Business Commons^™

Economic Implications Of State-Wide Covid-19 Response Aggressiveness, Michael Edward Parker

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In this paper, we evaluate how the aggressiveness of each State’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic affected their respective economies from Q2, 2020 through Q2, 2021. In our study, we utilize the scale developed by McCann (2020, 2021), which ranks the least aggressive state response to the most aggressive state response at three different points of the pandemic. Using this methodology, we test the impact of the aggressiveness of each state governments’ response with the resulting economic impact within that State. Namely, we examine how this level of response affected each State’s unemployment rate, gross domestic product growth, and taxable …

Investigating Instagram Marketing Strategies For Nonprofit Donor Engagement During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Annabella Cobos

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a profound shift in various industries around the world, the non-profit industry being one of them. In this research the author virtually interviewed four participants with experience in marketing from three non-profit organizations to determine what strategic components of Instagram marketing worked best to influence donations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The changed marketing strategies in the nonprofit industry are the result of changed donor behavior. The results from the interview findings reveal two Instagram marketing strategies were successfully adapted to influence donations during the pandemic: focusing on authentic media to increase …

Consumer Perceptions Of Cause-Related Marketing: A Comparison Of India And The United States, Kyle Palmer

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The purpose of this study is to analyze consumer perceptions of Cause-Related marketing, as well as perceived level of mercenary intent and the impact of brand/cause fit. Level of mercenary intent is the degree to which consumers believe a company is engaging in Cause-Related Marketing in order to help themselves, or to help the cause. The level of brand/cause fit is the amount of alignment between a company and the cause they are choosing to support. This is a cross cultural study, and the impact of culture will be analyzed between participants from the United States and from India. College …

The Impact Of Study Abroad As It Relates To Business Students' Career Paths, Madison M. Burgett

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Business schools in the United States are continuously working to provide students with real-world experiences which will help them discern, and prepare for, their future careers. As globalization continues to increase the interconnectedness of the world, and of the companies within it, it is increasingly important that business students are globally aware and culturally competent. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that studying abroad enables business students to discern and prepare for their future careers. To demonstrate this, students and graduates of Butler University’s Lacy School of Business, with graduation years between 2012 and 2022, were surveyed. Those …

The Impact Of Gender Diversity And Tokenism On The Attractiveness Of An Organization, Lilly Thuma

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The purpose of this study was to look at how variations in the gender diversity of the top management team of an organization will influence the perceived attractiveness and advancement opportunities job applicants see in the organization. College students reviewed a job posting that displayed three variations of gender diversity on the top management team (equal gender representation, all male gender diversity, and token female gender diversity), and either included or lacked a statement about the organization’s commitment to hiring a gender diverse work force. Participants reviewed the information about the job and then completed a questionnaire assessing the organization’s …

Advertising Appeals And Willingness To Pay For A Music Streaming Service, Katharine Baird

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Even with the rise of music streaming services, illegal downloads are costing the music industry $2.7 billion per year. The purpose of this study is to determine what types of advertising appeals will be most effective at enhancing the willingness to pay for a streaming service, thereby decreasing music piracy. This study examined college students’ willingness to pay for, willingness to recommend, interest in, and affective reaction to a music service after being exposed to a digital advertisement that employed either a rational, fear, or guilt appeal for a fictitious music streaming service. It was expected that music involvement, or …

A Question Of Food Intake: The Impact Of Living Arrangement And Meal Factors On Total Daily Caloric Intake, Kalei Sorenson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

There has been dramatic weight gain among college students during their collegiate years. A food diary can give much insight of a college student’s life. The purpose of this study is to analyze the food intake of college-aged students taking in factors such as the size of meal, the foods being eaten, the location of the meal, and if the meal was eaten with others. This research will examine how the student’s food intake throughout the day may affect their overall food calorie intake.

Pomegranate Juice Can Do That? Navigating The Jurisdictional Landscape Of Food Health Claim Regulation In A Post-Pom Wonderful World, Hilary G. Buttrick, Courtney Droms Hatch

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Thirty years ago, the most the consumer expected out of his or her morning glass of juice was a little extra vitamin C. By 2010, the consumer expected a lot more. POM Wonderful’s pomegranate juice, for instance, promised to improve cardiovascular health, treat erectile dysfunction, and combat prostate cancer.¹ Those claims made orange juice look a little pathetic. Of course, those wild promises also landed POM Wonderful in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) for misleading the public with scientifically unsubstantiated health claims.²

Examining The Effects Of Culture On Preference Of Social Cause In Cause-Related Marketing: A Cross-Cultural Study Of The United States And Chile, Alicia Helfrich

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Cause-related marketing is a common business practice that aims to align strategic goals of a for-profit company with the social needs of the stakeholders and occurs most frequently when a portion of a purchase is donated to a designated social cause. The utilization of cause-related marketing has been shown to increase purchase intention of consumers. The present study examines the impact that culture has on consumer’s preference of social cause in a cause-related marketing campaign by comparing two countries, the United States and Chile. The researchers predicted that people from Chile and those with an interdependent self-construal would be more …

The Impact And Interaction Of Music Familiarity And Congruency On Responses To Advertisements, Michael Blecha

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Music is commonly used by marketers to enhance the effectiveness of ads. Research shows that music can make ads more memorable and shape a viewer's response to the ad. This study explores the impact of three music characteristics, its likability, its familiarity and its "fit" with the ad (referred to as congruency), on consumer response to an ad. I hypothesized that all three music characteristics would positively impact responses to an ad. Additionally, I hypothesized that there would be a significant interaction between music familiarity and congruency with subjects responding the most positively to an ad when the music was …

The Impact Of Attitudinal Ambivalence On Weight Loss Decisions: Consequences And Mitigating Factors, Bui My, Courtney Droms, Georgiana Cracium

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

This research takes a new look at individuals' attitudes and intentions towards losing weight. Study 1 examines the relationship among those interested in losing weight and individual self-evaluative ambivalence on attitude towards trying to achieve a weight loss goal and the intentions to achieve the weight loss goal. For Study 2, a between-subjects experimental design, where attitudinal ambivalence and prior outcome feedback were manipulated and self-efficacy was measured, is conducted to examine attitude towards eating healthier and intention to change eating behaviours. Findings across the two studies show that attitudinal ambivalence about the self and the individual's abilities and motivation …

Take It Back: Dynamic Consumer Goals In Retail Customer Service Transactions, Courtney Droms

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Product returns and exchanges are an important part of a consumer’s postpurchase decision-making process and have economic and psychological consequences. Based primarily on a participant observation research, a conceptual model is developed that portrays two distinct process paths that occur during return transactions. The analysis incorporates previous research regarding goal-directed behavior and role and script theories in understanding the complexity of a return transaction. Consumers are identified as having both economic and social goals, and the change catalysts promoting shifts in goal focus as well as the interplay between these goals are represented in the model.

The Chinese Health Care System: An Analysis Of The Current And Emerging Health Care Needs, Karen Giuliano, Courtney Droms

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

This paper presents an overview of the health care system, current and anticipated health care challenges, and the potential for medical technology to address the health care needs of the People’s Republic of China. The implications of these topics for the modification of current strategies or development of new technologies to address the current and emerging health care needs in China will be reviewed in order to assess the industry’s current plans for expansion of their operations to the health care market in the People’s Republic of China.

Education And Ecotourism: A Framework And Analysis Of Education In Ecolodges In Costa Rica And Panama, Gregory E. Osland, Robert D. Mackoy

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Education of tourists at nature-based lodges is an important but under-researched component of ecotourism. This paper proposes a framework that identifies and develops a typology of possible educational goals and activities in an ecotourism context. Using data from interviews and participant observation at fourteen leading ecolodges in Costa Rica and Panama, the paper describes, classifies and compares educational efforts directed toward ecolodge guests, with a particular emphasis on the role of nature guides in the educational process. Relationships among several educational goals, tourists' satisfaction, and views of the performance of nature guides are uncovered and explicated. Multiple managerial implications and …

Consumer Choice Tactics For Common, Repeat Purchase Products: Using Tissues And Deodorant To Predict And Understand Consumer Behavior, Alicia Elizabeth Dixon

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Currently there is limited research on the consumer decision-making process for low involvement products. The purpose of my study was to better understand the consumer decision-making process for common, repeat purchase products. Specifically, I was looking at how gender and generational differences impacted the decision-making process when purchasing two low-involvement products, tissues and deodorant. One hundred and ten students, staff and faculty were asked to look at a constructed store aisle and purchase both a box of tissues and stick of deodorant and complete a questionnaire responding to questions regarding their decision choice. The questiOl1J1ai re collected information regarding six …

Do Green Lifestyle Consumers Appreciate Low Involvement Green Products?, Bela Florenthal, Priscilla Arling

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Green products have become popular and have been targeted toward consumers who lead green lifestyles. Still, some green products are assumed to be more appealing to this group than others, sometimes based on level of involvement. This study tests a low involvement green product in terms of being appealing to consumers with green lifestyles. A theoretical model was developed and tested using a structural equation model. Results indicate that consumers with green lifestyles do value green attributes of low involvement products, in terms of consumer’s attitudes and behavioral intentions. These results imply that companies with green low involvement products should …

How Brand Name And Packaging Quality Affect The Consumer Choice Process, Albert Edward Price

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Current research tells us that both the brand name and packaging of a product have an effect on the consumer and his or her individual purchasing decision. The following study attempts to further explore and explain how each one affects the other and in which situations, one has a greater influence on the consumer choice process. The research focuses on the comparison of what role brand name and packaging quality play in the consumer choice process. Specifically, the study looked at how the following factors, brand consciousness/familiarity, product experience and individual confidence/self-esteem of the buyer, influence the choice process as …

Biz Prof Says Retailers Prepare For Post Recession Environment, Kathryn W. King

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Butler University Website article featuring College of Business Lecturer, Kate King.

Beginnings Of A Fulfilling Career, Gregory E. Osland

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

In 1989 I decided to join the doctoral program in Marketing at Michigan State University (MSU). Although I had been accepted into the doctoral programs at several universities, including UCLA and the University of Washington, I chose MSU because of its strong reputation in International Marketing, and its emphasis on managerial applications. Tamer Cavusgil had recently joined the MSU faculty and had just initiated the Center for International Business Education and Research. I wanted to learn from him as my mentor and dissertation chair, and was encouraged by the potential resources available through the CIBER to do international research. This …

Gender Differences In Communication:Implications For Salespeople, Daniel H. Mcquiston, Kathryn A. Morris

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

As more women enter into the traditionally male-dominated occupations of sales and purchasing, an understanding of gender differences in communication can provide salespeople with added information to increase their effectiveness. 1his paper begins with a review of the research on gender differences in verbal and non-verbal communication and then applies these findings to the field of sales. The paper concludes with managerial implications and recommendations for how salespeople might account for gendered aspects of their communications and by so doing potentially increase the effectiveness of their sales process.

Eating With A Purpose:Consumer Response To Functional Food Health Claims In Conflicting Versus Complementary Information Environments, Courtney M. Droms, Rebecca Walker Naylor, Kelly L. Haws

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Marketers of food products have recently introduced a variety of “functional foods” that promise consumers improvements in targeted physiological functions. However, despite the proliferation of functional food health claims promising more than basic nutrition, little is known about consumer responses to these claims, particularly in information environments in which inconsistent information may be available about the efficacy of a particular functional ingredient.

A Cross Cultural Study Of Corporate Blogs In The U.S. And In Korea, Sunran Jeon, Seong No Yoon, Jongheon Kim

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Corporate blogging is now world wide due to the potential benefits of blogging. The purpose of this study is to investigate corporate blogging in the U.S. and Korea. The framework to compare corporate blogging in two countries is corporate blogging strategies developed by Lee et al. (2006). Comparing corporate blogging strategies in the U.S., top-down corporate blogging strategy IV (promotion) is mostly adopted in Korea, and most companies use their blogs at the third party site. Promotion blogs have gained popularity and high readership in Korea unlike U.S.

Dimensions Of Internet Commerce Trust, D. Aiken, Robert Mackoy, B. Liu, Richard Fetter, Gregory E. Osland

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Trust is a central construct and plays a critical role in understanding Internet consumer behavior. This research seeks to directly address the subject of Internet Commerce Trust (ICT) by developing a valid, reliable, and generalizable scale to measure this multifaceted subject. Two separate studies reveal a common five-factor structure. These dimensions are labeled (1) Certification, (2) Resources and Capabilities, (3) Shopping Method, (4) Reliability, and (5) Communication Viability. An accurate measurement of ICT will serve as a viable control factor in future studies of Internet consumer behaviors, segmentation analyses, and in marketing strategy research.

Lodge Selection And Satisfaction: Attributes Valued By Ecotourists, Robert D. Mackoy, Gregory E. Osland

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Although the ecotourism literature is growing rapidly, few researchers have systematically examined how ecotourists select and evaluate lodging alternatives. Understanding lodging attributes of importance to ecotourists is the first step in modelling lodge selection and satisfaction processes of interest to both managers and researchers. We report on the results of two studies designed to gather such attributes. Study 1 uses e-mail survey responses from dedicated birders, while Study 2 uses data from on-site interviews with visitors at ecolodges in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador. The two most-commonly mentioned attributes in both studies were “proximity to natural areas” and “cost.” These …

The Effects Of Subliminal Messages In Print Advertisements, Jamie Lynne Wilfong

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

One very controversial topic within advertising is subliminal advertising. There are many studies about the subject of subliminal messages and their effects (Trappey, 1996). This type of advertising uses subliminal stimuli, messages presented so fast or so softly or so masked by other messages that one is not aware of "seeing" or "hearing" them (Hawkins, Best, Coney, 1995). When marketers put subliminal messages in advertising, they create subliminal advertising. Subliminal advertising, therefore, involves the use of words, pictures, and shapes that are purposely inserted into advertising materials so that the viewers of the material perceive the imagery at a subconscious …

Selecting International Modes Of Entry And Expansion, Gregory E. Osland, Charles R. Taylor, Shaoming Zou

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Selecting a mode for entering or expanding in a foreign market is a crucial strategic decision for an international firm. This article identifies and compares the most influential factors that affect the international modes of entry and expansion decisions of US and Japanese firms. Using mail surveys, this is one of the first studies on this subject to collect data from top executives in both Japan and the USA. Findings reveal that the Japanese are particularly sensitive to external risk and other target market factors. For Americans, company factors, such as international experience, appear to be most important when selecting …

Foreign Market Entry Strategies Of Japanese Mncs, Charles R. Taylor, Shaoming Zou, Gregory E. Osland

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

While much prior research has focused on Japanese multi‐national corporations’ (MNCs) marketing strategies, little is known about the factors that influence Japanese MNCs’ foreign market entry mode choice. In this study, a survey of Japanese MNCs is conducted in order to assess the factors that are the most influential in the foreign market entry decisions of Japanese MNCs. Using bargaining power theory, eight factors are identified in the study. The findings indicate that five of the eight factors (stake of the host country, need for local contribution, riskiness of the host country, resource commitment, and host government restrictions) are significant …

Confounds In The Measurement Of Predictive Expectations, Richard A. Spreng, Robert Mackoy, Cornelia Dröge

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Given the importance of predictive expectations in consumer satisfaction models, confounds in the measurement of expectations could result in misspecified models. Results of two empirical studies indicate that consumers interpret the word "expect" in numerous ways. A large minority of consumers interpret "expect" to mean "desire." The magnitude of the resulting confounding effect is illustrated by comparing results using a measure of expectations alone with results obtained when using a measure of expectations together with a measure of desires in a side-by-side format.

Learning Through International Strategic Alliances: Processes And Factors That Enhance Marketing Strategy Effectiveness, Gregory E. Osland, Attila Yaprak

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Intensified competitive, technological, and market pressures have made organizational learning a critical imperative in global strategy effectiveness. Firms can learn through experience and from three processes that involve other firms: imitation, grafting, and synergism. Interpartner learning has become critical, since experiential learning is insufficient for most firms. Responds to calls for a broadened role of marketing and synthesizes and extends research from organization behaviour and strategic management to the field of marketing to fuel further academic inquiry. Based on an extension of Chandler′s strategy‐structure‐performance paradigm, develops propositions on how the environment, organizational culture, strategy, and structure can affect a company′s …

Funding Opportunities For Young Investigators In Radiology, Robert W. Holden, Teresa Williams

Scholarship and Professional Work

For many investigators in radiology, one of the most frustrating steps of conducting research is the search for funding sources.