John H. Summey

A Curriculum for Personal Sales Training in an Academic Setting

The purpose of this paper is to provide information useful for setting up a pragmatic workshop or laboratory in personal selling skills. Through this laboratory experience students will better understand the intricacies of a sales position and perhaps feel less frustration as new salespeople. Suitable subject areas in the laboratory are nonverbal communication skills, social interactive working skills, time management, Office management, and skills dealing with computerized information systems and problem solving. References are suggested for specific content areas or techniques.

Enhancing Class Communications through Segregated Social Networks

Some classes, due to team projects or an adaptive course of study, require a high degree of communication both from an instructor-to-student and student-to-student (peer-to-peer) perspective. There are tools, such as Blackboard, that are built for instructor-to-student communication but lack some flexibility for peer-to-peer communications. Other options, such as using Facebook, can force students to manage class information and team projects along with personal information and relationships. In this article, we summarize the results of using a segregated social network that was separate from both the campus system of Blackboard and a public-access network like Facebook.

WHAT MOTIVATES CONSUMERS TO PARTAKE IN CYBER SHILLING

The prevalence of online reviews has grown in recent years as more customer-firm interactions occur on the internet. Included in this progression is cyber shilling (users writing false reviews, either positive or negative; endorsements about products/services for profit without using or buying them; and/or users utilizing false identities to promote the products/services of a company for profit). Factors that motivate individuals to partake in cyber shilling were tested in this study using a survey of 1,752 United States (U.S.) consumers. Results indicated that: (1) perceived betrayal increased desire for revenge and reduced brand love; however, it did not lead to involvement in cyber shilling; (2) desire for revenge was negatively related to brand love; (3) both desire for revenge and brand love had an impact on cyber shilling behavior; and (4) willingness to be involved in cyber shilling increased when some sort of reward was received.

Enhancing Classroom Effectiveness through Social Networking Tools.

To determine the usefulness of social networking Web sites such as Ning.com as a communication tool in marketing courses, a study was designed with special concern for social network use in comparison to Blackboard. Students from multiple marketing courses were surveyed. Assessments of Ning.com and Blackboard were performed both to understand how they were perceived individually as useful tools and how they compare to each other. Results indicated that students who used Ning.com were more effective as a group than those who used Blackboard. In addition, students found the practical features of Ning.com to be the more important reason to recommend it for future class use. Entertainment features of Ning.com, though valued, were not as influential.

Plenty of attitude: evaluating measures of attitude toward the site

Purpose – Researchers often attempt to assess how different features and content will improve the experience of web site users. One assessment technique is to measure the attitude toward the site. A common version of this measure is the Chen and Wells attitude toward the site scale. The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is a difference in performance between that scale and the less used Bruner and Kumar scale so that researchers might use the better of the two related, but different, published scales.Design/methodology/approach – Analysis is done on survey data from an experiment utilizing three different experimental groups that all completed surveys with both the Chen and Wells and the Bruner and Kumar attitude toward the site scales. Scales are assessed for loading and reliability, as well as measures compared for equivalence within groups and used within partial least squares (PLS) models to compare overall model fit.Findings – In all tests, the Bruner and Kumar scale is better than, or e...

Expanding Publication Opportunities in Marketing Education Research

Marketing education research articles over 13 years were analyzed to discover future publication opportunities. A framework is presented within three marketing domains: program inputs, design/delivery, and outputs. Previous research shows a production orientation (program design/delivery). A marketing concept approach (program inputs and outputs) is recommended for future efforts.

Salient Choice Criteria for Selecting Marketing as an Academic Major: A Factor Analytic Approach

This research identified salient choice criteria and developed an instrument for measuring student perceptions of marketing as an academic major. The analysis identified the factor dimensions of freedom, growth and significance as being important in students’ choice decisions. MANOVA analysis examined differences in perceptions of freshmen and sophomore students.

The Effect of Advanced Written Notification on Mail Survey Response and Item Omission Rates

The purpose of this study is to examine one of the more commonly used mail survey methodological manipulations, and advanced written notification, in terms of the effects that this variable has upon both the response rate and item omission rate of the survey. Parsons and Medford (1972) on two different samples, also found that prior written notification did not increase the response rates to the survey. In contrast to the two studies above, Ford (1967) found that response rates were significantly higher when advanced written notification was employed. Ford (1967), also examined the effect of written advanced notification on the rate at which questions were left unanswered (item omission rate). Ford (1967) found that item omission rates were not significantly affected by advanced notification.

A Factor Analysis of Student Motivations for Taking International Business Courses: Implications and Suggestions

One of the currently dynamic aspects of American higher education is the internationalization of the curriculum. Business schools have joined that process by offering international business courses. International students are also increasing in their presence on college campuses thus creating new demands that the international courses be relevant to their needs. The American Academy of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) encouraged the trend a number of years ago by stating that business schools should educate business students in the various aspects of international as well as domestic business perspectives.

Dimensions of Career Choice Considerations for Male and Female Business Students

A problem facing today’s business firms is attracting and retaining the better quality graduates. An important task, therefore, is to identify and make provision for those students’ career expectations. The findings in this research identify important career expectations and indicate that there are potentially important differences between females’ and males’ expectations.