UNT Theses and Dissertations - 85 Matching Results

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Alternative Information Processing Formats for Overcoming Information Processing Deficits in Senior Adults: The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of alternative advertising presentation formats, and the quantity of information presented in advertisements in overcoming possible information-processing deficits in senior adults that could affect their recall of ad attributes and brand name, the cognitive responses generated, and attitude toward the ad. In addition, the study examined the effectiveness of retirement status as a classification or segmentation variable in comparison with the use of the more traditional classification variable, chronological age. A convenience sample of senior adult volunteers from church groups, social clubs, and civic organizations from the local area were randomly assigned to one of nine experimental conditions. The experiment utilized a simulated magazine to test the effects of presentation formats (3 levels), and quantity of information (3 levels) on senior adult's recall, cognitive responses and attitude toward the test ads. Covariates (gender, wealth, education, activity level, health, and income) were used to reduce variance. The findings clearly indicate that the presentation format of the can ad adversely affected the memory of some senior adults. In addition, the results were significantly different across the different age levels. Retirement status was less beneficial than chronological age in the current study, but did reveal a marginally significant difference between seniors due to the number of attributes contained in the test ads. The implication of findings for advertisers and those who design marketing communications for seniors are numerous, and relate to the marketer's communication goals. Senior adults may prefer print media, but the inappropriate use of presentation format and the number of product attributes in the ads could have an adverse and significant impact when communicating with senior adults. Recognition of the information-processing differences of senior adults would result in more effective marketing communications for this rapidly growing and important segment of our …
An Analysis of Marketing in Saudi Arabia and American Marketing Executives' Knowledge About the Saudi Arabian Market: The problem of the present study was to describe and analyze marketing in Saudi Arabia and American marketing executives' knowledge about the Saudi market. The purposes of the study were twofold: (1) to describe and analyze marketing in Saudi Arabia and (2) to determine what American marketing executives know about the Saudi Arabian market. This study employed both primary and secondary data. For the analysis of marketing in Saudi arabia, primarily secondary sources were used from the available literature. For the analysis of American marketing executives' knowledge about the Saudi Arabian market, primary sources were used in the form of American marketers' responses to a mailed questionnaire.
An Analysis of the Impact of a Behavioral Style Awareness Training Program on Retail Sales Effectiveness of Commission Sales Personnel in a Major Department Store Chain in the Southwest: The success of any retail institution depends upon many factors including personal selling effectiveness. Traditional sales training has focused primarily on the selling process with emphasis on how to close a sale. The idea of using behavioral style awareness training with salespeople has emerged only recently when behavioral training began to be recognized in the literature as a tool for sales training as well as for management training. The Social Style of Behavior concept developed by Dr. David Merrill was selected for use in this research study. Utilizing this concept, a behavioral style awareness training program was developed involving twenty hours of classroom training. Training methods used were lecture, role play, and videotaped materials with emphasis on behavioral identification and using versatility with applications to personal selling in a retail situation.
An Analytical Model of the Determinants and Outcomes of Nation Branding: Nation as a brand represents the intangible assets of a country, encompassing various dimensions such as politics, economics, culture, history, and technology. However, much of extant work in nation branding has been limited to the empirical investigations of its positioning and implementation for specific countries, while other scholarly works in nation branding are conceptual. Various factors associated with nation branding are discussed in the literature, but there is no organizing mechanism to connect these factors to explore the dynamics underlying nation branding. To fill this gap, this dissertation attempts to identify the relevant factors underlying the deployment of nation branding, and to develop models to assess the association among these factors. Hunt and Morgan's resource advantage theory serves as the theoretical foundation of this dissertation's framework. After establishing panel data models that link the factors of building and developing the nation brand, the strategic implications of nation branding are discussed. Archival data were used for economic factors such as economic development, tourism, export, and inward foreign investment, and cultural, political, infrastructural, and geographical factors. The primary data were collected for qualitative factors perceived reputable brand and perceived reputable industry. The Anholt-GfK Roper's 2008 Nation Brands IndexSM was incorporated into the model as a moderating variable to test its impact on the relationship between the dependent variables and the independent variables. A total of 24 nations were analyzed to build and validate the models. This dissertation makes several contributions to the nation branding literature. First, it clarifies the definition of nation brand and nation branding. Second, it builds a predictive econometric model to connect the critical determinant and outcome factors of nation branding. Finally, it discusses nation branding strategies in terms of resource advantage theory and provides crucial insights on the development and management of a nation brand that can be …
Antecedents of Power in the Distribution Channel : A Transaction-cost Perspective: A discussion of reward, coercive, expert, legitimate, and referent power bases was the initial focus of this research. A review of the power sources literature suggested that vertical integration within a channel of distribution was a crucial precursor to develop a structure to facilitate the use of power without creating a significant conflict among channel participants. Elements of transaction cost analysis (TCA) were offered as being suitable for determining the existing level of vertical integration among respondent firms. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to develop a tentative model to determine proper use of power within varying levels of vertical integration.
An Assessment of Consumers' Willingness to Patronize Foreign-Based Business Format Franchises: An Investigation in the Fast-Food Sector: This study aimed to address consumers' stereotypical categorizations in the form of essentialist views about foreign cultures and their effect on individual consumers, including their negative or aroused emotions and subsequent retail patronage behaviors. The research mission was to empirically assess the salient dimensions of consumers' states of mind (positive and negative affect, psychological essentialism, epistemic curiosity), states of being (store atmospherics), and states of action (retail patronage behaviors) in a cultural context based on Mehrabian-Russell theory of environmental psychology. Specifically, the retail patronage setting was selected as foreign-based fast-food franchises because it represents both a relevant and timely situational context for consumer behavior. This dissertation makes several contributions to international retail patronage literature. First, it frames curiosity as an aroused emotional state and finds support for the relationship between consumer epistemic curiosity and retail patronage. Second, it provides support for the linkage between consumer affect and retail patronage in an international retail setting. Third, it reveals that affect has a greater impact on retail patronage than epistemic curiosity. The overarching finding of this study is an inability to tie the cultural elements in retail atmospherics, including signs, symbols, and artifacts, to consumer emotions. In addition, we were unable to frame psychological essentialism as a personality trait that would reduce the levels of affect and curiosity in retail store environments characterized by foreign-cultural elements.
Belief Transfers in Co-branding and Brand Extension and the Roles of Perceptual Fit: Existing co-branding and brand extension research generally coalesces around two important constructs: perceptual fit and attitude toward the brand. Studies in co-branding and brand extension to date have generally emphasized the transference of affective elements of attitude from parent brand to the extension. Researchers and practitioners clearly need to learn more about the transfer of belief, the cognitive elements of attitude. Too little is currently known about whether and how beliefs are actually transferred in co-branding and brand extension applications, particularly in terms of perceptual fit. This dissertation investigates belief transfer and the effect of perceptual fit on belief transfer in co-branding and brand extension scenarios and develops answers to the following research questions: 1.Are different categories of beliefs transferable from parent brand to theextension? 2.How do various sub-dimensions of perceptual fit affect belief transfers fromparent brands to the extension? 3.How do different categories of beliefs affect consumers’ intentions to purchasethe extension products? Categorization Theory was used as the fundamental theory to build the hypotheses. This dissertation involved qualitative studies, belief scale development, and experimental design studies. The results revealed that aesthetic and functional beliefs are positively transferred from parent brand to the extension. The transfer of aesthetic beliefs is affected by the level of brand fit while the transfer of functional beliefs is independent upon the level of any perceptual fit construct. Finally, cognitive structure based on the strength of extension beliefs is more predictive upon the purchase intention. Findings will extend the co-branding and brand extension literature, especially in terms of the pattern of belief transfers that unfold subject to the influence of various perceptual fit constructs. The results will also provide additional insights about the role that perceptual fit plays in influencing categories of consumer beliefs as those beliefs are also influenced by the specific perceptual fits …
Channel Conflict in the Women's Apparel Industry an Empirical Investigation of Texas Retailers' Attitudes Toward Manufacturers: The problem of this investigation was to make an exploratory examination of the distribution practices of apparel manufacturers as perceived by apparel retailers. Specifically, the purposes of this study were to identify those areas of perceived conflict between women's apparel retailers and apparel manufacturers from the viewpoint of the retailer, determine if there was a relationship between select retailer variables and the quality of service that retailers perceived apparel manufacturers were giving, determine whether some merchandise classifications were perceived by retailers to be greater problem areas than other merchandise classifications, to determine factors contributing to the enhancement of perceived conflict within apparel marketing channels, and to suggest remedies that would improve apparel channel relationships. The report concluded with the presentation of an apparel retailer expectation model and suggestions for additional research.
Characteristics of Purchasing Managers That Influence Preferences to Enter Buyer-Seller Partnerships by Single Sourcing: This research addresses the question of whether there are personal characteristics of purchasing managers that lead them to make decisions regarding buyer-seller partnerships, and supplier sourcing in particular, that may be suboptimal, therefore affecting the performance of the firm. This question warrants study due to the current business environment, in which business firms have been entering into both formal and informal buyer-seller partnerships as a means of surviving in a highly competitive environment.
Civility Matters: While the proliferation of literature on the subject of growing incivility in society demonstrates the increasing importance given to civility by corporate America, there has been little academic investigation of the concept. The limited number of academic studies on civility reveals immense negative consequences for uncivil behavior. One question for marketers of businesses is whether lack of civility among front-end personnel can negatively influence sales. This dissertation is an attempt to fill this research gap by exploring responses to uncivil behavior under the theoretical framework of attribution theory. Using the CDSII scale based on attribution theory, experimental research design was used with current civil and uncivil behavior by the store employees and past experiences (positive, negative, and no-experience) with the store as stimulus. The consumers' perception of civility, attributions and behavioral intentions were measured and used as dependent variables. The results of the experiment showed that when a customer discerns employee behavior to be uncivil, the customer's perception of the level of the ability of the employee to control his own behavior decreases. The results of the study enhance the knowledge of two important consumer behaviors, namely complaining and switching behaviors by empirically studying their antecedents in a particular market interaction context. The results imply that it is important to eliminate or minimize any experience that the customer may construe as negative at a store. If practitioners can work towards eliminating or decreasing certain attributions of consumers, they can reduce the switching behaviors and thus impact customer retention rates and future sales. Though this study contributes to marketing theory and provides vital insights to practitioners, this study is but a starting point for further examination of the role of civility in consumer behavior and decision making.
A Cognitive Approach to Packaging: Imagery and Emotion as Critical Factors to Buying Decision at Point-of-Purchase: A packaging model is presented in this study which attempts to show some important aspects of a consumer's cognitive process in relation to packaging. This packaging model is based on the theories of imagery, emotion, and perception (and sensation). Perception of a packaged good occurs because the motivation system of a consumer selects particular information that the packaged good provides. Unlike the situation which occurs in behaviorism, stimulus is as important as response, and motivation explains why people don't perceive all the information available in the environment. When perception occurs, two subsequent responses are possible in the mind of a consumer: the connotative response and the denotative response. A connotative response is an evaluation of the perceived, i.e. emotion. Denotative response is imagery which is produced by conditioned sensory response. Imagery may elicit emotional response. Thus, imagery may reinforce consumer behavior positively or negatively. Emotion with regard to a packaged good is, then, the combination of emotions elicited by the perceived and the imagery evoked. This packaging model tries to explain purchasing behavior through the concepts of imagery and emotion.
Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Safety: An Application of Ethics Theory: Safety is an important aspect of ethical, socially responsible logistics. Current U.S. motor carrier (MC) safety research topical coverage includes the effects of individual and environmental influences, carrier safety management, and regulatory compliance on carrier safety and driver fatigue/safety performance. Interestingly, little research on the subject of truck drivers' safety attitudes and behaviors exists and the underlying decision-making processes that guide drivers' safety-related behaviors have received little attention. Furthermore, researchers have not provided an integrated framework that explains individual, organizational, and regulatory factors' impact on drivers' safety decision-making and performance. Truck drivers' safety judgments, decisions, and actions must adhere to societal safety norms. To that end, ethical decision-making theory that draws from the deontological and teleological traditions in moral philosophy provides a theoretical foundation and integrated framework necessary to better understand drivers' safety decision-making processes. The current research sought to determine how drivers rely on safety norms and perceived consequences in forming safety judgments and behavioral intentions. Furthermore, the study was designed to explore how various factors (i.e., individual, organizational, and regulatory) influence drivers' safety decision-making processes. Specifically, the study sought to answer the broad question, "How do commercial motor vehicle drivers make safety-related decisions, and how do individual, organizational, and regulatory factors influence drivers' safety decision-making processes?" An experimental two-factor design (2×2) was used to manipulate safety norms (i.e., "deontologically unsafe situation" and "deontologically safe situation") and consequences (i.e., "positive consequences" and "negative consequences"). Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that drivers primarily rely on deontological evaluations in forming safety judgments. Furthermore, drivers primarily relied on safety judgments when forming behavioral intentions. Drivers' attitudes toward unsafe actions and the effectiveness of driver-related safety regulations were also influential to drivers' judgments and intentions, respectively. The empirical findings demonstrate to managers that communication and education of safety norms may be highly effective to …
A Computer Simulation of an International Marketing Environment: The purpose of this study is to develop a simulator which would bridge the gap between theory and reality for the student of international marketing. The simulator developed is a computerized business game entitled "The International Marketing Simulator." The International Marketing Simulator contains a description of the model, player's manual, and scenario section, Incorporated in this section is information on how to input decisions into the computer game. The International Marketing Simulator also contains information on the functioning of the International Marketing Simulator. Some of the functions discussed were the demand function, production function, and the promotion function. When the demand function was discussed it was noted that price and promotion were interrelated. The last part of the International Marketing Simulator is a detailed story of each of six foreign countries which are used in the International Marketing Simulator. This section is called the scenario section since each country has a story about it which "sets the stage" for the computer game. There were four parts to the verification process of the International Marketing Simulator. The four parts were (1) making trial program runs an an IBM 360 computer, (2) verifying the logic of the model of the International Marketing Simulator, (3) students participating in making trial runs on the International Marketing Simulator, (4) conducting a before-after study with a control group.
Connective Technology Adoption in the Supply Chain: The Role of Organizational, Interorganizational and Technology-Related Factors.: Supply chain management (SCM) is an area that offers organizations significant opportunities for both cost reductions and revenue enhancement. In their article, "Supply Chain Management: Implementation Issues and Research Opportunities," Lambert, Cooper and Pagh defined SCM as the "integration of key business processes from end user through original suppliers that provides products, services, and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders." Adopting and implementing appropriate technology has emerged as a source of competitive advantage for supply chain member firms through the integration of business processes with suppliers and customers. It is important to understand the factors influencing an organization's decision to acquire such technology. In the context of this study, connective technologies are defined as wireless communication devices and their accompanying infrastructure and software which may enhance coordination among supply chain partners. Building on previous literature in the areas of supply chain management, marketing strategy, and organizational innovation, a model was developed to test the relationships between organizational, interorganizational, and technology-related factors and the adoption of advanced connective technology, using radio frequency identification (RFID) as the test case, in the supply chain. A Web-based survey of supply chain professionals was conducted resulting in 224 usable responses. The overall model was statistically significant with four of the predictors significantly influencing the adoption of RFID in the supply chain. Size, centralization, new product advantage and time to achieve targeted ROI were significantly related to adoption of connective technology (RFID). Interorganizational related factors were not significant predictors of connective technology adoption. The study contributes to theory by testing scales from marketing and management in a supply chain context in order to better understand behavioral dimensions of supply chain management and logistics. The conceptualization and measurement of market orientation at the interfirm level advances the market orientation literature. Finally, the study contributes …
Consumer Perception of Brand Equity Measurement: a New Scale: Brand equity is perhaps the most important marketing concept in both academia and practice. The term came into use during the late 1980s; and the importance of conceptualizing, measuring, and managing brand equity has grown rapidly in the eyes of practitioners and academics alike. This has resulted in several often-divergent view-points on the dimensions of brand equity, the factors that influence it, the perspectives from which it should be studied, and the ways to measure it. Many different definitions and ways to measure brand equity have been proposed, and most of them are based upon the definition: the added value with which a given brand endows a product. The two most influential conceptualizations of brand equity are Aaker and Keller. Aaker defines brand equity as a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers. Keller defines consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. Currently, all research on brand equity has used the same conceptualization of the construct based on previously determined dimensions with no attempt to argue their validity. Given the importance of the concept of brand equity in marketing, as well as the need for the measurement of brand equity, the literature lacks an empirically based consumer-perceived brand equity scale. Since the brand is the consumer’s idea, the consumer is an active participant in the creation of equity for the brand. So if we want to understand and manage the intangible equity directly, we have to have the consumer’s help. This dissertation enriches and strengthens the current knowledge on brand equity by developing a new conceptualization and scale …
Continuity Expectations in Vertical Marketing Systems: a Dyadic Perspective of Domestic and International Franchising: An emerging paradigm shift in the marketing discipline has prompted renewed research interest in the nature and scope of exchange. A common theme in the research to date is a departure from the traditional transactional orientation to a relational perspective of exchange. The relational emphasis is particularly germane to contractual Vertical Marketing Systems (VMS) where the emphasis is on long-term, mutually beneficial interaction between various channel members. The franchisor-franchisee relationship, a type of contractual VMS, is governed by norms that impact system efficiency and effectiveness. Despite the unprecedented growth of international franchising systems in the marketplace, a paucity of empirical attention has focused on cross-national franchisor-franchisee relationships. With many U.S.-based business format franchisors penetrating foreign markets, the primary purpose of the dissertation is to provide insights into tools which franchisors, and franchisees can use during the evolution of the exchange relationship. To identify differences across geographic boundaries, the dissertation simultaneously studies domestic and cross-border franchisor-franchisee relationships.
Creating Value by Enhancing Innovative Capability: the Role of Absorptive Capacity and Institutional Framework: Innovations as a source of economic wellbeing and social prosperity has been well researched, albeit primarily done in the context of developed economies. However, of late, interest in the effect of innovation on economic performance and quality of life has been renewed as the world observes the rise of emerging economies, and at the same time, the prolonged recession in the more developed economies (i.e. North America and European countries). There has been a marked increase in the quantity and quality of research and development, spawn by innovative companies from emerging economies that are making their mark in global marketplace. These phenomena challenge the traditional concept that innovation flows from the resource rich developed countries to less developed countries, and that the latter are at a disadvantage in terms of knowledge, technology and competitiveness. Existing studies on national innovation highlight the relationships between innovative capability and its outcomes; however, few have tried to explain the determinants of a nation’s innovative capabilities. Using a sample of 95 countries and panel data analysis covering 28 years of observation, this study attempts to model the determinants of innovative capability at national level, and focuses on absorptive capacity and institutional framework as the main determinants of innovative capability. Further, this study identifies different aspects of absorptive capacity: creation and exploitation of innovation. Findings offer support on the importance of various sources of external knowledge in the creation of innovation, with FDI inflow and High Technology Export as the strongest sources. Corruption as institutional factor has negative effect on innovative capability, whereas openness shows no effect. National absorptive capacity moderates the effect of external knowledge on innovative capability, except on FDI outflow in which a negative effect on trademark application as a measure of innovative capability. The findings suggest that innovative capability and moderating role …
A Descriptive Study of Offended Responses to Nudity in Print Advertising Targeted to Women: A discussion of offensiveness in advertising is the initial focus of this research. A review of the offensiveness, irritation, nudity, and sexual suggestiveness in advertising literature suggested that females report somewhat high arousal scores when viewing nudity but that the arousal may not necessarily be positive. The measure of contributing variables to offendedness responses was proposed using various degrees of nudity in existing advertising as the primary stimuli.
Determinants and Outcomes of Salespeople's Coping Style: Some salespeople cope with the chronic stress that accompanies sales jobs better than others. That is, while all salespeople possess some ability for coping with job stress, some coping mechanisms work better than others. Thus, it is critically important to identify the coping mechanismwhich are associated with the most positive organizational outcomes (i.e., higher performance, increased retention). Research on the coping mechanisms of salespeople is in its exploratory stage. Increased knowledge concerning how salespeople cope with chronic job stress would help researchers and managers to clarify why certain job outcomes occur instead of others (i.e., performance, retention, and burnout). This study proposes and tests a set of relationships pertaining to the dimensionality and the outcomes of salespeople's coping styles. The model identifies the antecedents of coping style and proposes three types of coping style salespeople employ to reduce job stress- emotion focused coping (EFC), problemfocused coping (PFC) and action oriented coping (AOC). It also elucidates the outcomes associated with EFC and PFC styles. The empiricalfindingssuggest that among salespeople, those who use PFC possess a more pronounced internal locus of control, perceive higher social support, and project higher continuance commitment, and higher self efficacy than those who use EFC. The findings also suggest that salespeople who use PFC tend to be more satisfied and express greater well being than those who use EFC. Additionally, salespeople who use EFC tend to exhibit greater propensity to burnout and greater tendency to withdraw than those who use PFC. The model holds considerable promise froma managerial standpoint. Because the model partially predicts whether the outcome of a particular coping style will be positive or negative, managers can train their salespeople to cope with job stress more effectively. Additionally, it may be significantly helpful to those who recruit salespeople. Sales recruiters ought to be able to …
Determinants of the Magnitude of Foreign Direct Investment: An Analysis of Korean Manufacturing MNCs: The purpose of this study is, therefore, to investigate empirically the firm- and location-specific determinants of the magnitude of FDI by Korean manufacturing MNCs--one of the leading Third World MNCs. This study also examines firm-specific characteristics that distinguish Korean MNCs investing in developing countries from those investing in developed countries.
Developing an Integrated Supply Chain Costing Approach for Strategic Decision Making: The supply chain management discipline suggests that information sharing is paramount when attempting to achieve cost reductions and quality improvements. In many cases, the traditional accounting data used to support strategic decisions reflect inaccurate supply chain costs. This research explores the applications of managerial costing techniques, and how they can be used to improve the decision making capabilities of firms in the aerospace and transportation industries. The methodology used to address the research questions consisted of a hybrid of the grounded theory and multiple-case study methods. The objective of this research was to present the antecedents and barriers associated with implementing supply chain costing, and the impact that costing approaches have on strategic decision making. The research identifies a theoretical model that can be used to explain the relationships and themes associated with supply chain costing and strategic decision making. Evidence suggests that there is some movement to implement managerial accounting techniques within these two industries to capture supply chain costing information. However, the reliance on traditional financial accounting suggests that the overarching principles of supply chain management and information sharing amongst of partner firms has yet to be realized.
Development and Testing of a Resource-Based Theory of International Entry Mode Choice: A firm can deploy a variety of arrangements (entry modes) like wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, contracts, and export modes to implement its product market strategies in foreign countries. Each of these arrangements entails decisions about the location of production facilities and/or marketing operations, and the type of ownership of these operations. The choice of an entry mode is of strategic importance to a firm because it can involve investment of substantial amount of resources and has a strong bearing on the firm's marketing mix. Due to its strategic importance, the entry mode choice phenomenon has been extensively researched. In the past, seven major theories have been proposed but none is able to explain the choice from the complete set of entry modes. Thus, there exists a gap between the theory and practice of entry mode choice. This study provides breakthrough on two fronts. First, it develops a new theory of entry mode choice grounded in the resource-based perspective of the firm. The theory posits that the decision to locate its production and/or marketing operations in a country is related to the actualizability of the firm's competitive advantage in that country. However, the ownership decision is related to the sustainability of that advantage. Second, based on this theory, a model is developed which explains entry mode choices from the complete set of entry modes. Mail survey responses of Presidents/CEOs of 163 American firms with international operations support the model. The proposed framework is an effort to fill the gap between theory and practice of entry mode choice. It is expected to make a substantial contribution toward developing a sound theory of international operations of the firm. The framework is broader in scope than the extant theories because it transcends across industries and nationalities of firms.
The Eclectic Paradigm of Salesperson Compensation: a New Framework for Investigating the Role of Salary versus Commission: Numerous researchers, employing theories from either psychology or economics, have investigated the circumstances under which firms are likely to adopt salary-based versus commission-based compensation plans. This study integrates the most common theoretical bases of salesperson compensation literature into a broad framework labeled the Eclectic Paradigm of Salesperson Compensation (EPSC). The EPSC proposes that there is a positive association between a firm's salary orientation and resource commitment, and a firm's salary orientation and firm control. There should be a negative association between salary orientation and dissemination risk, and salary orientation and salesperson motivation/performance. Twenty-three hypotheses originating from the EPSC were tested using a pretest sample of 48 real estate salespersons and a test sample of 311 real estate salespersons. The data were analyzed using common factor analysis, logistic regression, multivariate analysis of variance, and median tests. Of the 23 hypotheses, 10 were supported, 7 were partially supported, and 6 were not supported. The results suggest that the eclectic paradigm of salesperson compensation is a promising initial step toward developing a comprehensive model for understanding the determinants of salary versus commission.
The Effect of Comparative Well-Being on the Perceived Risk Construct: a Study of the Purchase of Apparel: The purpose of this research was to examine how the intervening variable of comparative well-being (which is how persons view their age, financial resources, and health compared to others of their own age) will enhance the significance of the relationship between selected demographic and psychographic variables and perceived risk. Specifically, the research investigated the structural relationship between comparative well-being in four different statistical models: (1) as an independent predictor of perceived risk; (2) as an intensifier of the psychographic and demographic predictors of perceived risk; (3) as a covariate of perceived risk; and (4) finally, as a jointly dependent variable with perceived risk. This approach was pursued in an effort to enhance the traditional marketing use of demographic and psychographic variables in predictingconsumer buying behavior. The data for this study were gathered as part of a national consumer-panel mail survey utilizing approximately 3,000 households. The research instrument was a self-administered questionnaire which collected demographic, psychographic, and perceived risk information from purchasers of apparel wear. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation analysis, factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The findings have identified the importance of how consumers position themselves in society, based on their locus of external involvement (community and social activity) and how satisfactory their position is in their social structure as measured by comparative well-being (perceived age, income, and health). The research results challenge the value of using only age and income as predictor variables for perceived risk, in that no significant relationships were found between age, income, and perceived risk. However, comparative well-being was found to intensify these relationships, in addition to functioning as an independent variable and a covariate in the perceived risk relationship. Also, it was found that respondents with higher degrees of comparative well-being perceived less …
The Effect of Information Technology on Productivity in the Retail Sector: Three major research questions were addressed in this study. First, does information technology contribute to the productivity of retail institutions? Second, to what degree can information technology be substituted for labor and capital in retailing? Finally, is the market efficient in allocating information technology? These questions were chosen after a careful review of the literature revealed gaps in these areas.
Effects of Perceived Quality, Product Category Similarity, and Brand Breadth on Consumers' Perceptions of Brand Extensions: Tests of Categorization Theory and Cognitive Response Theory: Various constructs are related to predicting consumers' perceptions of brand extensions. Among these, three constructs, perceptions of perceived quality (PQ) associated with the parent brand, product category similarity (PCS) of an extension to its parent brand, and brand breadth (BB) of the parent, are central to many brand extension studies. The purpose of this study is to clarify the roles of these three constructs and to pit predictions from an alternative theoretical perspective — cognitive response theory — against predictions based on categorization theory.
An Empirical Examination of Service Dominant Logic: The Theory of the Network: Marketing scholars question the ability of the 4Ps to explain higher order phenomena in modern marketing. Scholars contend that marketing's historical framework, based in product centric economic theory, constrains the 4Ps ability to form a foundation for a general theory of marketing. The focus on value embedded in product fails to explain knowledge-based intangible sources of competitive advantage. In response to this concern a new dominant logic for marketing called service-dominant logic (S-D Logic) has been proposed. However, not all scholars are supportive of S-D Logic. Still nescient, S-D Logic lacks a theoretic model, operationalized constructs, and relationships between those constructs. This study addresses those deficiencies by: (1) generation of a grounded theory of a performance-oriented network; (2) empirical assessment of the S-D Logic literature; and (3) development of an inductively generated theory of S-D Logic to include constructs, relationships, outcomes, and hypothesis. This investigation provides an important set of research findings. The resultant service-oriented network theory suggests a theoretic structure for S-D Logic. Use of grounded theory provides a strong empirical foundation based in a leading edge multi-national market segment composed corporations and programs worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The analysis drew upon 44 field interviews and follow-up exchanges. Multiple member checking sessions generated practitioner confirmation of the research conclusions. The work provides actionable theoretical and practical implications. This investigation provides a link between S-D Logic as a foundation for a general theory of marketing and initial model of suggestive of such theory. For the practitioner the service-oriented network model provides actionable constructs. The antecedents identified are largely influencable by inter-firm leadership and provides them a mechanism to tailor the specific service-oriented strategy to support the desired network value propositions.
An empirical investigation of how perceived devaluation and income effects influence consumers' intended utilization of savings from coupon redemption.: Coupons are one of the most popular and attractive tools of promotion. Redeeming coupons makes shoppers feel that they are doing something good for their family's budget, because coupons offer 'savings.' On the other hand, a coupon might have several negative effects on purchase behavior as well, which might 'devalue' the promoted product in the consumer's perception. But a review of the literature shows a lack of attention afforded to the above-mentioned aspects of coupon redemption. In addition, the consumer's coupon redemption behavior is moderated by several factors drawn from research in the fields of market pricing, economics and psychology, each of which have contributed to the current study in their own way. Finally, there does not exist any substantive research as to why coupon redemption rates have been on the decline, despite an increase in distribution of coupons. Therefore, this research not only fills existing gaps in the literature but also enriches it by synthesizing views from different academic disciplines. This dissertation concentrates on grocery products. Data is collected from about 2500 adults, primarily residing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The conceptual framework is based on the theory of reasoned action, which suggests that an individual's beliefs influence his/her attitude towards the consequences of actions, and attitudes, in turn, influence the individual's actions. Toward this end, the model incorporates intention to redeem coupons, intention to keep or spend savings and intention of how to spend savings from coupon redemption as the dependent variables, and several other independent variables. Behavioral independent variables are measured using items borrowed from established scales, as well as those developed exclusively for the current study. Standard statistical tools such as factor analysis and accepted measures of reliability and validity (Cronbach's alpha) are applied and reported, while structural equation modeling has been used to re-validate certain …
An empirical investigation of the salient dimensions of Baby Boomer and Generation Y consumers' health care decision choices.: The purpose of this research is to empirically investigate consumers' health care decision choices in a dynamic market setting. The unprecedented demands on the U.S. health care system coupled with the mounting controversies surrounding health care reform suggest that consumers' health care decisions warrant empirical research attention. Toward this end, this dissertation empirically explored (1) the characteristics of consumers who possess a willingness to use non-conventional treatments over conventional treatments, (2) the characteristics of consumers who elect self-medication in lieu of health care practitioner-directed medication, and (3) the salient dimensions of consumers' channel choice for the procurement of health care products. Each of these decision choice factors were tested across two U.S. generational segments to assess whether differences existed across Baby Boomers' and Gen Yers' health care decision choices. The conceptual framework for empirical assessment is Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. From Bandura's social cognitive theory, a general model of healthcare decision choice is proposed to assess consumers' states of mind, states of being and states of action (decision choice). Results indicate that social cognitive factors (e.g., self-efficacy, objectivism) play an important role in each of the decision domains explored in this dissertation. Moreover, health value was found to be an important moderator between the social cognitive factors and health care decision choices. The predictors of the health care decision choices were found to vary across the Baby Boomers and Generation Yers on several dimensions, confirming the notion that generational differences may be a salient dimension of consumers' health care decision choice. The research offers several implications for practitioners, academicians and policy makers. Both descriptive and normative implications are gleaned from the research findings. Most notably, the results indicate that consumers' social cognitive factors and health value may be mechanisms for managing health care decisions.
An Empirical Investigation of the Structural Form and Measurement Validity of the Hill Inventory: This research began with the Hill Inventory. Cognitive style preference variables were classified as one of following four types: Theoretical Codes, Qualitative Codes, Social-Cultural Codes or Reasoning Modalities. A consumer behavior perspective was then used to form an alternative structure for the Hill Inventory variables. The following three constructs were proposed: Evaluation Codes, Perceptual Codes, and Reasoning Modalities. The purpose of this research was to assess the structural form and measurement validity of the Hill Inventory. Specific steps taken to accomplish this objective included: developing confirmatory factor and structural equation models; using the LISREL software package to analyze the model specifications; and assessing the validity of the questions used to measure the variables. A descriptive research design was used to compare the model specifications. The research instrument consisted of eight statements for each of twenty-eight variables for a total of 224 questions. Five-point response choices were described by the words: often, sometimes, unsure, rarely, or never. The sample consisted of 285 student subjects in marketing classes at a large university. Data analysis began by comparing the distributions of the data to a normal case. Parameter estimates, root mean square residuals and squared multiple correlations then were obtained using the LISREL VI software package. The chi-square statistic was used to test the hypotheses. This statistic was supplemented by the Tucker-Lewis index which used a null model for comparisons. The final step in data analysis was to assess the reliability of the measurements. This study affected the potential usage of the Hill Inventory for consumer behavior research. The major conclusion was that the measurement of the variables must be improved before model parameters can be tested. Specific question sets on the inventory were identified that were most in need of revision.
An Empirical Study on the Use of Promotion in Hospitals: The role of marketing and marketing communication in hospitals has grown in the last decade. The need for hospitals to make careful decisions about their marketing communication efforts is mandated, given the changes taking place in the hospital industry. The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct empirical research to determine whether for-profit and non-profit hospitals perceive and utilize promotion as a marketing strategy element. The two steps taken included: identifying important factors considered by hospital administrators and marketing staff in the development of communication messages designed for patients, hospital staff and medical staff; and testing the factors developed and studying the attitudes of hospital personnel toward promotion using a national sample of hospitals. In phase 1, focus group interviews were conducted in a surrogate for-profit hospital and a surrogate non-profit hospital. In phase 2, an original mail questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 80 hospitals. A total of 38 hospitals participated, providing 114 usable responses. Test statistics included content analysis, Chi-Square, Pearson correlation coefficient and Analysis of Variance. The results of the focus group study indicated the practice of marketing in hospitals is in its early growth stages and marketing is viewed as nothing more than advertising and public relations. The results of the mail survey indicated that respondents in small for-profit hospitals with 20 to 30 years of experience as professionals, with key decision making authority, are favorably disposed to marketing and marketing communication. It was also found that respondents in large non-profit hospitals are very positive towards marketing. In contrast, respondents in medium and large for-profit hospitals, who are not directly involved in decision making, tend to be less positive towards marketing. The study serves as a basis for future research which may involve, (1) a larger sample frame, (2) hospitals in inner-city …
An Examination of the Nature of a Problematic Consumer Behavior : Compulsive Purchasing as a Learned Adaptive Response, Addiction, and Personality Disorder: The problem examined in this study was the nature of compulsive purchasing behavior. Three proposed models depicting this behavior as a learned adaptive response to anxiety and/or depression, an addiction, and a personality disorder were introduced and discussed in Chapter I. Background information concerning the areas examined in the models was presented in Chapter II. The research methodology was discussed in Chapter III and the findings of the research presented in Chapter IV. A summary, conclusions, implications, and recommendations were presented in Chapter V.
Explaining Buyer Opportunism in Business-to-Business Relationships: The interaction among firms in the supply chain is necessary for business process execution and relationship success. One phenomenon of great significance to buyer-supplier relationships is opportunism. Opportunism is defined as behavior that is self-interest seeking with guile. It is manifested in behaviors such as stealing, cheating, dishonesty, and withholding information. Opportunism negatively impacts relational exchange tenets such as trust, commitment, cooperation, and satisfaction. Furthermore, perceptions of opportunism negatively affect firm performance. In lieu of the known negative effects of opportunistic behavior on buyer-supplier relationships, why do agents continue to engage in opportunistic tactics with their exchange partners? A comprehensive examination is necessary in order to understand why sourcing professionals engage in acts of opportunism. Understanding why opportunism occurs will reveal how to deter it, and this remains a gap in the literature. Based on theories in economics, marketing channels, supply chain management, decision science, and psychology, a comprehensive model tested a set of factors hypothesized to drive the use of opportunistic tactics. Factors include buyer-supplier relationship-specific factors, environmental factors, individual personality-related factors, and situational factors. Data was collected via internet survey of sourcing professionals from private industry and government agencies. Common to many studies of ethics, respondents made choices based on two hypothetical vignettes. Two logistic regression models were used to test the hypotheses. Factors found to affect buyer opportunism included buyer power, corporate ethical values, pressure to perform, leadership opportunism, business sector, honesty/integrity, and subjective expected utility. This research contributes to theory by combining several disparate theories to best explain opportunism. A comprehensive evaluation should determine which theory explains the most variance in decision making. The study contributes to practice by identifying those important factors contributing to a sourcing professional's decision to use opportunistic tactics. The ability to manage these factors should improve the probability of relationship success. …
An Exploratory Analysis of the Food Consumption Behavior of Up-scale Asian-American Consumers: The first objective of this research was to identify whether Asian-Americans having higher than average levels of income and education represent an appropriate target market for four food product categories. Second, the impact of national origin membership, demographic variables, and level of acculturation on food consumption was determined. In addition, perceptions related to sensory and nutritional factors and the cultural acceptability of the products were identified and interpreted to determine if the variables differed among specific groups of Asian-American consumers.
An Exploratory Empirical Investigation of Information Processing among Incubator-Housed Manufacturers during Channel Member Selection: The purpose of this research was to conduct an exploratory study of the information processing utilized by incubator-housed manufacturers during channel member selection. The study included the evaluation of the decision models used by the manufacturers as well as criteria used in the selection process. The study was specifically designed to achieve the following objectives. First, the research was to identify the evaluation modes used by the manufacturers as either compensatory or noncompensatory. Second, the study was to evaluate the effect of the task on the selection of the evaluation model(s) used during the channel member selection process. Third, the study was to evaluate the effect of the selected decision strategy on the amount of information used during the decision process. Finally, the study was to identify and examine the importance of the criteria used by the manufacturers in the selection process. The methodology in this study consisted of primary research using protocol analysis as the main data gathering technique. A ranking instrument was also mailed to the respondents prior to the protocol session. The population for the study was identified as all manufacturers located in publicly-sponsored business incubators. A total of 235 incubators were in existence with approximately 47 percent of them being publicly-sponsored. Approximately 42 percent of the incubators house at least one manufacturing firm. It was estimated that there were approximately 46 manufacturing firms located in public incubators. A sample of six was used in this study. The statistical analysis included frequencies, cross tabulations, correlations, paired comparisons, and measures of association. The findings of this study suggest that the incubator-housed manufacturers' choice of evaluation models was not affected by the task nor did the selected strategy influence the amount of information used by the manufacturers. The findings indicate a need for further research to evaluate the relationships …
An Exploratory Examination of the Profitability Impact of Quality Dimensions for Consumer Goods and Industrial Capital Goods: The issue of dimensions of quality has received very little attention in the marketing literature. This dissertation studies the impact selected individual dimensions of quality has on firm performance. The study examined the relation between product, service and image based dimensions of quality and firm performance. The performance measure utilized in this study was a firm's return on investment (ROI). Sample for the study included Strategic Business Units (SBUs) involved in the manufacture of consumer goods and industrial capital goods. A theoretical framework that details performance effects of selected variables was developed. Drawing upon previous research in Marketing, Management, Economics, and Strategic Planning, propositions and hypotheses were developed. The data required to test the hypotheses was obtained from the PIMS data base of the Strategic Planning Institute. Several GLM procedures including ANOVA, ANCOVA, and Multiple Comparison tests, such as SNK, Tukey and Bonferroni, were employed to test the various operational hypothesis. The results show that product and image based dimensions of quality impact RoT differentially for consumer goods and industrial capital goods. The extent of the difference depends on the order of market entry and the product's stage in the product life cycle. On the other hand, service based dimensions of quality did not impact ROI differentially for pioneers and non-pioneers. Similar results was found across stages of the product life cycle.
An Exploratory Field Study of Adolescent Consumer Behavior: The Family Purchasing Agent: An exploratory field study was conducted to examine internal and external factors that influence adolescents' consumer behavior when serving as the family purchasing agents. Demographic, lifestyle, and marketing activities were examined to determine the influences that affect whether the adolescent will purchase the preferred family brands or other brands. Participating adolescents were sent by their parents to the grocery store on two separate occasions to purchase four preselected grocery items. The brands purchased were recorded and compared to the preferred brand names provided by the parents. While no statistical significance was found, occasional trends were observed. The analysis indicated that adolescents who experience a pluralistic family communication style will purchase products other than the preferred household brands. Adolescents who are exposed to television and radio tend to deviate more from the preferred family brands more often than do adolescents with less media exposure. Adolescents who work are more likely to go to the grocery store more often for their families than do nonworking adolescents. Also, adolescents seem to possess a price sensitivity to both high and low-involvement grocery items.
An exploratory investigation of the effects of co-production and co-consumption on the characteristics and adoption of service innovations: the customer's perspective.: Customers play an active role throughout the marketing process. This dissertation concerns itself with customer's co-creation of value for self (co-production) and for other customers (co-consumption) during service production and delivery. With the servuction system as its overarching framework, this study explains how changes in the customer's perceived co-production and co-consumption, caused by a service innovation, influence her perceptions of service innovation characteristics and modify her adoption behavior. It draws on a multidisciplinary body of knowledge and develops a conceptual framework and a set of substantive propositions. The empirical research was contextualized in three services: self check-out at grocery stores, Build-A-Bear stores, and meal assembly centers. It focused on members of Generations X and Y who were familiar with these services. The qualitative investigations and pilot study helped adapt the extant scales and construct new scales. In line with prior works, the focal service encounters were simulated through a series of consumption scenarios. The exploratory factor analysis in the pilot study and the confirmatory factor analysis in the main study indicated that the instruments were culturally informed, internally reliable, and construct-wise valid. The results indicate that co-production and co-consumption play important roles in explaining innovation characteristics and adoption decisions. More specifically, the focal customer's co-production of the service for self (CPS), other customers' co-production of the service for the focal customer (OCP), the number and the nature of other customers (crowding and homophily) can help to explain the focal customer's evaluation of service innovation characteristics as well as her adoption decision. The focal customer's disposition to participate (DTP) and its interaction with CPS are also useful explanatory constructs. Focal customer's co-production of the service for other customers (CPO) and its interaction with DTP emerged as non-significant. In comparing the high- and low-DTP groups, it was found that the former was …
An Exploratory Study of the Information Search Stage of the Consumer Decision Process: Based on Elderly Consumers' Selection of a New Housing Bundle: This dissertation deals with the decision-to-move process of elderly persons—from a marketer's perspective. The central problem addressed is the lack of empirical knowledge concerning the factors and influences associated with the information search process of elderly persons in making a residential move decision. The purpose was to investigate and understand the key factors and influences which are viewed as important by elderly individuals in their search for and use of information.
Factors Associated with Salespersons' Use of Influence Tactics and Their Outcomes : An Exploratory Study: The use of influence tactics by sales representatives appears to be related to a number of latent constructs and factors such as, manifest needs, role conflict and role ambiguity, and perception of sales managers' power bases. However, such relationships have not been examined by researchers. These relationships were examined in this study in an effort to improve the current level of understanding of causes and results of the use of influence tactics in a sales environment. The contention of this study was that individuals in work settings engage in a variety of influence tactics, and that the type of influence tactics used are influenced by factors such as personal characteristics of the salespersons, the nature of goals to be achieved, the salespersons' perceptions of their superiors' power bases, and the nature and complexity of the dyadic relationship that exists between supervisor and subordinates.
How componential factors and constraint enhance creativity in the development of new product ideas.: New product ideation is the transformation of a raw idea into a robust concept with consideration of fit and feasibility of technologies, customer benefits, and market opportunity. Although the ideation process often involves ambiguous processes, it is the most critical activity in new product development (NPD). As a creativity task, the ideation process is considered heuristic rather than algorithmic. However, managing the ideation process as either a completely heuristic or an entirely algorithmic procedure leads to just conventional outcomes. Rooted in cognitive psychology, this study proposes that ideation activities in NPD should be pursued as Simonton's "constrained stochastic behavior." An ideation task not only needs good componential factors but also requires constraint to frame the task by precluding unwieldy ideas while promoting high variability of ideas. Focusing on the inputs and attempting to strike a balance between algorithmic and heuristic ideation process may provide the mechanisms to manage the psychological perceptions with an aim to stimulate and orchestrate the ideation staff's cognitive efforts to generate the creative idea. To achieve this goal, new product idea creativity is considered as the ideas that could turn out to be products that are novel to and useful for customers, and appropriate to firms' existing production systems. In addition, the study asserts that componential factors include two factors: specialization representing idea creators' depth of NPD knowledge, experience, and skills in a product domain, and diverse expertise representing the breadth of ideation team's knowledge, experience, and skills concerning the same domain of NPD. These factors are essential and collectively can enhance creativity in the development of new product ideas. Finally, goal constraint is defined, operationalized, and incorporated in the NPD ideation framework. This constraint encapsulates the overall criteria and stylistic principle for a particular product domain and reflects the frame of reference for new product …
The impact of gender effects on consumers' perceptions of brand equity: A cross-cultural investigation.: Despite a long-standing tradition to view gender as a unitary theoretical construct, there is an increasing approbation afforded to gender identity as a multifarious construct. Over and above physiological characteristics, gender identity is a psychological and a social construct. More than simply a biological classification, both gender and gender identity have been explored as portentous moderators of consumers' cognitive and emotive states, brand attributions and shopping behaviors. How might gender differences be manifested in building and sustaining brand relationships? This is the seminal question addressed in the present research. The overarching objective of this research is to address how the broadened conceptualization of gender impacts customer-based brand equity across U.S. and Chinese consumers. The focal populations of interest are related to markedly different levels of brand penetration in each a post-developed and transitional market setting. Furthermore, it provides a platform for investigating how gender identities may differ across two of the largest consumer buying groups in the global marketplace. Toward this goal, this research explores the multidimensionality of gender as a construct, and then empirically investigates how an extended view of gender may or may not impact consumer-based brand equity. Based on an integration of extant theories in gender identity and self-congruity, this study proposes a research framework to investigate the relationship among gender identity, brand connections, and consumer-based brand equity. An online survey was conducted to collect consumer panel data in the U.S. and China respectively. Results from regression analysis and path analysis suggest that physiological gender alone cannot adequately explain consumers' brand perceptions. The empirical analysis offers further support for including three unique gender related constructs (physiological gender, psychological gender traits, and gender role attitudes) to understand gender-related consumer behavior. The results also indicate that brand connections serve as important intermediate steps to understand the relationship between gender …
The Impact of Visceral Influences on Consumers' Evaluation of Weight Loss Advertising: The weight loss industry has come under fire from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in recent years due to consumer claims that many firms, marketing weight loss products, are using advertisements in an attempt to deceive consumers. Illegitimate weight loss claims have created so much concern that a White Paper call-to-action to investigate misleading weight loss advertisements has been filed. Despite recent interest, little attention has been garnered concerning the understanding of why consumers respond to potentially misleading weight loss claims. Intuitively, an understanding of why consumers fall prey to weight loss claims may aid academics, practitioners, and policy makers as they make important decisions relative to the weight loss industry and its practices. This study fills that void by applying a theory of visceral influences (TVI) to the context of weight loss advertising. Loewenstein's TVI was developed to aid in explaining why consumers make decisions contrary to their long-term self-interest. Visceral influences are drive states that have a direct hedonic impact, have an effect on the relative desirability of various goods and activities, and consequently, have a strong influence over the decisions consumers make. Common visceral cues (cues associated with any reward linked to a visceral factor) include proximity of reward, vividness of reward, and visual priming. To adequately test TVI in the context of weight loss advertising, a two step approach was used. First, advertiser intent was assessed through content analysis of weight loss advertisements. Second, composite advertisements were created from the content analysis to assess subject response to visceral cues common in weight loss advertising. MANOVA results show that the presence of visceral cues affected subjects' thoughts, buying impulse, affective reaction, intentions, and product evaluation. This research makes the following contributions. First, it addresses an area of public policy where there is a need for research to …
The Industrial Representative's Perception of the Impact of Managerial Control Systems on Performance: The objective of this study was to examine whether the factors which constitute the manufacturer/industrial-representative relationship, influence performance as predicted by control theory. In addition, the study evaluated the contribution of selected demographic factors such as size of the firm, and the representative's experience, on performance.
Influence Impacting Female Teenagers' Clothing Interest: a Consumer Socialization Perspective: Female teenagers have been found to be the most affluent teens according to the Rand Youth Poll's nationwide survey. The survey finds the average weekly income from female teens age 16 to 19 to be $82, with $50 from earnings and the balance from their allowances. Other findings from the survey indicate that adolescent girls receive more than adolescent males in allowance from parents, as mothers understand the need for the female teen to have the income necessary to purchase clothing and cosmetics. Past research studies have attempted to measure the influence sources on teenagers when purchasing clothing by asking teens to rank different influence sources or by asking the teens who accompany them when shopping. The current research study develops a structural equation model that allows for the comparison of the three predominant influence sources identified in the consumer socialization literature, i.e., parental influence, peer influence, and promotional communications sought out by the teen. To test the model, 206 randomly selected female teenagers completed a mail questionnaire regarding the influences on clothing interest. The female teens were all members of a non-denominational youth group, age 13 to 19, living in the North Texas region. The model derived is only the third model in the marketing literature to examine the consumer socialization process, and the first in fifteen years. Examining the three main influence sources identified from consumer socialization literature, peer, parent, and media sources, the results differ from past models. The female teens perceive parental influence as a negative influence on clothing interest, contrary to past findings. Peers and media are perceived as positive influences on teen clothing interest as in past models. The results signify the need for marketing researchers to continue to investigate the dynamic nature of consumer socialization.
The influence of sales force newcomers' met expectations on selected outcome variables: Development and testing of a model: Sales management researchers and practitioners give considerable attention to early employment expectations, attitudes, and behaviors primarily because of a desire to specify the cognition process leading to performance and retention of salespeople. While a massive body of literature exists concerning turnover of employees and determinants of employee performance, more empirical study specific to the sales force as a research population is needed to assess the nature of turnover and performance. Because the bulk of salesperson turnover occurs in early employment, particular attention needs to be devoted to the cognitive process of newcomers to the sales force. The present work examines expectation-based and perception-oriented models of performance and retention for sales force new hires. Interests of this investigation focus on the initial expectations of newly hired sales representatives and on how the degree of fulfillment of these expectations relates to subsequent performance and retention behavior. Extant research suggests that the degree to which expectations are met positively influences mediating variables such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and indirectly influences outcomes such as job performance and retention of newcomers. Alternatively, some researchers contend that these results are due to improper measurement of met expectations. A longitudinal research design and alternative measurement methods are employed here to better assess the role of met/unmet expectations. The proposed study is based on theoretical research from a variety of academic disciplines, and the results of the study will have multi-disciplinary implications. Contributions include: (a) replication and extension of theoretical research concerning processes leading to performance and retention of sales force newcomers, (b) a thorough examination of met expectations as a precursor to early sales force outcomes, and (c) methodological advances in the measurement of met expectations.
Innovation Teams: an Empirical Examination of the Relationship of Team Climate and Development Strategies in Consumer Packaged Goods Industries: Companies’ new primary source for sustainable revenue growth comes from creating new innovations, rather than from mergers and acquisitions. Companies are finding it difficult to align internal support for the innovative creativity of teams with standard operating procedures. This research aims to discover how innovative teams contribute to forming development strategies that CPG firms use to create new products. Dimensions of the Theory of Team Climate in Innovation (TTCI) offer insight on the dimensions of development strategy. Specifically, by integrating the theories, a proposed model identifies the innovation team’s impact on the firm’s development strategies. Such understanding has the potential to increase firm profits, lower innovation costs, increase innovation speed, and support innovation training. To empirically test this model, employees responsible for product development in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries were surveyed. Structural modeling techniques were used to analyze the data. Findings indicate support for using TTCI to explain the compressed development strategy. Theoretical contributions include: 1) extending TTCI and its associated measures into tangible products industries, 2) refining and adding to TTCI measures, 3) extending the development strategies theory into tangible products industries, and 4) adding to the measures for development strategy. Future research appears fertile for methods and measures used in this study, and managers in CPG will benefit from an enhanced understanding of how to better structure innovation teams in alignment with a firm’s development strategy.
Intellectual Capital (IC) and Customer Value in a Retailing Context: Intellectual Capital (IC) is the intellectual capability of an organization; it drives the usage of other productive resources and adds value to the business structure. Although the expanding literature on IC has enhanced our understanding, the effects of IC with relation to consumers have not been explored in the marketing literature. Thus, this study fills this void by approaching the notion of IC from a customer perspective. Customer value also has attracted extensive attention in recent years. However, the lack of agreement among scholars with respect to the conceptualization of customer value has resulted in inconsistent empirical measures. Furthermore, despite extensive research focus on IC and customer value separately, there is a void in the literature as far as investigating the relationship between the two is concerned. Thus, this study also empirically investigates the predictive relationships among the various dimensions of IC and perceived customer value. This dissertation delineates three dimensions of IC (i.e., Human Capital, Structural Capital, and Relational Capital) available to a retail store in creating value for customers. This study tests the psychometric properties of scale items for measuring these three resources in an apparel retailing context. It also tests the effects of IC on customer value using both a student sample and a consumer sample. This study makes several important contributions to the literature and has the potential to improve marketing practices. First, this study revisits the conceptualization of IC in relation to consumer’s perception and to value creation in an apparel retailing context. Second, this study investigates the multidimensional nature of IC and the relative influence of different dimensions on customer value. Lastly, marketing practitioners and retail managers can learn, based on these results, that the types of resources and their utilization affect the perception by consumers of the value of retail stores.
Internal and External Drivers of Consumers’ Product Return Behaviors: Product return is a necessary part of the exchange process between companies and customers. It accounts for approximately 16% of total sales and a reduction in retailer / manufacturer profits by 3.8% on average. However, industry data also indicates that a significant portion of products are returned for reasons other than product failure – e.g., change of mind, found a lower price elsewhere, or fraudulent and unethical reasons. Consequently, many firms (e.g., REI) have altered their generous return policies to protect their profits. However, it’s been found that the restricted return policy could also reduce customer satisfaction, increase the perceived risk, and thus negatively affect customers’ loyalty towards a particular store or firm. Thus having a restrictive return policy does not help either. Extant literature mainly focuses on return policies. Little attention has been devoted to the product return behavior itself, thus missing the consumer’s perspective. This study, therefore, focuses on understanding consumers’ return behaviors, including different types of return behaviors, and the drivers and consequences of these different return behaviors. Towards this goal, this study first categorizes all possible types of consumers’ return behaviors into two broad categories - legitimate return behaviors and opportunistic return behaviors. Second, both internal (i.e., variety seeking, impulsiveness, perceived uniqueness, materialism, level of morality, and self-monitoring) and external drivers (i.e., product compatibility, returning cost, perceived risk, complexity of procedure, and social group influence) of consumers’ product return behaviors are identified. Third, the relationship between these drivers of return behavior and the type of return behavior are examined. Finally, the influence of these two different types of return behaviors on consumer’s re-patronage intention is examined. This study uses a survey method to collect data in two phases - pilot phase and main study. In the pilot phase, data were collected from students and used to …
An Interpretive and Postulational Model for Perception and Adoption of Innovation: The problem with which this research is dealing is the lack of any explanatory model which explains both the perception and the adoption of new products. One objective of this study is to advance a new conceptual framework concerning both the perception and the adoption of new products. The second objective of this study is to evaluate this new framework theoretically and empirically. Bunge's evaluative criteria are used to evaluate the new model theoretically while Hunter, Schmidt, and Jackson's meta-analysis technique is used to evaluate the model empirically. An extensive review of literature pertaining to the definition of innovation, the adoption process, and innovativeness is included in the second chapter. Chapter three covers research plan and methods. The new model and its assumptions are presented in chapter four. The results of both theoretical and empirical investigations of the new model are reported in chapter five. Finally, chapter six includes a discussion of the main findings and provides some suggestions for future research. An interpretive and postulational model is introduced in this study. The model is built on three main assumptions and contains thirty-one different theoretical constructs. Those constructs are bounded together by forty-six theoretical propositions. Those propositions are the postulates or the axioms which state the nature of the interrelationships among all constructs included in the model.

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