Rene Dentiste Mueller

The human values’ lenses of country of origin images

By using a core element of culture, human values, the paper seeks to identify patterns in the way individuals perceive other countries and their products. Based on the above a conceptual framework and a set of hypotheses were developed. Variables such as direct contact with a country, fluency in a country’s language as well as demographic differences are included as control variables. Results indicated that human values can predict better country of origin images than other variables. However, the predictive ability of different human values was inconsistent across the two samples, suggesting that the context within which values are developed is important.

A Theoretical and Empirical Exegesis of the Consumer Involvement Construct: The Psychology of the Food Shopper

Despite the plethora of consumer behavior and social psychology literature on consumer involvement, no common conceptual or methodological framework is evident in either literature. The paper presents an exegesis of the consumer involvement construct through a meta-analysis of extant literature and an empirical investigation in five European countries, where food is selected as an appropriate application. The findings show that four of the five most commonly observed dimensions of involvement remain robust, suggesting the four-factor involvement model might have universal meaning. Finally, the conceptual and operational clarification of the construct proposes a more precise context in which it should be placed for predictive analysis.

Perceptions, corrections and defections : implications for service recovery in the restaurant industry.

Focusing on service failures can assist organizations in improving service quality and improving long‐term customer retention. This study examined consumer perceptions of their personal service failures experienced in the restaurant industry. While the study found a large percentage of the respondents to be very “forgiving” with respect to returning to the restaurant where they had experienced a failure, the data also indicate that those less likely to return had, in fact, perceived the failure as major and had judged the method the restaurant used to recover the failure as not very good. Implications are for identifying failure points in the service delivery process and identifying methods to prevent, as well as recover, these failures to prevent negative customer perceptions and the ensuing customer loss and potential negative word of mouth.

The Relationship Between Consumer Ethnocentrism and Human Values

Abstract The study explores the relationship between human values and consumer ethnocentrism. Schwartzs (1992) framework of human values is used as the basis of the study. Hypotheses linking values and consumer ethnocentrism are developed and tested in samples of consumers drawn from Turkey and the Czech Republic respectively. Findings indicated that the values relationship to consumer ethno-centrism varies across the two countries surveyed. The study also confirmed that “conservation” types of values are positively related to consumer ethnocentrism. However, some of the hypotheses put forward are not empirically supported but they provide new avenues for future re-search.

Toward Intercultural Competency in Multicultural Marketplaces

Intercultural competency plays a pivotal role in creating a more equitable and just marketplace in which situations of marketplace vulnerability are minimized and resilience is enhanced. Intercultural competency is the ability to understand, adapt, and accommodate anothers culture. In this essay, the authors present a framework of intercultural competency development in multicultural marketplaces. They discuss resilience-building actions for multicultural marketplace actors, specifically, consumers, companies/marketers, community groups and nongovernmental organizations, and policy makers for three phases of intercultural competency development.

International business curriculum design: identifying the voice of the customer using QFD

Purpose – Curriculum development in higher education must be continuously evaluated in this dynamic business environment, where business needs change day‐to‐day. The literature on the application of quality function deployment (QFD) to curriculum design is increasing, with student opinion representing the sole voice of the customer. The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative approach to QFD curriculum design by using a survey of employers, not students, to represent the voice of the customer.Design/methodology/approach – This paper applies the widely used quality management process of QFD to the curriculum development process of a major international business program.Findings – The findings illustrate the application of QFDs house of quality in international business curriculum development and best practices benchmarking.Practical implications – The results of this study are useful to any university to revise or design new academic programs. It presents a methodology to design curriculum base...

Case Note: The Evolution of Distribution Systems: A Framework for Analysing Market Changes in Eastern Europe: The Case of Hungary

Examines food distribution in Hungary as a case study for changes occurring in Eastern European food markets. The analysis is based on models of evolution of food distribution structures. Data for the study was assembled from a wide range of Western and Eastern publications. This information is supplemented by means of extensive interviews with both state and private experts in Hungary. The outcome is a comprehensive statement of the structure of food distribution at retail, wholesale, processing, and farm levels. The estimates presented here are believed to be considerably more accurate than in earlier reports. This is employed to locate both food manufacturing and food distribution within the evolutionary model; and to forecast its likely evolution. Concludes that Hungary will develop in the direction of Western food distribution patterns, and that while it is estimated to be currently approximately 25 years behind the West, will rapidly catch up. The country still needs to restructure agricultural prod...

Consumer xenocentrism in China: An exploratory study

Purpose – Marketing research has focussed more on in-group favoritism and out-group derogation (i.e. ethnocentrism) than out-group favoritism and in-group derogation (i.e. xenocentrism). The purpose of this paper is to explore the xenocentric behavior in the consumer sphere to explain why some consumers have a bias for foreign products even when domestic ones are qualitatively similar or better. As the Chinese economy has experienced more than three decades of near double-digit growth and increased openness to foreign products, it is important to examine phenomena related to the formation of Chinese attitudes toward foreign products with the rising tensions between the seemingly irreversible globalization and Chinese re-awakening nationalism. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a review of the extant literature and focus groups in three cities in China. Findings – This study has found that consumer xenocentrism (CX) is prevalent in China, especially among the new emerging wealthy classes,...

In-group and out-group orientations and their relation to formation of Country of Origin Image stereotypes

The literature on national identity and consumption has grown tremendously over the past decade and is currently of significant interest in a variety of fields including anthropology, sociology, social and political psychology as well as business. This two-country study examines three different national identity constructs (nationalism, patriotism and internationalism) and their relationship with Country of Origin Image (COI) and buying intentions. The findings help delineate national identity constructs by providing empirical evidence that nationalism, patriotism and internationalism, while conceptually similar, are independent attitudinal dimensions and, accordingly, have differential effects on various aspects of COI. The research findings also suggests that national identity phenomena are nation specific and are perhaps best studied on a case by case basis.

Applications of the behavioural homogeneity evaluation framework: The predictive ability of consumer involvement for international food market segmentation

Abstract This article proposes a framework of alternative international marketing strategies, based on the evaluation of intra- and inter-cultural behavioural homogeneity for market segmentation. The framework developed in this study provides a generic structure to behavioural homogeneity, proposing consumer involvement as a construct with unique predictive ability for international marketing strategy decisions. A model-based segmentation process, using structural equation models, is implemented to illustrate the application of the framework.