ABSTRACT. Many consumers turn to commercial weight-loss programs (CWLP) in an effort to lose weight but little is known about the range of expectations consumers have regarding these programs. Expectancy-value theory indicates that expectations, and the value individuals place on them, are key motivators of human behaviour. Expectancy models are often limited outcomes, but may also include self-efficacy, product performance and emotional expectations. The aim of this study was to explore participants’ positive and negative expectations in relation to CWLP across all four types of expectation. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify and describe major themes and sub-themes arising from 14 semi-structured interviews with past users of CWLP. In total, 25 major themes were identified, of which 15 related to positive and 10 to negative expectations. This study contributes to expectancy-value theory in marketing by highlighting the importance of considering consumers’ positive and negative outcome, self-efficacy, product performance and emotional expectations when seeking to understand motivations for consumer behaviour. It further contributes by hypothesising a temporal manifestation of initially positive and latterly negative expectations over the course of the consumption journey from purchase through to disengagement. It concludes that a marketing approach which encourages consumers to have realistic expectations, and development of programs which align with consumers’ positive expectations and provide strategies to avoid or minimise negative expectations, could improve customer satisfaction and retention whilst also enhancing consumer well-being.

ABSTRACT. tbc

ABSTRACT. One consumer trend growing recently is food consumption, especially in sustainable food consumption. Food consumption is intertwined with the environment, society, and culture. Sustainable food consumption is defined as economic development through food choices beneficial to individuals, society, and the environment, and that can enhance the quality of life for consumers. Research on sustainable food consumption in low-income consumer brackets is lacking. To analyze this problem, we compare the consumption of people receiving food assistance to those who do not receive food assistance. We also analyze the factors of mental health related to the quality of life of the consumer, which is emphasized in sustainable food consumption. Our exploratory study uses data from the 2010 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). It was collected from a national representative 6,937 people born between 1980 and 1984. The NLSY97 includes information on US young consumers’ food consumption patterns, demographic variables, attitudinal characteristics, and various socio-economic conditions, health conditions, and psychological variables. Overall, the results of our study confirm our three hypotheses, that consumers on governmental food assistance programs are more likely to suffer from emotional health issues, are more likely to consume fewer fruits and vegetables, and are more likely not to limit their caloric food intake, compared to consumers who do not get assistance from governmental programs. Our findings illustrate that, unfortunately, sustainable food consumption is harder for consumers with lower incomes.

ABSTRACT. Digitalization is an ongoing trend in every area of life. Based on a typology of individual behavior, the study analyzes the perception of digitalization across seven consumer types. A total sample of 20,847 consumers is surveyed in face-to-face interviews following quota sampling based on age and sex. By means of naive Bayes classification, the respondents are categorized into seven behavioral types. Analysis of variance identifies differences across the seven behavioral types according to digital anxiety, digital competence, and digital composure. The study also adjusts for age, sex, and education. Female and male consumers perceive digitalization differently in few cases. For almost all consumer types, age has an intuitive tendency: Younger consumers consider their digital competence higher and feel less anxious than older consumers. In contrast, the effect of education differs regarding digitalization. Even though differences exist across consumer types, all seven types feel some digital discomposure. Conformists feel considerable anxious and perceive their competence comparatively low. The difference is less pronounced for pursuers of harmony, appreciative, and self-determined consumers. Gourmets and deniers of responsibility perceive similar levels of digital anxiety and competence. In contrast, hedonists are the only group who judge their digital competence higher than their digital anxiety.

ABSTRACT. The knowledge revolution and the digital age has empowered consumers, across all age categories, to be more informed decision-makers thus placing greater expectations on firms to deliver value for the individual consumer. Concurrently, consumers have enormous power as co-creators in the marketplace with the ability to transmit information to a broad audience and influence the decision-making process of other consumers in the marketplace. This manuscript is explores the role of extrinsic motivation in the user-generated content context by disentangling extrinsic motivations associated with participation on a user-generated content site while simultaneously incorporating the elements into a parsimonious model to explain participation on a user-generated content site.

ABSTRACT. The banking industry is undergoing a paradigm change in the form of financial innovation and enabling technology. The advent of Financial Technology, or FinTech, in banking has changed the landscape of firm-customer interactions and delivery of unique customer experiences. Revolutionary FinTech firms are using technology to design and offer novel services that proactively meet consumer needs of financial services in direct and valuable ways (Gomber et al. 2018). The disruptive innovation triggered by technology has pitted incumbent banks against the agile new entrants, such as challenger or digital-only banks and FinTech firms. Crucially, customer experience has emerged as the new competitive front for financial services. Banks can no longer compete on product, price or the number of physical branches they have. What wins customer over is innovative products, proactive approach, and convenience in interacting via wide variety of channels (EY Banking Survey 2016). Despite widespread media and industry interest in FinTechs’ increasing ability to provide superior customer experience, academic research on this issue is still in an embryonic stage. Our research seeks to understand how FinTech is enabling banks to develop greater customer orientation by delivering superior customer experiences. Does FinTech-driven experience promote greater consumer trust and satisfaction, and does it have a positive impact on word-of-mouth? Our research aims to inform the industry and marketing professionals in understanding how the acceptance of technology by customers is influencing their customer experience. Our findings will provide insights into how banks can formulate successful strategies to address emerging competitive threats.

ABSTRACT. Emotions, particularly strong ones play an important role in consumer-brand relationships, shaping majority of consumers’ choices and preferences. Yet, previous studies mostly concentrated on strong and positive ones and left the negatives aside. Brand hate is referred as one of the strongest negative emotions, consumers experience with brands and from both theoretical and practical reasons, brand hate needs further investigation. The current study building on the tenets of interpersonal relationships, focuses on the transformation of passion to hate in case of a brand failure and the consequences of active and passive hate. Consequently, the study aims to contribute to scarce negative consumer-brand relationship literature in two ways. First, the findings suggest that in any case of brand misconduct (experiential/symbolic/moral), consumers’ perceived betrayal is an important factor turning passionate relationships to active and passive hate. Hence, results add to existing studies by showing that perceived betrayal can terminate positive feelings and turn them into negative. Second, active and passive hate have different consequences with active hate being more detrimental. The issues were tested over an experiment followed by a structural equation model.

ABSTRACT. The paper aims to examine the possible relationships between brand hate, offline negative word-of-mouth (NWOM), online complaining and non-repurchase intention, by analyzing the brand hate concept from the perspective of actual consumers and by testing the mediating effects of offline NWOM and online complaining on the relation between brand hate and non-repurchase intention. To reach these objectives a structural equation modelling has been employed on a sample of 408 Italian actual consumers. Findings reveal that brand hate positively influences offline NWOM, online complaining and non-repurchase intentions. Furthermore, offline NWOM has a strong positive effect on non-repurchase intentions. The results also show that offline NWOM mediates the effect between brand hate and non-repurchase intention. The work provides theoretical implications, by extending the brand hate analysis in a cross-channel setting (online/offline environment) and by replicating and extending the taxonomy of brand hate outcomes identified by the previous literature, thus including the offline NWOM, online complaining and non-repurchase intention in the framework addressed to the negative consumer-brand relationships. In addition, the relations between non-repurchase intention and both offline NWOM and online complaining have been explored, by identifying a significant relation only with offline NWOM. Furthermore, the study investigates the brand hate topic under a quantitative perspective - while many of the existing contributions are conceptual and qualitative in nature – through the analysis of a specific target (actual customers). Managerially, the work identifies possible strategies for firms in order to monitor consumers’ brand hate both in the online and offline context.

ABSTRACT. There has been much discussion within the marketing literature about marketing’s influence both within the firm and within the family of academic business disciplines (e.g. Clark Key, Hodis, and Rajaratnam, 2014; Eisend, 2016; Homburg et al. 2015). This begs the question of whether or not marketing provides the relevant answers and knowledge base needed in areas of theoretical and conceptual innovations that reflects the changing social, technological, and global-growth oriented realities of the 21st century (Webster and Lusch, 2013; Ferrell and Ferrell, 2016). These issues signal significant change to business models, growth strategies, marketing channels, customer relationship management, as well as the domain of mainstream marketing research, its methodology and relevance. Inquiries into the adequacies of marketing’s extant knowledge base for continued development may uncover intellectual, methodological, and conceptual ruts that further distance marketing scholarship from its proper place in knowledge creation at every level of the firm and academic scholarship. The purpose of this Special Session is to stimulate critical, forward-looking conversation on the nature of marketing insight, its place in the firm, and in the family of business disciplines. Questions of marketing’s ability to create relevant understanding within various contexts: in the marketplace; in the lives of consumers, in society, will be taken up, with a view to addressing marketing’s ability to answer “how does marketing fit in today’s world?”

ABSTRACT. Online daily coupons (ODCs) (e.g. Groupon) differ from traditional coupons in that they require consumers to make a prepayment for a given product or service to receive a substantive discount. This paper investigates the impacts of the saliency and the magnitude of the acquisition cost on how much consumers will spend at redemption of ODCs. Results from three studies reveal that when the acquisition cost of the ODC is salient at redemption, consumers will spend more at the redemption when the magnitude of the acquisition cost relative to the redemption value is high (versus low). However, when the acquisition cost is not salient at the time of redeeming the coupon, consumers will spend a similar amount at redemption regardless of the magnitude of the acquisition cost. Pain of payment serves as the underlying process of these effects.

ABSTRACT. Generation Z is expected to be a dominant demographic and economic group. Cyber-waviness, constant reliance on smart devices that allows them to be always connected are among some of their intrinsic characteristics. The combination of this reality with the ever-changing technological environment is compelling retailers to reshape their business strate-gies, to meet this group desires and expectations and to foster their engagement. Augmented reality (AR) is emerging as a technological solution that pleases both consumers and retailers. This paper aims to answer two main questions: (1) How generation Z evaluate an AR experi-ence? Which attributes/benefits they value or not during an AR experience? Drawing on a qualitative methodology – content analysis of 34 interviewees – we discuss six main dimen-sions the potential customer value of the relationship between them and AR experiences under retailer context.

ABSTRACT. With the development and the competition between airports, they share more and more similarities with malls with the presence of international brands, large commercial spaces, many bars and restaurants, but also many services intended to complete or improve passengers’ experience. In a typical mall, consumers engage in many activities above and beyond shopping (they can socialize, pass time and so on). But research about passengers in airport generally focuses only on shopping and excludes the other activities. The aim of this research is to investigate the similarities and differences between airports and malls, in terms of activities’ patterns as well as passengers’ profiles. Our data is derived from a survey administrated in an international mid-size airport during summer 2017. First, using principal component analysis, we identified few differences, but many common points between airports and malls. Secondly, based on passengers’ activities and a hierarchical clustering method, we identified 4 clusters of passengers. Our results can have direct implications for airport management, to refine segmenting and targeting, and also to improve passengers’ overall airport experience.

ABSTRACT. Over the last decades, emerging markets (EMs) continued to undergo large-scale political, economic, social and cultural transition affecting their citizens. Emotional stress stemming from this transition creates a psychological disequilibrium and affects consumer subjective well-being. In turn, the internal reassessment manifests itself externally via significant shifts in consumption patterns The present study contributes to the body of research on consumer behavior in EMs by offering an explanation of antecedents and consequences of consumption choice in social environments affected by the cultural transformation. First, we analyze the effect of emotional stress induced by the social transition on consumer value orientation. Second, we review the process of social migration in EMs and the dynamics of intrapersonal psychology in the light of the prevailing cultural norms in desired social groups. Third, we examine cultural transformation in EMs at the societal and group level as a factor motivating hedonic consumption. Fourth, we suggest the probabilistic model explaining the phenomenon of burgeoning luxury consumption in EMs resulting from the consumer volitional and compulsory choices. Finally, we formulate research propositions and discuss the directions of the future research.

ABSTRACT. Research suggests that an individual’s brand consumption behavior is driven by either aspect of self as each self can be activated separately and become salient in different consumption contexts or social situations (Aaker and Schmitt, 2001). In a cross-cultural context, very little research has focused on the impact of self-construal patterns on individuals’ green behaviors specifically the differences between Western and Eastern consumers. Drawing on the perspective of the two selves, this study develops a model to show how differences in self-construal patterns could affect the impact of attitude, social influence, green brand equity and public self-consciousness (self-expressive value) on consumers’ green consumption behaviors. Specifically, to demonstrate which of these factors are more relevant and salient in influencing intention to purchase green products in a cross-cultural context.

ABSTRACT. Nowadays, global brands often use Chinese elements in their products to attract consumers and increase market share. However, research on this topic is still in its infancy. This article aims to investigate the relationship between three independent variables (cultural pride, cultural compatibility, and Chinese elements authenticity) and a dependent variable (purchase intention) toward the global brands using Chinese elements in their products in the Chinese and North American markets. Another aim is to understand how acculturation moderates the relationship between cultural pride and purchase intentions, and the relationship between cultural elements authenticity and purchase intentions. The findings show that cultural pride, cultural compatibility, and Chinese elements authenticity are positively related to purchase intentions of global brands with Chinese elements for both the Chinese consumers and the Chinese immigrants in North America. There is a partial moderation effect of acculturation on the relationship between cultural pride and purchase intentions; however, there is no moderation effect on the relationship between cultural elements authenticity and purchase intentions.

ABSTRACT. Business-to-business customers are increasingly demanding total solutions in response to suppliers who are increasingly seeking to grow their revenues by focusing on providing customers with end-to-end solutions. Given that the solution sales process in business markets is inherently complex and significantly different from the traditional sales process, there is evidence that many salespeople are unable or unwilling to meet the requirements of solution selling. Although researchers have begun focusing on business-to-business customer solutions, the very nature of business-to-business solutions suggests that there are problems to be solved, and research exploring business-to-business solution provision at the intersection of problem solving and sales is extremely limited. In this research, we focus on the customers’ perspective of salesperson’s problem solving approaches. Specifically, we provide a brief overview of problem solving literature in the context of personal selling and sales management. Second, from the perspective of B2B customers, we develop a model with the consequences of the creative and deliberate problem solving routines of business-to-business salespeople and their direct and curvilinear effects on customer outcomes. Third, we discuss the method and analyses corresponding to the testing of our framework. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of our research’s implications for research and practice. Indeed, the results of the curvinear effects found in this research provide significant implications for firms in managing the role of salespeople in solution provision.

ABSTRACT. Across existing sales studies role ambiguity is a stable antecedent of sales performance and exhibits significant negative effects. While existing sales research focuses on the consequences of ambiguity-based role stress, it is neglected to identify psychological resources that enable salespeople to deal effectively with role ambiguity. Complementing existing research, we consider a seller’s psychological state of resilience that may buffer the negative consequences of role ambiguity on sales performance. For a deeper insight into this effect of resilience, we refer to the mechanisms of the role ambiguity-sales performance relationship and, therefore, propose that the negative effect of role ambiguity on sales performance is mediated by a seller’s personal accomplishment and work engagement. In addition, we incorporate a seller’s proactivity as a condition of resilience and investigate its impact on resilience. Results from two online surveys (142 and 175 personal sellers) confirm the beneficial effect of resilience for sales performance in the presence of role ambiguity. At this, resilience buffers the negative indirect effect of role ambiguity through personal accomplishment and, in parts, work engagement. However, there is some evidence that a seller’s proactivity might be a boundary condition of this compensatory effect of resilience.

ABSTRACT. Prior research has demonstrated that occupying certain social network positions provides social capital, which, like financial capital, can be converted into benefits such as access to novel information, information control, influence, and social status. However, little is known about how these beneficial positions are acquired, and there is no generally accepted framework for classifying potential antecedents.

ABSTRACT. It is estimated that 80% of companies data is unstructured. Unstructured data, or data that is not predefined by numerical values, continues to grow at a rapid pace. Images, text, videos and voice are all examples of unstructured data. Companies can use this type of data to leverage novel insights unavailable through more easily manageable, structured data. Unstructured data, however, creates a challenge since it often requires substantial coding prior to performing an analysis. The purpose of this study is to describe the steps and introduce computational methods that can be adopted to further explore unstructured, online reviews. The unstructured nature of online reviews requires extensive text analytics processing. This study introduces methods for text analytics including tokenization at the sentence level, lemmatization or stemming to reduce inflectional forms of the words appearing in the text, and ‘bag of n-grams’ approach. We will also introduce lexicon-based feature engineering and methods to develop new lexicons for capturing theoretically established constructs and relationships that are specific to the domain of study. The numeric features generated in the analysis will then be analyzed using machine learning algorithms.

ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION
Self-congruence theory is one of the most widely cited theories explaining consumer behavior (Sirgy, 1982; Johar and Sirgy, 1991; Kressmann et al., 2006; Aguirre-Rodriguez et al., 2012). The importance of congruence between a self-image and the brand user image stems from the meaningfulness of self-concept to well-being and an individual’s functioning (James, 1890; Higgins, 1997; Carver and Scheier, 1998) as well as the large potential of brand image for constructing the user self-concept (Wicklund and Gollwitzer, 1982; Belk, 1988; Sprott et al., 2009). Despite the unquestionable significance of self-congruity for consumers’ decision-making process, the conceptualization and operationalization of this construct are far from perfect. Researchers note that the validity of self-image congruence studies is threatened by (a) the lack of universal instruments measuring self-image congruence (Avis, 2012; Avis et al., 2014), (b) the domain adjustment problem caused by using brand personality scales in self-congruence research (Avis, 2012), (c) the unidimensionality of measurement (Eisend and Stokburger-Sauer, 2013), and (d) underestimating the salience of undesired typical brand-user images (or images of a typical user of non-preferred brands) and self-protection motives (Bosnjak and Brand, 2008). The purpose of this presentation is to propose a solution to the current problems by providing a new conceptualization of self-image congruence founded on three principal self-evaluation motives: self-enhancement, self-protection, and self-verification (Swann et al., Guinn, 2002; Sedikides and Gregg, 2008) and on their operationalization according to a methodological framework of psycholexical studies applied in personality psychology (Peabody, 1987; De Raad, 1998; Saucier and Srivastava, 2015).

BACKGROUND
The aim of the presentation is to indicate key issues and formulate requirements for a new conceptualisation and operationalisation of self-image congruity and its role in explaining consumer behaviour. A special emphasis is put on the need to select a proper theoretical domain, advantages of applying typical brand user image as a point of reference in social comparisons and relevance of the undesirable image as a potential source of avoidance behaviour. The analysis of self-congruity methodology points to a need to identify relevant dimensions in self-image congruity, provide a broader generalisation of results and development of research procedures.

METHOD

Polish participants were selected for the qualitative and quantitative studies using quota sampling. Age (divided into five ranges with an equal number of participants) and gender were established as the controlled variables. For the qualitative study, eight interviewers surveyed 583 people aged 13 to 82 (mean age: M = 36.6, SD = 16.9); 51.8% of the sample were women. The quantitative study was carried out by nine interviewers on a sample of 652 people aged 15 to 83 (M = 37.0, SD = 15.0); 53.8% of the sample were women.

RESULTS
Results of 583 individual interviews, analyzed under a psycholexical research procedure, were compiled into a list of the most frequent brand user attributes. A quantitative study involving 652 respondents resulted in four positive (Sophistication, Sociability, Responsibility, and Agency) and four negative (Haughtiness, Old-Fashionedness, Boorishness, and Avarice) dimensions of consumer-to-typical brand user comparisons. Based on the principal self-evaluation motives, a three-component model of self-image congruence was developed, which enabled a multidimensional measure of a confirmatory value (self-verification motive), positive added value (self-enhancement motive) and negative added value (self-protection motive) of the brand for the consumer self-image. The structure and explanatory value of the model were successfully tested on a sample of 240 consumers.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE
In comparison with users of brands are important not only personality traits, but also other aspects. The study showed that people buy a brand not just for improve themselves or confirm their own characteristics, but also to avoid undesirable image. The proposed measurement of congruence explains substantial part of brand preference variance. Research has established ecologically valid scales to measure comparisons with typical brand-users. The results allow to identify the dimensions of comparisons that are important for adults and its determinants, pointing to their wider aspect than previously thought.
 

ABSTRACT. This study provides insights into the advanced methodological research with the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) combined with eye-tracking. Focus is on the elicitation and visualization of subjective associations and perceptions of assessed elements which contributes to decisions individuals make. With the help of triadic comparisons insights into the driving forces behind the decisions are possible. The structured approach of the RGT phrases and visualizes perceived similarities and differences between elements. The eye-tracking enables the observation of the gaze sequences during the decision and perception processes. Thematically the individual perception of 20 high rated employers in Germany supplemented with the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) will be examined. Creating a reference framework concerning potential interesting employers in an application process, their (employer) brand logos were used as elements for the associated similarities and differences revealed through the RGT. Using the evaluated grid data, a characterization profile of the elements and the assumed relationships between the elements will be created and can be used for practice related market research during the application process or improving the employer branding presentation. The analysis of saccades and fixations identified in the gaze data will allow for additional insights concerning the eye movement during the first step in the RGT, where the perceived similarity decisions were made. In total a contribution for combined methodological research is aspired.

ABSTRACT. This paper discusses the of use Information Theoretic model selection criteria to derive model probabilities in model comparison tasks, and assess the suitability of model averaging in partial least squares streuctural equation modeling. We present the results of a large-scale simulation study to analyze the behavior of Akaike weights and evidence ratios under different model setups and experimental conditions. Specifically, we: (1) document how model selection uncertainty varies with sample size, measurement model loadings, and structural model effect size; and (2) assess the use of Akaike weights, evidence ratios, and model-averaged estimates in PLS-SEM.

ABSTRACT. In this paper the authors review research from various fields including marketing, medicine, nutrition, metabolism, genetics, pathology, and other academic areas supporting the role of the ketogenic diet in treating inflammatory diseases. These literatures provide evidence that a highfat, low-carbohydrate diet can be used alone or in conjunction with other treatments to address (1) cancer, by restricting the metabolism of cancer cells; (2) obesity, by requiring the body to burn energy stores (body fat); and (3) heart disease, by restricting inflammation caused by carbohydrates. Unfortunately, a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet has been marketed as unhealthy since the 1960s. This belief was promoted primarily by marketing and lobby professions working for the sugar and wheat industries. More recent research has brought the concept of “healthy eating” full circle, demonstrating that sugar and carbohydrates are the sources of inflammation and are more responsible for a variety of inflammatory diseases, including cancer, obesity, and heart disease. Further, the tides have turned to reveal that eating a ketogenic diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates and protein can both treat and prevent these modern diseases. As such, the marketing community should revisit the concept of what constitutes “healthy eating.”

ABSTRACT. An Abstract:

Evidence from two studies, in which both parents and children were surveyed, leads to new insights on children’s preferences regarding fast food. The research approach tries to handle the trade-off between comparability of results and necessary adaptions of the research instrument to the needs and wants of respondents in three age groups to ensure validity. Moreover, two examples of the implementation of gamification and playfulness in market research targeted at the youngest consumers are given.

Findings from an observational study discovered lost potential regarding communication efforts of sales staff, as sellers ignored children in 60% of all observations. Interactions were most of the time focused on parents/caretakers, which highlights the underestimated role of children in the purchasing process. The results also show that the needs and wants of parents and children concerning store experience for children at the point-of-sale differ. While parents and caretakers especially stressed utilitarian aspects such as fast lanes, healthy food, easy order solutions or sanitary standards, kids in contrast put considerably more emphasis on hedonic aspects such as tasty food, entertainment, and playfulness.

The originality of the research resides in its qualitative approach since it provides insights into the underlying motivation of children by using games and picking up on children’s creative potential. This study shows that adapting market research to the needs of young consumers can offer true insight that may pay-off in the competitive environment.

This research adds to existing literature in the area of children as consumers, by using a combined approach of surveying children and their parents. As doing research with children comes with a lot of challenges, as well as ethical concerns and legal limitations, the key hypothesis is that gamified information presentation improves research outputs and leads to more engaged respondents. A combined research approach with parents and children may prove most fruitful and lead to distinct results.

ABSTRACT. University professors (scholars) play an important role within higher education, impacting student satisfaction and the reputation of the higher educational institution (HEI). As a human brand, there is little published research that examines this specific phenomenon from the perspective of the brand creator (the professor). The purpose of this exploratory study is to explore the nature and development of a professor brand among professors (scholars) within a Swedish HEI. Using exploratory research methods, specifically semi-structured interviews among professors, the research implemented a convenience sampling method. A total of 8 interviews were recorded and transcribed prior to conducting content analysis. Initial findings suggest that professors acknowledge that they can be viewed as brands, with the identification of strategic choices (performativity, flexibility and respect) as integral aspects in conjunction with brand expression of the professor brand. The research is able to contribute theoretically by developing knowledge concerned with a specific example of a human brand but can also suggest ways in which HEIs can assist in both developing and using the strong professor brand to strengthen stakeholder relationships.

ABSTRACT. Increased environmental, social and political awareness amongst consumers has been a major influence for in companies in employing an ethical stance in terms of their brand ideology and positioning. This ideology has grown not only to represent their corporate social responsibility but has permeated the company to become the brand purpose, the focus of both internal and external communications and the guiding light for their brand strategies. In recent years consumers have expressed a preference for brands that represent their social and political view points and reflect their personal values. In part, due to an increase in social media, Generation Z have come to represent a cohort of consumers who are more environmentally, socially and politically aware and active than previous generations. Research has shown, however, that their beliefs are not always a guide as to their purchase behaviour and that in making a purchase they are often guided by issues such as price. This research looks at the brand purpose campaigns of four global companies and seeks to understand the perceptions and purchase behaviour of Generation Z towards these brands.

ABSTRACT. Given the lack of research on the link between individual cultural values of the Millennial Generation (MG) and brand love, mediated by religious commitment, this research intends to fulfill that gap. For this, two studies were carried out. First, an exploratory study was done to understand the individual cultural values of Portuguese millennial consumers. Then a conceptual model was proposed to understand if the Religious Commitment can mediate the relation between the individual cultural values and the brand love of Portuguese millennial consumers. A quantitative methodology was employed for this research. The main findings from the data analysis show that the values independence, power, and tradition negatively influence intrapersonal religious commitment and that the interpersonal religious commitment positively influences brand love.

ABSTRACT. In today’s technological environment, the consumption of information online is the norm. Further, consumers are oftentimes acquiring news from social media sites rather than directly from trusted news sources. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, two thirds of Americans (67%) report getting at least some of their news through social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (Shearer and Gottfried, 2017). In a time when non-verified information is readily available, shared, and promoted, the need for editorial oversight and consumer judgment is greater than ever. This paper investigates the role of confirmatory bias and previous brand transgressions in whether consumers will believe and share fake news.

ABSTRACT. Competitive success, consumption experience, and buyer empowerment becomes increasingly contingent on buyer-seller relationships (Meehan & Wright, 2012). To capture this complex phenomenon, the present study addressed the research question: RQ1: How does social power emerge in business to business buyer-seller relationships? We hypothesize that the perception and possession of social power is critical in buyer-seller relationships because it is rooted in social interaction and thus sought to investigate the relationships between business identities, legitimacy, and social power in the social interaction of buyer-seller relationships.

Due to the lack of a well-established source of social power (Wrong, 1968, Seligman,1974, Simon, B., & Oakes, P., 2006, Schaerer, et al. 2016), we explored the research question using two theories: an identity model of power by Simon & Oakes, 2006 and the theory of social power by French & Raven, 1959.

ABSTRACT. Cost transparency refers to the practice of corporate sharing of cost information with consumers. While previous studies on cost transparency have argued for its benefits and challenges conceptually, few empirical studies exist to assess consumers’ responses toward cost transparency, and how consumers’ perceptions differ according to available cost information is largely unknown. Although the same cost information may elicit varied consumer responses according to context, few studies have considered contextual factors when researching cost transparency. To find effective ways of disclosing cost from consumers’ perspectives, three experimental studies were designed to answer following research questions.

Q1. How do consumers perceive price fairness differently by varying cost information? Q2. How do consumers perceive brand credibility differently by varying cost information? Q3. How do the cost information effects differ by retail prices and types of products?

ABSTRACT. Builds on the psychological ownership theory, this study explores how brand's marketing campaigns using empowerment strategy (i.e., empowerment-to-create vs. empowerment-to- select vs. non-empowerment) shapes consumer responses in the product development process. Findings from one experimental study shows that among three types of empowerment strategies, for brand marketing campaigns that incorporate empowerment-to-create strategy was most effective in increasing product attitude, compared to marketing campaigns that use empowerment-to-select, followed by non-empowerment strategies. Findings also suggest that the psychological ownership explains the effectiveness of empowerment appeal on desired consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to identify customers’ motivations to engage in value co-creation process with smart services. Using PLS path modelling this study identifies the linkages between value co-creation and its consequences (e.g. customer based brand equity and word-of-mouth) in case of smart services. Results demonstrate the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations as antecedents of value co-creation. Results also show that motivation of relating and knowing motivation significantly influenced customers’ participation in value co-creation. Finally the study found a significant relationship between value co-creation, customer based brand equity and word-of-mouth behaviour. This study strengthens the nomological network of value co-creation by empirically validating the customers’ motivations to engage in value co-creation process for smart services. Establishing the relationship between value co-creation and customer based brand equity is a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on co-creation of value in B2C service relationships. By recognising what kind of innate motives drive customers to higher degrees of co-creation in service interactions, providers can better customise service offerings to drive these higher degrees of co-creation. Value co-creation has positive effects on measurable marketing metrics such as customer-based brand equity word-of-mouth which are integral to the success of service firms.

ABSTRACT. As consumption increasingly shifts to experience-based, offers of cocreation in product design, production, and even service recovery are on the rise. However, literature is inconclusive on the effect of cocreation. In this research, we propose that consumers’ motivation (regulatory focus) and shopping orientation toward the process versus outcome component of a cocreation activity create a regulatory fit effect, such that those with a promotion focus match with a process shopping orientation and those with a prevention focus match with an outcome shopping orientation to enhance willingness to pay. This is because promotion-focused consumers are more sensitive to the process experience while prevention-focused consumers are more sensitive to the attractiveness of the outcome. Furthermore, cocreation task characteristics, such as the degree of autonomy and complexity of the task, can have opposite effects given different motivations. We thus offer theoretical contribution in understanding the effect of cocreation as well as managerial implications in cocreation service design.

ABSTRACT. Customer loyalty in the service exchange has been shown to be a primary objective when designing and implementing a marketing or service strategy (Cronin et al. 2000). While the extant literature is replete with examples of the importance of loyalty as a competitive advantage (c.f. Wolter et al. 2017), loyalty remains a somewhat elusive and perhaps understood concept.

The primary purpose of this paper is to first increase our understanding of loyalty as an outcome of the service experience. To his end, we outline five loyalty outcomes resulting from the service exchange. Further, we attempt to determine key drivers of each outcome and to determine if the same antecedents influence each loyalty outcome.

ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION

The relation between destination image and local agricultural industry has been seldom explored in research although the correlation between local agricultural products and destination is actually quite strong. In recent years, areas that rely on local agriculture as the main economic activity have been actively developing product branding and expanding distribution channels. However, related research themes are still largely focused on the effects of the country-of-origin image on the marketing effectiveness of agricultural products (Shoaib and Keivani 2015; Stepchenkova and Stepchenkova 2016). Due to the close relation between local agricultural products and their place of origin, the place of origin may cause consumers to make positive or negative associations, which affects how consumers view products from that specific location and, in turn, influence their purchase intentions. The concept of value co-creation is one of the most important elements in the local branding process. The concept originates from service-dominant logic (Vargo, Maglio and Akaka 2008), where service-dominant logic emphasizes on consumer-centric interaction and learning processes, while value co-creation extends to the collaborative behavior of network members to achieve resource integration, which is the creation of valuable experiences through behavioral engagement (Ramaswamy and Ozcan 2018). Enhancing consumers’ perceived value and satisfaction of services through the participation of consumers in the service delivery process can allow enterprises reduce production costs, improve productivity, and enable employees to have better service performance. Therefore, service operators must leverage on the participation of consumers and employees to successfully convey the value of their core services (Yi, Nataraajan and Gong 2011).

Located in the outlying islands of Taiwan, Penghu County holds rich touristic resources such as island landscapes, diverse natural ecology, recreational, and humanities; the tourism industry has also brought several benefits to Penghu’s overall economy. According to the statistics of Penghu National Scenic Administration, the number of tourists in Penghu exceeded 1 million in 2014, and in 2017, it reached 1.155 million. This shows that there is a significant growth in the number of tourists in Penghu. However, Penghu County’s agricultural environment is relatively more restrictive compared to that of other parts of Taiwan, and it has limited industrial scale and economic value. The agricultural products of Penghu County also face many challenges, including (1) inconsistent supply and demand of agricultural products, often resulting in non-salability; (2) high product homogeneity and low profits; (3) lack of brand image and creative marketing strategies; and (4) farmers’ management of their own production and sales, leaving a lot of room for improvement in terms of distribution channels. The farms in Penghu County are urgent to change their previous production models and incorporate the service-dominant logic perspective, transforming and upgrading farms by inducing co-creation of value from consumers.

BACKGROUND

This study takes the agriculture industry in Penghu County for case study. It uses in-depth interviews and content analysis methods to collect opinions of agricultural producers, conducts field research on how local agricultural industries incorporate service-dominant logic perspective and destination image in their operations, and explores how to construct the Penghu County’s destination image for production and distribution environment of local agriculture, as well as how to create the value of Penghu County’s agricultural experience together with consumers. This study also uses the means–ends chain to verify the relevance and relation between service-dominant logic and destination image, simultaneously investigating the crucial factor relevant for the incorporation of service-dominant logic by Penghu County’s agricultural industry to develop its destination image.

Service-Dominant Logic

What consumers really want are services provided through the products, which further assist them to create higher value. Hence, the conventional classification of products and services is no longer applicable; instead, it is necessary to redefine services from a consumer’s perspective. Vargo and Lusch (2004) proposed service-dominant logic—transitioning from the goods-dominant perspective of the past to the service-dominant perspective. Due to the exchange of different professional-skill applications between organizations and individuals in today’s social networks, service-dominant logic is a philosophy based on the commitment and collaboration process between consumers, partners, and employees. According to ideals of service-dominant logic on value creation, where operational resources that can be used as a resource for other resources (such as the feedback and experiences of consumers) are emphasized, consumers are co-participants regardless whether it is the process of creating or trading services, and thus there is no clear distinction between producers and consumers (Vargo and Akaka 2009).

Destination Image

The image of destination is not formed naturally but is rather embedded during formation of social life in a specific region to gradually become an inseparable element. It comprises subjective concepts such as knowledge, impressions and prejudices, creativity, and emotional associations of an individual toward a particular region. Local destination image is mainly shaped by the development of people’s lives and can demonstrate different local styles depending on different natural landscapes, local histories, human ecology, industrial structures, local specialties, manufacturing techniques, lifestyle habits, values, interactions between people and environment, and historical memories. Hem and Iversen (2004) believed that local image is the core of local brands, and it is conducive to building consumers' recognition of local brands. Similar to regular commercial brands, local brand benefits are reflected through consumers' perceptions and associations of a locality, region, or country. Previous researches conducted on destination image are mainly focused on tourist sightseeing destinations, with topics ranging from the image composition of the destination (Papadimitriou, Kaplanidou and Apostolopoulou 2015), difference in destination images of tourists before and after traveling to the destination (Martín-Santana, Beerli-Palacio and Nazzareno, 2017) or comparison and evaluation of online destination image (HN Mak 2017).

METHODOLOGY

This study selects five well-known agricultural farmers in Penghu County as research subjects to conduct in-depth interviews, uses analysis tools such as content analysis and means-end chain analysis to analyze attribute elements of service-dominant logic and destination image, and then constructs the relation diagram of hierarchical attribute elements. The steps to conduct this research are as follows: 1. Explore attribute elements of service-dominant logic and destination image through literature review to design a questionnaire for in-depth interviews, and conduct fieldwork to investigate the current situation of agricultural sales distribution in Penghu County. 2. Conduct semi-structured interviews to understand the perceptions of agricultural producers in Penghu County on service-dominant logic and destination image, and use content analysis to analyze verbatim transcriptions of the interviews. 3. Find and code keywords from the transcription, and construct the relation diagram of hierarchical attribute elements for service-dominant logic and destination image. 4. From the analysis results and relation diagram, propose marketing strategies relevant to the agricultural industry, based on what is important to the agricultural production in Penghu County in terms of resources, conditional factors, and operational mechanisms, and shape the destination image as well as encourage consumers to co-create value.

The analysis method used in this study is content analysis on the verbatim transcriptions of the interviews to extract keywords and then assign codes to them; afterwards, number of occurrences of the keywords is calculated. In order to detect whether coders are consistent in assigning service-dominant logic or destination image attribute elements, this study uses inter-coder agreement to calculate the reliability of attribute elements and interview descriptions, so as to calculate the reliability of the overall analysis. According to the coding of the content analysis, number of connections between the attribute elements of service-dominant logic and destination image mentioned in the interviewees’ transcriptions is summed up to calculate the total number of chains, which is used to show the relation strength between two chains. Finally, all chain relations are used to construct the relation diagram of hierarchical attribute elements. This diagram visually represents the relation between abstract hierarchies while improving the interpretation and comprehension of the analysis results.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Based on Lush and Vargo (2008), four attribute elements (actor, service, resources, and value) and 10 factors were used in calculating the number of occurrences of relevant description keywords in the in-depth interviews with Penghu County’s farmers. The analysis results showed that “operand resources” is the most important factor of service-dominant logic for farmers of Penghu County, followed by “resource integration” and “operant resources” as the next significant factors. Moreover, because the natural environment of Penghu County is different from that of Taiwan, in Penghu, the northeast monsoon severely threatens the crops, soil, water, and infrastructure every year, and the farmers utilize “operand resources” to overcome these problems or create a certain degree of added value to the local specialty agricultural products, such as processed products or agricultural DIY experience. They also utilize “resource integration,” that is, exchanging resources with non-profit organizations, government agency schools, or communities to co-create value for both parties. Further, nine factors were identified regarding to destination image including “agricultural culture” is the most significant factor followed by “geographical environment” and “cash crops” as the next significant factors. When farmers of Penghu County mentioned the attribute element “agricultural culture,” they believed that the farming season in Penghu influences the types of crops; for example, the summer is too hot for leafy vegetables, so fruits and melons are planted instead, whereas leafy vegetables are planted in the winter. Since the climate and soil in Penghu tend toward humid and salty, agricultural techniques are often used to change the planting environment when planting crops to create a suitable environment for crops to grow. Many places in Penghu are used for vegetables sales, with locations including vegetable markets, front of temple entrances, fish port entrances, and specific locations in the communities, all of which have agricultural product distribution channels.

This study summarized the number of chains and chain relations between the attribute elements of service-dominant logic and destination image into a matrix. According to the chain relations and number of occurrences in the matrix, a “relation diagram of hierarchical attribute element” between service-dominant logic and destination image of local agriculture was constructed. From the relation diagram, it can be seen that in the chain relation of “operand resources–agricultural culture,” the farmer interviewees believed that “operand resources” included the use of organic fertilizer, tunnel rooms built in response to climatic conditions, pulleys used to overcome the difficulty to obtain underground water in higher grounds, etc., are all necessary operand resources to implement agricultural techniques. In the chain relation of “resource integration–channel strategies,” the farmer interviewees believed that in the recent years, promotion through Facebook and other social media has brought a significant increase in the number of agricultural experiential activities in Penghu. Furthermore, in the chain relation between “operand resources–channel strategies,” the farmer interviewees recognized that produced crops in the past were sold at stalls in traditional markets, but with the rise of the Internet, virtual channels and agricultural experiential activities as well as farmland tours have become some of the main strategies in expanding distribution channels.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE

If the farmers of outlying island agriculture in Penghu County wish to incorporate service-dominant logic into their production and marketing activities, it is necessary to consider the impact of Penghu’s climate because the production and processing of agricultural products must be done in a way that adapts to the unique climate of Penghu (adding sand to soil to improve drainage, harvesting pickle crops in the winter, growing crops inside net-rooms, growing crops on chicken-farming land to increase oxygen concentration in the soil, etc.). At the same time, unique agricultural culture of the Penghu outlying islands should be introduced through content marketing or experiential activities while providing a certain level of added value to local specialty agricultural products so that the destination image of Penghu’s agriculture for consumers or tourists can be established. Additionally, agricultural producers in Penghu must work together with for profit or non-profit groups and organizations (farmers’ associations, schools, communities, associations, homestays, travel agencies, etc.) and promote through social media, such as Facebook, to develop multiple channel strategies.

This study proposes the following recommendations to the farmers of outlying island agriculture in Penghu County with regard to marketing. (1) Agriculture should be combined with experiential activities incorporating unique characteristics of Penghu to create a deep impression of Penghu’s destination image on tourists and trigger their intention to visit again. Penghu has unique marine and rural culture, characteristics, and attractions; therefore, it is possible to combine local agricultural characteristics with experiential activities, by assigning guides to give field tours or installing information boards, so that tourists have a vivid destination image of Penghu and intend to visit again. (2) Since it takes time for agricultural products to grow from seed to harvest, it is difficult to complete all the farming activities from sowing seeds to harvesting within a day. Therefore, farmers can prepare the fields and provide them for tourists’ hands-on experience; for example, the first step is to turn the soil and prepare the land, the next being to maintain the growth of agricultural products until the final step comes wherein crops grow in the season, allowing all the participant tourists to harvest, cook, and enjoy the crops together. Thereby it can achieve value co-creation of farmers and tourists through agricultural experiential activities and subsequently enhancing the destination image of Penghu to give tourists a one-of-a-kind, valuable experience.

ABSTRACT. ‘Only 7 left in stock’, ‘Only 7 days to claim’: Scarcity of a product/product deal has been well established to lead to positive consumer cognition and behaviour, in the eyes of marketers. However, the scarcity of adverts themselves (i.e. ‘This ad only last 7 seconds’) has received very little academic attention. The key questions for theorists and practitioners is, does an advert which is ephemeral (i.e. scarce, accessible only once for a few seconds – herein called ephemeral marketing) outperform those which are accessible over time (non-ephemeral). This paper investigates the mediation between attention and recall under ephemeral conditions linked to the ad. The key proposition in this paper links to three main points. First are that scarcity and limited time/quantity appeals and value in product/service. The second concept relates to ad attention and linking resources scarcity with attention for ad effectiveness. Lastly, we highlighted the importance of ad recall and its relationship with ad scarcity. The key focus of the paper is to contribute, through the theoretical lens of scarcity, attention and recall. An experiment was carried out to the efficacy of ephemeral vs non-ephemeral marketing on the attention given to adverts by consumers. The findings, illustrate that greater attention is paid to an advert if it is known to be scarce, leading to a greater recall.

ABSTRACT. Emerging from the growth of consumer fandom, global football brands have become some of the most profitable in the world (Hewer et al. 2015), and the football industry can be categorized as big business (Price et al. 2013; McDonagh 2016). Thus, market-orientated practices such as branding, have become synonymous with the spectacle of sporting events (Crawford 2004). However, the prominence of capitalist ideology within the marketplace has diminished the liberties of extreme football fans, resulting in marketplace exclusion. Extreme fans no longer see their football clubs as symbolic representations of the local community or local culture, but as an embodiment of a globalized, cosmopolitan, market-driven world, detached from the people it originally represented (Buckley 2004). Digitized communities, including those communities that transcend online environments has been a topic of great debate among marketing academics, with recent studies advancing the understanding of a number of research contexts, such as: gaming communities (Badrinararayanan et al. 2018); therapeutic communities (Tian et al. 2014; Keeling et al. 2015) and educational communities (Lewis et al. 2013). Knowledge surrounding the conceptualizations of consumption communities has also advanced, with new modes of online consumer participation emerging within academic literature, such a brand publics (Arvidsson and Caliandro, 2015). However, despite such advancements, Moufahim et al. (2018) state that critical conversations must continue, specifically pertaining to the darker side of online communities and interaction, which exert forms of social control, exclusion, destruction, and hostility. This netnographic study focuses on how extreme football fans engage in collaborative glocalization, with implications for the manifestation of fan resistant practices which are proliferated and celebrated through the utilization of digital sharing platforms. Extreme fans are no longer engaging in reflexive social performance (Turner 1983) solely based upon their own experiences, but also the experiences of similar ‘others’. Thus, the current study shows how extreme fan cultures engage in various forms of collaborative glocalization as they seek to align their own identities with that of the broader ultras culture, adopting an ultras ideology, but engaging in fan practices which represent a symbology of the local.  Such adds value to the understanding of how the darker aspects of fan communities manifest through online platforms, and the impact of same.

Keywords; netnography, online communities, fandom, resistance, marketplace exclusion

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the effect of Instagram advertising on impulse purchase. Ten hypotheses were developed and tested on 258 Instagram users collected via a survey questionnaire distributed on Amazon Mechanical Turk. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) reveal that visual design, ad relevance, brand credibility, and perceived value have an impact on impulse purchase through trust. On the other hand, ad relevance and brand credibility do not have direct effect on perceived enjoyment whereas visual design and perceived value do. This study contributes to the understanding the extrinsic cues of Instagram advertising in stimulating impulse purchases.

ABSTRACT. This article provides an analysis of the impact that produces the digital interaction considering social networking sites as first way of consumer-brand bonding. Brand love, attachment, engagement and loyalty constructs were tested as consequences of the consumer-brand relations. We conduct a path analysis using PLS-SEM with reflective measurements and the sample are social media users and brand followers. This research analyses and defined explanatory factors for relationships in social media and the findings indicate that this kind of relations create and contribute with brand engagement, attachment, love and loyalty.

ABSTRACT. Ethical decision making is complex and difficult to navigate. One approach to reducing this complexity is to introduce professional codes of conduct that provide a framework to work through the decision making in a systematic and ethical manner. However, there is low compliance with codes of conduct even by professionals (e.g., managers, IT, marketers). For amateurs, the situation is worse since they do not have ready access to codes of conduct, and potentially lack requisite research design knowledge. With the proliferation of do-it-yourself (DIY) marketing tools this problem is particularly acute since these while these DIY options often provide professional grade tools for conducting research, this is potentially done in the absence of the requisite research skills and guiding ethical principles. This situation is potentially addressed by providing a simplified code of conduct to users of DIY marketing tools in advance or at key points during the research process. Challenges remain since such technology can both enable and constrain ethical decision making, and the effectiveness of this decision making is likely influenced by the individual ethical position as well as their preconceived notions around the research design process. In this study we present specific hypotheses on the impact of individual personal characteristics, defined in terms of the ethical ideologies and research design ethical orientations, on the effectiveness of the ethical decision-making process under varying levels of mindful ethical reminders based upon an abridged DIY ethical code of conduct.

ABSTRACT. This paper builds on relevant literature examining marketing communication ethics from the perspective of consumers. It does so by examining consumers’ ethical judgements of promotional activities using threat appeals that elicit negative consumer emotions. We use a theory of consent transactions to frame our theoretical work. Further, we employ a three-stage qualitative research design using experiential marketing communications for horror films as context. Findings suggest consumers can feel positively about being shocked, judging threat appeals morally depending on the nature of the negative emotions they experience. We also determine the intersection between ethical judgement, consent and context, which lend contextualized normative approval to experiential marketing communication. Our research makes three original contributions to existing literature. First, it provides an original perspective on consumer ethical judgement, by highlighting the importance of perceived consent and autonomy as a component of such judgements. Secondly, it contributes to nascent research addressing the role of emotions in consumer ethical judgement. Thirdly, we contribute an original concept to ethical judgement theorization, namely positive shock, as we identify the dimensional limits and possibilities of positive consumer ethical judgement of threat appeals.

ABSTRACT. Mixed findings in prior research focusing on consumers’ ethical judgments and the disparity between consumers’ concern about ethics and their actual behaviour in reality let some researchers argue for ethical consumption to be measured in terms of behaviour. Accordingly, Sudbury-Riley and Kohlbacher (2016) have recently developed the Ethically Minded Consumer Behavior (EMCB) scale. This study aims to examine the role of mindfulness on ethical consumption, using the EMCB scale, through self-efficacy for ethical consumption (SEEC) in an Asian emerging market setting. Data was collected through a survey, distributed through popular web distribution channels (i.e. Facebook and LinkedIn) and invited emails, with Vietnamese consumers. The usable data of 309 responses (97.8% of returned responses) was analysed using PLS-SEM approach. The findings reveal that mindfulness has direct positive effect only on ECOBOYCOTT, meanwhile SEEC mediates the effects of mindfulness on all EMCB dimensions. These results provide theoretical and practical implications for understanding mindfulness-based mechanism underlying ethical consumer behaviour.

ABSTRACT. This special session presents research analyses related to the broad range of not-for-profit and nongovernmental organizations, which includes the arts/culture/ heritage, philanthropic/charitable, economic development, education, health, religion, social, sport, and sustainability sectors. NPOs and NGOs are challenged with establishing and maintaining relationships with the markets and stakeholders which provide their support and funding. To remain financially and operationally viable, they must leverage innovative ideas, strategic and tactical management/marketing tools, and best practices of sector leaders around the world to survive and thrive. This requires thinking across disciplines and recognizing their historical evolutions and literature. Marketing has significant debts to other fields beyond business (e.g. the humanities, economics, mathematics, and decision sciences), and this session examines NPO/NGO marketing through the lens of Scottish Enlightenment concepts (which have spread far beyond the U.K., throughout Europe, America, and to the rest of the world) and the relevance of its ideas in the worldwide environment in which NPO/NGO organizations exist. The session panelists will also engage the audience in interactive discussion of three broader questions: (1) What are the implications of this research on the individual presentation topics for NPO/NGO organizations in general? (2) How does nonprofit research on these topics contribute to for-profit marketing and management (which is the reverse of the common question of what for-profit marketing has to contribute to nonprofit research and practice)? and (3) What additional relationships and implications can be drawn between these topics and the ideas of the unique intellectual and practical contributions of the Scottish Enlightenment?

ABSTRACT. The excessive psychological benefits of humor have long been studied in research. To better understand the “good sense of humor” as a communication tool in the virtually-based new era, this study attempts to investigate the humor styles of Mexican Facebookers in a virtual context. Based on the four humor styles conceptualized by Martin et al. (2003), the current study is focused on building a theoretical framework to explain why cultural norms, gender roles, and education can influence the humor styles of Mexicans who are actively involved in computer mediated communication. Two research questions and six hypotheses are developed in the research framework. Research methods are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This paper considers a sample of successful wine bloggers, and clusters them into four distinct segments that could be targeted by wine marketers in different ways. Using text that they wrote in response to being named to a survey of 100 top wine blogs, we employ an advanced textual analysis tool (LIWC) to categorize the writings according to the following characteristics: analytical thinking, clout, authenticity, and emotional tone. This data is then used in a clustering procedure that distinguishes four distinct groups of bloggers: the Analysts, the Agnostics, the Authentic Pessimists, and the Confident Optimists.

ABSTRACT. This study, utilizing two national samples of Americans, examines the impact of the Big Five personality traits and social media usage on the level of price consciousness for millennials and baby boomers. Study One, looking only at boomers, finds that those boomers who are more open are less price conscious. Study Two examines both boomers and millennials and found no difference in the level of price consciousness between the two cohorts. Given no difference in the level of price consciousness the two cohorts are combined to test the impacts on price consciousness. The results offer that extroverts are more price conscious, while open individuals are less price conscious. The other Big Five personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism have no impact on price consciousness. The amount of social media usage also impacts the level of price consciousness with those spending more time on social media being more price conscious. The study also examines the differences between social media usage by cohort and finds no significant difference in their time spent on Facebook, but there are significant differences in their time spent on Twitter, Instagram and Snap Chat as millennials use all three of these SNS more than baby boomers. The results suggest that while levels of price consciousness do not vary by generational cohort, personality (particularly openness in Studies 1 and 2, extraversion in Study 2) and social media use can impact price consciousness. Marketers can utilize social media to reach price conscious consumers and encourage extroverts to share/respost their business’ price deals so their friends are aware of them.  Which social media site, however, that would be more effective for businesses to utilize would vary by cohort.  If businesses are trying to reach a broad target market that includes both millennials and baby boomers, Facebook would be the best option, given its popularity across age groups.  If marketers are focusing on the millennial market they may also want to have a presence on Instagram and Snapchat.  Finally, in terms of differences in personality traits among the two cohort groups, the study found that millennials are more open, but less conscientious, less agreeable and less neurotic than baby boomers.