Student topics

Organisations are increasingly moving toward self-service technology (where consumers deliver services themselves using technological interfaces). While this increases organisational efficiencies, it has the potential to significantly impact customer engagement with the organisation. We're seeking a Masters or PhD student to investigate the human factors involved in self-service technology delivery: How do situational factors impact consumers' adoption of self-service technologies? What motivators and inhibitors impact self-service technology usage? Do consumers always respond appropriately within self-service environments? The successful applicant for this …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

School

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Research centre(s)

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Most theories of motivation and behaviour consider pain and effort to be deterrents. In contrast to this widely held belief, researchers have identified that the prospect of enduring pain and exerting effort for a cause can promote contributions to the cause. Specifically, research has shown that willingness to contribute to a charitable or collective cause increases when the contribution process is expected to be painful and effortful rather than easy and enjoyable.This project extends this theory to a shopping context. …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

The theory of “enclothed cognition” suggests the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer's psychological processes.Researchers have found the diverse impact that clothes can have on the wearer. It is proposed that enclothed cognition involves the co-occurrence of two independent factors—the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing them. For example, research has found physically wearing a lab coat increased selective attention compared to not wearing a lab coat, and wearing a lab coat described …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability, with 300 million globally suffering from it while fewer than half of those affected receive treatment. New Apps aim to help users manage their mental state, from meditation apps to more therapeutic platforms like Joyable. And a new Facebook Messenger chatbot called Woebot tries to help people with depression and other mental disorders through education and mood tracking. The focus of this research is to investigate consumers’ …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Not included: Taxes, Fees and Surcharges - Consumer reactions to partitioned prices in online retailPartitioned pricing, which refers to the practice of diving prices into a base price and surcharges such as taxes, shipping or handling fees is increasingly popular (Greenleaf et al., 2016; Choi et al., 2019). Yet at the same time it is a practice that divides practitioners, where some online retailers partition their prices while others opt not to. Scientific insights on this issue are in its …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Brand manufacturers continue to be concerned with consumers' moves toward cheaper, private label grocery products, such as $2 milk. In Australia, and globally, supermarket retailers continue to increase their proportion of private label products. Australia's largest food retailer, Woolworths, in November 2011 reported to shareholders their plans to double the proportion of private label, house brand products to 35% of their range.The purpose of this research would be to identify and explore the extent of ethical and socially responsible (ESR) …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

School

Please select a school

Next-generation (next-gen) entrepreneurs are described as people who operate solely in online environments (i.e. via the internet). The internet and mobile technologies have profoundly impacted the ways in which business is conducted, yet little is known about this new type of business environment. There has been considerable research into entrepreneurs who operate largely in physical 'bricks and mortar' settings, however the literature is limited in providing insight into entrepreneurs who operate solely in online environments.We know that emotions influence the …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

School

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Research centre(s)

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Brisbane residents are spoiled by choice of short break holiday destinations within a comfortable drive. This topic offers participation in an ongoing project monitoring perceptions held by Brisbane residents (since 2003) of the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Northern NSW, Fraser Coast and Bundaberg North Burnett. For each of these destinations, the Brisbane market represents the largest source of visitors, and understanding consumer perceptions represents important marketing research for the destination marketing orgnisations.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Consumers often demand a higher price for items they own, than what they would be willing to pay to buy the same item (Kahneman et al., 1990). This effect is commonly known as the endowment effect. While the endowment effect is well established (e.g. Bar-Hillel & Neter, 1996; Chan, 2015; Horowitz & Mcconnell, 2002), and some studies have attempted to explain it by considering the effects of psychological ownership (Kirk et al., 2015), there are still questions about when, for …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

What attributes influence a consumers' intention to purchase indigenous art and souvenirs? Research has suggested ‘perception of authenticity’ motivate some consumers to seek out and purchase such products. However, authenticity may relate to the marker/artist, aesthetics of the design, or material use. These attributes are identified through the extant literature in indigenous art and souvenirs. The purpose of this research project is to determine what influences perceptions of authenticity, leading to purchase intention.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

There is a growing and substantial body of knowledge concerning tourists' perception of authenticity for indigenous art and souvenirs. Such products have significant impact on local economies.For tourists and visitors, indigenous art and souvenirs are mementos of their travel experiences and help tourists appreciate cross-cultural differences. However, more and more, these products are becoming mass-produced objects where the satisfaction of tourists and the profit motives of retailers are given priority. From the demand side, there are many motives for souvenir …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Artificial intelligence increasingly allows marketers to manipulate video and audio materials in a manner that has been restricted to still pictures in the past. Yet little is known about how consumers engage with and react to marketing content that consumers know has been manipulated in this fashion. For instance, for whom, when and why do interactions with voice-based AI (e.g. Google Duplex, Healed through A.I.) reduce purchase intentions. Building on research from interpersonal interactions (Lechner & Mathmann, 2020) and motivational …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations