Peter David Clarke

Christmas gift giving involvement

Purpose – The act of giving a gift at Christmas is a form of consumption that invokes different levels of involvement. The purpose of this paper is to explore and measure involvement in parental Christmas gift giving and giving branded items as gifts.Design/methodology/approach – The required information was gathered via a self‐administered survey method distributed to parents with at least one child between the ages of three and eight years. A questionnaire package was delivered to five participating schools and seven kindergartens for children to take home to their parents. As a result, 450 acceptable cases were subjected to a process of exploratory factor and confirmatory analysis.Findings – The findings indicate that there is no significant relationship between involvement in giving gifts and involvement in giving brands as gifts, which suggests that it is important for parents to give gifts but not involving for parents to give popular brand names as gifts. In addition, the findings indicate that tra...

Cultural capital, Life Course Perspectives and Western Front battlefield tours

This paper argues that battlefield tours have strong religious overtones covering remembrance and sacrifice that features non-spiritual philosophies built on emotional and cultural capital. This paper canvasses views of tourism, icons, memorials and cemeteries as contributors to cultural capital. There is a view that religion and pilgrimages follow the Life Course Perspectives of religious influences on individual life stories, events and interactions. The proposition suggests that religion meets commemoration. Insights from a group of 28 visitors to the Western Front in 2008 contribute to, and support the tenets of this paper. The Western Front is a single icon built on the cultural elements of emotion, earthiness and respect rather than destination sophistication. Tourists felt the region had not succumbed to excessive or unwarranted infrastructure development that would spoil the experience. Tour party participants considered the tour to be a pilgrimage enabling the achievement of long-held personal goals, and created their own memories and heritage to compliment their family history. Ultimately, in the beliefs of Australian tourists to the Western Front, religion does meet commemoration and connects with Life Course Perspectives influences and values.

A measure for Christmas spirit

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to show that Christmas spirit is often given as a reason or excuse for the goodwill, generosity and altruism associated with the celebration of Christmas. Despite the influence of the occasion on cultural, financial and economic issues, there has been no specific empirical attention toward the structure or measurement of the concept of Christmas spirit. Research into this popular topic is important, timely and has universal appeal.Design/methodology/approach – Defining the structure of Christmas spirit drew upon previous academic research about feelings and evaluations. This research employed a process of exploratory factor analysis, correlations, a confirmatory analysis and path analysis that combined the associated constructs. The required information was gathered via a self‐administered survey method where the respondents fell within a sample frame of a parent with at least one child between the ages of three and eight years. A questionnaire package containing ...

Parental communication patterns and children's Christmas requests

Purpose – An important part of the Christmas ritual is the request tradition. Parents ask their children what they would like for Christmas, respond to a childs request or often initiate such Christmas communication exchanges. These styles of family communication relate to the socialization of children into consumption and Christmas. This exploratory study aims to consider aspects of parental approaches to their childrens request behavior within the Family Communication Patterns (FCP) typology.Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered via a survey of parents in the period prior to Christmas supported the factor structure of the FCP typology via Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.Findings – It appears that parents encourage a positive exchange of desire and opinion from children; they also question the sources of information and suitability of the gift. In this manner, parents appear to condone, if not generate, an atmosphere of open request behavior because the limiting ...

Self-gifting guilt: an examination of self-gifting motivations and post-purchase regret

Purpose Self-gifting is a performative process in which consumers purchase products for themselves. The literature to date remains silent on a determination and connection between the extents of post-purchase regret resulting from self-gifting behavior. The purpose of this paper is to examine identification and connection of self-gifting antecedents, self-gifting and the effect on post purchase regret. Design/methodology/approach This study claims the two antecedents of hedonistic shopping and indulgence drive self-gifting behaviors and the attendant regret. A total of 307 shoppers responded to a series of statements concerning the relationships between antecedents of self-gifting behavior and the effect on post-purchase regret. Self-gifting is a multi-dimensional construct, consisting of therapeutic, celebratory, reward and hedonistic imports. Confirmatory factor analysis and AMOS path modeling enabled examination of relationships between the consumer traits of hedonistic shopping and indulgence and the four self-gifting concepts. Findings Hedonic and indulgent shoppers engage in self-gifting for different reasons. A strong and positive relationship was identified between hedonic shoppers and reward, hedonic, therapeutic and celebratory self-gift motivations. hedonic shoppers aligned with indulgent shoppers who also engaged the four self-gifting concepts. The only regret concerning purchase of self-gifts was evident in the therapeutic and celebratory self-gift motivations. Research limitations/implications A major limitation was the age range specification of 18 to 45 years which meant the omission of older generations of regular and experienced shoppers. This study emphasizes the importance of variations in self-gift behaviors and of post-purchase consumer regret. Originality/value This research is the first examination of an hedonic attitude to shopping and indulgent antecedents to self-gift purchasing, the concepts of self-gift motivations and their effect on post-purchase regret.

Growing the micro-enterprise: observations from the craft sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how realistic ambitions for growth are in craft micro‐enterprise.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents observations from a series of studies of the craft sector in the UK. These were large‐scale questionnaires focusing on socio‐economic characteristics.Findings – While many owners express an ambitious desire for growth, the question of whether that desire is at all realistic is often not explored in studies. By linking ambition to the skills required to develop the product, a better classification of the enterprise is developed.Research limitations/implications – This work begins to create a research agenda for understanding growth in the micro‐enterprise.Practical implications – By focusing on the level of skill needed to produce the product, it is argued that a more workable approach to understanding growth ambitions can be achieved, while at the same time allowing policy makers to identify which enterprises to support and on which to focus li...

Retail Food Group Co-Brand Strategy – A Case Study Analysis in the Australian Franchising Sector

This paper describes a case study of the Retail Food Group (RFG) and its co-branding arrangements. Co-branding is becoming increasingly popular in franchised retailing as a means of stimulating growth in the mature Australian sector. Current franchising theories and the Australian regulatory regime are briefly examined and found to be inadequate when positioned to explain the phenomenon of co-branding in this context. This case study provides an organisational perspective of co-branding extending existing literature away from product specific co-branding to a retail format. Data were collected from company documents and an interview with senior company executive. A case study protocol was then used to analyse the data. The study reveals that incentives for introducing other franchised retail brands into the Retail Food Group brand portfolio include search for a suitable retail brand; attracting new customers; and resilience from internal and external competition. This preliminary investigation provides a starting point for a broader research study into co-branded franchising arrangements.