Browsing by Subject "consumer behavior"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Dodging dietary defaults: Choosing away from healthy nudges
    (Elsevier, 2020-11) Colby, Helen A.; Li, Meng; Chapman, Gretchen; Kelley School of Business - Indianapolis
    The default effect has been identified as a powerful tool to influence behavior; however, the current studies demonstrate that consumers dodge the effects of healthy defaults by selecting away from the healthy default environment, thereby reducing its effect. Two studies with real consequences and three hypothetical scenario studies in restaurant settings demonstrate that healthy defaults promote healthy food choice in the moment, but consumers choose to put themselves in environments with unhealthy defaults over those with healthy defaults. That is, healthy defaults negatively impact sales and willingness of consumers to return to the restaurant that offers them. Study 1 provides initial evidence that a healthy default reduces sales of the product compared to a less healthy default in a real gift shop. Study 2 uses an online survey with real consequences and demonstrates that participants prefer to receive meal kits from a company with unhealthy defaults over one with healthy defaults. Studies 3–5 use hypothetical scenarios to demonstrate the tendency for consumers to dodge healthy defaults. Study 3 shows that a healthy default can drive away future sales. Study 4 demonstrates that advertising a healthy default reduces interest in visiting the restaurant; that is, advertising healthy defaults drives away first-time sales. Finally, Study 5 shows that this dodge effect is robust in a between-subject manipulations using a well-known brand. The results demonstrate that consumers dodge healthy defaults by migrating to environments where unhealthy defaults are in place.
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    The Effects of Social Information, Social Norms and Social Identity on Giving
    (2008-06-09T19:41:30Z) Shang, Yue; Sargeant, Adrian; Burlingame, Dwight F.; Gunderman, Richard; Lenkowsky, Leslie
    This philanthropic studies thesis aims to “increase the understanding of philanthropy, improve its practice, and enhance philanthropic participation” (Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University Overview) by studying the effects of social information, social norms and social identity on giving. It connects philanthropic studies research with theoretical developments in motivations for giving in economics, nonprofit management, nonprofit marketing, consumer behavior, and social psychology. It utilizes personal observations as well as quantitative methods including experiments and surveys on multiple samples including donors, undergraduate students and samples of the U.S. population. It generates actionable and efficacious knowledge to improve the practice of philanthropy. It contributes to the formation and growth of the young field called philanthropic studies - in theory, in methodology and in practice. This thesis includes five chapters. Chapter I will explain how the research question, philosophy and methodology are selected. This discussion will be for the entire thesis. Specific research questions, hypotheses, research designs, findings and implications will be explained in the subsequent chapters. Chapter II demonstrates the immediate and long-term effects of social information on donations and its boundary conditions in existing nonprofit donors in two field experiments. Chapter III shows that the psychological mechanism through which social information influences subsequent giving is perceived descriptive social norms in one field survey of donors and one laboratory experiment on undergraduate students. Chapter IV investigates how social identity congruency moderates the effect of social information on donations. It reports three field experiments on donors and samples of the general U.S. population and two laboratory experiments on undergraduate students. It shows that donors give more money to a public radio station if told that a previous donor with a similar identity also made a large contribution. This effect is more likely to occur when donors have high collective identity esteem and when attention is focused on others. Each chapter provides original fundraising techniques developed from these studies. Chapter V concludes with a discussion of the theoretical, methodological and practical contributions of this thesis and suggests directions for future research in philanthropic studies, and philanthropic psychology in particular.
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    Factors Influencing Consumer's Intention to Buy Counterfeit Products
    (2015) Basu, Mathumita Mukherjee; Basu, Sumit; Lee, JungKook
    There are several factors which influence consumers to buy counterfeit products. Today, any product in any nation is vulnerable to this malady. Counterfeits are packaged and labeled to resemble the original brand-name and generic products. Therefore, fake products often illusion the consumers to thinking that they are buying authentic goods. Counterfeits are a real and looming threat to all manufacturers. Counterfeit policing measures are yet to mature and become omnipresent. With this background information, it is noteworthy to observe how the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) could help identify the factors responsible for influencing behavioral intentions of a consumer towards purchasing counterfeit products. The present study reviews existing literature on counterfeit products, identifies potential improvements, and provides further insight into consumer motives behind the purchase of counterfeits. Six primary factors that influence counterfeit purchase have been identified and the TRA has been applied to investigate the impact of these factors on consumer behavioral patterns. The factors are (1) social motivation, (2) personal gratification, (3) perception, (4) value, (5) brand loyalty, and (6) ethics. The ‘influence of society’ and ‘value for money’ have been identified as the top two reasons that motivate consumers to buy fake products based on a survey conducted. A mathematical ‘covariate interactions’ analysis as well as a Chi-square regression analysis corroborated the same finding- identifying the top two factors that most strongly influence a customer’s ‘Intent to purchase’. A logistic regression analysis was run on the survey results that yielded a mathematical expression which can predict how likely a customer is to buy a counterfeit [p(Y)]. The proposed correlation matches the obtained survey data very well.
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    When Consumer Behavior Goes Bad: An Investigation of Adolescent Shoplifting
    (1990-09) Cox, Dena S.; Cox, Anthony D.; Moschis, George P.
    Shoplifting is a troubling and widespread aspect of consumer behavior, particularly among adolescents, yet it has attracted little attention from consumer researchers. This article reports and interprets findings on the pervasiveness of shoplifting among adolescents, the characteristics that distinguish adolescent shoplifters from their nonshoplifting peers, and adolescents' views regarding the reasons for this behavior. Our findings contradict some popular stereotypes concerning the typical shoplifter and suggest some rethinking about adolescents' reasons for shoplifting.