Situational Variables and Consumer Behavior

From the Eyes of the Front Line

“…For example, J. C. Penney lost 20% in sales during the first quarter of 2011 after radical pricing policy changes (Loeb, 2013); Dish Network outraged customers when it dropped popular channels; and Nokia's stock dropped 60% after the company embraced the Microsoft operating system and ignored iPhone (Trefis Team, 2013). In the end, the voice of the target audience determines the eventual success of any product or company (Belk, 1975).…”

Negative Perception of a Store Environment: Design and Validation of a Measurement Scale

“…Although there are several concepts that describe physical environment, there are conceptual differences between some concepts commonly used to describe environment, in particular environment, situation and atmosphere The concept of situation has been defined in two approaches respectively, objective and subjective. Belk (1975), who was one of the first to focus on the concept of situation, defines situation as "all factors specific to a place and a period of observation that does not derive from personal knowledge (intra-individual) or reactions to a stimulus and has a systematic and demonstrable effect on the normal behaviour of the consumer." On the other hand, Lutz and Kakkar (1975) Kotler (1974) as "the conscious design of space to create certain effects in buyers.…”

“…Therefore, atmosphere is the result of the different perceived elements of the environment. Therefore, while situation corresponds to a point in time and in space (Belk, 1975), atmosphere (from Greek atmos "vapour" and sphaira "sphere") is "the place in terms of impressions it produces on us, the influence it has on us" (Webster, 1979). Thus, the conception of Belk, it is about describing a state to explain consumer behaviour, but Kotler's approach is to develop this state to encourage certain behaviours.…”

The effects of brand origin country and made-in country on consumers’ product evaluations and purchase intention

“…Specifically, quality perception is measured through consumer's perception of product reliability, workmanship, and overall quality perception. When measuring purchase intention, two situations should be differentiated: buy for oneself and buy as a gift because some researchers have found that these two situations may affect consumer's purchase intention significantly (Belk, 1975). All the constructs are measured with seven-point Likert scale.…”

“…Some researchers found that situation influence consumer's purchase intention. One important situation factor is "buy for oneself" or "buy as gift" (Belk, 1975), which is salient especially in China. Therefore, the situational factor was taken into consideration in the experimental design, specifically, two scenarios were designed in the experiment, one is "buy for yourself," the other is "buy as a gift."…”