John J. Painter

Motivational Influences on “Buy Domestic” Purchasing: Marketing Management Implications from a Study of Two Nations

“Buy domestic” promotions in various countries often urge citizens to help domestic workers whose jobs are threatened by imports. To explain why purchasers might engage in buy domestic purchase activities, the authors develop and test a model that features six explanatory constructs drawn from previous behavioral research about why people help distressed victims. The authors use multiple-group structural equation analysis of survey data from Portugal and the United States to test the model. The results strongly support the model and are quite consistent for both nations. In both nations, supportive purchase-related behavior increases as purchasers feel competent to help; believe that the threat from imports is salient; perceive social influences that support helping; hold values that derogate foreigners but support domestic citizens; and, for the United States only, perceive lower personal costs of helping. These findings suggest implications for buy domestic promotions.

A New Explanation for Students’ Course Evaluation Tendencies

This study of the student course evaluation process discovered significant correlations between course ratings and variables representing commitment and course-end attitudes toward the course. It found relationships of lesser significance for attitude change measures, while demographics provided generally nonsignificant correlations. Stepwise regression equations developed for their power to predict course ratings relied most heavily on course-end attitude variables. Factor analysis of the variable set revealed 6 factors underlying the course evaluation structure studied, and this analysis guided formulation of new regression equations having reduced predictive power but greater independence among included predictor variables. Conclusions focused on the study’s contributions to understanding the course evaluation process and suggested steps an instructor might take to improve his ratings.

Preferred Solutions to the Energy Crisis as a Function of Causal Attributions

Results of two studies support the hypotheses that those accepting personal responsibility for the energy crisis favor and report adopting the personal “solution” of voluntary energy conservation, and those making attributions to nonpersonal causes (OPEC, oil companies, U.S. government) are most likely to favor nonpersonal solutions. Implications are discussed.

Is there a generalized energy conservation ethic? A comparison of the determinants of gasoline and home heating energy conservation

Abstract The body of research that has attempted to identify and characterize the “ecologically concerned” or “socially responsible” consumer is challenged for its assumption that this is a single group sharing a general disposition to conserve. Based on a comparison of gasoline and home heating energy conservers from a single sample, evidence is provided that these are two unique groups and that those who are conservers in both areas form a third unique group that is closer to the original notion of a generalized conservation ethic. Implications are discussed for future research focusing on energy conservation and social responsibility.

Consistency Theory as an Explanation of Students’ Course Evaluation Tendencies

In an attempt to gain insight into factors influencing college course evaluations, 759 students were questioned at both the beginning and end of the term concerning their feelings about the instructor and course, and about their expectations concerning their grade achievement. Propensity to revise grade expectation over the term did not relate to propensity to revise course evaluation. Those who did revise grade expectation, however, significantly more often than not shifted their evaluation in the same direction. This change in expected grade related more closely to evaluation change than did measures employing grade deserved and actual grade received

Segmenting the Retail Market Using Shoppers’ Participation in Consumer Logistics, Self-Perception, and Demographics

Recognizing the value of understanding shoppers’ participation in distribution, scholars have conceptualized this domain of activity and called it consumer logistics (CL), consumers’ participation in the movement and handling of goods from the point of acquisition to the point of consumption or final disposal. At the present stage of research into CL, it is appropriate to empirically investigate the relationship between participation in the functions of CL and various characteristics of shoppers. Therefore, this study uses survey data to (1) portray retail market segments jointly in terms of shoppers’ CL participation and their personal characteristics and (2) suggest implications of the findings for retailers. In particular, this study considers consumers’ self-perception as shoppers and their involvement in food preparation, supplemented by demographics relevant to retail strategy.

If There were a Trade War, Who Would Join the Battle?

This study explores certain influences on Americans’ willingness to purchase domestic (vs. foreign) film and automobiles within the context of the 1995 confrontation over access to Japanese markets. Results show a willingness to buy domestic related to certain attitudes toward international trade and ethnocentrism, nationalism, and cultural exposure.

Gender Role and Participation in Shopping Behavior: Power, Time Availability, and Ideology

Previous studies have considered many variables in seeking to understand consumers’ participation in the shopping-related tasks of their household. This study investigates the ability of three gender-role constructs to explain overall participation in consumer logistics (CL), a form of shopping-related behavior that is the household’s counterpart of business logistics. Analyses of survey data from 202 married persons shows participation in CL can be explained by married persons’ relative power and relative time availability, but not by their gender-role ideology.