scholarly journals The impact of online platform transparency of information on consumers’ choices

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
GIUSEPPE A. VELTRI ◽  
FRANCISCO LUPIÁÑEZ-VILLANUEVA ◽  
FRANS FOLKVORD ◽  
ALEXANDRA THEBEN ◽  
GEORGE GASKELL
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Discrete Choice Experiments ◽  
Behavioural Science ◽  
User Reviews ◽  
Information Transparency ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Biases And Heuristics

Abstract Millions of Europeans use online platforms with almost blind trust that the platforms operate in the interests of the consumer. However, the presentation of search results, transparency about contractual parties and the publication of user reviews that contribute to the value of online platforms in Europe's Single Digital Market also pose significant risks regarding consumer protection and market competition. The current study investigates how enhanced information transparency in online platforms might affect consumers’ trust in online activities and choice behaviour. Following an exploratory qualitative study, three online discrete-choice experiments were conducted with representative samples of 1200 respondents in each of four countries: Germany, Poland, Spain and the UK. The objective of the experiments was to test whether increased transparency in the presentation of online search information, details of contractual entities and the implications for consumer protection and user reviews and ratings would affect consumers’ choices. The results show that increased online transparency increases the probability of product selection. A comparison across the four countries found that the similarities in responses to online transparency were far greater than the differences. The findings are discussed in relation to the biases and heuristics identified in behavioural science. In conclusion, recommendations are made to increase online transparency, which the empirical evidence of this study shows would benefit both users and platform operators.

scholarly journals The impact of online platform transparency of information on consumer’s choices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Alessandro Veltri ◽  
Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva ◽  
F. Folkvord ◽  
Alexandra Theben ◽  
George Gaskell
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Discrete Choice Experiments ◽  
Behavioural Science ◽  
User Reviews ◽  
Information Transparency ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Biases And Heuristics

Millions of Europeans use online platforms with almost blind trust that the platforms operate in the interests of the consumer. However, the presentation of search results, transparency about contractual parties and the publication of user reviews that contribute to the value of online platforms in Europe’s Single Digital Market also pose significant risks regarding consumer protection and market competition. The current study investigates how enhanced information transparency in online platforms might affect consumers’ trust in online activities and choice behaviour.Following an exploratory qualitative study, three online discrete choice experiments were conducted with representative samples of 1200 respondents in each of four countries - Germany, Poland, Spain and the UK. The objective of the experiments was to test whether increased transparency in the presentation of online search information, details of contractual entities and the implications for consumer protection, and user reviews and ratings would affect consumers’ choices. The results show that increased online transparency increases the probability of product selection. A comparison across the four countries found that the similarities in responses to online transparency were far greater than the differences. The findings are discussed in relation to biases and heuristics identified in behavioural science. In conclusion recommendations are made to increase online transparency which the empirical evidence of this study shows would benefit both users and platform operators.

Household acquisition of healthy food away from home

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea M. Leschewski ◽  
Dave D. Weatherspoon ◽  
Annemarie Kuhns
Keyword(s):  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Household Composition ◽  
Dietary Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information Transparency ◽  
Food Away From Home ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Value Pricing ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze households’ acquisition of healthy food away from home (FAFH) from restaurants. Specifically, determinants of households’ decision to purchase healthy FAFH, the share of households’ FAFH expenditures allocated to healthy FAFH and the share of households’ FAFH calories obtained from healthy items are identified. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey, the UK Food Standards Agency’s Nutrient Profiling Model is used to classify the healthfulness of households’ FAFH purchases. A double-hurdle model is estimated to identify determinants of households’ decision to purchase healthy FAFH and the share of their FAFH expenditures and calories allocated to healthy items. Findings Households’ acquisition of healthy FAFH varies with income, food assistance, FAFH purchase frequency, dieting, restaurant type, household composition, region and season. There is little difference in the impact of these factors on healthy FAFH expenditure shares vs calorie shares, suggesting that healthy FAFH expenditures proxy the contribution of healthy FAFH to a households’ diet. Practical implications Results suggest that increased availability of healthy FAFH may need to be supplemented by targeted advertising and promotions, revisions to nutrition education programs, improved nutrition information transparency and value pricing in order to improve the dietary quality of households’ FAFH acquisitions. Originality/value This study is the first to analyze household acquisition of healthy FAFH.

B(u)y the book: evaluation of a university initiative to provide students with funds to buy books

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-200
Author(s):  
Frances Porritt ◽  
Linda Murphy ◽  
Gemma Wells ◽  
Emma Burns
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reading List ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Purpose In the era of high student fees and intense market competition, many universities now buy books for their new students, and recently have incorporated student choice into the offer, enabling students to choose how to spend funds. Teesside University has successfully piloted such an approach with one academic School, the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law. The pilot has now been extended to all academic Schools, with all students receiving £100 per academic year to spend on reading list books. The scheme covers new full-time undergraduate students at the University, and is operated in collaboration with an external company, John Smiths. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the Teesside University Advance scheme against baseline data of book borrowing and reservation patterns of reading list titles. The paper explores the impact upon the student experience and student perceptions of the Library. Design/methodology/approach The project used a mixed methods approach. The quantitative strand analysed book borrowing and reservation patterns data from library systems and from book purchasing patterns data provided by the online store supporting the scheme. Students were also surveyed about the scheme. The qualitative strand, via one-to-one interviews conducted by the student researcher, gained an insight into why students select certain titles to purchase; and what their expectations of the university library are for the supply of reading list titles. Findings Analysis revealed an overall decline in book borrowing from the library of the titles selected for purchase by students via the scheme. Student perceptions of the library were positive and demonstrated a strategic use of library resources alongside book purchases and open web resources. At early stages of university undergraduate study, students need guidance on most appropriate resources to use and why, from either reading lists or book bundles. Originality/value Teesside University scheme is unique in the UK in covering all new full-time undergraduates and letting them choose which reading list titles to buy with the university funds provided.

Health and social care in an age of austerity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles West
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines the impact of austerity policies on health, well-being and social care in the UK. In particular, it considers the health care provided by the National Health Service (NHS) and other health services, as well as the social care that is normally paid for, rather than the wider social support provided by family, friends, neighbours or colleagues. The discussion begins with an overview of the economic case for spending on health and social care, and more specifically the logic in pursuing spending policies that carry a high economic multiplier. The chapter then emphasises the duty of governments and those working in health care to achieve good value for the money spent, citing the case of the UK NHS. It also describes five principles underlying market competition in the context of health care before concluding with an analysis of social care services in the UK.

The Film World’s Cooperative Store: Institutions and Films of the 1930s and 1940s

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Claire Thomson
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Meat Products ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Early History ◽  
World War ◽  
International Context ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This chapter traces the early history of state-sponsored informational filmmaking in Denmark, emphasising its organisation as a ‘cooperative’ of organisations and government agencies. After an account of the establishment and early development of the agency Dansk Kulturfilm in the 1930s, the chapter considers two of its earliest productions, both process films documenting the manufacture of bricks and meat products. The broader context of documentary in Denmark is fleshed out with an account of the production and reception of Poul Henningsen’s seminal film Danmark (1935), and the international context is accounted for with an overview of the development of state-supported filmmaking in the UK, Italy and Germany. Developments in the funding and output of Dansk Kulturfilm up to World War II are outlined, followed by an account of the impact of the German Occupation of Denmark on domestic informational film. The establishment of the Danish Government Film Committee or Ministeriernes Filmudvalg kick-started aprofessionalisation of state-sponsored filmmaking, and two wartime public information films are briefly analysed as examples of its early output. The chapter concludes with an account of the relations between the Danish Resistance and an emerging generation of documentarists.

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