Business Commons^™

"You Can Count On It!" Using County Auditors' Data For Marketing Research Group Projects, Julie M. Szendrey

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Marketing educators who teach research-based courses face several challenges in the designing and teaching of analytical-based group projects. The “ideal” research project contains all the elements of the research process as shown in Figure 1 (Neuman 2009, Zeis, Shah, Regassa, & Ahmadian 2001). Fewer pedagogical limitations would exist, such as a limited 16-week semester and time constraints relating to selecting a topic, survey development and distribution, institutional review board approvals, and of course data collection to name a few.

College Students Use Social Networking Sites For Sharing With Friends, But Guess Who Else Is Looking?, Liz Alexander, Fred Mader, Deanna Mader

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Jobvite, a recruiting platform for the social web, reports from their annual 2012 survey of recruiters that 92% of U.S. companies are using social networking sites (SNS) for hiring purposes (Jobvit, 2012). Career Builder reported in 2009 that 45% of employers were using SNS to screen and research applicants (CareerBuilder, 2009). It is important that faculty and support staff working to place students, and the students themselves, understand the developments and practices in the use of social networking sites for job search and recruiting and the best methods, as well as detriments when marketing themselves. This study examines corporate recruiters’, …

Municipal Tourism Promotion: Mid-Size Cities In The United States, Peggy O. Shields

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The competitive environment in the tourism industry requires municipalities interested in attracting tourists’ dollars to strategically manage city resources. Often public and private sector bodies cooperate and combine their efforts and resources to promote visitation to a city emphasizing the desire to maximize the limited resources of each available for tourism promotion. To succeed cities are challenged with finding an identity, or ‘personality’ that has a unique combination of functional and symbolic attributes to differentiate themselves from countless other destination options (Hankinson 2001). A city’s distinctiveness can be built on many different characteristics, such as cultural events and institutions, sporting …

A Sad Clown Story: Mcdonald's Lack Of Support For Ronald Mcdonald Houses, Cheryl Ward, Diane R. Edmondson

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) was created in 1974 to “provide housing for the families of sick children and for children receiving outpatient care” (“McDonald’s gives little,” 2013). RMHC currently has locations in more than 60 countries and regions around the world (“Ronald,” 2015). Each Ronald McDonald House establishes their own policies, budget, and fundraising goals; therefore, assets from each house are not co-mingled (Morran, 2013).

Considering RMHC is named after Ronald McDonald from the McDonald’s Corporation, one would expect that McDonald’s makes extensive financial contributions to RMHC; however, this is not the case. The company has recently come under …

Analyzing The Effect Of Advertising On Hospital Choice And Selection: Advancing A New Truth For Hospital Selection And Its Implication For Other Service Providers, Michael A. Petrochuk, Trish Berg

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Consumerism has long-been an important driver in other industries across the globe, as industries have embraced the importance of meeting customer and consumer expectations (Bennett and Mandell, 1969; Oliver, 1980; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Peyrot, Cooper, and Schnapf, 1993; Taylor and Cronin, 1994). Firms have attempted to understand consumer expectations prior to the delivery of service or product purchase.

Within the last ten years, this consumerism movement has infiltrated into the field of global health care (Herzlinger, 2002; Grazman, & Leifer, 2007). Tenets of the consumer-driven health care include increased demands for high performance, flawless quality, data analytics to support …

Exploring Motivations And Usage Patterns Of Social Media Users, Anita Whiting

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Social media is an important aspect of marketing today. According to Hanna et al (2011), social media is not an optional part of marketing strategy but a mandatory component for most companies today. Social media usage is rapidly growing. Facebook, the largest global social network, has over 1.19 billion users with an annual growth rate of eighteen percent (Aichner & Jacob 2015).

Perceived Risk Reduction In E-Commerce Environments, C. Michael Powell, Chris Conca

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

During the past three decades, the growth of e-commerce has presented marketers with many new arenas for research and application. Certainly e-commerce has become a significant portion of the world economy and in particular the consumer sector. As previous literature has consistently considered perceived risk as a major factor consumer purchase decisions, this research identifies several major components of consumer perceived risk (PR) and their normative implications in the e-commerce environment

A Systematic Review Of Anti-Brand Website Literature: What We Know And What We Need To Know, David L. Williams, Ellen Kolbas

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The emergence of Web 1.0 began an evolution in electronic communication. This platform resulted in a unidirectional communication flow (e.g. firm to consumer) that featured firms generating messages for public consumption. Web 1.0 gave rise to Web 2.0 and 3.0 platforms that facilitate bi-directional communication between firms and the public. This new method has resulted in an increase in consumer empowerment to create and disseminate marketing messages of their own (Williams, Crittenden, Keo, & McCarty, 2012). Third party stakeholders are disseminating electronic word-of-mouth communications about companies through the use of video, reviews, forums, microblogs and multiple other channels (Gil-Or, 2010). …

An Application Of Social Media Marketing For Community Sustainable Development, Lei Huang, Amelia Clarke, Wen Tian, Natalie Heldsinger

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Though the social marketing approach has been developed from commercial marketing, it is a holistic approach from various social sciences disciplines like marketing, psychology, sociology, mass communication and economics. It is basically an art to explore new ways of analyzing problems and solving them effectively. For instance, social marketing influences sustainability through the use of marketing principles to increase awareness, understanding, change attitudes, and motivate the society to change, adopt, or sustain a particular behavior. This paper attempts to explore a framework of social media in light of disseminating the knowledge of a community-wide sustainability plan among various stakeholders. Policy …

Profile Of Corporate Social Media Consumer Segments, Beverly Wright, Aberdeen Leila Borders, Paul H. Schwager, S. Scott Nadler

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The trade and academic literature is replete with commentary about the need for companies to develop promotional strategies and to adopt media platforms that are more engaging and conversational with customers than the traditional top-down company directed one-way communication strategies of the past (Thomas, Peters, Howell and Robbins, 2012; Foster, West and Francescucci 2011; Deighton and Kornfeld, 2009). This viewpoint is supported by Christodoulides (2008) who reported that many customers view information about a company or brand that they obtained from blogs, social networking sites and the like as being more relevant, believable and important to them in their interactions …

An Exploratory Analysis To Understand Organic Food Market In The United States In Comparison To Europe, Alfiya Ansar, Ismet Anitsal, M. Meral Anitsal

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

To meet the increasing continuous demand of food, many techniques are used for mass production food but these techniques in turn have diminished the quality of many products. The negative effects associated with such production methods make them controversial in nature and thus requires discussion. One such method is the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), which involves genetically modifying the Deoxyribose Nucleic Acids (DNA) of plants or animals of interest to introduce certain traits such as resistance to pests or diseases. Food allergies are on a rise and researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans suffer from vast …

Being Green And Social Responsibility: Basic Concepts And Multiple Case Studies In Business Excellence, Alan D. Smith, Steven R. Clinton, William T. Rupp

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Through a qualitative business case approach, three major manufacturing firms in Pittsburgh, PA were reviewed for their eco-friendly sustainability strategic initiatives and products/services. Undoubtedly, use of green best practices are value adding steps for a company may be initially difficult to justify to spend the time and resources developing such a process. This is especially true when other core business needs are present, such as driving revenue, product development and meeting governmental or consumer expectations. However, green and sustainability initiatives may not be currently dictated needs, but many companies feel strongly that charting such a course would be to their …

A Research Agenda For Advancing The Marketer's Understanding Of Ethical Consumption In A Post-Modern World, Julie M. Pharr

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The attribution of moral significance to the choice of everyday consumer goods may well mean that personal consumption is increasingly viewed as an ethical exercise and not simply an economic transaction.

Consumer behavior has emerged as an important moral battleground in the 21^st century. Those in doubt of this statement need look no farther than their local Catholic church. In a church encyclical released 06.18.15, Pope Francis called for radical transformation not only of global politics and economics but of individual lifestyles in the battle to confront the environmental deterioration of Earth. An encyclical is a document that serves …

An Exploratory Investigation Of The Public's Attitude On The Effects Of Global Warming: The Media's Role In Influencing Opinions As Moderated By Having Lived Through A Major Storm, George W. Stone, Percy Willians, Britney Hamilton

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

While the debate over changing global weather patterns and the negative role mankind plays in altering the earth’s climate continues to rage, there appears to be no real movement in the views of entrenched participants on either side of the argument, or, for that matter, in the culture at large (Whitmarsh 2011). Even though global warming advocates claim the debate is now “settled science” and that a consensus of climatologists has emerged indicting mankind as one of the prime culprits in changing global climate patterns, an equally compelling argument has been made that naturally occurring phenomenon (e.g., such as volcanic …

The Clothing Swap: Social, Sustainable, And Sacred, Mary M. Long, Deborah Fain

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

While there is much focus on recycling household waste such as paper, plastic, and metal, there is less focused attention on the waste produced by clothing and textiles. As noted by Joung (2013), consumers dispose of clothes by recycling, donating to charities, or giving to friends and family. But when individuals are not motivated to do this or are unaware of recycling options, they simply discard unwanted clothing where it ends up in landfill sites.

Motives for recycling clothes can range from altruistic (e.g., donating to a clothing drive for the poor or victims of a natural disaster) to economic …

What Drives Conspicuous Consumption? - The Case Of Chinese Consumers, Y. Henry Xie

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Conspicuous consumption refers to a type of consumer behavior that people display wealth by spending a large proportion of their incomes on luxury products and services (Trigg, 2001). Different from other goods, the satisfaction that conspicuous goods provide buyers often comes from audience’s reaction, as opposed to product’s actual use (Wong, 1997). In other words, consumers exhibit certain conspicuous consumption behaviors due to their hopes to be seen more favorably in the greater social hierarchy (Podoshen, Li, & Zhang, 2011).

Can Scalability Be A Marketing Liability For Sustainability?, Dennis F. X. Mathaisel, Clare L. Comm

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

A common principle of modern business marketing is that growth is good. It is usually thought that all businesses should market themselves with the goal of increasing their revenues and gaining market share. Scalability is developing products or services that people want and figuring out how to produce and promote many of them for lower costs while selling more of them (Dudnik 2010). It is the purpose of this paper to show that some businesses, especially small ventures with unique value propositions, should not necessarily seek to grow or scale up. There are numerous examples of new ventures failing for …

Taking The Plunge: Online Data Collection Using Mturk, L. Jean Harrison-Walker

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Mechanical Turk, an online crowdsourcing service created in 2005 by Amazon.com, is gaining in popularity among academics as a source of subjects for survey research. The initial attraction is based on access to a very large pool of participants who can be accessed online producing rapid response at low cost with minimal effort on the part of the researcher. For the uninitiated, however, the task of designing and running a research project on MTurk is rather daunting.

This paper begins with an introduction to MTurk. We review the language of MTurk and explain how a researcher goes about setting up …

The Role Of Corporate Social Responsibility Information In The Consumer-Brand Relationship, Lei Huang

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Given the increased interest and empirical research in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSI), the interest of this paper is given to the impacts of corporate operational performance (COP) and corporate social performance (CSP) on consumer brand advocacy and brand trust. In this consumer-brand continuum, customers evaluate brand trustworthiness by two scopes: (1) the product or service the firm offers (i.e., product brand) that is usually associated with COP (Rust, Moorman, & Dickson 2002); and (2) the firm which provides the products and services (i.e., corporate brand) that is connected with CSP (Korschun, Bhattacharya, & Swain 2014). In addition, …

Chinese Consumers' Involvement In Wine Consumption And Their Willingness To Visit Wineries In California, Mahmood Hussain, Roblyn Simeon, Lutfus Sayeed

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This research fills a gap in wine tourism literature, taking into account the effects of consumers’ involvement in the pre-purchase stages on their willingness to visit wineries in California or in a foreign country. The theoretical framework presented in this paper provides support for a strong linkage between product involvement, consumption, and eventual propensity to visit a wine destination. As of this writing this paper constitutes the first of its kind econometric study of these effects.

Modification And Investment Intention In The Consumer-Possession Relationship, James D. Doyle

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The present-day automobile is at once a source of physical transportation, of course, but also an extension of self, a potential platform for self-expression and image enhancement, a source of social approval as well as psychological and physiological stimulation, and, perhaps, an object of beauty. This study examines motivations and antecedents of various vehicle-directed consumer behaviors, including modification and the intention of consumers to invest in their relationship with their vehicle. In this study, vehicle modification refers to the voluntary actions taken by a user or owner of a vehicle to differentiate the functional or aesthetic characteristics or performance of …

Fitting Consumer Needs To Perceived Product Value: The Example Of Apple Versus Samsung Products, Yi-Chia Wu, Arturo Vasquez-Parraga

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This study explores the fitting of consumer needs to product perceived value using the example of two lines of competitive products in the area of communication electronics, Apple products versus Samsung products. Five types of needs regarding digital communication and three types of related product value are evaluated for these two brands in order to know if product value differences have a distinctive effect on consumer needs.

This study focuses on the impact of perceived product values on certain consumer needs. We use Apple products and Samsung products to accomplish this.

Is Marketing Still Part Of Supply Chain Management, And Should Marketing Academics And Practitioners Care?, Stephen M. Rutner, C. David Shepherd

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Over the last twenty years, there has been a shift in emphasis in many colleges of business to incorporate Supply Chain Management (SCM). The questions of how to include this material and who are the responsible parties to deliver it impact the focus, depth and topics included in the SCM material. Since true SCM is boundary spanning in both academic and practitioner arenas, it is an important question to examine the role of Marketing in the overall process.

Over the past twenty years Supply Chain Management (SCM) has exploded as both an academic field of study and a critical competency …

A Perspective On Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices: Message Development, Media Selection, Medication Adherence And Health Literacy, Yvette L. Bonaparte

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

According to the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy issued in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, health literacy is a multi-faceted concept and has importance for multiple sectors. Stakeholders typically involved in the health literacy discussion include government, public health officials, practitioners and those concerned with health promotion (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2010). In addition to these stakeholders, there is the opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry to be an active participant in the health literacy discussion.

Given the variation in health literacy levels among the U.S. population and the impact of …