Below are some of our current projects in progress. If you are interested in a specific work, please contact the researcher via email.
Individualism and Collectivism in Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Research evidence to date suggests problems of using the dichotomous conceptualization of individualism and collectivism as general categories of cultures and the need for individual-level assessment of cultural orientations. The goal of this project is to re-think the appropriateness of casting cultures with a broad stroke of individualism and collectivism, and to direct our attention to issues such as situational individualism and collectivism, the possibility of priming for either orientation, ads as a reflection of vs. an aspiration for cultural orientations, and the role of product category. (contact: Wei-Na Lee at weina@mail.utexas.edu )
Cross Border Strategic Brand Alliance
With the globalization of the marketplace, more and more businesses these days are expanding into foreign markets. This venture usually involves a high degree of uncertainty. Therefore, foreign companies oftentimes seek to form an alliance with a local company to reduce the risk. In addition, businesses from certain countries tend to be negatively affected by stereotypical country images. Cross-border strategic brand alliance is the association of two or more brands, products, and services from different countries. The goal of this project is to understand how strategic brand alliance and country-of-origin cues jointly affect consumers' product evaluation and purchase intention. (contact: Jin Kyun Lee at leejin5@mail.utexas.edu )
What's Changed? Food Advertising between 2004 and 2006
Almost two-thirds of American adults are classified as overweight today. While there are several causes of obesity, food advertising on television has received a great deal of criticism for its role in fueling the rise in obesity. During the past several years, health professionals, policy makers, media scholars and the food industry have debated about the relationship between advertising, the consumption of unhealthy food, and the increase in obesity among consumers. The goal of this project is two-fold: (1) to compare the nature, amount, and general characteristics of food advertising during prime-time television programming on major networks between 2004 and 2006, when public debates and outcry increased exponentially; and (2) to note changes, if any, that occurred during this period of intense public scrutiny. (contact: Wei-Na Lee at weina@mail.utexas.edu )
Smoke and Mirrors: An Exploratory Content Analysis of Television Ads for Online Gambling Websites
Although online gambling advertising is banned from television, advertisers have apparently resorted to the strategy of designating certain gambling activities as educational experiences (e.g., the .net designation for “learning how to play”) to promote online gambling on television. Through a content analysis, this study explored the number and characteristics of television ads for online gambling websites to obtain a better understanding of the current status of advertising for online gambling in the U.S. (contact: Yoojung Kim at yoojungk@mail.utexas.edu )
Electronic Word-of-Mouth of Online Brand Community Members
Drawing on extant research on brand communities (mostly in offline environments) and eWOM, this study identifies a set of factors leading to eWOM behavior of online brand community members. Results from an online survey of over 200 members of several MINI Cooper communities suggest that community related factors (community identification, community engagement and trust in community members), brand related factors (brand identification and brand loyalty), and consumer's personal factor (opinion leadership) all significantly contribute to online brand community members' intention to engage in eWOM behavior related to the brand. Findings of this study highlight the important role of online brand communities in generating eWOM in support of the brand, and suggest that marketers need to develop effective strategies to encourage eWOM behavior among their brand community members. (contact: Yi-Hsin Yeh at celest1002@gmail.com )
So You are Hot, but Can I Trust You? Examining the Perceived Credibility of Social Networking Websites
Google pays $900 million to MySpace to be an exclusive provider of keyword advertising for the site. Microsoft approaches Facebook with a proposal that will raise the social networking website's value to $10 billion. Apparently, social networking websites are the hottest kid on the media industry's block. While there is little disagreement that social networking websites are growing at the speed of light across the world, it is unclear exactly what opportunities those websites present to advertisers. This study examines the perceived credibility of social networking to obtain a realistic sense as to their value as an advertising medium. More specifically, to what extent do the users of social networking websites trust each other and the collective community? To what extent do they rely on social networking websites for product-related information? (contact: Yeo Jung Kim at yeojungi@mail.utexas.edu )
To Play or Not to Play? Brands in Online Social Networking
Social networking is without a doubt a phenomenon. Its community of generally young users is a highly desirable and yet difficult to reach segment of the population. Advertisers are bewildered as to how to promote their brands or services through social networking since they are deprived of traditional advertising approaches and must now play a different game. Brands have personalities. In order to attract social networking participants, brands may need to be re-interpreted through the idea of fun and play. Research on why and how people play may offer additional insights into brands in the playground of online social networking. This study examines branded web pages in online social networking websites to answer the following questions: How do brands express themselves in online social networking? To what extent do those brands present play themes and playfulness? How do play motivations and playful personality of a brand relate to the popularity of its web pages? (contact: Jie Zhang at specimanjiezhang@yahoo.com )
Building Consumer-Brand Relationships: Consumer vs. Marketer Generated Brand Community in Online Social Networking
With the advent of the Internet, the idea that both marketers and consumers can create brand communities through their websites has been put forward (McWilliam 2000). Despite the strong potential of online brand communities as an effective brand building tool for marketers, there has not been much research examining the social and psychological factors that lead consumers to join and participate in such communities. Further, little is known about the similarities and differences between consumer- and marketer-generated online brand communities in regard to consumers' motivations for joining, attitudes toward communities and their respective brands, and commitment to the brand communities. To fill the gap, the current study will report findings from an online survey of members from both consumer- and marketer-generated brand communities within online social networking websites. Specifically, this study examines the influences of online brand community characteristics on community and brand commitments, as well as how community types affect these relationships. (contact: Yongjun Sung at yjsung@mail.utexas.edu )
Consumers' Attitude toward Mobile Advertising and Behavioral Intention
This study explored the factors affecting consumers' attitude toward mobile advertising and its relationship with behavioral intention. The Theory of Reasoned Action, Technology Acceptance Model, and Theory of Planned Behavior were applied to explore these relationships . The results of this study show that the advertising message that is entertaining, informative, and delivers incentive attracts greater consumer attention, whereas irritating or intrusive advertising message negatively affects consumers' attention. Findings also suggest that consumers' intention to receive mobile advertising message can be affected by subjective norm and attitude toward mobile advertising. (contact: Jong-Hyuok Jung at jjhku@mail.utexas.edu )
Proportional Representation and Regulatory Focus: The Case for Cohorts
Females are underrepresented in advertising agencies by a ratio of 2.3 to 1. This paper examines the impact of gender proportions on motivational regulatory focus (Higgins 1997). The authors hypothesize that activated minority or majority gender proportion can induce differential regulatory foci. Whereas minority focus should induce a prevention focus associated with increased analytical abilities, majority focus should induce a promotion focus associated with increased creative abilities. The possible impact of minority status and a prevention focus on females in the advertising agency are discussed. (contact: Kasey Farris Windels at kasey@kaseywindels.com)