Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Exploring The Effect Of Logos With Animals, Can Trinh

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

Even though the use of logos that feature animals is prevalent (e.g., Porsche, Lamborghini, Hollister), there is a scant number of empirical works that examine the effect of such logos on marketing outcomes. This research represents a pioneering attempt to address this critical theoretical gap. We propose that logos that feature animals (i.e., animal logos) can influence product perceptions. Empirical evidence from two studies supports our propositions. The findings provide meaningful implications for both theory and practice.

Consumers' Brand Loyalty Towards Small Family-Owned Businesses, Christo A. Bisschoff Prof, Christoff Botha Prof, Marco Van Schoor Mr, Doret Botha Prof

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2024

Family-owned businesses constitute a substantial portion of the workforce and GDP in South Africa and, with limited work opportunities in the public sector, play a significant role in job creation. As a result, family enterprises significantly influence South Africa's economy. This study aims to understand consumer loyalty towards family-owned businesses as brands by investigating family-owned businesses in the small mining town "Stilfontein" in the North-West Province, South Africa. Qualitative data collection involved semi-structured interviews with customers of family businesses to gather insights into brand loyalty. The identified themes and sub-themes highlight the importance of community bonds, personalized services, product quality, …

Insights Into The Accuracy Of Social Scientists’ Forecasts Of Societal Change, Sangsuk Yoon

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

How well can social scientists predict societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? To answer these questions, we ran two forecasting tournaments testing the accuracy of predictions of societal change in domains commonly studied in the social sciences: ideological preferences, political polarization, life satisfaction, sentiment on social media, and gender-career and racial bias. After we provided them with historical trend data on the relevant domain, social scientists submitted pre-registered monthly forecasts for a year (Tournament 1; N = 86 teams and 359 forecasts), with an opportunity to update forecasts on the basis of new data six months later (Tournament …

What Is The Entrepreneurship Process For Communication Design Enterprises?, Con Kennedy

Doctoral

The literature indicated that entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in economic development and that understanding what entrepreneurship is has changed with the development of society and entrepreneurship theory (Murphy et al., 2006). However, there is an identified skills deficit in understanding entrepreneurship in the communication design sector (Design Enterprise Skillnet, 2021; Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, 2016; Intertrade Ireland, 2009; Design Council, 2007; Enterprise Ireland, 1999). Nevertheless, within each of these studies, the deficit has not been addressed, nor is the entrepreneurship process for communication design enterprises established. The literature on entrepreneurship generally ignores entrepreneurship in the design sector, …

Predicting Mobility Using Limited Data During Early Stages Of A Pandemic, Michael T. Lash, S. Sajeesh, Özgür M. Araz

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer behavior substantially. In this study, we explore the drivers of consumer mobility in several metropolitan areas in the United States under the perceived risks of COVID-19. We capture multiple dimensions of perceived risk using local and national cases and death counts of COVID-19, along with real-time Google Trends data for personal protective equipment (PPE). While Google Trends data are popular inputs in many studies, the risk of multicollinearity escalates with the addition of more relevant terms. Therefore, multicollinearity-alleviating methods are needed to appropriately leverage information provided by Google Trends data. We develop and utilize …

Typology Of Tweets And User Engagement Generated By U.S. Companies Involved In Developing Covid-19 Vaccines, Priyanka Khandelwal, Leslie Ramos Salazar, Soni Khandelwal

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

This study analyzes 295 tweets by four U.S. companies engaged in discovering a vaccine for COVID-19. Tweets were analyzed to understand how their Twitter feeds balanced corporate and product branding (vaccine, medicines, etc.) and disseminated scientific information relating to COVID-19. The results suggest that these companies were actively embedding technical information about COVID-19 in their corporate and product branding. Tweets providing technical and scientific information about the progress made toward developing a COVID-19 vaccine garnered high levels of user engagement from their target audience. Findings from this study indicate the growing importance of technical communication in corporate settings during a …

Keeping It Agile: The Internationalisation Decision For The Agile Executive, Siobhan O Regan, Roger Sherlock

Case Studies

This case focuses on The Agile Executive, a company looking for new market opportunities to expand their business in several possible European markets.

This case is also an exercise case for students to practice their knowledge from the perspective of strategic management, branding, marketing & sales, conducting market research and the development of feasible marketing entry strategies, all based on clear use of robust criteria, aligning with the core competences, resources and capabilities of the organisation.

This case can be divided into sub-cases that could focus on answering the questions of how to enter or expand in a target European …

Portwest’S Future Strategy: Fashionising Workwear – Threading The Needle, Fiachra Coll, Damian O'Reilly

Case Studies

Portwest- should they further pursue the leisurewear / workwear market or should they focus on expanding the current range?

Portwest is a global manufacturer and innovator of workwear, safetywear and Personal protective equipment (PPE) and one of the fastest growing workwear companies in the world. Recently, the company launched an “Inspired Workwear” collection targeting the leisurewear/workwear market. It is a departure from their traditional markets where their acquisition strategy has seen Portwest rapidly gain market share. Management are concerned that this new departure may take resources from the core business of Workwear and dilute key resources.

Marketing Activity Influences On Brand Attractiveness & Loyalty, Keiondre' Mcallister

McNair Scholars Research

While selecting a specific brand could seem simple, many variables are considered. Consumers must trust that the chosen brand meets their needs by providing value. Value differs for everyone; however, four value pillars within the value creation pyramid could explain which value attracts the consumer most to a brand. These value elements will be explored to explain consumer preferences.

Gastro-Tourism Well-Being: The Interplays Of Salient And Enduring Determinants, Muhammet Kesgin, Irfan Onal, Ihsan Kazkondu, Muzaffer Uysal

Articles

Purpose-This research developed and tested an integrated structural gastro-tourism well-being model consisting of food-related lifestyle and leisure attitude as precursor of the consumption enjoyment of the gastro-tourism experience with satisfaction, life domain outcomes, tourism autobiographical memory and life satisfaction as outcomes of the consumption enjoyment. Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual model was assessed with quantitative data collected from tourists based on their deliberate and incidental gastro-tourism experiences (N=617). Findings – Findings indicated that enjoyment of gastro-tourism consumption experience significantly influences satisfaction, life domain outcomes, life satisfaction, and tourism autobiographical memory. Life domain outcomes and tourism autobiographical memory have enduring influence on …

Starbucks Strategic Analysis, Jillian Jacoba

Honors Theses

Starbucks is a multinational chain of coffee shops and roasteries that was founded in 1971. Starbucks has continued to grow for the past 51 years and continues to dominate the coffee industry. This strategic analysis evaluates the general environment using a PESTEL analysis, the industry using Porter’s Five Forces, and the company’s overall strategy and competitive advantages. This paper will evaluate Starbucks’ position in the industry and the strategic choices that have led the company to its extraordinary success.

Privacy Considerations For Online Advertising: A Stakeholder’S Perspective To Programmatic Advertising, Dylan A. Cooper, Taylan Yalcin, Cristina Nistor, Matthew Macrini, Ekin Pehlivan

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

Privacy considerations have become a topic with increasing interest from academics, industry leaders and regulators. In response to consumers’ privacy concerns, Google announced in 2020 that Chrome would stop supporting third-party cookies in the near future. At the same time, advertising technology companies are developing alternative solutions for online targeting and consumer privacy controls. This paper aims to explore privacy considerations related to online tracking and targeting methods used for programmatic advertising (i.e. third-party cookies, Privacy Sandbox, Unified ID 2.0) for a variety of stakeholders: consumers, AdTech platforms, advertisers and publishers.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analyzes the topic of internet …

The Effects Of Received Grandmothers’ Affection On Adult Grandchildren’S Health Behaviors Using Affection Exchange Theory, Leslie Ramos Salzar, Priyanka Khandelwal, Yvette Castillo

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Background: Affection exchange theory (AET) explains the value of received affection for overall wellbeing in family relationships. However, this study extends prior work by investigating AET in grandmother-grandchild relationships and grandchildren’s individual well-being. This study seeks to understand the relationships between adult grandchildren’s received grandmother affection and health-related behaviors such as diet, exercise, substance abuse, and sleep.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 229 university student participants. Multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze received grandmother affection and grandchildren’s health behaviors.

Results: Using cross-sectional survey methods, it was found that grandchildren’s reports of received memories and humor, and celebratory affection influenced …

Promoting A Walk/Run Event To Expand Services For Individuals With Disabilities, Mckenzie Rodgers

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex (CEC) at WKU provides services to many individuals and families affected by autism spectrum disorders and other developmental delays and disabilities. As a nonprofit organization, the clinic relies heavily on donations and fundraisers as sources of income. One of the CEC’s primary fundraisers is the annual LifeSkills Run/Walk for Autism. This event is held each April during autism awareness month, at the Bowling Green Ballpark, providing an opportunity for the community to support the clinic in an enjoyable way.

For an honors capstone experience, the author promoted the 15th annual LifeSkills Run/Walk for Autism …

An Exploratory Study Of The Role And Contribution Of Absorptive Capacity Levels In The Commercialisation Of Knowledge In Knowledge Intensive Smes, Francis Martin Behan

Doctoral

Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) is a construct introduced by Cohen and Leventhal in 1990 to describe the process by which an organisation recognises and absorbs new external knowledge to increase its current stock of knowledge, thereby giving it increased capability to create value for its customers, stakeholders and wider society. ACAP, as a construct, has gained widespread acceptance within academia and the construct has been further refined and developed over the last thirty years. However, the application and testing of the construct, is in practice, still in the early stages of development. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate …

Supply Chain Resilience And Agility During Covid19: The Case Of Automobile Manufacturing, Leor Ben-Meir, Steve Lemay, Dave Mcmahon

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2022

In this paper, we examine disruptions in the automobile manufacturing supply chain that resulted from the COVID19 pandemic. We explore the relationships between organizational resilience and agility and supply chain resilience and agility. We frame this exploration in terms of rare earth elements (REEs) and microchips, supplies that come from Tier 3 and Tier 4 in the automobile supply chain. We look at some adaptations made by Volkswagen to adapt to these disruptions but note that organizational resilience and adaptation does not always result in supply chain adaptation.

B Corps’ Social Media Communications During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Through The Lens Of The Triple Bottom Line, Manveer Mann, Sang-Eun Byun, Whitney Ginder

Department of Marketing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The COVID-19 pandemic and rising demand for transparency has heightened the importance of sustainability communications on social media to generate deeper stakeholder engagement. Although B Corporations (B Corps), businesses committed to the triple bottom line (TBL), could serve as a catalyst for sustainable development, little is known about how they communicate on social media during a crisis. Therefore, we examined social media communications of B Corps to (1) identify salient topics and themes, (2) analyze how these themes align with the TBL, and (3) evaluate social media performance against industry benchmarks. We focused on the apparel, footwear, and accessories (AFA) …

The Future Of Tv And Online Video Platforms: A Study On Predictors Of Use And Interaction With Content In The Egyptian Evolving Telecomm, Media & Entertainment Industries, Hesham O. Dinana, Rasha Allam

Faculty Journal Articles

This study examines the future of TV and online video platforms in the evolving Egyptian market through using the predictors of use and interaction. Built on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, and the theory of technology discontinuities and platforms development, this study extends its framework to explore the relationship between the intention of use and the interaction with content behavior. A sample size of 396 university students answered the survey questions. Unlike other studies, the study found that the perceived ease of use (PEU) is the only variable that is positively correlated to the intention to …

Exploring Research Methods Workshop Presentation Tu Dublin - An Investigation Of The Personality Traits That Could Identify Vulnerable Young People Who Will Be Susceptible To Undue Influence By Social Media Influencers (Smis), Charles Alves De Castro, Isobel O'Reilly Dr, Aiden Carthy Dr

Other Resources

This study aims to further the overall understanding of Social Media Influencers (SMIs) and to specifically predict who will be susceptible to influence by them. The main objective of this research relies on to determine whether there is a specific personality profile that predisposes young people to undue influence by social media influencers. Based on previous research published by the journal Frontiers in Psychology titled “The Role of Social Media Influencers in the Lives of Children and Adolescents ¹”, a list of potentially harmful content will be compiled. Participants (N=40) in phase one will then be given …

Social Media & Hr: A Bibliometric Analysis, Divyanshu Pawaskar Mr., Priya Sharma Ms., Sanjay Bhattacharya Mr., Monica Kunte Dr., Netra Neelam Dr., Preeti Mulay Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

From an HRM standpoint, the better an organisation is able to manage their workforce, the better their performance will be. In doing so, social media nowadays play a major role to this end. Be it talent acquisition, employee engagement, talent management or enhancing employer value proposition, social media profiles are playing a big role for organisations. The onus of which lies to a large extent on the shoulders of the HR department. Merely having pages on social media platforms do not suffice. Proper management and audience engagement become the key for HR. It is not sufficient to just have a …

Digital Marketing And Smes: A Systematic Mapping Study, Abdurrahman Rahim Thaha, Erna Maulina, R Anang Muftiadi, Mohammad Benny Alexandri

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have a high priority for many governments because of their important economic contribution and the number of people they employ. The very rapid development of ICT in the digital era has an impact on various lines of life, including changes in business environment and consumer behavior. Therefore, the need to find out about research trends and themes in digital marketing in SMEs is important. The objective of this paper is to classify, and identify related themes and trends in the literature that are directly related to digital marketing and SMEs over the past 10 years. …

Adapting To Slow-Moving Crises: The Personal Protection Equipment Supply Chain In The Time Of Covid19, Jennifer Shullih, Stephen Lemay

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2021

In this paper, we look at the supply chain for PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. We look at the way the supply chain has responded to the pandemic, the coordination of the supply chain relative to the needs of primary users, and the consequences of its use. We find that the supply chain has continued to function more as a commercial supply chain than as an emergency supply chain largely because of a lack of centralized coordination. We include an analysis of existing concepts as they apply to this supply chain, but also incorporate preliminary results from a …

Understanding And Motivating Salesperson Resilience, Valerie Good, Douglas E. Hughes, Alexander C. Labrecque

Peer Reviewed Articles

Prior research has shown that approximately half of salespeople fail to achieve their targets each year. Not only is the role difficult but also sales jobs are often marked by high levels of stress, rejection, and burnout. Thus, salesperson resilience is critical. However, a gap remains in our understanding of how resilience influences performance and how managers can motivate salespeople to be more resilient. To answer these questions, we collected survey data from 110 salespeople from a large firm based in the Midwest, along with objective effort and performance data provided by the company prior to and following a poor …

Tree-Based Algorithm For Stable And Efficient Data Clustering, Hasan Aljabbouli, Abdullah Albizri, Antoine Harfouche

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The K-means algorithm is a well-known and widely used clustering algorithm due to its simplicity and convergence properties. However, one of the drawbacks of the algorithm is its instability. This paper presents improvements to the K-means algorithm using a K-dimensional tree (Kd-tree) data structure. The proposed Kd-tree is utilized as a data structure to enhance the choice of initial centers of the clusters and to reduce the number of the nearest neighbor searches required by the algorithm. The developed framework also includes an efficient center insertion technique leading to an incremental operation that overcomes the instability problem of the K-means …

Family Ownership And Corporate Environmental Responsibility: The Contingent Effect Of Venture Capital And Institutional Environment, Zhu Zhu, Feifei Lu

Department of Management Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

As scholars and policy makers pay more attention to the environmental impact of economic activities, more focus has been placed on the corporate environmental responsibility (CER) of family firms, which accounts for the majority of businesses in both developed and developing countries. Using a sample of 4714 private enterprises across 23 provinces in China, the current study examines the effect of family ownership on CER investment, as well as the moderating effects of venture capital investment and local institutional development. Results show that concentrated family ownership leads to lower CER spending, however, when venture capital investment comes from developed markets, …

A Proposal Digital Marketing Strategy For Marcheluzzo Srl: Training And Evaluating A Prediction Model For The Number Of Adv. Impressions, Charles Alves De Castro

Articles

This research aims to describe a digital marketing strategy elaborated to be deployed in the MarcheluzzoSrl Company located in Italy. In addition, it intends to give a wide range of information to the company about its customers, target, competitors, market, digital marketing strategy, and potential recommendations. It is also important to highlight that this strategy is focused on the Brazilian market. Most of the information collected for the situational analysis and many other components for this research were gathered through the author`s perception during his internship in the company. The methodology includes secondary data collected through field observation in the …

Making Energy Metrics Relevant To Service Firms: From Energy Conservation To Energy Productivity, Randle D. Raggio, Peter Ekman, Steve Thompson

Marketing Faculty Publications

Although energy conservation and reduction in environmental impact are on the international and most national agendas, service firms rarely include energy consumption metrics in their strategic decision-making. One reason for the omission is that for service industries, firm level energy utilization is most commonly measured in kilowatt hours per square meter of office space where changes often related to the space rather than the firm performance. The measure also presents several problems for firms in service industries. First, energy conservation and reduction may be counterproductive for service firms that are growing and require energy to sustain that growth. Second, it …

Arbor Day Foundation Consultation, Drew Spadaro, Leigh Hanson, Demi Van Reeuwijk, Fran Munro, Mason Smalley, Trevor Lockard

Honors Theses

Over the past 4 months, our team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Honors Academy has been working directly with Nebraska’s own, Arbor Day Foundation, or Arbor Day, in hopes of applying our skill sets and mindsets to solve a pressing problem Arbor Day currently faces. We have been tasked with the challenge of identifying creative, scalable, and profitable new business ventures for Arbor Day that will aid the generation of new revenue sources. With these sources of revenue, Arbor Day desires to further inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees and in turn solve some of the world’s …

When And How Frontline Service Employee Authenticity Influences Purchase Intentions, Lynn Matthews, Meike Eilert, Les Carlson, James W. Gentry

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

In this manuscript, we investigate the central role of perceived frontline service employee (FSE) authenticity and the process by which it impacts purchase intentions, taking into account the represented brand's authenticity. While brand authenticity has previously been shown to enhance consumer outcomes, we find that FSE authenticity is a separate significant predictor of purchase intentions. Further, we find that FSE authenticity enhances purchase intentions by increasing perceived trust and perceived quality. However, this finding only holds for brands that do not emphasize their authenticity, indicating that brand managers should differentially emphasize FSE authenticity based on their brand's positioning. Furthermore, we …

Ethical Purchasing Dissonance: Antecedents And Coping Behaviors, Tim Reilly, Amit Saini, Jenifer Skiba

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

The pressure of oversight and scrutiny in the business-to-business purchasing process has the potential to cause psychological distress in purchasing professionals, giving rise to apprehensions about being ethically inappropriate. Utilizing depth interviews with public sector purchasing professionals in a phenomenological approach, the authors develop the notion of ethical purchasing dissonance to explain the psychological distress. An inductively derived conceptual framework is presented for ethical purchasing dissonance that explores its potential antecedents and consequences; illustrative propositions are presented, and managerial implications are discussed.