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Thesis MSc Business Studies

Transparency

Can negative information disclosure improve consumers’ brand

attitude and purchase intentions?

Student Soleiman Faqiri

Student id 5982731

Supervisor Mr Demmers

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Abstract

The digital age and social media have given consumers increasing information power. Many studies have been conducted on the improving effect of positive information disclosure on brand attitude and consumer’s purchase intentions, where companies act on the impact of the digital age. This brings challenges to the marketer to decide which information to disclose and which disclosure methods to use. This study’s aim is to investigate the effect of information disclosure on brand attitude and consumers’ purchase intentions for products with different information needs. Hypotheses were formed from previous literature and an analysis was formed based on an experiment and questionnaire. A significant relation of negative

information disclosure on purchase intentions was found, but it was negative. This effect was significantly smaller for disclosure by the brand itself than by a third party. No statistical evidence was found for a moderating role of information needs in the relation between

negative information disclosure and purchase intentions. Information needs were significantly different for search, experience, and credence products. For all studied products it holds that it is less damaging when the negative information is disclosed by the brand instead of a third party.

Statement of originality

This document is written by Soleiman Faqiri who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are original and that no

sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of

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Table of content

1. Introduction 5

2. Theoretical framework 7

2.1.Importance of transparency 7

2.2.Negative information disclosure 9

2.3.Moderating effect of information needs 11

2.4.Conceptual model 14

3. Methodology 15

3.1.Context study 15

3.2.Research strategy and design 15

3.3.Measures 17

3.3.1. Information needs 17

3.3.2. Sentiment about the product information 18

3.3.3. Brand attitude 18

3.3.4. Purchase intentions 18

3.3.5. Sentiment about the supply chain information 19

3.3.6. Control variables 19 3.4. Pre-test 19 4. Results 20 4.1. Data preparation 20 4.2 Manipulation test 21 4.3. Reliability 22 4.4. Correlation 23

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4.5. Hypotheses testing 24

4.5.1. Dependent variable: Purchase intentions 24

4.5.2. Mediator: Brand attitude 25

4.5.3. Moderator: Information disclosure type 26

4.5.4. Moderator: Information needs 26

4.5.5. Information needs as a dependent variable (H3) 27

5. Discussion 28

5.1. Discussion of the results 28

5.2. Managerial and theoretical implications 30

5.3. Limitations and future research 31

6. Conclusion 33

7. References 34

Appendix 1: Survey in Dutch 39

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1. Introduction

We live in the era of the Internet, where any information about anything and anyone and any product or brand can – with the right tools – be found online. Labrecque et al. (2013) call it the digital age where the consumer is empowered by the Internet and social media. The internet shifts the power from the marketers to the consumers, because the consumer has four power sources with which he can make or break a brand (image). Internet makes all the information available but social media have given the consumers demand-, information, network-, and crowd-based power (Labrecque et al., 2013). Companies can use transparency in their advantage, because it provides them control on how consumers get information.

Active information disclosure brings challenges to the marketers. Providing the consumer with too much information, creates information overload and can hinder the consumer from making a good decision (Ariely, 2000). According to Ariely, marketers need to offer the most appropriate information to their customers, on which customers can base their decisions. To offer appropriate information, marketers need to know the consumer’s information needs. Consumers’ purchase intentions are affected by their beliefs about the perceived risk accompanied with the purchase (Kim et. Al, 2007) which they try to reduce by searching for information. Gerard and Dion (2010) elaborate on consumer’s information needs and argue that for the evaluation of different type of products/services, different information is required. In their study they use the Search, Experience, and Credence

framework. How information disclosure affects customer’s purchase intentions is moderated by the consumer’s information needs. For experience and credence products there is need for more information than for search products because consumers perceive higher risk with the purchase of these products (Reiss and Capella, 1999). Reiss and Capella explain that for search products consumers are more reactive to information than for experience and credence products because they can easily find a substitute product. According to this theory

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information needs have a moderating effect on the relation between information disclosure and consumers’ purchase intentions, where the need for information weakens the relationship. Information disclosure type is according to theory a moderator of the relation between

information disclosure and purchase intentions. Arpan and Roskos-Ewoldsen (2005) explain that a brand can decrease the damage of negative information by being the first to report about it instead of third party. Marketers can use this knowledge to adequately disclose appropriate information or to choose not to disclose certain information.

This research will study how consumers’ purchase intentions are affected by negative information disclosure, while this effect is moderated by the consumers’ information needs prior to purchase. The research question is: How does negative information disclosure affect purchase intentions, for different type of products? Recent research has shown the

significance of transparency on consumer’s purchase intentions and product choice (Bhaduri, & Ha-Brookshire, 2011). Research also has proven the importance of information needs on how information disclosure is perceived (Franke et al., 2004). The latter moderates the first mentioned effect (Reiss and Capella, 1999), and that makes this research question interesting. The contribution to the literature is that this paper combines these two theories for a better understanding of the effects of transparency. The findings of this paper can also contribute to more effective transparency strategies by marketers. It can help them decide which

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2. Theoretical framework

2.1. Importance of transparency

Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire (2011) define transparency as:

„„visibility and accessibility of information especially concerning business practices‟‟ Consumers are more concerned about the environment and society and are more aware about these concerns when making a purchase. For these consumers transparency is important and affective for their product choice. Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire show in their study that the consumers today find (supply chain) transparency and sustainability very important for their purchase intentions. The study has several other findings towards consumer purchase

intentions. First, besides the importance of transparency also the availability of the information has to be convenient, and it has to be active information disclosure. The

information has to be disclosed by the company and not by another party. The second finding is that trust increases consumers’ perceived value of the product and their social responsibility value for transparent products, and so it affects purchase intentions (Bhaduri &

Ha-Brookshire, 2011). When a product supports a social or environmental because it adds value to the consumer because the consumer feels socially responsible. Consequently, a product that harms a social or environmental cause diminishes value for the consumer. Marketers can use transparency to add value to a product that supports society and environment, which is of concern for the consumers. Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire suggest an influence of social

pressure on purchase intentions of transparent apparel products. Active and reliable disclosure of supply chain information by the brand is important for the consumer’s purchase intentions, because it makes the business more trustworthy.

In addition Carter and Curry (2010) in their study research the effect of transparent pricing on consumer’s utility function and stated choice behaviour. They observe that

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consumers prefer transparent pricing, even when they have to pay a higher price for that product. With their example of Starbucks (costs related to knowledgeable staff, health insurance for the staff) Carter and Curry support Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire’s finding that consumers prefer a transparent and socially/environmentally beneficial product, rather than a product that is not transparent or not socially/environmentally beneficial. Their study proves that positive information disclosure improves consumer’s attitude toward the brand, because this disclosure makes the consumer aware of the brand’s social or environmental awareness. The consumer also has increased purchase intentions for the product related to the positive information.

Spenner and Freeman (2012) in their study go a step further and stress on the

consumer guiding role of the marketer. The marketer can make the purchase decision easier by being transparent and providing necessary purchase information to the consumer in a convenient and comprehensive manner. According to Spenner and Freeman, the effect of information disclosure on purchase intentions is also mediated by how much the consumer trusts the information they find, and how readily they can weigh their options. Spenner and Freeman describe three tactics marketers use to make the purchase decision simpler: “They minimize the number of information sources consumers must touch as they move confidently towards a purchase; provide trustworthy sources of product information and

recommendations; and offer tools that allow consumers to weigh their options by identifying the features. Also this study stresses on the importance of transparency, because then

consumers do not have to search for information which is important for their purchase decision. Using the recommendations of Spenner and Freeman, marketers can more

effectively improve consumers’ attitude toward the brand and their purchase intentions with information disclosure.

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Research (Bhaduri & Ha-Brookshire (2011) and Belch (1983) In Eisend 2006). has shown that positive information disclosure has a positive effect on consumer’s purchase intentions. More interesting is the effect of negative information disclosure on consumer’s purchase intentions. The next section is dedicated for the elaboration on the effect of negative information disclosure on both brand attitude and purchase intentions.

2.2.Negative information disclosure

Arpan and Roskos-Ewoldsen (2005) studied the positive effect of negative information disclosure. They call it stealing thunder; the concerned company is the first who actively discloses negative information about their product or brand. This will result in higher credibility ratings. Their study suggests that purchase intentions are also influenced by previous experience with the product/brand. Disclosure of negative information by the brand enhances credibility and improves purchase intentions (Arpan and Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005). According to Arpan and Roskos-Ewoldsen negative information disclosure improves

consumer’s attitude towards the brand because of the higher credibility. The improved brand attitude has a positive effect on purchase intentions. When the negative information is first disclosed by a third party it will not have a positive effect on brand attitude.

In addition to Arpan and Roskos-Ewoldsen, Eisend (2006) also studies the effect of negative information about the brand on the consumer’s attitude toward the brand. Eisend conducted a meta-analysis for his research. Eisend suggests that the effect of the negative information is moderated by the amount of negative information, attribute quality, placement of negative information, correlation between negative and positive attributes, and marketers’ voluntariness. The most important moderator of the effect of negative information is novelty; the marketer has to disclose the information before the consumer can find it somewhere else.

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Another finding of this study is that disclosing negative information (voluntarily) enhances source credibility. Credibility enhances reliability, which in turn can induce trust (this however needs further research). According to Lafferty and Goldsmith (1999) in an advertisement (so when a brand is communicating certain information to the consumers) beside endorser credibility also corporate credibility and corporate reputation play an

important role in advertise effectiveness, and in the impact on consumers’ brand attitude and purchase intentions. Disclosing negative information by the brand induces trust toward the brand which improves brand attitude and purchase intentions (Eisend, 2006).

When a company discloses negative information on the correct way suggested by Eisend (2006), the company can enhance both consumers’ attitude toward the brand as well as consumer’s purchase intentions. The link between brand attitude and purchase intentions is supported by the study by Spears and Singh in 2012. They define attitude toward the brand and purchase decisions as follows.

“Thus, in our conceptualization, attitude toward the brand is a relatively enduring, unidimensional summary evaluation of the brand that presumably energizes

behavior.”

“Purchase intentions are an individual„s conscious plan to make an effort to purchase a brand.”

Spears and Singh argue that even though prior research suggests that brand attitude and purchase intentions are distinctive, empirical work suggests the opposite. The two variables are suggested to be indistinguishable. Spears and Singh describe PI as personal action tendencies toward the brand, where a positive attitude toward the brand improve action tendencies toward the brand (PI) and a negative brand attitude decreases action tendencies toward the brand. In their study they find evidence that the sentiment towards the

advertisement influences the attitude toward the brand. The attitude toward the ad has a direct effect on purchase intentions.

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H1b: Brand attitude mediates the effect of negative information disclosure on purchase intentions, when brand attitude improves it enhances purchase intentions, but when brand attitude decreases it also decreases purchase intentions.

H1c: disclosure source moderates the effect of negative information disclosure on purchase intentions, when disclosed by a third party the information has a negative effect on purchase intentions, but information disclosed by the brand has a positive effect on purchase intentions.

2.3.Moderating effect of information needs

Franke et al. (2004) argue in their study that marketers provide information to enhance consumer brand perceptions and purchase probabilities. However the effectiveness of this communication is affected by the product type and by the cost of the information prior to purchase. Consumers tend to be more skeptical about information that takes more time to obtain (Franke et al., 2004) Information about search products is easy to find and is objective, but information about experience and credence products is more difficult to find and is subjective, for which consumers are cautious with this information. There are two approaches to avoid ineffective communication. The first approach is to provide more information but avoid information overload. The second approach is to provide selective and limited information. According to Galtezka et al. (2006) information is evaluated on the source validity and reliability.

In this paper we use the Search, Experience, and Credence (SEC) framework. These products serve different needs and therefore need different information for an adequate evaluation. Gerard and Dion (2010) define search products as products whose attribute information, from price to performance, is easily to obtain before purchase. Experience products are described as products whose relevant information can only be known after purchase. Credence goods are products whose relevant information only becomes available long after the purchase and use

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of the product. Examples are vitamin pills and food supplements.Franke et al. (2004) find that for credence products the reliability of information is essential for consumer’s perception of the information. Grant et al. (2007) discuss that in the past the focus of information was solely on standardized, search, products. Whereas today the purpose of information is to provide knowledge about product options for evaluation, which should reduce purchase decision anxiety. Reiss, and Capella (1999) focus on the risk reduction purposes of information search. According to them consumers tend to spend more time on information search for products that come with higher risk. Information search time for a search product will be lower than the information search time for an experience or credence product.

To understand the consumers’ information needs we look at the consumer purchase decision process. According to Kolesar and Galbraith (2000) consumers undertake a series of predictable behavior. The process begins when consumers find a difference between an actual state they are in and an ideal state they would like to be in. The needs that they identify herein provide the basic values that the consumer wants to be satisfied. Gutman (1982) proposes the means-end-chain model to describe how consumers identify their needs.

“The model is based on two fundamental assumptions about consumer behavior (1) that values, defined here as desirable end-states of existence, play a dominant role in guiding choice patterns, and (2) that people cope with the tremendous diversity of products that are potential satisfiers of their values by grouping them into sets or classes so as to reduce the complexity of choice.”

After the needs are identified the consumer begins the search for information to minimize perceived risk, and continues with the evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, purchase, and ends with the post purchase evaluation. According to Kolesar and Galbraith, the marketer

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can influence the consumer purchase decision by promising to fulfill higher order needs, even for a lower order need product.

According to Gerard and Dion (2010) consumers’ information needs are different for every product. While for one product type both the validity and reliability of the information are important, for another product type mainly the reliability matters. The experience of the product can be different for different consumers and that makes it difficult to find relevant information. Thus is information disclosure more effective for experience and credence goods than for search goods, because the information needs are higher for these types of products than for search products. Franke et al. (2004) claim in their study that print ads have a positive effect for consumers’ perception of the provided information for search goods, negative for convenience goods, and for experience products this effect is non-significant. Franke et al. further suggest that the print ads for experience products have significantly higher information levels than ads for search and convenience products. Consumers are likely to be more

skeptical about the information involving experience and convenience products, because they can evaluate the relevant information only after purchase. Therefore the effect of information disclosure on purchase intentions is less for higher information needs. While for search goods both product validity and product reliability are important for consumer’s purchase intentions, for experience products especially the reliability is important for positive consumer behavior (Galetzka et al. 2006). The consumer needs information that confirms the validity and reliability of the product. Gerard and Dion (2004) put emphasis on the risk perception of the customer prior to product purchase. Customers face increasing risk for purchasing

respectively search, experience or credence goods. Subsequently, for credence goods it is more important that the required information is ought to decrease consumer risk, than for experience or search goods. Grant et al. (2007) differentiate between objective and subjective

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information. Objective information is for example price and product specifications, which is mostly relevant for search products. Subjective information is information about personal experiences for experience and credence goods. Purchase of experience and credence products is perceived more risky. Therefore, purchase intention for these products is less affected by information disclosure than for search products which are easily substitutable (Reiss and Capella, 1999).

H2: The effect of information disclosure on consumer‟s purchase intentions is moderated by the consumers‟ information needs, where the relationship gets weaker when information needs increase.

H3: The information needs is highest for credence products, followed by experience products, and it is lowest for search products.

2.4.Conceptual Model

Figure 1. Conceptual model: Effect of negative information disclosure on consumers’ purchase intentions.

Consumer’s Purchase intentions H1a H1c H3 Consumer’s information needs Product type Negative nformation disclosure Consumer’s brand attitude H1b Disclosure type H2

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This thesis studies the next research question: How does negative information disclosure affect purchase intentions, for different type of products? Recent studies have proven the significance of transparency on consumers’ purchase intentions and the importance of information needs on how information is perceived. Here we find the research gap, because there is no research conducted on the moderation effect of information needs on the relation between information disclosure and purchase intentions. This study researches how

information disclosure affects brand attitude and purchase intentions, but also how this effect is moderated by the consumer information needs and disclosure source. The information needs on their part depend on the product type.

3. Methodology 3.1.Context study

Transparency can be used in all industries and it can be about anything the company prefers it to be. As previous studies have shown disclosure of (positive) information can enhance brand attitude and purchase intentions. The research about the effect of negative information

disclosure on purchase intentions is scarce. This study researches the effect of negative information disclosure about the supply chain of the product on the consumer’s purchase intentions. The supply chain covers all the information about the product. Lummus and Vokurka (1999) define the supply chain as “all the processes from the initial raw materials to the ultimate consumption of the finished products, linking across supplier-user companies.”

This thesis studies the effect of transparency across three industries: technology, food sector, and health sector. This procedure is chosen to study and analyze the effects of

transparency across different type of products. This study can contribute to the knowledge about transparency and can help entities to apply appropriate and effective communication strategies, depending on the product type.

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3.2.Research strategy and design

The aim of this study is to broaden the academic knowledge about transparency. To link the relation between information disclosure and purchase intentions to information needs for different product types a deductive approach is used. For this study an experiment and survey were used. This method is chosen because it enables the researcher to collect representative data in a situation with a time limit.

The survey will be filled out both on paper and online, with an expected response rate of respectively 56% and 23% (Nulty 2008). There will be three conditions (no disclosure, disclosure by brand, disclosure by consumer) for the variable transparency, and three conditions for the product type (search, experience, credence). We need at least 20

participants per condition (Van Voorhis & Morgan, 2007). To assure validity of the research, the applicants are randomly selected. The survey allows studying the hypotheses and using enough applicants in a short time, which is essential for this study.

Each participant is assigned to one of the nine conditions and is asked to read the information and answer the questions. The sample population is limited to all buying consumers (people who not only consume the products but also make the buying decision).

To make sure not to harm any company, the participants were notified that the text is fictive. After the introduction, participants are randomly assigned to a survey. The three products are:

-Search product: “Tom Tom Traffic navigation system”, for which all attribute information is available before purchase.

-Experience product: Wine, “Maria Gall Suid Africa Chardonnay”, for which not all attribute information is available before purchase. Only after purchase consumers know if they like the taste.

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-Credence product: Vitamin pills, “De Tuinen kauwbare multi vitamin”, for which even after purchase not all attribute information is not directly available.

These selected products represent the product attributes of the product type they are grouped in. These are products and brands every participant can recognize and consider purchasing.

For each product the next conditions are applied:

-No information disclosure: There is no information provided about the supply chain -Negative information provided by the brand: The brand discloses (fictive) negative information about the supply chain. The brand puts the next information on their website: At “the brand” we are shocked with the discovery that for the production of “product“ child labor has been used. “The brand” disapproves the use of child labor and will make sure this will not happen again in the future.

-Negative information provided by a consumer review:

I was shocked with the discovery that for the production of the “product” child labor has been used.

3.3.Measures

The measures in this research come from previously conducted studies. The measures come from multiple studies. For some measures the wording is slightly changed to fit for this study. For the brand attitude and purchase intentions a 7-point Likert scale is used because Spears and Singh (2012) suggest that is the best scale according to previous literature.

3.3.1. Information needs

Information needs variable is the moderator and is measured by letting the participants choose which type of information they need for the purchase of the described product. The 14

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information cues of Resnik and Stern’s list of information cues (Chan and Chan, 2005) were reduced to 11 cues, because three information cues were inapplicable in our experiment. This variable also has a second role. This variable measures if the different products indeed require different information needs.

3.3.2. Sentiment about the product information

To check participant’s perceptions of the manipulated data a question about the product information was added. Participants were asked about their perception on the provided

information, which was measured on 5- point Likert scale (1-5: very negative – very positive) (Belch, 1981). This question was asked for every product to analyse if the manipulated information was perceived as significantly negative for all the products.

3.3.3. Brand attitude

Spears and Singh (2012) describe attitude towards the brand as followed:

“attitude toward the brand is a relatively enduring, unidimensional summary evaluation of the brand that presumably energizes behavior.”

To measure this variable three Likert items from the study by Bohner et al. (2003) are used. The applicant can answer the items on a 7-point scale, strongly agree – strongly disagree. The applicant is asked to answer the following questions: My general impression of this brand is good; I would like very much to buy products from this brand; The likelihood that I will buy a product from this brand in the next month is high.

3.3.4. Purchase intentions

Purchase intentions is a dependent variable. Pears and Singh (2012) define it as: “Purchase intentions are an individual„s conscious

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For the measurement of this variable five Likert items from the study by Spears and Singh (2012) are used. The items can be answered on a sevent-point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. It is likely/possibly/certain that I buy this product, and I am planning to/interested in buy/buying this product.

3.3.5. Sentiment about the supply chain information

This is the second manipulation check. With this variable the sentiment about the supply chain information is measured. Participants were asked about their perception of the provided information, which they could answer on a 5-point Likert scale (1-5: very negative – very positive) (Belch, 1981).

3.3.6. Control variables

The last questions in the questionnaire were concentrated on the demographics. The participants were asked about their gender, age, and education to make sure that these variables did not have an effect on their answers.

-Gender: Male/female

-Age: 0-16; 17-25; 26-35; 36-45; 46-55; 55+

-Education: High School; Intermediate Vocational Education; College Academy; University; other

3.4.Pre-test

A pre-test was conducted to test if the manipulated variables were having the desired effect. The first manipulation test was to see if the product information was seen as positive (or at worst as neutral). The second manipulation test was to see if the manipulated information about the supply chain was indeed seen as negative. With a minimum of 5 participants per

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condition, a pretest was run with 45 participants. A one sample t-test was conducted to analyze the means of the variables. Meanproduct sentiment (sentiment of product information) was

compared to mean = 3.5. MProduct sentiment is 3.78 ± 0.704 (t(44)=2.649, p=0.011) and is

statistically significantly larger than 3.5, and thus positive. A one-way Anova was run to test for differences between the conditions and no significant difference was found (F=0.753, p=0.630). The mean of sentiment of supply chain information was compared to 2.5 to see if it significantly negative. Msupply chain sentiment is 2.13 ± 0.730 (t(29)=-2.750, p=0.010) and it is

statistically significantly smaller than 2.5, thus negative. Again a one-way Anova was run to test for differences between the conditions and no significant difference was found (F=0.242, p=0.911).

The information needs of the chosen products were tested to analyze how well they fit in the given product types. This was tested by running a one way anova with a post-hoc tukey analysis. There are three product types, (1) search (M=2.5333), (2) experience (M=5.0667), (3) credence (M=6.2667). The test proves experience products to have a significantly larger mean than search products (Mdifference=2.53333, p=0.000). The test also shows that the chosen credence product has a significantly larger mean than the experience product ((Mdifference=1.2, p=0.038). These results prove that experience products have larger information needs than search products, but smaller information needs than credence products. This is in line with the literature.

4. Results

The data analysis of the survey will be discussed in this section. We start with the data

preparation, and continue to the manipulation test, reliability test, correlations, and finish with hypotheses testing.

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4.1. Data preparation

The survey was started and completed by 273 participants. Data from the digital

questionnaires was transferred to SPSS and data from printed versions was added to SPSS. In order to be able to run analysis on the data, labels were created and data was grouped in type of product and type of disclosure. All variables got a label and in order to run analysis on information needs, brand attitude, and purchase intentions, for these variables a new label was created. Brand attitude average, Purchase intentions average, and Information needs total.

4.2. Manipulation test

For the manipulation test we follow the same steps as in the previous paragraph about the pretest. A one sample t-test was run for the means analysis of Product sentiment and Supply chain sentiment. The product sentiment is supposed to be positive, and so the mean of Product sentiment is compared to a mean of 3.5. Mproduct sentiment = 3.64 ± 0.694 (SE=0.042, t(272) =

3.269, p = 0.001). The sentiment about the product information is statistically significantly larger than 3.5, and thus as supposed it is positive. A one way Anova was run to test for differences between de conditions (F=1.880, p=0.073) and showed marginal difference between the conditions. The post hoc tukey showed only a significant difference of M= 0.547 between the search product and experience product. This means that there is marginally significant difference in how participants perceive the product sentiment for search and experience products. On a scale of 1-7 participants perceive the product sentiment of experience product 0.547 more positive than the product sentiment for the search product. This makes some of the results unreliable.

The sentiment about the supply chain information is supposed to be negative, so it should be smaller than 2.5. Msupply chain sentiment = 2.3 ± 0.991 (SE=0.075, t(174) = -2.631, p =

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0.009). This variable is statistically significantly smaller than 2.5, and thus the supply chain is negative. The one way Anova showed no significant difference between the conditions (F=1.028, p=0.395).

According to literature the information needs should increase from (1) search- to (2) experience products, and from experience- to (3) credence products. To measure this a one way Anova was run. The search product has a mean of M(search) = 3.1034 ±1.2853, SE =

0.13780, and it is significantly smaller than (p = 0.000) M(experience) = 4.2289 ± 1.31895, SE =

0.14477. The experience product has also significantly smaller (p = 0.001) information needs than the credence product M(credence) = 5.1068 ± 1.95495, SE = 0.1926.This is in line with

theory because experience products have a more information needs than search products, and credence products have more information needs than experience products.

4.3 Reliability

For the reliability of the scales used in the questionnaire we analyze the Cronbach’s alpha. A Cronbach’s alpha larger than 0.7 is acceptable according to Field (2009). The Cronbach’s alpha for purchase intentions is 0.933, and for brand attitude it is 0.824. They are both above 0.7, and thus are reliable scales. The scales for sentiment about product information and sentiment about supply chain information both exist of a single item.

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4.4 Correlation

For the correlation analysis a Pearson test was run and a correlation matrix was conducted as shown on table 1. On the table the mean, standard deviation and Crohnbach’s alpha (on the diagonal) are added.

Table 1. Correlation matrix

**Correlation is statistically significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *Correlation is statistically significant at the 0.5 level (2-tailed).

There is a significant correlation of 0.467 (p < .001) between product type and information needs. This correlation supports hypothesis 3. Disclosure type has a significant correlation of 0.330** (p < .000) with purchase intentions, and 0.405** (p < .000) with brand attitude. This correlation contradicts the theory. According to theory, disclosing negative information should have a positive effect on brand attitude and purchase intentions which are contradicted with this correlation. This correlation does support hypothesis 1d, negative information disclosed by a third party has a negative effect on brand attitude. A significant correlation of 0.569** (p < .000) is found between purchase intentions and brand attitude. This supports the relation between purchase intentions and brand attitude hypothesized in 1d.

There is a correlation of 0.241** (p < .000) between product sentiment and

information needs. It is possible that participants who are more positive about the product information are more interested in the product, and therefor want more information about the product. This theory is strengthened with a significant correlation between purchase intentions

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and information needs (r=0.157**, p < .000). Sentiment about supply chain information is significantly correlated with purchase intentions 0.394**, p < .000), brand attitude (r=-0.275**, p < .000), and with information needs (r=-0.243**, p < .001).

4.5.Hypotheses testing

4.5.1. Dependent variable: Purchase intentions

Hypothesis 1a states that negative information disclosure has a positive impact on consumers’ purchase intentions. To test this model the process model by Hayes was used to regress a moderated mediation model. With the independent variable (information disclosure (No disclosure, brand disclosure, third party disclosure)), mediator (brand attitude), moderator (information needs), and control variables (gender, education, and age) consumers’ purchase intention were predicted. This model is statistically significant, F=21.106 (p < .000) and predicts 35.8% of the variance of the consumers’ purchase intentions.

The results of this regression process are put on table 2. The regression shows brand attitude, information disclosure, and information needs to be significant predictors of purchase intentions. For every unit increase of brand attitude purchase intentions increase with 0.529. Information disclosure decreases purchase intentions with 0.209 and it decreases again by 0.209 when the information is disclosed by a third party (PI of 1 is positive and 7 is negative). This finding rejects the hypothesis. This finding does not support the hypothesis that negative information disclosure positively influences the purchase intentions. There is however support for the theory that the brand can control damage by disclosing information before a third party does it. When information needs increase with one unit, purchase intentions decreases with 0.112. The control variables are not statistically significant predictors of consumers’ purchase intentions. There is no significant interaction effect between information disclosure and

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information needs, which means that there is no significant moderation effect of information needs on the relation between information disclosure and purchase intentions.

Table 2. Regression process: model 8

**Statistically significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *Statistically significant at the 0.5 level (2-tailed).

Interaction_1 = Information disclosure x Information needs.

4.5.2. Mediator: Brand attitude

Brand attitude is according to theory the mediator of the relation between information disclosure and purchase intentions, H1b: Brand attitude mediates the effect of negative information disclosure on purchase intentions, when brand attitude improves it enhances purchase intentions, but when brand attitude decreases it also decreases purchase intentions. The regression in the previous paragraph is used to test this. Brand attitude has a significant mediating effect of 0.045 (p < .027). This is also the moderated mediation effect on purchase intentions. There is significant support for the mediating role of brand attributes on the relation of information disclosure on purchase intentions.

The variable brand attitude is also tested to test for the interaction with other variables. we test with a regression analysis (see table 3) whether brand attitude is well predicted by the variable information disclosure. The model is significant and explains 38.2% of consumer’s attitude towards the brand (F = 27.435, p < .000). Disclosure type significantly decreases (increases

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Ba) brand attitude with 0.410 (p < .000) when negative information is disclosed by the brand, and again with 0.410 when negative information is disclosed by a third party. Information needs is not a significant predictor. Negative information disclosure does not have a positive effect on brand attitude, but negative information disclosure by a third party does have a negative effect on brand attitude. This finding suggests that purchase intentions and brand attitude react similar to the variables.

Table 3. Regression analysis for brand attitude.

4.5.3. Moderator: Information disclosure type

Hypothesis H1c states a moderating effect of information disclosure type on purchase

intentions. The interaction between information disclosure and information disclosure type is strong because for no information disclosure there is no disclosure type, and for information disclosure there is a disclosure type. From table 2 we can see that information disclosure type has a significant coefficient (p < 0.026). Information disclosed by a third party indeed has a more negative effect on consumers’ purchase intention than when it is disclosed by the brand. With these findings we cannot reject the hypothesis.

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4.5.4. Moderator: Information needs

Information needs moderate the effect of information disclosure on purchase intentions according to theory, where the relation gets weaker when information needs increase (H2). In the regression process by Hayes run for the mediated moderation model we can depict the interactions between information disclosure and information needs. For the prediction of brand attitude there is a marginally significant value of 0.0847 (p < .0.090), but for the prediction of purchase intentions there is no significant value -0.128 (p = .781). There is support for a moderation effect on the relation of information disclosure on brand attitude, where information needs indeed weaken the relation (brand attitude is positive for the value 1 and negative for 7). In the prediction of purchase intentions however there is no significant moderation effect, and thus no support for this hypothesis.

H3: The information needs is highest for credence products, followed by experience products, and it is lowest for search products.

4.5.5. Information needs: as a dependent variable (H3)

Hypothesis 3 states that information need is different for the different product types. It is increasing from (1) search products to (2) experience products, and from experience products to (3) credence products. A one way Anova with post hoc tukey was run to test for the mean differences. The results on table 4 show that the product types have significantly different information needs. These results support hypothesis 3, and thus we can accept it.

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Table 4. One way Anova with post hoc tukey.

5. Discussion

The literature review explained the shift of change of power from marketers to consumers due to the digital age. Brands can avoid this by providing active information disclosure, before the consumer finds it elsewhere. To study the effect of negative information disclosure on

consumer’s purchase intentions, this study ran an experiment and a questionnaire. This effect was studied for three types of products and the effect of information needs was analyzed. In this chapter the data results will be discussed from which theoretical and managerial

implications will be drawn. The last paragraph of this chapter is focused on the limitations of this study and on future research.

5.1 Discussion of the results

Many studies have studied the positive effect of positive information disclosure (e.g. Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire ,2011; Carter and Curry ,2010; Spenner & Freeman, 2012), fewer studies researched the effect of negative information disclosure on purchase intentions (e.g. Arpan & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005; Eisend, 2006). This study found a statistically significant effect of negative information disclosure on consumer’s purchase intentions (and consumer’s attitude towards the brand). This effect is however negative and not in line with the discussed theory.

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Compared to a non-disclosure scenario, negative information disclosure by the brand damages consumers’ purchase intentions. The disclosed negative information in the experiment uses the stealing thunder condition (mentioned by Arpan & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005), and the novelty mentioned by Eisend (2006). The amount of negative information however is not followed by equally positive supply chain information. Also other conditions mentioned by Eisend like placement of information and attribute quality are not met. These conditions are purposely not met, so solely the effect of negative information disclosure could be analysed.

This study does successfully prove that it is better for attitude towards the brand and for purchase intentions to disclose the negative information as first, instead of letting a third party disclose this information. This supports the study by Arpan & Roskos-Ewoldsen, stealing thunder works in the advantage of the brand. Even though disclosing the negative information by the brand has a negative effect on purchase intentions, the effect on purchase intentions is worse when the information is disclosed by a third party. The results in this study can be affected by the fact that the two types of disclosure do not have the exact same

information. Brand disclosure has the extra information that the brand regrets the use of child labour and will make sure it does not happen in the future. This study also shows the relation between brand attitude and purchase intentions. It supports the study by Spears & Singh (2012) that brand attitude and purchase intentions are not distinctive.

The experiment and questionnaire successfully studied and proved the relation between product types and information needs (credence products have higher information needs than experience products, and experience products have higher information needs than search products). The moderating effect of information needs the relation between negative information disclosure and purchase intention was not successfully proven. There is no significant moderation effect. There is also no significant relation between information needs and how information is perceived as described by previous studies.

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5.2 Managerial and theoretical implications

This study covered areas that are untouched by previous literature. The effect of product types on the relation between information disclosure and purchase intentions was not studied

before. This study compared the effect of negative information disclosure for search,

experience, and credence products, in the technology, food, and health-care industry. For all the product types it is proven that negative information disclosure is beneficial when it is done by the brand itself. Negative information disclosure damages the brand attitude and purchase intentions, but not as badly as when the negative information comes from a third party.

The second theoretical contribution is that this study analyzed the effect of information needs on the relation between negative information disclosure and purchase intentions.

According to literature information needs could have a moderating effect on this relation, but there were no previous studies conducted on this. The experiment and questionnaire showed no significant moderation effect of information needs. Information disclosure has a

moderating effect and disclosure by a third party has a more negative effect on purchase intentions.

There are several managerial implications. For the different products and different studied industries the effect of negative information disclosure is the same. Most important takeaway is to be the first to provide negative information, no matter in which of the studied industries you are operating or which of the studied product types you offer. When the negative information is disclosed by a third party the damage to consumer’s purchase intentions and consumer’s attitude towards your brand are more severe.

The last implication for companies is that for negative information disclosure the consumer’s information needs are not important. The disclosed information and the way it is brought to the consumer is most important for its effect on consumer’s purchase intentions

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and attitude towards the brand. The focus should be more on what harmful information can be brought to the consumer by a third party, and how to be the first to disclose it and how to wrap the negative information, but also which method to use for disclosure.

5.3 Limitations and future research

This research has several limitations and recommendations for future research. This study only looks at the effect of information needs on the relation between negative information disclosure and purchase intentions. It is therefore limited to the information needs for the different product types, whereas other factors could play a role as well for these product types. It is interesting to look in what else these products types are distinguished from each other, and to study if those attributes can have limited the effect of information needs. Another limitation of this study is that provided information by the brand and by the third party is not the same. The information provided by the third party does not state that the brand

disapproves child labor and will make sure it does not happen in the future. This limitation can have affected the results and therefor it can misrepresent the reality.

This study does not take account of credibility of the disclosed information, and of the statement (in the survey) that the brand will make sure that there will not be made use of child labor in the future. Future studies can manipulate the credibility of the disclosed information. Neither does this study look at the relation of trust (towards the brand) on the effect of negative information disclosure.

This study focuses on three types of products which have different information needs, but it is also interesting to study the effect of negative information disclosure for products which are in different price classes, meant for consumers with different incomes. It is

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interesting to study whether consumers who buy cheap clothes are less sensitive to negative information disclosure than consumers who only buy high end brands.

The last limitation of this study is that it only looks at information disclosure via a text on the internet. There are more methods to disclose (negative) information, which can be more or less effective. For future research it is interesting to study which method is most effective to disclose negative information and have the least damage or even improvement of purchase intentions.

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6. Conclusion

A literature review, and an experiment and questionnaire were used to answer this studies research question: How does negative information disclosure affect purchase intentions, for different type of products? Literature review showed that the importance of transparency on consumer’s attitude toward the brand and on consumer’s purchase intentions. Positive information disclosure has according to theory a positive effect on purchase intentions. The research on negative information disclosure is scarce, but when the information disclosure meets several conditions mentioned by Eisend (2006), it can have a positive effect on brand attitude and on purchase intentions. The experiment and survey however did not support this theory. There was a significant relation between negative information disclosure and purchase intentions, but it was negative. Another finding was that it is in the company’s advantage to be the first to disclose the information, and prevent more damage to purchase intentions and brand attitude.

Literature review also suggests that the effect of information disclosure on purchase intentions is moderated by the consumer’s information needs. The conducted study rejected this theory, because there was no significant moderation effect observed. The study did observe a statistically significant relation between product type and information needs.

Important takeaways from this study are for all the three types of products it is in the company’s best interest to be the first to disclose negative information. Future research can study which method can be the most effective and create the best results.

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7. References

Ariely, D. (2000): Controlling the Information Flow: Effects on Consumers‟ Decision Making and Preferences. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp 233-248.

Arpan, L.M. & Roskos-Ewoldsen, D.R. (2005): Stealing Thunder: Analysis of the effects of proactive disclosure of crisis information. Public relations review, Vol. 31, pp 425-433.

Belch, G.E. (1981): An Examination of Comparative and Noncomparative Television Commercials: The Effects of Claim Variation and Repetition on Cognitive Response and Message Acceptance. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp 333-349.

Bhaduri, G. & Ha-Brookshire, J. (2011): Do transparent business practices pay? Exploration of transparency and consumer purchase intention. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Vol. 29, pp 135-149.

Bohner, G. et al. (2003): When Small Means Comfortable: Relations Between Product Attributes in Two-Sided Advertising. Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp 454-463.

Carter, R. E. & Curry, D. J. (2010): Transparent pricing: theory, tests, and implications for marketing practice. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol 38, No 6, pp 759–774.

Chan, K. & Chan, F. (2005): Information Content of Television Advertising in China: An Update. Asian Journal of Communication. Vol. 15, No. 1, pp 1-15.

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Eisend, M. (2006): Two-sided advertising: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol 23, No 2, pp 187–198.

Field, A. (2009): Discovering statistics using SPSS. London, Sage Publications.

Franke, G.R., Huhmann, B.A., Mothersbaugh, D.L. (2004): Information Content and Consumer Readership of Print Ads: A Comparison of Search and Experience Products. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp 20-31.

Galetzka, M., Verhoeven, J.W.M., Pruyn, A.Th.H. (2006): Service validity and service reliability of search, experience and credence services. International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vo. 17, No. 3, pp 271-283.

Girard, T., Dion, P. (2010): Validating the search, experience, and credence product classification framework. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 63, pp 1079-1087.

Granados, N. Gupta, A. Kauffman, R.J. (2010): Research Commentary—Information Transparency in Business-to-Consumer Markets: Concepts, Framework, and Research Agenda. Information Systems Research, Vol. 21, No. 2, June 2010, pp 207–226.

Grant, R., Clarke, R.J., Kyriazis, E. (2007): A review of factors affecting online consumer search behaviour from an information value perspective. Journal of Marketing Management. Vol. 23, No. 5, pp 519-533.

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Gutman, J. (1982): A Means-End Chain Model Based on Consumer Categorization Processes, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp 60-72.

Hayes, A. F (2013): Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. Guilford Press.

Hsieh, Y.C., Chium H.C., Chiang, M.Y. (2005): Maintaining a committed online customer: A study across search-experience-credence products. Journal of Retailing, Vol. 1, pp 75-82.

Kim, D. J., Ferrin, D. L., and Rao, H. R. (2007): A trust-based consumer decision-making model in electronic commerce: The role of trust, perceived risk, and their antecedents. Decision Support Systems, Vol. 44, pp 544-564.

Kirby, J. (2012): Trust in the age of transparency. Harvard Business Review, July-August 2012, pp 158-159.

Kolesar, M.B., Galbraith, W. (2000): A services‐marketing perspective on e‐retailing: implications for e‐retailers and directions for further research. Internet Research, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp 424-438.

Labrecque, L. I et al. (2013). Consumer Power: Evolution in the Digital Age. Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp 257–269.

Lafferty, B. & Goldsmith, R. E. (1999): Corporate credibility‟s role in consumes‟ attitudes and purchase intentions when a high versus a low credibility endorser is used in the ad. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 44, pp 109-116.

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Laroche, M. and Goutaland, J. B. C. (2003): How intangibility affects perceived risk: the moderating role of knowledge and involvement. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 17, pp 122-140.

Li, Y. H. and Huang, J. W. (2009): Applying Theory of Perceived Risk and Technology Acceptance Model in the Online Shopping Channel. World Academy of Science, Vol. 53, pp 919-925.

Lim, N. (2003): Consumers‟ perceived risk: sources versus consequences. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Vol. 2, pp 216-228.

Lummus, R.R. & Vokurka, L.R.J. (1999): Defining supply chain management: a historical perspective and practical guidelines, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 99, No. 1, pp 11 - 17

Reiss, K.M.M.C., Capella, L.M. (1999): An examination of perceived risk, information search and behavioral intentions in search, experience and credence services. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp 208-228.

Romani, S. (2006): Pricing strategy & practice: Price misleading advertising: effects on trustworthiness toward the source of information and willingness to buy. Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp 130–138.

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Intentions. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp 53-66

Spenner, K. & Freeman, K. (2012): Keep It Simple: They don‟t want a “relationship” with you. Just help them make good choices. Harvard Business Review, May 2012, pp 108-114.

Voorhis, C.R.W. van & Morgan, B.L. (2007): Understanding Power and Rules of Thumb for Determining Sample Sizes. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology

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Appendix: Survey in Dutch

Beste deelnemer,

Bedankt voor uw deelname aan dit onderzoek over transparantie van productie keten. Uw deelname is geheel anoniem.

Het onderzoek is onderdeel van mijn scriptie voor de Master opleiding Business Administration aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Het onderzoek bestaat uit een korte, fictieve tekst en vragen met betrekking tot de tekst. Het invullen van de survey zal niet langer duren dan 5 minuten. Bedankt voor uw deelname en succes met het onderzoek.

Met vriendelijke groet, Soleiman Faqiri

The survey will propose one of the following nine scenarios.

1. Voor het kopen van een GPS navigatie systeem komt u op de website van TomTom. Op hun website vindt u het nieuwste navigatie systeem van TomTom, “TomTom Traffic” TomTom Traffic:

Maakt gebruik van 100% van de in kaart gebrachte wegen; Maakt gebruik van meer dan 400 miljoen gegevensbronnen; Is nauwkeurig tot op 10 meter;

Maakt elke 2 minuten een update van de verkeerssituatie.

2. Voor het kopen van een fles wijn komt u op de website van Maria Gall. Op hun website vindt u de “Maria Gall Suid Afrika Chardonnay”:

“Vanaf 1884 hebben Maria Gall - en later haar beide zonen - een passie ontwikkeld voor dranken. Samen met de beste specialisten heeft zij altijd een hoge kwaliteit in huis weten te halen. Naar deze kwaliteit streven wij vandaag de dag nog steeds. En dat proef je terug in ons huismerk. Met de handtekening van Maria Gall op elk etiket onderstrepen we de kwaliteit waar Gall & Gall nog steeds voor staat en waar we trots op zijn.

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3. Voor het kopen van multivitamine komt u op de website van De Tuinen. Op hun website vindt “De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi Vitaminen:

De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi vitaminen is een goede aanvulling op de voeding van de belangrijkste vitaminen ter ondersteuning van de weerstand

De smaakvolle kauwtablet is zeer geschikt voor mensen die problemen met slikken hebben en voor kinderen in de groei.

Ondersteunt de weerstand

Vitamine C, D en Foliumzuur dragen bij tot de normale werking van het immuunsysteem. Vitamine B6 ondersteunt de aanmaak van afweercellen.

Draagt bij aan het energieniveau

Vitamine B12 en Riboflavine dragen bij ter ondersteuning van de energiehuishouding

De Tuinen Kauwbare multi Vitaminen hebben een heerlijke frambozensmaak en zijn ook geschikt voor vegetariërs

4. Voor het kopen van een GPS navigatie systeem komt u op de website van TomTom. Op hun website vindt u het nieuwste navigatie systeem van TomTom, “TomTom Traffic”

TomTom Traffic:

Maakt gebruik van 100% van de in kaart gebrachte wegen; Maakt gebruik van meer dan 400 miljoen gegevensbronnen; Is nauwkeurig tot op 10 meter;

Maakt elke 2 minuten een update van de verkeerssituatie. Het bedrijf heeft het volgende bericht op zijn website gezet:

“Wij van TomTom zijn geschokt met de ontdekking dat bij het produceren van het navigatie systeem “TomTom Traffic” gebruik is gemaakt van kinderarbeid. TomTom keurt het gebruik van kinderarbeid af en zal ervoor zorgen dat het niet opnieuw voorkomt in de toekomst.”

5. Voor het kopen van een fles wijn komt u op de website van Maria Gall. Op hun website vindt u de “Maria Gall Suid Afrika Chardonnay”:

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“Vanaf 1884 hebben Maria Gall - en later haar beide zonen - een passie ontwikkeld voor dranken. Samen met de beste specialisten heeft zij altijd een hoge kwaliteit in huis weten te halen. Naar deze kwaliteit streven wij vandaag de dag nog steeds. En dat proef je terug in ons huismerk. Met de handtekening van Maria Gall op elk etiket onderstrepen we de kwaliteit waar Gall & Gall nog steeds voor staat en waar we trots op zijn.

Volle fruitige chardonnay. Een heerlijk, witte wijn bij romige pasta en vis.” Het bedrijf heeft het volgende bericht op zijn website gezet:

“Wij van Maria Gall zijn geschokt met de ontdekking dat bij het produceren van “Maria Gall Suid Afrika Chardonnay” gebruik is gemaakt van kinderarbeid. Maria Gall keurt het gebruik van kinderarbeid af en zal ervoor zorgen dat het niet opnieuw voorkomt in de toekomst.”

6. Voor het kopen van multivitamine komt u op de website van De Tuinen. Op hun website vindt “De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi Vitaminen:

De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi vitaminen is een goede aanvulling op de voeding van de belangrijkste vitaminen ter ondersteuning van de weerstand

De smaakvolle kauwtablet is zeer geschikt voor mensen die problemen met slikken hebben en voor kinderen in de groei.

Ondersteunt de weerstand

Vitamine C, D en Foliumzuur dragen bij tot de normale werking van het immuunsysteem. Vitamine B6 ondersteunt de aanmaak van afweercellen.

Draagt bij aan het energieniveau

Vitamine B12 en Riboflavine dragen bij ter ondersteuning van de energiehuishouding

De Tuinen Kauwbare multi Vitaminen hebben een heerlijke frambozensmaak en zijn ook geschikt voor vegetariërs

Het bedrijf heeft het volgende bericht op zijn website gezet:

“Wij van De Tuinen zijn geschokt met de ontdekking dat bij het produceren van De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi Vitaminen gebruik is gemaakt van kinderarbeid. De Tuinen keurt het gebruik van kinderarbeid af en zal ervoor zorgen dat het niet opnieuw voorkomt in de toekomst.”

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7. Voor het kopen van een GPS navigatie systeem komt u op de website van TomTom. Op hun website vindt u het nieuwste navigatie systeem van TomTom, “TomTom Traffic”

TomTom Traffic:

Maakt gebruik van 100% van de in kaart gebrachte wegen; Maakt gebruik van meer dan 400 miljoen gegevensbronnen; Is nauwkeurig tot op 10 meter;

Maakt elke 2 minuten een update van de verkeerssituatie. Op een ander website leest u een consumenten reactie:

“Ik was geschokt toen ik ontdekte dat voor de productie van de TomTom Traffic gebruik is gemaakt van kinderarbeid.”

8. Voor het kopen van een fles wijn komt u op de website van Maria Gall. Op hun website vindt u de “Maria Gall Suid Afrika Chardonnay”:

“Vanaf 1884 hebben Maria Gall - en later haar beide zonen - een passie ontwikkeld voor dranken. Samen met de beste specialisten heeft zij altijd een hoge kwaliteit in huis weten te halen. Naar deze kwaliteit streven wij vandaag de dag nog steeds. En dat proef je terug in ons huismerk. Met de handtekening van Maria Gall op elk etiket onderstrepen we de kwaliteit waar Gall & Gall nog steeds voor staat en waar we trots op zijn.

Volle fruitige chardonnay. Een heerlijk, witte wijn bij romige pasta en vis.” Het bedrijf heeft het volgende bericht op zijn website gezet:

Op een ander website vindt u een consumenten reactie:

“Ik was geschokt toen ik ontdekte dat voor de productie van de “Maria Gall Suid Afrika Chardonnay” gebruik is gemaakt van kinderarbeid.”

9. Voor het kopen van multivitamine komt u op de website van De Tuinen. Op hun website vindt “De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi Vitaminen:

De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi vitaminen is een goede aanvulling op de voeding van de belangrijkste vitaminen ter ondersteuning van de weerstand

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De smaakvolle kauwtablet is zeer geschikt voor mensen die problemen met slikken hebben en voor kinderen in de groei.

Ondersteunt de weerstand

Vitamine C, D en Foliumzuur dragen bij tot de normale werking van het immuunsysteem. Vitamine B6 ondersteunt de aanmaak van afweercellen.

Draagt bij aan het energieniveau

Vitamine B12 en Riboflavine dragen bij ter ondersteuning van de energiehuishouding

De Tuinen Kauwbare multi Vitaminen hebben een heerlijke frambozensmaak en zijn ook geschikt voor vegetariërs

Op een ander website vindt u een consumenten reactie:

“Ik was geschokt toen ik ontdekte dat voor de productie van “De Tuinen Kauwbare Multi Vitaminen” gebruik is gemaakt van kinderarbeid.”

Information needs: Welke informatie hebt u nodig voor het kopen van dit product (meer antwoorden zijn

mogelijk)?

(U kunt uw keuze aanvinken) Prijs: kosten van het product

Kwaliteit: objectieve evaluatie, duurzaamheid, aandacht voor detail, speciale diensten

Prestatie: functie van het product, hoe goed is het Inhoud/onderdelen: ingrediënten, samenstelling, aanvullende accessoires

Beschikbaarheid: plaats van aankoop, beschikbaarheids termijn, contact gegevens Klantenervaring: beoordeling van het product door klanten

Verpakking: aantrekkelijker dan alternatieve producten

Garantie: na verkoop zekerheid Veiligheid: veiligheidskenmerken

Onafhankelijk onderzoek: onderzoek verricht door een onafhankelijke partij

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Onderzoek verricht door het adverterende bedrijf

Manipulation check.

Erg negatief

Negatief Neutraal Positief Erg positief Wat vindt u van

de informatie over het product? Wat vindt u van de informatie over de productie van het product?

Consumer purchase intentions

(1=helemaal mee eens, 7 =helemaal mee oneens)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Het is aannemelijk dat ik dit product zal

kopen.

Het is mogelijk dat ik dit product koop. Het is zeker dat ik dit product koop. Ik ben van plan om dit product te kopen. Ik ben geinteresseerd in het kopen van dit product.

Consumer’s attitude toward the brand

Hieronder kunt u vragen over het bedrijf beantwoorden door te kiezen tussen 1=helemaal mee eens en 7=helemaal mee oneens.

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Mijn algemene indruk over het merk is goed Ik zou graag producten van dit bedrijf willen kopen De kans dat ik de komende maand een product van dit bedrijf koop is groot

General questions

Wat is uw geslacht? o Man o Vrouw How oud bent u?

o 0 – 16 o 17 – 25 o 26 – 35 o 36 – 45 o 46 – 55 o 55 +

Wat is uw hoogst genoten opleiding? o Middelbare school

o MBO o HBO o WO o Anders, ….

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