How Personal Nostalgia Influences Giving to Charity

Abstract

I dedicate my dissertation to my parents-Amina and Gulamali Merchant. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is a culmination of an exciting journey and the start of a new one. This journey has been challenging, interesting and extremely productive. Like any journey there is a satisfaction that it has been completed successfully but there is also the nostalgia of the fun had along the way. I would at first like to thank God for giving me strength and wisdom, and for holding my hand through this journey. I could not have completed this without the help and sacrifice of the many people who have supported me and made me achieve my dream. At first I would like to thank my parents. Their encouragement, blessings and sacrifice have been a major contribution in my life. I dedicate my dissertation to them. My wife, Zahra and son Zaafir have stood by me through the last three years, supported and motivated me to believe in myself. Thank you for your love and affection and for being the "wind beneath my wings". I also acknowledge the emotional support and friendship of my sister Yasmin. She has always been a source of motivation. From the time I joined the doctoral program, Dr. John Ford was my coach, mentor, teacher and close friend. For his vision, his inspiration and his guidance I am grateful to him. I am thankful to him for giving me the opportunity to co-author with him in high quality research projects, for giving me the opportunity to review scholarly articles and for being the pillar of my dissertation by agreeing to being its Chair. I would also like to thank the other members of my dissertation committee-Dr. Edward Markowski and Dr. Leona Tarn for their valuable inputs and help at each stage of my research and for agreeing to co-author with me on research papers. I would like to acknowledge and thank the insightful involvement of Dr. Adrian Sargeant (Indiana vii University Purdue University) who took time off his schedule and actively participated as an external member of my dissertation committee. I am also grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to review scholarly journal articles and for agreeing to co-author with me on research projects. I would like to convey my gratitude to all my teachers, who have taught me how to research and think critically. I would like to thank Dr. Kiran Karande for helping me build a solid methodology foundation and co-authoring with me on research projects. Dr.

Persuasive Mechanisms of Nostalgic Brand Packages

“…This finding adds to the literature investigating very few and highly specific brand visuals, which has established that brand names (Garner, ; Yorkston & Menon, ), logos (Doyle & Bottomley, ; Henderson & Cote, ), pictorial content (Holak et al, ; Reisenwitz et al, ), and the execution of images (Underwood & Klein, ) are capable of evoking associations with consumers' past. The results further add to the literature on personal nostalgia (Merchant et al, ; Sedikides et al, ) the notion that commercially employed brand visuals can relate to a past actually lived by a person. Lastly, our findings corroborate studies on visual nostalgia evocation (e.g., Muehling & Pascal, ) by demonstrating that cues that resemble the context in which an event occurred activate specific episodic information (Levine et al, ).…”

“…Investigating the individualistic nature of nostalgia, researchers have distinguished between personal nostalgia, which relates to a past actually lived by the person (Sedikides, Wildschut, & Baden, ), and vicarious nostalgia, which deals with a period outside of the individual's living memory (Goulding, ). In line with Merchant, Ford, and Rose (), the focus of the current inquiry is on personal nostalgia. Regarding Kessous and Roux' (), distinction between long‐standing versus first‐time nostalgia our research should apply to both forms as brand package cues may evoke memories related to childhood or adolescence (i.e., long‐standing nostalgia) as well as related to an initial, significant, or unique event (i.e., first‐time nostalgia).…”

Charitable Giving for HIV and AIDS: Results from a Canadian National Survey

“…This is in concordance with the work of Small and Simonsohn (2008), who in exploring reasons why people give to different causes found that proximity in the form of sympathy, empathy or association to a cause, malady or to an afflicted person could translate to prosocial behaviour such as increased charitable behaviour toward the focal point of their sympathy or empathy [18]. Merchant, Ford and Rose (2011) integrated lessons learned from a literature review and a series of focus groups to develop a model subsequently tested in several studies [19]. Applying structural equation modelling, these authors concluded that nostalgia on the part of a donor can translate to degrees of emotional and familial utility, which can mediate donor's commitment and hence translate to increased intention to donate.…”

Relationship Between Triggers of Nostalgia and Revisit Intention in Rural Tourism

“…Havlena & Holak (1991) stated that objects that trigger nostalgia psychology are commonly a recreational activity; Reid, Green, Wildschut et al (2015) considered nostalgia signals to include the environment, music, lyrics, taste, food, internal design, and atmosphere. Merchant, Ford, & Rose (2011) believed that major life events trigger nostalgia psychology. Holak & Havlena (1992) considered nostalgia psychology to include humans, objects, and events; Triggers of nostalgia psychology have been considered to include social factors, sensory input, and events (e.g.…”

“…A memorable event refers to a holiday gathering, anniversary, or any other exciting event (Merchant, Ford, & Rose, 2011). In general, an ordinary event tends to be forgotten as time passes, but memorable events are remembered because they are not frequently experienced.…”