The influence of marketing media on tweens propensity to consume electronic goods.

Doctor of Philosophy in Management. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2017.Tweens are a different regiment of children who are not reflected as children, but have not technologically advanced into fully autonomous teenagers (Hulan, 2007:31). This target market is viewed as the, “richest generation of children” (Lindstrom, 2004:175). This market has disposable income and the ability to influence purchases which are endorsed, which results in the tween market being acknowledged as a commercial niche market. For an effective marketing campaign, marketing managers need to be mindful of children’s advertising knowledge, as well as the influence and pressure from peer endorsement on purchases which are made. As a result, to define the influence of these variables, a research tool (questionnaire) was given out to respondents involving 390 participants in primary and secondary schools situated in the KwaZulu Natal region, who successfully completed this research instrument. Questionnaires were administered to the tween market during life-orientation class as an exercise in the selected schools. Parent/Guardians consent had to be received before their child was able to participate in the study. Children were also given consent forms to fill in; to make the teacher aware if they wanted to partake in this study. The main aim of this study was to understand the influence marketing media has on tween market consumption, which produces their consumption patterns. Also with the different media channels developing, the marketing teams have to understand how this target market understands and interprets their messages. The key research objective was to define tweens advertising literacy at different stages and their propensity to consume advertising literacy, as well as the degree of parents’ and peers’ influence on their purchasing decisions. Understanding what factors influence the tween market was also looked at to determine their role in purchasing decisions. These factors will assist marketers and professionals when margin structuring marketing and media campaigns aimed at the tween market. Generation Z is defined as the tween market and this was also looked at in detail; it consisted of character, personality and preferences. Their consumption of media and digital media was looked at in detail as it influences marketing campaigns. Data was analyzed using SPSS (Statistics Package for Social Sciences). Findings from the data collection were signified, and compared to the collected works gathered, and an emphasis was on Roedder’s information processing model and Piaget’s Hierarchy of Cognitive development, (Roedder, 1981:145; Piaget, 1960:135). The data gathered was displayed in various chart formats and tables to form an illustration of the results. The results showed there is a sturdy positive association amongst advertising literacy and the different age-groups. Peer influence also has an influence on the tween market purchase decision. It was also established the tween market is inclined to consume endorsed products, which have a high visibility during consumption, then goods with lower consumption conspicuousness. Parental influence also has a strong influence on the tween market and their purchase decisions. Other factors i.e. cultural & social, will also be looked at to gather insights on alternate factors which influence the target audience’s purchasing decisions. From the key gatherings, recommendations and insights were put together for South African managers and marketing professionals. This study report includes recommendations for research and considerations for marketing and media campaigns which will be aimed at tween’s and their purchase patterns. One of the recommendations marketing professional’s states campaigns should consider advertising to the tween market as well, instead of forgetting because they are a niche segment. Empirical findings show children are more naïve consumers and more enthusiastic to buying goods. This makes them an attractive division, as they are eager consumers

College choice, consumer behavior, and gender enrollment patterns: A mixed methods case study of Marathon University

Gender and enrollment patterns in higher education have changed over the past 40 years, where women are now the majority of students enrolling in colleges and universities nationally each year compared to men (U.S. Department of Education, 2018b). Despite enrollment trends indicating a dramatic increase of female students at colleges and universities, Marathon University has experienced the opposite. The purpose of this concurrent, mixed methods case studies was to identify why female students are choosing not to enroll at Marathon University, despite relatively even rates of application and admission compared to male students. The intent of this study was to use college choice and consumer decision-making models to determine how women make decisions about enrollment at Marathon University, noting the marketized and privatized landscape of higher education today. Secondary institutional data of admitted students were analyzed through a multinomial logistic regression, while secondary open-ended accepted student survey results were analyzed through content analysis. After each initial analysis, the findings were compared and contrasted to determine the ways that qualitative survey results helped to explain quantitative institutional data about college choice between male and female students

Digital Technology for Saudi Arabian Fashion Shows

Saudi fashion designers have encountered numerous challenges promoting their designs to the public in Saudi Arabia, especially women’s wear, due to religious and cultural regulations. The primary regulatory barrier is that women are not permitted to expose their bodies in the presence of men. Therefore, Saudi designers must deliver their fashion shows to a single gender audience. Furthermore, because there is no governmental process granting permission for these events, fashion designers are forced to take the risk that fashion shows at which they are exhibiting may be shut down. Therefore, this research investigated whether technology could assist fashion designers in promoting their designs, by replacing live fashion shows with digital versions. In order to evaluate the practicality of using technology developed for fashion shows in the context of Saudi Arabia, it is necessary to first resolve any religious, cultural and technical barriers that might restrict the potential acceptability of digital versions of live fashion shows. In this research, a mixed methods approach to data collection was employed, consulting stakeholders including cultural leaders, fashion designers, and consumers. The quantitative data instrument was a three-stage questionnaire, and the qualitative data collection involved two stages, i.e. interviews and observations. The data collected was used to create a framework to establish an outcome based on both a visualisation and a guideline. The visualisation covered the multitude of religious, cultural, and technical issues identified by the study. In addition, a guideline to recreate the fashion show method was developed for fashion designers to follow. The outcome of the framework was then evaluated to examine its validity. The visualisation was evaluated by focus groups, comprising consumers, cultural leaders and fashion designers, while the guidelines themselves were evaluated by fashion designers only. The results obtained from the research clarified that fashion designers are dissatisfied with the current fashion show options, because vital components that would support their success are not present. Therefore, the researcher navigated practices and behaviour in reference to cultural expectations, explored acceptable representations of female in public, developed an approach to modifying this and explored a variety of approaches to creating a visualisation, including using a bodysuit to permit exposure of certain areas of the body. This enabled the development of a replicable and relatively low-cost approach to creating a digital fashion show with guidelines to recreate it. The research concluded with a set of recommendations for fashion designers, allowing them to benefit fully from the digital fashion show. It also helped them to utilise the benefits of using a framework and guidelines to promote their collection in Saudi Arabia.Jeddah university represented by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau in Londo

Exploring motivations, constraints, and perceptions toward sport consumers\u27 smartphone usage.

Today’s technology trend in the United States is influenced by the growing population of 182.6 million smartphone users (Statista Inc., 2015). The technology trend has also affected the sport consumption behaviors in terms of how they obtain information, share similar interests, and purchase goods in support of their fandom. The range of efforts varies depending on sport consumers’ level of fandom and their technological comfort level towards using a smartphone. Thus, understanding the relationship between sport and technology provides benefits for sport managers to discover innovative ways to further engage current fans and attract new consumers using smartphones. Considering the benefits associated with smartphone technology, the primary purpose of this study was to examine motivations, constraints, and technological perceptions toward smartphones as it relates to sport consumers’ fan identification. Specifically, the study examined (a) primary communication channels (b) factors that influence users (c) factors that prevent users from consuming sport (d) smartphonespecific technological perceptions, and (d) the differences in sport consumers’ motivations, constraints, and technological perceptions to follow sport based on sex, age, and fan identification, and (e) factors that predict actual usage, all based on sport consumers’ smartphone usage. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from the tech-savvy Amazon MTurk users (N = 372) living in the United States. The results of this study revealed three unique factors of motivations (i.e. intrinsic, social, diversion), three factors of constraints (i.e. personal, security, technology), and two factors of technological perceptions (i.e. hedonic, utilitarian) for smartphone usage in sport context. Among these factors, intrinsic motivations, personal constraints, hedonic perceptions and utilitarian perceptions were found to significantly predict actual usage. Further analysis also revealed that sport consumers’ behaviors significantly differed based on the level of fan identification (i.e. high or low). The sport consumers also identified that they connected to the official sites the most followed by sport-related apps, and social media sites. In sports they followed, NFL was ranked the highest, followed by MLB, and NCAA Football, and within these sports, they followed their favorite team the most, leagues the second, and players the third. The result of current study provided a holistic view towards understanding sport consumption behaviors by considering motivations, constraints, and technological perceptions associated with smartphone usage. The information captured in this study is particularly useful when designing a mobile marketing campaign to better engage current fans and attract new fans. In addition, sport managers will be able to further encourage sport consumers’ motivating factors, while reducing the constraining factors by considering technological perceptions of the smartphones. Furthermore, the current study’s proposed scale could be used to assess motivations, constraints, and technological perceptions associated with actual usage to reflect upon specific characteristics of the fan identification

Factors Affecting Female Participation in Education in Seven Developing Countries

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Fashioning sustainability: Understanding the dynamic practices of sustainable fashion

In today’s environmental climate, sustainability initiatives target multiple aspects of everyday life, including fashion. Yet despite the increasing number of anti-consumerism campaigns and the increase in sustainable fashion labels entering the market, mainstream fashion practices remain environmentally unsustainable. In addition, fashion supply chains remain notoriously opaque and lengthy, often hiding exploitative and dangerous production practices. As an active member of the sustainable fashion movement, I occupy the position of activist-researcher to examine fashion and sustainability in Australia. This position provides access to the industry and movement but also allows the critical distance necessary to identify interconnections and insights regarding fashion’s complex sustainability considerations. Specifically I challenge the reliance on consumer behaviour change tactics that dominate sustainable fashion activism and argue for a more holistic approach to fashion and sustainability. Drawing on Elizabeth Shove’s (and colleagues’) social practice theory, which positions the dynamics of social practices – not people – at the heart of sustainability solutions and social transformation, this thesis considers fashion not simply as a “lifestyle choice” but as a socially and culturally dynamic practice. In order to effectively address the “unmaking of unsustainability” of fashion, the co-existing practices of fashion – consisting of design, production, retailing, media and consumption – must be interrogated as a fashion practice complex, including the interactions between and amongst the practices to understand how they have co-evolved to their current unsustainable state. The imbrication of these fashion practices is understood by drawing upon empirical data gathered via a number of qualitative research methods including in-depth interviews and participant observation with Australia’s sustainable fashion movement; in-depth interviews with leading sustainable fashion labels and mainstream fashion companies engaged in sustainability initiatives; and an ethnography of fashion shopping conducted with “fashion lovers” consisting of participant observation, in-depth interviews and wardrobe examinations. My data and analysis highlight how existing campaigns addressing fashion and sustainability neglect the complexity of fashion practices, particularly in terms of placing excessive responsibility with consumers to change unsustainable industry practices that are out of their control. I argue that industry must overcome a number of obstacles to transition to a sustainable mode of production and the practice of sustainable fashion entrepreneurs may provide a roadmap toward more creative solutions to sustainability if issues of scale and emotional labour can be addressed. I also argue that consumers are more aware of fashion’s sustainability issues than is often assumed, although they can be confused by contradictory or unsubstantiated messages used in sustainable fashion campaigns. Instead, unsustainable fashion consumption practices have evolved through a range of factors, including everyday life considerations, concerns around identity and social codes, the navigation of emotional needs and states, the lack of access to sustainable fashion, and the ease and ubiquity of fast fashion choices. In other words, the practice of fashion consumption is already layered before issues of sustainability are considered. This thesis therefore asks how the fashion industry and the sustainable fashion movement might more effectively co-evolve fashion practices toward sustainable outcomes and highlights the potential for the fashion industry to channel its creativity toward sustainability measures

The perceived trustworthiness of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on attitude towards dietary supplements, purchase intention and behaviour for dietary supplements amongst female adolescents in Saudi Arabia

Social networking sites (SNS) such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook provide effective communication platforms that influence the purchase behaviour of brands for many age groups particularly adolescents. These platforms offer boards of online engagement by user-generated content to share, like and exchange their experience and opinions through electronic word of mouth (eWOM). The aim of this study is to investigate perceived trustworthiness of eWOM dimensions; volume, valence and perceived source expertise of eWOM influence on attitude, purchase intention and purchase behaviour towards dietary supplements amongst Saudi female adolescents. Due to rapid socio-economic changes in Saudi Arabia (SA), healthy food intake was replaced by high-calorie diet and sedentary behaviour. The proposed model for this study investigates purchase behaviour in social media by using the three dimensions of perceived trustworthiness of eWOM. The sample size was 1,027, and a non-probability sampling technique was adopted. The targeted population ranged from 11-19 years old. The covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) were performed by using AMOS software. The findings reveal that the perceived trustworthiness of eWOM dimensions show a significant influence on attitude, purchase intention and actual purchase behaviour towards dietary supplements. Interestingly, the perceived body image and time spent on social media do not moderate the relationship between the perceived trustworthiness of eWOM and attitude towards dietary supplements. This study contributes to marketers’ strategy implementation through cooperation with social influencers. In food marketing, labelling should be provided including nutritional facts and re-branding healthy food. Moreover, Policy makers should seriously consider banning fast food from schools and initiating social marketing campaigns. In order to control use of dietary supplements, it should be by prescription only and risk assessments should be introduced as well