Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

Schorn, Anna; Vinzenz, Friederike; Wirth, Werner

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-07-2021-1355

When promoting sustainable products on Instagram, influencer marketing can be an effective tool when they are perceived as credible because consumers usually cannot verify the sustainability of products themselves. However, when they disclose their posts as an ad, their credibility might be weakened which can lead to less interest in the product. Moreover, influencer marketing strategies usually focus on personal benefits and experiences, while advertisements for sustainable products emphasize altruistic motives. The purpose of this study is to investigate if the interest in the product and the credibility might be affected by such different benefit appeals.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (sponsorship: no disclosure vs disclosure) × 2 (benefit: ecological vs personal) between-subjects experiment with influencer posts promoting a sustainable travel accommodation was conducted to investigate how ad disclosures and benefits appeals affect the credibility of sustainability influencers and the interest in sustainable products among young consumers.FindingsDisclosures and benefits appeals have no direct impact on the interest in further information about the product but on the credibility of the influencer. If an Instagram post for a sustainable accommodation was labeled as sponsored, the perceived expertise and likeability of the influencer were diminished. However, highlighting personal benefits instead of ecological benefits increased the influencers’ credibility compared to appeals emphasizing benefits for the environment.Originality/valueIn addition to sponsorship disclosures, other strategies of advertising literacy might be required to show young consumers how to cope with influencer advertising. Furthermore, it seems to be more important that influencers are popular and liked by their followers than that they are trusted.

Abbasi, Amir Zaib; Rehman, Umair; Ting, Ding Hooi; Quraishi, Muhammad Ali

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-06-2021-1347

Advertising through the videogame has become one of the most effective and prevalent channels of advertisement, especially via pop-up ads – appearing on the screen that interrupts children’s gaming activity. Despite its importance, the effectiveness of pop-up ads and its advertising value in online videogames (O-VGs) to predict children’s inspired-to behavior remains scant. This study aims to investigate the underlying factors that explain the relationship between the four dimensions of pop-up ads and perceived advertising value, which further predicts children’s inspired-to behavior.Design/methodology/approachData from 196 parents who observed their children while playing O-VGs, were analyzed using Smart-PLS. As the respondents are parents, the authors took extra precautions to ensure that the findings are valid.FindingsResults showed that perceived irritation and incentives of pop-up ads do not affect children’s advertising value, whereas perceived informativeness and entertainment of pop-up ads positively impact perceived advertising value among children. Besides, children’s perceived advertising value of pop-up ads in O-VGs predict their inspired-to behavior.Originality/valueThis study contributes to children’s inspired-to behavior via empirically studying the perceived advertising value as a potential deriving source of inspiration. Finally, the study provides information for developers/advertisers about why and under what circumstances children perceived advertising value affect inspired-to behavior.

, Istijanto; Handoko, Indria

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-08-2021-1376

Bubble tea has become a popular beverage among the Gen-Z population in recent years, not only in Asia where this beverage originated, but also worldwide. This research aims to understand the motivational factors of Gen-Z consumers in Indonesia in purchasing bubble tea products.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts a qualitative methodology by interviewing 22 Gen-Z consumers living in Indonesia. A thematic-analysis approach and NVivo software are applied for the data analysis.FindingsEight factors, i.e. taste, texture, packaging, store, price, health, trend and brand, play important roles in explaining how the emotional dimensions (pleasure, arousal and dominance) created by the environmental stimuli of bubble tea were approached or avoided within the purchasing behaviors of Gen-Z consumers. This study also identified affiliation behaviors as the result of interactions between the three dimensions.Research limitations/implicationsAs a qualitative study, this research used a particular and limited context to gain insights. Hence, a broader scale of research using a quantitative approach is recommended to validate the factors influencing purchasing behavior among the Gen-Z population.Practical implicationsThis study can help practitioners to gain a better understanding of Gen-Z consumers’ behaviors on beverage products and to formulate effective marketing strategies.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, by adopting a qualitative approach, this study is among the first to explore more deeply the emotional dimensions that drive Gen-Z’s decisions regarding whether to purchase a bubble tea product or not.

Walsh, Philip; Singh, Ranjita

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-08-2021-1374

This study aims to investigate the evolution of factors that influence the current and future use of video streaming applications by Millennial consumers.Design/methodology/approachCombining technology acceptance, perceived values and user identity theory this study used factor analysis and multiple regression to examine data from a survey of 292 university undergraduates.FindingsMillennial’s current and future use of video streaming services remains driven more by social and emotional values and their effect on identity salience with their choice of content. Ease of use, convenience and monetary value remains less of an influence currently but may become more important in the future with the continued maturity of the industry.Practical implicationsThe results of this study suggest that video streaming service providers should be developing business models that recognize the increasing importance of emotional appeal and self-identity of their service offerings as the industry matures and competition increases.Originality/valueThe research is novel in addressing future video streaming service provision by examining changes in young consumer behaviour over time within a similar sample population and considering the growth and technological advancement of video streaming services. The results are significant in addressing the gap that exists in understanding whether perceived values for technology adoption of the same product or service by millennials change over time and the implications that have for product and service providers.

Djafarova, Elmira; Foots, Sophie

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-10-2021-1405

This study aims to explore the factors that encourage Generation Z consumers to turn an ethical purchase intention into purchase behaviour. Theory of planned behaviour model is applied to understand the Generation Z ethical consumerism.Design/methodology/approachQualitative method in the form of 18 semi-structured interviews was conducted on participants aged within the Generation Z cohort in the UK.FindingsResearch findings show that Generation Z has strong awareness and desire towards ethical and environmental issues. Driven in the main by the cohorts unlimited exposure to social media platforms and online resources where information is shared. Generation Z’s frugality limits them to purchase truly ethically in their current life stage. Financial aspirations from this target market suggest a future desire to purchase high value ethical items. Further trends discovered highlighted sustainable lifestyle choices within the generation. Recycling, diet choices and reduced consumption on clothing were expressed. The paper highlights that Generation Z are aware of ethical issues prevalent in society and are doing what they can at this life stage to make a positive impact.Practical implicationsThis research has valuable implications for both academics and marketers. It provides new insights for scholars into understanding Generation Z decision-making in ethical consumption. It successfully applied the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand generational consumer behaviour. The findings can assist practitioners to determine effective marketing strategies to persuade Generation Z to act ethically. The research can also be considered when dealing with government legislation when tackling social change in younger population as this appeared important factor for the researched consumers. Marketers should also consider digital influencers as part of their communication campaigns targeting Generation Z users.Originality/valueThis search offers a valuable contribution to current academic findings towards Generation Z research as ethical consumers incorporating TPB framework.

Lapierre, Matthew A.; Ashtaputre, Anjali; Stevens Aubrey, Jennifer

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-07-2021-1353

Using gender schema theory, this study aims to explore how children’s graphic t-shirts from clothing retailers in the USA differed on gendered themes for graphic t-shirts targeting boys or girls, in addition to differences for shirts that were higher in cost.Design/methodology/approachThis content analysis of children’s t-shirts included 866 child-targeted shirts taken from the online retail portals from 11 clothing retailers in the USA. Shirts were coded for gendered themes on the front torso part of the shirt and included traditional boy themes (e.g. aggression, instrumentality) and girl themes (e.g. compassion, passivity). In addition, the retail prices for each shirt were recorded at the time of data collection.FindingsThe results demonstrated that children’s graphic t-shirts starkly differentiate between femininity and masculinity based on their target. Boys’ shirts were significantly more likely to feature active themes, whereas girls’ shirts were more likely to focus on social belonging and interpersonal connection. Boys’ shirts were also more likely to display themes linked to dominance/aggression but not compassion. Girls’ shirts were more likely to tout both shyness and attention seeking. Finally, results generally showed that higher priced t-shirts were less likely to feature gender stereotypes than lower-priced t-shirts.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first known study that has looked at the marketing of children’s clothes in retail environments with a specific focus on gender and gender stereotyping.

Zhong, Yingyu; Zhang, Yingying; Luo, Meng; Wei, Jiayue; Liao, Shiyang; Tan, Kim-Lim; Yap, Steffi Sze-Nee

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-08-2021-1367

Grounding the research in the stimulus-organism-resource (S-O-R) framework, this study aims to address the research gap of explaining and predicting the relationship between price discounts, interactivity and professionalism on college students’ purchasing intention in live-streaming shopping. It also attempts to understand if trust plays the role of mediator in the effect of these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThis study collected data using a questionnaire protocol adapted and refined from the original scales in existing studies. The partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data collected from 258 college students in China. Other than assessing the path model’s explanatory power, this study examined the model’s predictive power toward predicting new cases using PLS predict.FindingsResults indicated that all three predictors have a positive significant relationship with trust, while only price discounts demonstrate a significant relationship with purchase intention. Simultaneously, the mediation results provide support to the S-O-R framework demonstrating that external factors (professionalism, interactivity and price discounts) can arouse organism (trust), which in return, generate a behavioral outcome (purchase intention).Originality/valueThis study is the first few studies that focus on college students’ behavioral responses in an online shopping environment. At the same time, this is the first study supplement the explanatory perspective with a predictive focus, which is of particular importance in making sound recommendations on managerial decision-making.

Bharadwaj, Samrat

2022 Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers

doi: 10.1108/yc-11-2021-1424

As no prior attempt has been made to investigate the role of weight-related teasing (WRT) as a source of motivation towards impulsive purchase intention of weight loss dietary supplements, this study aims to investigate the factors of devalued self-esteem, weight concerns, dysfunctional eating cognitions, depressive symptoms, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control from a generation Z perspective.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study and a cross-sectional survey design has been used along with passive research deception approach where data has been obtained from 377 obese and overweight participants from eight major Indian cities using intercept approach. Besides, verifying the questionnaire using principal component analysis and internal consistency, the provided hypotheses are evaluated by structural equation modelling and its related tests. Inductive content analysis method has also been applied for the qualitative analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate that the hypothesized factors have a considerable influence on one another, implying acceptance of all 12 proposed hypotheses. Additionally, this study suggests that generation Z individuals are swayed more by price and impulsiveness than by product quality. Even though people prefer purchasing such supplements primarily for quicker results, people fear potential health hazards in the future.Originality/valueThis study links WRT from a psychosocial perspective by focusing on youth consumer behaviour. With the limited number of works on concerned variables, this study addresses vital issues concerning generation Z individuals’ health attitude.