Business Commons^™

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 …

Regulating Relationship Needs Via Joint Consumption: An Attachment Perspective, Jana M. Rosewarne

Doctoral Dissertations

Attachment style functions to regulate affect in relationships. I hypothesized that consumer decisions serve a similar purpose, producing distinct patterns of product preferences depending on people’s attachment goals. In a series of studies, I found that attachment avoidance predicted reduced preference for products framed as meeting closeness relationship goals and greater preference for products framed as meeting autonomy goals. The link between attachment anxiety and product preference depended on consumers’ emotions (S2) and relationship commitment (S3). Attachment style also predicted differences in the extent to which consumers thought about their partners when choosing products and their perceptions of how consumption …

The Silent Language: The Effects Of Nonverbal Cues On Perception Of Brands In Online And Offline Contexts, Fatima M. Hajjat

Doctoral Dissertations

Nonverbal cues are an essential part of message creation and interpretation, and are central to many socially meaningful outcomes in interactions in all different types of relationships. Most importantly, nonverbal communication can affect the establishment, maintenance and dissolution of relationships. The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effects of nonverbal cues on consumer-brand interactions in both face-to-face communications (FTFC) and computer-mediated communications (CMC). The first essay is dedicated to understanding how the employees’ speech rate affects impressions of the employee and the brand associated with the employee. In general, research has recognized the importance of frontline employees …

Exploring The Role Of Collective Narcissism In Sport Team Identification, Ben Larkin

Doctoral Dissertations

Team identification is among the most widely studied concepts in sport fan behavior. This is largely due to the fact that highly identified fans exhibit drastically different and more avid consumption and purchase behavior compared to those low and/or moderate on team identification. Most notably, this has been manifested in a greater propensity to attend games, watch the team on television, and purchase team merchandise. While the study of team identification has focused both on its development and outcomes, one constant is that scholars have generally assumed team identification to take the form of a healthy and positive team attachment. …

The Influence Of Consumer Freeloading Behavior On An Observer's And Perpetrator's Affective Commitment, Mohamad A. Darrat

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation explores the relationship between customer affective commitment and freeloading behavior. Consumer freeloading results when a consumer takes advantage of a system or market procedures in a way that allows him or her to obtain benefits from a value proposition with no or reduced monetary costs. Thus, the freeloading consumer works the value equation in his/her favor at the expense of the marketer and/or other consumers. In addition to examining the point of view of the consumer performing the unethical behavior, the dissertation also examines the impact of such behavior on a third party observer. How do loyal consumers …

May I Help You? How Stereotypes And Innuendoes Influence Service Encounters, Lauren Michelle Brewer

Doctoral Dissertations

"You only get one chance to make a good first impression." The dissertation focuses on marketing agents; among the most visible is the "service provider." Previous research establishes the important role of cognitive social schemata in determining the way consumers react to different types of marketing agents, including service providers. In the literature review, a classification schema is developed for service provider stereotypes derived from theory using social stereotypes. The development of the Service Provider Perception Framework (SPPF) creates a classification for the individual service provider along two main dimensions: competence and affect.

In services design (particularly situations involving a …

Retailer Television Advertising: Consumers' Skepticism Of Informational Vs. Emotional Ads, Janna Michelle Parker

Doctoral Dissertations

The bombardment with ads that consumers face daily has led to increased Skepticism toward Advertising. This increased advertising costs billions of dollars, yet, the research has shown conflicting results (Stafford and Day 1995) (Obermiller and Spangenberg 1998) (Obermiller, Spangenberg and MacLachlan 2005) regarding which strategies work best for reducing the negative influence of Skepticism toward Advertising.

For over a decade, retailers have ranked #2 in television advertising spending (Advertising Age 2002-2012). Television advertising research has focused on advertising by manufacturers. These findings should not be generalized to retailers because retailers and manufacturers have different goals, use different promotional tools, and …

Balancing Customer And Marketing Inputs To Maximize The Value Experience, Weiling Zhuang

Doctoral Dissertations

Customer co-creation has been recognized in the marketing literature as a beneficial activity for both firms and customers, however, further research is needed to more fully understand how firms and customers work together to maximize the value creations. In order to extend this area, the present study conducts two studies to empirically test how customer participation interacts with other factors to influence customer shopping experience and behavior responses.

In the experiment study, an updated typology of service context was developed to examine how customer input and service provider input along other factors to influence value co-creation outcomes. A computer stimulated …

An Examination Of The Interfaces Between Operations And Advertising Strategies, Abdullahel Bari

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is composed of three journals examining the interfaces between the marketing variable of advertising and various aspects of the operations function of the enterprise, namely, (1) production cost [Chapter 2], (2) inventory control [Chapter 3], and (3) service cost learning [Chapter 4]. The first journal identified the optimum advertising allocation policy over time in the presence of a quadratic convex/concave production cost function when the advertising response function is concave using a modified Vidale-Wolfe model. Through analytical proofs and numerical simulations, the results indicated the potential superiority of a pulsation policy in the presence of concavity in the …

Factors Influencing Faculty Computer Literacy And Use In Jordan: A Multivariate Analysis, Iman Akour

Doctoral Dissertations

This study broadens the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) proposed by Davis (1989) by incorporating multiple dimensions of cultural attributes into the model. The study also specifies and expands on the factors that may influence faculty members' computer literacy and computer usage in a developing country, namely Jordan.

To operationalize the constructs of the introduced conceptual model, eight instruments were used. They are Igbaria, Zinatelli, Cragg, and Cavaye's (1997) scales of organizational support; Hofsted's (1988) scale of cultural attributes; Igbaria and Parasuraman's (1989) scale of attitudes toward computers; Thatcher and Perrewe's (2002) scale of computer anxiety; Compeau and Higgins's (1995) scale …

An Empirical Investigation Of A Model Of Environmentally Concerned Consumer Behavior And Its Determinants: The Moderating Role Of Market Mavenship And Product Involvement, Kishwar A. Joonas

Doctoral Dissertations

Extant literature offers incomplete explanations of environmentally concerned consumer behavior (ECCB), based on subsets of determinants. In this study, I have presented an integrated model of ECCB, and examined the main effects of three key psychological determinants (environmentally concerned beliefs and attitudes, personal norm, and perceived consumer effectiveness) and two key socio-cultural determinants (injunctive norm and collectivist orientation), on four dimensions of ECCB, namely purchase behavior, search for information, conserving behavior, and supporting intent. The study also examined the interactional effects of market mavenship and involvement on these direct linkages.

I conducted a national online survey among members of environmental …

Antecedents Of Salesperson Effectiveness And Efficiency Performance: A Data Envelopment Analysis, Xueming Luo

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation was to (1) measure salesperson efficiency; (2) investigate both personal and organizational factors that determine salesperson efficiency; and (3) investigate both personal and organizational factors that determine salesperson effectiveness. Salesperson efficiency was assessed by data envelopment analysis (DEA). Two different DEA models were employed in order to increase the reliability of the efficiency results. Antecedents of salesperson efficiency and effectiveness were tested using Tobit regression analysis and ordinary least square regression analysis, respectively. These antecedents include not only personal level variables such as working smart, working hard, learning goal orientation, and performance goal orientation, but …

An Exploratory Study On The Relationships Among Electorate's Voting Behavior, Party Identification, Personal Values, And Demographic Characteristics, Kuan-Shun Chiu

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was proposed to examine if there existed significant differences in voters' party identification and voting behavior due to gender, race, age, income, education and personal values.

The sample was chosen from eligible voters in Florida. Of the 1500 questionnaires managed, 161 were identified as useable. The sample was representative of the results of 2000 presidential election in Florida with respect to voters' gender, race, income, and voting choice by party identification. Statistical techniques used were ANOVAs, Chi-square statistics, factor analysis, and logistic regression.

This study demonstrates how personal values may be associated with demographic characteristics to create a …

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 Effects Of Organizational And Individual Learning On Job Satisfaction And Organizational Commitment, David Lee Wright

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation was to assess how certain organizational-level and individual-level factors affect member job attitudes. Specifically, market orientation and organizational learning, contingent on the individual's orientation toward learning, were examined as potential predictors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Individual performance of employees affects organizational performance. Consequently, these organizational and individual factors are significant to management because of their potential influence on the attitudes of employees.

A national sample consisting of sales and marketing executives made up the sample frame. A self-report questionnaire was mailed to 2000 randomly selected potential respondents. The return of 213 usable questionnaires …