Business Commons^™

Pandemic, Perceived Risk, And Cognitive Dissonance As Antecedents To Need For Cognitive Closure, Ruchika Sachdeva

WCBT Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of the pandemic, perceived risk, and cognitive dissonance on the need for cognitive closure. A consumer today wants an aversion towards the ambiguity that is created due to this pandemic. The data is collected using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk panel. All of the filled questionnaires are analyzed using stepwise regression. The findings suggest that perceived risk, pandemic, and cognitive dissonance influence the need for cognitive closure, and perceived risk is the major predictor of cognitive closure. These results enrich our understandings with regards to the importance of designing the marketing strategies …

The Introduction Of Virtual Reality To Education: Should The Marketing Discipline Engage?, Enda Mcgovern

WCBT Faculty Publications

This position paper explores whether faculty should embrace the use of virtual reality as a medium of academic engagement with the future intake of digital native students. In recent years there has been a tremendous surge in the use of digital device platforms to extend the reach of education to the wider student populations. As a result, the positive engagement by students of multimedia objects, including video, sound clips and data in a more integrated, multi-sensory digital medium has gained significant traction in the learning environment. Students are moving faster into this digital space and it is not long before …

Because It Makes Me Feel Good: Moderation And Mediation Effects In Cause-Related Marketing, Reto Felix, Arash H. Zadeh, Arne Baruca

WCBT Faculty Publications

Based on a 2x2 factorial design, advertisements for a consumer product generated higher purchase intentions when a cause-related marketing (CRM) message was present than when no such message was included in the ad. This effect was statistically significant, regardless of the type of the product (luxury versus non-luxury). However, for the specific cause used in this study (fight against breast cancer), gender moderated the relationship between the presence/absence of a cause in the ad and purchase intentions. Further, in order to shed more light on the underlying process of cause related marketing messages, two alternative mediation hypotheses were tested using …

Framebuilder Entrepreneurship, Joshua Shuart

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The handmade bicycle industry has grown exponentially over the past decade. Although existing for decades in much smaller numbers, the popularity and credibility of framebuilder entrepreneurship —custom, handmade bike frames—has increased significantly in the past 10 years. The companies that specialize in custom-producing bicycle frames vary in size, scope, reputation, profitability, and even building materials.

Advertising Higher Education In Romania, Anca C. Micu, Madalina Moraru

WCBT Faculty Publications

Romania, a former communist country in Eastern Europe, saw the iron curtain lifted in 1989, and started at that time the transition to a free market economy. The past couple of decades encompass extraordinary changes in the economic structure and environment, with state monopolies being dissolved and private companies entering the market and competing in western manner. The Romanian conversion from central planning to a market-oriented economy provides a fascinating laboratory for research in economic theory and practice (Hefner and Woodward 1999). With the advent of a free market economy and a competitive environment, advertising exited its dormant communist stage …

Is Neuromarketing Ethical? Consumers Say Yes. Consumers Say No, Jason Flores, Arne Baruca, Robert Saldivar

WCBT Faculty Publications

Advancements in the development of neuroscience have created the capacity for neuroscientific methods to be applied to marketing science and ultimately marketing practice. As a relatively nascent subfield in marketing, neuromarketing applies neuroscientific methods to study consumer reactions to specific marketing related stimuli. This study analyzes the use of neuromarketing by for-profit and non-profit organizations from an ethical perspective based on consumers’ point of view. The implications of consumers’ ethical judgments are also explored.

The empirical evidence indicates that consumers perceive the use of neuromarketing-based marketing tactics by for-profit organizations to be unethical, yet the same tactics are considered ethical …

What Products Can Benefit From African American Advertising Appeals? The Moderating Role Of Product Involvement, Ivonne M. Torres, Cuauhtémoc Luna-Nevarez

WCBT Faculty Publications

With a significant spending power, the African American segment is one of the most lucrative, interesting, and complex targets for national and local advertisers. As this consumer segment continues to grow in importance, marketers need to focus on what types of products could benefit from African American-targeted advertising. Our research studies show African Americans respond to advertising targeted to them and their responses are moderated by ethnic identification and product involvement. Consistent with both theoretical frameworks, distinctiveness theory and ethnic identification theory, we found that identified African Americans prefer African American models especially when advertising low-involvement products.

The Shape Of Marketing Research In 2021, Anca C. Micu, Kim Dedeker, Ian Lewis, Robert Moran, Oded Netzer, Joseph T. Plummer, Joel Rubinson

WCBT Faculty Publications

From an organizational strategy perspective, attributing changes to sweeping environmental triggers or long-term strategic planning means taking either an ecological or strategic viewpoint. The ecological-versus-strategic debate centers on the issue of environmental determinism versus strategic choice. Marketing research, as an industry, is faced with having to adapt to environmental changes (mostly technology-driven) with autonomous processes that vary from one company to another. Marketing research paves the way to customer relationship building, through which the marketing function introduces the customer to the firm. There is an increasing body of both academic and trade literature that addresses the strategic role of marketing …

Privacy Concern And Online Personalization: The Moderating Effects Of Information Control And Compensation, David G. Taylor, Donna F. Davis, Ravi Jillapalli

WCBT Faculty Publications

Firms have at their disposal an increasing amount of personal information about consumers gathered through various means. Studies find that personalizing online interactions improves customer relationships and increases desirable behaviors, such as positive word-of-mouth and increased purchase intent. However, other research suggests that the use of personal information stimulates privacy concern, which has a negative effect on behavior. This study examines potential moderators of the negative effects of privacy concern on behavioral intentions in the context of personalized online interactions. Results show that increasing perceived information control reduces the negative effect of privacy concern on behavioral intentions. In contrast, the …

The Green Entrepreneur: How Important Are They To The Growth Of The Eu, Enda Mcgovern

WCBT Faculty Publications

This paper looks at the role of the entrepreneur in the European Union which has now expanded to include 25 nation states with a population of $450 million citizens. How important is the evolution of the Green Entrepreneur to the EU as they make every effort to promote the concept of Entrepreneurship across the various markets. The evidence would suggest that the emphasis by the EU is primarily focused on the development of the entrepreneurial mindset and skills rather than any specific effort to develop the Green or Responsible entrepreneur of the future. A number of green entrepreneurial companies from …

The Professional Bull Riders Tour: Growth And Development Of A Niche Sport, Peter A. Maresco, Joshua Shuart

WCBT Faculty Publications

The Professional Bull Riders Tour (PBR) presents an opportunity to study a niche sport in transition. After its days as simply a part of the rodeo, the tour has seen tremendous growth as a separate, independent activity. This paper highlights the beginnings of the PBR and its eventual development into one of the highest earning and most watched non-prime-time spectator sports. It also focuses on the development of the marketing behind the PBR and includes an analysis of sponsors and ancillary marketing activities.

How Unilever Hpc-Na Sold Its Employees On The Balanced Scorecard, Bridget Lyons, Andra Gumbus

WCBT Faculty Publications

Unilever Home & Personal Care-North America (HPC-NA) not only takes marketing its products very seriously, but it heavily promotes its balanced scorecard to employees as well. No wonder Unilever HPC-NA successfully designed a unique strategy to communicate awareness of the BSC while encouraging its participation and use. Their experiences should prove valuable to other organizations implementing a balanced scorecard and to those just beginning to formulate a communications approach to internal stakeholders about its role, significance, and use. The Unilever HPC-NA marketing campaign provides an effective strategy that other firms may consider when marketing a balanced scorecard internally. The HPC-NA …

Juliska: Filling A Niche With Imports, Laurence Weinstein, David Gooding

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

David and Capucine Gooding are completing their third year in business, directing the growing activities of their import business located in Stamford, Connecticut. Their niche is marketing handblown glass which is historically accurate and inspired by such disparate designs as 14th-century French, 16th-century Dutch, and 19th-century Venetian glassware. We interviewed David on a “quiet” day when the phones didn’t seem to be ringing constantly.

Supplier Selection And Development: The Relationship Between Small Manufacturing Enterprises And Mass Merchandisers, Stephen C. Jones, Tami L. Knotts, Gerald G. Udell

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This study examines the results of a program intended to act as a selection tool for mass merchandisers and a development tool for small manufacturers. The evaluation program assessed the management practices and products of potential suppliers. Based on past experience, buyers for mass merchandisers consider small manufacturing enterprises a poor risk as potential suppliers of retail goods. As part of the evaluation process, firms were asked 34 closed-end questions regarding their management practices, and each product was evaluated on 41 specific qualities necessary for the mass merchandising market. Of the 1,690 firms that participated in this project, about 5 …

Marketing Orientation In Smes: Effects Of The Internal Environment, Richard C. Becherer, Diane Halstead, Paula J. Haynes

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Marketing orientation refers to a culture in which organizations strive to create superior value for their customers (and superior performance for the business) by focusing on customer needs and long-term profitability. Some studies have found that firms with a high degree of marketing orientation experience improved performance; others have found mixed or nonsignificant results. The marketing orientation of small businesses has not been thoroughly investigated, however. This study of more than 200 small business CEOs examines the marketing orientation levels of small to medium-sized firms (SMEs) as well as the impact of various internal variables (sales/profit performance, company characteristics, and …