http://hdl.handle.net/10125/2080 Sat, 25 May 2013 12:43:15 GMT 2013-05-25T12:43:15Z http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20650 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.; Companies are increasingly extending their brands into related or distant product categories to capitalize on their existing brand equity (called similar and dissimilar brand extensions, respectively). While prior research has extensively examined antecedent and moderating variables of brand extension success, only very limited research has investigated communication strategies that help promote brand extensions effectively. Moreover, the few existing studies focused on an advertising format where no comparison is made between the advertised brand extension and a competing brand (called noncomparative advertising). Surprisingly, no research to date has examined how an advertising format where a newly introduced brand extension is compared to a competing brand (called comparative advertising) affects consumers' brand extension evaluations.; Overall, the findings of this dissertation uncovered a hitherto unidentified means of improving a brand's equity and suggest that the greater cognitive flexibility of interdependent versus independent selves does not constitute a processing advantage per se. The results hold significant implications for national and international marketing managers.; The primarily objective of this dissertation is to close this gap in the existing marketing literature by integrating, for the first time, the brand extension and the comparative advertising research streams. Specifically, this dissertation aims to examine how consumers categorize and evaluate similar versus dissimilar brand extensions when promoted in a comparative versus noncomparative advertising format and whether self-construal differences exist across these conditions.; To examine these research questions, a series of three studies were conducted. The results of Study 1 indicated that consumers evaluate similar (dissimilar) brand extensions similarly (significantly more favorably) when promoted in a comparative versus noncomparative ad format. Further analyses revealed that consumers' dissimilar brand extension evaluations in the comparative ad format condition were driven by an affect transfer from the comparison brand to the dissimilar brand extension. The results of Studies 2 and 3 provided further evidence for the affect transfer notion by introducing conditions in which the parent and comparison brands were either known or unknown. Moreover, Studies 2 and 3 revealed for certain conditions that self-construal constitutes an important moderator of consumers' evaluation of dissimilar brand extensions.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-200).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 200 leaves, bound 29 cm Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20650 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Merz, Michael A http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20649 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.; Based on my conclusion, the mere harmonizing of IP laws without concomitant changes to the legal regimes of member nations may not yield similar judicial outcomes. Consequently, the underlying use and reliance on convergence theory by WTO may not work and should be reevaluated in light of this research.; Globalization has created pressures on nations to conform their societies, culture, political ideologies, and laws in order to engender parity and facilitate economic trade, foreign direct investment and technology transfers. Multilateral trade and global economic alliances like the World Trade Organization ("WTO") have demanded that member nations conform their business practices and laws to achieve a "level playing field." In order to accomplish this, the WTO has adopted and relied considerably on convergence theory. This theory maintains, in part, that the harmonization of laws such as those dealing with intellectual property ("IP") will make the global marketplace more efficient and fair and benefit participating nation economies.; However, merely harmonizing IP laws may be insufficient to create a "level playing field" for trade and commerce. In order for convergence theory to work, not only must IP laws be harmonized, but more importantly, the respective legal regimes of the signatory countries must also be conformed.; This research analyzes the harmonization of IP laws across three different legal regimes. In particular, I focus on the regimes of America, Japan and the Philippines, which have harmonized their IP laws in accordance with the WTO requirements. Using legal case studies I conducted personal interviews of selected judges and justices from each legal regime to identify their mental processes used in judicial decision making. The research yielded results which indicated that given similar laws and facts, jurists from each legal regime use unique mental processes not used by jurists of other regimes. This finding was corroborated by the significant variations in judicial outcome between regimes, and the lack of uniformity of outcome across ail regimes. From this finding, I conclude that legal regimes appear to serve as a moderator of judicial outcome.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-241).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 241 leaves, bound 29 cm Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20649 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Kudo, Benjamin A http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20648 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.; Metaphors are extensively used in interactive healthcare communications. Although the superiority of metaphors over literal messages is usually explained by enhanced elaboration, little is understood with regard to whether metaphors invite readers to mentally visualize healthcare messages. It also remains unknown if different metaphor formats (abstract versus concrete) activate different processing mechanisms. In addition, there has been no attempt to examine the combination of metaphors and other healthcare communication strategies.; This dissertation contributes to this body of knowledge by providing a comprehensive framework focused on two different metaphor formats (abstract versus concrete). In a series of studies, this dissertation demonstrates that concrete metaphors, when compared with abstract metaphors, are usually processed via higher imagery processing. As a result, concrete metaphors are often more effective than abstract metaphors. However, abstract metaphors are more effective in encouraging behavioral persistence. In addition, congruency between metaphor format and processing instructions/temporal orientation priming enhances message effectiveness. After a certain period of time, the effect of congruency between metaphor format and temporal orientation priming fades away for risk perception, but it remains fairly strong for behavioral intention. This dissertation contributes to the theory of metaphors and has important marketing research and managerial implications.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-138).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 144 leaves, bound 29 cm Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20648 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z He, Yi http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20647 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.; This research examines international knowledge transfer and organizational learning in the biotechnology industries in Japan and the U.S. This study is one of the first to consider the location of the knowledge resource and that location's relationship with innovative output in the biotechnology industry. The paper also considers the differences in industrial environments in which Japanese and U.S. biotech firms compete. Results suggest that biotechnology firms that look to foreign competitors for knowledge resources upon which to build have greater innovative outputs than firms that focus only on knowledge from domestic sources. The findings also suggest that foreign knowledge has a stronger relationship to overall innovation than does domestic knowledge for both Japanese and U.S. firms.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-130).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 130 leaves, bound 29 cm Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20647 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Budde, Amanda Erin Krueger http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20646 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007.; Digital microproducts---such as Apple's 99-cents I-tunes songs or Amazon.com's 49-cents short books, or Disney's $4.99 short videos---are products in digital forms that can be delivered anywhere, at any time, at a low acquisition cost and no delivery costs. Since the selling price is small, fixed and identical to all products, it no longer plays an important role in the purchasing decision. As traditional micro-economic theory does not fully apply to these types of microproducts, an increasing body of research suggests that word-of-mouth has taken over price as the key demand factor. The purpose of this dissertation is to measure the impacts of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), as a signal of product reputation, brand reputation and reputation of complementary goods, on the microproduct buying decision. This dissertation consists of three empirical studies using digital short stores (Shorts) from Amazon.com and freeware downloads from Download.com. Shorts are condensed versions of books in PDF format sold for a fixed price of 49 cents. In this research, eWOM consists of product reviews and ratings posted on the Amazon.com e-book marketplace and the Download.com software marketplace. The first essay studies the impact of eWOM on sales performance of Amazon Shorts, and also maps the change in the predictive power of eWOM over time. The second study focuses on the impact of brand and complementary goods reputations, signaled by eWOM, on the likelihood of first and additional product eWOM being posted, as well as the likelihood of those additional eWOM significantly impacting sales. The third study looks at the impact of expert and amateur user reviews on demand for digital microproducts with zero cost, using freeware from Download.com. This dissertation makes several unique contributions to the growing body of research on eWOM, including a comprehensive and integrated study on the impact of eWOM as a signal of product reputation, brand reputation and complementary goods reputation. eWOM-based demand models for digital microproducts are also developed, and two longitudinal studies contribute to an understanding of the dynamic impact of eWOM over time. It also sheds new evidence on the interplay between reviews by critics and amateurs.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-125).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 124 leaves, bound 29 cm Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20646 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z Amblee, Naveen http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20645 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.; Dissertation Essay I. This essay examines what causes the significant negative relation between idiosyncratic risk and subsequent stock returns, as shown by Ang et al. (2006a, 2006b). Our analyses demonstrate that this negative relation is driven by monthly return reversals as documented in the previous literature (e.g. Jegadeesh (1990)). The abnormal positive returns from taking a long (short) position in the low (high) idiosyncratic risk portfolio are fully explained by an additional control variable, the "winners minus losers" portfolio returns, introduced to the conventional three- or four-factor time-series regression model. The cross-sectional regressions confirm that no significant relation exists between idiosyncratic risk and expected returns once we control for return reversals.; Dissertation Essay II. There are two approaches to explain the short-term return reversals. Liquidity hypothesis argues that non-informational trades generate return reversals and informational trades cause return continuations. While overreaction hypothesis suggests that return reversals are caused by informational trades, and stocks with more firm-specific information exhibit stronger return reversals since investors overreact to firm-specific information. Using idiosyncratic volatility to proxy the amount of firm-specific information contained in prevailing stock trading activities, this study distinguishes the above two explanations by examining the relation between short-term return reversals and idiosyncratic volatility. I find that stocks with more firm-specific information hence higher idiosyncratic volatility display greater return reversals, and this relation is robust after trading volume and illiquidity are controlled. Our study supports overreaction hypothesis and indicates information content play a very important role in explaining short-term return reversals.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves xxx-xxx).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 103 leaves, bound 29 cm Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20645 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Zhang, Liang http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20644 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.; This study incorporates recent advances in neuroscience in the evaluation of instructional methods for business ethics education. By utilizing a neurocognitive model which accounts for the fundamental neural processes which underlie human behavior, this research expands the traditional view of conscious cognitive ethical decision-making to include nonconscious drivers of ethical behavior. Measuring ethical behavior directly rather than the traditional but not perfectly-correlated ethical judgment, a game theory experiment was employed to assess the ethical behavior of college students before and after ethics training. The distinct neural systems of reflexive and active judgment were activated with time constraint and altered instructions in different rounds of the game. Subjects were trained with two types of cases to determine if case method ethics education may positively impact ethical behavior. Results indicated significant worsening of ethical behavior in subjects not trained with case method ethics instruction, while case method instruction improved ethical behavior. Previous college-level ethics education and gender were not found to be significantly correlated with improvement in ethical behavior.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves xxx-xxx).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 107 leaves, bound 29 cm Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20644 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Suarez, Cristina http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20643 Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.; Seasoned private equity placement is an important vehicle by which public firms obtain equity financing. This study seeks to accomplish three goals regarding the issuance of private placements: (1) to investigate managers' earnings manipulation behavior of U.S. issuers around the time of the issuance; (2) to examine whether such earnings manipulation behavior helps explain the long-term post-issue stock underperformance; and (3) to provide further evidence from Japanese private placement issuers regarding the pattern of earnings management around the time of issuance and the extent to which it can explain the post-issue stock underperformance. The results show that managers of U.S. private placement issuers tend to engage in income-increasing earnings management around the time of the issuance and the income-increasing accounting accruals made at the time of private placements predict the post-issue stock underperformance. The study also finds that, similar to their U.S. counterparts, Japanese managers tend to report inflated earnings around the time of private placements issuance and the earnings management by Japanese private placement issuers in the year of issuance predicts the firm's post-issue stock underperformance.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves xxx-xxx).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; 82 leaves, bound 29 cm Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20643 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z He, Daoping http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11689 Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-95).; Electronic reproduction.; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; vii, 95 leaves, bound 29 cm Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11689 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z Tang, Ning http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11688 Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-80).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; xii, 80 leaves, bound 29 cm Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11688 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Mac Nab, Brent Robert http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11687 Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-128).; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; x, 128 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11687 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Liu, Caixing http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11686 Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-185).; Electronic reproduction.; Also available by subscription via World Wide Web; xii, 185 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/11686 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Kim, Eugene Song http://hdl.handle.net/10125/6905 Most comparative advertising studies are conducted within the U.S. Little is, thus, known regarding its persuasiveness in a cross-cultural setting. Even within the US, the impacts of comparative versus noncomparative (NC) ads are mixed. The inconsistencies in research findings suggest the need for further study regarding constructs that may influence the persuasiveness of these two types of ads. In this dissertation, an individual level culture factor: independent self-construal (INDSC) and an individual level personality factor: need for cognition (NFC) are hypothesized as two such constructs. Because INDSC emphasizes competition and confrontation, it is expected that comparative ads (NC ads) will be more persuasive for consumers high (low) in INDSC. However the persuasiveness of INDSC-congruent ad type is expected only for low NFC consumers because these consumers are likely to regard this consistency as a peripheral cue and thus form an ad evaluation based on this match. High NFC consumers, however, are not expected to be influenced by this congruity because they have a higher intrinsic motivation to process information. As a consequence, for high NFC consumers, comparative ads, which provide more factual information, will be more persuasive than NC ads, regardless of INDSC. An experiment employing a 2X2X2 factorial design was conducted. Ad formats (comparative vs. NC), INDSC (high vs. low) and NFC (high vs. low) were the three independent factors. Results indicate that NFC and INDSC influenced the persuasiveness of comparative vs. NC ads for utilitarian products. Hypotheses concerning high NFC consumers were supported. For high NFC consumers, comparative ads were more persuasive than NC ads regardless of consumers' INDSC. Hypotheses regarding low NFC consumers, however, were not supported. Comparative ads (vs. NC ads) were more persuasive for low NFC consumers with low INDSC while NC ads (vs. comparative ads) were more persuasive for low NFC consumers with high INDSC. The underlying premise that culture matters for this group of consumers was, however, supported. Higher involvement elicited by incongruity between INDSC and ad format appeared to be the psychological mediator underlying these effects for low NFC consumers. xiii, 179 leaves Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10125/6905 2003-12-01T00:00:00Z Polyorate, Kawpong