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The purpose of this study is to examine generational differences in consumer Web 2.0 information source adoption for wine purchasing decisions, particularly social media and internet-based sources.

An online survey resulted in 276 responses from wine consumers residing in Texas, USA. Information source usage was tested in two common purchasing situations: for casual and formal consumption. Chi-square analyses and ANOVA were used to examine differences among the generational cohorts in their use of information sources, levels of objective and subjective wine knowledge, wine involvement and risk perception for the two purchasing situations.

Younger consumers were found to be significantly more inclined to use Web 2.0 information sources, such as wine blogs, wine applications, their contacts’ recommendations on social media and wine experts on social media. Older consumers were more likely to use their own wine knowledge. Of greater interest is that in terms of their reliance on various wine information sources, Generation X behaves as the bridge between Generation Y and Baby Boomers. Generational differences regarding wine involvement, wine knowledge and risk perception also support this notion.

The results of this study reinforce the need for wineries to adopt or create strategic initiatives using Web 2.0 elements. This study also suggests that depending on the purchasing context, consumers use certain information sources more than others.

This research extends the understanding of the information acquisition process by expanding the types of information sources, and also yields valuable insights for consumers’ off-premise wine purchasing decisions.

This purpose of the study was to examine the relevance of the presence of geographical information, specifically the certification of region of origin (ROO) on the wine label, in the consumer’s wine purchase decision. In addition, the research investigated how the relevance of ROO varies across demographic and behavioural market segments.

The data gathered via an online questionnaire from 434 South African wine consumers were analysed by employing both descriptive and inferential statistical methods.

The ROO of wine plays a secondary role in influencing consumers when faced with a purchasing decision on its own. However, as part of the composite regional variable, namely, grape variety, region and wine style, it plays a major role in influencing consumers. The specific wine grape variety emerged as the most important factor influencing consumers. It was also found that consumers with a high involvement and interest in wine assign a higher degree of relevance to certification of origin of wine than consumers with a low involvement.

Wine producers should strive to create a “lighthouse” identity in the minds of consumers. This can only be achieved if most, if not all, the wine producers in a specific geographical area consistently and authentically communicate the same message and offer products with a lighthouse identity to wine consumers.

This is the first study that examines the impact of ROO as an information cue on consumers’ wine purchase decision-making in South Africa. It is of value to academic researchers, wine marketing professionals and generic marketing organisations such as wine route organisations.

Snacking typically occurs as an automatic, consciously uncontrolled process which can lead to unintended health consequences. Grounded cognition informs about the multifaceted drivers of such automatic consumption processes. By integrating situation-, stimulus-, and person-specific factors, this study provides a holistic account of snacking.

A combined psychophysiological and behavioral experiment is conducted wherein participants can casually snack chocolate while participating in a survey setting. Implicit cognitions are assessed with the Implicit Association Test. The percentage of consumed chocolate serves as dependent variable in a Tobit regression with predictors at situation, stimulus and person level.

Chocolate snacking is positively influenced by personal craving tendencies, implicit food associations and situational contingency. We condense the results into an overarching framework in line with grounded cognition literature.

The multidimensional framework can guide consumer protection efforts to reduce excessive snacking habits based on situation, stimulus and person.

This study integrates theory from social cognition, consumer research, and behavioral food research and, thereby, extends the existing body of knowledge on grounded cognitions underlying snacking consumption.

The servicescape is increasingly being recognized as a function of two distinct components: physical and social. While these two dimensions have often been studied independently, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of both dimensions simultaneously in a fast casual restaurant context.

A sample of 1,110 fast casual restaurant patrons in the USA was collected. The data were analyzed using nested structural equation modeling.

The results suggest that both the social and the physical servicescape can affect consumption behavior in the fast casual restaurant industry and crowding can act a moderator of these relationships.

Theoretically, these results are significant because they suggest the importance of capturing a holistic account of the servicescape when conducting research on the consumption environment.

This study is among the first to examine the effect of the social servicescape (and specifically the effect of crowding) in fast casual restaurants. The results suggest that restaurateurs need to be mindful that crowding affects the relationship between social servicescape and satisfaction.

This research is the first to look at both aspects of the servicescape as drivers of consumer behavior in the fast casual dining segment. Additionally, this research makes a second contribution by assessing the effect of crowding on the servicescape-driven relationships inherent in the proposed model.

This study aims to identify and validate the different clusters of wine consumers in India based on the wine-related lifestyle (WRL) instrument. It also investigates how the identified clusters differ in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, income, education, employment and marital status.

The authors conducted a survey using a structured questionnaire to collect data from wine consumers in India. The number of participants totalled to 432. The authors first identified the clusters using latent profile analysis. The authors then used the decision tree analysis based on a recursive partitioning algorithm to validate the clusters. Finally, the authors analysed the relationship between the identified clusters and socio-demographic characteristics using correspondence analysis.

Three distinct segments emerged after data were subjected to latent profile analysis, namely, curious, ritualistic and casual. The authors found that the curious cluster had a high mean score for situational and social consumption while the ritualistic cluster had a high mean for ritualistic consumption. The findings also suggest that the casual cluster had more female wine consumers.

This study makes methodological contributions to the wine consumer segmentation approach. First, it adopts a latent profile analysis to profile Indian wine consumers. Second, it validates the obtained clusters using the decision tree analysis method. Third, it analyses the relationship between the identified clusters and socio-demographic variables using correspondence analysis, a technique far superior to the Chi-square methods.

This study seeks to examine the influence of hedonic and utilitarian values on customers' satisfaction and behavioural intentions for dining out in the context of fast-casual restaurants in Iran.

A total of 379 surveys were collected (342 deemed usable) from respondents who had experienced dining out in a fast-casual restaurant at least once within one month prior to the survey collection time. A research model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine the research hypotheses.

Results of the study revealed that both hedonic and utilitarian values significantly influenced satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Besides, satisfaction was also found to have a significant positive influence on behavioural intentions. The study also showed that utilitarian value has a more powerful influence on the behavioural intention of customers in the context of fast food restaurants.

The main limitation of this study pertains to the sample which is collected from a limited section of the society with high level of education. This study helps to expand the body of literature on the behaviour of young customers in developing countries. Besides, the current study has also contributed to theory by examining the usefulness of two distinct structures of consumer service values, namely hedonic and utilitarian.

This study expands the understanding of owners/managers in the food and hospitality industry about the influence of distinct value types on customers' satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

This study examined two distinct structures of consumer service values on the behavioural intentions of customers from a developing country. Since the structure of the fast food industry is different from most other countries, in that none of the giant fast food chain restaurants operate in Iran, the results of this study can provide invaluable insights from a different perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how family communication patterns and lifestyles are linked to purchases of sports shoes and casual clothing for young adults.

The survey was conducted in 2005, and total valid samples were 576. Differences in purchasing decisions among various segments of young adults are analysed for two product categories: sports shoes and casual clothing.

This study segments the respondents into two clusters, pragmatic and fashion‐cognisant. The family communication patterns for respondents in the pragmatic cluster are more likely to be low concept‐oriented, Protective and Laissez‐faire. The respondents in the pragmatic cluster purchase sports shoes and casual clothing less frequently, and pay less attention to marketing‐related information. The fashion‐cognisant respondents pay special attention to the marketing‐related information and brands can be influential in decisions. These fashion‐cognisant young adults are considered to be opinion leaders, and purchase sports shoes and casual clothing more frequently with higher budgets. The family communication patterns of respondents in this cluster are high concept‐oriented: Pluralistic and Consensual.

Strategic marketing designed to attract pragmatic young adults can follow two directions: atmosphere in stores and discounts. For young adults who are fashion‐cognisant, directions of strategic marketing are to strengthen the brand image and utilise advertising to disseminate information.

This study provides new insights into the area that has not been studied exclusively, the linkages of family communication patterns and lifestyles to purchases of sports shoes and casual clothing.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically examine a consumer perceived value (CPV) formation model in the context of the US casual sportswear market. The effects of investigated contingency factors on perceived values are empirically determined.

CPV was measured by four dimensions: price, quality, social and emotional values. The investigated contingency factors included gender, age, race, income level, and retailer type. The primary data were gathered by a nation‐wide survey of US consumers and the applied statistical techniques were exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis.

The statistical analysis of 4,949 eligible survey responses shows that four value dimensions accounted for 77 percent of CPV variance. For the effects of contingency factors, race did not significantly affect the formation of any perceived values. In contrast, gender, income level, and retailer type significantly affected perceived price and emotional values, while perceived quality value was significantly affected by all contingency factors except race, and perceived social value was only significantly affected by age and income level.

Incorporation of gender, income level, and retailer type information in developing marketing strategies can help companies more effectively convey price and emotional values to consumers. In contrast, information relating to gender, age, income level, and retailer type should be considered in marketing quality value to consumers, while age and income level information is more critical for properly marketing social value to consumers.

Companies need to know, more than ever, about how consumers are redefining their values, as the current economic crisis has dramatically changed consumer preference. This study responded to this emerging need and provided timely empirical evidence.

With almost half of college undergraduates engaging in friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs), the current study sought to explore the sexual decision making strategies and potential physical and psychological health outcomes behind these relationships.

Using self-report measures, Study 1 asked 207 undergraduates to rate the importance of motivations, maintenance rules, and future outcomes of FWBRs in their own personal experience and for other men and women. Study 2 sampled 142 undergraduate women who were asked to indicate the percentage of time they engaged in sexual behavior under the influence of alcohol or marijuana and the frequency with which they used safe sex practices in an FWBR.

Both genders appeared equally motivated to begin an FWBR; however women reported establishing permanence rules and avoiding over-attachment in the relationship as significantly more important than men. Men were more likely to prefer that the FWBR remain unchanged, however both genders agreed that a transition to a committed relationship was unlikely. Alcohol use was not significantly more prevalent in an FWBR, nor was the likelihood of practicing safe sex.

Both studies employed the use of self-report surveys from a single university and were subject to social desirability.

Quantitatively examining young adults’ reasoning behind choosing to engage in FWBRs provided insight into their overarching fear of “being hurt” and their preference for “easy access” to sexual experiences. These trends may suggest a shift in dating patterns and a preference for avoiding the emotional complexities of a committed, monogamous relationship.