This paper contrasts two perspectives on energy efficient home renovations from applied behavioural research on energy efficiency and from sociological research on homes and domestic life. Applied behavioural research characterises drivers and barriers to cost-effective renovations, and identifies personal and contextual influences on homeowners' renovation decisions. Research findings inform policies to promote energy efficiency by removing barriers or strengthening decision influences. Sociological research on domestic life points to limitations in this understanding of renovation decision making that emphasises houses but not homes, energy efficiency but not home improvements, the one-off but not the everyday, and renovations but not renovating. The paper proposes a situated approach in response to this critique. A situated approach retains a focus on renovation decision making, but conceptualises decisions as processes that emerge from the conditions of everyday domestic life and are subject to different levels of influence. This situated approach is tractable for energy efficiency policy while recognising the ultimate influences that explain why homeowners decide to renovate

Purpose – The present study using the Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies Scale (CET-SCALE) aims to evaluate the level of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) and its implications on their evaluation of food products. Furthermore, it seeks to examine the level at which country of origin (COO) effect is activated (country, product or attribute) per consumer cluster of different level of CE in a food evaluation context. Design/methodology/approach – For attaining the above aims, a questionnaire was developed and completed by 274 respondents. The set of countries of origin and products under consideration encompasses Greece, Italy and Holland and yellow cheese, ham and beer. Findings – The use of the CET-SCALE pinpointed that the sample can be characterised as marginally ethnocentric. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses justified the uni-dimensionality of CE. Cluster analysis allocated the sample into two clusters, the ethnocentric and the non-ethnocentric. The results showed that ethnocentrism affects not only consumer beliefs, but also the way perceived quality of domestic and foreign products are evaluated, culminating in the appearance of COO-effect. In ethnocentric consumers, the COO effect is activated at the initiatory level of the country a food product originates in (country-specific), except when the foreign country of origin is given, where the COO effect is activated at the level of the product type (product-specific). In the non-ethnocentric cluster, COO does not lead to an overall acceptance or rejection, but instead it affects the evaluation of specific product attributes (attribute-specific). Research limitations/implications – The survey suffers the limitation of focusing on the influence of ethnocentric beliefs in food products evaluation and not on their real impact on final purchasing behaviour. Consumer ethnocentrism and COO effect are linked together, but the stimulus that activates their link differs according to the strength of ethnocentric beliefs held by consumers; that given, different marketing strategies should be applied depending on the level of CE of the target-group selected. Originality/value – Internationally, the issue of COO-effect is comprehensively examined, yet the literature has focused almost explicitly on hi-tech or fashion products and services. This fact attaches particular importance to the present study, which is concerned exclusively with food products.