This study examined several factors related to the brand loyalty exhibited by fans of the Chicago Cubs major league baseball team. A total of 371 patrons of a restaurant located in Wrigleyville were surveyed prior to Cubs games at Wrigley Field. Working from a tripartite model of brand loyalty, it was predicted that, compared to less loyal fans, die-hard (extremely loyal) Cubs fans would demonstrate different attitudes and behaviors regarding the Chicago Cubs. Several hypotheses were developed and tested using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, and ANOVA procedures. Significant differences between the two fan groups were found in the areas of brand loyalty, baseball knowledge, childhood exposure to Cubs' games, frequency of Cubs' game attendance, and likelihood of purchasing Cubs paraphernalia. A variety of managerial implications are drawn from the results and future research suggestions are provided.The research register for this journal is available at http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emerald-library.com/ft A veritable shrine to the Chicago Cubs

In this article, the authors examined students' perceptions of professional selling. They found significant differences between the perceptions of students who had completed personal selling courses and students who had not. The authors observed differences in students' perceptions of personal selling as a career, the contribution of personal selling classes to a salesperson's skill set, and students' interest in and likelihood of pursuing a sales career.Students considered salespeople to be perceived negatively by others and to be noncustomer-oriented.

The marketing literature provides substantial discussion of branding and brand equity, but reveals limited research on the use of brand name in the consumer decision‐making process. Further, most such studies have included the manipulation of product brand name as an independent variable. The primary objective in this study was to address that lack of attention to consumers’ use of brand names by developing and empirically testing a multi‐item scale called the brand dependence scale (BDS). The psychometric properties of the scale were assessed and the relationship between brand dependence and brand disparity was explored. The results of the study showed that the BDS demonstrated adequate internal reliability and that a significant positive relationship between brand dependence and brand disparity existed. Implications of the study results and managerial applications for the scale are discussed.

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The literature provides substantial evidence of gender differences in the level of assertive and/or competitive traits an individual is likely to exhibit. Further, it has been established that those individual differences are related to certain exchange strategies employed by each gender. The primary research objectives in this study were, first, to develop a reliable pencil-and-paper scale assessing consumers' propensity to employ bargaining tactics in marketing exchange situations; and second, to investigate gender differences in consumers' bargaining propensity. The results of the study showed that the first research objective was successfully achieved in the form of the Bargaining Propensity Scale, and that statistically significant gender differences in bargaining propensity scores did occur. Managerial implications and avenues for future research are discussed.