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Item The safety of ready-to-eat meals under different consumer handling conditions : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Food Technology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2016) Jiang, FanMicrobial count is an important index to measure the safety status of a food. This trial aimed to determine the safety of eight meals (four meats and four vegetarians) by using the agar plate counting method to measure the populations of total bacteria and specific pathogenic microorganisms during four day’ abusing. The results showed that chicken & lemon sauce, pork & cranberry loaf and lasagne veg can be considered as acceptable after a series of handling steps including heating and holding in different environments. BBQ beef, quiche golden and pie rice & vegetable were all marginal for the microbial load before heating, but afterwards all of them were acceptable. Casserole chickpea and hot pot sausage were in marginal for the microbial load by the end of trial.Item Can alternative metrics provide new insights from Net-Promoter data? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2016) Mecredy, PhilipMarketers regularly use loyalty measures to better understand consumers’ purchase behaviour. In commercial market research the loyalty metric, Net Promoter Score (NPS), is commonly used due to its simplicity, and because there are claims that increases in NPS relate to increases in company revenue. However, the connection between NPS and revenue growth rates is widely criticised by scholars, casting doubt on the wisdom of implementing strategies that focus on increasing the numbers of highly loyal customers. This research considers whether alternative metrics, derived from Net-Promoter data, can provide new insights into customer loyalty. It examines whether the NPS, likelihood mean, and Polarization Index measure different aspects of loyalty in the real estate (n=1,818) and agricultural (n=2,785) sectors. It then evaluates the ability of the three measures to predict changes in same customer spend and company revenue using data from the agricultural sector. The findings show that the NPS and likelihood mean measure similar aspects of loyalty and that the Polarization Index measures a different aspect of loyalty when applied to 11-point Net-Promoter data. Longitudinal comparisons suggests that the NPS and likelihood mean are poor predictors of the current (t) and future (t+1) spend by the same customers, compared with the Polarization Index which provides a more accurate prediction. In contrast, the NPS and likelihood mean are found to have a strong relationship with current (t) and future (t+1) company revenue, while negative relationships were observed for the Polarization Index. These findings suggest that loyal customers increase their spending less than disloyal customers, as they have likely reached saturation point with the company’s products. However, loyal customers still contribute to company revenue growth by attracting new customers, presumably through Word-of-mouth (WOM). Therefore growth comes through penetration and increasing the amount spent by the least loyal customers, rather than through increasing spend by loyal customers.Item Theory of due repurchase : gaining more from using less : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Marketing at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2016) Aldolaigan, Hussam Abdulrahman HThe aim of the thesis is to enhance the current knowledge on repurchase behaviour and provide a model that enables marketing practitioners to ‘gain more from using less’ through reallocating their resources and investing more in underutilised customer data. This is because producing the desired customer response using the least costly marketing actions is the key to success in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace. Although models predicting repurchase behaviour in non-contractual settings exist, their predictive and explanatory performances are poor. None of these existing models considers the roles of purchase quantity (PQ) and homogeneity of interpurchase times (IPTs) in predicting repurchase behaviour. Hence, Theory of Due Repurchase is developed in this thesis and suggests that the customer’s next purchase is highly expected under three repurchase conditions, which are that the customer is 1) a frequent shopper; 2) has upward-trending PQs; and 3) has homogeneous IPTs. These three variables are not only expected to be strong predictors of repurchase behaviour, but also correctly classify more customers than existing behavioural models, including recency, frequency and monetary value (RFM). Using a transaction dataset available in the literature, six studies were conducted to empirically test the Theory of Due Repurchase, examine its predictive accuracy and replicate the findings. The results support all of the hypotheses, developed as part of the conceptual model, and replicate the findings. Theory of Due Repurchase correctly classifies over 88% of customers across four samples, improving the current level of accuracy in predicting repurchase behaviour by approximately 19 percentage points. The thesis provides a number of academic and managerial insights on effective targeting.Item Sponsorship : a behavioural analysis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masterate of Business Studies at Massey University(Massey University, 1999) Thorpe, GarryThere has been spectacular growth in the use of sponsorship as a communication medium over the last two decades that has not been accompanied by increased knowledge of evaluation methods. Studies documenting management practice have revealed widespread use of informal sponsorship feedback measures, such as awareness and image, which suggests that sponsorship managers have relied heavily upon cognitive information processing models, in which these measures are assumed to have a sequential relationship with behaviour. This cognitive approach has attracted increasing criticism, with some studies suggesting that most marketing actions are undertaken to change, modify or reinforce consumers' behaviour. Therefore, it is logical to examine whether sponsorship has any behavioural consequences. The research reported in this thesis outlines a choice modelling experiment designed to investigate how sponsorship affected consumers' choice behaviour for two products: milk and bank investments. In both categories, sponsorship had a strong influence on the behaviour of a small group of consumers, however, overall, its influence was slight compare to the other attributes examined, and depended heavily on the cause promoted. The key implication that arises from these findings is that managers who hope to attract new customers via the sponsorship vehicle need to carefully consider the cause they support.Item Consumer green purchasing behaviour : from attitude, perceived controllability and normative influences to purchasing behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication, Journalsim and Marketing at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2015) Hsu, Yun-ChinScholars in green marketing predicted that after the year 2000, the market for environmentally friendly products would mature and substantially expand. Today, although many people express their concern about the environment, environmentally friendly products are still not the first choice for most consumers. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this research investigated the factors that influence consumers’ decisions when buying energy-saving light bulbs. Descriptive norm, self-identity and past behaviour were hypothesised to influence consumers’ purchasing intentions and behaviour. Survey data (N=313) were collected online from New Zealand residents between late 2011 and early 2012. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the theoretical model. Given the study context and operational definitions of the constructs, all indicators in this study were specified as reflective. Construct validity and measurement model specification issues were examined and discussed. The results suggest that people who have positive attitudinal affections and beliefs, identify themselves as pro-environment and have purchased environmentally friendly products in the past tend to have stronger intentions to purchase environmentally friendly products. The findings also suggested that most people hold a positive purchasing intention and attitude towards energy-saving light bulbs. Practitioners in the field of green marketing could apply the findings when developing marketing strategies. Given the cross-sectional nature of this survey study, further research is needed to explore the causal relationships between the focal variables, as well as the intention–behaviour link. Theoretical contributions, methodological implications, future research directions are discussed.Item Food choice in context : the application of experimental choice analysis to investigate sensory and cognitive factors in consumer food choice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph. D. in Food Technology at Massey University(Massey University, 1999) Clark, Maxine RuthKnowledge about consumer food choices is fundamental to many areas of research and practice. Food choices can only be fully understood by identifying and measuring sensory and cognitive factors from the consumer's perspective and interpreted with reference to the context in which the food is to be used or consumed. Experimental choice analysis is a technique which integrates conjoint analysis with probabilistic discrete choice theories to investigate influences on consumer choices. This technique was applied and evaluated, in conjunction with qualitative research, to investigate consumer choices for yoghurt. Multiple sets of experimentally designed product alternatives were presented to consumers, and the impact of, and interaction between, different product features determined using a multinomial logit model. Choices for five different use contexts were made on the basis of product descriptions only, blind tasted products and the combined product (information plus tasting). Features to be manipulated for labels and products were sweetness and fat content, each at two levels. Label only attributes included statements related to acidophilus and no additives product features. The results demonstrated that consumers' choices, based on the attributes of the product, vary with different intended use contexts. Context-specific interactions were noted between fat content and sweetness. This suggested that consumers do not always assess product features independently or consistently, and interactions should be incorporated in research designs wherever possible. Participants' frequency of use and degree of health concern were incorporated into the model as interactions with attributes and these significantly improved the model over base models. Combined with the results of the qualitative studies, a comprehensive picture of how consumers' use of yoghurt affected their choices was obtained. This approach can provide valuable information for product development decisions and may be a step towards developing more integrated research methodologies for investigating consumer food choices.Item An econometric analysis of household consumption patterns : a comparative study based on New Zealand and Italian household budget data : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Economics at Massey University(Massey University, 1997) Michelini, ClaudioEconometric analysis of household expenditure is a very important area of economic inquiry because the estimated demand parameters are particularly useful in many behavioural aspects of demand forecasting and in welfare issues. This paper analyses and compares expenditure patterns in New Zealand and Italy by estimating preference-consistent complete demand systems directly derived from utility or cost functions of increasing complexity. Because demographic factors have been recognised as essential components of empirical models of household consumption since the early studies by Engel, we use information on the number of children in the household to test for demographic effects on demand, and check whether similar economic conclusions and model acceptance decisions are supported by the two different sets of data we use, which, for both countries, are derived from household consumption surveys pooled across several time periods. We approach the problem of how to introduce demographic variables into the demand models' analytical framework in a variety of ways, from the simple addition of a few demographic variables to the long established Linear Expenditure System (LES), on to the theoretically more advanced technique of introducing the demographic variables directly into the demand system via the utility function, as we do in the case of the Demographic Cost Scaling model introduced in Chapter 4. The estimated models have been compared and tested to identify the ones that are more likely to describe and interpret the data correctly. The ones that are selected are then used to compute the price, income and demographic variable elasticities, both for the whole sample of households considered in the surveys as well as for households of specific size. The computed elasticities have been analysed and checked for consistency with the tenets of the theory of consumer behaviour, and whenever found to be in contradiction to them, efforts are made to find out whether this was due to social or economic reasons, specific to the economies of the countries under study, or, more simply, to model or data inadequacies. Because most of the demand models considered in this study are highly non-linear, and their parameters have to be estimated by iterative methods, we took great care to check the iterative performance of the estimation algorithms we used by making sure that, when estimating a model's parameters from the data at hand, the iterative procedure always converged to the same set of parameter estimates from all, or most, of the sets of parameter values we had selected to start the estimation procedure with. Most of all we checked carefully that the models' iterative estimation procedures did not show sensitive dependence on initial conditions - generating a different set of parameter estimates for every set of starting values, even similar ones (these types of systems, impossible to control or predict, are also called chaotic). Although many of the demand models we have analysed showed chaotic behaviour during estimation, which reflected their inadequacy to explain the empirical data, the parameter estimates resulting from the estimation procedure itself often appeared to have good statistical properties. Therefore, it became apparent that the behaviour of a model estimation procedure should be considered very carefully when choosing, among different non-linear models, the most appropriate ones to describe and explain a set of data, because such models are likely to reveal any existing model inadequacies better than the customary statistical tests performed after the model has been estimated. In fact, we found that a well behaved iterative estimation process almost always provides parameter estimates which satisfy statistical criteria, and fulfil the model economic expectations. Another empirical problem we had to resolve was to try and find some guidelines on how far, in household consumption studies, commodities should and could be aggregated into broader categories. This of course is a very important issue as demographically augmented models, because of their complexity, are often estimated with respect to only a few highly aggregated commodity groups, under the implicit assumption of "separability". We checked whether or not such a high level of aggregation allows meaningful empirical analysis of consumer behaviour, and found that, at least in the case of Italy, increasing the number of consumption categories from four to six did not increase the explanatory power of the models. There are two more interesting theoretical results we have obtained in this study: one is the rejection by all models, and for both countries, of the hypothesis of incomelinearity of the Engel curves; and the second is the empirical rejection, again by all models and for both countries, of the negative semi-definitiveness of the Slutsky matrix. This, latter, is a theoretical requirement which is seldom fulfilled in practice. The introduction of demographic variables into the demand models made it necessary to convert households of different size and composition to equivalent units, before their consumption patterns could be properly compared. To this end we computed, for both New Zealand and Italy, constant-utility household consumption equivalence scales, to convert the expenditures of households of different compositions and sizes to standardised consumption units, based on the consumption of a "reference household". To estimate such equivalence scales, we used both an expanded version of the Linear Expenditure System, discussed and estimated in Chapter 2, and, with less success, the DT-RNLPS model, explained and estimated in Chapter 4. The resulting commodity-specific equivalence scales are, to our knowledge, the first of their kind estimated with New Zealand household expenditure data. The main problem encountered persistently in our work has been the inadequacy of the data which, for both countries, only reported cell averages, instead of individual household observations and, in the case of Italy give no information on household composition, only the number of members in a household. This drawback in regard to the adequacy and appropriateness of the available data makes our results in some areas open to question. But, one of the useful contributions our study makes lies in its drawing attention to the nature of the statistical information base provided by household budgets, both in Italy and New Zealand. Improvements in data collection and presentation can only take place if researchers communicate their difficulties to the statistical agencies responsible. Studies such as the present one are therefore an invaluable part of the interface between data gathering, presentation, and use.Item The effects of front-of-pack nutrition information and product claims on consumers' product evaluations and choice behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2010) Maubach, Ninya Bernadette; Maubach, Ninya BernadetteEnabling consumers to recognise foods’ nutritional profiles is important because energy overconsumption is a significant contributing factor to a worldwide obesity epidemic. Parents especially need to be able to recognise which foods are healthy options for their children to eat regularly, and which are not, as childhood weight and dietary habits instilled while young have long-term implications for adult health. Policy makers are reluctant to regulate marketing of high fat, sugar and salt foods, but collectively the global food industry has implemented a suite of educational and informational interventions intended to help consumers control their weight. Foremost among these is the introduction of new front-of-pack nutrition labels and support for product claims that link nutrients to health-related outcomes. The objective of this research was to determine whether detailed numeric or simple graphic front-of-pack nutrition labels influence how parents evaluate and choose between products, and could therefore contribute to public health objectives. Additionally, nutrition label performance in the context of product claims was also assessed. There were two theoretical bases for this research; the first was the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion, which offers a general explanation of consumers’ attitudinal reactions to new information. It states that motivation to engage with and ability to understand information determines how people process messages. The research also incorporated behaviour modification perspective, which stresses the role of external forces in shaping behaviour. Reflecting these two theoretical perspectives, the research used both cognitive and behavioural experimental methodologies. One formative study, two attitudinal experiments and one choice experiment investigated whether: • new nutrition label formats enhance consumers’ ability to distinguish between foods with differing nutritional values; and • different nutrition labels formats moderate the influence of varying levels of product claims on consumers’ attitudes and choices. The formative research revealed that parents often struggle to balance a raft of goals when grocery shopping. While they may hold good nutrition as an important consideration, practical issues such as time pressure, price, convenience and preferences are more salient concerns that militate against using nutrition information. The two cognitive studies found that parents’ attitudes towards children’s breakfast cereals with varying nutritional profiles were unaffected by predominantly numeric labelling formats; this result was observed in two experiments, confirming the hypothesis that numeric information is not incorporated in product evaluations. Conversely, a graphical “Traffic Light” label did affect parents’ attitudes towards the two breakfast cereals; attitudes towards a less healthy option were significantly lower. The research also confirmed that the current nutrition information panel does not affect consumers’ product choices, but adding nutrition information to the pack fronts did change choice behaviour. Both front-of-pack labels affected parents’ choices, but the Traffic Light label had a greater impact. That is, parents were less likely to choose a less healthy cereal when presented with a Traffic Light label. The addition of nutrition-content and health claims did not affect parents’ attitudes, but these pieces of information were used when choosing between competing options. In particular, claims had significant choice utility when only numeric nutrition information was available. However, parents were less likely to be swayed by product claims on a less healthy cereal when the Traffic Light label was presented. In summary, this research suggests that nutrition labels that display information graphically help consumers evaluate energy-dense products more accurately. Given the aim of nutrition labelling is to help consumers make healthier food choices, simple, graphical formats seem more likely to achieve this objective than highly detailed, numeric formats.Item A systematic investigation of the estimation of the Dirichlet model : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University(Massey University, 1999) Kearns, ZaneThe NBD/Dirichlet is a stochastic model of purchase incidence and brand choice which parsimoniously integrates a wide range of well-established empirical regularities in fast moving consumer goods markets. More recently this work has been extended into other areas such as the prescribing of pharmaceuticals, (Stern 1994); airline aviation fuel contracts, (Uncles and Ehrenberg 1990a); and the visiting of retail store chains, (Uncles and Ehrenberg 1990b). By combining the stochastic assumptions of the model, namely Poisson purchasing of products, with mean rate distributed gamma across the population, and brand choice represented by multinomial probabilities distributed Dirichlet across consumers; a number of aspects of the aggregate behaviour of consumers can be successfully predicted successfully. This thesis examines the estimation issues in the Dirichlet model, specifically, the central Dirichlet parameter S used to represent heterogenity in brand choice.Item Food packaging and its influence on Thai' elderly consumer's [sic] food choices : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Packaging Technology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2010) Ounsuvan, PittipornAdvancing age is leading to changes in consumer needs, desires and aptitude. One need which is continuous, regardless of age, is the need for food. For some consumer’s [sic] age associated change can consequently limit their ability in grocery shopping and opening of food packages. Openability of food packaging for aged consumer is seen to be a major problem because some types of packages are difficult to open. As a consequence there is an actual need to provide elderly consumers with more supportive environment when grocery shopping and supportive instrument when using the packages by providing sufficient packaging functions. This research is in grocery shopping behaviour and attitude of older consumer (60 +) in different culture associated with various different types of food packaging and packaging utilisation. The aim of this research was to determine the different culture of consumers in grocery shopping behaviour and experience of elder consumers in Bangkok, Thailand with the aged from 60 years and over. Data collection involved quantitative (Questionnaire survey) and qualitative (Focus group) with elder consumers aged from 60 years. The quantitative findings are collected from a consumer questionnaire (n= 100), which mainly focused on consumer grocery shopping behaviour related to packaging utilisation and problems encountered. The result of questionnaire collections were then analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 15. Next, qualitative Focus groups defined in depth the grocery shopping experience as well as packaging utilisation. Each focus group consisted of six or seven adults and was carried out in a familiar social setting. Both the qualitative and quantitative results have identified shopping patterns and motivations for purchase decisions among this age group, and show that elderly consumer interface with both positive and negative experiences when accessing food products. The result shows that the majority of elder people in Bangkok normally go grocery shopping on a weekly basis in one of the multiple food retailers. Most of the participants had already retired from work and they are commonly living with their family member but they do their own house work. However, living situation did not have any affect [sic] in grocery shopping or packaging utilisation. Education and income could be factors that affect purchase decisions and packaging used. Packaging labels seems to be a major problem for aged consumers, as they find them difficult to read. In terms of packaging utilisation, most problems occurred with the packaging closure rather than packaging itself. Consumer health can affect packaging utilisation and openability of some type of packages which could lead to injury. The thesis discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various different types of food packaging.