Försäljning under ansvar; en kvantitativ studie om hur skrämselpropaganda i butiksmiljö kan påverka kunders attityd
Warning-labels as a mean of communicating social responsibility in the store. Previous studies have shown conflicting results regarding the effectiveness of warnings-labels as a way of communicating health hazards to customers and making them more conscious about the risks and changing their behavioural intentions. The focus of this study is to shed some light on how the customers react to warning-labels with different levels of fear in the store atmosphere. The results of this study tells us that liking of the retailer and its image as being socially responsible is not enhanced by the usage of a warning-label. If the retailer decides to use a warning-label, in spite of this fact, the recommendation is to use a high level of fear if the purpose is to make the category seem more risky and make the customers want to change their behaviour. A warning-label with a low label of fear communicates with the customers in a way that makes them feel more pleased about the store and makes the retailer seem more reliable. The study is also investigating the impact of using an outsider as the message-source instead of the retailer. Here the finding suggest that it is better to use the outsider to make the retailer seem more socially responsible and the customers more pleased, but this depends on the level of effort the customer puts into the category. An attempt is also made to see if there is a specific place (decided by the different stages in the in the purchasing process) in the store where customers are more affected by the warning-label. The results indicate that it is best to place the warning-label somewhere in the end of the customers purchasing process.