Consumer acceptance

In recent years the Australian stone-fruit industry has experienced low and at times negative growth in domestic and export sales due to variable fruit quality, oversupply and increased competition from global suppliers. The aim of this study was to identify Australian consumer preferences to the main interactions between sweetness, acidity and firmness for fresh stone-fruit. Two peach (Snow Fire and Summer Flame 29) and two nectarine (August Fire and Fire Sweet) cultivars (both representing low and high-acidity) were stored and ripened prior to hand sorting into two firmness categories (firm and soft). Separation of fruit into firmness categories was confirmed non-destructively with an acoustic firmness sensor (AWETA). Fruit were then sorted into two sweetness categories (high and low) using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR). Melbourne consumers (n=150) recruited from a major shopping centre tasted fruit and their hedonic responses recorded. Consumers preferred high acid peaches and low acid nectarines. Fruit firmness was the main driver of consumer liking, with acceptance and purchase intent for soft fruit rating significantly higher than firm fruit, irrespective of acid content. Consumer scores for firm peaches were not significantly affected by acid content whereas firm nectarines with low acid achieved significantly higher scores than firm nectarines with high acid within the same sweetness band. Fruit from the sweeter category were preferred over fruit from the lower sweetness category and the effect of high sweetness was more evident in firmer peaches and soft nectarines. This study demonstrates a strong interaction between consumer preferences and fruit firmness. The preference for both sweet and soft fruit presents a major challenge to the industry.

Product-Service Systems (PSS) or Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) have been heralded as one of the ways to achieve sustainable consumption and production. PSS can lower environmental impact and enable the circular economy. However, low consumer acceptance has hindered the success of this business model. This paper analyses what determines consumer acceptance of PSS in the business-to-consumer context. This was done by examining the most important attributes of PSS, how consumers value these attributes and how this is related to their consumers' inherent characteristics. To answer the research questions, 18 interviews were held with PSS experts, that were consecutively complemented with a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) among 1061 Dutch consumers. It was found that consumer acceptance of a product-service system was mainly influenced by eleven attributes of a proposition, whereof only seven were directly included in this study on laundry solutions. To show the influence of preferences for a laundry solution, the attributes were investigated on the basis of utility and importance scores. Furthermore, the discrete choice experiment allowed to test for heterogeneity among preferences for a PSS by identifying latent classes. Five different latent classes of consumers were identified, these were then described according to their characteristics. Lastly, this study investigated which consumer characteristics variables had the most effect on the choice for a laundry solution. Future studies should take the utility and importance scores, variables, and latent classes into account, in order to improve the product-market fit with the consumer. This research contributes to a better alignment of consumer needs' with PSS-propositions. Ultimately benefitting the consumer acceptance and adoption of such propositions, increasing the performance of PSS and potentially contributing to the circular economy. [Masterthesis - Anonymized]

Smart packaging, an emerging technology in the food packaging industry incorporates both active and intelligent technologies. Consumer demand for natural products and increasingly extended and diverse supply chains required to feed the growing global population, mean that traditional packaging is becoming less capable of meeting the functional demands placed on it. To help ensure the commercial success of proposed smart packaging technologies a thorough understanding of consumers attitudes toward them is required. Understanding the cultural, social and cognitive factors that affect acceptance will help "fine tune" smart packaging development to best meet consumer preferences and needs and ensure that communication about the technologies effectively addresses consumer concerns and educates them on the benefits. This systematic review of 28 peer reviewed journal articles summarizes the current knowledge on consumer acceptance or rejection of active and intelligent packaging, and the behavioral forces behind those attitudes. Articles containing primary data and published in the English language over the last 10 years reporting consumer responses to active and/or intelligent packaging technologies in general or to more specific technologies that achieved the functional goals of active or intelligent packaging were obtained and analyzed for themes in the qualitative data analysis software NVivo. Themes were organized into groups as to whether they identified control variables, moderating variables, barriers or motivations to purchase and the benefits of the technology. To develop a conceptual framework for understanding consumer preferences for smart packaging, the identified themes were integrated with several consumer behavior models including the theory of planned behavior and an attitude model. Consumer perceptions of smart packaging is a poorly covered research area with most research being clustered in Europe and a smaller cluster in the Americas so there were significant opportunities to build on the body of knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to determine the antecedents of consumers’ perception towards online advertising in Malaysia. This research has been developed a framework by reviewing the existing literatures available in the same field. Altogether 526 respondents have been selected as a final sample size. This research uses survey method in this study because my purpose of the study is to generalize the findings from the sample to population. The current study used Statistical Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and AMOS Software Package to analyze the data. The results of this study provide evidence that increased consumer perception is associated with increased online advertising. There is a direct positive, significant relationship between consumer perception and online advertising of the respondents in the online advertising in Malaysia. It was also found that all sub dimensions of consumer perception positively and significantly affect to online advertising and its dimensions. Besides, the results indicated the significant positive relationships between consumer perception and consumer acceptance. On the other hand, a significant weak relationship was found between consumer acceptance and online advertising. However, the consumer satisfaction has not correlated significantly with online advertising of the respondents in the online advertising in Malaysia. Future studies can be extended to check the applicability and relevance of consumer perception within Malaysia using different samples from different sectors, occupations and so on.

The objective of this research is to highlight and explore factors affecting consumers' intentions for accepting online shopping. It is important to find out variables that impede Egyptian consumers' intentions for accepting online purchase. The research approached a convenient sample out of the internet consumers' population. An online survey was administered to collect data. The initial interviews with Egyptian online vendors and literature review showed that the important independent factors that affect Egyptian consumers' intentions for accepting internet shopping, as dependent variable, were: (1)the trust in website, (2)e-service quality, (3)consumers attitude toward online shopping and the consumers demographic characteristics as moderating variables. The research findings pointed out that all the demographic characteristics had significant impact on the consumers' intentions for online shopping, Men were more oriented for accepting online shopping compared to women, consumers aged between 36 to 45 years old were having the highest intentions to accept online shopping, Consumers experience with the internet was a very significant factor and was positively correlated with the intentions for accepting online shopping, graduates were having more intentions for online shopping compared with MBA/MSC and PhD holders, and Trust, e-service quality and Consumers attitude toward online shopping were positively and significantly correlated to consumers' intentions.

Smart packaging, an emerging technology in the food packaging industry incorporates both active and intelligent technologies. Consumer demand for natural products and increasingly extended and diverse supply chains required to feed the growing global population, mean that traditional packaging is becoming less capable of meeting the functional demands placed on it. To help ensure the commercial success of proposed smart packaging technologies a thorough understanding of consumers attitudes toward them is required. Understanding the cultural, social and cognitive factors that affect acceptance will help "fine tune" smart packaging development to best meet consumer preferences and needs and ensure that communication about the technologies effectively addresses consumer concerns and educates them on the benefits. This systematic review of 28 peer reviewed journal articles summarizes the current knowledge on consumer acceptance or rejection of active and intelligent packaging, and the behavioral forces behind those attitudes. Articles containing primary data and published in the English language over the last 10 years reporting consumer responses to active and/or intelligent packaging technologies in general or to more specific technologies that achieved the functional goals of active or intelligent packaging were obtained and analyzed for themes in the qualitative data analysis software NVivo. Themes were organized into groups as to whether they identified control variables, moderating variables, barriers or motivations to purchase and the benefits of the technology. To develop a conceptual framework for understanding consumer preferences for smart packaging, the identified themes were integrated with several consumer behavior models including the theory of planned behavior and an attitude model. Consumer perceptions of smart packaging is a poorly covered research area with most research being clustered in Europe and a smaller cluster in the Americas so there were significant opportunities to build on the body of knowledge.

The demand for the history of food is increasing. The used food traceability systems also provide this kind of information, but the appearance of blockchain could open new opportunities in this field. To set up a new food tracking system cost a lot and presumably the companies devolution it's costs on the consumers. To see their openness we examined the previous studies. According to these papers, the interest of the costumers is mixed. There are studies where a huge percentage of the surveyed want more information but the extra fee what the new system would cause should be not so much higher than the original price. Based on the available information the forecast of a new food tracking system was made with Anylogic simulation software that showed a lack of interest from the consumers' side. The reason could be the low rate of the advertisements' effectiveness and the high premium price of extra information as well.

The objective of this research is to highlight and explore factors affecting consumers' intentions for accepting online shopping. It is important to find out variables that impede Egyptian consumers' intentions for accepting online purchase. The research approached a convenient sample out of the internet consumers' population. An online survey was administered to collect data. The initial interviews with Egyptian online vendors and literature review showed that the important independent factors that affect Egyptian consumers' intentions for accepting internet shopping, as dependent variable, were: (1)the trust in website, (2)e-service quality, (3)consumers attitude toward online shopping and the consumers demographic characteristics as moderating variables. The research findings pointed out that all the demographic characteristics had significant impact on the consumers' intentions for online shopping, Men were more oriented for accepting online shopping compared to women, consumers aged between 36 to 45 years old were having the highest intentions to accept online shopping, Consumers experience with the internet was a very significant factor and was positively correlated with the intentions for accepting online shopping, graduates were having more intentions for online shopping compared with MBA/MSC and PhD holders, and Trust, e-service quality and Consumers attitude toward online shopping were positively and significantly correlated to consumers' intentions.

Jam products were prepared from mango and pineapple fruits separately. The pulp and peel of each fruit were used. The effect of the inclusion of fruit peel on consumer acceptability, dietary fiber and other chemical properties of jam products were investigated. Dietary fiber was significantly (P>0.05) higher in jam produced with pulp and peels together. Pineapple jam with pulp and peel contained the highest dietary fiber of 30%. There was significant (P> 0.05) variation in pH, titratable acidity and total soluble solid of the different jam products. The samples also varied significantly (p=0.05) in terms of the colour, taste and other sensory attributes. When a mixture of pulp and peel of fruit were used together in jam making, mango jam had the lowest acceptability score of 5.6 while pineapple had a score of 7.0. Qualitative descriptive analysis of the jam samples revealed that jam from the mixture of fruit peel and pulp requires improvement only in smoothness compared with that from the fruit pulp. The use of edible fruit peels in food product such as jam is therefore recommended.

A multicriteria methodology for estimating consumer acceptance of vehicles with alternative powertrain technologies is presented. The approach is based on the non-compensatory ELECTRE TRI method and compares hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles to conventional models. Criteria considered are ownership costs and restrictions to vehicle use, which apply mainly to electric vehicles. The methodology is applied to a case study of 94 vehicles of different market segments and alternative powertrains. The analysis is carried out per segment and considers two driver profiles, city and all-purpose, and a baseline scenario for all cases. Output is tested for statistical significance, with powertrain technology as disaggregating factor, and a sensitivity analysis on the base scenario is also carried out, as well as a comparison with results derived by a compensatory multicriteria method (TOPSIS). Results show that conventional vehicles are the top choice for the small vehicles segment, due to lower purchase prices and higher use flexibility. For medium sized vehicles, all powertrain technologies are competitive for city drivers, whereas for all-purpose drivers, use restrictions for electric vehicles make these less attractive. The baseline scenario and sensitivity analysis highlight that opting for an electric vehicle depends strongly on the driver's use flexibility needs. As such, an electric vehicle can be either very attractive or outright unusable, regardless of financial considerations. It is also seen that plug-in hybrids do not present any significant advantage, as compared to other, non-electric choices, due to their higher purchase prices.

Increasing efforts are made to convert waste into new materials for replacing “traditional” ones. In particular urban bio-waste represents a primary source of concern for both government and society. A new type of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) have been very recently developed to convert food waste into a biodegradable multifunctional raw material to help solving the plastic waste problem. However, little is known about consumers' reactions to products made from PHA. Hence this study aims at understanding consumers' intentions to purchase, pay for, and switch to those bio-based products. Both multivariate analyses of variance and mediation analyses are run, addressing product involvement, consumer values, expertise and demographics within an experimental study based on a representative sample of UK respondents. Findings reveal no effects for product involvement and gender on the dependent variables, but for green self-identity, attitude towards bio-based product, age and past purchase experience of eco-friendly products. Results can help the adoption of PHA-based bioplastics to solve the pressing problem of the disposal of bio-waste. In particular, understanding the drivers of consumers acceptance of bio-based products poses opportunities to build new closed loop system and for successfully marketing the reuse of urban food-waste. Theoretical and managerial implications are addressed.

In this paper we analyze whether information bias is affecting consumers' WTP for radical food innovations. We collect data in the Netherlands on consumers' WTP for insect-based products. We used product attributes directly affected by information and EU legislation such as the visualization of insects on the products, the use of logo and health claims, different information treatments on positive environmental and social effects of eating insects as meat-substitutes. Results indicate that visualization negatively influenced consumers' WTP while information treatments do not mitigate this effect. We derive that EU legislators need to move fast in clarifying the status of insect-based foods.

The main purpose of this paper is reviewing different research by different scholars about consumer acceptance in green products. In this regard, some models and theories in consumer acceptance have been applied to contribute for proposing a new framework. It is important to know all variables are selected based on current conditions of Iran in using green products.

Product-Service Systems (PSS) or Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) have been heralded as one of the ways to achieve sustainable consumption and production. PSS can lower environmental impact and enable the circular economy. However, low consumer acceptance has hindered the success of this business model. This paper analyses what determines consumer acceptance of PSS in the business-to-consumer context. This was done by examining the most important attributes of PSS, how consumers value these attributes and how this is related to their consumers’ inherent characteristics. To answer the research questions, 18 interviews were held with PSS experts, that were consecutively complemented with a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) among 1061 Dutch consumers. It was found that consumer acceptance of a product-service systems was mainly influenced by eleven attributes of a proposition, whereof only seven were directly included in this study on laundry solutions. To show the influence of preferences f...

In the Philippines, the goat business is very significant to the country's agriculture. Farmers can supplement their income by raising goats for a small investment. The purpose of this study was on consumer acceptance of ISU-S&T chevon products, notably in Baguio City, to provide baseline data for ISU-CVSRRC, private sector, and goat raisers to determine the market potential of canned chevon in the Philippines. Specifically, the demographic profile, level of consumer acceptance in terms of product appearance, flavor, aroma, texture, packaging, and price, and level of influence of health, economic, accessibility, and social factors on the consumer’s acceptability of the chevon products were considered by 109 selected respondents. The descriptive-correlational design was used. Frequency and percentage distribution, mean and standard deviation were computed for the profiling of the respondents, and description of the levels of consumer acceptability and its influencing factors, respectively. The inferential part consisted of the computations of correlation coefficients, particularly the Pearson-r, Spearman rho, and eta coefficients, to establish relationships among variables evaluated at 0.05 level of significance. Most of the respondents finished college, were government employees, and were in their twenties. Generally, the chevon products were moderately acceptable to males, with the greatest influencing factors being those related to the health benefits of the chevon products. The least concern of the respondents for its acceptability was the price. Likewise, those with lower income tend to have a higher level of acceptance of the product's appearance compared with those with higher income. The economic and accessibility factors had significant relationships with the acceptability of the chevon products. With the right market value and campaign, the ISU-S&T-based chevon products have the potential to prosper in the market.

Abstract The efforts made to decrease the occurrence of nutrition-related diseases over the last few decades have not been effective. A move from population-based nutrition guidance toward personalized nutrition (including nutrigenomics) may offer a new way of changing nutrition habits, but it still awaits widespread consumer acceptance, despite the mainly positive consumer attitudes toward the concept itself. Consumer acceptance of personalized nutrition will eventually depend on the interplay of its perceived benefits and risks. The main drivers of consumer acceptance are an increasing knowledge of the relationship between genes and nutrition; being personally affected by nutrition-related diseases; the greater efficiency, enjoyment, and comprehensibility of personalized nutrition advice when compared with generalized recommendations; and the current marketing trend toward individualization. However, acceptance is hindered by, among other things, consumers’ privacy concerns, their fears related to the results of nutrigenomics tests, and the high costs of these tests.

Autonomous vehicles, electrification, and ride-sharing appear to be the next big change in the field of mobility. It can lead to safer roads, less congestion, and reduced parking. In this research, we focus on real-life user experiences of a driverless shuttle bus. We are interested to know what kind of perceptions and feelings people have when they travel in an autonomous shuttle bus. Therefore, we apply Harry Triandis´ Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB), which recognizes that human behavior is not always rational. Human behaviour, and its change, is linked to the intention, the habitual responses, and the situational constraints and conditions. The qualitative data (n = 44) were collected in 2017 by semi-structured interviews in Espoo, Finland. The interviewees were passengers who travelled a predefined route in a driverless shuttle bus. We applied inductive content analysis. The findings were compared in the theoretical framework of TIB. According to the results, a lack of human driver was not a problem for the passengers. They were surprised how safe and secure they felt in the autonomous vehicle. More specifically, passengers´ perceptions were similar to when travelling by a metro or a tram, where a passenger rarely interacts with the driver, or even witnesses the existence of the driver. However, the results suggest that people are much more intolerant of accidents caused by autonomous vehicles than by humans. On a general level, positive attitudes towards autonomous vehicles can be supported by giving people possibilities to try autonomous vehicles in a safe, real-life environment. The decision whether to use a driverless shuttle bus or not correlates highly with the contextual factors. Route and flexibility surface the most important reasons for behavioral changes.