Consumer Uncertainty Research Articles

Assessment of consumers' motivations to purchase a remanufactured product by applying Fuzzy Delphi method and single valued neutrosophic sets

Abstract Environmental issues have been worldwide matters of concern especially in the recent decade and have made many firms implement end-of-life strategies such as remanufacturing. In prior studies, the supply side of remanufacturing supply chain has been vastly brought into focus compared to the demand side. Motivational factors that encourage consumers to purchase remanufactured products are getting firms attentions in developing effective marketing strategies to assist them being more productive in the current competitive market. However, consumer acceptance of remanufactured products has been regarded as one of the main reasons why remanufacturing has remained a majorly untapped opportunity for improving supply chain productivity. This study aims at exploring the major motivational factors for buying a remanufactured bike based on the consumers' and experts' opinions. Firstly, twelve motivations identified by scrutinising the literature. Secondly, single valued trapezoidal neutrosophic numbers (SVTNN) and trapezoidal neutrosophic weighted arithmetic averaging (TNWAA) operator were employed to obtain seven significant motivations using the survey data collected from potential customers. This method is applied owing to its capability in capturing the uncertainty of consumers' subjective judgements. Thirdly, the resulted seven motivations are prioritised in accordance with the experts' judgements utilising a proposed modified fuzzy Delphi (FD) method. Ultimately, the most significant motivation to purchase a remanufactured bike identified as quality that suggests quality is the major factor affecting purchase decision of a remanufactured bike. It indicates remanufacturers should focus on quality and attempt to improve the quality of products to gain more competitive advantage. The other six factors that should be stressed by remanufacturer's marketing strategies are prioritised as warranty, price, information provision, remanufacturer's reputation, value-added services and retailer's reputation respectively.

Peran Kepercayaan dalam Memediasi Pengaruh Persepsi Risiko terhadap Niat Beli Online pada Situs Lazada

Online transactions are considered to be more practical and time efficient, but online transactions can not be separated from the perceived uncertainty of consumers and perceived as a risk perception that will affect the trust and intention to buy consumers to transact online. Therefore this study aims to determine the role of confidence in mediating the perception of risk on the purchase intention of online Lazada site to consumers in the city of Denpasar. This study uses a sample size of 110 people with purposive sampling method. Data collection was obtained from questionnaires distributed by using 11 indicators. The results showed that risk perception had a significant negative effect on trust. Risk perceptions also have a significant negative impact on online purchasing intentions on the Lazada site. Trust has a significant positive effect on online purchasing intentions on the Lazada website and trust is significantly capable of mediating the relationship between risk perceptions of online purchasing intentions on the Lazada site. Suggestions for the Lazada site need to minimize the risks that occur when online shopping and the website Lazada must be able to maintain and enhance consumer trust in online transactions.

A Stochastic Home Energy Management System Considering Satisfaction Cost and Response Fatigue

Home energy management (HEM) systems enable residential consumers to participate in demand response programs (DRPs) more actively. However, HEM systems confront some practical difficulties due to the uncertainty related to renewable energies as well as the uncertainty of consumers’ behavior. Moreover, the consumers aim for the highest level of comfort and satisfaction in operating their electrical appliances. In addition, technical limits of the appliances must be considered. Furthermore, DR providers aim at keeping the participation of consumers in DRPs and minimize the “response fatigue” phenomenon in the long-term period. In this paper, a stochastic model of an HEM system is proposed by considering uncertainties of electric vehicles availability and small-scale renewable energy generation. The model optimizes the customer's cost in different DRPs, while guarantees the inhabitants’ satisfaction by introducing a response fatigue index. Different case studies indicate that the implementation of the proposed stochastic HEM system can considerably decrease both the customers’ cost and response fatigue.

Import vulnerability in the Middle East: effects of the Arab spring on Egyptian wheat trade

The ‘Arab Spring’ spilled over to Egypt from neighbouring Arab countries in the first half of 2011. General chaos during the political instabilities suddenly caused high uncertainty for consumers and traders, and temporarily rendered institutions dysfunctional. This eventually might have led to a negative market shock, impeding economic activity in general and, in particular, trade. Wheat is the main ingredient in the Egyptian diet and is heavily subsidised in the country. The general availability of cheap wheat flour creates a very high domestic demand for wheat. Therefore, Egypt is highly dependent on wheat imports from other countries for ensuring food security. This dependency makes the country vulnerable to increasing food prices and other shocks to the world market which might challenge flows of imports. This paper investigates the effects of domestic political instability on the wheat trade in Egypt. We analysed monthly trade data for wheat from the Comtrade Database of the United Nations, particularly imports and exports of wheat and wheat flour in Egypt from 2010 to 2014. The analysis showed pronounced and stable seasonal patterns whereby the pattern of 2011, the year of most intensive political turmoil in Egypt, was found to differ significantly from other years. We found robust evidence for a strong, negative demand shock in the second half of 2011 caused by the substantial and enduring political instabilities in the country which resulted from the Arab Spring.

A Practical Pricing Approach to Smart Grid Demand Response Based on Load Classification

Appropriate pricing schemes are of great importance in terms of managing large-scale and distributed controllable loads in smart grids. In this paper, a practical pricing scheme is proposed to encourage different consumers to participate in demand response by providing them with a list of price plans. First, a classification algorithm is employed to divide consumers into different categories based on their individual information, such as marginal cost, upper limit of load adjustment, and elasticity coefficient. Afterwards, from the perspective of load service entity, a pricing model is formulated as a nonlinear programming problem, aiming to minimize the overall operation cost. Moreover, the Bayesian discrete probability distribution function is adopted to tackle the uncertainty of consumers’ choosing behavior. Meanwhile, an incentive compatible constraint is added to capture the real private information of controllable loads, e.g., inducing them to bid as close as their marginal costs. According to the case studies on the IEEE 30-bus and 118-bus systems, the proposed pricing scheme is an effective demand response approach to managing controllable loads and achieving lower system cost.

Izbegavanje neizvesnosti u procesu odlučivanja o kupovini

Due to the lack of knowledge and information consumers are often in a state of uncertainty in the decision-making process. Understanding the source of consumer uncertainty is essential for their better service. The aim of this paper is to get relevant scientific knowledge about the impact of uncertainty avoidance as the dimension of the national culture and the aspects of the behavior of the consumers with which it is connected (perceived risk, innovation, brand loyalty, market mavenism) in the decision-making process. Surveying consumers in the territory of Kragujevac the primary data were collected and processed in the statistical software SPSS v. 20. The results of the conducted statistical analyzes have shown that the uncertainty avoidance has significant statistical effects on the observed aspects of consumer behavior, and that all these variables together, apart from innovation, determine the purchasing decision-making process. In addition to making it possible to better understand the effects of uncertainty avoidance on consumer decisions, the paper has significant managerial implications for formulating appropriate marketing strategies.

Do corporate image and reputation drive brand equity in India and China? - Similarities and differences

Corporate signals, such as corporate image and corporate reputation, are potentially effective tools to alleviate consumer uncertainty about brands in emerging markets and may therefore enhance product brand equity. However, most studies targeting the effects of corporate signals are set in developed countries and also fail to compare different emerging markets to explore possible moderators to these relationships. We argue that the perceived uncertainty towards brands differs between emerging markets and that this difference is shaped by the institutional background in the country. This, in turn, influences the effectiveness of corporate signals. Using structural equation modelling, the study analyses large consumer samples from China and India. We discover that corporate image is a more effective signal in China than in India. Moreover, we find that corporate reputation mediates the corporate image – product brand equity relationship in emerging markets. Notably, the importance of the mediation depends on the country setting.

A multi-phased FQFD for the design of brand revitalisation

This study adopts a quality function deployment (QFD) model combining Keller’s brand knowledge to generate a brand revitalisation model for offering a remedy to cure and activate old and mature brands. To address the uncertainty and vagueness of consumers’ opinions, this study evaluates the consumers’ needs for QFD through a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method. Moreover, most research assumes that attributes are independent; however, brand knowledge and brand management techniques possess the problems of interrelationship and interdependence among attributes; thus, this study utilises the fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) method to solve these problems. The advantage of the proposed analytical model is that it adds quantitative precision and fine-tuning to an otherwise qualitative decision-making process, and it can determine the current problems of brands, making old and mature brands to be energetic and powerful. Hence, by utilising this fuzzy QFD model, the case company will maximise the lifetime values of its customers by meeting customers’ needs exactly and thus rejuvenate its brand.

Information Strategies of New Product Introduction in Vertical Markets

An overwhelming stream of research suggests that online reviews impact firms' profits positively. In this study, we show conditions where this may not hold true. In a vertical market, we identify strategies that a manufacturer can utilize to affect a retailer's attitude towards publicizing consumer reviews. We model a two-period multi-stage game where vertically integrated and separated firms co-exist and choose prices (of old and new products) and product quality (of new products) along with information strategies. We study the extreme situation where new products have no reviews available yet (i.e., only old products have reviews or the possibility of having reviews). Our main findings are that in a separated distribution channel, the manufacturer always benefits from the availability of online reviews, whereas the retailer only benefits if consumer valuation for a new product is sufficiently low. When competition is not too tough and consumer valuation for the new product is not too high, the manufacturer may opt for discounting the wholesale prices to prompt the retailer to post the online reviews. Furthermore, when consumer uncertainty for the new product is sufficiently low, the optimal strategy for the manufacturer is to limit the release of technical information.

Estimating the effects of nutrition label use on Canadian consumer diet‐health concerns using propensity score matching

AbstractThe overarching goal of nutrition labelling is to transform intrinsic credence attributes into searchable cues, which would enable consumers to make informed food choices at lower search costs. This study estimates the impact of nutrition label usage on Canadian consumers’ (n = 8,114) perceived diet‐health concerns using alternative propensity score matching (PSM) techniques. We apply a series of tests and sensitivity analyses to overcome issues of endogeneity and selection bias frequently found in studies of diet‐health behaviour and to validate the impact of exposure to nutrition facts labels for users vs. non‐users. Our results support the notion that consumer uncertainty and related food‐health concerns are linked to their information behaviour, but not in straightforward manner. Dominant subjective food attributes, such as taste, convenience and affordability, may in fact outweigh the benefits of information about healthier, alternative food choices. In order to change dietary health behaviour, food manufacturer and policy makers alike need to adopt communication instruments that better account for differences in preferences, shopping habits and overall usage patterns of nutrition labelling information.

Analysis of Freemium Business Model Considering Network Externalities and Consumer Uncertainty

An emerging business model increasingly used by companies in the online software market is to provide both a free basic version and a paid premium version for a service or a product to customers. Such a setting is often called freemium model. The existence of the free version can reduce the customer uncertainty regarding the evaluation of the commercial software and make use of network effect to improve the firm’s profit. However, the freemium model may also have the cannibalization effect which can hurt the profit. Hence, the firm needs to determine the optimal content for the free version and the optimal price for the premium version to maximize its profit. In this paper, first, we obtain the optimal decisions of the freemium model and their properties. Second, we compare the freemium model with the traditional charge-for-everything model that all content of the product need to be charged in terms of the profit, customer welfare, and social welfare. The results show that when customer underestimates the value of the software significantly and the true value of the software is high enough, the freemium model can generate higher profit, higher customer welfare, and higher social welfare. Otherwise, the freemium model may not deliver the desired results.

Consumer Pseudo-Showrooming and Omni-Channel Placement Strategies

Recent advances in information technologies (IT) have powered the merger of online and offline retail channels into one single platform. Modern consumers frequently switch between online and offline channels when they navigate through various stages of the decision journey, motivating multichannel sellers to develop omni-channel strategies that optimize their overall profit. This study examines consumers' cross-channel search behavior of pseudo-showrooming, or the consumer behavior of inspecting one product at a seller's physical store before buying a related but different product at the same seller's online store, and investigates how such consumer behavior allows a multichannel seller to achieve better coordination between its online and offline arms through optimal product placement strategies. We develop a stylized model in which a multichannel firm offers a product line consisting of two horizontally differentiated products. Consumers are uncertain about the true value of either product. A consumer's uncertainty regarding a particular product's value is fully resolved after inspecting that product in person, and can also be partially resolved after inspecting the other related product. By selling only one product through the dual channel and the other product through the online channel exclusively, the firm induces consumer pseudo-showrooming for the online exclusive product. Our analysis shows that this product placement strategy generates a greater profit than selling both products through the dual channel, if the fit probability of individual products and consumers' cost for returning a misfit product are both in the intermediate range. Moreover, we find that over a large parameter region, consumers also enjoy a greater total surplus under the firm's product placement strategy that induces consumer pseudo-showrooming. Furthermore, we find that the firm garners the most benefit from inducing consumer pseudo-showrooming by selling the higher-quality product or the higher-demand product through the online channel exclusively. Collectively, our study offers a compelling demand-side justification of the commonly witnessed practice among multichannel sellers to offer products online exclusively when offline selling is feasible.

Value-based pricing in competitive situations with the help of multi-product price response maps

This article introduces multi-product price response maps for various value pricing applications in competitive situations. The maps are based on the direct elicitation of individual willingness to pay (WTP) as a range for competing products; they reveal an individual's or market's choice probability for a focal product, at its own and competing products' prices. Transforming the price response into profit, revenue, or unit sold maps supports optimal pricing decisions. The maps are also useful for optimizing profit differences from the closest competitor and for portfolio pricing. Managers can use a consumer indecisiveness map, gained from the WTP range data, to devise complementary marketing measures at prices where consumer uncertainty is high. The illustration of this approach uses two empirical examples, featuring two or more competing consumer goods, and demonstrates the predictive and external validity of these proposed maps.

Signaling through Price and Quality to Consumers with Fairness Concerns

Consumers with inequity aversion experience some psychological disutility when buying products at unfair prices. Empirical evidence and behavioral research have suggested that consumers may perceive a firm's price as unfair when its profit margin is too high relative to consumers’ surplus. The authors develop an analytical framework to investigate the effects of the consumer's inequity aversion on a firm's optimal pricing and quality decisions. They highlight several findings. First, because of the consumer's uncertainty about the firm's cost, the firm's optimal quality may be nonmonotone with respect to the degree of the consumer's inequity aversion. Second, stronger inequity aversion makes an inefficient firm worse off but may benefit an efficient firm. Third, stronger inequity aversion by the consumer can actually lower the consumer's monetary payoff (economic surplus) because the firm may reduce its quality to a greater extent than it reduces its price. Finally, as the expected cost efficiency in the market decreases, both the expected quality and the social surplus may increase rather than decrease.

Measuring Gamification Elementss Effects on User Content Generation: An Empirical Study of Stackoverflowws Two Sided Platformms Big Data

The cornerstone of the new marketing era consists of user generated content. This information is useful for reducing consumer uncertainty, generating new ideas for new products, and managing the customer relationship. To motivate users to generate content, practitioners use video game elements such as badges, leaderboard, and reputation points for user achievements, in an approach called Gamification. To allow Gamification platforms to target their users, I profile user segments by an ensemble method over LDA, mixed-normal and k-mean clustering, and then I develop a model of state-dependent choices of content generating users. This model captures long tail distribution of user heterogeneity by Dirichlet Process, and investigates the effects of fun and social elements of Gamification, reputation points, rank in the leaderboard, and badges (i.e. gold, silver, bronze) on the users’ probabilities to contribute content. I used a big data set of approximately 11,000,000 choices made by 36,000 users across 250 days on Stackoverflow to estimate the mixed binary logit model of users’ content contribution choices. I show that estimating the model on smaller random samples generate biased results. The estimation results demonstrate that users show heterogeneous significant positive and negative inertia, reciprocity, intrinsic motivation, and responses to badges, reputation points, and leaderboard ranks. I found interesting sensitivity patterns to Gamification elements for users with different nationality, which allows the Gamification platform to create targeted messages. The counterfactual analysis suggests that the Gamification platform can increase the number of contributions by making earning badges more difficult.

Managing uncertainty about food risks – Consumer use of food labelling

General consumer knowledge of and engagement with the production of food has declined resulting in increasing consumer uncertainty about, and sensitivity to, food risks. Emphasis is therefore placed on providing information for consumers to reduce information asymmetry regarding food risks, particularly through food labelling. This study examines the role of food labelling in influencing consumer perceptions of food risks. In-depth, 1-h interviews were conducted with 24 Australian consumers. Participants were recruited based on an a priori defined food safety risk scale, and to achieve a diversity of demographic characteristics. The methodological approach used, adaptive theory, was chosen to enable a constant interweaving of theoretical understandings and empirical data throughout the study. Participants discussed perceiving both traditional (food spoilage/microbial contamination) and modern (social issues, pesticide and ‘chemical’ contamination) risks as present in the food system. Food labelling was a symbol of the food system having managed traditional risks, and a tool for consumers to personally manage perceived modern risks. However, labelling also raised awareness of modern risks not previously considered. The consumer framing of risk presented demonstrates the need for more meaningful consumer engagement in policy decision making to ensure risk communication and management meet public expectations. This research innovatively identifies food labelling as both a symbol of, and a tool for, the management of perceived risks for consumers. Therefore it is imperative that food system actors ensure the authenticity and trustworthiness of all aspects of food labelling, not only those related to food safety.

Against all odds? Exploring the role of game outcome uncertainty in season ticket holders’ stadium attendance demand

In this study we investigate the important but rather ambiguous role of game outcome uncertainty (GOU) in consumers’ demand for professional sports. Specifically, using a unique and strongly balanced panel data set containing information on individual physical attendance from 13,892 season ticket holders (STHs) of a German professional football club, we find evidence for a positive effect of GOU on two differing spectator decisions – both the decision to physically attend a game in the stadium and the decision on what time to enter the stadium, an aspect which has so far been neglected in the literature. Moreover, GOU seems to play an especially important role in the decision-making of one particular group: STHs with comparatively high coordination costs.

El consumo de agua embotellada en la Ciudad de México desde una perspectiva institucional

A partir del enfoque institucional, este trabajo tiene como objetivo mostrar que las instituciones relacionadas con la distribución del agua potable que llega a los hogares han provocado incertidumbre en la ciudadanía al no informar sobre su calidad, ocasionando que se haya volcado hacia el agua embotellada en un lapso de treinta años. Muestra cómo a su vez esta falta de información institucional resulta ser un incentivo poderoso --entre otros-- para las trasnacionales, que en pocos años han logrado tener un mercado cautivo de consumidores en México.

Traceability System as Perceived-Uncertainty Mitigator for Sustainable Global Food Trade

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The paper validates a model which approximates a relationship between perceived uncertainty of consumers and two antecedents & three mitigators which explain the value of Food Traceability System (FTS).<br /><strong>Methodology/Approach:</strong> The proposed model was drawn from Pavlou et al. (2007) study which applied the principal-agent perspectives, and this study contributes to the current literature by improving understanding of the structure of perceived uncertainty of a food product with credence good with this model.<br /><strong>Findings:</strong> The study assesses the value and effects of FTS in reducing perceived uncertainty of beef from various origins and suggests important implications for stakeholders in beef sector regarding feasibility and marketability of FTS.<br /><strong>Research Limitation/Implication:</strong> Findings evidently reflect the current market circumstance regarding consumers’ concerns and Perceived Uncertainty towards import food products for their credence nature. Different aspects of FTS were found to have the mediating role in reducing Perceived Uncertainty in China and South Korea.<br /><strong>Originality/Value of paper:</strong> The study assesses the value and effects of FTS in reducing perceived uncertainty of beef from various origins and suggests important implications for stakeholders in beef sector regarding feasibility and marketability of FTS.</p>

The effect of sensory experience on expected preferences toward a masking strategy for boar-tainted frankfurter sausages

The potential banning of surgical pig castration in the EU is to be announced by 1 January 2018, which may change stakeholder and consumer preferences. This study analysed consumers’ expected preferences regarding smoking and applying a mixture of spices to high-level boar-taint frankfurter sausages. Consumers’ acceptance through a hedonic evaluation of the masking strategy and its impact on expected preferences were analysed. We carried out two non-hypothetical discrete choice experiments by creating a real shopping scenario before and after a sensory experience test for a sample of 150 consumers from the metropolitan area of Madrid, Spain. The data used in this analysis were obtained from self-completed structured questionnaires following a quota sampling approach. The recently developed generalized multinomial logit model (GMNL) was used for analysis. The results showed the appropriateness of the proposed masking strategy of boar meat for the processed meat industry in Spain. Consumers stated their willingness to pay a premium for this flavour. The sensory experience had an impact on the mean preference and the scale heterogeneity. The degree of randomness and consumer uncertainty decreased significantly after the eating experience of the product.