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The purpose of this study was to examine a series of retail Web sites for their potential in marketing cultural products to a projected audience of amenable US consumers and draw conclusions for marketing of cultural products to this market segment. Among 1,288 Web sites purported to market cultural products and crafts, a simple random sample of 101 retail Web sites were content analyzed based on the existence of five categories of information related to: company, product, culture, craft media and type, and transaction and fulfilment. The analysis revealed that a scarcity of information about the products, cultures, and artisans would hinder customers from purchasing cultural products. It was hypothesized that Web sites with greater appeal to the potential market segment would need to expand product information to include who, where, and how a product is made and cultural information to include indigenous symbolism and meaning underlying the products and the lives of artisans and families in the country.

This study examines how consumer involvement with apparel influences perceptions of an apparel product (T‐shirt) presented in a print advertisement. Consumer involvement with apparel was examined in relation to three advertisement response concepts: attitude toward the advertisement, product attribute beliefs, and product attitude. Also as part of the study, three dimensions of apparel involvement were tested (fashion, comfort, and individuality). Finally, an advertising processing model that integrates apparel involvement with the three advertisement response concepts was tested. A convenience sample of students attending a midwestern university in the USA participated in data collection. Respondents were presented with a full‐page advertisement for a fictitious brand of apparel and answered items on the questionnaire. Findings confirmed that dimensions of apparel involvement shaped consumer attitudes. A combination of apparel involvement dimensions (fashion, individuality, and comfort) influenced consumer beliefs about product attributes in the advertisement. In terms of gender differences, the comfort variable showed to be a stronger component of apparel involvement for men and women tended to be more involved in fashion. Findings also supported relationships among advertisement response variables previously tested by scholars. Product attribute beliefs and ad attitude were significant in product attitude formation.

To report on the findings obtained through a field study in information infrastructure of rural areas of Romania.

Researchers interviewed Romanian villagers using the same interpreter regarding a village's information needs and requirements. The village's information infrastructure was also surveyed. Because the literature on information infrastructures has focused primarily on macro issues (those national and international in scale), this project centered on micro (local) issues. A history of Romania's information infrastructure is presented and relevant literature reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of research methods used, and then the findings are presented and analyzed.

The research determined that global information infrastructure (GII) and national information infrastructure (NII) literature is incomplete and needs to give more attention to local and rural (micro level) issues. The findings also raise the question of whether the term equity is “misused” in today's discussions of national and international information infrastructures.

This was not an exhaustive study. Further studies in the information infrastructure and information requirements of those who live in rural communities are needed in order to fully understand them.

Further research will help to identify ways to help improve rural information infrastructures in less developed nation/states.

Little attention in GII/NII literature has been given to the information infrastructure of rural or local areas (micro‐level issues). Focusing research on this subject will help those who live in areas like these.

Today, appearance is an integral aspect of a politician's image and personality and therefore his or her brand (Budesheim & DePaola, 1994; Sanghvi & Hodges, 2015; Smith & French, 2009). While appearance is critical to political marketing, most of the research focusing on appearance in politics is experimental in nature (Lenz & Lawson, 2011; Olivola & Todorov, 2010; Todorov et al., 2005). This study investigates the importance of appearance for marketing politicians through a qualitative interpretivist framework that offers implications for theory. Moreover, this chapter offers a specific focus on the importance of appearance for female politicians.

Research shows women face greater scrutiny on their appearance (Carlin & Winfrey, 2009; Sanghvi, 2018). This chapter examines myriad of issues women in politics face based on their appearance. It also examines how women have successfully managed the issue of appearance at local, state and national levels. Thus, this study delivers a multifaceted view of the topic and facilitates the understanding of how appearance management enters into the political marketing process.

The study examined how consumers responded to apparel advertisements with varying environmental claims. Respondents were 274 undergraduate students at a US university. Three attitudinal perceiver variables (environmental knowledge, concern and commitment) were analysed in relation to perceptions of credibility of environmental messages. Although significant differences in perceptions of credibility among certain types of environmental ad claims were found, results suggest that the sample of consumers did not respond more positively to advertisements with environmental messages. Environmental advertisement claims were not effective in generating more positive consumer response to apparel advertisements.

One of the fastest growing segments of the American adult population is adults over 65‐years old. This group is refereed to as “silver seniors.” Understanding the silver citizen market requires an in‐depth knowledge of seniors' attitudes and lifestyles. The purpose of this paper is to present an in‐depth view of the senior woman's self‐concept, lifestyle, and apparel‐related preferences and shopping behaviors.

Using findings from an extensive review of literature and in‐depth interviews with 20 women over age 65, this exploratory research provides insight into the impact of self‐concept, lifestyles, and fashion behaviors on apparel purchase decisions. The qualitative approach used for data collection and analysis provides rich insight into the behaviors and apparel needs of “silver seniors.” The tripartite self‐concept is explored as it relates to fashion attitudes and behaviors.

Findings from this paper indicate that women over 65 are still interested in fashion and that looking fashionable for themselves and others is important. Insights into the specific unmet apparel and retail needs of senior adult women are explored. Findings indicate that senior adult women continue to remain physically and socially active and have need for a variety of garments. Recommendations for apparel manufacturers and retailers targeting this lucrative segment are presented.

This paper is original to the retailing and consumer behavior literature. One of the benefits of this exploratory study is that it provided the authors with an opportunity to examine, in theory and practice, an overlooked yet growing segment of apparel consumers.

This study creates new knowledge that addresses issues significant enough to warrant intellectual engagement. It fills a gap in the academic and practitioner literature by examining a profitable yet understudied cottage industry (artisan vendors). It examines marketing concepts that influence dedication to authentic craftsmanship and artisans' willingness to continue in the industry.

This study examines historical evidence and connects it with subjective and interpretive analyses from 29 in-depth interviews of today's US artisan vendors to identify sustainable marketing best practices for the industry.

Researchers uncovered factors behind artisan vendors' willingness to stay committed to their craft and remain in the industry. From the findings of this study, marketing best practices (branding, brand communities and product adaptation while remaining authentic to their craft) were identified as tools for resilience and remaining a viable competitor in the marketplace.

Historically, artisan vendors have been engaging in marketing practices before terms defined their activities. Thus, this study is original in that it contributes to the academic literature by first conducting an analysis of the history of an understudied cottage industry (artisan vendors) starting in the Mesopotamian Era. The key marketing factors discovered in the historical study contributing to the resilience of this industry were then used to conceptualize a qualitative study of the highly profitable US artisan vendor industry.

This research was undertaken to investigate the differences in preferred managerial leadership behaviour among genders and racial groups in South Africa.

Data were collected from part time MBA students in South Africa, and subjects' preferences for explicit leader behaviour was assessed by the Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire XII, with samples of Asian[1], black, coloured[2], and White South Africans further categorized by gender.

Coloured sample subjects were most dissimilar from the other samples as to preferred leader behaviours. The most similar grouping was black males with white males and females.

Different results were obtained than predicted by past studies comparing only black and white subjects. Studies comparing only those two racial groups could yield misleading interpretations of the actual managerial leader race and gender dynamics in South Africa. Owing to the small samples obtained for coloureds and Asian women, a follow‐up study is underway to increase these sample sizes.

Implications of this study for practice are that programmes of managerial leadership development and practice need to consider that the race and gender dynamics in South Africa extend beyond the majority blacks and whites, and need to be more inclusive of all groups.

The results tend to contradict the interpretations of past studies of management and leadership that have indicated significant differences between the behaviours of blacks and whites in the business environment. These two groups were found to be most similar in preferences.

The purpose of the paper is to propose a systems change lens to current approaches to assessing social impact in social ventures. Many existing tools for measuring social impact are limited in their capacity to assess the inherent complexities and interconnected nature of the work done by social enterprises.

The paper uses in-depth interviews with sector experts to gain insights into their needs related to impact assessment, as well as issues they face when attempting to understand and measure their impact.

Expert interviews provide insights into how social impact occurs through interconnected systems. It also highlights the need for impact assessment to better consider interaction within systems and networks. Results support previous work concerning the need for methods that can better account for complexity, interacting problems and the place of power in influencing actions.

Following results from interviews and review of existing literature, symbolic interactionism and Social Worlds/Arenas theories are used to gain insight as to how impact can be conceptualized in terms of systemic shifts in social equilibria. The model proposes to capture the contested definitions of problems and their negotiation in social structures.

Grounded in sociological theory, the model brings a new theoretical approach to social impact assessment, one that provides a different view of social structures than existing models that are grounded in economic metrics. The proposed model, therefore, provides a new lens for the detailed assessment of the complex interactions between systems.