Aim The aim of the study is to test the relationship between augmented reality and the Swedish millennials’ purchase intention of shopping goods. Methods A survey was distributed online to Swedish millennials (born between the years of 1982 and 2000). Non-probability sampling was conducted in order to collect primary data by making use of convenience and snowball sampling. A total amount of 408 valid responses were collected which were analysed by correlation, linear regression and moderation regression analyses. Results The variables related to augmented reality (product perception, risk perception, augmented reality experience, hedonic experience and utilitarian experience) were found to be significantly related to the consumers’ purchase intention. The relationship between product perception and purchase intention was found to be moderated by the online experience with augmented reality. However, no proof was found that perceived risk when shopping online is moderated by using augmented reality. Conclusion Augmented reality can be used as a tool to enhance the consumers’ perception of the offered product and therewith raise the online purchase intention of Swedish millennials for shopping goods. The efficiency and informative aspects that augmented reality can provide are especially appreciated. Therefore, this study can recommend online retailers to introduce an augmented reality strategy in order to raise Swedish millennials’ purchase intention of shopping goods and therewith increase the sales numbers.

A propaganda é imprescindível ao marketing por ser sua ferramenta mais visível e exposta ao público, ativando suas percepções e persuadindo o seu comportamento através de apelos. Destes, destacam-se os apelos sexuais, comuns na propaganda brasileira e em discussões feitas pela sociedade e pelo governo. Apesar disso, existem poucos estudos que remetem aos efeitos dos apelos sexuais sobre o consumidor brasileiro. Para tanto, a presente dissertação verifica essa lacuna, através de um estudo experimental com estudantes de graduação de duas universidades gaúchas, os quais responderam a um questionário, em salasde- aula, após serem expostos a diversos anúncios contendo variações de nudez por parte do(a) modelo. De maneira geral, constatou-se que houve diferenças significativas entre os diversos tipos de anúncios sexualmente apelativos no que se refere às atitudes do consumidor quanto à propaganda, à marca do produto, à imagem da empresa anunciante e à ética. Constatou-se ainda que os consumidores masculinos e femininos avaliam suas atitudes sobre a propaganda, a marca, a ética e sua intenção de compra diferente uns dos outros sendo, de modo geral, mais favoráveis quando expostos a modelos de gênero oposto ao seu. Implicações acadêmicas e gerenciais dos achados, além das limitações e sugestões para futuras pesquisas são discutidas no fim da dissertação. / Advertisement is a very important and the most visible tool of marketing to activate consumer’s perceptions and to persuade their behaviors with appeals. One of those – the sex appeal - is common both, in Brazilian advertising and in discussion done by government and society. But there are few studies about sex appeals effects on Brazilian consumer’s behavior. With that in mind, this thesis tries to cover the gap with an experimental study using undergraduate students from two RS (Brazil) universities. They were asked to answer a repertory after been confronted with some ads showing human bodies in different grades of nudism; the experiment took place in class-rooms. Generally, significant differences were found between the ads related to their effects on consumer attitude toward the ad itself, toward the brand, and toward the advertiser image and ethics judgment. Also differences between male and female consumers were found on their valuation about the ad, the brand and ethics and on their purchase intention; the most favorable ones occurred when exposed to the opposed gender models. Academics and managerial implications, and also limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed in the end of the thesis.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-08-16T14:18:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Geraldo Prado Guimaraes Filho.pdf: 1145726 bytes, checksum: 835f682d5eac2c85a69606cc8ccc41b5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-16T14:18:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Geraldo Prado Guimaraes Filho.pdf: 1145726 bytes, checksum: 835f682d5eac2c85a69606cc8ccc41b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-31 / This study aimed to evaluate what is the influence of the fanaticism in the purchase intention of hedonic products related to soccer. For that sought to understand the influence exercised by psychological connections identification and involvement and its relations with fanaticism. The method employed was exploratory and confirmatory quantitative analysis through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The survey was conducted in the city of São Paulo through a structured questionnaire. The main findings were that fanaticism is a mediator between the identification and purchase intention of hedonic products which has the effect of enhancing the relationship between them in a very relevant way. It was also shown that engagement positively affects the identification and the identification positively affects fanaticism. Another proven mediator relation was that the identification mediates the relationship between engagement and fanaticism. / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar a influência exercida pelo fanatismo na intenção de compra de produtos hedônicos relacionados ao futebol. Para tanto buscou-se compreender a influência exercida pelas conexões psicológicas de identificação e envolvimento e suas relações com o fanatismo. O método empregado é quantitativo exploratório e confirmatório, desenvolvido a partir de análise fatorial exploratória e confirmatória e modelagem de equações estruturais. A pesquisa foi realizada na cidade de São Paulo e os dados foram colhidos por meio de questionário estruturado. Os principais resultados apontam que o fanatismo é mediador entre a identificação e a intenção de compra dos produtos hedônicos e o efeito é o de potencializar a relação entre eles de forma bastante relevante. Mostram, também, que o envolvimento afeta a identificação positivamente e que a identificação afeta positivamente o fanatismo. Outra relação mediadora comprovada é que a identificação media a relação entre envolvimento e fanatismo.

A propaganda em sites de pesquisa utilizando anúncios orgânicos e patrocinados corresponde a uma estratégia de Marketing que propicia a interação entre empresas e seu público alvo a partir da utilização de palavras-chave ao efetuar a pesquisa online, dessa forma, os sites de pesquisa agem como intermediários entre necessidades dos consumidores e o grande número de informações disponíveis nas páginas da web. Assim, este estudo tem como objetivo verificar como é a relação entre atenção aos anúncios orgânicos e patrocinados e tipos de comportamento visual acerca da intenção de compra online. Foi realizada uma revisão da literatura sobre os Canais de Comunicação Online, Anúncios Orgânicos e Patrocinados bem como a utilização e eficácia desses tipos de anúncios, também foi abordado sobre a Intenção de Compra Online, Tipos de Comportamento Visual e, por fim, foi traçada a relação entre esses fatores. Na sequência, a partir da coleta de dados primária realizada com 100 estudantes da Faculdade de Administração, Economia e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto (FEA-RP/USP) - foi realizado um estudo quantitativo e descritivo utilizando o equipamento eye-tracking seguido da aplicação de um questionário. Utilizou-se a técnica estatística de Regressão Logística com Efeito Aleatório, que permite verificar o comportamento de um indivíduo em cenários diferentes e atender aos objetivos do estudo. A partir da análise, foi possível verificar que os indivíduos têm maior tendência a optar por Anúncios Patrocinados dos sites de pesquisa e que esse fato está positivamente relacionado à atenção visual e independe do tipo do Comportamento Visual que possui. Esses resultados fornecem informações relevantes acerca de apresentação de anúncios em sites de pesquisa, além de proporcionar reflexões teóricas para pesquisas nessa área / Advertising on search sites using organic and sponsored ads corresponds to a Marketing strategy that allows the interaction between companies and their target audience from the use of keywords when doing online search, in this way, the search sites act as intermediary consumer needs and the large number of information available on web pages. Thus, this study aims to verify how the relationship between attention in organic and sponsored ads and types of visual behavior about the intention to buy online. A review of the literature on Online Communication Channels, Organic and Sponsored Ads as well as the use and effectiveness of these types of ads was also made on Online Intention, Types of Visual Behavior and, finally, relationship between these factors. A quantitative and descriptive study was carried out using the eye-tracking equipment, followed by the application of the results obtained from the primary data collection with 100 students from the - School of Economics, Administration and Accounting of Ribeirao Preto (FEA-RP/USP) - a quantitative and descriptive study was performed using eye-tracking equipment followed by the application of a questionnaire. The statistical technique of Logistic Regression with Random Effect was used, which allows to verify the behavior of people in different scenarios and to meet the objectives of the study. From the analysis, it was possible to verify that the individuals have a greater tendency to choose Sponsored Ads of the research sites and this fact is positively related to the visual attention and independent of the type of Visual Behavior. These results provide relevant information about the display of ads on search sites, as well as provide theoretical insights for searches in this area

The use of e-mail communication between consumers has been growing and companies are seeking to increase their understanding of this type of private communication medium between consumers. The privacy and cost-effectiveness characteristics of e-mail make it an important communication medium for consumers. Consumers use e-mail to exchange a variety of information including electronic word of mouth (eWOM) about products, services and organisations. The travel industry, the context of this study, is increasingly being delivered online. Understanding what influences consumers and how consumers evaluate eWOM will increase the travel industry’s knowledge about its consumer base. This study aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the impact of eWOM on consumer purchase intention. Its focus is on an interpersonal context where eWOM is sent from the source to the receiver in an e-mail about holiday destination. The study, which was undertaken from a positivist perspective, used qualitative and quantitative research techniques to better understand the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature on word of mouth (WOM) and eWOM was initially examined to identify the major factors that have an influence on the receiver of eWOM. Consistent with previous studies, both perceived expertise and similarity were identified as source characteristics that have an influence on the receiver’s purchase intention. The literature also indicated that trustworthiness belief would have a key effect on the influence of eWOM on the attitude of the receiver. Consequently, this study examined each trustworthiness dimension – ability, benevolence, and integrity – with respect to its role in the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature review also revealed that certain receiver characteristics were important in the process of influence, especially consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. The relationships between the variables identified were further developed into the research model, which has its roots in the theory of reasoned-action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and the dual process theory of influence (Deutsch and Gerard, 1955). Methodologically, a scenario-building approach to developing authentic e-mail was used. The qualitative data gathered from eight focus group discussions were analysed using “framework analysis” (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994) to develop eight scenarios. This was then used to manipulate the moderating variables in the scenario. Three manipulations, each with two levels, were included: eWOM direction “positive and negative”; source characteristic of “expert/non-expert”; and source characteristic of “similar/non-similar”. These scenarios formed part of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of University of Bradford students. The final number of usable questionnaires was 477. Structural equation modelling was used to determine the validity of the conceptual model and test the hypotheses. In particular, multiple group analysis was used to assess both the measurement and structural models, and to identify the impact of the eWOM direction. The theoretical model that describes the relationships between the exogenous variables (source’s and receiver’s characteristics) and the endogenous variables (trustworthiness dimensions, interpersonal influence and purchase intention) was accepted. The research findings provided empirical evidence on the difference in the impact of positive and negative eWOM on purchase intention. The source’s and receiver’s characteristics and related trustworthiness beliefs, (i.e. ability, benevolence, and integrity) are influenced by the direction of eWOM. The findings show that positive and negative eWOM differ with respect to how they impact on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. For instance, consumers have more belief in the credibility of a source who provides negative eWOM. However, the overall influence of the source’s characteristics tends to be stronger with positive than with negative eWOM. The findings of this study provide insights for both academics and practitioners to understand the potential of eWOM. This might be tailored to help develop more private relationships with customers through e-mail marketing strategies that incorporate eWOM. Negative eWOM is more credible but less directly useful to marketers. Nevertheless, it is important for marketers to realise the significance of managing dissatisfaction and to harness the power of negative eWOM. Similarly, positive eWOM is effective especially when the source is both expert and similar. This might be translated into online marketing campaigns that use consumer-to-consumer discussions in addition to viral marketing. Future research might test the model in different contexts, (e.g. financial services), to provide a more comprehensive picture of the influence of eWOM on purchase intention.

With the development of multinational companies (MNCs), corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a very important component of corporate activities. However, the commitment to CSR in China has been very low. Chinese consumers are becoming less willing to accept different treatment from MNCs, but there has been a little study of CSR problems in the Chinese market or the response of Chinese consumer. This study provides preliminary evidence that consumer response about the CSR behavior of multinational corporation is determined by three factors, perceived CSR, trust of CSR, and awareness of CSR, and addresses how these different factors influence Chinese consumer response in terms of Corporate Evaluation and Purchase Intention. Additionally, this work analyzes the relationship between consumer demographics and consumer response to CSR.  The results show that trust of CSR and awareness of CSR has a significant influence on Chinese consumer response. Perceived CSR has a significant influence on Chinese consumer response to corporate evaluation but not on Purchase Intention. In addition, the data did not reveal a relationship between consumer demographics and consumer response to CSR.

Background: The emergence of global markets has created new hurdles for managers of international companies, yet provided with opportunities to take advantage of country of origin and transmit product information via “Made in” label. For many years China has been perceived negatively for a number of reason, though Chinese cosmetics is a new venture for the emerging economy.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to widen the current knowledge of country of origin in the cosmetics industry. The aim was to explore the underlying reasons in the attitude formation of female European millennials towards country of origin of China with regard to cosmetics industry.  Method: Focus group discussions have been chosen as the most appropriate research method to fulfil the purpose of the study. Three focus groups consisted of female European millennials were conducted during which the visual aids were shown in order to contribute to answering research questions. A deductive content analysis was used to analyse the data obtained.  Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the attitudes held by female European millennials towards cosmetics made in China are more negatively due to a weak product-countryimage,withsomeexceptions. Thisisconsistentwithprevious studies that China’s country of origin is still perceived as unfavourable. However, new insights have been discovered that respondents do not perceive any country as having a superior expertise in cosmetics, except of France.

Social media is nowadays one of the best ways to reach new potential customers. Social media platforms allow influencers to promote brands and reach even more customers. These new platforms are relatively untested as regards its effectiveness. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate if influencers affected customers´ attitudes and purchase intentions more than online adverts, regarding energy drinks. The thesis used an experiment in order to investigate this further. Combined with previous research in this area and the data from the study’s questionnaire, a result for this thesis could be formulated. The study showed that there was no statistical significant difference of effectiveness between using an influencer or an online advert when it comes to what affects consumers attitudes and purchase intentions, regarding energy drinks.

Title: “Factors affecting consumers green purchase intention towards ecological products: ICA supermarket in Sweden”. Level: Master degree thesis in Business AdministrationAuthor: Khalida Akter Supervisor: Zahra AhmadiExaminer: Maria Fregidou-Malama Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how consumer trust, eco-branding and green marketing strategy influence consumer purchase intention towards ecological products. Method: The qualitative method and inductive approach have been used for this research. The primary data have been collected through face to face interview and the secondary data have been used through scientific journals and the internet. Findings: The results show the important factors that can promote green marketing towards ecological products are; consumer trust, green trust, eco-label trust, eco-branding, green pricing, green advertising, green design and green promotion have a strong relation with each other. The study also shows that consumer purchase intention can be increased by giving sufficient information regarding ecological products, by increasing awareness, credibility, by reducing the perceived risk of the products, brand uniqueness, by advertising the products through the company magazines, billboards and posters outside of the supermarket, by raising awareness of customer health. Brand loyalty is also an important factor to create a long-term relationship with customers and it can be created by the fair price perception among the customers. The main promotional issues have been found for this study is customer health and climate change. The study also shows that price doesn’t affect on consumer purchase behaviour. Suggestions for future research: This study helps to understand how to promote green marketing for ecological products. For further study, the author suggests to investigate if there is a relationship between green marketing, consumer trust, eco-branding as well as a green marketing strategy. The future study will help to research on green marketing for ecological products. Contribution: This study has identified elements to promote green marketing and factors that can help to increase consumers purchase intention. The author hopes that the findings of this study will help companies to create their consumer purchase intention. The study has contributed to the theory and to the managers by investigating the factors affecting on green marketing. Keywords: Green marketing, Consumer trust, green trust, Eco-branding, Green marketing strategy, consumer purchase intention.

Orientador: Sheila Farias Alves Garcia / Resumo: Objetivo Analisar o efeito do estilo de vida alimentar na formação da atitude favorável frente aos alimentos orgânicos e na intenção de compra desses alimentos. Metodologia / Procedimentos de Pesquisa A estratégia metodológica adotada foi composta por quatro etapas, sendo que três delas (pesquisa exploratória, estudo bibliométrico e pesquisa qualitativa) foram executadas visando a construção do modelo conceitual deste trabalho. Para a avaliação das possíveis relações entre os constructos propostos, foi realizada uma pesquisa quantitativa, utilizando um instrumento de coleta de dados estruturado (survey), composto por escalas validadas por outros autores e escalas adaptadas pelo estudo. O levantamento dos dados foi realizado através de um questionário aplicado com 651 respondentes. Os dados foram analisados por meio da Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, com mínimos quadrados parciais e modelos de caminhos (PLS-PM) utilizando-se o software SmartPLS 3.0. Resultados e Discussão O estudo bibliométrico retornou 216 artigos, possibilitando a identificação das lacunas e oportunidades de pesquisa que foram exploradas por esta dissertação: 1) estudar o estilo de vida alimentar no contexto de consumo dos alimentos orgânicos; 2) e seus possíveis reflexos na atitude favorável e intenção de compra desses alimentos. Os resultados obtidos durante a pesquisa quantitativa demonstraram que há relacionamentos significativos entre o estilo de vida alimentar e a atitude favorável frente aos alimen... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Purpose The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of food-related lifestyle on the attitude and purchase intention of organic food. Design/methodology The methodological strategy adopted was composed of four steps, three of them (exploratory research, bibliometric study and qualitative research) were performed aiming at the construction of the conceptual model of this study. To meet the proposed objective a quantitative research was performed with a sample of 651 respondents. The survey was composed of scales validated by other authors and scales adapted by this study. Data analysis was performed using Structural Equation Modeling with partial least squares and path models (PLS-PM) through SmartPLS 3.0 software. Findings and Discussions The bibliometric research returned 216 articles, enabling the identification of research gaps and opportunities that were explored by this dissertation: 1) study the food-related lifestyle in the context of organic food consumption; 2) and its possible reflexes on the positive attitude and purchase intention of organic food. The results obtained during the quantitative research showed that there are significant relationships between the food-related lifestyle and the positive attitude towards organic foods; between the food-related lifestyle and the purchase intention of organic foods; and between positive attitude and purchase intent. It is noteworthy that the dimensions chosen to compose the food-related lifestyle, highlighting “importa... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre