Marketing Commons^™

Let's 'Meetup' At The Theme Park, Edwin Torres, Marissa Orlowski

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Many people enjoy theme park and other leisure experiences with their families; however, today a great number of single, geographically mobile individuals desire to partake in such experiences. ‘Meetup’ is the world’s largest social network of local groups and thus allows for both online and off-line (in person) interactions. Using an ethnographic approach, this study examines how individuals can enjoy activities centered on common activities, interests, and opinions (AIO) via immersion in a Meetup group over the course of a year. Notably, members visited with greater frequency, had less tolerance for long lines, and were more likely to attend special …

A Little Difference Makes A Big Difference: Essays On The Link Between Top Management Team Traits And Strategic Marketing Decisions, Cameron Duncan Nicol

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The importance of marketing is growing. This is not just a perception: CEOs appear to see its importance as well. Despite the increase in the understood importance of marketing, there still remains a relatively scant amount of research on the impact that can be had by top management team members on a firm's strategic marketing outcomes. The research which follows explores an important question that has previously been comparatively neglected by researchers: what top management team individual differences can impact the strategic marketing outcomes of the firm? The first essay, based on a multi-industry sample of 325 publicly listed fortune …

Rescuing Relationships: Toward An Understanding Of Exchange Relationship Disruption And Recovery, Matthew Mark Lastner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research investigating business-to-business (B2B) exchange supports the position that cultivating strong exchange relationships is vital to the long-term success of both parties involved in an exchange. However, while much is known about how exchange relationships are developed and organized to yield maximum benefits for buyers and sellers, very little research has been advanced to understand how B2B exchanges experience disruptive events and what impact disruptions have on the long-term health of these relationships. Across three essays, this dissertation utilizes a multi-method approach to examine the nature and impact of disruptive events on inter-firm exchange relationships to address this shortcoming in …

Making A Difference: The Impact Of Corporate Ethical Behavior On Consumers In The Beauty Industry, Paige M. Gould

Honors Theses and Capstones

Over the years, the cosmetic industry has struggled with a variety of ethical issues. This research examines the effects of these unethical practices on consumers’ perceptions and judgements. More specifically, do consumers consider ethical issues when evaluating cosmetics? Can consumers’ ethical perceptions and decision making be influenced? If so, are heuristic appeals or systematic appeals more persuasive? The results of this study indicate that unless prompted, most consumers do not consider ethical issues when purchasing cosmetics. The study also found that both heuristic and systematic appeals were effective in influencing general industry perceptions, but only the systematic appeal was successful …

Integrated Marketing Communication As Epideictic Rhetoric And Its Implications For Ethical Branding, Tricia Mcfadden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traced to ancient scholarship, rhetoric, and the philosophy of communication and through interpretive perspectives, rhetoric, narrative and ethics have been established grounding of communication and social structures. IMC has emerged as a contemporary genre of epideictic rhetoric with ethical obligations to our postmodern polis. Through the redefining of the branding metaphor within an ethical, grounded and narrative framework, the focus on ethos and connection to the audience through Schrag’s “fitting response” may combat the previous challenges of narrative and marketing and its deconstructive effects. IMC as communicative praxis engages branding discourse in action with texture as the bonding agent between …

What Are The Expectations And Opportunities For Full Professors Different Than Associate And Assistant Professors?, Tulay Girard, Ismet Anitsal, Meral Anitsal, David Burns, Michael Latta, Michael Mccall

AMTP Proceedings 2017

Most higher education institutions provide assistant and associate professors with clear expectations in teaching, research, and service areas. However, once the faculty members are promoted to the rank of Professor, the expectations do not seem to be clearly known or stated. This session aims to highlight some of the expectations and opportunities that may be available to the faculty promoted to the rank of full professor presented by a panel of experienced full professors from different types of universities.

Evaluating The Influence Of Personal Learning On Salesperson Role Ambiguity And Organizational Commitment, Shalonda Bradford, Brian Rutherford, Scott Friend

AMTP Proceedings 2017

Learning facilitates changes in attitudes and behavior and these changes beseech improved performance and increased sales outcomes. Yet, given the independent nature of most sales positions, with fewer opportunities to engage with supervisors and co-workers, it is reasonable to postulate that many of the benefits of the organizational learning resources may go unrealized causing these employees to feel ill prepared and less committed to performing the duties of their job. The current study offers insight as to how ongoing efforts might produce positive energy toward the application of workplace learning thereby increasing the probability that the benefits will lead to …

Brand Promotions Via Social Media Advocacy: Strategic Implications For Improving Brand Equity, Manisha Mathur

AMTP Proceedings 2017

Social media is all about consumer networks and consumer relations that challenge marketers to leverage social media as a means to develop and improve their connections with consumers. Despite the opportunities available through social media marketing activities, understanding customers and their behavior, and incorporating that information in marketing strategy formulation is critical to successful strategy implementation. This study takes a significant leap forward in this direction. Theoretically grounded in two different fields-the field of sociology in combination with the field of relationship marketing, this study develops a conceptual model of optimizing social media characteristics of customers. The current study uses …

Fulbright Scholars Program Workshop, Steve Litvin

AMTP Proceedings 2017

In this workshop, College of Charleston Professor and Fulbright Ambassador Steve Litvin will share his Fulbright experiences and discuss how a Fulbright can work for you. Scholars such as Steve return to their campuses with new perspectives on their fields and fresh ideas for further international engagement. Participants will learn about the benefits of Fulbright and the impact it can have personally and professionally. The Fulbright Ambassador Program trains and utilizes a select group of Fulbright Scholar alumni from the full spectrum of U.S. academic disciplines, higher education institutions, and geographic regions to serve as representatives for the Fulbright Scholar …

How Third Party Observers Respond To Overheard Service Failures: Implications For Frontline Service Employees And The Firm, Ismail Karabas, Jeff Joireman, Shinhye Kim

AMTP Proceedings 2017

Frontline service employees and unhappy customers have generally been the main focus of the service failures research. It is established that service failures are difficult to prevent and are costly to a firm. Therefore, effective service recoveries have been proposed such as apology or compensation. The recent research extended the service failures literature by focusing on a broader audience during service failures: third party observers in the servicescape. The current work investigates the degree to which overhearing another customer’s interaction with a service employee following a service failure will impact third party observers’ evaluations of the service employees and the …

Consumer Attitudes Toward Travel Risks By Regulatory Focus Orientation And Gender, Michael Musante, David Bojanic

AMTP Proceedings 2017

The leisure travel industry continues to thrive as consumer expenditures on travel have steadily increased. While travel has always carried with it some level of inherit risk, ever-increasing news of safety threats in tourism areas has been a troubling reality. This study sought to examine the importance of risk-related factors in leisure travel planning. A main objective of the study was to explore the role that an individual’s regulatory focus or gender may play in how one assesses various types of travel risk. Study participants, segmented based on regulatory focus and gender, evaluated a series of prospective travel risks. The …

Online Survey Respondents’ Reactions To Required Questions, Jeffrey S. Gutenberg, Seongbae Lim

AMTP Proceedings 2017

One of the most common errors committed by “amateur” online survey questionnaire designers is the improper use of “required” questions, where the survey respondent is not allowed to continue in the survey unless the question is answered. The problem with this design feature is that if a valid choice is not offered, the survey respondent must either give an incorrect answer to proceed, or terminate the survey. In order to get an empirical sense of how survey-takers respond to such situations, two studies were conducted, both employing 600+ members of a commercial online panel. Respondents were asked their opinion of …

The Role Of Social Identity In Viewer Attitudes And Intentions, Rachel Kavena Secharan, Hillary Greenberg, Juancarlo Villatoro, Princess Brown, Jaejin Lee

AMTP Proceedings 2017

The research project aims to identify a relationship between self-identification based on the social identity theory and feelings towards a particular show. Focusing the research on four fictitious shows with similar plot lines, but different casts of the same ethnic group, the research team has created a questionnaire that asked questions relating to the shows and participant social identity. The survey sample consists of 241 individuals between the ages of 18 and 28. The results show that there is a positive predictive relationship between feeling that your social group is represented in a show and attitudes towards that show, as …

Utilitarian And Hedonic Shopping Behavior In The Face Of Natural Disaster, Lindsay R.L. Larson, Hyunju Shin

AMTP Proceedings 2017

Terror management theory suggests that events which make one’s mortality salient also lead to compensatory processes and behaviors meant to alleviate existential anxiety. Applications within the field of consumer behavior have led to the proposal that any such event may also impact materialism and consumption decisions as a protectant from such anxiety. With this in mind, the current study sets out to investigate the personal experiences and subsequent shopping behavior of those impacted by Hurricane Matthew in the coastal southeastern region of the United States. While Hurricane Matthew had nowhere near the destructive impact of Katrina within the continental United …

For One Or Many? Recommendation Targeting And Consumer Advice Integration, Michael Sciandra

AMTP Proceedings 2017

As consumers, many of our most important decisions are not made in isolation. Rather, it is common for individuals to pursue, evaluate, and rely on advice from other individuals. While research on advice usage from multiple or individual advisors has been investigated, no research has looked at advice integration when the advice is offered to an individual or group. This is an important consideration of advice as online review sites (e.g. Yelp, Expedia, and Foursquare) and social media platforms (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) now make it easy for consumers to make general recommendations targeted at a large number of individuals. …

An Exploratory Investigation Of Green Behaviors And Attitudes Towards Green Marketing Initiatives, Sam Fullerton, Tammy Mccullough, Lewis Hershey

AMTP Proceedings 2017

A sample of 205 university students provided input regarding an array of 32 issues germane to both green marketing and green consumption. A diverse array of behaviors and opinions were articulated. Respondents reported a high propensity to engage in recycling, donating used goods, and purchasing products with a longer life expectancy. They favored environmentally-friendly actions such as focusing on cleaner and more efficient energy alternatives. There was a strong belief that individuals can make a difference. A comparison of business and nonbusiness students documented significant differences on two of the 32 issues under investigation with nonbusiness students expressing greater concern …

Compromise And Attraction Effects Under Interdependent And Independent Self-Construal, Ramin Bagherzadeh, Monika Rawal, Jose Luis Saavedra

AMTP Proceedings 2017

When a new alternative introduces to a choice set, the preferences for the original alternatives will be effected (Mourali, Böckenholt and Laroche 2007). Consumers often feel uncertainty about the true values of options when they want to purchase products (Simonson 1989). Huber, Payne, and Puto (1982) defined the attraction effect as “when adding an alternative that is inferior to another alternative in the choice set increases the share of the relatively superior alternative.” Compromise effect is defined as “when adding an extreme option to the choice set shifts the choice preferences in favor of the compromise option” (Simonson 1989). The …

The Role Of Consumption In The Communication Of Family Identity In Multiracial Adoptive Families, Elise Johansen Harvey

AMTP Proceedings 2017

In the past four decades, family structure has shifted away from the traditional family of a same race family complete with a married mother and father and biological. Some disciplines have incorporated these changes into their research, but the marketing discipline has consistently assumed a relatively stable, traditional family structure. Family structures associated with social stigma have seen a rise in prevalence including those characterized by racial diversity, sexual orintation, and adoption. Families facing a stigmatized status in society are the population of interest this paper; specifically we examine the experiences of transracial adoptive families. There are over 2 million …

A Cit Investigation Of Patient Deception Using Self-Discrepancy Theory, Gary Daniel Futrell

AMTP Proceedings 2017

It is widely accepted that patients knowingly lie, mislead, and deceive health care professionals working in their favor. While physicians do their best to provide patients with quality care, patient deception can not only affect service quality and patient satisfaction, but also physician effectiveness and medical outcomes. The current research consists of a qualitative investigation of this phenomenon and seeks to lay the foundation for a self-discrepancy theory perspective of patient deception.

Self-discrepancy theory (SDT) seeks to explain how emotional discomfort can be caused by conflicting beliefs about one’s self. That is, a discrepancy arises and there is emotional discomfort …

Race Ethnicity And In-Store Mobile-Assisted Shopping In The Us, Kristine Johnson, Manuel C. Pontes

AMTP Proceedings 2017

This research primarily investigates the relationship between race ethnicity and consumer use of mobile phones in-store to facilitate purchase decisions. Data were collected by a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of US adults between January 5 and January 8, 2012. The data collection was sponsored by the Pew Foundation and made available for this research. The data were analyzed with the software R and its survey package that allow researchers to incorporate the sampling weights to estimate population statistics, standard errors, and confidence intervals.

The independent variables were demographic variables (race ethnicity, gender, and household income) and behavioral …