Gordon C. Bruner

Social desirability bias: A neglected aspect of validity testing

A tremendous growth in the use of multi-item scales in marketing research has occurred over the past two decades. Concurrently, there is increasing concern about the quality of these measures. Although the majority of marketing-related articles now discuss the reliability of the scales administered, few address the issue of scale validity. One aspect of scale validity, which should be of particular concern to marketing researchers, is the potential threat of contamination due to social-desirability response bias. However, a careful review of nearly 20 years of published research suggests that social-desirability bias has been consistently neglected in scale construction, evaluation, and implementation. The purpose of this article is to discuss the nature of such a bias, methods for identifying, testing for and/or preventing it, and how these methods can and should be implemented in consumer-related research. ©: 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Web Commercials and Advertising Hierarchy-of-Effects

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend a previous study (Stevenson, Bruner, and Kumar, 2000) by further exploring the advertising hierarchy-of-effects and its antecedents in the context of the world wide web. In doing this, the effects of webpage complexity and dynamic content (e.g., animated graphics and commercials) on the hierarchy-of-effects were experimentally tested using non student subjects. It concludes that consumers experiences with the web, and their attitudes-towards-websites are important factors in assessing advertising effects.

Webpage Background and Viewer Attitudes

ABSTRACT For technical reasons commercials on the web, in the near future, are likely to appear in a portion of the monitor. If the videos do not fill up the entire screen, then the question becomes what should take up the rest of the space? Does the type of background have a significant impact on ones attitude toward the commercial, the product being promoted, and the website itself? This paper reports an experiment to explore the potential relationship between webpage background and viewer attitudes. The results indicate that simpler backgrounds have significantly more positive impacts on attitude-toward-the-ad, attitude-toward-the-brand, purchase intention, and attitude-toward-the-website. These results are especially relevant for those situations where it is expected that the commercials will only be seen once.

Attitude toward Location-based Advertising

ABSTRACT Location-based advertising (LBA) is not new but being able to access it through one’s mobile communication device is. Description of this revolutionary advertising medium is provided as well as some opportunities and challenges that come with it. Desperately needed is more research since in-depth examination of the topic has barely begun. To assist researchers in their investigations, a scale is provided here that is likely to become central to many studies: attitude toward location-based advertising (Alba). Support for the scale’s psychometric quality comes from a preliminary study and a two-stage analysis of a large, national sample.

An exploratory investigation of the characteristics of consumer fanaticism

Purpose – The purpose is to examine the behaviors of consumers engaged in fan activity and determine if there are attitudinal and behavioral characteristics common across the differing fan subcultures.Design/methodology/approach – The characteristics affecting fan behavior are examined through the literature and a series of structured interviews with fans which are then evaluated for the presence or lack of the sought for characteristics of fanaticism.Findings – The research indicates that there are certain common characteristics to be found in fans interested in different topics and that these characteristics influence the behaviors of those involved in fan behavior.Research limitations/implications – Given the prevalence of fan influences in popular and consumptive culture, opportunity exists for research beyond the exploratory work done here including larger interview populations from a greater number of fan subcultures.Practical implications – Marketing professionals may use the identified characteris...

Using Organizational Culture to Design Internal Marketing Strategies

Considers how recent concerns with service quality have led to increased awareness of the importance of the role of the front‐line employee, the service provider. Describes how internal marketing has been instrumental in raising service providers′ performance. Develops a method, drawing on organizational literature, for identifying segments of the service organization which can be targeted by internal marketing. Argues that the service marketer should view employees as “customers” who can be analysed using marketing techniques, thereby enabling the enhancement of service quality. Includes detailed recommendations and an appendix.

The Antecedents of the Market Orientation in Higher Education

ABSTRACT Colleges appear to be more eager and willing than ever to adopt a market orientation given declining enrollments and the downsizing that many are experiencing. Yet, the factors which foster and produce a market orientation have not been well defined in previous research. This study examines three antecedents of the market orientation within the context of higher education: institution size (student enrollment), source of funding (public/private), and institutional innovativeness. While the findings indicate that all three have some effect on adoption of a marketing orientation, innovativeness overwhelmingly plays the largest role. The implications for administrators as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Multi-item scale usage in marketing journals: 1980 to 1989

The use of multi-item scales reported in six marketing journals during the 1980s is analyzed. The analysis replicates some aspects of the Churchill and Peter (1984) study and extends the examination to issues not reviewed previously in marketing. The database for the study is unique in that it attempts to incorporate every instance of scale usage from the defined domain. Among the findings is that the use of multi-item scales increased substantially during the 1980s but the reliability of those scales was not different from earlier periods. A majority of scales have their origins in marketing and nearly half of all scales were used to measure consumer behavior constructs.

Self-efficacy as an antecedent of cognition and affect in technology acceptance

Purpose – This paper aims to examine whether self-efficacy plays an important role in shaping the effect of cognition and affects in high technology adoption. It also examines whether cognition and affect mediate the effect of self-efficacy on attitude toward adoption. Design/methodology/approach – Using an experimental survey to collect data, subjects performed two different tasks (utilitarian and hedonic) to make sure that they had cognitive and affective experiences to draw upon as they developed attitudes toward the focal innovation. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the model. Findings – The result shows that self-efficacy influenced cognitive perceptions and emotional reactions. Specifically, self-efficacy was found to play a substantive role in shaping individuals’ attitudes via a cognitive route (perceived usefulness and ease-of-use) and an affective one (pleasure, arousal and dominance). Research limitations/implications – The study of self-efficacy as an external variable provides...

Perceptions and Recall of Advertising Content Presented on Mobile Handled Devices

ABSTRACT With the advancements in mobile phone technology and the increase in consumer use of wireless devices to access the internet, there is a need to explore the inevitable effect of these factors on mobile advertising. In this project, we presented commercial content on wireless devices, designed to represent various modality combinations (text, audio, and pictures) to test hypotheses based on cognitive load theory. Results showed that modality significantly affected subjects’ perceptions toward and recall of the commercial content. However, modality did not affect perceptions of the mobile device itself, or influence behavioral intentions and attitudes toward mobile advertising on wireless devices. Behavioral intentions to use mobile devices were significantly predicted by consumer perceptions of content and of the device. Marketers can use these results to design more effective ads to be presented on mobile devices.