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The paper examines the roles of health consciousness, food safety concern and ethical self identity in predicting attitudes and purchase intention within the context of organic produce.A conceptual model is derived and tested via structural equation modelling. Findings indicate food safety as the most important predictor of attitude while health consciousness appears to be the least important motive in contrast to findings from some previous research. In addition, ethical self identity is found to predict both attitudes and intention to purchase organic produce emphasizing that respondents' identification with ethical issues affects their attitudes and subsequent consumption choices.

This study contributes to the current dearth of knowledge on the potential of social media as a marketing tool in industrial settings, by focusing on factors that determine social media adoption by B2B organizations. A conceptual model, which draws on the technology acceptance model and resource-based theory, is developed and tested using quantitative data from B2B organizations in the UK. Findings suggest that perceived usefulness of social media within B2B organizational contexts is determined by image, perceived ease of use and perceived barriers. Additionally, the results show that adoption of social media is significantly affected by organizational innovativeness and perceived usefulness. The moderating role of organizational innovativeness is also tested but no support is found. The findings of the study are further validated via nine qualitative interviews with B2B senior managers, yielding additional interesting and in-depth insights into the drivers of social media adoption by B2B organizations.

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The paper examines the dimensionality of involvement with clothing. The extant literature is reviewed to show the origins, application and classification of involvement. The discussion focuses on enduring, situational and response involvement, emphasising the dimensionality of the construct. The research examines enduring involvement with clothing, using a scale of 15 Likert-type statements to operationalise the concept. The findings suggest that involvement with clothing stems from: (1) pleasure and enjoyment derived from shopping and (2) the importance consumers attach to the product, which relates to the symbolic nature of clothing as a means of self-expression.

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Journal of Product & Brand Management1 Drivers and Outcomes of Branded Mobile App Usage Intention AbstractPurpose: This study examines the drivers and outcomes of the usage intention of branded mobile applications (apps), revealing findings of theoretical and practical relevance. First, it uncovers the specific technological features that underpin the perceived usefulness and ease of use of branded apps driving (directly and indirectly) usage intention. Second, it outlines two key outcomes that are relevant to the strategic management of branded apps: willingness to recommend the app and willingness to pay to continue using the app.Approach: This study uses data randomly derived from a panel of one million UK consumers, analyzed via structural equations modeling. The unit of analysis was individual apps prominently displaying a brand identity. The study tested indirect relationships between the key drivers considered and usage intention, via perceived usefulness and ease of use. Findings:Consumers who view branded apps as protecting their privacy, customizable and compatible with what they do, will have stronger perceptions of usefulness and ease of use, and greater intention to use the app. These effects also occur indirectly. Furthermore, usage intention drives the willingness to recommend the app and to pay to continue using it. Practical implications:To influence usage intention, managers can improve the perception of usefulness of branded apps by protecting consumer privacy, and improving the app's design and its compatibility with people's needs and lifestyle. Managers can also enhance the perception of ease of use of the branded app by heightening its security and ubiquity. Combined, these factors can enhance (directly and indirectly) the intention to use the app, which will lead to the willingness to recommend the app and pay for it.Originality/value: This study extends previous research by examining factors driving the intention to use branded apps and the resulting outcomes. It also offers a model that yields predictions for individual branded apps (not the brand powering the app), thus providing practical recommendations on how to manage, in general, apps with a brand identity.Research on adoption has been significant, although it has primarily concerned the uptake of mobile technology in general and/or specific instances of mobile technologies, such as mobile data services, mobile payments, mobile marketing and, of course, mobile apps. Importantly, as Alnawas and Aburub (2016) remark, many scholars have drawn upon the Technology Acceptance Model (Davies et al., 1989) to understand how and why consumers adopt apps. This strand of research has consistently highlighted that perceived usefulness and ease of use are the key drivers of attitudes, intention to use, and actual use of mobile apps (see Kim, Yoon and Han, 2016; Tojib and Tsarenko, 2012;Yang, 2013). However, these aspects have not been explored in relation to branded apps, i.e. apps clearly showing a brand identity (Bellman et al., 2011).Moreove...

PurposeThis paper aims to present a cross‐national study that investigates changes in purchase intentions of UK versus Chinese consumers following exposure to successive e‐WOM comments in the form of positive and negative user reviews for experience versus search products.Design/methodology/approachA 2(e‐WOM valence and order: negative versus positive most recent)×2(product type: experience versus search)×3(purchase intentions at t1, t2, t3) repeated‐measures factorial design is used to test a set of hypotheses developed from the literature.FindingsChinese consumers are susceptible to recent e‐WOM comments regardless of their valence, while UK consumers anchor on negative information regardless of the order in which it is acquired. This holds particularly for experience products.Originality/valueThis cross‐national study contributes to the scarce literature on the impact of e‐WOM on consumer purchase decisions by comparing UK and Chinese consumers. The authors suggest that culture moderates the development of product evaluations following exposure to e‐WOM.