Rory Mulcahy

Digital marketing has become a necessity for many Australian small businesses, exacerbated by the unpredictability of the pandemic. Previous studies have focused on the B2B service relationship in the Australian advertising industry, yet none have explored the relationship between small business owners and digital marketing service providers.  Our study investigates the findings from the first stage of a mixed-methods research project involving a series of semi-structured interviews (15) with Australian small business owners and digital marketing service providers. Preliminary results suggest challenges arise in the B2B relationship when parties are “not a good fit”, do not understand the needs of the small business, and the services provided, or when expectations surrounding ROI are not managed transparently. This research provides new knowledge to this scholarship area in Australia with the aim of better informing small business owners and digital marketing service providers to enhance their B2B service relationship and its outcomes.      

DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) marketing is common in sports organisations worldwide. Yet, limited research has empirically investigated how DEI marketing initiatives (e.g., Prideweek Jerseys) impact consumer behaviour and the associated implications. The current research explores how sports consumers respond to different message frames communicating a sporting organisation’s DEI marketing initiatives. Construal Level Theory (CLT) forms the theoretical basis of an experimental DEI message framing study conducted in Australia (n=386). PLS modelling results demonstrate a significant interaction between the message frame used and fans with different levels of team identification. A significant effect on fans’ team abandonment, via a negative emotional response, was also found with different message frames. Theoretically, this study responds to calls for empirical examination of DEI in sports, and marketing more broadly. Practically, this study demonstrates the nuance marketers need to develop genuine DEI initiatives regarding how messages are designed and impact different consumer segments. 

Digital marketing has become a necessity for many Australian small businesses, exacerbated by the unpredictability of the pandemic. Previous studies have focused on the B2B service relationship in the Australian advertising industry, yet none have explored the relationship between small business owners and digital marketing service providers. Our study investigates the findings from the first stage of a mixed-methods research project involving a series of semi-structured interviews (15) with Australian

small business owners and digital marketing service providers. Preliminary results suggest challenges arise in the B2B relationship when parties are “not a good fit”, do not understand the needs of the small business, and the services provided, or when expectations surrounding ROI are not managed transparently. This research provides new knowledge to this scholarship area in Australia with the aim of better informing small business owners and digital marketing service providers to enhance their B2B

service relationship and its outcomes.

Customer experience (CX) has been identified by the Marketing Science Institute as a significant research priority for over 10 years (MSI, 2020). To date, literature primarily focuses on investigating Business-to-Consumer (B2C) relationships, resulting in underrepresented and fragmented literature in the Business-to-Business (B2B) CX context. This study aims to explore how the literature conceptualises CX examined in B2B relationships through a Systematic Literature Review (n=25). Using descriptive and thematic analysis, the findings of the review reveal B2B CX literature relies heavily upon B2C conceptualisations. Further, the systematic review identifies a fragmentation in the number and types of CX dimensions explored in the B2B literature, and a lack of investigation into how these dimensions exist or vary according to stages of customer journey or touchpoint types. From identifying these gaps in the B2B literature, this research identifies important future research priorities for the B2B CX literature which require exploration to further this field of study and practice.

Research suggests the dual pursuit of education and sports provides a more holistic approach to developing athletes. Yet, little research has investigated the types of support services needed for student-athletes well-being. Guided by a transformative sport service research paradigm (TSSR) and the holistic athlete career (HAC) model, this research seeks to provide empirical insight into which services are critical in supporting student-athletes well-being. Survey findings from student-athletes (n=867) suggest a variety of support service types are important with notable differences identified in sub-groups (e.g., regional vs. metropolitan, gender). Further, consistent with the TSSR paradigm, student athlete programs are found to contribute to well-being. Theoretically, this research contributes empirically to the HAC model and the emerging area of TSSR. Practically, a clearer understanding of key support services and well-being emerge, helping guide more effective promotion of student-athlete programs in Australian higher education. 

The notion of supporting elite athletes as a whole person is starting to form the foundation of various sports organisations (Stambulova et al., 2021). In relation to taking a more holistic approach to supporting elite athletes, a growing body of research, particularly over the last decade, has emerged that focuses on elite athlete career adaptability and transitions (Moreno et al., 2021). Hence, the purpose of this research was to explore how elite athlete career adaptability and transition research has evolved within the literature via a systematic review. A systematic review is a fitting approach as it clarifies key research trends from a growing body of work, which helps to draw alignment between academic research, and informs effective design and development of elite athlete career adaptability and transition strategies in sports organisations. 

National sports systems worldwide are constantly evaluating pathways to optimise athlete talent. Talent transfer is one alternative pathway that may increase the chance of identifying and developing successful elite athletes (Bullock et al., 2009). Talent transfer may be more significant in para-sports, compared to able-bodied sports, due to relatively lower athlete numbers resulting in fewer athletes progressing along the sport pathway to the elite level (Baker et al., 2017). Despite this, talent transfer in para-sports has primarily occurred informally, with knowledge and implementation of this process drawn from a limited stock of research on able-bodied athletes and sports (e.g., Cury et al., 2022; MacNamara & Collins, 2015). Of particular interest is the similarities of task constraints of donor and recipient sports that may facilitate talent transfer (Bullock et al., 2009; Teunissen et al., 2021), which is unclear for para-sports due to unique contextual factors (Patatas et al., 2020). Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate whether patterns between donor and recipient sport task constraints contribute to talent transfer in Paralympic sport.  

Research on influencer marketing has primarily focused on behavioural outcomes for the brand, most often purchase intentions. This research sought to expand upon this by examining the emotional and cognitive processes consumers experience when seeing an influencer advertisement, and additionally, investigate the outcomes for influencers as well as brands. The present study employed two experimental surveys, one using coffee as the product (n = 282) and the other using a mobile phone as the product (n = 292) to examine the psychological process by which consumers appraise the influencer advertisement. These experiments found that influencer gender moderates the impact of disclosure on the cognitive and emotional appraisals. Additionally, consumers exposed to low involvement products use a single emotional appraisal to determine their behaviour, while those exposed to a high involvement product use dual appraisal with an emotional and cognitive process. These findings provide both theoretical and managerial contributions.