RESEARCH ITEMS
SELECTED PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of competitive attitudes on in-game impulse purchase behaviors, focusing on the mediating role of the need for popularity and the moderating effect of social competence. Data collected from 234 participants via broadcasters on Discord and Twitch platforms was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and SmartPLS 4 software. The findings confirm that the need for popularity fully mediates the relationship between competitive attitudes and in-game impulse purchases. Moreover, social competence was found to moderate this relationship negatively, indicating that individuals with lower social competence are more influenced by their need for popularity when making in-game impulse purchases. These insights highlight the significant impact of social dynamics and individual psychological traits on consumer behavior in gaming environments. Furthermore, these results emphasize the ethical imperative for game developers to implement protective measures to safeguard consumers from the potential negative effects of in-game impulse purchases, providing implications for the development of targeted, responsible marketing strategies and game designs that address diverse gamer profiles. Click here to download the article
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Abstract
The consumer research literature has extensively explored the relationship between consumer vanity and various variables. However, little is known about the impact of consumer vanity on different consumer decision-making styles. This study aims to investigate the relative effect of appearance vanity and achievement vanity, two higher-order dimensions of consumer vanity, on consumers’ decision-making styles: social, undesirable, and utilitarian orientations. The data were collected from 319 young adults through an online survey. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results showed that the two forms of consumer vanity have different effects on different decision-making styles. Specifically, appearance vanity had a stronger effect on social orientation and undesirable orientation, while achievement vanity had a stronger effect on utilitarian orientation. This is also the first study that confirms the second-order structure for the consumer decision-making style inventory. The findings have been discussed in the context of the relevant literature, and recommendations have been provided for researchers and practitioners.
Abstract
Although the need for uniqueness has been extensively investigated by consumer researchers, food and tourism researchers have been silent on this promising research topic. This study examined food neophilia and ethnic food involvement as potential mediators of the association between tourists’ need for uniqueness (TNFU) and ethnic food purchase intention. Additionally, it was tested whether independent self-construal moderates this serial mediation effect. Results showed that the relationship between tourists’ need for uniqueness and ethnic food purchase intention was serially and positively mediated by food neophilia and ethnic food involvement. Furthermore, the moderated serial mediation effect was stronger at higher values of independent self-construal. Click here to download the article.
Keywords: Ethnic food involvement; Food neophilia; Food tourism; Independent self-construal; Moderated serial mediation; Tourists’ need for uniqueness.
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Purpose
Design/methodology/approach
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Originality/value
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Although it has been widely discussed in the literature, no scale has yet been developed to measure the consumption aspect of death. This study aims to develop a domain-specific death-related status consumption (DRSC) scale to bridge this gap in the field. Results reveal the following three dimensions of the scale: conspicuousness, planning, and showing respect. In four studies, which collate the views of 1,302 participants, both students and adults, the DRSC demonstrates internal consistency and validity across cultures (Turkey, the U.S., and culturally diverse sample). The importance of such a scale for the field is discussed. Click here to download the article
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Abstract
Consumer researchers specifically interested in popularity have generally focused on either product popularity or brand popularity but have been largely silent on the subject of the need for popularity. Although a large number of studies have examined reference group influence on consumer behaviors, no research has yet evaluated the need for popularity in the consumption context. With this aim, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the need for popularity on purchase decisions and impulse-buying behavior concerning fashion clothing. Accordingly, this study explores the relationships between fashion clothing purchase decision involvement, need for popularity and fashion-oriented impulse buying. Using a sample of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) participants (n = 333), this study finds that (1) the need for popularity positively influences purchase decision involvement and impulse-buying behavior concerning fashion clothing and (2) the involvement in purchase decisions concerning fashion clothing positively influences fashion-oriented impulse buying. This research advances the understanding of the need for popularity in the context of fashion consumption. Implications and limitations for future research are discussed and consumer researchers are called to pay attention to this promising research area. Click here to download the article
ABSTRACT
Despite the availability of several domain-specific instruments and its obvious drawbacks, it is interesting that the SERVQUAL scale is still used in health care settings. For this reason, the main aim of this study was to compare two different service quality scales in a health care setting. We compared the fit of the SERVQUAL model with a domain-specific model through confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS. The results showed that the domain-specific scale was superior to SERVQUAL within the context of a health care environment. We believe that using/modifying a generalized scale is not a good approach when we have domain-specific alternatives available.