Date of Award
1-1-2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Specialization
Marketing
Department
Business Administration
First Advisor
Christy Ashley
Abstract
One factor that contributes to dermatological health disparities between races, including higher rates of melanoma-related mortality among ethnic minorities, is that darker-skinned individuals use less sunscreen (Buchanan-Lunsford, Berktold, Holman, Stein, Prempeh, and Yerkes, 2018; Adolphe, Fliorent, Podwojniak, & Milani, 2023). In spite of research that indicates that sunscreen usage protects individuals with darker skin tones from sunburn, skin cancer, and pigmentation disorders, there are challenges with knowledge dissemination to people with darker skin tones (Mitchell, 2023). Few actions have taken place in public health or targeted marketing communications aimed at consumers with darker skin tones to alter their perceptions or sun protection behaviors (Buchanan, et al., 2018).
Hence, this research studies whether the utilization of culturally sensitive, relevant execution cues and trust-provoking awe marketing communications that target Black women can influence healthy personal behaviors (i.e., sunscreen self-care usage and ritual intentions), evaluations of sunscreen brands, and pro-social behaviors (advocacy and sharing of sun protection information by and to others in the community). Previous research indicates that awe impacts consumer well-being and propensity towards healthier (versus unhealthier) choices, feelings of interconnectedness, and prosocial behavior (Cao, Wang, & Wang, 2018; Chen & Mongrain, 2021; Septianto, Seo, Li, & Shi, 2023). This dissertation extends this work to examine whether the inclusion of awe-evoking features in marketing messages (moderated by trust) and other culturally relevant executional cues (mediated by attitude toward the advertisements) can increase sunscreen usage among Black women, an at-risk population. Furthermore, previous research has often focused on interventions that promote immediate sunscreen use (Allen and Damien, 2022). The current research focuses on messages that boost the incorporation of sunscreen usage into self-care and family care rituals to encourage sunscreen usage intentions that persist over time.
Using 5 studies, this research examines how executional cues in sunscreen marketing communications aimed at Black women impacts their effectiveness. Two studies focus on culturally relevant executional cues, two studies focus on responses to ads following different attempts to evoke awe, a transcendent emotion associated with open-mindedness. In turn, this open-mindedness will result in an increase of personal usage intentions, evaluations of sunscreen brands, and pro-social behaviors. The final study compares sponsored content that evokes awe in a culturally relevant way to other sponsored content.
The results indicate that culturally relevant execution cues increase attitude toward the ad, which mediates and lends to enhancement in most of our outcome variables (i.e., usage intentions, brand evaluations, and pro-social behavior). When culturally relevant, the source of awe (awe of Black Excellence) also enhances the impact of brand attitude, purchase intention, and usage intentions. Furthermore, trust moderates the relationship between awe and open-mindedness for ritual intentions, brand attitudes, purchase intentions, and advocacy. This further guides marketing practices that promote sunscreen usage in a culturally appropriate and relevant way, while we continue to work on strategies to impact a continuum of healthy sun-care rituals for future research.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hixon, Courtney Janell, "CUEING INTO THE CULTURE: AWE'S IMPACT ON BLACK WOMEN'S SUNSCREEN RITUALS & CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER ADVOCACY" (2025). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 4454.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/4454