12 pages., Online via UI e-subscription, "In this essay the perspective of Ritzer's McDonaldization of Society thesis is the starting point for developing theses about corporate communication (CorpCom). The central idea of McDonaldization is that increasing numbers of organizations are run as fast food restaurants, focusing on efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control of people. "At the same time that CorpCom departments help organizations with the McDonaldization of their organizations, they are also the ones most likely to be the first to be confronted with the irrationality that the economic rationality of the organization evokes. Stakeholders who disagree with the opinions and ideas of the organization come knocking on the door and generally that will be the door of the CorpCom professional. The irrationality of rationality, as the fifth dimension of McDonaldization, is likely to become visible and tangible in their offices. All types of tensions throughout the organization, for example, those regarding environmental, health, and other societal issues, seem to converge in the CorpCom department."
22 pages., Via online., Researchers used quota convenience sampling to investigate consumer decision making and brand commitment for food brands promoted as "healthy." Findings indicated that familiarity can help increase purchase intentions and brand commitment for healthy brands with low credibility. However, to go beyond a transactional exchange to one that is relation in nature, familiarity, credibility, and quality are all crucial for fostering brand commitment.
19 pages., Online via UI e-subscription, Researchers examined the effectiveness of descriptive norm cues in the context of green advertising for large grocery chains through the lens of the persuasion knowledge model. "Results suggested that green advertising might be more productive if retailers frame their messages without descriptive norm cues and reliance on whether they are seen as 'green' (Whole Foods) or 'non green' (Wal-Mart)."
