Yunjae Cheong

Intraorganizational Conflict within Advertising Agencies

Researchers have limited understanding about the antecedents and consequences of intraorganizational conflict within advertising agencies. To remedy this, we surveyed directors of account services and creative and media departments in agencies across the United States. Findings demonstrate that degree of centralization, formalization, internal volatility, and psychological distance are all positively related to level of destructive conflict, whereas team spirit has an inverse relationship. We also demonstrate that destructive and constructive conflict are distinct constructs and not simply opposing ends of a continuum. Finally, we show that destructive and constructive conflict each influence perceived quality of agency output.

Advertising spending efficiency among Top U.S. advertisers from 1985 to 2012: : overspending or smart managing?

The current study tests two competing predictions of long-term adspend efficiency: the “overspending perspective” predicts continued high inefficiency, while the “smart manager perspective” predicts improved efficiency. Longitudinal analysis of efficiency among top 100 U.S. advertisers from 1985 to 2012 using data envelopment analysis reveals that inefficiency has increased over time. Approximately 61% of top advertisers are inefficiently using their ad dollars and are overspending by an average of 34%. Findings also indicate that the Internet, a medium highly praised and utilized for the amount and depth of consumer data it generates, has not impacted overall efficiency in any meaningful way.

Choosing the right message for the right cause in social cause advertising: type of social cause message, perceived company–cause fit and the persuasiveness of communication

This study introduces two different types of communication strategies in social cause advertising: a partake-in-our-cause message attempts to engage audiences to take part in a social cause, whereas a promotional social cause message simply conveys information on what a company does for the social cause. The results of two experiments showed that the type of social cause message and the company–cause fit interacted to influence the perceptual and behavioral intention variables related to the company sponsoring the social cause. The partake-in-our-cause message led to more favourable perceptions and stronger behavioral intentions about the company when the company–cause fit was low, rather than high, and such a relationship was partly mediated by the perceived corporate self-serving motive and shared support for the social cause. In contrast, the promotional social cause message appeared to be more persuasive when the company–cause fit was high, rather than low, due in part to the enhanced processing fluency. These findings suggest different psychological mechanisms for each type of social cause message. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Advertising and promotion budgeting during volatile economic conditions

This paper provides a perspective on traditional budgeting approaches and managerial processes in the midst of the severe economic downturn during May 2009, in the United States. Specifically, it examines the extent to which various company, brand and organisational factors are related to the level of decentralisation in the budgeting for advertising and promotion. Also, the influences of the level of decentralisation in the budgeting on the marketing budget size and the advertising-to-promotion ratio were examined. It appeared that the company size, company profitability, brand equity, brand price, brand type and the influences of the marketing and the finance departments were associated with the level of decentralisation in the budgeting, which, in turn, had significant impact on the actual budget size and allocation.

User-generated product reviews on the internet: the drivers and outcomes of the perceived usefulness of product reviews

This study examines how people cope with the user-generated product reviews (UGPRs) found on various websites where anonymous web users post and share their personal product usage experiences. Based on information processing model of communication, we postulate that there are source, message, media, and receiver factors to influence individuals psychological processing of the UGPR messages, and its subsequent behavioral outcomes. A survey was administered by a professional market research firm to 262 randomly selected US residents from 18 to 55 years old. Consistent with the predictions, the results of the structural equation modeling analysis showed that the perceived source expertise, message objectivity, website credibility, and receiver–source similarity had positive and direct impacts on the perceptions of UGPR usefulness, which, in turn, positively influenced individuals willingness to share product reviews with others. A series of causal model invariance tests also confirmed that the findings were statistically invariant across different subgroups divided by such factors as product categories, websites, subjective product class knowledge, past UGPR experience, and the susceptibility to informational influence.

The image management function of sponsorship

A general framework to understand how sponsorship affects the image of the sponsor has been developed from the information-processing perspective. According to this framework, sponsorship information is processed in one of two relatively distinct modes of processing – holistic or analytic – depending on the amount of processing resources available to consumers. Each mode of processing, in turn, is theorised to play a significant role in influencing different components of the image of the sponsor. A set of research propositions is presented, along with a specific research agenda, and the implications of the proposed framework.

The State of Media Planning Research: A 16-Year Assessment, 1992–2007

This study examined the status and citations of the scholarly literature in media planning from 1992 to 2007. The analyses of the publication patterns, topical concentrations, methodological trends, and author backgrounds indicated that media planning research remains an important topic. Among notable findings were an increased research on qualitative and a decreased research on quantitative media selection issues when compared to the 30-year period prior to 1992. Nevertheless, the most influential authors and articles were directly related to the quantitative media selection issues (e.g., exposure distribution models), indicating continued perceptions of importance.

Advertising agency operating efficiency

This study uses data envelopment analysis to evaluate the operating efficiency of a sample of 41 US advertising agencies, based on their profits and expenditures in six key areas (i.e., payroll to employees, other payroll-related expenses, administrative expenses, space and facilities expenses, corporate expenses, and professional fees). The analyses reveal that, on average, 5% of an agencys budget is wasted, incurring the greatest amount of waste in the administrative and corporate expenses. The tobit model also indicates that professional fees contributed the most agency inefficiency overall.

Competition and coexistence of sports media: the case of watching the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games*

ABSTRACT This study was performed in the context of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games to examine the patterns of competition among television sets, personal computers, and mobile devices in gratifying audiences of one of the worlds greatest sporting event. In light of the theory of niche, three measures of niche – niche breadth, niche overlap, and competitive superiority – were examined. Of the major findings, personal computers appeared to overlap the most with, and were superior to mobile devices in fulfilling socialization and diversion gratifications. These findings indicate personal computers are, at least partially, replacing mobile devices with respect to socialization and diversion gratifications. In comparison, the television set appeared to overlap the most with, and was superior to the personal computer in fulfilling the eustress, aesthetic, learning, and self-esteem gratifications. These findings indicate that television sets remain the dominant medium for fulfilling these four gratification dimensions.

Exploring the influence of television sport on consumers' attitudes towards programme-embedded advertising using motivational responses generated by the game

This study examines a way to enhance the effectiveness of commercials embedded in the telecasts of mega sporting events. We hypothesise that embedded commercials are more likeable when the cues of the commercials match the motivations induced by the telecasts of sports games. Specifically, we posit that the telecasts of mega-sporting events induce motives of relatedness (rather than motives of competence) and that the advertisements embedded in these telecasts will be more effective when they appeal to the relatedness motive. The results support this hypothesis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and future research directions are provided.