@misc{DostMaierBijmolt, author = {Dost, Florian and Maier, Erik and Bijmolt, Tammo}, title = {Empirical Dynamic Modelling for Exploring Complex Time Series in Management and Marketing Research}, series = {SSRN eLibrary}, journal = {SSRN eLibrary}, issn = {1556-5068}, doi = {10.2139/ssrn.4036834}, pages = {1 -- 49}, abstract = {Many research problems are characterized by complex relationships between time series variables, such as simultaneity (e.g., feedback loops between communication channels) and state-dependence (e.g., marketing interactions with observed and unobserved sales channel variables). The authors introduce empirical dynamic models (EDM) to management and marketing research. EDM is a nonlinear methodology that helps researchers to investigate simultaneous (i.e., bidirectional and same-period) and state-dependent (i.e., nonlinear and interacting) relationships with aggregate time series data. The authors demonstrate EDM capabilities and boundaries within the challenging omnichannel case. To study omnichannel systems, researchers often must rely on aggregate data: Despite more individual tracking, the data is often not available for offline channels or comprehensively integrated across channels. A simulation study, that derives aggregate time series from an individual data generation mechanism, explores conditions and boundaries under which EDM is suitable for identifying, predicting and attributing relationships between variables. We benchmark EDM against vector autoregression, regression, and machine learning models and provide application criteria for EDM. Next, the authors confirm the capabilities of EDM in an empirical investigation of interrelated brick-and-mortar, online, and mobile channels from a large European fashion retailer, finding evidence for mostly synergetic but strongly state-dependent relationships among the channels.}, language = {en} } @misc{RennieCleophasSykulskietal., author = {Rennie, Nicola and Cleophas, Catherine and Sykulski, Adam and Dost, Florian}, title = {Detecting outlying demand in multi-leg bookings for transportation networks}, series = {31st European Conference on Operational Research (EURO) Proceedings}, volume = {31}, journal = {31st European Conference on Operational Research (EURO) Proceedings}, pages = {28}, abstract = {Network effects complicate transport demand forecasting in general and outlier detection in particular. For example, a sudden increase in demand for a specific destination will not only affect the legs arriving at that destination, but also connected legs nearby in the network. Network effects are particularly strong when service providers, such as railway or coach companies, offer many multi-leg itineraries. In such situations, automated alerts can help analysts to adjust demand forecasts and enable reliable planning. In this presentation, we outline a novel two-step method for automatically detecting outlying demand from transportation network book� ings. The first step clusters network legs according to the observed booking patterns. The second step identifies outliers within each cluster to create a ranked alert list of affected legs. We illustrate the method using empirical data obtained from Deutsche Bahn. In addition, we present a detailed simulation study that quantifies the improvement from the clustering step and implications of ranking to measure the criticality of the outliers. Our results show that the proposed approach outperforms independently analysing each leg, especially in highly connected networks where most passengers book multi-leg itineraries.}, language = {en} } @misc{SchmidtMaierDost, author = {Schmidt, Lennard and Maier, Erik and Dost, Florian}, title = {Retail Location Assessment with Urban Scaling}, series = {SSRN eLibrary}, journal = {SSRN eLibrary}, issn = {1556-5068}, doi = {10.2139/ssrn.3738003}, pages = {1 -- 70}, abstract = {Location is an impactful but irrevocable driver of retail store performance. Unless retailers rely on their gut feelings for finding high potential locations, they have to invest in extensive location research, calibrating performance models on expensive rich data (e.g., income or education of households in each prospective trading area). To prevent "the death of the high street", also public administrators care for location potentials. This research proposes a parsimonious new model for location potentials, drawing from emerging urban scaling literature outside of marketing. We show that a measure of the local urban scale explains stores' sales, local competitive intensity, and defining aspects of store lifecycles (managers' location choice, sales ramp-up to a steady state after opening, store closure). We demonstrate these capabilities of the scaling approach using six datasets, including data from two retail chains (grocery and variety stores), public data, map data, and an experiment with retail managers. Our parsimonious model compares well to more complex multivariate benchmarks and remains more robust across modeling choices. We put forth a scale measure that can be cheaply obtained from map data, offering accessible applications for retail and public policy managers (e.g., "heat maps" across all potential locations in a city) and to marketing research in general (e.g., as input or control variable for geo or mobile marketing).}, language = {en} } @misc{RennieCleophasSykulskietal., author = {Rennie, Nicola and Cleophas, Catherine and Sykulski, Adam and Dost, Florian}, title = {Detecting outlier demand in railway networks}, series = {5th AIRO Young Workshop at Universit{\`a} degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy}, volume = {5}, journal = {5th AIRO Young Workshop at Universit{\`a} degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy}, pages = {31}, abstract = {Transport service providers, such as airlines and railways, often use revenue manage-ment to control offers and demand in mobility networks. Such systems rely on accu-rate demand forecasts as input for the underlying optimisation models. When changes in the market place cause demand to deviate from the expected values, revenue man-agement controls no longer fit for the resulting outliers. Analysts can intervene if they deem the demand forecast to be inaccurate. However, existing research on judgemen-tal forecasting highlights fallibility and bias when human decision makers are not sys-tematically supported in such tasks. This motivates the need for automated alerts to highlight outliers and thereby support analysts. Network effects complicate the problem of detecting outlier demand in practice. Pas-sengers often book travel itineraries that stretch across multiple legs of a network. Thereby, they requests products that require multiple resources - seats on several legs. In the rail and long-distance coach industries, the large number of possible itiner-aries makes it likely for outlier demand to affect multiple legs. At the same time, outli-er demand from a single itinerary may be difficult to recognise as it mixes with regular demand on individual legs. To support outlier detection in transport networks, we pre-sent a method to aggregates outlier detection across highly correlated legs. We propose to use the results of this analysis to construct a ranked alert list that can support ana-lyst decision making. We show that by aggregating we are able to improve detection performance compared to considering each leg in isolation.}, language = {en} } @misc{Brusch, author = {Brusch, Ines}, title = {Identification of Travel Styles by Learning from Consumer-generated Images in Online Travel Communities}, series = {Information \& Management}, volume = {59}, journal = {Information \& Management}, number = {6}, issn = {0378-7206}, doi = {10.1016/j.im.2022.103682}, abstract = {"A picture is worth a thousand words": Never has this adage been more meaningful than it is today. Online social media is driving the growth of unstructured image data. Unstructured data must be structured to be informative and thereby contribute to user understanding and revenue generation. Hitherto, companies have only been able to accomplish this through tedious manual work. This paper demonstrates how image data can be analyzed automatically using a combination of image analysis methods and fuzzy cluster algorithms to predict user preferences, which companies can then use to make targeted offers. Several methods, including support vector machines (SVMs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs), are benchmarked across various cases of image data taken from an online travel community. Depending on the images' diversity either a SVM or a CNN provides the best basis for preference prediction.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Reichstein, author = {Reichstein, Thomas}, title = {Enhancing Engagement - Understanding the Engagement Drivers of Social Media Content}, address = {Cottbus ; Senftenberg}, pages = {112 Seiten, Seite i - Seite xlii}, abstract = {Social media is the staple of Internet consumption. There are currently 4.8 billion social media users worldwide. This means that almost every Internet user (5.18 billion) also consumes social media (Statista1, 2023). The enormous importance for the advertising market is underlined by the considerable advertising expenditure, which is expected to reach \$ 207 billion in 2023 (Statista2, 2023). By comparison, traditional TV advertising is expected to reach \$140 billion in 2023 (Statista3, 2023). However, social media is not only the ideal channel for marketers to advertise, but also to engage with their customers and strengthen their relationship with them (Lim \& Rasul, 2022), as it has a positive impact on firm performance and word of mouth (de Oliveira Santini et al., 2020; Yost, Zhang, and Qi, 2021). As a result, companies want to know how to make their content, whether advertising or general, highly engaging. This dissertation aims to contribute to the following research question: "How can content engagement be increased, and what are the drivers of content engagement?" Thus, the first objective of this work is to provide an overview of the basic decision-making process of user engagement in social media. Part I of this dissertation shows that previous research has shed light on the tools used to create engaging images and videos, referred to as main content (Berger \& Milkman, 2012; Reichstein \& Brusch, 2019). However, less light has been shed on an important aspect that also strongly influences engagement: the factors surrounding the content, referred to in this paper as framework conditions. One example of framework conditions is the text that accompanies a post, known as the caption. The second objective of this dissertation, in Part II and Part III, is therefore to examine the effects of framework conditions, such as the text length of a caption, on engagement. Table 0.1 gives an overview of the three manuscripts used in this dissertation. Part I of this paper builds on the publication by Reichstein and Brusch (2019). This part provides a literature review on viral marketing, specifically an overview of the factors that influence content engagement. Viral marketing is a buzzword that represents the ideal of creating content that spreads like a virus. The section provides a definition of viral marketing and classifies the literature to date based on a hypothetical model. The model shows the decision-making process of individuals in social media, from receiving a content to making a decision to engage. 7 Part II builds on the published work of Reichstein, Brusch, and zu Ummeln (2021). An empirical study examines the effect of four framework factors (persons interested, title length, image, relationship information) on engagement and interest in Facebook events. The study is based on a survey that is analyzed using a statistical comparison of means. Additionally, the effect of emotions on engagement and interest is tested using correlation analysis. The results provide initial evidence that framework conditions influence engagement and interest. Furthermore, the strong effect of emotions on engagement, known from the literature (Berger \& Milkman, 2012), is confirmed. Part III is based on the unpublished manuscript by Reichstein, Brusch, Dost, and Brusch (2023). This part examines the effect of the caption, which can be considered as the framework of a social media post, on engagement. The focal variable studied is the text length of the caption. In addition, the effect of emojis and hashtags on engagement is examined. Two experiments and field data from an onminchannel retailer and a travel influencer are used. The results show that the relationship between text length and engagement follows an inverted U-shape, and thus the optimal text length maximizes engagement. The effect is surprisingly strong. Estimates for the given datasets show a potential increase in likes of up to 25\% per post on average by optimizing text length. The structure of this cumulative dissertation is as follows. The main part consists of the three papers (Part I, Part II, Part III). Each of them starts with a motivational part to clarify the contribution and the classification for the dissertation. It should be noted that the previously published papers (Part I and Part II) have been partially adjusted in language to unify the dissertation. At the end, there is a conclusion section that summarizes the findings of the paper.}, language = {en} } @misc{Dost, author = {Dost, Florian}, title = {Bidirectional Links between Aggregate Advertising and Goods Consumption at the National Level}, series = {46th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference Book}, journal = {46th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference Book}, edition = {1}, publisher = {EBES}, address = {Istanbul - Turkey}, isbn = {978-605-71739-6-6}, pages = {99}, abstract = {A longstanding question in marketing and economics is whether all of advertising affects aggregate consumption. If it does not, the advertising-consumption system would be a zero-sum game; if it does, advertising can grow markets and represents an economic force of interest for marketing, economics, and public policy. Ashley, Granger, and Schmalensee (1980) test advertising's potential causal impact on aggregate goods consumption. Challenging prior empirical studies that suggested advertising drives aggregate consumption (Taylor \& Weiserbs, 1972), Ashley et al. show that advertising does not influence consumption; rather, consumption causes advertising in a landmark methodological study of the Granger causality test. Yet recent conceptualizations suggests this empirical result and especially the linear autoregression-based Granger method to be inconclusive. Wilkie and Moore (1999) propose a complex aggregate systems view to discussing macro impacts of marketing, and in such systems the Granger tests typically fails (Sugihara et al. 2012). The present research extends prior studies with a new more appropriate nonlinear method (convergence cross-mapping) to test the causal links between television or digital advertising and three types of aggregate consumption—durables, non-durables, and service consumption. The novel test, unlike the Granger causality test, confirms the existence of a bidirectional causal link between advertising and aggregate goods consumption. Specifically, and similar to the brand level, advertising effects on consumption are stronger for durable than for non-durable goods.}, language = {en} } @misc{MaierDost, author = {Maier, Erik and Dost, Florian}, title = {Decomposing cross-channel advertising support of retailer price promotions}, series = {Journal of Retailing}, volume = {100}, journal = {Journal of Retailing}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1016/j.jretai.2024.05.002}, pages = {362 -- 381}, abstract = {Retailers' communication support for their price promotions is shifting from traditional flyers and circulars (so-called feature ads) to conventional media channels, especially digital ads. It is not clear, if and how supporting price promotion with advertising in digital media benefits sales of the promoted product above and beyond the price promotion itself. Further, retail managers require guidance on whether only the promoted product or also their overall business gains from ad support (e.g., from category or cross-period expansions) to negotiate trade promotion support with manufacturers of the promoted products. Using a field experiment with a grocery retailer, we decompose the effects of the advertising support of price discount promotions across digital and print marketing channels. We find that the effectiveness assessment of the advertising channels depends on the beneficiary: while digital channels most effectively support sales of the promoted product (35 \% uplift vs. non-promotion period) - especially for popular consumer-pull products (+85 \%), traditional print channels improve the performance for the retailer as a whole (+3 \% uplift of the total category sales), with a combination of ads having the largest effect (+5 \% uplift of the total category sales). This research offers guidance for retail and manufacturer managers tasked with designing price promotions and configuring the ad support across channels, and negotiating trade promotion budgets or manufacturer support for the advertisements.}, language = {en} } @misc{FlorianPeschke, author = {Florian, Dost and Peschke, Christiane}, title = {When Influencers Promote Their Own Products: Trust Perceptions Following Explicit Versus Implicit Promotion Styles}, series = {Proceedings International Marketing Trends Conference 2024, Venice}, journal = {Proceedings International Marketing Trends Conference 2024, Venice}, isbn = {978-2-490372-18-8}, pages = {1 -- 8}, abstract = {In recent years, influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for promoting products due to influencers' unique ability to captivate their followers' attention effectively. Moreover, influencers often enjoy a high level of trust among their followers, enhancing the persuasiveness of their product endorsements. However, a relatively unexplored question in the current literature is how trust perceptions are affected when influencers promote their own branded products. Our research investigates the impact of influencers' own brand promotions on trust, considering explicit endorsement versus subtle implicit integration into content. We find that trust increases when influencers implicitly integrate their branded products, akin to product placement. This is particularly noteworthy when influencers are endorsing their own, lesser- known products, as compared to national brand products. Nevertheless, the implicit promotion may reduce awareness of the promoted product. Mediation analyses reveal opposing effects of trust towards the influencer and product awareness on purchase intentions, nearly offsetting each other.}, language = {en} } @misc{ReichsteinDostGalle, author = {Reichstein, Thomas and Dost, Florian and Galle, Clara}, title = {May I have your attention, please! Social Media Engagement does not always reflect user attention}, abstract = {User engagement with social media content is the primary currency for social media marketers. An implicit assumption is that high engagement reflects high user attention to content. Surprisingly, this assumption has not been tested, and many users may only habitually engage with content without paying much attention to it. Using an eye-tracking experiment to examine subjects' gaze trajectories across 161 social media posts, we show that attention is indeed a strong predictor of engagement. However, the strength of the prediction is moderated by text length and emojis, with surprising results. Thus, the implicit assumption that engagement reflects attention is often misplaced.}, language = {en} } @misc{WernerDost, author = {Werner, Bastian and Dost, Florian}, title = {Range-based versus Point-based WTP/WTA Measures: New Findings for the Endowment Effect}, series = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy}, journal = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy}, number = {53}, abstract = {Previous research has examined the well-known endowment effect using point-based measures of willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) values and found that this effect leads to market failure because sellers' WTA often exceeds buyers' WTP. This research examines the endowment effect using range-based measures of WTP and WTA, providing a more realistic perspective given bounded rationality and uncertainty conditions. To confirm the conceptual extensions and modifications of the endowment effect, we conceptually replicate a comprehensive point-based study on the endowment effect (Jefferson/Taplin, 2011) using range-based measures. Our results show an increased endowment effect but also less severe inefficiencies in a market, as there is significant overlap between WTP and WTA ranges, leading to a more efficient market than previously thought and more transactions taking place.}, language = {en} } @misc{MaierDost, author = {Maier, Erik and Dost, Florian}, title = {Preventing the Death of the High Street}, series = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy}, volume = {53}, journal = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy}, abstract = {Inner-city store closures, the so-called "death of the high street", are a phenomenon that affects retailers and municipalities across the globe. Extant research lacks an understanding of potential interventions that help mitigate this phenomenon. The present research uses unique observational panel data from 17,000 stores for the years 2015 and 2022 to test the effects of city-level government intervention (inner-city investment prize) on the propensity of local stores to fall empty or empty stores to see a store opening. Using a quasi-experiment (discontinuity of prize competition participants with or without prize money) and a Markov model, our results indicate that even modest government investment can help to reduce the probability of vacancies and increase the probability of store openings.}, language = {en} } @misc{ReichsteinBruschDostetal., author = {Reichstein, Thomas and Brusch, Ines and Dost, Florian and Brusch, Michael}, title = {How To Optimize Your Social Media Caption To Generate More Engagement :) \#Captionize \#SocialMedia}, series = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2023 Annual, Odense, Denmark, May 24, 2023}, journal = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2023 Annual, Odense, Denmark, May 24, 2023}, publisher = {European Marketing Academy}, abstract = {Maximizing engagement is an important issue for social media managers. Science has already provided guidance on how to make content more engaging. However, one easy-to-edit part of the social media post has received little attention: The caption. We show that the caption has an underestimated impact on engagement and we specifically address text length. The relationship between text length and engagement is not linear as described in previous literature but follows an inverted U-shape. Using field data, we estimate the optimal length of captions and provide surprising results. We show that captions are mostly too short instead of too long and that an optimal length can increase the engagement rate by up to 17\%.}, language = {en} } @misc{WernerDost, author = {Werner, Bastian and Dost, Florian}, title = {Behavioral Pricing and Innovative Pricing Mechanisms in Purchase Decisions- a Review and Recommandations for Future Research}, series = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2023 Annual, Odense, Denmark, May 24, 2023}, journal = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2023 Annual, Odense, Denmark, May 24, 2023}, language = {en} } @misc{RennieCleophasSykulskietal., author = {Rennie, Nicola and Cleophas, Catherine and Sykulski, Adam and Dost, Florian}, title = {Outlier detection in network revenue management}, series = {OR Spectrum}, journal = {OR Spectrum}, issn = {0171-6468}, doi = {10.1007/s00291-023-00714-2}, abstract = {This paper presents an automated approach for providing ranked lists of outliers in observed demand to support analysts in network revenue management. Such network revenue management, e.g. for railway itineraries, needs accurate demand forecasts. However, demand outliers across or in parts of a network complicate accurate demand forecasting, and the network structure makes such demand outliers hard to detect. We propose a two-step approach combining clustering with functional outlier detection to identify outlying demand from network bookings observed on the leg level. The first step clusters legs to appropriately partition and pools booking patterns. The second step identifies outliers within each cluster and uses a novel aggregation method across legs to create a ranked alert list of affected instances. Our method outperforms analyses that consider leg data without regard for network implications and offers a computationally efficient alternative to storing and analysing all data on the itinerary level, especially in highly-connected networks where most customers book multi-leg products. A simulation study demonstrates the robustness of the approach and quantifies the potential revenue benefits from adjusting demand forecasts for offer optimisation. Finally, we illustrate the applicability based on empirical data obtained from Deutsche Bahn.}, language = {en} } @misc{RennieCleophasSykulskietal., author = {Rennie, Nicola and Cleophas, Catherine and Sykulski, Adam and Dost, Florian}, title = {Analysing and visualising bike-sharing demand with outliers}, series = {Discover Data}, journal = {Discover Data}, number = {1}, issn = {2731-6955}, doi = {10.1007/s44248-023-00001-z}, abstract = {Bike-sharing is a popular component of sustainable urban mobility. It requires anticipatory planning, e.g. of station locations and inventory, to balance expected demand and capacity. However, external factors such as extreme weather or glitches in public transport, can cause demand to deviate from baseline levels. Identifying such outliers keeps historic data reliable and improves forecasts. In this paper we show how outliers can be identified by clustering stations and applying a functional depth analysis. We apply our analysis techniques to the Washington D.C. Capital Bikeshare data set as the running example throughout the paper, but our methodology is general by design. Furthermore, we offer an array of meaningful visualisations to communicate findings and highlight patterns in demand. Last but not least, we formulate managerial recommendations on how to use both the demand forecast and the identified outliers in the bike-sharing planning process.}, language = {en} } @misc{DostMaier, author = {Dost, Florian and Maier, Erik}, title = {Promoting Price Discounts across Channels: The Role of Discount Level and Product Sales Frequency}, series = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2023 Annual, Odense, Denmark, May 24, 2023}, journal = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2023 Annual, Odense, Denmark, May 24, 2023}, publisher = {European Marketing Academy}, issn = {2709-1589}, abstract = {The most common promotional activity are price discounts, and retailers have to choose whether to further promote their price discounts with ads in offline (e.g., print) or online (e.g., banner ads) channels. However, retail managers lack guidance for which promotional channel (offline or online) would support price discounts best and what types of products (high or low sales frequency) would benefit most. Using a field experiment, we disentangle the interacting effects of price discounts (at various discount levels) and their supporting promotional channel. We find that digi-tal promotions of price discounts are more effective than non-digital print campaigns to increase sales beyond the base price discount effect. In addition, the product's sales frequency matters: rela-tively, digital promotions best support price-discounted low-sales-frequency products, and steeply discounted high-sales-frequency products receive additional support from offline ads.}, language = {en} } @misc{DostPhieler, author = {Dost, Florian and Phieler, Ulrike}, title = {How To Set Up Seeded Marketing Campaigns with Offline-Focused Nano-Influencers That Create Engagement, Sales, and Return-On-Investment}, series = {Reconnecting and reconceiving the marketplace : AMA Winter Academic Conference 2023 : AMA educators proceedings volume 34 : online, 6 February, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 10 - 12 February 2023, part 1}, journal = {Reconnecting and reconceiving the marketplace : AMA Winter Academic Conference 2023 : AMA educators proceedings volume 34 : online, 6 February, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 10 - 12 February 2023, part 1}, publisher = {American Marketing Association}, address = {Chicago, ILL.}, isbn = {978-0-87757-015-8}, pages = {194 -- 196}, abstract = {Marketers know the majority of impactful product and brand recommendations happen in offline conversations. To become part of these conversations, marketers increasingly utilize thousands of nano-influencers---ordinary consumers who "buzz" about a brand---with specialized marketing formats: seeded marketing campaigns (SMCs). The idea is to equip a large number of nano-influencers with the product or brand to be marketed, then encourage them to share their brand experiences and excitement with their peers. Overall, the created seed activity from SMCs has been shown to increase sales (Dost et al. 2019, Chae et al. 2017, Godes and Mayzlin 2009) at comparably low cost, which makes SMCs an attractive marketing mix addition for managers. The key challenge with SMCs, and a major difference to marketing campaigns with professional online influencers, is that nano-influencer activity is not contractually specified, and managers cannot economically engage with thousands of nano-influencers individually. Instead, managers have to rely on their initial campaign setup decisions to activate nano-influencers. SMC setup comprises SMC size and selection (how many nano-influencers, and who from where to select?), SMC content (which products and incentives to send the nano-influencers?), and SMC timing (how long should the campaign run?). Managers actively seek advice from literature to improve their setup decisions; however, extant research offers them only incomplete setup recommendations. This leaves managers at a loss and complicates result- and cost-conscious campaigns set-ups. With a unique dataset of 148 SMCs comprising the activity of nearly 700,000 nano� influencers and covering about a twentieth of all SMCs in the EU during data collection, we comprehensively model how setup decisions affect all relevant campaign outcomes---seed activity, sales, cost, and return-on-investment---while considering marketing and brand context. Our cross-campaign data enables a comparison of various SMC setups to find out which of managers' available setup decisions aid in planning effective and/or efficient SMCs. Results show that campaign success lies mostly in managers' hands, as setup decisions show the highest impact on campaign outcomes. Brand context plays only a minor role---contrasting organic word-of-mouth settings. Marketing context, such as parallel advertising or product price, matter differently, depending on the campaign goal. We identify trade-offs between effective brand building (maximum seed activity), effective promotion (maximum sales), and efficient (maximum return-on-investment) campaigns, reconciling conflicting suggestions from extant research. Our model predicts that managers could increase seed activity by 97\%, sales by 162\%, or return-on-investment by 100\% compared to current practice.}, language = {en} } @misc{PhielerDost, author = {Phieler, Ulrike and Dost, Florian}, title = {Does It Pay to Increase Public Messages in Nano-Influencer Campaigns? Investigating the Optimal Public Message Share for Sales and Return-On-Investment}, series = {2023 ISMS Marketing Science Conference Proceedings}, journal = {2023 ISMS Marketing Science Conference Proceedings}, publisher = {INFORMS}, pages = {3}, abstract = {Online influencer marketing has matured, and many managers now seek better performance with nano-influencers in seeding campaigns. Compared to macro-influencers, nano-influencers create more private (direct online or offline) brand messages that supposedly deliver more "persuasive punch". But such private messages lack the usual online tracking per message, forcing managers to ask nano-influencers for self-reports, or to estimate sales at a campaign level if they want to assess their own decisions. Therefore, little is known about how to set up effective nano-influencer campaigns: does it pay to increase the public message share in nano-influencer activity, in order to benefit from private and public influencer activity? Or does it defeat its purpose, diminishing nano-influencers' persuasiveness and total campaign results? This study analyses a unique campaign-level data set of various seeded marketing campaigns comprising the activity of 700,000 nano-influencers. We model the impact of nano-influencers' activity on incremental sales and return-on-investment (ROI) at the campaign level. To answer our questions, we include effects of public message share and optimal public message share and their interaction with activity; instrumenting both for identification, and controlling for campaign, marketing, and brand context. We find conditional optimal public message shares for both sales and ROI. The average campaign benefits most when increasing influencer activity (through design or incentives) at public message shares between 4\% and 5\%. This shows the importance of striking the right balance between nano� influencers' online and offline activity, and suggests a similar balance for combining nano- and macro-influencers in future campaign formats}, language = {en} } @misc{LauDost, author = {Lau, Vanessa and Dost, Florian}, title = {Approaching Very Old People: Rely on Traditions and Don't Forget to Call}, series = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends}, journal = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends}, isbn = {978-2-490372-18-8}, pages = {12}, abstract = {Recent findings show that individuals aged 55 and older use more and more online media and digital technologies; however, this may be biased as only those using these media and technologies may be reacting to the surveys documenting the proliferation of digital media. This might be particularly pronounced for older people affected by one or several divides, such as the urban-rural digital divide, economic divides, or the grey divide between young and old demographics. Here, we design a project to survey them—with the help of a citizen science approach in several small German cities. Results show fewer online and digital information sources and communication channels are used than expected, except for messengers. Interestingly, there is substantial heterogeneity within the older group, as adults aged 52 to 74 and those aged 74 to 85 differ in media use and preference.}, language = {en} } @misc{WilkenSchmittDostetal., author = {Wilken, Robert and Schmitt, Julien and Dost, Florian and B{\"u}rgin, David}, title = {Does the presentation of true costs at the point of purchase nudge consumers toward sustainable product options?}, series = {Marketing Letters}, journal = {Marketing Letters}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {0923-0645}, doi = {10.1007/s11002-023-09713-3}, pages = {1 -- 14}, abstract = {Do true cost campaigns (TCCs)—which display prices at the point of purchase that include social and environmental negative externalities—nudge consumers toward more expensive sustainable products? From a theoretical point of view, the answer is promising: Communicating true costs means introducing external reference prices that provide a benchmark for consumers to assess price acceptability. Showing true costs triggers a general reference to the price of sustainability, and the higher price of sustainable products becomes at least partially explained by their lower "hidden costs" (i.e., costs to compensate for all environmental and social impacts). In two empirical studies, we demonstrate that for TCCs to be effective, the hidden costs for the sustainable products must be lower than those for the conventional alternatives. Interestingly, under this condition, TCCs have an effect in markets characterized by a larger (study 1) and a smaller (study 2) green gap. In both studies, we find that increased perceived price fairness explains the effect of TCCs, as measured by the relative preference for the sustainable compared to the conventional product. In addition, we see that the price difference between the two products plays a significant role in forming this preference judgment, independent of other factors included in the model and especially independent of TCC.}, language = {en} } @misc{ReichsteinDost, author = {Reichstein, Thomas and Dost, Florian}, title = {How video length shapes engagement}, series = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends}, journal = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends}, publisher = {International Marketing Trends Conference}, isbn = {978-2-490372-20-1}, pages = {1 -- 9}, abstract = {This study investigates the relationship between video length and user engagement on socialmedia. Building on previous research that has primarily examined a linear relationship, we hypothesize that the effect of video length follows an inverted U-shape, with moderate lengths maximizing engagement. We also examine the moderating effects of music and advertising. A survey experiment was conducted in which subjects were asked to rate two different videos. The videos were varied in length, music presence and advertisement presence, resulting in 48 different variations. In total, 310 data points were generated. The results confirm a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between video length and engagement, with an optimal length of 34.69 seconds. Music has a positive moderating effect on the relationship, while advertising has a negative moderating effect. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights for optimizing video content to increase social media engagement. Future research should investigate further moderating factors and test longer video formats.}, language = {en} } @misc{DostSilomon, author = {Dost, Florian and Silomon, Joscha}, title = {A Nutri-Score can benefit private label food unhealthy products better than manufacturer brands}, series = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends 2025}, journal = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends 2025}, publisher = {International Marketing Trends Conference}, address = {Paris}, isbn = {978-2-490372-20-1}, pages = {1 -- 8}, abstract = {Private labels have significantly increased their market share in the German food retailsector over the past 50 years, often matching manufacturer brands in quality and offeringcompetitive prices. This trend complicates consumer choices, especially as they seek healthieroptions but face an overwhelming number of products. Front-of-pack labelling (FOPL), suchas the Nutri-Score, is used by manufacturers to signal product quality and aid consumerdecision-making. The Nutri-Score, a voluntary and free label, has been shown to improvenutritional awareness and perceived food quality. However, there is limited evidence on thedifferential effects of FOPL between private labels and manufacturer brands. This researchinvestigates whether private labels and manufacturer brands are differently affected by theNutri-Score and if the FOPL effect for private labels depends on manufacturer brands alsodisplaying the Nutri-Score. An experiment with eight food categories revealed that privatelabels benefit more from displaying Nutri-Scores than manufacturer brands, but this advantagediminishes when both display the label. The findings suggest that private labels in nutritionallyunhealthy categories can benefit from Nutri-Scores, even with low ratings, as long asmanufacturer brands do not also display them. From a public health perspective, the resultshighlight a potential downside of voluntary FOPL policies, as selective display by brands canstill positively influence consumer choice, even for unhealthy products.}, language = {en} } @misc{GalleDost, author = {Galle, Clara and Dost, Florian}, title = {Einfluss von Geschlecht und Alter von Artists auf die Views und Likes f{\"u}r Kurzvideos bei TikTok}, series = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends 2025}, journal = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends 2025}, publisher = {International Marketing Trends Conference}, address = {Paris}, isbn = {978-2-490372-20-1}, pages = {1 -- 8}, abstract = {In einer Zeit, in der Social Media zunehmend f{\"u}r die Vermarktung von Musik genutzt werden, stellt sich die Frage, ob algorithmische Bevorzugung gewisser Accounts bestehende gesellschaftliche Geschlechter- und Altersvorurteile verst{\"a}rkt. Um diese Fragestellung zu beantworten, wurde ein Experiment mit 16 fiktiven Artists (Musik) durchgef{\"u}hrt, die sich vorrangig in Geschlecht und Alter unterschieden. Ihre Kurzvideos wurden auf der Plattform TikTok ver{\"o}ffentlicht und die View- und Likezahlen wurden gemessen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen signifikante Unterschiede in der Sichtbarkeit und dem Engagement: J{\"u}ngere weibliche Artists erhielten mehr Aufrufe und Likes im Vergleich zu ihren m{\"a}nnlichen und {\"a}lteren Kollegen. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass die TikTok-Algorithmen junge weibliche K{\"u}nstler beg{\"u}nstigen, w{\"a}hrend {\"a}ltere K{\"u}nstler, insbesondere Frauen, benachteiligt werden. Die Studie legt nahe, dass Artists gezielte Strategien entwickeln m{\"u}ssen, um in einem zunehmend wettbewerbsintensiven Umfeld sicht-bar zu bleiben.}, language = {de} } @misc{LauBuiDost, author = {Lau, Vanessa and Bui, Chi Thuy My and Dost, Florian}, title = {The AI penalty : exploring user perception and engagement with AI-generated content on Instagram}, series = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends 2025}, journal = {Proceedings of the International Conference Marketing Trends 2025}, publisher = {International Marketing Trends Conference}, address = {Paris}, isbn = {978-2-490372-20-1}, pages = {1 -- 17}, abstract = {The rise of AI in social media has brought about various applications such as chatbots, filters,and virtual influencers. However, it remains unclear whether differences exist in the perceptionof AI-generated images and captions across different topics (consumer and creator lifestyle)and whether labeling such content as AI-generated impacts user responses. This study explores how AI-generated Instagram posts affect user engagement (liking, sharing, commenting) and perceptions of authenticity, credibility, creativity, and originality. We conducted an online questionnaire and analyzed the responses of 271 participants using multiple linear regressions and mediation analyses. The findings reveal expected results, such as AI-generated content, especially images, being perceived and interacted with more negatively than user-generated content. However, there were also unexpected outcomes, including the revelation that labeling AI-generated content does not significantly affect consumer responses. Surprisingly, in consumer lifestyle content, an AI-generated caption can lead to improved perceptions and greater engagement. We discuss these findings' practical implications and suggest future research directions.}, language = {en} } @misc{WernerDost, author = {Werner, Bastian and Dost, Florian}, title = {Comparing average payments and minimal bounds for lower and higher outcomes among customers in participative pricing mechanisms : an empirical investigation of PWYW, NYOP, and PYP}, series = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2025 Spring Conference, Pozuelo (Madrid), Spain, May 25, 2025}, journal = {Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy, EMAC 2025 Spring Conference, Pozuelo (Madrid), Spain, May 25, 2025}, publisher = {European Marketing Academy}, pages = {11}, abstract = {This research uses three online experiments (total n =501) to examine which participative pricing mechanism—Pay What You Want (PWYW), Name Your Own Price (NYOP), or Pick Your Price (PYP)—firms should use to optimize purchase intentions and expected payments. In doing so, we combine the PWYW and NYOP literatures and jointly test relevant mediators: perceived price fairness, price control, and effort. In addition to average total and indirect effects, a novel application of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test provided lower bounds of consumers paying less or more under each pricing method. Our results show that PWYW leads to the highest purchase intention despite generating the lowest payments. PYP outperforms in terms of expected payments. Mediation analyses indicate that perceived control negatively affects purchase intention for PYP and NYOP. Under PYP and NYOP, at least 10\% to 84\% of consumers pay more, depending on the study, but very few (single digit percentages) pay less than under PWYW.}, language = {en} } @misc{GalleDostReichstein, author = {Galle, Clara and Dost, Florian and Reichstein, Thomas}, title = {Influence of entertaining content in social media marketing for a health service provider}, series = {Proceedings of the International Marketing Trends Conference}, journal = {Proceedings of the International Marketing Trends Conference}, publisher = {International Marketing Trends Conference}, isbn = {978-2-490372-18-8}, pages = {1 -- 9}, abstract = {Health providers struggle to find the right tone in their social media appearance. While informational and sometimes emotional content appears appropriate, this study suggests and tests using entertaining content. Nine real Facebook posts from a hospital in Germany are classified into three content categories: informational, emotional, and entertaining. A survey on post perception and satisfaction with the health provider finds notable differences between the three types of posts. Interestingly, while entertaining posts themselves are perceived less satisfactorily than informational or emotional posts, they lead to the highest incremental increase in satisfaction with the health care provider. The study emphasizes the relevance of integrating entertainment in social media marketing, even for serious service providers.}, language = {de} } @misc{Galle, author = {Galle, Clara}, title = {Objektive und subjektive Analyse der Schallbelastung der Arbeit in der Musikp{\"a}dagogik}, series = {Arbeitswissenschaft in-the-loop : Mensch-Technologie-Integration und ihre Auswirkung auf Mensch, Arbeit und Arbeitsgestaltung : 70. Kongress der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Arbeitswissenschaft e.V., 06. - 08. M{\"a}rz 2024}, journal = {Arbeitswissenschaft in-the-loop : Mensch-Technologie-Integration und ihre Auswirkung auf Mensch, Arbeit und Arbeitsgestaltung : 70. Kongress der Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Arbeitswissenschaft e.V., 06. - 08. M{\"a}rz 2024}, publisher = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Arbeitswissenschaft e.V.}, address = {Sankt Augustin}, isbn = {978-3-936804-34-8}, pages = {1 -- 5}, abstract = {Musikp{\"a}dagogen sind an ihrem Arbeitsplatz erh{\"o}hten Schallexpositionen ausgesetzt. Musikalische Kl{\"a}nge werden nur selten als sch{\"a}digend empfunden. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde eine objektive Datenerhebung anhand von Schallpegelmessungen repr{\"a}sentativer Praxisunterrichtsstunden in der Musikp{\"a}dagogik durchgef{\"u}hrt. Diese wurden mithilfe einer subjektiven Erfassung des Geh{\"o}rschutzverhaltens vervollst{\"a}ndigt. Die Messungen verweisen bei einer von sieben Personen auf einen A-bewerteten {\"a}quivalenten Dauerschalldruckpegel LAeq von {\"u}ber 80 dB(A). Die anderen Messwerte erreichen den unteren Ausl{\"o}sewert nach der L{\"a}rmVibrationsArbSchV nicht, sind aber nicht weit von der Grenze entfernt. Die am st{\"a}rksten belastete Person praktiziert am Klavier in der Popularmusik. Anhand der Befragung wird ersichtlich, dass die Mehrzahl der Musikp{\"a}dagogen w{\"a}hrend des Unterrichts keinen Geh{\"o}rschutz tr{\"a}gt. Diagnostizierte Geh{\"o}rverluste sind insbesondere bei den Lehrenden zwischen 50 und 59 Jahren zu verzeichnen.}, language = {de} }