Brian F. Blake

Innovativeness and variety of Internet shopping

A survey of 208 US Midwestern Internet users reveals, first, that the nature of Internet dhopping (IS) is a function of consumers’ domain specific IS Innovativeness, not only in regard to product purchasing (as has been previously observed) but also to visiting sites for product information. Second, IS innovativeness is positively associated with the variety of product classes shopped online, and this association is stronger with popular than with unpopular product classes. Third, the impact of IS innovativeness is in addition to, and not simply a reflection of, the positive contribution to online shopping made by the prevalence of online shopping in one’s social setting. Fourth, when IS innovativeness is uncontrolled, apparent support is found for previous contentions that online shopping is greater among those with more extensive Internet experience. However, when IS innovativeness is considered, the predictive ability of Internet experience decreases, in some cases to nonsignificance.

Goal Programming via Multidimensional Scaling Applied to Senegalese Subsistence Farms

A methodology is developed to estimate empirically the weights for a multiple-goal objective function of Senegalese subsistence farmers. The methodology includes a farmer-oriented goal preference survey and an application of a multidimensional scaling technique to the survey data. A comparison of model performance under the multiple-goal objective function with a profit-maximization objective function does not indicate that there are distinct advantages to using either function.

Retail Price Reporting Effects in Local Food Markets

An experiment involving weekly newspaper publication of comparative food store prices in four U.S. cities stimulated competitive pricing behavior without reinforcement from consumer patronage shifts. Costs of a fixed, 100-item market basket fell, relative to control markets, an average of two percent during publication and recovered with termination of the reports. Responses varied among cities, stores, and product categories. Price dispersion was not affected. While consumers judged the information to be useful and accurate, it did not induce changes in their perceptions or shopping patterns. Grocer responses were attributed to the publicity value of the price reports.

Cross-National Differences in Website Appeal: A Framework for Assessment

Based on existing theory and research, a framework for the examination of national differences in Website feature appeal is developed. The framework is applied to data collected in five nations (U.S.A., Canada, Austria, Iran, Taiwan). The results confirm the importance, when assessing website appeal cross-nationally, of considering the type of user evaluation (i.e., “elevation” or sheer level of demand for features as a group, “differentiation” or the degree to which features are distinct in the extent to which they are preferred, and “priority” or the relative preference for a feature over others). The approach also highlights the importance of distinguishing between “individual” vs. “societal” level mechanisms when gauging inter-nation differences.

The Online Shopping Profile in the Cross-National Context: The Roles of Innovativeness and Perceived Innovation Newness

Abstract A study of online shopping in five nations (Austria, Canada, Iran, Taiwan, and the USA) demonstrates the utility of the 7-facet “online shopping profile” (OSP), beyond the unidimensional indices widely employed in investigations of the adoption/use of online shopping. Further, the roles of domain-specific innovativeness and of two dimensions of perceived newness of the innovation (novelty and recency of introduction) are examined. Findings indicate that domain-specific innovativeness is a highly effective predictor of many facets of OSP in each nations sample, but call into question whether domain-specific innovativeness represents innovativeness as traditionally defined. Implications for behavioral/marketing scientists and for practitioners are discussed.

PERCEIVED COMMUNITY FUNCTIONS AND THE RURAL ELDERLY

What contributions do the elderly in small towns and rural areas feel that community services and facilities can make to their well being? An analysis of perceived community functions is an approach being developed to answer this question. An illustrative study applies the approach to the images that the elderly and the general public hold of six services for the elderly in a rural Indiana county. The study demonstrates how a perceived community function perspective can suggest ways to tailor programs and services to suit the unique requirements of a rural communitys elderly population. Implications are considered for the education of individuals concerned with the well‐being of the rural elderly.

Citizen Opinion Surveys And Effective CD Efforts

AbstractIf a survey of citizen opinions is to be valuable to a community’s development efforts, it must be designed to systematically achieve previously determined objectives. Previous discussions of using surveys within a CD context, however, have not explicitly detailed how survey procedures should vary with alternative objectives. Four distinct objectives of a survey are described, and procedures uniquely important to each are discussed. It is suggested that efficient achievement of. one goal may often work against attaining others, thereby demanding that multiple objective surveys be approached with caution.

Dogmatism, Trust, and Message Acceptance

Summary Forty-eight high and 48 low dogmatic undergraduates were led to expect positive, neutral, or negative information about unidentified foreign nations, but along with a no-expectancy control group (n # 24) they received only neutral information. As hypothesized, low dogmatic (open-minded) persons were unaffected by the prior pronouncements of a source, but closed-minded (dogmatic) individuals rejected both source and message when their expectancies were disconfirmed. It was concluded that openminded persons attended to the content and implications of a message, whereas closed-minded persons attended to the surface quality of information and the reputation of the source.

Normative Ratings of National Attributes

301 college students rated 39 country names and 345 characteristics of foreign nations as to attractiveness, believability, importance, and clarity. A number of the normative values of the national attributes were tabulated. Varied groups of studenrs perceived the statements in a highly reliable manner; attractiveness, clarity, and importance ratings proved very stable over time, while believability ratings were less so. The relevance of the national attributes to information integration, impression formation, and artitude change studies was discussed.

Performance as a function of payment, commitment, and task interest

The present study analyzes dissonance and incentive responses to being under-or overpaid for performance. A U-shaped curve of performance as a function of amount of payment was hypothesized. It was also hypothesized that Ss who commit themselves to the importance of a task perform better than those who do not, and that they are more affected by both underpayment and overpayment conditions than uncommitted Ss. For the first and third hypotheses, trends were in the expected direction; the second hypothesis received clear support.