Consumers’ evaluations of socially responsible activities in retailing

We approach Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a process in which particular CSR activities impact on consumers’ store evaluation and trust. We hypothesize that consumers classify CSR activities along two dimensions: (1) the beneficiary of the activity and (2) the intrinsic contribution of the retailer, implying that consumers are interested in who reaps the benefits of the activity and how much the retailer invests in the activity. This conceptualization is confirmed in two field studies with 823 and 486 consumers. These field studies also show that consumers who perceive more CSR have more trust in the store and that their overall evaluation of the store is higher. Furthermore, it is shown that even though CSR affects both outcomes, the effect on trust is stronger than the effect on store evaluation. Our research indicates that CSR is particularly suited to build trust. Economic activities, on the other hand, are better for obtaining a good store evaluation.Consumer/Household Economics,

Oversized Area Indications on Bonus Packs Fail to Affect Consumers’ Transactional Decisions—More Experimental Evidence on the Mars Case

Findings from behavioural research are gaining increased interest in EU legislation, specifically in the area of unfair commercial practices. Prior research on the Mars case (Purnhagen and van Herpen 2017) has left open whether empirical evidence can provide an indication that this practice of using oversized indications of additional volume alters the transactional decision of consumers. This, however, is required to determine the “misleadingness” of such a practice in the legal sense as stipulated by the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC. The current paper closes this gap by illustrating how behavioural research can inform legal interpretation. In particular, it extends the previous research in two important ways: first, by examining the actual choice that people make; and second, by investigating whether the effects remain present in a context where a comparison product is available. Yet, while supporting and extending the findings of the study from Purnhagen and van Herpen (2017) on deceptiveness, the current study could not produce empirical evidence of a clear influence on the transactional decision of consumers, in the way “UCPD” requires.</p

A picture says it all? The validity of photograph coding to assess household food waste

Valid measurements are essential in studies into levels of household food waste and differences therein over time, cultures, or consumer groups. They are also key to identifying factors that affect waste levels and to testing the effects of potential interventions. Yet, there is a lack of valid measurement methods for household food waste. The current study assesses the validity of coding of photographs of food waste as a measurement method. In this study, nine coders each estimated 104 food waste instances from photographs, which structurally varied in food amount, food density, size of the container (plate, glass, bowl, pan, etc.) and food category. Comparisons of estimated weights with actual weights show that coders can accurately estimate the weight of food waste from photographs, without general over- or underestimation and with satisfactory correlations with actual weights. Food waste incidences that are more or less difficult to estimate are discussed, as well as differences between coders. Overall, the method appears promising for application in studies examining household food waste levels.</p

AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION OF FOOD LABELS: RESULTS OF AN EYE TRACKING EXPERIMENT IN DOKUZ EYLÜL UNIVERSITY

Avrupa Birliği, 2008-2011 yılları arasında, 27 Avrupa ülkesi ve Türkiye'de, Food\r\nLabelling to Advance Better Education for Life (FLABEL) isimli bir 7. Çerçeve Programı\r\nprojesi desteklemektedir. Bu projenin 2. İş paketi tüketiciler tarafından gıda etiketleri\r\nüzerindeki bilgilerin algılanması ve değerlendirilmesini kapsamaktadır. Bu iş paketi için\r\nTürkiye'de Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi İşletme Fakültesi'nde gerçekleştirilen çalışmada,\r\nöğrencilere daha önce gördükleri ya da görmedikleri ancak farklı Avrupa ülkelerinde\r\nsıklıkla kullanılan gıda etiketleri gösterilmiştir. Çalışmada deney ve anket yöntemlerinden\r\nyararlanmıştır. Deneysel çalışmanın verilerinin toplanması ve kaydedilmesi için göz\r\nhareketlerini izlemede uzmanlaşmış bir cihaz (eye-tracker) ve ilgili bilgisayar programları\r\nkullanılmıştır. Türkiye'de yapılan bu çalışmadan beklenen sonuç tüketicilerin gıda\r\netiketlerindeki besin değerlerini algılama ve değerlendirme konusunda yeterli bilgi ve\r\ndeneyime sahip olmadıkları yönündedir. Gıda etiketleri ve sağlıklı beslenme konusunda\r\nözellikle göz hareketleri izleme metodu kullanılarak yapılmış herhangi bir çalışmaya\r\nrastlanmamıştır. Bu açıdan bu çalışmanın literatüre önemli bir katkı sağlayacağı\r\ndüşünülmektedir.\r\n\r\nEuropean Union is funding a 7th Framework Program Project named Food\r\nLabeling to Advance Better Education for Life (FLABEL) in 27 European countries and\r\nTurkey for the years 2008-2011. The second work package of this project entails consumer\r\nperception and evaluation of information on food labels. For this work package, an\r\nexperiment was pursued in Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Business, Turkey. The\r\nrespondents were shown food labels that they have seen before or have never seen before\r\nwhich are frequently used in different European countries. The study uses experiment and\r\nquestionnaire methods. For the collection and storage of experimental work, an eye-tracker\r\ndevice connected to a special computer and relevant computer programs were used. The\r\nresults of the study in Turkey demonstrate that respondents do not have sufficient\r\ninformation and experience in the perception and evaluation of nutrition values on food\r\nlabels. There is no previous study on food labels and healthy nutrition in Turkey using eyetracking\r\ndevices. This study is a first attempt in applying the eye tracking experiment to\r\nexplore consumers' choice for healthy food

The Variety of an Assortment: An Extension to the Attribute-Based Approach

In recent years, interest in category management has surged, and as a consequence, large retailers now systematically review their product assortments. Variety is a key property of assortments. Assortment variety can determine consumers' store choice and is only gaining in importance with today's increasing numbers of product offerings. To support retailers in managing their assortments, insight is needed into the influence of assortment composition on consumers' variety perceptions, and appropriate measures of assortment variety are required. This paper aims to extend the assortment variety model recently proposed by Hoch et al. (1999) in Marketing Science. It conceptualizes assortment variety from an attribute-based perspective and compares this with the productbased approach of Hoch, Bradlow, and Wansink (HBW). The attribute- based approach offers an alternative viewpoint for assortment variety. Attribute- and product-based approaches reflect basic conceptualizations of assortment variety that assume substantially different perception processes: a consumer comparing products one-by-one versus a consumer examining attributes across products in the assortment. While the product-based approach focuses on the dissimilarity between product pairs in an assortment, the attribute-based approach that we propose focuses on the marginal and joint distributions of the attributes. We conjecture and aim to show that an attribute-based approach suffices to predict consumers' perceptions of assortment variety. In operationalizing the attribute-based approach, two measures of assortment variety are described and compared to productbased measures. These two measures relate to the dispersion of attribute levels, e.g., if all products have the same color or different colors, and the dissociation between attributes, e.g., if product color and size are unrelated. The ability of product-based and attributed- based measures to predict consumers' perceptions of assortment variety is assessed. The product-based measures () tap the dissimilarity of products in an assortment across attributes. The attribute-based measures tap the dispersion of attribute levels across products () and the dissociation between product attributes (1–) in an assortment. In two studies, we examine the correlations between these measures in a well-behaved environment (study 1) and the predictive validity of the measures for perceived variety in a consumer experiment (study 2). Study 1, using synthetic data, shows that the attribute-based measures tap specific aspects of assortment variety and that the attribute-based measures are less sensitive to the size of assortments than product-based measures are. Whereas HBW focus on assortments of equal size, study 1 indicates that an extension to assortments of unequal size results in summed Hamming measures that correlate highly with assortment size. The latter is important when assortments of different size are compared. Next, we examine how well the measures capture consumers' perception of variety. Study 2, a consumer experiment, shows that the attribute-based measures account best for consumers' perceptions of variety. Attribute- based measures significantly add to the prediction of consumers' perceptions of variety, over and above the product-based measures, while the reverse is not the case. Interestingly, this study also indicates that assortment size may not be a good proxy for perceived assortment variety. The findings illustrate the value of an attribute-based conceptualization of assortment variety, since these measures (1) correlate only moderately with assortment size and (2) suffice to predict consumers' perceptions of assortment variety. In the final section we briefly discuss how attribute-based and product-based measures can be used in assortment management, and when productand attribute-based approaches may predict consumers' variety perceptions. We discuss how an attribute-based approach can identify which attribute levels and attribute combinations influence consumers' perceptions of variety most, while a productbased approach can identify influential products. Both approaches have applications in specific situations. For instance, an attributebased approach can identify influential attributes in an ordered, simultaneous presentation of products, while a product-based approach can assess the impact of sequential presentations of products better. In addition, we indicate how the random-intercept model estimated in study 2 can be further extended to capture the influence of, e.g., consumer characteristics.Retailing, Product Assortment, Variety Perception, Variety Measurement

Less waste versus higher quality: how to stimulate consumer demand for frozen bread

Purpose: Bread waste is one of the largest contributors to the environmental footprint of supermarkets, mostly because of the short shelf life of fresh bread. This study examined a possible solution: offering frozen bread with a considerably longer shelf life. Professional freezing of bread can preserve its quality better than freezing at home. In introducing frozen bread, supermarkets can communicate either a high construal social benefit (food waste reduction) or a low construal personal benefit (product quality).Design/methodology/approach: An online experiment (n = 367) with a three group between subjects design was used. Dutch participants saw an offering of frozen bread accompanied by (1) a communication message about food waste, (2) a communication message about product quality, or (3) no communication message (control condition).Findings: In line with expectations, emphasizing food waste reduction influenced general attitudes toward frozen bread and the bakery department more strongly than the benefit of higher product quality, while the opposite was true for purchase intentions.Practical implications: Retailers who include frozen bread in their assortment have to make a trade-off between especially stimulating consumer attitudes toward the bakery department by focusing on a food waste reduction message, or especially stimulating sales by focusing on a quality message.Originality/value: This study provides new insights into the effects of benefit communication on attitudes and purchase intentions. The results show that these effects differ for attitudes and intentions, depending on the communication message