Faye W. Gilbert

The Role of Brand Personality in Charitable Giving: An Assessment and Validation

Marketing concepts such as corporate identity, image, and branding are important strategies for nonprofit organizations. In particular, brand personality has been advocated by practitioners but has not been empirically investigated in the nonprofit context. According to social exchange theory and trust, the authors argue that nonprofit stakeholders perceive nonprofit organizations at an abstract level because of the organizations’ intangibility and social ideals. This study develops and refines a parsimonious measure of brand personality specifically for the nonprofit context. The authors conduct a series of six multimethod studies of nonprofit stakeholders to validate the role of brand personality in nonprofit organizations. The results yield four dimensions of brand personality for nonprofits: integrity, nurturance, sophistication, and ruggedness. Thus, current and potential donors ascribe personality traits to nonprofit organizations and differentiate between nonprofits on the basis of the organizations’ personality. Finally, nonprofit brand personality may influence potential donors’ likelihood to contribute.

Managing culturally diverse buyer-seller relationships: The role of intercultural disposition and adaptive selling in developing intercultural communication competence

Given the increase in cultural diversity within marketing organizations as well as within current and potential customer bases, possessing the appropriate communication skills becomes crucial to success in managing culturally diverse relationships. Although marketing researchers have recognized the importance of adaptive selling behavior for successful buyer-seller relationships, the exploration of the intercultural aspects of these relationships has only recently begun. This article examines how adaptive selling behaviors and intercultural dispositions of marketing executives contribute to their perceived intercultural communication competence. Results show that in addition to being adaptive, the intercultural disposition of a marketer is of key importance in developing intercultural communication competence. Theoretical and practical implications for incorporating intercultural communication into the development of successful buyer-seller relationships are discussed.

An investigation of relationalism across a range of marketing relationships and alliances

Abstract The authors describe four important aspects of the “new” relational environment: (1) the organizational forms of marketing relationships, (2) the governance mechanisms which exist between exchange partners, (3) the perceived effectiveness of the organizational forms, and (4) expectations that the exchange relationship will continue in the future. Two contexts, National Association of Purchasing Management members and Fortune 500 executives, provide a cross-sectional investigation of vertical and horizontal exchange relationships. The results indicate that alliances are more relational than nonalliance exchanges; however, one cannot assume a relational gradation across the organizational forms (i.e., traditional supply agreements, just-in-time relationships, vertical supply alliances, and co-marketing alliances). Further, co-marketing alliances are reported as the exchange relationship with the highest expectation of continuation, but there are no differences in the perceived effectiveness across organizational forms.

Ethics and Social Responsibility in Marketing: An Examination of the Ethical Evaluation of Advertising Strategies

Abstract Controversies over the ethical implications of advertising have existed since its creation. The purpose of this research is to examine the ethical judgments of advertising and marketing practitioners with an experimental design that manipulates three critical variables of interest: individual autonomy, consumer sovereignty, and the nature of the product. Respondents generally rated ads targeted at individuals who are not autonomous (mature) as less ethical than ads targeted at those who are perceived as autonomous. Similarly, ads targeted at those with low sovereignty were perceived as less ethical than ads aimed at consumers perceived to have high sovereignty. Finally, ads for harmful products were perceived to be less ethical than ads for nonharmful products. Thus, all three variables play a significant role in terms of the ethical judgments of ads.

The Web as a Medium: An Exploratory Comparison of Internet Users versus Newspaper Readers

As the amount of time and money spent on the Internet increases, so does concern over how this new medium fits into our current media consumption patterns. Past research has revealed that Internet usage has increased at the expense of other more traditional media. Further, the Internet has come under criticism of promoting anti-social behavior, depression, and withdrawal from society. However, others speculate that the Internet has a positive impact on society so powerful that it will become an integrated part of our consumption patterns and literally reshape the information gathering process and retail landscape. Regardless of one’s position for or against this new medium, research is needed to understand how the Internet fits into our daily life as compared to other more traditional media. This study investigates characteristics of Internet users compared to a more traditional medium – newspaper readers. Consumers of each medium are compared based on their perceived materialism, shopping innovativeness, self-esteem, and volunteer inclinations. Implications for marketers and researchers are discussed.

Consumer Segments and Perceptions of Retail Ethics

Using Levy and Dubinsky’s (1983) scale as the framework, telephone respondents provided information concerning the relative severity and frequency of occurrence of ethical issues in the general ret...

The impact of ethical cues on customer satisfaction with service

Abstract This study examines the effects of ethical and unethical cues on customers’ evaluations of the ethics of a service provider and their subsequent satisfaction with the service. The results of a disguised, laboratory experiment are used to suggest that customers respond to unethical cues in the environment through lower ethical assessments and satisfaction ratings, but that ethical cues may not necessarily increase satisfaction scores when compared to a neutral situation. The implications suggest that ethical cues and an honest service provider may be the expected norm, and thus will lead to (or maintain) satisfaction with the service encounter, while unethical cues will create dissatisfaction.

Buyer-seller relationships in just-in-time purchasing environments

Abstract Manufacturers involved in just-in-time production systems must also form close relationships with suppliers if waste reduction, higher quality products, and reduced operating costs are to be achieved. This paper describes the operational characteristics of JIT purchasing, examines specific relational characteristics between buyers and sellers influenced by the adoption of JIT systems, and describes the results of tests which differentiate firms.

A Preliminary Assessment of the Effectiveness of Creativity Training in Marketing

This study reports the results of a semester of instruction in creativity theory and techniques as assessed by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. In comparison to a control group, experimental subjects improved performance on some aspects of creativity, suggesting a need to investigate associations between techniques and dimensions of creative skills.

Creativity through Education: A Process for Enhancing Students' Self-Perceptions

The issue of enhancing individual creativity in business has clear implications for marketing educators. Although the issue is receiving increased attention, instructional techniques and actual implementation of creativity-building exercises have not been widely adopted. This article describes creativity exercises and shows how self-perceived levels of creativity may be increased through education at the university level. After a semester of instruction in methods for overcoming creative blocks, students perceptions of their creativity increased regardless of the grade in the class. The results show how educators can incorporate similar procedures in other marketing classes.