ABSTRACT. A slide deck announcing the winners of Academy Awards for 2021. The slides contain links to videos produced by the winners of the Parasuraman, Distinguished Marketer, and Cutco/Vector Distinguished Marketing Educator Award winners. Other announcements include the Sheth Award for best JAMS paper from the previous year and the Harold and Muriel Berkman Faculty Development and Achievement Award.

ABSTRACT. 2020 AMS Review Awards Announcements

Includes Best Paper, Outstanding Reviewer and Special Recognition Awards.

ABSTRACT. B2B marketing research has made significant inroads into examining emerging market (EM) phenomenon, which as the theoretical and empirical evidence shows, operates differently than developed markets. This is especially true of interfirm relationship dynamics, where social contracts, local culture, unique institutions, and special forms of relationships (e.g., Guanxi in China) that are unique to EMs require distinct relationship management protocols. However, our understanding of how interfirm relationships in EM settings influence one firm’s (i.e., supplier) decision to be innovative and another firm’s (i.e., customer) decision to adopt innovations is lacking. This research fills that void by adopting a social exchange framework to show how supplier innovativeness can build trust and commitment among customers, which in turn leads to positive innovation adoption decisions on the latter’s part. Data collected from a large sample of top-level Chinese B2B executives shows that when interfirm communications are weak, supplier innovativeness can serve as a basis on which customers build trust in a supplier. This is due to the voluntary, innovative investments that a supplier commits that can benefit a customer. This, in turn, forges a reciprocal obligation or commitment on the part of customers which manifests in favorable adoption decisions.

ABSTRACT. This study will examine the relationship between customer engagement, value co-creation and value co-destruction within online brand communities (OBCs). The purpose of this study is twofold: 1. to examine the direct effects of customer engagement within OBCs on value co-creation and co-destruction; 2. to explore the mediating effects of brand resonance and attitudinal brand loyalty and the moderating effect of brand satisfaction on customer engagement within OBCs. An online survey will be used to collect data. PLS-SEM will be applied to examine the utility of the proposed model. Expected results are that there will be a positive relationship between customer engagement within OBCs and brand resonance, attitudinal brand loyalty and value co-creation, while a negative relationship between value co-destruction and customer engagement within OBCs is expected. Brand resonance and attitudinal brand loyalty are expected to have a positive relationship with value co-creation and a negative relationship with value co-destruction, respectively. Both brand resonance and attitudinal brand loyalty are expected to mediating roles, with brand satisfaction performing a moderating role. This study is expected to add to the existing literature on customer engagement in OBCs, and drive marketers to attach more importance on the value co-creation and co-destruction within OBCs.

ABSTRACT. Customer service representatives (CSRs) as organizational boundary spanners inevitably experience role stress due to conflicts demands or ambiguous job expectations. Prior studies reveal inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between role stress and CSRs’ job performance. To address this issue, we differentiate role conflicts into supervisor-related and customer-related and investigate their respective effects on job performance, through adaptive service behaviors (ASB). Moreover, we postulate that role ambiguity congruent with the source of role conflict could mitigate the negative effect of role conflict on job behavior. This study tests with 229 CSRs working in a call center. The results show that supervisor-related and customer-related role conflict both negatively relate to CSRs’ ASB which positively relates with job performance. The findings also indicate that the negative effects of supervisor-related role conflict on ASB is weakened when CSRs perceive high role ambiguity regarding supervisor’s expectation, whereas the negative relationship between customer-related role conflicts with ASB decreases when employees experience ambiguous requirements on operation. This study suggests that stressor, i.e., role conflicts might increase the degree of CSRs’ ASB, depending on degree of constraints on their role expectation that is related to the source of conflicts, which has significant implications for managing frontline service employees.

ABSTRACT. The development of the global tourism industry necessitates the need to understand the effect of international tourists’ cross-cultural adaptability on their post-travel evaluations and behavioural intentions. The two major research gaps are: firstly, the lack of research introducing cultural intelligence into tourism research; secondly, the lack of research investigating post-travel evaluations and behavioural intentions of international tourists from a cultural adaptation perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to understand how tourists’ cultural intelligence might influence their ways of thinking and behaving. To achieve this research objective, this study employs a quantitative method (i.e., online survey) to collect data from 614 adult Chinese outbound tourists. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) techniques are used to analyze multivariate variables. The findings confirm the significant impact of tourist cultural intelligence on tourist satisfaction, revisit intention and electronic word-of-mouth communication. This study complements existing literature on cultural intelligence and contributes to the knowledge and usefulness of cultural intelligence. The findings of this study also suggest that all parties involved in international tourism need to take into consideration tourist cultural intelligence as it influences visitors’ post-travel evaluations and behaviours, which are essential for the growth even the survival of a tourism destination.

ABSTRACT. One of the defining characteristics of higher education is creating relationships with the stakeholders who define the ecosystem. The associations have become increasingly important for higher education marketing and developing strategies of co-creation. Being a highly knowledge-intensive industry driven by human capital, higher education universities need to improve their relationship with the stakeholders including the learners, faculty, administrators and industry professionals. Though different dimensions of relationship quality have received great academic attention across disciplines, there is still a need to explore the role of various intrinsic and extrinsic cues influencing relationship quality from the lens of value co-creation in higher education marketing. Accordingly, this study focuses on discussing the antecedents (intrinsic and outside) of relationship quality between the universities and the stakeholders in the digital era. It proposes an integrated higher education marketing framework using the Cue-Utilization approach with perceived situational appropriateness as the frame of reference. A multi-stakeholder perspective is explored using semi-structured in-depth interviews with participants from India, UK, Nigeria, and Dubai. The study's findings suggest that the discussed intrinsic and extrinsic cues are the surrogate indicators of high relationship quality with the stakeholders. A high level of relationship quality enhances stakeholder engagement in higher education marketing and leads to value co-creation with the universities. Also, digital interactions can influence the quality of the relationship between the universities and the stakeholders. This adds yet another layer of complexity in redesigning the startegies for higher education. Therefore, nurturing the relationships and increasing digital scalability can constitute to be the most relevant factors for the growth of higher education marketing. The implications of the findings are discussed to understand the scope for an inclusive framework and policies needed for higher education marketing both in the context of the ongoing pandemic and the post-pandemic era.

ABSTRACT. Firms increasingly use cause-related marketing (CRM) strategies to try to increase sales. This study examines a CRM strategy where the sale of a product is bundled with a donation to charity. We conduct a field experiment augmented with a laboratory study, to determine the impact of the amount the retailer donates in CRM transactions on consumers’ motivations and willingness to pay (WTP). Results of a controlled field experiments, involving auctions, indicate that low donation levels (1% of the selling price) have a significant impact on WTP; while higher donations also do, but at a diminishing rate. Additionally, results of a laboratory study show that both warm glow and persuasion positively influence the relationship between donation promise and WTP, where warm glow mediates this relationship. At small donation promises, we find support for warm glow motives over efficacy effects or the legitimizing of paltry donations, whereas for larger donation promises we find that consumers trade off between warm glow and the sacrifice from giving. Overall results have important implications for the appeal of CRM offerings in fixed-price retail settings and suggest that charity auctions can be a cost-effective part of a retailer’s corporate social responsibility strategy.

ABSTRACT. An important challenge for charity organizations lies in incentivizing volunteer workers. Volunteer workers are not driven purely by monetary incentives, and may respond negatively to monetary incentives if these incentives crowd out intrinsic motives. The practical implication of this, as established in the extant literature, is that to increase workers’ effort, firms need to pay sufficiently high monetary compensation to overcome this crowing out. In this work, we argue that while higher pay may increase current effort, it will crowd out future voluntary effort once withdrawn. This research investigates this in the context of volunteer fundraising efforts. We report findings from a study involving incentivized slogan creators, as well as a study involving volunteer fundraisers over a two-month period. We find that whereas high monetary incentives result in the greatest immediate increase in effort, they crowd out future intentions to volunteer. We map the mediation of incentives—through effort —to the final outcome of total funds raised.

ABSTRACT. The present research examines individuals’ responses toward a misbehavior committed by their compatriot tourists in the international travel context. Specifically, it tests the impact of group identification, the mediating role of emotions and moderating effect of misbehavior severity on individuals’ evaluations of the misbehaving tourist as well as the tourist destination involved. The present research employs the social identity theory as the overarching theoretical framework to understand the dynamics among tourists and between tourists and destination residents. The hypotheses were tested in a one-factor (misbehavior severity: low vs. high) between-subjects experiment with a control group, with identification with the ingroup (i.e., USA) measured as an independent variable and emotions measured as mediators. 448 American adults with international travel experience were recruited as participants via MTurk. The data were analyzed using PROCESS Models. Findings revealed a positive effect of ingroup identification on attitudes toward the ingroup perpetrators and a negative effect on intention to punish, providing evidence of ingroup bias. Guilt and shame have been found as two key emotions mediating the relationship between ingroup identification and individuals’ responses toward the ingroup perpetrators and the destination involved. Interestingly, the impact of ingroup identification on attitude toward the ingroup perpetrators became negative when shame was activated, suggesting the black sheep effect. Findings also showed a positive effect of ingroup identification both directly and indirectly through guilt. The direct effect was found only when misbehavior severity was low. The present research contributes to the knowledge of ingroup deviance in the tourism context. It expands the tourism impact literature by examining the psychological mechanism underlying individuals’ responses to a misbehavior committed by compatriot tourists, and identifying boundary conditions for their reactions. Practically, this research highlights that the occurrence of tourist misbehavior can be a good opportunity to facilitate desirable tourist behaviors. It informs policy development and destination marketing strategies on mitigating the negative impact of tourist misbehavior, and helps tourist-originating countries educate outbound tourists.

ABSTRACT. With continuous changes in tourists’ needs, destination marketers keep attempting to facilitate creative and satisfactory strategies in destinations which support their goals (e.g., create long-term successful pop-culture tourism). This suggests that a better understanding of the holistic perspective and the factors relevant for determining the complex relationship with regard to pop-culture tourism is needed. However, studies on the effects on psychological concepts from fans’ perspective in pop culture phenomena are limited (Lee et al., 2008). Their importance has not been comprehensively investigated in the context of travel and tourism. In this study, the authors further extend self-expansion theory in the pop-culture tourism setting.

The self-expansion model mainly introduced a concept in which human motive for the desire to expand the self through the acquisition of resources, perspectives, and identities that help one’s ability to achieve goals in conscious and unconscious processes (Aron & Aron, 1986). The self-expansion model has two key dimensions: (1) self-expansion motivation, and (2) inclusion of close others in the self (Aron, Fisher, Mashek, Strong, & Brown, 2005). Along with a concept, it is suggested that the self-expansion theory be applied into broader areas in which there are significant person-object relationships, such as environmental psychology, political psychology, and social psychology (Reimann & Aron, 2009). By adopting self-expansion theory, this study argues that fans who are attached to the pop-star and involved in his and her activities are not just recipients of the pop-star’s creative resources (e.g., music, films, and TV); they also actively invest their own resources in the pop-star so as to maintain their close relationship with the pop-star. As for pop-culture tourism, tourists driven by pop-culture mostly consist of zealous fans who seek some sort of experience associated with a particular pop-culture or media themes. Particularly, pop-star fans are a unique group of individuals as many are highly involved with and have an emotional attachment to their pop-star (Fiske, 1992)

Accordingly, the authors in this study successfully applied self-expansion theory as a theoretical foundation to bridge the relationship between fans and destinations - pop-stars’ homelands. Thus, findings of this study provide a more in-depth understanding of international fans and tourists’ emotional and behavioral responses.

ABSTRACT. A number of service sector organisations with credence attributes (i.e. law firms, financial institutions etc.) are increasingly integrating food and beverage add-ons to their main service offerings to enhance customer experiences. Despite this widespread integration of food and beverages in many businesses, there is lack of empirical understanding as to the benefits and impacts of taste on customers within these service settings. This explanatory research seeks to explore whether food and beverage integrations play a role within environments that are high in credence attributes. Using hypothetical scenario testing we evaluate the impacts of taste perceptions on customer behaviours and emotions in credence service settings. Findings from this research address a literature gap in store atmospherics and provide strategic implications for services management on the importance of environmental cues influencing customers’ emotions and behaviours. This research is timely and relevant as the role of personalising attributes and service experiences is a current research priority in cultivating the customer asset and characterising the customer journey.

ABSTRACT. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory of environmentalism are the most commonly used environmental psychology theories with good prediction power. However, both theoretical models have their own drawbacks. This study combines the VBN model and the TPB model to make up the drawbacks of each model to examine the validity of this combined model applied to consumption intention of local organic foods by structural equation modeling analysis. Self-reported questionnaires were collected in Taiwan to examine the environmental psychology theories. The results revealed that the combined model can explain about 47% of the variation in people’s consumption intention of local organic foods. In addition, the results indicated that people’s attitude and perceived behavioral control determine the consumption intention of local organic foods. This result can be further explained through a causal chain: from an individual’s stable value orientations and environment general beliefs to the beliefs that their actions may affect the environment and beliefs that the individual has responsibility to reduce this threat. People’s biospheric value and altruism value are also important.

ABSTRACT. The changing economic and social environment in India has greatly altered food consumption. Despite a promising market for processed and packaged foods, consumer research for acceptance of innovative ready-to-eat (RTE) and ready-to-cook (RTC) food product varieties is limited. The study is a novel attempt at adopting a Practice theory lens to empirically explore changes in routine food consumption patterns in a select group of Indian middle class households. Findings show that 'meanings' adopted for the performance of specified food provisioning practices are aligned with the provisioner's acceptance of RTE/RTC food products. The study also enables an explanation of how food provisioning as a dispositional practice governs the acceptance or not of packaged food products. Exploring food consumption through such a practice-centric focus has allowed an understanding of how food markets in different geographies may be shaped in response to how food consumption is socially performed and practised.

ABSTRACT. In the high tech field, we are witnessing the proliferation of variable-geometry innovations with shape-shifting structures and architectures, combining different categories of products into a single one called New Hybrid Products (NHP). Our article poses some fundamental questions to designers about the place of affordance in the design of communicating new hybrid products and how to anticipate this affordance precisely in the case of variable-geometry innovations design (e.g. monolithic (made of a single block), protean (able to change shape) or modular (formed of various removable parts) designs). A qualitative study, which involved Hi-Tech design experts, explores the importance of variable-geometry innovations affordance and its implications on their willingness to conceive them. Our findings confirm the divergence in the literature on communicating new hybrid products affordance. Depending on whether the communicating new hybrid product has a monolithic or polymorphic form, it may or may not be perceived as affordant. In addition to this multitude of issues raised, our study reveals designers reluctance to design these variable-geometry hybrid products. The theoretical and managerial implications of the study are finally addressed.

ABSTRACT. Brands in consumer goods sector are increasingly using consumer empowerment strategies. As a matter of fact, enabling customers to influence marketing decisions is now a widespread strategy enabled by digital technology developments. While substantial knowledge was gained from literature shedding light on several positive outcomes of empowerment efforts for companies, benefits withdrawned by consumers from participation have been neglected by literature. Our understanding of perceptual changes of the brands relying on these strategies for the “mass” of consumers that don’t participate need to be enriched. Relying on a qualitative study, we show that participating consumers retrieve hedonic, social, cognitive and personal benefits. Then, we demonstrate that preference between empowerment strategies depends on consumers perceived expertise and projected experience linked to each setting. Finally, we show contrasted perception towards brands launching empowerment to create vs. to select strategy.

ABSTRACT. Although social media is of growing significance within the marketing discipline, research is fragmented and requires further investigation. In particular, it is noted that organizations face various barriers when implementing social media within their overall marketing strategy, but little research has addressed the implementation process. This research develops original, rigorous, and practically relevant research on the capabilities required in organizations to use social media within the business-to-business domain. By applying a qualitative, in-depth, case study research methodology, this paper identifies a four-phase process of strategy development that twelve firms went through in the development of their social media strategy. We identify how organizations put dynamic and adaptive capabilities into practice in harnessing resources to build the capacity for sensing, shaping and seizing the opportunities available through social media. The resulting model identifies both the journey organizations go through when implementing social media, and the capabilities they must develop to progress through each phase.

ABSTRACT. Submitting structured abstract

ABSTRACT. With the growth of contract and temporary work in the contemporary labor market, it is becoming increasingly important for independent professionals (IPros) to understand how to differentiate themselves from competitors and manage relationships with clients. There is a clear gap in the literature that neglects how ‘business of one’ creates its brand. This study uses corporate brand literature to explore the phenomenon of IPro brands. Empirical data is collected through unobtrusive observations and semi-structured interviews from seven cases of Ipros. It finds that the IPro brand is a combination of seven brand identity elements. These include aspects of the IPro as an individual that exist regardless of which client they are working with. These elements are curated to adapt to the client and expressed through impression management, communication and the IPro’s work profile to create the IPro brand. In addition, the findings also reveal that the professional narrative of IPros is primarily driven by the identity of the IPro rather than by outside influences and that elements can remain hidden even though they continuously exist as part of the IPro.

ABSTRACT. We study how foreign brands’ cultural accommodation delivered through multisensory website design influences local consumers’ perceptions and purchase decisions. We place particular emphasis on the Chinese fashion industry, where many non-Chinese brands suffer. Drawing upon theories of cultural accommodation and homophily bias, our experimental results indicate that foreign brands’ use of cultural accommodating multisensory cues (both visual and auditory) positively influence consumers’ purchase intention, while the congruence of culturally accommodating multisensory cues also enhances of consumers’ purchase intention. We also demonstrate the psychological mechanism in transmitting multisensory cues of cultural accommodation into purchase intention and identify the mediating roles of consumer-brand identification and brand image in this mechanism. Our study takes a novel perspective to contribute to the emerging research stream of online multisensory marketing by employing it to facilitate international online retailing and cross-cultural communication. We also highlight the significance of developing shared identity between local consumers and foreign brands (i.e. consumer-brand identification) in order to benefit from the multisensory cues of cultural accommodation. From a managerial perspective, we shed new light on foreign brands’ cultural accommodation strategies in local markets and suggest multisensory website design as a cost-effective avenue for delivering the brands’ cultural accommodation effort.

ABSTRACT. For most nonprofit organizations (NPOs) the procurement of donations is the core function of nonprofit marketing efforts (Bennet 2019). As NPOs are facing increasing competition (McKeever 2018; Bennet and Sargeant 2005) and a decline in number of donors in several OECD countries (Giving USA 2019; Jarvis 2019; GfK 2018; QUT 2016), NPOs have begun to engage in online fundraising to approach especially younger donors (Aldridge and Fowles 2013). Research has already shown that social information about others’ donation behavior can positively affect donation rates in public solicitation settings. To date, similar experiments in online environments are lacking but are particularly worth studying as theories suggest a malfunction of descriptive normative information in anonymous donation calls (Van Teunenbroek et al. 2019). Based on the assumptions that (1) anonymity weakens social pressure and that (2) anonymity gives relatively more explanatory power to altruistic considerations, it can be hypothesized that the positive effect of descriptive normative information should be at least weakened. This hypothesis was tested in an online experiment (n=392). Results indicate not only a weakened but even reversed effect of descriptive normative information on the overall decision to donate on both group level (donation rate) and individual level (donation likelihood).

ABSTRACT. Customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions can be pivotal to business performance because they can influence customer satisfaction and other outcomes. While previous studies have largely studied non-group contexts in which C2C interactions are incidental to the service experience, this study examines a group context in which face-to-face and online C2C interactions are deliberate and core to the service being provided: graduate business education. This study compares C2C interactions between face-to-face and online graduate business education where students (whether enrolled in a face-to-face or online program) are expected to interact, engage in discussion, debate, and work with other students within the student cohort. Using semi-structured interviews and the critical incident technique, we seek new insights on how C2C interactions may affect customers’ perceptions of a group service, and how differences in their experiences of C2C interactions may make them attribute service success or failure to different parties involved in this group service (e.g. the school, the program, students in the same cohort, or themselves). Further, we compare whether and how students attribute credit or blame differently for face-to-face versus online C2C interaction. The findings may be of interest to other group services that involve heavy C2C interactions.

ABSTRACT. Social media influencer (SMI) marketing represents a strategy that uses the influence of SMIs as opinion leaders to drive consumers’ brand awareness, brand image and brand-related behavior. In addition to SMI selection criteria such as the number of followers, costs per post, engagement rate or audience characteristics, practitioners are also confronted with the decision problem of choosing the type of SMI based on their origin of fame. While non-original SMIs became famous outside of social media (e.g., by being singers, actors or athletes), original SMIs became famous in social media (e.g., by presenting their lifestyle). Drawing on the concepts of similarity and wishful identification, this study investigates if social media users’ self-esteem moderates the effect of SMIs’ origin of fame on social media users’ purchase behavior. It thus aims to examine the effectiveness of the type of SMI based on social media users’ self-esteem. The results of an online experiment with 129 social media users in Russia reveal that non-original SMIs affect social media users’ purchase intentions stronger than original SMIs if social media users have low self-esteem. In contrast, original SMIs affect social media users’ purchase intentions stronger than non-original SMIs if social media users have high self-esteem.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to test how the relationship between consumers’ privacy calculus and consumers’ willingness to share personal information is systematically moderated by cultural dif-ferences across countries. We develop a conceptual framework that proposes main and moderating effects of cultural differences on consumers’ willingness to share personal information. We test our hypotheses using multilevel modeling on data collected from 15,068 consumers from 24 coun-tries. We show that consumers’ privacy calculus and consumers’ willingness to share personal information are affected by cultural differences. Those cultural differences can help explain why consumers from different countries react differently when requested to share personal information.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of cultural dimensions, perceived risk, familiarity with private labels and perceived quality differences between private labels and national brands on the propensity of supermarket shoppers to purchase Private Labels (PL). The paper is informed by a survey of shoppers in Tesco, the world’s third largest grocery retailer, carried out in China and the UK. Perceived functional and financial risk are useful constructs in predicting propensity to purchase private labels in the UK. In contrast, only social risk predicts this propensity in China. In the mature UK grocery market high levels of consumer familiarity with PL may increase the perceived quality differences between PL and national brands. As the effect in China is in complete contrast, retail managers and international marketers may aim to stimulate awareness of and familiarity with PL in an effort to improve quality perceptions vis-à-vis branded competitors. Retailers in China should develop their brand image rather than focusing on a low-price strategy. The results of the study are confined to one geographic region in each observed nation.

ABSTRACT. Amidst increasing awareness of, and concern for, environmental sustainability, one of the great challenges of our time is to change our consumption habits in order to operate within planetary boundaries and to optimise human health (IPCC, 2018). Our food practices have been identified as one of the cornerstones of the urgently required transition to more sustainable food consumption (Springman et al., 2016; Tilman & Clark, 2014). This qualitative study explores the interconnected household food practices of a sustainability dedicated cohort focusing in particular on the influence of Food Provisioning Systems (FPS) on such practices. The knowledge gained from this study aims to contribute to existing bodies of research centred on food practices and sustainable consumption.

ABSTRACT. Nutrition labels on products are displayed on an individual product-by-product basis. While standard, the effectiveness of this practice has been increasingly criticised due to consumer information processing biases. Digital technologies that present information in simpler, more accessible ways at the point of purchase are increasingly used and demanded by consumers yet we know little about how they impact decision making. One way to assist consumer processing of the available nutritional information is to present it in a more aggregated format (e.g., for the basket) to overcome numeracy biases. This study investigates how a calorie counter aids consumers in making food choices. An experiment was designed which presented consumers with aggregated calorie information and compared the choices made to those with individual product nutritional information. The results show the calorie counter leads to a reduction in the amount of calories chosen by about 9% - that is, higher than estimates of the effectiveness of the UK’s 20% sugar tax (5%). Results were moderated by other factors such as shopping duration, time pressure and consumer type. Though such technologies offer much promise and can assist users by providing more customised and relevant information further research is needed to develop this stream.

ABSTRACT. Despite having been deemed to be obsolete nearly 30 years ago, vinyl records are enjoying since 2011 a major revival and seem to change the way we listen to music again. This paper uses an ethnographic approach to explore the nature and extent of the growing popularity and deep resonance with today’s consumers. As nearly 48% of vinyl consumers these days are under the age of 35, attention is also paid to examining whether the resurgence of vinyl’s popularity is a sign for another dramatic evolution in the music marketplace. We found that young consumers experience the material ritual of handling and playing vinyl records as “new” and exciting, which are also seen as technologically superior. We also found that many consumers have felt exploited, oppressed and betrayed by the digital music providers and, hence, turned to vinyl as a music format that is seen to be dependable, trustworthy and personal.

ABSTRACT. Time scarcity is a widespread phenomenon with multi-dimensional consequences which has implications for marketing and consumer behavior (Godinho et al., 2016; Nilsson et al., 2017). Consumers’ choices are influenced by available resources, and time is increasingly seen as a valuable resource. Despite several studies looking at the impact of time related variables in consumer behaviour (eg. Lloyd et al., 2014; Godinho et al., 2016; Mitomi, 2018), there is a dearth of research focusing on how time dimensions impact on the desire to stay in shopping venues. Hence, we look at the impact of time pressure in the utilitarian (Lloyd et al., 2014) versus the hedonic shopping motivations to understand how consumers’ feelings of time scarcity affect time spent in stores. We propose a conceptual framework of how time pressure affects shopping motivations and how these impact the desire to stay. In addition, we test whether time management moderates these relationships. Results of a survey show support for the impact of time pressure in hedonic shopping motivations but not in utilitarian motivations. Hedonic motivations impact significantly on desire to stay. Finally, time pressure has a negative significant impact in the desire to stay. It is interesting to see that time pressure also has a positive impact on hedonic motivations suggesting that, shopping for novelty and experience related reasons (hedonic shopping motivations) has a positive influence in the desire to stay. On the other had, time pressure does not affect utilitarian shopping motivations, nor do these affect the desire to stay in one’s usual shopping destination. Finally, the moderating effect of time management in the proposed relationships was not supported. From a managerial point of view, the results of this paper encourage shopping venues management to increase the recreational component of their tenant mix. This may lead shoppers to stay for a longer time regardless of the time pressure. Desire to stay at the shopping is expected to lead to other outcomes like patronage intentions (Martin and Turley, 2004).

ABSTRACT. Research has limited knowledge about whether and how firms disclose information about their market-based assets such as brands although brands provide firms with many benefits. This study aims to fill this research gap by investigating firms’ brand-related information (BRI) disclosure in 10-K reports and addresses three research questions. First, we intend to conceptualize a BRI framework and a BRI coding dictionary for automated text analysis. Second, we are going to use a phrase-level automated text analysis technique to construct a BRI disclosure index that captures the quality and quantity of BRI in firms’ 10-K reports. Third, this study aims to explore key factors driving the BRI disclosure as well as the financial market consequences of the disclosing practice. Our findings will provide managers and financial market participants who need to communicate and evaluate the performance implications of branding strategies and related activities with enlightenment on the value relevance of BRI disclosures.

ABSTRACT. Digitalisation has significantly changed consumer behaviour. Tech-savvy, connected consumers value convenience, speed and accessibility where they can communicate with an organisation through several clicks. Hence, growth of digital technology has boosted the need for online customer service which allows organisations to provide flexible and efficient services. As digital technology continues to evolve, key assumption for adopting these technologies is to reduce costs by transforming firm’s service landscapes through delivery of more efficient interactions. On the other hand, instant availability of goods and services makes it harder for firms to sustain relationships with customers, forcing organisations to focus on delivery of high-quality customer support. To stay competitive, firms have realised the importance of delivering not only efficient, but also valuable and memorable interactions to consumers. Therefore, the question arise how to distribute and manage digital and human capital within customer service journeys. Hence, this study aims to understand how human and digital interactions online can enhance customer-organisation relationships through driving a change in customers’ cognitive and affective evaluations and behaviours.

ABSTRACT. A large body of research has explored how individuals respond to political marketing efforts. However, little is known about how the content of a politician’s posts on social media can influence the voter’s decision. Using Persuasion Knowledge Model as the basis of conceptualization, the proposed study aims to compare social media posts by politicians wherein they boast about their own efforts with social media posts where they attack their opponents. The boasting posts are proposed to be more persuasive than the attacking posts and the proposed results have theoretical as well as practical implications.

ABSTRACT. Blockchain is one of the key technologies that is reshaping retailers’ relationships with consumers (Mende and Noble, 2019). Introduced by Nakamoto (2008), it can be defined as a large distributed ledger that stores a continuously growing set of transaction bundles called blocks that are linked and secured cryptographically in a peer-to-peer network (Boukis, 2019). Blockchain’s uniqueness is its ability to ensure transparency, security, traceability, and accuracy of each transaction. Although the most common use of blockchain technology is in financial applications (Bumblauskas et al., 2020), its distinctive transaction mechanism is increasingly drawing the attention of other industries’ scholars and practitioners (e.g., McGhin et al., 2019). Particularly, one of the most engaging use cases for blockchain technology is in the area of food supply chain management. Indeed, due to globalization, supply chains are becoming more complex than ever (Abeyratne and Monfared, 2016), impeding both suppliers and consumers from having full access to chains’ transaction information. Additionally, following several public food scandals, the interest in transparency and traceability has become especially critical in this industry. Consumers want to know the product’s origin, where it has been processed, or who distributed it (Boukis, 2019). Having realized the value of blockchain technology, several food retailers around the world have made available blockchain-based apps through which consumers can follow food products across their entire lifecycle, from raw materials to retail centers. However, despite the widespread opinion that blockchain technology will radically significantly affect the retailing landscape (Mende and Noble, 2019), to the best of our knowledge, there is still scarce empirical evidence that shows whether and how this technology is changing the relationships between retailers andwill affect consumersconsumer’ perceptions and behaviors. Specifically, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical study has focused on the effects of blockchain technology on value perceptions and consumers’ patronage intentions. To fill this gap, we rely on Construal-Level Theory (CLT; Trope and Liberman, 2010), mental imagery (MacInnis and Price, 1987), and Signaling Theory (Spence, 1973), to answer address the following research questions: (RQ1) How does blockchain technology affect the unfolding of retail consumers’ perceptions? (RQ2) Does blockchain technology influence more consumers’ intentions to patronize than conventional certification labels?

ABSTRACT. The global health emergency situation in 2020 has accelerated the process of companies’ digital transformation. Through this process firms discovered the relevance of the new digital channel in order to manage the relationship with their customers and stakeholders. In this context, the paper wants to analyze and discuss the impact of digital channel in SMEs’ strategies. In particular, the research is conducted on Italian mid-sized companies, also known as “micro-multinational” or “pocket-multinational”, considering the key industries of Made in Italy.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates how consumers associate colors to the concept of sustainability. By adopting a broader definition of sustainability that includes all its three dimensions (i.e., environmental, social and economic), it explores how colors may enhance sustainability consumers’ perceptions in the marketplace. Sustainability has been an increasingly critical issue and clear communication using color could help direct attention to a focused message that could transform behaviors within industry and for consumers. It is, thus, very important to understand which colors may strengthen consumers’ sustainability perceptions. However, inquiry into the subject of color and sustainability communication in the marketing literature is still at early stages. While previous works have shown that sustainability concept might be associated with a particular color hue (e.g., green), very few attempts investigate this relationship looking at all the colors dimensions (i.e., hue, saturation and value). Additionally, as sustainability concept comprises three spheres, very little is known about which colors can specifically match with each of them. This research aims at filling this gap by exploring the relationship between colors dimensions and sustainability spheres. In doing so, a multi-method approach is adopted. Study 1, based on a qualitative methodology, explores the colors that are more easily associated to the different spheres of sustainability, by looking at the different color dimensions. Subsequent studies, based on an experimental design, empirically test the matching effect between color dimensions and sustainable claims’ frame and cues on consumers’ intentions and actual purchase behaviors. Theoretically, this research enriches the previous scant literature on the relationship between colors and sustainability. From a managerial standpoint, the research clearly shows how to best match colors choices and sustainable claims to boost purchasing behavior.

ABSTRACT. Marketing researchers have investigated the impact of human density (i.e., the number of people in a certain place in a certain time) on a variety of consumer reactions, but have produced contrasting results. This research analyzes how a specific social factor, that is, similarity with other customers in the crowd, moderates the relationship between human density and repurchase intention. Social factors may indeed play relevant roles in shaping the effects of human density on consumer reactions, but their effects remain largely under-researched. Based on similarity-attraction and self-categorization theories, we predict that human density has a positive effect on repurchase intention when the crowd is composed of similar customers. Differently, the same effect is negative in presence of dissimilar customers. Also, we hypothesize that such effects are mediated by perceived control, since the presence of similar people leads individuals to perceive the behavior of other customer as more predictable. We tested our hypotheses by means of an experimental study in which we manipulated human density and similarity with the other customers and measured repurchase intentions and perceived control. Results of a moderated mediation model provide support to our predictions. Our research contributes to the literature on crowding by investigating the relationships among human density, social factors, perceived control, and repurchase intention and offers a series of managerial insights for the post pandemic era.

ABSTRACT. Social media have seen the proliferation of misinformation seriously impacting brands and public policies (Di Domenico & Visentin, 2020; Visentin et al., 2019; Marwick, 2018). Combating of fake news and misinformation is a hot theme that will meaningfully shape the future of social media and marketing research, especially in balancing the risks of limited freedom of expression versus the harm of spreading misinformation (Appel et al., 2020). Social media users are unwilling to fact-check information and tend to avoid information that does not fit their intuition, but scientific literature still lacks in providing convincing explanations of the determinants of sharing misinformation on social media. Against this background, we take the perspective that sharing problematic content is related to the double effort of users to reinforce their identity within their like-minded others and to reinforce their pre-existing beliefs. Based on the contagion approach (Hedström, 1994), we propose that social media users are likely to share previously posted misinformation based on three proximities (symbolic, given by common semantic domains represented common words or expressions; cultural, given by a common set of sources of information; and thematic, given by a common set of hashtags used to disseminate contents). Our study will contribute to the nascent literature on spreading misinformation on social media and could be of value for companies allowing them to concentrate their marketing efforts on those community that feed problematic contents to stop the proliferation of their brand’s related problematic contents outside the community where it originated.

ABSTRACT. We live in an era of global mobility and social acceleration, unfolding against a backdrop of economic precarity, and political and environmental instability. This dissertation explores how this dynamic context influences consumers’ desires and behaviors as they draw on the marketplace to pursue their life projects and identity goals. It does so by focusing on the global phenomenon of digital nomadism––a growing form of contemporary living arising in response to a societal milieu where traditional notions such as homeownership, material accumulation and 9-5 work life are both increasingly challenged, as well as harder to attain. Comprised of three research papers––two empirical and one conceptual–– this dissertation argues that some consumers’ imaginaries are framed by a new form of market-mediated utopian thinking which privileges private and individualized pursuits of short-lived betterment, as opposed to long-term planning or collective improvement, and promotes immediacy and instant gratification through liquid consumption, as opposed to accumulation and ownership. In doing so, this work revisits three established marketing constructs and re- conceptualizes them with an expanded analytical focus: materialism in the context of dematerialization and digitalization, consumer desire in the context of fluidity and uncertainty, and marketplace utopias in the context of increased individualization.

ABSTRACT. Manufacturer-retailer relationships are often cited as an important determinant in product distribution. By coordinating the channel and aligning incentives, relationships can significantly affect both manufacturers' and retailers' profits and contribute to market concentration. However, empirical evidence is scarce because relationships are usually trade secrets. I study how beer manufacturers leverage their relationships with retailers to promote new products in the U.S. hard cider market. I present novel empirical evidence of mutual preferential treatments between manufacturers and retailers in assortment choices and wholesale pricing. I interpret the finding as pair-specific relationships sustained through repeated interactions, and use industry regulations on trade and wholesale pricing to address alternative mechanisms, including non-linear contracts. I estimate a structural model of consumer demand, retail and wholesale pricing, and assortment that incorporates the relationships. The results show that the relationships increase Anheuser-Busch InBev's and MillerCoors' new cider availability by 17.7% and 7.2%, respectively, and present a double win to both the manufacturers and retailers. 

ABSTRACT. AMS Mary Kay Dissertation Proposal Award

ABSTRACT. How do consumers experience their existence as cyborgs? In pursuing an answer to this question, I relied on an existential-phenomenological framework and a three-year qualitative study of near-field communication (NFC) microchip consumers that resulted in a new conceptualization: The Interactive Self. Differently from the extended self that is composed of everything humans can call theirs, the interactive self is nurtured by cyborgs’ experiential and embodied sense of ownership and a sense of agency for their actions. The concept has three conceptual dimensions: Firstly, the Identity-Enabler Object is an object (e.g., an NFC microchip) that has the power to change the human ontological status to that of fledgling cyborgs. Secondly, the iMine Boundarylessness comprises the physical, symbolic, and digital boundaries that are crossed or blurred, allowing for the simultaneous process of extension & incorporation into the self. Finally, the third conceptual dimension is the Data Meshwork, which is a bundle of data that flows through the cyborgs’ internal (e.g., an NFC microchip) and external digital organs (e.g., a smartphone). This study enriches the understanding of work on identity projects in the future transhumanist era and challenges prior consumer theory and research in which technology is framed in largely instrumental terms.

ABSTRACT. Process analysis with mediation and moderation is indispensable for contemporary marketing research. This dissertation presents three essays that apply, compare and extend process analysis methods to obtain theoretically and managerially relevant process insights. Essay 1 applies mediation in an investigation of the referral reinforcement effect: referred customers are more inclined to make referrals than non-referred customers are. Four studies provide evidence for the referral reinforcement effect, which is good news for managers who aim to grow their customer base. Essay 2 compares six existing moderation methods in the face of measurement error. A quantitative literature review, a comparison of assumptions and Monte Carlo simulations conclude that the accessible factor scores method performs equally good or better than the dominant means method and other more sophisticated methods. Essay 3 focuses on discriminant validity as a precondition for meaningful process analysis. It extends bivariate discriminant validity criteria by taking a multivariate perspective. Case studies and an online application demonstrate the proposed methods in multiple mediation and multidimensional measurement settings, important multivariate theory-testing domains. In sum, we hope that this dissertation demonstrates the strengths of process analysis methodologies, fosters their use and inspires future research.

ABSTRACT. Firms often adapt their sales structure to accommodate changing selling environments. To stay competitive in an evolving marketplace while minimizing costs, firms increasingly use technology to serve their customers. Utilizing technology to serve customers has become essential in 2020 as salespeople are not able to face-to-face meet with customers due to safety reasons as COVID-19 surges. This dissertation investigates sales force effectiveness in two new sales environments that use technology to serve customers—the inside sales channel and digital channel. First, business-to-business (B2B) companies increasingly disintermediate their sales process by transitioning customers from the traditional outside sales force channel to the digital channel. Second, companies often shift from the traditional outside sales force channel to an inside sales force channel, leading inside sales forces to become an increasingly dominant channel to connect with customers. This dissertation provides a roadmap to managers by showing how to manage sales force effectiveness in changing business conditions under respective contexts.

ABSTRACT. The general objective of the study is to propose consumer perceived brand literacy as a construct, and develop a measurement scale, its validity, and reliability. The proposed scale will help to understand the consumer perceived brand literacy through the measurement and validation of the five proposed dimensions. The study aims at describing the consumer perceived brand literacy through five dimensions such as perceived brand image literacy, perceived brand attributes literacy, perceived brand quality literacy, perceived brand personality literacy, and perceived brand leadership literacy. The data is collected from consumers within the age group of 25-45 years, distributed homogeneously. The scale development process has been carried out in two stages in reference to two different consumer brands. Scale refinement has been done based on the analysis of reliability and validity tests at both stages.

ABSTRACT. We often hear news about a brand dropping a celebrity endorser after the endorser has negative publicity. However, celebrity endorsers are not the only ones that can generate negative publicity; many brands are also guilty of this same conduct. The growing frequency of brand crises and the demonstrated relationship between brand- and endorser-reputation begs the question: What impact might a celebrity endorser experience if a brand that they endorse experiences a severe brand crisis? In Study 1, we find that negative brand publicity impacts the moral reputation of the brand only if internal locus attributions are made. In turn, the moral reputation of the brand positively impacts attitude towards the brand, attitude towards the endorser, and attitude towards other endorsed brands. In Study 2, we find that celebrity endorsers may experience more positive authenticity perceptions, moral reputations, and in turn, attitudes, if they ‘drop’ the offending brand.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this research is to examine how consumers react toward the culture-laden design of mobile applications focusing on the role of application atmospherics in the context of location-based advertising (LBA) and ridesharing apps. Drawing from previous research on culture-laden website design, our experimental study with consumers from Canada confirms that LBA displayed on locally (vs. internationally) designed ridesharing apps elicits less perceived ad intrusiveness and higher intention to purchase. Regarding mobile app atmospherics, we find that consumers perceive a local (vs. international) app design as more informative, more entertaining, and more effective. Furthermore, higher levels of app atmospherics lead consumers to perceive LBA as less intrusive as well as enhance consumers’ purchase intentions, thereby emphasizing the important role of app atmospherics to predict and mobile consumer behavior. Our empirical results confirm that two atmospherics (entertainment and effectiveness, but not informativeness) mediate the effects of culture-laden app design on consumer reactions. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings as well as managerial implications for mobile application design and LBA effectiveness.

ABSTRACT. Emphasizing product attributes signaling quality through commonly accepted standards have been at the core of marketing messages in a variety of different industries such as hospitality, automotive, ecommerce and wine marketing. Establishing quality signals for an offering previously considered illicit has become the challenge for marketers upon the legalization of adult cannabis consumption in a growing number of US states, and several countries such as Canada and Mexico. The existence of a cannabis consumption culture during its prohibition provides the opportunity for marketers to use available customer input, while establishing quality signals anew. As this co-creation process unfolds, we aim to understand how quality signals can be (and are being) established in the cannabis market, by exploring consumer-generated content on a web platform. Simply, we propose a typology of quality signals, adopting Orth and Krška’s (2002) conceptualization of product attributes. We test the proposed types by conducting text analysis first. Next, we try to answer, if these quality signals are co-created by comparing company- vs. customer-created content and the interchange in the discourse. Once completed, we foresee contributions to the literature on customer co-creation of quality signals, and inform the practitioners of cannabis marketing in their messaging and positioning strategies.

ABSTRACT. Superior Product Quality is generally considered a competitive advantage. Yet literature on quality improvement and new product development have recognized the existence of impediments in the successful practice and implementation of Quality Improvement. In an uncertain and highly competitive business environment, it is not uncommon for organizations to pass on Quality Improvement tasks to supply chain partners. This is often the case in the manufacturing supply chain with powerful OEMs. We seek to determine whether such “Quality Improvement Pressure” is conducive to good Supplier- OEM Relationships and how this compares with price pressure exerted similarly by OEMs. Overall supplier-OEM relationship is specified as the final dependent variable. In addition to a set of intermediate relationship variables, the specified model has two exogenous variables - one representing price pressure and the other representing pressure to innovate. After following a multi-stage scale development procedure, data were collected from suppliers in the automotive light vehicles industry and the electronics industry. Analysis shows differences in the impacts of the two initial variables on the outcome variable. Quality Improvement pressure has substantially more positive links with the intermediate relational variables as well as the dependent variable than has price pressure.

ABSTRACT. This paper reviews the legal, jurisdictional, public policy and the marketing issues implicated in food tampering cases in the United States. It offers some insights to inform marketing strategy development. Furthermore, because food tampering endangers the health of the nation as a whole, the paper argues that the government must play a major role in designing anti-tampering devices instead of leaving such developments to the private sector.

ABSTRACT. Fact or fiction: The controversy behind the importance of data quality and external validity of research findings in academic marketing journals is justifiable.

In recent years, there has been a growing concern regarding the roles that data quality and external validity of research findings play in the publishing process of academic based marketing journals. This special session uses a broader research/publication integrity framework in an effort to address the concerns with data quality and external validity issues. A panel of expert researchers breaks down research/publication integrity into different categorical types (or sources) of integrity among the player groups (researcher, respondent/ subjects, authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers) involved in researching and publishing academic marketing journal articles. The session uses a novel approach of discussing whether specific player groups’ activities can be interpreted as being “fact” or “fiction” with the audience. The ensuing discussions should provide clearer insight and understanding of the impact that maintaining integrity throughout the researching and publishing processes has on enhancing data quality and external validity of reported results, findings, implications, and added value to body of marketing knowledge.

ABSTRACT. The business-to-government (B2G) market has received increasing scholarly attention in marketing. While serving government customers, many firms engaged in revolving door appointments—a firm’s hiring of former public employees from government agencies as corporate executives and directors, to attain political connections and enhance the relationship with the government. Revolving door appointments reflect the firm’s strategic efforts in managing the relational dynamism in the customer-supplier relationships. Thus, this paper investigates the effects of revolving door appointments on customer relationship performance. Analyzing multisource secondary panel data of 102 publicly-traded U.S. firms in the B2G market over 14 years (2004-2017), the authors find that revolving door appointments enhance the firm’s performance of acquiring new customer relationships and cross-selling more items to customers. Besides, the benefits of revolving door appointments are contingent on the firm’s market knowledge and product scope. Specifically, revolving door appointments are more effective when firms have abundant market knowledge but are less effective when firms have narrow product scope. These results also provide unique contributions to marketing theories and implications for policymakers.

ABSTRACT. Firms take various approaches to mitigate the negative impacts from the misdeeds and repair the damages of the consequences. The current study examines the moderation role of two types of misdeed, business ethics or product performance related, in the relationship between three major crisis remedy strategies and the purchase intentions for both current and potential consumers. The results from 440 participants suggest that a promptness apology is important for current consumers but not for potential consumers. More importantly, the response plan has less impact on the current consumers when a misdeed is business ethics related than product performance related while the correction plan is more important when a misdeed is product performance related compared with business ethics related misdeeds; for the potential consumer, on the contrary, the response plan has less impact when a misdeed is product performance related than business ethics related.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores how the application of standard marketing processes and tools could create clearer strategic direction as to how to manage stakeholders than has so far been identified within stakeholder theory. While this approach has been encouraged by many since Kotler and Levy first proposed “broadening marketing” in 1969, it has never been fully explored systematically how to do it. The paper begins with a critical review of the stakeholder theory and stakeholder marketing literature regarding key activities in the direction-setting phase of strategic planning:  stakeholder identification, values analysis, and saliency determination.  It then describes how standard customer-oriented marketing planning steps directly and indirectly impact decisions regarding all stakeholders during the direction-setting phase.  It concludes by making the argument that the processes, tools, and concepts commonly used to develop customer-focused marketing strategies provide some crucial missing solutions for stakeholder theory and stakeholder marketing.

ABSTRACT. This study will examine the effect of irresponsible firm behavior that is damaging to the environment and infringes upon sustainability development goals. We will measure consumer reactions to information regarding six examples of varying severity and distance of effect, conducting scenario-based experiments across three nations (i.e. the US, Mexico, and Thailand). The purpose of this study is to examine consumer responses in order to understand which kinds of scenarios can raise greater emotional and behavioral response. The results of this study will contribute to the literature of consumer motivation. The study seeks to explain the various circumstances that may damage the consumer-supplier relationship and the factors that mediate this relationship such as physical proximity to the consumer and the severity of the violation. We will measure emotional reactions and their level of activism ranging from expressing anger to becoming active in demanding sustainable practices.

ABSTRACT. Obesity and chronic diseases are the leading causes of mortality in Mexico. The recent pandemic has exacerbated the public health problem. Considered by many as having weak regulations in place, the government implemented a series of strategies and regulations in order to promote a healthier lifestyle. To date, no studies have been conducted to analyze public attitudes towards the regulations, legislation or any other recent effort. In order to fill this gap, the purpose of the study is to provide a research agenda of the Mexican society’s attitudes towards recent government efforts to reduce obesity rates and promotion of healthier lifestyles, such as the new imposed tax and labeling system. The drivers or antecedents of obesity can be classified as economic, political, social, education, cultural, infrastructural and legal drivers. A model is proposed considering these drivers and their effect on demand and supply of junk food. Understanding the complex interactions between the drivers with supply and demand requires sound research that relies on an understanding of (i) Mexican idiosyncracy, (ii) the role of supply and demand, as well as the exploration of the interactions from (iii) varied perspectives applying multiple consumer research approaches. Accordingly, a research agenda is presented.

ABSTRACT. Corporations, being inconsistent between their moral responsibility assertions and actions, create perceptions of corporate hypocrisy (PCH) amongst stakeholders. Accordingly, PCH undermines their attitudes and beliefs, and in turn threatens corporations’ reputation, social standing, economic performance, and stakeholder relationships. Given the importance and critical consequences of PCH, this research, through an empirical experiment, analyzes how PCH might be variably evoked in different types of stakeholders, i.e., corporations’ consumers, and employees, based on their shared moral values. The results indicate that retail employees (more than consumers) perceive higher shared value with the corporation’s moral responsibility pledges. However, when corporations fail to follow up to their pledges, these retail employees are more negatively influenced than consumers, leading to higher PCH. The study findings make theoretical contributions to expand PCH literature and draw the industry’s attention to the importance of internal marketing initiatives to communicate with moral responsibility initiatives employees and meet their needs to reduce PCH. With the growing trend of value-based consumers and employees seeking employers with high moral values, the findings not only establish the need for value-based marketing but also indicate the negative implications of a lack thereof.

ABSTRACT. Marketplace competition is typically associated with businesses with corporate ownership and governance structures, such as investor-owned businesses (Borgström 2013). However, in the face of economic uncertainty, democratized governance and ownership structures, such as member-owned businesses, leads to longer-term approach to sustainability, which increases the economic stability of cooperatives (Birchall 2013). Despite ownership structure and governance typically being a management-side issue, the way it informs marketing strategy has implications in the way consumers approach doing business in/with cooperatives. As such, the author questions how member-owned businesses can focus on developing entitativity in ways that mimic investor-owned businesses in their ability to broaden the customer base. The author proposes a study with data currently under analysis that will be fully completed with findings to present at the conference. Using both the observations and interviews, the author highlight how marketing strategy can ensure the internal ownership and governance model of co-member-owned businesses can continue to be democratic, while presenting as externally similar to investor-owned competitors.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of the present research is to explore the multifaceted role that power plays in the context of sustainable consumption behavior. Additionally, this study aims to examine the role of moral identity; a critical construct known to interact with power in shaping self-serving vs. pro-social behavior. In this paper, a model is created in which sustainable consumption intention is predicted to be a function of consumers’ power, moral identity and attitude toward social responsibility. The authors hypothesize that power and moral identity will have a direct effect on sustainable consumption intentions. The authors also hypothesize a three way interaction between power, moral identity and attitude toward social responsibility on consumers' intentions toward consuming sustainably. Results provide support and/or partial support for the hypothesized effects.

ABSTRACT. While the nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) authenticity is socially constructed and can be perceived in various ways cross-culturally, no previous research has examined how consumer evaluations of CSR authenticity differ across cultures. The current research uses focus groups and semi-structured interviews with Korean (n = 16) and United States (n = 23) consumers to show how CSR authenticity is perceived and influences consumers’ CSR evaluations differently between cultures. The key differences identified relate to: congruence, transparency, and personal connection. While congruence and transparency positively influenced Korean consumers’ CSR authenticity evaluations, these attributes had a negative impact on those of US consumers. The findings reveal that personal connection to a social cause had a positive impact on US consumers’ CSR evaluations, however results were contrary among Korean consumers. The current research proposes CSR authenticity as a powerful theoretical construct capable of understanding different consumers’ CSR evaluations across cultures.

ABSTRACT. Food and beverage companies are known to communicate certain product-related information prominently. In this regard, can nutrition information presented on the front-of-the-package (FOP) prominently influence choice? Preliminary results from a study show that when participants chose food products with nutrient information communicated in the FOP, they misjudge a healthy product to be of low quality. This finding has implications for consumers, particularly those who are health conscious.

ABSTRACT. The medical tourism industry has been increasing in popularity and profitability over recent years. As a relatively newer field of study in marketing, little research has been conducted on how patients evaluate the healthcare service within the context of medical tourism. Healthcare marketing research needs to take into consideration the dynamic, topical, and specific concerns faced by patients to be applicable and fruitful. This research seeks to make theoretical contributions about the nature and determinants of customer expectations of service in the healthcare context via Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman’s (1993) conceptual framework. We employed a mixed methods design collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, which seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of patient evaluation and expectations of service in the medical tourism industry.

ABSTRACT. Using ‘economic pressure’, the first of Garret’s (1987) three benchmarks for measuring the success of a boycott, this study uses the event study technique to analyze the financial effect of ethical boycotts, a form of anti-consumption behavior that has gained popularity during the past two decades. The results show that, on average, these boycotts have not been able to inflict a statistically significant financial damage on their targets. The average cumulative abnormal returns were -0.90% with a z-value of -1.071 which is not statistically significant. Specifically, only four out of the twenty targets experienced negative financial effect, and three of the four returns were only marginally significant. However, it possible that these boycotts may have succeeded it portraying the targeted organizations in a negative light, something the current study did not examine.

ABSTRACT. This research shows that when firms signal sincere CSR motivations through low expected benefits and then later engage in fraud or wrongdoing, that consumers will more harshly judge a firm than if they had signaled profit-driven expectations from CSR activities and also later engaged in fraud or wrongdoing. Thus, we show how firms may inadvertently demonstrate corporate hypocrisy through their signaled intents. This research not only adds to what is already known about CSR motivations and corporate hypocrisy, but also provides evidence of how financially signaled motivations are a type of CSR statement and can give consumers indicators about CSR motivations. When signaled intent is later met with inconsistent behavior, consumers infer corporate hypocrisy and worse judgements on a firm than if the firm had just signaled from the beginning that they were engaging in a CSR activity with the hopes of obtaining high expected financial benefits.

ABSTRACT. The sub-discipline of Digital Marketing Education requires that marketing educators utilize digital marketing tools in-class projects to better prepare students for entry into the workforce. Using website builders, lectures, assignments, and class activities, we prose a method for teaching the website development process. Using this process, students will move through the various stages of learning based on a revised taxonomy of Bloom's that incorporates Knowledge and Cognition Process Dimensions proposed by Krathwohl (2002).

ABSTRACT. In 2020, online purchases have increasingly become a coping mechanism for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores the antecedents of impulsive behavior and investigates the kind of products that are bought in response to the pandemic. First, the study aims at understanding the role of retail websites, as online marketing stimuli, play on impulsive buying. Likewise, the relationships that product involvement, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and hedonic values have on consumers’ impulsive behavior are investigated. Finally, the types of product bought are identified. An online survey was conducted using a convenience sample of college students. Overall, the study presents a nested model identifying the direct effect of hedonic values on the urge to purchase a product. Participants indicated personal care, followed by sports equipment, were significantly more likely to be purchased because of the pandemic than any category. Yet, those who believe they engaged in the online purchase because of the pandemic cues were more likely to purchase all kinds of product categories, including products for group and products for individual consumption.

ABSTRACT. Marketing student preference to six different instructional methods was determined using a choice-based conjoint analysis. Each instructional method was a significant determinant of students’ choice of a given class, but the six methods varied significantly in terms of their importance weights. Results of conjoint analysis indicate that the three most preferred drivers of student choice for a marketing class are; 1) it employs a flipped classroom, 2) its class sessions are interactive and hands-on, rather than lecture-based and 3) it has a moderate, rather than a heavy workload.

ABSTRACT. To bridge the gap between sustainable fashion and customer purchase intentions, the purpose of this study is carried out to analyze the current trends and offer techniques to increase sustainable fashion awareness among gen z and millennial consumers. Online surveys were conducted with a sample size of 29 questions targeting participants between the ages of 18-25 from a large Midwestern University. Additionally, three focus groups of approximately 23 students was also conducted. Questions pertaining to sustainable traits of apparel that include product quality, environmental effects, product pricing, purchase intentions and green awareness of apparel were of focus. Uniqueness of product was of utmost importance as well as being able to shop second. Moving from wearing items once this generation is trying to find creative ways to wear clothes as much as possible and consider quality and uniqueness when shopping for apparel over price. Recycling and upcycling are also areas of interest that not just industry marketers and retailers need to consider but also educators in how they approach a new era of design and merchandising to these new consumers.

ABSTRACT. As more women make up the professional management workforce in marketing and engineering, they are becoming a larger percentage of many new product development teams. With the generally acknowledged inequality in compensation between males and females, a question then arises as to the best way to reward teams for their efforts. This study surveyed 150 marketing and new product managers to examine the effect of various rewards on team creativity (originality and usefulness), number of ideas, and new product performance with different levels of female participation. Results of the SEM analysis suggest that greater female participation increases the number of ideas, which increases originality, usefulness, and new product performance. Teams with greater female participation perform better with greater focus on financial rewards.

ABSTRACT. Using a mixed method design, this research seeks to understand how food insecure consumers manage their hunger and nutritional food choices. There is evidence that food insecurity leads to less nutritional food choices despite healthy food availability at food banks as well as the availability of supplemental food benefits. This study seeks to understand this issue and offers theoretical contributions to life course and goal theories as well as nudge theory in the experimental design. This study also aims to offer practical implications for future research and public policy makers.