A novel romance : the technology acceptance model with emotional attachment

E-readers, or devices designed primarily for reading e-books, are taking the world by storm. Several papers in library studies and education have examined e-book consumption for academic reading. However, no previous marketing study has investigated consumers’ adoption of e-readers for pleasure reading. We address this gap by testing an extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with emotional attachment (TAME) in this context. Consumers’ attachment to paper books is proposed as a barrier to their adoption of e-readers. This speaks to a key deficiency of the TAM, being its focus on cognition at the expense of consumer emotion. A three-phase study finds support for the TAME, with 64% of the variance explained in consumers’ intentions to adopt e-readers. Emotional attachment to paper books is found to be weakly and negatively associated with consumers’ attitude toward using e-readers. The qualitative findings suggest that e-reader adoption may not involve a binary choice between paper and e-formats.

Consumer decision making in telecommunications

The data analyses consumers' decision making processes in the telecommunications market. The dataset includes both autoethnographic videographies and experimental quantitative data.

The data comprises an extended autoethnographic methodology with 22 participants. Participants recorded video diaries, written diaries and extended interviews about their experiences looking for a mobile phone service. It also includes a quantitative experiment with 517 participants to examine, under close to real conditions, how consumers make decisions. This involved advertising and sales scenarios looking at the effect of bundling and limited time offers in advertising on consumer perceptions and purchase intentions; the effect of unit pricing and the presentation of terms and conditions information in advertising on consumer perceptions and purchase intentions; and the effect of information and the mode of its presentation in personal selling on consumers’ perceptions.

Influencing health equity : role of the effective consumer scale in measuring skills and abilities in a middle income country

The 2008 World Health Report emphasizes the need for patient-centered primary care service delivery models in which patients are equal partners in the planning and management of their health. It is argued that this involvement will lead to improved management of disease, improved health outcomes and patient satisfaction, better informed decision-making, increased compliance with healthcare decisions, and better resource utilization. This article investigates the domains captured by the Effective Consumer Scale (EC-17) in relation to vulnerable population groups that experience health inequity. Particular focus is paid to the domain of health literacy as an area fundamental to patients’ involvement in managing their condition and negotiating the healthcare system. In examining the possible influence of Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials (OMERACT) on health equity, we used the recent translation and validation of the EC-17 scale into Spanish and tested Argentina as an example. Future plans to use the EC-17 with vulnerable groups include formal collaboration and needs assessment with the community to tailor an intervention to meet its needs in a culturally relevant manner. Some systematic reviews have questioned whether interventions to improve effective consumer skills are appropriate in vulnerable populations. We propose that these populations may have the most to gain from such interventions since they might be expected to have relatively lower skills and health literacy than other groups.

Family holiday decision making : the knowledge and influence of adolescent children and parents

This paper investigates the influence adolescent children have over their parents with regards to holiday decisions. A dyadic method of analysis was used to determine the level of influence young people have on the decision making oftheir parents. Our research shows that the families in general do not see their adolescent children as more knowledgeable than the parents when it comes to holidays. However, the level of knowledge the family perceives the child to have is strongly related to how much influence the child then has over the parent. Also, the level of 'expertness' the family attribute to the child is strongly related to the family's attitude towards the child as a socialisation agent for the parent. Parents knowledge on the other hand, is not related to how influenced they are by their children. Finally, daughters have a larger impact on their parents' holiday decisions than sons.

Software developer policies : economics and s 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010

This article considers the impact of developer policies that hinder or restrict cross platform application development. We suggest that policies that hinder or restrict cross platform development have the potential to erode competition within the market for smartphones. The article also considers the relevance of dominance measures in software markets, arguing that conventional economic approaches may not be applicable. Furthermore, while most monitoring activities tend to focus primarily on protection of consumers, the article points out that modern electronic/information technology markets are multi-sided and there is a need for monitoring of practices designed to attract and retain the favour of developers. While the article is written in the context and application of the applicable Australian legislation, this being s 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), our findings are equally relevant to other jurisdictions.

Consumer-citizens of China : the role of foreign brands in the imagined future China

This book presents a comprehensive examination of Chinese consumer behaviour and challenges the previously dichotomous interpretation of the consumption of Western and non-Western brands in China.

Resisting immigrant myths : everyday consumer practices of Asian immigrants in America

Projective, depth interviews with U.S. Asian immigrants revealed their ambivalence toward the U.S. commercial sector’s colonial-era representations of Asian people. These commercial representations provide polarized depictions of Asian immigrants as either threatening aliens or as model citizens. These portrayals reflect “racialized otherness,” or racial stereotyping that represent Asian immigrants as inferior. Our findings indicate that Chinese immigrants strategically use everyday consumption related to foodways to resist the reverberation of American immigrant myths. In some instances, immigrants’ consumption practices instantiate a regional Asian identity. In other instances, however, immigrants’ consumption practices reflect a separation from the past and an acceptance of a new although not exclusively American way of life. Notwithstanding immigrant consumers’ resistance practices, the findings call for future research into immigrant consumers’ reactions to visual representations of race, ethnicity, and gender.