Marketing Commons^™

Introducing The Super Consumer, Leisa Reinecke Flynn, Ronald E. Goldsmith

AMTP Proceedings 2014

Who are our best consumers? One can imagine all sorts of businesses asking this question on a regular basis. The 80/20 rule, the heavy half, the high frequency and high spending consumers are traditionally the backbone of many successful brands or companies. Relationship marketing, a key element of modern marketing strategy, is the outgrowth of the interest in heavy users because of their importance in terms of revenue and potential word-of-mouth. However, who are these best consumers? The present study is motivated by a body of research on a constellation of consumer characteristics that reflect a unique consumption pattern we …

A Survey Of Employer Needs And Expectations From Business Programs At Higher Education Institutions, Tulay Girard, Krissa Weyant

AMTP Proceedings 2014

The recent economic slowdown and changing nature of business environments have made it increasingly challenging and competitive for recent graduates to qualify for higher level positions. Higher education institutions continuously ask what employers are looking for in a newly graduated candidate. However, most do not exactly know the answers. Understanding the changing needs and expectations of employers has become a priority for higher education institutions to remain competitive in their markets. Academics also have to respond to these changes by understanding whether they prepare their students to meet the needs and expectations of employers. This exploratory study aims to understand …

Online Vs. Face-To-Face Learners: An Exploratory Segmentation Of The Student Market, Renée J. Fontenot, Richard Mathisen, Susan Carley, Randy Stuart

AMTP Proceedings 2013

This study compares the characteristics and motivational factors influencing educational decisions of online vs. face-to-face learners. Using a survey of undergraduate marketing students from colleges in the Southeastern U.S., demographic, attitudinal and learning style differences are examined to determine the roles they play in student selection of online vs. traditional classroom modes of educational delivery. Alternative approaches to segmentation of the student market are explored, as are implications for marketing education. Likert scales and open ended questions were used to determine student perspectives on various dimensions of online versus face-to-face courses. A cross section of students were surveyed including those …

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 …

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; …

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 …

The Face Of Fakes: U.S. Consumers And Counterfeit Fashion Products, Karen Edwards, Jason Carpenter

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Counterfeit products pose a serious threat to fashion product brand owners and to the world economy. While research on the demand side of counterfeiting has grown over the past two decades, few extant studies have been conducted among non-student consumers outside Asia and Europe and few studies have focused on product categories other than consumer electronic-related items. Using a sample of U.S. consumers (N=305), the current research investigates consumer attitudes in the context of fashion products. Findings suggest that gender and education are the two variables most frequently related to purchase intention for counterfeits, beliefs about counterfeit products, and ethicality. …

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 …

The Church Of Mac: An Initial Examination On The Loyalty Of Apple Customers, Caroline Pinson, Deborah J. C. Brosdahl

AMTP Proceedings 2013

The death of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs left many in the business world wondering if Apple would also face a decline in health. However, the subsequent release and over-whelming demand of the new iPhone and iPad showed the world how much this product brand is loved by consumers. Yet what exactly makes Apple consumers loyal to Apple products with an array of similar, yet less expensive, products on the market? Understanding what makes Apple users loyal is important to all companies striving to replicate the kind of brand loyalty that Apple generates. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to …

Ethnicity’S Effect On Brand Loyalty Among American Consumers, Neelen Leslie, Felipe Korzenny

AMTP Proceedings 2013

The United States has one of the largest multicultural populations in the world. It is home to millions of people from varying countries, ethnicities and cultures. International migration over the years has established a foundation for what is now a cultural mosaic, comprised mainly of several generations of Americans born to people of varied ethnicities and cultures. This diversity presents a challenge for US marketers. The heterogeneity of this nation requires marketers to do more research and to cultivate an understanding of the various cultures at play in order to connect with their target consumers.

In this research, we attempted …

Relationship Of Demographic Traits And Situational Factor Determinants With The Tech Readiness Of Self-Service Consumers, Jon M. Martin

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Over the past 20 years, self-service technology (SST) has become prevalent as a service delivery option. To ensure that SST options reach full potential, firms need to understand what customer traits and situational factors are related to the propensity to use SSTs. From a subset of data and independent determinants from an original dissertation model on SST adoption, this study uses linear regression to examine: H1) the relationship between: H1) consumers’ tech readiness (TR) and the consumer demographics of age (AG), gender (GN), income (IN), education (ED), and ethnicity (ET) (H1), and H2) the relationship between consumer’s tech readiness and …

How A Small Rural University Can Effectively Approach High School Students?, Jianfeng Wang, Liza Jussiaume, Arnaud Jaquier, Yasmine Fofana, Chuck Compton, James Davis, Stephanie Walker

AMTP Proceedings 2013

Nowadays many small rural universities or colleges are faced with the challenge of how to expand schools' student body. Given the limited budget, these schools need to make preliminary decisions on how to better reach high school students in order to achieve optimal enrollment goals. In this study, a survey was conducted to make an attempt at determining how a small rural university can effectively approach its anticipated target market. The objectives of this study are: 1. to determine how the target audiences hear about the university; 2. to determine who makes the final decisions regarding the target audience’s future …

The Effect Of Antecedent Mood On Customer Loyalty Intentions: A Mood-By-Gender Interaction, Michael L. Thomas, Lindsay Larson, Linda G. Mullen

AMTP Proceedings 2013

This study suggests that induced antecedent moods may, in a systematic manner, influence subsequent levels of loyalty intention within consumer scenarios. Furthermore, this research finds that there exists differential responses to induced mood states by gender, which fall in line with research on the underlying gender differences in cognitive processing, levels of risk aversion, motivation, and the experience of emotion while shopping. Past studies in this area have shown only a mild connection between induced antecedent mood state and loyalty intentions, which may be due in part to the issue of an emotion by gender interaction. This paper reinforces previous …

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.

Gift Cards And Gift Giving: Research Notes From The Field, Melek Meral Meral Anitsal, Ismet Anitsal, Sara E. Taylor

AMTP Proceedings 2010

Gift cards are rapidly emerging as a trend in the retail marketplace. However, this emerging phenomenon of consumers’ preference of gift cards has not been explored thoroughly yet. The objective of the current study is to understand consumer reactions to gift cards in terms of their impact in gift giving and gift receiving relationships. Specifically, this research seeks to answer the following research objectives: (1) How gift givers and receivers perceive gift cards; (2) What roles of gift cards play in gift giving rituals; and (3) What meanings gift cards communicate for receivers and givers.

The Impacts Of Contextual Cues On The Effects Of Brand Extension, Bob Wu, Joseph W. Chang

AMTP Proceedings 2010

Brand extension strategy represents one of the most frequently used branding strategies. The degree of success in this stimulus generalization process depends on the perceived fit between the existing parent product and the extension product. In this article, we examine whether a brand extension initiated by a foreign (vs. domestic) company is construed differently by consumers and consequently whether it affects factors used to judge the fit between the parent brand and the extension brand. A 3 (foreign vs. U.S. vs. control) x 2 (anti-cavity toothpaste vs. pain relievers) between subjects factorial design was used for the study.

The present …

Sample Frames Vs. Data Quality: When Research Panels Are From A Client And A Research Firm, Michael Latta

AMTP Proceedings 2010

Clients, academics, and marketing research practitioners are concerned about sample frames and their relationships to data quality. In addition, clients sponsoring marketing research surveys are concerned about data collection period length. Typically, brand managers pressure research suppliers to quickly find solutions to the research problem. This study provides real world data on a survey among 504 female consumers. Two sample frames were involved: 1) a Volunteer Access Panel (VAP) and 2) a Non-Volunteer Access Panel (NVAP). The use of two sample frames reduced the field time for the client, provided lower costs, and added value in meeting rapid response requirements.

Spirituality: A Multidimentional Construct And Its Implications For Marketing, Emna Zouari

AMTP Proceedings 2010

The present paper deals with the spiritual value that controls the brain activity of many thinkers as well as with the various definitions and characteristics tied up with it. The ultimate scope throughout this essay is to point out the multi-facets aspect of spirituality. Indeed, spirituality encompasses a personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal context. It revealed thus to be a multidimensional construct, entailing four dimensions namely meaningfulness of life (the goal of one’s living), interconnectedness with people (the various relationships that one nourishes with others), transcendence (feeling of an inexplicable supernatural and divine power) and self-renewal (the relationship with one’s self)

A Logo Selection Method, Tulay Girard, Michelle Pope

AMTP Proceedings 2010

Many companies and sports teams have revised their logos over time in efforts to reposition their brand image. Still, the need for establishing a reliable method to guide this important decision still persists. This study offers an empirical method for selecting logos for companies and/or brands by testing the perceptions of consumers using 16 bi-polar personality traits adapted from the literature. The data were collected from undergraduate marketing students for demonstration purposes. The paper proposes that the perceptions for a logo of multiple samples from the same target population will be the same. The findings support the proposition. Implications and …

Fitting X-Bar Chart To The Traditional Transaction Surveys Analysis, Usama A. Saleh

AMTP Proceedings 2010

Traditional transaction surveys such as service feedback cards (SFCs) are widely embraced by different service organizations to measure a service quality or to assess customer satisfaction with specific transactions. This paper pursues to apply the statistical quality control technique of -chart (X-bar) to analyze the scaled collected data of these SFCs. The proposed method establishes the control limits to what is being measured for meeting the managerial objectivity of monitoring, controlling, or improving a service performance.

Brand Engagement And Consumer Innovativeness, Ronald E. Goldsmith, Leisa Reinecke Flynn, Felipe Korzenny

AMTP Proceedings 2010

Brand engagement describes the tendency of consumers to make the brands they buy part of their self- concept. This new insight into consumer behavior offers marketers many ways to create relationships with their customers. An unexplored aspect of brand engagement is how it is related to consumer innovativeness, the tendency to be among the first buyers of new products. The present study used survey data from 2399 adult U.S. consumers to show that brand engagement is positively related to consumer innovativeness. This finding suggests that in addition to promoting the features of new products likely to attract innovators, showing how …

Business Literature: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach To Marketing Education, Nancy L. Bush

AMTP Proceedings 2010

This paper looks at a course for marketing majors developed to examine literature in

several areas of the business disciplines that are relevant to marketing professionals-to- be. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and potential

employers have increasingly suggested that the integration of learning rather than functional silo-oriented learning is the preferred andragogy for business schools, providing students with soft skills as well as technical expertise that are needed for the contemporary employment environment. In examining the then existing traditional General Education Requirements (GER) for Wingate University, the faculty assembly considered ways to increase such cross disciplinary …

Practitioner Implications On Sample Frame For Single Language Products, Joe Schwartz

AMTP Proceedings 2010

When a marketing research project is undertaken in a single language the potential for bias through misrepresentation of those who do not speak the language is always an inherent risk. That bias can greatly increase in a market with a significant population that does not speak that language. In practice there are a small number of U.S. markets that can be significantly impacted when addressing this concern. The author identifies the conditions under which this bias can be so great as to skew results. The author extends this to show how the bias can be a significant factor in marketing …

Product Placement And Its Influence On Children, Simon Hudson, Charlene Elliott

AMTP Proceedings 2010

Despite the growing body of research concerning the practice of product placement, a notable research gap exists pertaining to the influence of product placement on children, and its link to childhood obesity. This study will provide an insight to the influence of product placement on children. Its objective is to analyze the placement of food and beverage products on children of various ages. An experimental approach will be taken whereby child-respondents will be divided into groups and each group will see the same television clip but with different placements (digitally inserted) of various types of food and beverages. All groups …

Why Do Shoppers Shop?, Ronald E. Goldsmith, Leisa Reinecke Flynn, Ronald A. Clark

AMTP Proceedings 2010

The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationships between three potential motivators of shopping behavior with a measure of attitude toward shopping. Data from 306 US student consumers were collected via an online survey. Reliable and valid scales operationalized the constructs. The results showed that shopping appears to be motivated in part by a desire for status, by materialism, and by brand engagement in self-concept. The results also showed women like to shop more than men do and that the relationships among the variables differed between men and women, suggesting that each gender is motivated to shop …

Young Singles: A Look At The Grocery Shopping Preferences Of A Unique And Underestimated Market, Survey & Analysis, Kelley Steinhofer

Honors Theses

Single person households make up a substantial percentage of the total U.S population. More than 102 million people aged 15 and over were not married in 2003. On a household basis, 48.5% of U.S. households were not headed by married couples. Some of these households are "nonfamily" which excludes single parent households according to U.S. Census Bureau definitions. Most studies that examine a specific demographic group have focused on households with children and mature consumers because their purchasing behaviors are highly predictable and easily obtainable. Very little research currently exists on the market of young, single adult consumers. This study …

The Dynamics Of Global E-Commerce: An Organizational Ecology Perspective, Rajshekhar G. Javalgi, Robert F. Scherer

Marketing

Purpose - A classical model of organizational ecology dynamics which is utilized to characterize an ecosystem called the internet is proposed and a parallel is drawn between the population ecology model and the current global e-commerce environment.

Design/methodology/approach - Survivorship theory is applied to global e-commerce. The Verhulst-Pearl logistic equation can be used to describe the inhibition of growth within an ecosystem. The approach is to apply the Verhulst-Pearl logistic equation to describe international growth dynamics of the internet.

Findings - When applying the Verhulst-Pearl equation to the internet environment around the world, the number of domain names or host …

An Exploratory Study On The Relationships Among Electorate's Voting Behavior, Party Identification, Personal Values, And Demographic Characteristics, Kuan-Shun Chiu

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was proposed to examine if there existed significant differences in voters' party identification and voting behavior due to gender, race, age, income, education and personal values.

The sample was chosen from eligible voters in Florida. Of the 1500 questionnaires managed, 161 were identified as useable. The sample was representative of the results of 2000 presidential election in Florida with respect to voters' gender, race, income, and voting choice by party identification. Statistical techniques used were ANOVAs, Chi-square statistics, factor analysis, and logistic regression.

This study demonstrates how personal values may be associated with demographic characteristics to create a …

Age: The Most Important Factor In Upholstered Furniture Buying Plans, Steven H. Bullard

Faculty Publications

Age is highly related to income. lifestyle and other critical factors in consumer behavior. In a recent survey of over 2.000 U.S. households. age proved to be the most important determinant of up· holstered furniture purchasing plans. Consumers less than 45 years old. for example. are more than three times more likely to plan purchases of upholstered household furniture than those 65 and older.

The Jacksonville Market 1970, Wjxt Research Department

City and Regional Planning -- Florida

An advertising brochure detailing Jacksonville's demographics, economy, and the overall market for Television as well as the station's resources