Level Of Consumer Involvement Research Articles

Involving consumers in accreditation: the Irish experience

Following the 2004 review of the Acute Care Accreditation Scheme, the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board (IHSAB) decided to increase the level of consumer involvement in the accreditation process by including consumers as members of the review teams assessing healthcare organizations. Such consumers were known as service user (SU) surveyors where SUs were defined as any person who has used the Irish health system, i.e. a patient or relative/carer, etc. Consumer surveyors first participated in surveys in 2005 and a total of seven surveys took place that year. An evaluation of the role and participation of the consumer surveyor was conducted in 2006. All stakeholder groups were consulted, i.e. consumer and peer review surveyors, applicant organizations and IHSAB staff, and a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques was used. Stakeholders considered that consumer involvement introduced greater objectivity and credibility. Characteristics such as good communication and interpersonal skills, excellent powers of observation and objectivity were identified as important traits for consumer surveyors. There were some issues in relation to the clarity and consistency of their role in terms of the rating of criteria and their contribution to the accreditation report. There was support among the stakeholder groups for greater consumer involvement in the process by participating in additional tours and interviews. The evaluation highlights that the introduction of consumer surveyors has been successful but illustrates that their role and level of involvement in the process may need to be re-examined.

Relationship marketing: the influence of consumer involvement on perceived service benefits

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to empirically examine the influence of consumer involvement on perceived relational benefits across service types.Design/methodology/approachBased on Bowen's service typology, responses from patrons of fast‐food restaurants and hairdressers/stylists were used to assess the influence of consumer involvement on relationship marketing, specifically perceived service benefits and response behaviors.FindingsResults indicate that highly involved consumers perceive greater relational benefits when engaged in a high contact, customized service (i.e. hairdressers/stylists) versus a more standardized, moderate contact service (i.e. fast‐food restaurant).Research limitations/implicationsCare should be taken when generalizing these findings to other service settings as this study only addressed two service types. Thus, an opportunity for future research could add moderate contact, non‐personalized services to determine if there are significant differences between the three service categories. Additionally, this study was based in the USA, thus cultural differences may influence perceived benefits of service firms selected.Practical implicationsThe results of this study suggest that a service firm providing a more standardized service offering is better served by hiring and training competent and trustworthy employees than by adopting relational benefit programs. On the other hand, high contact customized service providers are encouraged to engage in relationship activities with highly involved consumers, specifically those related to confidence benefits.Originality/valueThis study confirms the recommendation that relationship marketing may be inappropriate for all service firms. More importantly, the level of consumer involvement with the service has a significant moderating effect on perceived relational benefits.

Learning, Forgetting, and Sales

Sellers of almost any product or service rarely keep their prices constant through time and frequently offer price discounts or sales. This paper investigates an explanation of sales as a way for uninformed consumers to be willing to experience the product, and learn about its fit, and where informed consumers may forget about (or change) their preferences. We investigate the role of the rate of consumer forgetting on the timing between sales, and of the rate of consumer learning and menu costs on the length of a sale. The rate of consumer forgetting can be linked to the length of purchase cycle and the level of consumer involvement. We show that the discount frequency and the discount depth are increasing in the rate of consumer forgetting, and that the discount frequency is increasing in the learning rate. The duration of a sale is increasing in the rate of consumer forgetting and the rate of consumer learning.

CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT IN BUYING DECISIONS – THE EXAMPLE OF THREE FOOD PRODUCTS IN CROATIA

The goal of this research was to create an instrument suitable for the measurement of consumer involvement construct and to verify its metric characteristics. The involvement scale was tested on a sample of 283 consumers of wine, cheese and honey. The statistical analysis of results showed satisfactory validity and reliability of the instrument. High level of consumer involvement was found for wine and cheese, whereas consumer involvement for honey was somewhat lower. These results show that consumers, when buying wine, cheese and honey, do not make their buying decisions impulsively, but they search for the additional information about the products. The scale used in this article can also be used to measure involvement levels for different food and other products in the Croatian market.

'Take small steps to go a long way' consumer involvement in research into complementary and alternative therapies.

This investigation set out to learn about consumer involvement in complementary medicine research from those who have experience of practice in this area. A literature search was combined with written and oral responses from key people and organisations in the UK. Letter or e-mail contact was made with 59 key people and organisations and 43 people responded. Eighteen respondents were interviewed. The overall level of consumer involvement was low but participants provided examples of experiences of consumer involvement in commissioning, designing, carrying out, and disseminating research. Clear roles and tasks and a consumer-friendly research environment, enabled consumers to contribute, gain confidence, and gradually widen their areas of involvement. There appears to be no single 'right way' for researchers and consumers to work together, but with experience and mutual respect researchers became increasingly enthusiastic about the value of the consumer perspective. As one consumer said: 'You have to take small steps to go a long way'.

Consumer involvement in health research: fact or fiction?

Consumer involvement is now firmly established as National Health Service (NHS) R&D policy. This study identified the range and diversity of current NHS research projects involving consumers within an NHS region, to investigate the extent to which the policy is being implemented. Trust R&D directors and managers were surveyed and the National Research Register scrutinized. Researchers were found to be involving consumers in research in less than a third of trusts in the region. Difficulties were encountered in categorising research activities and the level of consumer involvement, suggesting that more precision in describing consumer involvement in the research process is necessary. Researchers had concerns about the practicalities of involving consumers and expressed a need for more direction and resources. Makes recommendations for trust management to facilitate more active involvement of consumers in research.

Enacting policy in mental health promotion and consumer participation

AbstractObjective: Over the last decade Australia has established and endorsed sound policy and strategy documents under the National Mental Health Strategy. However, the enactment of proposed levels of consumer involvement in effective and respectful ways is yet to be fully witnessed in reality. This issue requires sustained attention where barriers need to be named and understood in order to move forward and build on past successes. This paper addresses this issue and offers some responses to the following question: What does a commitment to enacting consumer involvement mean for mental health promotion practice? Conclusions: Despite progress, consumer involvement in mental health promotion work, like the mental health field in general, is yet to reflect national visions. Barriers include: structural issues and insufficient education and training to support workers putting policy into practice; lack of clarity about who is a consumer; the many difficulties consumers face in progressing mental health con...

Consumer involvement in health research: a review and research agenda

The involvement of consumers in health research is now Department of Health policy within the UK. Despite the existence of policy directives, there is a dearth of knowledge on the effects of such involvement. This paper critically reviews the state of our knowledge on this issue, and maps out a research agenda with the aim of stimulating systematic, empirical inquiry into consumer involvement in health research. The paper discusses definitions of ‘the consumer’; considers why consumer involvement is believed to be important to health research; traces the development of the policy; analyses the epistemological and methodological implications of the policy; discusses the various levels of consumer involvement in research; and outlines the objections to the policy that have been put forward by clinicians and researchers. Four questions were identified during the review as being in need of theoretical and empirical attention: (1) how can consumer involvement in health research be further conceptualised? (2) how and why does consumer involvement influence health research? (3) how can the influence of consumers in health research be measured and evaluated? and (4) what factors are associated with ‘successful’ consumer involvement in health research?

An experimental study on the relationship between consumer involvement and advertising effectiveness

States that the level of consumer involvement in a product category is a major variable relevant to advertising strategy. Suggests product category is often segmented by the level of consumer involvement; however, consumers are rarely segmented. Points out that different involvement clusters have different responses to advertising effectiveness for the same product. Presents a case study segmenting a market using the consumer involvement degree, exploring the characteristics in order to determine the relationship between advertising effectiveness and the level of consumer involvement. Shows results suggesting that a high degree of consumer involvement directed a high advertising effect and is therefore an important indication for advertising strategy.

Understanding consumer decision making in grocery markets: does attitude-behaviour consistency vary with involvement?

The paper reports on an empirical study of purchase decision making in grocery markets. Against the central research question, 'Does decision making become more extensive with more involved product purchases?', measurements of attitude- behaviour consistency were made in three product fields which are known to engender significantly different levels of consumer involvement. The extended Fishbein model was used as the metaphor for purchase decision making and models were estimated for each product field using LISREL VII to determine the fit between product and normative beliefs, behavioural intention and actual purchasing behaviours. The results of our analysis are consistent with prior theory and support the hypothesis that the efficacy of the model in grocery markets increases as the purchase involvement increases. The implications for marketing communications within each market are discussed and the limitations of our research design are highlighted.

Multiple Resource Theory and Consumer Processing of Broadcast Advertisements: An Involvement Perspective

Abstract In an attempt to reconcile past modality research, Leigh (1991) used Multiple Resource Theory while emphasizing the role of audio / visual congruency and task difficulty. This paper provides an alternative interpretation by reviewing Multiple Resource Theory from an involvement perspective. Past modality studies are organized and integrated based on the level of consumer involvement in the stimulus ad. Empirical findings are shown to be highly consistent with this approach. Suggestions for future modality research are presented.

The Differential Role of Characteristics of Music on High- and Low- Involvement Consumers' Processing of Ads

This article examines the impact of two dimensions of music—its fit with the advertised message and its ties to past emotion-laden experiences (indexicality)—on low- and high-involvement consumers' ad processing. Previous research suggests that executional cues in an ad exert their influence primarily under conditions of low involvement in the form of peripheral-route processing. However, this view may be overly simplistic. Certain executional cues may influence central-route (message-based) and peripheral (non-message-based) processing of both high- and low-involvement consumers; however, the direction of this influence may depend on both the specific characteristic of the cue and the level of consumer involvement. The results of this research generally are consistent with these expectations.

The Role of Consumer Involvement in Determining Cognitive Response to Broadcast Advertising

Abstract This paper investigates the role of involvement in determining consumer response to radio and TV commercials. After reviewing relevant literature, a summary model that focuses on the amount and type of cognitive elaboration and subsequent effects on consumer recognition of the brand and message points is presented. Hypotheses are developed that predict interaction effects between the type of broadcast media and the level of consumer involvement in the commercial. A study is conducted where mode of presentation (radio versus television) and level of consumer involvement (low versus high) are experimentally manipulated. Analysis of variance of the data provide general support for the hypotheses. Other results and the implications for advertising research and practice are discussed.

Insurance Firm Market Response to California Proposition 103 and the Effects of Firm Size

Insurance Firm Market Response to California Proposition 103 and the Effects of Firm Size Introduction California voters, dissatisfied with high insurance rates, approved Proposition 103 on November 8, 1988. The key provision was an immediate 20 percent reduction of automobile, homeowner, commercial, and municipal liability insurance rates. Rates also were to be frozen for one year, unless the insurance commissioner of all rate increases, repeal of the insurance industry's state antitrust exemption, allowing banks to sell insurance, and limiting the determinants of automobile liability rates to the insured's accident record. A major result of Proposition 103 was the movement of the insurance regulatory system in California from one of open competition to prior approval of rates. Brostoff (1988) and Aschkenasy (1989), among others, recognize that consumer dissatisfaction with the insurance industry is spreading, and legislation similar to Proposition 103 is being considred in at least 14 other states. Some consumers believe insurance rates, especailly those for auto insurance, are unfairly high. The public interest theory of regulation (Needham, (1983)) assumes that regulation is a government response to public demands for the rectificatin of inequitable practices (primarly in price setting) by business organizations. Regulation in the insurance industry is an example of public interest regulation because its purpose is to enforce the requirement that rates remain adequate, reasonable, and fair. Various researchers have examined the methods used for property-liability insurance rate regulation. Biger and Kahane (1978), Fairley (1979), and Hill (1979) proposed CAPM type models to determine fair rates of return for the property-liability insurance industry. Joskow (1973), Samprone (1979), Harrington (1984, 1987), and Grabowski, Viscusi and Evans (1989) analyze accounting data to determine the impact of open competition versus regulated ratemaking on insurer profitability. The findings of these studies are inconsistent with regard to whether open competition or regulated ratemaking serve to maximize insurer profitability. Peltzman (1976) developed a general model dealing with the influence of regulation based on the premise that regulation creates a wealth transfer. Industry and special interest groups compete for the benefits of regulatory change. Under Peltzman's model, regulatory change often transfers wealth to insurers since their financial interests are greater than that of individual consumers. Consumers' financial interests or costs are directly related to their involvement in the regulatory policy change. Higher levels of consumer involvement are generally associated with fewer industry benefits from the regulatory change. Proposition 103 provided short-term benefits for consumers. The most immediate attraction was the 20 percent reductionand freezing of automobile and other insurance rates for one year. Since consumers had such a large financial advantage from the enactment of Proposition 103, it is likely that the insurance industry suffered. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of the passage of California Proposition 103 on insurance stock values. It is hypothesized that the passage had a significant negative impact on property-liability insurers, especially those doing large volumes of business in California. Fields, Ghosh, Kidwell, and Klein (1990) have examined California's Proposition 103. They found that for several days surrounding the election, insurance firms' stock values reacted negatively. The decrease in value is directly related to the proportion of the firm's revenues that are affected by the referendum. Profitable companies were found to have less negative effect. Szewczyk and Varma (1990) also analyze Proposition 103. Their study examines the effect of Proposition 103 on the common stock values of property-liability insurers around both the passage of the measure and the court decision upholding the rate rollback and overturning the insolvency provision. …

An Examination of Factors Influencing Effectiveness of 15-Second Advertisements

This study investigates a relatively new and unresearched advertising phenomenon: the 15-second advertisement. The effects of various claim-types (factual and evaluative), musical backgrounds (positive, negative, neutral, and no music), and advertisement attention/involvement levels (high and low) on brand attitudes were examined in a 15-second television advertising format. The results provide some interesting insights into the dynamics of the 15-second advertisement. It appears that an advertiser's choice of narrative (factual versus evaluative) in a 15-second format can have a significant influence on brand attitudes. The findings suggest, however, that the impact of narratives may be moderated by music, with factual narratives being most persuasive when coupled with favourable (or no) music, and evaluative narratives being most persuasive under neutral music conditions. The moderating effects of consumer involvement levels, while less pronounced, were also demonstrated under certain advertising claim/...