Marketing Commons^™

The Role Of Social Media In Beauty Marketing: Insights From Kidfluencers, Brand Withdrawal, And Consumers’ Attitudes, Avery Giddings

Business/Business Administration

This thesis examines the evolving role of social media in beauty marketing by analyzing industry trends, ethical considerations, and consumer perceptions. The paper first outlines how social media has transformed digital marketing, enabling brands to merge advertising, community-building, and e-commerce. Two case studies highlight contrasting dynamics within this landscape: the rise of “kidfluencers,” which raises concerns about privacy and potential financial exploitation; and Lush Cosmetics’ decision to withdraw from major social media platforms, a move rooted in ethical branding but accompanied by economic challenges. To further investigate consumer attitudes, a survey of 150 U.S. participants assessed social media usage patterns, …

Motion Picture Reviews As Determinants Of Box Office Revenue In The Post-Covid Environment, Fernando Comiran, Velitchka D. Kaltcheva, Anthony Patino

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

The decline in motion picture box office receipts and shortened release windows following the COVID-19 pandemic have placed heightened pressure on early performance as a critical determinant of commercial viability. Building upon earlier research suggesting that, as moviegoing frequency decreases, consumers are more likely to rely on audience reviews than critics’ reviews when making a decision to see a movie (Chakravarty et al., 2010), we examine which source of early reviews—professional critics reviews or audience reviews (WOM)—has an impact on early performance following the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimate a linear regression model using actual behavioral data—namely, eight years of motion …

Feedback Strategies In The Market With Uncertainties, Mustapha Nyenye Issah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This paper explores how established firms use strategic advertising to deter new competitors in uncertain markets. Specifically, it models a situation where market demand evolves unpredictably - captured by the CKLS stochastic process, and the incumbent firm may be either strong or weak, a fact hidden from potential entrants. For a company already in the market, advertising is not just about driving immediate sales, it is a strategic tool to project an image of strength and deter potential new competitors. On the other side, a business thinking about entering that market faces a high-stakes, irreversible decision. It will typically hold …

2025 December, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for December of 2025.

Decoding The Dynamics Of Ceo Sociopolitical Activism And Stakeholders’ Response, Nayyer Naseem, Yuqi Wang, Faraz Moin

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

Business leaders today function as powerful symbolic figures whose sociopolitical stances can transform consumer loyalty, investor confidence, and organizational stability. This study decodes how stakeholders interpret executive actions and respond through behaviors such as boycotts, divestment, or heightened advocacy, highlighting both short and long-term consequences. Drawing on signaling, stakeholder, social identity, social influence, intrinsic motivation, and reputational risk theoretical frameworks, this study develops a four-stage interpretive model that links leadership behavior to stakeholder perceptions, reactions, and market outcomes within varying contextual and environmental conditions. Through a case-based analysis, it illustrates how CEO stance, media framing, and ideological alignment shape these …

Educating For Impact: A Prosocial Marketing Approach To Foster Altruism Among Young Consumers, Bela Florenthal

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

This study explores how a prosocial marketing intervention in a dual-enrollment course fosters altruistic values and emotional development among young consumers while deepening their understanding of cause-related and social marketing. Grounded in holistic and experiential learning, the project required students to engage in weekly acts of kindness, reflect on their experiences, and share their actions on social media to amplify impact. Thematic analysis of qualitative data collected over two academic years revealed personal growth driven by intrinsic motivation (e.g., belonging, self-esteem) and positive emotions (e.g., joy, pride). Students demonstrated greater social awareness and practical application of marketing principles through volunteering, …

Love Affair With Thin Air: Mortality, Mastery, And The Consumerism Of Mountaineering, Kenneth Bates, Justine Rapp Farrell, Steven W. Kopp, Christopher Newman

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mountaineering is arguably one of the most dangerous recreational challenges an individual may ever choose to undertake, yet millions of people annually venture above 8000 feet to challenge themselves in pursuit of personal goals, ideals, and support of individual values. But, why are consumers motivated to participate in such demanding and hazardous pursuits? This paper evaluates the psychological complexities surrounding adventure tourism as an act of consumerism, uncovering the pursuit of values, ideals, and identity transformation that is guided by one's own mortality salience. The present study seeks to examine consumer satisfaction beyond the simple pleasures of adventure and adrenaline …

Is Political Information Over Facebook Credible? A Look At The 2020 Presidential Election, Kristina Harrison, Shawn Thelen, Boonghee Yoo, John B. Ford

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

Much controversy still exists surrounding the events before, during, and after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Some of this is attributable to voters’ uncertainty, driven by conflicting messages transmitted over social media, about the credibility of information surrounding the candidates and election results. Examining data collected shortly before the 2020 election, this study investigates how consumers perceive political information presented on Facebook. Drawing from Source Credibility Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), the research tests a model that includes medium dependency, medium interactivity, information quality, information presentation, personal expertise, and power perception. Data from 407 participants were analyzed using …

An Examination Of Brand Avoidance Among Consumers Of Membership Business Models, Cara Peters, Bradley W. Brooks

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

The purpose of this study is to examine how the increasingly prevalent business membership model is linked to potential brand avoidance. Based on a qualitative examination of consumer complaints from two organizations that utilize membership business models, this research demonstrates how consumer complaints are highly consistent with established brand avoidance antecedents. The findings offer a cautionary warning to business decision-makers who manage membership business models with consumers as well as to those who are considering implementing such an approach. The implications for these decision-makers are discussed.

The Role Of Apparel In College Student Athletic Affiliation, Robin Hardin, Michelle L. Childs

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

Athletics is often considered the virtual front porch of a university, as it is often the most recognizable aspect of a college or university. This study examines how college students use apparel to affiliate with their university’s athletic brand. Results revealed three key factors influencing athletic-related merchandise preference: fashionable appeal, uniqueness, and official merchandise. Further analysis found that merchandise featuring official logos, colors, and recognizable branding elements significantly enhances consumers’ ability to associate with the university’s athletics brand. Gender differences emerged in preferences for fashionable items, with men showing greater interest. These findings provide valuable insights for marketers and university …

Chasing The Dream And Buying The Promise In A Conceptual Framework For Consumer Decision-Making, Casey H. Prentice

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The American dream is a concept that is echoed across our society, and while the data show Americans do not overwhelmingly believe in the dream, marketers continue to pair it and the issue of economic prosperity in their agendas. Through a novel framework that overlaps a deeply studied mass communication theory with a decision-making framework used in marketing, this paper demonstrates a new lens to understand how marketers identify strategies and tactics, build agendas, and make sales by touting the American dream. As separate entities, decision-making models and agenda setting theory are powerful, but together can create an environment that …

Two Essays On Customer Loyalty, Arjang Attar Shoushtari

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Customer loyalty is vital for business success, yet most research treats loyal customers as a uniform group. This essay challenges that assumption by proposing that attitudinally loyal customers are psychologically heterogeneous. Drawing on Construal Level Theory (CLT), I introduce the construct of Consumer-Brand Construal Level (CBCL) to distinguish loyal customers based on how abstractly or concretely they construe their brand relationships. I conceptualize two loyalty mindsets, macro-loyalty (abstract, big-picture) and micro-loyalty (concrete, detail-focused), and argue that even highly loyal consumers differ meaningfully in their CBCL. I develop and validate a new CBCL scale (Studies 1–2) and then test how these …

Fragmentation In The U. S. Fed Cattle Market: Implications For Price Transparency And Discovery, Taralee M. Hudson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The U.S. fed cattle market is one plagued by recurring stakeholder concern. Market participants frequently raise questions about the transparency of fundamental information under existing reporting frameworks, and the extent to which Private Negotiation, the dominant trading institution, effectively facilitates price discovery. Although extensive research has sought to address these issues, much of it has failed to account for the market’s increasingly fragmented structure. This thesis is comprised of three chapters that collectively examine price transparency and discovery through the lens of market fragmentation. Each chapter presents research related to the fed cattle market and is intended to stand …

Determinants Of Consumers' Mobile Network Continuance Intention: The Mediating Effects Of Cognitive And Affective Inertia, Fazlul Hoque, Pi Shen Seet, Stephanie Meek, Saalem Sadeque

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Despite extensive research on customer continuance intention, few studies have explored the mediating roles of cognitive and affective inertia in shaping continuance intention, particularly in emerging markets. We address this gap in an empirical study, grounded in the SOR (Stimulus-Organism-Response) framework, that investigates how trust, satisfaction, and switching barriers influence mobile network users' continuance intention, with cognitive and affective inertia as mediators. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), we analyzed primary data from 407 mobile phone users in Bangladesh, an emerging economy. The findings indicate that trust, satisfaction, and switching barriers have a significant influence on continuance intention. …

Exploring Communication Strategies With Esports Fans: Signaling Physical Location And Popularity, Gavin Nolin, Ismail Karabas, Skylar King

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

Purpose

Using signaling theory as a theoretical foundation, this study aims to investigate how consumers respond to message framing emphasizing physical location and popularity of an esports team. Additionally, this research looks at how power distance belief, need for uniqueness, sense of power and pride in community are associated with consumer intentions (e.g. support likelihood, watch likelihood, follow on social media likelihood) as a function of physical location versus popularity-signaling in team communication with prospective fans. Design/methodology/approach

This research uses an experiment to test the effects of physical location and popularity-signaling on consumer intentions toward an esports team, as well …

Helping Craft Beer Hunters Make Their Next Great Beer Discovery, Mark Mitchell, Sheila Mitchell

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The number of craft beer producers and consumers in the United States has increased dramatically over the last ten years. This manuscript provides an overview of the craft beer marketplace in the United States with a focus on the craft brewers and retailers as well as the consumers who favor craft beers. Craft beer enthusiasts are a “consumption community” or, a group of consumers who share a deep involvement with the craft beer category. This study presents a list of common business practices designed to appeal to this unique consumer group.

Trusted Advisor: Reality Or Fading Myth?, Stephen C. Carlson, Susanna Warnock, Gerald Sullivan, Margaret Ryder

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The role of trusted advisor has long differentiated the role of community banking from traditional national banks in its relationship with small businesses. This study serves two purposes. First is to confirm presence of a trusted advisor relationship and secondly, understand the impact of digital banking services on the community banker – small business owner relationship. Using data collected in a survey of community bankers and small business owners in five southeastern United States, this study assesses the viability of the trusted advisor construct by applying the Integrative Model of Organizational Trust (Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995, 2007), trust-building behaviors …

Sync, Lauren Brown

Honors Theses

The goal of my thesis is to develop an efficient way for dance professionals to network with each other. The dance industry is saturated with talent; therefore, relationships are key to booking jobs. Relationships connect mentors and collaborative spaces that lead to consistent and long-term growth. Dancers enter the professional industry with limited experience. The financial pressure to afford the living costs in dance hub cities like New York and Los Angeles often requires dancers to work multiple jobs. Balancing multiple jobs causes dancers to struggle to find time and opportunities to network meaningfully. Thus, the core problem is when, …

At The Crossroads: Ryan Coogler’S Metaphysical Meditation On Blues Music’S Power Of Salvation And The Terror Of Racial Predation In “Sinners”, Terri Bowles

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

In Sinners (2025), written and directed by Ryan Coogler, intercultural histories of music, religion and oral tradition inform a modern and complex horror tale confronting the terror of Jim Crow in the post–World War I Mississippi Delta. The film, starring frequent Coogler collaborator and muse Michael B. Jordan as twin war veterans out to reestablish their lives as juke joint owners, coalesces themes of economic repression, racial voyeurism, and secular and religious entanglements with cinematic horror allegories of objectification, consumption and possession. This review explores the film’s tense and violent examination of these themes and the lived and imagined spaces …

Aging And The Screen: Toxic Commodification Of The Female Body In The Substance (2024), Damlasu Uyug Sengun, Tuncer Mert Aydın, Zeynep Ozdamar Ertekin

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Representations of the aging female body have increased in media, but their presence is still shaped by social norms and market-driven ideals. On the contrary, The Substance (2024), an absurd, postmodern body horror, provides us a provocative critique of contemporary society’s obsession with youth and beauty and the way our culture defines and commodifies aging, especially in relation to women’s bodies and identities. Our review of The Substance incorporates consumer culture theory with Julia Kristeva’s concept of the abject (1982), Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze (1975), and Barbara Creed’s notion of the monstrous-feminine, (1993) to explore the toxic …