Ein besonderes Problem wissenschaftlicher Befragungen ist die Tendenz von Respondenten ihre Antworten - bewusst oder unbewusst - in Richtung sozialer Erwünschtheit zu verzerren. Dieses Problem erhält mit steigendem Interesse der Marktforschung an sozial verträglichem Konsumentenverhalten sowie an negativen Aspekten des Konsumentenverhaltens, wie etwa Materialismus oder Kaufsucht, immer mehr Aufmerksamkeit. Eine weit verbreitete Technik zur Messung sozial erwünschten Antwortverhaltens sind Kontrollskalen. Die bisher konstruierten Skalen eignen sich jedoch nur begrenzt für die Anwendung in der Marktforschung, da sie einerseits für Marketingskalen unverhältnismäßig lang sind und andererseits teils psychopathologische Inhalte abfragen, die in einer Marktforschungsumfrage Anstoß erregen können. Die Autoren stellen eine neue Skala zur Messung von sozial erwünschtem Antwortverhalten vor, die eine vertretbare Skalenlänge besitzt und in der Marktforschung eingesetzt werden kann ohne Reaktanz beim Respondenten hervorzurufen.

Shopper confusion represents a mental state often occurring in shopping situations. While extant research focuses on product-related consumer confusion, the current investigation examines store environmental retail shopper confusion. Combining research streams on store environment, environmental psychology, and categorization theory, the authors build a conceptual retail shopper confusion framework. An analysis of expert interviews and open-ended questionnaires distributed to grocery shoppers reveals a classification of retail shopper confusion causes into ambient, design, and social factors, as characterized by the environmental properties variety, novelty, complexity, and conflict. A mediation analysis by means of structural equation modeling confirms the mediating role of retail shopper confusion between cognitive fit with an environment and shopping value. Retail shopper confusion thus explains why shoppers experience low hedonic and utilitarian shopping values in certain shopping situations.

This contribution investigates under which conditions consumers can identify a product’s country of origin when confronted with conflicting information on the product package. Our study draws on current literature on the country-of-origin effect and on foreign branding, a naming strategy designed to evoke associations of a favoured origin by means of the language or spelling cues included in the brand name. The study we conducted has two major objectives. The first one is to ascertain how much attention is paid to the country-of-origin at the point of sale. The second one is to clarify whether foreign branding effects can also be found in connection with the Croatian language. Therefore, an eye-tracking experiment with a follow-up questionnaire was conducted using a student sample. Results showed that attention can be distracted from the country of origin by positioning this element on the back label. Interestingly, findings also indicated that label design, price and shelf positioning influence the buying decision more than congruency of country of origin and brand name. It can further be concluded that incongruence between the country of origin and the language of the brand name seems to be less important for German and English branded olive oils. However, the results for Croatian branded olive oils were clearly better in a condition when those elements were congruent.

This chapter, “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Housing and Construction Markets,” shows the unpreparedness of certain market segments to the adaption needed to weather the current situation. Digital transformation was supposed to be the main trend in the housing market. A significant problem was the multidirectional information and the aggregate of data that was provided to the subjects of the housing market. This predetermined the need to improve the information infrastructure of the Russian housing market, considering international experience. Foreign experience shows both the active digitalization of data and the availability of sufficiently effective tools that allow market participants to make informed and adequate decisions regarding the construction or purchase of housing. Within the framework of this study, the information infrastructure of the Russian housing market was presented. This considered how both modern digital technologies and the consequences of the crisis (which itself does not have an economic essence) have impacted on the housing sector. Since the role of the state in the country is quite significant, this aspect was also considered in the formation of this infrastructure. The author proposes to create a single information center that will accumulate, process, and issue the required information to market entities. The author showed that at the initial stages, financing the formation of the information infrastructure of the housing market can be carried out from state funds, which will make it possible to free up funds for the development of not only the market, but also related industries. The author showed the influence that the information infrastructure of the housing market has on decisions to build or purchase housing, as well as on the process of financing market entities.

Enhancing intercultural effectiveness through the development of intercultural skills and competencies substantially contributes to establishing a more peaceful and tolerant society, which explains a considerable research interest it excites. The present study aims at investigating how study field, grade-point average (GPA), nationality, gender, university status, and grade level impact intercultural effectiveness of Bosnian university-level students. The research sample consisted of 184 students studying at the Departments of English Language and Literature and Psychology at three different universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A 2 × 4 ANCOVA indicated that intercultural effectiveness varied significantly by study field and GPA, with small effect size in both cases. The interaction effect of study field x GPA was also significant, with an almost moderate effect size. Similarly, a two-way MANOVA revealed that nationality and gender had a significant effect on the combined dependent variables of intercultural effectiveness and their interaction effect was also significant, with a small effect size. On the other hand, a two-way MANOVA revealed an insignificant impact of grade level and university status on the combined dependent variables of intercultural effectiveness. The interaction effect of grade level x university status was also insignificant, with a small effect size. The present study shows that intercultural effectiveness can be further developed and increased in the university milieu and is thus expected to contribute to recognising the importance of its enhancement through curricula and teaching content in particular.

Die SEMAFO7 dient der bereichsspezifischen Messung der Tendenz zu sozial erwünschtem Antwortverhalten im Kontext der Marktforschung. Die Skala weist primär zwei Anwendungsmöglichkeiten auf (Grohs, Ebster & Kummer, 2009): Sie dient zum Einen der Identifikation von Skalen, deren Resultate durch sozial erwünschtes Antwortverhalten beeinflusst werden. Die SEMAFO7 fungiert hier als Kontrollskala, deren Korrelation mit einer für die Fragestellung inhaltlich relevanten, theoretisch jedoch unkorrelierten Skala als Indiz für sozial erwünschtes Antwortverhalten zu werten wäre. Zum Anderen können mit der SEMAFO7 Personen identifiziert werden, die in besonderem Maße zu sozial erwünschtem Antwortverhalten neigen. Es fehlt allerdings bislang eine Normierung, aus der sich Kriterien für einen Ausschluss von Probanden aus der Analysestichprobe oder Gewichtungsfaktoren zur Korrektur von Antworttendenzen ableiten lassen.

Vor 25 Jahren wurde der Grundstein gelegt für den FH Studiengang Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen, den Kern des heutigen Wirtschaftsdepartments der FH Burgenland. Ein idealer Anlass, um aus externer und interner Perspektive Rahmenbedingungen, Ziele, Herangehensweise und Ergebnisse zu diskutieren. Anatoli Berditchevski hat diesen Weg 20 Jahre als Russisch-Professor und internationaler Netzwerker mitgestaltet. Wir sind dankbar und widmen ihm diesen Band.