Civic Engagement at the Crossroads of Online and Offline Spaces: A PLS-SEM Assessment

This study addresses citizen implication in societal issues, and analysis it at the crossroads of online and offline spaces. It draws on previous literature to advance a research model which differentiates between online and offline forms of civic engagement, and tests their relationships with people's attitudes and behaviors. Results show that both attitudes and behaviors are influenced by offline and online engagement, pointing out the driving role of the online side in forming civic attitudes, and the powerful direct effect exerted by the offline side on civic behavior. The research findings explain attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of online and offline civic engagement. Indicating that people become more involved in civic issues due to the digital evolution, the study extends prior literature and proposes an inclusive framework for understanding online and offline civic engagement, from a theoretical, instrumental, and empirical point of view. Additionally, the paper offers an up-dated scale for measuring the online civic engagement, by adding a 6th item (crowdfunding) into existent scale.JEL Codes - C51; D83; D91; I3

Organic food consumer in Romania

Food consumption patterns are rapidly changing nowadays as a result of environmental issues, concern about the nutritional value of food and health issues. Issues such as quality and safety in food attract consumer interest in organic food that is free from pesticides and chemical residues (Childs and Polyzees, 1997; Zotos et al., 1999; Baltas, 2001; Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002). This study is attempted to gain knowledge about organic food consumer demographic characteristics and purchase behaviour of organic food in Romania. The research method used was online survey. A structured questionnaire was used which employed with true-false questions, multiple-choice questions and Likert scale questions. A convenience sample was used for this research

Worthy Intentions on the Road to Brand Trust

Nowadays, technology enables businesses to make transactions without human interaction, which increases their operations, but also erodes the personal nature of commerce and brand loyalty, in most of the cases. Independent lines of research have warned about this phenomenon, pointing out that the lack of consumer trust represents the main cause of losing brand loyalty. Stressing on the benefits of updating branding practices by integrating results from other social sciences, our paper explores an interdisciplinary literature. The paper presents recent branding-related findings and how are they supported or not by results from social psychology and behavioral economics. It highlights two opposite views and theoretical contradictions, and extracts a hypothesis that would be conceptually supported by some convergent opinions and facts. Arguing why an effective branding process, meant to achieve both consumer trust and sales objectives, should change the focus from profit-maximization onto relationship building, we hypothesize that brands should reveal worthy intentions prior to competence. Since our paper is of conceptual nature, further empirical studies are needed to test the hypothesis. Yet, the present paper offers an integrative view of the consumer underlying behavior, as revealed by recent results from different social sciences, discussing the potential impact of worthy intentions and competences on trust building, and consequently, on the brand construction process

Branding insights: an interdisciplinary journey from perception to action

Our interdisciplinary study examines the brand's perceived intentions and ability, as predictors of consumer behavior. In an attempt of answering a call for research in the branding area, we found out contradictory views, both of them based on strong arguments, including empirical results. Each view has been examined by the lens of branding, social cognition and behavioral theory. We found convergent findings from cognitive psychology and behavioral theory to support one of the two views and to extract a hypothesis. Thus, we hypothesized that an effective branding process, meant to achieve both consumer trust and sales objectives, should address the brand's perceived intentions before ability. We suggest that further empirical studies are needed to test the hypothesis, although for some particular cases, tests confirmed the priority of intentions. Overall, our paper offers an integrative view of consumer underlying behaviors revealed by results of other social sciences and how should be used in brand construction process. The benefits of updating branding theories by integrating results confirmed by other social sciences are discussed

Branding insights: an interdisciplinary journey from perception to action

Our interdisciplinary study examines the brand's perceived intentions and ability, as predictors of consumer behavior. In an attempt of answering a call for research in the branding area, we found out contradictory views, both of them based on strong arguments, including empirical results. Each view has been examined by the lens of branding, social cognition and behavioral theory. We found convergent findings from cognitive psychology and behavioral theory to support one of the two views and to extract a hypothesis. Thus, we hypothesized that an effective branding process, meant to achieve both consumer trust and sales objectives, should address the brand's perceived intentions before ability. We suggest that further empirical studies are needed to test the hypothesis, although for some particular cases, tests confirmed the priority of intentions. Overall, our paper offers an integrative view of consumer underlying behaviors revealed by results of other social sciences and how should be used in brand construction process. The benefits of updating branding theories by integrating results confirmed by other social sciences are discussed

Patterns of social influence in social networking sites – a design perspective

Social networking sites (SNSs) are quickly becoming the main venues for social interaction of Internet users. As the competition between these online services is growing ever stronger, the success of SNSs derives from persuasive core application designs that influence users in taking specific actions, such as joining the community or recruiting new users. Therefore there is a need to identify relevant, value-adding features that facilitate social interaction and that are integrated in the group’s socialization rituals. The present study employed Cialdini’s framework in the analysis of SNSs design characteristics that facilitate social influence leading to the fulfillment of site marketing objectives, such as member acquisition, member retention and user loyalty. We examined social application features of the three major Romanian SNSs, i.e. Facebook, Hi5 and Neogen on six dimensions corresponding to Cialdini’s social influence principles: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity. We thereby extract core application commonalities and differences and identify design gaps from a social influence perspective that are to be explored and exploited as a source of competitive advantage. Marketing implications of the results are discussed

Motivations for Using Social Networking Sites: The Case of Romania

Social networking sites (SNS) have been experiencing a growth boom in latter years, consequently drawing marketers’ attention as an important medium for meaningful interaction with the consumer. But achieving brand effectiveness on SNS begins with understanding users’ motivations for online social networking. This paper sought to explore Romanian users’ motivations, and reports findings from a qualitative study consisting of face-to-face in-depth interviews and participant observation. We determine the main differences in motivations for using four major Romanian social networking sites. Implications in terms of brand communication within the context of SNS are also discussed

Raising Awareness on Health Impact of the Chemicals Used in Consumer Products: Empirical Evidence from East-Central Europe

Recent research and guidance provided by regulatory authorities address the growing concerns on the control of chemicals used in consumer products. In this context, this study responds to literature alerts emphasizing the need for promoting risk reduction by decreasing the use of damaging chemicals and raising public awareness on this issue. It focuses on East-Central Europe and investigates whether consumers are worried about the impact on health of chemicals, and whether they think there is enough information available in this sense. The study uses logistic regression in order to analyze the secondary data from Special Eurobarometer No. 416 (part of Eurobarometer Wave EB 81.3, European Commission, 2014), namely 27,998 interviews collected in all 28 EU countries, of which 11,460 are from East-Central Europe. The research reveals a profile of East-Central Europeans, who consider that they lack information on the topic, and identifies the most effective way of reaching these people according to their perceptions and habits. Reporting results on a representative sample in East-Central Europe, the study indicates the channels, sources of information, and trusted institutions in order to support a campaign for raising public awareness on the health impact of chemicals used in consumer products

An Insight into Romanian Business Consulting Organizations from an Ethical Standpoint

Recent decades have strongly commanded in the public conscience the importance of considering the ethical dimension in organizations. Business ethics exceeds the ordinary compliance with the law or the choice between right and wrong. There are situations when actions are clearly right or wrong and the decision about what should be done is relatively simple, but often managers have to distinguish between shades of gray and the decision is enforced by different degrees of righteousness. Moreover, when fulfilling ethical responsibilities, businesses should consider simultaneously the economic and competitiveness pressures. Starting from these premise, the present study intends to investigate the standpoints of managers in the Romanian business consulting firms about the double rationality of their endeavors: profit versus ethics. Accordingly, twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted to assess the ethical dilemma. As most of the answers underline, there is a myriad of ethical issues posed by the business consultancy, especially when big contracts are scarce and the competition for clients is high

Online Buyer's Perspective of E-Shops Credibility: Measurement Dimensions

Addressing the debated topic of credibility in online sales, the present study analyses buyer's perspective. The study develops from the literature to test and refine a multi-dimensional measurement of e-shops credibility. Consumer's criteria for assessing e-shops credibility are empirically examined with 817 Romanian student participants. Detailed approach and methodology, as well as the results obtained, research conclusions, limitations, and implications, are presented. The study advances an instrument which reveals new dimensions of establishing credibility although most aspects were found to be similar to results previously presented in other studies. The proposed instrument offers a new multidimensional measurement and knowledge resources for business committed to using Internet advantages, and it might be viewed as a strategic tool which enables e-shops owners to strengthen their market presence, e-sales and customer base through an adequate management of the knowledge regarding online credibility