Following a series of major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, it is believed that the use of AI technology can fundamentally subvert many industries and business fields, one of which is marketing. For instance, AI is likely to become a key driver of how advertising and marketing activities are conducted (Qin and Jiang, 2019) and thus dramatically change marketing strategies and customer behaviors (Davenport et al., 2020).

Introduction Consumer ethical behaviors regarding social impact, environmental concern, and ethical practices for the buyer/seller dyad has become a vital issue. A large number of consumers have the willingness to be activists to address potentially threatening environmental problems with foresight (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014). Consumers with environment awareness have begun to consider the environmental claims of products, such as environmental protection certification (do Paço & Reis, 2012) and production process with environmental protection regulations (Yoon & Kim, 2016). All such information effectively spreads the environmental protection knowledge to help consumers identify the environmental features of the product (Leonidou, Leonidou, Palihawadana, & Hultman, 2011), and then to conduct consumption behaviors with ethical/moral concerns. However, the related research to examine the relationships between consumer ethical behaviors and their attitudes toward environmental information disclosure in advertising in Asian countries is few. This study’s main purpose is thus to understand how environmental information disclosure in advertising influences consumers’ attitudes toward the brand and their ethical behaviors. Literature Review Mitchell, Balabanis, Schlegelmich, and CornWell (2009) argues that all direct or indirect consumer actions that could make businesses or other stakeholders to lose money or reputation are viewed as consumer unethical behaviors. Consumers’ (un)ethical behaviors would be influenced by their moral principles and standards as they obtain, use, and dispose of goods and services (Muncy & Vitell, 1992). First, according to the equity theory, brand equity will increase the relationship intention between sellers and buyers. Those consumers with a high perception about product value or brand equity would tend to build a positive relationship with sellers, and thus their ethical behaviors would be influenced (Chang & Lu, 2017). Consumers’ ethical consumption depends on the equity of the profitability of the seller and this study proposes that brand equity has significant positive effects on consumer ethical behavior (H1). Second, environmental advertising claims refer to the classification of environmental claims in advertising with various environmental protection information about products (do Paço & Reis, 2012). Chan, Leung, and Wong (2006) state the two types of environmental advertising claims. Substantial environmental claims focus on the substantial benefits of products for the environment and the positive impacts of enterprises on the environment in order to substantially maintain or enhance consumers’ understanding of products with environmental awareness (Chan, 2000). Associated environmental claims feature advertising that do not have a direct connection with the products or production of enterprises; instead, they reveal an enterprises’ concern about environmental protection topics through environmental protection activities or topics regarding the conservation of the ecosystem, in order to indirectly trigger the consumers’ positive image and reactions to the enterprises or brands (Chan, 2000). Different environmental advertising claims would have different extents of impact on consumers’ attitude towards advertising and the product (Chan et al., 2006). Chan (2000) states that substantial environmental claims are more persuasive than associated claims, as the advertising of the former could directly publicize the specific environmentally-friendly measures in products or production process. The hypotheses are thus submitted: environmental advertising claims have significant positive effects on brand equity (H2.) and the impact power of substantial environmental claims on brand equity is stronger than those of associated environmental claims (H3). Third, eco-labels provide the information of products toward the environment influence during their life cycles (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014; Chekima, Wafa, Igau, Chekima, & Sondoh, 2016) and the claims regarding the eco-features, production, and constituents of the products (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014). Maniatis (2016) argues that eco-labels could clearly reveal the economic and ecological benefits of products and help consumers make purchase decisions. Specific claims, such as marks, pictures, or signs, could clearly convey information about the products, which make it easy for consumers to understand. Therefore, hypothesis 4 is submitted: environmental advertising with eco-labels has a significant positive effect on brand equity (H4). Method This study used the 2x2 factor experiment to create four situations through two types of environmental advertising claims (substantial and associated environmental advertising claims) and two types of eco-labels (available/unavailable). The manipulation checks with regards to the constructs of environmental advertising claims and eco-label were shown to be successful through a pilot test. On the other hand, this study selected 14-items of Muncy and Vitell’s (1992) scale to measure consumer ethical behaviors. The measuring items of brand equity were taken by Yoo and Donth’s (2001) three-dimensional scale, containing brand awareness/associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. Moreover, 294 valid questionnaires were retained in the formal survey via electronic questionnaire survey. Females accounted for 50.7%. Those aged less than 25 occupied a larger proportion (50%), followed by those aged from 26 to 35 (21.8%). The samples with a college education or above accounted for 92.5%. Additionally, the component reliability, convergent and discriminant validity were also confirmed (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Fornell & Larcker, 1981) due to the results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by Lisrel 8.7. Results and Conclusion Based on the ANOVA results, first, environmental advertising claims had significant effects on awareness/association, perceived value, and loyalty. The effects of substantial orientation on brand equity were significantly stronger than that of associated orientation claims. H2 and H3 were fully supported. That is to say, substantial environmental advertising claims could reveal enterprise efforts to protect the environment and inform consumers that the substantial benefits for the ecosystem are embodied in their products. If enterprises want to disclose information about their social responsibility or to convey the contribution of their products toward environmental protection, direct environmental advertising claims related to product features and production processes should be considered. Second, eco-labels significantly affected on awareness/association, perceived value, and loyalty; hence, H4 were supported. Eco-labels verified by a third-party public notary office could enhance brand equity. As eco-label information regarding environmental protection enterprises and products want to convey, consumers can comprehend and evaluate such environmental advertising through the mark of eco-labels in triggering their positive attitude and value toward the brand. Third, this study also found that the interactive effect of environmental advertising claims and eco-label on the awareness/association dimension of brand equity was significant. Consumers are more likely to receive information from the environmental advertising with a substantial claim and eco-label than other sets, and then their perceptions toward that brand awareness and brand association could be improved. Forth, each dimension of awareness/association, perceived value, and brand loyalty had a significant positive effect on consumer’s ethical behaviors by using structural equation modeling (SEM) via Lisrel 8.7; H1 therefore were supported. That is, consumers’ perceived enterprise efforts related to protecting the environment would improve consumers’ ethical behaviors. If advertising could fully and effectively convey the environmental protection information embodied in products, consumers would know that the products are beneficial for society and ecosystems, and thus they would enact ethical activities in the marketplace. Finally, future studies can use random sampling to improve the sample representative. Product type can also be included into the research model in future studies to consider the different product features how to influence the effects of environmental advertising claims and eco-labels on the consumers’ attitudes and behavior decision.

Introduction Consumer ethical behaviors regarding social impact, environmental concern, and ethical practices for the buyer/seller dyad has become a vital issue. A large number of consumers have the willingness to be activists to address potentially threatening environmental problems with foresight (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014). Consumers with environment awareness have begun to consider the environmental claims of products, such as environmental protection certification (do Paço & Reis, 2012) and production process with environmental protection regulations (Yoon & Kim, 2016). All such information effectively spreads the environmental protection knowledge to help consumers identify the environmental features of the product (Leonidou, Leonidou, Palihawadana, & Hultman, 2011), and then to conduct consumption behaviors with ethical/moral concerns. However, the related research to examine the relationships between consumer ethical behaviors and their attitudes toward environmental information disclosure in advertising in Asian countries is few. This study’s main purpose is thus to understand how environmental information disclosure in advertising influences consumers’ attitudes toward the brand and their ethical behaviors. Literature Review Mitchell, Balabanis, Schlegelmich, and CornWell (2009) argues that all direct or indirect consumer actions that could make businesses or other stakeholders to lose money or reputation are viewed as consumer unethical behaviors. Consumers’ (un)ethical behaviors would be influenced by their moral principles and standards as they obtain, use, and dispose of goods and services (Muncy & Vitell, 1992). First, according to the equity theory, brand equity will increase the relationship intention between sellers and buyers. Those consumers with a high perception about product value or brand equity would tend to build a positive relationship with sellers, and thus their ethical behaviors would be influenced (Chang & Lu, 2017). Consumers’ ethical consumption depends on the equity of the profitability of the seller and this study proposes that brand equity has significant positive effects on consumer ethical behavior (H1). Second, environmental advertising claims refer to the classification of environmental claims in advertising with various environmental protection information about products (do Paço & Reis, 2012). Chan, Leung, and Wong (2006) state the two types of environmental advertising claims. Substantial environmental claims focus on the substantial benefits of products for the environment and the positive impacts of enterprises on the environment in order to substantially maintain or enhance consumers’ understanding of products with environmental awareness (Chan, 2000). Associated environmental claims feature advertising that do not have a direct connection with the products or production of enterprises; instead, they reveal an enterprises’ concern about environmental protection topics through environmental protection activities or topics regarding the conservation of the ecosystem, in order to indirectly trigger the consumers’ positive image and reactions to the enterprises or brands (Chan, 2000). Different environmental advertising claims would have different extents of impact on consumers’ attitude towards advertising and the product (Chan et al., 2006). Chan (2000) states that substantial environmental claims are more persuasive than associated claims, as the advertising of the former could directly publicize the specific environmentally-friendly measures in products or production process. The hypotheses are thus submitted: environmental advertising claims have significant positive effects on brand equity (H2.) and the impact power of substantial environmental claims on brand equity is stronger than those of associated environmental claims (H3). Third, eco-labels provide the information of products toward the environment influence during their life cycles (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014; Chekima, Wafa, Igau, Chekima, & Sondoh, 2016) and the claims regarding the eco-features, production, and constituents of the products (Atkinson & Rosenthal, 2014). Maniatis (2016) argues that eco-labels could clearly reveal the economic and ecological benefits of products and help consumers make purchase decisions. Specific claims, such as marks, pictures, or signs, could clearly convey information about the products, which make it easy for consumers to understand. Therefore, hypothesis 4 is submitted: environmental advertising with eco-labels has a significant positive effect on brand equity (H4). Method This study used the 2x2 factor experiment to create four situations through two types of environmental advertising claims (substantial and associated environmental advertising claims) and two types of eco-labels (available/unavailable). The manipulation checks with regards to the constructs of environmental advertising claims and eco-label were shown to be successful through a pilot test. On the other hand, this study selected 14-items of Muncy and Vitell’s (1992) scale to measure consumer ethical behaviors. The measuring items of brand equity were taken by Yoo and Donth’s (2001) three-dimensional scale, containing brand awareness/associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. Moreover, 294 valid questionnaires were retained in the formal survey via electronic questionnaire survey. Females accounted for 50.7%. Those aged less than 25 occupied a larger proportion (50%), followed by those aged from 26 to 35 (21.8%). The samples with a college education or above accounted for 92.5%. Additionally, the component reliability, convergent and discriminant validity were also confirmed (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Fornell & Larcker, 1981) due to the results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by Lisrel 8.7. Results and Conclusion Based on the ANOVA results, first, environmental advertising claims had significant effects on awareness/association, perceived value, and loyalty. The effects of substantial orientation on brand equity were significantly stronger than that of associated orientation claims. H2 and H3 were fully supported. That is to say, substantial environmental advertising claims could reveal enterprise efforts to protect the environment and inform consumers that the substantial benefits for the ecosystem are embodied in their products. If enterprises want to disclose information about their social responsibility or to convey the contribution of their products toward environmental protection, direct environmental advertising claims related to product features and production processes should be considered. Second, eco-labels significantly affected on awareness/association, perceived value, and loyalty; hence, H4 were supported. Eco-labels verified by a third-party public notary office could enhance brand equity. As eco-label information regarding environmental protection enterprises and products want to convey, consumers can comprehend and evaluate such environmental advertising through the mark of eco-labels in triggering their positive attitude and value toward the brand. Third, this study also found that the interactive effect of environmental advertising claims and eco-label on the awareness/association dimension of brand equity was significant. Consumers are more likely to receive information from the environmental advertising with a substantial claim and eco-label than other sets, and then their perceptions toward that brand awareness and brand association could be improved. Forth, each dimension of awareness/association, perceived value, and brand loyalty had a significant positive effect on consumer’s ethical behaviors by using structural equation modeling (SEM) via Lisrel 8.7; H1 therefore were supported. That is, consumers’ perceived enterprise efforts related to protecting the environment would improve consumers’ ethical behaviors. If advertising could fully and effectively convey the environmental protection information embodied in products, consumers would know that the products are beneficial for society and ecosystems, and thus they would enact ethical activities in the marketplace. Finally, future studies can use random sampling to improve the sample representative. Product type can also be included into the research model in future studies to consider the different product features how to influence the effects of environmental advertising claims and eco-labels on the consumers’ attitudes and behavior decision.

How the events of service experiences stimulus consumers’ emotional elicitation and post-experience has become an important issue in marketing. Appraisal theory is the one that has been discussed from many scholars about this significant phenomenon since a long time; nevertheless, existing studies of appraisal theory have neglected expectedness and novelty appraisals on consumers, emotional elicitation and post-experience behavior in service experiences. This research aims to examine the influences of three appraisals-goal congruence, expectedness and novelty on consumers’ emotional elicitation and their satisfaction, WOM intentions and likelihood of generating WOM under service experience scenarios. This study contains two studies: study one examines main effects of goal congruence and expectedness on emotions and post-experience; study two tests the main effects of goal congruence and novelty on emotions. Experimental design is adopted in examining appraisals on emotions. Circumplex Model of Affect is adopted as the examination of emotions. The research hypotheses are tested using MANOVA as well as Regression analyses with experimental data from 320 university students in Taiwan. The research is the first in the literature on Appraisal Theory of emotional elicitation that both expectedness and novelty has main effects on emotional elicitation as well as consumer post-experience behavior. The higher expectedness one event is, the more positive emotions will be; vice versa. Also, the more novelty one event is, the more positive emotions will be; vice versa. Positive emotions have positive impact on consumer post-experience behavior; vice versa. Main effect of goal congruence on emotions shows significant in study one whereas in study two it shows no significant influence. The research is one of the few which investigate expectedness and novelty appraisals in appraisal theory that will cause emotional elicitation as well as consumer post-experience behavior.

For decades, marketing practitioners and scholars have envisioned that environmental characteristics of market offerings will become an important consumer concern (Grant 2007; Henion 1981; Kassarjian 1971; Kotler 2011; Ottmann 2011) and a myriad of consumer surveys indicated that consumers are willing to change their purchase and consumption habits for a better environment (Banikarim 2010; Ferguson and Goldman 2010; Imkamp 2000; Laroche, Bergeron and Barbaro-Forleo 2001). However, consumers’ actual adoption of environmental market offerings has been far below what had been expected and predicted so far (Connolly et al. 2006; Davis 1993; do Paço and Varejâo 2010; Kilbournes 1998; Horne 2009). To bridge the gap between consumers’ stated interests in and attitudes regarding adoption of eco-friendly market offerings and their actual adoption of eco-friendly market offerings, marketers need an accurate understanding of: 1) what determines consumers’ willingness and propensity to adopt eco-friendly market offerings and consumption behaviors, 2) how those individual, social, and marketing determinants of eco-friendly consumer behaviors are interrelated with each other, 3) where consumers stand currently in terms of those determinants, and 4) what needs to be done to remove the bottlenecks in the adoption and diffusion processes. To provide answers to above four aspects of eco-friendly consumer behaviors, this paper attempts to advance a more theoretically-based and comprehensive model of eco-friendly consumer behavior than extant models by incorporating recent findings of research on determinants of pro-environmental consumer behaviors and integrating various relevant theories of attitude-behavior links including the value-belief-norm theory, the theory of reasoned action, and the elaboration likelihood model. The structural validity and generalizability of the proposed model is tested based on two sets of survey data collected from consumers in the U.S. Midwest region and a metropolitan area surrounding Seoul, the capital city of Korea. The findings of the empirical study demonstrate that while the proposed model explains eco-friendly consumer behaviors by both the U.S. and Korean consumers, the relative importance of the predictors of eco-friendly consumer behaviors vary between the two groups of consumers. The analysis of the data also reveals that consumers in the two groups differ significantly from each other on many variables which are included as direct and indirect determinants of eco-friendly consumer behaviors in the proposed model. Together, the findings provide interesting and practical implications for strategies to facilitate consumer adoption of eco-friendly market offerings.

This study was carried out to investigate the consumption behaviors of environmentally-friendly agricultural products, including satisfaction of purchases. Questionnaires completed consumers were statistically analyzed. Regarding purchase frequencies of environmentally-friendly agricultural and animal products, consumers consumed them 1 time per month. No significant differences in consumption by age, living area, family type, or BMI were found. Exactly 38.2% of consumers preferred to purchase items in the packing amount of 0.2-0.5 kg, whereas 39.7% of consumers preferred amounts from 0.5-1.0 kg. Significant differences in packing amount were found according to age (p<0.05) and family type (p<0.01). However, there were no significant differences according to living area or BMI group. Many consumers made decisions based on the outer packing label (69.6%). Significant differences by age and living area were not found, whereas there was significant difference according to family type (p<0.05). Consumers answered that they purchased products in a general supermarket (24.7%) and cooperative (24.2%). Significant differences were found by age and living area (p<0.01) but not by family type. Consumer satisfaction of purchases scored 3.39 out of 5 points. In conclusion, significant differences in consumer satisfaction were not found according to age, living area, family type, or BMI.

골프의 대중화가 이루어짐에 따라 다양한 연령대가 골프웨어 시장에 흡수되면서 기존의 50~60대 고객 뿐 아니라 30~40대 전문직 종사자들과 20-30대의 젊은 새로운 소비자층이 형성되어 골프웨어에 대한 소비자의 요구도 다양화되어 가고 있다. 본 연구는 골프웨어에 대한 새로운 소비자 요구를 조사하고 분석하여 다양하고 폭넓어진 골프웨어 시장에서 차별화된 상품개발과 기획에 반영할 수 있는 자료를 제공하고자 하였다. 본 연구의 조사 대상자는 대전지역에 위치한 골프 연습장을 이용하고 있는 20세 이상의 남녀 150명으로 하였다. 조사방법은 설문지법(Questionnaire method)으로 설문지의 내용은 남녀 골프 참가자들의 인구 통계학적 특성과 운동습관 및 태도에 관한 문항, 현재 착용 중인 골프웨어의 특성에 관한 문항, 골프웨어에 대한 소비자 요구 사항 문항으로 총 45문항을 개발하여 조사를 실시한 결과. 다음과 같은 결론을 도출하였다. 조사대상자 들이 현재 착용하고 있는 골프웨어에 대한 특성을 살펴 본 결과, "착용쾌적감이 좋다", "신축성이 있어 활동적이다", "사이즈가 전반적으로 잘 맞는다", "촉감이 좋다"의 문항들에서는 3.5점 이상의 높은 평점을 나타냈으나, "적당한 가격이다", "보푸라기가 잘 생기지 않는다", "세탁후 수축, 신장, 탈색, 이염이 잘 일어나지 않는다"등의 문항들은 3점이하의 비교적 낮은 평가 결과를 나타내었다. 골프웨어에 대한 소비자 요구사항을 파악하여 제품개발에 반영할 수 있도록 하기 위하여 21개의 소비자 요구사항을 추출하였다. 골프웨어에 대한 소비자의 요구사항 중 "착용감"이 가장 중요하게 고려되는 항목으로 나타났으며, 그 다음으로는 "흡수성", "촉감", "신축성", "차외선 차단", "사이즈"등의 순으로 중요하다고 응답하였다. 골프웨어에 대한 소비자의 요구사항이 어떤 차원으로 구성되어 있는가를 밝히기 위해 요인분석을 실시한 결과, 유행/디자인 특성요인, 섬유소재 특성요인, 위생성능 특성요인, 체형보정 특성요인 등 4개의 요인이 추출되었다.

본 연구는 서울과 경기 지방의 주부들을 대상으로 식생활 행동과 편의식에 대한 인식도를 조사함으로써, 한국형 건강 편의식 개발 방향 도출에 필요한 기초 자료를 얻고자 시도되었다. 본 연구를 위하여 710명의 주부들이 응답한 설문지가 통계학적으로 분석되었다. 설문지는 일반 사항, 식생활 및 식품 구매 행동과 편의식에 대한 인식도에 관한 문항들로 구성되었다. 일반 사항 중 연령, 취업 여부, 라이프스타일이 응답자의 식행동과 편의식에 대한 인식에 유의적인 영향을 미치는 인자임이 규명되었다. 식생활 전반에 대한 책임을 맡고 있는 것은 주부들이었으나, 이들의 대부분이 식사준비에 대해 즐겁다기보다 부담을 느끼고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 태도는 다른 연령군, 취업 여부, 라이프 스타일군에서 유의적인 차이를 보였다. 장보기 빈도는 필요할 때마다 1주일에 2~3번이 가장 높았다. 또한 미리 식단 계획을 하기보다는 장볼 때 즉흥적으로 하는 경향이 뚜렷했다. 식품 구입시 가격보다는 품질을 중요시하고 있었다. 소비자들은 현재 시판되고 있는 손질된 야채나 조리된 식품에 대해 만족하지 못하고 있었다. 그러나 품질이 우수한 편의식 개발에 대한 요구도는 높은 것으로 나타났다.