Katja Soyez

How national cultural values affect pro‐environmental consumer behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to link national cultural values to personal pro‐environmental value orientations, in order to investigate why the salience of pro‐environmental value orientations differs cross‐culturally. A value‐based model is proposed and tested in a multinational study.Design/methodology/approach – An empirical investigation of 1,096 consumers was conducted in five nations with a different cultural profile on the two cultural dimensions in‐group collectivism and assertiveness. The paper applies multi‐group structural equation modelling to test the moderating effect of culture on the impact of pro‐environmental values on attitudes and subjective norms.Findings – The study reveals that the influence of a pro‐environmental value orientation differs substantially, according to national cultural values. While an ecocentric value orientation is important in the US, Canadian, German, and Australian samples which hold individualistic values, an anthropocentric value orientation is salie...

Proenvironmental Value Orientation across Cultures : Development of a German and Russian Scale

The present study develops and validates a German and Russian scale of proenvironmental value orientation. Proenvironmental value orientation is conceptualized as a four-dimensional construct, entailing egocentric, ecocentric, and anthropocentric value orientations as well as environmental apathy. The first stage of the research is an expert test of indicator content validity. In a subsequent step, the authors provide evidence of internal consistency for a student sample (N = 223) and for the structural equivalence and criterion validity for a representative sample (N = 430). The structure of proenvironmental value orientation appears to be largely equivalent in both cultures, though the behavioral relevance of the dimensions differs. In the Russian sample, proenvironmental behavioral intention correlates with any of the four dimensions, whereas in Germany, anthropocentric value orientation does not relate to behavioral intention.

Challenges and Opportunities in Health Care Management

This contributed volume draws a vital picture of the health care sector, which, like no other is affected by technology push and stakeholder pull. Innovative product and service solutions emerge, which have to integrate different stakeholders interests. This book studies current challenges in health care management from different perspectives. Research articles analyze the situation in the health care sector and present solutions in the following areas: the health care system; hospitals; teams in health care; patients perspectives; assessment of technologies and innovations; and toolkits for organizing health care. All these contributions summarize pressing hot topics in the health care sector, analyze their future potential, and derive managerial implications. Outstanding best practices throughout Europe are presented in the case study section of the book. Consequently, the book closes the gap between science and practical application by addressing not only readers from academia but also practitioners working in the health care industry.

Trick or Treat: Assessing Health 2.0 and Its Prospects for Patients, Providers and Society

Recent advancements in information and communication technologies do not stop at the borders of the healthcare sector. Therefore, this essay portrays the emergence of the topical phenomenon of Health 2.0. This concept combines latest Web 2.0 technologies with healthcare-related content. After introducing a common definition of Health 2.0, the essay elevates its core characteristics of social networking, participation, apomediation, openness and collaboration. These key features help to illustrate the prominent role of Health 2.0 applications in today’s societies with two striking case examples. First, the social networking platform PatientsLikeMe.Com shows how shared patient experiences contribute to improved health self-management and support clinical knowledge. Second, Microsoft HealthVault demonstrates the potentials and limitations of web-based personal health record systems. Ultimately, this essay closes by transparently assessing the benefits and risks of Health 2.0 on the patient level, provider level and system level. Taking a societal perspective, levers for healthcare policy to encourage Health 2.0 adaption are suggested.

Adapting Scott and Bruce’s General Decision-Making Style Inventory to Patient Decision Making in Provider Choice

Objective. Research testing the concept of decision-making styles in specific contexts such as health care–related choices is missing. Therefore, we examine the contextuality of Scott and Bruce’s (1995) General Decision-Making Style Inventory with respect to patient choice situations. Methods. Scott and Bruce’s scale was adapted for use as a patient decision-making style inventory. In total, 388 German patients who underwent elective joint surgery responded to a questionnaire about their provider choice. Confirmatory factor analyses within 2 independent samples assessed factorial structure, reliability, and validity of the scale. Results. The final 4-dimensional, 13-item patient decision-making style inventory showed satisfactory psychometric properties. Data analyses supported reliability and construct validity. Besides the intuitive, dependent, and avoidant style, a new subdimension, called “comparative” decision-making style, emerged that originated from the rational dimension of the general model. Conclusions. This research provides evidence for the contextuality of decision-making style to specific choice situations. Using a limited set of indicators, this report proposes the patient decision-making style inventory as valid and feasible tool to assess patients’ decision propensities.

Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability: Ein wachsendes Segment gesundheitsbewusster Konsumenten

„Bio boomt“ – das regelmasig vom Bundesministerium fur Ernahrung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz (BMELV) in Kooperation mit TNS Emnid Bielefeld erhobene oko-barometer (2012) belegt, dass der Anteil der Deutschen, welche okologische Lebensmittel kaufen, konstant bei 21 % liegt. Insb.

How to Catch the Generation Y: Identifying Eco-Innovators Among Young Customers

In a world of limited natural resources, the need for ecological considerations in product development and consumption is obvious. The environmental impact of innovations are therefore of interest to research and practice. By developing new economical products, companies are able to gain competitive advantage and improve the corporate image. Further new market segments can be captured and ecological innovations have a positive impact on long term employment. Despite their economic and environmental relevance, the flop rate of innovations in general reaches alarming levels. The success of eco-innovations ultimately depends on the individual adoption decision of the customer. Hence, the question arises, why do eco-innovators adopt ecological innovations? To answer this question the two areas of consumer characteristics have to be taken into account: environmental consciousness and consumer innovativeness. Additionally, the present study focuses on the promising market segment of the younger consumers (generation Y) out of three reasons. Firstly, young consumers have a high spending power (Moses 2000) and they are willing and able to consume (Abela 2006). Secondly, young consumers are more open to innovative technologies (Steenkamp et al. 1999). And thirdly, younger consumers tend to be more aware of existing and upcoming environmental problems (Franzen and Meyer 2010). At a first glance the first and second reason seem to contradict the third one. The ability and willingness to gather material possessions (i.e., consumerism) has been seen as one of the antecedents of environmental problems. But if we do understand what triggers the adoption decision for an ecological innovation; the increasing green purchasing power of young consumers will be for the benefit of the environment and the society in general. To sum up, young consumers are future innovators, workers and consumers. Therefore, young consumers are a promising target group of eco-innovations. The present research sheds light on this target group by identifying factors that influence eco-innovativeness of the younger generation. We propose and empirically test an integrative model to explain innovativeness in the domain of ecological innovations. To test the theoretical model empirically a cross-sectional study is conducted. A paper and pencil survey was administered to 446 young consumers, which are between 18 and 29 years old. Structural equation modeling led to the result that joyful consumption is an important antecedent of domain-specific eco-innovativeness. Additionally, a biospheric value orientation leads to higher eco-innovativeness, whereas altruistic values reduce eco-innovativeness. The results show that practitioners and product designers have to take into account not only the benefit for nature but also the hedonic component of a new product.

What Triggers Pro-Environmental Behavior Cross-Culturally? An Empirical Investigation in Five Nations

Environmental damage is a problem of global scope. Pro-environmental consumer behavior, however, varies across countries and cultures (Deng et al. 2006). An empirical investigation in five countries answers the question how collective cultural values interfere with personal pro-environmental values and attitudes. The findings emphasize the importance of ecocentric values in individualistic societies and anthropocentric values in collectivistic societies.