The cognitive antecedents of exercising behavior are identified and used to explain the incidence, extent and regularity of physical exercise. Data from 183 adult residents of a U.S. city showed that outcome beliefs weighted by the evaluation of outcomes and employed in a compensatory fashion and perceived threat explained 30 percent of variance in the survey respondents’ exercise behavior. Close to 40 percent of respondents did not exercise with any fair regularity, and social marketers concerned with increasing the general fitness levels of a population would find the results of this research helpful in identifying appropriate influence strategies.

This study, utilizing an experimental design, assessed the effects of color, size, and shape on printed marketing communication materials. Attitudinal, cognitive, and physiological measures were utilized in examining the effects of the three factors. Color was found to be the most important factor in influencing attention, attraction, and retention. Some support was also found for the use of larger print materials. Finally, several marketing implications of the study are considered.

This article studies the impact of athletic scandals in higher education by examining changes in key variables including overall enrolment, number of freshman applications, overall charitable contributions, alumni charitable athletic contributions and corporate charitable athletic contributions. This exploratory study involved a case analysis of 15 universities covering an 8-year period that had been placed on NCAA probation for infractions involving their men's basketball and football programmes during the 1998?2005 academic calendar years. Preliminary results indicate that athletic scandal does negatively impact overall charitable giving and overall enrolment and that the impact is long-term in nature. However, contrary to our expectations, we found that scandal had a positive impact on alumni athletic contributions, corporate athletic contributions and total freshman applications. A set of managerial implications for colleges and university administrators as well as future research is discussed.

The United States sports industiy is a multi-billion dollar industry. Corporations attempt to curry favor with consumers by aligning their products and services with this popular industry through sports sponsorship and endorsement opportunities. The upside to this association is well-documented in the sports marketing literature. Less well known however, is the impact on corporate brands when a scandal erupts around an athletic endorser such as a team, coach, or player. Numerous sports scandals such as the recruiting scandal at the University of Colorado or the Kobe Bryant rape case raise serious questions about the impact of sports scandals on both professional and amateur athletic institutions, sponsors, participants, and other constituents. The purpose of the present research study is twofold: (1) to attempt to identify aspects of a sports scandal that influence our perception of the impact of the event and (2) to understand the short and longterm effects of sports scandals on the consumers' affiliation with the sponsors' products, sports organization, and with the sport entity involved in the scandal.

Although the use of athletes as endorsers is increasing, we know relatively little about how consumers perceive athlete endorsers and the factors that influence endorser effectiveness. In particular, we know little about how congruence—the "fit" between the product, the endorser and the consumer—influences consumer perceptions of the endorser. The authors report on a study that examines the effects of endorser gender, consumer gender, and the type of product advertised on consumer perceptions of endorser trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness. After viewing ads containing athlete endorsers for either milk or cross trainer shoes, subjects answered a battery of questions about their perceptions of the endorser. Findings show that regardless of product type, subjects rate endorsers of the same gender as more trustworthy. Also, women rate endorsers as more expert when there is a fit between the endorser and product (e.g., when the endorser uses the product in their sport) while men rate endorsers as more expert when there is not an endorser-product match. Other findings and implications are also discussed.

Consulting services have been the fastest growing segment of public accounting over the past decade. However, very few empirical studies have addressed determinants of consulting service quality from the client's perspective. The objectives of this study are to: (1) determine the reliability, validity, and explanatory power of a service quality model in an accounting and nonaccounting provider environment, and (2) explore the association between the type of provider, the type of service provided, and the interaction between provider type and service type and perceived service quality. A survey of 272 controllers of U.S. middle-market corporations provides the data for this study. Descriptive and statistical results indicate that a 13-item scale appears to be a viable instrument for differentiating client perceptions of service quality. In addition, client perceptions of service quality appear to be affected by the type of service provided, but not by the type of provider or by the interaction of provider type and service type.

ABSTRACT In response to this unprecedented growth, higher education is finally recognizing the contribution of the adult learner. Previous research has explored what the “nontraditional” student values in an education. While our knowledge base regarding the nontraditional learner continues to expand, relatively little research has been conducted on an important segment of this market-nontraditional women. As such, the nontraditional woman represents an important target market for colleges and universities. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to better understand the unique educational needs of the nontraditional woman. A convenience sample of 197 non-traditional women and men from a mid-western university participated in the study. Perhaps the most interesting finding to emerge from the present study (from a marketing perspective) is the notion of three distinct market segments of non-traditional women. Implications for higher education administrators are discussed.

Management Advisory Services (MAS) are an increasingly important part of the service mix for CPA firms. The growth of MAS relative to audit has been phenomenal over the past two decades. However, little research has been conducted on MAS provided by CPA firms. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the determinants of MAS quality from the client's perspective. To achieve this objective, 305 controllers of U.S. companies responded to a questionnaire regarding MAS provided by CPA firms. The questionnaire was designed using determinants from marketing and audit literature. Using these client perception dimensions, two types of MAS engagements were compared: those with an increase in cost during the engagement, and those with no increase in cost. Descriptive and statistical results indicate that a 13-item service quality scale significantly differentiates client perceptions of MAS quality. The results also reflect dimensions of service quality that are similar to existing marketing and auditing studies. In addition, in the presence of cost overruns and intentional underbidding, clients perceive lower MAS quality. The implications of these results for the accounting profession are discussed.

ABSTRACT Do male and female students really behave differently and want different things from a college education? The present study was and designed to address this issue and extend what was previously known regarding gender differences in the university selection process. A convenience sample of 183 undergraduate students (83 males and 100 females) from a large, midwestern university responded to a campus-intercept survey. Results indicate that male and female students differ in terms of the importance placed on various attributes of a university and in one source used to choose a university. Implications for the development of a strategic marketing process are discussed.

What is the core knowledge base that every marketing student should be expected to master before receiving his or her degree? Currently, there are no universal guidelines available for marketing educators and/or practitioners to use when assessing a student’s body of knowledge. The purpose of the present paper is to begin to develop a set of terms and concepts related to consumer behavior that undergraduate marketing students should know, comprehend, and be able to apply.

The proliferation of sophisticated computer-assisted communication technologies (e.g., voice mail systems, computer conferencing, video conferencing, electronic mail, image transmission) is causing organizations to examine the potential influence such technologies could have on the quality of service delivered to customers (both, internal and external). This paper investigates the impact of an advanced communication technology on the quality of service delivered by employees within an organization to their peers (internal customers). An empirical study was conducted to assess the expectations and performance levels of “internal service” after the incorporation of an advanced communication technology (voice mail) within one service organization (financial institution). Results indicate that the level of expectations of internal service in the context of voice mail were much higher than actual service performance. Analysis also revealed that perceptions of internal service quality significantly differed on the basis of gender and educational level of respondents. Directions for future research and managerial implications for enhancing internal service quality through the incorporation of new information technologies are also discussed.

ABSTRACT International students represent a growing market segment for colleges and universities in the U.S. As universities begin to target international students, it will become imperative that university administrators and faculty understand what these students expect once they arrive on campus. The present study, utilizing 686 U.S. and 338 Australian business students was designed to explore university service expectations from a cross-cultural perspective. Results indicate that expectations of Australian students are greater than those of U.S students on three dimensions of service quality. Implications for university administrators and faculty, along with future directions, are discussed.

ABSTRACT Service quality continues to grow in importance in the marketing literature. One area, however, that has been relatively neglected is educational services. The present study, utilizing 686 business students and 13 professors across three university types, was designed to examine service expectations from both student and professor perspectives. Results indicate that student expectations of university services are greater than those of professors, and that these expectations vary by university type. Implications for university administrators and faculty, along with future directions, are discussed.

Uses a qualitative research method (depth interviews) to examine the multidimensionality of beauty and then uses a quantitative research technique (factor analysis) to propose a scale to measure beauty. Based on the results from these procedures, concludes that beauty is certainly more than skin deep. Physical attractiveness may be the initial criterion on which people evaluate beauty but the evidence indicates that values, habits, personality, and behavior are the “soul″ of beauty – essential ingredients in the creation of a truly beautiful person.

No abstract available for this article.

This study was designed to assess the effects of organization, luminance contrast, sector angle, and orientation on a new, highly ambiguous Cs-keyhole figure. Organization and contrast were the most important factors, and sector angle also influenced figure-ground relationships. There was no significant effect of orientation, nor was there any significant interaction between any of the factors. Several new measures of figure-ground organization were developed, such as ambiguity ratios based on reaction times and on ratings of the strength of perceived organizations, providing new quantitative measures of figure-ground relationships. Distances measured across figural regions appeared smaller than equal distances across the ground in the new reversible figure, and also in Rubin’s classic vase-face figure presented in real and subjective contours. Inducing a perceptual set to see a particular organization in a reversible figure influenced the apparent distance across that organization. Several possible explanations of the observed effects are considered: (1) an instance of Emmert’s law, based on the difference in apparent depth of figure and ground; (2) an aspect of the Müller-Lyer illusion; (3) a feature-detector model of contour attraction; (4) a natural set or predisposition to see a figure as smaller; and (5) framing effects. The first two explanations appear the most promising.

The Bourdon illusion is a contour-attraction effect in which two colinear test edges of a plane figure appear displaced toward a bent induction edge located nearby. This illusion and related effects are stronger in subjective contours than in real contours. In Bourdon figures combining both varieties of contours, real induction contours produced a strong illusion in subjective test contours, but subjective induction contours produced no illusion in real test contours. Thus, interactions between real and subjective contours were asymmetrical. Luminance contrast between real and subjective contours weakened the Bourdon illusion.

The Bourdon illusion consists of the apparent bending of a straight visual contour in the direction of a bent induction contour located nearby. The bent contour also appears partially straightened, or unbent, in the direction of the straight contour. These mutual attraction or assimilation effects are stronger between the edges of a solid figure than between the lines of an outline figure, whether the edges and.lines consist of real or subjective contours. The present results are equally consistent With a cognitive model and a feature-detection model of these apparent displacement effects.