Sales and Merchandising Commons^™

Motivations In The Fine-Art Market: A Self-Determination Theory Approach, Jonathan P. Leavell

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the theoretical value of incorporating constructs from self-determination theory (SDT) into the analysis of the motivations within the fine-art market. The motivations of buyers and artists are examined in light of a controlling-informational event gradient. Moureau’s and Sagot-Duvauroux’ (2012) artist business-model framework is used to provide the context for marketing’s role in facilitating communication along the various motivational interactions of the gradient. Opportunities for further research are presented.

How Customer Shopping Motivation Influences Perceived Design Of The Retail Environment, Julie C. Steen

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This research proposal extends the Mehrabian-Russell stimulus-organism-response framework to examine how two different hedonic shopping motivations—adventure and gratification—influence a customer’s perceptions of the retail environment. Specifically, the paper examines perceived design of the retail environment. The paper also examines how perceived design of the retail environment influences pleasure and arousal. Since there is not an accepted measure for perceived design, the paper offers a comprehensive list of potential items to measure perceived design.

College Students Use Social Networking Sites For Sharing With Friends, But Guess Who Else Is Looking?, Elizabeth C. Alexander, Fred Mader, Deanna Mader

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Abstract - Jobvite, a recruiting platform for the social web, reports from their annual 2012 survey of recruiters that 92% of U.S. companies are using social networking sites (SNS) for hiring purposes (Jobvit, 2012). Career Builder reported in 2009 that 45% of employers were using SNS to screen and research applicants (CareerBuilder, 2009). It is important that faculty and support staff working to place students, and the students themselves, understand the developments and practices in the use of social networking sites for job search and recruiting and the best methods, as well as detriments when marketing themselves. This study examines …

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

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This paper explores the relationship between millennials’ online behavior and their opinions of online reviews via the use of focus groups and correspondence analysis. The proposition was that millennials’ online behavior (including search behavior) is likely to have an effect on how they view online reviews. The correspondence analysis results suggest that millennials who spend more time online peruse a greater number of products. Further, relationships were found between millennials’ time online and factors influencing review trustworthiness as well as millennials’ time online and factors affecting review memorability. It is noteworthy to suggest that focus group analysis can be enhanced …

The Effect Of Advertorial Format And Copy Length On Attitudes Of Female (Target) And Male (Non-Target) Audiences, Cynthia B. Hanson

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This study investigates the effect of the advertorial format and ad copy length on ad and brand attitude. Results of a 2 (advertorial versus non-advertorial) by 2 (light versus moderate copy length) study indicate that the advertorial format generated more favorable ad and brand attitudes for the female (target) subjects, but less favorable attitudes for the male (non-target) subjects. A marginally significant gender by copy length interaction suggests a differential effect of copy length for the male sample, as well: ad and brand attitudes were higher for lighter copy ads for the female sample but lower for the male sample. …

The Scent Of Change: A Case Study, William K. Foxx, Melissa C. Northam, Corlette S. Burns

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Decisions about entering into a new business venture involve a variety of considerations, despite the level of experience an entrepreneur has. This case presents the story of a business owner Bennett Gage and his decisions concerning whether or not he should enter into a business where canines are used to detect bed bugs in hotels. This case study gives the reader an opportunity to wrestle with some of the many questions that are part of entering into the creation of a new service.

Impact Of Country Personality On Attitude Toward Foreign Products : Self-Congruity As A Mediator, Murat Aktan, Paul W. Chao

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This research examines the direct effect of country personality (CP) on consumer product attitude and indirect effect through consumer self-congruity between CP and his/her own self-concept on product attitude in an emerging country- Turkey. We propose an integrated structural equation model to examine the relationships. Measurement scales for CP, self-congruity and attitude are developed whose validities and reliabilities are confirmed by exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses with data collected from a sample of consumers in Turkey on two countries: USA and China.

The results reveal that four out of the original six dimensions of CP remain after a …

A Further Empirical Investigation Into “Up To” Advertising Claims: The “As Low As” Claim, Jeffrey S. Gutenberg, James M. Quinn

Atlantic Marketing Journal

For many years the Federal Trade Commission has sought to prevent deceptive advertising under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The FTC’s focus has encompassed not only false advertising claims, but also advertising claims that, while literally true, tend to deceive consumers. “Up to” claims fall under this scrutiny since they can be misunderstood as promising consumer benefits (e.g. “up to 50% savings”) that might not be realized by all consumers. This paper presents the results of research conducted with 600+ members of a commercial consumer panel to evaluate a variant of this type of claim, the “As …

Investigating The Ichthus (Fish) Christianity Symbol On Perceived Source Credibility Of Service Providers Under Different Service Evaluation Contexts, Jeri L. Jones, Mahmood Shandiz

Atlantic Marketing Journal

ABSTRACT

This study investigated potential consumer responses to the display of the Christian fish symbol (Ichthus) used in mock advertisements of services high in credence, experience and search attributes. Discussions from earlier research propose consumers may exhibit different reactions to Christian symbolism displayed in the marketplace and that purchase intentions and consumer perceptions of the seller may be influenced by the strength of the consumer’s religious beliefs. This study adds to previous research proposing consumers display different purchase intentions due to differing perceptions of the seller’s credibility, trustworthiness and expertise influenced by the consumers own religious beliefs which is influenced …

Consumer Preferences Among Low-Price Guarantee Offers, Stephen Baglione, Louis A. Tucci, James A. Talaga

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The competitive realities of the marketplace forces retailers to consider implementing low-price guarantees. Given that retailers will use low-price guarantees, which of the multitude of guarantees should be used? This paper examines the nature of low-price guarantees from the perspective of how consumers make trade-offs in different low-price guarantee designs. Using conjoint analysis, buyers indicate their preference for different low-price guarantee designs. Not all consumers respond to low-price guarantees the same. There are several segments of consumers with regard to low-price guarantees. The study was done with young adults (MBA students) who may be more sophisticated than the population as …

The Role Of Consumer Susceptibility To Interpersonal Influence In Predicting Green Apparel Consumption Behavior Of American Youth, Amrut Sadachar, Arpita Khare, Srikant Manchiraju

Atlantic Marketing Journal

In recent years, considering that consumers are giving more importance to their role and consequence with regards to social and environmental implication of their consumption decisions, there has been increase in ethical consumption research. However, to date, the role of individual susceptibility to interpersonal influence and other relevant factors (e.g., environmental apparel knowledge) have not been studied. Therefore, the present study explored several critical constructs related to green apparel consumption including consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII). The present study focused on American youth (n = 1,049). Based on extant literature review, a hypothesized model was proposed. To test …

Corporate Social Responsibility In The B-2-B Market, Susan Saurage-Altenloh, Perry Haan

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Organizations that invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to improve the quality of a community or population expect a return on their investment in the form of improved brand reputation and greater consideration in the competitive environment. Homburg, Stierl, and Bornemann (2013) determined that targeted CSR activities could enhance trust and identification by organizational customers, thus fostering customer loyalty. The authors confirmed that CSR influenced client trust through loyalty and that integrating instrumental stakeholder theory with social exchange theory undergirded this link between CSR and trust. Maignan and Ferrell (2004) exhorted marketers to focus beyond consumers to other stakeholder groups …

Qualitative Data Mining And Sensitivity Analysis, Brian R. Kinard

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

In today’s consumer centric environment, there is no shortage of outlets for consumers to express their level of satisfaction with a company, employee, product and/or service. For instance, websites such as Amazon, Rotten Tomatoes, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Expedia allow customers the opportunity to provide feedback specific to a product, service, and/or organization. Such feedback is vitally important to business firms, as customer reviews are shown to be more trustworthy than descriptions that come direct from manufacturers. For instance, 73 percent of people trust online reviews and 63 percent of people actively seek out online reviews when making a purchase decision. …

Business Framing For Analytics, Beverly Wright

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Both the academic and business practitioner communities are faced with the challenges of discovery, innovation, and constant learning of their field, particularly within the marketing discipline, where content, processes, and even structure are dynamic in nature, with constantly evolving interests and focus. A solid research agenda with excellent analytics to address pertinent business questions is crucial for successfully expanding our understanding of the marketing function.

Perceived Value E-Ticketing As Sports Entertainment Options, Amber A. Smith-Ditizio

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Through the advantages of online and electronic ticketing services, the sporting entertainment industry has been able to increase the production and effectiveness of their customer relation management department. While simultaneously minimizing and perfecting the current concerns of electronic ticketing such as; costs, safety measures to both consumers and companies, delivery modes, comparisons to traditional ticket services, and technological sophistication. An empirical study of business professionals in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan area revealed that age, amount of disposable income, and education were not predictive of the degree of customer satisfaction derived from the use of e-ticketing for sports events, possibly pointing …

Dynamic Pricing In Major League Baseball Tickets: Issues And Challenges, John T. Drea, Andrew Nahlik

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

A rapidly growing trend in the business of professional sports is the use of dynamic pricing as a tool for maximizing revenue generation. Dynamic pricing (DP) is defined as a system in which prices respond to supply and demand pressures in a real time (or nearly real time) manner (Sahay 2007). American Airlines is credited with the first widespread use of DP as a pricing tool to handle the mismatches in supply and demand for certain flights (McAfee & te Velde 2006). DP has spread to numerous other industries, including entertainment, hotels, manufacturing to order, and lately, to Major League …

Branding Gender In Sport: A Visual-Rhetorical Analysis Of The Branding Of Roller Derby, Tylean Coleman, Jon Littlefield

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Branding a sport has a significant effect on its reception by the public, particularly for sports that are newer or for which consumer awareness is less. Hence, how a sport is positioned to potential spectators will likely play a key role in its success. Roller derby has been a part of American cultural landscape since the 1880’s and took its modern form during the Great depression. Historically, it involved women competing for points circling a flat track, and was primarily target to working class spectators. Over the last few decades, however, roller derby has experienced a resurgence in popularity due …

Cutting The Cord: An Examination Of Changing Tv Viewership, John Crawford

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

On October 2, 1925, John Baird successfully transmitted the first television image. Since the early days of the new medium, television technology has constantly changed. Similarly, as the decades have passed the means for receiving television programming has also changed. Today, programs are delivered to millions of customers via cable connections and by satellite transmissions as those technologies were chosen by consumers to replace antennas as a means for receiving signals. The newer delivery mechanisms also provided many more channels to consumers compared to the handful of channels they could access in the antenna-only days.

The television programming delivery industry …

Removing The Undesirables: A Case Study, William K. Foxx, Melissa C. Northam, Corlette S. Burns

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The lodging industry has been particularly challenged by the bed bug’s resurgence. Bed bugs are primarily associated with places where people sleep and most of these places are properties associated with the lodging industry such as hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts.

In the United States, this industry is massive.

Examining The Role Of Impact Factors: Publications Strategies: What Are Your Career Goals And What Do You Want To Accomplish?, Alan D. Smith

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The classical reasons for publishing include benefit for the community and humanity, new knowledge, integration or packaging of knowledge for distribution, benefit for yourself in terms of recognition and merit, learning, self-esteem and confidence, and must keep my job (short-term vs. long term). Some of the questions that I will attempt to discuss and resolve in this special session are the following: How do I determine where I should publish? How do I develop a plan to publish? How do I prepare a manuscript to a journal or a conference? How do I write different genres of research articles and …

Who Is Making Lifestyle Changes Due To Preventive Health Care Information? A 10 Year Comparison Study, Joseph D. Cangelosi Jr., David Kim, Edward Ranelli

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This paper sought to describe from a set of 6 demographic and 13 lifestyle change variables the person who is significantly and positively impacted by preventive health care information (PHCI). Based on past research, six hypotheses were developed. Three of the six hypotheses were accepted. In addition, there were significant relationships for each of the six demographic variables with at least one of the lifestyle change variables. Those who are seeking and are positively impacted by PHCI are better educated, female, and (depending upon the lifestyle change variable in question) fall into a definite age category. There is partial support …

A Game Theory Analysis Of Team Based Incentivization In Retailing, Don Shemwell

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

The connection between incentives and outcomes has long found consistent support in management literature generally (Bartol and Hagmann 1992; Miller & Schuster 1993; Swinehart 1986) and retailing in particular (Banker et al. 1996; Team Pay Case Studies 1997). Later meta-studies strongly support this view. (Condly, Noe and Jackson 2002; Garbers and Konradt 2014). Yet, providing performance-based incentives, at least for rank and file retail employees, still is not common in U.S. retailing and team-based incentives are even rarer.

The next section of this manuscript describes some of the issues with individualized commissions, which though not prevalent in a many product …

A Research Note On Street Pricing Requirements In Major U.S. Airport Retail Concessions Requests For Proposals, Blaise Waguespack

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

When reviewing the subject of airport marketing, much of the literature is broken down into issues external or internal to the airport. The external literature tends to divide and differentiate airports on the issues of size (passenger counts) and who is the target of the marketing campaign. Those articles and books that tend to focus on the larger commercial airports (Jarach, 2005; Halpern and Graham, 2013) note the role the airport can play in economic development. Much of the external marketing tasks for the larger commercial airports are aimed at either attracting more airline service to the community or working …

Emotional Versus Functional Attributes Of Delight-And Satisfaction-Mediated Effects On Customer Loyalty, Ipshita Ray

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

This study presents a model in which delight and satisfaction mediate the effects of store characteristics on store outcomes. It is proposed that the impacts of hedonic stimuli and utilitarian stimuli on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty intentions are mediated by customer delight and customer satisfaction simultaneously in a dual process model. To represent various retail-store categories based on the North American Industry Classification of retail categories, data were collected from 8 types of retail stores located in the Northeast United States. Using multi-group structural equation modeling, the author examines the mediating effects of delight and satisfaction on loyalty outcomes. The …

How Customer Shopping Motivation Influences Perceived Design Of The Retail Environment, Julie C. Steen

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Previous research shows that the decisions retailers make about the retail environment influence the amount of time customers spend in retail stores and the total amount of money spent in the retail store (Turley & Milliman 2000). One recent example of a retailer’s efforts to influence customers through the retail environment is Walmart’s Project Impact. In 2009, Walmart embarked on a five year plan to remodel seventy percent of its stores (Gregory 2009). Based on feedback from customers, Walmart sought to change several aspects of the retail environment, including reducing clutter, reducing crowding, wider aisles, clearer sight lines, brighter stores, …

Collegiate Competition And The Propensity For Gender Bias, Deborah H. Lester, Aberdeen Leila Borders, Terry W. Loe, Keith Tudor

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Since the dawn of time gender has played a starring role in human behavior. The behavioral implications of an individual’s sex have permeated research findings in a wide variety of academic disciplines. This preliminary investigation will explore the concept and definition of gender, gender bias, and gender stereotype on actions and conduct. Specifically, this inquiry will determine the scope and types of gender bias/stereotypes that exist in the business world with a primary concentration on the area of professional sales. The ultimate objective is to discover the type and level of influence a person’s gender contributes to evaluation, performance and …

The Impact Of Social Media On The Sales Cycle And Prospecting, Mike Serkedakis, Gary L. Selden, R. Keith Tudor

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Sharing information and networking with business contacts are the crux of social media in sales. The use of social media platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) for all phases of the sales cycle is a relatively new technique, about 20 years since the arrival of the internet and associated technologies. Research to measure the impact of social media on the sales cycle time is not adequately addressed in the current literature. Our research highlights the impacts of social media on this important business function and examines individual performance aspects associated with the use of social media.

Using Incentive To Motivate Students During A Professional Selling Class Project, Ramon A. Avila, Scott. A. Inks

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Experiential learning methods are an important part of a robust sales curriculum. Sales call role-play, an experiential learning tool, is common in introductory and advanced sales call courses. While role-plays have several advantages, they are by definition, not “real-world.” Addressing this issue, some sales courses include sales projects/exercises in which students sell real products to real customers. This paper discusses how sales incentives were incorporated into a real-world sales exercise and the impact of those incentives on sales volume.

Authenticity In Music Performance: Evidence From The Singer-Songwriter Community, Jon Littlefield

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Experiencing music provides a unique lens to study identity. The alienation resulting from increased technological mediation in both music production and consumption might drive consumption (Potter 2010), hence authenticity may be an appealing positioning strategy for marketers. Singer-songwriters, for example, write and perform their own music with minimal technological interference. This represents a direct connection with the musician that we characterize as more historically authentic (Thornton 1996), however this characterization is not universal. In this paper, I seek to gather insight into the myriad expressions of authenticity within the music consumption environment by detailing a study of performance musicians.

Narrative Engagement And The Role Of Presence, Stef Nicovich

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Presence as a phenomenon has been studied for over 20 years with an identifiable progression as to how the field has matured. Initial research explored the physical nature of what conditions were necessary to produce presence focusing on the physical representations of the experience such as vividness and interactivity. This soon segued into more of an exploration into the psychological understanding of what is to experience presence focusing more on the actual “being there” phenomenon experienced by people as they engaged in a CM event. However as our understanding of presence has matured the focus has turned to exploring the …