Environmental problems caused by waste are drawing growing concern worldwide. Such waste problems are even worse in many emerging markets, where waste is frequently mismanaged and thus causes significant environmental problems. To alleviate such waste problems and address stakeholders’ growing environmental concerns, firms have launched recycling programs as one specific corporate social responsibility initiative. While past studies examine recycling programs from a technical perspective, very little research investigates the marketing benefits of such programs. This study draws on signaling theory to develop hypotheses about how firms can strategically design and market a recycling program to trigger positive consumer reactions. Using hierarchical linear modeling of survey data on mobile phone recycling programs across multiple brands, it finds that multiple strategic options of a recycling program (i.e., a product buyback program, product recycling convenience, and packaging recycling) differentially influence consumers’ brand attitudes, which consequently affect brand loyalty. Furthermore, an analysis of contingency factors (i.e., brand switching risk, public self-consciousness) suggests that a product recycling program affects brand attitudes only when the brand switching risk is low, and that packaging recycling affects brand attitudes more for consumers with higher public self-consciousness.

Background: Governments have attempted to combat the COVID-19 pandemic by issuing guidelines for disease prevention behavior (e.g., wearing masks, social distancing, etc.) and by enforcing these guidelines. However, while some citizens have complied with these guidelines, others have ignored them or have even participated in large-scale protests. This research aims both to understand the causes of such variation in citizens’ adherence to government guidelines on disease prevention behavior and to extend the scientific literature on disease prevention to account for the collective resilience of a society to diseases. Thus, this research draws on the health belief model and collective resilience theory to develop hypotheses about the determinants of a citizen’s disease prevention behavior. These hypotheses deal with how citizens’ vulnerability, attitudes toward disease prevention, and social orientation are associated with COVID-19 prevention behaviors.

Methods: From March 24 to April 4, 2020, a cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Bolivia. It included questions on demographic characteristics, chronic health problems, emotional burden, attitudes towards preventive behaviors, trust in public institutions, and culture. Among 5265 participants who clicked on the survey, 1857 at least partially filled it out. After removing data with missing responses to any variable, the final sample consists of 1231 respondents. The collected data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.

Results: Regarding a citizen’s vulnerability, chronic health problems have a U-shaped association with disease prevention behavior. Moreover, age, female gender, and worries have positive associations with disease prevention behavior, whereas depression showed a negative association. Regarding attitudes toward disease prevention, trust in public institutions, and attitudes toward social distancing, a government-imposed lockdown and the enforcement of this lockdown showed positive associations with disease prevention behavior. Regarding social orientation, individualism and collectivism both have positive relationships with disease prevention behavior.

Conclusions: In the COVID-19 pandemic, a citizen’s low vulnerability, weak social orientation, and beliefs about low benefits of disease prevention behavior are associated with poor compliance with guidelines on disease prevention behavior. More research on these associations would help generalize these findings to other populations and other public health crises.

While firms face pressure to improve their green (i.e., environmental) performance, little is known about how adapting their resources can help them to more successfully implement green practices and improve their green performance. Drawing on the resource-based view, this study develops novel hypotheses about the effects of a firm’s non-financial and financial resources on its green performance. These hypotheses are tested with hierarchical linear modeling of international, multi-source objective data. Regarding non-financial resources, this study finds a U-shaped effect of female board-of-directors representation on green performance, which is moderated by the directors’ education level. Moreover, the directors’ education level positively influences green performance in Asian countries, but not in Western countries. Regarding financial resources, financial slack and R&D intensity exert non-linear effects on green performance. These original findings help firms to maximize their green performance by resource adjustments, and help public policy makers spread knowledge to develop their economy sustainably.

Nowadays, Bolivia is experiencing big social and economic changes. Due to strong economic growth and deep political changes, the Bolivian society has high expectations for a better future. However, historical social injustices, weak government institutions, corruption, poverty, unenforced regulations, low industrial productivity, and high economic informality are hindering that future. In developing countries where weak institutions do not address social problems sufficiently, corporate social responsibility (CSR) can serve as an alternative way to address social problems through corporate actions, rather than government actions, that seek to minimize harm to, and maximize benefits for, both disadvantaged social groups and the environment. Currently, private and public firms are attempting to use CSR practices to improve Bolivian people's lives. However, as a developing country, CSR practices still are developing from philanthropy to sustainable practices. In this chapter, we argue how Bolivia's specific country-specific context has shaped CSR practices in Bolivian private and public firms. Our analysis of contextual influences takes into consideration Bolivia's situation along political, historical, socio-cultural, geographical, environmental, regulatory, institutional, business, economic and technological dimensions. Amongst other results, we find that most public and private firms use philanthropy as their main type of CSR practice. However, as we find through interviews, some firms are moving towards sustainable business practices as a more comprehensive type of CSR practices. We discuss Bolivian cases of successful CSR initiatives undertaken by private and public firms and outline future challenges for the success of CSR programs.

Purpose. Many firms struggle to implement strategies that can successfully enhance the environmental sustainability of their processes. Drawing on the theories of green intellectual capital and complementary assets, this study develops a model describing the mechanism whereby firms can translate a green (i.e., environmental) strategy into a superior green process innovation performance (GPIP).
Design/methodology/approach. Regression analysis of multi-source survey data collected from 514 managers at 257 firms (257 top management members and 257 safety or environmental managers) was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings. A firm’s green strategic intent has positive effects on the three aspects of green intellectual capital (i.e., human, organizational, and relational capital). In turn, these three aspects have positive effects on GPIP. Moreover, green organizational capital positively moderates the effect of green relational capital on GPIP, whereas it negatively moderates the effect of human capital on GPIP.
Practical implications. In order to implement a green strategy successfully, especially in polluted industries such as the chemical industry, managers need to develop not only the firm’s tangible resources, but also its intangible resources. The more they invest in green organizational capital, the higher the level of GPIP that can be achieved. On average, a firm’s green human capital is more important than its organizational and relational capital. Moreover, its organizational capital helps capture the benefits of its relational capital, but it impairs the creativity of its human capital.
Originality/value. We contribute to the literature on green strategy implementation by suggesting that green intellectual capital plays a mediating role in the relationship between a firm’s green strategic intent and GPIP.
Keywords. Green strategy implementation, green strategic intent, green intellectual capital, green process innovation performance.
Article classification. Research paper.

Firms are developing AI-enhanced products (e.g., robots) that can tackle environmental problems through autonomous interactions with their surroundings (e.g., removing waste/pollutants, tracking invasive species) and autonomous learning, which results in improved environmental performance characteristics. Such autonomous environmental benefits of products differ from conventional, static environmental benefits, which derive from pre-purchase processes and design decisions. However, the literature still lacks knowledge of how to use such autonomous environmental benefits to attract new customers. Therefore, drawing on signaling theory, this study examines the effect of these environmental benefits on a consumer’s purchase intent and its variation across types of consumers, locations, and products. Based on hierarchical linear modeling of 1635 consumer evaluations of AI-enhanced products, this study finds that both static and autonomous perceived environmental benefits influence purchase intent positively. The effect of autonomous environmental benefits is stronger for women than for men and for products targeted at adults rather than children. The effect of static environmental benefits is stronger for men than women, for products targeted at children rather than adults, for consumers with a higher need for cognition, and in locations with a higher perceived environmental well-being.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are set to revolutionize established industries. Drawing on delegation theory, this article extends the marketing literature by explaining technology, consumer, and country differences in the formation of demand for AI-empowered consumer products (AI products). Based on hierarchical linear modeling of 2,775 consumer evaluations of automobile add-on autonomous driving systems across five countries, this study finds that the utilitarian (related to efficient goal achievement), hedonic (related to emotions), and symbolic (related to the consumer’s self-concept) dimensions of perceived product value all contribute to AI product demand. Regarding technology differences, the degree of AI product autonomy enhances the effects of both hedonic and symbolic value and weakens the effect of utilitarian value on AI product demand. Regarding country differences, cultural performance orientation enhances the effect of utilitarian value on AI product demand. Regarding consumer differences, a consumer’s independent self-construal weakens the effects of hedonic and symbolic value. Moreover, a consumer’s inherent activeness weakens the effect of utilitarian value and strengthens the effect of symbolic value on AI product demand. Based on these results, the article discusses implications for marketing scholars and practitioners and for public policy-makers.

Leveraging external sources of knowledge has become a vital element of innovation strategy, especially in emerging markets, where many firms lack the sophisticated knowledge required to innovate. However, extant research in this domain puts little emphasis on emerging economies and also typically treats openness as a firm-level concept. In contrast, this study investigates how individual employees rely on both internal and external knowledge to increase their innovative work output (and, secondarily, their customer acquisition performance) and how their supervising manager’s characteristics moderate these mechanisms. Using hierarchical linear modeling of data collected from 123 employees and 50 managers in telecommunications companies in the emerging market of Vietnam, we find support for our hypothesized relationships. These findings have important implications for research and practice as they highlight the role of the individual employee in open innovation, the need for considering a more distributed set of organizational functions, and the relevance for emerging markets.

In order to satisfy customers, marketers increasingly provide customers with the means to personalise their products and services. Based on the social identity approach and international consumer data, this article explores the antecedents and consequences of consumer desires for internal personalisation (perceiving a distinctive identity) and external personalisation (communicating a distinctive identity) of products and services. In terms of antecedents, the results show that desire for (both internal and external) personalisation tends to be influenced negatively by age and positively by both individualism (vs. collectivism) and uncertainty avoidance. In terms of consequences, the results indicate that desire for personalisation moderates the formation of affective, but not cognitive, customer satisfaction. Moreover, desire for personalisation enhances the relative importance of perceived usage benefits, compared with physical performance, in customer evaluations of products and services. These results have important implications for the design and marketing of products and services.

This study explores consumers' motivations to switch to new products in the context of disruptive innovation, and investigates the role of technology differences (i.e., network externality vs. stand-alone technology). Switching from an existing technology product to a disruptive technology product (DTP) involves not only benefits but also requires major sacrifices, which are not encountered in the context of continuous innovation. To model the tradeoff between the benefits and sacrifices, this study extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model by introducing the construct of comparative economic value (CEV). Based on Thai consumer data, analyses support the hypothesized mediating role of CEV. CEV mediates the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions, and partially mediates the effect of social influence on the DTP switching intent. Multi-group analysis shows that CEV depends more on effort expectancy for network externality technology and more on the performance expectancy for stand-alone technology.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been studied extensively in developed countries. However, although most of the world’s consumers live in developing countries, the study of CSR in developing countries in general, and in Bolivia in particular, still is very limited. Developing countries are characterized by widespread poverty, corruption, inequality, social exploitation, and environmental pollution and, consequently, offer abundant opportunities for CSR. In addition, research on CSR in developing countries has the potential to promote equality, social justice, transparency, and accountability by holding frequently irresponsible local and international organizations to account. For that purpose, this study explores the nature of CSR practices and their effectiveness in influencing consumer attitudes in Bolivia as the least developed among the developing countries in the Americas. To this end, this study uses data collected in Bolivia through both structured surveys (quantitative data) and unstructured questionnaires/in-depth interviews (qualitative data). Using structural equation modeling of the quantitative data on two product categories and multiple brand contexts from 1016 consumers, this study tests a series of hypotheses on the consequences of CSR practices in developing countries. The results indicate that CSR practices exert both a direct influence on customer satisfaction and an indirect, mediated influence on customer loyalty. Moreover, the results of qualitative data analysis suggest that multinational companies and young managers are leading the way in implementing CSR practices in Bolivia. Managerial implications are discussed.

This study shows that not all consumers intend to decrease purchases of potentially contaminated products after disasters; some rather intend to increase purchases. Purchase intent reductions derive from contamination risk knowledge, which depends on observed behavior of other consumers, objective media information, and past opposition to the technology causing contamination. Technology hazard expertise reinforces the effects of consumers' risk assessments and of past opposition to technology use. By contrast, purchase intent increases derive from empathy and salient social identity shared with disaster victims, which are triggered by affect-laden media exposure, past disaster-related experience, and disaster involvement of consumers' social networks. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

In order for innovation to become sustainable, consumers need to actually purchase innovative products and services, even when these happen to be expensive. For these cases, this study addresses a gap in the literature by developing the concept of sustainable consumer innovativeness and by seeking to understand its determinants across countries. Based on data collected from more than 3,000 consumers across five countries, this study finds that sustainable consumer innovativeness tends to be influenced negatively by female sex and savings orientation, whereas it appears to be influenced positively by income satisfaction, financial expectations, curiosity, uncertainty avoidance, and status importance. It does not seem to depend on age. While most of these effects are generally valid, their magnitude tends to differ by country. These results may enable managers of innovative firms to identify lead users and thus to improve marketing strategy during the launch phase of innovative products and services.

As repurchase intent drives profitability and firms are facing culturally diverse customers, managers should know how individualism (vs. collectivism) influences the formation of repurchase intent. This research models individualism as a dimension of both national culture and personal values. Based on HLM of data from six countries and ten industries, study 1 shows that cultural individualism is more influential than personal individualism. Individualism positively moderates the effect of customer satisfaction and negatively moderates the effects of public brand image and relational switching costs on repurchase intent. While the effects of customer satisfaction and relational switching costs are moderated more strongly for services, the effect of public brand image is moderated more strongly for products. Study 2 illuminates psychological processes operating behind these moderating effects: importance of relational switching costs - reliance on salespeople; importance of public brand image - meeting social preferences (impressing others, expressing group identify), but not trustworthiness; importance of customer satisfaction - customization, distinctiveness, but not functional benefits. This research also tests extant theories about the main effect of individualism on repurchase intent. The results provide valuable, novel suggestions for cross-cultural adaptation of marketing strategy.

Managers use knowledge of innate consumer innovativeness (inherent interest in new products and services) to adapt the marketing mix to preferences of the consumers most likely to adopt new products/services. As mere interest in new products/services may not sufficiently characterize early adopters in contexts with price differences between established and innovative, new products/services, this article introduces the concept of innate willingness to pay for innovations (IWTPI). Based on data from Germany, Indonesia, Bolivia, USA, and Japan, it tests hypotheses about the antecedents to IWTPI, the moderating effects of IWTPI on the formation of customer satisfaction, and their differences between products and services. IWTPI tends to be positively influenced by income (satisfaction), financial expectations, and importance of status symbols and negatively influenced by female gender, savings orientation, and stress avoidance. These effects are moderated by cultural and economic factors. IWTPI positively moderates the effects of perceived quality (only for products, not services), competitive advantages, public brand image, and social recognition and negatively moderates the effect of perceived value on customer satisfaction. These results inform managers on how to adapt marketing strategy to early vs. late adopters in different country and industry contexts with price differences between established and innovative, new products/services.

This article extends the literature on consumer reactions to national disasters. Because of the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Japanese consumers face the long-term risk of radioactive product contamination as products come from contaminated regions. When facing this risk in purchase situations, Japanese consumers have the choice of reducing their purchases to protect personal health from perceived risk or increasing their purchases to economically support suffering Japanese regions. Based on analysis of variance and regression analysis of data on mobile phones and fast food restaurants from 99 consumers in Japan and 677 consumers in the United States, this study confirms that consumers respond to the risk of radioactive product contamination by reduced or increased purchase intent. Moreover, it finds that purchase intent reductions (vs. increases) vary by consumer age and are more pronounced for fast food restaurants than mobile phones, for non-Japanese consumers in Japan and the United States than for Japanese consumers in Japan, and for more health-conscious consumers. While purchase intent reductions only weakly depend on cultural values, they tend to be positively influenced by uncertainty avoidance and negatively influenced by individualism, masculinity values and long-term orientation. This article thus informs policy makers and marketing managers on how to more effectively address psychological needs of different consumer segments to support the economic reconstruction of disaster-stricken regions.

To support managerial practice and help improve analytical models in retailing, this article extends the literature on processes in the psychological chain of effects from perceived quality to customer loyalty by making three original and fundamental contributions. Based on multilevel structural equation modeling of consumer data from Bolivia, Japan, and the USA, it shows that product beliefs mediate this chain of effects and that cross-over effects connect rational and emotional processes within this chain. Moreover, it elucidates conditions moderating the strength of these emotional and rational processes. Breadth of experience positively moderates the mediating role of product beliefs. Relative price positively moderates the effect of hedonic product beliefs on affective customer satisfaction and negatively moderates the effect of utilitarian product beliefs on cognitive customer satisfaction. Time since purchase positively moderates the role of emotional processes and negatively moderates the role of rational processes. The moderating effects of sensory, affective, and intellectual brand experience support the predictive validity of the research model. Further analyses illuminate how social recognition, customer value co-creation through product usage patterns, and product-service bundling affect product beliefs, as well as how affective and cognitive customer satisfaction influence positive word-of-mouth.

This study examines whether a single marketing strategy is sufficient to cover the Chinese market. Using data from four regions and nine industries, it finds that major regional differences in consumer preferences make regional market segmentation an attractive option. In more developed regions, consumers rely more on perceived quality and public brand image but less on quality expectations. Uyghurs care more about perceived quality and personal recognition but less about quality expectations than Han Chinese. Personal recognition is more important to southern than northern Chinese. Overall, consumer preference structures are influenced more strongly by differences in economic development than subculture. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

As customers' repurchase behavior leads to long-term corporate profitability, managers should know the success factors influencing repurchase intent. Knowledge of gender differences in these success factors would enable managers to separately optimize repurchase intent for men and women. This research thus develops original hypotheses on gender differences in the formation of repurchase intent. Based on hierarchical linear modeling of data from five countries and ten industries, this research finds that public brand image more strongly influences customer satisfaction and repurchase intent for women than for men. Perceived value has a weaker effect on repurchase intent for women than for men. The analyses do not detect any gender difference in the influence of customer satisfaction on repurchase intent. Contrary to conventional wisdom, relational switching costs more strongly influence repurchase intent for men than for women. Further analyses illustrate moderating effects of country differences in gender egalitarianism and of contextual differences between products and services.

While the importance of customer value creation has been confirmed in numerous studies in the literature, there is a lack of empirical studies on how new product development may optimize distinct types of B2B customer value. This study develops a conceptual framework considering four dimensions of B2B customer value (functional, cost, hedonic, and symbolic) and two dimensions of B2B customer orientation: needs orientation and relationship orientation. Based on data collected in 10 countries, hierarchical linear modeling is used to test hypotheses on the decomposed effects of these different B2B customer orientation approaches on the creation of each type of B2B customer value. Numerous theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

Many firms have shifted to an 'open innovation' strategy by integrating external information into new product development (NPD). This study extends the open innovation paradigm to the area of product quality control practices in NPD. Using data collected in 10 countries, this study investigates the role of external information acquired through B2B/B2C customer, competitor, technology, and manufacturing orientation in meeting quality and performance specifications of newly developed products. It also illuminates the interconnected roles of B2B and B2C customer orientation in meeting these specifications. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the results show that leveraging a variety of external information sources (in particular, frequent and informal communication with B2B customers and coordination with the manufacturing department) indeed helps firms improve internal product quality control practices in NPD. Information on B2C customers is beneficial in B2B contexts only if effectively integrated by means of B2B affective information management.

To help understand consumer reactions to risks of product contamination caused by national disasters, this article studies radioactive contamination caused by the 2011 nuclear accident in Japan. Purchase situations confront consumers with products manufactured at production sites near contaminated regions of Japan. Consumers may either reduce their purchases of such products to protect their health, or increase their purchases to support suffering Japanese regions. Based on consumer data from Japan, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Sri Lanka, this article illuminates the influence of knowledge, information sources, past experience, and personal characteristics on purchase decisions. Consumers indeed reduce or increase their purchases as a response to the risk of radioactive contamination. While health risk estimates, past experience with natural disasters, and the country of residence most strongly influence this purchase decision, media reports and past opposition to radioactivity most strongly influence health risk estimates. Estimates of radioactivity levels are not influential.

The present article addresses how different types of B2B customer involvement motives and B2C customer involvement motives affect different dimensions of new product development (NPD) operational performance in the B2B context. This study also explores the moderating effects of high vs. low product technology on the relationships between different types of customer involvement motives and different dimensions of NPD operational performance. Based on data collected from the textile and apparel industry in 10 countries, the current study illustrates that B2C customer involvement has a greater impact than B2B customer involvement on time-tomarket. Nevertheless, B2B customer involvement plays an important role as it contributes more to quality than does B2C customer involvement. In addition, the study explains the different strategies that should be adopted in B2B and B2C customer involvement when high vs. low product technology is present.

Little is known about international differences in the formation of customer satisfaction, particularly regarding developed and emerging markets in Asia. This lack of knowledge limits the competitiveness of Western companies in Asia. From the perspectives of economic and cultural country differences, this study thus compares customer satisfaction and its formation between Japan, China, and Germany (Western reference country). Customer satisfaction is higher in Japan than China for goods and private services but lower for public services. It is influenced more strongly by perceived quality and less strongly by perceived value ( difference moderated by switching costs), public brand image, and quality expectations in Japan than China. Economic differences between developed (Japan, Germany) and emerging (China) markets influence consumer preference structures more strongly than cultural differences. Due to larger inter-Asian cultural variance than Western managers might expect, Chinese consumer preference structures differ more from Japanese than German consumer preference structures. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sparked by accelerating globalization, many studies have examined the influences of Hofstede's cultural scores on consumer attitudes. Past research suggested that high uncertainty avoidance, a characteristic of Japanese culture, leads to strict customer evaluations and low customer satisfaction. While researchers found clear evidence of this effect for uncertainty avoidance as a facet of country culture, they found mixed evidence for uncertainty avoidance as a personal cultural trait. Based on consumer data from ten industries in Japan, this article thus explores the mechanism linking personal uncertainty avoidance to customer satisfaction and its antecedents (perceived quality, perceived value and firm image). The results suggest that personal uncertainty avoidance does not influence customer satisfaction directly but indirectly through its antecedents. Moreover, this mechanism is much stronger for products than for services. These and other findings provide new insights about the effectiveness of personal cultural orientations as variables for market segmentation.

This article investigates how the industry shift from traditional cell phones to smartphones has impacted the process of customer value creation and thus caused the rapid demise of industry leaders and the rise of new global leaders. It explores this mechanism within the chain from quality-induced and customer-co-created product functionality via hedonic, symbolic, and utilitarian customer value to customer loyalty. Based on consumer data from Bolivia and Japan, the study illustrates that the greater market success of smartphones than traditional cell phones can mainly be explained by higher hedonic and symbolic value creation. This additional value creation is caused by higher product quality and greater opportunities for customers to co-create value through active usage of customized product functions.

In order to profit from China's enormous business opportunities, international firms need to know Chinese consumer preferences. To learn more about intrinsic Chinese consumer preferences and their distinction from other Asian consumer preferences, this study analyzes differences in the formation of customer satisfaction, repurchase intent, and word-of-mouth intent between Chinese-born and locally born consumers in Japan. Verifying culture-based hypotheses, cross-industry analyses show that Chinese-born consumers pay less attention to the public brand image and risk-related switching costs, but more attention to quality expectations, perceived value, experienced usefulness, and financial switching costs than Japanese consumers. Marketing strategies should account for these preference structures.

In order to retain existing and acquire new customers, companies make efforts to increase customer satisfaction (CS). However, Fornell's well-known research indicates that CS and contemporaneous market share are either negatively or not correlated. This finding challenges the effectiveness of increasing CS to expand market share. To more deeply explore this mechanism, this study puts forward the hypotheses that the relationship between CS and market share varies across both industries and countries. Based on consumer data from eight industries in eight countries, this study identifies two moderators of the relationships between market share and CS -related measures such as CS, perceived quality, perceived value, and firm image : 1) economic development and 2) the industry-specific CS relative to the country average. Fornell's theory of a negative relationship between CS and market share only holds in industries with low relative CS in developed countries. By contrast, the relationship tends to be positive in developing countries and in industries with high relative CS in developed countries.

Purpose - Past research showed that overly positive attitudes and intentions towards fast food contribute to obesity. In the face of rising childhood obesity, the purpose of this paper is to explore attitudinal and behavioral reasons behind adolescents' suboptimal food choices. It tests hypotheses about differences between teenagers and adults in customer attitudes and intentions regarding fast food restaurants.
Design/methodology/approach - The hypotheses are tested with German survey data and moderated regression analysis.
Findings - Teenagers do not underestimate the negative effects of fast food. However, their decision making fails to incorporate existing knowledge on competitive advantages and gives greater weight to customer satisfaction compared with adults. Behavioral differences between teenage and adult consumers result from differences in cognitive development rather than social pressure.
Research limitations/implications - As this study uses subjective consumer data from Germany, future research could validate the conclusions with objective behavioral data from various countries.
Practical implications - Of importance to fast food restaurant managers, the primary determinants of customer attitudes and intentions are food quality, the public brand image, social recognition, and perceived competitive advantages. By contrast, service quality and perceived value are less influential. Satisfying teenage customers is more important than informing them about competitive advantages.
Social implications - The results imply that fast food-related childhood obesity may be caused by lack of rationality rather than peer pressure or lack of knowledge.
Originality/value - As an original contribution, the paper compares adolescents' and adults' decision making regarding fast food restaurants and captures the regularly overlooked influences of the public brand image, social recognition, and perceived competitive advantages.

China is becoming one of the world's most attractive retail markets. Though the literature lacks a comprehensive theory on country differences in the formation of customer satisfaction, such knowledge would enable foreign retailers to better adapt their marketing strategies to Chinese consumers. This study creates such a theory and tests it with data from seven countries. Hierarchical linear modeling shows that country differences in economic development and culture influence both (a) the level of customer satisfaction and (b) how customer satisfaction is influenced by its antecedents. Additional analyses specifically inform foreign retailers about how to adapt to Chinese consumer needs. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

In the face of intense competition, companies try to retain and acquire customers by improving customer satisfaction (CS). Recent research indicates that CS is not only influenced by companies' customer orientation but also by unrelated external factors such as economic fluctuations. To better understand these mechanisms, this study explores the influences of the 2008 world economic crisis on firm-related customer attitudes (CS, perceived value, corporate image) and the moderating effects of culture on these influences. It utilizes data from a questionnaire survey which was conducted in two waves, before and after the 2008 world economic crisis, and measured Japanese customers' cultural traits and firm-related attitudes in 14 industries. This study yields the following results. (1) The economic crisis positively influences CS but not perceived value and corporate image. (2) Culture affects all analyzed indicators of firm-related customer attitudes. They are positively influenced by risk aversion and negatively by technical orientation. (3) The effects of the economic crisis on firm-related customer attitudes are weaker for risk-averse and collectivist customers and more positive for working customers than for housewives. These results imply the existence of economic and cultural biases in the formation of customer satisfaction, which marketing strategy should take into consideration.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether economic growth enhances life satisfaction. It provides a conceptual solution to the heavily debated Easterlin paradox which states that aggregate income positively relates to life satisfaction in one-time international comparisons but not in longitudinal analyses. First empirical results are presented for Germany. Design/methodology/approach – The present study uses path analysis to capture not only direct but also mediated effects of economic growth on life satisfaction. Findings – The paper finds that economic growth does enhance life satisfaction over time. The effect is not direct but mediated via consumer confidence, customer satisfaction, income satisfaction, health satisfaction and job satisfaction. Modeled by consumer confidence, adaptive expectations reduce this effect but cannot entirely compensate for it, as suggested by literature. In addition to this negative compensatory effect which is mediated by customer satisfaction, consumer confidence has a positive direct influence on life satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – Since the history of aggregate customer satisfaction measurement is still young, this empirical analysis should be seen as pioneer work. Future research on the Easterlin paradox should utilize future data, model mediated relationships and time lags, and integrate customer satisfaction and consumer confidence. Practical implications – Economic growth strategies are successful in raising life satisfaction. Governments should not only pay attention to quantitative but also to qualitative growth. Collective optimism can improve life satisfaction. Originality/value – This study contributes to solving the Easterlin paradox. Unlike the extant literature on the Easterlin paradox, this paper integrates national customer satisfaction and consumer confidence into a sociologic model and explicitly accounts for mediated effects. National customer satisfaction is used to model qualitative aspects of economic growth. © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Purpose – Sociologists are discussing whether or not economic growth enhances subjective well-being. To complement their research from a housing perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether aggregate income enhances dwelling satisfaction over time. While cross-sectional studies have only examined the direct influence of income on dwelling satisfaction, this paper suggests that there are additional influences mediated by other social indicators. Design/methodology/approach – Based on data from Germany, correlation and regression analyses examine the impacts of aggregate income and other social indicators on dwelling satisfaction. Path analysis is used to test for the existence of mediated relationships. Findings – The paper finds that aggregate income positively influences dwelling satisfaction. Environmental satisfaction, customer satisfaction and satisfaction with family relations also positively impact dwelling satisfaction and mediate influences of aggregate income. The mediated effects are stronger than the direct effect of aggregate income on dwelling satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – The longitudinal availability of aggregate customer satisfaction data is still limited. Future research on dwelling satisfaction is encouraged to account for customer satisfaction and to reexamine the analyses of this study with future data. Practical implications – Stimulating economic growth is a good strategy to improve dwelling satisfaction. Policies improving the environment, family support and shopping opportunities are also effective. Originality/value – This paper is original in that it examines the impacts of economic growth and customer satisfaction on dwelling satisfaction. While the extant literature has only analysed direct effects of income on dwelling satisfaction, this study also accounts for mediated effects. © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Consumer research has extensively analysed psychological determinants of customer satisfaction. As macro-level customer satisfaction data were not available until recently, researchers have only taken first steps towards analysing economic determinants of customer satisfaction. Based on a more complex conceptual framework and on data from Germany and Japan, this article examines how economic processes influence the perceived value of goods and services, quality expectations and customer satisfaction. Using principal component analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling, this study finds that perceived value is positively influenced by both economic growth and lagged economic expectations. Customer satisfaction is positively influenced by economic growth and negatively by current economic expectations, with half of the impact mediated by perceived value. Economic expectations positively influence expectations regarding the quality of goods and services. These results imply that consumer researchers should no longer ignore economic influences on consumer attitudes. Marketing managers are advised to be cautious not to misinterpret economic-induced variations in customer satisfaction as caused by corporate performance. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Recent research discovered that economic processes influence national averages of customer satisfaction. Using time-series data from Japanese and South Korean hospitals, we conducted principal component regression analyses to examine whether these findings are transferable to patient satisfaction. Our results reveal that aggregate income has a positive impact and economic expectations have a negative impact on patient satisfaction. Further analyses demonstrate that these strong economic influences make it difficult for hospital managers to use patient satisfaction scores to assess the performance impact of their customer-oriented actions. In order to improve performance evaluations based on patient surveys, we thus recommend managers to remove economic influences from time-series of patient satisfaction. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The marketing literature has extensively analysed firm-level influences on customer satisfaction. Since macro-level customer satisfaction data have not become available until recently, researchers have just taken first steps towards analysing economic influences on customer satisfaction. Identifying economic influences is important because their existence would impair the interpretability of corporate customer satisfaction surveys. Using principal component and regression analyses, we examine economic influences on customer satisfaction across a number of countries: Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and the USA. Our analyses reveal that economic expansion exerts a positive influence on customer satisfaction, whereas economic expectations exert a negative influence. As a measure to improve today's quality management practices, we thus recommend that firms correct the scores of multiperiod customer satisfaction surveys for economic influences.

Customer orientation is an important driver of business performance. In order to measure the development of customer orientation over time, managers conduct CS (customer satisfaction) surveys for several years and interpret CS variations as linked to their firm's actions. Based on time-series data from three durable goods industries and a hospital, this study identifies significant influences of economic growth and economic expectations on firm-level CS. This means that CS variations are not only caused by firm-level actions but also by economic processes. Managers should be careful when interpreting economic-induced CS variations as consequences of their own actions. This article thus proposes two methods to correct CS scores by removing economic influences: 1) remove the influence of economic expectations, 2) remove the influence of economic growth and economic expectations. It is shown that these methods strongly reinforce the correlation between CS scores and future business performance. These results demonstrate that correcting CS scores helps managers gain performance-relevant information that cannot be read from the original scores.

Recent literature has revealed that CS (customer satisfaction) is not only driven by corporate efforts at the micro level, but also by economic processes at the macro level. Using time-series data from three durable goods industries, pioneer work in this field discovered that CS is negatively influenced by the stock index, a measure of economic expectations. Extending their research and adding new data measured in 2004 and 2007, analyses were conducted under the following two hypotheses: 1) CS is influenced negatively by economic expectations and positively by economic growth, and 2) economic expectations should have a particularly strong influence on CS with peripheral product functions, compared to CS with core product functions. These hypotheses were supported, but the positive impact of economic growth on CS was not significant in all analyses. Managers and researchers should design methods to correct longitudinal CS values from economic influences, so that they better reflect the customer-oriented performance of firms.

Based on longitudinal customer satisfaction data from three durable goods industries in Japan, this study analyzes how economic processes influence customer satisfaction and how these effects vary by product function. Our research hypotheses are based on a conceptual extension of the disconfirmation of expectations theory of customer satisfaction formation. Using principal component and regression analyses, we show that customer satisfaction is positively influenced by economic growth and negatively by economic expectations. These effects, especially the influence of economic expectations, are much stronger for customer satisfaction with peripheral product functions than with core product functions. Quality managers should be aware of misinterpretations when measuring customer satisfaction to evaluate business performance. Variations in customer satisfaction are not only caused by variations in corporate performance but also by external economic influences.

Recent research demonstrated that economic processes influence customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is positively influenced by economic growth and negatively by the national stock index. These results are very important to marketing and quality managers using customer satisfaction surveys to benchmark changes in their firm’s customer-oriented performance over time. Managers may misinterpret economic-induced variations in customer satisfaction as caused by changing customer-oriented performance. In our study on the durable goods and hospital industries, we show that this danger is justified because economic processes explain 49 to 95%, thus the majority, of the variations in customer satisfaction. To help firms interpret variations in customer satisfaction, we propose two methods to correct customer satisfaction scores by removing economic influences. We verify the corrected scores by their impact on future business performance and confirm that our correction methods can help managers better understand their firm’s customer-oriented performance and predict future business performance.

One of the most important questions that marketing managers are facing is how to keep current customers. While acquiring new customers may incur higher costs than yield financial returns, repeat patronage is the key to real profitability. Although there has been a lot of research on repurchase intentions in international markets, no major scientific study has yet deeply analyzed the factors affecting repurchase intentions in Japan. To counter this lack of information available to firms, our study aims at exploring the determinants of repurchase intentions across a variety of consumer markets in Japan. Knowing these determinants and their relative weights should enable managers to invest in those strategic areas maximizing repeat patronage.

Changes in customer satisfaction are usually linked to a firm’s performance in satisfying its clients or to developments within its direct competitive environment. In order to correctly interpret such changes in corporate consumer surveys, managers should also account for macroeconomic influences on customer satisfaction. Using data from national consumer barometers in Germany, South Korea, Sweden, and the United States, this study reveals that economic growth positively affects customer satisfaction. Based on correlation analysis and Granger tests, these results challenge recent studies claiming that, conversely, there is a unidirectional impact of customer satisfaction on economic growth. With more comprehensive data from Germany, structural equation modeling shows that economic growth drives customer satisfaction via the expansion of the average consumer’s budget and via an increasing perceived value of offerings. The effect is stronger in high-tech industries, industries with rapid innovation cycles, and industries with fierce price competition.

Sociologists have been arguing whether aggregate income enhances subjective well-being and, more specifically, satisfaction with the standard of living. The empirical results were mixed. This article suggests that aggregate income affects standard-of-living satisfaction not only directly but also indirectly. Using path analysis and a dataset from Germany, this study finds that absolute income, short-term income fluctuations, and income inequality do not have direct impacts on standard-of-living satisfaction. However, they have indirect impacts mediated by income satisfaction, aggregate customer satisfaction, and satisfaction with the household role. Hence, public policy can rely on economic growth to enhance standard-of-living satisfaction. Government must ensure that economic growth translates into more satisfactory consumption experiences and that growing economic activity rather strengthens than divides families. Future sociological research should account for mediated effects of aggregate income on subjective well-being and no longer ignore the role of customer satisfaction.

Changes in customer satisfaction are usually linked to a firm’s performance in satisfying its clients or to developments within its direct competitive environment. Managers should better extend their view towards accounting for the overall economic development. Based on consumer data from the German Customer Monitor, a national consumer barometer in Germany, this study reveals that the economic development is driving customer satisfaction via the expansion of the average consumer’s budget and via an increasing perceived value of offerings. These findings challenge studies based on US data claiming that, in the opposite sense, there is a unidirectional impact of customer satisfaction on economic growth.

Measuring customer satisfaction at the firm-level is not enough for companies to validly assess corporate performance from the customers’ point of view because customer satisfaction is as well influenced by industrial and economic developments distorting firm-level results. In order to deepen initial findings, our study identifies the economic antecedents to customer satisfaction and to the consumer-perceived value of goods and services, which is the primary antecedent to satisfaction at the firm-level, and integrates the results into a structural model. Based on data from Germany, we find that the consumer-perceived value of goods and services is positively influenced both by economic long-term expansion and by consumer and investor confidence. Customer satisfaction is negatively influenced by retail confidence and positively influenced by economic long-term expansion, with more than half of the impact being mediated by perceived value. We also show that these results are not limited to Germany but are reflected by all countries where customer satisfaction is measured on a large scale.

Numerous studies have proposed the creation of consumer switching costs as a viable alternative to quality efforts in order to reach strong consumer repurchase intentions and thus profitability. However, these studies have exclusively focused on individual consumer differences under fixed market conditions, which should have overstressed short-term aspects. Based on data from the German Customer Monitor, a national customer survey covering 79 industries in Germany, we conduct a cross-industrial analysis to verify how switching costs impact long-term market outcomes of quality perceptions, customer satisfaction, repurchase intentions, and recommendation intentions which comprise the four most important variables of the consumer attitude chain. In clear opposition to the extant literature, our results indicate that switching costs have significantly negative impacts on repurchase intentions and the other three analyzed consumer attitudes and thus also on profitability in the long run. Establishing switching costs may hence rather endanger corporate long-term success than outstrip the strategic importance of quality efforts. Further analyses substantially add to the distinction between ‘positive’ vs. ‘negative’ types of switching costs with presumed positive vs. negative impacts on consumer sentiments, which has become a hot topic of discussion in latest research. Our investigation reveals that no switching cost type has positive long-term impacts on consumer attitudes, but we identify a distinction between ‘positive’ and ‘neutral’ switching costs. In particular, creating psychological switching costs does not entail detrimental effects on repurchase and recommendation intentions, the two major profitability drivers in the chain of consumer attitudes. Combining our results with positive short-term effects reported by literature, we recommend managers to strategically set up psychological switching costs as to incrementally secure competitive short-term ad-vantages without facing long-term penalties.