Business Commons^™

The Promise Of Artificial Intelligence And Potential Impact On The Sales Function, Richard E. Plank, Pamela M. Peterson

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

After a great deal of press and promise, artificial intelligence is beginning to make inroads in the sales function. In this paper, we follow on United Kingdom-based company called CloudApps and the firm's development of an artificial intelligence solution to address the issues inherent in the management of the sales pipeline. We then outline some of the other potential applications using artificial intelligence within an organizations' sales function.

Techy, Classy, And Social: Electric Vehicles And Brand Communication On Twitter, Marilena Olguta (Olga) Vilceanu, Kailey Bertelson, Rhianna Davis

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

This study explored brand communication and audience engagement metrics for automakers selling electrified vehicle models in the U.S. The dataset included all Twitter communication from 27 major brand accounts during a one-year period (July 2018 through June 2019). Data analysis focused on communication volume, explicit saturation, and discourse clustering around key themes and variables. The study found abysmal amounts of EV-category explicit terminology for all brands, particularly so for U.S. accounts. Audience engagement was stronger for brands that pulled EVs into the lifestyle of their targets, than for brands pushing normative messages about environmental concerns.

The Firm-Perceived Contingencies To Political Strategy, Jessica Zeiss, Les Carlson

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Because assumptions that firm decisions to manage external politics revolve around traditional resources and capabilities (e.g., capital, technology) impede environmental management theories, this research explores additional antecedents, i.e., perceived uncertainty, firm political infrastructure. Study One qualitative data support ideas related to management as a matter of a firm’s perceptually constructed environment among deterministic firms. Study Two quantitative data find a strategic choice firm orientation is developed through management structures (e.g., specialized staff, routines), despite post-hoc analyses confirming both firm types operate in similar environments. Combined, these studies disconfirm traditional resources as a driver of firm political activity. Moreover, Study Two …

Empirical Evidence Of The Marketing And Corporate Political Activity Interface In Firm Strategy, Jessica Zeiss

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

This qualitative research seeks to shed light on the manner in which marketing and corporate political activity (CPA) interface through senior-level managers acting as key informants. Relying on transcendental phenomenology (n = 41) and grounded theory (n = 402) methods, respectively, Study One uncovers a set of activities difficult to distinguish as either marketing or politics, i.e., legitimacy branding, with Study Two invalidated legitimacy branding as a traditional political strategy. Legitimacy branding’s key characteristics –1) branded reputations, 2) nonmarket targets, 3) for proactive control – position it as marketing-based CPA. While such strategy is generally consistent with previous findings, they …

It Takes An (Online) Village: Adoptive Parent Identity Construction Through Blogging, Elise Johansen Harvey

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

There are over 1.5 million adopted children in the U.S. Extant literature primarily examines these adopted children, not their parents, in terms of identity, coping skills, stigma, and more. We know little about how adoptive parents establish their identity as parents without going through the visual and biological transition as women who give birth do. There is a need for research on the intersection of marketplace resources and communication in the formation and confirmation of parental and family identity. We draw on consumer culture theory, which illustrates how consumer coproduce their identity, or sense of self, through market-based materials. In …

Body Language And Sales, Lindsay Larson, Adam Puckett, Timothy C. Heinze

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Utilizing professional sales competition videos taken from a university Sales program, the current study investigates the link between nonverbal gestures made by salespeople and performance scores given by professional sales recruiters watching their role plays. The results of this study may suggest a relationship between gesture use and perceptions of sales ability.

Is It All In Your Head? How Your Beliefs About Money Influence Your Financial Behavior, Patricia T. Gouveia

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Is It All in Your Head? How Your Beliefs About Money Influence Your Financial Behavior

Patricia T. Gouveia

Florida International University

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that many consumers struggle with financial decision making. According to the Federal Reserve (2018), Americans accumulated a staggering $1.027 trillion in revolving credit in 2017 and one-quarter of the non-retired population reported having no retirement savings or pensions. This data underscores the importance of academic research that sheds light on the factors that might impact consumer financial behavior, such as savings, investing and budgeting. To fulfill this goal, the present research examines how expectations of social …

The Proof Is In The Power: Social Community Integration In Electronic Health Records For Elevated Patient Empowerment, Amanda Ledet

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

With national health expenditures currently comprising nearly one fifth of the U.S. economy, recent regulations aimed at lowering costs attempt to incentivize physicians to help promote patient empowerment by encouraging increased engagement in their Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) platform (i.e. online health portal). Patient portals are an area of emerging technology in which the need to improve value to the patient is present. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently discussed their intentions to improve the patient experience and, therefore, help patients feel more empowered. It is assumed that those who are empowered are associated with cost-effective …

Empirical Study: Use Of Online Or Traditional Job Search: Which Do Graduating Sales Students Prefer When Searching For First Post-Graduation Careers, Linda Mullen Phd, Randy S. Stuart, Michael L. Thomas

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

No abstract provided.

Preparing Performance Reports For Upper Management: A Skills Building Project For Sales Management Students, Joseph D. Chapman, Russell G. Wahlers

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

This paper presents an in-depth assignment used in sales management courses to help students develop the skills needed to prepare a formal performance report for upper management. Students are divided into district management teams and are required to prepare a company performance report for four years of their company’s performance. The author provides the detailed guidelines which are given to the students to aid them in the development of the performance report. Example tables for the report, the grading process, and other information for the project are also included.

The Future Of Electronics Consumption And The Role Of The Sustainable Consumer, Jennifer D. Henderson

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

The Future of Electronics Consumption and the Role of the Sustainable Consumer

Jennifer D. Henderson

University of South Alabama

ABSTRACT

A recent area of ethical, environmental, and social responsibility concern is in regard to smartphones and related electronic devices. Specifically, these products have been linked to generating large quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) and are increasingly produced under questionable working conditions. These social and environmental impacts can potentially be mitigated through the adoption of sustainably produced devices. However, although we are years into the modern sustainability movement, there still exists an attitude-behaviors gap where many consumers report that they are …

Yours, Mine, Or Ours? Exploring The Role Of Cultural Values In Sharing Economy Services, Lacey K. Wallace, Joanne T. Cao

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

The sharing economy offers consumers an alternative to ownership by exchanging value through technology-based services. As the growth of sharing economy practices continue to emerge, business scholars have only recently begun to study how cultural differences impact the sharing economy. Specifically, few studies have examined individual cultural values. Therefore, this study explores whether differences in cultural values, using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, account for consumers’ attitudes and participation in sharing economy services (SES). Two studies employing a mix-method approach will be conducted to gain a thorough understanding of the sharing economy from both the consumers’ and the peer providers’ perspective. This …

Up Rooting: Sports Marketing Analytics And Attendance In Major League Baseball, Adam Merkle, Catherine Hessick, Britton Leggett, Kenneth O'Connor, Larry Goehrig

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Spurred by a continuous decline in Major League Baseball (MLB) ticket sales and attendance, this study examines external and internal factors affecting team financial performance. Using only secondary data, constructs for external factors (i.e. population, facility age, etc.), team offensive performance (i.e. at-bats, home runs, etc.), attendance, and revenue-based financial metrics were analyzed with PLS-SEM. The findings reveal external factors positively affect both attendance and team financials, but the relationship between a team’s offensive performance and team financials is fully mediated by attendance. The findings imply future sales growth may need to come from marketing strategies and promotional efforts beyond …

Is There A Roi For Being Ethical? The Impact Of Consumer Perceived Ethicality On Brand Equity, Arwen L. Matos-Wood

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Companies are increasingly focused on their environment and their impact on various stakeholders due to competitive and societal pressures. As their responsibilities expand, there is a risk to their reputation as well as their long term growth and profitability. As these pressures to be good stewards increase, companies are looking to better understand the impact on key metrics and key stakeholders. The purpose of this proposal is to study the effect of consumer perceived ethicality of a brand on brand equity at a corporate brand level.

The Impact Of Culture On Multinational Business Expansion: A Case Study Evaluating Merchandising In Asian 7-Eleven Franchises, Matthew H. Yang, Gallayanee Yaoyungyong

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

While advances in technology (e.g., smart devices, mobile apps) and the growth of digital media (e.g., social media) have created new opportunities and enabled many businesses to successfully invest and expand globally, multinational corporations can still fail to thrive in another country due to misunderstanding local cultures, values, and expectations. To explore this issue, this case study investigates the impact culture has on a multinational corporation and investigates how the product lines change based on the location of the business. This case study focuses on 7-Eleven due to the vigorous growth of the company in Asia- China, Hong Kong, Japan, …

A Preliminary Examination Of Sponsorship Motivations And Leveraging In Motor Sports, Carol L. Bruneau

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Sports sponsorships have become an increasingly large investment for many organizations. IEG (2018) has forecast that in 2018, total global sponsorship spending would be approximately $65.8 billion, with US sponsors contributing $24.28 billion. Close to 70%, or almost $46 billion, of total sponsorship spending will be directed towards the sponsoring of sports events, leagues, teams and individual sports personalities. This paper is a exploratory examination of sponsorships in INDYCAR racing based on participant observation over nine years of viewing INDYCAR races live and on television. Four specific sponsorship examples will be discussed to highlight sponsors’ motivations for sponsorship and how …

Blockchain And The Transformation Of Branding, Sunil Erevelles, Brian Whelan, Padma Bulusu

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Blockchain and the Transformation of Branding

Sunil Erevelles

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Brian Whelan

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Padma Bulusu

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

ABSTRACT

Consumer trust in brands has reached critically low levels. While Big Data has allowed marketers to gain a rich and precise understanding of their consumers (Erevelles, Fukawa and Swayne 2016), the careless and sometimes improper use of Big Data in behavioral futures markets has resulted in a decline of trust in brands of organizations that have violated consumer trust. Driven by a trust crisis in consumer relationships with institutions …

Consumer Data Privacy In Marketing Research: A Study Of Value-Based And Cognate-Based Approaches, Selcuk Ertekin

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

In this paper, we used Smith et al. (2011)’s classification of privacy definitions based on cognate-based and value-based approaches and reviewed the marketing literature for the past five years on consumer information privacy. We added an extra dimension to this classification by looking at whether the research has a regulatory emphasis or not. Our results indicate that there are plenty of research articles on cognate-based and non-regulatory underscoring research as well as value-based and regulatory emphasis articles. There is exigent need for more research on cognate-based, regulation focused and value-based, non-regulation focused accentuation.

Sensemaking And Big Data Science: Soft And Hard Marketing Skills Are Needed Today, Michael Latta

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

The story of how Big Data Science was enabled through the marriage of technology in the form of the young discipline of computer science and the mature discipline of statistics was told by Gil Press in his (2013) Forbes piece titled ‘A Very Short History Of Data Science.’ The name “Data Science” is now the discipline charged with utilizing Big Data. But making sense of data has a much longer history and has been debated by scientists, statisticians, librarians, computer scientists and others for years. More recently, the ideas surrounding the importance of ‘context’ have been integrated into the use …

Supporting Service Learning With An Interdisciplinary Csr Marketing Model, Ellen Raineri

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Since CSR is an interdisciplinary topic, a CSR service learning project, too, should be interdisciplinary. Accordingly, Marketing was selected to be combined with the CSR service learning project. Since careful planning and design are paramount for service learning projects, a model is shared that was implemented in three undergraduate hybrid CSR classes. Three deliverables are discussed: The first is a CSR Marketing Analysis Report to guide students in their evaluation of an organization’s marketing initiatives permitting students to then analyze what new/enhanced marketing initiatives were needed. The second is a CSR Marketing Action Plan to identify marketing initiatives to complete. …

Competing With The Sharing Economy: Understanding The Barriers Faced By “Traditional” Providers, Amiee Mellon, Jim Connell

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Consumer participation has made the sharing economy an economic wonder, creating valid competition for traditional service providers. Using the self-determination theory, we examine why both consumers and peer-providers engage in the sharing economy. Three areas of consumer-focused marketing where traditional providers can increase efforts to decrease erosion are app abilities; niche markets; and consumer-desired amenities. Two areas of employee-focused marketing where traditional providers can increase efforts to decrease erosion are flexible hours and environments and employee appreciation and rewards.

The Brand Axis: Strategic Impacts Of Loyalty And Engagement Within The Social Media Magnet Theory, Kyle A. Huggins, J. Elliott Cunningham

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

The Social Media Magnet is presented as a new pedagogy for organic, inbound marketing instruction. This methodology has now been deployed for the last four years across multiple universities combining a digital online delivery system with a new theory and a live online practicum to teach college students both strategic and tactical planning for inbound marketing campaigns. Using live website creation, social media planning tools, and email retention campaigns, students using this pedagogy learn the best practices for inbound marketing. This is not a simulation, but a live practicum that teaches students real-time inbound marketing principles. This paper recaps the …

A Foundational Investigation Of The Theory Of Brand Comfort, Kirk D. Aiken, Ajay Sukhdial, Matthew Meuter

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Two nationwide Internet studies investigated the novel concepts of comfort foods and comfort brands. After examining qualitative and quantitative measures, results showed that consumers were desirous of an important and expansive notion of brand comfort, defined here as: (1) the alleviation of physical and emotional stresses through brand consumption; combined with (2) the emergence of positive emotions of warmth, happiness, and love derived from brand associations often initiated by nostalgic memories of a romanticized past. Brand comfort stems from issues of physical comfort (i.e., how a certain brand fits, feels, smells, and tastes), combined with both cognitive components (driven …

Early-Career Professional Athletes, Social Media Marketing, And Sponsorship, Nichada Satasuk, Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

The sports marketing industry has changed in the new era of easy internet access and ubiquitous mobile devices. Sports marketers are beginning to use social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, to promote their brands and to connect with fans. In addition, legislative trends and announcements by the NFL and NCAA show that individual athletes, early in their professional careers (at the college level), will be able to profit from their names, images, and likenesses. While research into social media marketing by sports brands is existent and growing, most studies are concerned with the strategies and impacts …

When Opinion Leaders Endorse Products — What Marketers Take Advantage Of And Consumers Misconceive, Alexander Mueller, Marjorie Delbaere

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

This conceptual paper explores the influence of opinion leaders, the elements of credibility, and draws on endorsement literature to illustrate how opinion leaders are perceived as credible sources in the market. The paper proposes a new type of opinion leader — the celebrity expert endorser (CEE). The CEE is characterized by the typical opinion leader behaviour in the form of information dissemination and the inherent motivation to collect information to pass it on to opinion seekers. However, the CEE also cooperates with marketers, manufacturers, and corporations and engages in some form of endorsement. As a result, the CEE walks a …

The Effect Of Use Of Text Messaging On Soccer Fans’ Behavior (The Case Of Iranian Professional League-Persian Gulf League), Reza Mohammadkazemi Dr., Saeed Kardar Dr., Mahnaz Pouriz Ms.

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

The purpose of study is to identify the effect of mobile marketing on the Top Iranian Football Clubs fans’ behavior in 2019-2020 season. The statistical population are the spectators who had signed up in the fan online system and had watched one of games in the stadium. As an accurate number of the statistical population could not be determined, a statistical population of 396 was considered based on the Morgan’s table. In this study, the author collects data on the behavioral loyalty, attitudinal loyalty, and mobile marketing using survey. The cross-sectional regression estimation used to analyze the data. The findings …

Identification And Ranking Of The Marketing Mix Of Services In The Banking Industry, Using Dematel, Reza Mohammadkazemi Dr., Saeed Kardar Dr., Mahnaz Pouriz Ms.

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

In the current competitive market, identifying the major factors affecting the behavior of customers considered very important. Every organization needs to know, investing on which factor results in higher efficiency. Banks face a complex world of competition thus; they need to identify these factors. These factors differ from the factors in manufacturing industry. Therefore, banks need to understand their own marketing mix factors and identify the most important ones. As a result, in this research after a literature review, the factors identified and then by using DEMATEL, a ranking has done and the most important factor introduced. According to the …

Revisiting The Beneficiaries Of The Scotus Ruling Striking Down Paspa, Sam Fullerton, Ronald Dick, Michael Mccall

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

A Supreme Court ruling in 2018 essentially rendered restrictions on sports gambling to run counter to states’ rights, thus in conflict with the Constitution of the United States. As a consequence, 13 states and the District of Columbia now have legalized sports gambling. Initial research into the consequences of this ruling identified 12 potential beneficiaries. Subsequent research entailing an assessment of new literature and a survey of executive opinion involving a number of marketing executives who work within the field of sports marketing expanded the findings from the earlier study. This extension of the preliminary study found 14 beneficiaries rather …

Factors Impacting One’S Self-Classification Into One Of The Five Categories Of A Typology Delineating Green (And Not So Green) Consumers, Sam Fullerton, Tammy Mccullough, Estelle Van Tonder

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

A sample of 1,243 adult residents of the United States provided insight into an array of issues germane to sustainability. Upon completing a 65-question survey on sustainability, each respondent placed themselves in an eco-group that they felt best corresponded to their own behavior and attitudes towards the task of keeping the planet green for ourselves, and perhaps more importantly, for our posterity. The five groups ranged from the eco-destroyer to the eco-warrior. Within the survey, each respondent provided their opinions regarding seven multi-item scales that primarily addressed green issues; some scales addressed business behavior while others addressed issues such as …

The Big Era Of Podcasting: A Timely Examination Of Advertisements In Popular Podcasts, Kristine Johnson, Marilena O. Vilceanu, Erika P. Solis, Kailey C. Bertelson

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

No abstract provided.