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This study examines how consumer involvement with apparel influences perceptions of an apparel product (T‐shirt) presented in a print advertisement. Consumer involvement with apparel was examined in relation to three advertisement response concepts: attitude toward the advertisement, product attribute beliefs, and product attitude. Also as part of the study, three dimensions of apparel involvement were tested (fashion, comfort, and individuality). Finally, an advertising processing model that integrates apparel involvement with the three advertisement response concepts was tested. A convenience sample of students attending a midwestern university in the USA participated in data collection. Respondents were presented with a full‐page advertisement for a fictitious brand of apparel and answered items on the questionnaire. Findings confirmed that dimensions of apparel involvement shaped consumer attitudes. A combination of apparel involvement dimensions (fashion, individuality, and comfort) influenced consumer beliefs about product attributes in the advertisement. In terms of gender differences, the comfort variable showed to be a stronger component of apparel involvement for men and women tended to be more involved in fashion. Findings also supported relationships among advertisement response variables previously tested by scholars. Product attribute beliefs and ad attitude were significant in product attitude formation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the product attribute beliefs of ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee beverages (i.e. content sensory, packaging and branding, and content functional attributes) on perceived value (i.e. utilitarian and hedonic value) and repurchase intention.

In the study survey, 401 participants who had purchased RTD coffee beverages within the previous month were included. Structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the survey data.

The findings indicate that consumers of RTD coffee beverages form utilitarian and hedonic value perceptions through content sensory, packaging and branding, and content functional attribute beliefs. Furthermore, utilitarian value is one of the most crucial determinants of repurchase intentions. The findings further reveal that whereas content functional attribute beliefs have a dominant influence on utilitarian value, content sensory attribute beliefs have a greater influence on hedonic value.

The findings of this study can serve as a reference for RTD coffee beverage companies to develop new products and communication strategies.

Consumers’ product evaluations are often influenced by information contained in their memories. Prior to product evaluations, consumers are often exposed to data that permits them to judge the covariation relationships among different product attributes. However, these attribute covariance perceptions may lead to biased product evaluations. Using an experimental design, this study examines the accuracy of consumers’ product attribute covariance beliefs as a function of their product experience and the relevancy of product information to which they are exposed prior to evaluating product performances. The results indicate that even limited product information affects consumers’ beliefs about product performances on attributes for which no information is available. In other words, specific product information may serve as a cue or indicator for other product characteristics via attribute covariance inferences. The accuracy of these inferences appears to be, at least partly, the function of the consumers’ product experience. Consumers with high levels of product experience are more effective at encoding and retrieving product attribute performance information. Implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of unsubstantiated claims that a product is “ecological.”

A between-subjects experimental design was used in which the absence versus the presence of an (unsubstantiated) ecological claim regarding a product was a manipulated factor. The design comprised four products, representing non-ingestible/ingestible products and familiar/unfamiliar brands. These two aspects were seen as potentially moderating factors with respect to the impact of ecological claims.

The results show that ecological product claims boosted beliefs that a product is indeed ecological. This influence was not moderated by non-ingestible/ingestible and familiar/unfamiliar product characteristics. Moreover, ecological product claims enhanced conceptually related product beliefs, namely, beliefs that the product is natural, environmentally friendly and healthy. Ecological claims also had a positive impact on the attitude toward the product.

The results imply that influencers who want a receiver to believe that a product is ecological can expect to be successful by merely claiming that a product is ecological.

From a societal point of view, however, and in an era in which “alternative facts” and “post-truths” are becoming the subject of increasing concern, the results are problematic, because they underline that customers can be made to believe in claims even though no supporting evidence is provided.

The results imply that influencers who want a receiver to believe that a product is ecological can expect to be successful by merely claiming that a product is ecological. From a societal point of view, however, and in an era in which “alternative facts” and “post-truths” are becoming the subject of increasing concern, the results are problematic, because they underline that customers can be made to believe in claims even though no supporting evidence is provided.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a picture of the current image and consumer beliefs of European food in mainland Chinese consumers’ minds.

A web-based survey was conducted for data collection in December 2013 with 541 participants from two Chinese cities: Shanghai and Xi’an. The participants reported about the image of European food and characterized European food according to 14 items for product-related beliefs and 18 items for perceived profiles. Descriptive analysis, cluster analysis and partial least squares regression were employed for data analyses.

Findings show that European food has a unanimously positive image among mainland Chinese consumers. Three consumer segments were distinguished based on attribute beliefs about European food: a positive-beliefs segment, a negative-beliefs segment and an unfamiliar segment. The characteristics of typical European food consumers were high income, having long overseas experience, having visited Europe or living in a big and developed city. In addition, “safe” and “upscale” were the most important attribute beliefs driving mainland Chinese consumers to have a positive image of European food; while “unfamiliar” and “sweet” were the most negative drivers of European food’s image.

This is the first study to present information about consumer beliefs, general image and consumer segments in relation to European food in mainland China. These insights can help European food marketers to better understand mainland Chinese consumers and the current image of their products in mainland China so that they can develop effective marketing strategies for this huge and potential food market.

This paper examines the differential effects of country‐of‐manufacture information on product beliefs and attitudes for brands with different levels of brand equity. Results show that when there is congruence between brand origin and country of manufacture (e.g. a Sony television that is made in Japan), the latter information has no significant effect on product beliefs and global product attitude. When country‐of‐manufacture information indicates that a branded product is made in a country with a less reputable image than that of the brand origin (e.g. a Sony television that is made in Mexico), the information produces more negative effects on product evaluations for low equity brands than high equity brands. These results can be attributed to two different perceptual processes through which incongruent country‐of‐manufacture information affects product evaluations for brands with different levels of brand equity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine young female consumers' purchase behaviours related to non‐food fair trade products. Interrelationships among beliefs, attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and purchase intentions in regard to fair trade products were examined within a framework of the theory of planned behaviour to arrive at an in‐depth understanding of young female consumers' fair trade consumption.

Using a probability sampling approach, 810 complete responses were collected via web‐based surveys from 18‐28 year old female college students at a large Midwestern university. Path model analysis was employed to test the proposed model and research hypotheses.

The results revealed that young female consumers' beliefs about the fair trade concept and product attributes, attitudes toward fair trade purchases, and perceived behavioural control in regard to fair trade purchases, were all important factors in determining consumers' intentions to purchase a fair trade product.

Several important strategic implications emerged in this study for fair trade retailers targeting young female consumers. The generalization of the findings to the US population may be limited because the data were collected from a small to medium‐sized community with a fair trade specialty store.

This study focused on providing insights for a previously unaddressed fair trade consumer segment – a younger female consumer group between ages 18 and 28. The results of this study may provide insight to artisan producers and retailers in expanded opportunities to distribute, market, and promote fair trade products to this consumer segment.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on tropical fruits, both in fresh and processed form, and on the influence of socio‐demographic, psychosocial and socio‐environmental factors on their consumption and purchasing intention.

A questionnaire‐based survey (n=290) was used to gain insight in the perceived importance of different food choice determinants (i.e. familiarity with tropical fruits, attitude and beliefs towards this food category, influence of social norm and socio‐demographic characteristics), and their role on the intention to purchase tropical fruits. Data analysis consisted of descriptive analyses and statistical validation.

Familiarity with tropical fruits differs and depends on consumers' product‐related experiences. Tropical fruits are perceived as nutritious, healthy, good in taste, attractive and special. Socio‐demographic characteristics, such as gender, place of living and travel experience outside Europe, associate with product familiarity, consumers' general attitude and beliefs, and the purchasing intention of tropical fruits.

This paper covers a previously rather unexplored, even neglected research topic, namely consumers' attitude and behavioural intention towards fresh and processed tropical fruits.

There is much research suggesting that the image consumers hold about a product’s country of origin can influence their purchase decision, but little empirical work has focused on the underlying cognitive processing. A flexible model is devised and tested to represent country image processing, using data from large samples of US and Japanese consumers. In addition to strongly supporting the validity of the model, results suggest that country image cognitive processing is significantly more complex than previously thought, and that culture appears to play an important role in purchase decisions. The flexible model represents a substantive improvement in the depiction of cognitive processing regarding country‐of‐origin image.

The purpose of this article is to determine the relative importance of the ecological attribute when other attributes referring to the functional performance of a brand are taken into account, and check the effectiveness of environmental labels.

The paper establishes an experiment in which 352 women responsible for the household shopping are exposed to different levels of environmental information. The study analyses the effect said information has on product attitude and purchase intention. In order to transmit the information, a leaflet specifically designed for the research was used.

This study confirms the presence of a positive effect of environmental associations on brand attitude, though this effect is smaller than that of other functional attributes. It also demonstrates that using independent environmental certifications strengthens beliefs in the product's ecological performance.

The use of washing powder can limit the feasibility of extrapolation of the results to other products. Therefore, a replication in other product categories is necessary/advisable.

In the light of the results, using environmental associations certified by independent bodies is recommended. This would help improve both brand attitude and brand equity.

This paper increases the knowledge about the precise commercial usefulness of environmental associations in relation with other attributes.