Consumer complaint actions: a conceptual model based on complainants about advertising in Australia

This article presents a new conceptual model detailing consumer complaint responses relating to exposure to unacceptable advertising. The model is initiated by consumer perceptions of negative inequity which elicits one of three consumer complaint responses based on the identified triggers that may influence complaining propensity such as demographic, psychographic, cultural, situational and social factors. Complainant perception of the process encountered together with the overall outcome of their experience affect future complaint behaviour as shown by this evolving model as the end reaction flows on to form the consumer’s next response to a similar situation. The advertising industry in Australia is valued annually at over $8 billion and some advertisements have been identified as ‘unacceptable’ by elements in society. Industry and regulatory response to consumer complaints is thus an important area to address and there is no extant literature utilising such an holistic model.

Opinions about advertising in Australia: a study of complainants

Advertising expenditure has risen globally and in Australia there has been a 2.7-fold rise in the last 10 years. It is suggested that some advertisements may be 'unacceptable', that is unfair, misleading, deceptive, offensive, false or socially irresponsible. Industry and regulatory responses to consumer complaints about these problems must be addressed. This research is concerned with consumer behaviour and consumer complaint behaviour specifically in the area of advertising in Australia. The general findings from the reviewed literature indicated that complainants tend to be older, have attained higher levels of educational qualifications, earn a higher gross weekly income, possess greater degrees of wealth, have higher participant levels of local community involvement and, in general terms, have more resources to avail themselves of in order to allow them to take action when dissatisfied. The results from this research engender a better understanding of the complaining public. Empirical analyses were used for determining the characteristics of people who complain to the Advertising Standards Board and inferred that their opinions regarding advertising differ from members of the general population in four key areas. This research will afford regulatory bodies a better understanding of the complaining public as well as educating marketing communications strategists in effectively reaching their target markets.

Complaint behaviour: a study of the differences between complainants about advertising in Australia and the population at large

Advertising expenditure has risen globally and in Australia there has been a 2.7-fold increase in the last ten years. It is suggested that some advertisements may be “unacceptable”, that is, unfair, misleading, deceptive, offensive, false or socially irresponsible. This research is concerned with consumer behaviour and consumer complaint behaviour specifically in the area of advertising in Australia. The findings indicate that complainants are significantly different from the population at large. This research will afford the regulatory bodies a better understanding of the complaining public as well as educating marketing communications strategists in effectively reaching their target markets.

Who are they? A profile of complainants about advertising in Australia

Advertising expenditure in Australia has almost doubled in the last 10 years even though some advertisements maybe ''unacceptable." We investigated consumer complaint responses specifically within the area of advertising in Australia. Our findings indicate that these complainants to be older, more highly educated and more likely to be female, than the population at large.

A profile of complainants about advertising in Australia: an agenda for research

Investigation of consumer complaint responses within the area of advertising in Australia stems from the suggestion that the more money spent on advertising in a country the greater the need for consumer protection from 'unacceptable' advertising. This research will allow the formulation of strategies to enable more effective marketing communications.

Defining the domain of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in tourism organisations : a preliminary view from stakeholders in Thailand's accommodation sector

This paper aims to define the domain of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for hotel and accommodation organizations in Thailand. It seeks to integrate the diverse components of CSR as defined within the general business/management, tourism and stakeholder literatures. A review of existing literature, codes of practice and standards, identify three broad CSR components – economic issues, social/ethical issues and environmental – although each of the standards varied in terms of the definition and emphasis applied. The components were ‘aggregated’ within each of the broad management and tourism literature, these two sets of groupings were then aggregated into one overarching set of CSR issues. Semi-structured interviews were then undertaken with 38 key informants from hotel and resort businesses in Thailand to identify their views toward the applicability of these over-arching components to hotel and accommodation organisations.

The results of the aggregation of standards suggest that CRS approaches within general business tend to be more socially/ethically orientated whereas within the tourism area approaches tend to be more environmentally orientated. Key respondents’ views were generally consistent with the three broad issues of the integrated CSR domain, although some issues were identified as more salient to hotel and accommodation organisations than others. The paper suggests that there is a need to develop CSR measures and indicators applicable and reflective of the different environmental, legal, cultural and local setting.

Future research directions in tourism marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to formulate and discuss future research avenues for the marketing of tourism services.

Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken in the paper is to review the relevant literature and focus on the key themes most important for future research on tourism marketing.

Findings – The paper finds that there are a number of research avenues for tourism marketing researchers and marketing practitioners to conduct investigations on but the most important areas are consumer behavior, branding, e-marketing and strategic marketing.

Practical implications – The paper is relevant to tourism firms and destination management organizations in the development of marketing activities/capabilities to increase their customer base. In addition, as this paper takes a global perspective it is also helpful to compare different international research directions.

Social implications – Changing demographics and the aging of the global population mean different marketing approaches will be needed to market tourism services to older consumers and also consumers from developing countries such as China and India.

Originality/value – This paper is a key resource for marketing practitioners wanting to focus on future growth areas and also marketing academics interested in tourism marketing that want to stay at the forefront of their research area of expertise.

Discovering implicit criteria preferences reflected in tourism journal ranking lists using the Choquet Integral

Variations between journal rankings may cause confusion. As such, prior attempts were made to compare and evaluate journal ranking criteria for obtaining insightful knowledge on how different research communities have ranked journals. However, existing approaches are unable to model the journal ranking process closely enough as they are incapable of considering the relationship between multiple criteria simultaneously. In this paper, we address the challenges by introducing the Choquet Integral (CI) for evaluating journal ranking criteria. The new approach is able to account for interactions between criteria in relation to overall ranking score, using a fuzzy measure in its computation. Its properties, the Shapley value and the Interaction index, allow for good representations of importance and interactions between criteria. We demonstrate the efficiency of the CI through a case study of journal ranking lists in tourism and service journals.

What is the role of tobacco control advertising intensity and duration in reducing adolescent smoking prevalence? Findings from 16 years of tobacco control mass media advertising in Australia

ABSTRACT
Objective: To examine how the intensity and duration of tobacco control advertising relate to adolescent smoking prevalence.
Methods: Australian students (aged 12–17 years) participating in a national survey conducted triennially between 1993 and 2008 (sample size range 12 314–16 611). The outcome measure was students’ smoking in the previous 4 weeks collected through anonymous, self-completed surveys. For each student, monthly targeted rating points (TRPs, a measure of television advertising exposure) for tobacco control advertising was calculated for the 3 and 12 months prior to surveying. For each time period, cumulative TRPs exposure and exposure to three intensity levels (≥100 TRPs/month; ≥400 TRPs/month; ≥800 TRPs/month) over increasing durations (eg, 1 month, 2 months, etc) were calculated. Logistic regression examined associations between TRPs and adolescent smoking after controlling for demographic and policy variables.
Results: Past 3-month cumulative TRPs were found to have an inverse relationship with smoking prevalence. Low TRPs exposure in the past 12 months was positively associated with adolescent smoking prevalence. However, smoking prevalence reduced with cumulative exposure levels above 5800 cumulative TRPs. Additionally, exposure to ≥400 TRPs/month and ≥800 TRPs/month were associated with reduced likelihood of smoking, although the duration needed for this effect differed for the two intensity levels. When intensity was ≥400 TRPs/month, the odds of smoking only reduced with continuous exposure. When intensity was ≥800 TRPs/month, exposure at levels less than monthly was associated with reductions in smoking prevalence.
Conclusions: Both antismoking advertising intensity and duration are important for ensuring reductions in adolescent smoking prevalence.

A conceptual classification of parents’ attributions of the role of food advertising in children’s diets

Background : High levels of child obesity are triggering growing concerns about the prevalence and effects of food advertising targeted at children. Efforts to address this advertising are confounded by the expanding repertoire of media and promotional techniques used to reach and attract children. The present study explored parents’ views on food marketing and the strategies parents employ when attempting to ameliorate its effects. As part of an online survey of Australian parents’ attitudes towards a range of food advertisements, respondents were invited to provide additional comment in an open-ended question. The question was optional and asked “Are there any other comments you would like to make?”. One in five of the survey respondents (18%; n = 235) elected to answer this question by discussing their views on food advertising and children’s diets. The responses were imported into NVivo10 for coding and analysis. A grounded approach was used to draw meaning from the data and develop a proposed conceptual classification of parents’ attributions relating to food advertising and its consequences.

Results : The majority of responses related to the negative perceived effects of unhealthy food advertising on children’s diets, with few respondents considering such advertisements to be innocuous. The responses were classified into four conceptual categories reflecting differing attitudes to advertising (negative to neutral) and varying levels of locus of control (low to high). The typical characteristics of parents allocated to the four categories exhibited variation according to weight status, television viewing habits, education level, and family size. The largest number of responses was coded to the category characterized by a negative attitude toward food advertising and a low locus of control. Parents in this category were more likely than others to be overweight/obese and heavy television viewers. Parents in the negative attitude to advertising and high locus of control category nominated a variety of parenting practices that could form the basis of parent education interventions.

Conclusions : The results suggest that many Australian parents may feel disempowered in the face of high levels of advertising for unhealthy foods. The current voluntary regulatory code appears to be inadequate in scope and coverage to address this situation.

Material culture and contested heritage in tourism

SummaryContestation is a central element of heritage tourism. This chapter examines issues of contestation in relation to material cultural heritage with special attention given to the built environment, and archaeological and architectural sites. The relationship between tourism and material heritage is characterised by contestation in multiple ways and different scales and includes concerns over values, over space, over materials, over meanings, and over ownership. Using examples drawn from emerging economies as well as more developed destinations the chapter emphasizes the need to pursue these issues through a number of analytical lenses that draw upon different conceptual understandings of heritage and tourism and pursue a range of methodological strategies capable of unearthing the complexities of the contested relationship between tourism and material culture.