Progress 10/01/98 to 09/30/04
Outputs
Members of NC-222 continue working on completing manuscripts this year. There are 7 manuscripts that have been published over the past 2 years as a result of this regional research project and 8 manuscripts that are still in progress by NC-222 researchers. Sheri Lokken Worthy was elected to serve as the publication chair at the October 2003 meeting and is overseeing completion and publication of these manuscripts. Dr. Worthy was lead author on 2 manuscripts, one that was published in the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal in 2004 and one that is in review in the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences. She was co-author on a paper that was published in the Journal of Tourism Management in 2004 and is co-author on a paper that is still in progress, to be submitted to Internet Research. Information gleaned from this 5-year research project has been used in a number of presentations by Dr. Worthy. In February 2004, Dr. Worthy gave a presentation to small
business owners in Mississippi in an e-commerce conference entitled Electronic Retailing: Selling on the Internet. Her presentation was What do e-customers want? Dr. Worthy gave this presentation three more times in the months of October and November 2004.
Impacts
Information from the consumer experiments and large-scale mail surveys were shared with over 175 Mississippi small businesses during presentations sponsored by the Mississippi State University Food and Fiber Center during 4 separate sessions. Data resulted in 2 published manuscripts, 1 manuscript in review and 1 manuscript in progress.
Publications
- Worthy, S. L., Hyllegard, K., Damhorst, M., Trautmann, J., Bastow-Shoop, H., Gregory, S., Lakner, H., Lyons, N., & Manikowske, L. (2004). Rural consumers attitudes toward the Internet for information search and product purchase. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 33(1), 81-99.
- Worthy, S., Trautmann, J., Miller, B.R., Hyllegard, K., Lakner, H., Damhorst, M., Bastow-Shoop, H., Lyons, N., & Manikowske, L. (2005). Intent of rural consumers to shop for home furnishings and furniture online. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences.
- Gregory, S., Jasper, C., Worthy, S. L., & Damhorst, M. L. (2004). Rural consumers use of the Internet for search and acquisition of food and travel services. Journal of Travel and Tourism, 18(1).
- Worthy, S., Trautmann, J., Miller, B.R., Hyllegard, K., Lakner, H., Damhorst, M., Bastow-Shoop, H., Lyons, N. and Manikowski, L. (2005)(accepted for publication). Rural consumers' online shopping intentions for home furnishings and furniture products. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences.
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Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
Members of NC-222 have been working on completing manuscripts this year. There are 14 manuscripts that are in progress by NC-222 researchers. Sheri Lokken Worthy was elected to serve as the publication chair at the October 2003 meeting and is overseeing completion and publication of these manuscripts. Dr. Worthy was lead author on 2 manuscripts that are currently in review (one in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, and one in the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal). She is also a co-author on a manuscript that has been accepted with revisions in the Journal of Tourism Management. Dr. Worthy is also co-author on a manuscript in progress looking at the rural consumer expenditures on television shopping, Internet shopping, local and non local shopping, and mail order shopping. Hyllegard will be lead author on this manuscript and Worthy, Trautmann, and Lyons will be co-authors. Information gleaned from this 5-year research project has been used in
a number of presentations by Dr. Worthy. Worthy gave a presentation entitled, Shopping for home furnishings and furniture online: An examination of rural consumers use of the Internet, at the American Council on Consumer Interests conference in April 2003. An abstract from this presentation was published in the Consumer Interests Annual. Dr. Worthy also gave 4 presentations to small business owners in Mississippi in an e-commerce conference entitled Electronic Retailing: Selling on the Internet. Her presentation was What do e-customers want? This presentation was given on October 21 in Cleveland, MS, on October 28 in Gallman, MS, on October 29 in DIberville, MS, and on November 6 in Verona, MS. Dr. Worthy also gave a presentation on e-commerce to the Mississippi State University Womens Club on February 7, 2003 and a presentation on e-commerce to the Mississippi Association of Family and Consumer Sciences on February 20, 2003.
Impacts
Information from the consumer experiments and large-scale mail surveys were shared with 150 Mississippi small businesses during presentations sponsored by the Mississippi State University Food and Fiber Center and 60 Mississippi consumers and consumer educators at the Mississippi Association for Family and Consumer Sciences conference and a Mississippi State University Womens Club meeting. Data resulted in 1 published manuscript, 1 scientific presentation and published abstract and 3 manuscripts in review.
Publications
- Lokken, S. L., Trautmann, J., Miller, B.R., Hyllegard, K., Lakner, H., Damhorst, M., Bastow-Shoop, H., Lyons, N., & Manikowske, L. (2003, April). Shopping for home furnishings and furniture online: An examination of rural consumers use of the Internet. Consumer Interests Annual, 49, available: http://consumerinterests.org/public/articles/HomeFurnishings_03
- Lokken, S.L., Cross, G., Halbert, L., Lindsey, G., Derby, C., & Stanford, C. (2003, March). Comparing online and non-online shoppers. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 27(2), 126-133.
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Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
The impact of technology on rural consumers' access to food and fiber products has been researched in two parts - (1) Consumer Technology-Exposure Experiments, and (2) a large-scale panel mail survey. Using data collected from the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiments in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota, 1 manuscript is in press, 1 is in review, and 1 is in progress. During February 2002, follow-up surveys were mailed to all 80 consumers who completed the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiments. This data is currently being integrated into a manuscript on furniture purchasing which will be submitted to the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences. Members of the NC-222 team have written for an extension to our 5-year project in order to complete several manuscripts that are in progress. One of these manuscripts will use regression analysis to determine predictors of consumer Internet expenditures. Another manuscript will focus
on rural consumers' purchasing sources and their satisfaction with these sources. Using data collected from the August 2000 mail surveys, Mississippi researcher Sheri Lokken, along with two other NC-222 Experiment Station researchers, are working on a manuscript that focuses on the importance of the Internet in searching for information about food and travel services. Results of this study indicate that there is no correlation between satisfaction with local retail services and purchasing on the Internet. The activity level on Internet usage for the purpose of purchasing travel and food products and services is not impacted by satisfaction with shopping resources available. Use of the Internet may be ancillary to information search and used primarily to search for products and services not available in the local community. A negative correlation between shopping for food and eating out and distance needed to travel to obtain services was found. This may indicate that rural consumers
are less willing to travel to obtain a different type of service than is available in their own community. Rural consumer's satisfactions with community shopping resources are significantly impacted by loyalty to local retailers and their communities.
Impacts
Rural consumers demonstrate loyalty to their community by purchasing locally, even though they are using the Internet to search for information about products and services. This attitude demonstrates that rural Mississippi retailers must be seen as a part of the community and giving tangible evidence of this by supporting local activities and interests, such as sports teams and participating in community events. An Internet presence is essential for rural retailers, but consumers may only use the web site for information search purposes.
Publications
- Lokken, S. L., Cross, G., Halbert, L., Lindsey, G., Derby, C., & Stanford, C. (2002 in press). Comparing online and non-online shoppers. International Journal of Consumer Studies.
- Lokken, S. L., Trautmann, J., Miller, B.R., Hyllegard, K., Lakner, H., Damhorst, M., Bastow-Shoop, H., Lyons, N., & Manikowske, L. (2002 in press). Shopping for home furnishings and furniture online: An examination of rural consumers' use of the Internet. Consumer Interests Annual.
- Lokken, S. L., Hyllegard, K., Damhorst, M., Trautmann, J., Bastow-Shoop, H., Gregory, S., Lakner, H., Lyons, N., & Manikowske, L. (2002 in review). Rural consumers' attitudes toward the Internet for information search and product purchase. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal.
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Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01
Outputs
The impact of technology on rural consumers' access to food and fiber products has been researched in two parts - (1) Consumer Technology-Exposure Experiments, and (2) a large-scale panel mail survey. Using data collected from the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiments in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota. During February 2002, follow-up surveys will be mailed to all 80 consumers who completed the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiments. Analyses have been conducted on the Consumer Experiment data regarding consumer attitudes toward using television or the Internet to shop for furniture. Consumers in this sample had higher mean scores for future Internet search likelihood (m = 7.77, s.d. = 3.84) than future Internet purchase likelihood (m = 5.61, s.d. = 3.09). This finding supports research stating that consumers are much more comfortable using the Internet as a vehicle for browsing and searching for information about products
and services than actually making a purchase online. As expected, consumers were more likely to purchase bed and bath products using the Internet than products such as furniture and carpeting, possibly due to shipping costs and the high risk of durable good purchases. Also, consumers were more likely to intend to purchase furniture-related products using the Internet in the future than television, perhaps due to the lower consumer control of the information access.
Impacts
These findings indicate that Mississippi manufacturers of furniture and related products need to use the Internet for marketing their products, but not necessarily final sale. Consumers are searching online for information about purchases at a high rate. Furniture manufacturers need to have up-to-date product information available online or risk losing sales to those vendors who do. Even though fewer consumers are currently willing to purchase these products online, future trends with other products (office furniture) show that furniture may be a product with Internet sales potential.
Publications
- MAFES Research Highlights. (Summer 2001). The Internet - entered not by rural Mississippians, 23.
- Lokken, S.L., Hyllegard, K., Damhorst, M., Trautmann, J., Gregory, S., Bastow-Shoop, H., Lakner, H., Lyons, N., & Manikowske, L. (in review 2001). Rural consumers' attitudes toward television and Internet for information search and purchase. Journal of Consumer Affairs.
- Lokken, S.L., Trautmann, J., Miller, B.R., Bastow-Shoop, H., Damhorst, M., Gregory, S., Hyllegard, K., Lakner, H., Lyons, N. & Manikowske, L. (in progress 2001). Rural consumers' willingness to search for information about or purchase home furnishing products via electronic means. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.
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Progress 01/01/00 to 12/31/00
Outputs
The impact of technology on rural consumers' access to food and fiber products has been researched in two parts - (1) Consumer Technology-Exposure Experiments and (2) a large-scale panel mail survey. During the Consumer Technology-Exposure Experiments, consumers were given a pre-assessment of their attitudes toward shopping via Internet and television. They were then exposed to various web sites and a home shopping channel and completed a post-assessment after exposure. This data was collected in the summer of 1999 in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The research was disseminated this year via: two presentations, one research poster/abstract, and one non-peer review publication. Two publications are in process and will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals in 2001. Preliminary findings from the Consumer Technology-Exposure Experiments indicate Mississippi residents have less access to the Internet from their homes, they use
computers less frequently, and they have fewer self-reported computer skills than their Midwestern counterparts. These findings show the need for increased access to computers and the Internet by Mississippi residents. Other findings from the Consumer Technology-Exposure Experiments indicate that rural elderly have less access to computers and the Internet. They also have more negative attitudes toward using either the Internet or television for shopping. Attitudes of elderly consumers remained unchanged after exposure to the technology. Phase one of the large-scale panel mail survey was completed in August 2000. The purpose of the mail survey was to assess consumers' attitudes toward and adoption of technology for shopping. A total of 740 mail surveys were mailed out in Mississippi. Mississippians returned 237 surveys for a response rate of 32.2% and of these, 152 were usable. This survey also was distributed in North Dakota, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kentucky,
Ohio, Illinois, and South Dakota.
Impacts
In general, Mississippians' lower levels of access to computers and Internet is important in future policy decisions and educational programming. For example, since 52% of Mississippi elderly live in rural areas and 30% have problems with activities of daily living. It is vitally important, therefore, to educate elderly on opportunities available to them via e-commerce to improve their quality of life. Services such as on-line groceries and prescription drug delivery and could greatly assist an elderly or disabled consumer.
Publications
- Lokken, S.L., Hyllegard, K., Damhorst, M.L., Lyons, N., Lakner, H., Bastow-Shoop, H., & Manikowske, L. (2000). Rural consumers' attitudes toward television and Internet for information search and purchase. Consumer Interests Annual, 46, 215.
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Progress 01/01/99 to 12/31/99
Outputs
Annual Meeting. Sheri Lokken attended the annual meeting of NC-222 (North Central regional research project) in Minneapolis, MN in November of 1998. She was elected chair of the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiment Committee. Consumer Technology Exposure Experiments. As chair of the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiment Committee, Dr. Lokken facilitated development of the experiment procedure, the control procedure, the pre-assessment, and the post-assessment for the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiment. During the dates of 05/01/99 through 08/31/99, a total of 42 consumers completed experiments and 40 consumers were part of the control procedure from the state of Mississippi. Two sessions were held in southwest Mississippi (Woodville). Nine consumers participated in the control session and 15 consumers completed experiments. Another session was held in southeast Mississippi (Poplarville). This control session resulted in 31 participants. The final session was
held in the Delta, northwest Mississippi (Moorhead). Twenty-seven consumers completed experiments. Funding. A Mississippi State University Faculty Initiation Grant was written by Sheri Lokken and funding of $10,000 was awarded for 02/01/99 through 12/31/99. These funds were used to conduct the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiments, as described above. Stipends for participants, travel, copies, supplies, and computer equipment were paid for with this grant money. A William White grant proposal was written by Julianne Trautmann and Sheri Lokken 08/01/99 and funds of $2,000 were received to help pay for Phase II of the project, a large-scale mail survey. Dr. Julianne Trautmann joined the NC-222 project on 09/01/99. Outcomes. A presentation abstract for the European Institute of Retailing and Services Studies 07/00 Conference was submitted 10/15/99, and was accepted in 11/15/99. The presentation is entitled, 'E-tailing: United States rural consumers' willingness to adopt the Internet
for information search and purchasing.' NC-222 authors include: Karen Hyllegard from Colorado State University, Sheri Lokken from Mississippi State University, Mary Lynn Damhorst from Iowa State University, Nancy Lyons from South Dakota State University, Hilda Lakner from University of Illinois, Holly Bastow-Shoop from North Dakota State University, and Linda Manikowske from North Dakota State University. A poster presentation abstract for the American Council on Consumer Interests 03/00 Conference was submitted 10/15/99, and accepted for presentation 11/15/99. The poster was entitled, 'E-commerce: Rural consumers' attitudes toward television and Internet for information search and purchase.' NC-222 authors include: Sheri Lokken from Mississippi State University, Karen Hyllegard from Colorado State University, Mary Lynn Damhorst from Iowa State University, Nancy Lyons from South Dakota State University, Hilda Lakner from University of Illinois, Holly Bastow-Shoop from North Dakota
State University, and Linda Manikowske from North Dakota State University.
Impacts
One unexpected beneficial impact of the Consumer Technology Exposure Experiments was exposure of rural consumers to e-commerce. Before the experiment, many participants were unaware of Internet shopping resources. Many positive comments were received. Other impacts of this service and research oriented project have included community involvement, consumer education, extension support, and increased awareness of Mississippi State University.
Publications
- Abstracts and journal articles are being developed based on data collected in 1999.
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