Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
Description
This research examines the impact of social media influencers on Millennial and Gen Z consumers’ vacation decisions. It reveals why and under what conditions influencers’ posts may trigger young adult consumers’ desire to vacation in the same destination. In a pre-test and one experiment, I demonstrate that seeing a post that is perceived by followers as credible increases influencers’ likeability and therefore leads to higher likelihood to vacation in the same place. However, seeing a post about a similar influencer, such as a student who is an influencer from the same university, decrease influencers’ likeability and leads to a decrease in young adults’ likelihood to vacation in the same place. Moreover, similarity and credibility do not have an interaction effect, which is that when seeing a post by a similar influencer, credibility will not have a stronger effect on young adults’ likelihood to vacation in the same destination.
ContributorsZhang, Xiaohan (Author) / Mandel, Naomi (Thesis director) / Lisjak, Monika (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Self-discrepancies motivate consumers to reduce the discrepancy’s negative effects by seeking products that make them feel better. Consumers use various strategies to mitigate these effects through within-domain purchases, across-domain purchases, or purchases designed to distract. Currently, there is a gap in the literature regarding how consumers trade off various compensatory consumption strategies when they face the option to evaluate different strategy at the same time. Through the current research presented here, as well as two proposed studies, I aim to find that people prefer escapism products and services (versus direct resolution and fluid consumption) when faced with a self-discrepancy. I address the literature gap by proposing studies for a mediator (working memory capacity) and a moderator (ease of the solution) on this relationship. This phenomenon occurs because self-discrepancies decrease working memory capacity (cognition): when cognitive resources are low, people will tend to prefer affective stimuli (escapism products). Finally, I plan an experiment to show that difficulty moderates this relationship. When the relative difficulty of the escapism solution is high, participants may be more likely to choose a different, relatively easier strategy. The current findings and suggested future studies contribute to the literature on compensatory consumption, escapism, and working memory capacity.
ContributorsForman, Jacob Reuben (Author) / Mandel, Naomi (Thesis director) / Lisjak, Monika (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Political polarization is at an all-time high in the United States and people are more polarized in their beliefs than ever. The issue of polarization is one of the most divisive conflicts in America today. The following honors thesis analyzes how political polarization affects voter emotions and behaviors. To study this, I expose participants to a high polarization news article and a low polarization news article and observe the results. Out of the test came two key findings. The first is that participants who identify as Independents were much more likely to feel inspiration in a high polarization context than in a low polarization context. The second is that in a high polarization condition, Democrat and Republican participants felt more connected to their own parties compared to the control condition.
ContributorsSharp, Harrison (Author) / Mandel, Naomi (Thesis director) / Eaton, Kathryn (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05