Business Commons^™

Improving Customer Experience Throughout The Customer Journey In The Big Data Era, Mohammad Saljoughian

Doctoral Dissertations

My PhD dissertation focuses on how firms should adapt their strategies to improve customer engagement throughout customer journey. My first paper examines firm-customer conversations on social media. Many firms struggle with how to craft their messages in conversations with customers on social media, and the lack of guidance for interacting with customers is among the top social media challenges reported by firms. The problem is compounded by the fact that these conversations take place in different, simultaneous threads, each of which potentially requiring a different approach. This paper studies how firms can adapt their responses in individual social media conversations …

Playing The Game: Video Games And Video Game Streaming Platforms As Marketing Communication Channels, Roman Welden

Doctoral Dissertations

While video games are generally viewed as a form of entertainment for a small subset of people, in reality they provide a channel for nearly 3.2 billion people to interact with others and offer multiple pathways for marketers to interact with consumers. Pair this alongside 140 million unique consumers who consumer nearly 24 billion hours of content on video game streaming platforms (VGSPs), such as Twitch, and there is a deep need for marketers to understand how to engage consumers in these environments. This dissertation provides a conceptualization of the video game ecosystem as well as the types of influencers …

The Unexplored Impacts Of Communication Elements In Marketing, Can Trinh

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation includes two essays that examine how the use of different marketing communication approaches influences consumers. In the first essay, I propose that the use of human silhouettes, when compared to images of attractive human models, enhances marketing communication effectiveness by reducing the extent to which consumers experience self-threat when viewing an ad. In addition, I predict this effect holds for appearance-related products only and strengthens as consumers’ level of appearance-related self-esteem decreases. Five studies reported in this essay provide converging evidence in support of these expectations.

In the second essay, I investigate into how the use of puns …

Effects Of Economic Development Status And Eco-Product On Consumption Values: From The Perspective Of Us Consumers, Mostafa Zaman

Doctoral Dissertations

Consumers select a product based on numerous product characteristics. Numerous studies conducted earlier revealed that consumers in developing countries preferred products made in western or developed countries because their product quality is better than the quality of local products (Lee & Nguyen, 2017; Dao & Heidt, 2018; Rodrigo et al., 2019). Moreover, consumers are increasingly concerned about manufacturers’ environmental issues. Although ethical consumers believe that eco-products could save the environment, some consumers are not concerned about the eco-products and thus select products based on other product attributes (Joshi & Rahman, 2015). Hence, it becomes very challenging for retailers to select …

Modeling The Consumer Acceptance Of Retail Service Robots, So Young Song

Doctoral Dissertations

This study uses the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) and domestication theories as the underlying framework of an acceptance model of retail service robots (RSRs). The model illustrates the relationships among facilitators, attitudes toward Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety toward robots, anticipated service quality, and the acceptance of RSRs. Specifically, the researcher investigates the extent to which the facilitators of usefulness, social capability, the appearance of RSRs, and the attitudes toward HRI affect acceptance and increase the anticipation of service quality. The researcher also tests the inhibiting role of pre-existing anxiety toward robots on the relationship between these facilitators and attitudes …

Blinded By The Brand: Why And When Salesperson Brand Attachment Decreases Customer Purchase Intentions?, Lisa Lynn Beeler

Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research finds that the more attached salespeople are to a brand, the more effort they extend on behalf of the brand, thus improving sales performance. However, salesperson brand attachment may also have undesirable consequences only evident when viewed through the customers’ lens. Specifically, we argue that brand attachment has a “blinding effect” on salespeople, leading them to adopt inappropriate sales strategies that discourage customers from purchasing the brand. We explore these ideas using data collected from 20 exploratory interviews with salesperson-customer dyads and a field study that includes 153 salespeople and 98 matched customers. The data offer support for …

Take No For An Answer? Unpacking Persistence And Examining Its Impact On Salesperson Performance, Nawar Naim Chaker

Doctoral Dissertations

Common wisdom suggests that persistence is a critical determinant of sales performance and, consequently, salespeople are often advised “don’t take no for an answer.” While the importance of persistence to sales success is seemingly unquestioned (albeit unexamined in the literature), anecdotal evidence suggests that the incremental business generated through salesperson persistence may be tempered – if not overshadowed – by its accompanying costs (e.g., time spent pursuing hesitant prospects). The goal of this research is thus to explore the impact of persistence on salesperson performance. Grounded in social influence theory, this study views sales persistence as a combination of influence …

Examining The Nature And Consequences Of Interfunctional Bias In A Corporate Setting, William Adam Powell

Doctoral Dissertations

Interfunctional bias is examined in this dissertation as a potential barrier to interfunctional cooperation. Interfunctional cooperation is desirable in modern corporate organizations as a contributor to effective service delivery, operations planning, and sales performance. Interfunctional stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are hypothesized to relate positively, and together provide the bias-based theoretical basis through which barriers to interfunctional cooperation can be more thoroughly understood. Based on the extant literature in marketing and psychology, competing models of interfunctional bias are developed and hypothesized. In the first of three studies a questionnaire-based survey of supply chain employees’ perceptions of salespeople permitted the examination of …

Integrated Internet Marketing Communications For The Global Market: An Empirical Examination, Philip Jean Boutin Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and performance of Internet (online) marketing communications (IOMC) by companies when they attempt to target, reach, and communicate with the global market (i.e., both domestic and foreign markets) in order to promote and sell products to the members of that market was the broad phenomenon examined. The specific focus was on the use of a globally integrated marketing communications (GIMC) approach with IOMC and the creation of the global Internet integrated marketing communications (GI-IMC) concept.

Relevant theories and theoretical models were identified and leveraged to serve as the theoretical foundation for the general theoretical framework, the …

Rogue And Deviants: A Game-Theoretic Perspective On Opportunism In Strategic Alliance Relationships, Anton Pavol Fenik

Doctoral Dissertations

Opportunistic behavior is often studied in interfirm relationships, yet we don’t know the different types of behavior that are hidden behind the general opportunism label. Therefore, using game theory as guidance, this dissertation examines the roots of and influences on two types of opportunistic behaviors in strategic alliances. Specifically, the author suggests that the strategic alliances literature would benefit from recognizing that opportunistic behaviors don’t always originate from the firm (rogue-firm opportunism), but instead often originate from individual alliance employees (deviant-personal opportunism). Moreover, this dissertation examines how relational factors between two alliance partners impact these two types of opportunistic behaviors. …

Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) Advertising And Consumer Responses In The Lodging Industry: Functions Of Green Marketing Motive And Appeal Type, Donghwan Yoon

Doctoral Dissertations

Hotel chains are increasingly engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) marketing to fulfill their social responsibilities. This study primarily aimed to contribute to the hospitality marketing literature and derive findings from the applied theoretical frameworks that would provide practical information for hotel CSR marketers. The study introduced three theoretical concepts: the information-processing model to provide a comprehensive framework of the attitude formation process, the attribution theory to explain the different effects of CSR motives, and the hierarchy-of-effects model to explain the relational effects of affect, cognition, and conation on consumer responses. In this sense, the study was conducted to test …

Managing The Co-Creation Of Innovation: The Influence Of Team Regulatory Style And Reflexivity On Customer Idea Selection And Innovation Outcomes, Matthew Brady Shaner

Doctoral Dissertations

The cocreation of new products with customers has been shown to be associated with higher new product quality, the development of products that more closely match customers' unmet needs, lower development costs, and faster speed-to-market (Hoyer, Chandy, Dorotic, Krafft, & Singh, 2010; O'Hern & Rindfleisch, 2010). However, little is known about the evaluation and selection process in the cocreation of innovation (Bayus, 2013). To be successful, product development teams must identify customer ideas that have the potential to both fulfill unmet market needs and be profitable for the firm. This dissertation looks at two cognitive factors related to team decision-making, …

Why Do U.S. Consumers Purchase Ethnically Disparate Products?, Jong Han Hyun

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate why U.S. consumers approach products that are ethnically disparate. The study purpose is addressed by developing a framework which investigates the consumption values consumers seek in ethnically disparate products. In addition, factors that antecede the different consumption values are proposed based on theories and literature that are believed to be relevant to the context. The findings suggest that the intention to purchase ethnically disparate products is influenced by multiple consumption values (social value, emotional value, epistemic value). Furthermore, attitude towards the ethnic culture, cultural value discrepancy, and diversity seeking are suggested to …

Exploring The Consequences Of Shopper-Facing Technologies: Their Effect On Shopper Experiences And Shopping Outcomes, Brian Ijams Spaid

Doctoral Dissertations

Just as technology has influenced nearly every facet of the modern consumer’s life, it is also significantly changing how those consumers shop and how it influences their purchase decisions. Understanding how technology impacts these shoppers within the retail environment is crucial for retail managers who are expected to deploy and manage these sources of continuous change.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the phenomenon of shoppers experiencing technology in the retail environment. Specifically, our primary goal is to understand how shopper-facing technologies impact shoppers’ experiences and behaviors and subsequently affect outcome variables that matter to retailers. To that …

State Space Modelling Of Dynamic Choice Behavior With Habit Persistence, Kang Bok Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present a new approach to capturing dependence across time in dynamic choice data. To achieve this, I develop a state space dynamic choice model and a novel algorithm to fit the data. Instead of capturing dependence in outcomes through lagged response variables, referred to as state dependence, I introduce a lagged utility term through the latent state equation. The lagged utility term captures habit persistence, which has not been explored directly in earlier models (Heckman, 1981b). The autoregressive nature of the lagged utility provides a significantly richer summary of prior utility than a lagged outcome variable. …

Interaction Privacy: A Study Of Threats And Consequences, Carol Lee Esmark

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the dissertation is to explore interaction privacy, a person’s ability to control the amount of access others have to the self during relational encounters in attempts to achieve ideal levels. According to marketing research, a positive shopping experience is becoming all the more important (Achrol & Kotler, 2012; Deighton et al., 2012), which could be enhanced with adequate levels of shopper privacy. Using reactance theory (Brehm 1966) as guidance, the model examines privacy encroachments through visual and physical dimensions which lead to threats that cause an individual to realize control has been lost and …

The Role Of Sense Of Community In Online Brand Social Networking Sites, Je Won Lyu

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed to explore the phenomenon of social commerce marketing in relation to consumer-brand relationship development. The specific research objective were as follows: (a) to identify multiple factors motivating consumers to have sense of community in the context of brand social networking sites; (b) to investigate the effects of general connection between consumers and the brand on developing a sense of online brand community in social networking site-based brand communities; (c) to examine potential outcomes of having a sense of online brand community in brand social networking sites such as brand commitment, advocacy, and loyalty; (d) to investigate …

Shopper Marketing And Social Networks: The Path To Integration, Hannah Joy Stolze

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the phenomenon of cross-functional integration of frontline employees supporting complex marketing initiatives. This dissertation contributes to research and managers through the exploration of how integration takes place, how knowledge is integrated across functions through social ties between people, and to begin to inspect its effects on the performance of marketing strategies. Integration captures the state of collaboration and coordination between individuals within and between a firm’s functions. To date, cross-functional integration has been conceptually developed, but not empirically evaluated.

An extensive, multi-disciplinary literature review provides the foundation for understanding integration within the …

Investigating Supplier Accommodation Of Customers: A Mixed-Method Approach, Monique Lynn Murfield

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate and begin to formulate an understanding of supplier accommodation of customers from the supplier’s perspective, its impact on supplier relational performance outcomes, and the associated impact on buyer’s perceptions and evaluation of the relationship. Supplier accommodation of customers (SAC) is defined as the supplier’s efforts to make special adjustments in response to a specific customer’s changing needs and unforeseen changes, and is conceptualized as consisting of elements of supplier flexibility and supplier adaptation. Extant research has focused on the buyer’s perspective of SAC, with little regard for the supplier’s perspective of relational …

Shopper Value: A Framework And Examination Of The Impact Of Importance, Shopping Context And Shopping Social Situation, Robert Paul Jones

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is exploratory, examining a little studied part of retail, the shopper. Shoppers are defined as: actively engaged in the pursuit of a target purchase driven by a specific need requiring a solution. The objectives of this research are to clarify the differences between consumers and shoppers, justifying the need for further study. This research also seeks to develop a values based framework of shopper behavior in order to facilitate future research. An extensive review of the literature provides a foundation for the differences between shoppers and consumers. The theory of reasoned action provides the foundation for the shopper …

The Role Of Social Network Websites In Consumer-Brand Relationship, Hyejune Park

Doctoral Dissertations

This research explored the phenomenon of online social network in the context of consumer-brand relationship. The specific research objectives were: (a) to examine whether perceived benefits of a Brand’s Social Network Website (BSN) predict BSN relationship quality; (b) to investigate whether perceived benefits of BSN predict perceived relationship investment; (c) to examine if online social connection strengthens the relationship between perceived benefits of BSN and BSN relationship quality; (d) to examine if experience with BSN strengthens the relationship between perceived benefits of BSN and BSN relationship quality; (e) to investigate whether BSN relationship quality predicts brand relationship quality; (f) to …

Locally Produced Food Purchasing Through Retail Grocery Channels: An Evaluation Of Relevant Customer And Store Environment Attributes, Jeffrey Michael Campbell

Doctoral Dissertations

The study examines the phenomenon of purchasing locally produced foods in retail grocery stores. Theoretical foundations from the theory of planned behavior and from the stimulus-organism-response framework were used to support and test a model that hypothesized relationships between attitude, subjective norms, perceived consumer effectiveness, perceived product availability, intention to purchase, store atmospheric responsiveness, price consciousness, and extent of purchase behavior in a retail grocery setting.

An online survey methodology was used to collect 600 responses across the United States. A two-step approach to structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships. Confirmatory factor analysis with measurement model development …

The Role Of Financial Services Advertising On Investors' Decision-Making, Tae Jun Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study assesses the effect of financial services advertising on investors’ decision-making by adopting a two-sided approach: a stimulus-side analysis to document the nature and prevalence of advertising strategies and advertising disclosures being used and a response-side investigation to examine the investors’ processing of and receptiveness to financial services advertising. By performing a content analysis of recently published financial services magazine advertisements, this study provides a contemporary look at whether and how financial services companies inform, persuade, and communicate with average investors. Results from this content analysis method is also used as a foundation to help design realistic test …

Exploring And Explaining Consumer Competition: A Mixed-Methods Approach To Understanding The Phenomenon, Bridget M Satinover Nichols

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the phenomenon of “consumer competition.” The overarching objective is to help researchers and marketing practitioners understand how the phenomenon is created, how consumers experience competition, and to begin to inspect its effects. Consumer competition is defined as the active processes of striving against others for the acquisition of a consumption object. To date, this phenomenon has been under-researched, despite its prevalence in many marketing and consumer-related domains.

An extensive literature synthesis provides the foundation for understanding competition and competitiveness in general from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Based on the synthesis of literature and …

Shopping While Black: Perceptions Of Discrimination In Retail Settings, Edith F. Davidson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation research was to understand perceptions of discrimination as experienced by African American women in retail settings. Because the emphasis here was on understanding the phenomenon from the target’s perspective, an existential phenomenological approach was used. Existential phenomenology “seeks to explicate the essence, structure or form of both human experience and human behavior as revealed through essentially descriptive techniques including disciplined reflection” (Valle, King and Halling 1989, pg. 6). In-depth interviews were conducted with African American women who believed they’d received negative treatment because of their race in a retail setting. The analysis provided a rich …