Search results
1 – 10 of 98Jasmine Williams, Juliet Memery, Philip Megicks and Mark Morrison
The purpose of this paper is to identify, and explore the importance of, ethical and socially responsible (ESR) factors in Australian consumers' choices of grocery products and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify, and explore the importance of, ethical and socially responsible (ESR) factors in Australian consumers' choices of grocery products and stores.
Design/methodology/approach
Following an earlier study in the UK, an initial qualitative investigation, then a survey of grocery shoppers in New South Wales, was conducted. Factor analysis explored the structure of the choice factors for grocery products and stores in “main” and “top‐up” shopping situations. Finally, four multiple regression equations measured the effects of these factors.
Findings
This paper finds that, when “top‐up” shopping, ESR consumers are less discriminating than when “main” shopping. The provision of ethically farmed produce has most influence on store choice when “main” shopping, while retailers' fair trading and environmentally responsible policies have the greatest influence when “topping‐up”. The ethical provenance of goods is the most important factor in product choice.
Research limitations/implications
The constructs developed need to be validated internationally.
Practical implications
The two large Australian retail grocers may benefit by developing roles as “choice editors” on behalf of their ESR customers; whilst smaller retailers may gain advantage by concentrating on community‐based, environmentally friendly and fair trading policies. Manufacturers of grocery products may benefit by emphasizing their products' ESR provenance and their organisations' ethical policies.
Originality/value
This is the first study of its kind in Australia. It contributes to the development of an internationally relevant set of ESR shopping choice factors.
Details
Keywords
Juliet Memery, Phil Megicks and Jasmine Williams
Despite growing awareness of ethical and social responsibility (E&SR) issues in academia and industry, investigation of their influence on consumers' buying decisions has been…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite growing awareness of ethical and social responsibility (E&SR) issues in academia and industry, investigation of their influence on consumers' buying decisions has been limited. To help fill this gap, this paper reports the findings of a preliminary investigation to establish the key E&SR factors affecting grocery shopping behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
The study drew upon existing literature in the areas of ethics, social responsibility, shopping and store image to identify the individual elements of E&SR. An exploratory qualitative study of E&SR consumers (E&SRC) was then conducted, using seven focus groups, and a typology of key factors of concern to these consumers was derived from analysis.
Findings
The findings identify seven core categories, containing seventy‐one sub‐categories. These interlink to form three main clusters: food quality and safety, human rights and ethical trading, and environmental (green) issues. Shoppers trade off these E&SR factors against standard retail purchasing factors, in particular convenience, price and merchandise range when deciding which shops to use and what products to buy.
Research limitations/implications
The typology derived from this exploratory research may be used alongside conventional store image factors in future research, to help predict those factors that influence purchasing behaviour. Similarly, it may assist brand and retail managers in profiling, and meeting the needs of, E&SRC.
Originality/value
The research distinguishes differences in how shopper types vary in their behaviour, and proposes a set of implications for managers of the research and areas for further investigation.
Details
Keywords
To draw together the diverse and diffuse elements of previous research into the determinants of success in export marketing by SMEs.
Abstract
Purpose
To draw together the diverse and diffuse elements of previous research into the determinants of success in export marketing by SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
Groups of export marketing activities derived from the literature and preliminary qualitative fieldwork were incorporated in a questionnaire‐based survey of a purposive sample of small exporters in one region of the UK, measuring the frequency of their use against levels of export commitment, involvement, and experience.
Findings
Results contradict the traditional view that the longer a company has been exporting, the more likely it is to do well. The study provides evidence to encourage ambitious exporting SMEs to develop active and on‐going marketing and information‐gathering activities, and to dedicate specific financial and human resources to exporting.
Research limitations/implications
The highly focused approach to measuring the relationships between export marketing activities and company characteristics should ideally be further extended, in the context of a wide range of studies relating other organizational, managerial and environmental variables to export success.
Practical implications
The findings and conclusions alert marketing intelligence‐gatherers to the dangers of conventional assumptions about marketing practice, provide practical guidelines for planners of export marketing strategy, and could form the basis of an easily administered diagnostic tool, all in the SME context.
Originality/value
Focusing on behaviour rather than attitudes, the research provides a practical set of criteria against which SME activities can be measured.
Details
Keywords
This study focuses on the use of export marketing information in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), an area that has previously attracted little academic research…
Abstract
This study focuses on the use of export marketing information in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), an area that has previously attracted little academic research attention. It reports on the application of scales measuring instrumental/conceptual and symbolic export information use, using a random sample of UK exporters, to SME exporters of engineering and IT products. The results show that the scales are applicable within the specific context of the industrial SMEs surveyed and that levels of symbolic export information use are higher in these SMEs than in UK exporting companies as a whole. The latter is explained as a function of a shortfall in two areas: first, in available export marketing information, leading to greater dependence on “guesswork” and intuition; and second, in specialist marketing information‐processing skills on the part of SME export decision makers. The article concludes by appealing for an extension of export support for SMEs, to include the use of export information as well as simply its acquisition. It suggests that the scales tested here could be used both to diagnose the need for such SME support and to measure its effectiveness.
Details
Keywords
Ali Kazemi, Seyedeh Fatemeh Ghasempour Ganji and Lester W. Johnson
The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically how the two kinds of strategic orientations including export market orientation (EMO) and technology orientation (TO) predict…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically how the two kinds of strategic orientations including export market orientation (EMO) and technology orientation (TO) predict innovation performance (IP) and export performance (EP), by investigating the mediation effect of IP and the moderation effect of external network (EN).
Design/methodology/approach
The statistical population of this research is the food and agricultural products exporting firms which participated in the 26th International Agrofood Exhibition in Tehran, Iran. The sample of 296 managers filled out questionnaires using systematic random sampling methods. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.
Findings
Results demonstrate that the increase of EMO and IP is related to a rise in EP. Furthermore, the research finds that IP is a partial mediator in the link between EMO and EP. Finally, the moderation impact of the external networks in an association between TO and IP is supported by the data.
Originality/value
This study is one of the limited number of studies to consider the mediation impact of innovation performance in the relationship between EMO and EP, and it is actually the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to investigate the moderating impact of EN in the relationship between TO and IP in the context of one developing country.
Details
Keywords
Feten Arfaoui, Ines Kammoun and Imen Ben Slimene
This research aims to explore the perceived usefulness of audited social information in making economic decisions, in the eyes of both Tunisian financial analysts and bankers.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to explore the perceived usefulness of audited social information in making economic decisions, in the eyes of both Tunisian financial analysts and bankers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct an exploratory qualitative study using twelve semi-structured interviews: seven are carried out with financial analysts, and five are performed among bankers.
Findings
This study’s results reveal that financial analysts and bankers paid little attention to the audited social information in making investment/credit granting decisions. The authors also show that the low perceived usefulness of social audit is due to many reasons related to political, economic, regulatory, educational, cultural and cognitive factors.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the current literature in several ways. First, it enriches the knowledge about the perceived usefulness of social audit. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the perception of financial analysts and bankers to audited social information and its usefulness for decision-making. Second, the focus on the Tunisian context is interesting as it was marked, since the outbreak of the Jasmine Revolution, by the uncertainty and the instability of political, economic and social conditions. Third, this research goes further by exploring the most important factors affecting the perceiveness of social auditing.
Details
Keywords
Although the extant literature has already recognised the negative impact of homebound responsibilities on women's entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is yet to know…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the extant literature has already recognised the negative impact of homebound responsibilities on women's entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is yet to know whether and how the family has any other role in women's businesses during this critical period. This research aims to explore the patronising and patriarchal roles of the family regarding women's small businesses in a developing nation during the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This feminist study is based on the interviews of women business-owners of a highly patriarchal developing nation, Bangladesh. During the period of the interview, Bangladesh was one of the top ten regions of the world in terms of the identified coronavirus cases.
Findings
The research unveils work-family enrichment by illustrating the help of family members in meeting the challenges of the pandemic period regarding women's certain business activities, such as the innovative production process. Besides, the study reveals the assisting and, in some cases, the non-cooperative approaches of family members concerning additional homebound responsibilities that affect work-family conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
Whereas the existing literature on women's entrepreneurship regarding the family revolves around work-family conflict due to maternal or caregiving responsibilities during the COVID-19 period, this feminist study substantially contributes to the understanding by revealing how family members help women by getting involved in business activities. It further enriches the prevailing knowledge regarding assisting or hindering activities of family members concerning domestic activities that affect women's businesses during the pandemic.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details