The role of disclosure in organized word‐of‐mouth marketing programs

Prevailing views of organized word‐of‐mouth (WOM) marketing programs suggest that disclosing corporate affiliation reduces perceived credibility and hampers campaign effectiveness. To test this view we surveyed WOM marketing agents and their conversational partners (CP) after a WOM marketing episode. Results indicate that when disclosure occurred – defined as when the CP was aware they were talking with a person participating in an organized WOM marketing program – agents were rated as more credible, CPs had fewer negative feelings about the agent's corporate affiliation, and CPs told more people about the brand being discussed. These counter‐intuitive results can be explained in part by the existing personal relationship between the agent and CP and invite us to consider how personal relationships may moderate the impact and potential business advantages of disclosure in organized WOM marketing programs.     

Transfer of Marketing Knowledge Within Business‐Nonprofit Collaborations

Companies often develop collaborative joint ventures with nonprofits, and sometimes help their nonprofit partners with the marketing activities associated with these projects. Often, the assistance furnished is embodied in a transfer of knowledge from a firm to a nonprofit and involves knowledge about marketing techniques, strategies and methods. This article presents the results of a survey concerning the extents, natures and effectiveness of marketing knowledge transfers taking place between 291 UK enterprises and their nonprofit partner organisations. The survey covered the knowledge transfer methods that companies employed, the scope of the knowledge communicated, the factors that encouraged or impeded marketing knowledge transfer, and the considerations that determined which partner completed most of the marketing tasks associated with a project. It emerged that knowledge transfers occurred mainly through face‐to‐face communications, though with little formal teamworking. Both the extent and the effectiveness of transfers depended on the degree of marketing knowledge within the nonprofit partner, on levels of knowledge specificity and project complexity, and on the financial importance of the collaboration. The extent of knowledge transfer was additionally influenced by cultural and organisational distance. Similar considerations affected commercial partners' decisions to do most of the marketing work required by a collaboration. Such decisions were especially likely if anti‐marketing bias existed within the nonprofit organisation and if the nonprofit's staff knew little about marketing.     

Mo(VI)‐5‐Br‐PADAP‐KBrO3极谱吸附波研究

在0.0046mol/L HAC -0.0046mol/L NaAC(PH=4.8)溶液中,以5.39×10-4 mol/L2[(5‐溴‐2‐吡啶)‐偶氮]‐5‐(二乙氨基)苯酚(5‐Br‐PADAP)与0.018mol/L KBrO3为体系,峰电位EP=-0.71V (VS .SCE),峰电流与Mo(VI)浓度在1.5×10-8 mol/L -2.0×10-6 mol/L范围内呈线性关系下,检出限可达5.0×10-9 mol/L ,并且用多种电化学手段研究极谱波的性质及反应机理,实验表明为具吸附性质的吸附波.应用该法测定污水、自来水中Mo(VI)含量及回收实验,结果表明此法简便可行.     

The Impact of Smokers' Group‐Membership and Activist Gender on Tolerance for Smoking,Receptiveness and Perceived Susceptibility to Anti‐Smoking Messages,and Likelihood of Anti‐Smoking Activism

Using two experiments we demonstrate that people have lower tolerance for smoking and higher anti‐smoking activism likelihood when in‐group versus out‐group members smoke. The likelihood of anti‐smoking activism toward in‐group smokers was greater for men than women. Moreover, as social distance declined, men showed greater anti‐smoking message receptiveness, message susceptibility and activism likelihood, whereas, women displayed no significant differences in tolerance for smoking, message receptiveness, message susceptibility, and activism likelihood. Open‐ended responses indicated generally negative cognitive reactions to smokers, yet a broad unwillingness to confront them. While feelings of personal relevance and caring facilitated anti‐smoking activism intentions, beliefs in the freedom of personal choice and polite interpersonal interactions hindered these intentions.     

Other‐Centered Behavior and The Dialectics of Self and Other

The social sciences in general and consumer research in particular have been detrimentally hampered by the presumption of self‐interest as an exclusive foundation of human behavior. As a result, conduct that fails to conform to the self‐interest paradigm has often been ignored, or worse, grossly twisted to fit the dominant categorizations. This article attempts to revisit the self‐interest assumption and renegotiate the subsequent interpretations of other‐centered behavior. An open dialogue concerning these pressing issues involves investigating the fundamental conceptions of self, other, and identity. Such a discussion enables a critical review of existing consumer research of other‐centered behavior and invites new lines of consumer research. More important, it compels one to openly consider the place of self/other relationship in contemporary consumer culture(s).     

Governance of Knowledge‐Intensive Firms in the Modern Market Economy

We model contracting for joint production between workers and shareholders when investment in knowledge is non‐verifiable and the resulting specific human capital embedded in the workers is non‐tradable. The model explains how the effective cost of human capital services will vary depending on whether the investment in knowledge is financed by the workers or by the shareholders. We apply the results of the modeling to identify which firms are expected to gain and which to lose from posted trends in higher employability and lower empowerment of workers in modern market economies. Finally, we present conditions on the self‐interest of current shareholders to empower workers as a way to stimulate their investment in firm‐specific human capital.     

Exploring the Importance of Gay‐friendliness and its Socialization Influences

Gay men and lesbian consumers are increasingly representing a desired target audience for brands seeking to build brand loyalty in an under‐tapped market. The existing literature on marketing to gay men and lesbians suggests that brands targeting this market should position themselves as gay‐friendly. Nevertheless, little is known about consumer perceptions of gay‐friendliness, its antecedents or the socialization processes relevant to establishing a brand's gay‐friendly claim. This paper attempts to fill this void by reporting the results of a survey of gay men and lesbian consumers. The survey assessed the factors involved in perceptions of gay‐friendliness, socialization sources and the relationship between gay‐friendly brand claims and attitudes towards the brand.     

Building Relationships with Major‐Gift Donors: A Major‐Gift Decision‐Making,Relationship‐Building Model

An important concern for many nonprofits is their major gift (MG) fundraising. Major gifts comprise substantial percentages of a nonprofit's annual budget, but to date there has not been any available stand‐alone, data‐driven, encompassing, nonprofit MG fundraising model. We propose the AID‐TIM (awareness and understanding, interest and involvement, desire to help, trial gift, information about what and how to give, and major gift action) model to alleviate that situation. Underpinnings of the model, explanation of the elements that make up the model, and benefits of using the model are discussed. Finally, detailed, how‐to sections for each element of the model are included.     

The Impact of Revenue Sources on Marketing Behavior: Examining Web‐Promotion and Place‐Marketing in Nonprofit Organizations

To overcome failure to generate profits from the goods they produce, nonprofit organizations have unique methods to generate and sustain capital flows resulting in distinct exchange relationships. This leads scholars to argue that nonprofit marketing strategies should differ as well. Given the lack of empirical work that investigates this possibility, this article explores how the uniqueness of the nonprofit funding environment shapes the ways in which nonprofits use business principles to market their products and services, asking if the resource acquisition process is the primary mechanism that predicts business‐like marketing behavior. Findings indicate that both the resource acquisition process and institutional relationships are influential in predicting business‐like marketing behavior.     

The application of micro‐modelling to predicting total market mix potential

In this paper, following a review of the historical development of research methods for predicting volume sales and brand shares of new products, a new model (MicroTest) is described which uses information gathered in a concept/product test for volume prediction. The model makes use of brand‐related parameters (such as advertising and distribution), attitudinal predispositions (e.g. “experimentalism"), and circumstantial factors as input to the model, and these are described, together with the method of integrating these for predicting at the individual respondent level. Individual results are then accumulated across a sample of individuals, and grossed up to provide national sales estimates.

The paper describes the various development stages undergone in the construction of the model, and the techniques used to assist this process. In particular, the way in which Artificial Intelligence techniques such as “rule induction” was used is discussed. Finally, the paper discusses the way in which the basic model may be extended, and some recent work which used the model to generate a measure of cumulative penetration.     

Non‐Recognition of Print Advertising: Emotion Arousal and Gender Effects

Research in the behavioral sciences has found that memory tends to be enhanced by exposure to emotion‐arousing stimuli. While this relationship is not fully understood, the linkage appears to be more pronounced for females than for males. While the majority of prior studies dealing with memory have relied on the use of visual stimuli in a clinical experimental setting, this research examined the impact on memory resulting from exposure to actual print advertisements of varying degrees of arousal‐producing content. Differences in the relationship between arousal and memory were explored for male and female participants. In general, females were found to exhibit higher memory levels than males. As a single combined group, subjects exposed to emotion arousing versus emotion neutral ad. stimuli exhibited no significant difference in memory. For the set of emotion neutral ad. stimuli, no difference in memory was found between sexes. However, retention was significantly higher for females than males for the set of emotion‐arousing stimuli. The study identifies opportunities for further applied memory research.     

Residual Brand Awareness Following the Termination of a Long‐term Event Sponsorship and the Appointment of a New Sponsor

This study examined brand awareness after a change in sponsor and audience perceptions about the sponsors and the event before and after the change. A survey of the audience at a surfing event was conducted. The findings were that the original sponsor maintained high awareness levels with the audience, particularly awareness of the previously sponsored event, thereby supporting the proposition that long‐term sponsorship supports long‐term brand awareness. Secondly, the research found that a change in sponsorship does not necessarily lead to changes in respondents' perceptions of the event. Thirdly, the research showed that there was a mismatch in the values of the original sponsor and the event, whereas the current sponsor had a closer match with the event's values. Sponsorships change fairly frequently and it would be of interest to sponsors to know the extent to which benefits continue to accrue after they have stopped sponsoring an event. Since almost no research has been carried out on residual awareness and awareness decay, this paper should contribute to knowledge about the cessation of sponsorships, as well as to the broader field of sponsorship knowledge.     

Using Commitments to Drive Consistency: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Cause‐related Marketing Communications

Research has consistently found that, despite a high degree of expressed concern about the environment, few individuals are willing to follow‐up this concern with behavioural actions in support of the environment, particularly when these actions require the individuals to absorb some costs. Using the theoretical framework of commitment–consistency theory, two studies were conducted in order to examine the effect of a small, active commitment to an environmental cause on consumer preference for an advertised product that supported that cause. The empirical results show strong support for the fact that persuading consumers to make an active commitment to a cause can serve as an important prerequisite for behavioural consistency (in terms of the willingness to buy a product). Further, the paper adds to the evidence on self‐perception theory as an underlying mechanism for the effectiveness of the technique. It is also found that, although commitment increases willingness to buy a product related to the cause, the effect works only when the cost associated with supporting the cause is minimal. The implications for marketing communications theory and practice are discussed.     

Comparative Effects of Organization–Public Relationships and Product‐related Attributes on Brand Attitude

This study empirically investigates how the dimensions of organization–public relationships, i.e. trust, control mutuality, commitment, and satisfaction, are related to brand attitude formation. In order to establish a benchmark for analysis, it also compares the effects of organization–public relationships on brand attitude to those of product‐related attribute beliefs. The results of a survey conducted using a branded laptop computer product showed that, while both organization–public relationships and product‐related attributes were significantly related to attitude towards the brand, among the dimensions of organization–public relationships only ‘satisfaction’ was a significant predictor of brand attitude. In addition, the explanatory power of organization–public relationships was found to be weaker than that of product‐related attribute beliefs in predicting brand attitudes.     

Organising IMC roles and functions in the business‐to‐business network environment

As products and distribution channels become more homogenised, and competing on the basis of price more difficult, integrated marketing communications (IMC) has been identified as the ‘new frontier’ for effective differentiation. Research identifying roles and functions of IMC has primarily been focused on firms operating in the final consumer market. This research seeks to extend our understanding of the role and functions of IMC in business‐to‐business markets, with specific reference to an industry network. In order to achieve this, this paper explores the roles and functions (i.e. the associated organisation of IMC activities) adopted by the Tasmanian Light Shipbuilding Network (TLSN). In total, this research found evidence of three distinct roles (IMC Champion, Government Lobbyist, and Network Ambassador) that together served to implement the IMC functions of gathering, analysing and disseminating key marketing information throughout the network of firms. This research also presents an IMC framework that represents the manner in which the various network members coordinated the various IMC roles and functions.     

Review of Guillaume Plantin and Jean‐Charles Rochet,When Insurers Go Bust: An Economic Analysis of the Role and Design of Prudential Regulation

When Insurers Go Bust applies agency theory and the theories of adverse selection and moral hazard as the motivation for prudential regulation of insurance. The resulting scheme has strong flavors of verifiability, simplicity, consistency, and transparency. In consequence, ruin theory does not have an operational role. Theory is applied in familiar ways that are at best convenient shorthand for correct ideas and at worst acceptably suggestive. As in other sources, there is inappropriate emphasis on the general theory of excessive risk‐taking, which tends to deflect attention from the specific nature of insurance firms, but the theoretical excess is adequately counterbalanced by thoughtful case studies. This book is useful for the insurance scholar and feasible as a segment of an advanced undergraduate course.     

The (re‐)configuration of production and consumption in empty nest households/families

In this paper we examine how the complex relationship between consumption and production evolves in empty nest households as individuals reconstruct their sense of self during periods of major household change and role status transitions. Specifically, we seek to understand the “lived experience” of mothers as they negotiate the role status transition on entering the empty nest stage of family life, and thus to provide glimpses of how women manage production and consumption in order to create family life across a variety of diffused sites as their children move away from home. The main themes to emerge from the data are: the distress associated with this role status transition as women re‐evaluate their definition of the self and their mothering role; and the evolving role of enacting love and mothering as the emphasis changes, in many cases, from production‐led tasks to consumption‐based activities.     

The Move to the Middle: Convergence of the Open‐Source and Proprietary Software Industries

In this paper we focus on open‐source software within the broader framework of the software industry. More specifically, we compare proprietary and open‐source software (OSS) companies in terms of three criteria: (a) approaches to the production of software; (b) business models; and (c) strategic interactions. We postulate three convergence hypotheses. First, there is evidence of convergence in production approaches: leading OSS firms tend to rely on R&D and acquisitions as intensely as leading proprietary companies do. Second, there is evidence of convergence in business models: through dual‐licensing models, top OSS firms derive substantial portions of their revenues from licenses, just as many proprietary companies do. Third, there is evidence of convergence in strategic interactions: the competitive strategies that a company follows do not really hinge on the ‘proprietary versus open‐source’ dichotomy, but on whether a firm feels threatened in the software layer where its core assets are located. This evidence of convergence raises a number of interesting questions for economic theory and for the analysis of the industry’s future evolution.