From its inception, business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce has represented a vehicle for distributing goods and services where numerous forces determined the development of a new market structure. The forces include sets of supplier-related, product-related, and consumer-related factors that have shaped the market development of B2C e-commerce. In this examination of the early days of B2C e-commerce market development, it was found that low value of demonstration, high frequency of returns, high frequency of gift purchase, low purchase frequency, high sensory barrier, low immediate gratification, high value of large selection, and low shopping enjoyment product characteristics were successful in predicting online product category growth. In select data, car rentals, airline tickets, hotel reservations, books, videos, and music captured significant online market share in these early online markets. Many of these categories possess the characteristics that predicted the development of the early B2C markets. The analysis suggests that during the development of e-commerce markets, sets of e-commerce-related factors successfully predicted online product category success.

The importance of fear and maladaptive health behavior responses within the ordered protection motivation threat persuasion framework is investigated. By observing the initial creation of maladaptive responses, the results indicate that without adaptive coping response information, high threat information and fear cause avoidance and other maladaptive responses. These influences, in turn, reduce intentions to adopt the recommended adaptive protection behavior. When adaptive coping response information is provided after a threatening fear appeal, maladaptive responses' negative effects are reduced, and adaptive protection behavior intentions are increased. The results of this study have important implications for health and social marketing campaigns (e.g., prevention of AIDS, drug abuse), where maladaptive responses may be responsible for a significant number of program failures.

Abstract: Despite the public attention on the threat to sales and use tax revenues from electronic commerce, details on the current impact are limited. In this paper, the state and local sales tax bases in Florida are examined for an e-commerce effect. The data indicate strong revenue growth across much of the state and some anecdotal evidence that high-profile sales categories, with strong competition from e-commerce firms, are not matching the growth in the overall base. More systematic analysis, using four criteria for a local market decline to e-commerce, however, does not indicate a clear revenue growth disruption that can be associated with the new transactions. A more fundamental problem is the uncertainty in determining the tax revenue growth path without electronic commerce and the obscurity of this path will probably impede discussions on sales and use tax policy.

Multivariate vector autoregression analyses were undertaken to investigate whether or not aggregate consumer attitude and expectation measures such as the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment and Consumer Expectations and the Conference Board Index of Consumer Confidence and Consumer Expectations possessed a priori information not contained in certain economic variables which might be useful in anticipating changes in future aggregate consumer expenditures. The multivariate vector autoregression analyses indicated that the aggregate consumer expectation measures led the aggregate consumer expenditure measures more often than did the economic indicators. Thus, the aggregate consumer expectation measures appeared to provide predictive power not possessed by the economic indicators in the analyses.PsycINFO classification: SC 11470; SC 18460; SC 15915

Over 20,000 Americans under 25 years old are infected with HIV every year. In 1994, AIDS was the number one killer of adults between the ages of 25 and 44 years old. Education concerning HIV is critical to the prevention of AIDS. Both the public and private sectors, including government agencies, cause-related organizations, medical professionals, and promotion specialists must determine the best information sources to educate young people. However, with many television shows that appeal to young adults condoning casual sex, it is increasingly difficult to generate motivation to act responsibly. This paper examines the effectiveness of information sources, sponsored by both the government and private organizations, about HIV. Given the impact of media publicity regarding the AIDS virus and the "hard-hitting" messages and public service announcements about AIDS, implications about ethical issues, public policy issues, and media strategies to educate the public about AIDS are discussed. While publicity and specific types of television programming were found to be the most believable and most often used information sources for health issues, there are many strategic implications concerning promotion strategies, targeting, and positioning for both the public and private sectors.

AIDS is a serious problem and college students are particularly at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. The National Commission on AIDS, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the Surgeon General have placed a priority on adolescents as an important target for HIV/AIDS Communications (Frankenberger and Sukhdial 1994). However, mass media attempts have largely used an undifferentiated approach to communicating the AIDS message. These attempts have also been ineffective in changing behavior. A survey of male and female college students found gender differences in AIDS knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Fundamental gender differences uncovered in AIDS related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior suggest that communications tailored to the specific needs of male and female college students would be more effective. The implications of these findings for marketing the AIDS message to college students are discussed.

The University of Michigan Survey Research Center's indexes of consumer sentiment and expectations and the Conference Board's index of consumer confidence and expectations are analyzed using time-series methods. The indexes were examined for a priori information content about a number of important variables associated with forecasting product demand and aggregate buyer behavior patterns. The empirical findings suggest that the indexes are useful in predicting future values of aggregate consumer spending and business and economic activity. The Michigan measure appears to outperform the Conference Board measure when predicting durable good purchases, whereas the reverse is true for general economic activity. Both measures are useful for predicting business activity.

Two types of knowledge were incorporated into the ordered protection motivation (OPM) model of threat and coping appraisal. Experiential AIDS prevention knowledge was observed to directly increase maladaptive or unsafe sex behaviors. General AIDS problem knowledge was observed to indirectly increase adaptive safe sex behaviors via certain OPM model mediators. Certain OPM mediators such as self-efficacy and vulnerability were observed to directly increase adaptive safe sex behaviors. Vulnerability was shown to directly increase maladaptive sex-related behaviors.

The present study observed that older consumers indicated increased performance risk-based nonprescription drug information use expectations. These consumers were more interested in using product ingredient, side-effect, physician, and pharmacist information when making nonprescription drug decisions. Younger consumer were more interest in using pain relief, strength, brand name, price, friend, family, television ad, magazine ad, technical publication, and general news media information. Compared lo older consumers, younger consumers preferred information which was not specifically designed to reduce performance risk related to nonprescription drug decisions. Additional analyses indicated that, compared lo younger consumers, older consumers indicated lower nonprescription drug category knowledge and greater nonprescription drug use. These results, combined with the older group's preference for certain woes of performance risk-based nonprescription drug information, indicate that increased efforts to provide this type of information should be undertaken.

Marketing researchers have questioned the use of the fear appeal, believing it to be too difficult to implement properly. AIDS, drug abuse, and other social problems have caused practitioners to return to the fear appeal, but with little direction from marketing theory. The protection motivation paradigm offers a prescriptive model to improve the effectiveness of the fear appeal. The authors propose and empirically test several changes to the PM model. Results indicate that fear appeals should present certain material in a specified order and attack maladaptive behaviors.

Despite the public attention on the threat to sales and use tax revenues from electronic commerce, details on the current impact are limited. In this paper, the state and local sales tax bases in Florida are examined for an e-commerce effect. The data indicate strong revenue growth across much of the state and some anecdotal evidence that high-profile sales categories, with strong competition from e-commerce firms, are not matching the growth in the overall base. More systematic analysis, using four criteria for a local market decline to e-commerce, however, does not indicate a clear revenue growth disruption that can be associated with the new transactions. A more fundamental problem is the uncertainty in determining the tax revenue growth path without electronic commerce and the obscurity of this path will probably impede discussions on sales and use tax policy.