Marketing Commons^™

2026 August, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for August of 2026.

Promotion Architecture: A Deal Fairness Model Of Restricted Price Promotions, Shangwen Yi, David Hardisty, Dale Griffin, Thomas Allard

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This research examines the effectiveness of two common types of restricted price promotions: threshold promotions (conditional on spending more than a threshold amount; e.g., “Get $5 off on orders of $10 or more”) and capped promotions (limited to a maximum dollar value; e.g., “Get 50% off, up to $5 per order”). Results from seven pre-registered studies, including one field study, show that threshold promotions lead to higher purchase intentions and conversion rates (but potentially lower purchase amounts) than comparable capped promotions—even though capped promotions are equivalent in maximal economic savings for the consumer—when the trigger value (the spending amount at …

Gaming The Marketplace: Consumer Opportunism And Beliefs About Societal Hierarchy, Shilpa Madan, Aparna Labroo, Constantine S. Katsikeas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Consumers often behave opportunistically, taking more than what fair marketplace exchange warrants (e.g., taking excess samples, returning used items). While each individual transgression may be minor, cumulatively they can undermine firm profitability. Thus, addressing consumer opportunism is an important managerial concern. We identify a novel antecedent of consumer opportunism: consumers’ acceptance of societal hierarchy (i.e., power distance belief [PDB]), including firms’ higher position in it than consumers. Nine studies (plus two supplementary studies) employing archival, correlational, and experimental data provide converging evidence that, in marketplace interactions, this belief evokes a need to feel clever (i.e., to feel smart and knowledgeable …

Two Essays On Designing Conversational Agents: Varying Level Of Mimicry And Personality–Brand Congruence, Sama Ashouri

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Across two essays, this dissertation demonstrates that mimicry and personality shape consumers’ perceptions of chatbot intelligence, creativity, and fit, with downstream effects on recommendation acceptance that depend on factors such as mimicry intensity, brand familiarity.

Essay1: Mimicry, a central aspect of human interaction, is increasingly being examined in human–AI communication, particularly with chatbots. While prior research shows mimicry can build rapport, trust, and engagement, it has often been treated as a binary factor, overlooking how different levels may influence user perceptions. This research proposes and tests a dual-mediation framework in which different levels of chatbot mimicry affects recommendation acceptance through …

Marketing Strategies To Enhance Awareness And Attract International Patients In The Medical Tourism Industry Of Trinidad And Tobago, Natasha Rachel Rochford-Chance

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Disseminating inadequate service information can limit a business's market appeal and hinder its growth. Business leaders must include comprehensive service information in their marketing strategies, as inadequate service information can make a business seem unappealing to potential clients, undermine competitive position, reduce market share, and diminish profitability. The purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore the marketing strategies used by medical tourism business leaders in Trinidad and Tobago to attract international patients and increase profitability. The participants were eight medical tourism business leaders with experience in implementing marketing strategies. McCarthy's marketing mix theory of product, price, place, and …

Procedural And Distributive Unfairness In Ai Interactions: Are People Less Satisfied With Unfairness From Ai Compared To Humans?, Devon S. Johnson, Sungyong Chun, Sneha Pandey, Gouher Ahmed

Department of Marketing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study investigates consumer perceptions of procedural and distributive fairness/unfairness in service interactions involving AI versus human providers. It also examines how these perceptions are influenced by technology-related discomfort and the perceived responsibility of the service organization. A scenario-based online experiment was conducted using participants recruited through the Prolific research platform. Participants were asked to review a small business loan application process at a fictional digital bank where the application is processed either by an AI algorithm or a human loan officer. The study found that consumers experienced a higher level of satisfaction when they encountered procedural unfairness from humans …

The Business Next Door: The Unfamiliar, Unique Story Of Manufacturer Hemco Gage, Steve Vanderveen

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Most people are not familiar with Hemco Gage — although every day an estimated 10,000-15,000 vehicles pass by its building at 455 Douglas Ave. in Holland without knowing what happens inside

“What Is Our Brand?” Examining The Indiana State University Athletics Rebrand, Matt Blaszka, Patrick T. Walsh, Craig Morehead

Findings in Sport, Hospitality, Entertainment, and Event Management

Rebranding in sports has become commonplace as teams try to modernize their brand. Often, rebrands are viewed negatively by fans, particularly immediately following the rebrand. However, less is known about the impact of rebranding over time. In this case study, the Indiana State University athletics rebrand was explored three years after the initial launch. A total of 189 participants representing student-athletes, alumni, donors, faculty, and staff were asked open-ended questions on their feelings toward the rebrand. Four different themes emerged. The two positive themes were: modern logo, wordmark, and font, as well as public perception. The two negative themes were …

Provocable Forgiveness In Noisy Brand--Consumer Systems:An Agent-Based Study Of Repeated Interaction, Tahere Ahmadiyan, Hamidreza Navidi, Behbod Keshavarzi

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Repeated brand--consumer exchange is often treated as a managerial problem of loyalty, recovery, and trust. It can also be read as a small complex system: many local decisions about cooperation, retaliation, and forgiveness accumulate into market-level selection. This study uses that perspective to examine which relational rules survive when communication is imperfect. Eight canonical Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma strategies are translated into marketing archetypes and evaluated through round-robin tournaments, a six-level noise sweep, proportional-fitness ecological dynamics, and finite-population Moran invasion tests. The tournament leaderboard is calculated without same-strategy self-play, so that reported payoffs reflect inter-archetype competition rather than homogeneous self-coordination. At …

Designing Menus That Welcome Everyone: How Inclusive Menu Cues Drive Customer Behavior For Diners With Dietary Restrictions, Cortney Norris, Lisa Slevitch, Matthew Bauman, Soyoung Park, Seung Hyun Lee

ICHRIE Research Reports

Millions of consumers navigate dietary restrictions every time they eat out, whether due to food allergies, religious practices, or lifestyle choices such as veganism. Yet most restaurant menus do little to acknowledge these needs. This report summarizes findings from a three-phase study that explored which menu design features most effectively communicate inclusivity to diners with dietary restrictions and how those features influence emotions, attitudes, and likelihood of choosing a restaurant. The results offer restaurant operators concrete, evidence-based strategies for making their menus more welcoming and, in doing so, expanding their customer base.

How Grades Changed Before, During And After Covid-19 In A Business College, Douglas R. Moodie, Alison Keefe, Robin Cheramie

International Journal for Business Education

Purpose: This study examines how undergraduate business student grades changed before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic using a large institutional dataset from a business college in a US university between 2015 and 2024.

Method: The analysis includes over 390,000 student-course observations and incorporates instructional modality, student demographics, course characteristics, and prior academic performance.

Results: Results show a substantial increase in mean course grades during the COVID-19 period, followed by a partial reversion post-pandemic to levels that remain above pre-pandemic trends. These patterns are consistent across modalities, demographics, and departments.

Implications: The findings raise important questions regarding the interpretation of …

How Does An Advanced Educator Utilize Digital Language Teaching And Learning By Integrating Linguistic, Cultural, And Business Life Perspectives?, Hely Westerholm, Pirjo Takanen-Körperich, Ph.D.

International Journal for Business Education

This paper explores advanced educators’ digital working capabilities in online language teaching, with a particular focus on sharing Finnish language and culture in a foreign context. Cultural and linguistic knowledge play a significant role in enhancing students’ motivation to study foreign languages. In today’s educational environment, digitalisation and globalisation exert an increasing influence on foreign language teaching and learning.

The digital learning environment has brought about a paradigm shift in foreign language didactics. Digital language learning is both challenging and holistic in nature. Continued foreign language learning is simultaneously an individual and a social process, as digital learning cultures impose …

Building Consumer Trust In Short-Term Rentals: A Literature Review On Factors Influencing Consumer Booking Motivations And Trust Formation, Alyssa N. Thornton, Kiyan Shafieizadeh

ICHRIE Research Reports

This study synthesizes existing research on consumer trust formation and booking motivations in short-term rental (STR) platforms through a systematic literature review. Drawing on 19 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025, the review examines how trust-building cues and motivational factors jointly influence consumer booking decisions in peer-to-peer accommodation contexts. Using a thematic analysis approach, the findings reveal five dominant themes: visual and aesthetic cues, host attributes, reviews and reputation mechanisms, economic and functional motivations, and host–guest interaction. The results highlight the central role of visual presentation and social signals in reducing perceived risk and fostering trust, while economic and …

Pricing Hawaii: When Discounts, Fees, And Transparency Collide In Hotel Pricing, Kody Dominguez, Ingrid Lin

ICHRIE Research Reports

This report examines how hotel pricing structures in Hawaiʻi; specifically, Kamaʻāina discounts, visitor rates, and destination fees interact to shape perceptions of fairness, transparency, and booking behavior.

Using survey data from 192 respondents and a pricing audit of 57 properties in Oahu, Hawaii, the findings reveal a structural disconnect between pricing intent and guest experience. While Kamaʻāina discounts range from 20–30%, mandatory destination fees averaging $37.69 significantly erode realized savings, particularly at mid-tier price points. As a result, 62% of residents perceive hotel pricing as unfair, compared to 27% of visitors, and nearly 70% of respondents report abandoning bookings due …

Guests Attitude And Purchase Intention Towards Hotel Brand Extension, Daegeun Kim, Eun-Kyong (Cindy) Choi, Tanya Ruetzler, James Taylor

ICHRIE Research Reports

Brand extension is widely used among firms and hotels to launch new products using their parent brand name, making it important for practitioners to understand which factors influence consumers' attitude toward brand extension (ATT). This study investigated the role of consumer brand identity (CBI) in guests' attitude leading to purchase intention (PUR) for hotel vacation rentals. Findings suggest that CBI was a positive antecedent of perceived fit (PF) and tie (PT), which positively influenced ATT. Additionally, parent brand conviction and quality were identified as factors that positively influenced ATT and led to PUR. As the first study on hotel vacation …

The Strategic Role Of Frontline Sales Personnel In Semiconductor Manufacturing Markets, Daisuke Yahiro

Jesselton Journal of Educators and Scholars

This study examines the strategic role of frontline sales personnel within semiconductor manufacturing environments characterized by technological volatility, operational interdependence, and evolving customer demands. Drawing upon emergent strategy, strategy-as-practice, and organizational sensemaking perspectives, the study explores how frontline personnel contribute to organizational responsiveness and strategy formation beyond conventional execution-oriented roles. A qualitative interpretive research design grounded in pragmatism and symbolic interactionism was adopted. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews involving 12 participants engaged in semiconductor manufacturing sales, customer coordination, and managerial activities in Japan. The findings reveal that frontline personnel function as strategically embedded organizational actors who contribute to operational …

Marketing Strategies To Increase Student Enrollment To Generate Revenue, Jermaine R. Mccain

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Declining student enrollment can reduce district revenue and limit a public school’s ability to sustain educational programs, staffing, and overall organizational effectiveness. Public school business leaders who lack effective marketing strategies to increase student enrollment may experience financial instability, limiting their organization’s capacity to maintain long-term operational sustainability. Grounded in consumer choice theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to identify and explore effective marketing strategies public school business leaders use to increase student enrollment to generate district revenue. Participants were six public school business leaders in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and …

Sales Innovativeness Climate And B2b Salesperson Performance: The Roles Of Persistence, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy And Creative Selling, John Charles Peter Edwards, Steven Peter D'Alessandro, Morgan Miles

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: Persistence is widely viewed as essential for success in business to business (B2B) selling, yet it remains unclear how persistence translates into higher sales performance when selling requires experimentation and novel customer solutions. This study examines whether a perceived sales innovativeness climate enables persistence and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and, in turn, creative selling, driving B2B sales performance.

Design/methodology/approach: An online survey of 346 US-based B2B salespeople was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings: The perceived sales-innovativeness climate is positively associated with ESE, persistence, and sales performance. Persistence is positively related to sales performance and ESE, …

The Use Of Public Relations Departments In Palestinian Private Companies In The Northern Governorates On Social Media And Its Impact On Achieving Competitive Advantage, Ahmed Ammar

Middle East Journal of Communication Studies

This study aimed to examine the use of public relations departments in private Palestinian companies in the northern governorates for social media and their impact on achieving competitive advantage. The study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach, with data collected via a questionnaire distributed to a sample of 49 employees in public relations and related administrative roles. Descriptive analysis indicated that digital content management, media communication, audience engagement, relationship building, and performance monitoring and strategic analysis are all key factors in enhancing competitive advantage, with varying levels of impact. Multiple regression analysis showed that digital content management and media communication and audience …

The Study Of How Sensory Marketing Techniques Used By Beauty Brands Influence Engagement And Consumer Perception On Social Media Platforms, Particularly By Evoking Specific Consumer Emotions, Eeshani Juthani

Digital Marketing Theses

This study describes how a consumers' attitude towards beauty products on social media is affected by sensory marketing techniques and cues. This study also examines how sensory marketing tactics and elements such as sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste affects the way a consumer engages with content on social media platforms like Tiktok and Instagram.