Donald E. Stem

Adoption of Internet shopping: the role of consumer innovativeness

The projected sales potential for Internet commerce indicates that businesses must understand those consumer characteristics that will influence consumer adoption of this medium for shopping. An empirical study conducted here (n = 403) investigates the extent to which open‐processing (more general innovativeness) and domain‐specific innovativeness explain the conditions under which consumers move from general Internet usage to a product purchase via the Internet. The results of our study find that generally higher amounts of Internet use (for non‐shopping activities) are associated with an increased amount of Internet product purchases. Importantly, however, this relationship is moderated by domain‐specific but not general innovativeness. Implications for business practice and academic research are provided.

Banner advertisement and Web site congruity effects on consumer Web site perceptions

Of the many approaches to building a brand’s image on the Internet, a Web site is one of the most important tools for managers. An important decision made by Web site managers is whether to place banner advertisements on their brand’s Web site (e.g. The New Yorker Web site placing an ad for polo.com). While banner advertisements are widespread in the marketplace, it is unclear whether Web sites containing such advertisements may be harming themselves by such a practice. This study addresses this issue by investigating the impact of banner advertisement and Web site congruity on consumer attitudes toward a brand’s Web site. The results of an experiment indicate that if managers include such advertisements on their Web site, these advertisements should be consistent with the Web site brand and that certain consumer characteristics should be considered. Implications of the research for brand management and advertising on the Internet are provided.

An exploration of the comparability of semantic adjectives in three languages

Explores the interval nature of semantic scale adjectives across three languages: English, Putonghua Chinese, and Japanese. Reports on a pilot study conducted among native speakers of each language using the techniques of magnitude scaling. Respondents rated an assortment of common adjectives by comparing the magnitude of the word to a given modulus. The results indicate that the traditional translation/back‐translation technique may not provide response intervals that are comparable cross‐culturally. Further, between languages the results indicate that the meaning attached to the adjectives by native speakers varies substantially. Discusses implications for market research, as well as future areas of research.

Deal evaluation and purchase intention: the impact of aspirational and market‐based internal reference prices

While there has been much debate in the reference pricing literature on the most appropriate conceptualization of internal reference price used by consumers in evaluating deals, the question of whether consumers may use different internal reference prices at different stages of the purchase process has not been addressed. In this article, we hypothesize that consumers may use one type of internal reference price to form their deal attitude and another to determine their purchase intentions. We also show that different dimensions of internal reference price are used to determine deal attitude and purchase intention and that price uncertainty moderates the relationship between these internal reference prices and deal evaluation.

Reported dietary practices and concerns of adult male and female recreational exercisers

Abstract The study investigated reported dietary changes and perceptions among male and female recreational exercisers in relation to selected dietary guidelines for the public and the diet-cardiovascular disease risk issue. A mail questionnaire was sent to 1,000 road race participants who had volunteered to be involved in cardiovascular research. Response rate was 93%. Differences in response by age, sex, and exercise frequency were examined. Respondents reported many dietary changes recommended in the USDA-DHHS “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” including increased consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grain products, poultry, and fish. A high degree of concern about dietary fat was consistent with reports of decreased consumption of red meat and eggs by more than two-thirds of the participants. Overall, subgroups by age, sex, and exercise frequency reported similar patterns of dietary change, concern about fat, and extent of effort to reduce dietary fat.

Behaviors to Reduce Dietary Fat and Related Factors in the Over‐45 Population

An exploratory study was conducted to empirically assess perceptions and be haviors related to reducing dietary fat among individuals over 45 years of age. A mail questionnaire was sent to randomly selected male and female heads of household (n = 800) in the Pacific Northwest, with a 63% response rate. More than half of the respondents had reportedly tried and maintained 25 different behaviors to reduce dietary fat, including avoidance, substitution, and modifica tion behaviors. Knowledge about ways to reduce dietary fat was widespread. However, other perceptions about the experience of, or outcomes associated with, reducing dietary fat implied that many consumers were ambivalent about this issue. Frequent consumption of a high-fat food pattern was related to failure to initiate or maintain behaviors to reduce dietary fat, limited knowledge of ways to reduce dietary fat, infrequent exercise, and relatively higher household incomes. Directions for future research are discussed.

An Investigation of the Predictive Validity of Bipolar Adjective and Graphic Position Scales

This study reports the results of an experiment that compared the predictive validity of the graphic position scale with the traditional bi-polar adjective scale.The effect of number of objects compared was also investigated.The results indicate that the graphic position scale provided an appreciable increase in predictive validity over the bi-polar adjective scale.