The Dynamics of Store Hour Changes and Consumption Behavior: Results of a Longitudinal Study of Consumer Attitudes toward Saturday Shopping in Germany

Americans who travel internationally are often shocked to discover retail outlets closed during weekend and evening hours in cities such as Paris, Rome and Berlin. Fortunately, based on the implicit assumption that demand clearly exists, retailers at various locations throughout the globe have increased their hours of operation. While political debate regarding a variety of issues (costs, the rights of labor, religion, etc.) often rages, there has been an implicit assumption that latent demand for longer hours of operation exists. Our study investigates through a longitudinal examination consumer perceptions of Saturday shopping in a country where such an activity was previously restricted. Specifically, we study perceptions of Saturday shopping among a sample of German college students who were raised with limited Saturday shopping hours. Data were gathered in 1996 – the year German legislation allowed expanded hours for retailers – and again in 1999, and comparisons are made. Strong differences are found between consumer attitudes towards Saturday shopping at the time of expansion and three years later, indicating the need for differentiating retail strategies in Germany and in other parts of the world that may soon be providing similar expanded retail access.Agribusiness,

Why do many consumers prefer to pay now when they could pay later?

Payment timing is conceptualized as a payment characteristic useful in explaining motivations to prefer payment types. Cash, debit cards, and online banking represent consumers\u27 preferences to pay now, while credit cards and loans represent the inclination to pay later. Based on a grounded theory study, a payment‐timing model is developed to theorize consumers\u27 choices of payment types with differences in payment timing. The model presents four motivations for payment‐timing preferences: (1) the extent of rewards salience, (2) the perception of financial stress, (3) adopting heuristics for money management, and (4) the influence of perceived financial ability. Consumers choose payment‐timing options that best suit their financial strategy to manage payments in pursuit of their consumption objectives

Interest Domination as a Framework for Exploring Channel Changes in Transitional Economies

Changes in political and economic power can affect channel structures and decisions. Western channel models may not be useful for understanding the process of change in Central and East European transforming economies. This discussion suggests that channels in transforming economies may be controlled by groups or networks of people with mutual interests, a phenomenon the authors call interest domination. The article examines interest domination by managers, Communist cadres, and other party elite in two transforming economies and describes how structural and behavioral components of command economies might be conducive to interest domination of marketing channels. Propositions for explaining the political, social, and economic factors that sustain interest domination and contribute to change in interest-dominated channels are offered. Examples from Hungary and Tajikistan are used to provide context for the discussion

Interest Domination as a Framework for Exploring Channel Changes in Transitional Economies

Changes in political and economic power can affect channel structures and decisions. Western channel models may not be useful for understanding the process of change in Central and East European transforming economies. This discussion suggests that channels in transforming economies may be controlled by groups or networks of people with mutual interests, a phenomenon the authors call interest domination. The article examines interest domination by managers, Communist cadres, and other party elite in two transforming economies and describes how structural and behavioral components of command economies might be conducive to interest domination of marketing channels. Propositions for explaining the political, social, and economic factors that sustain interest domination and contribute to change in interest-dominated channels are offered. Examples from Hungary and Tajikistan are used to provide context for the discussion

When and how frontline service employee authenticity influences purchase intentions

In this manuscript, we investigate the central role of perceived frontline service employee (FSE) authenticity and the process by which it impacts purchase intentions, taking into account the represented brand\u27s authenticity. While brand authenticity has previously been shown to enhance consumer outcomes, we find that FSE authenticity is a separate significant predictor of purchase intentions. Further, we find that FSE authenticity enhances purchase intentions by increasing perceived trust and perceived quality. However, this finding only holds for brands that do not emphasize their authenticity, indicating that brand managers should differentially emphasize FSE authenticity based on their brand\u27s positioning. Furthermore, we investigate the robustness of these effects across both experience and credence services, and find that FSE authenticity is especially important in credence service contexts

Gender, Millennials, and leisure constraints: Exploring golf’s participation decline

This paper addresses the dearth of research regarding why the golf industry, specifically in the United States, is stagnating and, in some cases, losing participants. We focus on why Millennials are not playing golf to the same extent as previous generations. This is a conceptual paper, drawing upon literature in sports, leisure, gender, and marketing to track the current trends in sports participation, leisure, and household production to determine the constraints that might limit golf participation. In this paper, we highlight gender as an important social structure and conceptual lens for understanding social changes, particularly among Millennials, which could also contribute to the reductions in golf participation. We offer practical solutions for the golf industry to grow, especially among the Millennial audience. We suggest, among other actions, that golf should improve its appeal to the entire family

Gender, Millennials, and leisure constraints: Exploring golf’s participation decline

This paper addresses the dearth of research regarding why the golf industry, specifically in the United States, is stagnating and, in some cases, losing participants. We focus on why Millennials are not playing golf to the same extent as previous generations. This is a conceptual paper, drawing upon literature in sports, leisure, gender, and marketing to track the current trends in sports participation, leisure, and household production to determine the constraints that might limit golf participation. In this paper, we highlight gender as an important social structure and conceptual lens for understanding social changes, particularly among Millennials, which could also contribute to the reductions in golf participation. We offer practical solutions for the golf industry to grow, especially among the Millennial audience. We suggest, among other actions, that golf should improve its appeal to the entire family

Model Development Using Data from Germany and a Mixed-Methods Research Strategy

A pattern found in many marketing systems, “male breadwinning,” is contingent upon overlapping and shared ideologies, which influence the economic organization and thus the type and number of relationships in those systems. Implementing a mixed-methods research methodology, this article continues and extends previous work in macromarketing on the interplay of markets, ideology, socio-economic organization, and family. A qualitative study illuminated the main ideologies behind male breadwinning and a model was developed to advance the theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of male breadwinning. An experiment in the form of a vignette study was subsequently designed and administered. The qualitative study and the vignette study both show ideologies interact in the way individuals make sense of them or allow them to influence their decisions. The results have implications for the way families and markets are organized, such as the supply of labor of men and women and the offerings of care-related public and private services in a broader marketing system