Consumer Effort Research Articles

Measuring consumer effort in circular economy initiatives in the food domain: An exploratory analysis

The transition towards a Circular Economy (CE) system requires a change in consumers' behavioural pattern that implies a certain level of effort which, in turn, could affect initiatives' success. Although consumers' role in CE is increasingly drawing the attention of scholars, limited knowledge is available on the evaluation of consumer's effort in CE initiatives. The current research provides an identification and measurement of the core parameters affecting consumer effort, offering a comprehensive Effort Index applied to 20 CE companies operating in food domain. Companies were classified in 5 categories (Quantity of food, Appearance of food, Edibility of food, Living with food and Local and sustainable food); the analysis of the companies revealed 14 parameters building the Effort Index. Results showed that initiatives ascribable to the category “Local and sustainable food” require higher levels of consumer effort; in contrast, case studies belonging to “Edibility of food” group are less effort-requiring.

Pertanggung Jawaban Perusahaan Daerah Parkir Terhadap Konsumen Ditinjau dari Peraturan Daerah Kota Denpasar Nomor 11 Tahun 2005 tentang Sistem Penyelenggaraan Perparkiran

Regional Regulation Number 11 the year 2005 concerning the system of parking arrangement states, the regulation states if the consumer loses a vehicle in the place where the retribution is levied then Denpasar Parking Company will provide the compensation . However, there is still a lot of society that does not know about compensation regulation. The purposes of the research are to analyze the consumer's effort who have suffered losses in demanding the compensation and the responsibility of Denpasar Parking Company due to the loss of vehicles in Denpasar city. The method used is empirical legal research and the approach used is the statute approach and fact approach. The results of this stud y show the consumer who demands compensation for the losses in the Denpasar City area can be done in 2 ways outside the court and in court. Carving compensation through non -litigation from Denpasar Parking Company is by giving compensation that has been set. The mechanism of Denpasar Parking Company in providing the compensation is the compensation should be paid no later than 7 days afler the claim submission file is received, but any incidents outside the loss of the vehicle are not the responsibility of the Denpasar Parking Company.

Nonhost diversity and density reduce the strength ofparasitoid-host interactions.

The presence of nonprey or nonhosts is known to reduce the strength of consumer– resource interactions by increasing the consumer's effort needed to find its resource. These interference effects can have a stabilizing effect on consumer–resource dynamics, but have also been invoked to explain parasitoid extinctions. To understand how nonhosts affect parasitoids, we manipulated the density and diversity of nonhost aphids using experimental host–parasitoid communities and tested how this affects parasitation efficiency of two aphid parasitoid species. To further study the behavioral response of parasitoids to nonhosts, we tested for changes in parasitoid time allocation in relation to their host‐finding strategies. The proportion of successful attacks (attack rate) in both parasitoid species was reduced by the presence of nonhosts. The parasitoid Aphidius megourae was strongly affected by increasing nonhost diversity with the attack rate dropping from 0.39 without nonhosts to 0.05 with high diversity of nonhosts, while Lysiphlebus fabarum responded less strongly, but in a more pronounced way to an increase in nonhost density. Our experiments further showed that increasing nonhost diversity caused host searching and attacking activity levels to fall in A. megourae, but not in L. fabarum, and that A. megourae changed its behavior after a period of time in the presence of nonhosts by increasing its time spent resting. This study shows that nonhost density and diversity in the environment are crucial determinants for the strength of consumer–resource interactions. Their impact upon a consumer's efficiency strongly depends on its host/prey finding strategy as demonstrated by the different responses for the two parasitoid species. We discuss that these trait‐mediated indirect interactions between host and nonhost species are important for community stability, acting either stabilizing or destabilizing depending on the level of nonhost density or diversity present.

Corporate sustainability: perception and response by older consumers

AbstractThis study empirically investigates the importance of environmental sustainability in the decision‐making of older consumers when purchasing consumer goods. Moreover, their perception of corporate sustainability is analyzed. Applying an online survey, effects are measured separately among German (n = 486) and Spanish (n = 503) respondents. By dividing the respondents in young (18–34 years), middle‐aged (35–49 years) and older people (>50 years), we particularly examine the cohort of older respondents. By the use of structural equation modeling, the impact of perceived corporate sustainability on the consumer's effort to act sustainably is evaluated to derive a better understanding in the Spanish and German market on how to address the concerns of the steadily increasing segment of older consumers. Even though price and brand of consumer goods play a significant role in the purchase decisions of the older respondents, our findings emphasize a considerable interest in the environmental impact of their purchases. Perceived price and quality of the sustainable products offer leads them to act in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Tariff regulation with energy efficiency goals

We study the optimal tariff structure that could induce a regulated utility to promote energy efficiency by its customers given that it is privately informed about the effectiveness of its effort on demand reduction. The regulator should optimally offer a menu of incentive compatible two-part tariffs. If the firm's energy efficiency activities have a high impact on demand reduction, the consumer should pay a high fixed fee but a low per unit price, approximating the tariff structure to a decoupling policy, which strengthens the firm's incentives to pursue energy conservation. Instead, if the firm's effort to adopt energy efficiency actions is scarcely effective, the tariff is characterized by a low fixed fee but a high price per unit of energy consumed, thus shifting the incentives for energy conservation on consumers. The optimal tariff structure also depends on the cost of the consumer's effort (in case the consumer can also adopt energy efficiency measures) and on the degree of substitutability between the consumer's and the firm's efforts.

Earning the Right to Indulge: Effort as a Determinant of Customer Preferences toward Frequency Program Rewards

Although frequency programs (FPs) have become ubiquitous in the marketplace and a key marketing-mix tool for promoting customer relationship and loyalty, little is known about the factors that determine how such programs are evaluated by consumers. The authors investigate the impact of the level of effort participants must invest to obtain the reward on the types of rewards they prefer and, consequently, on the decision to join the FP. In particular, the authors propose that higher required effort shifts consumer preferences from necessity to luxury rewards, because higher efforts reduce the guilt that is often associated with choosing luxuries over necessities. A series of studies with approximately 3100 consumers demonstrated that (1) higher program requirements shift preferences in favor of luxury rewards, (2) this effect is also observed when consumers choose between luxury and necessity rewards (of the same value) that they themselves proposed, and (3) the effect of program requirements on reward preferences is stronger among consumers who tend to feel guilty about luxury consumption and among those for whom the effort is invested in the context of work rather than pleasure. In addition, contrary to an alternative explanation based on the notion that higher requirements signal higher value of luxury rewards, the authors show that (1) when the program requirements are held constant but the individual consumer's effort is higher, the shift in preference toward luxuries is still observed and (2) increasing the monetary cost of participating in the FP decreases consumer preferences for luxury rewards. The authors discuss the theoretical implications of this research and the practical implications with respect to the design, targeting, and promotion of FPs.

Uncertainty and Consumption in Keynes's Theory of Effective Demand

Keynesian uncertainty normally exercises influence over effective demand via private investment. This paper expands the scope of influence of uncertainty to comprise private consumption as well. When private spending is explicitly made subject to uncertainty the individual consumer is forced to take active steps to make the future predictable. Contracted, sticky money prices are key tools in the consumer's efforts to keep uncertainty at a minimum and match earnings with consumption costs. However, even if prices are successfully contracted there is still need for preparedness against contingencies. Consumers therefore regulate their propensity to consume with reference to their confidence in the future: the propensity to consume is high when confidence is strong and low when confidence is weak. Because of its effect on the propensity to consume, consumer confidence exercises a significant influence on macroeconomic activity in general.

Product Liability: Beyond Class Action

Can punitive product liability enhance economic efficiency? A very simple economic theory, assuming that the probability and the degree of product dissatisfaction are functions only of the producer's not of the consumer's effort, is modelled and analysed in this paper. The qualitative conclusion hinges critically upon whether the legal liability is reflected on price determination. If the price of the product is insensitive to product liability legislation, then punitive liability beyond the class action (i.e., compensatory payments more than proportional representation of potentially dissatisfied consumers) can induce socially desirable levels of effort exerted by the producer firm. This affirmative effect disappears if the price fully reflects all the expected legal liabilities, whereby punitive liability tends to reduce economic efficiency by encouraging costly lawsuit.

The Endogenous Determination of Time Preference

We model a consumer's efforts to reduce the discount on future utilities. Our analysis shows how wealth, mortality, addictions, uncertainty, and other variables affect the degree of time preference. In addition to working out many implications of the model, we discuss evidence on consumption, savings, equilibrium, and the dynamics of inequality. We claim that most ofthat evidence is consistent with the predictions of our approach.

Mixed responses to resource densities and their implications for character displacement

How should a consumer of two resource types adapt to changes in their abundances? This paper shows that many different biological circumstances produce mixed responses; i.e. increasing availability of one resource increases the consumer's efforts to obtain it, while increasing availability of the other resource decreases the consumer's efforts at exploitation. This implies that competition from a second consumer species may cause convergent or divergent character displacement of the first species. The signs and magnitudes of the second derivative of the fitness function are important in determining which outcome occurs. The degree of resource limitation of the consumer species also influences the nature of adaptive shifts in resource use.