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Mr. Cameron McRae, a doctoral student at 看片视频 University in the Marketing area will be presenting his thesis defense entitled:

Advancing the Science of Precision Retailing through Digital Innovation in Traditional and Modern Agri-food Markets

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Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 9:00 a.m
(The defense will be conducted on Zoom)

Student Committee Co-Chairs: Professor Laurette Dub茅 and Professor Yu Ma

Please note that the presentation will be conducted on Zoom. If you wish to attend the presentation, kindly contact the PhD Office.

ABSTRACT

The pursuit of sustainability across environmental, social, health, and economic dimensions is a critical challenge. This thesis adopts a Precision Retailing (PR) approach to address these challenges. Although PR is a newer term in the literature, its conceptualization and the base of this thesis are rooted in a long history of convergence science. PR integrates data, methods, information, and knowledge from various disciplines and sectors to promote sustainability by catalyzing behavior change and transformation in broader systems. This thesis explores the critical role of digital innovation as a foundation for sustainable transformation in both traditional and modern markets. Each of the three papers in this thesis contributes to the broader PR literature while making core disciplinary contributions to information systems and marketing sciences.

This thesis applies PR principles to address sustainability challenges in the agri-food domain from traditional and modern markets. The first paper examines digitalization across an agri-food value chain as inputs to grocery retailing in a traditional market. It investigates the impact of introducing a digital platform ecosystem among subsistence farmers in Odisha, India, that supports them and connects them to a digital marketplace. Using a mixed methods approach, we conducted a quasi-experimental study over one year and found that the intervention significantly boosted farmers' confidence in using technology on their farms (尾=0.810, p=0.028). We then used qualitative methods to investigate the digital transformation process. Semi-structured interviews (n=12) and five focus groups (n=83) were conducted. The qualitative study uncovered a six-step process leading to the emergence and institutionalization of new practices as farmers transition toward modern technology-supported farming. The second paper moves to the consumer side of the agri-food value chain to study sustainable food consumption using loyalty program data from Finland and Canada. It explores the disparity in price sensitivity between plant- and animal-based products, differences across socio-economic status (SES) segments, and the impact of marketing practices on these disparities. While no difference (p=0.39) was found in price sensitivity between plant- and animal-based products, SES moderated price sensitivity only for animal-based products (p<0.01) and not for plant-based products (p=0.89). Increasing variety consistently increased price sensitivity across both types of products, with a greater effect for consumers with low SES than high SES (p<0.001). Thus, price sensitivity inequity increased as the variety of brands increased. The third paper, still in Canada, explores the accessibility and affordability of traditional foods in modern markets by Indigenous peoples compared to the general population. Using loyalty program data, it evaluates drivers of purchasing behavior of traditional foods, revealing that only 36% of these foods are available in stores, with a majority being processed and a lack of local and Indigenous-owned products. The findings highlight the stronger value Indigenous consumers place on traditional foods that are locally sourced (versus imported), compared to the general population. Targeted policy and market interventions are needed to enhance access to fresh and locally sourced traditional foods that support the nutritional and cultural well-being of Indigenous communities and support reconciliation efforts.

Collectively, this thesis makes disciplinary contributions to information systems and marketing research by studying facets of retail from farm origins to consumers' homes. All three papers leveraged digital innovations as a building block, either by studying their influence directly or by using large datasets generated by innovations in digital loyalty programs, to advance the study of PR in diverse contexts where retail serves as an entry point for sustainable transformation.