Consumer Behaviour : Buying, Having, Being (3e)

Consumer behaviour is more than buying things; it also embraces the study of how having (or not having) things affects our lives and how possessions influence the way we feel about ourselves and each other - our state of being. The 3rd edition of Consumer Behaviour is presented in a contemporary framework based around the buying, having and being model and in an Australasian context. Students will be engaged and excited by the most current research, real-world examples, global coverage, managerial applications and ethical examples to cover all facets of consumer behaviour. With new coverage of Personality and incorporating real consumer data, Consumer Behaviour is fresh, relevant and up-to-date . It provides students with the best possible introduction to this fascinating discipline.

The trustworthy brand : effects of conclusion explicitness and persuasion awareness on consumer judgments

Two studies examine how a consumer’s awareness of marketing tactics influences the effectiveness of conclusion explicitness advertising (implicit, open-ended or explicit, closed-ended conclusions). Study 1 shows that persuasion awareness and conclusion explicitness influence brand evaluations. Persuasion aware consumers prefer implicit conclusions in comparative advertising that allow them to decide which brand is superior, rather than explicit conclusions which state the superior brand. Persuasion unaware consumers show no difference for conclusion explicitness. Brand trust mediates the results. Study 2 demonstrates the robustness of these effects. Research contributions include persuasion awareness as a moderator of conclusion explicitness effects and the role of trust as a mediator. For managers, results show how implicit conclusions can improve the brand evaluations of persuasion aware consumers.

Consumer’s persistence in solving their own problem with self‐service technology

An increasing range of technology services are now offered on a self-service basis. However, problems with self-service technologies (SSTs) occur at times due to the technical error, staff error, or consumers’ own mistakes. Considering the role of consumers as co-producers in the SST context, we aim to study consumer’s behaviours, strategies, and decision making in solving their problem with SST and identify the factors contributing to their persistence in solving the problem. This study contributes to the information systems research, as it is the first study that aims to identify such a process and the factors affecting consumers’ persistence in solving their problem with SST. A focus group with user support staff has been conducted, yielding some initial results that helped to conduct the next phases of the study. Next, using Critical Incident Technique, data will be gathered through focus groups with users, diary method, and think-aloud method.

Co-optimisation of indoor environmental quality and energy consumption within urban office buildings

This study aimed to develop a multi-component model that can be used to maximise indoor environmental quality inside mechanically ventilated office buildings, while minimising energy usage. The integrated model, which was developed and validated from fieldwork data, was employed to assess the potential improvement of indoor air quality and energy saving under different ventilation conditions in typical air-conditioned office buildings in the subtropical city of Brisbane, Australia. When operating the ventilation system under predicted optimal conditions of indoor environmental quality and energy conservation and using outdoor air filtration, average indoor particle number (PN) concentration decreased by as much as 77%, while indoor CO2 concentration and energy consumption were not significantly different compared to the normal summer time operating conditions. Benefits of operating the system with this algorithm were most pronounced during the Brisbane’s mild winter. In terms of indoor air quality, average indoor PN and CO2 concentrations decreased by 48% and 24%, respectively, while potential energy savings due to free cooling went as high as 108% of the normal winter time operating conditions. The application of such a model to the operation of ventilation systems can help to significantly improve indoor air quality and energy conservation in air-conditioned office buildings.

Competition and its influence on consumer decision making in social marketing

This paper extends the largely conceptual understanding of competition in social marketing by empirically investigating, from a consumer perspective, the nature of competition and its influence on decision making at the individual level. Two phases of qualitative inquiry in Australia, comprising 30 and 20 semi-structured interviews respectively, examined the role of competition in young adults’ decision to adopt and maintain help-seeking for mental ill-health. The findings from thematic analysis suggest that competition operates at both the behavioural and goal level to influence consumers’ decision to perform behaviour and that the types of competition in operation may vary from the adoption to the maintenance of behaviour. The findings are integrated into a framework that social marketers could employ to identify, analyse and address competition.

The Business of Unfinished Business : Reflections on Co-construction of Meanings in Research Encounters

My concern in this commentary is the discrepancy between cultural psychologists' theoretical claims that meanings are co-constructed by, with and for individuals in ongoing social interaction, and their research practices where researcher's and research participant's meaning-making processes are separated in time into sequential turns. I argue for the need to live up to these theoretical assumptions, by making both the initial research encounter and the researcher's later interpretation process more co-constructive. I suggest making the initial research encounter more co-constructive by paying attention to these moments when the negotiated flow of interaction between researcher and research participant breaks down, for it allows the research participant's meaning-making to be traced and makes the researcher's efforts towards meaning more explicit. I propose to make the later interpretation process more co-constructive by adopting a more open-ended and dialogical way of writing that is specifically addressed to research participants and invites them to actively engage with researcher's meaning-making.

Development and validation of the Self-Gifting Consumer Behaviour scale

Self-gifting consumer behaviour (SGCB) is on the rise as consumers seek reward and therapeutic benefits from their shopping experiences. SGCB is defined as personally symbolic, self-communication through special indulgences, which tend to be premeditated and highly context bound. Prior research into the measurement of this growing behavioural phenomenon has been fragmented because of differences in conceptualisation. This research builds upon the prior literature and through a series of qualitative and quantitative studies, develops a valid, multidimensional measure of SGCB that will be useful for future quantitative inquiry into self-gifting consumption.

The role of affect in consumer evaluation of health care services

Health care services are typically consumed out of necessity, typically to recover from illness. While the consumption of health care services can be emotional given that consumers experience fear, hope, relief, and joy, surprisingly, there is little research on the role of consumer affect in health care consumption. We propose that consumer affect is a heuristic cue that drives evaluation of health care services. Drawing from cognitive appraisal theory and affect-as-information theory, this article tests a research model (N = 492) that investigates consumer affect resulting from service performance on subsequent service outcomes.

Fibroin-based materials support co-cultivation of limbal epithelial and stromal cells

The silk protein fibroin (Bombyx mori) provides a potential substrate for use in ocular tissue reconstruction. We have previously demonstrated that transparent membranes produced from fibroin support cultivation of human limbal epithelial (HLE) cells (Tissue Eng A. 14(2008)1203-11). We extend this body of work to studies of human limbal stromal cell (HLS) growth on fibroin in the presence and absence of serum. Also, we investigate the ability to produce a bi-layered composite scaffold of fibroin with an upper HLE layer and lower HLS layer.

Co-creating stories in social learning systems : The role of community media and cultural organisations in disseminating knowledge

This paper investigates how community based media organisations are co-creative storytelling institutions, and how they learn to disseminate knowledge in a social learning system. Organisations involved in story co-creation are learning to create in fluid environments.They are project based, with a constant turnover of volunteers or staff. These organisations have to meet the needs of their funding bodies and their communities to remain sustainable. Learning is seen as dialogical, and this is also reflected in the nature of storytelling itself. These organisations must learn to meet the needs of their communities, who in turn learn from the organisation’s expertise in a facilitated setting. This learning is participatory and collaborative, and is often a mix of virtual and offline interaction. Such community-based organisations sit in the realm of a hybrid-learning environment; they are neither a formal educational institution like a college, nor do their volunteers produce outcomes in a professional capacity. Yet, they must maintain a certain level of quality outcomes from their contributors to be of continued value in their communities. Drawing from a larger research study, one particular example is that of the CitizenJ project. CitizenJ is hosted by a state cultural centre, and partnered with publishing partners in the community broadcasting sector. This paper explores how this project is a Community of Practice, and how it promotes ethical and best practice, meets contributors’ needs, emphasises the importance of facilitation in achieving quality outcomes, and the creation of projects for wider community and public interest.

Crystal structures and hydrogen-bonding in the co-crystalline adducts of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid with 4-aminosalicylic acid and 2-hydroxy-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)propenoic acid

The structures of the cocrystalline adducts of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid (3,5-DNBA) with 4-aminosalicylic acid (PASA), the 1:1 partial hydrate, C7H4N2O6 .C7H7NO3 . 2H2O, (I) and 2-hydroxy-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)propenoic acid (HIPA) and the 1:1:1 d6-dimethylsulfoxide solvate, C7H4N2O6 . C11H9NO3 . C2D6OS, (II) are reported. The crystal substructure of (I) comprises two centrosymmetric hydrogen-bonded R2/2(8) homodimers, one with 3,5-DNBA, the other with PASA, and an R2/2(8) 3,5-DNBA-PASA heterodimer. In the crystal, inter-unit amine N-H...O and water O-H...O hydrogen bonds generate a three-dimensional supramolecular structure. In (II), the asymmetric unit consists of the three constituent molecules which form an essentially planar cyclic hydrogen-bonded heterotrimer unit [graph set R2/3(17)] through carboxyl, hydroxy and amino groups. These units associate across a crystallographic inversion centre through the HIPA carboxylic acid group in an R2/2~(8) hydrogen-bonding association, giving a zero-dimensional structure lying parallel to (100). In both structures, pi--pi interactions are present [minimum ring centroid separations: 3.6471(18)A in (I) and 3.5819(10)A in (II)].

Crystal structures of the co-crystalline adduct 5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine--4-nitrobenzoic acid (1/1) and the salt 2-amino-5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-3-ium 2-carboxy-4,6-dinitrophenolate

The structures of the 1:1 co-crystalline adduct C8H6BrN3S . C7H5NO4 (I) and the salt C8H7BrN3S+ C7H3N2O7- (II) from the interaction of 5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine with 4-nitrobenzoic acid and 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid, respectively, have been determined. The primary inter-species association in both (I) and (II) is through duplex R2/2(8) (N-H...O/O-H...O) or (N-H...O/N-H...O) hydrogen bonds, respectively, giving heterodimers. In (II), these are close to planar [dihedral angles between the thiadiazole ring and the two phenyl rings are 2.1(3)deg. (intra) and 9.8(2)deg. (inter)], while in (I) these angles are 22.11(15) and 26.08(18)deg., respectively. In the crystal of (I), the heterodimers are extended into a one-dimensional chain along b through an amine N-...N(thiadiazole) hydrogen bond but in (II), a centrosymmetric cyclic heterotetramer structure is generated through N-H...O hydrogen bonds to phenol and nitro O-atom acceptors and features, together with the primary R2/2(8) interaction, conjoined R4/6(12), R2/1(6) and S(6) ring motifs. Also present in (I) are pi--pi interactions between thiadiazole rings [minimum ring centroid separation, 3.4624(16)deg.] as well as short Br...O(nitro) interactions in both (I) and (II) [3.296(3)A and 3.104(3)A, respectively].

Theatre, co-creativity & co-creative spectatorship

Theatre is a socially and politically aware artform. It participates in the construction – and, potentially, the contestation – of a community’s history, identity, and ideals. It does this live, in the moment, where artist, artwork and audience meet here, now, together. This, most theatre makers think, gives theatre special power to make spectators think about the stories it stages. But it also creates challenges.

Social media, audiences, and audience co-creativity in contemporary performance: Restoring balance?

Producers, technicians, performers, audiences and critics are all critical components of the performing arts ecology – critical components of an ecosystem that have to come together into some sort of productive relationship if the performing arts are to be vital, viable and successful. Different performance practices developed in different times, spaces and places do, of course, connect these players in different ways as part of their attempt to achieve their own definition of success, be it based on entertainment, educational, expression, empowerment, or something else. In some contemporary performance practices, social media platforms, applications and processes are seen to have significant potential to restore balance to the relationship between performer and audience, providing audiences with more power to participate in a performance event. In this paper, I investigate prevailing assumptions about social media’s power to democratise performance practice, or, at least, develop more co-creative performance practices in which producers, performers and audiences participate actively before, during and after the event. I focus, in particular, on the use of social media as a means of developing a participatory aesthetic in which an audience member is asked to contribute to the cast of characters, plot or progression of a performance. Although diverse – from performances streamed online, to performances that offer transmedia components the audience can use to learn more about character, context and plot online, to performances that incorporate online voting, liking or linking, to performances that unfold fully online on websites, blogs, microblogs or other social media platforms – what a lot of uses of social media in contemporary performance today share is a desire to encourage audiences to reflect on their role in making, and making meaning, of the event. In this paper I interrogate if, and if so how, this democratises or develops deeper levels of co-creativity in the relationship between producers, performers and audiences.

Playing Pranks: Traditions, communities & co-creative cultural performance practice

Pranks, hoaxes and practical jokes are co-creative cultural performance practices that appear across times, contexts and cultures. These practices include everyday play amongst families, friends and coworkers, entertainment programs such as Prank Patrol, Punked or Scare Tactics, and aesthetic and activist pranks perpetrated by situationist artists, guerrilla artists, and, most recently, culture ‘jammers’ or ‘hackers’ intent on turning capitalist systems back on themselves. Although it can, in common usage, describe almost any show off behaviour, a prank in the strictest definition of the term is a performance that deploys a very specific set of strategies. It is an act of trickery, mischief, or deceit, that must be taken as real, and momentarily cause real fear, anger or worry for an unwitting spectator-become-performer, who is meant to play along until the trick is revealed and their response can be represented back to the prankster, other spectators, or society as a whole, either for the sake of entertainment or for the sake of commentary on a cultural phenomenon. A prank, in this sense, deliberately blurs the boundaries between daily and dramatic performance. It creates a moment of uncertainty, in which both the prankster’s ability to be creative, clever, or culturally astute, and the prankee’s ability to play along, discern the trick, discern the point of the trick, and, in the end, be duped, be a good sport, or even play/pay the prankster back, are both put to the test. In this paper, I consider a number of pranking traditions popular where I am in Australia, from the community-building pranks of footballers, bucks parties and ‘drop bear’ tales told to tourists, to the more controversial pranks of radio shock jocks, activists and artists. I use performance, spectatorship and ethical theory to examine the engagement between prankster, pranked spectator, and other spectators, in this most distinctive sort of community-driven performance practice, and the way it builds and breaks status, social and other sorts of relationships within and between specific communities.