Business Commons^™

A Comparison Of The Source, Media Format, And Sentiment In Generating Source Credibility, Information Credibility, Corporate Brand Reputation, Purchase Intention, And Social Media Engagement In A Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign Presented Via Social Media, Kristie Byrum

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT This study addresses the impact of source, media format, and sentiment in the influencing source credibility, information credibility, corporate brand reputation, purchase intention, and social media engagement in a corporate social responsibility campaign presented in a social media environment. The study utilized a 2 x 3 x 2 ANOVA to analyze results from an online survey that exposed respondents to various source, format, and sentiment combinations. The source was designated as either a corporation or a consumer. The media format was a news release, an advertisement or a news article. The sentiment was classified as either 'with sentiment' or …

What’S Gender Got To Do With It? How Client Gender Influences Public Relations Practices And Crisis Management Strategies, Tiana Rojas

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Media leads gender stereotyping. Consumers of media internalize messages of gender put forth by the media, thus shaping their attitudes and expectations of gender. This paper focuses on gender and how it influences public relations (PR) practices and crisis management strategies, specifically in entertainment PR. This is a subject that has yet to be explored. Utilizing primary, secondary and quantitative research methods, I hope to answer my research question: how does client gender influence PR strategy? To test my research question, I designed an online survey composed of four common PR crises seen in the entertainment industry among celebrities. The …

Advertising In The Super Bowl: Worth The Cost?, Avi Steinbach

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Super Bowl has long been considered an unofficial American holiday. Advertisers look at this day as their Christmas – a day when the audience looks forward to commercials. Because of the immense value that a Super Bowl spot holds, there is an equally high price tag to pay for a spot.

The original question posed in this thesis was: Is a Super Bowl advertisement worth the cost? After diving into countless articles arguing both sides and looking at companies’ successes and failures, it became clear that the wrong question was being asked. Rather than thinking about all companies, the …

Get Schooled: A Visual Social Semiotic Analysis Of Target's Branding Using Instagram, Chelsea Bevins

Masters Theses

With new technology arising, brands must be able to adapt to them. This thesis will break down brand management, using David Aaker's framework, of the Target Corporation to see if they are using modern resource, Instagram effectively. This thesis will also look at how the theory of visual social semiotics, applied to communications, is used to decipher intended meaning. Brand management embodies a company and people are driven by what a brand portrays. People are driven by values, emotions and quality within a brand. People associate products with memories, celebrities, attributes and symbols. Brands are more than just a name. …

Spreading The Char: The Importance Of Local Compatibility In The Diffusion Of Biochar Systems To The Smallholder Agriculture Community Context, Laura C. V. Munoz

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis enters the context of smallholder agriculture communities in the developing world. It explores the potentials of biochar and what biochar systems could bring to the smallholder communities while simultaneously bringing environmental benefits. It then acknowledges the challenges of diffusion –the spreading of an unfamiliar innovation. It seeks to answer the question of what will make diffusion of biochar systems more successful in the smallholder context, fixating on the characteristic of compatibility as well as the role local community members can play in making a new biochar system more visible to the rest of the communities.

Social Media Public Relations Practices Of Community Non-Profit Organizations, Megan Stockhausen

All Theses

This thesis examines the use of social media for public relations in the non-profit sector. Specifically, self-perceptions and the implementation of social media by non-profit organizations was investigated through both interviews with social media practitioners and content analysis of Twitter. Through the lens of the five principles of dialogic communication, as set forth by Kent and Taylor (1998), eight community non-profit organizations were analyzed in a multiple case study. One interview and 150 tweets from a 12 month period were examined for each organization to determine the motivations for employing social media and whether dialogic communication was used to interact …

The Role Of Self-Concept In Consumer Behavior, Marisa Toth

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Understanding the influences underlying consumption has become an increasingly important goal for marketers. This study examined the role of self-concept in consumer behavior, specifically product evaluation. The influences of various dimensions of the self-concept are examined in regard to four product dimensions: public luxury, public necessity, private luxury, and private necessity. Differences due to variations in individual levels of self-monitoring are also measured. Overall, results showed that the more conspicuous a product is (higher on luxury/public dimensions) the greater the relationship between evaluation and ideal self-images (ideal self and ideal social self) for both high and low self-monitors.

Sterling, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

There are times when something happens in the world of sport that is so startling that reactions come hard and fast and seem to overwhelm events. The Donald Sterling soliloquy hit with this sort of force, and the reaction was beyond what could be anticipated but was still more than appropriate. It was required.

The Mediating Effect Of Team Identification On The Relationship Between Social Media Consumption And Intentions, Jaeahm Park

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to (a) identify the motivational factor for subscribing to collegiate athletics' social media (b) analyze the effect of subscribing to collegiate athletics' online social media on team identification (c) analyze the effect of subscribing to collegiate athletics' online social media on behavior intentions mediated by team identification. The study also examined the difference across demographic information which can be used for fan segmentation. By analyzing a total of 146 undergraduate students from University of Arkansas Recreation and Sport Management classes, this dissertation found the following.

This study verified seven motives for subscribing to school …

Media Frames And Cognitive Accessibility: What Do "Global Warming" And "Climate Change" Evoke Partisan Minds?, Jonathon P. Schuldt, Sungjong Roh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Decades of research demonstrate that how the public thinks about a given issue is affected by how it is framed by the media. Typically, studies of framing vary how an issue is portrayed (often, by altering the text of written communication) and compare subsequent beliefs, attitudes, or preferences—taking a framing effect as evidence that a media frame (or frame in communication) instantiated a particular audience frame (or frame in thought). Less work, however, has attempted to measure frames in thought directly, which may illuminate cognitive mechanisms that underlie framing effects. In this vein, we describe a Web experiment (n = …

The Effectiveness Of Viral Advertising Messaging Techniques On Social Media, David Teeples

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

A Special Week, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was one of those very special weeks in SportsWorld. At least three things stood out: two in baseball and one in the bizarre world of the NCAA.

Reflections Magazine - A Promotional Magazine For Reflections Adoption Ministry, Kamryn Reynolds

Senior Honors Theses

For my senior honors thesis I have received permission to present a project along with its scholarly apparatus. I will be displaying ways to apply communications to ministry. The project will be a promotional magazine and informational materials. For the thesis I will include the magazine and a press release. I will be approaching some marketing techniques for a non-profit organization and assessing potential ways to reach the public. Many organizations are doing incredible work to fight social injustice and oftentimes few people understand the issues. I want to show how communication can revitalize ministry and get the word out …

Walt Disney And The Propaganda Complex: Government Funded Animation And Hollywood Complicity During Wwii, Amanda Cunningham

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Walt Disney’s work as an animator during World War II had a measurable impact on culture and in the development of government produced messages. It is important to examine this understudied area of Disney’s life and his studio’s efforts to produce wartime training and propaganda films during WWII. Government agencies, including the U.S. Treasury, contracted Disney to produce 32 animated shorts between 1941 and 1945 (Gabler, 2007).

Employing a semiotic approach of cinema, this study focuses on the cartoons The New Spirit (1942), Der Fuehrer’s Face (1943) and Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (1943). While American wartime …

Tie Strength, Embeddedness, And Social Influence: A Large-Scale Networked Experiment, Sinan Aral, Dylan Walker

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We leverage the newly emerging business analytical capability to rapidly deploy and iterate large-scale, microlevel, in vivo randomized experiments to understand how social influence in networks impacts consumer demand. Understanding peer influence is critical to estimating product demand and diffusion, creating effective viral marketing, and designing “network interventions” to promote positive social change. But several statistical challenges make it difficult to econometrically identify peer influence in networks. Though some recent studies use experiments to identify influence, they have not investigated the social or structural conditions under which influence is strongest. By randomly manipulating messages sent by adopters of a Facebook …

Employers Need To Do More To Help Maintain Careers Of Employees With Babies, Leandra Preston-Sidler

UCF Forum

It’s amazing how quickly humans adapt to changing circumstances. A few months ago I wrote about how incredibly challenging my first month of life was with a newborn—what many refer to as “baby boot camp,” a perfect term since that’s exactly what it was like thrust into a completely new state of being where life is organized around one thing.

Masters Golf Tournament, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

On Sunday, as I usually do on Master’s weekend, I turned to CBS to get an overdose of saccharine. Jim Nantz was in fine form developing storylines, both real and contrived, to keep the focus on the players and the natural beauty of Augusta National. The camera guys had all the obligatory shots of the dogwoods and redbud trees, the flaming and cooling azaleas, and to complete the scene, an occasional magnolia. Words like “idyllic” were used with abandon and those close ups of tense competitors nearly made golf look like an action sport.

Pay Attention To The Weather Of Business And Life – And Don’T Steer Into An Iceberg, Bob Porter

UCF Forum

A big part of my day is spent thinking about improving business strategy and developing a competitive advantage. It’s what I do in the classroom, as director of UCF’s executive development center, and when I help other businesses. It even spills over into the cycling club I manage.

Adoption Of Social Media Marketing Among Professionals, Liana Moran

Honors College Theses

Social media marketing is the professional use of social media websites such as Facebook for marketing purposes. This thesis project examines the adoption patterns and factors behind the decision to use social media marketing among professionals. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with business professionals from the real estate rental industry in Statesboro, Georgia, and analyzed the results and implications using thematic analysis. Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory provides the theoretical framework for the research with social media marketing being the innovation. The participants identified that observability, relative advantage and complexity/simplicity were major factors for adopting social media marketing. The …

Nw Case, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For the first time an official body uttered words that did damage to the term “student athlete.” About a week ago a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board defined a football player as an employee of a university. Football players, it concluded, are not primarily students.

From Micro To Macro: Examinations Of Individual Level Work–Family Conflict And Organizational Level Entrepreneurial Orientation, Kristin B. Backhaus

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Older-Worker-Friendly Policies And Affective Organizational Commitment, Kerri Anne Crowne, Jeremy Cochran, Caryl E. Carpenter

Organization Management Journal

In the United States the Baby Boomer generation is advancing toward retirement age and many are choosing to stay in the workforce. This study develops and analyzes a model of the impact of older-worker-friendly (OWF) policies in organizations on job satisfaction, strain-based work/family conflict, and affective organizational commitment in older workers. The data included 368 full-time employed persons age 50 years or older who participated in a telephone survey. Linear regression was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships. Results indicated that the model was supported. Older workers who were employed at organizations with more older-worker-friendly policies had higher levels of …

Addressing Difficult Issues In The Hrm Bubble, Steven Meisel

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Linking Interactional Justice To Work-To-Family Conflict: The Mediating Role Of Emotional Exhaustion, Ivy A. Kyei-Poku

Organization Management Journal

This study examined the effect of interactional justice on work– to-family conflict and whether emotional exhaustion was a mediator of this relationship. Field survey data were obtained from 141 employees from various organizations and occupations. The findings suggest that perceptions of interactional justice are related to work-to-family conflict and, as predicted, emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between interactional justice and work-to-family conflict. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Everyday Phenomenology And An Exploration Of “The Transcendental Attitude”, Joy Beatty

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Phenomenology Redux: Doing Phenomenology, Becoming Phenomenological, Thomas A. Conklin

Organization Management Journal

This article revisits the phenomenological method with particular focus on how it is meaningful for me. The effort is to present this method as a personal journey that has evolved over 13 years and to illustrate how it might become a more accessible approach for meaning-making and serving others. This is partly accomplished by dethroning it from its lofty philosophical perch such that it is available for daily use by practitioners, educators, and researchers. Further accessibility is provided through the presentation of various examples in health care, higher education, and personal reflections on the experience of understanding and employing phenomenology. …

First Annual Competition Winners For Best Articles Of The Year, William P. Ferris

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

The Bubble Factory: Addressing Difficult Issues In Hrm, Drew L. Harris

Organization Management Journal

The Bubble Factory is a fish-bowl, participatory exercise wherein three to eight students participate in a “factory” that produces high-quality soap bubbles using wands and soap and glycerin solution (such as Mr. Bubbles brand) typically found in toy stores or department stores. The instructor doctors the materials prior to the exercise so that unequal results are produced across “production lines.” This sets up discussion of the relative importance of individual versus situational influences, Deming-style quality problem solving, and industrial design of experiment, and discussion of the limitations of traditional HRM practices and how one might apply quality concepts to HRM. …

An Examination Of Entrepreneurial Orientation In Dedicated Biotechnology Firms: Context Matters, Dorothy Mary Kirkman, Dt Ogilvie

Organization Management Journal

The goal of this article is to explore under what contexts do biotechnology firms exhibit an entrepreneurial orientation? To achieve this goal, we assess entrepreneurial orientation as a configuration and individual dimension across three contexts: organizational structure, location, and age. Analyses of survey data from U.S. biotechnology firms indicate that ownership structure was the only contextual factor to yield differences in biotechnology firms’ entrepreneurial orientation when assessed as a configuration. However, the analysis identified differences at the multidimensional level within all three contexts. Both theoretical and practical implications of our findings are provided.

[Sabbatical Report], Joanna Phillips

Sabbatical Reports

Research suggests that 2.4 billion conversations about brands occur daily in social media. Managers consistently cite consumers being negative as the number one fear upon entering social media, yet few organizations have policies in place to handle negative comments and there is a lack of research focusing on how to strategically handle negativity from consumers on social media. My sabbatical project addresses this paucity in the marketing literature by developing a construct called "Consumer Social Voice," defined as public complaining behavior attempting to change the operations of an organization.