Bahtışen Kavak

Consumers` Punishment and Rewarding Process via Purchasing Behavior

While there have been many studies of the ethical behavior ofmanagers, little research investigated the ethical beliefs andideologies of consumers. Moreover, even less is known about therelationship between consumer beliefs and ideology and purchasingbehavior. The present study investigates the extent to whichconsumers punish or reward what they perceive as either a firmsethical or unethical behavior. The research model was tested onsamples of Israeli and Turkish respondents. The results indicatethat personal economic benefit, ideology (idealism versusrelativism), economic cost to others and locus of control explainconsumer reaction to ethical, purchasing dilemmas. Moralexpectations did not influence whether a consumer would purchasein a store offering an unethical proposition. Apparently,material gain, if large enough, outweighs ones moralpredisposition. Idealists were found to be less likely topurchase in an unethical store situation. The Turkish respondentswere more concerned with economic cost to others than the Israelirespondents, apparently owing to cultural differences between thetwo groups. Finally, those respondents having higher internallocus of control were found to be more ethical.

Segmenting food markets - the role of ethnocentrism and lifestyle in understanding purchasing intentions

Previous research on ethnocentrism and lifestyle has focused on attitudinal segmentation. However, consumer attitudes may not always be consistent with the actual purchasing decision. Since behavioural intentions are more proximal predictors of behaviours than attitudes, segmenting markets using purchasing intentions might be more appropriate. The purpose of this study is to use purchasing intention to examine whether lifestyle and ethnocentrism can be useful indicators in segmenting foreign and domestic food markets. Data were collected from 1856 households in Turkey. Ethnocentrism, lifestyle (with its dimensions of fashion consciousness, cost consciousness, health consciousness, and craftsmanship) and demographics proved to be valid instruments in segmenting domestic and foreign food markets. The findings have implications both for foreign marketers who operate in or plan to enter the emerging Turkish food industry, and for domestic operators.

A conceptual model for public relations in museums

Purpose – This paper aims to present a conceptual model for public relations specific to museums.Design/methodology/approach – Based on relevant literature, a contingency model is developed for the public relations practices of museums.Findings – The model offers the market orientation level of the management and the interest level of the publics as the major factors that influence the effectiveness of the public relations programs in museums. The interest level of the publics is offered as a moderating variable.Practical implications – The model suggests that the effectiveness of the public relations programs of museums depends on two major factors. Although the interest level of the publics may seem to be uncontrollable at first glance, its negative impact can be largely controllable by managers by changing their own market orientation level – by adapting the public relations strategy to the targeted public depending on the interest level of that public.Originality/value – The model is specifically desi...

Identification of adopter categories for online banking in Turkey

This article reports the results of an investigation of demographic and lifestyle characteristics of adopters of online banking services in Turkey by using the Bass diffusion model. The results of multinominal logistic regression analysis suggest that there are significant differences both in demographic characteristics, such as age and gender, and psychographic characteristics, such as leadership, non-traditionalism, innovativeness, and practicality among the different adopter categories. Thus, new variables such as gender and lifestyle, which have not been investigated in the literature, could be introduced as segmentation variables to develop more effective marketing strategies tailored to each adopter category in online banking services.

A More Comprehensive View of Consumer Confusion: Scale Development

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to improve the existing stimuli-based consumer confusion scales to include confusion that stems from personal characteristics and situational factors. Besides literature review, focus group interviews were conducted to identify the items and a pilot study was carried out for scale purification. The simplified questionnaire is administered to 510 consumers. The items loaded on four factors, namely; confusion by the existence-opinions of others, confusion by personal characteristics, price, and product confusion, respectively. Confirmatory Factor Analysis has been performed to test the model and the reliability and validity of the proposed scale. The model fit and reliability levels are acceptable, and convergent and discriminant validities of the scale are also supported. The results of second-order measurement model test show that confusion mostly stems from personal characteristics, which is compatible with the aim of the study.