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1 – 10 of over 7000The purpose of this chapter is to explore the differences in consumers’ willingness to pay for different types of design attributes due to different levels of specific…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the differences in consumers’ willingness to pay for different types of design attributes due to different levels of specific anticipatory emotions evoked by them. The research aims to show how firms can benefit by leveraging the findings that different types of design attributes – that is, functionality, aesthetics, and environmental sustainability – affect profit margin per unit differently. Further, the chapter claims that design is a core competency that can pay dividends in terms of profit margins for firms. It is important for firms to develop expertise in understanding and leveraging relationships between the types of design attributes, specific emotions, and consumers’ willingness to pay.
Methodology/approach
The chapter uses the product categories of cell phones and laptop computers in the three experiments to test the hypothesized relationships between design attributes (functionality, aesthetics, and environmental sustainability), specific emotions, and willingness to pay.
Findings
The research finds that different attributes of design – functionality, aesthetics, and sustainability – evoke different types of emotions and different levels of willingness to pay.
Research limitations/implications
The data were primarily collected via experiments in a behavioral laboratory.
Practical implications
Firms can leverage different attributes of design to position and price products according to emotional requirements of the target customer segment to match their willingness to pay and maximize profit margin per unit.
Originality/value
The research specifically measures willingness to pay in joint presentation – independent evaluation scenarios to assess differences in how functionality, aesthetics, and sustainability impact willingness to pay.
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Emmanuel Kwame Nti, Camillus Abawiera Wongnaa, Nana Sampson E. Edusah, John-Eudes Andivi Bakang and Vasco Baffour Kyei
The purpose of this paper is to support the development of effective strategies that enhance community water supply systems. The study examined service constraints and willingness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to support the development of effective strategies that enhance community water supply systems. The study examined service constraints and willingness to pay for better services in community-managed water supply services using empirical evidence from beneficiaries of a small-town water supply system in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey design of both descriptive and exploratory research is adopted, the descriptive survey handles the quantitative aspect, while the exploratory survey handles the qualitative aspect. The authors collected data using a structured survey questionnaire from 387 beneficiaries who were public standpipe and domestic users. Descriptive statistics, Kendall's coefficient of concordance and Cragg's two-step model were the methods of analysis employed.
Findings
The respondents ranked lack of capacity (managerial) as the topmost constraint of the community-managed water system. The findings indicate that 57% of the beneficiaries were not willing to pay, whiles 43% were willing to pay. Also, results from Cragg's two-step regression model indicate that different sets of factors affect willingness-to-pay and amount-to-pay decisions. The study revealed that while a willingness-to-pay decision is influenced by income, education, marital status and customer service, the estimated-amount-to-pay decision is more influenced by income and education.
Originality/value
Building on the empirical evidence, the findings indicated that the water and sanitation management team can increase the current fee of GH¢ 5.00/1 m3 (≈US$ 0.87) by increasing beneficiaries charge for a bucket of water from GH¢ 0.10p (≈US$ 0.017) to GH¢ 0.21p (≈US$ 0.036) for better services within the community. Importantly, the additional charge should take into consideration income and education which were noted to significantly influence the beneficiary's amount-to-pay decision for better services in the community-managed water supply system.
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Ahmet Demir, Lubna Maroof, Noor Us Sabbah Khan and Bayad Jamal Ali
In this study, we have collected the response from 200 private university lecturers in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In order to test the hypotheses, we have proposed structural…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, we have collected the response from 200 private university lecturers in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In order to test the hypotheses, we have proposed structural equations modeling (SEM).
Design/methodology/approach
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the direct and indirect effects of e-service quality on perceived value, satisfaction and willingness to pay for online meeting platforms in the education sector. This study also explores the effect of e-service quality on users' perception and satisfaction.
Findings
The results reveal that e-service quality directly affects the perceived value and satisfaction but has no direct effect on the willingness to pay. Secondly, perceived value and satisfaction mediated the relationships between service quality and willingness to pay. However, it is observed that perceived value has a more significant impact on the willingness to pay compared to satisfaction. It is further reported that perceived value is one of the antecedents of satisfaction. The study also explores the direct relationship between perceived value and willingness to pay, and introduces satisfaction as a mediating variable between perceived value and willingness to pay.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is geographically limited as only online faculty and staff working at private universities participated in the study. This study has implications for administrators of higher educational institutions and companies providing IT solutions for online meetings. From a managerial standpoint, this study provides and IT companies a broad theoretical basis that designing a successful online meeting platform should specifically emphasize e-service quality, perceived value and customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
There is no study that evaluated the links among e-service quality, value, satisfaction, and willingness to pay for the online meeting platform services. Therefore, this study is useful for the private university administration and online meeting platform developers and investors.
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Ernest Emeka Izogo, Mathias Egede Elom and Mercy Mpinganjira
Although scholars highlighted the need to close the interactive marketing gap and enhanced understanding of willingness to pay more in settings where customer participation in the…
Abstract
Purpose
Although scholars highlighted the need to close the interactive marketing gap and enhanced understanding of willingness to pay more in settings where customer participation in the service delivery process is paramount, research addressing this issue is scare. This study investigates the effect of perceived employee commitment to service delivery and customer involvement on customer value and willingness to pay more. The study also examines the extent to which customer value mediates the effect of employee commitment and customer involvement on willingness to pay more for banking services.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis was based on a sample of 211 Nigerian bank customers procured through a mall-intercept survey technique. The partial least squares structural equation modelling procedure and the Preacher–Hayes Bootstrapping technique aided hypotheses testing.
Findings
This study demonstrates that elements of employee commitment to service delivery and customer involvement have significant positive effect on the components of customer value. It also shows that customer value components have significant effect on customers' willingness to pay more. Additionally, the study shows that components of customer value mediate the effect of employee commitment to service delivery and customer involvement on willingness to pay more.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to closing gaps in interactive marketing literature by uncovering how willingness to pay more for services is influenced by customer perceptions of employee commitment (affective and calculative) service delivery, customer involvement and customer value (hedonic and utilitarian).
Practical implications
It is important for managers to put in place measures that will help them know the kind of commitment cues their employees are emitting to customers as well as levels of customer involvement during service encounters.
Originality/value
This study breaks new ground in three unique ways. First, the study represents the first attempt to examine the combined effect of employee commitment to service delivery and customer involvement on consumer value perceptions. Second, the study also demonstrates that hedonic value has a more pronounced effect on willingness to pay more for banking services than utilitarian value. Finally, the study shows the extent to which customer value (hedonic vs utilitarian) mediates the effect of employee commitment to service delivery and customer involvement on willingness to pay more.
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Health plays a crucial role in the daily lives and supporting health is the important role of medicine. With the availability of traditional, complementary and alternative…
Abstract
Purpose
Health plays a crucial role in the daily lives and supporting health is the important role of medicine. With the availability of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM), the demands and willingness to pay among users are increasing. Hence, this study aims to determine the psychological factors influencing the willingness to pay for TCAM among Malaysian adults.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 300 completed self-administered questionnaires were collected from Malaysian adults using a purposive sampling method through intercepts at public health-care facilities. A structural equation modelling approach using partial least square was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings show that attitude, subjective norms, perceived price and knowledge have a significant impact on willingness to pay for TCAM. Surprisingly, there was no relationship found between perceived behavioural control and health consciousness on willingness to pay for TCAM.
Originality/value
The findings of this study are expected to provide better insights into TCAM use among Malaysian adults. The results are also important to encourage health-care institutions and practitioners to educate the general public on the safety of TCAM to ensure more health benefits to the users.
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Jung E. Ha‐Brookshire and Pamela S. Norum
This study seeks to investigate significant factors influencing consumers' willingness to pay a premium for three different socially responsible products – organic cotton…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to investigate significant factors influencing consumers' willingness to pay a premium for three different socially responsible products – organic cotton, sustainable cotton, and US‐grown cotton shirts.
Design/methodology/approach
Through random‐digit‐dialing, the study data were collected from 500 respondents nationally via telephone surveys. The survey data were analyzed using stepwise regression and mean comparisons.
Findings
More than half of the respondents indicated that they were willing to pay a premium for organic, sustainable, and US‐grown cotton shirts ($5.00 or more for these cotton shirts at the $30.00 retail value). Consumer attitudes toward socially responsible apparel, attitudes toward environment, age, and gender were found to be significant factors for consumers' willingness to pay a premium. Four apparel product evaluative criteria, brand name, laundering requirements, color, and fit, were also found to be important for consumers' willingness to pay a premium.
Research limitations/implications
Generalization from the study findings must be assumed with care due to the telephone survey mode.
Practical implications
Apparel businesses planning to offer organic, sustainable, or US‐grown cotton apparel products may want to emphasize certain tangible benefits, such as strong brand, reasonable price, easy care, color, and fit, concurrently with intangible benefits, such as feeling good by helping society and environment.
Originality/value
The findings showed relationships among attitudes, product evaluative criteria, demographic characteristics, and willingness to pay a premium for three different options of socially responsible cotton apparel, in order to help close the gap between attitudes and behavior in consumer research.
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M. Rosario González-Rodríguez, M. Carmen Díaz-Fernández and Xavier Font
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of customers’ environmental concerns, customers’ perceptions of a hotel’s environmental practices and of the hotels’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of customers’ environmental concerns, customers’ perceptions of a hotel’s environmental practices and of the hotels’ environmentally friendly images, on customers’ willingness to pay a price premium to stay at environmentally friendly hotels.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework comprises both social identity theory and value-belief-norm theory. The data were collected through a survey of 454 customers staying at eco-friendly hotels in Spain. The research model is tested by using a structural equation modelling approach.
Findings
The findings illustrate that customers’ environmental concerns have a greater explanatory value on their willingness to pay a price premium than do their perceptions of the hotels’ environmental practices. Furthermore, these causal relationships are similar in magnitude when considering the mediating effects of the hotels’ eco-friendly image and the environmental practices.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical findings provide managers with a better understanding of how customers’ environmental concerns and their own sense of identification with environmentally friendly hotels influence customers’ behavioural intentions towards willingness to pay a premium.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature by highlighting those cognitive processes that influence the customers’ willingness to pay a price premium to stay at environmentally friendly hotels. Hence, the study provides valuable information to hotel managers.
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Seyed Mehrshad Parvin Hosseini, Maryam Mirzaei and Mohammad Iranmanesh
This study aims to investigate the factors that motivate Muslim consumers to pay for halal-certified food.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the factors that motivate Muslim consumers to pay for halal-certified food.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a survey of 272 Muslim consumers in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares technique.
Findings
The results showed that animal slaughter, halal logo, food quality and religious commitment have a positive effect on the willingness to pay for halal food. Religious commitment positively moderates the relationship between storage and transportation and the willingness to pay for halal-certified food.
Practical implications
Policy makers as well as managers of halal food companies can benefit from this study which provides insight into ways to increase demand for halal food.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the literature on halal foods by illustrating the factors that determine Muslim consumers’ willingness to pay for halal food. This study also extends the literature by testing the moderating role of religious commitment.
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Mark A. Glaser and Robert B. Denhardt
The tension between demand for services and willingness to pay for those services, referred to here as tax-demand discontinuity, poses a dilemma for local government that will…
Abstract
The tension between demand for services and willingness to pay for those services, referred to here as tax-demand discontinuity, poses a dilemma for local government that will only intensify with growing fiscal constraints. This research is based on a survey of over 1800 citizens in Orange County, Florida, the county including Orlando, to develop a seven-position classification system to define the nature and extent of tax-demand discontinuity. Citizen demographic characteristics, perceptions of the economy and perceptions of government segmented by tax-demand discontinuity classifications are used to offer guidance to local government about opportunities for improving citizen-government relations.
Anthony Amoah, Edmund Kwablah, Benjamin Amoah and Kwame Adjei-Mantey
In countries where the electronic levy (e-levy) has been implemented, one question that resonates with the populace is, “how much would you want to pay for e-levy per…
Abstract
Purpose
In countries where the electronic levy (e-levy) has been implemented, one question that resonates with the populace is, “how much would you want to pay for e-levy per transaction?” In response, varied perspectives have been shared with no convergence. Against this background, this study seeks to estimate people's willingness to pay (WTP) for electronic transaction levy in Ghana, while analysing the associated determinants.
Design/methodology/approach
This study relies on a survey of 2,810 respondents obtained from February 9 to 16, 2022 in Ghana. A multivariate logit model was estimated with its marginal effects. Further, a robustness check was undertaken using the linear probability model to validate the results.
Findings
With respect to the sample, the authors find evidence that approximately 46% of the respondents are not willing to pay any amount per transaction for the e-levy. Second, about 21% of the respondents are willing to pay Ghs0.5% as e-levy per transaction. Furthermore, about 10% of the respondents are willing to pay 1% per transaction as e-levy. Those who indicated that they would pay rates above 1% (specifically, 1.50%–1.75%) per transaction are less than 5%. For flat rates, approximately 10% of the respondents were willing to pay Ghs5 per month for all transactions above Ghs100. All others who are interested in other flat rates together are less than 5% of the respondents. The key statistically significant determinants of the probability that an individual would be willing to pay for the e-levy are also provided. This study recommends a comprehensive dialogue between the government and all stakeholders to reach a reasonable conclusion on an acceptable e-levy rate and by extension, implementation strategies.
Originality/value
To the best of the researchers' knowledge, this is the first empirical study that estimates individuals' willingness to pay for e-levy on electronic transactions in a developing country.
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