French Consumers Research Articles

A empreitada de Camille Adolphe Goubaud na formação de uma rede de impressos de moda francesa no século XIX

This article seeks to present the role of editor Camille Adolphe Goubaud in the formation of a network of French fashion publications in the 19th century. To do this, we will analyze the strategies used in the creation, management and national and international distribution of the printed material Le Moniteur de la Mode, and in the purchase or merger of other magazines to create a monopoly in the segment of publications on clothing and accessories. We consider that this network sought to universalize Parisian fashion in other countries while at the same time trying to meet the different tastes and interests of French consumers, as the magazines purchased and/or attached by Goubaud continued to circulate on French soil. Thus, we understand that this research allows a brief initial overview of the production and dissemination of a segment of printed matter that is still little studied by historiography, in addition to contributing to reflection and discussion on the transatlantic circulation of printed materials.

89. Study of the acceptability of pig immunocastration to French consumers

89. Study of the acceptability of pig immunocastration to French consumers

Cumulative dietary risk assessment for French consumers exposed to succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor pesticides

Consumers are exposed to succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) pesticides through their diet. A cumulative dietary risk assessment for the French population has been performed with French monitoring data (2017–2021) and consumption data from INCA3. The calculation followed a two-tiered approach, using deterministic then probabilistic methods. It was carried out, using European health based guidance values (HBGV) derived for each active substance to characterise their toxicity. In Tier I, the calculated hazard index of 0.12 was below the threshold of 1 and in Tier II, the total margin of exposure at percentile 99.9 remains above the trigger value of 100 (1798 [1631–2311]). In Tier II, the three main risk drivers identified at the upper tail of the distribution were strawberries-fluopyram (19.1%), peaches-fluopyram (14.1%) and table grapes-boscalid (10.5%). Finally, the impact of the major sources of uncertainties was qualitatively evaluated. All together, they were considered of low impact on the outcomes. This work demonstrates the absence of unacceptable chronic risk related to the cumulative exposure of SDHI for French consumers during the 2017–2021 period.

The influence of economic antisemitism on boycotting Israeli products: the case of French consumers

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is two-fold: to examine the effect of economic antisemitism on consumers’ intention to boycott Israeli-made products, and to provide evidence of the correlation between economic antisemitism, ethnocentric tendencies and personal norms. It proposes a theoretical framework that integrates negative emotions as antecedents of attitude and intentional behaviour. A conceptual model was developed and tested on a sample of 305 French consumers. Results indicate that intrinsic antisemitic sentiments are strongly related to most boycott motivation factors: economic antisemitism, personal norms, and ethnocentrism. Some consumer profiles are identified, alongside a discussion of theoretical and practical contributions.

“If I say sustainable diet”: What are French consumers’ social representations?

The adoption of sustainable diets is essential to maintain our planet’s ecosystem and the well-being of its inhabitants. Scientists characterize sustainable diets by four essential dimensions: respectful of the environment, of good nutritional quality, culturally acceptable, and economically fair. The ‘sustainable diet’ concept, however, can be challenging for consumers to understand. They might partially understand the concept or have representations of the concept that are not shared between individuals, which could result in difficulty putting the recommendations into practice. Our study investigated French consumers’ social representations of sustainable diets, aiming more particularly to show if groups with different levels of education might have different representations. A free word association task was carried out by 273 participants aged between 20 and 60 years. Our results revealed common associations among the participants, including concepts such as ecology, health, environment, and locality. Sociocultural and economic dimensions were rarely mentioned, unlike the predominant environmental dimension. Segmentation analysis by education level revealed that participants in the higher education group had more multidimensional social representations. These results show that the ‘sustainable diet’ concept is not fully shared by French consumers. Clarifying the definition should improve consumer understanding, thus promoting the adoption of sustainable diet practices by all.

Fruit and vegetable consumption: Study involving Portuguese and French consumers

Abstract The regular consumption of vegetables and fruits has been indicated as part of a healthy diet. They are considered healthy foods because they are sources of vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Adequate intake of these foods can reduce the risk of certain chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and various types of cancer. The objective of the present study was to determine the consumption habits of vegetables and fruits in two different countries, Portugal and France. For this descriptive study, it was used a questionnaire survey, applied to individuals over 18 years old and carried out through the internet, being disseminated on social networks and by email. The sample was constituted by 640 participants (257 from Portugal and 383 from France). Statistical tools were used for the treatment of data, like the T-Test and chi-square test utilised to compare the results between Portuguese and French consumers. The results showed that the Portuguese eat out more often than the French. Portuguese and French like vegetables equally but the French eat more vegetables and fruit per week on average than the Portuguese. The French like soup as much as the Portuguese but the Portuguese eat soup more regularly than the French and prefer soup with cut pieces, unlike the French which prefer soup with grounded vegetables. The global consumption of vegetables and fruits is low in both countries and should be increased, most especially in Portugal, where the consumption is lower. In conclusion, despite some differences found across consumers according to country, the consumption of these foods is still below the recommendations of the World Health Organisation, and therefore, some more actions are necessary to incentivise a higher consumption of fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Mindfulness, spiritual well-being, and sustainable consumer behavior

Although there has been considerable research interest in how mindfulness affects consumers’ pro-environmental behaviors, extant research has not fully clarified the underlying mechanisms through which mindfulness is related to sustainable consumption. This study examines mediating effects of spiritual well-being in regard to the relationship between mindfulness and sustainable consumer behavior. Four different types of sustainable consumer behavior are examined: general ethically minded consumer behavior, voluntary simplicity, direct environmental behavior, and support for green products. The study was conducted with 467 French consumers: 208 consumers who have undertaken formal mindfulness training (mindfulness-based stress reduction program) and 259 consumers who have never undertaken any mindfulness training. The findings show that mindfulness is related to sustainable consumer behavior through the personal, communal, and environmental domains of spiritual well-being. However, the links between mindfulness and spiritual (personal, communal, and environmental) well-being are primarily evident only among consumers who have undertaken formal mindfulness training. Thus, this research demonstrates how mindfulness affects sustainable consumer behavior and identifies conditions under which these effects are observed. Policy recommendations in the form of supporting and subsidising mindfulness training programs and other initiatives that enhance spiritual well-being, to facilitate greater sustainable consumer behavior are proposed.

Are peppery notes the main negative driver of liking for young French consumers in a Duras red wine made from a cool and wet season?

It has been shown that rotundone, the only identified aroma compound imparting peppery notes in red wine, was neutrally or positively perceived by consumers, except for young non-anosmic respondents who disliked it. This work aimed to explore the main negative driver of liking for this target of consumers in a peppery Duras red wine from a cool and wet season and for which other penalties might apply. A convenience panel of one-hundred and thirty-four young French consumers from Ecole d’Ingénieurs de Purpan in Toulouse (18–24 years) was recruited for the study. Panellists were asked to rate their overall liking on a 9-point hedonic scale of such wine and their perception of seven sensory attributes on a 5-point just-about-right (JAR) scale, with 3 corresponding to the central just-about-right word anchor. Results from penalty analysis demonstrated that a lack of fruity notes followed by an excessive sourness and an excessive intensity of peppery notes were the main penalising sensory characteristics. The findings, that are still preliminary and would deserve to be confirmed using a panel composed of young consumers with other social and cultural background, highlight that the intensity of peppery notes was not the main negative driver of young consumers’ liking of Duras wine produced during a vintage year with unfavourable cool and rainy climate conditions. However, the results of this study encourage Duras producers targeting such consumers to propose a wine exhibiting a good balance between fruity and peppery notes and a moderate acidity level that could be achieved during such season through deacidification. This research is a good illustration of the fact that the penalty analysis method can be implemented on a single wine sample.

Cocktails of endocrine disruptors in the different diets of French consumers

With a view to identifying main endocrine disruptors (ED) mixtures to which French consumers are exposed through food, their main diets were modelled using an adapted dimension reduction method. Seven specific diets could be modelled for adults while only one overall diet was considered for children aged 3–17 years. The knowledge of the contamination levels of 78 known or suspected endocrine disrupting compounds in the foods constituting these diets, collected in the frame of the second French Total Diet Study, made it possible to explore the mixtures of EDs to which consumers are exposed. We have thus shown that the ED substances most present in mass concentration are comparable for the whole population, whatever the diet considered. However, a second approach made it possible to highlight, for a given diet, the substances whose exposure is statistically higher than in the diet of the general population. Thus, significantly different ED mixtures could be established for each diet. For example, diets with a high proportion of animal-based foods induce significantly higher exposures to some persistent organic pollutants (e.g., PCDD/F, brominated flame retardants), whereas these exposures are lower for Mediterranean-type diet. On the other hand, the latter, richer in fruits and vegetables, is the one for which pesticides represent a specific signature.These results now pave the way for studying the specific effects of these cocktails of endocrine disruptors, each of which is representative of a type of chronic exposure linked to specific diets.

Global corporate reputation: a projective qualitative approach from a customer perspective

Purpose The purpose of this research is to extend the results of previous studies regarding corporate reputation scales and identify new and specific items relevant for studying global corporate reputation from a customer’s point of view. Design/methodology/approach This research was based on the qualitative projective “Album on Line” (AOL) technique. The authors used a sample of 12 French consumers distributed equally between affective and cognitive scenarios. An individual-difference multidimensional scaling approach (INDSCAL) was applied to display the overall semantic space among generated items. Findings The exploratory AOL approach generated 62 items related to both cognitive and affective orientations characterizing online and offline corporate reputation. The results uncovered six semantic clusters for each scenario. All in all, seven new items could be added in the process of building a new global corporate reputation measurement scale by adding: avant-garde, singularity, exclusivity, savings, return policy, freeness and speed. Research limitations/implications This research makes it possible to propose a new global corporate reputation measurement scale with sound psychometric properties. This scale will be adapted for click and mortars and pure players. This paper unlocks future perspectives by suggesting a causal model that integrates online corporate reputation and its main antecedents and consequences. Practical implications From a managerial perspective, this research offers insights to managers with the main orientations surrounding the components of global corporate reputation. Moreover, the AOL mappings delineate which quadrants the managers would like to be fitted into or avoid, and hence define more precisely which key elements should be stressed or discarded. Originality/value This research outlines AOL, an original qualitative projective technique that can be used to understand customers’ thoughts, which are stocked and collected as images. Moreover, this research intends to analyze the gathered data using both INDSCAL and fuzzy k-means cluster analysis to reduce conventional biases related to subjectivity.

Food as an ingredient of well-being: from food and well-being to food well-being (FWB): a comparative study

Purpose The purpose of this study is threefold: firstly, to compare Pakistani and French consumers’ perceptions of well-being; secondly, to investigate how consumers in both countries relate to food; and thirdly, to assess whether they associate food with well-being. Design/methodology/approach Thirty participants (15 French and 15 Pakistani) between the ages of 24 and 35 were interviewed, using convenience and snow bowling sampling. Data triangulation was performed by combining three qualitative techniques, word association, photo-elicitation-based interviewing and open-ended questions to explore consumer perceptions of well-being, food and food well-being. Findings The study’s findings suggest that well-being is a broad concept in which food is an ingredient. Food and well-being share common elements, and food well-being can be defined as an individual’s psychological, physical, social and societal relationship with food ascribed by affordability and food literacy. Originality/value Pleasure, sharing and respect emerged as dimensions of food well-being that can be applied to transfigure consumer behaviour and reduce over-consumption, food waste and hunger. The dimensions of well-being and food were explored for both countries to understand their cultural nuances and determine the influence of food on well-being. This comparative analysis will help researchers understand consumers’ preferences for food in various aspects from two regions. This study can potentially contribute to scale development in food and well-being, which can help researchers measure the effects of food and well-being in different sectors of the economy, particularly in health care. The most aspiring aspect of the current research is the insights unveiled during interactions with research participants, which will help develop consumer baseline feelings.

Understanding how ethical claims in advertising affect subjective ambivalence toward buying ethical products

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of subjective ambivalence on ethical consumption behaviors and the role of ethical claims in reducing feelings of ambivalence toward buying ethical products.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted two studies. In study 1, the authors carried out an online survey with a sample of 230 French consumers. The authors applied structural equation modeling with Amos to test the relationships among skepticism, ambivalence and ethical consumption behaviors. Study 2 is an experimental design in which the authors manipulated ethical claims (low – few ethical arguments vs. high – many ethical arguments) in advertising (176 French panelists). The authors tested the relationships among consumer ethical sensitivity, perceived brand ethicality, skepticism, ambivalence and intention to purchase an ethical product, depending on ethical claims in advertising.FindingsStudy 1 shows that skepticism toward advertising of ethical products amplifies feelings of ambivalence and that ambivalence reduces consumers’ willingness to adopt ethical consumption behaviors. Study 2 shows that strong claims in advertising of ethical products reduce skepticism toward advertising of ethical products and feelings of ambivalence toward buying an ethical product through perceived brand ethicality, with consumers’ ethical sensitivity positively moderating these relationships.Research limitations/implicationsThe two studies explore only one form of ambivalence (i.e. subjective), and the experimental study focuses on a single category of products.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the difficulties in promoting ethical products. Consumers need to know if a product is “really” ethical, as they may feel ambivalent toward that product. This paper shows that strong ethical claims in advertising ethical products significantly help to overcome this barrier.Originality/valueBased on attribution theory and persuasion models, this research reveals how ethical claims in advertising affect feelings of ambivalence, which negatively influence consumers’ willingness to adopt ethical consumption. In addition, it follows a holistic approach to ethical consumption behaviors to explore consumers’ ambivalence.

An assessment of the Iberian Exception to control electricity prices

The Iberian Exception, the mechanism designed by the Spanish and Portuguese governments to address high electricity prices resulting from the gas price crisis in 2021 and 2022, has been met with controversy, both regarding its real impact on electricity prices and also its unin- tended consequences, such as increased (and subsidized) exports to France. In this paper we review the evidence on these impacts from different studies, concluding that the mechanism may have produced, depending on the assumptions, some reductions in electricity prices for Iberian consumers or none at all, but always at the expense of subsidies to French consumers and also increased rents for gas combined cycles, higher gas consumption, and larger CO2 emissions. Alternative mechanisms, such as a temporary single-buyer scheme, might have produced similar benefits without the downsides of the Exception.

Exploring how consumer cooperatives might strategically incorporate social media to distribute wine

AbstractThis research advances our understanding of disruptions to marketing channels in the digital world by investigating the viability of consumer cooperative systems which are envisioned as multi‐actor constructed networks using social media (SM) platforms. It introduces the concepts of “social media consumer wine cooperator” as a new distribution channel for wine and investigates the consumer's intention to participate in an SM and become a wine cooperator. Relying on the uses and gratifications theory (UGT), we adopted a quantitative research inquiry with data gathered using an online survey involving a sample of 486 French consumers. We empirically tested the relationships among four factors: attitude toward buying wine based on SM recommendations, perceived risks, intention to buy wine on SM, and consumer intention to become an SM wine cooperator. Findings indicate that the intention to be an SM wine cooperator is positively correlated with attitude toward buying wine based on SM recommendations and the intention to purchase wine on SM. To finish with, we link the concept of the consumer wine co‐op to the current debate in the literature on centralized versus decentralized (built on top of blockchain networks) social media platforms, opening the door for future research avenues.

Impact of a corporate social responsibility message on consumers' sustainable behaviours and purchase intentions

AbstractThis study investigates the impact of a water brand's CSR message highlighting the brand's environmental concerns on brand‐related variables (attitude towards the brand and CSR) and consumer‐related variables (consumer efforts to adopt sustainable behaviours and well‐being). A research model is proposed, and the relationships postulated are tested on 414 French consumers. The study establishes the effectiveness of this kind of CSR messaging in influencing French consumers to purchase and recommend a particular brand. It then shows the direct and indirect ways in which a brand's CSR messaging can improve consumers' behavioural intentions (i.e., intentions to purchase the brand's products and to recommend the brand and/or its products). It also underscores that brand‐related variables contribute to increasing brands', and thus companies', business performance, whereas consumer‐related variables contribute to increasing their social performance. Finally, the REBUS‐PLS method emphasises the existence of several consumer groups and identifies the core target customer groups on which companies should focus their communication efforts.

The perceived credibility of human-like social robots: virtual influencers in a luxury and multicultural context

PurposeSocial robots are invading our daily lives. Recently, thanks to artificial intelligence, humanoid social robots have been developed and influence individuals on social media. This paper aims to understand the perception of luxury consumers regarding human-like virtual influencers (VI) in a multicultural context.Design/methodology/approachConducting a qualitative method, the authors interviewed 32 Chinese and French consumers of luxury products from the Gen-Z and millennial generation about their perception of human influencers and human-like VI after following them on social media specific platforms.FindingsUsing source credibility theory, this research unveils the different ways in which consumers perceive human-like VI according to their physical or content attractiveness, expertise, similarities and trustworthiness. The results suggest that the perception of human-like VI by millennials and Gen-Z is closely related to their cultural setting and their familiarity of the technology in a luxury context.Originality/valueConsidering Gen-Z and millennials' willing for para-social interactions and given the importance to the credibility of the source or the emotions displayed by VI, the intercultural empirical setting of this study introduces the ambivalence of the perception of social robots versus human-like influencers in a luxury digital context.

Willingness to consume insect-based food in France: Determinants and consumer perspectives

Despite having an appealing nutritional profile and lower environmental impacts compared to traditional meat products, edible insects face challenges in gaining consumer acceptance, especially in western societies. No consumer study on edible insects has been conducted in France. Hence, this study aims to evaluate French consumers’ willingness to adopt insect-based food (IBF) and identify factors influencing entomophagy (the consumption of insects as food). A 46-question online questionnaire was administered to 617 subjects to assess how various explanatory variables impact IBF acceptance through difference tests, correlation analysis, and multiple correspondence analysis. The results revealed that 69% of respondents were introduced to entomophagy, and 53% had consumed IBF before the survey. Environmental sustainability and nutritional value were identified as major motivators for entomophagy, which could inform promotional strategies for IBF in France. Unfamiliarity and disgust emerged as primary barriers to entomophagy. However, the study suggested that these challenges could be overcome by repeated exposure to entomophagy, which reduced food neophobia and food disgust sensitivity, increased familiarity with entomophagy, and improved insect-eating experiences and willingness to consume IBF. Overall, the study highlights the potential for entomophagy in France and emphasizes the need to address consumer perceptions to foster broader acceptance of IBF.

Attitudes and intentions toward masstige strategies: A cross-cultural study of French and Chinese consumers

The present research investigates how masstige strategies affect consumers’ attitudes toward masstige and their intention to purchase masstige brands. An exploratory qualitative study and two experimental designs compared the response of consumers from two nationalities—Chinese and Franch. Chinese consumers generally express a more positive attitude and higher purchase intention toward masstige than French. The article further disentangles the role of the masstige strategy (accessory vs. sub-brand) by accounting for self-construal. Chinese consumers recognize the prestige of the parent brand in masstige sub-brands more than French consumers, and exhibited a more positive attitude and higher purchase intention toward said sub-brands. Meanwhile, French consumers were more accepting of masstige in the form of new product lines, such as accessories. From a managerial standpoint, companies need to tailor their masstige messaging to different consumer targets: for instance, by emphasizing durability and status for Chinese consumers, but intrinsic luxury values for French consumers.

How taste proximity affects consumer quality valuation of imported varieties: Evidence from the French food sector

AbstractConsumer tastes vary by country and influence food trade patterns. While previous literature highlights different cultural elements as either trade promoters or barriers, divergences in consumer tastes may also generate differences in the perception of the quality of products. As a consequence, consumer taste in destination countries is likely to affect the demand for imported products in a different manner according to the origin and the quality of products imported. Based on firm‐product level data on French exports, this study analyses how differences in taste proximity with French consumers across destination markets affect the export revenues of vertically differentiated varieties. To identify taste proximity, we rely on data gathered from TripAdvisor on the type of cuisine offered in restaurants all over the world. The results of this study suggest that quality of French products is more strongly appreciated and consumers are more willing to spend on high‐quality products in countries with a taste similar to that of French consumers.

Assessing the impact of energy labels on attitude and behavioral intention: An empirical investigation

For two decades, the metric of the energy label stayed almost the same. European Union aims to develop more informed purchase of electrical and electronic devices. Recently significant changes have been made on energy labels. First the appearance of new classes in 2003, then pictograms in 2010 and lately a reclassification from A to G in 2021. This new format and framing of the label can lead to changes consumers perceptions and behavior. However, the effects of these changes have been little studied. Our research aims to understand these effects on attitude and behavioral intention by focusing on the transition phase in 2021 during which a juxtaposition of the old and new labels was implemented. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, our study examines the effect of Energy Labels (EL) and newness on perceived social risk and perceived ecological value. Using data from an experiment on three types of products (refrigerator, TV and dryer) in four scenarios (absence of EL, presence of old EL, presence of new EL and presence of both) involving 994 French consumers, we tested our two hypotheses on direct effects by MANCOVAs and two hypotheses on indirect effects by mediation and serial mediation tests. The empirical findings first show the “double-edged” effect of the presence of labels by optimizing the ecological perception of the product, but also the perceived social risk. They further highlight the importance of the juxtaposition of the old and new labels in order to minimize the negative effects of the latter on the two above-mentioned variables and purchase intention for both hedonic and utilitarian products. Finally, the preponderant role of perceived ecological value is highlighted in the study of the mediated effects of the new label on purchase intention. Two theoretical implications are discussed: the “double-edged” effect of the EL on perceived social risk and perceived ecological value, and the relevance of the juxtaposition of the old and new labels. Managerial implications relate to the relevance of training retail sales staff to accompany the consumer in reading and understanding the EL and the role of national authorities in increasing its impact. We conclude with limitations and future research avenues.