Profile Of Corporate Social Media Consumer Segments, Beverly Wright, Aberdeen Leila Borders, Paul H. Schwager, S. Scott Nadler

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The trade and academic literature is replete with commentary about the need for companies to develop promotional strategies and to adopt media platforms that are more engaging and conversational with customers than the traditional top-down company directed one-way communication strategies of the past (Thomas, Peters, Howell and Robbins, 2012; Foster, West and Francescucci 2011; Deighton and Kornfeld, 2009). This viewpoint is supported by Christodoulides (2008) who reported that many customers view information about a company or brand that they obtained from blogs, social networking sites and the like as being more relevant, believable and important to them in their interactions …

An Exploratory Investigation Of The Public's Attitude On The Effects Of Global Warming: The Media's Role In Influencing Opinions As Moderated By Having Lived Through A Major Storm, George W. Stone, Percy Willians, Britney Hamilton

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

While the debate over changing global weather patterns and the negative role mankind plays in altering the earth’s climate continues to rage, there appears to be no real movement in the views of entrenched participants on either side of the argument, or, for that matter, in the culture at large (Whitmarsh 2011). Even though global warming advocates claim the debate is now “settled science” and that a consensus of climatologists has emerged indicting mankind as one of the prime culprits in changing global climate patterns, an equally compelling argument has been made that naturally occurring phenomenon (e.g., such as volcanic …

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 …

Chinese Consumers' Involvement In Wine Consumption And Their Willingness To Visit Wineries In California, Mahmood Hussain, Roblyn Simeon, Lutfus Sayeed

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This research fills a gap in wine tourism literature, taking into account the effects of consumers’ involvement in the pre-purchase stages on their willingness to visit wineries in California or in a foreign country. The theoretical framework presented in this paper provides support for a strong linkage between product involvement, consumption, and eventual propensity to visit a wine destination. As of this writing this paper constitutes the first of its kind econometric study of these effects.

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.

Supplier Collaborative And Ethical Consideration In The Vendor Selection Process, Amy Melton, Terry Damron, Magan Calhoun

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Abstract

This examination of location strategy implementation by Pittsburgh-based service firms, particularly eco-friendly initiatives, was pursued via a case-study approach. The factors selected for comparison were site size and cost; air, rail, highway, and waterway systems; zoning restrictions; proximity to markets/suppliers/competitors; and environmental impact issues. The study included five service-based firms, most of which made decisions concerning new locations within the last few years, and highlighted those factors most significant in the location strategies of local service firms. Findings evidence proximity to market/suppliers/competitors was the most heavily weighted factor in site selection among Pittsburgh-based service firms. The least considered factor …

Analysing The Performance Of Economic Discourses, Joseph Fitzgerald, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

We focus on the methods used in analyzing broadcast interviews with economists on Morning Ireland, a prominent Irish radio news programme. Few would doubt that economists have taken a prominent role as experts on policy issues (Carrick-Hagenbarth and Epstein 2012, p.45) and some contend that no other social science discipline has gained such prominence (Schneider and Kirchgassner 2009, p.324). This paper comes from a larger research project, which uses a tailored methodological approach, incorporating a number of analytical methods. Keller (2011, p.63) has argued that a tailored methodological approach is often required to give special consideration to the ‘knowledge side’ …

Giving A Voice To The Powerless: Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation As A Tool For Inclusive Development Through Microfinance, Evan T. Burke

Capstone Collection

The greatest experts on the situation of the marginalized peoples of the world are the marginalized communities themselves. This paper explores how participatory monitoring & evaluation can be a powerful tool for giving voices to marginalized communities, ensuring that the voices of beneficiaries and local stakeholders are heard and inform sustainable project design. It analyzes a participatory monitoring and evaluation methodology implemented for women’s credit cooperatives in Gujarat, India by the Human Development & Research Centre, and examines lessons to be learned to design evaluations facilitating inclusive development.

Strategies for the monitoring and evaluation of microfinance have evolved along with …

Distinguished Scholar Invited Essay : Reflections On The Role Of Character In Business Education And Student Leadership Development, Thomas A. Wright

Business Faculty Publications

The study of character is a legitimate and beneficial topic for organizational analysis. Through the lens of character and character-based leadership, and incorporating the 3-H (“head,” “heart,” and “hands”) approach to knowledge generation and dissemination, my reflections are provided to engage the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies readership on how character can be used to provide our students as well as ourselves with a more meaningful business education experience

21st Century Human Resources Executive Perceptions On Formal Education, Organizational Development, And Professional Self-Development, Cornelius L. Thomas

Faculty Dissertations

The new business context is prompting management to take a greater interest in the utilization of their organizations human resources. The growing role of a human resources (HR) executive is becoming more of a strategy-oriented business partner of the organizations top managers. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to evaluate whether colleges and universities, business organizations, and HR executives are preparing HR executives with the proper strategic and business skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. The study also examines the perceptions of HR executives as they relate to membership in professional HR organizations and the credibility …

Creative Collaboration On A Creativity Book, Jane Harvey

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Based on existing roles as writer and designer, two Master’s students partnered on one project. This project was dually about the creative product and creative process. The final product result is a book on creativity, but much of the project learning was about collaboration during the creative process itself. The project included the creation of written and visual content and a production-ready book layout on the subject of creativity. This paper describes the process followed to create a fast reading, jargon-free book with a special academic end section.

Ucf Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter Summer 2015, Megan M. Haught

UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter

This is the Summer 2015 edition of the UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter which celebrates the accomplishments and community activity of the faculty, staff, and students from the University of Central Florida Cocoa and Palm Bay campuses.

Some of the exciting news in this edition:

• Knights Helping Knights Pantry will be opening in Cocoa
• Dr. Lauren Miller and Sheryl Schagen were interviewed by Brevard Business News about UCF's new Integrated Business program
• A school supply drive was hosted to benefit Brevard County Public School's Supply Zone for Teachers
• Free flu shots will be offered to students on November 9 …

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 …

Validating The Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities Composite Measure: An Aviation Industry Pilot Study, Aaron M. Glassman, Jason M. Newcomer, Matthew P. Earnhardt, Rose A. Opengart, Daryl V. Watkins, James W. Marion

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Recent research into the aviation management education paradigm shift indicated that education, certification, and experience (ECE) were all important in the aviation industry; however, the relative importance varied between managers depending on their field. Overall, the results identified experience as the most important factor, followed by certification, then education. Furthermore, the authors made a logical connection between the that study and knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), which would ultimately lead managers to a hiring decision. The purpose of this mixed-methods sequential exploratory pilot study was to develop, validate, and test the reliability of the KSA composite measure (KCM), a data …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Impact Of Certificate Of Need Law On Utilization Of Inpatient Services, Jomon Aliyas Paul, Huan Ni, Aniruddha Bagchi

Faculty Articles

We investigate the impact of Certificate of Need (CON) Law and its stringency on Inpatient service utilization measured by hospital occupancy. We show that on average the CON legislation reduces utilization in Inpatient units. Besides, we do not find sufficient statistical evidence to reject the exogenous assumption of CON and its features. Furthermore, we confirm the qualitative nature of these key findings by an analysis featuring Inpatient length of stay (LOS). Other findings include the following: Inpatient utilization is positively related to proportion of females in a state and the proportion of Asian-Americans; a statistically significant positive relationship exists between …

An Assessment Of Microlending Programs In The Alabama Black Belt Region, Md Z. Mutaleb, Ntam R. Baharanyi, Nii O. Tackie, Robert Zabawa

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of selected socioeconomic factors on microlending in the Alabama Black Belt. It used logistic regression to identify the link between borrower socioeconomic characteristics and loan repayment rate from existing and previous microloan programs. It was hypothesized that borrower gender, age, level of education, household income, and credit score has a major impact on loan repayment. The results of study indicated that only credit score had a statistically significant effect on loan repayment. This finding underscores the importance of credit score and credit repair management in existing microloan programs, given …

Nonprofit Leadership: A Study Of Governance Changes Over Time, Daisha M. Merritt

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This is a leadership study understood through board governance in nonprofit organizations. The study sought to discover if there were indicators of coercive institutional isomorphism occurring in human service nonprofit organizations in the United States. IRS 990 tax forms were compiled from 2008- 2012 to determine if there were increasing levels of reported governance practices. Methodology included factor analysis, comparison of means, trend analysis, and regression models. Results indicated that there is an overall trend of increasing reported practices of governance in human service nonprofit organizations. Board size is the most significant indicator associated with changes in reported governance practices. …

7 Tips To Grow Your Rural Business With Purpose And Meaning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this article is to help rural entrepreneurs discover ways to grow their businesses with Living with Purpose and Meaning Megatrend.

Free To Play: Mobile Gaming And The Precipitous Rise Of Freemium, Craig Heier

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

With the abundance of games that enter the App Store marketplace, developers struggle to compete for the user’s attention and potential download. Unlike traditional console-games, mobile-based consumers tend to be more apprehensive towards purchasing an app or a game if they are unable to trial it beforehand. These factors have contributed to the freemium business model becoming the face of the mobile gaming industry.

Firing Threats: Incentive Effects And Impression Management, Brice Corgnet, Roberto Hérnan-Gonzalez, Stephen J. Rassenti

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

We study the effect of firing threats in a virtual workplace that reproduces features of existing organizations. We show that organizations in which bosses can fire up to one third of their workforce produce twice as much as organizations for which firing is not possible. Firing threats sharply decrease on-the-job leisure. Nevertheless, organizations endowed with firing threats underperformed those using individual incentives. In the presence of firing threats, employees engage in impression management activities to be seen as hard-working individuals in line with our model. Finally, production levels dropped substantially when the threat of being fired was removed, whereas on-the-job …

Robust Determinants Of Bilateral Trade, Marianne Baxter, Jonathan Hersh

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

What are the policies and country-level conditions which best explain bilateral trade flows between countries? As databases expand, an increasing number of possible explanatory variables are proposed that influence bilateral trade without a clear indication of which variables are robustly important across contexts, time periods, and which are not sensitive to inclusion of other control variables. To shed light on this problem, we apply three model selection methods – Lasso reguarlized regression, Bayesian Model Averaging, and Extreme Bound Analysis -- to candidate variables in a gravity models of trade. Using a panel of 198 countries covering the years 1970 to …

Sustainability In Government Contracts: A Measure Of Performance From The Contractor Perspective, Tamara P. Williams

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

Studies in Government contracting are relatively new manifestation to academic research. Expanding theories to practitioner challenges may offer new concepts and insights to potential solutions to these challenges. Through a review of relevant literature, the researcher sought to 1) identify an operational definition of sustainability in government contracting and 2) bridge gaps in information by exploring sustainability factors available for successful performance in government contracting. Findings provide noteworthy contributions of practices available to both businesses and contracting professionals designed to improve contracting performance and enhance business longevity for government contractors.

Utilization Of Social Media In Marketing Classes, Charlotte Allen

Bright Ideas Conference

The goal of this paper is to highlight how instructors may integrate the different social media into various marketing classes. The paper will address the major social networks, and then follow with discussions of microblogging, media sites, and social gaming. Given that there is a great deal of research highlighting the effectiveness of utilizing social media in academic classes, this paper focuses on providing practical guidance as to how social media could be integrated into the classroom, homework, and project experience.

Under Armour Consulting Report, Heather Dommer

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Under Armour has been taking the Athletic Apparel industry by storm. From their start in 1996 as a small performance apparel company to becoming the second biggest athletic apparel brand in the United States in 2014 (Peterson). The secret to their success lies within the products. All products have a moisture wicking fabric that eliminates the sweat-soaked fabric of normal sports apparel. Industry: The industry of Athletic Apparel is very intense and innovative one. There are numerous competitors striving to be number one and trying to distinguish themselves from each other while selling similar products. This is an industry that …

Become A Future-Focused Leader: Use Three Megatrends To Grow Your Rural Business, Connie Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. This article discusses three megatrends shaping the future of rural businesses:

1) The Rise of the #GigEconomy

2) Living with Purpose and Meaning

3) The Decentralized Marketplace

The article also provides coaching tips for rural entrepreneurs on how to use megatrends to grow their businesses.

While many companies are struggling to keep up with the rapid rate of change, …

Airline Quality Rating 2015, Brent D. Bowen, Dean E. Headley

Airline Quality Rating Report

Take the 2015 Airline Passenger Survey

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method for assessing airline quality on combined multiple performance criteria. This current report, the Airline Quality Rating 2015, reflects monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for calendar year 2014. AQR scores for 2015 are based on 15 elements in four major areas that focus on airline performance aspects important to air travel consumers over the calendar year of 2014.

The Airline Quality Rating 2015 is a summary of month-by-month quality ratings for U.S. airlines that are required to report …

Evaluating A Project-Based Learning Approach To The Bgsu Business Curriculum, Kara Harmeyer

Honors Projects

Inspiration for my honors project came from an assignment that I completed in a previous marketing course. This assignment is the only experience that I have had with project-based learning, but it certainly made an impact on me. My honors project presented the perfect opportunity for learning more about project-based learning and the way it is used in educational settings. In addition to the benefits and challenges associated with project-based learning, I also researched the characteristics and learning styles of millennial students to understand whether project based-learning is compatible. In conclusion, I evaluated how project-based learning could be utilized in …

2015 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Assessing The Commercial Aviation Impact Of The Year 2000 Open Skies Agreements Between The United States And African Countries With Longstanding Flights, Tyler B. Spence, Micah Walala, Richard O. Fanjoy

Aviation / Aeronautics / Aerospace International Research Conference

The U.S. started a comprehensive campaign towards Open Skies agreement in 1992. The major benefits of Open sky agreement are reported to include increase of passenger and cargo volume between partners. This study analyzes passenger traffic and cargo volume between six African countries that have had commercial aviation with the U.S. since 1990 to 2014, and with direct flights between them. Two of the countries have had no Open Skies agreement with the U.S., while four have had Open Skies agreement beginning in 2000. A multi linear modeling process was applied on the two categories to determine whether there is …