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Given that the central objective of consumption in many contexts is to derive enjoyment or utility, it is reasonable to assume that how much people consume a product will primarily be driven by how much they like it. Yet, the current research finds that, although consumers indeed predict that they will consume a greater amount of options they like more, their actual consumption can be surprisingly insensitive to their preferences. Across six experiments, we find that consumers systematically overestimate the extent to which their consumption amount is determined by their preferences. We propose that how much people actually consume is determined by a variety of factors, including transient motivational states (e.g. hunger or boredom), consumption opportunities, and habits. Compared to these factors, however, people's liking of a product tends to be more salient, better known, and perceived as a more normatively appropriate driver of consumption—leading consumers to focus overly on their preferences when predicting their consumption. We further propose that this prediction error has important implications for consumer welfare, as it can lead to suboptimal inventory decisions (e.g. over-purchasing of favorite products) as well as ineffective self-control strategies (e.g. restricting oneself to mediocre options in order to reduce consumption). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surge in e-commerce has significantly altered consumer shopping habits, shifting towards online purchases. This change renders the traditional single-channel supply chain insufficient, often resulting in lost profits. Consequently, many businesses now incorporate an online channel alongside their physical stores. This shift has led to the adoption of dual-channel supply chains by manufacturers, aiming to attract a broader customer base and expand market share. Leasing options are becoming increasingly popular, offering a novel method for consumers to acquire products. However, studies on dual-channel supply chains that include leasing options are scarce and typically focus on single-period pricing. This paper explores a realistic, centralised dual-channel supply chain model that encompasses manufacturing, remanufacturing, refurbishing, distribution, and storage, along with selling, leasing, and repair services. A mathematical model is developed for a multi-period environment. This model simultaneously optimises manufacturing, remanufacturing, distribution strategies, storage costs, service offerings, and pricing for both sold and leased products, considering repair services for defective items. The paper presents numerous numerical analyses to demonstrate how integrating leasing services impacts the supply chain's profitability, the effect of customer preferences on pricing strategies, and how the cost of collecting used products influences remanufacturing decisions over a set time frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to the traditional channel, where a retailer bears the inventory risk, the drop-shipping channel operates with a distinct approach: the retailer avoids stocking products while the manufacturer directly handles stocking and shipping to consumers. Due to the different inventory risk allocations, the two channels have different product qualities and profits for the manufacturer and retailer. In this study, we investigate product quality decision of the manufacturer and delve into the impact of product quality on the manufacturer's and retailer's profitability. First, we find that product quality can be weakly higher in the drop-shipping channel than that in the traditional channel. This is because the drop-shipping channel allows the manufacturer who undertakes demand uncertainty to charge a higher wholesale price, resulting in a higher product quality. Second, our study reveals that the traditional channel can concurrently yield higher profits for the manufacturer and retailer when product quality is considered, which is in contrast to the previous works. Third, in the traditional channel, as demand uncertainty rises, the retailer's production quantity increases, while the manufacturer's product quality decreases. Finally, our results indicate that the product quality is more sensitive to the shipping cost when demand uncertainty is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the Journal of International Marketing, titled "Brands and Branding around the World." It discusses the challenges and opportunities that brands and their managers face in the global market due to various trends and disruptions, such as the climate crisis, the pandemic, and deglobalization. The competitive landscape is also changing, with emerging market firms becoming formidable competitors with their own brands. Consumer attitudes toward brands are evolving, with expectations for brands to act responsibly. The editorial introduces a special issue of the journal that focuses on brands and branding in a global context, featuring six articles that explore different branding topics and perspectives. The articles cover areas such as pricing strategies, brand sponsorship, terroir branding, consumer reactions to product-harm crises, and consumer preferences for masstige brands. The editorial concludes by highlighting the need for further research in areas such as glocal branding, brand purpose and activism, and the use of AI in brand management. [Extracted from the article]

In the manufacturing industry, timely order fulfilment from diverse customers is important for operational profitability, given the constraints of limited production capacity. This paper proposes a novel queueing system for a production system, in which order processing times are categorised as regular or rush based on customer preference. The proposed queueing system employs variable service rates and service strategies in conjunction with staggered production to deal with heterogeneous arrivals. We compute the steady-state probability distribution and develop system performance indicators. The lower and upper bounds of the expected sojourn time for rush and regular orders are derived. Numerical results show that an appropriate switching policy can reduce rush orders by approximately 35% while regular orders increase by less than 10%, demonstrating significant improvement in order fulfilment management. We formulate a multi-objective optimisation problem and implement the NSGA-II algorithm to obtain Pareto optimal solutions. Finally, three regression models are proposed to determine the minimum cost and the associated optimal service rates, given the maximum acceptable value of the expected number of rush orders. The established models can explain at least 80% of the dataset of the optimal solutions and thus our numerical findings provide useful guidance for decision-makers and production managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As customers increasingly rely on online reviews for making consumption decisions, the dangers arising from misinformation and fakery have become an acute source of concern for consumers, firms, and society at large. Many online review platforms claim a role as guardians of trust in the information exchange process. Yet, little is known about the practices firms can utilize to design platforms that build and safeguard consumer trust. The authors draw on governance and identity disclosure literature streams to propose five practices that mitigate fakery and build trust in the platform: monitoring, exposure, community building, status endowment, and identity disclosure. Five studies (1) establish the individual and joint effects these practices have on platform trust, (2) identify the mediating processes by which the practices build trust, (3) verify the ecological value of the conceptual framework, (4) provide support of the salience of the practices, and (5) show how the practices build trust above and beyond review content–level characteristics. Interaction effects suggest that exposure, community building, and status endowment obviate the need for identity disclosure in building platform trust, a finding that mitigates related privacy concerns. Collectively, the findings can improve platform design, enabling review platforms to fulfill their promise of mitigating fakery and increasing trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How should consumers sequence the different stimuli they consume: cluster each stimulus together, or intermix them to break things up? Surprisingly, prior literature has provided little insight into this question, even though consumers face it on a regular basis. We propose that clustering each stimulus type together can prolong enjoyment (vs. intermixing the types). Six studies confirm that clustering slows hedonic decline, and process evidence shows this happens because clustering leads people to attend more to the different details offered by a stimulus during repeated exposures. We also establish two boundary conditions for this effect: clustering does not slow hedonic decline in the presence of regular intervening distractions, or for impoverished stimuli lacking rich details. The present work is among the first to examine the interplay of consumption sequence and hedonic decline, and the findings provide consumers and firms with practical guidance on how to consider sequencing experiences to enjoy them longer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research proposes a novel approach to identity-based choice that focuses on consumers' representations of the self-concept, as captured by the perceived cause–effect relationships among features of an individual consumer's self-concept. More specifically, the studies reported here test the proposal that the causal centrality of an identity—the number of other features of a consumer's self-concept that the consumer believes influenced or were influenced by the identity—underlies identity importance and is a determinant of identity-based consumer behaviors. Across seven studies, using both measured and manipulated causal centrality, the current research provides evidence for the role of causal centrality in identity-based choice. Among consumers who share an identity (belong to the same social category), those who believe that the identity is more causally central perceive the identity as more important and are more likely to engage in behaviors consistent with the norms of the social category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privacy concerns may influence many choices consumers make. However, their expressed concerns are sometimes inconsistent with their information-sharing and privacy-protecting behaviors. Many theories have been proposed to explain the paradoxical gap between privacy attitudes and behaviors. Part of the privacy paradox may be explained with two measures that have received limited consideration: impulsiveness and social desirability bias (SDB). Surveys of US adults in 2015 and 2022 included questions to measure several types of privacy concerns along with impulsive tendencies and SDB (N = 2729). Age, education, gender, race, income, and impulsive tendencies were linked with some privacy concerns. If people with above-average concerns also disclose personal information on impulse, it might explain part of the paradox. Large coefficients on the SDB measure suggest that individuals who adjust their responses to be consistent with social norms may also overstate specific privacy concerns. For these individuals, their high expressed concerns may be inconsistent with their privacy behaviors. When researchers try to explain consumer attitudes or actions that involve privacy, multiple privacy concern dimensions should be considered and demographics, impulsive tendencies, and SDB should be included in the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the optimal vehicle fleet planning and collaboration problem for a fuel vehicle (FV) transport service provider, a commercial electric vehicle (CEV) transport service provider, and a carbon emission treatment agency under carbon neutrality. The FV transport service provider pays a fixed fee or a portion of its sales revenue to a carbon emission treatment agency in exchange for technology to reduce its carbon emissions, and it can adopt three strategies (i.e., no emission reduction, purchasing technology for emission reduction, and entrusting a carbon emission treatment agency). We derive each party's optimal fleet size, price, and profit in the three scenarios. Our results suggest that carbon emission reduction strategies may improve the market performance of the FV transport service provider. Then, we find no certain strategy is always preferable to another: the optimal cooperation strategy between the transport service provider and carbon emission treatment agency depends on the fixed technology fee, ratio of revenue sharing, government penalty, the transport service market potential, and consumer green preference, as well as the cost per CEV. This paper gives the transport service provider and carbon emission treatment agency a full picture of whether, when, and how to collaborate in green commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 50 years, consumer researchers have presented extensive evidence that consumer preference can be swayed by the decision context, particularly the configuration of the choice set. Importantly, behavioral research on context effects has inspired prominent quantitative research on multialternative decision-making published in leading psychology, management, economics, and general interest journals. While both streams of research seem to agree that context effects are an important research area, there has been relatively limited interaction, communication, and collaboration between the two research camps. In this article, we seek to initiate an active dialogue between the two sides. We begin by providing a critical overview of the two literatures on context effects, discussing both their strengths and weaknesses, as well as disparities and complementarities. Here, we place particular emphasis on deepening consumer researchers' understanding of context effects by drawing on prominent quantitative research published in non-marketing journals over the last decades. Importantly, we provide a roadmap for the future that can inspire further research and potential collaborations between the two camps, overcoming silos in knowledge creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertisements that incorporate temperature-related cues are common in the marketplace. However, when and for whom marketers should use these temperature-based appeals in their ads is still unclear. To fill this research gap, we examine the effect of consumers' feelings of power on preferences for cold versus warm advertisements. Through the lens of embodied cognition, we find that consumers who feel powerful have a stronger preference for ads that incorporate cold imagery. We argue that the positive relationship between feelings of power and preference for cold ads is mediated by a consumer's motivation to maintain social distance and processing fluency. Further, this effect is attenuated for those with low independent self-construal. Our findings introduce a new perspective to help managers understand how the use of cold ads can be attractive to target consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has been conducted to understand the impact of sexual appeals in advertising on consumer attitudes and behaviors. Yet, romantic advertising, advertising that focuses on romantic relationships, has received less scholarly attention. To counter this imbalance, the present research investigates the influence of attachment anxiety, an individual difference variable, on consumer reactions to advertising featuring romantic relationships. As hypothesized, our findings suggest that consumers high in attachment anxiety respond more favorably to advertising that highlights romantic relationships. This effect is consistent across trait- and state-level attachment anxiety and consistent across product type (i.e., goods vs. services). Specifically, the results of four experiments demonstrate that compared to securely attached consumers, those who chronically experience high attachment anxiety (experiments 1A and 1B) as well as those who are primed to experience attachment anxiety (experiment 2) respond more favorably to advertisements that focus on the potential romantic rewards associated with an advertised product's use. Consistent results were obtained using a different advertisement for an experience versus a material good (experiment 3). Implications of the findings for advertisers, marketers, brand managers, and scholars are discussed, and several opportunities for future research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a special issue of the International Journal of Production Research focused on service-oriented manufacturing supply chain management in the context of Industry 4.0. Service-oriented manufacturing (SOM) is an emerging paradigm where manufacturers transform their products into platforms using Industry 4.0 technologies, allowing for communication between customers and manufacturers. This shift enhances the flow of information through the supply chain and creates new operational challenges. The special issue includes 16 articles covering various sub-areas such as mechanism design, supply chain contracts, behavioural modelling, emerging business models, optimisation techniques, product design, and smart manufacturing. The papers provide insights and practical applications to advance service-oriented manufacturing supply chain management in the Industry 4.0 era. [Extracted from the article]

In real-world marketplaces, one may encounter an alternative that is inferior to another one in the assortment. While the presence of such seemingly irrelevant inferior alternatives should ostensibly have no influence on consumers' decisions, an extensive literature using stylized lab experiments has found that, surprisingly, their presence matters. Specifically, the dominance effect suggests that the presence of an inferior alternative shifts consumer's preferences toward the alternative made to be superior. However, null results in some recent lab studies and a lack of real-world evidence call into question whether, when, and how the effect exists. In this work, we find clear evidence that dominance matters in the wild. We also identify an important moderator for the dominance effect—preference uncertainty—and test it in both a real-world marketplace for digital freelance services and a lab experiment. Further, we find evidence for additional moderators that help explain how the effect works, including the count of dominated alternatives and the magnitude of dominance, consistent with a perceptual mechanism. This work is the first to use consequential field data to shed light on when and why the dominance effects occur, with implications for marketers, choice architects, user interface designers, and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of stadium locations on attendance in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). We develop a match-level attendance model incorporating control variables such as market factors and consumer preferences to assess attendance for NWSL games. Our results indicate that attendance drops the further an NWSL stadium is from the city center. Specifically, the coefficients suggest an inverse relationship between attendance at NWSL matches and the distance to the city center, indicating that for every mile further an NWSL team was from the city center, attendance declined by about 6.6%. Our findings show that some of the perceived differences in demand for women's soccer may be due to infrastructural inequalities such as stadium locations. Therefore, one way to boost demand and attendance in professional women's sport, specifically soccer, is to move away from suburban stadiums and toward downtown locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whole life insurance is structured to guarantee policy premiums, cash values, and death benefits from the time of purchase until the time to file a death claim. For more than 200 years, whole life was not only the product of choice to assure lifetime bene- fits, it was essentially the only choice. This tradition was upended with the introduction in 1978 of universal life (UL). UL was the first product to break from up-front guarantees with an orientation depending on largely nonguaranteed elements. "Premiums" haven't been the same since. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are reviews with photos more helpful? If so, do consumers find reviews more helpful when photos and text convey similar or different information? This article examines the effect of content similarity between photos and text on review helpfulness and its underlying mechanism. Using a data set of 7.4 million reviews associated with 3.5 million photos from Yelp, and applying machine learning algorithms, the authors quantify the similarity of the content between text and photos. They find that, overall, photos increase the helpfulness of a review. More importantly, though, greater similarity between photos and text heightens review helpfulness more. The authors then validate algorithm-based similarity assessments with similarity perceptions of human judges. Using real-world reviews from Yelp and carefully designed stimuli, they replicate the core findings in five laboratory experiments. Further, testing the underlying mechanism, they find that greater similarity facilitates the ease with which consumers can process the review, which, in turn, increases that review's helpfulness to consumers. Finally, they show that factors that impede the ease of processing (e.g., language difficulty or poor image quality) can reduce the effect of similarity on helpfulness. These findings provide novel insights into the value of user-generated content that includes text and photos and its underlying mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of controlled studies found that consumers counter-normatively prefer something nearly complete over something complete. We call this phenomenon the "one-away effect" because we find that when consumers are, for example, one stamp away from completing a punch card loyalty program, they value the card more than a completed card. This is because their valuation of the one-away card is influenced by their anticipation of merely completing the card, which generates its own utility, apart from the card's end-reward (a free coffee). To wit, the prospective utility of performing the final action that fulfills completion increases consumers' valuation of the one-away card. Our findings suggest that consumers are motivated to complete goals, tasks, and sets not only to obtain their end-rewards, but also because merely completing things is intrinsically motivating and can be a goal in and of itself. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the one-away effect, as well as the general notion of mere completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research shows that AI-based conversational interfaces can have a profound impact on consumer–brand relationships. We develop a conceptual model of verbal embodiment in technology-mediated communication that integrates three key properties of human-to-human dialogue—(1) turn-taking (i.e. alternating contributions by the two parties), (2) turn initiation (i.e. the act of initiating the next turn in a sequence), and (3) grounding between turns (i.e. acknowledging the other party's contribution by restating or rephrasing it). These fundamental conversational properties systematically shape consumers' perception of an AI-based conversational interface, their perception of the brand that the interface represents, and their behavior in connection with that brand. Converging evidence from four studies shows that these dialogue properties enhance the perceived humanness of the interface, which in turn promotes more intimate consumer–brand relationships and more favorable behavioral brand outcomes (greater recommendation acceptance, willingness to pay a price premium, brand advocacy, and brand loyalty). Moreover, we show that these effects are reduced in contexts requiring less mutual understanding between the consumer and the brand. This research highlights how fundamental principles of human-to-human communication can be harnessed to design more intimate consumer–brand interactions in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technologies are becoming increasingly autonomous, able to complete tasks on behalf of consumers without human intervention. For example, robot vacuums clean the floor while cooking machines implement recipes on their own. These autonomous products free consumers from daily chores that they used to perform manually. The current research suggests that some consumers derive meaning from completing such manual tasks, and that this meaning of manual labor acts as a barrier to the adoption of autonomous products. A series of field and experimental studies shows that consumers who score high (vs. low) on the meaning of manual labor construct tend to evaluate autonomous products less favorably and adopt them less frequently. However, making alternative sources of meaning in life salient can serve as a remedy to increase autonomous product adoption among these consumers. One such strategy is to emphasize that the time gained through the use of autonomous products can be spent on meaningful activities, thus offsetting the detrimental effects of meaning of manual labor on autonomous product adoption. The findings suggest effective interventions for firms that offer autonomous products while stressing the need to provide meaningful experiences to consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years ago, the Federal Trade Commission stopped enforcing its fictitious reference pricing guidelines, emphasizing the search qualities of price and the belief that competition would drive out deceptive behavior. Yet this practice of posting false, inflated comparison prices alongside sale prices has proliferated. Building on prior analytic work and the documented effects of reference pricing on search behavior and consumer choice, the authors develop a descriptive model explaining why fictitious reference pricing has spread instead of being extinguished by competition. After summarizing the model with a series of generalizations, the authors consider potential regulatory solutions to the problem. They propose that disclosure of the true normal price charged may be the only solution that could plausibly influence both consumer and firm behavior. Then, based on the existing literature, interviews with practitioners and regulators, an analysis of other nations' approaches, and the results of a laboratory study of 900 consumers to examine how they integrate "true normal price" information into deal evaluations, the authors develop a set of propositions about the likely effects of requiring firms to disclose recent selling prices for goods, identifying both potential benefits and challenges associated with such a requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standard choice-based conjoint models often ignore or insufficiently approximate consumers' budget constraints, despite the prominent role of budget constraints in economic theory. The authors offer a theoretically motivated improvement to the choice-based conjoint model that is especially appropriate for high-ticket durable goods and develop a Bayesian method for the inference of unobserved budget constraints. The proposed method leverages respondents' stated budget constraints that suffer from measurement error and respondents' financial demographic variables as additional information to reduce the dependency on functional form assumptions in the estimation. The authors show that accounting for budget constraints substantially increases model fit and the accuracy of competitive pricing in an industry-grade discrete-choice experiment on consumer preferences for high-end laptops. The proposed model performs better than the canonical linear price benchmark model, which is not flexible enough to approximate budget constraints. In theory, more flexible utility specifications, such as the nonlinear dummy price model, can approximate consumers' budget constraints. However, they perform poorly when only finite data are available. The authors conclude that applied researchers in industry and academia will benefit from having a better tool for estimating budgets in high-ticket categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platform-based product development is a cost-efficient approach to satisfy wide range of customer preferences. One important problem is the product platform configuration, in which two types of platform configuration are widely used, either module selection or module integration. The platform configuration based on module selection provides a broader solution space of platform selection, while module integration facilitates product platform commonality to gain economic benefits. Up to date, most research focused on the platform configuration based on module selection with a given module set. In this paper, we propose a new model to determine the optimal platform configuration for an external product family, considering both module selection and integration. The demand for the external product family is uncertain and assumed to follow normal distribution. A hybrid methodology combining simulated annealing and variable neighbourhood search is proposed. A numerical examination is carried out for the purpose of evaluation. The results show that the proposed model can provide a practically good solution. Main contributions of this research are two folds, one is the balance point between module selection and module integration in the platform configuration and the other is that we take into account the operation cost of module acquisition to the platform configuration problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Packaging waste makes up more than 10% of the landfilled waste in the United States. While consumers often want to make environmentally friendly product choices, we find that their perceptions of the environmental friendliness of product packaging may systematically deviate from its objective environmental friendliness. Eight studies (N = 4,103) document the perceived environmental friendliness (PEF) bias whereby consumers judge plastic packaging with additional paper to be more environmentally friendly than identical plastic packaging without the paper. The PEF bias is driven by consumers' "paper = good, plastic = bad" beliefs and by proportional reasoning, wherein packaging with a greater paper-to-plastic proportion is judged as more environmentally friendly. We further show that the PEF bias impacts consumers' willingness to pay and product choice. Importantly, this bias can be mitigated by a "minimal packaging sticker" intervention, which increases the environmental friendliness perceptions of plastic-only packaging, rendering plastic-packaged products to be preferable to their plastic-plus-paper-packaged counterparts. This research contributes to the packaging literature in marketing and to research on sustainability while offering practical implications for managers and public policy officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has highlighted a difference in the way consumers approach choice sets. Some consumers focus on products' quality benefits (vertical differentiation): their selections are driven by the level of quality obtained relative to the price paid. Other consumers focus on products' taste benefits (horizontal differentiation): their selections are driven by acquiring personal tastes at favorable prices. This article aims to investigate how consumers' benefit focus, a continuum anchored by quality and taste, drives their preferences between retailers differing in pricing strategies. All else equal, consumers who focus on taste benefits will prefer EDLP stores (infrequent discounters), while consumers who focus on quality benefits will prefer Hi-Lo stores (frequent discounters). Findings from our experiments and an analysis of consumer panel data corroborate this relationship. This work also shows the mediating role of perceived value and the effect of several moderators: the strength of the price–quality relationship, the pattern of discounts, and cherry-picking costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers often set budgets with the goal to minimize their spending. Contrary to this traditional interpretation, our research suggests that budgets can take on a different psychological meaning depending on whether the budget is for a personal or gift purchase. Across 11 studies, we find that consumers aim to spend below their budgets for personal purchases (budget minimizing) but aim to spend the entirety of their budgets for gift purchases (budget maximizing). We differentiate budget maximizing from spending maximizing, showing that gift purchasers are more likely to prefer "at-budget" than "above-budget" purchases. We also show that gift purchasers have weaker savings goals than personal purchasers—a difference that mediates the effect on their budget-minimizing and -maximizing tendencies. We explore multiple reasons that could explain why savings goals are less prevalent among gift purchasers and find an upstream role for price consciousness, guilt, and perceived specialness. Finally, we find that consumers' preference for spending the entirety of their budgets on gifts was moderated by two separate factors: consumers' budget slack and salience. Our research adds to the literatures on mental budgeting, gift giving, and self-other decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether watching a movie, sports game, or musical performance, consumers often seek entertainment experiences that are produced by one or more individuals. And although consumers often witness producers acting spontaneously , little is known about the preference for spontaneity in entertainment. Six studies, including real consumer-relevant decisions and a Facebook field experiment, reveal that consumers prefer spontaneity (vs. planned behavior) across several entertainment contexts, as spontaneous producers seem more authentic than planned producers. At the same time, however, spontaneous actions are also believed to beget lower-quality outcomes, suggesting that consumers generally prefer spontaneity even despite the possibility of reduced quality. Subsequent experiments examine the characteristics of the entertainment context and the producer to provide further insight into how consumers manage the authenticity–quality tradeoff: by shaping when and why spontaneity is associated with increased authenticity and decreased quality expectations, as well as the relative importance of these dimensions, higher-stakes contexts (e.g. when consumers' outcomes are enmeshed with the producer's), negative inferences about spontaneity (e.g. laziness, lack of concern), and low-competence producers attenuate the effects. Together, this research advances knowledge about spontaneity and authenticity and has implications for those seeking to produce appealing entertainment experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purchase decisions typically involve tradeoffs between attributes associated with desirability (e.g. quality) and feasibility (e.g. price). In this article, we examine how the decision context impacts consumers' preference between a high-desirability (HD) option and a high-feasibility (HF) alternative. Nineteen studies demonstrate a novel context effect, the "upscaling effect," whereby introducing a symmetrically dominated decoy option to a set (i.e. an option that is inferior compared to all alternatives in the set) leads to an increase in the choice share of the HD option. To account for the upscaling effect, we advance a two-stage model of consumer decision-making for decisions that involve tradeoffs between desirability and feasibility. According to our model, when the decision context provides a reason for choosing either option, such as when a decoy option is added to the set, consumers prioritize reasons that support choice of HD options over HF alternatives. Our model can explain the upscaling effect, as well as other findings reported in the literature, such as asymmetric attraction effects (Heath and Chatterjee 1995) and asymmetric sales promotion effects (Blattberg and Wisniewski 1989). Furthermore, the upscaling effect holds important managerial implications because it provides an effective way to increase sales of high-end products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fierce market competition and consumers' environmental awareness prompt manufacturers to gain competitive advantages through low-carbon production. However, many firms stay away from low carbon because of financial constraints. Considering chain-to-chain competition, this paper constructs three financing strategic models. The impacts of market competition intensity and consumers' low-carbon preference on equilibrium decisions and corporate profits are analyzed. Then, comparative analysis is conducted to find the optimal financing strategy. Finally, numerical simulation is used for further analysis and robustness tests. It is indicated that under chain-to-chain competition, low-carbon production cannot improve the negative impact of increased competition intensity on corporate profits. Intense competition weakens the manufacturer's emission reduction efforts. Moreover, the manufacturer does not always benefit more from internal financing though the low-carbon level is high. When the probability of obtaining a bank loan exceeds the threshold, bank financing is superior to internal financing. An increased low-carbon investment cost coefficient will lower the threshold, which is counterintuitive. Since the preference interval for the downstream retailer to provide prepayments is larger than the interval for the low-carbon manufacturer to choose internal financing, both parties have the incentive to negotiate prepayments. Under internal financing, the wholesale price discount does not affect corporate profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating antiglobalization challenges previously undisputed assumptions about the importance of a product's globalness/localness in purchase decisions. Putting these assumptions to test, this article conceptualizes globalness/localness as a distinct product attribute and decomposes its utility into weight and preference components. Subsequently, it offers an equity-theory-based prediction of the attribute's declining relevance/trivialization and quantifies its trade-offs with other attributes by calculating global/local price premiums. Conjoint experiments in two countries (Austria and India) reveal that (1) emerging- (developed-) market consumers exhibit relative preference for global (local) products, (2) emerging-market consumers perceive higher preference inequity between global and local products than developed-market consumers, and (3) the corresponding inequity triggers consumers' cognitive inequity regulation (manifested through attribute trivialization in developed markets) and behavioral inequity regulation (manifested through asymmetrical willingness to pay for global/local products across developed/emerging markets). In addition, attribute trivialization and price premium tolerance are moderated by consumers' spatial identities and price segment. The findings contribute to the theoretical debate on the relevance of product globalness/localness in deglobalizing times and inform competitive strategies; segmentation, targeting, and positioning; and international pricing decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To mitigate climate change and air pollution, multiple US states and other countries have beensetting and adjusting goals and policies aimed at shifting sales from conventional, fossil-fuel–powered vehicles to plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), defined as plug-in hybrid and battery electric (all-electric) vehicles. For example, US policies have offered federal tax credits for the purchase of PEVs, with limits set on how many PEVs from a single manufacturer, which PEVs, and which consumers qualify. A key to developing or adjusting these policies is understanding how financial incentives affect consumers’ decisions to purchase or lease PEVs. To better understand the impact of financial incentives on PEV leasing and purchasing, researchers at the University of California, Davis, analyzed survey responses from approximately 2,800 California PEV owners. The survey asked: If the federal tax credit were not available would you: purchase or lease the same PEV, switch to a different PEV, switch to a conventional or hybrid (non-plug in) vehicle, or not acquire a vehicle at all? This policy brief discusses findings from those survey responses and provides policy implications. View the NCST Project Webpage

IntroductionCost-utility analysis (CUA)-a method to evaluate intervention cost-effectiveness-transforms benefits of alternatives into a measure of quantity and quality of life, such as quality-adjusted life year (QALY), to enable comparison across heterogeneous programs. Measurement challenges prevent directly estimating utilities and calculating QALYs for caries in primary dentition. Proxy disease QALYs are often used as a substitute; however, there lacks quantitative evidence that these proxy diseases are comparable to caries.ObjectiveTo employ a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to quantitatively determine the most comparable proxy disease for different levels of caries in primary dentition.MethodsA cross-sectional DCE survey was administered to respondents (N = 461) who resided in California, were aged ≥18 y, and were primary caretakers for ≥1 child aged 3 to 12 y. Four attributes were included: pain level, disease duration, treatment cost, and family life impacts. Mixed effects logistic regression and conditional logistic regression were used to analyze the survey data.ResultsRespondents from the overall sample preferred no pain over mild (odds ratio [OR] = 0.50, P < 0.05), moderate (OR = 0.57, P < 0.05), and severe pain (OR = 0.48, P < 0.05). Acute gastritis (OR = 0.44, P < 0.05), chronic gastritis (OR = 0.31, P < 0.01), and cold sore (OR = 0.38, P < 0.05) were less preferred than stage 1 caries. Acute tonsilitis (OR = 0.43, P < 0.05), acute gastritis (OR = 0.38, P < 0.05), chronic gastritis (OR = 0.26, P < 0.01), and cold sore (OR = 0.33, P < 0.01) were less preferred than stage 2 caries. Chronic gastritis (OR = 0.42,P < 0.05) was less preferred than stage 4 caries.ConclusionsParents viewed the characteristics of many diseases with similar QALYs differently. Findings suggest that otitis media and its QALY-as commonly used in CUAs-may be a suitable proxy disease and substitute. However, other disease states with slightly different QALYs may be suitable. As such, the recommendation is to consider a range of proxy diseases and their QALYs when conducting a CUA for child caries interventions.Knowledge transfer statementThis study reviews and systematically compares pediatric diseases that are comparable to caries in primary dentition. The findings may inform future research using cost-utility analysis to examine the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of interventions to prevent and treat caries as compared with an alternative.

Pooled trips in private vehicles, or pooling, can lead to smaller environmental impacts and more efficient use of the limited roadway capacity, especially during peak hours. However, pooling has not been well adopted in part because of difficulties in coordinating schedules among various travelers and the lack of flexibility to changes in schedules and locations. In the meantime, ridehailing (RH) provides pooled services at a discounted fare (compared to the single-travel-party option) via advanced information and communication technology. This study examines individuals’ preferences for/against pooled RH services using information collected among travelers answering a set of questions related to their last RH trip. In doing so, both trip attributes and rider characteristics are considered. Taste heterogeneity is modeled in a way that assumes the presence of unobserved groups (i.e., latent classes), each with unique preferences, in a given sample of RH riders (N=1,190) recruited in four metropolitan regions in Southern U.S. cities from June 2019 to March 2020. The researchers find two latent classes with qualitatively different preferences, choosy poolers and non-selective poolers, regarding their choice in favor of/against pooling based on wait time, travel costs, purpose, and travel party size of the last RH trip. Personal characteristics are also identified, specifically age and three attitudes (travel satisfaction, environmentalism, and travel multitasking), which account for individuals’ class membership. This research contributes to the literature by explicitly modeling taste heterogeneity towards pooled ridehailing. In addition, unlike existing studies either at the person level or employing stated-preference data, a trip-level analysis is performed in connection with revealed preferences, which generates more realistic and relevant implications to policy and practice.View the NCST Project Webpage

The success of plant-based beverages hinges not only on their inherent properties but also on an understanding of consumer behavior. Factors such as health conditions, sustainability awareness, and constant innovation drive consumer interest, while barriers like food neophobia and sensory attributes can deter consumption. To address these challenges, strategies such as nutrient complementation and customization of taste, color, and texture cater to individual preferences, expanding the appeal of plant-based beverages. Despite challenges, the plant-based beverage industry presents significant opportunities for growth, with consumer behavior playing a pivotal role in shaping this trend. This paper investigates the multifaceted factors influencing consumer behavior towards plant-based beverages, offering specific examples of motivations and barriers, drawing from a comprehensive analysis of available literature. The findings suggest that a consumer-centric approach, informed by a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior, is essential for the success of the plant-based beverage industry. By addressing consumer needs and preferences, companies can attract new customers and foster loyalty among existing ones, thereby capitalizing on the significant opportunities for growth within the plant-based beverage market. This paper highlights the implications of consumer behavior for industry stakeholders and underscores the importance of ongoing research and innovation in meeting evolving consumer demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Flavor is a crucial aspect of the eating experience, reflecting evolving consumer preferences for fruits with enhanced quality. Modern fruit breeding programs prioritize improving quality traits aligned with consumer tastes. However, defining fruit‐quality attributes that significantly impact consumer preference is a current challenge faced by the industry and breeders. This study proposes a data‐driven approach to statistically model the relationship between fruit‐quality parameters and consumers' overall liking. Our primary hypothesis suggests that the interplay between fruit‐quality attributes and consumer preferences may reach a critical value, serving as new empirical benchmarks for fruit quality. Using extensive historical datasets accounting for sensory, biochemical, and genomic information described in blueberry, we first demonstrated that multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) could be used to identify specific values of fruit‐quality traits that significantly affect consumer perception by using nonlinear spline regressions on estimating threshold points. We harnessed genomic information and carried out genomic selection (GS) for five fruit‐quality traits evaluated on the original scale and after classified via the MARS approach. This study provides a pioneering consumer‐centric and data‐driven approach to defining fruit‐quality standards and supporting molecular breeding that has broad applications to breeding programs from any species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on sociolinguistic research, highlighting how AI tools can aid in analyzing language variation, dialects, and accents, as well as streamlining data collection processes. It emphasizes the importance of addressing biases in AI models, especially in sensitive sociolinguistic areas like race and gender. The text also explores the challenges of invisible mediation, algorithmic identity, and finding disappearing multilingualism in an increasingly technologized reality. The author calls for reflection on these issues and their implications for sociolinguistic research. [Extracted from the article]

Fermented foods and beverages have been produced around the world for millennia, providing humans with a range of gastronomic, cultural, health, and scientific benefits. Building on these traditional forms, a convergence of factors, including culinary innovation, globalization, shifts in consumer preferences, and advances in microbiome sciences, has led to the emergence of so-called 'novel fermentations'. In this review, we define novel fermentation as the confluence of traditional food practices and rational microbiome design. Using principles of microbial ecology and evolution, we develop a microbiological framework that outlines several strategies for producing and characterizing novel fermentations, including switching substrates, engrafting target species, assembling whole-community chimeras, and generating novel phenotypes. A subsequent analysis of existing traditional ferments points to gaps in 'fermentation space' where novel ferments could potentially be produced using new combinations of microbes and food substrates. We highlight some important safety and sociocultural issues presented by the repurposing and modification of microbes from traditional ferments that fermented-food producers and microbiologists need to address. Fermented foods have been produced for millennia. In modern times, culinary innovation, globalization, and advances in microbiome science have led to the emergence of novel fermentations. Arrigan et al. review the ecological and evolutionary processes shaping microbial ferments and develop a framework for the generation of novel fermented products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper examines the economic implications of market segmentation on consumer purchasing behavior with a particular emphasis on intertemporal pricing strategies in dynamic markets. Methods: In order to analyze optimal discount rates and the timing for price reductions for consumer segments, including loyal and deal-prone customers, a detailed mathematical model was developed. The model incorporates theories of consumer behavior and pricing elasticity to simulate market responses to price changes throughout a product's lifecycle. Results: This research indicates that market segmentation enhances sales by targeting the distinct preferences of loyal consumers, who are less price-sensitive and who stabilize revenue streams, and deal-prone consumers, who respond to price reductions. Customizing pricing strategies for loyal consumers and deal-prone consumers increases sales volumes and optimizes profitability. Conclusions: This research improves our comprehension of market segmentation and dynamic pricing, providing a practical framework for businesses to create effective pricing strategies that can be promptly implemented. It emphasizes the significance of understanding consumer behavior and price sensitivity in the interest of revenue promotion. This study also emphasizes the social implications of equitable pricing practices, promoting the implementation of transparent and value-based strategies to promote market inclusivity and consumer trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global transition towards environmentally friendly energy sources plays a major role in addressing both energy security and climate change. Brazil is at the forefront of this transition due to its rich natural resources and increasing investments in biofuels. Therefore, this investigation examines the consumption patterns and interactions between ethanol, primarily sourced from sugarcane, and gasoline within Brazil's energy framework. Ethanol's renewability, reduced environmental impact, and superior combustion characteristics position it as a feasible substitute for traditional fossil fuels. Nonetheless, obstacles like competition for land use and inadequate distribution infrastructure impede its widespread acceptance. This study explores the economic interaction between ethanol and gasoline, focusing on pricing dynamics and regional influences. Using consumer preferences and the accessibility of ethanol, this research identifies a range of price ratios within which consumer preferences shift from gasoline to ethanol in various Brazilian regions. The study also classifies Brazilian states into three distinct ranges based on the ethanol-to-gasoline price ratio in 2023 for a granular analysis of the economic dynamics influencing fuel choice. The research identifies states with competitive and dominant ethanol markets by examining the interplay between ethanol market share, fuel prices, and the adoption of flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) in the country. Lastly, the findings support the importance of regional economic conditions and the influence of price ratios on consumer behavior, highlighting that ethanol's market share does not always correlate with favorable pricing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding consumers' sensory preferences for dairy products is essential. This study employed sensory analysis and instrumental techniques to analyze the flavor of pasteurized milk and UHT milk. There were 6 milk samples with similar fat content (4.0–4.6 g/100 mL) and protein content (3.2–3.8 g/100 mL). Sensory data from consumer tests was collected using check-all-that-apply (n = 100) and 9-point hedonic preferences. Research showed that Chinese consumers could distinguish the flavor of the 2 types of milk, and UHT milk showed a higher preference score, which may be due to the more pronounced milky flavor and sweet taste of UHT milk. A total of 48 aroma-active compounds were sniffed through 2-dimensional gas chromatography olfactometry time-of-flight MS, among which 11 were determined as key aroma-active compounds. Correlation analysis showed that milky odor, sweetness, and aftertaste-milky were positively correlated with γ-dodecalactone and γ-nonanolactone. Cooked and oxidized taste were positively correlated with 1-octen-3-ol and E-2-octenal. This study is important for developing Chinese dairy products and exporting dairy products to China by multinational companies. The list of standard abbreviations for JDS is available at adsa.org/jds-abbreviations-24. Nonstandard abbreviations are available in the Notes. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for chicken meat has surged globally due to its status as a primary protein source in human diets. However, ensuring high‐quality meat products has become an increasingly important subject to consumers. In this study, 21 articles from PubMed and Web of Science databases published between 2005 and 2023 were examined to assess the influence of probiotic supplementation on broiler meat quality. The meta‐analysis revealed significant findings across various meat quality parameters. Specifically, probiotics were found to significantly affect meat colour parameters, including redness, yellowness, and lightness, in both breast and thigh meat samples. Moreover, significant differences were observed in parameters such as water‐holding capacity (p < 0.001), cook loss (p = 0.047), and shear force (p = 0.025) between control and probiotic groups. However, it's essential to note the considerable heterogeneity among the studies, emphasising the need for a cautious interpretation of the results. Despite this variability, the study underscores the potential of probiotics to positively influence broiler meat quality, highlighting avenues for further research and standardisation in poultry production practices. These findings also contribute to a better understanding of probiotics' role in improving meat quality and meeting consumer preferences for nutritious and high‐quality poultry products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regular consumption of functional dairy products offers numerous health benefits, such as anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This study assessed Brazilian consumers' knowledge and barriers to their consumption using the free comment (FC) method and textual analysis. FC identified 462 descriptors from 332 volunteers, including 'cheese', 'dairy', 'health', 'probiotic', 'nutrients' and 'benefits'. Textual analysis organised the data, revealing consumers' knowledge and preferences. The analysis highlighted the need for strategies to address barriers to functional dairy product consumption, focusing on sensory preferences and promoting these products among consumers who currently resist them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever-changing consumer preferences have urged hotel properties to continuously innovate to ensure business sustainability. Particularly in the sales context, the manifestation of this threat is due to the lack of a single optimum approach to selling. Thus, being creative and generating new ideas is imperative for good salespeople to attract customers. To address this lack of an existing componential model of creativity and to uncover the hidden cognitive mechanism underlined with this theory, this study investigated the direct relationship as well as the mediating effect of employee mindfulness on the relationship between transformational leadership and creativity of salespeople. In addition, this study examined the moderating effect of improvization on the relationship between mindfulness and employee creativity. Data collected from 275 salespeople working in the hospitality industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain revealed a significant positive association between transformational leadership and employee creativity. Furthermore, the findings show that employee mindfulness plays a salient role as a mediator in this indirect relationship. However, the moderating effect of improvization on the relationship between employee mindfulness and creativity was found to be insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Impact Statement: Cassava is a vital food source for millions worldwide, crucial for food security and economic stability. This study analyzed cell wall polysaccharides in cassava roots to understand their impact on cooking properties. We found these polysaccharides influence the textural attributes of cassava roots, essential for both cooking and consumption. The research highlights the need to further identify and analyze cassava cell wall components. By improving our understanding of these components, we can improve food security, affordability, and resilience in diverse regions, ultimately contributing to global food security and better aligning with consumer preferences. Summary: The textural attributes of cassava roots significantly influence preferences in cooking and consumption as a food source, yet the specific components dictating these properties remain unclear. We aimed to identify the factors shaping the cooking properties of cassava roots.We conducted a compositional analysis of 22 traits in a diverse F1 biparental population derived from soft‐ and hard‐boiling progenitors. The traits encompassed cooking qualities, starch properties, and cell wall composition.Specific cell wall components including cellulose, xylan, un‐esterified, and methyl‐esterified homogalacturonan (HG) demonstrated a correlation with cooking quality attributes: sensory assessments related to texture (SAT) and water absorption during boiling (WAB). Correlation and regression analyses revealed that these wall components collectively contribute to 20% of SAT variability and 14% of WAB variability. SAT appeared to be influenced by methyl‐esterified and un‐esterified HGs, xylan, and cellulose, impacting the tensile strength of the cell wall. Conversely, WAB appeared to be associated with methyl‐esterified HG, potentially altering water absorption properties. Although genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) were unable to identify significant SNPs for SAT and WAB, notable associations emerged for cellulose, xylan, and un‐esterified‐ and methyl‐esterified HG. Candidate genes associated with these SNPs point towards diverse cell wall‐related proteins, transcription factors, sugar metabolism‐related genes, and glycosyl hydrolases.This study provides insights into the relationship between cassava root compositions and cooking characteristics and the role of wall components in determining the cooking quality of edible cassava. This information represents a substantial contribution towards the development of protocols for selecting varieties with texture preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social commerce, such as Instagram shopping – an innovative, global platform on which businesses offer their products and services – is attracting growing interest from both the academic community and the business world. Not least, this interest is due to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic, with its associated restrictions on movement, prompted an upsurge in worldwide demand for social commerce. This study aims to determine whether consumer motivation mediates the association between recommendation and purchase intention toward Instagram commerce. Employing a mediation analysis, the work identifies consumer buying patterns on this platform by conducting a cross-sectional study on a sample comprising experienced Spanish Instagram users. This research provides valuable insights into the adoption of Instagram commerce, with implications for practitioners in the field of social commerce, especially in the Fashion context. The findings suggest that powerful recommendations will increase online shoppers' motivation to make purchases via this social network rather than other social commerce platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manouri, a protected designation of origin (PDO) cheese, is one of the most popular whey cheeses produced in Greece. The objective of the current study was to investigate if there are differences between artisanal and industrial Manouri cheeses regarding microbiological quality, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profile and other quality parameters (colour, texture), sensory attributes and spectral characteristics detected by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) that may discriminate the samples. Differences were detected in the population of the dominant microbial groups, especially for lactic acid bacteria (LAB), Enterobacteriaceae and yeast counts. No discrimination was attained from the physicochemical analyses, except for the pH values. A total of 50 VOCs were identified, including ketones, lactones, free fatty acids, aldehydes, esters, alcohols and hydrocarbons. Sensory evaluation was carried out using a quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) panel and a consumer panel. Consumers showed a preference for the artisanal Manouri, and the QDA panel revealed significant differences in 11 out of the 17 sensory attributes. Colour and texture analyses were also performed and showed specific differences in yellowness, as well as in fracturability and hardness. FT-IR spectral analysis demonstrated potential discrimination related to the phospholipid content and profile of artisanal and industrial Manouri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]