Customer Behavioral Reactions to Negative Experiences during the Product Return

Application of the Perceived Popularity of Sports to Support the Sustainable Management of Sports Organizations

The operations of sports organizations must be managed to create value in the long run. This explicit management will support their efficiency, competitiveness, and sustainability. The key concept measured in this study was the popularity of sports. This concept is a pivotal element in influencing the acquisition of financial contributions for sports organizations (from the state and sponsors) as well as in attracting new members. We conducted an online questionnaire in 2021 focusing on the concept of the perceived popularity of sports in Slovakia. The number of observations was 338, out of the total population of Slovak citizens over the age of 15. We also applied other methods, including content analysis, induction, deduction, comparison, and synthesis analyses. The analysis of the data led to the following findings: in this context, the two most popular sports were hockey and European football; the greatest propensity for fan self-identification was observed for European football, hockey, and basketball; men who indicated a preference for cycling were significantly larger fans of the sport than women; European football and motorsports were almost exclusively preferred by men; skiing, volleyball, and tennis were preferred by women; and basketball was preferred by the youngest respondents. This study aimed to propose recommendations for approaching sustainability, assuming that increasing popularity represents an opportunity to increase a sport organizations’ membership base.

Decision and Coordination of an O2O Supply Chain With Market Segmentation and Showrooming Effect

This paper investigates impacts of market segmentation and showrooming effect on the decision-making of an O2O supply chain, and puts forwards a contract to coordinate the O2O supply chain. Results show that, the showrooming effect is beneficial to the manufacturer, retailer and the supply chain, and the retailer will offer offline showrooming service. Under the influence of market segmentation, O2O supply chain is not necessarily better than single-channel supply chain structure. But adopting advertising and other means to improve consumers’ online channel acceptance, it can realize transformation from single-channel to O2O structure. The benefits of showrooming effect can eliminate the disadvantage of market segmentation. Moreover, a service cost sharing contract is put forward, which can perfectly coordinate the O2O supply chain with market segmentation and showrooming effect. These findings help managers to understand which channel structure is optimal by considering market segmentation and showrooming effect and identify possible pathways for them to perfectly cooperation.

The Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility: The Example of the Czech Republic

The rapid development of the sharing economy that has been registered in recent years is caused by a number of factors. The increasingly pronounced effort on the part of all economic entities to contribute towards sustainable development through the application of socially responsible behavior is deemed to be a key factor. The objective of the article is to analyze and evaluate the attitudes of customers towards the benefits of the sharing economy in the field of economic, social, and environmental responsibility using the example of a small post-communist economy—the Czech Republic. Primary data were obtained on the basis of a questionnaire survey. This was elaborated using descriptive and inferential statistics tools. The study that was performed shows that the majority of customers regard sharing as a source of benefits in the field of economic, social, and environmental responsibility, whereas in a complex sense, they perceive these benefits to be equal. Women perceive the investigated benefits of sharing with regard to environmental responsibility as more important compared to men. In comparison with the older generation, the younger generation perceives selected benefits of sharing as more important in all three investigated areas of responsibility. People with a higher education perceive selected benefits of sharing with regard to economic responsibility as more important compared to people with a lower level of education. The article provides original insights into the perception of the benefits of sharing for sustainable development by actors in the sharing economy and is a source of knowledge about their motivations for both policymakers and managers of companies involved in the sharing economy.

Using Social Media as a Medium for CSR Communication, to Induce Consumer–Brand Relationship in the Banking Sector of a Developing Economy

Social media has emerged as a flexible and interactive communication medium in the present digital era. Contemporary businesses use social media to achieve different communication objectives. However, using social media as a communication medium for corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication with stakeholders like, consumers is not well-explored in the existing literature. Furthermore, prior studies have also failed to consider the blend of CSR communication and social media to achieve consumer-related outcomes, for example, their loyalty and purchase likelihood. To this end, the objective of this study is to examine the relationship of the CSR communication of a bank through social media with consumer loyalty and purchase intention. The current study also proposes brand admiration as a potential mediator between this relationship. The data were collected from the banking consumers through a self-administered questionnaire in a developing economy. The data were analyzed through the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique using AMOS software. The results of the current survey confirmed that CSR communication of a bank on social media has direct and indirect, via brand admiration, relations with consumer loyalty, and purchase intentions. The outcomes of this survey will be helpful for the policymakers to understand the importance of CSR communication on social media to enhance the loyalty, and purchase intention of banking consumers.

Alternative Food Networks: Perceptions in Short Food Supply Chains in Spain

Alternative spaces for the consumption of non-conventional foods as short commercialization chains have been increased worldwide, as well as the interest in understanding the dynamics developed in those initiatives from a social approach, has increased. This work aimed to analyze the Organizers, Producers and Consumers’ perceptions that participate in short food supply chains in ecological markets in the south of Spain. The Conventions Theory framework was used by applying a quantitative and qualitative methodology. A total of 159 questionnaires were applied (three to Organizers, 15 to Producers and 177 to Consumers). The questionnaire considered items related to social conventions for seven worlds (Domestic, Civic, Market, Industrial, Opinion and Inspired) and sociodemographic information. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyze the information. Results show that coincidences and divergences are observed in the importance given to the worlds; the Civic, Inspired and Opinion worlds are perceived similarly by the three types of actors and are related to the interest in how these activities benefit the environment. Differences are attributed to the role played by each type of actor and to socioeconomic aspects. Results can materialize into different strategies to improve these initiatives and reach more consumers.

A Relationship between Supply Chain Practices, Environmental Sustainability and Financial Performance: Evidence from Manufacturing Companies in Jordan

Pursuing sustainable development creates competitiveness for manufacturing firms in the market, however the financial pressure of adopting sustainable environmental practices is still a major concern. Few studies were found on the inter-relationships between supply chain management practices, environmental sustainability, and firm financial performance. Moreover, manufacturing companies are compelled by different pressure groups across the globe to maintain environmental standards while conducting their business and supply chain activities. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the impact of supply chain practices on environmental sustainability and financial performance. In addition, the role of environmental sustainability as a mediator between supply chain management and financial performance was analyzed to improve sustainable development. A well-designed questionnaire was administered to manufacturing companies in Jordan for data collection. A total of 376 responses were analyzed and the proposed hypotheses were tested by using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach. The results reveal that environmental sustainability was tested significantly and influenced by supply chain practices such as relationship with customers, postponement, level of information sharing, and information quality. Whereas environmental sustainability had a significant direct effect on financial performance. Finally, environmental sustainability mediated the relationship of all supply chain management practices with financial performance except strategic supplier partnership dimension. The study provides policy guidelines to decision makers while simultaneously assists the managers to improve sustainability practices in manufacturing companies.

Consumers’ Attitudes for Sustainable Mountain Cheese

The shift towards more sustainable consumptions and habits have had tangible impacts on food markets, which have accepted this challenge by offering a variety of certification systems to pull consumers aside. However, food purchasing choices are also guided by ethical, environmental and cultural motivations, functioning as drivers of food acquiring. This study aimed at assessing the influence of consumers’ attitudes in purchasing an Alpine cheese labelled with a food sustainability logo, as the mountain product brand, following a two-step approach. We estimated the consumers’ preferences for some sustainable labels by using Choice Experiments (CE), followed by a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to assess the influence of three attitudinal scales on the consumers’ behavior. The main results show the influence of green consumers’ values on the mountain product brand choice, and a strong relationship between green consumers’ and animal well-being values. In the conclusions, some policy indications are provided.

Consumer Attitude towards Sustainability of Fast Fashion Products in the UK

This paper attempts to provide an up-to-date depiction and analysis of the consumer’s attitude towards sustainability of fast fashion products in the UK. Four related strands of literature are reviewed to establish a tri-component model of attitude (ABC), i.e., Affective, Behavioural and Cognitive. A wide set of determinants for attitude is identified, including income, price, gender, culture, religion, age, etc. Based on this conceptual framework, an online questionnaire is designed and sent to university students and alumni in the UK, returning 128 valid responses. Both descriptive statistics and regression analysis (oprobit) are employed to shed light on the three components of attitude towards sustainability. It is found that cognitive and behavioural components converge across cultures and religions, but the affective component remains significantly diverse. Employment status contributes to the awareness, decision and feeling of sustainability features, but gender only matters for purchase decisions. In general, there is an improved cognitive and affective awareness of sustainability, but this does not automatically translate to purchase behaviour. Policy interventions like taxes and subsidies are still needed to foster sustainability in the fast fashion industry.

Green Packaging from Consumer and Business Perspectives

Sustainable development is a global objective that aims to address the societal challenge of climate action, the environment, resource efficiency, and raw materials. In this sense, an important strategy is the promotion of green packaging, that is, the use of sustainable materials and designs for the packaging of goods. In recent years, many research works have been published in the specialised area covering the different perspectives and dimensions of green packaging. However, to our knowledge, no previous investigations have analysed the research activity on green packaging from business and consumer perspectives. The present study intends to fill this gap by analysing all of the publications found in the Scopus database with the help of visual analytic tools, including word clouds and Gephi network visualization software. More specifically, our study analyses the impact of green packaging from business and consumer viewpoints, including some specific issues such as the design and materials used in green packaging, green packaging costs, marketing strategies and corporate social responsibility related to green packaging, and the impact of green packaging in waste management, the circular economy, logistics, and supply chain management. The results obtained reveal the growing interest of scholars and researchers in all of these dimensions, as is made patently clear by the increasing number of journal publications in recent years. The practical implications of this study are significant, given the growing awareness among companies and consumers about the importance of the promotion of sustainable development through green packaging alternatives. More specifically, the results of this research could be very useful for all of those agents who are interested in learning about the main lines of research being developed in the field of green packaging.

Does Customer Orientation Matter? Direct and Indirect Effects in a Service Quality-Sustainable Restaurant Satisfaction Framework in China

This study aims to further understand the moderating role of customer orientation in the formation of customer satisfaction in the Chinese restaurant context. The first finding of direct effects reveals that customer orientation has a positive impact on quality evaluations, restaurant image and customer satisfaction. Taken in sequence, customer orientation improves quality evaluations, which, in turn, improves restaurant image and customer satisfaction. In particular, restaurant image by itself is not significant in its impact on customer satisfaction, whereas higher levels of customer orientation moderate to strengthen the relationship of restaurant image with customer satisfaction. The authors then provide a managerial framework that can be used to guide customer orientation improvement efforts.