Young consumers' views of infused soft drinks innovation

Abstract

PurposeThis study has two aims: first, to develop a conceptual model for infused drinks innovation using the subjective norm and lifestyle as predictors; and second, to adapt the beverage science experimental variables and assess young consumers' experience of the taste, mood and health of infused drinks using the moderated mediation method.Design/methodology/approachUsing quota sampling, the data were collected from three faculties in a private university. The conceptual model was developed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The model was validated by the first‐ and second‐order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of SEM. The multi‐dimensional variables of the taste, mood and health of the infused drinks were computed by the moderated mediation process and the final mediation effects were confirmed using Aroian tests.FindingsThe subjective norm and lifestyle variables predict innovation in infused soft drinks. The results from the moderated mediation analyses indicate that both male and female young consumers prefer the innovation of drinks to suit local tastes and be produced locally; the drinks should also have health and well‐being benefits.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size of 350 students was sufficient but the generalisability of the result was limited by the students being recruited from one university.Practical implicationsParents may influence their children to change their favourite drinks if they are expensive. For this reason, the pricing strategy is important to price‐sensitive consumers. Offering favourite infused drinks to friends is often part of the lifestyle in Malaysia. In practice, implied recommendation is possible. If this happens, there is the likelihood that it may be communicated through the social network. Marketers should use this platform for promoting new drinks. Beverage innovators should learn from the local popular infused drinks as the baseline for drinks innovation and should innovate to suit local tastes. In particular, beverage manufacturers should consider satisfying the market segmentations for flavour lovers and health seekers. Lastly, for effective soft drinks advertising, it is recommended that beverage marketers should use trendy components in promotions.Originality/valueThe study highlights the possibility of conducting social research by incorporating variables from experimental studies. By using this method, external validation is possible when the measures are applied in an uncontrived setting. In addition, it could provide a better assessment of consumers' needs for product innovation.

Utilitarian Values and Hedonic Values of Women Coffee Lovers

“…That is, if the perceived product attributes have increased, it will affect the level of hedonic value of women towards coffee today. The results of this study are the same as research developed by (Park, 2004;Weafer et al, 2014;Drichoutis et al, 2006;Yoon Kin Tong et al, 2012;Schollenberg, 2012) which states that product attributes have a positive significant influence with hedonic value.…”

“…The hedonic value is determined by the taste and flavor attributes (Park, 2004;Weafer et al, 2014). Basically, product quality such as taste or sweetness is associated with hedonic responses (Drichoutis et al, 2006;Yoon Kin Tong et al, 2012). Hedonic value represents an emotional response associated with product consumption (Park, 2004;Schollenberg, 2012), which reflects the pleasure, enjoy, happiness and fantasies that consumers perceive (Scarpi, 2006).…”

“…Hedonic value represents an emotional response associated with product consumption (Park, 2004;Schollenberg, 2012), which reflects the pleasure, enjoy, happiness and fantasies that consumers perceive (Scarpi, 2006). Typically, taste offers satisfaction (Drichoutis et al, 2006), and sweetness is associated with hedonic responses (Yoon Kin Tong et al, 2012). So that product packaging has emotional value for consumers (Grundey, 2010), which can provide a sense of pleasure and benefit from attractive packaging (Underwood, 2003).…”

The importance of human-related factors on service innovation and performance

“…Concerningly previous studies (e.g., Subramanian & Nilakanta, 1996) have noted an insignificant relationship between innovation and performance, sizeable number of studies have suggested that greater levels of organizational innovation may lead to enhanced business performance. For example, prior research demonstrates that, unlike the Starbucks example, service innovations enhance customers' service experiences (e.g., Sampson, 2012), increase the firms' capabilities to deal with the uncertainties of environmental change (e.g., Binder et al, 2016;Brettel et al, 2015;Tsai et al, 2015), add value for the customers, employees, business owners and alliance partners (Ostrom et al, 2010;Yoon et al, 2012), offer an effective vehicle of creating sustained competitive advantage (Durst et al, 2015), and create benefits for a firm's performance (Melton and Hartline, 2010). Tseng et al (2020) found that service innovation activities should be prioritized over other features of management decision-making, while suggest that firms should focus on service innovations providing bundled offerings through the marketing activities and the value-added chains with the aim of sustainability.…”

The moderating role of trust and commitment between consumer purchase intention and online shopping behavior in the context of Pakistan

“…There are some prior researchers that consider subjective norms and their focus is on infused soft drinks (Yoon Kin Tong, Fa Tong, & Yin, 2012), intention to do job in the older age (Lu, 2012), participation in the community that purchase online (Zhou, 2011), tele-presence system (Park, 2013), and online shopping (Jamil, 2011;Laohapensang, 2009;Tseng, Lee, Kao, & Wu, 2011;Xie, Zhu, Lu, & Xu, 2011). The respondents in the above-mentioned studies were general public that includes professional and also (Park, 2013;Tseng et al, 2011;Xie et al, 2011) university students (Yoon Kin Tong et al, 2012;Zhou, 2011). According to Ajzen (1991), subjective norms have no direct significant association with the behavior of the consumers that subjective norms create intention and after that intention create behavior.…”