Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

Understanding Generation Y Consumers: An Application of Vanity Scale to Examine Cross-National and Gender Differences

Srinivas Durvasula et al. — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:53:23 PDT

Stakeholder Theory and Marketing: Moving from a Firm-Centric to a Societal Perspective

Eugene Laczniak et al. — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:59:44 PST

This essay is inspired by the ideas and research examined in the special section on “Stakeholder Marketing” of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing in 2010. The authors argue that stakeholder marketing is slowly coalescing with the broader thinking that has occurred in the stakeholder management and ethics literature streams during the past quarter century. However, the predominant view of stakeholders that many marketers advocate is still primarily pragmatic and company centric. The position advanced herein is that stronger forms of stakeholder marketing that reflect more normative, macro/societal, and network-focused orientations are necessary. The authors briefly explain and justify these characteristics in the context of the growing “prosociety” and “proenvironment” perspectives—orientations that are also in keeping with the public policy focus of this journal. Under the “hard form” of stakeholder theory, which the authors endorse, marketing managers must realize that serving stakeholders sometimes requires sacrificing maximum profits to mitigate outcomes that would inflict major damage on other stakeholders, especially society.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Cognitive Responses, Beliefs, and Attitudes Toward Advertising in General in Two Asian Countries

Srinivas Durvasula et al. — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:06:41 PDT

An important research topic in advertising is the study of consumer advertising perceptions. As shown by previous research, these perceptions affect attitude-toward-advertising-in-general which, ultimately, affects consumer brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Understanding consumer ad perceptions is useful to advertising practitioners in developing and implementing effective ad campaigns both nationally and internationally. Our study extends previous research efforts by comparing the cognitive responses, beliefs, and attitudes of consumers regarding advertising in two countries located in Southeast Asia. While results indicate similar advertising beliefs (in direction) and favorable attitudes, differences in cognitive responses and magnitude of beliefs and favorable attitudes exist. The implications of various results are then discussed.

Curbing Corporate Crime: Managerial and Ethical Implications of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations

Gene R. Laczniak et al. — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:13:34 PDT

This paper examines the 1991 federal sentencing guidelines with respect to organizations. These guidelines, only recently being applied in U.S. courts, require minimum fines and imprisonment terms for criminal acts by culpable executives and their organizations. The paper will examine the history of the federal sentencing guidelines for organizations (FSGOs), a synopsis of their workings, the strategic response of U.S. companies to the FSGOs, and the case for and against these guidelines. Finally, this paper will examine the managerial implications of the FSGOs with special attention provided to the ethical issues raised by the guidelines.

Some Societal and Ethical Dimensions of the Service-Dominant Logic Perspective of Marketing

Gene Laczniak — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:21:42 PDT

Warnings and Disclosures: Special Editor’s Note

Craig Andrews — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:16:07 PDT

Incoming Editor’s Statement

Craig Andrews — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:58:44 PDT

A Decision Tree Calculus for Selecting Service Satisfaction Determinants in the Industrial Sector

Steven Lysonski et al. — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:29:51 PDT

Methodological Issues and Challenges in Conducting Social Impact Evaluations

Cornelia Pechmann et al. — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:35:38 PDT

Ethical Marketing: A Look on the Bright Side

Thomas A. Klein et al. — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:40:35 PDT

Alcohol Warning Label Effects: Socialization, Addiction, and Public Policy Issues

Craig Andrews et al. — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:33:43 PST

Ethics of Marketing

Eugene R. Laczniak — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:51:52 PST

The Information Technology Workforce: A Comparison of Critical Skills of Client and Service Providers, Information Systems Management

Stephen Hawks et al. — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:09:27 PST

In this article the authors explore similarities and differences in skill needs of IT service providers and the firms that providers service (clients). The results show that providers and clients are more similar than different with regard to desired skills. Client firms emphasize technical skills for new hires more than providers do despite saying that these are the skills they would outsource to providers. The results have implications for organizations’ recruiting and retention, for individuals’ career development, and for educational programs.

Warnings and Disclosures

Craig Andrews — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:24:00 PST

This chapter reviews nearly six decades of research on warnings and disclosures, including common misperceptions and their importance to public health policy, and offers an answer to the key question, “Do warnings and disclosures really work?” Supporting theory and research applications are discussed.

The ethics of celebrity-athlete endorsement: what happens when a star steps out of bounds?

Felicia Miller et al. — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:40:48 PST

Celebrity athletes are a mainstay of popular culture and an increasingly important part of the marketing ecosystem. As product endorsers, they can influence brand attitudes and sales but also have broader societal implications for the firm. The recent string of bad behavior by celebrity athletes raises important ethical questions about firms that use the famous and infamous to endorse branded products. The conceptual framework presented in the current study provides a theoretical approach – based on virtue ethics – for evaluating the retention of tainted celebrity affiliates. This framework is applied to three well-known situations to examine the ethical implications of what initially were good choices for firms, their brands, and their consumers. The overarching goal of this article is to stimulate managers to think more deeply about the interconnections between their core company values, the athlete endorsers they select, and the ultimate effect of those decisions on their brands in the marketplace if things go wrong.

Is Simpler Always Better? Consumer Evaluations of Front-of-Package Nutrition Symbols

J. Craig Andrews et al. — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:21:01 PST

Consumers of packaged goods products in the United States recently have faced an onslaught of frontof- package (FOP) nutrition symbols and icons, including the controversial “Smart Choices” single summary indicator. In a between-subjects experiment with 520 adult consumers, the authors compare effects of the Smart Choices (SC) icon, the more complex Traffic Light–Guideline Daily Amounts (TLGDAs) icon, and a no-FOP icon control for a nutritionally moderate food that qualifies for the SC icon. Drawing from principles of heuristic processing and halo effects, the authors predict and find that the SC icon can lead to positive (and potentially misleading) nutrient evaluations and product healthfulness when compared with the TL-GDA icon or no-FOP icon control. When the Nutrition Facts Panel is not available, the TL-GDA icon results in substantially greater nutrition accuracy scores than with the SC icon or control. The authors also find that nutrition consciousness is more likely to moderate effects related to the Nutrition Facts Panel than the FOP nutrition icon information. Implications are offered for public health officials, nutrition researchers, and food manufacturers, as the Food and Drug Administration considers FOP nutrition alternatives for use in the United States.

Ethical Myopia: The Case of "Framing" by Framing

Alan E. Singer et al. — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:18:10 PST

Searching for a Global Code of Conduct

Eugene R. Laczniak et al. — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:01:17 PST

As organizations continue to increase their level of operations across international borders, their ethical conduct becomes a greater social concern. A global code of ethics allows organizations to follow one code for all countries rather than creating and administering multiple separate codes. Currently, there are several thoughtful global codes of ethics developed by different stakeholders. This paper provides an analysis of some of the major global codes of ethics available to multinational corporations. Their shared norms are identified and synthesized into three Hyper Norms that can both aid marketing organizations in formulating their core principles and be applied to research dealing with macromarketing systems.

Public Perceptions of the Midwest’s Pavements: Policies and Thresholds

David Kuemmel et al. — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:38:36 PST

A 5-year, pooled fund study with the Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin departments of transportation assessed the public's perceptions of pavement improvement strategies and developed thresholds of satisfaction using the departments' physical indices, such as pavement ride and condition on rural, two-lane highways in the states. Approximately 3,600 drivers in the three states were involved in the three phases of the project, which included 18 focus groups, 400 statewide surveys in each state, and 2,300 targeted surveys across the three states. A multidisciplinary team from Marquette University and a mass media survey lab conducted the studies. A summary of focus group methods and purposes and a three-state summary of policy and improvement issues are provided. More than 450 highway segments were surveyed in Phase III, with input from 2,300 drivers through a two-step recruitment and postdrive interview. Thresholds of International Roughness Index and condition indices are summarized for the three states. The study found a high degree of trust in the three departments of transportation and public support for building longer-lasting pavements and minimizing delay. A three-step methodology is recommended for other state studies. Physical data thresholds using both public satisfaction and the agreement to improve are presented for each state's physical pavement indices (ride and condition).

Brands and Their Meaning Makers

Chris T. Allen et al. — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:04:03 PST