Business Commons^™

Psychographic Persona Development In The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Melody Day

Undergraduate Honors Theses

When interviewed about his Victorian Gothic masterpiece, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde once observed that “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me: Dorian is what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps” (Oscar Wilde). These three characters represent widely different types of people; in light of Wilde’s words, then, what does it truly mean to be Basil, Lord Henry, or Dorian Gray? In other words, what interests, opinions, and values held by these characters determine how each of them differ from one another? In my cross-discipline …

The Impact Of Virtual Presence On Willingness To Book: The Moderating Role Of Self-Construal And Gender, Sung Jun Joe

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Social influence is not limited only to interactive situations but also includes those that occur without a direct interaction such as the mere presence of others (Argo, Dahl, & Manchanda, 2005). Although there is wide agreement that the mere presence of others influences one’s decision-making process, little research is conducted to understand whether the effect of the presence of others influences consumer behaviors in an online context (Naylor, Lamberton, & West, 2012). To address this gap, this study suggests that mere virtual presence (MVP) provides social cues to the customer and influences the customer’s willingness to book (WTB). Specifically, the …

Mental Accounting And Unplanned Purchases In Online Booking: The Role Of Discount, Impulse Buying, And Thinking Style, Esther L. Kim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

To minimize the high cost of commissions of online travel agencies (OTA), the majority of hospitality operators provide member only exclusive rates to encourage consumers to book on their websites directly. However, the revenue cannot be maximized due to the amount of discount. This dissertation suggests that hospitality operators may maximize their profit with the adoption of surprise discount to increase consumers’ unplanned purchases. Applying the mental accounting principle, this dissertation examines how consumers respond to a surprise discount when they make unplanned purchases, such as purchasing add-on items online. This dissertation utilized three experiments in an online hotel booking …

College Of Business, Business Career Accelerator, Qualitative Research Study On Student Involvement In Professional Development Activities, Madison Vincent

Honors Projects

The creation and execution of this project began by analyzing the honors project specifications, to design a project that met the Honors College criteria. To meet these criteria, a market research study was conducted to assist the College of Business’s Business Career Accelerator management in understanding the student market of the College of Business. In addition, the study’s goal is to make recommendations utilizing marketing and education frameworks to maintain and increase student usage of the center. The project was executed using traditional market research frameworks, which required conducting in-depth interviews of College of Business students to determine student attitudes …

Brand Linguistics: Study Of Sound Symbolism And Consumer Language Fluency On Brand Name Attitudes And Perceptions, Evita Subkowski

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Brand names can subtly evoke the practical qualities of a product as well as the positive emotions a company hopes that consumers will feel regarding its product. Because a brand name serves as an identifier for consumers to the product itself, effective branding has the potential to increase sales and customer loyalty. Brand names are essential because they are often the consumer’s first exposure to the product and for this reason they must be configured effectively. There is considerable research in this area that can guide companies toward more effective brand-naming strategies. Unfortunately, a key gap exists in this literature: …

Day Worker Center: Employer And Client Engagement, Anayeli Avalos

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Day Worker Center of Santa Cruz County is a component of the Community Action Board (CAB), a non-profit organization that has been providing services to eliminate poverty. CAB offers the program, administrative, and fiscal oversight to the Day Worker Center. The County of Santa Cruz is facing a high rate of unemployment, which is affecting the community. What contributes to the problem is low awareness of community knowledge about employment services. Also, the undocumented community that finds it hard to trust services because they think they can get deported. In addition, the issue can cause consequences such as health …

The High Rise Storage System, Justin H. Harmon

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Alumni Affinity Groups On Alumni Engagement And Alumni Giving, Gary R. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A student’s college experience lasts only a finite amount of time, but their role as alumni lasts for a lifetime. Alumni play an important role in higher education. The future financial success of a college or university is largely based on involvement and financial support by the school’s alumni. The purpose of this research was to learn about the role alumni affinity groups play in engaging alumni with the school and if they have the ability to impact alumni giving.

The dissertation data was collected using a qualitative methods research approach. Alumni data was gathered from two public universities from …

Market Your Mindful Eating Business Online, Chelsea Denlinger

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

This advanced clinical practicum for a Masters in Allied Health was overseen by Dr. Susan Albers, "The Mindful Eating Doctor" The project focuses on the creation of materials and promotional pieces for a program the author created called, Acing College Health (ACH).

The Wood Pellet Industry In The United States South: An Exploratory Study Of Resident Environmental, Social, And Economic Perceptions, Mason Thomas Leblanc

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis research provides insight into the wood pellet manufacturing industry from the perspectives of residents in the US South, focusing on environmental, social, and economic constructs. The region is the largest producer and exporter of wood pellets in the world. The focus of previous research on wood pellets has focused on environmental, energy, and economic attributes. This study is the first of its kind to expand the research to investigate in-depth socio-economic dynamics and fill a general gap in knowledge of the relationship between the wood pellet industry and public supply-side issues in the region. Two rounds of a …

Controlling Turnover In An Inside Sales Organization: What Are The Contributing Factors, Dennis H. Kimerer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The turnover rate for inside sales team, particularly in Central Florida, is exceedingly high. I have experienced this negative scenario managing inside sales teams for two major Telecom companies over the past 11 years, having as many as 40% of the salesforce resign within 30 days. Organizational costs to hire a new salesperson can be as high as 300% of the replaced employee’s salary and take as long as eight months to reach full productivity. The purpose of this research is to determine the internal and external factors that impact a salesperson’s propensity to leave a company. This qualitative research …

A Market Analysis Of Pay Rates For New Graduate Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Zachary Halliwell

Doctoral Projects

The profession of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) is a thriving occupation. In their national Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Department of Labor, 2018), reported the national market for CRNAs is predicted to continue its steady growth through 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides numerous statistics, as previously mentioned, on their website. However, the stats available include CRNAs of varying experience levels. The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) has a few statistics, online, regarding the market for CRNAs. The data provided by MDES, while appreciated, is lacking in numerical significance, given the minuscule …

Essays On The Economics Of Digital Piracy, Zhuang Liu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis consists of three chapters relating to the economics of digital piracy. Digital piracy is a debated topic catching tremendous academic and public attention. My studies contribute to the understanding of the impact of digital piracy on legitimate sales revenue with a focus on the motion picture industry.

In my first chapter, I examine the effects of screener piracy on the movie box office. Screeners are movie copies sent to critics and industry professionals for evaluation purposes. Sometimes, screeners are leaked and made available to download on the Internet. This chapter exploits the plausibly exogenous variation of file sharing/piracy …

Study On The Port Classification Of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road West Line, Jiawen Wang

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Research On The Value Estimation Of Ship Optional Orders, Zhili Zhang

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Correlation Analysis Between Container Shipping Market And Sino-Us Trade Under The China-Us Trade Conflict, Changqing Lu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Sino-Us Trade Conflict On International Dry Bulk Shipping Market, Yuefeng Lyu

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Freight Fluctuation Risk Assessment And Management Of Container Shipping Companies, Bochan Shen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Essays On Marketing Strategy, Chang Liu

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I apply game-theoretical methods in the context of marketing research and investigate the effects of stylized facts in behavioral economics. Chapter 1 studies the effects of managerial optimism on firms’ performance. Research has shown that many managers and entrepreneurs tend to be optimistic and are inclined to believe that negative shocks happen to them less frequently than to others. However, there is also evidence suggesting that such optimism is often inaccurate in reality and managerial optimism can lead to the failure of a company. We develop a game-theoretic model to investigate the impact of managerial optimism on …

Two Essays On Consumer-Generated Reviews: Reviewer Expertise And Mobile Reviews, Peter Nguyen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Over the past few decades, the internet has risen to prominence, enabling consumers to not only quickly access large amounts of information, but also openly share content (e.g., blogs, videos, reviews) with a substantially large number of fellow consumers. Given the vast presence of consumers in the online space, it has become increasingly critical for marketers to better understand the way consumers share, and learn from, consumer-generated content, a research area known as electronic word-of-mouth. In this dissertation, I advance our understanding about the shared content generated by consumers on online review platforms. In Essay 1, I study why and …

Color Lightness And Inter-Item Hierarchy: When People Associate Darker Colors With Higher Hierarchical Items, Myungjin Chung

Marketing Dissertations

While a rich collection of literature demonstrates the influence of packaging color on consumer decision making, little is known about how packaging color affects consumer behavior for bundled products. Bundled products are defined as two or more items in a single package for a special price. Often bundles consist of items with varying hierarchy: a higher-hierarchical product paired with a lower-hierarchical product (e.g., a fabric detergent and a fabric softener). I argue and show that there is a universal association between color lightness of the products’ packages and the perceived inter-item hierarchy, with darker packaging signifying a higher hierarchical product …

Fields And Consumer Groups: The Layered And Overlapping Roles Of Culture, Brandon James Mcalexander

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The first essay investigates Bourdieu’s conceptualization of fields and its use in the marketing literature. It suggests that fields do not exist in isolation, but rather work together in a number of different possible configurations. Fields are reconceptualized as dominated, overlapped, unrelated, contrasted, and co-constituted, rather than completely distinct and opens a new theoretical space for interpretive researchers in marketing. The second essay is a descriptive ethnography of a local fab lab. The essay describes in rich detail the ways in which new skills are developed in a shared work environment, and contextualizes the findings using practice theory as a …

Consumer Response To The Disposal Of Potentially Harmful Products: The Product Life-Cycle, Consumer Activism, And Subjective Well-Being Across Borders, Sergio Enrique Robles-Avila

Theses and Dissertations

This research attempts to uncover the factors that influence protest behaviors, specifically, consumer activism intention and how the factors are different between industrialized and developing countries. This research draws from the Values-Norms, Beliefs (VBN) Theory and the Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) framework to test protest intention between the United States and Mexico regarding the improper disposal of potentially harmful products across borders. Further, this research attempts to extend the VBN-Theory to include trust-in-government, attitude towards the firm, and subjective well-being.

The findings of this research indicate that the VBN Theory is confirmed not only in the United States, but also in Mexico …

The Relationship Between Motivation To Use Airbnb And Guests’ Repurchase Intention: Moderating Effect Of Consideration Set, Wen Jiang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the rise of the peer-to-peer sharing economy, Airbnb has become the leading platform as an online marketplace that allows homeowners to contract short-term leases or rents to tourists. It has expanded rapidly around the globe. This study comprehensively reviews previous literature with respect to the marketing of Airbnb. The study then summarized and categorized 12 motivators linked as causative agents for guests choosing Airbnb. Using the push-pull theory, along with research on the consideration set, this study examines the relationships between Airbnb motivators and guests’ repurchase intention. This study further examines how the consideration set moderates these relationships.

Seventy-eight …

Embodied Location Effects: Affecting Consumer Product Attributions Through Location-Concept Associations, Kaeun Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

A large number of marketing decisions (e.g., where to place products on a shelf; where to place information on product packages or within advertisements; how to organize product listings on online shopping sites) involve choices related to location. However, because particular locations can convey symbolic and conceptual meanings (e.g., “up” implies power), in order to choose the best location, marketers must understand what meaning is being communicated through a placement. Drawing on embodied cognition theory, which suggests that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are shaped through our interactions with the surrounding world and grounded in sensorimotor systems, this dissertation explores …

The Awesomeness Of Awe: The Role Of Awe In Increasing Consumer Well-Being, Begum Oz

Doctoral Dissertations

Emotions are a driving force in much of consumer behavior. Yet the breadth of emotions and their effects on consumption are only beginning to be discovered. One emotion, which has been understudied within consumer behavior, but has properties that suggest it could play an important role in improving consumer well-being, is awe. In this dissertation, I explore effects of awe on consumers’ materialist values, morality and lying behavior, and pro-environmental behavior. Essay 1 examines the role of awe in consumers’ materialist values and their product choices. Findings from three experiments support that awe decreases consumers’ materialist values and leads to …

Two Essays On The Consumer Acculturation Process – A Need For And Development Of A Consumer Acculturation Measure, Kristina Marie Harrison

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The United States is becoming increasingly multi-cultural and there are various new immigrant consumer groups that businesses try to reach through ethnic-based segmentation and targeting. Often, businesses offer accommodation strategies to their ethnic consumer groups through language or other cultural accommodation tactics. There are inconsistencies in the literature for the efficacy of ethnic-based targeting and accommodation strategies: often these do not have the desired results and there is evidence that ethnic identification may be fading over time for many immigrant groups.

There is evidence that acculturation may be a better predictor of consumer behavior such as preferences for brand, services, …

Mapping Consumer Cognition And Emotions: A Neuroscientific Approach, Dongjun Rew

Theses and Dissertations

Although the rival theories for consumer decision making process, cognitive perspective and experiential perspective, have successfully contributed to the marketing discipline, there is an alternative point of view that cognition and emotions work together for a decision or even a behavior. However, the methodological limitation has been a big hurdle that interrupts insightfulness and fruitfulness of marketing research, especially in consumer research. This study thus aims to develop a brain map and functional connectivity of consumer decision making and emotions to show physiological and neurological evidence that emotional behaviors and cognitive behaviors are associated when consumers decide a behavior by …

Consumers And Augmented Reality In Shopping And Services: Drivers And Consequences, Atieh Poushneh

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the effect of augmented reality on user experience and also the mediation effect of user experience in the relationship between augmented reality and the outcome variables including user satisfaction and user’s willingness to buy/user’s willingness to use augmented reality. Three studies were conducted in three different contexts, including buying consumer products, entertainment services and vehicle service use. The results indicate that augmented reality significantly and positively influence user experience, and user experience fully mediates the impact of augmented reality on user satisfaction and user’s willingness to buy/ user’s willingness to use augmented reality. Further, the results showed …

Womenpreneurs In A Digital Environment: Utilizing Instagram To Build A Personal Brand, Michelle N. Nuñez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Personal branding on social media is a growing and expanding field. The present research works to uncover the processes and practices of womenpreneurs and the ways in which they utilize social media, specifically Instagram, to build and maintain their personal brands. Grounded theory is used to underpin the research and provide a basis of which the study is conducted. The review of literature provides the context necessary to support the methods of a content analysis and semi-structured interviews. There is a gap in research as it pertains to the conceptualization of personal branding practices on Instagram and the present study …