The consumer purchase of environmentally friendly products like organic food is essential to environmental sustainability. This study applies the unique food-related lifestyles (FRL) approach to segment organic food consumers in Vietnam, a country in which there is increasing concern about food safety and quality. The FRL model was intentionally selected because it enables better understanding of how consumers employ food and its culinary aspects to achieve certain values in their lives. Data were obtained from 203 organic food consumers, and a two-step cluster analysis established three identifiable market segments which we named “Conservatives”, “Trendsetters”, and “Unengaged”. The Conservatives were interested in the health aspects of food and preferred natural products. The Trendsetters were interested in healthy food, liked to cook, and held a positive attitude toward organic food and local food products. The Unengaged consumers were not concerned about food-related issues, and they reported the least consumption of organic food. The findings of this study have important academic and practical implications for marketers, policymakers, organizations dealing with food, and socio-environmental organizations that aim to promote organic food consumption. Importantly, marketing efforts should focus on enhancing consumers’ knowledge about organic food and their love of cooking, as well as ensuring adequate availability of organic food.
Purpose: Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study aims to apply a mixed-method to enrich the literature by investigating interrelationships among training, environmental triggers (environmental knowledge, awareness and concern) and employees' intention to carry out environmental activities.Design/methodology/approach: This research applied a mixed-method carried out in Vietnam. By using the time-lagged data, Study 1 (quantitative research) was employed to test hypotheses. With Study 2 (qualitative research), four in-depth interviews were conducted to gain insight into a few unexpected findings from Study 1.Findings: Study 1 indicates that environmental training is critical to directly boost not only the three environmental triggers but also employees' intention to engage in environmental activities. The findings further point out that environmental concern and awareness mediate the relationship between environmental training and employees' intention to engage in environmental activities. Unexpectedly, connections from environmental concern and awareness to employees' intentions were not moderated by environmental knowledge. The findings of Study 2 shed light on the role of environmental knowledge.Originality/value: Based on the conservation of resources and social exchange theories, the research contributes to the existing literature by providing a better understanding of how environmental training stimulates employees' intention to implement environmental activities. The findings may be helpful for managers to encourage employees to contribute to organizations' green objectives.
4 May 2022 in Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research
Anchoring on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) and Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) theories, this research aims to investigate the mechanism through which three green AMO components (i.e. green ability, green motivation, green opportunity) affect green electronic word-of-mouth (green eWOM). A mediation and moderation model that integrates the green AMO components with green attitudes and green eWOM was developed and then validated with data from 600 tourists in an emerging market. Multivariate data analysis reveals that the three green AMO components affect tourists’ green eWOM directly and also indirectly via green attitudes. Moreover, green ability positively moderates the green motivation-green eWOM relationship.
6 March 2024 in Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility
Research examining the antecedents of recalls, instead of their consequences, is relatively sparse and has not considered whether firms’ likelihood to recall products is influenced by legal changes that could induce managerial opportunism, such as those reducing shareholder litigation risk. To examine this question, the authors exploit the staggered adoption of universal demand (UD) laws across several U.S. states as a quasi-natural experiment. UD laws aim to prevent frivolous litigation from disrupting a firm's normal business operations by making it more difficult for shareholders to sue managers for neglecting their fiduciary duties and hold them personally liable. Although UD laws are well-intended, the reduced threat of shareholder litigation disciplining a firm's managers could have unintended negative consequences. Indeed, using a difference-in-differences analysis, the authors find that following the adoption of UD laws, affected firms become less likely to recall products. This effect is weaker in the presence of organizational mechanisms constraining managers’ self-interest-seeking behavior, such as a corporate culture focused on customer needs and interests or the exercise of normative control through monitoring by institutional investors. The authors do not find support for a potential alternative explanation of operational improvement and therefore higher product quality driving their findings.