The Effects of Cultural Dimensions on Ethical Decision Making in Marketing: An Exploratory Study

As more and more firms operate globally, an understanding of the effects of cultural differences on ethical decision making becomes increasingly important for avoiding potential business pitfalls and for designing effective international marketing management programs. Although several articles have addressed this area in general, differences along specific, cultural dimensions have not been directly examined. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine differences in ethical decision making within Hofstede's cultural framework. The results confirm the utility of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and place ethical decision making within an overall theoretical framework. Sales agents from a high power distance, uncertainty avoidant, Confucian, collectivist culture (i.e., Taiwan) placed more value on company and fellow employee interests (vis-à-vis self interests) than did managers from a masculine, individualistic culture (i.e., the United States). American and Taiwanese managers did not differ in their deontological norms or on the importance that they placed on customer interests. The theoretical and managerial importance of these findings are also discussed.     

Using Eye Tracking to Understand the Effects of Brand Placement Disclosure Types in Television Programs

This eye tracking experiment (N = 149) investigates the influence of different ways of disclosing brand placement on viewers’ visual attention, the use of persuasion knowledge, and brand responses. The results showed that (1) a combination of text (“This program contains product placement”) and a product placement (PP) logo was most effective in enhancing the recognition of advertising and that a logo alone was least effective; (2) this effect was mediated by viewers’ visual attention to the disclosure and brand placement; and (3) the recognition of advertising consequently increased brand memory and led to more negative brand attitudes.     

国内网红经济与国外影响者营销的联系与区别——基于对于概念的比较和考察

当下国内网红经济与国外影响者营销的实践发展日新月异,但相关理论发展远远滞后,且两者作为两个独立的体系各自发展,双方的交流对话严重不足,从而成为制约这一领域学术发展的瓶颈。同时,国内网红研究多参考外国理论和先行研究进行解释和模型构建,而少有本土独创性理论,也少有研究深入讨论,中国的网红和外国的社交媒体影响者(SMIs)、网红经济和影响者营销(IM)是否在概念上等价。同时当下网红经济的关注焦点聚集在直播营销领域,也少有研究系统考察两者的联系和区别。对此,本文研究在哲学对概念内涵与外延理解的指导下,建立先行文献数据库并系统地对中国的网红与网红经济、中国的网红与国外的社交媒体影响者,中国的网红经济与直播营销、中国的网红经济和国外的影响者营销的概念进行梳理,并找出他们的区别和联系。并在此基础上探讨国外的理论在哪些方面是可以借用的,在哪些方面急需中国自己的理论构建,以期为未来的理论发展提供一定参考。     

An Examination of Cheating and its Antecedents Among Marketing and Management Majors

This study examines cheating behaviors among 742 marketing and management majors at three public AACSB-accredited business schools. Specifically, we studied the simultaneous influence of demographic and attitudinal characteristics on: (1) reported prior cheating behavior; (2) the tendency to neutralize cheating behaviors; and, (3) likelihood of future cheating. We additionally examined the impact of in-class deterrents on neutralization of cheating behaviors and the likelihood of future cheating. We also directly tested potential mediating effects of neutralization on cheating behavior.We conducted independent assessments of the validity of the Smith et al. (2002) model of cheating behavior and its antecedents using structural equations modeling procedures. Results supported the differentiation of the theoretical constructs within the specified process model. Furthermore, tests of the aforementioned theoretical model indicated that the primary influences on future cheating were prior cheating, and the degree to which one neutralized prior cheating behaviors. Equally noteworthy, in contrast to previous research we found in-class deterrents to have no significant influence in either neutralizing behavior or future cheating proclivities.     

An Early Critical Examination of Using Simulation in the Teaching of International Marketing

An export marketing simulation game, "Export To Win!", is evaluated for its pedagogical contribution to an undergraduate international marketing course. Criteria used in the evaluation include instructional, usage, and presentation characteristics, user control, and students' personaUprofessional development. On the basis of the observed strengths and weaknesses in the use of ETW, the paper offers several suggestions for designing and implementing similar programs in the future.     

旅游企业微博营销效应分析

本文利用Vensim模型,分析微博在旅游企业中的营销效应,探讨微博营销相对于传统营销的优势---微博具备便捷、互动、广泛等特点,能够促使消费者在引起注意、激发兴趣、搜索信息、产生行动、分享信息的过程中形成良性循环,帮助旅游企业实现低成本的口碑营销、拉式营销和病毒式营销,在最大程度上将潜在旅游者转化成真正的旅游者。     

Cause-Related Marketing: An Exploratory Study of Campaign Donation Structures Issues

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, cause-related marketing (CRM) has become a popular and unique promotional tool for brands. Academic research indicates outcomes of such campaigns are generally positive for all stakeholders. Consumers feel they are making a difference, firms benefit from improved public image and increased sales, and the cause or nonprofit organization receives increased publicity and funding. However, there are ethical issues involved when linking a firm with a nonprofit organization as well as potential negatives (Smith and Stodghill 1994; Andreasan 1996; Meyer 1999; Polonsky and Wood 2001). An exploratory research study was undertaken to understand the impact of the structural elements of cause-related marketing campaigns, including how the donation is quantified, the size of the donation relative to the price of the product, the presence of donation deadlines and caps, and the level of promotion used to publicize the campaign. Findings suggest that the structural elements of cause-related marketing campaigns do influence consumers' perceptions of the campaigns. Based on these results, implications for CRM campaign managers and future research ideas are provided. This information will help practitioners, including marketing managers, advertising managers and advertising creative professionals to design the most effective communication tactics for a cause-related marketing campaign.     

Tracking a Growth Industry: The Development of Marketing Research Services in Canada

The marketing research industry in Canada has grown rapidly during the past twenty years or so, both in the number of users of research and the number of practitioners offering professional marketing research services, and in the type of research being done. The changing nature of the Canadian market-place, coupled with a growing appreciation of the cultural diversity of the country and of the fact that Canadian consumers are not exactly like Americans, has contributed to m increasing acceptance of marketing research in Canadian business. In addition, the use of research techniques in public sector and not- for-profit organisations has become generally accepted in recent years. The techniques used in Canadian marketing research have also undergone considerable change, as researchers are now making much greater use of recently-available technology, computer-based simulations, and automated data capture at the check-outs of retail stores. Possibly the greatest change has been in the increased use of qualitative techniques, reflecting marketers' increased concern for the deeply-held opinions and attitudes of consumers.     

Developing a Marketing Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations: An Exploratory Study

Nonprofit organizations have grown tremendously in the last three decades. With this growth has come a greater interest from the nonprofit sector in the importance of marketing. Nonprofits did not apply marketing techniques until 1960–1970, but it is now a well accepted practice. Traditional marketing strategies do not work for nonprofit organizations, and this study proposes the development of a new marketing strategy specifically for this sector. Through the use of interviews and surveys, the authors examine issues of marketing strategy that are distinct for nonprofits. Unlike previous studies, this study examines these issues from the viewpoint of the nonprofit organization. The perception of marketing is different in nonprofit organizations, and the strategic implications of this finding are discussed.     

An Analysis of Endorsement Effects in Affinity Marketing: The Case for Affinity Credit Cards

In recent years, affinity-marketing strategy has been widely used by for-profit organizations, particularly financial institutions, to leverage the goodwill and endorsement of affinity groups to promote their service offerings to group members. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the underlying factors driving the effectiveness of endorsement as it affects the process by which members make choices. Applying affinity credit cards as the research context, this study examines whether the addition of endorsement effects (i.e., affect transfer effect, perceived quality effect, and cause-related effect) of a positively valued affinity group would have any impact on its members' choice processes as depicted in the traditional hierarchy-of-effects model. The results of this empirical study confirm all the hypotheses, with the exception of affect transfer.     

Toward an Understanding of Religiousness and Marketing Ethics: An Empirical Study

This study examines the influence of religiousness on different components of marketing professionals' ethical decision making: personal moral philosophies, perceived ethical problem, and ethical intentions. The data are from a national survey of the American Marketing Associations' professional members. The results generally indicate that the religiousness of a marketer can partially explain his or her perception of an ethical problem and behavioral intentions. Results also suggest that the religiousness significantly influences the personal moral philosophies of marketers.     

Marketers' Norms and Personal Values: An Empirical Study of Marketing Professionals

This study explores the relationships among marketers' deontological norms and their personal values. Based on the review of theoretical works in the area of marketing, hypotheses concerning the relationships among marketers' norms and their personal values were developed and tested. Data were collected from 249 marketing professionals. Results from canonical correlation analysis generally indicate that marketers' norms can be partly explained by personal values. Marketers' pricing and distribution norms, information and contract norms, and norms pertaining to marketers' honesty and integrity were significantly related to the personal values emphasizing "excitement," "warm relationships with others," "fun and enjoyment in life," and "a sense of accomplishment."     

Divergence in Variety Seeking: An Exploratory Study Among International Travelers in Asia

ABSTRACT

Variety seeking is a tendency in consumer behavior in which the consumer alternates between different makes of the same item in the quest for diversity. Variety seeking and exploratory behaviors help explain tourists’ consumption behavior and choice-making methods. Some studies have focused on the choice of food, restaurants, theme parks, travel activities, or destinations, but only a few have taken place within an international context. In this study, the influence of variety seeking and exploratory buying on travelers’ consumption behavior within an international context is analyzed. In essence, Asian travelers are compared with Western travelers. Several factors, which help explain divergence in variety seeking, are included in the analysis. The results demonstrate that variety seeking and an exploratory tendency have a significant relationship with travelers’ consumption behavior (for both Asian and Western travelers). In general, customers who have a high tendency for variety seeking are less loyal; however, there is no discernible difference between Asian and Western tourists in this regard.     

An Introduction of Epistemology to Business Ethics: A Study of Marketing Middle-Managers

A vast majority of marketing theory and research has focused on relativism and idealism in order to understand ethical behavior. However, making ethical assessments that in turn influence behavior is much more complicated than it appears. One of the most important developments in contemporary philosophy has been the renewed interest in epistemic virtue. Epistemologists contend that belief is an ethical process that is susceptible to the intellectual virtue or vice of one’s own life and personal experiences. Open-mindedness, curiosity, careful thinking, creativity, and intellectual courage are the foundations of epistemic virtues. Closed-mindedness, intellectual overconfidence, unimaginativeness, intellectual conformity, and wishful thinking are among epistemic vices. The purpose of this investigation is to introduce epistemology to marketing ethics by linking it to personal moral philosophies (idealism and relativism) and optimism to explain various ethically challenging organizational behaviors. The items of epistemology were developed and pretested by the lead author of this study. Structural equations (LISREL) analyses found that epistemic virtues and vices are better predictors of ethical behavior than were personal moral philosophies (idealism and relativism), and their influence on mild and severe levels of unethical behaviors was enhanced by the moderator variable, optimism. Implications are designed to develop suggestions for improving ethical behavior in the workplace.     

An Early Academic Enterprise: A Study of Technology Transfer

This article examines the foreign influence on the education of Norwegian business managers before 1940. As in other Scandinavian countries, Norwegian educational institutions were strongly inspired by German models. However, the first Norwegian business school was not established until 1936, and this study examines how managers were educated when institutions were weakly developed. It is argued that an efficient use of foreign institutions to train managers more than compensated for the lack of domestic institutions. This system of combining national and foreign educational institutions is related to the debate on the links between educational systems and economic development.     

The External Relationships in Relationship Marketing: An Exploration

The External Relationship Marketing Component Model (ERMCM) moves thinking away from discrete relationships by providing sellers with the “big picture”, permitting the development and maintenance of productive long-term relationships. The value proposition of the ERMCM lies in facilitating acknowledging the multiple embedded relationships among stakeholders, identifying the salient stakeholders, and examining the nature of relationships between various stakeholders.