This dissertation examines how consumers cope with stress and, specifically, the role of magical thinking in consumer coping. Magical thinking is defined here as creating or invoking ‘extraordinary’ connections – symbolic relationships founded on a belief or intuition in the presence of mystical forces in the world – in order to understand, predict, or influence events. Previous research in the field of psychology has largely depicted magical thinking as a cognitive distortion or fallacious reasoning that emerges in stressful situations due to limited information-processing capacity or to provide an illusory sense of control (e.g., Zusne and Jones 1989). In contrast, I draw from research in sociology, anthropology, and religious studies to explore the cultural dimension of magical thinking. Building on Stivers’ (1999) culturally-based theory of magic, I seek to develop an understanding of magical thinking as a process of meaning negotiation whereby consumers invoke mystical forces to cope with stressful events. These themes are explored through a phenomenological investigation of consumers’ weight loss activities. Findings provide insight on the nature and conceptual domain of magical thinking in the marketplace; magical thinking emerges as a set of practices that involves imparting moral meaning to a situation, reifying and externalizing one’s control over the situation, attempting to symbolically influence this powerful, mystical entity that is vested with control, and interpreting scientific symbols as objective signs from this entity. This research also advances our understanding of consumer coping by illuminating the role of magical thinking as a resource that expands the realm of the possible to help consumers cope with the moral responsibility for a domain over which they experience limited agency. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-19 07:33:13.701

The present dissertation examines the impact of advertising message involvement (AMI) and the type of ad (ADTYPE) on the nature (cognitive versus affective) and level of abstraction of the information that is encoded during ad exposure. In addition, it examines the impact of brand response involvement (BRI) and the type of purchase motives (TPM) on the nature and level of abstraction of the information that is used for making a judgment or choice. / An experiment using 372 subjects was conducted. A 2x2x2x2 between subjects design manipulated AMI (low versus high), ADTYPE (rational versus emotional), BRI (low versus high), and TPM (cognitive versus affective). Results indicated that ADTYPE determines the nature of the information that is encoded during ad exposure, whereas AMI determines the level of abstraction of cognitive (but not affective) information encoded. Results regarding the impact of BRI and TPM were not conclusive.

Thesis (MBus)--University of South Australia, 1998

Numerous studies have shown a positive association between the marketing concept and performance, however, it is not clear to what degree this relationship is moderated by the business environment. It is also uncertain which dimensions of the Narver and Slater (1990) measure of market orientation explain the relationship. Research conducted in four countries (Australia, China, Singapore and the Netherlands) of 217 companies found a strong association between market orientated strategies and company performance. Further, results of the research suggest that a customer orientated strategy may be a more appropriate strategy for a company to pursue when operating in a disturbed reactive or a turbulent business environment. The societal marketing concept, was found to be positively associated with company performance, and used as a 'pre-emptive' strategy by firms operating in a placid clustered environment. It would thus seem that a customer orientated strategy is more important in very turbulent environments, such as those after September 11th, 2001, than first thought.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-67). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2007. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-144).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2005. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2004. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 154-189.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- Lincoln University, 2008. / Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--Cleveland State University, 2008. / Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 8, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-127). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center. Also available in print.