Kwon Wins $1,650 Award for Research on Luxury Brand Behaviors
American Academy of Advertising Awards Eunseon “Penny” Kwon $1,650 in National Dissertation Proposal Competition
By Ashley Szatala
Columbia, Mo. (Feb. 1, 2016) — Eunseon “Penny” Kwon, a fourth-year doctoral student at the Missouri School of Journalism, won funding in the 2016 American Academy of Advertising doctoral dissertation proposal competition.
For Kwon’s dissertation, titled “Consumers’ Social Media Advocacy Behaviors of Luxury Brands: An Explanatory Framework,” she will receive a $1,650 prize. The first half of the money will be awarded at the AAA conference in Seattle in March, and the second half will be given upon completion of her dissertation process at the University of Missouri.
Kwon’s research will explore how companies interact with consumers in social media, especially luxury brands. These items can indicate one’s socio-economic status, the desire to have a high-quality product, brand preference and much more.
Anonymous reviewers at the competition praised Kwon’s dissertation for having a strong predicted model, literature review, hypotheses and theoretical foundations.
“I am so excited and honored to be receiving this award,” Kwon said, thanking her dissertation chair and committee members for support and guidance.
Her dissertation chair is Esther Thorson, who will be on hand to watch Kwon receive her prize. This is the fourth AAA dissertation winner Thorson has overseen.
Committee members are Missouri School of Journalism professors Margaret Duffy and Glen Cameron, S. Ratneshwar, MU Trulaske College of Business, and Glenn Leshner, the Gaylord Chair in Journalism at Oklahoma.
Updated: September 15, 2020