Business Commons^™

An Investigation Into How The Modes Of Persuasion And Valence Affect Perceptions Of Online Reviews, Clinton Amos, Skyler King, Anthony Allred

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Consumers ubiquitously rely on assessments provided by strangers when seeking knowledge or making consumption decisions. Whether buying a car or a toaster, or choosing a restaurant, most consumers would feel lost if they attempted to make these decisions without first seeking verification via an online review. Despite the importance of online reviews in consumers’ daily lives, research on the effectiveness of online reviews is still in elementary stages and questions remain regarding how online review content style affects consumer judgments. Correspondingly, little is known about how message construction (e.g., rhetorical strategies) affects consumer judgments. Using an experimental design, this paper …

Developing Scale Of Tourists’ Attitude Toward Culture Souvenirs, Wei Wang, Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong, Pauline Sullivan, Brigitte Burgess

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

A variety of scales exist related to culture, but the literature lacked a scale measuring Attitude Toward Cultural Souvenirs (ATCS). The purpose of this study was to fill this literature gap by developing and testing a scale to measure ATCS. The scale development approach recommended by Churchill (1979) and Netemeyer, Bearden and Sharma’s (2003), which uses theory to guide the conceptualization and development of measurement items, was adopted. The resulting scale proves to be robust and reliable across cultures. Beyond the theoretical value of scale development, the current study broadens the literature by adding findings on attitudes towards cultural souvenirs. …

Consumer Social Identity And Competition, Hyewon Park, Rajeev Tyagi

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Consumers belong to various social groups and their social identity plays an important role in their purchase decisions. By buying products that are associated with their social group, consumers can show who they are and which social group they belong to (e.g., iPhones rather than android phones for "cool" professionals, t-shirts with sports logos rather than with hipster logos for athletic teenagers, and Tesla rather than BMW for environmentally-conscious moms). Consuming a product identified with its social group yields a consumer a benefit in being able to show to both in-group and out-group consumers which group she belongs to. There …

Consumer Actions And Attitudes Regarding Initiatives Directed Towards Sustainability: Assessing Gender And Generational Gaps, Sam Fullerton, Tammy Mccullough, David L. Moore

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

A demographically and geographically representative sample of 1,243 adult residents of the United States provided input regarding 33 issues germane to both green marketing and green consumption. This diverse array of behaviors and opinions addressed both sides of the buyer-seller dyad. From the buyers’ perspective, respondents reported a high propensity to engage in recycling, donate used goods, and purchase products with a longer life expectancy. As for organizational actions, the respondents 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. Comparisons on the bases of …

Bridging The Gap Between Public Opinion Research And Consumer Marketing Research: Insights Into U.S. Shoppers Of Organic Foods, Marilena O. Vilceanu, Olivia Grasso, Kristine Johnson

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

The primary goal of this study embraces Hughner and team’s (2007) directive to focus new research on the growing segment of occasional consumers of organic and natural foods, rather than limit the search for consumer insights to the small, elitist groups of deeply committed consumers. Research questions address the demographics, attitudinal, and behavioral characteristics that identify organic foods as a premium product. Primary recommendations for marketing practitioners include focusing on higher income consumers, especially married individuals, who live in highly populated areas; creating a pleasant shopping experience; promoting non-food related organic items, and investing in brand presence and salience.

Are Customer Reward Programs Really Rewarding?, Michael Mccall, Dave Mcmahon

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

The concept of a customer loyalty program can be traced back over 300 years when merchants would give customers wooden coins in return for their patronage. Two points are clear: Customer reward loyalty programs are prevalent and costly aspects of most hospitality firms’ marketing strategy. From an academic viewpoint our understanding of the theoretical drivers of these programs is muddled and confused. That is, despite many years of existence there is scant research suggesting the underlying theoretical logic of a program. In this paper, we briefly review the current reward program landscape suggesting that the overwhelming presence of reward programs …

Student’S Attitudes Toward Academic Dishonesty: An Exploration, David J. Burns, Randy S. Stuart, Anne Heineman Batory, Stephen S. Batory

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Academic dishonesty in college/university classrooms is widely recognized as a serious problem (Offstein and Chory 2017). Studies indicate that academic dishonesty is pervasive. Klein, Levenburg, McKendall, and Mothersell (2007), report 40-80 percent of college students are involved in academic dishonesty, whereas McCabe, Butterfield, and Treviňo (2012), report 65-87 percent involvement. Studies also report that cheating activity is increasing (Forsha 2017; Pérez-Peňa 2012), facilitated by increasing levels of tolerance (where instances of academic dishonesty are overlooked by classroom instructors (Coren 2011)), and advances in technology (Best and Shirley 2018). Consequently, academic dishonesty has become an increasingly important area of concern and, …

Retailers’ Use Of Partially Comparative Pricing In A Usage Category Context: An Exploratory Study, Ellen Campos Sousa

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Partially comparative price (PCP) happens when some products have a comparison price and other products have only the featured retailer’s price (Barone et al., 2004). It is common retailers promote advertisements with products from different product categories, but within the same usage category (e.g., products for Christmas, Mother’s Day, and a barbecue party). However, it is still unexplored how consumers evaluate the non-comparatively priced (NCP) products that belong to the same usage category as a CP product in an advertisement.

This research aims to fill this gap, proposing that items that are not naturally within the same product category may …

Service Print Advertisements: The Impact Of Brand Personality Perceptions, Attitudes, And Consumption Intentions, Lisa M. Sciulli

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

The purpose of this research is to examine respondents’ perceptions regarding service print advertisements. Brand personality characteristics, attitudes towards the service, the ad itself, and subsequent consumption intentions for these services will be explored. Statistical positioning tools provide analytical evidence whereby identified attribute ratings may yield desired service offerings. Results will be further tested with multiple regression to reveal predictive capabilities of the findings with consumption intentions. An advertising framework for positioning strategies for service organizations is provided with theoretical and managerial implications.

Previous research suggests that before a service is purchased consumers look for cues to make assessments of …

Do Perceptions Of Businesses Differ Between Higher And Lower Counts Of Social Media Post Engagements?, Tally Shaw, Melinda A. Mclelland

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Social media is a popular marketing tool that directly connects businesses and consumers. This is a relatively new phenomenon, which requires more understanding on the part of marketers. Understanding how consumers respond to social media posts made by the business is vitally important to the continued success of businesses utilizing social media as part of their marketing efforts. Using social metrics such as “likes” and “shares”, businesses can both measure and influence consumer attitudes and behaviors. This study features an experiment that manipulates the effects of high versus low counts of Facebook likes/shares on Facebook timeline posts. This research extends …

Market Orientation Across Firm Performance Levels; Manager, Salesperson, And Customer Viewpoints, Thomas L. Powers, Dawn B. Valentine

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Market orientation and its impact on firm performance has been a topic of research interest for many years, yet research is still needed to extend this stream of literature in two important areas. Previous research has largely examined a company management perspective of market orientation, excluding the perspective of front line personnel, and that of customers. In addition, performance has been primarily assessed using subjective perceptions as opposed to objective measures. This study is intended to extend the literature beyond these traditional perspectives by examining market orientation from three different viewpoints including managers, salespeople, and customers as it relates to …

Exploring Self-Efficacy With An Emphasis On Direct Selling, Robert A. Peterson, Gerald Albaum, Victoria L. Crittenden

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Self-efficacy, the confidence that one has in his or her capabilities to achieve a goal, is one of the most widely studied constructs in personal selling and sales management research. With few exceptions, self-efficacy has been studied as antecedent to sales performance. The present study differs from prior marketing-related studies of self-efficacy in that it explores whether a direct selling experience can enhance business/professional self-efficacy and personal life self-efficacy. In other words, in the present study self-efficacy is treated as consequent to a direct selling experience. An online survey was conducted in which a nationally representative sample of 495 current …

When Not Belonging Means Bad News For The Planet: How A Low Sense Of Belonging Diminishes The Value Of Sustainable Products, Ainslie E. Schultz, Kevin P. Newman, Scott A. Wright

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Consumers increasingly report feeling disconnected from others. They live farther from family, belong to fewer social groups and are more likely to live alone than ever before (Pew Research Center 2015). A low sense of belonging is an aversive state for consumers, since relationships provide access to survival benefits such as resources and protection (Buss 1990). Consumers often use sustainable products to help them experience belonging since these products are typically more expensive than non-sustainable products and can signal that one is a good, cooperative group member who is willing to incur individual costs to maintain a group resource (e.g., …

Exploring Financial Literacy Of Independent Musicians In The Gig Economy, Benjamin O. Milam, Jamye Foster

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the elements of the career of independent musicians. Specifically, how they overcome, or fail to overcome, the challenges of a gig economy through knowledge and ability to properly allocate scarce financial resources. The research questions posed are as follows: Does higher financial literacy allow independent musicians to sustain and improve their career in the gig economy? How do independent musicians use financial literacy to sustain their career? How does industry experience affect ability of independent artists to effectively allocate financial resources? To answer these research questions, relevant literature is first …

Use Of Ethnic/Culturally Based Incongruent Cues In Informational Versus Transformational Advertising, Neleen Leslie

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

This study compares the relative effectiveness in the use of culturally incongruent cues in informational and transformational advertising. A case study was done to explore the extent to which ethnic/ culturally incongruent cues are used in advertising in informational and transformational advertising and to compare the effectiveness of these ads between the two advertising forms. The study sought to address two questions: (1) To what extent are ethnic/culturally incongruent cues used in informational or transformational advertising? and (2): Is the use of culturally incongruent cues more effective for informational or transformational ads?

A content analysis approach was used to extract …

Is Marketing Science Really Scientific?, Michael Latta, Ismet Anitsal, Michael Mccall, Stephen A. Lemay

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Thirty-five years ago, there was a special issue of the Journal of Marketing in Fall, 1983 concerning whether marketing is a science and what role theory plays in a marketing science. In that issue the following articles concerned with the definition of Marketing and its role in business appeared:

• Shelby Hunt asked the question of whether a general theory of marketing is even possible and what such a theory would be like if such a theory existed.
• Robert Bartels noted that marketing has been defined as having theory and practice, specialization and generalization, as well as established interests and global …

Social Media Listening: Revealing The Indirect Effects Of User Generated Content (Ugc) On Product Adoption, Nga Ho-Dac, Ian Clark Sinapuelas

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Industry studies suggest social media listening espouses several advantages. Evidence from academic research however is lacking and the need to investigate its impact especially in the context of product development is needed. This research explores how UGC influences market outcomes indirectly via its impact on product development. Building on current findings from empowerment-product demand and new product adoption research, we propose that product improvements building on consumer social media conversations are more likely to succeed. Using a system of equations modeling in the open source software context, we verify that increasing forum posts lead to a greater number of codes …

The Social Media Magnet: A New Paradigm In Inbound Marketing Instruction, Kyle A. Huggins, J. Elliot Cunningham

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Social media has changed the marketing environment in ways that traditional marketers could have never imagined just a decade ago. It has rapidly provided a mechanism to communicate on a one-to-one level, allowing marketers to tailor specific messages and content towards a fine-tuned segment of customers. Multiple philosophies on best practices in this digital landscape have provided various methodologies for targeting these customers. During this time of change, these practices have led to the refinement of digital services, including behavioral advertising, search engine optimization, pay per click, content marketing, social media marketing, and organic inbound marketing, among specialized others. In …

I Will Like Your Product, But First Let Me Take A Selfie, Patrick A. Barbro

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Through the proliferation of smartphones, social media, photo sharing, and selfies, the way consumers have become used to seeing themselves has changed. This paper aims to examine the influence of image type and consumer selfie taking on image and product evaluation. More specifically, this research seeks to address the question: how does a consumer’s exposure to their own image influence their evaluation of products and self-images? The selfie phenomenon and its effect on how consumers evaluate images likely play a key role.

Through three experiments, this research examines the influence of image type and consumer selfie taking on image and …

The Fall Of Sears From Within: How Customer Sentiments Refuted Retail Capital And Authority, Michael D. Harris, Ismet Anitsal, Melek Meral Anitsal

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

This research aims to understand the relationship between Sears Holdings Corporation and its customers, while exploiting feedback from customers to identify reasons for Sears’ decline. The problem statement is dependent on identifying aspects that affect consumer behavior most and linking a connection to the increased number of dissatisfied Sears’ customers. In order to analyze this phenomenon, customer attitudes were compiled over the key four years of Sears history using a customer sentiment analysis. This empirical method of research was chosen because of the large impact that consumer sentiments have on spending, allowing the development of both internal and external views …

Pleasure And Pain: The Role Of Anticipated Pleasure On Time Of Consumption And Pain Of Payment, Patricia T. Gouveia, Michelle Van Solt, Alexandra Rodriguez-Aguirre

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

The pain consumers feel when paying for a product or service tends to vary depending on the mode of payment (Knutson et al. 2007; Roberts and Jones 2001; Thomas, Desai, and Seenivasan 2011; Zellermayer 1997). For instance, it has been demonstrated that the use of cards as a mode of payment, compared to the use of cash, can decrease significantly the pain of paying for products and services. Although there is plenty of research in the literature on the pain of payment, less is known about the role that pleasure plays in consumer consumption.

The focus of this research is …

The Dual-Mediation Effect Of Perceived Accuracy And Perceived Connectedness On Consumer Attitude Toward Social Network Advertising, Tao-Sheng Chiu, Kai-Yu Wang, Wen-Hai Chih, Jaime Ortiz, Ying-Ching Lin

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Despite the importance of social media advertising, few studies have investigated the factors that influence its effectiveness (Jung, Shim, Jin, and Khang 2016). Because advertising on social media is a relatively new phenomenon (Okazaki and Taylor 2013), several studies are exploratory in nature and lack a solid theoretical framework (e.g., Campbell, Pitt, Parent, and Berthon 2011; Pehlivan, Sarican, and Berthon 2011; Sashittal, Sriramachandramurthy, and Hodis 2012; Waters and Jones 2011). For this reason, the present study examines the factors affecting consumers’ attitudes toward advertisements they view on social media.

This paper draws on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to investigate the …

Employee-Based Brand Equity And Word-Of-Mouth Product Referrals., Kristy Grayson, Mee-Shew Cheung

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

While the benefits of employee-based brand equity (EBBE) drive value to an organization, employees are often an over-looked asset in the overall marketing mix. Word of mouth (WOM) communications is one of the oldest and most trustworthy sources of advertising, yet little is known about the factors that influence employees to share WOM product referrals with their social network. Through a Grounded Theory approach, data suggests that employees who exhibit higher levels of EBBE behavior share product referrals within their social circle. Also, employees explore their personal and social identity while evaluating a referral decision. Further, they consider relationship and …

Peer Evaluations For Extended Group Projects For A Sales Management Course, Joseph Chapman, Russell G. Wahlers

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

This paper presents an evaluation process that has work well for two extended group projects in a sales management course. Students help develop the peer evaluation instrument, submit several peer evaluations over the course of each project, and are required to fill out each form completely and submit the forms on assigned due dates. Students lose points on their individual project scores for not following the evaluation process guidelines.

Hedonic And Social Drivers Of Millennials’ Engagement With And Donation To Nonprofits: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, Bela Florenthal

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have been increasingly utilizing social media outlets to target Millennials for donations of time and money. These organizations, however, do not always take advantage of the hedonic, social, and normative factors that can influence engagement with and monetary donation to these organizations.

Because monetary donation on SMSs is a relatively new field of investigation, there is only a handful of studies that provide insight into how social, hedonic, and normative motives predict engagement with and donation to nonprofits.

To address this gap, the first aim of the present study is to propose an integrated approach to monetary …

Are Customer Reward Programs Really Rewarding?, Michael Mccall, Dave Mcmahon

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

The concept of a customer loyalty program can be traced back over 300 years when merchants would give customers wooden coins in return for their patronage. Two points are clear: Customer reward loyalty programs are prevalent and costly aspects of most hospitality firms’ marketing strategy. From an academic viewpoint our understanding of the theoretical drivers of these programs is muddled and confused. That is, despite many years of existence there is scant research suggesting the underlying theoretical logic of a program. In this paper, we briefly review the current reward program landscape suggesting that the overwhelming presence of reward programs …

The For-Profit Prison As Social Enterprise: Problems With Classification And Ethical Assessment, Karen Barbee, Stephen A. Lemay

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

This article explores the problems presented to taxonomies and definitions of social enterprise by a specific kind of organization, for-profit prisons. While these organizations are often and rightly criticized for their performance, they are fundamentally social enterprises by many of the definitions and taxonomies offered in the literature. This analysis uses a naïve matrix for classifying social enterprise to outline the problems created by these ethically and socially challenged organizations.

Digital Tipping Intimidation At The Counter, Jennifer Bechkoff

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Although tipping for counter service at fast casual restaurants/cafes is not expected etiquette, it seems to be headed in the direction of becoming a social norm as tip jars next to registers are now a common sighting. However, as cash becomes less prevalent of a payment method, businesses are turning to mobile digital point of sale (POS) technologies with preset tipping options for customers. Oftentimes, businesses using digital POS systems will utilize touch-based tablets for sales that the counter staff can swing around for customers to add tips and sign with their fingers. If there are other customers standing behind …

Role Of Sponsor-Selection In Marketing Communications Of New Local Hallmark Events: A Perspective Of Image Transfer, Jerred Jungi Wang, James J. Zhang

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

With the rapid growth of sport popularity throughout the world, developing local hallmark events have become an emerging trend in many urban and suburban communities. Yet, the underdeveloped brand equity of new events makes marketing communications challenging. Built upon the balance theory, the schema theory, and the elaboration likelihood model, this study was designed to examine the image transfer from the sponsor-end to the event-end in the context of new local hallmark events while considering potential moderating effects of image fit (IF) and sport identification (SID) in this process.

The balance theory suggests that to achieve the cognitive consistency, people …

Best Of Both Worlds: Blending Logic To Expand The Customer Value Model, Adam Merkle

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

The goods-dominant model of customer value involves a ratio of benefits received in exchange for sacrifices given. Service-dominant logic suggests a different view with the idea that all value is co-created by the customer. But value measurement challenges persist, and definitions of co-creation vary. These problems arise, in part, because goods-dominant thinking about value is largely set aside in the application of SD logic. Yet, the classic goods-dominant customer value model can be blended, joined, and advanced with theoretical principles from SD logic such as co-creation.

Firms no longer rely on simple product quality improvements or additional service benefits to …