Business Commons^™

The Impact Of Covid 19 And Geopolitical Tensions On Small To Midsized Enterprises, Nader H. Shooshtari, Tim A. Manuel, Shawn F. Clouse

AMTP Proceedings 2023

The combined effects of COVID 19 pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions are discouraging to SMEs operating in international markets but they can be overcome or in the least mitigated. Some of the obstacles facing SMEs are structural and may be difficult to overcome. Others are psychological and can be addressed with appropriate and targeted assistance measures, both public and private, which combined with SME agility and entrepreneurial ability could pave the way for greater international success.

Impact Of The Digitized Sales Work Environment On Customer Orientation, Julia Rötzmeier-Keuper, Nancy Viola Wünderlich

AMTP Proceedings 2023

Informed by appraisal theory, which highlights personal characteristics and resources as critical to the emergence of stress appraisal and adaptation (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), our study poses the following questions:

• What characterizes the DSWE?
• What is the role of the DSWE in creating salesperson distress and eustress?
• How is a salesperson’s customer orientation/ value-based selling affected by the DSWE?

In our attempt to explore the potential up- and downsides of work environment digitalization and the appraisal of the pervasive use of Information Technology in everyday work, we adopted a qualitative approach. We combined information from qualitative interviews with B2B customer …

Examining The Product And Service-Centric Website Features And Functions Offered By European Fashion Retailers Following The Covid-19 Pandemic, Richard Heiens, Ravi Narayanaswamy

AMTP Proceedings 2023

Considering the significant pressures faced by fashion-oriented e-commerce retailers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to understand what modifications, if any, these retailers may have made to their online retail stores, and the impact that these changes may have had on their effectiveness during this time frame. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine the various product-centric and service-centric features and functions found on the websites of European fashion retailers both before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also examined the conversion rates, the average ticket values and customer demographics for …

Differences In Consumers’ Green Consumption Mindsets And Behavior Across South Africa, South Korea And The United States Based Upon Measures Of Hofstede’S Cultural Dimensions Theory, Sam Fullerton, Estelle Van Tonder, Jungki Lee

AMTP Proceedings 2023

Samples of 513 South African consumers, 292 South Korean consumers, and 938 consumers in the United States were drawn using identical, but appropriately translated, questionnaires. The data collection instrument addressed a number of psychographic considerations germane to consumption – and anti-consumption – decisions. Using the index scores from Hofstede’s Theory of Cultural Dimensions as bases for differentiating among the three countries, meaningful differences related to issues germane to sustainability were identified. The three cultural dimensions used for comparative purposes were individualism (versus collectivism), indulgence (versus restraint) and long-term (versus short-term) orientation. Differences were documented for all eight of the sustainability-related …

A Comparison Of The Green Mindset And An Array Of Green Customer Citizenship Behaviours Of Adult Residents In South Africa And The United States, Christo Bisschoff, Estelle Van Tonder, Sam Fullerton

AMTP Proceedings 2023

Independent samples of 513 South African and 938 American consumers responded to an invitation-only, Internet-based survey that captured behavioural and attitudinal data regarding five constructs germane to customer citizenship. The five constructs were green mindset, anti-consumption behaviour, consumer coaching, green advocacy, and customer helping behaviour. Multi-item scales for all five constructs that had been shown to produce a high degree of reliability in prior research were gleaned from the literature. Results from South Africa and the United States were compared. High degrees of reliability were in evidence for each scale in each country. A comparison of the mean scores documented …

Differences In Eco-Friendly Attitudes And Behaviors Among Consumers In The United States Across An Array Of Demographics, Sam Fullerton, Tammy Mccullough

AMTP Proceedings 2023

A sample of 938 consumers residing in the United States responded, by invitation, to an online survey on anti-consumption attitudes and behaviors. Drawing from one aspect of that survey, the primary focus of this study is sustainability. The relationship between four of the measured sustainability-related variables and five commonly examined demographics was evaluated using a t-test, ANOVA, and the Scheffé Method of Multiple Comparisons. Age was the most common variable to be associated with attitudes and behavior regarding sustainability. The most common dependent variable to be associated with the five demographic variables was the frequency in which the respondent chose …

Personal Brand Equity In Linkedin: Impression Management As An Antecedent And Behaviors As Consequences, Carlos Valdez, Jorge Villegas, David Penn

AMTP Proceedings 2023

This research explores how Personal Brand Equity in professional social media is influenced by impression management and the online behaviors of users of this social media platform. Using a path analysis, the relationship between Impression Management and Personal Brand Equity was, as expected, strong and positive. The paths between brand equity and frequency of behaviors such as use of LinkedIn to network were significant and strong while other behaviors such as frequency of use of LinkedIn to ask for recommendations were not significant. The contribution of this paper is to be the first to analyze this relationship to understand better …

Sports Leagues And Organizations’ Financial Recovery From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Matthew Quackenbos

Senior Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused a global shutdown that immediately stopped all revenue of hosting sporting events for sports leagues. This resulted in a financial struggle for these leagues and organizations that they had to work to overcome. Using public access to financial statements and records, this report examines the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports leagues and organizations and how they were able to recover in the years following the pandemic.

2023-April-01-Staying On Track Has Benefits, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY - Registration for summer session courses at East Tennessee State University is now open. Enrolling in summer courses provides students with opportunities to stay on track or get ahead in their coursework.  

With over 1,200 courses available during the term, students can enjoy the convenience of choosing from a variety of formats, including general education courses, online, study abroad and many more. Probability and statistics, anatomy and physiology, public speaking and macroeconomics are a few courses offered, among a myriad of others.  

Six sessions will be available, with dates for each session running between May 15-Aug. 11. During …

2023 Research Day Program, Lincoln Memorial University

Research Day

This program contains abstracts and presentation summaries from LMU's 2023 Annual Research Day conference.

2023-April-01-Etsu's Spring Literary Festival Happening Soonetsu-, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – Filled with engaging presentations and audience question-and-answer sessions, East Tennessee State University’s annual Spring Literary Festival is this month.

“This year’s Spring Literary Festival at ETSU promises to be one of our most memorable ever with our keynote Jack Higgs Memorial Reader Daniel Wallace offering us the world premiere of his new memoir, ‘This Isn’t Going to End Well.' The book’s release date is one day before his visit, so attendees can get a hot-off-the-presses copy at the festival and have it autographed,” said Dr. Jesse Graves, ETSU’s poet-in-residence. 

The festival runs Wednesday-Thursday, April 12-13. All events, …

2023-April-01-Etsu Health Launches Professional Leadership Academy, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

This week, ETSU Health launched the ETSU Health Professional Leadership Academy, which aims to equip participants with the skills and knowledge to accept and thrive in leadership roles. 

The academy’s 30 participants represent the clinical and academic components of ETSU Health, including all five of East Tennessee State University’s health sciences colleges and Ballad Health. They will spend the next six weeks engaging in leadership development activities, including practical leadership challenges and one-on-one coaching, culminating in a recognition ceremony on May 9.

Sessions will be held throughout the region, and will feature an array of speakers, including ETSU President Dr. …

2023-April-01-Obstacles, Victories And Defeats - Tell Your Story, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University invites the public to the final Re-Generation Story Slam of the season at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 28, in Johnson City. 

“Our last story slam of the Spring 2023 season promises to be one of the most exciting,” graduate assistant and event producer Cory Howard said. 

Happening at The Down Home, located at 300 W. Main Street, this month’s theme is “Quests.” All in attendance are invited, but not required, to submit their names into a random drawing to be selected to tell personal stories about long journeys, impossible obstacles, stunning victories, …

2023-April-01-They Burrowed And Dug Even Swam Five Million Years Ago, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

Headlines coming out of the Gray Fossil Site and Museum, where a one-of-a-kind ancient ecosystem nearly five million years old is preserved, have focused on the larger fossilized animals like rhinos and red pandas. 

 

But researchers have been paying more attention to the tiny creatures that once roamed the hills and valleys of the present-day Appalachian Highlands.

Lower jaw fossil

A new study published in Palaeontologia Electronica is the first to analyze the fossil moles of the site. By comparing fossil bones and teeth with other living and extinct mole species, the researchers identified four different types of extinct …

Analyzing The Value, Function, And Regulation Of Cryptocurrency, Joshua Ide

Senior Honors Theses

Cryptocurrency is an emerging asset in the financial field designed to act as an alternative medium of exchange to fiat currency. The researcher explores the value, function, and regulation of cryptocurrency to explain the complex system and provide insight into the asset’s prospects. The conclusion indicates that cryptocurrency has a wide variety of uses beyond traditional currency transactions. It also indicates that the recent downturn in the cryptocurrency market is correlated to the drop in the stock market that began in 2021 and is prolonged by economists’ fears of a recession in 2023. Future research should monitor whether the cryptocurrency …

Cross-Cultural Managerial Behavior – A Comparative Study Between The Republic Of Korea And The United States Of America, Colson Richter

Senior Honors Theses

Among the many trade partners the United States engages with, the Republic of Korea is the nation’s seventh largest trading partner – exchanging over $154.9 Billion in 2020 (USTR, 2021). Despite this strong economic relationship between these two nations, the cultural distance that these societies have is one of the largest within anthropological academia (Hofstede, 2017). This reality creates the need for a solid framework of a management-focused, cultural understanding between these two countries.

In this study, academic literature will be collected and reviewed to lend insight into particular areas of culture that an American and Korean perspective would be …

And The Oscar Goes To... Tiktok, Dawson Bley

Senior Honors Theses

Companies have been forced to take note of the emerging social media app, TikTok, which has attracted more than a billion users to its platform and invited businesses into an uncharted market ready to be exploited. By seeking to understand and employ the unique features which have led to TikTok’s far-reaching success, many companies can similarly improve their position. In particular, traditional movie companies, which have recently suffered blows at the box office due to factors such as competition with online streaming, could benefit from an analysis of this tech to restore lost engagement and revenue. Specifically, how can the …

Werner Enterprises Strategic Audit, Leavitt K. Reno

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Werner Enterprises is a large trucking company based in Omaha, Nebraska, operating out of 15 terminals around the country. It is among the top five trucking companies in the United States. This report examines the trucking industry and where Werner Enterprises stands within it, as well as Werner Enterprises’ competitive advantages, and how future challenges of the trucking industry may affect the company. The report utilizes a PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces analysis to closer examine the external environment and industry Werner Enterprises operates in. Following this evaluation, recommendations are provided based on Werner Enterprises’ current positioning and future challenges …

The Impact Of Funding On Market Valuation In Technology Start-Up Firms: Implication For Open Innovation, Amril Nazir, Dina Tbaishat

All Works

Do outside funds and increased access to capital have an effect on the market valuation of technology startup firms? Should entrepreneurs prioritize outside funding to increase the values of their firms? This research seeks to answer these important questions. Given the current lack of empirical-based assessment on this topic, a causal impact analysis was conducted to draw conclusions regarding the effect of different investment types and funding amounts on market valuation. Using the Crunchbase data platform, we conducted a study of 7,481 early-stage technology startups in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2000 to August 2022. To ensure an accurate …

Information Flow Dynamics Between Geopolitical Risk And Major Asset Returns, Zaghum Umar, Ahmed Bossman, Sun Yong Choi, Xuan Vinh Vo

All Works

We quantify information flows between geopolitical risk (GPR) and global financial assets such as equity, bonds, and commodities, with a focus on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. We combine transfer entropy and the I-CEEMDAN framework to measure information flows at multi-term scales. Our empirical results indicate that (i) in the short term, crude oil and Russian equity show opposite responses to GPR; (ii) in the medium and long term, GPR information increases the risk in the financial market; and (iii) the efficiency of the financial asset markets can be confirmed on a long-term scale. These findings have important implications for market participants, …

Consumer Decision-Making On Golf Equipment: Impact Of Emerging Strategic Organizational Goals And Supply Chain Intricacies, Faith A. Hopkins, Ismet Anitsal, Melek Meral Anitsal

AMTP Proceedings 2023

The game of golf is incredibly historic and enjoyed by many people from numerous different age groups across many parts of the world. The research involving the game of golf is often limited to the topics of golf club engineering and injury prevention within the game. The consumer decision-making process for golf equipment has been primarily under-researched. This study explores the consumer decision-making process involving golf equipment and provides propositions to achieve strategic organizational goals. Propositions are made concerning supply chain intricacies containing the inclusion of personalization and customization and including women's equipment displayed in marketing activities. There is room …

Social Media Influencer Perceived Source Credibility Scale Validation And Consumer Attitudes Toward The Brand: An Exploratory Study In Urban India, James E. Stoddard, Lubna Nafees, Christy M. Cook

AMTP Proceedings 2023

This study explores the relationship between social media influencers (SMIs) perceived source credibility and the formation of brand attitudes of their followers from an urban Indian sample. SMIs have become a channel in shaping consumers’ brand perceptions for products and services across multiple industries worldwide. Using survey data from India, this research delves into the dimensions of SMI perceived source credibility and attitudes towards the brand. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validated the concept that SMI perceived source credibility is a second order construct that is comprised of SMI perceived expertise, goodwill and trustworthiness. Also, that partial least squares structural …

The Digital Engine Model: Lead Generation Through Applied Dcm Strategies, Kyle A. Huggins, John D. Hansen

AMTP Proceedings 2023

Digital Content Marketing (DCM) has become a primary tool for marketers in driving lead generation in today’s digital marketing world. Leading brands are creating and curating content in order to develop brand equity, connecting content to brand story and narrative. And while strong theoretical models of content marketing have been discussed in the marketing literature, like Hollebeek and Macky (2019), there is a dearth of understanding about the application and direct impact of organic digital content strategies on marketing directives. This paper investigates an applied model, called The Digital Engine, which provides instruction on proper digital content marketing instruction and …

How Political Ideology Impacts Political Brand Image: Analysis Of The 2016, 2018, And 2020 Elections, Kristina M. Harrison, Shawn Thelen, Boonghee Yoo

AMTP Proceedings 2023

The U.S. presidential elections of 2016 and 2020 have both been characterized as “An Election like No Other” (Goodman 2020; Smith 2016) unparalleled to previous ones. The 2016 election saw an outsider, not an established politician, win the support of a major political party and eventually the presidency. The 2020 election was influenced by a once in a century pandemic that diminished all traditional election issues and greatly affected the nature of campaigning. This research examines whether political ideology played an invariant and stable role in shaping the brand image of the presidential election candidates. Analysis of 2016, 2018, and …

From Academia To Industry: The Educators’ Role In Preparing Marketing Practitioners For America’S Multicultural Reality, Neleen S. Leslie-Piper, Tanzeah Sharpe

AMTP Proceedings 2023

This study examines the state of multicultural marketing education. It looks at current Marketing and IMC programs offered in the United States to ascertain the extent to which their curricula include components aimed at building multicultural competence in future practitioners. Finally, the paper proposes recommendations for making marketing education more responsive to current market needs.

The Relative Importance Of Appearance And Language In Consumers’ Evaluations Of Multicultural Models In Television Commercials, Neleen S. Leslie-Piper

AMTP Proceedings 2023

ABSTRACT

This study aims to expand the literature on source effects by examining the relative importance of appearance and language in consumers’ evaluations of multicultural models in televisions commercials. Specifically, using accommodation theory as a framework, the study explores how multicultural models affect customers’ perceptions of the source’s credibility, attractiveness as well as overall attitudes toward the commercial, the brand and intent to purchase.

Combating Luxury Brand Counterfeiting: Recommended Action Strategies, Md Shahidul Islam

AMTP Proceedings 2023

In the past few decades, luxury brand counterfeiting has grown significantly worldwide, and this growth caused considerable damage to the knowledge-based globalized economy and the brands. The rapid development of e-commerce business, primarily during the pandemic, has facilitated the counterfeiting trades through small shipments by different modes of transportation. Counterfeit products can be found in many industries, such as common consumer goods, IT goods, agriculture goods, pharmaceutical items, and luxury items (fashion apparel). The measures adopted to combat luxury brand counterfeiting are minimal to what should have been done. This study proposes that social media activism against counterfeiting is critical …

Could Brand Tribes Facilitate Transformation Of Their Members?, Saeed Shobeiri, Jean-Luc Bernard

AMTP Proceedings 2023

This research aims to determine whether brand tribes could provide their members with transformational benefits. It investigates, for one of the first times, the link between two key concepts of brand tribalism and customer-level transformation. By looking closely at the individual-level outcomes of joining brand tribes, this research complements a large body of past research that has mostly emphasized collective nature of tribalism. We conducted a self-administered online targeted survey undergraduate and graduate students of a large North-American university about their preferred brand of smart phone. The results, brand tribalism was found to be a major antecedent of transformational experiences …

The Effect Of Ordering Method On Consumer Return Intentions, Garrett M. Kemp, Laura Boman

AMTP Proceedings 2023

With the rise of Covid-19, mobile ordering has become one of the most popular ways to get food. At its height, Covid-19 caused restaurants to shut down and forced businesses to move to a more mobile and delivery-friendly plan. Now, venues for concerts, large events, and sports have started to offer the option of mobile ordering food to be delivered directly to your seat. Mobile ordering has made the food service industry even more accessible; however, it has also brought to light the issue of tipping. Traditionally, tipping was only done at full-service restaurants. Now, businesses like Starbucks, Mcdonald's, and …

Student Satisfaction With Learning Experience And Its Impact On Likelihood Recommending University: Net Promoter Score Approach, Musa Pinar, Coleen Wilder, Matthew Luth, Tulay Girard

AMTP Proceedings 2023

Universities, just like any business, realized the importance and relevance of student satisfaction as well as getting recommended by their students for their long-term success, survival, and growth. This study intends to examine university students’ satisfaction with various aspects of their college learning experience, recommending a university as measured by Net Promoter Score (NPS), and the influence of factors related to student satisfaction on the likelihood of recommending the university. The results of the survey based on 220 responses from current students identify students’ satisfaction with the factors included in the study, where students had the highest satisfaction with feeling …