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Effects Of Humorous Language In Social Media And Fandom Levels On Sport Consumers’ Merchandise Value Perceptions, Conner Martin May 2024

Effects Of Humorous Language In Social Media And Fandom Levels On Sport Consumers’ Merchandise Value Perceptions, Conner Martin

Honors College Theses

Licensed sports merchandise is a sports business sector that is projected to surpass $39.8 billion by 2027. This study examines the influence of humor in social media posts on consumers’ perceived valuations of licensed sport merchandise—specifically, apparel—with consideration to their team fandom. Guiding by Cue Utilization Theory (CUT), the research model assessed the extrinsic cues of team fandom and humor in shaping consumer perceptions, while controlling for product type (high-cost, low-cost), humorous caption (version 1, version 2), generation (Zoomers, Millennials, Gen Xers, and Boomers), and gender (male, female, non-binary). Fans of South Georgia Tormenta FC, a professional soccer club, served …


The Impact Of Minimalist Design On Consumer’S Brand Expectations, Carolina L. Guerrero Mar 2024

The Impact Of Minimalist Design On Consumer’S Brand Expectations, Carolina L. Guerrero

Honors College Theses

In order for companies to be more effective in reaching their target market amongst growing competition, they must successfully construct their product’s packaging to appeal to the consumer’s eye and demonstrate their desired qualities. With packaging design aesthetics falling into the two categories of minimalism or maximalism, a relationship may be established between the design aesthetic and the perceptions a certain design imposes. This thesis will conduct an experimental design with fabricated product mockups exemplifying minimalism and maximalism designs in personal care and prepackaged food products. These designs will be evaluated by respondents for different perceptions based on the first …


Generation Z'S Use Of User-Generated Content For Travel Advice, Emmie Kay Hudson Jan 2024

Generation Z'S Use Of User-Generated Content For Travel Advice, Emmie Kay Hudson

Honors College Theses

This research project examines Generation Z’s use of TikTok’s and YouTube’s user-generated content (UGC) for travel advice related to accommodation, activities, cuisine, and other tourist practices. As this generation ages and enters the consumer market, continued research is needed to implement marketing strategies with the most significant influence. This study will examine the younger generations' behaviors and help the tourism industry understand its rising target market in comparison to Generations X and Y. This study is conducted through a non-experimental systematic literature review of the subject. This research provides information from various sources on topics such as Generation Z, TikTok, …


Best Practices For Social Media Branding, Allison Myers Apr 2023

Best Practices For Social Media Branding, Allison Myers

Honors College Theses

Social media is a fast growing marketplace for businesses to advertise themselves to established and potential consumers. Each platform has different algorithms, demographics, and ways for users to interact and connect. Even with a constantly growing research field and course options around the subject, understanding the behaviors of viewers on each app can still be a tough guessing game. Therefore, I have used both research studies and online courses, to present a strategy with which to efficiently and effectively market one’s business for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. I then present ways to understand the success of this and personal marketing …


How Digital Content Marketing Affects Viewership And Engagement Of Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Esport Events: An Examination Of League Of Legends, Joshua J. Lord Apr 2023

How Digital Content Marketing Affects Viewership And Engagement Of Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Esport Events: An Examination Of League Of Legends, Joshua J. Lord

Honors College Theses

Recently esports, specifically Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) esports has grown to where esports pull upwards of 150 million hours watched per specific major event. Despite this, esports and specifically Multiplayer Online Battle Arena esports have extraordinarily little literature on what factors affect viewership. This Honors thesis attempts to illustrate how the Digital Content Marketing (DCM) of esports affect the event’s viewership and engagement of viewers during and after the event using data from esports charts and social media. This study has theoretical implications for digital content marketing and expands the literature of esports and looks to spark future discussion …


Can Marketing Content Strategies Help Promote Sustainability On Social Media?: Comparing The Effectiveness Of Owned Versus Earned Endorsement, Eilleen R. Plante Nov 2021

Can Marketing Content Strategies Help Promote Sustainability On Social Media?: Comparing The Effectiveness Of Owned Versus Earned Endorsement, Eilleen R. Plante

Honors College Theses

The importance of sustainability is rising as consumers make more environmentally conscious purchases (Neilson, 2018). Despite the growing demand for sustainable products, there is still a consumer attitude-behavior gap concerning sustainability. Social media has proven to be an effective way to promote sustainability (Saeed, Farooq, & Kersten, 2019), and social media influencers are more effective advertising agents compared to traditional advertising (Araujo, Neijens, & Vliegenthart, 2016). However, the best way to advertise sustainable products through social media-based advertising has not yet been studied. This study examines the different content marketing strategies on social media - owned social media posts and …


Evaluation Of Student Reactions To Consumer Products, Bryce K. Lesher May 2020

Evaluation Of Student Reactions To Consumer Products, Bryce K. Lesher

Honors College Theses

Based on gender role congruence theory, this research sought to understand how consumer perceptions differ for masculinized and feminized products when they are presented by the opposing gender. Additionally, our research sought to understand what role—if any—political affiliation played in the consumer’s perception of the products presented. The results of this study were inconclusive due to a data collection error, however, the study itself serves as a good framework for answering the question of interest and should be rerun to draw meaningful conclusions.


Body Language And Sales, Adam Puckett Apr 2020

Body Language And Sales, Adam Puckett

Honors College Theses

This area of research focuses on the link and association between body language and success in professional sales, and whether gestures have any relationship to perceptions of the salesperson’s ability and acumen. Utilizing collegiate sales competition videos taken from a university Sales program, the current study investigates and observes the link between nonverbal gestures, body language, and sales performance scores given by professional salespeople and sales recruiters. The results of this study hopes to suggest a relationship between gesture and perceptions of skillfulness within the sales interaction to the buyer or potential client. This, in turn, would have implications for …


Social Media Is Bananas: The Effect Social Media Has On Rebranding And Customer Attraction And Retention, Kara Heater May 2019

Social Media Is Bananas: The Effect Social Media Has On Rebranding And Customer Attraction And Retention, Kara Heater

Honors College Theses

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate whether social media had an impact on the rebranding of the Savannah Bananas baseball team. The study also focuses on the impact social media has had on the attraction and retention of customers. Interviews were conducted with full time staff members and customers of the Savannah Bananas. An online survey was distributed through social media to learn more about the connection between customers and the Bananas social media. The results of the study suggest that social media has had a positive affect on both the rebranding of the Savannah Bananas and …


Predicting Thrill Seeking Behavior, Matthew I. Keane Nov 2018

Predicting Thrill Seeking Behavior, Matthew I. Keane

Honors College Theses

Extreme sports, sports characterized as involving speed, height and danger, have become an increasingly popular pastime around the world and have grown into a $250 billion industry. As a result of the inherent risks of taking part in these extreme sports, the most common participants are thrill seeking, risk taking, and often reckless. Known as the type-T personality type, these extreme sensation seeking individual’s constantly seek out new experiences that will stimulate their mind and frequently find their thrill by participating in extreme sports. The goal of this study is to determine various factors that will influence an individual’s thrill …


An Investigation Of Web Atmospherics In Online Luxury Branding, Emilie E. Jones Nov 2018

An Investigation Of Web Atmospherics In Online Luxury Branding, Emilie E. Jones

Honors College Theses

Having an online presence for a retail store has transitioned from serving as simply a new avenue through which a profit can be made, to a tool that can be harnessed to express a brand’s personality. So how do luxury brands manage to maintain a high-end, exclusive status on the highly available landscape of the internet? The intention of this research is to identify whether luxury brands are currently taking advantage of differential web atmospherics cues, in a way that significantly sets them apart from non-luxury brand websites. To do this, we measured elements including screen space, reduction of elements, …


Beyond Higher Ed Marketing: Unsanctioned User Generated Content, Jordan Taylor Salvador May 2018

Beyond Higher Ed Marketing: Unsanctioned User Generated Content, Jordan Taylor Salvador

Honors College Theses

The impact of User Generated Content (UGC) on higher-education marketing is an entirely untouched area of marketing research, therefore the current study aims to better understand how widely disseminated this content is among students, how they perceive this content and its impact upon their university, as well as what kinds of students are drawn to participate in and consume this content. A sample of 187 university students at a large public institution were surveyed regarding their engagement with UGC content associated with their school, and the ways in which it may effect their perception of the institution.


Investigating The Effects That Alcohol Consumption Has On The Impulse Buying Behaviors Of College Students, Christian J. Kerrigan Jan 2017

Investigating The Effects That Alcohol Consumption Has On The Impulse Buying Behaviors Of College Students, Christian J. Kerrigan

Honors College Theses

This paper looks at the relationships between alcohol consumption and the impulse buying behaviors of college students. The first section of the study looks at what categories of products are most commonly purchased whilst each student is under the influence of alcohol. The criteria for classing something as an impulse purchase in this section is that you can’t have previously planned on buying the product, and/or you end up spending more than you initially intended, whilst you are under the influence. We found that food, more alcohol, and gifts for others were the top three categories in this section. The …


The Impact Of Status Consumption On Luxury Consumption Behaviors: The Influence Of Culture, Don L. Faulk Jan 2016

The Impact Of Status Consumption On Luxury Consumption Behaviors: The Influence Of Culture, Don L. Faulk

Honors College Theses

Status consumption refers to why people consume luxury products. Over the years a great deal of research has been done as to what factors are linked to status consumption. However there has been little research done on millennial’s status consumption trends. This study examined why millennials consume for status from a cultural angle (individualism and collectivism, power distance, and ethnicity). The survey findings suggest that while the motivation to consume for status and the cultural variable of power distance significantly impacted status purchase intention, individualism/collectivism and ethnicity did not. This study also delves into managerial implications of our results.


Status Consumption And The Millennial Consumer: An Exploratory Study, Angelina Heugel Apr 2015

Status Consumption And The Millennial Consumer: An Exploratory Study, Angelina Heugel

Honors College Theses

This paper focuses on millennial consumers’ perceptions about the motivation to purchase luxury and status items for the young working professional. It defines and addresses the relationship between status symbols and what drives the millennial generation’s purchases and desires to purchase. Research was conducted through a detailed literature review, qualitative pre-test and focus group. Through the pre-test, themes of luxury and status items were found. Common product categories to represent status items included: accessories, clothing, technology, travel, pet ownership, home ownership, expensive cars, and entertainment. The focus group was conducted in a classroom setting discussion with thirty students. Students participating …


Buy American: An Introspective Look Into National Corporate Consciousness, Jenna S. Florence Apr 2015

Buy American: An Introspective Look Into National Corporate Consciousness, Jenna S. Florence

Honors College Theses

My research is interested in examining product perceptions and the importance of national identity on the marketability on a variety of foreign and domestic consumer products. I am also interested in determining whether the process of globalization has weakened an individual’s sense of national identity and whether that changes their preference for purchasing a foreign and/or domestic product. Primarily, my research question asks whether nationalism influences a product’s marketability. My hypothesis suggests that individual perceptions are heavily influenced by a sense of nationalism and ultimately affects an individual’s decision whether or not to buy a foreign good. To test this …


Adoption Of Social Media Marketing Among Professionals, Liana Moran Apr 2014

Adoption Of Social Media Marketing Among Professionals, Liana Moran

Honors College Theses

Social media marketing is the professional use of social media websites such as Facebook for marketing purposes. This thesis project examines the adoption patterns and factors behind the decision to use social media marketing among professionals. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with business professionals from the real estate rental industry in Statesboro, Georgia, and analyzed the results and implications using thematic analysis. Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory provides the theoretical framework for the research with social media marketing being the innovation. The participants identified that observability, relative advantage and complexity/simplicity were major factors for adopting social media marketing. The …


Social Media Marketing Use In Georgia’S Institutions Of Higher Education, James Kelly Apr 2014

Social Media Marketing Use In Georgia’S Institutions Of Higher Education, James Kelly

Honors College Theses

The Internet and social media are changing the way that people interact with the world around them everyday. Individuals are able to learn more about the products they use, places they visit, and other people within their network by simply turning on their computer, smart phone, or tablet. Thanks to this great utility, institutions of higher education around the world are using social media to interact with and market themselves to faculty, students, and even prospective students. After all, universities are aiming to prove that their product can add value to the lives of stakeholders while providing them with benefits …