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Copyright of Journal of International Civilization Studies is the property of Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Nowadays, technology and social environment are changing rapidly due to globalization. Production and consumption have also changed with technological developments. Consumers exhibit different behaviors during this period. Therefore, postmodern society has turned into a consumption-oriented society emerged as a reaction to modern society. In postmodernism, consumption activities refer to a meaning different than meeting individuals' needs. Goods are mostly preferred due to their symbolic values. Postmodern consumers are people who reinvent themselves through consumption and develop individualized identities through exciting consumption experiences. Additionally, they try to be seen as socially powerful by presenting themself in front of other consumers through brands. Therefore, this research attempts to investigate the effect of brand attitude and materialistic tendencies on postmodern consumers' decision to purchase fashion products. Accordingly, data were collected through online survey from 388 participants living in Manisa using convenience sampling method. Four scales were used in the research. The hypotheses are tested with the SPSS 21 statistical program. The reliability of the scales was tested with Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. Then, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, frequency analysis, correlation and regression analysis were performed. According to the obtained results, the model is meaningful as a whole. The findings reveal that consumer characteristics and brand attitudes have a positive effect on consumers' decision to purchase fashion products. In addition, brand attitude has a greater impact on the purchasing decision than postmodern consumer characteristics. As a result, businesses need to address all these matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Applied & Theoretical Social Sciences is the property of Journal of Applied & Theoretical Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of OPUS - International Journal of Society Researches is the property of OPUS - International Journal of Society Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The shelves of local shops are filled with an abundance of imported beverages. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, Sprite, Frooti, and Red Bull among others have made the way to rural Nepal, where agriculture is still the primary source of income. As the result of increasing access to imported goods and products in rural markets, local products are gradually losing ground. This paper shows that tailored consumer education can assist de-cocacolising the market and increase the competitiveness and diversification of local products. It does so by imparting knowledge and skills to individuals to be critical and responsible consumers who start seeking an equal share of local products in the rural market. For this paper, extensive desk review, rural market observations and interviews with consumers of different age groups, vendors and youth were used as data generation techniques.

The change in consumer needs and preferences with postmodernism has revolutionized the production processes. 'Production for everyone' approach of the mass-production has given a place to mass-customization. Integration of mass-customization and Internet/Information Technologies (IT) has led to widespread of web based customization applications. This new production approach gives an opportunity to consumers to design new products in the way they want. The purposes of this study are to obtain information about the online product customization behavior of the consumers live in Turkey and to reveal how customized product categories are shaped based on consumers' demographic characteristics. In this context, 312 surveys obtained from online survey method analyzed with SPSS 20. The findings show that consumers mostly customize clothing, accessory and book/calendar/invitation products respectively. In addition to this, the consumers who separated different groups based on the demographic factors which are gender, age, education and level of income, prefer different product types that relevant to their interests; moreover, these consumers differentiate from each other in terms of participation to online customization except gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shelves of local shops are filled with an abundance of imported beverages. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, Sprite, Frooti, and Red Bull among others have made the way to rural Nepal, where agriculture is still the primary source of income. As the result of increasing access to imported goods and products in rural markets, local products are gradually losing ground. This paper shows that tailored consumer education can assist de-cocacolising the market and increase the competitiveness and diversification of local products. It does so by imparting knowledge and skills to individuals to be critical and responsible consumers who start seeking an equal share of local products in the rural market. For this paper, extensive desk review, rural market observations and interviews with consumers of different age groups, vendors and youth were used as data generation techniques.

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the factors that affect consumer choices for both policymakers and food companies. Design/methodology/approach -- Four hundred questionnaires were administered in the city of Florence (Tuscany, Italy). Data analysis was carried out according to a two-step procedure in a multivariate statistical framework: in the first stage, a multiple correspondence analysis was performed; in the second step, the single-link (nearest neighbour) cluster analysis allowed three homogeneous groups of consumers to be identified on the basis of their specific socio-demographic characteristics. Findings -- Three consumer clusters were obtained: the first, "critical but non-philanthropic consumers", who may have pathologies that require a particular diet; the second, "marginally critical consumers", for whom freshness, the label and the assortment count for much; the third, "agnostic consumers", who choose a product according to its origin and the price/quality relationship, while ethical aspects, health claims or information on the use are not considered as important. Social implications -- From the results it may be deduced that although recent regulations will lead to greater transparency, in many respects consumers may not be able to grasp aspects of higher quality from the label among competing products. Originality/value -- The results seem to run contrary to the trends identified in other studies with regard to critical and socially responsible production attributes. Except in cases where consumers are sensitised by the presence of food-related diseases encountered within their own family, they may not be able to grasp higher-quality aspects from the label among competing products. From the results it is evident that both educational and generational issues come into play with regard to food choices, closely linked to the media from which information is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to be competitive on the market and promote food safety and sustainable products, firms need to understand the characteristics of the various groups of consumers, in relation to their sensitivity to the environment and to food safety. Because of the informational asymmetry between consumer and producer, and despite the recent EC Regulation No. 1169/2011 on the provision of information to consumers on food, which became fully operational after 2014 and which provides for greater labelling transparency, consumers make choices based on the quality perception of a product without reaching the desired level of food safety and without understanding the benefits of environmentally and socially friendly products. Firms that wish to adopt corporate social responsibility initiatives, in a competitive scenario, need to understand how consumers make choices. To this end, this study investigates the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes that affect food choice like environmental certification, water footprint and carbon footprint as well as ethical aspects; information on the interviewee's ability to read the label and any problem understanding it were also requested. A questionnaire was conducted on a sample of 238 Italian consumers using face to face interviews. The data generated in this way were submitted to a descriptive analysis and cluster analysis. The results presented in this paper may be useful for both producers in formulating their marketing strategies and for public institutions in planning education and information programmes to promote a clear labelling regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most cases, the research focused on the discussion of Modernism- Postmodernism dichotomy without explicitly bringing to light the impact of this transition on the theory of consumption. Hence, the latter presents the objective of this literature gist overview. Drawing on Firat & Venkatech's researches and many others, first, we attempt to shed lights on fundamental theoretical issues: What is the postmodern reflection? What are the main characteristics of modernism and postmodernism? The main critics explaining the transition from Modernism to Postmodernism? Second, the discussion moves toward highlighting the conditions and characteristics of the postmodern consumer. In this case, we aim to stress its relationship with the concept of the consumption lived experience. Hence, this literature review translates a progressive and critical theoretical analysis by highlighting the close relationship of the postmodernism with the emergence of the experiential approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this study is that of providing some indications about the involvement of social networks into the agrifood system, even if in Italy it has just been approached compared to other countries, a reason why we do not have relevant statistics and enough literature. Social media, in fact, may contribute to formulate the right communication strategies in the different contexts, both traditional and virtual, by understanding at first what impact social media have through “word of mouth” among consumers concerning purchase trend of other ones, including the “experience sharing” in both contexts that may affect final purchase differently. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Postmodern society is predominantly viewed as a consumption- oriented society that developed as a reaction to the more traditional, modern society. The observed divide between modern and postmodern societies suggests different consumption patterns and consumer profiles which could have significant implications for service organisations. The discussion contrasted the modern and postmodern eras and societies, and isolated the main characteristics and service expectations of the postmodern consumer. The implications for organisation development (OD) in service organisations, notably in terms of the changes that are required, are highlighted. Opsomming Die postmodernistiese samelewing word hoofsaaklik as ‘n verbruikersgeoriënteerde samelewing gesien, wat in reaksie op die meer tradisionele modernistiese samelewing ontwikkel het. Die waargenome gaping tussen modernistiese en postmodernistiese samelewings suggereer verskillende verbruikspatrone en verbruikersprofiele wat beduidende implikasies vir diensorganisasies kan inhou. Die bespreking het die modernistiese en postmodernistiese eras en samelewings gekontrasteer en die hoof eienskappe en diensverwagtinge van die postmodernistiese verbruiker geïsoleer. Implikasies vir organisasie-ontwikkeling in diensorganisasies, veral in terme van die veranderinge wat benodig word, word aangedui.