Search results

This study aims to determine the antecedents and consequences of information source choice to support a purchase decision for services high in experience attributes.

The authors conduct two studies to test their propositions. Study 1 is a single-category application using data from a national survey of 974 consumers who recently made a hotel-stay purchase/reservation. Correspondence analysis was used to identify search patterns, and regression analysis was used to identify their antecedents and influence on search outcomes. Study 2 is a cross-category study using data from a survey of 422 MTurk respondents reporting on search processes across six different services contexts, including hotel reservations. In this study, the authors seek generalization of their results to other services categories.

The authors identify four dimensions that characterize what information sources consumers, on average, use together when purchasing services. It is found that loyalty program membership and consistency in service delivery across a brand’s outlets for the brands in a consumer’s evoked set are important determinants of search patterns. Search patterns partially mediate the impact of consumer characteristics, choice context and choice set characteristics on search effort and, ultimately, on price paid.

An understanding of the factors that are associated with consumers’ choices of information sources and whether these choices are systematically related to search outcomes has implications for market segmentation and for marketers’ initiatives with respect to what information content to emphasize across sources.

The contribution is an understanding of the antecedents and consequences of consumer search patterns – and what information sources consumers tend to use together, considering the diversity of both internet and non-internet sources. There are limited insights in the services literature regarding how the internet impacts information search processes.

The research reported here was a first attempt to determine where Chinese children as consumers learn information about new products and their attitudes toward different sources of information. Chinese children’s usage of the mass media was also examined, as was the relationship between mass media usage and information sources. The findings show that Chinese children utilize a wide variety of information sources to learn about new products including parents, retail outlets, and the mass media, and surprisingly they consider the newest medium, television, to be the most important of all. The effects of gender, age and family occupation were also considered. Some important marketing implications are suggested.

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.

China, Japan, and the USA represent three of the world's most important teen apparel markets. The purpose of this study is to consider the sources of apparel brand information utilized by 14‐ to 17‐year olds in these three nations. Nine hypotheses are developed based on the interpersonal influence and the individualism/collectivism constructs.

Respondents include public high school students between 14 and 17 years of age from the nations of China, Japan and the USA.

Chinese teens report a greater likelihood to use their parents as apparel information sources than do the US and Japanese teens. Of the three groups, the US teens report the greatest likelihood of using marketer based information sources (i.e. advertising and salespersons).

The findings suggest the need to develop specific apparel marketing strategies directed at teens targeted in these nations.

Few, if any, studies have examined differences between Asian and US teens in their apparel information source usage.

This study aims to investigate on access and communication of COVID-19 information among Tanzanians.

Quantitative methods were applied to identify a total of 636 respondents.

Results show that the majority (86.9%) of respondents seek information on COVID-19. Gender, age, education and marital status did not influence individual’s information-seeking behaviour. Respondents largely used social media, particularly WhatsApp, to communicate. Respondents prefer blending professional and traditional information to combat COVID-19. The majority (51%) of respondents indicated that COVID-19 information was not communicated ethically. Employed people are more likely to ethically communicate information on the pandemic in social media.

Findings imply that novelty of the pandemic has enhanced active information-seeking behaviour. Respondents rely on multiple information sources to seek and collaboratively communicate COVID information. Employment status is associated with respondents’ information-seeking behaviour. Audio-visual sources are mostly preferred and relied in communicating information on the pandemic. Social media usage has enhanced timely and appropriate decision-making measures to tackle the COVID menace. Level of education has an influence on the use of credible sources and ethical communication of information on the pandemic. Utilization of COVID-19 preventive information was not statistically associated with socio-demographic variables. Availability of information infrastructures, particularly the internet, influences access, use and clear informed decision on prevention and treatment of COVID-19 disease.

The study contributes to knowledge and literature on response and preventive measures on COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries.

Within standards for bibliographic description, common usage has served as a prominent design principle, guiding the choice and form of certain names and titles. In practice, however, the determination of common usage is difficult and lends itself to varying interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the presence and role of common usage in bibliographic description through an examination of previously unexplored connections between common usage and the concept of warrant.

A brief historical review of the concept of common usage was conducted, followed by a case study of the current bibliographic standard Resource Description and Access (RDA) employing qualitative content analysis to examine the appearances, delineations and functions of common usage. Findings were then compared to the existing literature on warrant in knowledge organization.

Multiple interpretations of common usage coexist within RDA and its predecessors, and the current prioritization of these interpretations tends to render user perspectives secondary to those of creators, scholars and publishers. These varying common usages and their overall reliance on concrete sources of evidence reveal a mixture of underlying warrants, with literary warrant playing a more prominent role in comparison to the also present scientific/philosophical, use and autonomous warrants.

This paper offers new understanding of the concept of common usage, and adds to the body of work examining warrant in knowledge organization practices beyond classification. It sheds light on the design of the influential standard RDA while revealing the implications of naming and labeling in widely shared bibliographic data.

Though the marketing literature offers an abundance of research on the topics of perceived risk, information search, and purchase intentions, very few researchers have empirically examined these constructs in the context of services. This research explores the linkages among these three constructs when services are classified on the basis of search, experience, and credence attributes. Specific hypotheses are developed and tested. The results of this study indicate that perceived risk increases along a continuum from search to experience to credence service purchases. Other hypotheses relating to information search length, information sources, behavioral intentions, and service attributes, received moderate support. Finally, managerial implications of the study were provided, along with directions for future research.

This paper seeks to identify information enabling and supporting production ramp‐up processes, by exploring critical events and the role of information in such events.

The research approach was based on empirical and theoretical investigations. A selection of 30 events, considered the most critical for production ramp‐up realization and/or performance at one Swedish automotive company, were categorized and constituted the base for the analysis which focused information types and sources enabling event handling.

Information enabling event handling is a balanced combination of problem and domain information, regardless of event category. However, a differentiation concerning preference and usage of information types between experienced and less experienced personnel is identified. Problem‐solving information has the character of pragmatic information, composed of complementary parts of confirmation and novelty in terms of domain and problem information. The preferred information source in all event categories was “other people”.

The study focuses on the application of information in relation to critical events during production ramp‐up. General information theory is not addressed in depth.

Information type and information source are not dependent on certain event categories, which allows a general information strategy enabling production ramp‐up. To facilitate production ramp‐up and event handling managers and key personnel need to apply a holistic perspective and need to be updated on domain information of the products, the equipment, and the production process during production ramp‐up.

The originality is in the focus and role of information to achieve an efficient production ramp‐up performance. A supporting model is developed which describes the structure of pragmatic information for personnel with various levels of experience, regardless of event category.

Measures are comparable if and only if measurement equivalence has been demonstrated. Although comparability and equivalence of measures are sometimes used interchangeably, we advocate a subtle but important difference in meaning. Comparability implies that measures from one group can be compared with measures from another group. It is a property of the measures, which is given or not. In particular, comparability presumes valid measures within each group compared. Measurement equivalence, by contrast, refers to the way measures are derived and estimated. It is intrinsically tied to the underlying theory of measurement. Thus, measurement equivalence cannot be dealt with in isolation. Its assessment has to be incorporated into the theoretical framework of measurement. Measurement equivalence is closely connected to construct validity for it refers to the way manifest indicators are related to the latent variable, within a particular culture and across different cultures. From this it follows that equivalence cannot, or should not, be treated as a separate issue but as a constitutive element of validity. A discussion of measurement equivalence without addressing validity would be incomplete.