Impact of Pricing and Product Information on Consumer Buying Behavior With Customer Satisfaction in a Mediating Role

The relationship between product pricing and product packaging plays an important role in the buying behavior of consumers, whereas customer satisfaction plays a mediating role. To test these hypotheses, research was conducted on university students in China. Questionnaire-based convenience sampling was conducted on 500 students for data collection using online and offline sources. A total of 367 (73%) students responded, and 17 questionnaires were rejected due to missing information. SPSS and AMOS software were used for the data analysis. Product pricing and product information were independent variables in this study, whereas consumer buying behavior was a dependent variable. Customer satisfaction is mediated by one dependent and two independent variables. Confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and discriminant validity in structural equation modeling revealed that product pricing and packaging had a statistically significant relationship with the buyer decision process. The introduction of satisfaction as a mediating variable led to the observation of full mediation in the case of product pricing and partial mediation in product packaging. Given the results of this research, product managers should adopt pricing tactics along with product packaging to influence the buying intentions of consumers.

A Composite Catalog of Damaging Earthquakes for Mainland China

We have developed a Mainland China Composite Damaging Earthquake Catalog (MCCDE-CAT), which contains seismic source and socioeconomic damage information, population exposure, and seismic intensity maps of earthquakes that occurred from 1950 to 2018. The completeness and consistency of the data in past damaging earthquake catalogs are crucial to better understanding the damage to our social and economic system from future earthquakes. Although many disaster databases are currently available worldwide, they show a serious lack of data and no consistency. To develop the MCCDE-CAT, we cross-checked and integrated earthquake damage information based on six kinds of earthquake catalogs for Mainland China. Missing information in these catalogs was supplied from records in journal publications and reports published by the government and relevant institutions. We also performed a statistical analysis of the data in the MCCDE-CAT and preliminarily discuss the temporal and spatial characteristics of earthquake disasters and socioeconomic losses in Mainland China. The MCCDE-CAT will contribute to loss estimation for damaging earthquakes, earthquake-related product pricing in the reinsurance industry, and other related fields. More importantly, the MCCDE-CAT will be publicly accessible and provide a basis for researchers to pursue other earthquake disaster-related studies.