Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2023, Economics

This thesis evaluates the impact recycling policy incentives have in motivating circular economy transitions using a three-agent model of waste generation and disposal. The model of consumer sorting reveals that educated, environmentally concerned citizens may unwittingly contribute to recycling contamination through a phenomenon known as "aspirational recycling."

Committee: Daniel Karney (Advisor) Subjects: Climate Change; Economic Theory; Economics; Environmental Economics; Environmental Studies; Public Policy

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2014, Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising (Education)

Counterfeiting in general has become a worldwide phenomenon, and the production of fashion merchandise is at the forefront of this economic predicament. As severity of the issue rises, businesses and scholars suggest that consumer education and awareness could be the tool to lessening the impact of counterfeit manufacturing (Berman, 2008; Cheek & Easterling, 2008; Juggessur, 2011; Marcketti & Shelley, 2009; Phillips, 2005). This study presents the topic of counterfeiting, its negative consequences and the fight against this illegal business. The study uses consumer education as a method of creative vigilance toward the public in an effort to find out whether this alters future purchase intentions of counterfeit merchandise. Results indicate strong support for the efficacy of a consumer education seminar with regard to knowledge, attitudes, and planned behavior toward the consumption of counterfeit merchandise. Additionally, three variables, parents' annual income, sex, and country of citizenship, introduced some variation among participants that suggest there are differences based on demographic factors. After the educational seminar, students had a greater understanding of counterfeiting, felt more knowledgeable about the topic, acknowledged that it is illegal, realized how it affects the global economy and retailers, and linked it to social issues such as organized crime, terrorism, child labor, and sweatshops. In congruence with scholars who suggest consumer education as a vehicle to decrease counterfeit consumption, participants agreed that this seminar was educational and informative, and an effective means towards minimalizing the consumption patterns of counterfeit merchandise. Because participants gained a significant amount of knowledge in the educational seminar, this could affect preferences for authentic and counterfeit merchandise, and reduce intent to purchase counterfeits. An educational session would be expected to have relatively immediate (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: V. Ann Paulins (Committee Chair); Lisa Williams (Committee Member); RayeCarol Cavender (Committee Member); Eugene Geist (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Continuing Education; Curriculum Development; Education; Educational Evaluation; Gender

MDES, University of Cincinnati, 2014, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design

The ever-increasing cost of fuel combined with innovations in technology and a general sense of environmental awareness has made the electric vehicle a more viable option for a great number of auto consumers. However the current level of EV ownership shows that there are still barriers, which impede consumers from being in the position to make purchase decision. This research aims to define the challenge and opportunity of influencing consumer behavior in the current electric vehicle purchase and use process. The thesis proposes to apply service dominant logic to better understand the potential consumers' attitude and perception on electric vehicle. Based on the research findings, a value assessment tool has been created and tested among those potential users. Positive user feedback indicates that this tool can work together with different stakeholders in the proposed service framework to co-create value for optimizing behavior change. The final conclusion indicates that service dominant logic is a reasonable method for influencing consumer behavior, and can contribute to the improvement of the existing electric vehicle's commerce by providing strategies for behavior change in high-involvement purchase process.

Committee: Peter Chamberlain M.F.A. M.Phil. (Committee Chair); Giacomo Ciminello M.Des. (Committee Member); Brigid O'Kane M.F.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2014, Psychology

Descriptive, injunctive, and personal norms impact emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a variety of contexts (e.g., alcohol consumption, recycling). However, no single experimental study has simultaneously 1) compared the relative impact of all three types of norms, 2) examined the impact of these norms in consumer-related domains, and 3) explored moderators of normative influence. In the current research, we utilized a 4 (norm type: descriptive, injunctive, personal, or no-norm control) X 2 (self-regulatory capacity: high or low) between-subjects factorial design to examine the impact of normative messages and self-regulatory capacity in a consumer-based evaluative context. Participants participated in a study ostensibly involving student preferences and decisions about a particular set of stimulus products (i.e., artworks), and completed measures assessing their evaluations and recommendations of, intentions toward, and willingness to pay for the artworks. Participants with low self-regulatory capacity had more favorable ratings of the artworks, but there were no effects of norm type or of the norm type X self-regulatory capacity interaction. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.

Committee: Jason Rose (Advisor); Andrew Geers (Committee Member); John Jasper (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2008, Hospitality Management

With the increasing awareness of global climate change and natural disasters, environmental protection is an issue of high topicality and relevance. Companies across all sectors try to develop products and practices with minimized environmental effect as part of socially responsible practices, but also in order to establish themselves in a new niche for consumers with environmental concerns. This is also true for the hospitality and tourism industry where businesses often rely on the integrity of the environment. However, while a number of studies exist for the lodging sector, there has been done almost no research on green practices in the food service industry. Given the large number of restaurants in the U.S. and the consumer's common habit of frequently eating out, there is a high need for restaurants to engage in green practices. In fact, restaurants who exhibit strong interest in environmental issues and actively participate in eco-friendly practices could distinct themselves from other businesses, hence creating a significant competitive advantage. Therefore, the purpose of this study is twofold: to explore consumer attitudes towards various areas of green practices in restaurants and consumers' willingness to pay for green restaurants, and to predict attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control leading to the likelihood of consumers to actively seek and visit green restaurants. Ajzen's (1985) Theory of Planned Behavior was used as a theoretical foundation to examine the influence of consumers' demographic characteristics on attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control toward green practices in restaurants as well as the influence of those three constructs on consumers' intention to dine in such restaurants. Data was collected with the help of a structured survey questionnaire that consumers of casual dining restaurants were asked to fill out while waiting for their food. The study sample was 455. Descriptive statistics wer (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jay Kandampully PhD (Committee Chair); Jae Eun Chung PhD (Committee Member); Caezilia Loibl PhD (Committee Member); Wayne Johnson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Education

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2009, Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising (Education)

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of college students' attitudes toward fashion counterfeits on their purchase intentions. Additionally, this study explored how college students' attitudes toward fashion counterfeits are affected by past purchase experience and personality traits, such as fashion consciousness, public self-consciousness, ethical obligation, and ethical judgment using the Theory of Planned Behavior as the theoretical framework. A total of 341 completed surveys were collected from students at a Midwestern University in the U.S. One-way ANOVA, independent t-test, regression, and correlation analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Statistical results suggest that college students' purchase intentions of fashion counterfeits are dependent on their attitudes toward fashion counterfeits, which in turn are influenced by their past purchase experiences, their beliefs about the benefits and risks of buying fashion counterfeits, and their ethical judgment. Ethical obligation, however, does not have a significant influence on attitude.

Committee: Yingjiao Xu (Committee Chair); V. Ann Paulins (Committee Member); Elizabeth Blair (Committee Member) Subjects: Behaviorial Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Food Science and Technology

Typical sensory and consumer testing is often done in isolated booths where external environmental stimuli and extrinsic product attributes are removed or controlled for the purpose of yielding responses from panelists that are influenced solely by a product's intrinsic sensorial products. The issue with this is that food is not consumed in such neutral environments, but rather in environments with various contextual elements that influence human behavior and perception of food. There is currently a growing body of research investigating the reintroduction of contextual elements into sensory and consumer tests using immersive technologies. A gap that currently lies in this body of literature is the impact of social context on panelist perception, liking, and behavior. This is a large oversight as many food consumption scenarios are completed in social contexts. In these commensal scenarios, humans exhibit behaviors and changes in perception as a result of social elements in the environment. By not including these social elements, responses from panelists may not be reflective of real-life perceptions of food. Therefore, we aimed to introduce social elements to sensory evaluations using immersive technologies such as video walls and VR headsets. In Chapter 3, panelists evaluated popcorn samples in three different environments: a solo environment, and two environments where social context was added via video of an actor eating popcorn playing on a video wall. The two social environments differed in rate of popcorn consumption of the actor. Results revealed that panelists consumed more popcorn when evaluating in the social environments than in the solo environment. Ecological validity increased in the social environments as evidenced by the observation of the social facilitation of eating, a phenomenon commonly observed in commensal scenarios. In Chapter 4, we investigated emotional responses to a positive carbonated cola and a negative flat cola when evaluations occur (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Christopher Simons (Advisor); Luis Rodriguez-Saona (Committee Member); Devin Peterson (Committee Member); Jessica Cooperstone (Committee Member) Subjects: Food Science; Technology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2008, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2006, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2006, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Human Ecology: Fashion and Retail Studies

This study delves into the global market dynamics of sustainable home textiles, particularly analyzing how environmental concerns, online reviews, and pricing influence Generation Z's purchasing decisions. As global demand for eco-friendly products increases post-COVID pandemic, understanding these factors is crucial for engaging the growing market of young, environmentally-conscious consumers. Conducted through a survey targeting individuals aged 18-27, the study assesses how these key factors shape their buying behaviors. The analysis confirms that environmental awareness strongly correlates with this demographic's motivation to purchase sustainable textiles. Additionally, online reviews emerge as a crucial determinant in shaping purchasing decisions, indicating the importance of digital feedback in the consumer journey. Furthermore, the study highlights that price sensitivity plays a significant role in influencing Generation Z's choices, pointing to a balance between cost and sustainability as a pivotal aspect of their purchasing criteria. These findings suggest that businesses in the home textile industry should prioritize clear environmental communications, manage online reputations carefully, and consider pricing strategies to engage Generation Z consumers effectively.

Committee: Tasha Lewis Dr (Advisor); Julie Hillery Dr (Committee Member); V. Ann Paulins Dr (Committee Chair) Subjects: Home Economics; Sustainability; Textile Research

MFIS, Kent State University, 2024, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

Fashion brands play a crucial role in shaping consumer perceptions in an industry dominated by advertisements. This study investigates the profound influence of diversity in fashion ads on the attitudes, perceptions, and brand affinities of underrepresented consumers, specifically focusing on college-aged Black and Latina females. This study draws on existing literature; encompassing consumer demand for representation, body diversity, ethnic diversity, self-congruity (Sirgy, 1985a), and the Minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003), to uncover connections between diverse representation and consumer behavior. By utilizing a qualitative approach, this research engages participants in an exploration of three sets of fashion advertisements, with the opportunity to answer open-ended prompts. Through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), the study aims to determine which factors shape consumer attitudes, perceptions, and brand affinities. Altogether, it was found that diverse advertising is a determining factor of positive brand affinity. The significance of this study lies in its potential to inform marketers and brands about the relationship between diversity representation and consumer behavior, fostering more inclusive advertising strategies. As the fashion industry learns to integrate evolving societal norms, this research contributes insights that may continue to redefine conventional beauty standards and empower consumers in choosing which brands to support.

Committee: Kim Hahn Ph. D. (Advisor); Jihyun Kim-Vick Ph. D. (Committee Member); Michelle Burton Ph. D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethnic Studies; Marketing; Social Research

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Environment and Natural Resources

Passenger vehicles are a leading contributor to the United States' (U.S.) greenhouse gas emissions. Electrifying the U.S. vehicle fleet is a key strategy to reduce the magnitude of emissions and reduce environmental damage; however, electric vehicle (EV) adoption remains low, particularly among women. In the U.S., women own about half of all vehicles (McElroy, 2023) but less than 1/3rd of EVs (Naughton, 2023). This study sheds light on why women, traditionally strong adopters of pro-environmental behaviors, are buying less EVs than men. Study 1 shows that relative to men, women have lower EV purchasing intention. Women evaluated EVs as being less safe and as having less instrumental and affective value, and these factors mediated the relationship between gender and purchasing intention. Women also reported that they would feel greater feelings of range anxiety and concern for their personal safety while using a public charging station. I theorize that these feelings may relate in part to concern about one's children, which may be more salient for women, and explored this through Study 2. My manipulation was unsuccessful in getting women to think solely about themselves in the context of a hypothetical vehicle purchase, but these results did show that men and women do not differ in their willingness to purchase an EV as a family vehicle relative to a personal vehicle, though overall, women are less willing to purchase an EV relative to men. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated that in general, people are equally willing to recommend an EV for a man or a woman but are less willing to recommend an EV to a person with children; however, a three-way contrast showed that women (but not men) participants were less willing to recommend an EV for a woman with children relative to a man with children. The effect of presence of children on willingness to recommend was partially mediated by perceptions of safety and instrumental value, such that safety and instrumental value positivel (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nicole Sintov (Advisor); Jacquet Jeffrey (Committee Member); Brooks Jeremy (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Studies; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Business Administration

Two essays explore how the adoption of AI technologies – AI-powered chatbots in particular – impact consumer well-being. The first essay focuses on the role of chatbots as a customer service representative and identifies two distinct types of interaction consumers have with chatbots: interactions when a chatbot's identity is (1) not disclosed and therefore ambiguous or (2) disclosed. The work finds a key psychological factor that impacts consumer response in these two types of interactions, namely self-presentation concerns. Six studies demonstrate that when self-presentation concerns are high, consumers (1) infer that an ambiguous chatbot is in fact a human and (2) prefer to interact with a clearly disclosed chatbot over a human service representative. The second essay focuses on the emerging role of chatbots as a digital tool aimed at improving consumer well-being and identifies why consumers are reluctant to use digital tools powered by chatbots geared toward improving mental (vs. physical) wellness. Four studies show that consumers are less interested in digital tools for mental (vs. physical) wellness because the very use of the tool cues them to think about how they lack close others in their “real” lives who can provide social support and thus feel negative about themselves. The essay further identifies an intervention that can help mitigate the reluctance toward the digital chatbot tool for mental wellness. Taken together, the two essays explore why consumers use AI-powered technologies and how that impacts their well-being.

Committee: Rebecca Reczek Dr. (Advisor); Grant Donnelly Dr. (Committee Member); Jesse Walker Dr. (Committee Member); Selin Malkoc Dr. (Committee Member); Russell Fazio Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Marketing

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship

This dissertation contributes to retailing and marketing research by exploring how retailer channel decisions (i.e., physical store closures) due to the changes in the retail environment impact consumers' shopping behaviors. The pandemic caused many retailers to remove physical stores and move online rapidly (e.g., Brooks Brothers and Neiman Marcus) (Pacheco, 2020). As the retail environment changes, understanding consumers' shopping behaviors is critical for retailers to stay competitive, maintain, and attract new customers. Thus, Essay 1 studies how consumers' emotions toward the changing retail environment affect their desire to return to their pre-pandemic shopping routine. Using scenario-based experiments, I explored the effects of consumers' emotions (hope and fear) on their likelihood of shopping in-store, the moderating role of subjective norms, and the mediating roles of internal locus of control and coping (problem- and emotion-focused). Essay 2 studies how multichannel consumer segments have changed their channel shopping behaviors across two store elimination phases. Using Latent Profile Analysis, I identified up-to-date multichannel consumer segments based on the segments' in-store and online channel usage pre- and during-COVID-19, the factors that described segment membership, and channel switching intentions by segment membership.

Committee: Christopher Groening (Committee Chair); Sungha Jang (Committee Member); Mary Hogue (Committee Member); Robert Jewell (Committee Member) Subjects: Marketing

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Psychology

Much research has investigated characteristics of people that lead them to express their views through extreme behavior, including violence. The current work investigates properties of beliefs and attitudes that lead people to do so. Which positions are people most likely to act on in extreme ways? I propose that two well-studied attitude properties - the degree to which a belief is ambivalent (mixed, conflicted) and the certainty with which it is held - are good candidates to predict extreme behavior. Although greater ambivalence and lower certainty generally decrease an attitude's impact on behavior, being ambivalent or uncertain about an important topic is often associated with psychological discomfort, and research shows that people sometimes compensate by moving toward extremes - endorsing polarized positions, becoming closed-minded and intolerant, entertaining conspiracy theories, and identifying with extreme groups. Similarly, aligning with extreme behaviors, which strongly signal commitment to one's position, might reassure those feeling uncomfortable with their position on an important issue. Nine studies (N = 12,711) combining 23 surveys and 2 experiments show that the typical effects of ambivalence and certainty increasingly reverse for more extreme behaviors such that people express greater support for and willingness to engage in extreme (vs. moderate) behaviors on behalf of positions about which they have some internal conflict or doubt. Studies 1-4 demonstrate this reversal for ambivalence across multiple behavioral domains (politics, health, consumption), issues (abortion, gun control, COVID-19 prevention, environmentalism, political orientation), three dozen behavioral support/willingness measures varying in extremity, four distinct operationalizations of ambivalence (subjective and objective), and beyond effects of relevant covariates. Additionally, the reversal was enhanced when the topic was perceived as more threatening or the attitude about whi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Petty (Advisor); Beverly Vandiver (Committee Member); Steven Spencer (Committee Member); Duane Wegener (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2022, Honors

When purchasing a good or service, there are now more options than ever when deciding how to pay. Recently, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payment apps have become popular. Extant literature shows that credit cards and mobile payments have an effect on how people interact with purchases, those interactions being evaluated by pain of payment, convenience, and willingness to pay (WTP). However, P2P apps have not yet been evaluated on those same criteria. This study seeks to fill in the gap with a focus on the college-aged population. My study primarily compared P2P apps with debit cards and used cash as a constant. Participants found debit cards more convenient than P2P apps. Participants were willing to pay more with P2P apps than debit cards for lower priced items, but the inverse was found for higher priced items. I recommend that future research expands beyond the scope of this study of college-aged students.

Committee: Dr. Philip Kim (Advisor); Dr. Jennifer Clevinger (Committee Member); Dr. Nina Rytwinski (Committee Member); Dr. Julie Szendrey (Other) Subjects: Finance; Information Systems

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Food Science and Technology

Around 40% of all food produced in the United States is wasted. This represents nearly $218 billion dollars' worth of food entering landfills every year, causing food waste to be one of the largest contributors to climate change. Consequently, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has stated food waste reduction as a climate change mitigation priority and cited streamlining date labels on food packages as one solution. Most of the food waste in the U.S. originates in consumer households due to the presence on confusing date labels intended to depict shelf-life. However, since date labels are static, they are unable to consider the effect of temperature fluctuations on food quality, and food manufacturers tend to be extremely conservative when setting the date horizons. This causes good quality food to be thrown out by consumers. To add to the confusion, no standardized date labeling system exists in the U.S. causing multiple phrases such as “sell by”, “use by”, “best if used by” etc. to be used on food packages. Recent recommendations have suggested a move to a standardized label phrase across all products - “best if used by”, but the effectiveness of this solution is unknown. The overall objective of this research was to investigate two food waste prevention solutions – date label standardization and real-time shelf-life monitoring, specifically for packaged milk - one of the highly wasted food products. The effect of date label standardization, consumer education and product age on consumer discard intentions were evaluated through an in-person consumer study with 437 participants. In most cases, changing label phrases to “best if used by” had no significant effect on discard intentions. The printed date had the strongest effect, increasing discard by 40 percentage points between 2-days pre-date and 7-days post-date milk. This led us to hypothesize the phrase may not be important to consumers when deciding to discard food. To test this hypothesis, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dennis Heldman Ph.D. (Advisor); Christopher Simons Ph.D. (Committee Member); Brian Roe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Rafael Jimenez-Flores Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Agricultural Economics; Behavioral Sciences; Chemistry; Climate Change; Food Science; Sustainability

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2022, Business

This paper will explore the cost associated with being a woman. While being a very opinionated topic to discuss and learn about, this paper will challenge different perspectives and will require an open mind to gain its full insight. Women pay extra costs that men are not charged for, on the same products sold to both men and women. The essay will research why women buy products marketed towards themselves, including factors of the color pink, advertisements and influencers, and packaging of products. This research will also evaluate other costs associated with being a woman, according to the attractiveness bias. People that are conventionally attractive find more success and are more likely to be hired. Women on average spend more money on making themselves attractive, in order to find this success. Knowing that women do spend more money than men, shows how analyzing financial literacy between the two genders is an important aspect to this research. The goal of the study is not to deter any woman from spending money the way they want to, but rather to make women educated and to empower them to ensure that they are not being taken advantage of. There is plenty of research to support that women are, on average, behind the level of financial acumen that men have accumulated, and it is in this research that will inform and support women to be confident with their money. As women make up half of the world's population, it is crucial that they get the same chances to be financially fluent and learn about prices that were/are more expensive due to gender.

Committee: Lindsay Meermans (Advisor); Di Wang (Committee Member); Michael Mattison (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Economics; Finance; Gender; Gender Studies; Marketing; Sociology; Womens Studies