Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Perceived Risk Reduction In E-Commerce Environments, C. Michael Powell, Chris Conca

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

During the past three decades, the growth of e-commerce has presented marketers with many new arenas for research and application. Certainly e-commerce has become a significant portion of the world economy and in particular the consumer sector. As previous literature has consistently considered perceived risk as a major factor consumer purchase decisions, this research identifies several major components of consumer perceived risk (PR) and their normative implications in the e-commerce environment

A Systematic Review Of Anti-Brand Website Literature: What We Know And What We Need To Know, David L. Williams, Ellen Kolbas

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The emergence of Web 1.0 began an evolution in electronic communication. This platform resulted in a unidirectional communication flow (e.g. firm to consumer) that featured firms generating messages for public consumption. Web 1.0 gave rise to Web 2.0 and 3.0 platforms that facilitate bi-directional communication between firms and the public. This new method has resulted in an increase in consumer empowerment to create and disseminate marketing messages of their own (Williams, Crittenden, Keo, & McCarty, 2012). Third party stakeholders are disseminating electronic word-of-mouth communications about companies through the use of video, reviews, forums, microblogs and multiple other channels (Gil-Or, 2010). …

Using Focus Groups And Correspondence Analysis To Explore The Relationship Between Millennials' Online Behavior And Their Opinions Of Online Reviews, James E. Stoddard, Michael J. Dotson, Neel Das

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Consumer decision-making regarding a purchase is usually influenced by feedback received from other people in addition to prior experiences/beliefs/attitudes and marketer dominated information. Such diverse sources of influence are collectively referred to as the influence mix (Simonson and Rosen 2014). Of the different sources in the influence mix, word-of-mouth (i.e., feedback received from other people) is one of the most impactful sources of information (Duan, Gu, and Whinston 2008). With the advent of e-tailers on the Internet, the influence of word-of-mouth communication has grown significantly in the form of online consumer reviews (Schindler ad Bickart 2012). Research has shown that …

An Application Of Social Media Marketing For Community Sustainable Development, Lei Huang, Amelia Clarke, Wen Tian, Natalie Heldsinger

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Though the social marketing approach has been developed from commercial marketing, it is a holistic approach from various social sciences disciplines like marketing, psychology, sociology, mass communication and economics. It is basically an art to explore new ways of analyzing problems and solving them effectively. For instance, social marketing influences sustainability through the use of marketing principles to increase awareness, understanding, change attitudes, and motivate the society to change, adopt, or sustain a particular behavior. This paper attempts to explore a framework of social media in light of disseminating the knowledge of a community-wide sustainability plan among various stakeholders. Policy …

The Clothing Swap: Social, Sustainable, And Sacred, Mary M. Long, Deborah Fain

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

While there is much focus on recycling household waste such as paper, plastic, and metal, there is less focused attention on the waste produced by clothing and textiles. As noted by Joung (2013), consumers dispose of clothes by recycling, donating to charities, or giving to friends and family. But when individuals are not motivated to do this or are unaware of recycling options, they simply discard unwanted clothing where it ends up in landfill sites.

Motives for recycling clothes can range from altruistic (e.g., donating to a clothing drive for the poor or victims of a natural disaster) to economic …

National Culture Dimensions And Consumer Digital Piracy: A European Perspective, Irena Vida, Monika Kukar-Kinney, Mateja Kos Kokli, James Reardon

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Digital piracy as a ubiquitous phenomenon affects a number of stakeholders, such as consumers, enterprises, and governments. Considering its global nature, it has been of particular interest to consumer researchers. Hence, a large body of digital piracy literature sheds light on the demand side and illuminates various predictors of digital piracy behavior (Harris & Daunt, 2011). Despite these efforts, very little attention has been devoted to applying international perspective in investigating digital piracy across different countries (Ki, Chang, & Khang, 2006). This study aims to fill this void by examining the digital piracy behavior in three EU countries. In addition, …

Do You Feel Financially Secured? The Investigation Of Economic Indicators Of Financial Well-Being, Tommy Hsu, Leona Tam, Ryan T. Howell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The economy has been in downward movement in the past few years in the United States as well as different parts of the world. Consumers’ financial situations have been found to influence their purchase behaviors. While some personal finance experts blame consumers’ (lack of) spending plans for their financial situations, others suggest that consumers’ perception of their financial standing influences their purchase plans. Using a nationwide large scale survey study, we examined the value of applying economic indicators as proxy measure of financial well-being. Instead of income or debts, wealth was found to be the most important economic indicator of …

Contolling And Informational Planned Behavior: Self-Determination Theory And The Theory Of Planned Behavior, J. Paul Leavell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a paradigm of human motivation and an approach to personality that focuses on an individual’s psychological needs and how those needs interact with self motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000). SDT explores the foundation of intrinsic motivation (Deci and Ryan, 1985) which can be applied as marketing theory. Additionally this theory offers the opportunity for comparison and integration with the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Deci and Ryan (1985) published this theory within the same year that Ajzen (1985) published the theory of planned behavior (TPB). While SDT has a predominantly intrinsic focus, TPB maintains a primarily …

The Role Of Corporate Social Responsibility Information In The Consumer-Brand Relationship, Lei Huang

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Given the increased interest and empirical research in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSI), the interest of this paper is given to the impacts of corporate operational performance (COP) and corporate social performance (CSP) on consumer brand advocacy and brand trust. In this consumer-brand continuum, customers evaluate brand trustworthiness by two scopes: (1) the product or service the firm offers (i.e., product brand) that is usually associated with COP (Rust, Moorman, & Dickson 2002); and (2) the firm which provides the products and services (i.e., corporate brand) that is connected with CSP (Korschun, Bhattacharya, & Swain 2014). In addition, …

Modification And Investment Intention In The Consumer-Possession Relationship, James D. Doyle

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The present-day automobile is at once a source of physical transportation, of course, but also an extension of self, a potential platform for self-expression and image enhancement, a source of social approval as well as psychological and physiological stimulation, and, perhaps, an object of beauty. This study examines motivations and antecedents of various vehicle-directed consumer behaviors, including modification and the intention of consumers to invest in their relationship with their vehicle. In this study, vehicle modification refers to the voluntary actions taken by a user or owner of a vehicle to differentiate the functional or aesthetic characteristics or performance of …

Fitting Consumer Needs To Perceived Product Value: The Example Of Apple Versus Samsung Products, Yi-Chia Wu, Arturo Vasquez-Parraga

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This study explores the fitting of consumer needs to product perceived value using the example of two lines of competitive products in the area of communication electronics, Apple products versus Samsung products. Five types of needs regarding digital communication and three types of related product value are evaluated for these two brands in order to know if product value differences have a distinctive effect on consumer needs.

This study focuses on the impact of perceived product values on certain consumer needs. We use Apple products and Samsung products to accomplish this.

Electronic Intervention And Platforms And Their Impacts On Crowdfunding Behavior, Susan Cockrell, Dan Meyer, Alan D. Smith

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Crowdfunding is a method of raising funds for projects, creative pursuits, peer-to-peer lending, and charitable causes. The idea of crowdfunding stems from the more encompassing concept of crowdsourcing, which refers not only to the gathering of funds, but to group participation in the convergence of ideas and content creation. Thus, crowdfunding can be considered to be one type of crowdsourcing. The following study examines the crowdfunding behavior of a sample of business professionals located in the service sector of metropolitan Pittsburgh, PA. In general, the empirical findings suggested that smaller goals tend to have better success ratios, while getting the …

The Relationships Between Entrepreneurs' Gender, Attitudes Toward Seeking Assistance From Entrepreneurship Centers, Utilization Of Centers, And Entrepreneurial Success, Scott C. Manley

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Despite the proliferation of entrepreneurship centers, little is known about the reasons entrepreneurs appear reluctant to utilize their services. Although women are more likely than men to seek help in most settings, some research appears to suggest that this tendency may not apply to entrepreneurs. This is interesting given the financial underperformance of female-owned firms and research showing that entrepreneurship centers are effective and thereby lead to economic development. To better understand these issues, I propose and test a new conceptual framework of entrepreneurial help seeking that considers how entrepreneurs vary in their attitudes towards seeking professional help. In addition, …

Ict Investment Effectiveness In The South African Post Office: Reconsidering The Approaches Of The Past 20 Years, Jan A. Meyer Phd (Pr.M), Sam Lubbe Phd, Matshwenyego T. Seabelo, Rembrandt Klopper Phd

The African Journal of Information Systems

Organisations have invested and continue to invest considerable resources in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Much of this investment is made on the basis of guarantee than an expected return will occur. This study presents the results of an empirical study of the impact of ICT investment on performance at the South African Post office (SAPO). Six years of historical data, from 2005 to 2010, were obtained from the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the SAPO and analysed. This included appropriate IT data and financial data from the organisation’s financial statements and balance sheet. ICT investments were tested against financial …

Progressive Trust Formation Within The South African Fresh Produce Industry Through The Use Of Self-Service Technologies, Justy Range, Awie C. Leonard Phd

The African Journal of Information Systems

When using self-service solutions to deliver services the challenge is to retain the trust of the end user. This is specifically the case when dealing with end users in the fresh produce market environment. This sector has not seen the adoption of self-service technologies specifically in southern Africa. In this paper we propose a model to enhance our understanding of trust formation using self-service technologies. A qualitative research approach, based on a case study was followed to create the model. This case study offers insight into how the dynamics of the product, supporting services and the technology shapes trust forming …

Measuring Family Business Performance: A Holistic, Idiosyncratic Approach, Ralph I. Williams Jr

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

For any type of organization, performance represents the measure of outcomes, goals, and aspirations vital to various organization stakeholders; thus performance is an important research variable (Seijts, Latham, Tasa, & Latham, 2004, Simon, 1964). Family businesses are different from non-family businesses in that the family subsystem and the business subsystem overlap and interact to form the family business system. The desired outcomes, goals, and aspirations of each family business are a product of its particular family and business sub-systems. Thus, in family business, especially privately owned entities, performance is of particular interest since families can set their goals in their …

The Effects Of Home Country, Gender, And Position On Listening Behaviors, Deborah B. Roebuck, Reginald L. Bell, Reeta Raina, Cheng Ean Lee

Faculty Articles

Regardless of national culture, often listening is mentioned as an important component for effective business operations. In addition, understanding how individuals of different national cultures perceive and process listening is fundamental to our global world of work. The present study used Glenn and Pood (1989) Listening Self-Inventory to examine the distracted and attentive listening behaviors of male and female managers and non-managers who worked full time inthe countries of India, Malaysia, and the United States of America (USA). Findings in this study suggestUSA females and males, in general, are less likely to be attentive listeners than the Indian and Malaysianrespondents …

When Being More Different And Less Visible Leads To Commitment And Justice For All, Lisa Farmer

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Little empirical research is available that counters the viewpoint that both demographically dissimilar individuals and telecommuters have low-levels of commitment, in addition to the role of procedural justice in this context. Using a multi-company sample of 201 respondents employed by U.S. firms each with more than 100 employees; the results indicate significant support for high-levels of demographic dissimilarity associated with low-levels of affective commitment towards one’s organization. Contrary to the hypotheses, high-intensity telecommuting was found to be more strongly related to affective commitment, especially when procedural justice was high. Non-significant results were found for telecommuting intensity as a moderator of …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Perceived Leadership Behaviors, Perceived Team Cohesion And Team Performance, Alvin Miles

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

In an effort to help explain more of the variance in team performance, studies examining the effects of leadership upon team performance have included a limited number of contexts (Antonakis, Avolio and Sivasubramaniam, 2003; Tejada, Scandura and Pillai, 2001). This study is the first to empirically examine the relationship of leadership styles to team cohesion, and team cohesion to team performance utilizing the nine-factor version of the full range of leadership theory (transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and no leadership typologies) in the context of professional sports. Further, it empirically measures the perceptions of official members of the sports league ecosystem …

Are All Shares Equal? A Measure Of Secondary Agency Conflict And An Examination Of Its Influence On Investor Reactions To Acquisition Announcements, Christine C. Sutton

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

The separation of ownership and control has been established as the source of primary agency conflict between managers and shareholders. The research presented in the chapters that follow explain how the combination of ownership and control also represent a significant problem for many dispersed shareholders. Prior research has argued that conflict among principals is pervasive in all types of corporations and may be detrimental to all the firm’s stakeholders. Scholars have investigated the relationships, but there existed no comprehensive and validated instrument to analyze the extent of the inequity among the various firm principals. In the following chapters, a composite …

Modeling Diversity Management Practices In Corporate Ethics: The Spillover Effect, Yves-Rose Saintdic

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Little is known about the relationship between workplace diversity and corporate ethics even though these two initiatives share similar ethical roots (Alder & Gilbert, 2006), and are quite popular in corporate America (Kochan, Bezrukova, Ely, Jackson, Joshi, Jehn, Leonard, Levine, & Thomas, 2003; Murphy, 2001). This study seeks to contribute to knowledge in these two areas by assessing whether diversity’s contributions to firm performance are maximized through its effects on the firm’s ethical processes. Using data that were collected on a sample of Fortune 500 firms, this study tested several hypotheses with predictor variables that represent two manifestations of diversity …

Virtual Study Abroad: A Case Study, John Lipinski

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Over 90 percent of US universities sponsor study abroad programs. Students are encouraged to engage in such programs to enhance their educational experience and increase their global awareness in our interconnected world. However, despite these efforts, students who engage in such programs are a rarity. Only 1% of US students pursue a study abroad experience each academic year. In order to address this and make key aspects of the study abroad experience available to a wider range of students, two professors decided to link their classrooms, separated by 5,102 miles, via teleconference and create a virtual study abroad class.

Stuck In The Middle: The Impact Of Implementing Corporate Decisions On Middle Managers' Justice Perceptions, Lee A. Macenczak

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Prior research in the field of organizational justice has primarily focused on the specific justice dimensions and their impact on individual workers. This study takes a new direction by examining justice perceptions in a previously unexamined group, middle managers. Recent studies have argued that specific dimensions of justice influence the development of an individual’s overall justice perceptions and that a focus on overall justice may provide a more complete understanding of the justice construct and more accurately capture the individual’s experience. Missing from the literature is an examination of how the justice perceptions of middle managers are impacted when implementing …

Essays On Motivating Investment, J. Reid Cummings

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Essay 1

This research examines the relationship between Real Estate Investment Trusts‘ uses of the audit process to increase financial transparency, and their ability to attract and/or maintain reasonable access to capital investment. I find that capital investment is positively and significantly associated with three commonly used audit-related attributes: auditor quality (captured by higher audit fees), auditor specialization (captured by industry-audit specialization), and auditor reputation (captured by the audit firm being a Big 4 auditor). Moreover, I find the positive relationship between capital issuance and auditor fees remains after controlling for the financial crisis of 2007-2008. This positive association between …

Back In Service, Satya Chakravorty

Faculty Articles

The article features the Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) team at a military facility, Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex (WR-ALC) in central Georgia, which employed several quality concepts and methods in its repair and maintenance works for the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft as of January 2014. It claims that the aircraft is among the most widely used transport machine in the U.S. Air Force. The other topics include product quality, the lean concepts and the Six Sigma technique. I

The Erm Process: Evidence From Interviews Of Erm Champions, Therese R. Viscelli

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

This paper investigates the processes that comprise enterprise-wide risk management (ERM) programs implemented by organizations. ERM is a holistic approach of risk management that looks at organization-level risks on a portfolio basis, unlike traditional risk management that looks at silos of individual risks within an organization. The practitioner and academic literatures provide many insights into different frameworks that could be used to implement ERM, but there is little written about the processes and activities that represent actual organizations’ ERM approaches. By looking at the way an organization accomplishes its mission through its management style and communication methods, the role corporate …

News - Don't Hang Up! Learn How To Better Serve Customers With Hearing Or Speech Loss With Georgia Relay Partner, Ellen Rolader, Lindsay Hebert

Georgia Library Quarterly

Georgia Relay, the free public service provided by the State of Georgia that makes communicating by telephone easy, accessible and reliable for everyone, wants to make Georgia’s libraries friendlier for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, late-deafened or who have difficulty speaking. This article provides an overview of Georgia Relay Partner, a free program that provides local businesses with online educational and training materials about Relay services so that employees will be able to easily accept and place calls to customers who have hearing loss or speech difficulties.

Formal And Informal Institutional Influences On Multinational Enterprise Social Responsibility: Two Empirical Studies, Dawn L. Keig

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

How do environmental institutional influences in a multinational enterprise’s (MNE’s) portfolio of locations affect social responsibility (and irresponsibility)? To explore this question, I engaged in two complementary empirical research studies, each exploring a particular subset of the MNE portfolio environment-social responsibility dynamic.

The first study applies the concept of institutional distance from the international business literature to examine how the differences in formal and informal institutional environments across a firm’s full portfolio of operating locations can affect its social performance. I hypothesize and find that firms with greater informal institutional distance within their locations will have lower overall levels of …

A Contemporary Examination Of The Miles And Snow Strategic Typology Through The Lenses Of Dynamic Capabilities And Ambidexterity, Marc D. Sollosy

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

This study’s focuses on the examination of the Miles and Snow typology through the lenses of dynamic capabilities with a particular emphasis on ambidexterity. While each element of the typology has received varying degrees of study in both the management and marketing literature, to date, no study has examined the typology, as first proposed by Miles and Snow under the influence of either dynamic capabilities or ambidexterity. This study proposes to examine the alignment of the three elements of the typology with each other and the four strategic archetypes identified by Miles and Snow. It was Hambrick’s observation in his …

Two Essays On The Knowledge-Based View Of The Firm: The Impact Of Local Market Knowledge On Domestic Firm Performance In Both Transitional And Developed Economies, Ted B. Randall

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Are there strategies that domestic transitional economy firms (TEFs) can use in order to be successful given the increasing numbers of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in their home country markets? How do domestically focused, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developed economies maintain satisfactory levels of performance when faced with the superior resources of MNEs and the resulting increased competitiveness in domestic industrial markets?

I attempt to answer these two questions in two separate papers. In the first paper, I examine TEFs by using research on the knowledge-based view of the firm (KBV) to create and test a new theory …