Milton M. Pressley

Ethical beliefs and personal values of top level executives

Abstract Do business executives sell their souls to the corporation? Is the organization a “paramour” in an executives life? Is backstabbing the only way to climb the corporate ladder? The basic purpose of this study was to provide answers to these questions by surveying Fortune 500 corporate executives in the marketing, finance, and production areas. The findings are interesting as various executives exhibited different behavior regarding three types of ethical concern.

The impact of country of origin in the retail service context

This study investigates the impact of the country-of-origin cue associated with a change of ownership and brand on service quality perceptions, price and purchase intentions, with ethnocentrism and product class knowledge as covariates. The experimental design was mixed with one between-subject factor (country of origin) with four levels and one within-subject factor (brand) with two levels (a well-known national brand and an unknown other-country brand) repeated for two selected services, airlines and banks. Eight variants of the questionnaire were administered to 320 respondents, who evaluated each country/service/brand combination. Support was found for the country-oforigin effect and ethnocentrism as a covariate. A significant brand X country interaction was also discovered.

Care Needed When Selecting Response Inducements In Mail Surveys Of Commercial Populations

A number of studies have shown that return deadlines and handwritten postscripts have increased returns in mail surveys of the general public. These two techniques have not previously been tested in mail surveys of commercial populations. However, evidence exists to support the hypothesis that the techniques which influence returns to mail surveys of general public populations may not necessarily do so in surveys of commercial populations. Thus, two essentially similar, yet separate, experiments were designed to determine whether a return deadline and/or a handwritten P. S. would increase response in a mail survey of commercial populations. The results of this investigation revealed that neither a handwritten postscript nor the addition of a return time limit significantly increased returns in two mail surveys of commercial populations. Further, no significant interactions were detected. To the extent that the results may be generalized, mail surveyors of commercial populations would be well advised not to waste scarce resources by relying on either of these two techniques to increase returns. Contrasting these results with earlier investigations supports the hypothesis that the response rates to mail surveys of commercial populations are not necessarily increased by the same methods that increase returns from the general public. In order to avoid wasted resources, surveyors of commercial populations should not assume that the techniques which increase response from the general public will necessarily do so among commercial populations.

Succeeding in the Corporate Arena: The Evolution of College Students’ Perceptions of the Necessary Ethical Orientation

The authors’ purpose was to determine the perceptions of present university students regarding job politics as practiced by those climbing the corporate career ladder, and to compare them with the perceptions of students from a previous generational cohort that participated in a similar study more than 25 years earlier. Data were collected from 1,512 students enrolled at a major urban university in the Southeastern United States. Results from the present study, as compared to the 1984 study, indicate that todays college students are more optimistic regarding what it takes to get ahead in the corporate world. Comparative results also uncover the declining influence of citizenship, race, and religion, and the increasing influence of education-related demographics. A discussion of the findings and implications for educators and the business community is provided.

Toward a Theoretical Framework for Mail Survey Response

A survey was employed as an exploratory, partial test of a theoretical framework for predicting/describing response to mail surveys. This framework suggests that in order for individuals to respond to a mail survey, they must have sufficient justification. Justification is defined as perceived benefits minus perceived costs. In order to provide a preliminary test of this framework, 10c incentives were employed as one factor from within the frameworks and follow-up was employed as one factor from outside the framework. The results indicate that a different segment of the population is induced to respond with dime incentives than is induced to respond with follow-up. The best response rate (86%) was produced by both including a dime and sending a follow-up questionnaire. However, the inclusion of a dime with no follow-up questionnaire had a response rate (70%) which compared very favorably -- but cost only half as much per sample member -- with the dime plus follow-up.

Techniques for Improving Direct Mail Advertising Exposure

This study summarizes the results of more than 135 proprietary, direct mail advertising tests. Herein, these tests are referred to as Mail Ad Exposure (MAX) tests. The techniques that have been subjected to MAX testing include: (1) mailings of ad reprints, (2) self-mailers (mail with no envelope), (3) polybags, (4) closed envelopes, (5) die-cut (window) envelopes, (6) mailers in a series, (7) news letters, (8) dimensional mail, (9) samples, (10) cassettes, and (11) tubes.

The College Town: Small Business Opportunity or Pitfall?

Small businesses often fail due to poorly conceived marketing strategies. In other cases, overly-optimistic estimates of market potential foredoom an otherwise good marketing plan. This may be frequently the case in college towns. Entrepreneurs, might erroneously believe that the town can support a wide variety of businesses because it has a large student population.