Dana-Nicoleta Lascu

Consumer Conformity: Review and Applications for Marketing Theory and Practice

Interpersonal influences are a key explanatory variable in many marketing applications. While individuals are frequently directed in their product choice and usage by referent others and may conform to these directions to gain group acceptance, our knowledge about the conformity pressures exerted in the marketplace is relatively limited. The purpose of this study is to explore conformity by examining the multitude of factors that predispose individuals to conform to the influence of others. A theoretical model of conformity is advanced, and applications of conformity theory to marketing practice are suggested.

Interactive effects of country of origin and product category on product evaluations

This research examined the effects of country of origin and product category on product evaluations for 21 countries and 18 products. As hypothesized, product evaluations were highest for highly-developed countries, followed by newly-industrialized, newly-marketizing, and developing-country groups. Further, the product-category and country-of-origin effects interacted such that, depending upon the country group, different product categories received more, equal, or less favorable evaluations compared to other product categories. Several variables and processes underlying these effects are identified and integrated into a conceptual model.

How green‐claim strength and country disposition affect product evaluation and company image

Green advertising is defined as the advertising that emphasizes the environmental friendliness of the product. Attributes such as degradability, recyclability, lower pollution et cetera are considered to be environmentally friendly. The research reported in this article addresses how the strength of a green claim, for example, the extent of pollution reduction claimed in an advertisement for a new automobile and the consumers country disposition, that is, the consumers attitude toward the country of origin of the automobile, interactively affected the product evaluation in terms of its greenness and company image in terms of its green consciousness. Product evaluation and company image were more favorable for consumers with highly positive country disposition than for consumers with less positive country disposition when the green claim was moderate in strength. However, when the green claim was extremely low or extremely high in strength, the reverse was true. Theoretical rationale for these findings draws upon several areas of research, for example, latitude of acceptance/rejection, assimilation/contrast effects, social cognition, country of origin, and Heiders balance theory. Managerial implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

A cross‐cultural comparison of style in Eastern European emerging markets

Torn between socially‐mandated dress conformity and the glitter of Western designers, consumers in Eastern Europe have always been interested in Western style. After the fall of Communism, fashion, led by Western brands, quickly conquered consumers, while local manufacturers started to offer quality goods. Exposure to Western brands and advertising affected consumer values: former collectivist values are gradually being replaced by individualism. These changes are occurring at different rates and vary in different market segments. Under these conditions, a study was conducted in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, comparing respondents on two dimensions of style: fashion‐consciousness (capturing individualism) and dress‐conformity (capturing collectivism). The findings support the hypothesis that fashion consciousness is highest for Westernized Hungarian respondents, who have the highest income and can afford fashionable clothing. Dress conformity was highest for Bulgarian respondents, who had setbacks in adopting a market economy and are less Westernized. The findings support demographic differences predictions: younger individuals are more fashion conscious than older individuals, whereas dress conformity is higher for older than for younger individuals. Finally, men are more fashion conscious than women. The findings on gender differences in dress conformity are mixed. Marketing implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.

Marketing in Romania: The Challenges of the Transition from a Centrally‐planned Economy to a Consumer‐oriented Economy

Describes the contrast between the state of marketing in Romania before and after the fall of communism. Specifically evaluates the changes in the marketing mix components from 1989 to 1993. Presents details of a survey in Bucharest examining how Romanian consumers perceive the changes taking place in the market in terms of product, price, promotion and distribution. Gives recommendations for marketing in Romania in the future.

How the Fall of the Iron Curtain Has Affected Consumers' Perceptions of Urban and Rural Quality of Life in Romania

Summary Marketing and quality of life (QOL) literature is reviewed to conceptualize a model of the impact of marketing activity on QOL. This model outlines how the four elements of the marketing mix affect the life domain of shopping, dealing with the acquisition, possession, use, and consumption of goods. In turn, four strategic considerations/indicators connecting this life domain with QOL are identified: the four As linking marketing with QOL -i.e., appearance of goods in the market, and awareness, availability, and affordability of goods for consumers. A large-scale field study in urban and rural Romania, a country undergoing rapid marketization, was conducted to test hypotheses and to validate secondary data findings relating availability and affordability of goods with QOL for urban and rural consumers. The findings support the predictions that availability and affordability are positively related to QOL. Secondary data findings concerning changes in the availability and affordability of goods and services, and hypotheses concerning changes in the QOL in Romania between the years 1989 and 1993/1994 were also validated and supported. The findings indicate that availability has improved during this period, whereas afford-ability has decreased. Overall, as hypothesized, these changes have resulted in the deterioration of QOL in Romania in todays marketizing economy, as compared to the planned economy, before the revolution. Finally, urban versus rural differences in the impact of marketization in terms of changes in the availability and affordability and in QOL are also studied.

A country-cluster analysis of the distribution and promotion infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe

A country-cluster scheme is developed in this paper classifying 18 countries of Central and Eastern Europe in terms of their overall attractiveness for international marketing. These 18 countries include Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. When companies examine and evaluate the potential countries for international marketing opportunity, they not only look at the demand potential of the country but also the logistics of marketing operations in the country. While all 4 Ps of marketing are regulated by the government, the availability of infrastructure for efficient distribution and promotion of products is a critical consideration for selection of a country. This is so because compared to the other 2 Ps of marketing mix, i.e. product and price decisions, the success of distribution (place) and promotion decisions is relatively more out of the control of marketers, being tied to the availability of infrastructure. Accordingly, this country-cluster scheme is developed in two stages. First, selected demographic and economic indicators are analyzed to asses the overall market potential and economic strength of the country. Next, several factors related to distribution and promotion of goods in these countries are examined in detail. Finally, the two sets of classification schemes above are combined to develop a two-dimensional country-cluster matrix (demographic-economic as the first dimension and distribution-promotion as the second dimension). The aggregate analysis reveals three country clusters. Cluster 1, the most promising group of countries (attractive on both dimensions) includes Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine. Cluster 3, the least promising group of countries (attractive on neither dimension) includes Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro. Cluster 2 includes countries which are either moderate in terms of attractiveness on both dimensions or countries with a trade-off between two dimensions (one high, other low). Cluster 2 includes Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Slovenia. Implications for international marketing and future research directions are discussed.

Online marketing of food products to children: the effects of national consumer policies in high‐income countries

Purpose – The marketing of food products to children through online media has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in high‐income countries, where children spend considerable amounts of time on computers. Most food products marketed to children online are obesity‐causing, and childhood obesity has grown to epidemic proportions, with harmful effects on society. Marketers use creative methods to engage children online, entertaining them, offering rewards and promoting products through interactive activities. Online media is monitored much less than conventional media and little is known about online marketing of food to children. This study seeks to examine policies related to food marketing in three high‐income countries, France, Spain, and the USA, and their impact on the methods marketers use to engage children.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a conceptual framework linking several aspects of the policies and the socio‐cultural environments in these countries with the design of the...

Website Interaction Satisfaction: A Reassessment

Construct identification and definition are among the primary challenges in the process of scale development. The Website Interaction Satisfaction scale (Lascu, D.N. and Clow, K.E. (2008) Web site interaction satisfaction: Scale development considerations. J. Internet Commer., 7, 359–378), developed in an attempt to reconcile the well-established e-satisfaction measures in the marketing literature and the user information satisfaction measures in the information systems literature, is facing such challenges. This article discusses the process involved in developing the Website Interaction Satisfaction scale and addresses potential scale limitations as identified by McNamara ((2013)The psychometric approach to user satisfaction measurement. Interact. Comput., 25, 294–298) and Sauro ((2013) Comments on Lascu and Clow 2008. Interact. Comput., 25, 302–303). Specifically, the article sheds additional light on the processes used to outline and delineate the construct domain and to develop and refine the item pool, and on the process used in testing the measure.

Life as A Moment: by Iacob Catoiu. Bucharest, Romania: Editura Academia de Studii Economice Bucuresti (Publishing House of the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest), 2014, 489 pp.

ABSTRACT This book is an impressive memoir of one of Romanias most stellar marketing academics, Dr. Iacob Catoiu. It takes the reader from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the heart of Transylvania, where Dr. Iacob Catoiu was born—in a storybook-like large village in a farming community known for its elaborate cultural traditions—through the anti-market and anti-marketing absurdities of communism, and to the greatest peaks of accomplishment and altruism in marketing academia. The book describes the rise of a brilliant academic through the ranks of Romanian academia, to reach the pivotal moment when he received a fellowship in the United States to deepen his knowledge a marketing. This led him to a doctoral fellowship at Northwestern University, an opportunity that created access to leading marketing academics. The narrative then follows Dr. Catoiu at the helm of a complex process that transformed the Romanian marketing academy into one able to study—and to lead future Romanian managers to successfully navigate—the complexities of the new market economy.