Executives' attitudes toward consumerism and marketing: An exploration of theoretical and emperical linkages in an industrializing country

International Perspective: Business Education and Its Influence on Attitudes to Business, Consumerism, and Government in Saudi Arabia

“…The questionnaire was adopted from the literature (Barksdale et al, 1982;Thirunarayana, 1994). It included 36 statements for response on a Likerttype scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).…”

“…In general, if consumers are content with business practices, they will have favorable attitudes toward business activities and unfavorable attitudes about consumerism and government regulations. Although consumers generally have unfavorable attitudes toward business practices, they are uncertain whether consumerism and government regulation can control and mitigate business malpractice (Barksdale et al, 1982;Fornell, 1992;Ger & Belk, 1996;Varadarajan, Bharadwaj, & Thirunarayana, 1994).…”

“…Because consumerism is in conflict with the essence of the capture theory or self-interest theory (Cox, 1998), business majors are more likely to view consumer-related issues unfavorably. They are also more likely to view government regulations as adding unnecessary costs to businesses while preventing them from operating more effectively and efficiently (Cox, 1998;Varadarajan, Bharadwaj, & Thirunarayana, 1994;Venkatesh & Burger, 1984). Given this background, we developed the following hypotheses: H,: In Saudi Arabia, business majors are more favorably predisposed to business philosophy, product quality, advertising, and marketing practices than are nonbusiness majors.…”

“…Previous research identifies four dimensions of consumer attitudes toward business: business philosophy, product quality, advertising, and marketing practices (Varadarajan, Bharadwaj, & Thirunarayana, 1994). We discuss these in the context of Saudi Arabia.…”

Corporate Social Action Patterns in Contrasting Market Settings

“…The marketing mix variables reflect the need for firms to be conscious of fulfilling consumers' desires for environmentally friendly products, transparent pricing policies, ethical advertising, and sustainable distribution systems (Varadarajan et al, 1991(Varadarajan et al, , 1994.…”