Government concerns of consumers’ intention to purchase green products (preliminary study-Malaysia evidence)

Facing with the environmental degradation, the Malaysian government as well as other parts of the world takes the path of protecting the environment. Along with this way, the government encourages the public to perform green behaviour. For instance, in the market, different types of green or environmentally friendly products are prepared for the desirable consumers. The main objective of this study as a preliminary one is to find out the latent factors that can affect the intention of respondents to purchase green products. Second, it aims to determine to which the selected socio-economic characteristics and attitudinal factors influence the respondents= intention to purchase green products

Consumer-to-Consumer Conflicts and Brand Moderation Strategies During COVID-19 Service Failures: A Framework for International Marketers

Purpose: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, one dark social-media phenomenon in particular has experienced a significant rise: consumer-to-consumer (C2C) conflicts, i.e., consumers who verbally attack each other in response to COVID-19 service failures. The aim of this paper is to uncover the sources of such conflicts and to gain an insight into the corresponding conflict moderation strategies that international brands adopt. Design/Methodology/Approach: Our methodology consists of non-participatory netnographic observations of 13 online brand communities (OBCs) on Facebook, using a purposeful sampling approach and a hybrid thematic analysis. Findings: The paper identifies five C2C conflict sources: brand attack, brand dissatisfaction, brand skepticism, brand contention, and brand defense; these are then classified as having either an individualistic (self-oriented) or collectivistic (other-oriented) orientation. We also uncover several moderation strategies: non-engaging, automated, bolstering, asserting (direct, indirect), and informing (factual, empathetic, apologetic), which are broadly categorized into two levels based on their passive versus active approach and authoritative versus cooperative orientation. The paper further highlights that brands adapt their moderation strategies to specific sources of C2C conflicts, thereby producing a range of OBC outcomes. Originality: We offer a novel framework to international marketing research, consisting of C2C conflict sources and corresponding moderation strategies that take place in response to service failures during the COVID-19 pandemic. These insights, in turn, inform international marketers about new ways of transforming the dark side of OBCs into a source of competitive advantage based on real-world brand practice. Practical implications: Our empirically informed framework comprising sources of undesirable C2C conflict and brand moderation strategies offers a practical tool that can aid marketing managers in nurturing civil customer-to-customer engagement and interactive behaviors in their OBCs. By adopting our framework, brand and marketing practitioners can tailor their communication strategies towards different sources of C2C conflict and minimize their adverse consequences, thus, fostering an overall constructive OBC engagement

Consumer’s intention of purchase sustainable products: the moderating role of attitude and trust

Awareness about environment has found its place in consumer's mind set. During the past decades, consumers considered issues such as environmental issues and social issues (e.g. label's right or child's right) while purchasing products. Hence, this group of consumers are looking forward the alternative products such as sustainable products which could be presuming environmental issues and social issues. Sustainability is a vital element which is a challenge for product developers nowadays. On the other hand, companies put efforts to meet the demand of this group of consumers where the competition is high. While, there are available sustainable products in the markets, consumer's intention of purchase these products is imprecise. Besides, the attributes of these products are not categorised yet by scholars. Therefore to understand consumer's intention, the present study aims (i) to categorise the sustainable products; (ii) to extract the influential factors on consumer's intention to purchase sustainable products; and (iii) to develop a conceptual model of consumer's intention to purchase sustainable products. By reviewing literature, the factors of belief, knowledge, attitude, company's sustainable responsibility (i.e. economic, environment and social), trust and perceive quality are founded to be as the influential factors on consumer's intention to purchase these products. Besides, the mediating roles of attitude and trust on consumer's intention to purchase sustainable products are considered in this paper. Eventually, the conceptual framework of consumer's intention to purchase sustainable products is proposed

Coalitions and their negative consequences: an examination in service failure-recovery situations

The social nature of customer experiences creates complex and potentially detrimental dynamics in failure situations, such as when other customers side with the complainer or the firm. The present research is the first to analyze such coalitions and their consequences. We conceptualize a triad composed of a complainer, a service employee, and one or multiple others as a third actor. A field study of consumer complaints on social media shows that coalitions occur in 32% of cases, negatively shifting the affective tone of an online conversation from approximately neutral to negative. Both third actor–complainer and third actor–service employee coalitions independently deteriorate the affective tone, their individual effects are not additive, and the third actor–complainer coalition exerts the larger impact of both coalitions. Two experiments reveal that complainers feel betrayed by the third actor when this actor sides with the service employee (vs. the complainer), which strengthens complainers’ satisfaction with taking steps as a recovery effort by the firm and weakens satisfaction with an offered apology. This research provides managerial insights into the practical significance of coalition effects, how coalitions impair firm response effectiveness, and under which conditions different responses sustain their effectiveness. It also presents several avenues for future research

Effects of go-green campaigns on changing attitude towards green behaviour

A lot of effort has been made by the Malaysian government via go-green campaigns to relay the importance of green behaviour to society. Go-green campaigns have been in force over the last three decades but the effectiveness of such campaigns is yet to be determined. This study seeks to uncover the association between the socio-demographic characteristics and the respondents' attitude towards green behaviour based on the information they received through the go-green campaigns. A structured questionnaire was designed as the instrument to gather data for this study. A conceptual model was developed to identify the variables that were likely to affect the respondents' attitude and decisions on adopting green behaviour. One thousand two hundred and six (1,206) respondents were administered randomly to discover their intention of performing green behaviour following the go-green campaigns. Chi-square and the binary logistic regression model were applied to answer the study objectives. The results show that selected socio-demographic profiles such as age and marital status significantly affect the respondents' intention towards performing green behaviour

Green behavior and sustainable consumption: a gratifying conclusion of environmental movement

Earth is currently facing severe degradation, from global warming, ozone layer depletion, and large scale pollution among other causalities. Majority of these depredating forces have been traced back to exploitive human behaviors (UNEP, 2012). However, the environmental movement which was developed to protect the environment against such exploitive human actions, demands a change in our behavior towards the environment. The increasing awareness brought upon consumers by this movement, on the effect of our behavior on the environment, (Jackson 2005) which supports the adoption of environment friendly behavior. The concern over environmental degradation as a movement, first started in the United States of America (U.S.A), Europe, and then Asia. In United States of America, the movement appeared for the first time during the 1960s and 1970s, partially after experiencing the drawbacks from use of modern technology, and the first oil crisis (Grunert and Juhl, 1995). During the twentieth century, several environmental groups made attempts to create awareness among public on environmental conservation. For instance, Rachel Carson’s bestseller book entitled “Silent Spring” focused on the hazardous effects of application of DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and other human activities on the ecosystem and the environment (Carson, 1962). The author attempted to explain how each and every human activity had a direct or indirect effect on the food chain, its ecosystem, and ultimately the environment. The observations made by Rachel Carson were supported by then President of the United States of America, President John F. Kennedy, who acknowledged the importance of her book and environmental movement for the nation and the world

Impact of go green campaign on green behaviour intention among consumers in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Go Green Campaigns are being widely implemented around the world to expose environmental issues to the public while raising awareness of the benefits of having a green behaviour on the environment. The Malaysian government has been promoting nationwide green behaviour in order to be on a par with the global green movement. At present Malaysia is going through a transformation to become a developed country. Both the government and the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been asked to conduct Go Green Campaigns to inform and educate the public on the benefits associated with acquiring green behaviour. Huge funding is allocated for this purpose by the government and NGOs have been asked to publicise the environmental degradation and change people‟s behaviour towards a greener one. The Go Green Campaigns are on-going activities which have become a trend in Malaysia. However, their effectiveness on the public‟s intention towards adopting a green behaviour is debateable. Thus this study intends to uncover the underlying factors that could influence the intentions of the Klang Valley residents to change their behaviour toward acquiring green behaviour. For this purpose the Theory of Planned Behaviour was adopted as the theoretical framework of this study. In total, 1206 respondents were interviewed by completing a structural questionnaire which gathered information on their attitudes towards Go Green Campaigns as well as their intention to behave in an environmentally friendly way. Chi-square analysis was employed to determine whether there is a significant difference between socio-economic and demographic factors towards the awareness and existence of Go Green Campaigns in Malaysia and the notion of green behaviour. The result of the first chi-square analysis shows that most of the socio-economic and demographic factors such as gender, race, and educational level have significant differences with regards to awareness of the existence of Go Green Campaigns in Malaysia. For the second chi-square analysis, the results show that some of the variables such as gender, marital status, and income level have significant differences with the awareness and knowledge of the green behaviour concept. Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to uncover the underlying factors that could influence the intentions of the respondents to perform green behaviour. Four latent factors were identified as influencing respondents‟ intention to put environmentally friendly behaviour into action. The 4 factors comprise of concern for the society, motivation, environmental concerns, and the importance of performing green behaviour. Binary logistic model procedure was applied to determine the extent of selected socio-economic/demographic characteristics and attitudes and also factors that influence the intentions of respondents to perform green behaviour. The results indicated that, the demographic factors such as gender, marital status, residential area, income level, and educational background and factors such as concern for the society and the importance of performing green behaviour are relevant in explaining the respondent‟s intention to perform green behaviour. Go Green Campaigns have proven to be successful in increasing the intention of the respondents to change their behaviour towards protecting the environment. However, the concern for the society is one of the most important factors to influence the intention of the respondents to practice green behaviour. These types of campaigns are helpful in terms of making the public aware of the importance of the environment and how people can help to protect it by adopting green behaviour. Gender also plays a very important role towards the decision to change the behaviour. Though Go Green Campaigns are implemented nationwide, people living in urban areas and people with higher educational levels show a greater intention to perform green behaviour. This indicates that Go Green Campaigns can influence people from any social background to acquire the intention to behave in an environmentally friendly way. Furthermore, though most of the respondents had a positive point of view towards Go Green Campaigns, there were still some people with other opinions. Even though Go Green Campaigns could be successful in building intention of going green among people but, these programmes still need a lot of improvements. It is better to design a careful curriculum to develop better qualified campaigns to keep people interested in them. One should try to inform people who do not have information about the Go Green Campaigns, and also motivate those who are not yet interested. Moreover, the campaign organiser should try to find the reasons why there are some people with a negative point of view or no interest. Based on this one can provide a better programme to them

Green products purchasing among Malaysian consumers (Preliminary study)

The world is facing with the environmental degradation. Mainly human behaviour is the responsible of this matter. Malaysian government as a part of the world tries to protect the environment. Along with this way, government aims to encourage the public to change their behaviour towards the environment. Therefore, government has been promoted green products for the desired consumers. This study as a primary one aims to discover the awareness of Malaysian people about the green products in the market. In addition, it is aimed to measure the likelihood of intention of consumers to purchase green products. Chi-square analysis and binary logistic regression were applied

Investigating the Influence of Factors Effective in Using Social Media on Improving E-Health Literacy of Citizens in Crisis

Introduction: Due to the prevalence of coronavirus, the role of media, especially social media, to inform about and increase health literacy is very important. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of factors effective in the use of social media on the level of e-health literacy of citizens in crisis. Method: In this descriptive-analytical study, 384 patients in Kermanshah province were selected using Morgan table. For this purpose, a two-part researcher-made questionnaire was used which included a demographic section and a specific section (using 5 variables) with 40 questions. The items in this questionnaire were scored using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Results: The findings revealed that 43.1% of the participants believed Corona had a great impact on their job and more than 40% of the participants also stated they obtained health information through the Internet. The results also showed that the relationship between the variables was significant (P <0.05). Conclusion: The highest correlation was observed between accessibility and popularity variables. This suggests that increasing access to social media will enhance the popularity of these media. The information obtained in this study demonstrated that up-to-dateness of media, accessibility, trust in social media, perceived value, and popularity are among the factors effective in the impact of social media on e-health literacy