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Reactance theory is applied to investigate consumer responses to “buy local” campaigns initiated by government to counteract the effects of an economic crisis, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustrative context.

A conceptual model is developed, aimed at revealing the extent to which “buy local” campaigns – explicitly justified by the need to fight an economic crisis – are likely to lead to (a) compliance (i.e. support for local products/retailers) or (b) freedom restoration (i.e. support for foreign products/retailers). The model is subsequently tested on samples of German (N = 265) and Italian (N = 268) consumers.

“Buy local” campaigns are likely to generate reactance amongst consumers and such reactance can lead to both non-compliance and, albeit less so, freedom restoration outcomes. At the same time, consumer ethnocentrism acts as a countervailing influence by attenuating the effects of generated reactance and its undesirable outcomes.

Psychological reactance theory offers a novel perspective for conceptually approaching the likely responses of consumers towards “buy local” campaigns and the empirical findings support the use of the theory in this context.

Policymakers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis need to be aware that “buy local” campaigns may, against their intended communication goals, result in non-compliance as well as consumer responses in the opposite direction. Thus, the reactance-generating potential of such campaigns needs to be explicitly considered at the planning/implementation stage.

The findings confirm the relevance of reactance theory as a conceptual lens for studying the effects of “buy local” campaigns and have important implications for domestic/foreign firms as well as for policy makers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis.

The purpose of the study is to highlight the relevance of reactance theory for modeling consumer responses to COVID restrictions. The study also aims to critically evaluate the appropriateness of the most established reactance model (the intertwined model) for studying reactance specifically in relation to freedom threats arising from measures aimed at combatting the spread of the pandemic.

Following a conceptual analysis of the intertwined model of reactance, structural equation modeling is applied to Rain's (2013) meta-analytic data to compare the model to alternative model specifications.

The analysis reveals both conceptual and statistical shortcomings of the intertwined model of reactance in its current/traditional form. It also draws attention to other model specifications that provide just as good statistical fit and offer promising alternative ways of modeling reactance in a COVID context.

The study is the first attempt to explicitly discuss conceptual and statistical problems associated with the most widely accepted model of reactance, illustrate these issues with specific reference to consumer reactions to COVID restrictions, identify alternative promising model specifications and suggest a respecification of the intertwined model.

Corporations are confronted with growing demands to take a stand on socio-political issues, i.e. corporate social advocacy (CSA), which affects their reputation in the public. Companies use different CSA message strategies, including calling the public to support and act on the issue they advocate. Using reactance theory, the authors investigate the impact of CSA messages with a call to action on corporate reputation in the case of a company's gender equality initiative.

A one-factorial (CSA message with or without a call to action) between-subjects experiment was conducted by surveying 172 individuals living in Switzerland. The CSA messages were created in the context of gender equality.

The authors' study indicates that CSA messages with a call to action compared to those without overall harmed corporate reputation due to individuals' reactance, which is higher for CSA messages with a call to action, negatively affecting corporate reputation. The impact of the CSA message strategy with a call to action on corporate reputation remains significant after controlling for issue alignment and political leaning.

Communicating about socio-political issues, especially taking a stand, is a significant challenge for corporations in an increasingly polarized society and has often led to backlash, boycotts and damage to corporate reputation. This study shows that the possible adverse effects of advocating for socio-political issues can be related to reactance. It emphasizes that companies advocating for contested issues must be more cautious about the message strategy than the issue itself.

This paper aims to investigate cross-gender effects of gender stereotypes in advertising. More specifically, it proposes that the negative effects found in studies of women’s reactions to stereotyped female portrayals should hold across gender portrayal and target audience gender.

In two experimental studies, the effects of stereotyped portrayals (vs non-stereotyped portrayals) across gender are compared.

The results show that advertising portrayals of women and men have a presumed negative influence on others, leading to higher levels of ad reactance, which has a negative impact on brand-related effects across model and participant gender, and for gender stereotypes in terms of physical characteristics and roles.

Whereas previous studies have focused on reactions of women to female stereotypes, the current paper suggests that women and men alike react negatively to stereotyped portrayals of other genders.

The results indicate that marketers can benefit from adapting a more mindful approach to the portrayals of gender used in advertising.

The addition of a cross-gender perspective to the literature on gender stereotypes in advertising is a key contribution to this literature.

The purpose of this paper is to present a model depicting the relationship between the behavioral intention of tourists in the conditions prevailing during a pandemic and other variables.

In constructing the research procedure, two measurements of tourist behavioral intention were taken into account, which were taken far apart in time. In verifying the developed model, the results of surveys of 1,615 people carried out in June 2021 and 917 people carried out in December 2021 were considered.

As a result of the habituation process, tourists show greater acceptance of the restrictions.

Information on the basis of which companies make management decisions plays a significant role in the creation of company value. In the tourism sector, the information concerns primarily consumer behavior.

Changes over time in risk perception, health protection motivation, and reactance due to perceived pandemic-related restrictions were taken into account in the context of behavioral intention towards tourism.

This research aims to study the recent changes in consumer behaviour and purchase pattern during the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 pandemic has forced consumers to stockpile, which has its own consequences. The article proposes the importance of “minimalism in consumption” to avoid greed in consumer behaviour.

The data are collected from consumers across India using an online survey during the first lockdown from March 2020 to May 2020. A simple random sampling technique is used for data collection, and the collected data are analysed using SPSS version 26.

The study states that there will be a shift in the purchase pattern of the consumers if lockdowns are imposed in the future or during any other crisis. However, at present, consumers have developed a stockpiling mentality fearing the unavailability of essentials.

Pandemic has stimulated a drastic change in consumer behaviour, which is a situational effect. Each crisis affects consumer behaviour in a different way. In this research, we have considered only fear, greed and anxiety in the light of Covid-19. On the other hand, the research intends to draw realistic conclusions based on consumers' experiences during the lockdown.

The study proposes solutions that will help marketers frame exclusive strategies for a future crisis. Analysing the change in consumer behaviour and the shift in purchase patterns will emphasize the importance of market research to know consumer expectations during a crisis situation in order to cater to their new demands.

Consumers who stockpile should realize the unavailability of goods to other consumers who are in need. They also have to understand the importance of “minimalism in consumption” during a crisis.

The data are collected during the most taxing crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic. Data are collected at the peak time of the first wave of Covid-19 in India, during a major shift in consumers' behaviour and purchase pattern. The article brings to the larger consciousness and also preaches a life lesson to all consumers to execute their responsibilities in consumption without over-demands and expectations.

The purpose of this paper is to show how the EStra-Many method works on optimization problems characterized by high-dimensionality of the objective space. Moreover, a comparison with a more classical approach (a constrained bi-objective problem solved by means of NSGA-II) is done.

The six reactances of a compensation network (CN) for a wireless power transfer system (WPTS) are synthesized by means of an automated optimal design. In particular, an evolutionary algorithm EStra-Many coupled with a sorting strategy has been applied to an optimization problem with four objective functions (OFs). To assess the obtained results, a classical genetic algorithm NSGA-II has been run on a bi-objective problem, constrained by two functions, and the solutions have been analyzed and compared with the ones obtained by EStra-Many.

The proposed EStra-Many method identified a solution (CN synthesis) that enhances the WPTS, considering all the four OFs. In particular, to assess the synthesized CN, the Bode diagram of the frequency response and a circuital simulation were evaluated a posteriori; they showed good performance of the CN, with smooth response and without unwanted oscillations when fed by a square wave signal with offset. The EStra-Many method has been able to find a good solution among all the feasible solutions, showing potentiality also for other fields of research, in fact, a solution nondominated with respect to the starting point has been identified. From the methodological viewpoint, the main finding is a new formulation of the many-objective optimization problem based on the concept of degree of conflict, which gives rise to an implementation free from hierarchical weights.

The new approach EStra-Many used in this paper showed to properly find an optimal solution, trading-off multiple objectives. The compensation network so synthesized by the proposed method showed good properties in terms of frequency response and robustness. The proposed method, able to deal effectively with four OFs, could be applied to solve problems with a higher number of OFs in a variety of applications because of its generality.

In many countries, schools move toward healthier canteen assortments by limiting the supply of unhealthy foods. The question arises whether this gives any undesirable side effects with students (e.g. compensation in purchases from school to outside retailers, reactance) and how to handle these so that operating school canteens remains financially viable. The purpose of this paper is to identify perspectives toward healthy school food assortments held by vocational education students and professionals within secondary and vocational schools with responsibility for school food policy (e.g. school canteen workers, teachers, school directors) in the Netherlands.

Four focus groups were conducted with students at a vocational school (n=25 in total). A semi-structured interview guide was used to conduct discussions. The interview guide also included three school canteen scenario’s (A: 100 percent healthy food, B: 50 percent healthy/50 percent unhealthy foods and C: 100 percent unhealthy food) and a set of nine intervention strategies. A brief survey included questions on the same three scenario’s and nine intervention strategies. A web-based survey was conducted among 68 professionals responsible for school food policy and included their evaluation of the same canteen scenarios and interventions. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Content analysis was done on the qualitative data.

School food professionals were highly supportive of Scenario A (100 percent healthy food), as this formed a better fit with their policies and was believed to stronger encourage healthy eating. They did worry about financial feasibility given lower affordability and student reluctance to accept the assortment. Students were less in favor of Scenario A. Students discussed getting value for money and remaining freedom to make unhealthy choices. The authors discuss implications for policy makers who aim to implement measures to improve young people’s eating habits.

This study contributes to the literature on creating healthier school food environments. This study uniquely examines a healthier school canteen from a viability perspective, including the views of students as primary customers. Given the need to progressively increase the number of foods complying to dietary guidelines in canteen assortments, this study provides insights into how and why assortment changes best can be implemented.