International Consumer Research Articles

International Students’ Nostalgic Behaviour towards the Purchase of Products and Services

The literature has highlighted that international students abroad exhibit a strong preference for products from their country compared with foreign products and services, thus suggesting that the cultural disposition of consumers influences their purchasing decisions. Therefore, this current research aimed to determine how the feeling of groundedness could affect international students’ purchasing behavior in Malaysia through cultural products and services. To this end, quantitative data were collected from international students at the University of Malaya and the University Utara Malaysia and then analyzed using a structural equation model (SEM). The findings of this research highlighted that consumer behavior was influenced by a “feeling of groundedness”. This suggested that cultural services and products are valued by international students in foreign universities because of their ability to evoke a feeling of groundedness. The theoretical contributions of this study, particularly to the consumer behavior literature, are extensive, including how it highlights the influence of the feeling of groundedness on international consumers’ purchasing behavior. The marketing implications of this research are also valuable for businesses targeting international students.

Income Disparity, Consumption Patterns, and Trends of International Consumption Center City Construction, Based on a Test of China’s Consumer Market

In order to promote an upgrade of China’s emerging consumer market and build an international consumer center city, and after analyzing the heterogeneity of the household consumption patterns in 14 cities in the east, middle, and west of China according to the fifth income group, the QUAIDS model was used. This revealed that (1) China’s consumer cities still have a high tendency towards basic consumption, the proportion of development-oriented consumption is obviously low, and the consumption of enjoyment has not yet developed a large-scale market. (2) The characteristics of China’s “dual-consumption” market are obvious: the trend of the structure of household consumption upgrading in eastern cities was obvious, and structural factors have a significant impact on the upgrade of consumption; however, urban consumption in the middle and western regions is still in the stage of basic consumption, and the trend of structural upgrading is weak. (3) Significant differences in consumption were found among urban household groups in different regions: the income gap between the middle and western groups had a significant impact on the heterogeneity and imbalance in the consumption market; as a result, the heterogeneity of the upgraded structure of household consumption in the central and western regions was prominent. However, the income gap among the eastern cities had less influence on the imbalance in the consumption market, and the trend towards and upgrade in the consumption patterns showed good consistency.

PROBLEMS IN SUPPLY CHAIN OF POMEGRANATE (Punica Granatum) IN ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

Pomegranate plant has been grown since ancient times for its delicious fruits and as an ornamental garden for its red, orange or occasionally, creamy yellow flowers. Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) belongs to the Punicaceae family. It is also known as the Chinese Apple or Carthage or Apple with many seeds. About 12 per cent of the total land in Afghanistan is arable and less than 6 per cent currently is cultivated. Agriculture is the backbone of the Afghan economy; according to the statistical book FY (2017-18) the contribution agriculture to the country Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 20.9 per cent while the labor force engaged in this sector is around 60.8 per cent. The annual growth rate of pomegranate production in Afghanistan was predicted at 2.9 per cent (Fitrat, 2014). Pomegranate contribute of the total population of Afghanistan was about (2) per cent to the total horticultural production in Afghanistan. The local varieties grown in the main production areas of Kandahar province are known for their high quality and productivity. Different varieties of pomegranates are produced in Afghanistan and supplied to the local markets. Through the maturity time of the crop varies according to the climatic conditions, usually the fruit comes into the market during summer and continues into the fall season. The Agriculture sector is entirely run by private enterprise, including farmers, cooperatives, inputs suppliers, herders, agribusiness processors, and exporters. Kandahar province is recognized worldwide for its high quality pomegranate production especially the Kandahar varieties, which are highly preferred by national and international consumers. Of the total land under pomegranate cultivation in the country, Kandahar share is about 36.7 per cent with 39.5 per cent of the total national production. But due to poor orchard management practices, careless production, widespread pest and diseases, lack of quality inputs and lack of technical and financial support to the farmers both quality and quantity of pomegranate is badly affected and gradually decreasing.

Demand and Supply Situation for Medicinal Plants

From 2020 to 2015, it was predicted that the demand for medicinal plants in India will increase at an annual pace of between 17 and 23 percent to meet the needs of both domestic and international consumers. Small-scale farmers stand to gain financially and economically from a well-organized medicinal plant production and administration system. Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha are the three main Indian medical traditions, and together they are expected to bring in more than $500 million annually. In 2015, the gap between demand and supply of MAPs was predicted to be between 50,000 and 250,000 tons. In 2020, this hole was predicted to grow from 250,000 to 500,000 metric tons. Modified accelerated production (MAP) industries provide labor opportunities in economically depressed states, raising the standard of living and tax base of the area.

Development of the Consumer Involvement & Engagement Toolkit: a digital resource to build capacity for undertaking patient-centred clinical trials in Australia.

This manuscript describes the novel approach to developing a toolkit to support meaningful consumer involvement in clinical trials in Australia to help guide others in considering the development of similar resources.The toolkit aims to support greater consumer involvement in shaping how clinical research is prioritised, designed and conducted. Type of program or service: A working group of researchers, research organisations and consumers was established to co-develop the Consumer Involvement and Engagement Toolkit (the 'Toolkit'), a digital resource to guide researchers and organisations regarding consumer involvement in clinical trials. A literature review and international scan of best practice revealed numerous resources outlining best practice for consumer involvement in clinical research and clear evidence of its impact and value. Through a novel content-sharing process, we were able to utilise these resources to develop a comprehensive Toolkit for researchers and research organisations that provides world-class guidance. There is a growing movement to ensure consumer involvement in healthcare, including in clinical research. We discovered its proponents were willing to share their tools and resources to promote international consumer involvement. Although these international tools and resources needed adaptation to suit the Australian research environment, this was achievable with far less effort than developing them from scratch.

The Concept and Scope of European Union Consumer Policy

The main focus of the article is the analysis of the concept of European Union consumer policy in the context of specific policy, economic policy and public policy. The scope of EU consumer policy is examined in terms of its subject matter and actors. The subject matter of EU consumer policy is a set of legal and organisational activities undertaken by EU institutions and international consumer NGOs in accordance with consumer policy programmes for a given period of time. One overarching subject, the consumer, is identified in the subjective context. The definition of the ‘consumer’ in a socio-legal context is analysed.

Organizing the international marketing environment and relationships

In the article, the international marketing environment and its study, the reasons for the organization of international marketing services, the political and legal environment, the main purpose of entering the foreign market, making a decision to enter the international consumer market, export of goods, cooperative entrepreneurship, the organization of international marketing relations, political- legal environment and the main goal of entering the foreign market, the development of marketing services, the conclusions on the sustainable development of socio-economic relations between the countries are given.

A new theoretical model for online customer review intention

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the insights on how international customer behavior is impacted toward online customer review (OCR) by the mediating effects of social and personal norms in the varied cultural context. The study also investigates how support of peer influence could moderate the effect of OCR.Design/methodology/approachThis study has used socialization theory, congruity theory and theory of planned behavior along with studies of different literature to develop a conceptual model. The conceptual model has been validated using PLS-SEM analysis with survey considering 306 usable respondents. The mediating effects and moderating impacts have been analyzed by mediating analysis process (process tool) and multi group analysis, respectively.FindingsThe results of the model, with 62% explanative power, highlight that social norm acts as a strong mediating variable to impact OCR intention while peer influence acts as a vital moderator to impact OCR intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical model provides a solid foundation to future researchers for further study in this field. This study also provides the practitioners a unique opportunity towards understanding customer motivation for OCR intention. Accordingly, practitioners could bring some transformational changes in their organizations for getting better reviews from the customers.Originality/valueThis study develops a unique theoretical model with high explanative power. Very few studies have ventured in this field. This study has added value to the body of literature on consumer behavior as well as individualism. Furthermore, this study has developed some of the novel relationships between different factors such as individualism, peer influence, international consumers, social norm and so on in the context of OCR which is one of the unique contributions of this study.

Enhancing servitization by international consumer integration: the influence of open innovation and co-creation

PurposeResearch demonstrates that servitization can achieve competitive advantages for firms; however, many firms are unable to achieve their target values due to various challenges. This study proposes a new model in which open innovation and co-creation are utilized to access consumer knowledge during the servitization process when developing customized services for international markets.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was used to collect the data from 150 manufacturing firms. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach.FindingsThe results indicate that open innovation positively affects servitization strategy. Moreover, consumer co-creation moderates the impacts of servitization on firm performance.Practical implicationsThis study confirms the significant role of open innovation and consumer integration in the servitization process, establishing that managers should effectively integrate different stakeholders from the service design stage (through open innovation) to the service delivery stage (through co-creation).Originality/valueThe paper's results prominently advance the present body of servitization literature by showing how the implementation of open innovation improves the servitization process, an issue that has been ignored in previous studies. Moreover, it seeks to resolve the inconsistent results on servitization's effect on performance by indicating the role of consumer co-creation in the servitization–performance link.

Effect of konjac glucomannan and soy soluble polysaccharides on the rheological, microstructural and syneretic properties of rennet gels

This study investigated the rheological, microstructural and syneretic properties of rennet gels as influenced by the addition of soy soluble polysaccharides (2.5 g/kg, 5 g/kg) or konjac glucomannan (0.2 g/kg, 0.4 g/kg) to skim milk. The addition of all polysaccharides enhanced rennet coagulation properties, by reducing rennet coagulation time (RCT) and increasing development of gel firmness. There were also interactive effects between polysaccharide concentration and coagulation pH on parameters such as RCT, showing that the dynamics of gelation of such systems can be modulated by changing polysaccharide concentration and pH. Rennet gels containing 0.4 g/kg konjac glucomannan had significantly higher levels of syneresis (p < 0.05) than the other gels, which was linked to low yield stress and strain and a more open and porous microstructure. Quantitative analysis of 3-D confocal laser scanning microscopy image stacks showed that rennet gels containing konjac glucomannan had a significantly larger (p < 0.05) pore size than the other rennet gels. The ability of these polysaccharides to change the structure of rennet gels and their ensuing syneretic processes may provide a platform for development of novel cheese textures appealing to international consumers who may not be traditional cheese consumers.

Assessment of the Organochlorine Pesticides (OCPs) Status of Oyese Wetland Ogume Delta State for Cage Aquaculture in Secondary Schools as a Tool for Regiging Education in Nigeria

This is an ex-post facto research that investigated the OCPs content of Oyese wetlands. The study answered 4 research questions and tested a hypothesis. To achieve these objectives, Oyese wetland was mapped out into 5 research cells and from each of the research cells, water samples were collected from 10 spots bulked and composites drawn and stored in ice cooled boxes for analysis. The analytical standards adopted were CEAM and ASTM and the instrument deployed for determination of the OCPs was Agilent GC 7890A and Agilent GC 8081. The mean results obtained are; DDT 1.65 µg/l, DDD; 1.72 µg/l; DDE 1.36 µg/l, endrin; 1.72 µg/l and diedrin 0.87 µg/l. The result of the OCPs investigated were subjected to test of significance with ANOVA using SPSS model 21 at 0.05. The p-value is 0.41 thus rejecting Ho. The study recommends that cage aquaculture should not be implemented in Oyese wetland, the pollution source should be identified and plugged, decontamination and remediation should be mandated, this will allow for the deployment of cage aquaculture for pollution free fish product for the produce to meet local and international consumer standards.

Medical travel from north – east India: an assessment of domestic medical tourists’ travel profile and experience

ABSTRACT A significant segment of the global medical tourism industry is dependent on domestic medical tourists (DMTs)—the buyers of biomedical services within a country. However, in medical tourism in South Asia, academic and policy attention has primarily been paid to the international consumers despite the fact that a large part of the medical tourism business is dependent on domestic buyers. By gathering sporadic shreds of evidence on patients’ travel under the theme of domestic medical tourism, this study explores the differences in travel motivation and experience amongst the DMTs based on their socio-demographic and treatment profiles. In Northeast India, this study observed that demographic factors (age and gender) have the least impact on the movement of DMTs, while social factors (state of residence, sources of finance, nature of visitation) remain significant determinants. We also observe that amidst the chaos of regional disparity in healthcare resource allocation and need-based travel within restrictive medical travel conditions, DMTs are happier and more eager to travel to destinations which, apart from providing medical help, promise diverse tourism activities.

Consumers' cultural identity under glocalization: Vietnamese consumers' global and national identities and their cross-cultural consumption

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the influences of two facets of Vietnamese consumers' cultural identities (i.e. global and national) on their intent to consume Korean lifestyle products and services via attitudes toward Korea. The difference between generations (Generation Z vs. X) is examined.Design/methodology/approachData are collected through an online survey firm. The participants are Vietnamese consumers residing in Vietnam, varying in age from teens to those in their 50s (n = 500). The collected data are analyzed by SPSS 21.0 for the descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, and reliability analysis. AMOS 21.0 is employed for confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis.FindingsThis study reveals that global identity affects Vietnamese consumers' attitudes toward Korea and their intent to consume Korean lifestyle products and services. Results show that only global identity affects attitudes and behavioral intention toward Korea among generation Xers, while national identity has no effect. For Generation Z (Gen Z), both global and national identities have a positive effect on attitudes toward Korea, which also increases the intent to consume Korean lifestyle products and services.Practical implicationsMeasuring individuals' global and national identities will allow brands and retailers to better understand international consumers of various generations and develop global marketing strategies.Originality/valueThis study bridges gaps in the literature on globalized consumption in a non-Western context by identifying how consumers in emerging markets become involved in cross-cultural consumption.

Increased incidence and antimicrobial resistance among Vibrio parahaemolyticus in shellfishes from major fish markets in Cochin, South India: Seafood risk assessment

Abstract India remains as a top supplier of value-added seafoods to the global markets. Cochin is one of the leading fishing ports in India contributing to country’s major seafood export. As part of risk assessment, we analyzed the prevalence of multi-drug resistant Vibrio parahaemolyticus; seafood borne gastroenteritis-causing pathogen, in shellfishes collected from major fish markets in Cochin. This bacterial species was initially isolated on thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose agar and HiCrome™ Vibrio agar, further confirmed by detection of V. parahaemolyticus species-specific toxR gene and by 16S r RNA sequencing. A total of 113 confirmed V. parahaemolyticus were recovered. Almost all the strains exhibited resistance towards three or more antibiotics (multiple-drug resistant) and harbored virulence related exoenzymes especially hemolysin (Kanagawa phenomenon); which is indeed a matter of concern. The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of the isolates ranged from 0.21 to 0.57. Furthermore, our results also indicate a substantial increase in the incidence of the pathogen in seafood from the area compared to previous years. This may pose a risk to the local and international consumers of the seafood. Practicing complete hygiene and adequate cooking is strongly recommended. Regular monitoring of aquaculture areas and fish markets is urged to reduce dissemination of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus in seafood and to prevent fatal cases of human infection induced by this species in the country.

Accuracy of Gluten-Free Food Labeling in Europe and the Middle East Compared to the United States

ObjectivesGluten is a protein complex found in wheat, barley, and rye, as well as a few foods that do not contain these grains. It is important for those with gluten intolerance, especially with Celiac disease, to avoid gluten cross-contamination and be skeptical of the gluten levels in food products advertised as “gluten-free”. Previous work in this lab has shown that roughly 32% of labeled “gluten-free” products in the United States (n = 223) have more gluten in them than is allowed by law (68% were properly labeled). The current study was designed to investigate the reliability of “gluten-free” food labels in the international consumer marketplace, and to compare the accuracy of these labels with those previously reported for the United States.MethodsA total of 74 samples labeled “gluten-free” were obtained from grocery stores in Europe and the Middle East; these samples were manufactured/labeled in 16 different countries. A Nima Gluten Sensor (antibody based colorimetric assay) was used to determine if gluten content was <20 ppm, the maximum allowed by the European Commission and local Middle Eastern produce (as well as the United States), for a product labeled “gluten-free”.ResultsOf the 74 samples tested, 68 (92%) were confirmed to be “gluten-free” (<20 ppm). The 6 samples that tested above the legal limit came from 5 different countries.ConclusionsWhen European and Middle Eastern samples are compared to those from the United States, it appears that the food from these parts of the world are more accurately labeled than those from the United States. While results reveal that “certified gluten-free” labeling can be trusted in most cases, this is certainly not 100% reliable, and the risk of cross-contamination with gluten is still possible anywhere in the world, posing potential risks to those who are gluten intolerant.Funding SourcesFunded by the Robert M. Geist Endowed Chair at Capital University.

Employing Natural Language Processing as Artificial Intelligence for Analyzing Consumer Opinion Toward Advertisement.

With the advent and integration of technology in business, marketers started investing in numerous media platforms to influence the consumer's sentiments. Artificial intelligence has been proved as one of the innovative tools of digitalization to change consumer's media habits. Owing to the growing trends of e-commerce, the traditional advertising model is insufficient. Therefore, advertisers are taking advantage of artificial intelligence technology to meet current requirements. Thus, a deeper understanding of product advertisement with reference to consumer sentiments and its implications need to be established. The current research depicts the contribution of artificial intelligence to analyze the consumers' attention, cognition, and emotion. The target product was Samsung Galaxy. Researcher of the current study has employed Think-aloud procedure for data analysis. Tweets dataset was divided into 2 categories. For international consumers' sentiments 30,877 tweets whereas for Pakistani consumers' sentiments tweets dataset was 26,834. For data analysis, authors used Nvivo for generating theme. The Nvivo produced word cloud. The word cloud generated with Pakistani tweets revealed that consumer attachment with Samsung product is based on emotional and attention and the preferred features of Samsung products are linked with emotional and attention. In contrary to that rest of the world tweets unfolded that emotion, attention, and cognition make consumer preferences while selecting Samsung products. This study is useful to the cellular companies for targeting across the world population. The consumer preference varies while selecting cell phones. This study will provide a better idea to cell phone companies for manufacturing consumer oriented cell phones to get better results. Moreover, future research should add more countries separate data and generate a comparative study between developed countries consumer and developing countries consumer preferences. In addition to companies with better insights of consumer can highlight the most attractive features of cell phone in their advertisements.

Bioprocessing of biowaste derived from food supply chain side-streams for extraction of value added bioproducts through biorefinery approach

Food chain-based waste is generated in tonnes globally and this has led to release of greenhouse gases, poor air quality, land and water pollution. Food wastes are generated in tremendous quantity globally from local producer to international consumers and traders. Authors have used systematic literature review to identify the research gaps, thematic areas, methodology, sustainable techniques and future directions of processing food supply chain waste. Research is focused towards utilization of food waste as source for recovery of value-added compounds through sustainable technologies. Food waste can be utilized to synthesis platform chemicals, nutraceuticals, sugars, bio-fuels, bio-gas and bio-char via thermo-chemical conversion, anaerobic digestion and fermentation processes. This paper summarizes and provides technical insights on achieving circular bio-economy via technological advances in food waste processing for enhanced recovery of value-added compounds and future industrial scale operations. The state of art perspectives of food waste valorization and market outlook of platform chemicals and other products provides profitable economy for the food waste generator. Food security requires holistic approaches for effective usage of resources with inter linked global policies.

Effects of Social Media Usage on Consumers' Purchase Intention in Social Commerce: A Cross-Cultural Empirical Analysis.

Social commerce has produced enormous economic benefits as well as challenges for organizations, individuals, and industries. However, social media usage does not necessarily generate users’ intention to purchase on social commerce websites. How social media usage influences users’ purchase intention on social commerce websites still deserves more scholarly attention and this seems particularly important when social commerce transcends borders and countries. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the current study adopted a survey research method and identified the roles of social media usage in arousing users’ purchase intention on social commerce websites in a culturally diversified environment. The data was collected from 2,058 international students coming from 135 countries and was analyzed using MPLUS based structural equation modeling. The research unveils the pathway whereby social media usage serves to generate users’ purchase intention on social commerce websites. Importantly, users’ cultural intelligence has been found to play a significant role mediating the effects of social media usage on users’ intention. Further, cultural distance was found to attenuate the effects of social media usage on cultural intelligence. Based on the research findings, the study suggests that social commerce practitioners should be fully aware of the enabling roles of social media and cultural intelligence as well as the deterring role of cultural distance when arousing customers’ purchasing intention in cross-cultural business operations. Any measures facilitated by social media usage to improve international consumers’ cultural intelligence and mitigate the negative effects of cultural distance are supposed to be effective to enhance their purchasing intention. Accordingly, the study confirms the mutually melt and integrative relationships between information technology advancement and business prosperity in cross-cultural environment, which eventually contribute to sustainable development of society.

An Investigation into the Green Marketing Effects on Green Consumerism

Having become more attention grabbing lately, green marketing (GM) is a concept that affects consumers with respect to their purchasing decisions. The priority for consumers gradually concern environment-friendliness of products/services. Thus, market segmentations started to expand to include environmental concerns. A number of studies regarding GM can be found in the literature, as well as green purchase intention (GPI) and green purchasing behavior. The majority of the existing studies concern target market segmentation with respect to demographic variables within the same country and specifically concerning the evaluation of environmental purchasing behavior. However, there are limited studies in the literature, investigating green consumerism from an international point of view. This study analyses the relationship of international consumers’ green self-identification levels. In this study, international participants are at the postgraduate level. It is aimed to evaluate how the green self-identification of consumers with the same education level is related to their green product awareness (GPA) and GPI and price sensitivities (PS). A total of 119 respondents filled the questionnaire. Data was analyzed later with SPSS 23. Findings showed that respondents, who define themselves to be environment-friendly, tended to be more aware of green products, in addition to the tendency that GPA has a significant impact on GPI and GPA and that GPA has a significant impact on GPI. Furthermore, the study concluded that the tendency that country significantly affects environment-friendliness. This study is hoped to be useful for researchers and practitioners in the field, who wish to focus on international green consumerism.

Domestic Groundwater Depletion Supports China's Full Supply Chains

AbstractGroundwater use underpins much economic production. The unsustainable use of groundwater threatens environmental flows in surface waters, sustainable development, and future food security. The connection between agricultural trade and groundwater depletion has been recently highlighted, but how groundwater depletion supports the production of industrial and tertiary goods, trade, and consumption remains less well understood. Here, we present the first analysis of groundwater use and depletion embedded in the complete supply chain of China (including primary, secondary, and tertiary products). We use a multiregion input‐output analysis coupled with the high‐resolution groundwater use modeling to track groundwater depletion from production to end consumer. Our modeling results show that groundwater depletion occurred primarily in water scarce North China for agricultural production, but the depleted resource was then incorporated throughout the supply chain and dispersed across Chinese and international consumers. ∼64 billion m3 yr−1 (±1 billion m3 yr−1) groundwater was depleted in China, in which more than a half was from Xinjiang, Hebei, Henan and Heilongjiang Provinces. Approximately 40% of the groundwater depletion can be traced to interprovincial transfer (21 billion m3 yr−1) and export (4.8 billion m3 yr−1). The hot spots for final consumption of groundwater depletion were major cities in both North and South China. Importantly, over 60% of the groundwater depletion was embodied in industrial and tertiary products for final consumption, highlighting the importance of tracing groundwater through the full economy. Groundwater depletion represents a long‐term risk to supply chains, and policy‐makers can use this understanding to sustainably manage groundwater and diversify supply chains.