RELIGIOSITY AND RETAIL STORE CHOICES: EXPLORING US CHRISTIAN CONSUMERS’ APPAREL SHOPPING BEHAVIOR

Although religion is a key component of culture that affects a society’s value system and human behavior, few have investigated how religion and religiosity influence consumers’ patronage and apparel shopping behavior. This study investigated the impact of religiosity on U.S. Christian consumers’ perceived importance of apparel store attributes. The findings reveal that among commonly used consumer demographics included in the study, religiosity is the most powerful factor affecting the importance of different apparel store attributes. The findings suggest that more committed U.S. Christians are more involved and demanding fashion consumers. Companies that ignore the influence of religion and religiosity in the retail market might find themselves suffering

Shopping orientation, store attributes, and apparel retail format preference

The U.S. apparel retail market has reached a very high level of intensity with a large variety of retailers evolved in the past 30 years. This changing environment requires apparel retailers to re-evaluate factors affecting consumers\u27 choices of different retail formats. To fill the gap in the literature, this research intended to study the impact of shopping orientation and store attributes on consumers\u27 apparel retail format preferences. A quantitative research with an online survey was conducted. A factor analysis was first used to identify the underlining dimensions of shopping orientation, store attributes, and apparel retail formats. Multiple regression was used to analyze the effects of shopping orientation and store attributes on apparel retail format preference. The findings reveal the preference of different apparel retail formats is predicted by different shopping orientations and the importance of different store attributes. The findings provide valuable insights to retailers to understand their market position and deliver shopping value that consumers seek and desire

Religiosity and Store Choice Criteria: Exploring Christian Consumers’ Apparel Shopping Behavior in the United States

Religiosity is “the degree to which a person adheres to his or her religious values, beliefs, and practices, and uses them in daily live” (Worthington et al., 2003, p.85). As a key element of culture, religion not only affects a society’s value system and provides conduct code to its believers, but also affects consumers’ consumption and shopping behavior (e.g. Bailey and Sood, 1993). It is a relatively new subject in marketing and consumer behavior research. Limited studies have investigated the effect of religiosity on retail patronage behavior; even fewer have focused on the US markets. However, the United States is a highly religious country with 76% of US adults being Christians (US Census, 2012). Therefore, religiosity might have been an important affecting factor in US markets

Effects of Religiosity on Apparel Shopping Orientation: An Exploratory Study

Although religion is an important cultural element that affects a society’s value system and its people’s behavior, limited research has studied effects of religion on consumers’ patronage behavior, especially when it comes to apparel. This study, therefore, explored religiosity and consumers’ apparel shopping orientation. The findings reveal that religiosity significantly affect Christian consumers’ apparel shopping orientation. Specifically, religiosity has a significant positive direct effect on quality consciousness, fashion consciousness, and price consciousness. The study indicates fashion retailers should understand the role of religiosity on consumers’ patronage behavior, thus delivering better value to their customers

Religiosity, Faith Driven Consumption, and Apparel Shopping Orientation

Faith driven consumers refer to devout Christian consumers whose consumption and shopping behavior is strongly influenced by Christian values and worldviews (Faithnomics.com, 2012). This segment of consumers accounts for 17% of the US population, or 41 million people. By size, it is similar to the Hispanic segment of the market; however, with $1.75 trillion, the annual spending power of this segment is 75% more than that of the Hispanic segment (Faithnomics.com, 2012). Strong moral and Christian values rather than simple consumer needs drive their purchase decisions in the marketplace. In this study, the authors define the consumption behavior based on the biblical views and teachings as faith driven consumption (FDC)

Does the HyFlex Learning Environment Affect Student Likelihood to Whistle-Blow on Academic Dishonesty?

The reality of possible disruptions in daily life such as the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated increased adoptions of flexible hybrid learning, namely the HyFlex modality. With greater use of online or hybrid learning, concerns about academic dishonesty are more prevalent. Despite the empirical evidence that shows that whistleblowing reduces academic dishonesty, accounting education empirical literature on whistleblowing has mostly focused on traditional classroom modalities. This paper administered a survey to 232 students in HyFlex accounting classes and provides empirical evidence that HyFlex learning environment’s characteristics of engagement and campus connectedness are positively linked to whistleblowing likelihood, whereas HyFlex students who prefer in-person attendance are less likely to whistle-blow. Open-ended questions analyzing ways to increase whistleblowing revealed that students who feel engaged in HyFlex classes are more likely motivated to report on misconduct when they are incentivized and provided protected anonymity

In the Storm of COVID-19: College Students’ Perceived Challenges With Virtual Learning

Using open-ended questions, this study surveyed over 450 undergraduate students to gain insights into their perceptions of the virtual learning environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results reveal the rapid transition of most courses to online teaching because of COVID-19 was very challenging for students. A conceptual model was developed on the challenges of virtual learning. The findings reveal three major challenges for virtual learning: learning environment, motivation, and learning effectiveness. Environment and personal characteristics contributed to the lack of motivation to learn. Furthermore, students’ learning behavior and professors’ unpreparedness, and subject matter caused decreased learning effectiveness. The findings of the study can help decision makers at colleges and universities make informed decisions when adopting and/or modifying different teaching/learning environments, as well as professors in developing effective teaching strategies and pedagogy

An Empirical Analysis of Agricultural College Students’ Perceptions of Virtual Learning

The sudden shift in course delivery methods during the pandemic to virtual instruction impacted students in various ways. Previous research lacks information about perceptions of, or preferences for, virtual learning among students with different demographic backgrounds, academic disciplines, and stages of study. This study uses an in-depth conditional Logit statistical procedure to understand these impacts on agricultural students’ perceptions of virtual learning. The findings reveal students believe significant challenges exist with virtual instruction, a positive attitude toward virtual learning leads to improved enrollment in virtual courses in future semesters, and being in control of learning impacts modality preference

Chinese tourists' shopping behavior in the United States

Chinese tourists have become very important in the tourist market. With more of them traveling to the United States, it is becoming critical to understand their shopping behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate Chinese tourists' shopping motivations and decision making processes when they travel in the United States. A qualitative research with personal in-depth interview was conducted. The findings reveal that Chinese tourist mainly purchase branded US apparel, handbags, shoes, and cosmetics; and their major shopping destination is outlet malls. Overall, price value and product quality/authenticity are two key shopping motivations for Chinese tourists.</p