Kimberly A. Taylor

THE INFLUENCE OF CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING ON CONSUMER CHOICE: DOES ONE GOOD TURN DESERVE ANOTHER?

Are consumers more likely to select brands offered by companies that engage in cause-related marketing (CRM)? Somewhat surprisingly, little evidence exists that directly addresses this issue. Accordingly, the present examination investigates whether and when CRM efforts influence consumer choice. The results from several studies indicate that information regarding a company’s support of social causes can affect choice. However, CRM’s influence on choice is found to depend on the perceived motivation underlying the company’s CRM efforts as well as whether consumers must trade off company sponsorship of causes for lower performance or higher price. The results also indicate that CRM cues affect choice primarily through compensatory strategies involving trade-offs rather than through noncompensatory strategies. Implications of the current findings for existing theory are discussed along with directions for future research.

A Regret Theory Approach to Assessing Consumer Satisfaction

Because consumer satisfaction is an important determinant of brandloyalty and word-of-mouth communications, it has been widely studied inthe marketing literature. Much of this literature follows theexpectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, which posits satisfaction to be afunction of the positive or negative disconfirmation of onesexpectations about the chosen brand. This article proposes a richermodel of consumer satisfaction that incorporates effects ofexpectations about the options not ultimately chosen from theconsideration set. Specifically, we posit that the expectations aboutthe unchosen alternatives affect satisfaction with ones choice whenthat choice does not meet the expectations but will have little effectwhen the choice meets expectations. A series of experimental studiesprovide support for this approach.

Marketing Yourself in the Competitive Job Market: An Innovative Course Preparing Undergraduates for Marketing Careers:

Marketing employers increasingly value general qualities, such as effective communication, presentation, and teamwork skills, in their entry-level new hires rather than specific knowledge of the marketing function. Thus, graduating with a marketing degree might not provide an advantage over other college majors in securing a position and succeeding in a marketing career. This article describes an innovative course designed to help marketing majors increase their marketability by gaining or improving skills in the areas most desired by employers. The course development process, including a benchmark study and focus group with marketing professionals, is discussed, and survey results assessing students’reactions to the course are presented. Suggestions for successfully implementing a similar course and useful references are also provided.

The Case for Greater Agency Involvement in Strategic Partnerships

ABSTRACT Many marketing scholars and practitioners would agree that the ideal relationship between a client and its advertising agency is that of a strategic partnership. Yet, one element of the strategic marketing planning process—the setting of the advertising budget—still remains relatively uninfluenced by agency input. In this article, we discuss why agencies traditionally have had little input into the budget-setting process. We draw upon qualitative interviews with top marketing managers to provide insight into the agency/client relationship and identify seven factors likely to influence the extent of agency participation in budget setting. Ways in which clients and agencies can work together to increase agency participation are also discussed.

Teaching the Art of Negotiation: Improving Students' Negotiating Confidence and Perceptions of Effectiveness

Negotiation classes are one way in which many of todays managers try to develop negotiation skills. Despite the popularity of such courses, relatively little research has assessed their effectiveness in improving trainee self-confidence and posttraining transfer. The results of 2 data collection efforts indicate that students in a typical negotiation-training course integrating the principles of instructional design believed that they had improved their negotiating skills and confidence, adopted more integrative conflict management styles, and implemented their newfound skills in important real-world negotiations. These perceived changes persisted over time.

Creating Thoughtful Salespeople: Experiential Learning to Improve Critical Thinking Skills in Traditional and Online Sales Education

Most undergraduate marketing majors will spend at least some time in a sales role, and employers are requiring greater professionalism and more varied skill sets from their sales hires. In addition, there is an increasing demand for online and higher order learning in sales education. In response, this article proposes that sales courses using structured learning activities can increase critical thinking skills, irrespective of the learning environment. To test these propositions, a pre- and post-test interventional research study was conducted. Results show that students’ objective critical thinking scores showed some improvement over a semester for both face-to-face and fully online courses. Moreover, a control group of students did not experience a similar increase in their critical thinking skills.

Hispanic vs non‐Hispanic response to online self‐service tasks: implications for perceived quality and patronage intentions

Purpose – Although internet growth has allowed producers to shift control of service transactions to the customer, little research has examined the effects of this shift. The purpose of this paper is to focus on how the performance of different task types differentially affects consumer responses.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a field study using online data collection to examine the US Hispanic market, the fastest‐growing consumer group in the US as well as one of the fastest growing online user groups.Findings – The paper finds that Hispanic consumers were less affected by the type of task than non‐Hispanic consumers, in terms of perceived quality, satisfaction, and intended patronage. Using constructs from the communications literature, task effects on three communication perceptions were shown to explain the differences.Research limitations/implications – The results provide support for the notion that more complex (transaction) tasks can lead to lower evaluations than less complex (inform...

The Marketing Trade Show: A New Method for Incorporating Student Projects into Large Classes

At many universities, class sizes are increasing for the introductory marketing principles courses. Instructors of these large classes often abandon teaching methods in which students are active, such as projects and presentations, and rely heavily on the lecture method. However, course projects and presentations are useful for developing student skills in integrating and applying concepts, communicating ideas, and working as part of a team, and these methods can be retained as class sizes get larger. This article introduces the concept of a marketing trade show—a highly realistic method for instructors to incorporate student projects into large lecture classes. The results of recent implementations of this concept, along with suggestions for other instructors wishing to use this method in their courses, are presented.

Cultural differences in conflict resolution strategies: A US–Mexico comparison

Cross-cultural differences in norms, values, and beliefs abound and impact preferred conflict resolution strategies. Potential differences in values and subsequent conflict resolution strategies can exacerbate the underlying conflict unless they are well understood. We study the case of differences in conflict resolution strategies between the United States and Mexico as well as studying the underlying value differences that explain their preferences. In a quasi-experimental study, we found that Mexicans, compared to US participants, appear to have a greater preference for both the use of social influence and negotiating when confronting a conflict. Moreover, it appears that collectivism helps explain these country differences as it mediated the relation between country and the likelihood of using social influence and negotiation. In addition, perceptions of fairness had a stronger influence on the preference that US participants had for negotiation as a conflict resolution strategy. The research helps illuminate the underlying mechanisms through which culture impacts conflict resolution strategy.

Sex, Beauty, and Youth: An Analysis of Advertising Appeals Targeting U.S. Women of Different Age Groups

Although womens involvement in both the workforce and purchasing decisions has dramatically increased, evidence suggests that advertising targeting them has not changed much over time. As women of different age groups belong to different generational cohorts, they have experienced life from within different culturally salient backgrounds and with different values and expecations. Thus, the examination of advertising appeals across different targeted age groups can yield important insights. Our study of print advertisements in womens magazines found significant differences in the appeals used to target women of four different age groups. Limitations of the research, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.