Marketing Commons^™

Authenticity In Fashion And Beauty: Influencer Marketing And The Development Of Parasocial Relationships On Social Media, Catherine Goodheart

Student Theses and Dissertations

Social media influencers are more accessible than celebrities, making their audience form strong connections with them through their niche content. The parasocial relationship formed between influencers and their followers through the followers' media literacy of the influencer’s authenticity enables influencers to market themselves promoting products; without a perceived authenticity, a parasocial relationship will struggle to form. This parasocial relationship is typically to generate profit for the influencer, as many influencers are paid to promote and advertise products specific to their niche(s) on their profiles or on the brand’s profiles. A media analysis was used to study 5 beauty and fashion …

Socially Safe On Smartphones: How Smartphone Use Reduces Social Risk Taking, Diogo Koch Alves

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Consumers are often faced with decisions that carry a degree of social risk, with uncertain outcomes that could impact their social standing. Examples include choosing the ideal outfit to wear to an upcoming party or selecting a gift to give to a friend. Given the prevalence of smartphones in consumer decision making, I investigate the effect of smartphone use on social risk taking. Across seven studies, I find that smartphone use, relative to the use of other devices, results in a lower propensity to make socially risky decisions. I propose that smartphone use, by increasing the salience of one’s social …

The Role And Impact Of The Communications Department And Investor Relations Functions On The Process Of Privatization, Iulia Erhan

Student Theses and Dissertations

Current market conditions, and the heavy responsibilities placed on publicly traded companies by investors and regulators alike, have led many publicly traded companies to consider going private. The going-private decision, however, involves a complex set of actions and strategies. This paper analyzes the privatization process and the role that the Communication and Investor Relations departments play throughout the transaction. Its initial focus will be on communication with employees, including communication that facilitates the executive team’s decision-making activity related to employee retention. It will be followed by a review of the range of external communications, such as the going-private transaction announcement, …

The Value Of Nfts, Angelina Tham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Non-fungible token stories have flooded the media since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. NFTs have changed the public’s views on art, finances, and the self. The emergence of Web 3 redefined ways of self expression with the help of NFTs. What are NFTs, how are they valuable, and how will they shape the future of digital art? The data visualization for this project indicates that the most popular type of crypto art is in the style of a profile picture. The discussion suggests that NFTs are in their infancy and there will be more to come from digital art, …

Lost In Digitization: Physical Products Are Vessels For Social Meaning, Oden H. Groth

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The explosion in digitization means that consumers increasingly have the opportunity to choose between digital and physical versions of products — for example, between an eBook and a paperback book. However, despite the popularity of digital objects, many people nonetheless prefer physical equivalents. This dissertation explores one reason why this may be the case; namely, that physical versions of objects and products are better vessels for social meaning. In chapter 1, explore the specialness of physical objects, and posit that materiality is critical for holding and embodying significance. In chapter 2, I investigate the effects of product format on perceptions …

Just Between You And Me: Private Financial Transactions Signal Communal Traits And Enhance Others’ Willingness To Cooperate, Lennay Chapman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Increasingly, consumers’ everyday interactions are facilitated by online platforms. One notable feature of many online platforms is that they give consumers the ability to interact privately or publicly. Interacting publicly (e.g., by sending a public payment) can reveal private information pertaining to two or more consumers; this is known as co-owned information. The present work examines disclosure decisions about co-owned information in the context of peer-to-peer financial transactions. We propose that choosing a private mode of transacting represents a socially mindful behavior, as it considers partners’ preferences and preserves their future ability to keep private or disclose the transaction details. …

Muslim Fashion Influencers Shaping Modesty In The Twenty-First Century On Social Media, Awa Sanno

Student Theses and Dissertations

The depiction of Muslim women in Western media has been a long-running joke, as they are framed to be oppressed by the burdens of their religion and the hijab. However, Muslim women have used the power of social media to counter that narrative through their large followings as fashion influencers, digital creators, food bloggers, makeup artists, lifestyle bloggers, musicians, and so much more. Specifically, Muslim fashion influencers are changing and redefining the notion of modesty throughout their posted content on social media. Many people in Muslim communities see this redefinition of modesty as a conflict with the "proper" ways of …

The Use Of Ethnonyms In Communication Strategies, Cristina B. Gonzales Otoya Villanueva

Student Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to explore the effectiveness of the language used in external communications, including brand campaigns already launched targeting different ethnic groups, with a particular emphasis on the Hispanic, Latino and Latinx communities. The final objective is to provide recommendations on the appropriate use of ethnonyms in their marketing strategies while authentically approaching their target market to generate brand affinity and long-standing trust.

Differences Between Brand Activism And Corporate Social Responsibility In Consumer Perception, Erika Marchiondo

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to determine if there is a perceived difference among consumers between brand activism and corporate social responsibility. Taking a stand in social and political causes has become an unspoken requirement for major brands. Consumers are selective about purchasing from brands that do not adhere to ethical practices. Consumers are also demanding increased brand transparency about the philanthropical causes brands support. I want to determine how aware consumers are of acts of corporate social responsibility and brand activism, and if consumers are able to identify a fundamental difference between behaviors associated with the two terms. …

The Significance Of Sonic Branding To Strategically Stimulate Consumer Behavior: Content Analysis Of Four Interviews From Jeanna Isham’S “Sound In Marketing” Podcast, Ina Beilina

Student Theses and Dissertations

Purpose:
Sonic branding is not just about composing jingles like McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It.” Sonic branding is an industry that strategically designs a cohesive auditory component of a brand’s corporate identity. This paper examines the psychological impact of music and sound on consumer behavior reviewing studies from the past 40 years and investigates the significance of stimulating auditory perception by infusing sound in consumer experience in the modern 2020s.

Design/methodology/approach:
Qualitative content analysis of audio media was used to test two hypotheses. Four archival oral interview recordings from Jeanna Isham’s podcast “Sound in Marketing” featuring the sonic branding experts …

The Pandemic Changed The Face Of Retail. Here’S How Center City, Philadelphia — The State’S Leading Job Market — Is Faring On The Road To Recovery, Francisco O. Velasquez-Turcios

Capstones

The pandemic changed the face of retail. Here’s how Center City, Philadelphia — the state’s leading job market — is faring on the road to recovery.

Link to capstone project: https://franvela033.github.io/Capstone/

Tiktok Has Influenced The Way We Buy Beauty, Keira R. Wingate, Angela Palumbo

Capstones

The purpose of this capstone project is to show how the popular social media platform, TikTok, is influencing and changing the way consumers buy and the companies sell beauty products.

Since the start of the pandemic, a record number of people logged into TikTok, which has become one of the top social media platforms in the world. While the app grew, so did the number of users who made videos reviewing and using makeup products. Soon, TikTok went from an entertainment platform to a marketing opportunity for large companies in the beauty industry.

Now, hundreds of influencers are paid large …

Place Branding As A Mode Of Urban Governance And Verticalisation: The Case Of Tokyo And New York, Z. Ruya Yuksel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores how place branding activities are amalgamated into the urban governance policies and how skyscrapers are weaved into this process by studying two of the top ten most vertical cities in the world: Tokyo and New York.

Fascination with building up towards the sky is nothing new. Yet what is new is that skyscrapers are becoming as part of place branding strategies which are seeping into urban governance practices. Concepts of place branding, urban development, spatial planning and governance are now being discussed and understood as significant elements of the same process where branding informs configurations and development …

“Caring Is Sharing”: The Effect Of Childhood Memories On Consumers’ Lending Behavior, Teodora Szabo-Douat

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research demonstrates that recalling childhood memories increases the likelihood of lending one’s possessions to someone else by making people (particularly those who are less rebellious) feel more connected to their communities. Five studies demonstrate the predicted effect of childhood memories on consumers’ lending intentions and actual lending behavior. The studies also provide evidence that childhood memories increase less-rebellious consumers’ sense of self–community connectedness, which, in turn, facilitates lending, as sharing in (sharing with family and close others) is a far more common form of sharing than sharing outside those circles.

A Study Of Factors Affecting The Credibility Of Sponsored Posts Created By Instagram Influencers, Nakyung Lee

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how source expertise, objective information about product ingredients and benefits, review length, and the use of promotional language influence the perceived credibility of a sponsored review post for skincare products. This study carried out 4 in-depth interviews and online survey to 106 millennials living in the U.S. Results indicated that subjective comments about a reviewer’s personal experiences had a higher level of perceived credibility of a review post than objective information about product ingredients and benefits. With regard to source expertise, a sponsored review post written by an influencer with higher expertise was perceived as more reliable …

Fashion Merchandising: An Augmented Reality, Naeha A. Sayed

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a continuous and constant transformation in the field of Augmented Reality (AR), both in the Retail, and the Manufacturing sector. It has started to influence everything from fashion runway shows to online shopping. Consumers dynamics have shifted in the fashion industry, the ways becoming more dominant than the old observant ones- the simple buying experience no longer satisfies them. Due to the emergence of the new digital platforms and technological enhancements, the consumers are looking for more- be it a more exciting buying experience or more user interaction or more enhanced products. This technological change starts with the …

Consumers’ Reactions To Multiple Instances Of Negative Publicity: The Role Of Publicity Domain Similarity, Berna Basar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although it is very typical for consumers to be exposed to multiple instances of negative publicity about a brand, existing research has focused on consumers’ reactions to one-time negative publicity instances. Given the important role of self-brand connection in consumers’ reactions to negative brand-related information, the current study investigates how consumers with different self-brand connection levels react to multiple instances of negative publicity in a single domain versus across different domains. Specifically, I suggest that consumers with high self-brand connection might be defense motivated, which in return, might result in justification of one-time instances unless consistency in behavior is signaled. …

Some Like It Hot: The Effect Of Serving Temperature On Perceived Caloric Content And Intent To Purchase Complementary Food, Sara Baskentli

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research introduces the serving temperature bias, which is defined as the belief that a food or beverage served hot has more calories and is considered more fattening than the same item served cold. Six studies, including an observational field study and follow-up controlled experiments, demonstrate that people indeed hold the serving temperature bias. This belief is grounded in the conceptual associations between warm foods and beverages and consumers’ affiliative semantic associations regarding home and hearth - concepts captured by the phrase “homelike.” Specifically, hot foods and beverages are perceived to be labor of love and reminder of home (homelike) …

Do You Feel Like A Fraud? How Experiencing The Impostor Phenomenon Influences Consumption Choices, Emily Goldsmith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Most of us, at one point, have felt like a fraud. Usually we can overcome the negative feelings associated with feeling like a fraud by acknowledging why we deserve our accomplishments. However, there are times when, despite all external evidence, we still feel like an impostor. A person experiences the impostor phenomenon when they are unable to internalize their achievements and they have the constant fear of being exposed as a fraud. The current research examines each of the four behaviors associated with experiencing the impostor phenomenon and examines how they influence our consumption behavior. The impostor cycle is a …

Like What You See? The Influence Of Program Assortment Organization And Viewing Motivation On Video-On-Demand Consumption, Boram Nam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research investigates the effect of program assortment organization and consumers’ viewing motivation on Video-on-Demand (VOD) consumption. In doing so, we examine the formation of viewers’ choice set and product interests in the context of the largely unexplored VOD marketplace. Specifically, we test the interaction between program assortment organization and the specificity of consumers’ motivation toward content for viewing on VOD to show that the size of choice set increases when program assortment is organized by content (genre) vs. a non-content specific alternative (recommendation) among consumers with an activity-focused (vs. content-focused) viewing motivation. We also provide preliminary evidence that consumer …

Decomposing Time Effect On Valuation And Choice, Yan Meng

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Intertemporal choice, defined as tradeoffs consumers make between the costs of waiting and the benefits of larger reward size, is an important and ubiquitous effect in marketing. Individuals’ perception of time has been shown to impact intertemporal choice. Event markers are demarcations that cut time duration into intervals and make time discrete rather than continuous. Event markers impact individuals’ decision making, such that a large number of event markers make individuals perceive the future to be far away. Therefore, when faced with an intertemporal choice, they take a Small-Sooner (SS) reward rather than waiting for a Large-Later (LL) reward. The …

Mapping How Culture In New York City And London Influences Respectively The Iconic Fashion Brands Of Kors And Mcqueen: A Case Study, Carol Brathwaite

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis is an explanatory case study that applies geographic information systems (GIS) data, biographical data, and other secondary data. It includes mainly qualitative data collection and analysis; furthermore, the study examines quantitative data on the cultural events offered within each city. Overall, this case study adopts a theoretical perspective. The two individual cases (based on a multiple, holistic case-study design framework) of fashion culture in New York City and London, as per Michael Kors and Alexander McQueen respectively, represent ‘confirmatory cases or presumed replications of the same phenomenon’ (Yin 2014:59). Each describes the house’s fashion aesthetics as well as …

A Whole New Wurld? How Unusual Brand Name Spelling Negatively Affects Sensory Perceptions Of New Products Through Cognitive And Affective Processing, Ann E. Mcneel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Introducing the importance of unusual brand name spelling to sensory marketing, this research shows that utilizing the linguistic device of unique brand name spelling can lead to differences in sensory perceptions and actual consumption of a variety of consumer products. Across five studies, we explore how perceptions of the uniqueness of a brand name can be achieved by varying one letter in the spelling of the brand name, and that such a small variation can result in less favorable sensory perceptions of taste (studies 1 and 3), scent (study 2), and vision (studies 4 and 5) as a result of …

The Impact Of Modality Expectancy On Memory Accuracy For Brand Names, Daniel Rubin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It is proposed that an individual’s expectations regarding the modality by which to-be-remembered brand names will be communicated in the future can impact memory accuracy for those brand names. Specifically, we hypothesize that the likelihood of malapropistic errors (i.e., false recognition of phonetically similar brand names) increases with greater attention to phonemic codes relative to orthographic codes. Attention to these memorial representations is driven by expectations as to whether retrieval will be written or spoken. When visually presented with brand names, those expecting text-based retrieval pay relatively greater attention to the visual forms or orthographies of brand names, as this …

Effects Of Serveware Materiality On Food Perceptions, Consumption, And Waste, Sara Williamson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Three lab studies and three field studies indicate that food waste and consumption is influenced by serveware disposability. Studies indicate that consumers waste more food when eating with disposable plates and consume more food when eating with permanent plates. The effect persists whether participants choose their own type and quantity of food or are given the same amount of food, whether they are responsible for plate disposal or not, and whether the serveware is touched/held or not. Process level support is provided via an IAT test to explain this effect as a perceptual readiness to dispose of food when on …

Reshaping The Event Horizon‑ Marketing Utopia At Music Festivals, Justin D. Joffe

Capstones

Imagine a world where every leisure activity is tracked, recorded, and then analyzed as market research according to your age and gender demographic. Imagine the next phase after smartphone payments, when a chip linking your finances isn’t in your phone, but on your wrist. Imagine a vast field of fellow fun-­‐seekers, eating, drinking and dancing in hedonistic, chemically enhanced utopia. Such a scene certainly requires some open-­‐ mindedness and improvisation, sure, a willingness to submit oneself to a vulnerable environment of whimsy. Now imagine being subtly exposed to advertisements in such a mindset. It’s no Orwellian controlled dystopia, really. You’ve …

Daily Fantasy Sites Engage In A Legal War For Survival, Danni R. Santana

Capstones

Over the past two years, the world has changed its perception of daily fantasy sports. FanDuel and DraftKings have taken the world by storm, making huge profits off even the casual fans desire to win money everyday, instead of just once at the end of a season. Lawmakers have noticed and are eager to regulate the business or ban it altogether, as seen in New York. What was once a weekend hobby is now a multi-billion dollar business. A business lawmakers say is just another form of gambling and doesn't require skill.

Exploring Antecedents, Performance Outcomes And Psychological Processes Of Multi-Device Use, Chi-Wen Chen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Given the widespread use of multiple devices (such as desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets) in performing a task, systematic, theoretic, and empirical studies pertaining to motivations regarding, performance outcomes, and attitudes toward multi-device use have become essential. Despite the increasing importance of multi-device use, research remains scarce regarding this topic.

To comprehensively understand the issues of multi-device use, this dissertation comprises three complementary studies, each of which focuses on a different aspect of multi-device use: Given the availability of multiple devices, what are the motivations behind multi-device use as opposed to the use of only one device to complete a …

Explorations Of Perceived Product Efficacy, Veronika Ilyuk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Prior research has largely treated perceived product efficacy as a one-dimensional construct. This research uniquely demonstrates that perceived product efficacy is comprised of several dimensions and focuses on one previously unexplored dimension that has significant implications for consumption frequency: perceived duration of product efficacy. The current research shows that consumers make biased duration judgments of product efficacy: consumers make shorter (vs. longer) duration judgments when they perceive a concurrent task to be relatively difficult (vs. easy). The effect of perceived task difficulty on duration judgments of product efficacy is (1) established with energy-enhancing products and medication, (2) shown to be …

Wearing Your Heart On Your Sleeve: The Effects Of Conspicuous Compassion On Identity Signaling And Charitable Behavior, Zoe Rogers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Conspicuous compassion is one type of prosocial behavior that involves the purchase and wearing of merchandise that supports a cause. This research considers the effects that conspicuous compassion has on signaling to others and signaling to the self and the factors that influence these types of signaling. This research shows that self-signaling is influenced more by whether the merchandise supported (vs. did not support) a cause, while other-signaling is more influenced by the public (vs. private) dimension of the message on the merchandise. This research also examines a two-path model of the effects of conspicuous compassion on subsequent charitable behavior, …