Digital Commons Network^™

Experts-Driven Design: A Framework For Measuring Social Influence In Online Social Networks, Shyamala N. Chalakudi, Dildar Hussain Dr., Gnana Bharathy Dr, Dakshinamurthy Kolluru Dr

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

In our interconnected and ever-changing social landscape, influence is pivotal in molding individuals’ decisions, perspectives, and behaviors. Measuring Social Influence (SI) in Online Social Networks (OSNs) faces significant gaps, notably needing more integration with human behaviors. Our literature review has unveiled twelve psychological theories rooted in human behavior that are fundamental for assessing SI in OSNs. We have further elucidated how human behaviors interact in shaping the influence potential of social media users through exploratory interviews with experts from consulting, industry, and academia. Our study culminated in developing a novel framework designed to encompass the intricacies that not only nurture …

Unveiling The Feeling Effect: How Sentiment Orientation Deceives Traditional Survey Findings In Marketing Research, Junhong Min, Matthew Monte, Ulrich Schmelzle

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

This study inspected the influence of sentiment orientation (positive vs negative) on parameter estimation in marketing research models, specifically addressing gaps in previous research focused on online review platforms but not traditional surveys. Examining 627 participants assessing city residents' quality of life, the survey analyzed sentiment using the lexicon-based sentiment analysis. Three contextual factors affecting sentiment orientation—reasoning strength, cognitive strength, and factual information strength—were discovered. The analysis revealed higher adjusted R-squared scores for negative sentiment, suggesting potential errors in survey research when sentiment orientation is ignored. The study advocates combining automatic sentiment analysis with quantitative research findings to enhance survey …

Managing Supply Chains Through The Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons From The Field, Scott B. Keller Ph.D., Stephen A. Lemay Dba, Nicole Ann E. Dela Rosa

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

As the Coronavirus shifted into a worldwide pandemic supply chains everywhere began experiencing comprehensive breakdowns. From continent to continent, suppliers, producers, distributors, and all services facilitating the movement and storage of products scrambled to alter plans in effort to secure enough product to meet customer demand. At one time or another during the pandemic most all failed to keep product flowing. During this time, supply chain faculty at a southeastern U.S. comprehensive regional university began weekly Zoom sessions to learn first-hand what business alumni were doing to help their firms survive. These are their stories and the lessons they learned …

Sophisticated Vs. Rugged: Examining Gendered Brand Communication Styles And Social Media Engagement, Joanne T. Cao, Jamye Foster, Gallayanee S. Yaoyuneyong, Lacey K. Wallace

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

Advertising and marketing managers understand that not all brands need to be on social media, but what is not clearly understood is consumers’ engagement expectations for brands that are on social media. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of brand personality, specifically sophisticated and rugged brands, and gendered communication styles on consumers’ expectations of social media engagement. A scenario-based experiment is performed to test the hypotheses using a mock brand. The main study consisted of a Qualtrics consumer panel, and a MANOVA was utilized to examine three components of social media engagement (consumption, contribution, and creation) on the two brand …

Defining Health Care Marketing: A Review Of Scholarly And Other Textual Sources, Gary Daniel Futrell

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

A review of scholarly works and leading textbooks published for health care marketing courses shows that they do not adequately define the disciple. This paper promotes the use of the two-word form of health care and defines health care marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, & exchanging any good, service, or idea; performed to restore, maintain, or enhance the well-being of an individual or population. This paper fills a gap in the literature by providing linguistic and practical justification for using the two-word form of health care and connects the modern wellness paradigm …

Expanding Theoretical Perspectives On Leadership: An Integration Of The Green And Mitchell Model Of Leader Behavior With Leader-Member Exchange Status, Constance R. Campbell, Cathy Owens Swift

Southern Business Review

Constance Campbell is an assistant professor of management in the College of Business Administration at Georgia Southern University.

Cathy Owens Swift is an associate professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration at Georgia Southern University.

Love At First Touch: How Swiping Vs. Typing Changes Online Dating Decision-Making, Farhana Nusrat, Yaniu Huang, Cait Lamberton

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2022

Online dating is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States. Due to its increasing popularity, various dimensions of online dating have been studied in recent years. However, no research has explored how the type of digital platforms used impacts online dating. In this research, we investigate how the use of different platforms (computers vs. smartphones) can influence customers’ decision-making process in the context of online dating. Through multiple studies, we demonstrate that while using their computers (vs. smartphones) to evaluate dating profiles, customers will prioritize the inner attributes of the person (e.g., personality and compatibility). Moreover, the effect …

Exploring The Effects Of Linguistic Elements Of Social Media Corporate Apologies On Consumer Responses, Laurel Johnston

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2022

In the current landscape of social media, consumers bring product and service failure complaints directly to brands daily. Whether such complaints are routine or hold potential for great consequence, social media’s viral nature means any brand-to-consumer interaction could become a public crisis if handled incorrectly. Corporate apologies are an effective strategy to mitigate negative audience sentiment and reduce online interactions that damage brand reputation. This study will manipulate previously identified but largely untested linguistic components of corporate apologies on Twitter, including personal greetings and closures and directives, to test their effects on consumers’ perceived apology sincerity, forgiveness, purchase intentions, and …

Defining Health Care Marketing, Gary Futrell

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2022

A review of the leading textbooks published for health care marketing courses shows that they do not adequately define the disciple. This paper promotes the use of the two-word form of health care and defines health care marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, & exchanging any good, service, or idea; performed to restore, maintain, or enhance the well-being of an individual or population. This paper fills a gap in the literature by providing linguistic and practical justification for using the two-word form of health care and connects the modern wellness paradigm of health …

Communicating Temporary Brick-And-Mortar Store Closures During Covid-19 Lockdowns In The Uk, Zsofia Toth, Tristan Emerson, Nikolina Koporcic, Sally Mckechnie, Muzna Shehzad

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2022

This research examines how retail businesses from central England’s Midlands region communicated temporary closure of their brick-and-mortar stores via shop window messages during the first two Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020. These closure notices represent important forms of crisis communication for businesses, which display various levels of information, emotional language, or functional intent, and offer signposts for business continuity. 417 shop window closure notices were photographed - 167 and 250 from the first and second periods of lockdown respectively. In order to analyse the data, a multimodal social semiotic framework was employed, allowing the study to examine the language, design and …

Cloud-Based Machine Learning And Sentiment Analysis, Emmanuel C. Opara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The role of a Data Scientist is becoming increasingly ubiquitous as companies and institutions see the need to gain additional insights and information from data to make better decisions to improve the quality-of-service delivery to customers. This thesis document contains three aspects of data science projects aimed at improving tools and techniques used in analyzing and evaluating data. The first research study involved the use of a standard cybersecurity dataset and cloud-based auto-machine learning algorithms were applied to detect vulnerabilities in the network traffic data. The performance of the algorithms was measured and compared using standard evaluation metrics. The second …

Are Eco-Friendly Cars More Favorable? An Exploratory Study Of Attitude Toward Eco-Friendliness Among Multiethnic Consumers In The U.S., Meng Tian, Sindy Chapa, Michael Walsh, Nicholas Kjaerholt, Ailin Xia

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Between technological developments in the car industry and increasing interest in eco friendly products among consumers, eco-friendly cars are gradually entering consumers' sights. This study examines the factors that influence consumers’ attitudes toward the adoption of eco-friendly cars. This study conducted an online survey with a sample (N = 3,191) collected through a national panel (Dynata). The results demonstrate that consumers’ concern about environmental sustainability and attitude towards environmentally friendly products impact consumers’ attitudes toward eco-friendly cars. It was also found that consumer’s level of collectivism positively influence their attitude toward environmentally friendly products. Further, the results showed consumers’ attitudes …

Exploratory Insights Into Cross-Cultural On-Line Shopping Differences Between U.S. And French Millennials And Generation Zs, Steven M. Cox, Bradley W. Brooks

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Online retail sales have shown double-digit growth in the U.S. for the last decade lead by millennials and more recently generation Z. While extensive research has been done exploring U.S. online shopping behaviors of these generations, little cross-cultural work has been done. This paper explores the differences between the U.S. and French millennial and gen z online shoppers. The research focused on four questions; was there a difference in the number of times per week that individuals shopped online, the percentage of shopping funds spent online versus in store, the types of products purchased online, and the percentage of low …

The Impact Of Bilingual Labeling In The U.S. On Package And Product Evaluation, Mahesh Gopinath, Myron Glassman, Prashanth Nyer

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

This paper explores the effect of bilingual (English-Spanish) product packaging on the perceptions of U.S. consumers toward the package and the product inside. Two experimental studies show that 1) products in bilingual packages are seen as targeting Hispanics living in the U.S., 2) package characteristics and the product itself are rated lower when the product is in a bilingual package versus an English-only package, especially among highly ethnocentric subjects, and 3) of the three bilingual formats tested (English on two sides with Spanish on the other two; an English paragraph followed by a Spanish paragraph on the same side; and …

The Role Of Cultural Traditions On Branding And Word-Of-Mouth: Keeping Mother’S Recipes Alive!, Sindy Chapa

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact a cultural tradition has on a perceived-brand-relationship (PBR) and word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior in person and on social media. Based on the cognitive-motivational-related theory of emotions and the social identity theory, a model is proposed to explain the impact that a family tradition, such as cooking with selective products, has on Hispanic mothers. Using a research mixed-method approach, a construct was developed to measure attitudes toward cultural traditions. Further, an online survey was administered for hypotheses and model testing using SEM and Logistic Regression tests. The findings supported the proposed model …

In House Versus Outsourcing: Effects Of Service Quality And Consumer Satisfaction Of Sport Centers, Jennifer Y. Mak, Siu Yin Cheung

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

The purposes of this study were to examine the difference between Facility Management Systems, in-house versus outsourcing, in service quality of sport public sport centers, as well as examine the aspects of service delivery. The sample consists of 302 sport center consumers from different regions of Hong Kong. The Chinese version of SERVQUAL was used to measure consumer expectations and perceptions on sport centers’ service quality. The participants were invited to fill out the questionnaires at the public sport centers. Findings showed that consumers’ expectations between the public and outsourced sport centers were the same. On the other hand, the …

Exploring The Factors Affecting The Perceived Program Quality Of International Sports Education Programs: The Case Of A Chinese Sports University, Luke Lunhua Mao, James Zhang

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

This study explored and tested factors affecting the perceived quality of international sports education provisions in the context of a Chinese sports university. Based on a comprehensive literature review, on-site observations, interviews with students and administrators, and a test of content validity by a panel of experts, a questionnaire was developed and administered to 61 international students attending a sports university in China. An exploratory factor analysis produced five factors related to perceived program quality, with 22 items retained (i.e., leaning environment, service orientation, administrative professionalism, content assurance, and academic growth). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that these program quality factors …

Service Quality Of The Chinese Ymca Of Hong Kong, Joyce Chan, Siu Yin Cheung, Jennifer Y. Mak

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

Service quality is an essential element for managers and marketers to successfully compete in the sport and leisure industry. The present study is a first of its kind research study evaluating the service quality of the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong. In this study, extensive customer research was conducted to investigate the members’ usage, expectations, perceptions, and satisfaction levels in the Recreation and Sport Department. Data were collected from 559 members. This study provides a channel to listen to the voice of the customers and assist the managers to improve the service quality by pinpointing areas that need managerial action.

A Logo Selection Method, Tulay Girard, Michelle Pope

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2010

Many companies and sports teams have revised their logos over time in efforts to reposition their brand image. Still, the need for establishing a reliable method to guide this important decision still persists. This study offers an empirical method for selecting logos for companies and/or brands by testing the perceptions of consumers using 16 bi-polar personality traits adapted from the literature. The data were collected from undergraduate marketing students for demonstration purposes. The paper proposes that the perceptions for a logo of multiple samples from the same target population will be the same. The findings support the proposition. Implications and …