Taru Lindblom

Between class and status? Examining the digital divide in Finland, the United Kingdom, and Greece

ABSTRACT This article examines the digital divide in terms of access and the cultural use purposes of the Internet in Finland, the United Kingdom, and Greece. The analysis is based on data from Finnish, British, and Greek sections of Eurobarometer collected in 2013 (N = 3,009). Separate measures for class and status are applied in the analysis. The findings indicate that both access to and use of the Internet for cultural purposes are affected by a number of interdependent factors, whose effects and strengths vary significantly among the countries.

Culinary taste and the legitimate cuisines

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study a wide range of culinary tastes and their legitimacy in a contemporary urban context. The authors aim at finding out which cuisines are the most popular and to what extent this popularity translates into eating out. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data (n=1715) gathered among young adults residing in Helsinki (aged 25-44) measuring preferences and restaurant visits for 19 cuisine types. Measures for expressed legitimacy and actualised legitimacy for all the 19 cuisine types. Findings – The most preferred cuisine types are pizza, other Italian fare and traditional Nordic fare, including home cooking. The most visited restaurants by cuisine type are pizza, fast food and Italian. However, the most legitimate (both expressed and actualised) cuisines are Korean, African, fine dining and French. Several dissonances were found between stated likes and actual consumer behaviour. The results suggest that although fast food bears a stigma as socially unacceptable...

Applying the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Collaborative Consumption Intentions

In this study we test and validate the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict consumers’ collaborative consumption intentions. In addition, we extend the TPB by studying consumers’ price consciousness as a potential determinant of collaborative consumption intentions. The empirical data is based on the survey study that was conducted in Finland in 2015. Our main findings are as follows: first, our study indicates that consumers’ attitudes toward collaborative consumption are positively related to their intentions to participate in collaborative consumption. Second, our study reveals that subjective norm is positively related to consumers’ collaborative consumption intentions. Our results also demonstrate that if consumers have the abilities to engage in collaborative consumption, it enhances their intention to participate in such behavior. As a final contribution, our study indicates that price consciousness acts as determinant for taking part in collaborative consumption. Overall, our results are consistent with the TPB. Based on our study, it can be argued that TPB is a useful theoretical framework to investigate the motivations among consumers to engage in collaborative consumption.