Publications

Corporate Social Media: A Typology of Consumers

This consumer segmentation schema is developed using 1) number of businesses followed and 2) companies’ social posts as direct influence toward purchase decisions, as defining behaviors. The use of a theoretical progression prospective, which tracks the development of the customer engagement construct, is central to our development. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods reveals types of consumer groups and their interactions, perceptions, and involvement with Corporate Social Media (CSM). Cluster analysis produces five distinct consumer segments, and a process to help managers more effectively achieve marketing goals. The use of additional consumer metrics are recommended for future research.

The Online Learning Environment: Delivering Quality?

The number of higher learning institutions offering distance education courses has grown dramatically since 2000. Institutions have seen aggressive growth in online degree registrations, with an 18.2% average annual growth rate in enrollments between 2002 and 2010. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, over 6.1 million students took at least one online course at a college or university in fall 2010. In a recent survey of online education conducted by the Babson Research group (2011), sixty-five percent of reporting institutions claimed that online learning was a critical part of their long-term strategy.

Business Framing for Analytics

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.

Profile of Corporate Social Media Consumer Segments

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 with the company than similar company provided information. Social media savvy customers are by all counts a highly diverse lot and reaching them effectively requires the use of different messages for different groups (Heo and Cho, 2009; Stern, Rao and Gould 1990). For example, some social media users follow a wide variety of posts and enjoy the benefits of special offers while others have mixed feelings about being marketed to on social media websites. Interestingly, this new brand of customer also expects businesses to really know them, their life cycles, their personalities and the goods and services that they desire (Beauchamp 2013).

The Influence Of Atmospherics In Consumer Research Data Collection

This study investigates the effects of ambient atmosphere on market research survey response quality, following approaches in the retail atmospherics literature. Participants completed a survey task and reported their affect states in a between subjects factorial experiment which manipulated ambient music, lighting and aroma conditions. Structural equation methods were used to test for effects of atmospheric factors on response quality and respondent affect. Findings suggest that ambient atmosphere may contribute to cognitive enrichment up to a point where it becomes distracting. At that point, ambient cues appear to interfere with cognitive processing. Survey response quality may be compromised through reduced positive affect, increased fatigue, or boredom, but the influence mechanism is different between males and females. The importance of stimulus manipulations is stressed and the effects of specific stimulus are provided to help researchers understand the impact toward response quality. Marketing researchers from both the academic and managerial community may be able to improve survey response quality by managing environmental conditions to enhance survey experience.

Online Survey Research: Can Response Factors Be Improved?

The use of the Internet and online methods for data collection brings about new challenges for academic and managerial researchers. Our objective is to advance our level of knowledge regarding online data collection through an experiment. Using a local organization’s e-mail list, we evaluate survey introductory elements such as 10 invitation from a known leader and introductory length. We evaluate resulting levels of response rate, response quality, and respondent satisfaction to assess the effects of modified survey introductory designs. Findings reveal that an invitation from a known leader leads to improved levels of response quality while shorter introductions result 15 in a quicker response from survey participants.

An Evaluation of the Consumer Ethnocentric Scale (CETSCALE) Among Chinese Consumers.

Existing studies use CETSCALE in a variety of research contexts, though the complete scale rarely has been used with Chinese consumers. Drawing on previous consumer ethnocentrism research, this study assesses the internal consistency of the 17-item scale and its relationship with selected demographic variables (age, income, and education) across three groups of consumers from three cities in mainland China. The study also examines the dimensionality of CETSCALE for three types of consumer products (refrigerators, personal computers, and cell phones) made in China and other countries. The results suggest that CETSCALE is valid for use among Chinese consumers. Age, income, and education all influence consumer ratings of CETSCALE. Chinese consumers provide significantly lower ratings of domestic personal computers and cell phones compared with a foreign alternative. However, in this context, the scale is not unidimensional but rather consists of two factors, which casts some doubt on its dimensionality in emerging economies. The study thus contributes to a greater understanding of Chinese consumers' ethnocentric tendencies.

Application Of Media Richness Theory To Data Collection

Researchers and practitioners are becoming more dependent on electronic means of data collection. This study utilizes media richness theory (MRT) as a means to better understand respondent performance in data collection among adults and adolescents. Examining the differences between paper and pencil, interview and electronic form methods of data collection, the results of this study indicate that matching task type to data collection method according to MRT principles produces improved levels of response distortion as expected; however, item omissions are not influenced in the manner anticipated from MRT concepts.

The Changing Landscape Of Marketing Research: A Study Of Marketing Consultants

The field of marketing research is undergoing dramatic change as technology of various forms penetrates its realm. This study seeks to gather a snapshot of the U.S. marketing research industry in its current state of evolution. Specifically, this study examines the mix of data collection methods, analysis techniques, targeted research participants, and project topics emphasized by today’s working consultants. While findings confirm a rather expected major shift toward Internet-related means of collecting data, analysis techniques remain relatively unchanged over the last twenty years. Furthermore, findings reveal that research design decisions are to some degree formed based on consultants’ perceptions of their own Internet self-efficacy and their firms’ orientations toward either B2B or B2C clients. Implications for both practitioner and academic researchers are discussed.

The Power of Can't: Reactance & Product Preference Among Young Consumers

The theory of psychological reactance (Brehm 1966) and commodity theory (Brock 1968) generally state that individuals may respond to warnings or restrictions in ways that are counter to expectations with products or other items becoming more desirable. This research involves product preferences displayed by adolescent males who are under the recommended age to purchase video games with a restrictive “Mature” label. An experiment involving 156 adolescent males and 143 adult males compares respondent opinions to gaming products with allowed, nonrestrictive labels (“Everyone”) to those with restrictive labels. Findings suggest that male adolescents less than 17 years of age have a higher preference for video games with labels intended to discourage use for individuals in their age group.