The authors examined student responses to faculty traits. Earlier findings revealing a preference for male instructors were obtained before female faculty and students were prevalent on college campuses and may have reflected a male demographic similarity effect. It was hypothesized that students would more favorably evaluate faculty who were similar in gender and in relative age (as reflected in faculty rank). As anticipated, female students evaluated female lower ranked faculty most favorably, and male higher ranked faculty least favorably. However, male students showed mixed effects. Although their evaluations were more favorable for lower ranked male faculty, they unexpectedly did not degrade higher ranked female faculty. Discussion focuses on gender-related causal factors and implications.

Purpose This study aims to explore Indian online shopping via the concept of shopping orientations. Design/methodology/approach Surveys were collected from 536 consumer panel members. Online shopping segments were identified by using a two‐step process that clustered respondents in terms of the similarity of their scores across four shopping orientations. Findings Three segments were identified: value singularity, quality at any price, and reputation/recreation. The quality at any price and reputation/recreation segments were the predominant online shoppers. Although their orientations toward shopping differed, their behaviour, web site attribute ratings, and demographics were very similar except for occupation (managerial versus clerical, respectively). The finding that the value singularity segment is not the pioneer online shopper in India contrasts with the early online shoppers in the USA, who were often motivated by price. Research limitations/implications This is the first empirical study to use shopping orientation research in the Indian marketplace. It is also among the first to link shopping orientations with a wide complement of correlates. Research should continue to track the development of this emerging market. Practical implications Besides revealing that the orientations of Indian consumers are not price‐based, the relatively unfractionated factor analysis solutions for shopping orientations and web site dimensionality suggest that, in the emerging Indian economy, consumer conceptualizations of shopping have not yet undergone full elaboration. Thus, this cross‐sectional study could be extended with longitudinal research to reveal how Indian consumers' perceptions of the marketplace change with market development and growing consumer sophistication. Originality/value Although online shopping in India is on the verge of rapid growth, relatively little is known about most aspects of Indian consumer behaviour. This study begins to build a foundation of knowledge of Indian online shopping.

This study expands the traditional TAM by considering direct and mediating effects of users’ psychological factors on the adoption of e-service innovations. Specifically, this study proposes the influential paths from innovation design characteristics to innovation adoption through user perceptions in order to better understand how to design an acceptable innovation and identify the targeted consumer segments. This study developed experiments to test the results of various designs for a simulated new e-learning website. The results of the investigation indicate significant direct and mediating effects of user psychological factors on the innovation adoption. In other words, for predicting e-service adoption, the expanded model is more effective than the traditional TAM. The conclusions support the expanded framework with two pathways - one innovation characteristic-based and the other user perception-based - connecting to the acceptance of new technologies. The results also help partially explain the divergent and even conflicting effects of innovation characteristics of past research in TAM.

This study uses consumer logistics theory as a framework to identify factors that may critically affect usage of high-speed rail for intercity business travel. The study is based on data gathered from 398 air travelers who were traveling for business purposes. LISREL is used to develop a measurement model that includes four consumer logistics functions: safety, connections, on-board amenities, and information. The final structural model shows 1) two of these functions, safety and connections, both positively related to travel effectiveness and efficiency and 2) effectiveness and efficiency both positively related to high-speed rail service usage intention. The model also shows that it is efficiency of high-speed rail rather than effectiveness that is most strongly related to usage intentions.

Although Japanese Internet retailing is on the verge of rapid growth, relatively little is currently known about Japanese nonstore shopping behavior in general and Japanese Internet shopping in particular. This study explores Japanese shopping orientations as they relate to Internet shopping by examining shopping orientation-defined segments of Japanese Internet users. Internet shopping segments of Shopping Enjoyment, Brand Browser, Price Browser, and Dislikes Shopping are identified. High-frequency Internet shoppers are found to reside in the Shopping Enjoyment segment, and upscale consumers are found to reside in the Brand Browser segment.

KENNETH C. GEHRT is an assistant professor of Marketing at the University of Maine. THOMAS N. INGRAM is a professor of Marketing and SME Chair of Sales Excellence at Memphis State University. VINCE HOWE is an assistant professor of Marketing at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. ABSTRACT The results of research that examines the relationship between demographic characteristics and nonstore patronage have not been consistent. This article explains the rationale behind a methodologic procedure that enables a reassessment of the efficacy of demographic traits as predictors of nonstore patronage. It is demonstrated that the procedure can more accurately assess the relationship between demographic traits and nonstore patronage proclivities by treating the overwhelming, concomitant impact of past nonstore patronage patterns as a covariate. The benefits of this procedure include 1) more accurate demographic profiles of current customers; 2) an alternate means of identifying new target markets; and 3) avoidance of the inbreeding effect in mailing-list development.

Catalog patronage research has frequently attempted to explain patronage proclivities by utilizing demographic predictor variables. Selection of demographic variables has been implicitly based on the premise that nonstore shoppers are convenience-oriented. A comparison of studies reveals that their findings often conflict An issue that has not been thoroughly examined is whether a multiplicity of orientations toward catalog shopping exists The existence of multiple orientations toward store shopping has been recognized for some time This article empirically assesses catalog shopping orientations. borrowing theoretical and methodological frameworks that have been used to examine store shopping orientations. Analysis reveals two primary shopping orientations that are related to catalog shopping: a convenience as well as a recreational orientation. The findings indicate that the catalog shopping orientations differ substantially and suggest that retail strategies and tactics which target individuals associated with each of the orientations must also differ. The study also demonstrates a methodology that may prove useful for future research. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc and Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc CCC 0892·0591/92/01029·11$04 00 JOURNAL OF DIRECT MARKETING VOLUME 6 NUMBER J WINTER 1992 29

Access to foreign markets is increasingly critical to the U.S. as global competition increases. Past efforts by the U.S. to penetrate the Japanese market have often focused on overcoming formal trade barriers including tariffs, quotas, and product standards. Although this form of intervention has enjoyed success, limited effort has been devoted to analyzing informal trade barriers. This study examines informal trade barriers in terms of the attitudes of Japanese distributors toward U.S. products. The study focuses on a product-market for which Japan is the leading single-country importer for the U.S.: fruit. Recent inroads into the Japanese market by other countries have eroded the position of the U.S. This erosion will continue unless U.S. exporters can develop appropriate strategies based on sound market intelligence. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 21: 53–63, 2005.

Abstract Socialization Theory guides this study's examination of factors that influence mature consumers' attitudes and behavior regarding pleasure travel. The study examines the extent to which social structural variables are related to mature travelers' interaction with socialization agents, and how social structural and developmental variables are related to their attitudes, past travel behavior, and future travel intentions. Data (n = 182) were collected via mailed questionnaires. A series of multiple regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. The findings reveal that socialization theory serves well in explaining attitude, behavior, and intentions regarding pleasure travel. Socialization agents, social structural variables, and attitudinal components are identified and their relationships with past travel behavior and future travel intentions are assessed.

Most research related to consumer choice of retailers emphasizes retailer attributes and/or consumer characteristics. Since many retail formats, including online retailing, have emerged in recent years, knowledge of how consumers select retail formats must be updated. A source of influence that has been examined to a very limited extent for store retailers but not for emerging retail formats is situational influence. From a modern interactionism perspective, this study investigates the influence of situational as well as consumer and retailer factors on preference for online, catalog, and store formats. Key results show that situational factors have significant influence on online and catalog format selection and perceptions of attributes that are crucial to that selection.