Tobin Graduate Student’s Research Paper
Accepted into Annual Association for Consumer Research
Conference
November 2009—Under the mentorship of
Assistant Marketing Professor Ryall Carroll, Tobin graduate student
Carleen Ramlochansingh’s thesis on social networking entitled,
Social Networking Profiles & Cultural Dimensions: An
Empirical Investigation, was accepted into the Annual
Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Conference. “This was
a great accomplishment for Carleen and St. John’s,” said Professor
Carroll. “ACR, the leading premier marketing conference for
consumer research, only accepted about 50% of the submitted working
papers this year and this was the largest ACR conference to date
with over 1200 participants! Carleen’s paper was competing
with those submitted by PhDs and full time marketing practitioners
around the world.” Carleen’s paper investigated whether an
individual’s culture is evident in their social networking profiles
and involved analysis of profiles from the social networking site
MySpace from three different countries, including Australia,
Ireland and the United States; using three cultural dimensions:
individuality, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. Three
hundred customized profiles were reviewed by looking at the “About
Me” section, where users write their personal information.
”I wanted a topic that encompassed marketing with an
international impact. We thought about the global reach of the
Internet and found that social networking is not a U.S. phenomenon
but a global one,” said Ramlochansingh. “I loved the idea of social
networking because it was a fresh, modern topic that has not been
explored in depth.”The results of Carleen’s research confirmed her
expectations that culture is indeed present in individual’s
personal descriptions and her research helped to build a better
understanding of the growing phenomenon of social networking.
The Tobin College of Business Dean’s office supported Carleen
and her paper’s acceptance by covering her expenses to attend the
ACP conference in Pittsburgh, including airfare, hotel, and
conference registration.
“The conference was a great learning experience and was quite
exciting. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and pride that I
was able to create a research project that marketing professors and
marketing practitioners from around the world found both
interesting and insightful,” she said.
The Peter J. Tobin College of Business has provided the highest
quality business education for over eighty years. Many alumni
have risen to senior executive positions in the financial services
community in New York and around the world. Degrees offered
include the Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration
and Master of Science. The College encompasses the School of
Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science, which is housed
at the University’s Manhattan location in the heart of the New York
financial district. Recent recognitions for the Tobin College
include a listing by The Aspen Institute among the top ninety
business schools in the United States whose graduate curricula
reflect a commitment to social responsibility and
sustainability.