This paper reports the main findings of a national survey designed to empirically establish a set of weighting factors on product violation that could be used as input in the allocation of resources by the Consumer Product Branch of Consumers and Corporate Affairs Canada. A conceptual framework is presented describing the method used to derive these weights. It was found that violations were perceived to occur more frequently for clothing and accessories, fresh fruits and vegetables, and cleaning and paper products. These ratings were shown to be related to purchasing behavior and quality violations were perceived much more serious than quantity violations and labelling violations, in that order.
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