Portland, Maine — Jacksonville State University made a strong showing at the 50th Atlantic Marketing Association Conference, where faculty, staff, and students presented their research to an international audience of scholars and industry leaders. The Jax State delegation was accompanied by Dr. Brent Cunningham, Dean of the College of Business and Industry.
Representing diverse areas of expertise—from geomarketing and consumer behavior to tourism and entrepreneurship—Jax State presenters shared innovative work across multiple sessions. Dr. Mark Sciuchetti, Senior Director of the Honors College, chaired the Geomarketing and Case Studies session, where he and Dr. Jianping “Coco” Huang, Associate Professor of Marketing and Management, presented “Crime, Consumers, and Clustering: A GeoMarketing Analysis of Retail Behavior Across Urban Markets.” Courtney Craven, Research Analyst and Operations Coordinator for the Center for Economic Development and Business Research, also contributed with her presentation “Geofencing in Action.”
In the Consumer Behavior: Trust, Entitlement, and Incivility session, Dr. Huang and Dr. Sciuchetti presented their collaborative research, “Emotion is Dead, but Can Persuasion Survive? The Effect of AI-Generated Reviews in Digital Marketing on Consumer Trust.” Their work received the Best Paper Award in the Consumer Behavior Track, highlighting the growing impact of Jax State’s research in marketing and behavioral studies.
Students also played an active role at the conference. Marketing student Aubrey Whiddon presented “Geofencing in Tourism & Recreation: A Revolution in How Marketing-Centric Data is Collected & Employed?” in the Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Marketing session chaired by Dr. Huang.
Beyond their presentations, Jax State faculty took on leadership roles during the event. Dr. Sciuchetti served as Geomarketing and Case Study Track Chair, while Dr. Huang chaired the Advertising/Direct Marketing/Promotion Track and was named incoming Program Chair for the 2026 Atlantic Marketing Association Conference.
The recognition of Dr. Huang and Dr. Sciuchetti’s award-winning study further demonstrates Jacksonville State University’s growing national presence in marketing and business scholarship. Their research compared AI-generated and human-written reviews in terms of building consumer trust and influencing purchasing behavior, using both neuroscience lab experiments and survey-based analysis.
