer behaviour is a dynamic and longstanding challenge to continuously understand the factors which influence consumers’ buying behaviour. Though internal (for example attitude, motivation and learning) and external factors (marketing stimuli) are equally important, the focus of this study is on external influences and market trends. Consumer markets around the world have recently seen the increase of ethical products. Those products that are differentiated by their moral or sustainable values and attributes, for example environmentally friendly products or body lotions not tested on animals. The provision of these products is a result of organisations’ realisation that in order to increase their customer base, their values must be centred on doing good for the community as well as the environment and should be visible to consumers. For a number of organisations this means marketing the ethical values and attributes of the products they provide so that consumers will ultimately choose their products. However, in order to understand consumers’ willingness to pay for these products, marketers need to understand the price perceptions consumers have towards these products. The purpose of this study relates to this and aims to determine the influence that the marketing of ethically framed personal care products, as an external influence, has on consumers’ willingness to pay for these products. More specifically, this study aims to determine whether South African females are willing to pay more for ethically framed personal care products than for ordinary personal care products. This will be done by specifically assessing their reference, fair and reservation price perceptions. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Marketing Management / unrestricted

This research explores the online purchase decision-making behaviour of consumers by introducing a comprehensive approach that covers two different viewpoints: a) individual-level behaviour and b) market-level behaviour. Individual-level behaviour enhances our understanding of how purchase decision-making processes unfold and whether they differ for different individuals. Drawing from decision analysis and consumer behaviour literature, four segments of online consumers are introduced based on two individual factors: decision making style and knowledge of the product. Archetypal behaviour of each segment is identified addressing variations in the process and process outcome for different groups. In addition, market-level behaviour investigates the actual behaviour of consumers in relation with different retailers in the market; it is based on the aggregated behaviour of 60,000 individuals. Not only behaviour in a particular website but also cross-visiting behaviour of consumers comparing multiple retailers is examined. For this purpose, a multi-level mixed-method approach is designed. Video recording sessions, think-aloud method, interviews and questionnaires are used to capture the dynamic decision-making process, segment consumers and measure the outcome of the process at individual level. Business process modeling approach and an adaptation of path configuration method are selected for modelling the process. Data from an Internet panel data provider, comScore, is analyzed to explore the market-behaviour of consumers visiting multiple retailers. A set of measurement frameworks, that have been developed to fully exploit the research potential of Internet panel data, are designed for this research. Two sectors of banking and mobile network providers are selected; this research methodology enables a much more detailed evaluation of online behaviour and can be applied in other consumer markets.A conceptual model of online purchase decision making is proposed synthesizing theory from three disciplines: consumer behaviour, decision analysis and Information Systems. This model is able to explain the complexities and dynamic nature of real-life decision-making processes. The results of individual-level analysis show that the synthesized model has an enhanced descriptive power. Purchase decision-making processes in the two sectors appear to be highly complex with a large number of iterations, being more unstructured in banking sector. The process is found to be influenced by the both individual characteristics and each segment exhibits a certain typology of behaviour. Behaviour in terms of the way stages are performed is identical across the two sectors; whereas it differs in relation to intensity of decision-making cycles, duration of the process and the process outcome, being a function of product/ market characteristics.The findings of market-level analysis revealed that banking websites are preliminary visited for using online banking services; despite the high portion of visitors, the intensity of research in these websites is low. On the contrary, mobile network providers attract a higher portion of consumers with purchase intentions and enjoy more intensive research. Consumers have a small consideration set in both sectors; and consider certain banks/providers rather than using the accessibility of all alterative on the Internet. It is evident that comparison sites play an important role in both markets affecting the behaviour of online consumers. Finally, the research stresses the use of the Internet as a complementary channel offering specific benefits in each sector.

The thesis covers the field of the contract law known as the consumer credit law. It deals with the legal protection afforded to the consumer under current South African law with emphasis on the legal position in specific credit agreements contained in standard-form contracts. The thesis focuses on those credit contracts in which the legal relationship between the consumer and the dominant party is contained in the standard-form contracts, specifically credit agreements relating to money lending transactions in which the credit grantor’s rights are secured either by means of mortgage agreement, a suretyship contract, or a deed of cession. In South Africa the right to equality and human dignity, as opposed to the classical theories of contract: pacta sunt servanda and the principle of freedom of contract, are supported by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 which entrenched democratic values permeating all areas of the law including contract law. In this thesis the harmonisation of these classical theories of contract law and the constitutional values of human dignity and equality have been considered. As has been shown in a number of cases, notably those relating to the contracts of suretyship, cession in securitatem debiti, and mortgage, the current law regulating the relationship between the credit grantors and the credit receivers is in need of law reform to fall in line with the constitutional values of equality and human dignity. The greatest difficulty inherent in this area of the law is the reluctance of the courts to intervene at the instance of consumers. The courts would only intervene in the clearest of the cases, and would only do so in the public interest. In this thesis the current South African Law is considered in the light of the developments elsewhere. The tendency of credit providers to alter the terms of the contracts unilaterally and the growing number of conflicting decisions of the Provincial Divisions of High Court has also been considered. The writer also considers the role of the newly created Consumer Affairs Court.