Purpose The purpose of this paper is to disentangle the effect of life equilibrium on organic food purchase intentions through a consideration of the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes. Furthermore, the study examines the role of health consciousness in achieving life equilibrium. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual framework was developed based on previous research and tested through a quantitative study with end consumers. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modelling. Findings The results obtained from this study show that the perceived quality associated with the intrinsic attributes of organic food mediates a positive influence of life equilibrium on consumers’ organic food purchase intentions. The study also confirms that life equilibrium mediates the effects of health consciousness on the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic food quality attributes. Research limitations/implications The theoretical contributions of the paper lie in uncovering the complex relationships that exist among health consciousness, life equilibrium, perceived organic food quality dimensions and purchase intentions and providing new evidence showing which perceived intrinsic organic food quality dimensions are relevant in shaping consumers’ purchase intentions. Practical implications The research results suggest that organic food managers should focus on developing stronger value propositions that are based more on intrinsic food quality characteristics and less on extrinsic ones. Originality/value This study recognizes the relevance of life equilibrium as a specific consumer lifestyle form, which drives organic food consumption through extrinsic and intrinsic food quality attributes.

Purpose Corporate communication practices are becoming ever more important for business service clients, as they signal quality and hence are related to client-perceived value. The purpose of this paper is to examine the interplay between corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate reputation and client-perceived value, and to assess the moderating role of strategic orientation in business service relationships. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual framework based on the corporate communication framework, signaling theory and relationship marketing theory has been tested on a survey sample of 228 client firms, using covariance-based SEM and additional procedures for assessment of mediation and moderated mediation. Findings This paper reveals that communication practices concerning CSR positively and significantly influence client-perceived value. The authors show that reputation fully mediates the effect of CSR on client-perceived value. Finally, the effect of CSR on value is stronger if the client firm has a short-term strategic orientation, while long-term strategic orientation boosts the effect of corporate reputation on customer-perceived value. Research limitations/implications Further research on the topic may involve developing links between other elements of the corporate communication framework and client-perceived value. Originality/value The originality of the paper lies in better understanding the effects of CSR and corporate reputation on client-perceived value. The authors provide empirical evidence of the mediating role of reputation between the CSR (seen as “actions”) and client-perceived value.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to assess the technical (output) and functional (process) quality of mobile services, as well as the role of corporate image as a mediator between technical/functional quality perceptions and overall quality assessment of mobile services. Grönroos’s service quality model is used as the conceptual base of the study. Technical quality was operationalized through two sub-dimensions: baseline network quality and augmented technical quality. The SERVPERF framework was used in the operationalization of the functional quality. A quantitative survey was conducted with (n = 414) customers of the telecommunication operator in B&H. The results suggest that corporate image mediates the effects of (1) two functional quality dimensions (tangibles and assurance) and (2) both technical quality dimensions on the overall service quality assessment. The core technical quality dimension (network) is also directly related to overall service quality perception. A discussion of the results and their implications for theory and practice is then presented.

Young-adult consumers (aged between 18 and 30 years) have been attracting increasing attention by scholars and marketers (Cardoso Pinto, 2010; Xie & Singh, 2007; Kjelgaard & Askegaard 2006). They are interesting because they already have spending money, a desire to spend, have less financial obligations, and are increasingly autonomous in their purchasing, in spite of their young age (Grant & Waite 2003; Gronhoj 2007). They further influence purchasing decisions of their households (Grant & Waite 2003), and often act as fashion conduits and/or trend setters for other consumer groups (Leslie et al. 2001). In terms of cross-country variability young-adult consumers have been described as global citizens at the “forefront of globalization” (Strizhakova et al. 2012, p. 43), who are (more) universally cosmopolitan (Thompson & Tambyah 1999), characterized by a common global culture (Fabris 2003), are believed to have quite unified tastes (Guido 1992), and a similar life-style (Stapinski 1999). Despite a growing research interest in young-adult consumers and their decision-making styles, we know far less about young-adult consumers in non-Western markets than Western markets (Strizhakova et al., 2012; Zhou et al., 2010; Wong et al., 2008). While calls for more research on young-adult consumer decision-making styles have been mainly focused on large emerging markets, like China and Russia, the same call could also be applied for smaller transitional and post-transition markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This research is set against the backdrop of a highly regionalized nature of international business and marketing (Oh & Rugman, 2014), and looks at young-adult consumers in a specific Western Balkan regional marketing context. In particular, we conduct an exploratory analysis of consumer decision-making styles across university student matched samples from Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Web-based data collection took place at a leading university in each of the countries by employing Fan & Xiao’s (1998) survey instrument, a variation of the Kendall & Sproles’ (1986) Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI). To the best of our knowledge this is the first such multi-country comprehensive analysis of young-adult consumer decision-making styles in the Western Balkans, complementing more general analyses of consumer characteristics in Western Balkans by Žabkar, Kolar & Sunko (2009), or specific country studies of young-adult consumer decision-making styles for specific Western Balkan countries, like Bosnia and Herzegovina (Anic, Piri Rajh & Bevanda, 2012), Slovenia (Raskovic, 2011), and Croatia (Anic, Piri Rajh & Rajh, 2010). Our results challenge the universal consumer identity and intra-regional universality of young-adult consumers in the Western Balkans. They show certain distinctive consumer characteristics (Žabkar, Kolar & Sunko, 2009) and support a glocal consumer identity perspective instead (Douglas & Craig, 2011); also within a specific intra-regional context. By conducting exploratory factor analyses and cluster analyses we describe and compare different young-adult consumers segments across the four countries and outline important implications for marketers targeting young-adult consumers in the region.