Social networking services (SNS) have become one of the most popular Internet services globally. Yet, there is also a dark side to SNS use that threatens users’ well-being. Recently, the constant growth in SNS users is diminishing and users are deciding to discontinue using SNS. Thus, research has started to explore the reasons behind discontinuance behavior from a technostress perspective. Nonetheless, there is a call for research and mechanisms explaining why some individuals continue their SNS use (compared to individuals who discontinue) in similar perceived technostress situations – especially regarding individual personality traits. As such, users’ resilience (one’s ability to bounce back and positively adapt) has been chosen as a promising area for our longitudinal research project. Through an initial two-wave study of 403 SNS users in two European countries, the preliminary results show mitigating effects of users’ resilience in SNS-induced stress processes. An outlook on the upcoming waves is provided.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how subjective knowledge about fair trade products and the perceived trustworthiness of information about fair trade goods influence purchase intention and reported purchase behaviour across two product categories, namely, fashion and food. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from an online survey with a sample of 1,616 consumers in four European countries, namely, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK. Findings The results show that subjective knowledge moderates the positive relationship between intentions to purchase and reported purchase behaviour of fair trade products, however, the moderating role of perceived information trustworthiness was not significant. Furthermore, both the intention to purchase and reported purchase behaviour are significantly lower for fair trade fashion products than for fair trade food products. Practical implications This paper shows how fair trade consumption behaviour is mainly influenced by subjective knowledge about fair trade products. It reveals existing differences in both the buying intentions and reported purchase behaviour in different European markets. Originality/value This research broadens the understanding of consumers’ fair trade consumption behaviour across two different product categories and four different countries, with a focus on the interaction effect of consumers’ subjective knowledge and information trustworthiness.

Over the last decades of research, behavioral economics as well as consumer psychologists have yielded several fundamental findings relevant for marketing research and practice. While most of these findings were fruitful for many fields of economics, management, and marketing research, this holds true particularly for the field of behavioral pricing. Within this field, price knowledge became one of the most important themes. However, most of the research neglects the view that price knowledge should not depend solely on product-related or psychological factors, but should also take neurobiological factors into account. This neglect is astonishing, given the common understanding that price knowledge is stored in the memory system of the consumer’s brain. Recognizing that this memory system is affected by individual lifestyle components, this study addresses the effect of individual lifestyle components on price knowledge. Empirical evidence from psychological, neuroscientific, and neuroepidemiological studies served as a basis for hypothesis generation. Accordingly, we hypothesize, that lifestyle components (such as nutritional habits, smoking, etc.) have a similar effect on price knowledge as they have on other cognitive functions. The impact of healthier behavior on one of the proposed components should result in better memory performance and, hence, in better price knowledge. In this study, neuroscientific understandings of memory form the unifying groundwork for every hypothesis. Notably, because the memory process regarding prices relies on the same cellular mechanism as that of all other forms of memory, evidence regarding effect of different lifestyle components on “general” memory found in medical literature can also be effectively applied to price knowledge. To determine the influence of lifestyle components on consumer price knowledge, we used an experimental approach. We assumed that price knowledge is associated with a specific form of information processing, and hypothesized that this processing is reflected by the consumer’s ability to perform price-recall tasks. To accomplish this, we combined a memory performance test developed in neuropsychological literature with the consumer research concept of price recall. Participants had to complete two computer-based learning and testing sequences. The first sequence lasted about 45 minutes, and the second sequence repeated the learning and testing tasks for approximately 10 minutes. Additionally, a lifestyle questionnaire containing reviewed medical and socio-economic dimensions of the complex lifestyle construct was administered during a 30-minute break between the two sequences. On the basis of second-sequence behavioral test results, we computed a recall indicator regarding product-price memory performance of participants. The first step of statistical analysis used principal component analysis (PCA) to explore the dimensions of the lifestyle construct. In the second step, multiple linear regressions were used to reveal the influences of lifestyle components on the recall memory performance measure of study participants. The empirical part of the study led to an interesting outcome: Price knowledge (price recall) of consumers is significantly influenced by lifestyle components. Participants, who report their health as being better, eat and drink healthier, engage in sports more frequently, have a more balanced stress level, do not smoke and are faced with mental challenges more often, have a significantly better price knowledge. As in previous studies of price knowledge and free recall tasks, age has a moderating influence on the results. Taking into account that lifestyle components are often neglected in studies of price knowledge, future studies in marketing and consumer research should control for these variables and/or use them as moderating variables. We assume that this might help consumer researchers to better understand the concept of price knowledge and the processes of price-memorization. From a theoretical perspective, one primary contribution of our study is that we can indicate that there is a need to analyze price knowledge with respect to the price-related memory systems in the brain. While this could be a complex undertaking, this study shows that it is nevertheless useful to integrate findings from memory investigation in (neuro)psychology into marketing research. From a managerial perspective, we recommend practitioners to build more differentiated price strategies, taking into account that different consumer groups depending on their lifestyle and age might have different reference points when shopping through the hallways.

Despite their generally increasing use, the adoption of mobile shopping applications often differs across purchase contexts. In order to advance our understanding of smartphone-based mobile shopping acceptance, this study integrates and extends existing approaches from technology acceptance literature by examining two previously underexplored aspects. First, the study examines the impact of different mobile and personal benefits (instant connectivity, contextual value, and hedonic motivation), customer characteristics (habit), and risk facets (financial, performance, and security risk) as antecedents of mobile shopping acceptance. Second, it is assumed that several acceptance drivers differ in relevance subject to the perception of three mobile shopping characteristics (location sensitivity, time criticality, and extent of control), while other drivers are assumed to matter independent of the context. Based on a dataset of 410 smartphone shoppers, empirical results demonstrate that several acceptance predictors are associated with ease of use and usefulness, which in turn affect intentional and behavioral outcomes. Furthermore, the extent to which risks and benefits impact ease of use and usefulness is influenced by the three contextual characteristics. From a managerial perspective, results show which factors to consider in the development of mobile shopping applications and in which different application contexts they matter.

Perceived brand innovativeness, the consumers' subjective assessment of a brand as innovative, often does not correspond to the level of innovation or the investment in research and development. Therefore, it is important for companies to know how objective product-level innovation and attributes can be transformed into perceived brand innovativeness. One pilot study and three main studies show that the perceived flagship product innovativeness is an important determinant of perceived brand innovativeness and that product-brand typicality moderates the spillover of the perceived flagship product innovativeness to the brand. The reported studies contribute to a better understanding of the role of flagship products for perceived brand innovativeness and indicate that marketing managers can use the presentation of a flagship product as a key element for increasing perceived brand innovativeness.

Worldwide, more than 1/3 of all e-commerce transactions in business-to-consumer industries are nowadays executed via mobile devices (Criteo, 2015). Despite its increasing importance, it can be noted that mobile commerce does not seem to “take-off” equally across diverse goods and services contexts. We observe, for instance, that mobile commerce is quite common in service industries for purchasing tickets (e.g., for flights, public transportation, and sport events), while it is less common for services such as financial products. Balasubramanian et al. (2002) addressed this issue and proposed that contexts of m-commerce differ from each other with regard to several characteristics. For example, they propose that location sensitivity (among other characteristics) differs for various m-commerce applications, and that this characteristic may impact acceptance of m-commerce across industries. It may be that acceptance of m-commerce is higher in some industries since use of location sensitive data is appreciated by customers, while it is not valued in other purchasing contexts. Against this background, we propose that examining (1) risk perception related to mobile commerce and (2) different types of mobile commerce applications are essential for gaining a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of differing relevance of m-commerce across industries. In particular, our study acknowledges the differential roles of the financial, performance, and security facets of risk. In addition, we assume that the role of value and risk dimensions differs subject to three mobile commerce application characteristics which are location sensitivity, time criticality, and extent of control. Based on a dataset of 800 respondents, results of our models demonstrate that especially security risk can act as a critical inhibitor of acceptance. The extent to which performance risk and financial risk impact perceived usefulness was found to be moderated by the three contextual characteristics. From a managerial perspective, results show which factors should deliberately be considered in the development of m-commerce applications, and in which different application contexts they matter.

Purpose – Due to the rising number of product, service, and shopping possibilities available to consumers, food shopping has become increasingly more complex. As a result, consumers can become confused, and this state of confusion may influence their purchase behaviour (e.g. may cause them to not buy a product) and the personal needs they have in a shopping environment (e.g. certification to signal product quality, salesperson consultation for assistance in decision making, or governmental regulation). However, trust can reduce complexity, and may thereby moderate the influence of consumer confusion for negative outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to identify outcomes of consumer confusion and to investigate the moderating role of broader-scope trust on the negative outcomes of this confusion. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model was developed to study potential negative outcomes of consumer confusion. In order to assess consumer confusion and the degree of negative outcomes, a telephone survey method for the questionnaire was applied, querying 516 participants who regularly bought food products. Findings – The results clearly suggest that consumer confusion evokes various negative outcomes that are of relevance for food retailing. The intensity of the influence of consumer confusion on several of those negative outcomes could be decreased by broader-scope trust. Further, an interaction effect linked to gender was observed. Originality/value – To the best of the knowledge, this is the first international journal publication on the moderating role of trust on the outcomes of consumer confusion.

Price fairness research has not yet developed a comprehensive explanation of what drives customers’ perception of price fairness. Here, we show that customers perceive product prices as having greater fairness after glucose intake, thus identifying a biological driver of customer price fairness perception. We also show that there is no linear effect of glucose consumption on customers’ price fairness perception, and that glucose intake does not lead to significant differences in the mood states of participants. Our results demonstrate how the integration of neuroscience concepts and theories can provide deeper insights on automatic and unconscious processes, hence making it possible for marketing and consumer researchers to better understand customers’ price fairness perceptions.

PurposeThe rising number of food safety scandals during recent years has led to increased uncertainty about food consumption choices. Additionally, new production process technologies, increased attention toward product ingredients, and obesity concerns have affected general levels of trust in food. Consequently, trust is an ever more decisive factor for success in food industry buyer‐seller relationships and, hence, in the retail food market. Although considerable research has investigated trust in organizations, research in the food retailing industry needs further investigation. The aim of this paper is to identify variables related to consumer trust in food retailers. Only when consumer trust in food retailers is understood can retailers effectively apply corresponding strategies to secure long‐term success.Design/methodology/approachBased on an established model of trust in organizations, the authors developed a questionnaire to test drivers (ability, benevolence, integrity), outcomes (risk taking, loyalty) of specific trust in food retailers, as well as moderators (propensity to trust, perceived risk).FindingsStudy results support the hypothesized model, showing that specific trust in a food retailer strongly predicts risk taking and, in turn, loyalty. The food retailer's ability and integrity were identified as relevant to specific trust, while the customer's propensity to trust was shown to moderate the relationship between benevolence and specific trust. The results further indicate that the perceived risk affects the relationship between specific trust and risk taking.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to apply and test an established model of trust in the food‐retailing market.

Pricing research has traditionally analyzed e.g. consumers judgments of price fairness in terms of consumers' relationship to retailers. This investigation is one of the first that explores the biological correlates of raised insulin levels on buying decision behavior in a price fairness task in order to provide new findings for marketing researchers. The analysis of our data revealed that the perceived price fairness and willingness to pay changed after glucose manipulation. The estimated effects could confirm our assumption that glucose stimulates the monoamine serotonin which finally results in neural activation and in different consumer behavior.

Price knowledge as a psychological construct has been one of the top behavioural pricing themes in the last four decades. Because the price of a product has a major influence on the buying decision, it is natural to focus on this issue. However, the broad range of aims of these studies, and the range of measurement methods for the construct, have produced differences in findings. Accordingly, in order to enable the practice to use at least some findings on price knowledge for marketing purposes, there is a need for more methodological research. In response to this need, our study aimed to prove the validity of the scales that are frequently used to measure price knowledge. We organised two studies employing two times two within the subjects’ factorial design. One factor addresses the method for measuring price knowledge (that is, self-assessment versus percentage absolute deviation (PAD)), and the other factor addresses the retail branch of our study (food versus clothes). In the food sample, we found two significant correlations between self-assessment and PAD. In the clothing sample, we found no such correlations. We conclude that care has to be taken when self-assessment scales are used to measure price knowledge.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Helmut Schneider ist Inhaber des SVI-Stiftungslehrstuhls für Marketing und Dialogmarketing, School of Management and Innovation, Steinbeis-Hochschule Berlin, Gürtelstraße 29A/30, 10247 Berlin, Tel.: +49 (0)30 29 33 09251, Fax: +49 (0)30 29 33 09235, E-Mail: h.schneider@ steinbeis-smi.de. Prof. Dr. Peter Kenning ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Marketing, Zeppelin Universität, Am Seemooser Horn 20, 88045 Friedrichshafen, Tel.: +49 (0)7541 6009-1271, Fax: +49 (0)7541 6009-1299, E-Mail: peter.kenning@zeppelin-university.de. Dr. Vivian Hartleb ist Research Fellow an der School of Marketing der Curtin Business School an der Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australien, und war wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Lehrstuhl für Distribution und Handel, Marketing Centrum Münster, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, GPO BOX U1987, Perth WA 6845, Tel.: +61 (0)8 9266-3744, Fax: +61 (0)8 9266-3937, E-Mail: v.hartleb@curtin.edu.an. Dipl.-Kfm. Tim Eberhardt ist Doktorand am Lehrstuhl für Marketing, Zeppelin Universität, Am Seemooser Horn 20, 88045 Friedrichshafen, Tel.: +49 (0)7541 6009-1273, Fax: +49 (0)7541 6009-1299, E-Mail: tim.eberhardt@zeppelin-university.de. Implizites Preiswissen von Konsumenten – wirklich genauer als ihr explizites Preiswissen?