Portrayals of Minorities and Women in Super Bowl Advertising

Portrayals of women and minorities advertising have long been of interest to advertising scholars. While research has found that the overall representation of these groups has increased, some stereotypes persist, and so do questions about the quality and prominence of portrayals. This study examines portrayals of minorities and women in Super Bowl advertising, the main “pop culture” showcase for US advertising. A content analysis of 10 years of Super Bowl ads is conducted and a multinomial logit regression model is employed to delve deeper into the content analysis results. Findings show that while the overall representation of women and various minority groups is strong, a deeper analysis shows that these groups are seldom depicted as primary characters by themselves and that some subtle stereotypes persist. We also find that ads featuring female principal characters are more likely to feature home settings, sexual appeals, emotional messages, and music as a major element and that it is less likely for female (vs. male) celebrities to be used. Minority principal characters are more likely to be celebrities and be included in ads with music or for technical products but are less likely to be included in ads featuring corporate social responsibility messages.     

Does Congruence with an Entrepreneur Social Identity Encourage Positive Emotion Under Environmental Dynamism?

Entrepreneurial identities and emotions can have profound effects on entrepreneurs. We examine how positive emotion (PE) among entrepreneurs may be influenced by the congruence they experience between their self‐concept and the entrepreneur social identity. Given that uncertainty in the business environment can exert powerful effects throughout the entrepreneurial process, we further test the moderating impact of environmental dynamism on the relationship between identity congruence and PE. Results from a study of 175 entrepreneurs indicate that entrepreneurs experiencing greater congruence have higher levels of PE, and that this relationship is stronger in more dynamic environments.     

Safety concerns related to modular/prefabricated building construction

The US construction industry annually experiences a relatively high rate of fatalities and injuries; therefore, improving safety practices should be considered a top priority for this industry. Modular/prefabricated building construction is a construction strategy that involves manufacturing of the whole building or some of its components off-site. This research focuses on the safety performance of the modular/prefabricated building construction sector during both manufacturing and on-site processes. This safety evaluation can serve as the starting point for improving the safety performance of this sector. Research was conducted based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated accidents. The study found 125 accidents related to modular/prefabricated building construction. The details of each accident were closely examined to identify the types of injury and underlying causes. Out of 125 accidents, there were 48 fatalities (38.4%), 63 hospitalized injuries (50.4%), and 14 non-hospitalized injuries (11.2%). It was found that, the most common type of injury in modular/prefabricated construction was ‘fracture’, and the most common cause of accidents was ‘fall’. The most frequent cause of cause (underlying and root cause) was ‘unstable structure’. In this research, the accidents were also examined in terms of corresponding location, occupation, equipment as well as activities during which the accidents occurred. For improving safety records of the modular/prefabricated construction sector, this study recommends that future research be conducted on stabilizing structures during their lifting, storing, and permanent installation, securing fall protection systems during on-site assembly of components while working from heights, and developing training programmes and standards focused on modular/prefabricated construction.     

The influence of the DinEX service quality dimensions on casual-dining restaurant customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions

The following empirical study examines the effects of specific service quality dimensions from the DinEX model on customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The originality of DinEX over other restaurant service quality instruments is primarily its focus on dimensions such as social connectedness and homophily, which represent social constructs that portray an internal sense of belonging and the tendency for people to affiliate with similar others. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed in an independent casual-dining restaurant located in the southeastern United States and a sample of 209 respondents was obtained. Results show that food healthfulness and food quality have an influence on customers’ satisfaction, which in turn affects their behavioral intentions. The implications for practitioners are discussed in detail.     

Boardroom centrality and firm performance

Firms with central boards of directors earn superior risk-adjusted stock returns. A long (short) position in the most (least) central firms earns average annual returns of 4.68%. Firms with central boards also experience higher future return-on-assets growth and more positive analyst forecast errors. Return prediction, return-on-assets growth, and analyst errors are concentrated among high growth opportunity firms or firms confronting adverse circumstances, consistent with boardroom connections mattering most for firms standing to benefit most from information and resources exchanged through boardroom networks. Overall, our results suggest that director networks provide economic benefits that are not immediately reflected in stock prices.     

Market convergence and advertising standardization in the European Union

In this study, we draw on industrial organization and institutional research to explore the relationship between market convergence and standardization of advertising programs. We argue that environmental isomorphism, which maintains that the external market environment is a principal driver of firms’ institutional structures, places pressure on firms to adapt their organizational structures and strategies to changing institutional conditions. We propose that the convergence associated with European market integration will lead firms to emphasize three advertising strategies: creating a uniform brand image, appealing to cross-market segments, and increasing cost performance in advertising. Further, we hypothesize that these strategies will be associated with an overall tendency to standardize advertising strategy and execution. Results of a survey of managers of subsidiaries of Japanese and U.S. firms operating in the EU suggest that firms that believe the EU is converging are more likely to engage in these standardized advertising strategies. Additionally, our findings suggest that firms that seek to create a uniform brand image and appeal to cross-market segments are more likely to standardize their overall advertising programs. Finally, we find that firms’ desire to create a uniform brand image is a function of their goal of building brand equity, regardless of the level to which markets converge. We draw implications for research and practice regarding firm responses to market convergence.     

Effects of Lightness‐Location Congruency on Consumers’ Purchase Decision‐Making

A considerable body of psychological and neuroscientific research has demonstrated the existence of robust sensory correspondences between various features, attributes, or dimensions of experience in different sensory modalities. Despite findings indicating the importance of sensory correspondences to human information processing, research on purchase decision‐making has not to date focused sufficiently on this phenomenon. The present study examines how the lightness of packaging colors, and the location of products on a display shelf interact to affect consumers’ purchase decision‐making via perceived visual heaviness. As predicted, a display with light (dark) colored products positioned in the upper (lower) shelf positions increases shoppers’ perceptual fluency and facilitates their visual search, thus leading to the suggestion that “light” (heavy) locations are most appropriate for light (dark) colored products. Moreover, the lightness‐location congruent display is shown to influence people's choice behavior positively as well. This research also demonstrates that when consumers consider the lightness (in terms of their weight) of the products, they are more likely to choose light (vs. dark) colored products located in the upper shelf positions. These results therefore demonstrate that consumers’ purchase decision‐making may be promoted by in‐store environments designed to be congruent with their sensory correspondences.