Business Commons^™

Improving Customer Experience Throughout The Customer Journey In The Big Data Era, Mohammad Saljoughian

Doctoral Dissertations

My PhD dissertation focuses on how firms should adapt their strategies to improve customer engagement throughout customer journey. My first paper examines firm-customer conversations on social media. Many firms struggle with how to craft their messages in conversations with customers on social media, and the lack of guidance for interacting with customers is among the top social media challenges reported by firms. The problem is compounded by the fact that these conversations take place in different, simultaneous threads, each of which potentially requiring a different approach. This paper studies how firms can adapt their responses in individual social media conversations …

Playing The Game: Video Games And Video Game Streaming Platforms As Marketing Communication Channels, Roman Welden

Doctoral Dissertations

While video games are generally viewed as a form of entertainment for a small subset of people, in reality they provide a channel for nearly 3.2 billion people to interact with others and offer multiple pathways for marketers to interact with consumers. Pair this alongside 140 million unique consumers who consumer nearly 24 billion hours of content on video game streaming platforms (VGSPs), such as Twitch, and there is a deep need for marketers to understand how to engage consumers in these environments. This dissertation provides a conceptualization of the video game ecosystem as well as the types of influencers …

The Unexplored Impacts Of Communication Elements In Marketing, Can Trinh

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation includes two essays that examine how the use of different marketing communication approaches influences consumers. In the first essay, I propose that the use of human silhouettes, when compared to images of attractive human models, enhances marketing communication effectiveness by reducing the extent to which consumers experience self-threat when viewing an ad. In addition, I predict this effect holds for appearance-related products only and strengthens as consumers’ level of appearance-related self-esteem decreases. Five studies reported in this essay provide converging evidence in support of these expectations.

In the second essay, I investigate into how the use of puns …

Effects Of Economic Development Status And Eco-Product On Consumption Values: From The Perspective Of Us Consumers, Mostafa Zaman

Doctoral Dissertations

Consumers select a product based on numerous product characteristics. Numerous studies conducted earlier revealed that consumers in developing countries preferred products made in western or developed countries because their product quality is better than the quality of local products (Lee & Nguyen, 2017; Dao & Heidt, 2018; Rodrigo et al., 2019). Moreover, consumers are increasingly concerned about manufacturers’ environmental issues. Although ethical consumers believe that eco-products could save the environment, some consumers are not concerned about the eco-products and thus select products based on other product attributes (Joshi & Rahman, 2015). Hence, it becomes very challenging for retailers to select …

Wingcups: Product Launch Digital Marketing Strategy, Sean M. Dolan

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Faceid Canine Door Business Plan, Oliver Maxwell Martins

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Green Gap: How Consumers Value Sustainable Fashion, Alexandra K. Richey

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Artists On The Rise: An Exploration Of The Role That Brand Collaboration Prestige Plays In The Development Of Identification And Artist Attractiveness, Isabel Soldner

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Influencer Versus Body Positive Marketing: Perceived Brand Personalities In The Eye Of The Target Consumer, Sarah N. Bowman

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Fyre Festival: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly And Its Impact On Influencer Marketing, Loren Grace Gilbert, Courtney Childers, Brandon Boatwright

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The High Rise Storage System, Justin H. Harmon

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Impact Of The Chief Digital Officer On Firm Performance, Ashley Lauren Roepke

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Next Generation: Looking At Utk Students’ Potential Future Engagement With Gsmnp, Layla Marie Mosadegh

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Boys That Blend: How Men In Makeup Can Affect Social Media Marketing Efforts, Matthew Meyers

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Yes, We Can Brewing Company, Madison Hailey Murphy

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Ecocar Mobility Challenge Communications Plan, Whitney M. Brothers

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Veterinary Telemedicine Perception And Utilization Intention, Chandler Hawk

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Consumer Acceptance Of Retail Service Robots, So Young Song

Doctoral Dissertations

This study uses the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) and domestication theories as the underlying framework of an acceptance model of retail service robots (RSRs). The model illustrates the relationships among facilitators, attitudes toward Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety toward robots, anticipated service quality, and the acceptance of RSRs. Specifically, the researcher investigates the extent to which the facilitators of usefulness, social capability, the appearance of RSRs, and the attitudes toward HRI affect acceptance and increase the anticipation of service quality. The researcher also tests the inhibiting role of pre-existing anxiety toward robots on the relationship between these facilitators and attitudes …

Blinded By The Brand: Why And When Salesperson Brand Attachment Decreases Customer Purchase Intentions?, Lisa Lynn Beeler

Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research finds that the more attached salespeople are to a brand, the more effort they extend on behalf of the brand, thus improving sales performance. However, salesperson brand attachment may also have undesirable consequences only evident when viewed through the customers’ lens. Specifically, we argue that brand attachment has a “blinding effect” on salespeople, leading them to adopt inappropriate sales strategies that discourage customers from purchasing the brand. We explore these ideas using data collected from 20 exploratory interviews with salesperson-customer dyads and a field study that includes 153 salespeople and 98 matched customers. The data offer support for …

Attendance For The Knoxville Ice Bears And Elements That Have An Impact, Rebekah Jackson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Take No For An Answer? Unpacking Persistence And Examining Its Impact On Salesperson Performance, Nawar Naim Chaker

Doctoral Dissertations

Common wisdom suggests that persistence is a critical determinant of sales performance and, consequently, salespeople are often advised “don’t take no for an answer.” While the importance of persistence to sales success is seemingly unquestioned (albeit unexamined in the literature), anecdotal evidence suggests that the incremental business generated through salesperson persistence may be tempered – if not overshadowed – by its accompanying costs (e.g., time spent pursuing hesitant prospects). The goal of this research is thus to explore the impact of persistence on salesperson performance. Grounded in social influence theory, this study views sales persistence as a combination of influence …

Examining The Nature And Consequences Of Interfunctional Bias In A Corporate Setting, William Adam Powell

Doctoral Dissertations

Interfunctional bias is examined in this dissertation as a potential barrier to interfunctional cooperation. Interfunctional cooperation is desirable in modern corporate organizations as a contributor to effective service delivery, operations planning, and sales performance. Interfunctional stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are hypothesized to relate positively, and together provide the bias-based theoretical basis through which barriers to interfunctional cooperation can be more thoroughly understood. Based on the extant literature in marketing and psychology, competing models of interfunctional bias are developed and hypothesized. In the first of three studies a questionnaire-based survey of supply chain employees’ perceptions of salespeople permitted the examination of …

Brand Positioning Vs. Employee Behavior, Kaitlin Day Waters

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

#Sponsored: The Emergence Of Influencer Marketing, Steven Woods

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

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, …

Changing The Industry, Spotify, Seth A. Carver

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Four-Hour Film Festival, James Christopher Agan

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Integrated Internet Marketing Communications For The Global Market: An Empirical Examination, Philip Jean Boutin Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and performance of Internet (online) marketing communications (IOMC) by companies when they attempt to target, reach, and communicate with the global market (i.e., both domestic and foreign markets) in order to promote and sell products to the members of that market was the broad phenomenon examined. The specific focus was on the use of a globally integrated marketing communications (GIMC) approach with IOMC and the creation of the global Internet integrated marketing communications (GI-IMC) concept.

Relevant theories and theoretical models were identified and leveraged to serve as the theoretical foundation for the general theoretical framework, the …

Rogue And Deviants: A Game-Theoretic Perspective On Opportunism In Strategic Alliance Relationships, Anton Pavol Fenik

Doctoral Dissertations

Opportunistic behavior is often studied in interfirm relationships, yet we don’t know the different types of behavior that are hidden behind the general opportunism label. Therefore, using game theory as guidance, this dissertation examines the roots of and influences on two types of opportunistic behaviors in strategic alliances. Specifically, the author suggests that the strategic alliances literature would benefit from recognizing that opportunistic behaviors don’t always originate from the firm (rogue-firm opportunism), but instead often originate from individual alliance employees (deviant-personal opportunism). Moreover, this dissertation examines how relational factors between two alliance partners impact these two types of opportunistic behaviors. …

Creating Competitive Advantage In The Premium Market Segment Through A Sustainability Strategy, Andrew E. Iberg

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.