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Full-Text Articles in Business

Understanding The Influence Of Follower Count On Purchase Behavior And Consumer Perception In Influencer Marketing, Emaan Aziz May 2024

Understanding The Influence Of Follower Count On Purchase Behavior And Consumer Perception In Influencer Marketing, Emaan Aziz

Honors Theses

In recent years, influencer marketing has emerged as a popular strategy for brands to connect with consumers on social media. This study examines the impact of influencer follower count on consumer purchase behavior and perception of influencers in the context of influencer marketing. A qualitative research approach was employed, surveying 60 participants familiar with the concept. The findings suggest a relationship between influencer follower count and consumer perceptions of influencer attractiveness indicating that influencers with larger followings are more likely to be deemed attractive to social media users. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on influencer marketing …


Expanding On Experiential Differentiation In Crowded Markets: Success Through Understanding And Addressing Intangible Consumer Needs, Mitchell Hibbs Hibbs May 2024

Expanding On Experiential Differentiation In Crowded Markets: Success Through Understanding And Addressing Intangible Consumer Needs, Mitchell Hibbs Hibbs

Honors Theses

This thesis project focuses on exploring and elucidating how businesses in crowded markets achieve their respective success. Markets include personal care, skin products, cosmetics, perfume, and others, to name just a few relevant to this work. I argue that by focusing on customers' intangible needs and engaging them through experiential means, businesses can create a substantial, sustainable, and compelling niche, differentiating themselves from the crowd. I propose an original model, EIND (experiential and needs-based differentiation), and a working structure to implement, analyze, and design using EIND principles.


Consumers' Acceptance To Buy And Dispose Of Recycling Textile Products, Roa Alsayed Feb 2024

Consumers' Acceptance To Buy And Dispose Of Recycling Textile Products, Roa Alsayed

Theses and Dissertations

The textile industry is the second most polluting worldwide, following food manufacturing. It is one of the industries that is rarely scrutinized in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This work analyzes the fashion industry from the perspective of consumer attitudes towards the purchase and disposal of clothing, and their behavior with regards to old garments. The study was conducted in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, two countries that achieved similar results in the fashion industry. The methodology is divided into three phases. First, the manuscript begins with a review of topics such as sustainability, consumer behavior in the …


Three Essays On Anti-Consumers: Conpcetualizing, Envisioning, And Expanind Based On Self-Construal And Political Ideology, Soochan Choi May 2023

Three Essays On Anti-Consumers: Conpcetualizing, Envisioning, And Expanind Based On Self-Construal And Political Ideology, Soochan Choi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current dissertation is designed to contribute to our understanding of anti-consumers and their behaviors. Although past literature on anti-consumers gets attention from researchers and marketers, it lacks a deeper understanding of who and how anti-consumers behave societally and ideologically against targeted companies. Given this lack of understanding of anti-consumers, this dissertation conceptualizes anti-consumers, develops anti-consumer measurements, tests marketing strategies to attenuate their behaviors, and adds additional type of anti-consumption behavior, switching behavior, for marketers to maximize profits. The first essay develops a typology of anti-consumers by drawing on the literature on political ideology and self-construal. The essay suggests that …


The Power Of Algorithms And Big Data: A Marketing Perspective On Consumer Manipulation In Business, Jordan C'Rene Reuille-Dupont Mar 2023

The Power Of Algorithms And Big Data: A Marketing Perspective On Consumer Manipulation In Business, Jordan C'Rene Reuille-Dupont

University Honors Theses

In marketing, predictive analytics molds big data into tools that can create demographics, target pleasurable neuromodulator chemicals like dopamine, and influence individual and societal behavior patterns. Professionals and scholars alike can use machine-based computation to transform big data into usable knowledge that accurately represents and tracks human behavior. In the past couple of decades this has led to the acceleration of the attention economy and has fueled the age of information. It has pushed countries to not only enforce new laws and regulations, but also race to secure control over data science technologies. The research for this thesis will ultimately …


The Consumer Behavior Impact Of Data Capture Through Artificial Intelligence, Sally Emory Hiott Jan 2023

The Consumer Behavior Impact Of Data Capture Through Artificial Intelligence, Sally Emory Hiott

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Artificial intelligence is changing the way consumers search for information and purchase items and, thus, how people behave across generations. Due to the nature of this cutting-edge technology, organizations are investigating how much to wisely invest, but the artificial intelligence offerings are outpacing the research. Academic scholars and marketing professionals have issued timely prompts for additional studies to supplement the existing literature, which is limited. This research provides insights into privacy concerns surrounding the data collection of artificial intelligence and whether people feel exploited or served by it. Across two articles, surveys were deployed and collected to provide quantitative data …


Covid-19 And The Subsequent Change On Buyer Behavior, Chloe J. Chadwick Miss May 2022

Covid-19 And The Subsequent Change On Buyer Behavior, Chloe J. Chadwick Miss

Honors Capstones

The purpose of this Honors Capstone research project is to gain insight and understanding into how buyer behavior may or may not have changed after by the COVID-19 Pandemic through the perspectives of sales professionals, marketing professionals, and consumers themselves. This research project compared data from literary based research, 1:1 interviews, and three unique mass surveys dispersed on LinkedIn to gather information from multiple touch points. There were limitations to this research given the Pandemic is ongoing and there continues to be adjustments to this global phenomenon. Additionally, data collection from interviews and surveys was strictly voluntary and survey responses …


A Historical And Practical Analysis For Neuromarketing In Business Practices Today, Scott Wicinski May 2022

A Historical And Practical Analysis For Neuromarketing In Business Practices Today, Scott Wicinski

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

What thoughts come to your mind when you think of the term neuromarketing? In a digital age where personal privacy seems to be diminishing and data exploitation appears to be rising, many people are skeptical about businesses' attempts to combine neurology, psychology, and business. This skepticism is unfortunately, legitimate. Our history reveals plenty of occasions where businesses have exploited their customers through unethical means and traded valuable relationships and resources for profits. However, despite the flaws business can introduce, business is arguably still the most powerful tool for creating value in a community. Through business, customers have had access to …


Racial Composition In Advertisements And Its Effects On White Consumers' Perceptions And Purchase Intention, Chung-Ting Wang Jan 2022

Racial Composition In Advertisements And Its Effects On White Consumers' Perceptions And Purchase Intention, Chung-Ting Wang

Honors Program Theses

Previous marketing research has generally not examined how ethnic majority consumers perceive advertisements featuring mixed racial compositions of model groups. This paper presents an investigation into how White consumers’ perceptions and purchase intentions change depending on the racial composition of the people represented in an advertisement. The study uses a single 12-condition experiment, in which we examine the type of advertisement (product vs. social advocacy advertising), racial composition (all-White vs. diverse mix vs. all-Black), and racial priming effects (racially-primed vs. racially-neutral message). Additionally, consumers’ levels of self-referencing to the ad and strength of ethnic identification are explored as possible mediation …


How Does Global-Local Identity Impact Consumer Decision-Making, Xiaodong Nie Aug 2021

How Does Global-Local Identity Impact Consumer Decision-Making, Xiaodong Nie

Marketing Dissertations

Globalization has exacerbated the birth of the sharing economy on a global scale, and it has made global–local identity essential in understanding consumer decisions. For example, an emerging literature has uncovered the effects of global–local identity on various consumer responses, including price sensitivity, preference for local/global products and brands, preference for eco-friendly products, and a tendency to use price as a signal of product quality. Extending the literature, this dissertation aims to advance the understandings of the effect of global-local identity on various consumer behavior. Specifically, in the first essay, consumers face the decision as to whether to choose a …


A Comparison Of Implicit And Explicit Error Detection And Their Effects On Purchase Intention And Judgments Of Quality, Rachel Fernandes Aug 2021

A Comparison Of Implicit And Explicit Error Detection And Their Effects On Purchase Intention And Judgments Of Quality, Rachel Fernandes

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In an online study of purchase intent based on Chinese menu inspection, explicitly noticing grammatical errors by hotspot click was more detrimental to judgments of quality than implicit detection by error estimation. When they estimated errors in a survey question (ordinal measure), participants who reported many (more than nine) errors had lower purchase intent and ratings of quality compared to those with few (about six) or no errors. However, with the more novel, continuous measure based on hotspot detection, participant purchase intent did not decrease as the number of errors noticed increased. Importantly, there were no differences between the hotspot …


Politics Of Privacy: The Role Of Individual Political Views In Consumer Data Privacy Concerns, Connor Neill May 2021

Politics Of Privacy: The Role Of Individual Political Views In Consumer Data Privacy Concerns, Connor Neill

Honors Theses

Today, every choice that is made, from where to shop to what music to listen to, has turned into a reflection of one’s political views and identity. The main purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between an individual’s political views and his or hers attitudes toward the security of personal information in the consumer realm. Two studies were conducted in the form of surveys. The first study aims to measure the consumer’s trust and risk beliefs for a company of a certain size as well as their feelings toward the dimensions of control, collection, and awareness of …


The Effects Of Corporate Social Responsibility On Consumer Behavior And Buyer Attitudes, Bailey Dial May 2021

The Effects Of Corporate Social Responsibility On Consumer Behavior And Buyer Attitudes, Bailey Dial

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the size and scope of Corporate Social Responsibility’s (CSR’s) presence in corporate America and beyond, this thesis dives into the history, composition, and application of a CSR framework within an organization. This thesis also reports the results of a survey of students to apprehend the framework’s external impacts on consumers, including brand perceptions and purchase decisions. Most individuals have experienced some degree of exposure to CSR in their professional lives. Levels of awareness and liking towards both the CSR framework and its application demonstrate a direct impact on consumers’ buying processes and company judgements.


Multiple Identities In Sport Fandom: Balance, Conflict, & Negotiation, Aaron Mansfield Apr 2021

Multiple Identities In Sport Fandom: Balance, Conflict, & Negotiation, Aaron Mansfield

Doctoral Dissertations

Simultaneous to the sport industry’s ascent, obesity has become an issue of growing societal concern. Scholars have explored the role of social-psychological identification in both fandom and physical health, but have not yet explored the intersection of the two. Throughout life, individuals must negotiate all of their identities, including their attachment to sport teams, yet understanding of role identity within sport management is limited. Likewise, scholars have noted the need for greater illumination of the relationship between fandom and physical well-being. I address these gaps through three studies. In Study One, I completed semi-structured interviews with individuals who consider both …


Understanding The New Wealthy: Ideologies, Consumption Patterns, And Organizational Strategies For A New Generation Of High-Net Worth Individuals, Ana Brant Jan 2021

Understanding The New Wealthy: Ideologies, Consumption Patterns, And Organizational Strategies For A New Generation Of High-Net Worth Individuals, Ana Brant

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the fact that the Ultra High-Net Worth (UHNWI) belong to the wealthiest, most powerful, and influential group of consumers in the society, and nearly 70% created wealth on their own, current marketing approaches fail to consider what drives consumption behavior of this group of consumers and how can brands maximize their socio-economic impact. Across two studies, I develop a model that guides theory and practice regarding this consumer group. The first part of the first study deployed netnography and grounded theory to understand the ideologies of 30 self-made UHNWI derived from self-presentation on 3,393 Instagram posts. To ensure self-made …


Effects Of Demography On Opportunistic Product Return Behaviors In E-Commerce, Nikhila Anand Jan 2021

Effects Of Demography On Opportunistic Product Return Behaviors In E-Commerce, Nikhila Anand

Honors Undergraduate Theses

College student consumers are an increasingly important segment for marketers and scholars, particularly with the advent of online shopping. This research aims at exploring the effect of college students' decision-making styles on online purchase and return behavior. An online questionnaire survey was conducted on 1100 college students at the University of Central Florida to understand how respondents' return behavior changed with various scenarios and demographic factors. Analysis shows that scenarios involving late arrivals are the highest drivers of returns, while guilt and post- purchase regrets drove far fewer returns. Statistically significant differences in return behavior were found between demographic groups. …


The Challenges And Opportunities Created By A Global Pandemic's Effects On Consumer Shopping Behavior Within The Fashion Retail Industry, Kate O'Connor Nov 2020

The Challenges And Opportunities Created By A Global Pandemic's Effects On Consumer Shopping Behavior Within The Fashion Retail Industry, Kate O'Connor

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The fashion retail industry has already been undergoing an extensive transformation since the introduction of e-commerce in the late 1990s. However, changes in consumer shopping behavior caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have fundamentally altered the industry in a matter of months. Because the COVID-19 pandemic is relatively recent, there is a lack of literature regarding the challenges and opportunities for fashion retailers in light of these changes in consumer behavior. This project will illuminate the challenges and opportunities created by the COVID-19 pandemic for the different distribution modes in the fashion retail industry: brick and mortar stores, e-commerce, and omnichannel …


An Exploratory Study Of Generational Coffee Preferences, Lindsey Falkner May 2020

An Exploratory Study Of Generational Coffee Preferences, Lindsey Falkner

Honors College Theses

This research focuses on generational differences in preferences towards coffee-style beverages. The aim of this research is to provide recommendations to marketers within the saturated coffee industry. An online exploratory study was conducted with two-hundred and fifty-two participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk. The results show that differences exist between the coffee preferences across all generations, especially when it comes to the current trends (e.g., premiumization, convenience, and sustainability). Further, the results reveal several factors that may cause these generational differences. Finally, the study explored several ways that marketers in the coffee industry can appeal to different generations’ preferences, especially utilizing …


Regulating Relationship Needs Via Joint Consumption: An Attachment Perspective, Jana M. Rosewarne Jul 2018

Regulating Relationship Needs Via Joint Consumption: An Attachment Perspective, Jana M. Rosewarne

Doctoral Dissertations

Attachment style functions to regulate affect in relationships. I hypothesized that consumer decisions serve a similar purpose, producing distinct patterns of product preferences depending on people’s attachment goals. In a series of studies, I found that attachment avoidance predicted reduced preference for products framed as meeting closeness relationship goals and greater preference for products framed as meeting autonomy goals. The link between attachment anxiety and product preference depended on consumers’ emotions (S2) and relationship commitment (S3). Attachment style also predicted differences in the extent to which consumers thought about their partners when choosing products and their perceptions of how consumption …


Like What You See? The Influence Of Program Assortment Organization And Viewing Motivation On Video-On-Demand Consumption, Boram Nam Feb 2018

Like What You See? The Influence Of Program Assortment Organization And Viewing Motivation On Video-On-Demand Consumption, Boram Nam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research investigates the effect of program assortment organization and consumers’ viewing motivation on Video-on-Demand (VOD) consumption. In doing so, we examine the formation of viewers’ choice set and product interests in the context of the largely unexplored VOD marketplace. Specifically, we test the interaction between program assortment organization and the specificity of consumers’ motivation toward content for viewing on VOD to show that the size of choice set increases when program assortment is organized by content (genre) vs. a non-content specific alternative (recommendation) among consumers with an activity-focused (vs. content-focused) viewing motivation. We also provide preliminary evidence that consumer …


Do Hotel Guests Act According To Their Intentions As It Relates To Sustainability In A Hotel Setting?, Heather A. Price Jan 2018

Do Hotel Guests Act According To Their Intentions As It Relates To Sustainability In A Hotel Setting?, Heather A. Price

Honors Theses and Capstones

As humans continue to use our planet’s resources at a rapid pace, we must act quickly to implement solutions and strategies that will create a positive impact on our environment. The hotel industry represents a huge opportunity for increasing sustainability practices, as these establishments tend to consume tremendous amounts of natural resources through energy and water usage; thus creating quite a bit of waste. For this customer-centric industry, change starts with consumer expectations and intentions to act. The purpose of this study was to assess hotel guests’ values and intentions for sustainable hotels, and compare how this aligns with their …


Exploring The Role Of Collective Narcissism In Sport Team Identification, Ben Larkin Jul 2017

Exploring The Role Of Collective Narcissism In Sport Team Identification, Ben Larkin

Doctoral Dissertations

Team identification is among the most widely studied concepts in sport fan behavior. This is largely due to the fact that highly identified fans exhibit drastically different and more avid consumption and purchase behavior compared to those low and/or moderate on team identification. Most notably, this has been manifested in a greater propensity to attend games, watch the team on television, and purchase team merchandise. While the study of team identification has focused both on its development and outcomes, one constant is that scholars have generally assumed team identification to take the form of a healthy and positive team attachment. …


From Placebo To Panacea: Exploring The Influence Of Price, Suspicion, And Persuasion Knowledge On Consumers’ Perception Of Quality, Vahid Rahmani Jul 2017

From Placebo To Panacea: Exploring The Influence Of Price, Suspicion, And Persuasion Knowledge On Consumers’ Perception Of Quality, Vahid Rahmani

Marketing Theses & Dissertations

Consumers’ associate higher prices with higher levels of quality. Nevertheless, the relationship between price and objective quality (i.e., real quality) in the marketplace is not always strong or even positive. This seemingly paradoxical phenomenon could be explained by either consumers’ lack of access to the product information (which is unlikely as we live in the age of information) or their reluctance/inability to assimilate the available information and modify their price-quality judgments. The current research is built on this latter assumption and attempts to answer two substantive questions that remain to be fully addressed in the pricing literature: First, how can …


The Hidden Costs Of Scheduling: Temporal Structure Reduces Task Enjoyment And Contracts Time, Gabriela Nicole Tonietto May 2017

The Hidden Costs Of Scheduling: Temporal Structure Reduces Task Enjoyment And Contracts Time, Gabriela Nicole Tonietto

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Time is an important but limited resource, and consumers are constantly looking for ways to get more from their time. This has led to the popularity of scheduling as a strategy to help consumers manage and organize their time. Although scheduling is both highly recommended and widely adopted, surprisingly little is known about the psychological effects of scheduling. In this dissertation, I explore the potential effects of scheduling for task enjoyment, perceived time, and time consumption, finding that scheduling may have some important hidden costs. In the first chapter, I examine the effect of scheduling leisure activities. While prior research …


Green Marketing Effects On The Consumer, Alice O. Townsend May 2017

Green Marketing Effects On The Consumer, Alice O. Townsend

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to gauge the influence of green marketing efforts directed at the consumer. Green marketing is a marketing strategy used by businesses that emphasizes the environmental improvements a company has implemented. Green marketing is not a new concept but it is one that is still relevant to consumers and companies alike as concern for the environment continues to grow. This particular study looks at a relatively new frontier for green marketing in how it appears on social media by testing brand perception and purchase intent of an environmentally conscientious social media post by a consumer …


It's Not The Load That Breaks You Down, It's The Way You Carry It: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Negative Identity And Consumer Behavior, Cassandra Denise Davis Aug 2016

It's Not The Load That Breaks You Down, It's The Way You Carry It: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Negative Identity And Consumer Behavior, Cassandra Denise Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research examining Social identity and consumer behavior often centers on groups with positive Social identities, exploring the influence of similar identities (i.e., shared values, shared gender, shared political affiliations, shared ethnicity…etc.) or desired identities (e.g., sports celebrities, actors, and actresses). For example, research has shown that people display an increased attention to identity-based stimuli following the activation of a Socially distinct identity (Forehand, Deshpandé, and Reed 2002) and that heightening the self‐importance of a consumer Social identity leads to a preference for identity-related brands (Reed 2004). An important but often overlooked aspect of the influence of Social identity on consumption, …


Emotions Involved In Shopping At The Airport, Alexis D. Tymkiw May 2016

Emotions Involved In Shopping At The Airport, Alexis D. Tymkiw

Honors Theses

This paper examines the emotional motivations that drive consumers to shop at airport retailers. Airport retailing is a rapidly growing segment as airports continue to expand retail areas and the number of passengers increase each year. With larger retail areas, airports are beginning to resemble shopping areas. However, with higher prices and consumers experiencing time and space constraints, the airport is a very unique shopping environment. This paper explored two unique emotional motivations for shopping at airports: (1) to escape the stress of travel and (2) to eliminate boredom. Analysis of the in-depth interviews led to the development of four …


Becoming Our Parents: A Proposed Investigation Into Family Influence In Consumer Behavior, Katie E. Bowman May 2016

Becoming Our Parents: A Proposed Investigation Into Family Influence In Consumer Behavior, Katie E. Bowman

Honors Theses

Relationships between children and parents have been studied for years across multiple disciplines. Family ties affect countless decisions made throughout the world, making this study relevant to multiple researchers. The need to understand these family influences is particularly important within the business world. Because sales are the goal, being able to comprehend why a consumer purchases one product over the rest of its competition is crucial. This paper is focused specifically on the relationships between parents and their children and how that relationship affects the consumer behavior of the children. These relationships are being studied through intergenerational consumer patterns including …


The Indulgence And Restraint Cultural Dimension: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Mongolia And The United States, Rentsenkhand Enkh-Amgalan May 2016

The Indulgence And Restraint Cultural Dimension: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Mongolia And The United States, Rentsenkhand Enkh-Amgalan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research focuses on one of the least studied cultural dimension, “indulgence versus restraint” (IVR) and how it affects consumer behavior, international marketing, and global business operations in the U.S. and Mongolia. This project is the first research on IVR in Mongolia since the country is rarely studied and there is no available data for this cultural dimension. Samples of undergraduate business students (as consumers) from both countries were studied through surveys. The findings support that Mongolians and Americans are different regarding the “indulgence” cultural dimension. This paper has a significant contribution to the cross-cultural literature regarding the indulgence cultural …


Cell Phone Ethnography: Mixed Methods And The Brand Consumer Relationship, Robert Nathaniel Dove May 2016

Cell Phone Ethnography: Mixed Methods And The Brand Consumer Relationship, Robert Nathaniel Dove

Masters Theses

Overall, the goal of this study is to identify and differentiate the various motivations and cultural influences that can be used to explain consumer behavior. In doing so, this study hopes to facilitate the development of new and innovative marketing strategies, providing a new research design for the ethnographer’s toolkit. More importantly, this model can give shape to new constructs and new variables for further empirical testing in the field through quantitative and qualitative methods. By blending the two approaches, using qualitative interpretive anthropological analysis by field study with quantitative sentiment analysis adapted from market researcher Jeffery Breen’s (2012) methodology, …