As environmental pollution and natural resource depletion are seriously threatening human beings’ well-being, consumers’ concern about environmental issues has substantially increased. Accordingly, increasing consumers consider themselves to be environmentalists and support environmental protection by consuming green products. In response, more and more firms follow the popular trend by conducting green marketing practices. As a result, green markets are demonstrating greater growth compared to conventional markets these days. On the other hand, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are transforming the way of consumer-firm interactions in various industries including the green industry. More and more industries and firms adopt AI agents to replace or assist human employees. Deposit the pervasive and rapid nature of the transformation, however, we have limited knowledge of how the transformation of consumer-firm interaction influences green product marketing practices. Accordingly, the current research aims to investigate how the adoption of AI agents in green marketing strategies impacts consumers’ responses and further explore which mechanism underlying the process. To examine our hypotheses, we conducted a series of studies, and we collected the data through an online survey platform. Our findings demonstrated that consumers’ reaction was sufficiently different when they interact with AI agent compared to human agent in a green consumption context. Our findings contribute to enriching prior literature on green and AI by integrating each other and also provide practical implications for marketers in the related industries.

Effect of product message type (novelty and meaningfulness) on new product evaluation with spendthrift and tightwad consumers New product development is one of key strategies that firms can use for survival and growth alike. Well-developed new products can generally provide much needed values for consumers, which in turn provide reasons and bases for firm’s growth and sustainable competitive advantages. Given this importance of new product development and launch, the understanding of what factors influence consumer’s new product purchase behavior is extremely critical for firms' success and just as important as the new product development itself. Previous research shows that many factors - such as perceived risk of new products (Ross 1975; Stone and Gronhaug 1993), consumer innovativeness as a personality (Midgley and Dowling, 1978; Steenkamp et al., 1999), and type of new products, e.g., discontinuous new product (Veryzer 1998) - influence the evaluation of new products. The current study contends that firm’s communication efforts for new products, in particular, the contents and types of message for new products, are as important as any other factors (often, even more critical than others). A consumer’s awareness of new product in the form of actual product launch or preannouncement of new product (Eliashberg and Robertson 1988) is important. Then, a naturally rising questions will be: (1) how should firm develop the contents of messages to consumers to spread the words? (2) who should be the target audience? In other words, depending on consumers and their individual differences, the message development for new product should be accordingly changed or modified to maximally generate consumer’s purchase behaviors. The goal of the message content is how to frame new products so that consumers seek to purchase the products. Two main approaches to frame advantages, strengths, or unique selling propositions of a new product would be (1) novelty and (2) meaningfulness (Im and Workman 2004). However, the framing message should be different depending on consumer’s individual differences. Given the complexity of modern consumers, firms need to understand not only the effect of situational factors such as product involvement (De Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder and Iacobucci, 2001), but also the influence of consumer’s different orientations in personality such as need of cognition (Cacioppo and Petty 1982) and need for uniqueness (Tian, Bearden, and Hunter 2001). Formally, in this study, not only message type, but also spending orientation of individual consumers will be explicitly examined to identify possible interactions effects on the new product purchase. In sum, the purpose of the current study is to examine the effect of message types and consumer’s spending orientation on the new product purchase decision. Specifically, the current study aims to suggest a significant interaction effect of message types of new product introduction (novelty or meaningfulness) as well as the format in which information is provided and individual consumers with opposite spending orientations. Theoretical background The development of the spendthrift-tightwad scale was created by Rick, Cryder, and Loewenstein (2008). In their scale, the authors define tightwads as individuals that have difficulty spending money whereas spendthrifts are individuals who have difficulty controlling their spending. Tightwads and spendthrifts do differ in levels of self-regulation (Tangney et al 2004). Tightwads are unable to free themselves from self-control even though their situation would become more favorable by spending money and spendthrifts have issues with exerting self-control even though it is in their best interest to limit their spending. Based on Rick et al (2008), spendthrifts are three times more likely than tightwads to carry debt as well as more amount of debt. Spendthrifts carry more debt and save less than tightwads. Spendthrifts are significantly more likely than tightwads to carry credit card debt at each income level. With respect to consumption purchase, spendthrifts are nine percent more likely than tightwads to buy a utilitarian massage and 26 percent more likely to buy the hedonic massage Rick et al (2008). Tightwads are significantly less likely to buy a massage in general. In sum, there will be a clear distinction between spendthrifts and tightwads in terms of utilitarian and hedonic purpose of consumptions. Thus we predict that, H1: Spendthrifts are more likely to have a higher purchase intention score than tightwads Meaningfulness and novelty are the two dimensions of new product creativity(Amabile 1983). Novelty is defined as the degree to which a new product is perceived as new and uniquely different to competitors, while meaningfulness is defined as the extent to which a new product is perceived as appropriate and useful. Consumers value novelty or meaningfulness depending on their level of product involvement and knowledge Rubera, Ordanini, and Mazursky (2010). However, products must have a wow or coolness factor to be accepted. Consumers do not appreciate a new product's creativity for its own sake but try to relate a product's meaningfulness and novelty to its utilitarian and hedonic value respectively(Im, Bhat, and Lee 2015). Therefore, we expect that H2 (a): Spendthrifts have higher intentions to purchase a product if presented as a message with a novelty message than meaningful message. H2 (b): Tightwads have higher intentions to purchase a product if presented as a message with meaningfulness than novelty. Study design The purpose of study is to see whether or not the manipulation of the message type describing a new product will lead to a higher purchasing intention. Framing the message with novelty shows that the product is new and unique, while framing the message with meaningfulness emphasizes a product's usefulness and ability to fulfill needs. We predict that the message type significantly influences the intentions a new product changes based on their tendencies of money use. The pretest is designed to check to see if the perceived value from both meaningfulness and novelty framing are be similar as well as the strength of attributes. Participants had been randomly assigned to one of two groups: a flyer with a meaningful message, a flyer with a novelty message. Participants were asked on a single item (7-point scale) of how much value the new product provides them. A second question asked the participants to rate on a 7 point scale asking how strong or convincing the message was given the provided attributes. A total 158 undergraduate students from a Midwestern land-grant university participated in this experiment, all provided with extra credits for class. Participants were randomly assigned to a group based on a 2 (Message type: Meaningfulness vs. Novelty) x 2 (individual difference: tightwad vs. spendthrift) x 2 (advertisement only vs. advertisement + customer review) between-subjects experiment. The dependent variables are attitude toward new product and purchase intentions. Participants were classified either as spendthrifts or tightwads. The spendthrift-tightwad scale provided by Rick, Cryder, and Loewenstein in (2008) came out to be reliable with a Cronbach alpha of .75 as stated in their development and validation section. With this reliability check, it will be safe to use their scale to differentiate participants as either spendthrifts or tightwads. This scale is used to measure an important individual trait of spending behavior which we believe is to interact with the message type. We also tested the effect of message vehicle (either advertisement or customer’s review), given the importance of source credibility. In the meaningfulness message type, participants are provided an advertisement flyer about a new product. There are six attributes about a new product (3 meaningful attributes and 3 novel attributes) and a message in the bottom half of the flyer describing the how this product will satisfy the customer's needs, useful, and or life changing. In the novelty message type, participants receive a similar flyer with the same product attributes as in the meaningfulness condition. The difference is in the message provided in the bottom half of the flyer. The message for novelty include phrases that indicate how new, unique, or revolutionary the product is. After the participants look over the flyer, they were asked if they would buy this new product. Then participants answered a follow-up question for the manipulation check. Participants in their respective message types were asked if how meaningful they think the product is they if they are in the meaningful condition and how novel they think they product is if they are within the novelty condition. For the customer review condition, a similar manipulation was used and the difference is that participants read customer reviews (emphasizing either meaningfulness or novelty of new product) Measures Advertisement novelty and meaningfulness are composite scales from six items respectively, with Cronbach alpha of 0.874 and 0.923. Product attitude are measured using four items (outstanding quality, reliable, consistent, and dependable) (Cronbach alpha = 0.919). Purchase intention measure is based on two items (how likely, how probable to purchase this product) using 7-point scales (Cronbach alpha = 0.827).Individual difference of spendthrift and tightwad measure is adopted from Rick, Cryder, and Loewenstein (2007). They used four items and simply summed scale responses (range from 4 to 26), and then divide respondents into three equally sized groups of sums (tightwad, unconflicted, and spendthrift). In our analysis, we followed the same approach, and used two groups (tightwad and spendthrift). The reliability (Cronbach alpha) was 0.756. However, for the manipulation check neither the novelty nor meaningfulness variable was significant. In the novelty condition, the participants did not experience a higher level of novelty in the message (t=.46, p=.65) while in the meaningfulness condition, participants did not experience a more meaningful focused message (t=-.485, p=.63). We must redesign the stimuli so that survey participants are properly manipulated to their allotted conditions. Initial results Attitude and purchase intention were higher for the advertisement plus customer review condition, compared to only advertisement groups. Also, there is a significant interaction effect among the message type and spending orientations influencing purchase intention. The spendthrifts to have higher intentions to purchase the product than tightwads similar to Rick, Cryder, and Loewenstein (2008) study with utilitarian and hedonic variables. There should be a significant effect of message type. The ANOVA results showed that overall model was significant (F =2.23, p=.048). ST-TW trait showed a significant effect on purchase decision (F= 7.454, p=.009). Thus, spendthrift respondents are more likely to purchase new products than tightwad ones, which is a consistent result to the existing literature. Implications and conclusions Message strategy for new product will be of critical criterion, because a convincing and creative advertising campaign will capture the attention of consumers. It will be important for firms to incorporate customer reviews in juxtaposition with the advertisement message, as it is much more likely for a consumer to purchase a product when a review is present based on the results above. Essentially, providing customer information becomes important, when you develop a message in advertisement that also provides a complimentary consumer review. However, depending on consumer’s characteristics regarding spendthrift-tightwad orientation, the choice of either advertising or specific promotion, encouraging encourage consumer to purchase. In sum, the results strongly suggest that using both advertisement and customer review information provision would increase purchase decision, but complementary focus of information provision will be the most effective way to deliver message to audience. In addition, individual different in spending orientation can be an important moderator, which suggest a series of further research.

This study aims to analyze the differences of ginseng product consumers and segment Korean fresh ginseng and red ginseng root markets based on attributes for the purchase. As a result of analyzing survey data, the red ginseng root consumers had different aspects from fresh ginseng consumers. According to the result of cluster analysis, the fresh ginseng consumers were subdivided into three segments (safety-oriented consumption cluster, label centered consumption cluster, and high involvement consumption cluster), while the red ginseng root consumers were subdivided into four segments (convenience-oriented consumption cluster, high involvement consumption cluster, raw material's safety-oriented cluster, and raw material's information importance cluster). ANOVA and Crosstab were conducted to investigate characteristics of each cluster.

시간과 돈 효과는 시간이라는 개념이 돈보다 소비자의 제품에 대한 태도 및 의사결정에 긍정적인 역할을 한다는 것을 의미한다. 시간과 돈을 어떻게 사용하는가는 각 개인의 정체성과 밀접한 관계가 있다. 기존 연구에 의하면, 시간은 경험으로 존재하기 때문에 시간은 물질적 제품보다 경험적 제품에 대해 좀 더 긍정적인 소비자 반응을 유발하는 반면, 돈은 소유로 대표되는 물질주의적 가치와 관련되어 있으므로 경험적 제품보다는 물질적 제품에 대해 좀 더 긍정적인 소비자 반응을 유발한다. 본 연구에서는 기존의 제품유형에 스마트폰을 더하여 시간과 돈의 효과가 소비자의 반응에 어떤 영향을 주는지를 알아보고자 하였다. 실험 1에서는 기존에 자신이 사용하였던 제품에 대한 평가를 실시하였다. 연구 결과, 소비자의 만족도에 대해 시간과 돈 활성화 조건과 3 가지 제품유형(패밀리 레스토랑, 스마트폰, 고급브랜드청바지)간의 상호작용이 관찰되었으며, 스마트폰에 있어서는 시간활성화가 돈활성화보다 높은 만족도를 유발하였다. 실험 2에서는 실험1에서 사용된 제품유형에 대한 이미지 광고를 사용하여 시간과 돈 효과를 살펴보았다. 제품에 대한 태도, 만족도, 구매의사, 개인적 관련성 변인 모두에서 시간돈활성화 조건과 제품유형간의 상호작용이 관찰되었으며, 역시 스마트폰에서만 유의미한 활성화조건간 차가 관찰되었다. 아울러 활성화조건의 주효과도 관찰되어 시간활성화 광고가 돈활성화 광고보다 훨씬 효과적인 것으로 나타났다. 연구결과에 대한 이론적, 실용적 함의점이 논의되었다.

The aim of this study was to classify Korean consumers based on their food-related lifestyle type, and to investigate the relationship between sushi consumption and food-related lifestyle type. Self-reported questionnaires were completed by 300 Korean adults. The SPSS 18.0 program was used to analyze the samples. Data was analyzed by frequency, descriptive factor, reliability, cluster analysis, ANOVA, and chi-square test. A factor analysis extracted four factors comprising foodrelated lifestyle, which we named Health-seeking (factor 1), Taste-seeking (factor 2), Convenience-seeking (factor 3), and Economy-seeking (factor 4). According to a cluster analysis based on those four factors, consumers were classified into three clusters. Cluster 1 was the Taste and Health-seeking cluster, Cluster 2 was the Convenience-seeking cluster, and Cluster 3 was the Passive Eating Habits cluster. The results also indicated that the selection attributes of each cluster were significantly different in terms of perception, the global state of sushi, sushi preference, frequency, companions, place of sushi consumption, and preference for different sushi sub-ingredients. Based on these results, consumer characteristics in the sushi market are discussed.

Purpose - This study focused on the attitude differences towards harmony-focused Ad and uniqueness-focused Ad, also those towards brand advertised in each of the two type Ads between self-construals. Research design, data, and methodology - Main survey was conducted online with the people in China, and collected 107 data through harmony Ad questionnaire and 109 data through uniqueness Ad questionnaire. Anova and t-test were used to verify hypotheses. Results - First, More positive attitude towards harmony-focused Ad and the brand in it there was at interdependent Chinese consumers than at independent Chinese consumers. Second, the independent Chinese consumers and the interdependent Chinese consumers did not form significant attitude difference towards uniqueness-focused Ad. However the independent Chinese consumers showed more positive attitude towards the brand in the uniqueness-focused Ad than the interdependent Chinese consumers. Conclusions - By highlighting the attributes of Chinese consumers' self-construal, to appeal to interdependent Chinese consumers, marketers should develop harmony-focused advertisement, and they should appeal to independent Chinese consumers by using uniqueness-focused advertisement. However the harmony might be pursued as the main content in the overall environment by Chinese people. Therefore it is necessary for the marketers to consider the harmony even when appealing them by emphasizing the uniqueness.