Relationship Advertising: Investigating the Strategic Appeal of Intimacy (Disclosure) in Services Marketing Andrea Diahann Gaye Scott University of South Florida
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 10-6-2004 Relationship Advertising: Investigating the Strategic Appeal of Intimacy (Disclosure) in Services Marketing Andrea Diahann Gaye Scott University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Scott, Andrea Diahann Gaye, "Relationship Advertising: Investigating the Strategic Appeal of Intimacy (Disclosure) in Services Marketing" (2004). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1241 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Relationship Advertising: Investigating the Strategic Appeal of Intimacy (Disclosure) in Services Marketing by Andrea Diahann Gaye Scott A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Marketing College of Business University of South Florida Major Professor: Paul J. Solomon, Ph.D. Karen O. Brandon, Ph.D. Barbara Lafferty, Ph.D. William B. Locander, Ph.D. Miriam Stamps, Ph.D. Date of Approval: October 6, 2004 Keywords: television, experiment, psychology, interpersonal, communication, qualitative © Copyright 2004, Andrea D. G. Scott Dedication I dedicate this work to my wonderful parents Del and Jasper Scott, who have been my greatest cheerleaders and role models since day one. I thank you for instilling a genuine and enthusiastic love of learning, for cultivating a healthy sense of both purpose and obligation, and most importantly, for fostering a keen understanding that the fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of wisdom. It is an honor to be your daughter and I am humbled by your unconditional love. Acknowledgments I am grateful for the numerous individuals who helped me complete this task and for organizations such as Keswick Christian School, Honeywell, Inc., and other welcoming groups in Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area. My parents offered both practical and emotional insight that was invaluable. I offer thanks to my super-supportive brothers Shane and Quentin, who never lost faith in what I could accomplish. I am appreciative of my many friends, colleagues, and family members who kept rooting me on—empathizing with me during the set-backs, and celebrating the mini-victories along the way. I extend a special thank you to Rudy Oswald, Ph.D., who helped me get this degree started and to Robert Williams, who helped me finish well. Finally, I thank my committee for their guidance and input during this process and for their confidence in the value of my work. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................................I LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ IV LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... V ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................... VI CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION................................................................................ 1 ORIGIN AND GOALS OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ............................................................1 IMPORT AND RELEVANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH...................................................3 DEFINING INTIMACY ...........................................................................................................5 KEY OBSERVATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN STERN (1997) .............................................5 RESEARCH STAGES .............................................................................................................6 CURRENT LITERATURE .......................................................................................................7 1) Intimacy.............................................................................................................8 2) Creative Strategy: Use of Appeals.....................................................................8 3) Individual Differences: Involvement, Desire for Intimacy, and.......................... Gender....................................................................................................................9 4) Relationship Marketing: Stage-Based Relationship Development....................9 STUDY CONTEXT.................................................................................................................9 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................10 Stage 1: Descriptive Checklist Construction .......................................................10 Stage 2: TV Advertising Experiment...................................................................12 DISCIPLINARY CONTRIBUTION .........................................................................................12 ORGANIZATION OF DISSERTATION ...................................................................................13 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................... 14 PARALLELS BETWEEN STERN (1997) AND PROPOSED RESEARCH....................................15 Theoretical support for intimacy..........................................................................16 Advertising the attributes of intimate relationship...............................................16 Stage-based relationship development.................................................................17 Intimacy skills......................................................................................................17 Individual differences ..........................................................................................17 RELEVANT VARIABLES AND PRELIMINARY MODEL.........................................................18 INTIMACY IN PSYCHOLOGY ..............................................................................................20 Defining Intimacy................................................................................................20 Analyzing Intimacy: The nature and components of intimacy ............................23 Measuring intimacy .............................................................................................29 INTIMACY AND MARKETING..............................................................................................35 Adapting the Reis and Shaver (1988) Intimacy Process Model ..........................36 Model Components.................................................................................38 i Parallels between Desired Consumer Response and Tenants of Intimate Relationships........................................................................39 CREATIVE STRATEGY .......................................................................................................43 Contrasting appeals: Sex, Warmth, and Emotions in Advertising.......................43 Sexy Advertising ....................................................................................44 Warm Advertising ..................................................................................45 Rational advertising: contrasting the role of emotions ...........................47 The challenges of communicating intimate relationship .....................................51 The impact of visual imagery ..............................................................................52 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: INVOLVEMENT, DESIRE FOR INTIMACY, AND GENDER.....................................................................................................................54 Involvement .........................................................................................................54 Conceptualizing Involvement.................................................................54 Measuring Involvement ..........................................................................57 Applying Involvement ............................................................................58 Desire for Intimacy ..............................................................................................58 Social intimacy .......................................................................................59 Gender Differences in Advertisement Processing and Interpretation..................60 RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: STAGE-BASED RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT..................62 The nature of services relationships: commercial friendships.............................62 Themes and tangibility in services advertising....................................................63 Stage-based of relationship development ............................................................65 CHAPTER TWO SUMMARY ................................................................................................68 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 70 STUDY CONTEXT...............................................................................................................71 STAGE 1: QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY / CHECKLIST CONSTRUCTION ........................72 Emergent Inquiry