EFFECTS OF PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS VARIATIONS ON LOYALTY AMONG FAST FOOD CONSUMERS IN MAKURDI METROPOLIS

The study examined the effects of product characteristics variation on loyalty among fast food consumers in Makurdi metropolis. Each of the products was varied at three levelsas follows: quality; increase quality, maintain quality, decrease quality, price; increase price, maintain price, decrease price, size; increase size, maintain size, decrease size. A 3x3x3 factorial experimental design was adopted involving 27 experimental conditions which were made by combining the three levels of each independent variable. Four hypotheses were tested in the study. The study population was 24,183 undergraduate students of Benue State University Makurdi who are consumers of fast food products. The sample of 270 participants was selected through stratified and systematic sampling techniques. Purposive selection technique was used to select five faculties of Benue State University Makurdi. Data were collected through an instrument named ‘Consumer Product Loyalty Inventory’ (CPLI). Validity of the manipulated experimental conditions was done using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) which showed that the manipulations made were actually effective and perceived by the respondents as intended. The 3-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used for data analysis, with scores of the pre-manipulated product loyalty scale used as covariate. Fisher’s Least Square Difference (LSD) was used to determine the specific effect in the mean differences of product variation on product loyalty. Results revealed that there was significant effect of quality variation on product loyalty among fast food consumers in Makurdi metropolis [F, (2,270) = 174.150, p = 0.000<0.001] and accounting for about 70 percent (eta-squared = 0.698) variance in consumer loyalty, with increase quality being the most effective. There was significant main effect of price variation on product loyalty among fast food consumers in Makurdi metropolis[F, (2,270) = 33.116, p = 0.000<0.001] and accounting for about 32 percent (eta-squared = 0.318) variance in consumer loyalty with decrease price being the most effective. There was significant effect of size variation on product loyalty among fast food consumers in Makurdi metropolis [F, (2, 270) = 55.124, p = 0.000<0.001] and accounting for about 48 percent (eta-squared = 0.475) variance in consumer loyalty, with increase size being the most effective. There was a significant interactional effect of product variation on product loyalty among fast food consumers in Makurdi metropolis [F, (6, 270) = 7.193, p = 0.000<0.001] and accounting for about 14 percent (eta-squared = 0.135), with increase price, size and quality as the most effective. The study recommended that in order to achieve high loyalty levels, fast food restaurants have three viable options to leverage on: either to simultaneously increase price, size and quality; or to simultaneously maintain size, decrease price and increase quality; or simultaneously maintain size, decrease price and maintain quality. When there is rising cost of raw materials; the most viable option for the operators is to simultaneously decrease size, increase price and increase quality to maximize profit

KEER2022

Avanttítol: KEER2022. DiversitiesDescripció del recurs: 25 juliol 202

Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 3: People

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 3 includes papers from People track of the conference

Modeling and Simulation in Engineering

This book provides an open platform to establish and share knowledge developed by scholars, scientists, and engineers from all over the world, about various applications of the modeling and simulation in the design process of products, in various engineering fields. The book consists of 12 chapters arranged in two sections (3D Modeling and Virtual Prototyping), reflecting the multidimensionality of applications related to modeling and simulation. Some of the most recent modeling and simulation techniques, as well as some of the most accurate and sophisticated software in treating complex systems, are applied. All the original contributions in this book are jointed by the basic principle of a successful modeling and simulation process: as complex as necessary, and as simple as possible. The idea is to manipulate the simplifying assumptions in a way that reduces the complexity of the model (in order to make a real-time simulation), but without altering the precision of the results

Empirical Investigations Into the Role of the Self-Concept in Product Semantics and Aesthetic Experience: An Industrial Design Perspective

Understanding product semantics and affective perceptions of product consumers undoubtedly offer significant value for industrial designers and their design practice. Deconstructing affective perceptions is a methodologically challenging task as it is implicit and subjective and is influenced by an individual’s aesthetic experience. Accordingly, how products are perceived differs among individuals or consumers, particularly in the distinct experiences that contribute to constructing an individual’s sense of perception of self or self-concept. Furthermore, research has shown that individuals are implicitly drawn to products that reaffirm and communicate their self-concept. If an individual’s preferences for products can reflect or enhance their self-concept, this suggests that understanding the underlying perceptual processes between the self-concept and product semantics can productively inform industrial design research. The thesis research develops and adapts methods from the disciplines of psychology, marketing, and industrial design to investigate these underlying perceptual processes of the self-concept and its relationships to product semantics. The thesis research investigates the underlying processes through a study on kettles that discloses the variances in sensory and cognitive evaluation and judgements through the process of aesthetic experience. The thesis further investigates the cognitive influences of the self-concept to reveal the mental models associated with the visual aesthetics of product form and how this influences aesthetic responses through product personality congruence. The thesis argues that the self-concept is a multidimensional construct reflected, in particular, through an individual’s (1) gender identity, (2) personality, (3) aesthetic sensitivity, and (4) interest, taste, and goals, that plays a vital role in the aesthetic experience of products. The thesis’s findings indicate that these individual components of the self-concept are essential in that they interplay in how the symbolic meaning of product semantics is visually perceived. The outcome of this thesis assists in, primarily, revealing the underlying stages of visual aesthetic processing to understand how product semantics is perceived through an individual’s self-concept

The end of stigma? Understanding the dynamics of legitimisation in the context of TV series consumption

This research contributes to prior work on stigmatisation by looking at stigmatisation and legitimisation as social processes in the context of TV series consumption. Using in-depth interviews, we show that the dynamics of legitimisation are complex and accompanied by the reproduction of existing stigmas and creation of new stigmas

An Investigation on Benefit-Cost Analysis of Greenhouse Structures in Antalya

Significant population increase across the world, loss of cultivable land and increasing demand for food put pressure on agriculture. To meet the demand, greenhouses are built, which are, light structures with transparent cladding material in order to provide controlled microclimatic environment proper for plant production. Conceptually, greenhouses are similar with manufacturing buildings where a controlled environment for manufacturing and production have been provided and proper spaces for standardized production processes have been enabled. Parallel with the trends in the world, particularly in southern regions, greenhouse structures have been increasingly constructed and operated in Turkey. A significant number of greenhouses are located at Antalya. The satellite images demonstrated that for over last three decades, there has been a continuous invasion of greenhouses on all cultivable land. There are various researches and attempts for the improvement of greenhouse design and for increasing food production by decreasing required energy consumption. However, the majority of greenhouses in Turkey are very rudimentary structures where capital required for investment is low, but maintenance requirements are high when compared with new generation greenhouse structures. In this research paper, life-long capital requirements for construction and operation of greenhouse buildings in Antalya has been investigated by using benefit-cost analysis study

Knowledge Capturing in Design Briefing Process for Requirement Elicitation and Validation

Knowledge capturing and reusing are major processes of knowledge management that deal with the elicitation of valuable knowledge via some techniques and methods for use in actual and further studies, projects, services, or products. The construction industry, as well, adopts and uses some of these concepts to improve various construction processes and stages. From pre-design to building delivery knowledge management principles and briefing frameworks have been implemented across project stakeholders: client, design teams, construction teams, consultants, and facility management teams. At pre-design and design stages, understanding the client’s needs and users’ knowledge are crucial for identifying and articulating the expected requirements and objectives. Due to underperforming results and missed goals and objectives, many projects finish with highly dissatisfied clients and loss of contracts for some organizations. Knowledge capturing has beneficial effects via its principles and methods on requirement elicitation and validation at the briefing stage between user, client and designer. This paper presents the importance and usage of knowledge capturing and reusing in briefing process at pre-design and design stages especially the involvement of client and user, and explores the techniques and technologies that are usable in briefing process for requirement elicitation