Consumer Information Research Articles

Safeguarding Consumers: The Role of Industry and Trade Office in Countering Monopolistic Practices and Ensuring Business Protection

This research investigates (1) the significance and function of the consumer protection and anti-monopoly division within the Industry and Trade Office in supporting business entities, and (2) the measures that the Industry and Trade Office should adopt moving forward to address regulatory needs, particularly concerning anti-monopoly and business competition, in Kendari. This study employs Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interaction Theory as its theoretical framework. The findings reveal that (1) the relevant division plays a crucial role in conducting Consumer Protection Socialization as a program managed by the Industry and Trade Office of Southeast Sulawesi Province, involving business entities, consumers, community members, and university students; (2) activities centered around consumer protection and anti-monopoly implemented by the relevant division are as described by the Head of the Consumer Protection and Trade Order Division: The Consumer Protection Monitoring System serves as a medium for consumer complaints and information related to consumer protection to be integrated into the system at the Provincial Office responsible for trade, aiming to enhance service to consumers in lodging complaints from those who feel wronged.

사회적 크라우딩과 전문가 생성 콘텐츠가 소비자 정보 채택에 미치는 영향

Social media marketing has become an integral part of integrated marketing communications, playing a significant role in establishing strong relationships between businesses and consumers. The study focuses on categorizing content generated by professional bloggers into experiential and promotional types, considering that consumers’ levels of product information and risk perception vary, influencing their intent to adopt information.
 Therefore, businesses should select appropriate environments based on the type of product content to enhance consumer’ willingness to adopt information. Consequently, the exploration of how to effectively increase consumers’ intent to adopt information by selecting environments is a relevant issue. In this study, the common social phenomenon of social crowding is explored visually, applying the heuristic-systematic model theory. The study investigates the impact of social crowding and professional blogger content types on consumers’ intent to adopt information. The research hypotheses were validated through three experiments, demonstrating that the interaction effect between professional user-generated content types and social crowding influences consumer information adoption. Furthermore, information processing fluency showed a mediating effect on the impact of professional generated content types and social crowding on consumer information adoption. The study also verified a moderating effect of consume knowledge levels on the interaction effect between professional generated content types and social crowding on consumer information adoption.
 Theoretically, this study enriches research in the fields of social crowding and content marketing, providing insights for businesses in formulating marketing strategies. It emphasizes the importance of selecting appropriate social crowding situations for various types of content marketing activities.

Covid-19 Effect on Consumers Perception toward E-Payment: A Case Study on Kuwaiti Consumers

As an act of risk management, most governments around the world started imposing curfews and lockdowns to contain the spread of covid-19. These restrictions led e-payment to become the main method of conducting financial transactions. It is well documented that the volume of e-payments transactions had risen dramatically during and after covid-19 lockdowns and Kuwait was no exception. This study aims to identify the sources of that increase in e-payment transactions. Using the data of a questionnaire that was distributed to 170 participants, results showed that covid-19 resulted in an increase of 136% in e-payment in Kuwait. Using ordinary least square regression (OLS) method, results revealed that the age of the consumer had a statistically significant direct effect on the increase in volume while the consumer income had a statistically significant inverse relation with the increase in e-payment transactions volume. On the other hand, factors such as consumer gender, education, and information technology (IT) literacy showed no statistically significant effect on the increase in e-payments volume.

A Platform for GHG Emissions Management in Mixed Farms

This research introduces an innovative platform designed to manage greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in mixed farms. Emphasizing the urgent need to address GHG emissions, particularly methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), the platform targets mixed farming systems where the interplay of livestock and crop production significantly contributes to environmental impacts. Our methodology is grounded in comprehensive data collection, encompassing soil data, energy consumption, and detailed livestock information. Utilizing the Agricultural Internet of Things (AIoT), it facilitates real-time data acquisition and analysis, providing insights into various farm activities’ GHG emissions. This approach allows for precise monitoring and management of emissions from different sources, including enteric fermentation in livestock and fertilizer use in crop production. Results from the application show its effectiveness in offering a clear and interactive visualization of GHG emissions, aiding farmers in making informed decisions for sustainable farm management. The platform’s user management system, coupled with advanced data processing and visualization capabilities, underscores its potential as a vital tool for sustainable farming. Conclusively, Solution4Farming represents a significant advancement in digital agriculture, combining IoT technology with sustainable practices. Though initially designed for Romanian cattle farming, Solution4Farming’s anticipated expansion to various farming environments suggests a broader impact and relevance in sustainable agriculture.

Participation of referential mechanisms of subject nominations in the implementation of reliability in English and Belarusian media texts

Taking into account the proportion of objective and subjective, accurate and approximate in reporting of events, the problem of information reliability in different media cultures, is relevant not only from the linguistic point of view, but also proves to be essential for every modern consumer of information. This article is devoted to establishing correlations between the referential mechanisms of subject nominations that encode sources of information and parameters of the reliability of what is reported in English and Belarusian media texts of various genres. The research is based on the methods of analysis, comparison and classification; methods of contextual, semantic and linguo-pragmatic analysis. It has been established that in both media cultures, the referential characteristics of subjects have a direct impact on the reliability of the message in terms of the accuracy / inaccuracy parameter of the language nomination of information sources: the use of a referential subject contributes to an increase in the reliability of the reported data; a non-referential subject, as a rule, reduces the reliability and in limited cases does not change its indicators. It is shown that referential subjects, which are cognitive authorities, participate in the implementation of factual and communicative reliability; non-referential subjects as pseudo-cognitive authorities contribute to the preservation of communicative reliability only and do not provide any of the reliability types if they are sources with an unknown reputation. Taking into account the parameter of objectivity / subjectivity in the modern English and Belarusian press, it was revealed that in both media cultures submitting information exhibits a thematic-genre determination, the absence of simple correlations ‘one-sided reporting – subjectivity’, ‘multisided reporting – objectivity’, the interpenetration of objectivity and subjectivity depending on multiple subjects. It is shown that the objective reporting is possible when the event is covered in a balanced way: without a discourse overweight in favor of one of the parties and without evaluative comments from the journalist-narrator.

Analysis of Sports Supplement Consumption in 1688 Federated Road Cyclists.

The widespread use of sports supplements (SS) to enhance athletic performance extends to cyclists, although little research has been conducted on this subject within this sport. This descriptive and cross-sectional study involved 1688 federated road cyclists, aiming to analyse the pattern of SS consumption concerning the degree of scientific evidence and different categories. This study categorised SS based on the groups and subgroups established by the Australian Sport Institute (AIS, 2023) based on the level of evidence. Our results showed that 62.5% of the sample cyclists used SS, with an average of 12.2 ± 8.6 supplements consumed per participant. Health status (78.2%), pharmacies (62.5%), and medical doctors (45.7%) were the main reasons, purchase sites, and sources of information for SS consumption, respectively. The most prevalent SS consumed were Sports Gels (94%), Sports Bars (89.3%), and Sports Drinks (73.8%). Notably, 80% of the top ten most consumed SS belonged to the group with the highest level of evidence according to the AIS, with an average of 6.9 ± 3.2 supplements per participant. However, 23.3% of the total SS consumers used prohibited substances. In conclusion, while the prevalence of SS consumption among road cyclists is considerable and the primary sources for purchasing SS and obtaining advice are reliable, there is a notable prevalence of prohibited substance use within the sample.

Pengaruh Kualitas Informasi, Celebrity Endorsement, dan Sikap Konsumen pada Program Flash Sale terhadap Minat Beli di Aplikasi Tiktok

<em>This study intends to find out the impact of information quality, celebrity endorsements, and consumer attitudes on flash sale programs on purchase intention in the TikTok application, either partially or simultaneously. This research is a quantitative study using multiple linear regression analysis techniques which was carried out using the help of the SPSS 25 program. Data collection used a questionnaire, samples were consumers who are domiciled in the Special Region of Yogyakarta and used the Tiktok application with a total of 100 respondents. The results of this study concluded that partially the quality of information, celebrity endorsements, and consumer attitudes in flash sale programs have a positive impact on purchase intention.</em>

Blockchain-enabled renewable energy certificate trading: A secure and privacy-preserving approach

In the 21st century, transitioning to renewable energy sources is imperative, with fossil fuel reserves depleting rapidly and recognizing critical environmental issues such as climate change, air pollution, water pollution, and habitat destruction. Embracing renewable energy is not only an environmental necessity but also a strategic move with multiple benefits. By shifting to renewable energy sources and supporting their production through the acquisition of renewable energy certificates, we foster innovation and drive economic growth in the renewable energy sector. This, in turn, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with global efforts to mitigate climate change. Additionally, renewable energy certificates ensure compliance with regulations that mandate the use of renewable energy, enhancing legal adherence while promoting transparency and trust in energy sourcing. To monitor the uptake of renewable energy, governments have implemented Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) as a tracking mechanism for the production and consumption of renewable energy. They certify the generation of a specific amount of electricity from renewable sources, allowing for accurate tracking of renewable energy contributions to the overall energy mix. However, there are two main challenges to the existing REC schema: (1) The RECs have not been globally adopted due to inconsistent design; (2) The consumer privacy has not been well incorporated in the design of blockchain. In this study, we investigate the trading of RECs between suppliers and consumers using the directed acyclic graph (DAG) blockchain system and introduce a trading schema to help protect consumer information. The DAG system reduces the intense calculation of typical blockchains for scalability and lowers mining fees by eliminating the mining of blocks. The proposed approach allows renewable energy suppliers and consumers to trade RECs globally and to take advantage of secure trading transactions. Our results demonstrate lower transaction time by 41% and energy consumption by 65% compared to proof-of-stake.

MULTIMEDIA AS A FACTOR OF INFLUENCE ON THE FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION OF FUTURE PHILOLOGISTS AND TRANSLATORS

A multimedia as one of the influencing aspects of the professional orientation of future philologists-translators is considered in the article. Analyzing modern scientific literature concerning a given matter allows us to state the existence of different points of view on the interpretation regarding the phenomenon of professional orientation: as a part of the individual's orientation, its specific form; as a defining dynamic component of the general orientation. The professional orientation of an individual is being understood as a specific aspect of the general orientation, as a professional self-determination of an individual, and as a system of internal motives. The professional orientation of philologists-translators can be examined through the perspective of various factors, since the practice of forming professional orientation requires identifying the most effective measures that allow to achieve established goals, and therefore the necessity to refer to modern tools that optimize the educational process occurs. A functional range of multimedia resources allows us to conclude that the use of multimedia tools for the development of professional orientation of translators and interpreters is highly beneficial. Therefore, the modern education system should be changed in order to meet the new requirements of the current job market. One of the possible approaches to accelerate this trend is to form students' professional orientation taking into consideration the specifics of their occupation. The specifics of philologists-translators' work is defined as translation, which is a type of language mediation that determines the dominance of the communicative and intermediary function. A professional philologist-translator is a mediator of communication who conveys initial information by creating an equivalent communicative text in another language. Appropriate use of multimedia technologies determines the choice of the tools for the forming of professional orientation. Using multimedia resources ensures accurate decoding and transcoding of messages aimed at the consumer of information and enables to analyze information accurately.

Cargo Company Recommendation Study Based on Probabilistic Linguistic Term Set

The global economic structure is the main reason for changes in consumption habits and consumer behavior. Developing information technologies direct producers and consumers to e-commerce. Cargo services are an important link in the chain in the fast and effective operation of e-commerce. The growth in e-commerce has a driving force in the development of cargo services and cargo companies. Cargo companies can survive in global competition by being preferred by customers and increasing their number of customers. The change in the number of customers occurs by communicating the satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the cargo company to potential customers. This study deals with the preference levels of cargo companies serving in Turkey according to customer suggestions. The data obtained from the survey evaluations are processed and recommendation ranking calculations are made for cargo companies. Probabilistic Linguistic Term Sets (PLTS) are used to eliminate customer ambiguities in survey evaluations. Alternative cargo company recommendations are ranked based on the customers' past service experiences from cargo companies. Aras Cargo, MNG Cargo, PTT Cargo, Surat Cargo, UPS Cargo, Yurtiçi Cargo companies are evaluated according to price, personnel, speed, reliability and network qualities. The maximum deviation optimization method based on the Lagrangian function is used to calculate the weights of the cargo companies' attributes. The probabilistic linguistic cosine similarity method compares cargo companies pairwise under attributes and a similarity matrix is obtained for six cargo companies. The similarity matrix defines the alternative cargo company recommendation ranking based on customers' past experiences.

Pengaruh Atribut Belanja Online pada Kepuasan dan Loyalitas Pelanggan dari Pengalaman Marketpleace Tokopedia

This study aims to determine what factors influence the satisfaction and loyalty of Tokopedia marketplace customers. The variables used in this study are information quality, privacy concerns, perceived security, product variety, product delivery, consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty. The population in this study are marketplace users who have used and shopped at the Tokopedia marketplace with a sample size of 150 respondents. The data collection technique used a questionnaire, and the data analysis technique used was the SmartPLS 4.0 analysis tool. Based on the results of the study, of the 16 hypotheses there are 10 hypotheses that are accepted, namely information quality, perceived security and product variety have a positive effect on consumer satisfaction. Perceived safety, product variety, and product delivery have a positive effect on consumer loyalty. information quality, perceived security, and product variety have a positive effect on consumer loyalty through consumer satisfaction. The contribution to this research resulted in a model for measuring the effectiveness of the Tokopedia marketplace system that can be used by companies to develop in the future so as to increase user satisfaction at Tokopedia.

Impact of information usefulness and adoption in social media on purchase intention :Evidence of Indonesia

The Product reviews on YouTube Channel offer information for consumers to evaluate products before making a decision. Understanding how consumers adopt the information and its impact on purchase intention becomes crucial. This study aims to determine the influence of information usefulness and information adoption on purchase intention on YouTube channels. The study developed a research model based on the Information Adoption Model (IAM) and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). A survey design was employed to test the proposed linkages among variables with a sample size of 447 respondents by the purposive sampling method. The study deploys the partial least squares path modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data. The results confirmed that relevance, comprehensiveness, source expertise, attitude toward information, and information usefulness positively affect information adoption and purchase intention. Additionally, attitude toward information has a positive influence on behavioral intentions. However, timeliness, accuracy, and source expertise do not have any significant relationship with the information usefulness

Effectiveness of Four Synthetic Fungicides in the Control of Post-Harvest Gray Mold of Strawberry and Analyses of Residues on Fruit

Fungicides are usually applied on strawberries to manage gray mold, induced by the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. In this study, four reduced-risk fungicides (formulations of pyrimethanil, PYR, 175 mL/hL; boscalid, BOS, 80 g/hL; combination fludioxonil, FLU, +cyprodinil, CYP, 110 g/hL) were applied before harvest for the management of post-harvest diseases of strawberries. The resulting fungicide residues on the strawberry fruit were also quantified. Strawberry fruits were harvested at 0, 4, 8, and 12 days following treatment (dft) and kept at 20 ± 1 °C for 4 days or cold-stored for 7 days at 0.5 ± 1 °C, followed by a 4-day shelf life at 20 ± 1 °C. All fungicides significantly reduced gray mold, according to the McKinney Index. At 0 dft and 4 days of shelf life, the FLU + CYP completely prevented post-harvest strawberry gray mold, while PYR and BOS reduced the disease by 88% and 42%, respectively, in comparison to the untreated control. For the duration of experiment, fungicide residues were always below the maximum residue levels, and FLU was the most degraded, thanks to the enzymatic pool of the strawberries. Monitoring fungicide residues in strawberries is essential to provide the consumer information on the safety of this widely consumed fruit. The present study points out the safety of strawberry fruits for consumers, even if the treatment strategy implies the use of fungicide mixtures before the consumption, with fungicide levels always being below the MRL.

The impact of consumer reviews and ratings on purchase decisions on the Tokopedia marketplace in Indonesia

The rapid development of technology has caused a shift in consumer shopping behavior from offline to online around the world including in Indonesia, one of which is marked by the growth of e-commerce which has increased significantly. E-commerce Tokopedia is one of the largest e-commerce in Indonesia which provides a variety of features that are a source of information for consumers in determining the products that consumers will buy, one feature that is quite important is consumer reviews and ratings. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the variables of consumer reviews and ratings as independent variables on purchasing decisions as the dependent variable on the Tokopedia marketplace in Indonesia. This study used a survey method by distributing questionnaires to 130 respondents. The sample was taken using the purposive sampling technique, which is a sampling technique with criteria according to the researcher's determination. The analytical method used in this research is Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. The results showed that the variables of consumer reviews and judgments had a suggestive effect on the purchasing decision variable.

On the study of factors of fake news perception by mass audience (case study of student youth)

The article deals with the problem of perception of false (fake) information by mass audience, especially by students. Fake information today is similar to viruses that instantly "infect" the mass of recipients. A separate category of fake information is fake news, the worst consequence of which is real actions of people based on unreliable information that does not correspond to the facts of objective reality. Students are an active social group and the main consumers of information of social networks where fakes are mainly circulated. Fake news is a product of the post-truth era, characterized by the state of society when the truth becomes those facts and situations that the public believes in. The paper analyses the socio-psychological factors that influence the perception of fake information by student youth. Authors highlights the following socio-psychological factors: social attitudes, cognitive distortions, trust issues and emotional intelligence. The structure of social attitudes is considered and the conclusion is made on the basis of cognitive theories that fake news influencing the affective component of social attitudes changes these attitudes. Cognitive distortions such as the Dunning-Kruger effect, affect heuristics, and confirmation bias play a significant role in this process. The authors conclude that the low level of trust actualizes the problem of trust fake news in Russian society. Authers found that students believe false information more than true information, they are unable to distinguish deception. They use the intuition when try to understand if the information is fake. Emotional intelligence does not directly influence competence in recognizing fake news but influences criticality in assessing one's ability to recognize it. Further study of the issue should consider IQ and EQ indicators for developing scientific and practical recommendations to reduce trust in fake news.

QUALITY JOURNALISM AND OTHER CHALLENGES

The challenges faced by qualitative journalism are numerous, and the effects are clearly obvious at society level, when info rmation consumption from various sources is increasing; however, we find that only some of the users are qualified to undertake and analyze data and journalistic content. There are numerous pressures registered by professional journalism, equally as much a s creating journalistic content regarding the rules of the trade can be a difficult task for the non professional author. One of the first forms of such pressure was generated by the economic crisis in 2008, imposing a restructuring of media organizations. Another valence of pressure consists in the inability and slowness of active journalists to adapt to the rigors of digital media. A main focus and of major importance is the re tabloidization phenomenon in Romanian and international media, on every branch : written press, radio, television, and online platforms. The technological revolution has been a favourable breeding ground for commercial television channels, less inclined to the rigors of deontology. A further development is the citizen journalism , var ied in representation and extremely active. This study aims for the complicated mass media citizen journalism relation, as well as the challenges of qualitative journalism.

THE ROLE OF VERBATIM VERSUS GIST FORMATTING IN AGE-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN INFORMATION AVOIDANCE

Abstract Older adults are more likely to underuse and actively avoid decision-relevant information. Although the mechanisms underlying age-related differences in information avoidance are still unknown, Fuzzy-Trace Theory (Reyna, 2012) suggests they may be due to age-related differences in information processing preferences: According to this framework, information is stored using both gist (subjective meaning) and verbatim representations (objective details/numbers). Older adults prefer gist information and gist-based information processing, whereas younger adults favor verbatim information and verbatim processing. To examine whether age-related differences in information avoidance are affected by age-related information and processing preferences, an adult lifespan sample (N = 432) completed a pre-registered online study. Participants responded to scenarios containing potentially aversive information and chose between accepting or avoiding the information. Information formatting was experimentally manipulated, with participants either being faced with receiving gist or verbatim-formatted information. Across age groups, participants were more likely to avoid verbatim numbers than qualitative gist information (p=.026); no associations were found between avoidance and information or processing preferences. At odds with prior research, age was associated with lower information avoidance (p=.010). Follow-up analyses revealed that older adults were less likely to avoid information in health-related contexts but not in contexts unrelated to health (e.g., consumer information; p=.010). Overall, participants were more likely to avoid non-health information than health information (p<.001). In sum, our findings revealed that older adults show a decreased likelihood of avoiding potentially aversive health information, but that age-related differences in information avoidance cannot be linked to age-related information or processing preferences.

Design of electrical power telemetering system using microcontroller device via GSM

"Traditionally, reading of energy meters is done by human operators who move from house to house collecting readings. This exercise requires huge labor operator numbers and a lot of time to achieve complete reading of meters in a particular area. This paper endeavors to do away with this problem by using a telemetering system. With this system, power can be measured from a remote site. To achieve this, readings from an energy meter on site are processed by a microcontroller device that then sends the energy consumption information to a Global System Mobile (GSM) module. The GSM module then sends this information using microwaves to a particular mobile subscriber who receives it in the form of an Short Message Service (SMS). The reading is also transmitted to a web based telemetering system through a server. In the remote site, a remote computer which can access the internet is able to obtain data from the server through the internet. The microcontroller is developed in such a way that it achieves communication between the energy meter and the particular server using Transmission Control Protocol(TCP) protocol. Software programs are also developed to facilitate transfer of data to the user at remote site. With the web based telemetering system connected to the internet, electrical energy measurements can be accessed globally. The efficiency of the transmission channel is important for the success of both SMS and web based telemetering systems. Keywords: Telemetering system, remote sites, GSM "

Retracted: Research on the Correlation between Information and Communication Technology Development and Consumer Spending Based on Artificial Intelligence and Time Series Econometric Model

Retracted: Research on the Correlation between Information and Communication Technology Development and Consumer Spending Based on Artificial Intelligence and Time Series Econometric Model

Does energy consumption play a key role? Re-evaluating the energy consumption-economic growth nexus from GDP growth rates forecasting

Given the strong link between economic growth and energy consumption, we construct a new set of energy consumption indices (ECI) to forecast GDP growth rates. The findings demonstrate the strong predictive power of the new indices. In particular, the electricity consumption index from the industrial sector has an excellent predictive performance and deserves the attention of the government and academia to help formulate economic growth targets. The mixed-frequency model with the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator approach (MIDAS-LASSO) enables the full exploitation of energy consumption information for stable forecasting performance, even in the context of crisis fluctuations and geopolitical risk shocks. Furthermore, we apply forecast encompassing tests and variable selection to statistically investigate the predictive information. By analyzing energy consumption characteristics, we contribute to the economic growth hypothesis at the level of energy consuming sectors and provide new insights into GDP forecasting.