Marketing Commons^™

Factors Prospective Students Consider When Selecting An Mba Program, Lorie Plyler Briggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper adds to existing literature regarding MBA selection processes and helps identify and better understand the needs that motivate consumers to pursue an MBA degree. Through a series of qualitative, one-on-one interviews with 17 brand-new MBA students or prospective students, this research found that while many people have "always wanted" to earn the advanced degree, most have toyed with the idea of a graduate business degree for many years. The most frequent reasons that people cite regarding their decision to seriously consider an MBA at a large southern university centers around four desires. These are, not surprisingly, the desire …

The Role Of Consumer Gender Identity And Brand Concept Consistency In Evaluating Cross-Gender Brand Extensions, Laura Rose Frieden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cross-gender brand extensions are a developing and valuable strategy that has quickly grown to become a vital component of strategic communications management. The goal of this study is to gain a greater insight on what makes for a successful cross-gender brand extension. In order to expand upon the Basic Model of Brand Extension Evaluation (Doust & Esfahlan, 2012), this study examines how marketing factors, more specifically product positioning, combined with consumer gender roles and brand concept, affect how consumers evaluate cross-gender brand extensions. In the past gender and brand concept have been studied within cross-gender brand extension research. Yet, the …

The Impact Of Availability Of Vegetarian Menu Items On Consumers' Behavioral Intention, Mengwei Yue

Open Access Theses

Yue, Mengwei. M.S., Purdue University, December, 2013. The Impact of Availability of Vegetarian Menu Items on Consumers' Behavioral Intention. Major Professor: Douglas C. Nelson.

The purpose of this study is to find out how the availability of vegetarian menu items affects customers' behavioral intention using the theory of planned behavior and the impact vegetarian-friendly menus have on vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian customers when they make their restaurant selections. This paper also discussed the implications for a vegetarian lifestyle on the food service industry and menu development in restaurants. Seven hypotheses related to the relationship among attitudes, subjective norms, perceived …

The Use Of Celebrity Endorsements As A Public Relation, Kate Power

Theses

A huge part of public relations in todays world is based around celebrity and their endorsements of brands, products, services and causes. The use of celebrity endorsement has become such a vital and trusted public relation tactic by so many PR practitioners to create a communication vessel between brand and consumer. This type of engagement between brands and their target audiences has become increasingly important to the Public Relations world for building long lasting and enduring relationships with these consumers and targeted audiences.

The aim of this research is to discover if celebrity endorsement makes an impact within public relations …

National Brands Or Private Brands? A Regulatory Focus Perspective, Trang Phuc Tran, Joan Hubbard

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Drawing on existing literature, the current research is to investigate how regulatory focus moderates the influence of two aspects of message framing, i.e., attribute framing and risky choice framing, and their interactions on customer perception measured by four components: brand attitude, attitude toward the ad, purchase intention, and willingness to pay. A conceptual model was drawn to capture four hypothetical relationships: regulatory focus and attribute framing (H1), regulatory focus and brand type (H2), brand type and attribute framing (H3), and regulatory focus, brand type and attribute framing (H4). An experiment was conducted using 430 participants and a 2 (regulatory focus: …

Identifying Key Factors Influencing Internet Shopping Behavior For E-Satisfaction, Chris A. Meyers

AMTP Proceedings 2013

With Internet shopping gaining more attention and momentum, a better understanding of the online consumer is now in the forefront of most retail strategies. The growth of online retailing or Internet shopping has provided the apparel industry with additional avenues to reach the consumer. Previous research has shown that consumers’ intent to purchase online is highly driven by their satisfaction. Studies have touted the growth of on-line shopping and the growing purchases of those with Internet access (Lin & Sun, 2009). In fact, apparel products have been consistently ranked as one of the most frequently purchased items through the Internet …

Emotional Intelligence: The Antidote To Persuasion?, Rose Opengart, Michael Mccall

AMTP Proceedings 2013

The study of emotion can be traced back to the early work of William James (1884). Consequently, it is hardly surprising that such a fundamental building block of human experience remains a fertile area for academic researchers and practitioners in fields as diverse as psychology, economics and marketing. Although there have been numerous calls for marketers to focus on touching customers’ emotions, a number of important gaps remain. We consider here, the notion that emotional intelligence mediates the impact of social influence attempts in consumer decision making. Specifically, we argue that emotional intelligence may serve to mute and/or lessen individual …

The Impact Of Country-Of-Origin On The Liability-Of-Foreignness In The Acceptance Of Products In The Global Marketplace, Natascha Loebnitz, Michael Harvey

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Upon entering a foreign market, multinational corporations (MNCs) encounter business environments that are far more diverse and complex that what they are attuned to experiencing in their home market. MNCs face inherent encumbrances due to spatial distance, unfamiliarity with the local environment, differential treatment by the host country, and costs imposed by the homecountry environment, pertaining to the construct liability of foreignness (LOF). While prior research empirically demonstrated LOF’s existence at firm level of analysis with respect to various costs (e.g. survival, revenue, labor lawsuits, profitability), surprisingly little empirical work has been conducted on marketing derived costs, particularly at the …

Customer Service Employees In Logistics, Dave Mcmahon, Stephen A. Lemay, Jeff Periatt, Rose Opengart

AMTP Proceedings 2013

This article provides a description of the changing needs and role of customer service employees, their competencies, job requirements, and training needs. Four key findings for developing effective training options are discussed. The data comes from an original research project funded by the Council of Logistics Management (CSCMP).

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum: The Role Of A Consumer Mentality In Higher Education And Exploring How It Can Be Overcome, Stephen S. Batory, Anne Heineman Batory, David J. Burns, John Lanasa, Randy Stuart

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Serving and satisfying customers is often viewed as the primary function of businesses. Consequently, a customer orientation, or a focus on determining customers’ wants and needs and designing and offering products to satisfy them, is a key concept within marketing. Is the importance of a customer orientation also true in higher education? Several believe that it is. The answer to the question of who is the customer in higher education, however, is less clear. Historically, society was viewed to be the primary customer of higher education – the purpose of higher education was viewed to produce educated individuals who possess …

The Relationship Between Investments In Intangible Resources And Liquidation For Financially Distressed Firms, Richard A. Heiens, Robert T. Leach, Paul D. Newsom

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Working with a sample of manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms that filed for bankruptcy protection between 1980 and 2009, the current study examines the relationship between investments in intangibles and the likelihood that the bankrupt firm will either be reorganized or face liquidation. Results for the manufacturing sub-sample show that R&D is the only significant variable associated with liquidation. Over-investment in R&D appears to increase the likelihood of liquidation. Similarly, results for the non-manufacturing sub-sample show that over-investment in advertising appears to increase the likelihood of liquidation. Our conclusion is that firms that are forced to liquidate are often guilty of …

Brand Equity And Brand Equity Scale Developments: A Literature Review, Sally Baalbaki

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Brand equity is perhaps the most important marketing concept in both academia and practice (Christodoulides and de Chernatony, 2010; Keller and Lehmann, 2006). Academics want to understand how brand equity is measured and what it means for a company, while practitioners want to understand how to influence consumer decisions with respect to different brand purchases in order to increase their brand equity. The term came into use during the late 1980’s; and the importance of conceptualizing, measuring, and managing brand equity has grown rapidly in the eyes of practitioners and academics alike (e.g. Aaker, 1991, 1996; Aaker and Keller, 1990; …

Extended Consumer-Brand Relationship Theory, May Aung, Kapil Gurbani, Samuel Hip Seng Lei

AMTP Proceedings 2013

This study examines online communities for two top brands: Apple iPhone and Blackberry smartphones. A number of online brand communities (online forums) such as the iPhone business affiliated website www.apple.com, iPhone consumers’ website www.everythingicafe.com, and the Blackberry consumers’ websites www.blackberry.com and www.crackberry.com were explored. This research extends the conceptual underpinnings of the existing consumer-brand relationship theory by incorporating the concept of sharing. This study offers insights for academia in the marketing and consumer behavior field as well as professionals in the high-technology industry.

American Marketing Students’ Attitudes Towards Online Classes, Sam Fullerton

AMTP Proceedings 2013

A sample of 304 American marketing students from four regionally diverse universities provided insight regarding their attitudes towards online education. Positives included scheduling flexibility, opportunities to take more classes offered by their own and by other universities, and the elimination of time and cost constraints. Most disconcerting was the absence of studentteacher interaction. Traditional and hybrid offerings were generally deemed to be superior to those courses using the “delivered entirely online (DEO)” format. Students need to be made more aware of the advantages of online education from both an educational and a temporal perspective. A meaningful segment is comprised of …

Teaching Marketing Science With Sensitivity Analysis, Samuel Wathen, Michael Latta

AMTP Proceedings 2013

In the workplace, marketing managers routinely deal with decision making. The application of Marketing Science to business decision making requires critical thinking in the form of sensitivity analysis to avoid bad outcomes. This paper deals with building quantitative analysis models that must be tested with sensitivity analysis. Two examples, one an advertising mix decision and a second a price and quality tradeoff decision. These examples are offered as illustrations of applying critical thinking thorough sensitivity analysis to make good marketing decisions.

Marketing Faculty And Marketing Staff: Framework Of Shared Opportunity, Lynn W. Mcgee

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Marketing faculty and university marketing professionals are finding opportunities to collaborate that deepen research in marketing for higher education, enrich the marketing student experience and enhance marketing effectiveness at their institutions. This exploratory research brief draws on two advancement experts to describe the potential-- and the challenges--of research in higher education marketing, reviews a sample of published research to identify the types of published collaborations and uses a case study of a public comprehensive university to identify types of marketing faculty/staff collaboration. As faculty across all disciplines are asked to take more leadership in marketing their schools and departments, marketing …

Cognitive Dissonance And Online World Of Mouth, Kungpo Tao, Yan Jin

AMTP Proceedings 2013

A growing number of customers use online consumer review as a means to express their opinions about the purchasing experience or the products through online feedback forums. The online forum not only provides customers with a powerful communicative tool but also impacts potential customers’ intention to patronize a brand or its association by publishing compliments or complaints. It seems to be appropriate to explain the motivation of word of mouth (WOM) when customers tend to reduce post-purchase dissonance by engaging in selective exposure, attitude change, and spreading WOM. Online word of mouth (eWOM) is basically WOM communication through the Internet; …

Effectiveness Of Green Olympic Initiatives On Reasons Affecting Residents’ Actions To Support The Olympic Movement, Liyan Jin, Kevin K. Byon, James J. Zhang, Neil Xindong Ma, Daniel P. Connaughton

AMTP Proceedings 2013

The world faces major environmental challenges that affect the well-being of human beings, plants, and wildlife. The Olympic Games, one of the most influential sport events, should pay special attention to environmental issues. In 1996, the environmental element became a central factor of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) (IOC, 2009). To scientifically and comprehensively evaluate the impact of the Olympics on the host city, the IOC launched the Olympic Games Global Impact (OGGI) study in 2003 (IOC, 2006). This study begins two years before the host city is selected, and terminates two years after hosting the Games (IOC, 2006). One …

Innovation And Entrepreneurial Ventures In Sport: Branding Athletes Through Use Of New Media And Technology, Khalid Ballouli, John Grady, Brandon Brown

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Due to the growing capacity of modern technology to build brands through digital integration and social media networking, athletes have begun to create their own digital presence in efforts to reach a wider target audience. As such, entrepreneurs who develop integrated networks of traditional marketing and social media strategies—designed to increase brand influence in the digital space—are beginning to develop ways in which to capitalize on the monetization of the digital athlete brand. Digital athlete branding involves creating a digital presence for the professional athlete through the development of personal websites, social networks, and new media to provide unique fan …

Influence Of Social Motivations On Spectator Consumption Behavior Of A Formula One Grand Prix Event, Kevin K. Byon, Suk-Kyu Kim, Jae-Gu Yu, James J. Zhang, Chong Kim

AMTP Proceedings 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spectator motivation and sport consumption behavior in the context of F-1 events. Respondents were spectators from three Formula One (F-1) races held in Shanghai, China. Through a structural equation modeling analysis, Achievement Seeking and Salubrious Effects were found to be related to repurchase intentions. Three motivating factors (i.e., Achievement Seeking, Entertainment, and Catharsis) were also found to be associated with Word-of-Mouth intentions concerning F-1 events.

An Examination Of British Charity Shop Shoppers, Robert Montgomery, Ariana Murray

AMTP Proceedings 2013

An increasing number of nonprofit organizations are developing charity shops to raise resources to support their charitable efforts. The United Kingdom currently has 9000 charity shops that take in annual revenues of 300 million British Pounds. Such stores seek donated merchandise . . . sell it . . . and use the proceeds to support philanthropic endeavors. As such, achieving a better understanding of charity shop shoppers can enhance performance of the charity shop which will, in turn, provide greater resources for helping others. The purpose of this study is to examine the processes by which charity shop shoppers: (1) …

Gerald Sandusky And Penn State Child Sex-Abuse Scandal: A Case Of Administrative Non-Action Leading To A Severe Crisis., Ania Izabela Rynarzewska

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Penn State/Sandusky scandal was one of the most controversial and publicized cases of 2011 and 2012. A high profile university football coach sexually abused 10 boys over period of 16 years. A problematic part of this case is that the university administration knew about coach’s behavior but did nothing to stop it. Sandusky was sexually abusing minors predominantly on the premises of The Penn State University over a period of 16 years. On June 22, 2012 Sandusky was found guilty of 45 of 48 counts of sex abuse of 10 boys while on October 9 he was sentenced to 30-60 …

Delivering Quality Customer Service: The Interactive Effects Of Employee Job Resourcefulness And Organizational Support, Shawn F. Clouse, Simona Stan, Nader H. Shooshtari

AMTP Proceedings 2013

While front line customer service employees’ motivation and ability to provide high quality customer service is paramount for firm performance, it is unclear how employees’ internal resources may interact with organizational support. This paper advances a theoretical model for the possible interactive effects between customer service employees’ job resourcefulness and the external resource support provided by the organization, in the form of formal training, informal coaching, and rewarding mechanism, in determining the employees’ levels of commitment to customer service quality and the development of customer service skill proficiency. An exploratory study conducted on a sample of 98 student employees at …

Price Bundling Opportunities For The Charleston (Sc) Tourism Market, Mark Mitchell, Michael Collins, Gregory Turner, Jordan Smith

AMTP Proceedings 2013

The Charleston area offers a rich mix of historical, cultural, educational, social, and natural entertainment options for visitors. This paper examines the possibility of price bundling of area attractions to offer a lower price to area visitors. Two options are advanced: Targeted Selections and Broader Selections. Finally, market-specific factor influencing implementation are discussed.

Influence Of Atypical Choices By Dissociative And Aspirational Reference Groups On Preferences Of Consumers Varying On Social Comparison Proneness, Magdoleen Ierlan

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Using Festinger and Tesser’s work on social comparison as the theoretical framework, this study investigates how consumer spending is influenced by atypical spending in comparative reference groups. Specifically, two experiments examine how and why consumers, who exhibit either high or low tendencies to compare themselves with others, will alter their spending when they observe their aspirational (i.e., more affluent) and dissociative (i.e., less affluent) reference groups spending money in ways that are atypical. To test the strength of the influence of these comparisons, participants are asked to make consumer decisions with regard to public products (those used in front of …

Marketing Research Is Power In Negotiations To Sell A Small Business, Michael Latta

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Small firms are at a disadvantage in negotiations with larger firms and need to have something on their side of the table to give them power in the process. Primary marketing research can provide proprietary information for the smaller firm that may be used to support a forecasting model to be used in evaluating offers during negotiations. This paper describes such a negotiation supported by a proprietary forecasting simulator that created an advantage for the smaller firm over the larger firm. As a result, the smaller firm had a go-it-alone baseline revenue forecast to determine the incremental value of a …

Will "Smarter" Marketing End Social Discrimination? A Critical Review, Frances Grodzinsky, Andra Gumbus, Stephen J. Lilley

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

Purpose - There are two claims made by the web marketing/advertising industry. 1) By collecting, managing, and mining data, companies serve consumer’s best interests and 2) by adopting sophisticated analytics web marketers avoid discriminations that disserve individuals. Although we share an interest in ending social discrimination, we are more circumspect about pronounced individualism and technological fixes. Despite its appeal, or perhaps because of it, we should not accept the claim at face value. In this paper we argue that social discrimination may not disappear under smarter marketing; more overt forms may wane only to be replaced by more subtle forms. …

Students' Consumption Of Healthy Food Items Using A Social Marketing Intervention, Kayla Autumn Dalton

Masters Theses

This study was an analysis of student eating habits in an "all-you-care-to-eat" dining center at a mid-size, four year, Midwest residential institution. The present, quantitative study was replicated based off a study conducted in 2008 at a similar Midwest university by Diana Poovey Duncan. The present study examined college students' (n = 218) eating habits and consumption patterns over a nine-week study period. Participants were solicited to take the pre-intervention survey in person with incentives during the second week of the study while a post-intervention survey was sent electronically during the seventh week only to those whom provided an …

The Rise And Fall Of Bread In America, Amanda Benson

Honors Theses - Providence Campus

Over the last century bread has gone through cycles of acceptance and popularity in the United States. The pressure exerted on the American bread market by manufacturers’ advertising campaigns and various dietary trends has caused it to go through periods of acceptance and rejection. Before the industrialization of bread making, consumers held few negative views on bread and perceived it primarily as a form of sustenance. After its industrialization, the battle between the manufacturers and the neighborhood bakeries over consumers began. With manufacturers, such as Wonder Bread, trying to maximize profits and dominate the market, corporate leaders aimed to discourage …

The Effects Of Social Media On Fashion Consumption, Sydney Mccarthy

Honors Theses

The fashion industry, like most business in general, has been heavily impacted in recent years by the introduction of online social media. Social media has changed the way in which people not only communicate, but also how firms advertise and reach their consumer. The purpose of this research was to explore the ways social media impacts fashion consumption, specifically among the female, college-age demographic. Secondary research was used in the initial stages of the process to gather information prior to conducting primary research. Both qualitative and quantitative research was then conducted. The primary method for collecting qualitative data was personal …