Consumer perception of extruded snacks containing brown rice and dried mushroom

Effects of mushroom type, seasoning and health benefit information (HBI) on consumers’ saltiness expectation, sensory liking, elicited emotions and purchase intent (PI) of extruded snacks were investigated. Five snacks were evaluated: straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) extrudates without (SME) or with seasoning (SMES), phoenix mushroom (Pleurotus pulmonarius) extrudates without (PME) or with seasoning (PMES), and the control without mushroom and seasoning. Hedonic scores and positive emotions were generally higher for seasoned mushroom-containing snacks (SMES and PMES) with 65% and 75.83% of consumers reporting willingness to purchase, respectively, after receiving HBI. Bored, interested and satisfied were identified as significant emotional predictors for PI odds. Flavour, saltiness, overall liking, bored, good and interested were critical attributes, differentiating snacks. This study demonstrated that sensory liking and PI of extruded brown rice-based snacks containing mushroom could be improved through savoury seasoning addition, which also allowed saltiness expectations to be met.     

Attitude-behaviour dissonance regarding the importance of food preservation for customers

The aim of the study was to identify the importance of individual food product attributes (the use of preservatives, processing method, shelf-life period and nutritional value) as well as their relation to the purchase behaviour. To achieve this, consumer preferences were decomposed in conditions of full access to information, and data was compared with actual consumer behaviour related to making purchasing decisions in front of the store shelf. Based on data from 338 respondents, conjoint analysis and repeated ANOVA measurements were carried out, allowing to eliminate individual behavioural patterns. The results showed a dissonance between the consumers attitudes towards the attributes and their shopping behaviour. The processing method was the most important declared attribute for consumers, meanwhile this information was the least searched for during purchase. At the same time, shelf-life period marked as the least important was the main information searched for by consumers when shopping. The results also show a clear dislike towards the use of microwaves as a preservation method, while traditional thermal preservation was marked as the most positive for consumers. In addition, consumers were classified into 3 heterogeneous groups, identifying differences in the preferences of food attributes. The obtained results have practical value relating not only to the preferences of individual attributes, but also to their various variants. The results can be a guide for companies to properly label food products. The indicated dissonance illustrates the educational gap and related insufficient motivation to get to know the product before buying it. This is extremely important in connection with technological development and new food processing methods.     

Modelling consumer choice through the random regret minimization model: An application in the food domain

In line with findings on post-purchase food-choice regret, one can expect that pre-purchase anticipated regret with respect to forgone (non-chosen) alternatives has an impact on consumer food choices, especially when the choice is considered to be important. The traditional Random Utility Maximization (RUM) models for discrete choices may not fully capture this impact. This study investigates the usefulness and potential in the food domain of a discrete choice model that follows the regret minimization principle, the Random Regret Minimization (RRM) model, as an alternative and complement to existing RUM models. The two models are applied to consumer stated choices of cheese in a choice experiment. The study also investigates whether and to what extent a number of personality traits determine whether particular consumers rather choose according to utility-maximization, or regret-minimization principles. Results show that at the aggregate level the two models have a similar goodness of fit to the data and prediction ability. Still, each of them shows better fit for particular subgroups of consumers, based on personality traits. Hence, the present study reveals a potential for the RRM model applications in the food domain, and adds to the empirical literature supporting previous findings on the RRM model found in other contexts. Further research is needed to explore in which situations and for which consumer segments the RRM model is the most useful model.     

Night and Day: Are Siblings as Different in Temperament as Parents Say They Are?

Twin studies suggest that parent ratings of temperament exaggerate differences between twins. The present study examined whether such contrast effects also operate for nontwin siblings. The activity level (AL) and shyness of 95 nontwin sibling pairs (ages 3 to 8 years) were assessed via parent ratings and objective measures (actigraph and observer ratings). Siblings showed no resemblance in either parent-rated AL or shyness; however, sibling resemblance for actigraph AL and observer-rated shyness was substantial. Thus, parents do contrast their nontwin siblings when rating these 2 temperament dimensions. Moreover, the importance of sibling differences in temperament to the sibling relationship and differential maternal treatment varied across the different measures of AL and shyness, suggesting that parent perceptions may play a role in these associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Process issues in treatment: Application to sexual offender programs.

How critical is the therapeutic alliance in the treatment of sexual offenders? To date such process issues have been neglected in the field of sex offender treatment. This article reviews the literature on the influence on behavior change of therapist features, clients' perceptions, and the therapeutic alliance. Among the many therapist features identified as helpful are empathy, warmth, and being directive and rewarding. Therapists who are aggressively confrontational appear not to foster beneficial changes in their clients. These issues are directly related to treatment issues faced by therapists who work with sexual offenders, such as dealing with cognitive distortions, lack of empathy, and lack of motivation to change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

CODIRO: A New System for Obtaining Data Concerning Consumer Behavior Based on Data Factors of High Interest Determined by the Analyst

The aim of this paper is to propose a new system for the strategic use of customer data that includes and integrates such differing data sources as company databases, mobile telephone networks and Internet data and is a consumer research support system for the discovery of new marketing opportunities. This system, called CODIRO, will be discussed in this paper using a case study of the effects on sales of processed food product television commercials. A system for verifying the validity of consumer behavior models will also be described and discussed. Use of the CODIRO analysis system makes it easy to introduce, into the analytic model, consumer attitude changes and in-store data of many types that have not been used to measure advertising and promotional activity effectiveness in the past.     

Customer service providers' attitudes relating to customer service and customer satisfaction in the customer-server exchange.

The authors proposed and tested a model describing the relationship between customer service providers' perceptions and attitudes toward their service-related duties and their customers' perceptions of satisfaction with their service experiences. Results indicated that the perception of having standards for service delivery in an organization is strongly related to line-level employees' perceptions of support from coworkers and supervisors. Perceived support from coworker, was significantly related to service providers' customer orientation, whereas perceived support from supervisors showed a weaker relationship to a customer orientation. Ultimately, service providers' customer orientation was strongly related to customers' satisfaction with service. Finally, a set of post hoc analyses indicated that coworker and supervisory support explained a greater proportion of incremental variance in the model than did perceived organizational support alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shift in thinking to address the 21st century hunger gap

The present water policy debate is dominated by the 30 yr old mission to secure water supply and sanitation to all people. The water needed to produce a nutritionally acceptable diet for one person is however 70 times as large as the amount needed for domestic water supply. The food security dilemma is largest in arid climate regions, a situation constituting a formidable challenge. It is suggested that an additional 5 600 km³/yr of consumptive water use will be needed to produce an adequate amount of food by 2050 – i.e almost a doubling of today’s consumptive use of 6800 km³/yr. Past misinterpretations and conceptual deficiencies show the importance of a shift in thinking. Combining the scale of the challenge and the time scale of the efforts to feed humanity and eradicate hunger leads to an impression of great urgency. This urgency strengthens the call for international research both for supporting agricultural upgrading, and for much better handling of issues of environmental sustainability. What stands out is the need of a new generation of water professionals, able to handle complexity and able to incorporate water implications of land use and of ecosystem health in integrated water resources management. It will for those reasons be essential and urgent to upgrade the educational system to producing this new generation.