In recent years, maintaining transparency has become a trend among brands, and a
better level of supply chain transparency has been demonstrated to positively affect
consumer environmental concern and conscious behavior. Consumers may accept
transparency efforts as a signal of the brand goodwill and perceive it as a visibly
sustainable effort that can convert brand trust. In the information transparency trend,
eco-certification plays an important role as a tool to inform consumers about
sustainability. However, facing large amounts of information, consumers spend much
time filtering information, so the accuracy of the obtained information can be
compromised. The Higg index is a sustainable verification platform that reveals the
entire activities of supply chains. However, most consumers are facing an overload of
information that could confuse their processing of any information. In this context, the
present study seeks to examine the effect of business transparency to conscious
consumer behavior and purchase intention. Second, this study deals with the
moderating effects of sustainable knowledge on the relationship between business
transparency, environmental concern, and brand trust. Third, we explore the effects of
high and low level of consume knowledge of sustainability on the relationship
between business transparency and brand trust. In terms of the methodology used in
the present study, an off-line survey of Korean consumers was conducted. SPSS 21.0
was used for data analysis aiming to test the proposed model and research hypothesis.
The mains results of this study are as follows. First, business transparency has a
positive effect on environmental concern, brand trust, and consumer willingness to
conscious behavior. Second, consumer sustainable knowledge has a moderating effect
on business transparency for environmental concern and brand trust. Taken together,
the findings of the present study provide meaningful implications for marketers by
highlighting the importance of transparency and introduction of a transparent eco-certification
for communication with consumers. To successfully influence consumer
willingness to assume conscious behavior, brands are advised to provide standardized
transparency labels, rather than complicated information.
Every day, large amounts of personal information are collected by private companies from consumers through multiple sources. Loyalty programs are one of the most popular tools, used to gather such information. Information that is used to offer more personalised options and to target more effectively their promotions. However, many consumers are still attracted to such programs because of the rewards and other benefits offered. Privacy concerns over loyalty programs seem to take their toll. According to a Colloquy (2015) report the numbers of active members is dropping and one of the main reasons cited in the report is privacy concerns. Declining numbers and increased privacy concerns raise the question of how concerned consumers appreciate the benefits offered by loyalty programs and how their satisfaction and loyalty are affected. Apparently, loyalty programs cannot always guarantee loyalty (Nielsen, 2013) as a large portion of consumers demand better protection of their privacy (Madden, 2014) and decline to subscribe to such programs over privacy concerns (Maritz, 2013). The objectives of this study are firstly to examine the underlying reasons behind consumers’ privacy perceptions and secondly to investigate how such perceptions alter consumers’ appraisal of the benefits offered by the loyalty program as well as satisfaction with the program and consumer loyalty. Based on a review of the relevant literature a set of testable hypotheses was developed.
This study examines consumer reaction to different luxury advertising information (promotion-focus vs. prevention-focus). Studies examine the relationship between consumers’ face concern and individual regulatory focus, and explore the relationship between face concern and luxury advertising type with a 2 (face concerns) × 2 (advertising information) experiment design.
As environmental concerns continue to grow, green supply chain management (GSCM) is attracting attention as an element of competitive advantage for companies. This study examined internal GSCM practices to show how they influenced the end-point of the supply chain from the perspective of the end-consumer. It identified the effects of environmental concerns on consumer purchasing behavior mediated by the company image of internal GSCM practices. Data were collected through an email survey of Korean consumers. Reliability and validity were verified using SPSS 18.0. Cronbach’s alpha, and confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that environmental concerns had a positive impact on such practices, and the image of internal GSCM practices was found to have a significantly positive effect on consumer purchasing behavior. Companies will have to actively reflect environmental factors in their operational activities, and GSCM implementation will become a necessity. A positive image of internal environmental management and eco-design, which are key elements of internal GSCM practices, strengthened the company’s eco-friendly image and ultimately affected consumer purchasing behavior. This suggests that it is important for companies to evaluate their environmental attitude and make eco-friendly products from a consumer’s perspective, making it a differentiation strategy for a company in building an eco-friendly corporate image.