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    Embedded commercial technologies : the role of smartphones and alcohol marketing in young adult drinking cultures : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Hebden, Ross Tāne
    As a result of the near saturation of smartphone devices among young adults, their drinking cultures are now effectively mobile. This expands the capabilities and potential for alcohol marketing embedded within those cultures, impacting on their development and the health outcomes associated with them. Couched within a growing critical literature on digital alcohol marketing, my research consisted of two related studies that investigated the role smartphones play in young adult drinking cultures. First, I attended the drinking events of 5 friendship groups (27 participants), and then conducted 8 follow-up interviews with a subset of individuals. Second, 9 participants downloaded a bespoke app on their phones that recorded phone activities across a drinking event. Within a week I showed these participants an animated video ‘map’ of their phone data from the night and interviewed them about the details. The data consisted of observational photos and field notes, transcripts of interviews and smartphone data (e.g. location, apps used, notifications headers, timestamps). These data were analysed using discursive approaches. Four discourses were identified, namely smartphones as social disrupters, smartphones as social facilitators, participatory marketing and constantly connected drinking cultures. Together the discourses highlighted that smartphones were crucial to sociality. However, participants also described smartphones as potentially distracting from important face-to-face sociality and the constant connection as being overwhelming at times. Findings suggested that mobilisation of young adult sociality has exacerbated the relationship between alcohol marketing and young adult drinking cultures by providing means for brands and alcohol-centric content to be naturalised into their social practices. In particular, the apps Snapchat and Facebook Messenger played prominent roles in expanding participants’ drinking cultures into cyberspace, while obscuring the commercial origins of marketing material. Smartphones are an important aspect of young adult drinking cultures due to the ways in which they shape young adult sociality and allow alcohol marketers to engage with them. Commercial entities that design smartphone devices, social media platforms, and alcohol marketing all have vested interests in maintaining a strong presence in young adult sociality. There are tensions between young adult autonomy and their reliance on these powerful commercial entities for provision of integral cultural services. Empowering young adult voices and ensuring their participation in alcohol legislation that is relevant to them, as well as continuing attempts to legislate transnational social media businesses, are important directions for policy and harm minimisation strategies.
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    Using market research methodologies to advance public engagement with emerging climate technologies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy via publication in Marketing at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Carlisle, Daniel
    The world is facing an unprecedented climate emergency that threatens humanity and global ecosystems. To help avoid some of the worst impacts, scientists are developing innovative technologies for addressing rising greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. However, in the early stages of research and development, the effectiveness, consequences, and desirability of implementing these technologies remains highly uncertain. Early public engagement is therefore critical for ensuring research and development pathways are acceptable to society. Currently, it remains unclear how best to engage the public on a global scale; an issue addressed in this thesis by drawing on theories and methodologies applied in the marketing discipline to advance the field of public engagement. The core methodology draws on marketing theories and measurement metrics by drawing on associative network theories of memory (ANTM) to model cognitive associations (i.e., public perceptions) with unfamiliar concepts. Study One is a replication and extension of work by (Wright, Teagle, & Feetham, 2014) and uses qualitative and quantitative methods to measure public perceptions of six climate engineering technologies across countries and over time. The results show strong perceptual differences between technologies, but remarkable consistency between countries and over time. This consistency validates the cognitive association method as a robust tool for rapid public engagement and tracking perceptions as they evolve. Study Two builds on Study One by drawing on additional dual processing theories and using an experimental design to test how citizens form opinions about emerging climate technologies. Contrary to concerns that survey methods elicit insufficiently considered responses, the study finds that citizens rely on rapid, snap judgements to form opinions, and that encouraging more thorough consideration does not affect their responses. Thus, the research further validates the use of survey methodologies for public engagement. Study Three shifts focus, measuring perceptions of alternative fuels for decarbonising the shipping industry – a previously unresearched topic. The study is also the first to use a mixed-method approach to modelling cognitive associations in academic literature. Again, the quantitative findings showed strong, previously-unknown differences in perceptions between alternative fuels. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis supplemented these findings with rich insights into the drivers behind differing public perceptions. This thesis makes several notable contributions: Practically, the results demonstrate the public’s consistent preference for Carbon Dioxide Removal over Solar Radiation Management, their cautious support for carbon capture technologies, a strong distaste for stratospheric aerosol injection and ammonia as a shipping fuel, a striking preference for nuclear propulsion over heavy fuel oil, support for hydrogen and biofuel powered shipping, support for local implementation of alternative shipping fuels, and conditional support for small-scale research into acceptable emerging technologies. Theoretically, the research advances ANTM and dual processing theories in the context of emerging technologies, yielding results that are broadly applicable to not only public engagement with science, but also market research, brand tracking, and consumer judgement. Methodologically, the research validates cognitive association methods for cross-country public engagement, demonstrates the ability to track perceptions over time, and demonstrates a mixed-method approach to modelling cognitive associations. Finally, the research demonstrates the importance of conducting early and ongoing public engagement to identify acceptable decarbonisation pathways, guide research trajectories, and inform climate policy.