Exploring the Use of Twitter Opinion Mining (TOM) in Marketing Courses

This paper discusses the use of social media mining (and more specifically, Twitter opinion mining) in marketing courses in order to help students understand current marketing events or phenomena. Social media mining refers to “the use of basic concepts and principal algorithms suitable for investigating massive social media data; it discusses theories and methodologies from different disciplines and encompasses the tools to formally represent, measure, model, and mine meaningful patterns from large-scale social media data” (Zafarani et al. 2014, p. 16). Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram provide opportunities to explore consumer preferences, opinions and behaviors through the examination of user-generated content (UGC). In a business world dominated by the Internet and social media, it becomes relevant to marketing educators to prepare students in the exploration, analysis and understanding of consumer insights through social media mining, and how to translate such insights into actionable intelligence that increases the effectiveness of a firm’s marketing efforts

Common Practices in Destination Website Design

The Internet has become a key marketing channel for tourist destinations. To identify typical features of destination websites, a content analysis of websites for top global destinations—by number of international arrivals—was conducted. Six factors were evaluated: primary focus, navigation and interactivity, visual and presentation style, textual information, use of advertising, and use of social media and travel aids. In addition, a cluster analysis was conducted to identify homogeneous groups of websites in the sample. The findings revealed three naturally occurring groups. Inter-cluster differences suggest that DMOs use different approaches to target potential visitors, as evidenced by websites ranging from purely informative and simply designed to highly commerce-oriented and visually alluring. Based on the exploratory analyses, a conventional wisdom for destination website design is proposed

What Products Can Benefit from African American Advertising Appeals? The Moderating Role of Product Involvement

With a significant spending power, the African American segment is one of the most lucrative, interesting, and complex targets for national and local advertisers. As this consumer segment continues to grow in importance, marketers need to focus on what types of products could benefit from African American-targeted advertising. Our research studies show African Americans respond to advertising targeted to them and their responses are moderated by ethnic identification and product involvement. Consistent with both theoretical frameworks, distinctiveness theory and ethnic identification theory, we found that identified African Americans prefer African American models especially when advertising low-involvement products

Apps for Enhancing Student Engagement and Learning

Individuals in todays on the go society frequently rely on mobile devices and apps to manage their daily business. Common uses for apps include entertainment, online banking, travel planning and ecommerce in addition to a host of other activities. Factoring in the proliferation of mobile devices, marketing educators are searching for innovative tools and techniques to boost student engagement through the use of apps. The purpose of this paper is to outline a framework for integrating apps into the curriculum as well as provide specific examples that educators can utilize to strengthen engagement and learning

Smiles as Signals of Lower Status in Football Players and Fashion Models: Evidence That Smiles are Associated With Lower Dominance and Lower Prestige

Across four studies, the current paper demonstrates that smiles are associated with lower social status. Moreover, the association between smiles and lower status appears in the psychology of observers and generalizes across two forms of status: prestige and dominance. In the first study, faces of fashion models representing less prestigious apparel brands were found to be more similar to a canonical smile display than the faces of models representing more prestigious apparel brands. In a second study, after being experimentally primed with either high or low prestige fashion narratives, participants in the low prestige condition were more likely to perceive smiles in a series of photographs depicting smiling and non-smiling faces. A third study of football player photographs revealed that the faces of less dominant (smaller) football players were more similar to the canonical smile display than the faces of their physically larger counterparts. Using the same football player photographs, a fourth study found that smiling was a more reliable indicator of perceived status-relevant personality traits than perceptions of the football players\u27 physical sizes inferred from the photographs

Consumer Attitudes Toward Social Network Advertising

Little is known about the attitudes that consumers have toward social network advertising. To explore this phenomenon, the authors developed a theoretical framework to explain the antecedents and consequences of social network advertising on online behaviors. Based on survey data, four antecedents and two consequences were examined. Drawing upon the technology acceptance model (TAM), the authors developed and tested a series of hypotheses based on this framework. The analysis confirmed the hypothesized relationships and revealed new paths among some constructs on the model. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future research

On the Use of Mobile Apps in Education: The Impact of Digital Magazines on Student Learning

As the use of technology evolves in education, an extensive range of new smart devices and digital applications is becoming available to academics. Digital magazines are an example of such technologies, which can help educators to improve the learning experience of their students inside and outside of the classroom. Digital magazines are widely available and some can be further customized and curated by instructors using mobile apps. This article explores the impact of curated digital magazines, created and distributed via a mobile app—Flipboard, in enhancing students’ engagement, enjoyment, and learning of class-related content. Overall, students responded favorably to the adoption of this technological innovation. Students exposed to the digital magazines and mobile app displayed higher levels of enjoyment with class content and performed better on a knowledge assessment, relative to students in a control condition. The article concludes with a discussion of results and implications for future research

The Rise of the Virtual Reality (VR) Marketplace: Exploring the Antecedents and Consequences of Consumer Attitudes toward V-Commerce

V-commerce is emerging as a promising technology for a new type of e-commerce application, which can address the critical need for integrating both social and technical aspects of online shopping. This research provides a theoretical framework to understand the antecedents and consequences of consumer attitudes toward v-commerce. Our framework extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) by incorporating immersion, enjoyment, trust and VR self-efficacy as potential antecedents; and consumers’ intention to purchase, intention to visit the company’s online and/or physical store and intention to recommend v-commerce to others as potential consequences. Furthermore, this research proposes that processing fluency, need for touch, propensity to trust and gender have a moderating effect on consumer attitudes toward v-commerce. Overall, the propositions derived from this study can help marketers identify and analyze the factors leading to the acceptance of v-commerce (and other future e-commerce technologies) among consumers. The study concludes with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications for future research

Showrooming in Consumer Electronics Retailing: An Empirical Study

The present study focuses on multichannel retailing strategies and describes the state of consumer behavior regarding “showrooming” (the practice of examining merchandise or products in a retail store and then buying it online). Founded on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the authors examine the antecedents of showrooming using data collected from a sample of 176 retail consumers. Based on their results, they define perceived control, website compatibility, and subjective norms as the main antecedents of consumer attitudes toward online purchases. Additionally, they state that previous experience and reasons against purchasing online are directly associated with consumers’ intention to purchase on the retailer’s website. Finally, some theoretical conclusions and practical implications for retailers are discussed

Utilizing Mobile Devices to Enrich the Learning Style of Students

As digital technologies evolve in education, business faculty have increased access to an extensive range of mobile devices and online applications to help them inspire students\u27 passion for learning. Adopting new digital approaches to teaching can also enhance the learning style of students who are immersed in the use of digital devices. How can the use of these devices and associated applications (apps) help students broaden the opportunities for a more effective learning experience? In this exploratory article, the authors examine the impact of two mobile apps—Flipboard and Stitcher—on students\u27 learning and engagement with class-assigned marketing materials. Students enjoyed Flipboard more than Stitcher in contributing to the requirements of class work