An exploration of US-made clothing in China

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-261
Author(s):  
Dong Shen ◽  
Qiuyue Wang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese consumers’ perception of US-made clothing and purchase intention to US-made clothing; to explore the role of brand in the relationship between country of origin (COO) and consumer perception and purchase intention; and to investigate whether China is a potential market for US-made clothing. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted among college students in three cities in China. A 2×3 within-subjects design with two countries and three brands was performed. Findings For Chinese consumers, country equity of China is significantly higher than the USA. However, Chinese consumers hold significantly higher perceived quality and perceived price of product for US-made clothing for all American brands. Chinese consumers have significantly higher purchase intention for US-made clothing for popular American brands with average price points. Research limitations/implications Further research could sample different groups which are better representative of the whole population. Different COOs and industrial sectors will be worth of studying. Future research also needs to quantify the potential price increase. Practical implications The conclusions can be applied to business practices by American companies identifying their brand category before developing effective sourcing strategies. Social implications This study sheds light on policy making by bringing a new approach to position US-made products in China and address the trade imbalance between the two countries. Originality/value This study deeply examines how different brands affect Chinese consumers’ perception of US-made clothing and purchase intention to US-made clothing.

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-280
Author(s):  
Wassim J. Aloulou

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between strategic orientations as well as the role played by them to impact the performance of industrial firms.Design/methodology/approachThe paper formulates some hypotheses from the literature review. These hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling with data collected from 292 randomly selected firms operating in several industrial sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.FindingsThe findings of this study showed the importance of these strategic orientations in enhancing the performance of Saudi industrial firms and emphasized the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation in the relationships of market orientation and technology orientation to new product development performance and firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study discusses the findings and advances certain limitations and research and managerial implications for future research avenues. It proposes some recommendations to help Saudi firms to choose more than one orientation simultaneously and adopt an appropriate configuration of orientations. Future research has to consider the interplay between these strategic orientations and the impacts of environmental turbulence in terms of market and technology turbulence on strategic orientations – performance relationship.Practical implicationsThe study suggests that managers of Saudi industrial firms should utilize a mix of aspects from several strategic orientations such as market and technology through entrepreneurial capabilities and resources that enhance higher levels of performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and strategic management by showing the reliability of scales used and the confirmatory of the factor structure. It also contributes to business practices by showing the importance for Saudi firms to combine different strategic orientations and provide more attention to the interplay of these orientations in order to perform better in such a transitional context.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Bong Ko ◽  
Byoungho Jin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ purchase intention toward green apparel products using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Specifically, this study aimed to compare US and Chinese consumers to understand how green apparel behaviors differ by a country’s green market status and cultural differences. Design/methodology/approach By employing two antecedents, man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge into the TPB framework, a theoretical model was proposed and tested to explain how and to what extent each variable affected the purchase intention of US and Chinese consumers. To compare the two countries consumers’ purchase intention, moderating effects were proposed. To test this model, a total of 437 valid data sets were collected at universities in the USA and China. Findings Findings indicated that the subjective norm was found to have the highest direct influence on purchase intention in both countries. Regarding internal perceived behavioral control (PBC) and external PBC, internal PBC was important for purchase intention in the US consumers while external PBC significantly influenced purchase intention among Chinese consumers. For the USA, two indirect antecedents to purchase intention (man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge) positively influenced variables in the TPB. In contrast, for China, the path between man-nature orientation and attitude toward green apparel products was not supported, but all other paths were supported. Only environmental knowledge (indirect antecedent) positively influenced internal PBC. Country moderating effects were not tested because of lack of supported evidence of invariance tests. Originality/value This study is an empirical research that focuses on purchase intention of green apparel products rather than on the production of green textiles, a topic that has received considerable attention in previous studies. This research is based on TPB with specified indirect antecedents to purchase intention. By testing the proposed model, the study explains the paths from two indirect antecedents (i.e. man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge) to the intent to purchase green apparel products. Therefore, academically, this study contributes to understanding the interrelationships among the factors that lead to purchase intention of green apparel products.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 440-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingzhou Yu ◽  
Fang Liu ◽  
Julie Lee ◽  
Geoff Soutar

Purpose This study aims to understand the influence of negative publicity on brand image, brand attitude and brand purchase intention. Specifically, the study examines the role of attribution (or brand blame) and information characteristics in Chinese consumers’ responses to negative publicity. Design/methodology/approach The study used a quasi-experimental approach involving two negative publicity scenarios (mild and high severity) and a sample of 203 young and educated Chinese consumers. Partial least squares was used to test the hypotheses. Findings A common assumption is that negative brand information has a negative influence on all aspects of a brand. However, this study finds that brand blame and information severity have differential effects on consumer evaluations of the affected brand. Specifically, brand blame negatively impacted attitudes and purchase intentions, but not brand image. In contrast, information severity negatively impacted brand image, but not attitudes or intentions. Further, the relations between brand image and brand attitudes and intentions depended on the level of information severity. In the mild-severity condition, brand image positively influenced attitudes and intentions, but not in the high-severity condition. Research limitations/implications Future research should examine consumer responses to negative publicity across different media and product categories. Cross-cultural studies should also be explored in the future. Practical implications When a brand encounters negative publicity, its marketer or brand manager should assess to what extent various brand equity components are influenced by negative publicity before adopting any cognitive-based or imagery-based communication strategies. Originality/value This paper contributes to the limited and fragmented literature on consumer response to negative publicity by examining the impact of consumer’s attributions of blame to the brand under conditions of mild and severe negative information on a range of important brand-related outcomes. Specifically, the authors find that negative publicity has a different impact on brand image, brand attitudes and intentions to purchase. The authors suggest that brand managers use this information to guide their marketing communications.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongbing Jiao ◽  
Myriam Ertz ◽  
Myung-Soo Jo ◽  
Emine Sarigollu

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of culture, personality, and motivation on social and content value, which in turn affect brand equity in social media brand community (SMBC) setting. Design/methodology/approach Online surveys were conducted with 595 SMBC participants in China and the USA. AMOS is used in SEM analysis. Findings Consumers with collectivistic, extroverted, and extrinsic orientation experience social value through social media participation. In contrast, consumers with individualistic and intrinsic orientation demonstrate content value. Furthermore, Chinese consumers show more social value and the US consumers more content value. Accordingly, the effect of social value (content value) on brand equity is stronger for Chinese (US) consumers. Research limitations/implications Culture was assessed only by individualism/collectivism, personality by extroversion/introversion and motivation by extrinsic/intrinsic. Future research should verify external generalizability beyond China and the USA. Practical implications Enhanced social and content value through consumers’ social media participation can increase brand equity. Thus, companies should motivate consumers to experience more value via social media participation, and, cultivate a multicultural climate and facilitate the exchange of culture. Originality/value First, this research redefines customer value into two components: social and content value. Second, this paper is the first to investigate the antecedents (i.e. culture, personality, and motivation) and the consequence (i.e. brand equity) of customer value in social media community settings. Third, this study illustrates differences in social media customer value experiences of Chinese vs US consumers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujie Wei ◽  
Blaise Bergiel ◽  
Lingfang Song

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility that individual differences in consumer choice of cognac are at least partially influenced by parental cultural capital. Also examined are ten value orientations factors (e.g. hedonism and self-direction) and attitudes toward France, cognac’s country-of-origin that may affect the degree of this intergenerational influence. Design/methodology/approach The survey research measures parents’ cultural capital, value orientations and attitude toward France and purchase intention using recognized scales. Data were collected from the faculty and students of a major university located in the southeast of the USA. The sample size was 234. Findings The results confirm that parental cultural capital, consumer value orientations and attitudes toward France have significant impacts on the consumer’s willingness to purchase cognac. Adult children of high cultural capital parents are more likely to buy cognac. Practical implications The findings of this paper provide meaningful insights into intergenerational influences on consumer purchase intention of cognac and socialization theory. The paper provides several managerial implications for segmentation, targeting and positioning of cognac in the US market. Originality/value As the first of its kind, this paper introduces the parents’ cultural capital into the consumer research regarding cognac. The longer-term effects that parents can have on grown children’s consumer behavior are confirmed, suggesting that parental influence persists well into adulthood and has impact on their brand preference.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Christine Babyar

Purpose Physician stress and burnout is a serious and common concern in healthcare, with over half of physicians in the USA meeting at least one criterion for burnout. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach A review on current state of physician stress and burnout research, from 2008 to 2016, was undertaken. A subsequent perspective paper was shaped around these reviews. Findings Findings reveal research strength in prevalence and incidence with opportunities for stronger intervention studies. While descriptive studies on causes and consequences of physician burnout are available, studies on interventions and prevention of physician burnout are lacking. Future research on physician stress and burnout should incorporate intervention studies and take care to avoid limitations found in current research. Accountability and prevention of physician burnout is the responsibility of the healthcare industry as a whole, and organizational strategies must be emphasized in future research. Originality/value The value of this research comes in the original comprehensive review, international inclusion and succinct summary of physician burnout research and strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanghui Qiao ◽  
Liu Ding ◽  
Linlin Zhang ◽  
Huili Yan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reveal the knowledge evolution process, research hotspots and future trends in the accessible tourism research literature from 2008 to 2020. Design/methodology/approach A total of 213 articles on accessible tourism were selected from the core collection database of Web of Science (WoS) and analyzed using CiteSpace. Findings Over the 13-year period between 2008 and 2020, an increasing number of studies have been published concerning accessible tourism, but the overall base is still small. The research content mainly includes six modules. Among institutions, the University of Technology Sydney has published the largest number of papers. Cooperation among countries involves the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia, Portugal and China. Tourism Management is the leading journal for disseminating research on accessible tourism. Definition of “Accessible tourism” and the different scope of this phenomenon are re-discussed. In recent years, “experience” and “participation” have become the “new favorites” in accessible tourism research, which could reveal insights into future research directions. Research limitations/implications The sampling frame was defined in terms of the WoS database and even though this is an important database for global academic information, in the big data era, the authors may have to integrate information from multiple sources to comprehensively reveal and understand knowledge maps. Second, because of the operational constraints of the CiteSpace software, the authors only selected outputs published in peer-reviewed journals, excluding other published works, such as books and conference papers. Finally, because of the language restrictions of the authors, this research is limited to journals published in the English language. Practical implications Practically, the results of this study made a conclusion of accessible tourism research so that the researchers can easily know what has currently been done and what future research can do. Tourism managers can also understand the demands and the constraints of tourism for the people who have barriers to travel. They can supply more specific products for the accessible tourism and further promote the construction of barrier-free travel environments. Originality/value This paper unifies the literature on senior tourism and people with disabilities tourism, and uses CiteSpace to construct data and network visualizations, including a burst and dynamic analysis for the period covered by the sample. Furthermore, this paper proposed a more diversified accessible tourism.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theeranuch Pusaksrikit ◽  
Sydney Chinchanachokchai

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of cultural differences and the types of relationship closeness involved in recipients’ emotional and behavioral reactions after receiving disliked gifts. Design/methodology/approach Collecting data from Thailand and the USA, two experiments were conducted in a 2 (self-construal: independent/interdependent) × 2 (relationship closeness: close/distant) between-subjects design. Study 1 explores the recipients’ feelings and reactions upon receipt of a disliked gift. Study 2 explores the disposition process for a disliked gift. Findings The results show that a recipient’s emotions, reaction and disposition process can be affected by cultural differences and relationship closeness: specifically that close and distant relationships moderate the relationship between self-construal and gift-receiving attitudes and behaviors. Research limitations/implications Future research can investigate representative groups from other countries to broaden the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications This understanding can guide gift-givers when selecting gifts for close or distant recipients across cultures. Additionally, it can help retailers develop and introduce new marketing strategies by applying self-construal as a marketing segmentation tool for gift purchase and disposition. Originality/value This research is among the first studies to offer insights into how individuals in different cultures manage disliked gifts they receive from people in either close or distant relationships.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco-Jose Molina-Castillo ◽  
Elfriede Penz ◽  
Barbara Stöttinger

PurposeDemand for fake physical and digital products is a global phenomenon with substantive detrimental effects on companies and consumers. This raises various questions and issues, such as whether there are generalizable explanations of purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on consumer samples from three different countries. This paper develops and tests a model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain both the demand for counterfeits and digital piracy. Respondents were questioned about physical products (e.g. clothing, accessories) from well-known brands and digital products (e.g. software, music).FindingsSocially oriented motives such as embarrassment potential, ethical concerns and social norms explain the intention to purchase fake physical and digital products, while personally oriented motives (e.g. self-identity) have indirect effects but not a direct impact on purchase intention.Research limitations/implicationsAs our results show, we find evidence for a general model – contributing and supporting our first and primary research goal of providing a theoretically robust model that bridges the gap between two streams of literature.Practical implicationsThe fact that drivers of buying counterfeit physical and digital goods are similar across countries provides justification for companies and international organizations to bundle their efforts and thus leverage them more strongly on a global scale.Originality/valueWe provide a basis for consolidating future research on demand for counterfeits and pirated goods because underlying factors driving demand are similar across the three countries studied herein.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanghamitra Chaudhuri ◽  
Sunyoung Park ◽  
Karen R. Johnson

Purpose The purpose of this study is to systematically review the practice of reverse mentoring and draw a timeline of the research over the past two decades. Considering the novelty of this intervention, this paper proposed an agenda for future research on this burgeoning topic. Design/methodology/approach By adopting narrative literature review and Gregory and Denniss’ (2018) four-step process, this paper reviewed 54 studies grounded in conceptual, literature review and empirical research published between 1998 and 2020. Findings The articles included in the literature review on reverse mentoring research were summarized according to journal publications, research methodologies, contextual settings, theoretical framework, purpose and outcomes. Reverse mentoring studies are dominantly published in educational journals using primarily qualitative and conceptual approaches to explore both academic and business contexts within the USA and Europe. Theories frequently used to frame and examine the need of reverse mentoring included social exchange theory and leader-member exchange theory. The fundamental purpose of reverse mentoring research is to transfer knowledge and to bridge the technology divide between intergenerational groups. Reverse mentoring has been used to promote inclusivity between multiple generations in relation to gender, ethnicity and culture. Originality/value As per the knowledge, this is the first-ever comprehensive English summary of reverse mentoring research done in the past two decades. Findings from this research can be used to better understand reverse mentoring research trends and directions.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document