Gregory M. Pickett’s research while affiliated with Clemson University and other places

Brands sponsoring a sport competitor reach an audience of fans with varying connections to the competitor. While sponsoring brands benefit the greatest among the fans of the competitor they are also believed to benefit the larger body of fans who follow the sport. Yet such partnerships may also expose a brand to consumers with a strong negative connection to the sponsored property. Findings of an empirical study suggest identification with the competitor is a better predictor of sponsor evaluations than identification with the sport, such that avid fans of the competitor have stronger affective and cognitive perceptions of the sponsor than fans of the sport at large. Among fans with a stigmatised connection with the competitor, evaluations of a sponsor are damaged.

Customer rage is a complex phenomenon that is beginning to receive attention from researchers and practitioners. To date, research into the phenomenon has focused exclusively on its occurrence within a failed service context; however, rage may also occur in nonfailure situations as a negative by-product of an organization’s efforts to engage the customer at an emotional level. As a service entity, the live sporting event is characterized by a number of features which make it particularly susceptible to acts of rage. This article examines rage within the context of spectator sport by utilizing a framework that is capable of organizing and focusing attention upon those factors that shape a fan’s consumption experience and render spectator sport, and services in general, susceptible to rage. Services marketers may be unable to eliminate all incidents of spectator rage, especially those that arise when a customer becomes excessively and emotionally absorbed with the service encounter. Nevertheless, fans’ propensity to rage may be reduced by understanding the factors that contribute to it and by carefully designing servicescapes and vigilantly managing customer interactions to generate exhilarating, yet nonaggressive, customer experiences.

This study considers the influence of attitudes toward an institution of higher education, the influence of attitudes toward a specific branded product offered by many universities and the influence of attitudes toward a product category on purchase intent. The results suggest attitudes toward the university and product category positively influence purchase intentions but not attitudes toward a branded product. Furthermore, involvement is found to moderate these relationships. The findings have implications for branding decisions and strategies made by universities, including how a university brands and markets its offerings.

This article examines the relationship between materialism, environmental beliefs, environmental concern, and environmental behaviors. The study used a random telephone survey of 337 US adults. Using a causal modeling approach, the study demonstrates that materialism has a negative effect on environmental beliefs, and these beliefs positively affect environmental concern and environmentally responsible behaviors. The article then provides implications of the results for consumer and environmental policy.

Issues regarding the factual information content of advertising messages under conditions of product parity and product type (i.e., goods vs. services) are reviewed and research propositions are offered. Data derived from content analysis of over 17,000 newspaper ads and 9800 TV ads were used to investigate the propositions’ validity. Regression analysis (p < .05) indicated that ads for intangible dominant products (i.e., services) and low parity products contain more factual information cues than their counterparts. When the two conditions are viewed together (i.e., parity and product type), analysis showed that parity influences factual informational content but not to the same degree as product tangibility. In essence, advertisers appear to be responding more to product type than to product parity prescriptions when it comes to including factual information in their ads.

Examines the impact of a video screen on spectator satisfaction and the advertising effectiveness of rotational-signage systems. A total of 181 spectators at a major college football game were interviewed during the half-time of a regular season contest. Results demonstrate that the screen is a significant component of a stadium’s servicescape which can increase the satisfaction of fans and their intentions to attend future events. While fans recognized less than half the companies that were advertised, firms with the most exposure on rotational systems were more readily identified. Results also suggest that companies are likely to generate substantial goodwill if fans recognize them as sponsors of events. Implications, directions for future research, and limitations are discussed in conclusion.

This article examines the impact of customers’ moods (positive or negative) and various conditions of service excellence (positive, neutral, negative, or mixed) on recall, evaluation, and behavioral intentions regarding a service provider. Results indicate that mood plays a less significant role than the nature of the service encounter itself when it comes to individuals’cognitive, affective, and conative responses. Furthermore, it appears that encounters containing positive aspects have the potential to overcome a negative mood state that customers may bring to a service interaction. A number of managerial implications are also noted. These include recommendations that services managers (a) pay close attention to service quality; (b) realize that performing well on some dimensions of the service encounter may overcome poor performance on others; (c) work to create more neutral rather than positive mood-evoking conditions in their customers; and (d) actively promote the positive aspects of service encounters to their customers.

In this paper we extend control theory by exploring the referents that salespeople use to interpret their perfonnance and, subsequently, adjust their behaviors ifperfonnance is deemed inadequate. While scholars have long relied on referents and control theory to explain motivated behavior, research has just recently begun to investigate the sources of referents that are integral to such advances. We propose that referents are inexorably intertwined with salespersons’ mental models which are engaged during sales episodes. Ergo, we build on research in social cognition to broaden our understandings about organizational control.

This study compared ratings of discomfort on the receipt of gifts and intentions to repay gifts between male and female purchasing executives. Significant main effects of sex and years of purchasing experience on discomfort ratings were found. In addition, no significant main effect of sex on intention to repay scores was uncovered. These results suggest that in a business context the giving of gifts to male or female purchasing executives may not be an effective method for influencing future commerce. At the very least, business decision makers need to consider carefully the efficacy of gift-giving as a form of persuasion.

This article presents a broad overview of the circumstances leading to the development of the special issue of Journal of Advertising devoted to the advertising of services. In addition, a brief synopsis of each of the articles appearing in. the special issue is given. Observations regarding the current state of inquiry into the advertising of services are posed, along with suggestions for future investigations.