Papers by Srikant Manchiraju
Management & Marketing, 2015
Materialism is defined as the importance an individual attaches to worldly possessions, which has... more Materialism is defined as the importance an individual attaches to worldly possessions, which has been considered as an important construct in consumer behavior and marketing literature. There are two dominant perspectives on individual materialism in the marketing literature that focus on (1) personality traits or (2) individual personal values. However, several scholars have questioned the aforementioned materialism conceptualizations. Therefore, the present study directly compares the constructs of personality materialism and value materialism. Structural equation modeling was employed to address the following issues: (1) what are the key conceptual dimensions of materialism, (2) how much do they overlap, and (3) what is their discriminant validity in predicting outcomes linked to materialism. We suggest these two dominant perspectives on individual materialism are two distinct constructs, as they shared only 21 percent of common variance. Furthermore, we stress the multi-faceted...
I wish to dedicate my dissertation to the most loving parents-Radha and Papa Rao. Your endless en... more I wish to dedicate my dissertation to the most loving parents-Radha and Papa Rao. Your endless encouragement, love, and support helped me to complete my doctoral degree.
ABSTRACT Introduction. Consumers are giving importance to their role in protecting the environmen... more ABSTRACT Introduction. Consumers are giving importance to their role in protecting the environment while making consumption decisions. In recent years, green fashion is booming (Cervellon & Wernerfelt, 2012). Therefore, in order to understand this growing market, it is imperative that different facets of green apparel consumption patterns be explored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine whether the consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, which has been touted as an individual trait (Bearden, Netemeyer, & Teel, 1989) and other factors (i.e., environmental apparel knowledge and general environmentally responsible behavior) affect green apparel consumption. Implications of the present study are discussed. Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses. Consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII) has been described as an individual trait, which varies across individuals and their various characteristics (Bearden et al., 1989). CSII is defined as " the need to identify with or enhance one's image in the opinion of significant others through the acquisition and use of products and brands, the willingness to conform to the expectations of others regarding purchasing decisions, and/or the tendency to learn about products and services by observing others or seeking information from others " (Bearden et al., 1989, p. 473). It has been posited that the CSII is an important bi-dimensional construct (i.e., CSII-Normative refers to conformity to expectations of others; CSII-Informational refers to tendency to accept information from others) to understand consumer behavior, which has been related to other individual characteristics (e.g., self-esteem). CSII influences an individual's behavior (Bearden et al., 1989). Environmental apparel knowledge refers to consumers' knowledge of the impact of apparels on environment (Kim & Damhorst, 1998). Studies (e.g., Mainieri, Barnett, Valdero, Unipan, & Oskamp, 1997) have demonstrated that domain specific knowledge influences one's beliefs and behavior. The social cognitive theory, which states that " internal personal factors in the form of cognitive, affective, and biological events, behavioral patterns, and environmental influences all operate as interacting determinants that influence one another bi-directionally " (Bandura, 2001, pp. 14-15), forms the basis for the present study. Based on the extant literature, five hypotheses were formulated: CSII-Normative and CSII-Informational specific to green consumption will positively influence general environmentally responsible behavior (H1, H2, respectively); Environmental apparel knowledge will positively influence general environmentally responsible behavior (H3) and green apparel consumption (H4); General environmentally responsible behavior will positively influence green apparel consumption (H5). Method. An online survey method was used to collect data. A total of 1,049 usable surveys were gathered from students (age 18-30) enrolled at large U.S. Midwestern university.
This study is an effort to understand consumers' perceptions of sustainable consumption towar... more This study is an effort to understand consumers' perceptions of sustainable consumption towards fashion, including their beliefs, attitude, and behavioral intention toward purchase sustainable fashion products, which may be used to increase demand for sustainable fashion, thus diminishing the negative impact of fashion products on the environment.
The primary objective of this study was to understand the U.S. consumers’ luxury value perception... more The primary objective of this study was to understand the U.S. consumers’ luxury value perceptions using Luxury Value Perception (LVP) model (Wiedmann, Hennigs & Siebel, 2009). The study replicated the procedure used in Wiedmann et al.’s (2009) article to validate the dimensions of the LVP model in the U.S. context. Data were collected using an online survey through Amazon Mechanical Turk. The findings revealed the applicability of the LVP model in the U.S. context and revealed interesting differences in luxury value perceptions among U.S. and German consumers. This study advances theory as it is the first to validate the latent luxury value construct as influenced by individual, social and functional luxury value perceptions in the U.S. context. The LVP model helped identify luxury value drivers of U.S. consumers and cluster them in homogenous segments. These findings may potentially help U.S. luxury brand marketers to know the needs and values of different customer segments, ultim...
The present study examined the influence of organic clothing product involvement, consumption inv... more The present study examined the influence of organic clothing product involvement, consumption involvement, organic clothing knowledge, perceived product availability, and materialism on Indian consumers’ decision to purchase organic clothing. The study adopted a mix of convenience and random sampling for data collection via an online survey. The sample (n = 351) comprised of Indian consumers with an average age of 34. Structural equation modeling approach was followed to test the hypothesized relationships between the variables. Findings revealed that organic clothing product knowledge influenced organic clothing product and consumption involvement. Perceived product availability of organic clothing had an impact on organic clothing consumption involvement. Materialism influenced organic clothing consumption involvement, whereas organic clothing product and consumption involvement did not influence organic clothing purchase behavior.
Journal of Business Venturing Insights
Studies in Business and Economics
Both loneliness and materialism have been associated with decrement in one’s life satisfaction. H... more Both loneliness and materialism have been associated with decrement in one’s life satisfaction. However, the relationship between loneliness, materialism, and life satisfaction has not been explored in the Western context. Therefore, the present study addresses two issues: (1) the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction taking into account the mediating role of materialism and (2) the moderating role of gender in the aforementioned mediation model. A research model was proposed. To test the proposed model, data were collected via an online survey administered to U.S. nationals convenience sample (N = 312). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model. Loneliness was negatively related to life satisfaction and positively related to materialism. Contrary to the expectation, materialism was positively related to life satisfaction. Materialism mediated the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction. Gender did not moderate the relationship be...
Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners
Introduction: At present, there are many subscription retail boxes (e.g., Birchbox, Epsy) availab... more Introduction: At present, there are many subscription retail boxes (e.g., Birchbox, Epsy) available for everything from apparel, to beauty products, to groceries. Subscription box retailers charge customers a subscription fee to receive box of products on a regular basis, per their preferences (Hayes, 2014). Although, the exact market size of subscription box businesses is difficult to measure, there were approximately 2,000 subscription box retailers in the marketplace that generated $5 billion revenue in 2014 in the U.S. market (Pike, 2016). More importantly, gigantic retailers, such as Amazon, Target, Sephora, and Walmart, have started to implement subscription box models for some product categories very recently. Although subscription box has rapidly emerged as one of the fastest growing retail market segments, there is hardly any academic research that investigates this growing market to explain customer loyalty and business growth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore key retail attributes that may influence customer loyalty to subscription box retailers. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development: Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-OR) model (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) was used as a framework for examining the relationships among variables, such as product-related attributes (Stimuli), attitude toward subscription box retailers (Organism), Word of Mouth (WOM), re-purchase intention, and loyalty (Response). Several studies (e.g., Dhar, Hoch, & Kumar, 2001) have suggested that consumers rely on the product-related attributes, such as price, quality, assortment, product uniqueness, and surprise element, while they make a purchase decision. Attitude plays a significant role in consumption studies and is a significant predictor of purchase intentions (e.g., Marcketti & Shelley, 2009). Furthermore, previous studies measured consumers' response behaviors in terms of WOM and retail patronage intentions (Carpenter, 2008). Based on extant literature in consumer behavior area, this study proposed following hypotheses: H1: Product-related attributes such as (a) price, (b) quality, (c) assortment, (d) uniqueness, and (e) surprise will positively influence customers' attitude toward subscription box retailers. H2: Customers' attitude toward subscription box retailers will positively influence (a) WOM, and (b) re-purchase intention. H3: (a) WOM and (b) re-purchase intention will positively influence customer loyalty toward subscription box retailers. Methods and Data Analysis: Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) panel was used for collecting the data through an online survey. The survey included 7-point Likert type scales with items adapted from existing scales to measure each research variable. Demographic questions were also included. SPSS was used to run descriptive statistics and reliability analysis and MPlus was used to run confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM).
Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal
The purpose of this study was to explore key attributes that may influence customers' beh... more The purpose of this study was to explore key attributes that may influence customers' behavioral intentions toward beauty subscription box retail services (SBRS). The Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm was used as a conceptual framework for examining the relationships among variables, such as product-related attributes (Stimuli), attitude (Organism), Word of Mouth (WOM), and repurchase intention (Response). A total of 357 useable responses were collected through an online survey, administered on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model and hypothesized relationships. Results suggested that product quality, product assortment, and product uniqueness were significant predictors of customers' attitude toward SBRS. Furthermore, customer attitude toward SBRS had a significant positive influence on WOM and repurchase intention. This study provides insight for retailers to influence WOM and purchase intentions toward beauty SBRS.
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Papers by Srikant Manchiraju