Torgeir Aleti (né Watne) | RMIT University (original) (raw)

Papers by Torgeir Aleti (né Watne)

This paper investigates the influence young adult children living at home have over parents' holi... more This paper investigates the influence young adult children living at home have over parents' holiday decisions. 'Consumer socialization agency' (CSA) was developed as a measure to capture the intercession or mediation one person accepts from another person about consumption issues. The analysis was conducted through a dyadic method, which involves collecting data from and analyzing data about pairs of people (dyads); in this case, parents and their children. CSA was related to family size and gender, but closer related to family communication style. Families fostering an open issue-based communication style seem to have the highest likelihood of children socializing parents.

This study introduces consumer socialization agency (CSA; i.e. the act of influencing another abo... more This study introduces consumer socialization agency (CSA; i.e. the act of influencing another about consumption) as the reason why consumers learn through peer communication on social media tourism sites. Based on an online panel of 193 US consumers, the study investigated how a personal connection to a tourism site (i.e. customer engagement (CE)) and a connection with peers on social media (i.e. peer group identification) drives CSA about tourism, which, subsequently, influences learning about tourism-related consumption decisions (i.e. peer communication). Our model establishes that identification with peers on social media and CE with tourism sites are antecedents to consumer socialization. Consumers need to feel engaged with tourism social media sites to participate in socialization and feel connected to their peers on social media in general. Consumer socialization, or the willingness to teach/influence tourism-related skills to friends, influences the willingness to learn new tourism consumer skills, including tourism-related decision-making. We propose that for a tourism site to be successful, it must enable social exchange of knowledge and ideas (through enabling consumer socialization), not just individual user experience.

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in South East Asia with a rapidly growing (but re... more Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in South East Asia with a rapidly growing (but relatively young) middle class. With the rise in the middle class has come a commensurate rise in household consumption. This paper presents the findings of a survey into attitudes towards the environment and the pro-environmental behaviours of young people in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Vietnam. The results suggest that environmental considerations are not taken into account in young Vietnamese adults' purchase intentions. This is more evident in expressive purchases, but also to some degree in utilitarian purchases.

Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference Proceedings, Perth, Australia, Dec 2011

This paper investigates the influence adolescent children have over their parents with regards to... more This paper investigates the influence adolescent children have over their parents with regards to holiday decisions. A dyadic method of analysis was used to determine the level of influence young people have on the decision making of their parents. Our research shows that the families in general do not see their adolescent children as more knowledgeable than the parents when it comes to holidays. However, the level of knowledge the family perceives the child to have is strongly related to how much influence the child then has over the parent. Also, the level of ‘expertness’ the family attribute to the child is strongly related to the family’s attitude towards the child as a socialisation agent for the parent. Parents knowledge on the other hand, is not related to how influenced they are by their children. Finally, daughters have a larger impact on their parents’ holiday decisions than sons.

Young Consumers, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 285-294. , 2011

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge associated with con... more Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge associated with consumer socialisation. The authors investigate how children function as socialisation agents for their parents in influencing their purchase intentions of computer and high-tech products - essentially the idea of the young educating the old. Design/methodology/approach - A review of the extant literature relating to consumer socialisation, social power and knowledge about computer related and small high-tech products yielded meaningful hypotheses. A structured survey which was required to be completed by dyads (i.e. children and parents) was mailed to Australian families in the state of Victoria. Data obtained from 180 usable responses from the dyads were analysed to test the hypotheses. Findings - Children are seen to possess expert power over their parents with regards to computer related and small high-tech products; which make them an important agent of secondary socialisation for their parents. Men are perceived as being more knowledgeable than women, a phenomenon which leads mothers to be more inclined to seek their children's (son's in particular) advice.

Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 367-386., 2011

This article investigates reciprocal consumer socialization in families, with a particular focus ... more This article investigates reciprocal consumer socialization in families, with a particular focus on the influence young adults above age 18 living at home have over their parents. A dyadic method of analysis was used to determine the level of influence young people have on the decision making of their parents with regard to the consumption of environmentally sustainable products. Our research shows that parents are not only influenced by their adolescent children, but that they are much more likely to take their children's advice when the family foster open issue-based communication patterns with respect for others. Our findings show that when the parents initially encourage their children to develop their own opinions and at the same time uphold the family hierarchy, they are much more likely to take their children's advice as well. For social marketers seeking to address issues of sustainable consumption, these are important findings.

In order for consumers to emotionally connect with brands, brands must be transformed from inanim... more In order for consumers to emotionally connect with brands, brands must be transformed from inanimate entities into the realm of acquiring human characteristics. Following a review of more than 1000 breweries from online sources and beer companion books, we explore how a sense of place, derived from myths, folklores and heroes, enables marketers and consumers to co-create narratives that humanise brands. We add to the theory on brand humanisation as we conclude that a sense of place offers a novel, and different, approach to humanisation strategies based on anthromorphisation, personification and user imagery, but can also operate in tandem with them. Further research is recommended to understand how and why consumers respond to branding strategies that use a sense of place to humanise brands.

The rise of a relatively young middle class in Vietnam, whose identity is often shaped by its exp... more The rise of a relatively young middle class in Vietnam, whose identity is often shaped by its expressive consumption patterns, has been accompanied by a fast growing economy. Within the context of a collectivistic society where purchases are often driven by social status, widespread adoption of Western consumption values has posed serious concerns over potential impacts on the environment. However, Vietnamese middle class environmental attitudes and behaviours remain to be an under-investigated area.
Central to the domain of environmental attitudes is the theoretical assumption that attitudes will lead to intentions and therefore behaviours. The theory of planned behaviour posits behaviours as logical outcomes of attitudes and intentions. Several classic Western theories, nominally Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, see the individual being an autonomous entity capable of making decisions independently. However, behaviours are also culturally bound where norms and value orientation are important influencing factors.
Data were collected by an online survey from Vietnamese students studying at an English speaking university in Vietnam. The study was conducted to firstly determine the prevailing attitudes among young Vietnamese middle class towards environmentalism, and then to test if environmental attitudes are adequate moderators of intentions for environmental behaviours with regard to different product categories.
The results show that while the prevailing environmental attitude is positive, environmental considerations are not taken into account in young Vietnamese adult’s purchase intentions of expressive products (clothes, laptop, mobile phone, books) while moderate environmental attention is paid with utilitarian products (food, paper, motorbike). This dichotomy is problematic for those concerned with environmental issues, since these upwardly mobile young people are increasingly able to buy and consume material goods. Marketers of environmentally friendly products are therefore faced with challenges to shift the attitudes of these young and influential consumers towards thinking of environmental friendliness as an attractive characteristic for potential expressive purchases. Making environmentally friendly alternatives of expressive goods more visible and widely available in Vietnam is also a key issue.

Education is a service high in credence qualities, which are very hard to determine in the search... more Education is a service high in credence qualities, which are very hard to determine in the search process. Therefore, the university selection process is often complex, involving formal and informal search using various external sources. External information search, as opposed to internal information search which is based on memories of prior experience or previous information search, is active information seeking activities resulted from a motivated and conscious decision. This paper explores students’ decision-making processes and external information search activities in university choice in Australia. Data were collected via surveys administered by mail to a random sample of 2,400 Victorian first-year university students immediately after their enrolment in a university, and received 576 usable responses.
Four major types of information interest in educational choice were examined in this study: (1) Product related experiences (information sources to which the student has direct and personal access); (2) Interpersonal sources of information (non-marketer controlled interaction between two or more people); (3) Independent sources of information (sources available to students, not commercial or interpersonal in nature); and (4) Non-personal commercial sources of information (readily available advertising/selling). Product related experiences are considered to be most reliable and unbiased, while interpersonal sources are often sought to reduce perceived risk of purchase. Non-personal commercial sources are least influential despite being a primary source of information for consumers with expertise.
The results show that students do not always actively search for information about institutions, making it hard for marketers to reach those who are not active ‘in the market place’. Additionally, students’ search – and eventually their decisions – is based largely on interpersonal and informal sources of information. Such information can for example come from parents, older siblings or peers. As such, an (inter)personal touch and efforts to reach out to students could possibly be more applicable than mainstream advertising efforts, albeit higher cost-per- acquisition. With regards to interpersonal sources of information, reputation management also arises as an important issue of consideration. How a university’s reputation typically develops from current and past students as well as staff members, is likely to have an impact on student’s interpersonal information sources and therefore highly influential in nature. When catering for an ‘online generation’ of prospective students, veracity of web pages is therefore also very important, with information presented advisably as sincere and genuine for a knowledgeable and advertising-savvied generation

In line with increasing concerns regarding environmental sustainability, research on how pro- env... more In line with increasing concerns regarding environmental sustainability, research on how pro- environmental values, beliefs and attitudes relate to sustainable practices has substantially grown in the last decade. Much of the current research in this area is based on the premise that attitudes lead to behaviours, although only weak links have been found between the two concepts.
The New Environmental/Ecological Paradigm (NEP) has been widely used over the past 30 years in this area. However, there has been a debate over what this scale exactly measures. The lack of agreements on what the scale purports to measure might overshadow the extensive research examining the scale. Originally designed to assess whether a specific worldview of mankind’s impact on the environment exists, the NEP scale was later referred to as a measurement of ‘environmental attitudes’. In the literature, it is not clear whether the NEP scale is a measure in the social realm (a worldview, in line with value-systems of religion and culture) or the personal realm of attitude concerning individual values and personalities. According to the theory of planned behaviour, personal attitudes are closely linked to behaviour. NEP on the other hand, is recognised as a weak predictor of behaviour in the literature.
This paper examines the current use of NEP for attitude measurement by conducting a content analysis of articles in a leading environmental journal, ‘Environment and Behavior’ (EAB), using the Leximancer text-mining software. Leximancer was used to produce a concept map and report showing semantic structures of the use of the NEP scale, showing the relationships between worldviews, beliefs, attitudes and values, and how these concepts relate to NEP. The results show that the NEP scale has been themed together with values and ‘social’, which indicated that whatever NEP is measuring, belongs in the social rather than the personal domain. This stands as an argument towards ending the equivocal results across the literature when it comes to NEP’s semantic validity. It is time for a new, valid, validated and rigorous, reliable measure for attitudes or behaviour intent in the personal domain to be developed.

Within the last 20 years, the number of breweries in Australia has grown from 11 to almost 150. T... more Within the last 20 years, the number of breweries in Australia has grown from 11 to almost 150. The new entrants to this market are ‘craft breweries’: small, independent and traditional breweries, which differentiate their products on taste and ingredients. The products they offer are often not ‘standard’ commercial lagers (e.g. VB, Fosters, Budweiser, Heineken, Carlsberg), and many consumers have little knowledge of, and experience with, speciality ales. From a consumer socialisation perspective, this study investigates how craft brewers educate their consumers about their products in the state of Victoria, Australia. Based on in- depth interviews with the business owners, we examine craft brewers as sources of influence – or socialisation agents – within a boutique industry. The results indicate that the craft brewers position themselves as experts and as such may be an important socialisation agent.

Vietnam has traditionally held the family as the basic unit, with age and status determining the ... more Vietnam has traditionally held the family as the basic unit, with age and status determining the level of authority of each individual member. Conventional logic would suggest that in these types of cultures, pro-environmental campaigns would be best targeted with a top down approach with a focus on the head of the family to foster household-level sustainable changes in pro-environmental behavior. The strict authority lines that normally exist in Confucian cultures would mean that these campaign ideas and messages could potentially be transferred to all generations through the process of consumer socialization. However the phenomenon of reciprocal consumer socialisation; bi- or multi-directional communications and influence, is often overlooked in campaigns.

Families in Vietnam are evolving, in many cases becoming smaller, and nuclear families households are becoming commonplace as a result of various social and economic changes. Whilst patrilocality, the preference of married couples to co-reside with the husband’s parents, is still prevalent particularly in rural areas, extended family households are also evolving. There is also evidence that in these intergenerational households the household head is increasingly from the younger, usually working, generation rather than the traditional older generation.

In this study we discuss the ramifications of reciprocal socialisation for pro-environmental campaigns. How can these campaigns be best targeted to maximize their effect within the modern Vietnamese household? Which generation, or combination of generations, is best to target? This paper contends that a more holistic approach may be needed when fostering environmental change within the family framework

This paper explores the business models adopted by craft breweries in the state of Victoria, Aust... more This paper explores the business models adopted by craft breweries in the state of Victoria, Australia. The brewing industry is undergoing dramatic changes in many countries, with increasing numbers of craft breweries challenging the traditional duo- or oligopolies of major corporations in niche markets. So far, little research has addressed the craft beer industry and this paper is one of the first to actually focus on the breweries and their owners. The underlying assumption in this study is that craft beer entrepreneurs are driven by some form of entrepreneurial passion. Building upon the foundation of a typology of entrepreneurial role identities related to passion, this paper investigates how different objects of passion influence the business models that craft brewers choose to operate. The paper reports initial results from an on- going research project.

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2012

Do entrepreneurial ties increase innovativeness during the start-up process? Based on data collec... more Do entrepreneurial ties increase innovativeness during the start-up process? Based on data collected from 45 countries and 7,067 nascent entrepreneurs, the authors’ results indicate that knowing someone who has started a business within the last two years (entrepreneurial ties) has a significant impact on the intended level of innovativeness during the start-up process. Specifically, entrepreneurial ties have a positive impact on the expected level of competition, intended newness to customers, newness of technology and the intended level of exports and growth. This study contributes to the entrepreneurial network literature by changing the focus from the influence of ties on the start-up decision per se to their influence on the innovative nature of the start-up process.

Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector …, Jan 1, 2011

Young Consumers: Insight and …, Jan 1, 2011

"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge associated with co... more "Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge associated with consumer socialisation. We investigate how children function as socialisation agents for their parents in influencing their purchase intentions of computer and high-tech products – essentially the idea of the young educating the old.

Design/methodology/approach – A review of the extant literature relating to consumer socialisation, social power and knowledge about computer related and small high-tech products yielded meaningful hypotheses. A structured survey which was required to be completed by dyads (i.e. children and parents) was mailed to Australian families in the state of Victoria. Data obtained from 180 usable responses from the dyads were analysed to test the hypotheses.

Findings – Children are seen to possess expert power over their parents with regards to computer related and small high-tech products; which make them an important agent of secondary socialisation for their parents. Men are perceived as being more knowledgeable than women, a phenomenon which leads mothers to be more inclined in seeking their children’s (son’s in particular) advice.

Research limitations/implications – This study implies that when children are seen as experts by their parents, they become important agents of secondary socialisation. However, this only relates to the consumption of the product categories studied here. Future research needs to include other product categories in order to assess the validity of the measures.

Practical implications – Marketers of computer related and small high-tech products can benefit from the findings when promoting these products to children and parents.

Originality/value – This research study is unique in Australia and possibly globally.

Keywords – Children, family, consumer socialisation, high-tech products, computer related products

Paper Type – Research Paper"

This paper investigates reciprocal consumer socialisation in families with a particular focus on ... more This paper investigates reciprocal consumer socialisation in families with a particular focus on the influence adolescent children have over their parents. A dyadic method of analysis was used to determine the level of influence young people have on the decision making of their parents with regard to the consumption of environmentally sustainable products. Our research shows that parents are, not only influenced by their adolescent children, but also that they rely on their children for advice about products that they are unfamiliar with. We have identified that there are a number of arenas where parents cede expert power to their children. One such area of social expert power could be with regards to environmentally sustainable products. We present a successful model of reciprocal consumer socialisation that may be used by social marketers to develop communication campaigns in social change areas that require family decision-making outcomes.

A strong focus on the individual and a reliance on standard statistical methods such as analysis ... more A strong focus on the individual and a reliance on standard statistical methods such as analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression seems to be the norm in marketing research. The dyadic approach to data analysis in under-appreciated, although dyadic research is becoming more common in the social and behavioural sciences. However, a dyadic approach to data analysis is seldom utilised in marketing and consumer behaviour research. The core interest in a dyadic design is the analysis of the relationship between the dyad members. This is rather different to a regular individual design where the interest lies in independent replication. The most common dyadic design is one in which two persons are measured on the same set of variables (Alferes & Kenny, 2009). To illustrate the dyadic approach to data analysis, this study looks at the relationships between parents’ and children’s view of each others knowledge about computer related products.

Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference Proceedings, Perth, Australia, Dec 2011

Young Consumers, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 285-294. , 2011

Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 367-386., 2011

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2012

Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector …, Jan 1, 2011

Young Consumers: Insight and …, Jan 1, 2011

Practical implications – Marketers of computer related and small high-tech products can benefit from the findings when promoting these products to children and parents.

Originality/value – This research study is unique in Australia and possibly globally.

Keywords – Children, family, consumer socialisation, high-tech products, computer related products

Paper Type – Research Paper"

Southeast Asia is undergoing a major transformation – both economically and socially. There has b... more Southeast Asia is undergoing a major transformation – both economically and socially. There has been a shift of development efforts towards a more holistic approach combining poverty alleviation, empowerment and environmental actions at a grass roots community level. However, such developments are a challenge, and there is much work yet to be done.

Ideal for community development practitioners, NGOs and community groups undertaking projects in Southeast Asia, Growing Sustainable Communities: A Development Guide for Southeast Asia provides a realistic account of what works and what ‘doesn’t work’ in the Southeast Asian context, bringing together findings from previous projects that can be used to educate future community development practitioners in Southeast Asia.

The book is organised into four parts: Part I: Challenges and opportunities for change; Part II: Strategies for change; Part III: Case studies of demonstrated success stories; and Part IV: Conclusions and ways forward for sustainable practice.

‘This is essential reading for social marketing practitioners, researchers and students. The book... more ‘This is essential reading for social marketing practitioners, researchers and students. The book describes a comprehensive range of behaviour change theories of relevance to social marketing and is complemented with illustrative case studies to provide practical guidance on the use of the selected theories. I was amazed by its breadth and scope. Highly recommended reading.’
– Michael Rothschild, Wisconsin, US

This book provides a concise overview of the behaviour change models that are relevant to social marketing in order to assist academics and practitioners in social marketing program development. The book features a review and analysis of the most validated models of behaviour change, together with a number of case studies from international researchers that illustrate these models in practice. The models covered include cognitive, conative, affective, social-cultural and multi-theory models, consumer behavior decision models and social change models.