BackgroundThe Internet has become an established source of health information for people seeking health information. In recent years, research on the health information seeking behavior of Internet users has become an increasingly important scholarly focus. However, there have been no long-term bibliometric studies to date on Internet health information seeking behavior.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to map publication trends and explore research hot spots of Internet health information seeking behavior.MethodsA bibliometric analysis based on PubMed was conducted to investigate the publication trends of research on Internet health information seeking behavior. For the included publications, the annual publication number, the distribution of countries, authors, languages, journals, and annual distribution of highly frequent major MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms were determined. Furthermore, co-word biclustering analysis of highly frequent major MeSH terms was utilized to detect the hot spots in this field.ResultsA total of 533 publications were included. The research output was gradually increasing. There were five authors who published four or more articles individually. A total of 271 included publications (50.8%) were written by authors from the United States, and 516 of the 533 articles (96.8%) were published in English. The eight most active journals published 34.1% (182/533) of the publications on this topic. Ten research hot spots were found: (1) behavior of Internet health information seeking about HIV infection or sexually transmitted diseases, (2) Internet health information seeking behavior of students, (3) behavior of Internet health information seeking via mobile phone and its apps, (4) physicians’ utilization of Internet medical resources, (5) utilization of social media by parents, (6) Internet health information seeking behavior of patients with cancer (mainly breast cancer), (7) trust in or satisfaction with Web-based health information by consumers, (8) interaction between Internet utilization and physician-patient communication or relationship, (9) preference and computer literacy of people using search engines or other Web-based systems, and (10) attitude of people (especially adolescents) when seeking health information via the Internet.ConclusionsThe 10 major research hot spots could provide some hints for researchers when launching new projects. The output of research on Internet health information seeking behavior is gradually increasing. Compared to the United States, the relatively small number of publications indexed by PubMed from other developed and developing countries indicates to some extent that the field might be still underdeveloped in many countries. More studies on Internet health information seeking behavior could give some references for health information providers.

No abstract

This study examines customization as a coordination problem in transactions with business customers. Marketing research has investigated challenges associated with customized offers from the customer side; however, scant research has examined the supplier's challenges and their performance implications. The authors distinguish between project revenues and costs to reveal a fundamental dilemma that suppliers face during customization. Analyses of dyadic survey data collected from a software supplier and its business customers, as well as objective revenue and cost data, reveal a tension between project revenues and costs. The outcomes of customization depend on factors that relieve the coordination problem, such as customer demand ambiguity, customer participation, product modularity, project team technological capability, and relational embeddedness. These findings provide a basis to assess the value of customization as a tool to implement a customer-oriented business-to-business marketing strategy.

No abstract

Purpose Global brands are attracted to emerging markets because of increasing wealth among their middle classes. However, amid increasing levels of consumer financial stress in many emerging markets, evidence points towards increased preferences for domestic products. The purpose of this paper is to examine the psychological constructs that mediate and moderate the relationship between reduced perceived financial well-being (PFWB) and domestic product purchases. Design/methodology/approach The authors develop a model drawing from three theoretical perspectives: consumer stress and coping, consumer information processing and social identity theory. Hypotheses are tested via structural equation modelling and moderated mediation analyses using data from a survey of Brazilian consumers (n=1,043). Findings Results show that the positive relationship between reduced PFWB and domestic product purchases is partially mediated by perceived value of global brands and frugality descriptive norm. Further analyses demonstrate that consumer confidence moderates the mediating effects of perceived value of global brands and pro-social consumer ethnocentrism on the relationship between reduced PFWB and domestic product purchases. Research limitations/implications The antecedents of domestic product purchases identified in this study indicate opportunities for marketers of domestic and foreign products to respond to reduced PFWB, especially in relation to pricing, branding and communications. Future research should examine implications of PFWB on different populations, including other emerging markets, developed markets and lower-income consumers. Originality/value This study contributes to international marketing literature by examining the hitherto unexplored influence of reduced PFWB on domestic product purchases.

No abstract

No abstract

The belief that consumer confidence exerts a positive effect on conspicuous consumption has been propagated by prominent research and consultancy firms (e.g., Boston Consulting Group, 2020;Euromonitor, 2020; McKinsey & Company, 2020). Amid a precipitous decline in global consumer confidence (Financial Times, 2020), Felsted (2020) opines that "in leaner times, luxury tends to become more discreet and that's a worry for those brands that have made the logo, such as Gucci's double G, a key element of their look". But is there really a link between consumer confidence and conspicuous consumption? If so, which psychological mechanisms underlie this relationship?Examining the relationship between consumer confidence and conspicuous consumption is important for two main reasons. First, conspicuous consumption has salient downstream consequences for a range of stakeholders, including economists, marketers and sociologists. From an economic perspective, conspicuous consumption is worth approximately US$290 billion to the global economy (Goenka & Thomas, 2020). From a marketing perspective, changes in consumer proclivity towards conspicuous consumption have implications for branding (Jacob et al., 2020), product design (Greenberg et al., 2020), pricing (Rao & Schaefer, 2013) and even front-line employee dress codes (Mende et al., 2018). From a social perspective, conspicuous consumption associates with a range of consequences, including environmental issues (McCollough, 2020), crime (Mejia & Restrepo, 2016), social relationships (Cannon & Rucker, 2019) and other behaviours subject to moral judgement (Goenka & Thomas, 2020). Therefore, tracking trends in consumer confidence data have the potential to help relevant stakeholders anticipate and perhaps mitigate, changes in these important issues.Second, research on the nomological network of consumer confidence is required amid debate about its efficacy as a predictor of consumer behaviour. Although a substantial body of research empirically demonstrates the predictive validity of consumer confi-