Scholarship & Research
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Item This ad’s for you: how personalized SNS advertisements affect the consumer–brand relationship(Emerald, 2023-03) Tran, Trang; Sen, Sandipan; Van Steenburg, EricPurpose. Firms can now access users’ digital histories due to advances in technology and deliver personalized recommendations through social network sites (SNS) such as Facebook that offers advanced targeting options and reliable conversion tracking. This paper aims to examine the effects of personalized advertisements on SNS on the relationship between consumers and brands, tests the impact of brand attachment and experience on brand equity through personalized SNS ads and investigates the influence of such ads on branded products and services. Design/methodology/approach. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 (n = 275) was a survey-based design that leveraged structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses, while Study 2 (n = 350) used experimental design to compare two groups who saw service brand ads versus those who saw product brand ads. Findings. Results showed that SNS ads supporting the brand had a significant positive impact on respondents’ brand attachment and brand experience. In both studies, brand experience positively impacted all the elements of brand equity, while brand attachment was found to impact brand loyalty. Originality/value. The findings illustrate how personalized ads for brands appearing on SNS can change consumer perceptions, thus affecting the consumer–brand relationship. The results bode well for brands considering leveraging SNS in their marketing mix, particularly when the strategy behind the advertising is brand building.Item The new world of philanthropy: How changing financial behavior, public policies, and COVID ‐19 affect nonprofit fundraising and marketing(Wiley, 2022-06) Van Steenburg, Eric; Anaza, Nwamaka A.; Ashhar, Ahmed; Barrios, Andres; Deutsch, Ashley R.; Gardner, Meryl P.; Priya, Preeti; Roy, Abhijit; Sivaraman, Anu; Taylor, Kimberly A.Evolving financial behavior, an unpredictable public policy atmosphere, and an unparalleled global pandemic have collaborated to disrupt nonprofit fundraising. The COVID-19 pandemic alone exacerbated consumer demands for nonprofit services while curtailing nonprofit organizations' ability to fundraise. Without fundraising, nonprofit organizations cannot achieve their mission or support their causes, leading to a precarious situation for societal well-being. Meanwhile, consumers are changing their financial behaviors, with younger generations often going cashless. At the same time, governments continue to change policies that affect nonprofit organizations. In keeping with the transformative consumer research movement, the present study provides a conceptual framework for the state of nonprofit fundraising amid the challenges associated with changes in financial behavior and public policy, coupled with the effects of the global pandemic. Marketing strategies for fundraising success are presented to aid nonprofits going forward and serve societal interests.Item How preexisting beliefs and message involvement drive charitable donations: an integrated model(Emerald, 2021-12) Van Steenburg, Eric; Spears, NancyPurpose. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how individuals respond to messages asking for donations in broadcast advertising. It does so by considering both preexisting attitudes and beliefs related to donating, as well as message processing. The goal is to uncover messages that may help nonprofit organisations increase donations. Design/methodology/approach. The research combines the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to measure preexisting beliefs and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to measure involvement in an investigation of donation responses to broadcast-quality advertisements developed by a professional ad agency featuring the following two messages: one that leverages social norms and another that legitimises minimal giving. Two studies collected data from a total of 544 respondents in two between-subjects 2 × 2 × 2 experiments. Findings. Injunctive norm messages affect the intended donation behaviour of individuals who are pre-disposed to donating, but only if they are highly involved with the ad. Social legitimisation messages affect donations from individuals who look to referents to direct behaviour, but unlike what was expected, only by those not highly involved with the ad. Similarly, individuals who do not think they can donate increased donations when they saw the legitimisation message and had low advertisement involvement. Research limitations/implications. Results extend the ELM-TPB integrated framework by discovering when and how involvement drives intended donation behaviour. The research also sheds light on message processing by focussing on the preexisting characteristics of recipients. Practical implications. The results provide nonprofit managers with strategies to increase donations with targeted messages. Those who pay attention to the ad and have a positive attitude toward giving are going to donate if they are told others support the cause. Therefore, the focus should be on those who are not involved with the ad but still believe giving is appropriate. Originality/value. This research is the first to use the ELM-TPB framework to discover that ELM has varying utilities and values from TPB in different ad contexts.Item Political Polarization: Challenges, Opportunities, and Hope for Consumer Welfare, Marketers, and Public Policy(SAGE Publications, 2021-03) Weber, T.J.; Hydock, Chris; Ding, William; Gardner, Meryl; Jacob, Pradeep; Mandel, Naomi; Sprott, David E.; Van Steenburg, EricPolitical polarization is a marked political division in the population, characterized by multiple manifestations. The authors argue that it can affect consumer psychology, which in turn influences marketers, policy makers, and consumer welfare. The present work introduces the construct of political polarization to the marketing literature and shows how it serves as a novel challenge for various marketing stakeholders. For consumers, the authors propose that political polarization increases the salience of political identities, alters inter- and intragroup dynamics, and amplifies cognitive biases. These effects negatively affect consumer welfare, including financial welfare, relationships, mental and physical health, and societal interests. For marketers, polarization introduces a challenge to both be more sociopolitically engaged while also navigating competing political interests. Polarization also creates new opportunities and challenges for segmentation, targeting, loyalty, and product offerings. For policy makers, political polarization creates policy gaps, impedes the implementation of policy, and obstructs governance. Building from these insights, the authors consider the drawbacks and overlooked benefits of political polarization, potential remedies, and directions for future research.Item When Best Intentions Fail: Why Ads May Fall Short in Combating Islamophobia(2020-05) Van Steenburg, EricIncreasing crimes against Muslims are evidence that Muslim Americans are being targeted, while political and media rhetoric has aided the rise of Islamophobia. In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations initiated an advertising campaign to reframe the discourse. Relying on terror management theory as a foundation, this research leverages a sequential mixed-method approach to evaluate and analyze the ads, bringing together concepts of rhetorical articulation of politics, discourse analysis of media-based rhetoric, and complicity theory related to racism to understand contemporary political framing of Islam. A quantitative study determined one’s religious fundamentalism had an effect on the viewer’s attitude toward the ads. This was followed by a qualitative analysis of the ads based on Stern’s approach to advertisement critique. Triangulated results show that the ads reinforce cultural worldviews that frame Muslims as “other” that could entrench existing attitudes toward Muslim Americans. Suggestions are made for future advertising efforts to reframe the discussion.Item Me first, then the environment: young Millennials as green consumers(2018-04) Naderi, Iman; Van Steenburg, EricPurpose This research aims to shed greater light on millennials' green behavior by examining four psychographic variables (selfless altruism, frugality, risk aversion, and time orientation) that may be relevant to millennials' motives to engage in environmental activities. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a sample of younger millennials (n = 276; age = 18 to 30) using a self-administered questionnaire. The data were then analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Findings Overall, the results of the study reveal that rational and self-oriented rather than emotional and others-oriented motives lead millennials to act pro-environmentally. Practical implications The findings of this study have implications for environmental advocates, policymakers and green marketers. For instance, the findings suggest that environmental regulators and lawmakers should continue their efforts to provide economic incentives to encourage pro-environmental purchases among millennials. Additionally, marketers of green products may pursue self-directed targeting strategies in promoting green products among millennials. Originality/value Millennials grasp the environmental consequences of their actions and have the education, motivation and social awareness to participate in the green movement. However, they have not truly begun to fully integrate their beliefs and actions. The present study is an initial attempt to address this issue by investigating various psychological factors that are relevant to the millennials' core behavioral motives.Item Point of Purchase or Point of Frustration? Consumer Frustration Tendencies and Response in a Retail Setting(2013-09) Van Steenburg, EricThe research applies precepts from frustration theory to investigate frustration when a goal is blocked in a consumer context. Predictions are derived, and two studies are designed to investigate the goal-directed sequence following a blocked goal and the role of individual differences in frustration tolerance in a retail checkout encounter. The findings of the research suggest that when the goal of retail checkout is blocked, consumers adopt either adaptive or maladaptive resolution strategies. Those who take an adaptive approach return to goal-seeking behaviour, whereas those following the maladaptive path initially resolve their frustrations through resignation. That initial resolution strategy of resignation then produces a second wave of new blocks to goal attainment (helplessness, anger and self-preoccupation). Subsequently, the second wave of blocks is countered with a second set of resolution strategies (alteration, substitution, abandonment with acceptance or abandonment with suffering). The research findings also reveal that consumer frustration responses are associated with internal versus external blame and with social surroundings or who is watching the frustrating event unfold. The results likewise indicate that attitude toward the company and repatronage intentions are influenced by social surroundings and by individual differences in frustration tolerance (fairness, entitlement, gratification and achievement). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Item Self-Referencing and Political Candidate Brands: A Congruency Perspective(2015-01) Guzmán, Francisco; Paswan, Audhesh K.; Van Steenburg, EricAlthough political and marketing analysts commonly describe political candidates as brands, the conceptualization of political candidates as brands within academic research and popular culture is uncommon. This paper presents empirical evidence in support of viewing candidates as such. Using data from a nationwide study that measures the self concept of Mexican voters and their perceived images of the presidential candidates in Mexico's 2006 election, the paper demonstrates that voters see themselves and each candidate as a distinct brand. Furthermore, this view of a voter's self-brand influences his or her perception of a political candidate's brand image. The academic and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.Item Consumer Recall of Brand Versus Product Banner Ads(2012-09) Van Steenburg, EricPurpose – The paper aims to determine the effectiveness of specific online advertisements, comparing banner ads that are brand‐reinforcing versus ones that are product‐reinforcing. Design/methodology/approach – The research uses three experimental design studies to empirically test the hypotheses based on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) by manipulating type of online banner advertisement (brand‐type versus product‐type) and measuring individual need for cognition (NFC). Findings – Consumers high in NFC recall product‐type banner ads more readily than those low in NFC, while brand‐type banner ads are more likely to be recalled by low‐NFC consumers. However, high‐NFC consumers recall brand‐type ads under all situational influences tested. And while consumers low in NFC recall product‐type banner ads featuring a directive better than their high‐NFC counterparts, they do not recall directive ads at a greater rate than high‐NFC consumers recall brand‐type ads. Research limitations/implications – While previous research has found that variations in ad size, color, interactivity, and web site location affect recall, this research only measured static banner ads that appear at the top of the page. However, because it is the first to examine involvement in terms of NFC in combination with brand‐ and product‐type ads, the research sheds new light on consumer awareness of two types of banner ad strategies adopted by marketing managers today. Practical implications – In an online context, the type of banner ads used by marketing managers should be paired with the web site based on how much time consumers spend at the site and how many pages they click through at the site. All things being equal, however, managers should favor brand‐type banner ads over product‐type banner ads. Originality/value – The research extends understanding of ELM as it relates to type of banner ad while establishing a potential research stream for better understanding of how consumers process various types of online ads. At the same time, it provides new evidence that can help marketing managers make better strategic decisions regarding their online marketing mix.