Search results

This study aims to investigate the impact of customer perceptions of Augmented Reality (AR) attributes such as augmentation, interactivity and vividness on attitudes towards AR mobile apps, virtual product and behavioural intentions. Also, the mediation role of customer engagement in the effect of perceptions of AR attributes on attitudes and behavioural intentions is examined using the Theory of Interactive Media Effects.

The study used a cross-sectional design. A total of 456 valid data were collected from the Millennials and Generation Z cohorts using purposive sampling. The conceptual framework was assessed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and Partial Least Squares-Multi Group Analysis (PLS-MGA).

The research revealed that customer perceptions of AR features such as augmentation, interactivity and vividness significantly influenced customer engagement, leading to favourable attitudes towards both the AR mobile app and the Virtual product as well as behavioural intentions. Furthermore, the study substantiates the role of customer engagement as a mediator in the relationship between customer perceptions of AR attributes and both attitudinal and behavioural outcomes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to investigate the significance of perceived augmentation as an antecedent to customer engagement and the mediating role of customer engagement on the influence of perceptions of AR attributes on attitudinal and behavioural intention.

In this study, the impact of owner-operator and non-owner operator rice mills on productive efficiency is investigated.

Primary data collected from a survey of 111 rice mills in the Mwea region of Kenya are used. A metafrontier approach is employed to measure overall technical efficiency which is decomposed into managerial and organisational efficiency.

The results reveal no significant difference in overall technical and managerial efficiency between owner and non-owner operated mills. However, a significant difference exists in organisational efficiency of mills: non-owner operated mills were found to be performing significantly better than owner-operated.

The authors provide supporting evidence to the study and discuss some of the significant policy implications stemming from the study.

It is recognised that for owners to take the risk of divesting control to a hired manager rather than manage the firm themselves can have major strategic, financial and often emotional consequences. However, there is little empirical evidence on how production efficiency will develop as a result of hiring a manager with the underlying economic theory providing ambiguous guidance. Standard economic theory assumes that firms behave as profit maximisers, which can be achieved by operating efficiently. However, this may not always be the case and as the literature indicates, this may especially be so for small businesses in low- and middle-income countries.

This study aims to fill the gap between academia and reality by empirically confirming the effect of moral preferences on consumer responses (purchase intention) to fashion companies’ unethical activities. This study also explores the moderating effect of collectivism and individualism on the paths from moral preferences to purchase intention.

Respondents read a stimulus passage describing unethical activities of imaginary fashion brand A and the economic benefits of purchasing/using the brand's products. Then, they were asked to answer questions about homo moralis, homo economicus, individualism, collectivism and purchase intention.

Homo moralis significantly and negatively influenced respondents’ purchase intention. Homo economicus significantly and positively affected purchase intention. Collectivism further increased the negative influence of homo moralis on purchase intention. In contrast, individualism increased the positive effect of homo economicus on purchase intention.

The scope of future research should include various products and explore variables that help consumers perceive that the ethical issues of the industry are deeply related to themselves. Studies should also examine the intention not to purchase products from unethical companies as an outcome variable. The economic aspect that responds to incentives affects purchase intention more strongly than the moral aspect of consumers, which helps explain the behavior of consumers who think of themselves as ethical but purchase products from unethical companies.

This study can help fashion companies establish strategies such as corporate social responsibility that will lead to a positive effect on consumers’ purchase intention.

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate scales measuring two consumer moral preferences: Homo moralis and Homo economicus.

This research includes four sequential studies. Before the first study, items were established through a comprehensive literature review and pre-test. Four studies were then conducted to verify the validity and reliability of the scales following the scale validation methodology suggested by Churchill (1979) and Anand and Kaur (2018). Study 1 employed exploratory factor analysis to extract the underlying factor structure of the scale. This led to a two-factor structure with sufficient evidence of internal reliability. Study 2 and Study 3 were conducted to confirm the reliability and the validity of the scale using confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha. The final study established the predictive validity of the scale using a structural equation model.

Finally, seven items were developed measuring consumers' moral preferences for Homo moralis and Homo economicus.

This research has some limitations that should be addressed in future research. First, the scale was only tested in a Korean context. Second, this study was not conducted in the context of a specific industry.

This study extends the range of research to an empirical field by practically verifying how these two preferences are independent, can be generalized and can influence human behavior. This study empirically demonstrates that the preferences affect human behavior such as purchase intention. This study extends the current knowledge on Homo moralis and Homo economicus by providing a scale for empirical validation of the concepts.