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1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 8 June 2023

Daniel Esteban May, Sara Arancibia, Calvin Wang, Nigel Hill and Karl Behrendt

This research explores the purchasing behavioural drivers of young Chinese consumers purchasing foreign clothing brands. The aim is to include a range of drivers identified by…

Abstract

Purpose

This research explores the purchasing behavioural drivers of young Chinese consumers purchasing foreign clothing brands. The aim is to include a range of drivers identified by different investigations into a single approach, to determine direct and indirect channels by which these drivers influence purchasing behaviour, and their relative importance in quantitative terms.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is based on an extended version of the theory of planned behaviour that considers hypotheses based on a number of studies revised in the literature review. This theoretical framework was used as the basis for a questionnaire applied to a sample of 362 young Chinese consumers. A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling approach was used to analyse the collected data.

Findings

The results revealed three main channels influencing purchasing behaviour which were shown to share the same root, corresponding to the influences of the social network young consumers belong to. This result suggests that social norms have a key role in explaining young consumers' purchasing behaviour through its impact on their needs for status and social recognition, their attitudes towards foreign cultures and foreign brands, and their beliefs regarding the attributes of foreign clothing.

Practical implications

The work therefore provides companies operating in the foreign clothing market the confidence to devise business strategies that focus on the channel demonstrating the highest influencing power. A strategy likely to have the highest influencing power is one that uses celebrities to promote the reputation of products and reinforce the messages associated with status and social recognition. Reinforcement of these strategies could include secondary strategies linked to the other channels such as the one related to the adoption of foreign cultural symbolism.

Originality/value

In contrast to the majority of related studies, this investigation also explores indirect channels or paths by which a behavioural driver affects the behaviour of young Chinese consumers. In fact, this investigation not only simultaneously identified the different paths influencing young Chinese consumers purchasing behaviour but also quantitatively identified their relative importance.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 35 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 July 2022

Fei Long, Miraj Ahmed Bhuiyan, Muhammad Khalilur Rahman and Norzalita Abd Aziz

The objectives of this study are to examine the impacts of CSR on purchase intentions either directly or indirectly and to investigate the moderating effects of consumer…

Abstract

Purpose

The objectives of this study are to examine the impacts of CSR on purchase intentions either directly or indirectly and to investigate the moderating effects of consumer ethnocentrism on the relationship between CSR and purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilized an online self-administered survey for data collection. All the measurement items were adopted or adapted from prior research concerning international marketing (Churchill, 1979). Concerning rating scales, the items of CSR, brand attitudes, and consumer ethnocentrism were measured from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), and the items of purchase intentions were measured from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Findings

The empirical findings suggest that CSR significantly influences purchase intentions directly and indirectly via brand attitudes. Besides, consumer ethnocentrism strengthens the positive effects of CSR on brand attitudes and purchase intentions.

Originality/value

This research sheds light on young Chinese consumers' purchase behaviors, which could facilitate Western brands implementing effective and efficient marketing strategies in the Chinese market.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 52 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 March 2024

Xiaoting Shen, Yimeng Zhao, Jia Yu and Mingzhou Yu

This study aims to investigate the responses of young Chinese consumers with different cultural characteristics to negative brand information about electric vehicles.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the responses of young Chinese consumers with different cultural characteristics to negative brand information about electric vehicles.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study is quantitative research with an experimental method. It shows two different levels of severity for negative publicity and asks participants to self-report through questionnaires.

Findings

Chinese young consumers, being collectivist and of high uncertainty avoidance, tend to search for and spread information; consumers with low power distance search and share information more under low information severity. In addition, information search positively affects brand attitude under lower severity; negative word-of-mouth intention negatively affects brand attitudes at both severity levels.

Research limitations/implications

The current study examines the influence of personal cultural values on information searching and negative information dissemination among young consumers, providing insights to complement previous studies. Furthermore, it explores how such exposure influences young consumers’ brand attitude and intention to purchase. Limitations include simple sample scopes and single-product stimuli.

Practical implications

This research highlights the importance of cultural dimensions in shaping young consumers’ responses to negative publicity. Marketers worldwide should consider cultural influence and develop specific strategies to address negative information about different products. Understanding customers’ unique characteristics and preferences can help marketers effectively tailor their approaches to counter negative publicity.

Originality/value

This study originally provides a supplement to prior studies on cultural dimensions and consumer behavior and provides suggestions to marketers on young Chinese consumers.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 January 2024

Jiayi Lyu, Cora Un In Wong, Zhuo Li and Lianping Ren

This study aims to understand how retailscape of pop-up stores could influence young Chinese tourists’ emotional response and their subsequent shopping intention in the context of…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand how retailscape of pop-up stores could influence young Chinese tourists’ emotional response and their subsequent shopping intention in the context of luxury retailing.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative approach was chosen. Building on the theoretical framework of the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) theory, a pop-up store retailscape behavior model was developed to explore the effect of retailscape on young Chinese tourists’ emotional response and patronage intention in a luxury retail setting. In total, 226 structured questionnaires were collected onsite.

Findings

The multiple regression analysis reveals that a luxury pop-up store’s retailscape has a positive influence on young Chinese tourists’ emotional response, but it only has a partial influence on their patronage intention. In addition, the result suggests that young Chinese tourists’ emotional response positively influences their patronage intention in luxury pop-up stores.

Practical implications

The study reveals how retailscape influences behavior among the younger generation, and the results provide important references for the luxury retailers in future design and management of pop-up stores so as to attract and retain the interest of the younger generation.

Originality/value

This study puts retailscape effect under scrutiny in the context of luxury pop-up stores which attract young Chinese tourists, who are regarded as one of the major patrons supporting exclusive retail brands in the world. The stimuli element in the S–O–R model is, thus, reexamined in the context of luxury pop-up stores.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 May 2023

Carlos Diaz Ruiz and Angela Gracia B. Cruz

This study conceptualizes a form of luxury consumption in which luxury brands collaborate with unconventional non-luxury partners. These unconventional luxury brand collaborations…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study conceptualizes a form of luxury consumption in which luxury brands collaborate with unconventional non-luxury partners. These unconventional luxury brand collaborations are growing in popularity among Chinese luxury consumers of the post-1990s generation. Luxury brands are exploring new branding strategies due to the growing commercial importance of Chinese luxury consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth qualitative study informs this paper. Interviews with young adult luxury consumers self-identifying as Chinese reveal a growing interest for luxury brands that collaborate with odd partners in social media and online culture.

Findings

Unconventional collaborations between luxury brands and non-luxury partners catalyze shifting meanings of luxury through the following juxtapositions: ephemeral instead of timeless, trendy rather than inaccessible, and playful in contrast with traditional. First, young Chinese consumers construct luxury meanings through ephemerality, like digital possessions, social media fame and fleeting experiences. Second, luxury meanings emerge in trendiness among social media influencers and online culture rather than in the seemingly inaccessible taste regimes of the upper class. Third, younger consumers appreciate fun, rebellious and over-the-top aesthetics in luxury brands.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the nascent field of unconventional luxury by conceptualizing how unusual, odd and unexpected collaborations constitute new forms of luxury consumption. The shifting meanings of luxury consumption that this study conceptualizes raise new opportunities and challenges for luxury brands. One of such is the release of limited collections with non-luxury partners seemingly at the opposite spectrum of design, image and values. Moreover, the study adds nuance to the understanding of luxury consumption among young Chinese consumers.

Details

International Marketing Review, vol. 40 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-1335

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 January 2024

Helen Inseng Duh, Hong Yu, Marike Venter de Villiers, Vladimira Steffek and Dan Shao

Large, influential and profitable young adults are being targeted for fast fashion that negatively impacts the environment. The transition from a fast to an environmentally…

Abstract

Purpose

Large, influential and profitable young adults are being targeted for fast fashion that negatively impacts the environment. The transition from a fast to an environmentally friendly slow fashion is a challenging process and culturally dependent. The process starts with slow fashion idea adoption. Thus, the authors modified an information acceptance model (IACM) to examine information characteristics (idea/information quality, credibility, usefulness, source credibility) and consumer factors (need for idea and attitudes) impacting intentions to adopt the slow fashion idea in Canada, South Africa (individualists) and China (collectivists).

Design/methodology/approach

Cross-sectional data were collected from South African (n = 197), Chinese (n = 304) and Canadian (n = 227) young adults (18–35 years old) at universities in metropolitan cities. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

Findings

The results show that while most information characteristics and consumer factors are vital for slow fashion attitudes and intention formation, information quality and trust in the sources were a problem in individualistic cultures as opposed to the collectivist culture. This finding confirms the greater tendency of collectivists to trust disseminated information on environmental issues. In all cultures, attitudes impacted idea adoption intentions. On testing IACM, the multigroup analyses showed no significant differences between young adults in the individualistic cultures. Attitudes mediated most relationships and were highly explained by IACM (South Africa, 49.6%; China, 74.5%; and Canada, 64.5%).

Originality/value

In emerging and developed markets, this study informs environmentalists and green fashion brands of information characteristics that can create positive attitudes and slow fashion idea adoption intentions among influential young adults.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 June 2023

Hong Yan Yu, Deli Yang, Carol Yoder and Maho (Mahmut) Sonmez

This paper aims to study how brand owners and users enhance brand bond with three objectives. First, brand owners’ effort (BOE) to exercise care, innovate frequently and…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to study how brand owners and users enhance brand bond with three objectives. First, brand owners’ effort (BOE) to exercise care, innovate frequently and differentiate their brands enhances users’ bond with the brand. Second, brand users’ competence (BUC) in their knowledge and experience with the brand’s reputation, value and service quality improves brand bond. Third, BOE significantly enhances BUC.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proposed an integrative model with new concepts and tested it with 2,135 young Chinese consumers using global smartphone brands. Results are drawn from structural equation modeling and comparisons between stakeholders and among smartphone brands.

Findings

The results show that BOE and BUC are significant and equally effective at enhancing brand bond. BOE also shows a significantly stronger effect on BUC than on brand bond. The temporal comparison between 2015 and 2018 confirms the changing reality of the smartphone world. As for brand comparison, young consumers perceive that iPhone differentiates itself from Huawei and Samsung rivals in terms of BOE and BUC on brand bond. However, none of these brands show significant differences in terms of BOE effect on BUC.

Research limitations/implications

Please see detail in the Conclusion and Discussions.

Practical implications

Please see detail in the Conclusion and Discussions.

Social implications

Please see detail in the Conclusion and Discussions.

Originality/value

This study introduced a validated model with new concepts based on the global smartphone industry, perceived by young Chinese consumers. The results prove that it takes both the owners and users together to contribute to the brand bond, but brand owners’ role on BUC is more significant.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 24 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 February 2024

Murray Mackenzie, Karin Weber, Joanna Fountain and Reza Abbasi

This study aims to provide insights into wine consumers in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the diversity of their behavior, by investigating their motivations, consumption and…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to provide insights into wine consumers in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the diversity of their behavior, by investigating their motivations, consumption and purchasing behavior and segmenting the sample based on wine knowledge and frequency of consumption to identify three distinct clusters that are then profiled.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected through an online survey of wine consumers of ethnic Chinese origin residing in Mainland China and Hong Kong, using two methods of recruitment (a convenience sample from wine-related databases, a panel survey undertaken by an international market research firm). The final sample comprised 477 respondents, about equally divided among Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. Analysis of the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS) 29 included a series of descriptive analyses, followed by a two-step cluster analysis using an Euclidean distance method.

Findings

Wine knowledge and frequency of wine consumption were relatively higher within the sample as a whole than previous studies, but three distinct consumer segments are evident. There is evidence of a democratization of wine consumption, and a greater focus on wine consumption for enjoyment in relaxed and informal settings. rather than consumption driven by health and status, occurring primarily in commercial or business settings. The dominance of red wine in this market is also declining, and intrinsic cues – specifically, prior experience of the wine – are becoming important in wine purchase decisions.

Originality/value

This study uses a broad sample of wine consumers to identify trends in wine consumption patterns and motivations, and purchase decision-making behavior, of Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong wine consumers. The identification of three clusters of wine consumers offers both points of comparison with previous segmentation research globally and within China, whilst also identifying scope for further research.

Details

International Journal of Wine Business Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1062

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2023

Bin Yu and Fei Fan

Virtual reality (VR), as a new type of media technology, significantly improves the audience experience with product presentation in the marketing communication field. The…

Abstract

Purpose

Virtual reality (VR), as a new type of media technology, significantly improves the audience experience with product presentation in the marketing communication field. The apartment rental market, particularly in China, has no exception in adopting VR technology in its communication strategy. VR usage has been boosted since the outbreak of COVID-19 and has become a widespread application in the global apartment rental market. Although extant studies have analyzed how real estate companies use VR technology to enhance customer experience, few studies have been made to explore the power of VR in apartment rental advertising, particularly in targeting the youth in China market. To fill this research gap, this study aims to figure out how young consumers perceive VR advertising and characteristics of VR used in apartment rental advertisements, and how VR advertising affects young consumers’ intentions to rent an apartment.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2021 with 301 Chinese university students aged 18 to 23. All respondents were invited offline and guided to watch one selected rental advertisement with VR technology featuring an apartment of about 50 square meters and then complete a questionnaire.

Findings

VR’s media richness in the apartment rental advertising increases its sense of presence perceived by the survey respondents. Both VR’s media richness and sense of presence positively influence respondents’ attitudes toward the advertised apartment. If respondents evaluate the advertised apartment positively, they are more willing to rent the advertised apartment.

Research limitations/implications

The sample size is not large enough to represent all Generation Z consumers in China. The use of the nonprobability sampling method also limits the generalizability of the study results.

Practical implications

To counter the challenges created by COVID-19, apartment rental service providers and apartment owners/landlords are suggested to enhance the application of VR technology to the apartment rental advertisements to grow young consumers’ interest in the advertised apartments and even their renting intention.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative study to assess young consumers’ responses to VR apartment rental advertising in China.

Article
Publication date: 22 February 2024

Yumeng Feng, Weisong Mu, Yue Li, Tianqi Liu and Jianying Feng

For a better understanding of the preferences and differences of young consumers in emerging wine markets, this study aims to propose a clustering method to segment the super-new…

Abstract

Purpose

For a better understanding of the preferences and differences of young consumers in emerging wine markets, this study aims to propose a clustering method to segment the super-new generation wine consumers based on their sensitivity to wine brand, origin and price and then conduct user profiles for segmented consumer groups from the perspectives of demographic attributes, eating habits and wine sensory attribute preferences.

Design/methodology/approach

We first proposed a consumer clustering perspective based on their sensitivity to wine brand, origin and price and then conducted an adaptive density peak and label propagation layer-by-layer (ADPLP) clustering algorithm to segment consumers, which improved the issues of wrong centers' selection and inaccurate classification of remaining sample points for traditional DPC (DPeak clustering algorithm). Then, we built a consumer profile system from the perspectives of demographic attributes, eating habits and wine sensory attribute preferences for segmented consumer groups.

Findings

In this study, 10 typical public datasets and 6 basic test algorithms are used to evaluate the proposed method, and the results showed that the ADPLP algorithm was optimal or suboptimal on 10 datasets with accuracy above 0.78. The average improvement in accuracy over the base DPC algorithm is 0.184. As an outcome of the wine consumer profiles, sensitive consumers prefer wines with medium prices of 100–400 CNY and more personalized brands and origins, while casual consumers are fond of popular brands, popular origins and low prices within 50 CNY. The wine sensory attributes preferred by super-new generation consumers are red, semi-dry, semi-sweet, still, fresh tasting, fruity, floral and low acid.

Practical implications

Young Chinese consumers are the main driver of wine consumption in the future. This paper provides a tool for decision-makers and marketers to identify the preferences of young consumers quickly which is meaningful and helpful for wine marketing.

Originality/value

In this study, the ADPLP algorithm was introduced for the first time. Subsequently, the user profile label system was constructed for segmented consumers to highlight their characteristics and demand partiality from three aspects: demographic characteristics, consumers' eating habits and consumers' preferences for wine attributes. Moreover, the ADPLP algorithm can be considered for user profiles on other alcoholic products.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

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