Business Commons^™

An Examination Of Consumer Perceptions Of Sponsorship Authenticity Between A Major Beer Brand And Professional Women’S And Men’S Hockey Leagues, Matthew Reid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol sponsorship of women’s professional hockey in North America began in 2019, yet men’s professional hockey has received financial support from alcohol brands for decades. The purpose of this thesis was to examine consumer perceptions of sponsorship authenticity as they relate to beer sponsorship of professional men’s and women’s hockey leagues. Moreover, this study examined the differences of gender on perceptions of authenticity towards the two alcohol and sport sponsorships, as well as two correlations: first, between alcohol consumption and sponsorship authenticity, and second, between attitudes towards alcohol sponsorship and sponsorship authenticity. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was utilized, and its …

Coming To Your Senses: Exploring The Role Of Touch In Physical And Digitally Immersive Consumption Experiences, Joy Shields

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two empirical papers in which I examine the Need for Touch (NFT)in two settings where the ability to touch is disrupted, exploring the role of touch and other senses in physical and metaverse consumption experiences. In the first paper, I investigate the pandemic's influence on consumer shopping behaviors, focusing on the coping mechanisms for reduced tactile interactions. The research uses an exploratory, inductive sequential design to chronicle shopping experiences through longitudinal interviews and autodriving. The findings reveal two primary themes: Shopping as a Reprieve and Fear of Shopping. This research underscores the intricate connection between grieving …

Conspicuous Asceticism: Collapsing Consumers' Hungry Ghosts, Ash Zareian

Theses and Dissertations

The author investigates an emerging construct called conspicuous asceticism expositioned from a narcissism-centric view. The understanding of this construct is approached by drawing an idiomatic semantic parallel in opposition to conspicuous consumption and by utilizing its current theoretical framework of narcissism. Moreover, this paper seeks to extend conspicuous consumption’s theoretical framework as synonymous with the construct of compulsive consumption. Furthermore, I illustrate that consumers must transcend narcissism through engaging in treatment modalities requisite to operationalize a pioneering effort in which consumers can engage in marketing campaign efforts to advertise conspicuous ascetic contexts. This dissertation gleans from extant literature in sociology, …

Developing A Forward-Looking Strategy For The Music Industry, Matthew G. Paolucci

Honors Theses and Capstones

The music industry has had many changes throughout the past few decades, but nobody could be prepared for Covid-19's impact. Music artists have lost the ability to tour and play gigs due to the pandemic, leaving them without their primary stream of revenue. The purpose of this research is to develop forward-looking strategies for the music industry. Specifically, it seeks to answer these two research questions: What pain-points do music artists face in the industry as currently constructed, and what is the next mode of music consumption desired by consumers? Results from surveying music artists found that their major challenges …

New England’S Underutilized Seafood Species: Defining And Exploring Marketplace Potential In A Changing Climate, Amanda Davis

Masters Theses

New England’s seafood industry has been searching for opportunities to diversify their landings and build resilience as it faces socio-economic challenges from a changing climate. Developing markets for underutilized species is one way the New England community could help their seafood industry build resilience. This thesis identified New England’s underutilized fish species and explored their marketplace potential by examining their availability in a changing climate, current availability to consumers, and consumers’ responses. In Chapter I, I account how New England’s seafood preferences have changed over time. In Chapter II, I identify New England’s seven underutilized seafood species: 1) Acadian redfish …

‘How Has Art Refocused Consumers’ Attention Within A Visual World Through The Exploration Of Package Design?’, Frances Hackney

Honors Theses

The art of design has refocused the attention of consumers as they have entered into a visually demanding world. While this concept is complex and perplexing, stemming from endless influencing factors, the elements of design can be broken down into areas of focus to dissect the visual world of marketing. A simple way to communicate the influence of design on the consumers is to unveil the answers through the study of art.

In this thesis, the study will turn to the world of art to learn more about consumerism. The goal is to understand how visual images and the ongoing …

Brands Take A Stand For Good: The Effect Of Brand Activism On Social Media Engagement, Alexis A. Gray

Honors Theses and Capstones

Brands are entering an era where brand activism and corporate social responsibility strategies are holding a large influence on consumer purchase decision making, rather than the traditional brand product marketing. A major distribution outlet for the rising brand activism strategy is through social media, where users can directly interact with brands and other users surrounding major issues. Higher engagement with such activism campaigns suggests more consumer support for the brand, leading to higher sales performance potential. This study examines the influence of brand activism campaign qualities on social media engagement, specifically on the Twitter platform. Tweets for 8 different brands …

Social Influence On Consumers’ Online Review Behavior, Hengyun Li

Theses and Dissertations

Online reviews constitute an important source of word-of-mouth, which can affect consumers’ product choices as well as company sales and profitability. Therefore, understanding the factors underlying consumers’ online posting behavior is essential for business success and relevant knowledge development. This dissertation consists of three independent but closely related studies focusing on hotel and restaurant contexts. The objectives of this dissertation are to investigate how prior reviews and disconfirmation (i.e., the deviance between post-consumption evaluations and other consumers’ prior average review rating) may affect subsequent consumers’ online review-posting behavior in terms of their willingness to post online reviews, the review ratings …

The Cult Of Cultural Consumption In The United States: How Class Stratification Shapes The Social Realms Of Consumer Brand Perception, Nelligan Rose Boff

Honors Theses

An individual’s social position shapes taste culture as it pertains to fashion and branding. The purpose of this research is to develop more knowledge on who or what social factors are driving consumer’s perception of the brands they want, or don’t want to buy. The perspective of consumption seems to transcend self-interest alone and this thesis aims to analyze the extension of that transcendence. Brands are not merely relating to consumers through a relationship of functional need, but also interfere and are driven by social relationships between consumers. There is evidence that suggest that consumers might interact with brands that …

Relationship Marketing In Fast Moving Consumer Goods Markets: The Consumers' Perspective, Rose Leahy

Theses

Relationship marketing has been dominant in marketing literature since the 1990s. Despite this, however, the relationship marketing concept has not yet acquired uncontested meaning and application, and consequently its core philosophy remains ambiguous. In particular, there is a lack of relationship theory building and testing in mass consumer markets. It is within this context that this thesis is positioned. Adopting the relationship marketing and social psychology literatures as a framework, this study explores relationship marketing in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) markets from the consumers' perspective. Taking an interpretivist inductive approach, the study focuses on the applicability of relationship marketing …

Reconceptualizing Markets: Hip- Hop Artists, Marketing, Distribution, And Consumers, Ronald Pikes

Theses and Dissertations

Sociologists have made many contributions to the current understanding of markets. In spite of these contributions, individuals and market practices in sociology are generally overlooked, but both are important because individuals and their practices give markets their form. By overlooking market practices, sociologists disregard two of the most important forces within markets, distribution and marketing. These oversights significantly reduce our ability to understand how modern economic markets operate. Thus, the focus of this study is centered on market actions of independent hip-hop music artists and consumers of hip-hop music especially in regards to music distribution technology. Data was collected via …

An Eriksonian Approach To Consumer Identity, Sandra Rathod

Open Access Dissertations

Rathod, Sandra R. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2013. An Eriksonian Approach to Consumer Identity. Major Professor: Richard A. Feinberg.

Ego development is the fifth stage in Erikson's Lifecycle Development theory (1959) and is a major psychosocial stage beginning in adolescence and lasting into emerging adulthood. Past research based upon Marcia's Ego Identity Status Paradigm (1996) has investigated a number of ideological and interpersonal domains relevant to one's ego identity, however in today's consumer societies, where what you have is at least as important is who you are or what you do, an Eriksonian approach to consumer ego identity (CEI) has …

The Impact Of Availability Of Vegetarian Menu Items On Consumers' Behavioral Intention, Mengwei Yue

Open Access Theses

Yue, Mengwei. M.S., Purdue University, December, 2013. The Impact of Availability of Vegetarian Menu Items on Consumers' Behavioral Intention. Major Professor: Douglas C. Nelson.

The purpose of this study is to find out how the availability of vegetarian menu items affects customers' behavioral intention using the theory of planned behavior and the impact vegetarian-friendly menus have on vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian customers when they make their restaurant selections. This paper also discussed the implications for a vegetarian lifestyle on the food service industry and menu development in restaurants. Seven hypotheses related to the relationship among attitudes, subjective norms, perceived …

Generation Y And Sustainability, Shelby L. Talbott

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Intercultural Accommodation Of Ethnic Minority Consumers: An Empirical Examination Of The Moderating Effects In Service Encounters, Sarah Mady

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The current study proposed a model of intercultural accommodation and nine emergent hypotheses grounded in three theories: Accommodation Theory, Distinctiveness Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The study expected that the offering of a service in the minority consumer's language and by an ethnically-similar service provider will lead to favorable service quality perceptions, in the absence of any intervening variables. Ethnic minority consumers were also expected to differ in their perceptions of service quality when intercultural accommodation efforts were or were not offered given a number of intervening variables. The proposed model and the nine hypotheses were assessed via a …

Consumer’S Preferences On Purchasing Seafood From The Gulf Coast Region Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Jared Wheatley

Agribusiness

No abstract provided.

Essays On Consumer Charity, Joseph Thomas Paniculangara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two essays comprise this doctoral dissertation on consumers and their charitable donations. The overall objective is to investigate the role of psychological distance in charitable donations, with each essay dealing with a different moderator of this relationship. In the first essay, I study the interactive effect of social distance and processing mode (affect vs. cognition). Specifically, people tend to donate more if they use their emotions rather than cognition as diagnostic inputs for decision making, especially when donor and recipient are separated by greater social distance. This may be because affect-driven and cognition-driven donors are influenced by different goals. Affect-driven …

Consumers And Benefits Of Genetically Modified Vegetables, Megan Carter Judge

Master's Theses

With the adoption of biotechnology in many agricultural products with first-generation biotechnology traits such as increased pest resistance, greater herbicide resistance, and increased yields the growers have accepted them. The next wave of biotech crops have second-generation traits, such as improved nutrient content, extended shelf life, reduced pesticide and herbicide application (a consumer demanded trait), and better taste. Will these consumer benefits offset any concern that the consumer has regarding biotechnology? What are those benefits and how should the information be communicated to the consumer?

Three focus groups give insight to the proposed questions. The focus groups were done in …

Empowerment-Based Advocacy Conducted By Not-For-Profit Organizations, Margery C. Saunders

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explores the advocacy patterns of over 200 nonprofit human service providers active in both anti-violence and anti-poverty service arenas. A mailed survey to organizations associated with three statewide advocacy organizations in New York State examined the organizational factors associated with three advocacy activities: case advocacy, public policy education, and legislative issue advocacy. Using empowerment theory, predictors that captured the degree of ethnic diversity of an organization's staff and board, and whether or not consumers served on the staff or board, and whether having social workers as advocates were examined along with other control variables to explain the conditions …

Housing Price Determinants In The Lynchburg, Virginia Area, Benjamin L. Ferguson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The effect of certain variables on the price of a house is a subject that has been very widely studied. This paper attempts to generate a pricing model for houses in the Lynchburg VA, area using the physical characteristics of a home and other locational variables. The model will attempt to create a representation of the housing price equation for the market in the area. The results of the equation will allow the ability to predict future housing prices in the market, given certain physical and locational values that are similar for the area. 3

The Impact Of Cultural And Religious Values On Television And Newspaper Advertising Content And Appeal: A Cross-Cultural Study Of The United States And The Arab World, Morris A. Kalliny

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Standardization versus adaptation of advertising has been a subject of great controversy that has been debated for more than 50 years. Scholars have pointed out the increasing demand for more cross-cultural research on advertising content that can contribute to the standardization versus adaptation debate. Scholars have also pointed out that although the Arab world offers great opportunities for multinational corporations, the Arab world has been severely neglected in academic research. To comply with this demand, this study investigates the similarities and differences of the manifestation of cultural and religious values in the U.S. and the Arab world (Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, …

Bilingual Consumer Memory In The Advergaming Context: A Cross-Script Comparison, Monica D. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Written language is the core of culture and central to marketing communications. The differences in language processing exhibited by Eastern/Western bilingual consumers are of great concern for global and multinational companies wishing to effectively promote their products through the Internet. Advergaming is a promotional method consisting of the delivery of advertising messages through electronic games. Despite recent scholarly interest, no previous research has compared brand memory across groups of bilinguals of different writing systems or scripts in the advergaming context.

The dissertation investigated differences in brand memory of bilinguals of languages based on different scripts. Specifically, a logographic-based language (Chinese), …

Disintermediation In The United States Air Travel Industry Who Hold The Power Of Booking Strength, Preenida Gajaseni

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation of U.S. domestic air travelers and patterns of air travel purchase within the U.S. air travel industry. Influences on the patterns of air travel purchase involved 1) demographic characteristics of travelers 2) benefits to the customer 3) customer attitude toward service providers' (defined as airlines, web-based travel agents, and traditional travel agents and 4) information sources used to select and book a flight for business and leisure trips.

Effectively Educating Consumers And Promoting Good Corporate Image Through Financial Literacy Partnerships, Sharon L. Nieuwenhuis

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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First-Mover Advantage: A Cross-National Comparison Of Mature And Emerging Market Consumers' Attitudes Toward Pioneer And Follower Brands, Tarek T. Mady

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

A number of scholars suggest that the ability to accrue any competitive advantage stemming from time of entry is a function of the type of market being entered (e.g., Lieberman and Montgomery 1988; Kerin et al. 1992; Szymanski et al. 1995; VanderWerf and Mahon 1997). This dissertation extended the current behaviorally-based research domain of the field vis-a-vie a survey-based comparative study of mature market (U.S.) and emerging market (Indian) consumers' attitudes toward pioneer and follower brands. Two fundamental questions were asked: (1) Are there significant attitudinal differences between mature market and emerging market consumers based on order of …

Determinants Of Consumer Behavior In An E-Commerce Environment, Xiang Xue

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Online specialty food and beverage marketing has developed rapidly in the last decade. With the obvious increase in the sales income, researchers showed more and more interests in this promising market. Previous studies in this field primarily focused on the demographic profiling of the online specialty food consumers as well as initial analysis in the factors that motivate their purchase behavior. However, it is far from fully explaining consumer's online shopping activities. In order to solve these problems, new methods should be attempted to determine the factors influencing consumer's online buying behavior. A cluster analysis was developed to identify what …

The Effects Of Ethnicity, Ethnic Salience And Ethnic Identification On Consumers' Sources Of Information And Purchase Behavior, Patricia Wooten Humphrey

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any significant differences in the search and purchase behavior between white and black consumers due to ethnicity, ethnic identification, ethnic salience and ethnic situation.

The sample was chosen from two universities, one predominately white, the other predominately black. Of the 360 questionnaires administered, 345 were usable. The sample was representative of the student population of each university with respect to age, gender, and ethnicity. Statistical techniques used were ANOVAs, t-tests and paired comparisons.

The findings indicate that ethnicity plays an important role in an individual's sources of information used …

The Impact Of The Visual Advertising On Today's Consumer, Gissel M. Pimentel

Theses

Advertising has grown and developed new ideas throughout the years. Since its beginning . advertising has experienced many changes trying to exert influence on potential consumers and to remain in their minds in a positive way.

This culminating project is about the influence of the visual elements used in advertising on consumer perception . Advertising ' s purpose is to sell . A good ad should cause a good impression in the consumer and lead him or her to purchase the product or service advertised .

The main idea that will be developed and demonstrated in this culminating project is …

A Comparative Study Of The Truth In Lending Act, Robert R. Riggins

Honors Theses

Less than two generations ago America discovered mass production. Scarcely one generation ago America discovered mass distribution. In the present generation America is discovering mass finance. But since this adage was written, some forty years ago, America has rapidly progressed out of the discovery stage--it is not well into the application stage.

While many people may regard consumer credit as a relatively new concept, such is not the case. It probably began in the United States early in the nineteenth century (a few years after it was initiated in England), but it has only in recent years acquired such a …

The National Retail Credit Association: An Experiment In Cooperation For Retail Credit Control, Barbara Tharpe

Honors Theses

With the use of consumer credit becoming more and more widespread, there has been a growing feeling that its use should be controlled. This is an examination of the fundamental developments in the history of the National Retail Credit Association, the leading association of retail credit men, giving special consideration to the idea of credit control. The credit abuses before any form of cooperation or control evolved are presented in the first chapter. Then, the part that the NRCA played in bringing about the cooperation of retail credit men is treated . The NRCA was the first to suggest voluntary …