Heejin Lim and David W. Schumann
Brand online social networking (BOSN) is a novel marketing phenomenon in which companies initiate and cultivate relationships with their customers through online social networking…
Abstract
Purpose
Brand online social networking (BOSN) is a novel marketing phenomenon in which companies initiate and cultivate relationships with their customers through online social networking (OSN) sites. Because of its openness to the public, BOSN is distinct from a traditional brand community. This study aims to explore patterns and schemes of individuals’ BOSN based on the sociological schemas noted in Goffman’s dramaturgical approach.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts in-depth personal interviews to uncover the full meaning of BOSN. A total of 21 Facebook brand page participants were interviewed, and the interviews were recorded digitally and transcribed verbatim, providing data for analysis. Triangulation was accomplished through examination of informants’ Facebook webpages that presented their own postings. The transcribed data were interpreted using a hermeneutic approach.
Findings
The data analysis based on the dramaturgical lens reveals four key themes: diversity in consumers’ intentionality toward BOSN social connections, their feeling of contamination of the digital self and a desire for autonomy, consumers’ roles as the actors and audiences on a brand’s BOSN stage and backstage experience and consumers’ feeling of intimacy. Findings highlight how individuals’ perceptions of audiences and the social media platform as a stage influence their performance in BOSN conjointly. These findings reveal that individuals participate in BOSN as a means of augmenting their identity.
Originality/value
Findings from this study advance the extant literature addressing online brand communities by exploring a novel form of brand assemblages within the context of social media. Employing a dramaturgical approach, this study identifies the distinct nature of the consumer–brand relationship in the virtual agora of OSN, which is hyperindividualistic in nature and is used to augment a sense of self.
Details
Keywords
Mary Walker, Lynn Langmeyer and Daniel Langmeyer
Examines the use of celebrity endorsement in advertising. Reviewsthe results of a recent study looking at the effect of a celebrity′sattractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise…
Abstract
Examines the use of celebrity endorsement in advertising. Reviews the results of a recent study looking at the effect of a celebrity′s attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise on product purchase intentions, and of one examining the relevance of physical attractiveness and other symbolic attributes of the endorser in relation to product meaning. Considers implications for marketing managers and concludes that further research is necessary.
Details
Keywords
Eun‐Ju Lee, Kyoung‐Nan Kwon and David W. Schumann
For a new technology‐based product or service at an early stage of diffusion, it is likely that only a small subset of consumers have adopted it. When non‐adopters still comprise…
Abstract
Purpose
For a new technology‐based product or service at an early stage of diffusion, it is likely that only a small subset of consumers have adopted it. When non‐adopters still comprise the majority of the target populations, describing all non‐adopters as a homogeneous population may be inaccurate and inappropriate. It is important to be able to identify differences, not only between adopters and non‐adopters, but also among non‐adopters, the latter providing a means of identifying the consumer segments likely to be profitable in the future. The first objective of this paper is to demonstrate the appropriateness of further segmenting the non‐adopter category based on motivations (intentions) to adopt internet‐banking by those who are “persistent non‐adopters” and those who are likely “prospective adopters”. The second objective of this paper is to further the understanding of the adoption process of internet banking by examining a range of diffusion factors that affect consumers’ adoption behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
This study identifies three adopter segments, persistent non‐adopters, prospective adopters, and adopters, in the diffusion of internet banking services based on individuals’ intentions to adopt internet banking and their actual adoption behavior, using the data collected by the Graphic, Visualization, & Usability Center and Georgia Tech Research Corporation. Selective adoption factors (i.e. perceived attribute importance of internet banking, perceived risk, compatibility with existing banking services, and compatibility with the internet and computer technologies) were used to predict individuals’ adoption status through multinomial logit modeling.
Findings
It was found that further segmenting the non‐adopter category revealed meaningful differences between prospective adopters and persistent non‐adopters. This study reflects that the previous research practice of bifurcating adoption categories (adoption versus non‐adoption) is oversimplified. The two qualitatively different segments, prospective adopters and persistent non‐adopters, should not be lumped together in the diffusion of internet banking.
Originality/value
This study provides comparison profiles of the three adopter categories and discusses marketing implications for segmentation.
Details
Keywords
Mary Walker, Lynn Langmeyer and Daniel Langmeyer
Considers the results of recent studies of celebrity endorsers inadvertisements. Analyses the results of a particular study evaluatingthree product categories: bath towels, blue…
Abstract
Considers the results of recent studies of celebrity endorsers in advertisements. Analyses the results of a particular study evaluating three product categories: bath towels, blue jeans, and VCRs; two endorsers: Madonna and Christie Brinkley; and the product when advertised by each celebrity. Concludes that the endorser tends to pass their own image onto the product, particularly if the product has an undefined image, so it is important that the endorser′s image is consistent with the desired product image.
Details
Keywords
Chih‐Wen Huang and Ai‐Ping Tai
With increasing competition in the global marketplace, a prime and basic question for many enterprises is how to construct a global strategy for existing product mixes through…
Abstract
With increasing competition in the global marketplace, a prime and basic question for many enterprises is how to construct a global strategy for existing product mixes through standardization or localization, so as to achieve success in regional or local markets. The purpose of this paper is to investigate customer value perceptions of products, to view what variables are important to consumers, and lastly to make comparisons via a cross‐cultural study. Using the same survey method to collect data from Taipei (Taiwan), Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (China), and Tokyo (Japan), perceived customer values of products were collected together in a List of customer values. The results yielded a wide array of both crosscultural differences and similarities in East Asia.
Details
Keywords
The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and…
Abstract
The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.
Details
Keywords
Clovia Hamilton and David Schumann
With respect to university technology transfer, the purpose of this paper is to examine the literature focused on the relationship between university research faculty and…
Abstract
With respect to university technology transfer, the purpose of this paper is to examine the literature focused on the relationship between university research faculty and technology transfer office staff. We attempt to provide greater understanding of how research faculty’s personal values and research universities’ organization values may differ and why. Faculty researchers and tech transfer office (TTO) staff are perceived to be virtuous agents. When both are meeting each other’s needs, a “love” relationship exists. However, when these needs are not met, a “hate” relationship exists that is replete with doubt and uncertainty. This doubt and uncertainty creates tension and subsequent conflicts. There are many accounts where faculty researchers have not followed university policies and expectations, often violating policy and ethical standards. Likewise, faculty report numerous examples of how TTO staff members’ negligence in servicing their attempts to be good institutional citizens have failed them. This paper explores this love/hate relationship and reveals numerous conflicts that call into question ethical concerns. It also provides a set of recommendations for reducing and potentially alleviating these concerns. Literature review. Results from a thorough review of the literature on the relationship between faculty and university TTOs reveals that perceived job insecurity is the primary reason that some research faculty members as well as some TTO staff, unethically violate their university policy to disclose invention disclosures and select to not provide full services, respectively. One way to alleviate the conflict between faculty’s personal values regarding their inventions and university’s organizational values is to enact measures that build trust and reduce insecurity among faculty members and TTO staff. In this paper, we not only examine this faculty/TTO staff ethical conflicts, but we offer a set of recommendations that we believe will reduce the likelihood of unethical behavior while encouraging greater institutional commitment and trust.
Details
Keywords
Michael Stevens, Allan Bird, Mark E. Mendenhall and Gary Oddou
Based on a review of multiple literatures, a comprehensive content domain of essential intercultural competencies for effective global leaders is presented. This domain is then…
Abstract
Based on a review of multiple literatures, a comprehensive content domain of essential intercultural competencies for effective global leaders is presented. This domain is then used to guide the development of the Global Competencies Inventory (GCI), a 160-item self-report measure that assesses the degree to which individuals possess the intercultural competencies that are associated with global leader effectiveness. Using sample sizes ranging from several hundred to nearly 9,000 subjects, evidence from several studies is presented showing the GCI to have convergent validity, predictive validity, and freedom from demographic and ethnic subgroup biases. Implications for theory and future research are also discussed.
Details
Keywords
Juan A. Morente, Jorge A. Portí, Cedric Blanchard, Bruno P. Besser, Herbert I.M. Lichtenegger, Alfonso Salinas, Enrique A. Navarro and Gregorio J. Molina‐Cuberos
Two transmission line meshes to simulate electromagnetic waves in the Earth's atmosphere are developed, one with the link transmission lines connected in parallel and the other…
Abstract
Purpose
Two transmission line meshes to simulate electromagnetic waves in the Earth's atmosphere are developed, one with the link transmission lines connected in parallel and the other with connections in series.
Design/methodology/approach
The equations describing propagation of waves through these parallel or series meshes are equivalent to the Maxwell equations for TEr or TMr modes in a spherical cavity with lossy dielectric material between the external conducting surfaces, respectively.
Findings
The transmission line meshes are used for a numerical study of the natural electromagnetic noise due to lightning discharges in the Earth‐ionosphere cavity.
Originality/value
The numerical algorithm finds values for Schumann resonances very close to the experimental ones, which allows us to affirm that this methodology is a valid numerical tool for predicting these resonances on other planets or moons as well.