Business Commons^™

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

AMTP 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 …

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

AMTP 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

AMTP 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 …

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

AMTP 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 …

Reverse And Questionable Responses Using The Kano Method In International Surveys, Michael Latta

AMTP Proceedings 2019

New product development has become an international exercise. One method of designing products is the Kano Method. Although not as popular as discrete choice or conjoint, the Kano Method is being used internationally to design products and services. The question process is not as straight forward as discrete choice or conjoint, and that raises questions of utility of the Kano Method when used internationally. This study shows results vary across countries dramatically.

Can Fantasy Football Consumers Rely On Player Projections Found On Internet Websites?, David Bojanic, Joel Hillner, Michael Musante

AMTP Proceedings 2019

The popularity of fantasy sports has continued to grow over the past two decades, becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry. While the traditional leagues utilize a one-time draft process with subsequent waivers, daily fantasy sports (DFS) involves picking a new team(s) every week. As a result, traditional leagues require participants to predict the long-term (season) value of a player, whereas DFS requires participants to optimize the team value of players on a weekly basis. Therefore, the average DFS participant places a high premium on weekly player projections by “so-called” experts found on fantasy football websites. The purpose of this paper is to …

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

AMTP 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 Impact Of Fantasy Football On The Nfl Fan: Exploring Differences Between The Fantasy Football Participant And The Traditional Fan, Stefan Sleep, Scott Thompson, Michael L. Thomas

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Fans of the National Football League (NFL) often identify themselves not only with a specific team but also in terms of a broader social group, fantasy football participant. This research utilizes a social identity perspective and data collected from an online context to compare those fans with a team-specific identity to those who also actively participate in fantasy football. Our results show that fans often form a dual identity with the league and the team. This is an important consideration for managers, because while previous research shows that fantasy football participants may attend more games, social identity theory suggests that …

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

AMTP 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.

Digital Tipping Intimidation At The Counter, Jennifer Bechkoff

AMTP 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 …

Understanding And Measuring Esports Online Spectator Motivation: Development Of A Scale, Tyreal Yizhou Qian, James J. Zhang

AMTP Proceedings 2019

The esports industry has found itself at a critical stage in the quest for continuous growth and sustainable development, facing both tremendous opportunities and challenges. For achieving enhanced revenue generation and consumer retention, understanding esports as a spectator entertainment is essential for the inchoate yet burgeoning industry, especially in an online environment through which a majority of fans follow the competitive scene of esports. In this investigation, two studies were conducted to understand the dimensions and develop a measure of esports online spectator motivation. Integrating Sloan’s sport motivation theories (Sloan, 1989; Zhang et al., 2003) and the uses and gratification …

Push And Pull Factors Influencing The Level Of Participation Of Leisure Skiing In China, Xinghua Wang, James J. Zhang

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Traditionally, winter sports have very limited accessibility and popularity in China. In addition to the growing economy in China and increased affordability by Chinese consumers, obtaining the hosting rights for the 2022 Beijing/Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Games has brought a heightened opportunity for China to build up facilities and related infrastructures, develop and provide programs, promote interests and participation, and advance business operations of winter sports. Although more people are participating in winter sports today, especially in skiing, many of the newly constructed facilities are often operated in financial deficit and relying on governmental subsidy. Understanding the reasons that cause and …

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

AMTP 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 …

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

AMTP 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 …

Factors Influencing Consumer Wine Choice: The Case Of Wine Tourism, Margaret Connolly

Books/Book Chapters

This research was undertaken to examine the relationship between the wine tourism activities of consumers and their subsequent wine choices. Exploratory research was undertaken giving specific attention to wine tourism, first, as a factor of influence on decision-making, second, on levels of consumer involvement and third on long-term consumer loyalty. A convenience sample of 12 wine consumers in Dublin participated in the study. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gather the qualitative data used. The findings clearly establish links made by consumers between their wine tourism experiences and their subsequent wine purchase preferences. The findings highlight the importance of facilitating …

Digitally Engaged Consumers: A Multi-Level Perspective Of Higher Education Actors And Their Technology Readiness, Treasa Karney, Roisin Vize, Taeshik Gong

Conference papers

Advances in digital technology and innovation have fundamentally changed the way Higher Education (HE) communities, interact, consume and co-create value (Freberg and Merle 2016; Neier and Zayer 2015). However, differences have persisted between the potential of technology enabled learning and the less consistent realities of technology use within university learning and teaching (Henderson et al. 2015). Therefore, a key aim of this research is to examine how technology readiness of students influences their interaction, engagements, and value co-creation with staff. Through applying the lens of value co-creation, i.e. where value is co-created among actors through their active role of engagement, …

The Same But Different: Understanding Entrepreneurial Behaviour In Disadvantaged Communities, Thomas M. Cooney, Michelle Licciardi

Books/Book Chapters

While entrepreneurship is widely viewed as being equally accessible in all contexts, it could be questioned if potential or nascent entrepreneurs from minority and disadvantaged communities experience entrepreneurship in a similar manner to the mainstream population. This chapter examines immigrant, people with disability, youth, gay and unemployed communities to explore how their entrepreneurial behaviour might differ from the practices of mainstream entrepreneurs. What emerges is that marginalised communities can frequently find it difficult to divorce business from social living. This can have both positive and negative connotations for an entrepreneur, plus they face additional and distinctive challenges that mainstream entrepreneurs …

Entrepreneurship Book Of Vietnamese Cases, Thomas M. Cooney, Vũ Thế Dũng, Trần Hoàng Hải, Vũ Văn Thiệu, Lê Hà Như Thảo, Huỳnh Thị Kim Hà, Tạ Hùng Anh, Đinh Nguyễn Khánh Phương, Huỳnh Minh Nhựt

Books/Book Chapters

This publication ‘Entrepreneurship Book of Vietnamese Cases’ is part of the ‘Supporting Entrepreneurial Development in ICT in Vietnamese HEIs – ICTentr’ project, an initiative which aims to support the national goals of Vietnam to modernise higher education systems and improve skills in ICT through capacity development. The overall objective of this project is to provide ICT students with an entrepreneurial mindset, soft skills and a professional attitude when graduating from the university. The activities are targeted both to students and teachers involved in enhancing innovation. The project is coordinated by the University of Turku (UTU), Finland. The consortium is also …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Attitudes Of Rural And Urban Consumers Towards Cultured Meat, Elaine Shaw, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis on the attitudes of rural and urban Irish consumers towards cultured meat.

Design/methodology/approach – A mixed methods exploratory sequential design was used. This involved collecting qualitative data first, through group interviews, and using the results of these to design the questionnaires for the quantitative data collection, which was analysed using SPSS 24.0 ®.

Findings – Urban consumers were more receptive towards cultured meat and more concerned about the environmental impact of current meat production practices. Rural consumers were more concerned about the possible damaging effect cultured meat …

The Moderation Effect Of Social Factors On Marketing Factors In Consumer Research, Xiaochuang Wu, Helen Chen, Xiaohong Li

Articles

Consumer research tends to isolate the impact of marketing and social factors. Little has been done to include both. This paper aimed to find out what would happen when these two sets of factors are included. Two models were built in this paper, Model I with the marketing factors only and Model II with both the marketing and social factors. Data was collected in Ireland among more than 1473 transition year students in a personal survey regarding their willingness to learn Chinese. Data were analysed by using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results showed the two social variables, acculturation and intergenerational …

Branding The Unbrandable: A Solution To Rebranding The Mta, Sydney Mcginn

Honors College Theses

No abstract provided.

Find, Process, And Share: An Optimal Control In The Vidale-Wolfe Marketing Model, Michael C. Barg

CODEE Journal

The Vidale-Wolfe marketing model is a first-order, linear, non-homogeneous ordinary differential equation (ODE) where the forcing term is proportional to advertising expenditure. With an initial response in sales as the initial condition, the solution of the initial value problem is straightforward for a first undergraduate ODE course. The model serves as an excellent example of many relevant topics for those students whose interests lie in economics, finance, or marketing. Its inclusion in the curriculum is particularly rewarding at an institution without a physics program. The model is not new, but it was novel to us when a group of students …

2018-December-21-Accreditation With Commendation, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – (December 21, 2018) The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) has awarded its highest accreditation level to the continuing medical education (CME) program at East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine.

As the accrediting body for continuing medical education, ACCME affirms that the Quillen College of Medicine has demonstrated a high-quality program, defined by the strength of its organizational resources and exceptional staff, in offering learning activities that enhance health care provider knowledge, skills and performance in the context of lifelong learning.

This honor, “Accreditation with Commendation,” is awarded to CME programs that adhere to …

2018-December-20-Prehistoric Peccaries, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (Dec. 20, 2018) – East Tennessee was once home to a stunning diversity of remarkable animals, including rhinos, tapirs, mastodons, alligators and more.  Scientists know all of this thanks to the fossil-rich clays of the Gray Fossil Site, which preserve an ancient ecosystem that dates back around 5 million years.  At that time, the site was a large pond surrounded by a lush forest.  Now, East Tennessee State University scientists have found another animal to add to the picture of this ancient ecosystem: peccaries.

Peccaries may look like pigs, but they are not.  True pigs, members of the …

2018-December-20-Carter Railroad Heritage Day, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (Dec. 20, 2018) — Models of America’s former signature railroads will be on display during Heritage Day on Saturday, Dec. 29 at the George L. Carter Railroad Museum located on the campus of East Tennessee State University.

Today’s super railroads were spawned by the consolidation of numerous smaller firms and had signature identities such as unique logos, memorable slogans and colorful paint schemes. This was particularly evident in the 1940-60 era as diesel power rapidly gained acceptance. These rails remain iconic and instantly identifiable to most enthusiast. “Santa Fe – All the Way,” “Southern Serves the South,” “Louisville …

How To Maximize Your Small Business's Impact On Social Media, Brianna J. Arnaud

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is meant to be a learning tool to help small businesses use free social media accounts as business marketing tools. The manual is broken down into chapters highlighting the importance of “Knowing your Audience,” “Branding,” “Constructing a Post,” “Using Visual Rhetoric,” and “Expanding your Audience.”. This thesis is inspired by scholars of English, internet linguistics, journalism, gender theory, professional writing, and rhetoric. It is also inspired by a survey of 18 small businesses in the Lafayette, Louisiana area. The survey helped to focus my research on the social media issues of small businesses in the southern region of …

2018-December-19-Rotc Commissioning, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY  (Dec. 19, 2018) – East Tennessee State University’s ROTC program has commissioned four cadets from the Buccaneer Battalion as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Kathleen Gainey provided remarks at the commissioning ceremony held Friday. She served in the U.S. Army for 35 years and led a major strategic review and period of increasing forces in Afghanistan and decreasing forces in Iraq as deputy commander, U.S. Transportation Command. As director of logistics for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gainey steered a review of the dependency of contractors on the battlefield and established …

2018-December-19-Presidential Fellows, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (Dec. 19, 2018) – East Tennessee State University President Brian Noland has named Dr. Joe Bidwell and Dr. Janna L. Scarborough as Presidential Fellows for the spring 2019 semester.

As fellows, the two faculty members will develop and execute a project that is aligned with one of the university’s major initiatives in teaching, learning and service. The fellows will work closely with President Noland, his leadership team and ETSU Center for Teaching Excellence staff.

Bidwell joined ETSU in 2014 and is a professor and chair of Biological Sciences. During this time, he has also served as interim chair …

2018-December-17-Bartleby Partnership Announcement, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (Dec. 17, 2018) – New opportunities are available to students working toward a coveted diploma seal upon graduation from Elizabethton High School as officials at East Tennessee State University signed an agreement Monday guaranteeing admission for Bartleby program participants and setting plans in motion to hold a high school leadership summit in 2019.

The partnership between Elizabethton High School, ETSU’s Office of Admissions in the Division of Enrollment Services and the Division of Student Affairs, will begin fall 2019 when Bartleby students can participate in dual enrollment and leadership development opportunities. The university will also offer additional dual …

2018-December-15-Sally Berry, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.