Search results

Prior research has clearly shown that ethnocentric consumers favor local brands. However, consumers also strongly favor local and global brands which reinforce their desired self-images. The purpose of this paper is to examine how self-image congruence (SIC) mediates the effect of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) on local brand preference (LBP).

This study empirically tested the proposed mediation model across three countries (Taiwan, South Korea and Japan) using ten brands from two very different product categories (beer and personal computers). Research subjects were randomly selected and placed into one of four groups for each of these countries. Subjects in these groups were asked to compare well-known domestic and global brands which were either culturally similar or culturally dissimilar.

CE significantly impacted LBP among Taiwan, South Korea and Japan college-aged consumers but this impact was limited. SIC, however, had a powerful influence on LBP for these consumers. The cultural similarity and relative necessity of brand choices had almost no effect on the results.

Researchers and practitioners need to more fully understand the contingencies Asian consumers use in selecting local brands. Under some scenarios, CE may not be a reliable predictor of local brands preference.

This is one of the first studies to demonstrate the influential role of SIC among consumers from collectivistic cultures.

Customers’ innovativeness regarding services and products affects their purchase behavior. The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderation effect of fitness innovativeness (FI) (domain-specific innovativeness) and duration of stay on fitness customers’ revisit frequency.

This is a quantitative study. The purposive sampling survey method was used to obtain samples from the Taipei Nangang Fitness Center. Data were analyzed by moderated regression analysis.

The empirical results from 192 valid questionnaires that were obtained for data analysis revealed that FI has a positive impact on revisit frequency, and this impact is further increased if an individual is inclined to exercise and to stay longer at the fitness center.

A matrix of fitness innovator segments was developed to illustrate the research and managerial implications.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the critical role that context plays in measuring service quality.

This study replicated an experiment methodology to show that customers perceive an airline service drama as a sequence of scenes. A series of focus groups were then conducted to identify the context-specific set of service quality expectations that customers hold for each of these scenes. Finally, Formal Concept Analysis (FCA), a mathematical modeling technique, was applied to these findings to graphically illustrate how customer expectations for airline service quality vary by service scene.

Results from this study indicate that static measures of service quality are apparently inadequate in explaining customer expectations during more enduring service encounters. The FCA hierarchical model developed in this study revealed profound differences in customer service expectations across the six airline service scenes. These results suggest that more advanced methods for measuring service quality are necessary for service encounters that are longer in duration.

This research brings into question a broad spectrum of research which fails to recognize that customers use different reference points in time to evaluate service quality.

Researchers and practitioners need accurate and reliable measures of service quality but the findings suggests that measurement specificity and diagnostic capability should not be sacrificed in the pursuit of more robust instruments.

This is the first study to empirically demonstrate that customers perceive the airline service encounter as a sequence of scenes. It is also the first study to mathematically model service quality dimensions using FCA.