This study shows that gender identity affects ethical intentions. We investigate the intention to purchase ethical products through a survey study among young consumers in Italy. Measures of planned behavior, internal ethics, self-identity, and moral harm, together with proxies for individual gender identities of femininity and masculinity are included in our model of intention to purchase ethically. Results show that femininity significantly increases ethical intent, whereas masculinity has an opposite effect. These findings are robust to gender. In fact, the relations of femininity and masculinity on the intention to consume ethical products hold when the subsamples of males and females are considered. This study relates to the ongoing debate regarding the determinants of ethical decision-making and the feminine stereotype by extending the understanding of the attitude-intention gap in ethical consumption among young consumers in Italy. Finally, implications and avenues for further research are discussed.
K E Y W O R D Sattitude-intention gap, ethical decision-making, femininity, gender identity, masculinity, theory of planned behavior, youth
Purpose
This study aims to compare public and private hospitals based on both cognitive and affective components of patients’ satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 770 Italian patients from public and private hospitals was conducted. Then, hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analyses and a series of chi-squared tests were run with the aim of segmenting patients’ emotional response.
Findings
Respondents show different levels of satisfaction and a different emotional status based on the private or public nature of the service provider. The cluster analysis helped to identify two segments. Specifically, the cluster with the highest positive emotions is reported to have a higher level of satisfaction and a higher intention to return; this evidence is much stronger when a private service provider rather than a public one is considered. A series of chi-squared tests reveal that no significant differences exist among clusters based on socio-demographic characteristics.
Research limitations/implications
This study uses a convenience sample and is highly context specific, and thus the authors are unable to make generalizations.
Practical implications
Hospital managers should develop a customer-oriented approach, for example, by paying greater attention to patients’ emotions and experience, via conducting systematic surveys on patients’ emotions and improving the servicescape.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this study resides in simultaneously considering the role of cognitive and affective components on patients’ satisfaction and behavioural intention, and segmenting patients based on their emotional responses. Moreover, only few studies provide a comparison of public and private hospitals in Italy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.