ABSTRACT. In this study, we contribute to research practice by revealing why and how consumers are post-adoption behaviour in using delivery robots are formed. Drawing on task-technology ft model (TTF), we present a research model that incorporated direct and indirect factors that were highly outlooked in the previous literature. Data was collected from 550 respondents in Mainland China who had experience in using delivery robot. The results show that hedonic motivation, anthropomorphism, robotics service quality, and two conditional factors are the predictors of perceived TTF in using delivery robots. While trust and value-in-use exhibited sequential mediating effects in connecting between perceived TTF and service reuse likelihood and WOM. The above findings also contribute to the practitioners by highlighting about the importance factors that need to be enhanced to improve the last-mile delivery robots’ strategies.

ABSTRACT. This paper deeply explores whether AI recommendation can be used as a factor affecting user’s participation in design activities from the perspective of users. It also puts forward that product involvement and aesthetic experience openness are the boundary conditions that affect user’s willingness to participate in design. The results show that user’s willingness to participate in design is higher when providing AI recommedation, and the sense of inspiration, competence and self-expression play a mediating role in it. Furthermore, the results show that when product involvement is high, users are more willing to participate in design. Similarly, users with a high degree of aesthetic experience openness are more willing to participate in design activities. This study enriches the theory of enterprise community management, and provide theoretical guidance and reference for firms to optimize the new product design process.

ABSTRACT. This study proposes a conceptual model to investigate consumers' behavioral intention to use m-payment based on social cognitive theory and the value-based adoption model. The model compares the behaviors of two consumer cohorts in Thailand, generation X and Z.

ABSTRACT. With the popularity of live streaming shopping, it is important for e-retailers to understand how live streaming contributes to sales. As most prior studies focus on the IT affordance perspective or customer motivations for using live-streaming commerce, few studies focus on the role of streamers in influencing purchase intentions. Addressing this gap, we deploy signalling theory and social exchange theory to examine how streamers convey different signals to enhance information quality and facilitate customers reciprocate behaviours, as moderated by customers’ guanxi orientation. This study used an online survey in China with a sample of 805 Millennials. PLS-SEM was used to test the hypotheses. The findings show that all signals exert positive effects on information quality, leading to customer engagement and impulsive buying tendency. Moreover, guanxi orientation is found the moderation effects on engagement and impulsive buying.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the relationships of various cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioural responses of e-discount sales promotion technique preferences consumers have when making purchases through online food delivery services (OFDS). This paper highlights new findings towards expanding e-discount and sales promotion literature and thus provide relevant implications.

ABSTRACT. Existing studies report that influencers’ number of followers is a determinant of their influence. However, not every consumer is susceptible to posts of an influencer with a high number of followers. This study draws on the theory of cultural dimensions to examine the role of consumers’ cultural values in the effects of influencers on social media.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to empirically investigate how corporate strategy mitigates consumer boycotts caused by animosity toward economic sanction. First, the study focuses on the cross-culture emotions (i.e., animosity and affinity) and explores the direct and indirect effect of animosity toward economic sanction on boycott attitude (via consumer affinity). Additionally, it focuses on the moderating effect of brand strength and corporate social contribution on boycott attitude. We conduct a longitudinal analysis of boycotts by South Koreans on the Japanese products, which started in South Korea in 2019; and additionally, we employ PROCESS macro to test the moderated mediation hypothesis, using the data collected from South Korea in 2020 and 2021.

ABSTRACT. The first purpose of this research is to integrate relevant literature and develop a comprehensive research model to identify its dependent and moderator research variables. The empirical study was conducted to examine the relationships between fulfillment and customer satisfaction in e-commerce. The second purpose of this research is to examine the moderating effect of product type on the relationship between fulfillment and customer satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Once a digital business start-up successfully develops its new products and services, the next step is to predict its sales in the future for investor relations (IR). While it is a standard industry practice to predict sales amounts for three years for IR, it is difficult for a start-up to accurately predict its sales even after one year in that a start-up does not have sufficiently long datasets regarding sales, cash flow, and inventory for prediction. Thus, it is challenging for a start-up to provide the right investment information to the parties of interest. We propose a sales prediction model based on the number of new members, online advertising, and consumer reviews on social media for a short period. By considering the different purchase behaviors of new and existing members, we predict reliable long-term sales amounts, which can be updated every month. Our study provides digital marketers in digital service business areas with a feasible prediction approach.

ABSTRACT. We investigate how blockchain technology influences morality in a social exchange. We demonstrate that people show less selfish monetary decisions in the presence (vs. absence) of blockchain technology and that this positive effect of the blockchain on monetary decisions is mediated by the importance of social fairness.

ABSTRACT. Purpose: To investigate the improvement in fashion companies’ financial performance (FP) through young generation’s behavioural brand loyalty (BBL) from the perspective of social media brand engagement (BE) and loyalty programmes (LPs). Design: A mixed methodology is employed by combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the prediction of the outcomes by various variables in a realistic context. We selected 14 fashion brands which belong to 14 Japanese publicly traded fashion companies, and surveyed 183 Japanese consumers (aged 18–25 years). Findings: Applying complexity theory, the study findings reveal the positive and negative effects of the variables (i.e. BE and LP) on the outcome (i.e. short- and long-term FP). Further, they offer marketing managers implications regarding brand strategy and financial improvement by considering various combinations of these causal factors and complex situations such as the consumers’ demographics and shopping characteristics.

ABSTRACT. Metaverse blends the physical and virtual worlds, transforming the customer's shopping experience. The purpose of this study is to identify the psychological mechanism in the metaverse environment and the relationship between metaverse experience and consumer happiness. To identify metaverse experiences, both behavioral and fMRI studies were conducted. In the behavioral study, we found that consumers' happiness increased when participants were in an immersive metaverse space. In the fMRI study, we found greater activation in areas of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) at higher levels of the immersive metaverse and found a positive relationship with consumer happiness. This paper is the first attempt in marketing to provide an integrative brain map for the metaverse experience. This study suggests that only in the immersive metaverse space where virtual and physical experiences interact can consumers become one with the virtual space and maximize customer experience values.

ABSTRACT. Intelligent machines with the capability to make decisions autonomously either augment or substitute human employees due to rapid evolution in technology. We will examine the role (augmentation vs. substitution) of intelligent machine on consumer behavior through five studies. The expected research results show that, compared with the augmentation of human employees, the substitution of human employees by intelligent machines increases self-threat perception and promotes consumers to switch to harmful consumption (e.g., products that promise to alleviate the self-threat but are associated with considerable risks) and away from beneficial consumption (e.g., engagement within a wellness program) (study 1a-1c). However, this effect is moderated by social class (study 2). In addition, we re-verify that consumers responses to intelligent machines replacing or augmenting human employees through a field study(study 3) .

ABSTRACT. Organizations are increasingly implementing recommendation systems on their websites. However, limited research has explored how the social context of consumers and online message content characteristics can affect the consumers’ intention to consume events. To address this gap, we examine how consumers’ social context and arousal potential cues for cultural events jointly affect consumers’ attendance intentions. Based on the Target-arousal level theory, we found that when a consumer anticipates solo consumption, low arousal potential cues (versus high arousal potential cues) lead to higher intention to attend cultural events. Conversely, when a consumer anticipates social consumption, high arousal potential cues (versus low arousal potential cues) lead to higher intention to attend cultural events. In addition, we revealed that such interaction effect is mediated by anticipated enjoyment.

ABSTRACT. This paper will explore the impact of emoji usage on consumer perception of customer-chatbot relationship, in terms of rapport, and purchase intention. Several experimental studies will be conducted to examine the relationship and its underlying mechanism. The results of this research will offer both theoretical and practical implications.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the effect of co-creation on psychological well-being and future co-creation intention on social media.Data were collected from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Although the results suggest that the effects of co-creation on users may differ depending on context, they generally show that co-creation experience has a positive relationship with co-creation behavior, and that risk assessment moderates this relationship. Co-creation experience also has a positive relationship with psychological well-being, and co-creation behavior mediates this relationship. The results also confirm that co-creation behavior has a positive relationship with future co-creation intention, and co-creation behavior mediates the relationship between co-creation experience and future co-creation intention.

ABSTRACT. On the basis of the psychological research in autobiographical memory (Conway, 2005; Piolino et al., 2002) and the idiosyncratic characteristics of tourism memory (Jorgenson et al., 2022; Kim et al., 2021; Kim & Chen, 2018), we predict that simply recalling any memory about one’s past travel experiences serves as a driver in facilitating people’s creativity, in other words, a spillover effect of tourism memory recalling on creativity. Three experiments in combination support this prediction. This work provides rich theoretical implications to the psychological literature of episodic memory and creative thinking and also offers new insights in the domain of work- leisure conflict. Managerial and public policy implications are also discussed.

ABSTRACT. Under the digital economy context, more and more personal data of customers is being shared with businesses since this information is an indispensable resource for effective personalized advertising. However, in the event of an information leakage, this win-win strategy should be subject to change and demands precise employment of advertising elements that does not escalate privacy distress among consumers. Building on Conservation of Resources theory, this research examines and demonstrates that although rational and emotional message appeals have similar impacts in high-personalized advertising messages, they play different roles when various types of a privacy threat are announced to customers. This research further validates the COR theory by confirming that when consumers encounter a risky situation that might threaten their resources, they either adopt behaviors that save their resources from depletion or utilize other available resources to recover and maintain their balance.

ABSTRACT. Hotel enterprises are facing a volatile and complex operating environment. Whether to build resilience under adverse conditions becomes the key to the survival and development of enterprises.Previous literature has studied on hotel digital transformation and the factors of hotel resilience.However, how digitalization enables hotel resilience has not been explored theoretically. Using the single case study method, this paper explores the implementation mechanism of digital empowerment on the resilience construction of hotels in Huazhu Group.The results include three aspects: First, hotel resilience consists of operational, structural and relational resilience. Secondly, digital empowerment on hotel resilience can be divided into organizational and individual level. Thirdly, the process of digital empowerment on hotel resilience mainly includes strategic response, renewal and reinforcement towards digitalization. Theoretical contribution and practical implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This study conceptualized customers’ trust toward digital technologies, and developed measurement scales for digital trust using a sequential exploratory strategy. This study developed the construct of digital trust composed of mechanical trust and relational trust, developed a set of measures for digital trust, and validated the developed scale.

ABSTRACT. The tourism industry specifically experienced distinct failing revenues and was an economic sector among those most rigorously influenced by the pandemic. In the gradual recovery period after the pandemic, the technology implementation in travel has been a great achievement for travel companies. This study is based on a systematic literature review and examines the ability of Virtual Reality (VR) and Geographic information systems (GIS) to serve as a facilitator of sustainable tourism development goals. The potential impact of VR and GIS within tourism will bolster the SDGs and will be conceptualized. The use of these technologies in connection to the SDGs can associate with SDG No. 8, SDG No.9, SDG No.11, and SDG No. 13, which are related to “decent work and economic growth”, “industry, innovation, and infrastructure”, “sustainable cities and communities”, and “climate action”.

ABSTRACT. The tourism industry in Indonesia is one of the most potential sectors for the nation's economy. Tourist experience can trigger emotions, which will have an impact on post-tourist experience, which affects revisit intention and tourist behavior after traveling. Therefore, this research aims to find out how emotions associated with tourist experiences could affect tourist place attachment, which leads to customer revisit intention, satisfaction, and trust. Tourist emotions also arise from several factors, primarily service failure. Using exploratory thematic analysis of emotions typology, experiment, and survey, this study discovered that a collection of negative emotions categorized as a destroying cluster held the highest rank, with 'irritated' being the most common emotion felt by tourists. The research then discovered that the current state of the tourism industry in dealing with critical incidents tends to do nothing or make no change.

ABSTRACT. This research intends to investigate the impact of two types of data – behavioral versus social networking data – affect consumer response to personalized ads in service marketing. As technology advances, marketers have access to more personal data, such as online/offline behaviors and social networking activities, to use for retargeting consumers. The research also explores the moderating effect of SNS privacy concerns on consumer responses to different retargeted ads. The findings may provide theoretical and practical insights into understanding consumers' responses to retargeted ads that utilize social networking information.

ABSTRACT. This study answers an important question for university social media advertising. Does processing fluency of the brand and brand identity (e.g., name, logo, symbol etc.) of the university affect the behavior intention of target customers for the university? The results show that name processing fluency (especially pronunciation), advertising processing fluency, brand awareness, brand value, and brand ranking significantly impact behavior intention. In addition, target audience’s individual social media behavior (e.g., general attitude toward the social media, frequency of social media use and involvement) explains the attitude toward the university advertising in social media. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. In the past decade, In-feed native advertising has become one of the most popular forms of online advertising and has received widespread attention from both the academic and industrial. However, with the diversified development of digital media, the application of artificial intelligence technology in advertising, and the improvement of consumers' ad literacy, in-feed native advertising is now facing new problems and challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to review the existing research systematically and find valuable future research directions. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of the research related to in-feed native advertising, revealing the fundamental knowledge structure, identifying the shifting trends of the research hotspots, and conducting an in-depth analysis. We conclude the paper with future research directions, taking into account the practical context and the current state of research.

ABSTRACT. This study explores hotel consumers’ pro-environmental behavior by employing and extending the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and green trust are incorporated into the theory as important constructs of pro-environmental decision process. This study responds to a call for a more diverse theoretical investigation of green consumer behavior in hospitality research.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, the authors utilize movie poster images as a typical example of online advertising of service business. Employing image deep learning approach, the researchers calculate the level of localization and its effect on the financial performance in a foreign market.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how consumers in the USA, India, and South Korea integrate values and sentiments in user generated content (UGC) about green hotels on TripAdvisor through text-mining and qualitative analysis. This study helps contextualize relationship between green services and values within the multicultural marketing literature. Findings offer implications for multicultural green service marketing.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates social media posts on Twitter concerning cryptocurrency marketing. We applied unsupervised Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and sentiment analysis techniques to 98,716 tweets to examine the Twitter content for subjects and sentiments related to cryptocurrency. We discovered that tweets about cryptocurrency fell into four categories, with “cryptocurrency trading,” “NFT airdrop,” “cryptocurrency affiliate program,” and “Dogecoin on social media” being the most popular. Most of the topics had positive sentiments. Theoretical and practical implications for developing cryptocurrency marketing communication strategies are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the factors influencing agency practitioners’ and clients’ decisions to use augmented reality (AR) technology in advertising campaigns. The findings reveal that their decisions depend on factors under four contexts: technological, organisational, environmental, and ethical. A model of AR development and adoption at the organisational level, MARDA is proposed.

ABSTRACT. As cryptocurrencies continue to gain viability, institutional investors and publicly traded firms enter into positions in digital currencies. While generating profits may be the primary purpose, corporations also wish to advertise that they are keeping up-to-date with latest technological developments and cutting-edge investment opportunities in enhancing stakeholders' wealth. The marketing and financial signals from blockchain platforms and digital currencies aim to demonstrate efficiency of corporate operations and agility in utilizing retained funds. But firms may not be considering the effects on risk profiles. This paper measures the effect of digital currencies on the risk and returns of publicly traded companies, and deciphers the motives behind holding a cryptocurrency as an asset. The importance of corporate risk reporting, marketing and financial motivations of digital currency holdings, digital currency risks, and firm transparency are emphasized.

ABSTRACT. The goal of this study is to address two important questions: will advertising on mobile short-form video apps jeopardize the value perception of luxury brands (RQ1), and if so, how will self-deprecating online reviews eliminate these negative effects (RQ2). To solve them, we conducted two studies to explore the impact of advertising on mobile short-form video apps on consumers' perception of the luxury brand. In Study 1, we examined the impacts of different luxury advertising media, found that compared with traditional media, advertising on mobile short-form video apps shortened the psychological distance between consumers and luxury, therefore has a more negative impact on consumers’ perception of luxury brands. Study 2 showed that self-deprecating online reviews can eliminate the negative effects of advertising of luxury brands. We outline theoretical contributions and managerial implications for the luxury marketing management.

ABSTRACT. This research investigated that how residential mobility affects consumers’ trust in online shopping. Due to today's digitalization, consumers' trust in online conditions is treated as important. However, no work has been explored the role of trust can differ depending on residential mobility. This article highlights key finding from the relationship between residential mobility and trust in digital environment. We predicted that the trust may vary depending on residential mobility. As a result of the data analysis, the lower the residential mobility, the lower the trust in online conditions, while the higher the residential mobility, the higher the trust.

ABSTRACT. Diversity and inclusion has been at the forefront of the luxury fashion industry during the last decade, but paradoxically there is inadequate progress on efforts for representation at work. In our study, we support that front line employees (FLEs), as core elements of a brand, or ‘brand ambassadors’ can positively impact brand equity. Against this backdrop, the aim of the current study is to empirically investigate the relationship between FLE diversity and luxury brand equity. A serial mediation mechanism, as well as a moderation model are proposed and tested through three experiments with consumers. Our findings reveal that FLE diversity increases luxury brand equity through rebelliousness and coolness. In addition, material values attenuates the brand rebelliousness-brand coolness relationship. Finally, our study has important implications for researchers, practitioners and policy makers who are interested in workplace diversity management.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the luxury fashion designers' impact on consumers' perceptions of premium and luxury brands using a social constructionist theory of art. A triangulation of methodologies was used in three studies, including sentiment analysis of tweets, qualitative interviews with worldwide designers, and a quantitative consumer survey. Results showed that 73.7% of consumer tweets were positive, but the interviews with the designers showed a less optimistic perspective. Consumers expressed higher satisfaction levels with luxury brands than designers, supporting the theory of different realities. Brand value is constructed by the interactions between designers and consumers, as consumers' brand value depends on the designers' perspectives about their work. The study highlights that designers' perceptions reduce the luxurious value of a brand and suggests that stakeholders should ensure alignment between designers and the brand's value in their luxury brand strategy planning.

ABSTRACT. In this research, we investigate the influence of Chinese consumers’ generation on the perception of “Made in China” luxury. This issue is of utmost importance for the Chinese government as Chinese consumers have now become the first luxury consumers in the world while China remains a non-legitimate dwarf in luxury manufacturing. To bridge this gap, we carried a quantitative survey involving 300 Chinese luxury consumers and tested the effect of consumers’ age on Chinese luxury products perceived luxury. Potential mediators are considered in our analyses, including consumers’ ethnocentrism and innovativeness, materialism, and cultural orientations (i.e., preference for individualism and tradition). The data are currently being collected. Our results will be discussed at the 2023 Global Marketing Conference in Seoul if this research is selected for presentation. They should help position current and future “Made in China” luxury brands and target Chinese luxury consumers.

ABSTRACT. We have integrated two CSR dimensions - visibility and relevance - and have proposed a novel CSR type, through which to examine how consumers react after learning that a luxury brand engages in CSR activities, and more specifically, whether consumers demonstrate a decrease in their perceived luxuriousness of a product.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to explore underlying antecedents for inconspicuous luxury motivations by developing and testing a conceptual model under the self-concept mechanism with the influence of cultural capital. A questionnaire-based survey is used to collect data, and structural equation modeling is applied to analyze the data. Although growing interests in academia focus on the relationship between cultural capital and inconspicuous luxury, quantitative studies are scant. This research contributes to the literature by empirically investigating the impact of cultural capital in the relationship within the construct of consumers’ self-concept and inconspicuous luxury motivations.

ABSTRACT. Generation Z is reported to have a precocious positive attitude to luxury while, in contrast to previous generations, caring less about status and more about ethics. Therefore, we study the predictors of luxury brand perceptions (the BLI dimensions and brand ethicality) and brand attitude as a consequence of it. We test our model based on survey data on perceptions of three luxury car brands by a sample of 218 Gen Z consumers in Germany. Our findings show that only three of the six proposed antecedents significantly predict luxury brand perceptions. Further, they show that to appeal to Gen Z consumers, luxury brands should focus on conspicuousness, hedonism, quality and ethicality. Overall, our findings call for more research on the evolving nature of luxury perceptions with younger generations.

ABSTRACT. Factory outlet stores represent an integral part of a dual distribution channel strategy, in which products are sold through two different channels: (1) factory outlets and (2) traditional store formats. However, there are potential risks, including cannibalization and brand dilution. Our research considers perceived quality of the item from each channel. Through two experimental studies, our findings suggest that without any pricing information, consumers spontaneously assign products from outlet channels to be of lower subjective quality than those from the traditional channel. However, when both products in each channel are discounted, then this reduction in quality perception is attenuated, following the belief in the price-quality relationship.

ABSTRACT. If consumers come to know of a familiar brand’s morally controversial behavior, it can create approach-avoidance conflicts in their minds; they may see the brand’s action as mismatched with their own moral standards (“avoidance” manifested through a measurable construct–moral incongruence), while being tempted to justify the action (“approach” manifested through moral rationalization). Highlighting such ambivalence in moral decisions, this study conceptualizes and tests a consumer reaction process that depicts the effects of moral sensitivity on moral judgment (moral incongruence and moral rationalization) and moral intention. The study also explores if perceived product quality neutralizes those effects. The results confirm moral incongruence and moral rationalization as significant mediators. Interestingly, perceived product quality did not undermine the effects of moral sensitivity on moral judgment.

ABSTRACT. Bidirectional distribution, a new supply chain strategy, aims to increase small and medium-sized local farms’ viability, competitiveness, and sustainability. To help establish effective strategies for bidirectional distribution supply chain, two experiments with two different samples explore how consumers perceive environmental, personal well-being, quality, and community values from bidirectionally distributed products.

ABSTRACT. To address the existential threat of climate change, it is important to study environmentally sustainable products and marketing strategies to promote such products. A repurposed product is created by transforming old objects into something of greater value that serves a different purpose. For example, transforming an old tie into a coffee cup sleeve or turning a discarded oil can into a drum. Thus, repurposed products are one form of waste reduction via reuse. Repurposed products have become popular in the marketplace. There is, however, little research on repurposed product consumption. Furthermore, Gen Z is a relatively unexplored population in past research on sustainable consumption. To address these research gaps, our study identified segments of Gen Zers based on their perceptions of repurposed products via a person-centered approach. Our results provide strategies for effective marketing of repurposed products. Implications for marketers are provided.

ABSTRACT. The main objective of this research is to investigate the impact of celebrity endorsement, particularly regarding its credibility (Trustworthiness, Expertise, and Attractiveness) and congruence toward the consumers’ purchase intention and willingness to pay a premium price for food products.The data used for this research analysis was collected through an online survey with a total of 150 respondents using the convenience sampling method. Hypotheses were tested through a Bootstrapping analysis procedure using the Smart PLS program. The research reveals that celebrity endorser’s credibility shows positive and significant impact towards the consumer’s food purchase intention and their willingness to pay a premium price for products. In addition, trustworthiness was found as the only significant factor of the endorser’s credibility. Furthermore, that congruence of the endorser and the endorsed product would also increase the consumer’s willingness to pay a premium price.

ABSTRACT. Social media influencers have become a powerful tool in marketing in the past decade; consumers who engage with the influencers are more likely to trust their recommendations. Recently a new form of influencer has risen on social media–the virtual influencer (VI) based on artificial intelligence (AI). VI, with lower costs and zero possibility of being involved in scandals, is very attractive to brands and businesses. However, there is little empirical work about why and how consumers react to VIs. Therefore, this study develops an understanding of how consumers interact with virtual influencers emphasizing the role of perceived anthropomorphism. Consequently, we aim to investigate antecedents and outcomes of perceived anthropomorphism of the VI from online consumers' perspectives in virtual digital marketing to develop and implement effective marketing strategies in social media platforms.

ABSTRACT. Despite a surging amount of research on value co-creation in the social media context, research on how value co-creation and value co-destruction coexist from a system perspective remains scarce. This conceptual research aims to understand how social media allows for value to be co-created and/or co-destroyed in interconnected social networks. As managerial implications, the study can help marketing managers understand how customers can contribute to a firm’s brand value formation while also destroying the value in some cases.

ABSTRACT. This research presents a conceptual framework for a comprehensive understanding of the causes of user migration from social media networking sites. The results of our survey show that users’ intentions to switch social media platforms are influenced by user satisfaction, alternative attractiveness, peer influence, and perceived switching costs.

ABSTRACT. The writing style of the textual information in crowdfunding campaigns has a significant impact on potential backers’ funding behavior. The present study uses text-mining tools to process and analyze the raw text in over 4,900 crowdfunding project campaigns from Kickstarter, an online crowdfunding platform. The authors find that crowdfunding campaigns that use more big words attract more backers and funding. Importantly, the positive effect is strengthened with high analytic thinking styles and attenuated with low analytic thinking styles. The authors propose that pairing big words with high (vs. low) analytical thinking is more persuasive.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to explain the role of retailer mobile apps’ Personalized Technology Service (PTS) on consumers’ omnichannel shopping experiences by: (1) identifying PTS values specific to retail mobile apps for in-store shopping and (2) testing the PTS values – channel integration – consumer responses dynamics. Consumer responses were examined in terms of customer engagement and shopping satisfaction. Two web-based survey studies were performed with US consumers who have had in-store shopping experiences with mobile app-mediated PTS offered by the retailer. Study 1 identified five value dimensions underlying the app-mediated PTS: hedonic value, utilitarian value, self-efficacy, co-creation, and synchronicity. Study 2 confirmed the proposed structural model that PTS values affected channel integration which in turn influenced customer engagement and shopping satisfaction. Additionally, customer engagement partially mediated the effect of integration on satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Cryptic marketing is a discreet communication strategy using crypted subculture symbols to avoid negative responses from other consumers. Marketing towards stigmatized groups is challenging as there is a risk of losing consumers from the majority. This study aims to determine the impact of cryptic marketing on brand attitude between LGBT group and heterosexual group in an unfriendly market (Indonesia) and a friendly market (the Netherlands). Using experiments, we tested the impact of three cryptic ads (low, medium, and high) which differ in the explicitness of LGBT symbols. The results revealed that the LGBT group (gays) in both markets have a more positive brand attitude towards the high cryptic ad. There were no differences in the brand attitude of heterosexuals, except for the gay-friendly participants in a friendly market which showed a preference for the low cryptic ad. This study contributes to the literature on covert marketing strategy as cryptic marketing is rarely discussed.

ABSTRACT. This study explored dominant topics about the metaverse discussed in Twitter and the sentiments in each topic in the case of Decentraland using topic modeling and sentiment analysis. The appraisal theory of emotion and motivation theory were used to explain why positive or negative sentiments were expressed toward specific topics.

ABSTRACT. This ongoing research aims to shed light on how psychic distance impacts the cross-border B2B customer experience. We focus on the business-to-business (B2B) customer experience in the cross-border setting, taking the perspective of Chinese industrial buyers. More specifically, we examine the roles of guanxi (Chinese informal relationship) and individual cultural intelligence. After proposing a framework illustrating the relationship between key variables, we surveyed 350 B2B buyers to comprehend their experiences with suppliers from developed economies.

ABSTRACT. A secure digital platform (SDP) can provide B2B marketers with confidence to use communications technology (CT) and engage in information sharing that facilitates resource utilization. Interlinked digital platforms constitute the company’s ecosystem and barriers in the form of a lack of skills and knowledge in relation to governance and compliance can be overcome through organizational intervention that is external to an individual’s capability of control. A framework for an SDP was developed by utilizing network theory and data were collected via an online survey and analysed (n=207) using SEM, AMOS. Organizational intervention through an SDP can help B2B marketers to increase the organization’s resource capability through improved interaction. It can also help individuals to become pro-actively compliant and be less at risk from various threats (e.g., fake news) as the organization provides a safer digital environment.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to examine the combined effects of governance mechanisms, export channel structure, and perceived psychic distance. The study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and identify four configurations that produce high export sales performance and high export profit performance, respectively.

ABSTRACT. The development of digital ecosystems among customers and suppliers from different industries has become increasingly important as business relationships are turning digitalized. This study focuses on digitalization and its effects on business relationships on the innovative aspect of how the development of digital ecosystems influence these relationships. Methodologically, we adopted a case study research strategy to capture the nature of the activities, resources and actors involved, and the effect of the digital ecosystems on the development of these business relationships. The main conclusions of this study are that digital ecosystems enhance collaboration and influence the activities and resource ties of companies through their ability to communicate and share information in real time between different actors. Advantages are attained by actors such as cost reduction, less network latency, flexibility in building new connections in a reduced time, and faster time to market.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to understand how customer relationship termination (i.e., preparation and process), alone or in combination with customer involvement, contributes to the new product development outcome. While termination preparation has a synergistic effect with customer involvement, the termination process has a trade-off relationship with customer involvement.

ABSTRACT. The unbounded nature of digital innovation requires innovating firms to be agile in the way they innovate to sense and seize the market effectively. This study adopts an inter-organizational approach and asks to what extent and in what way does organizational agility impact on innovation performance? The empirical research is set in the video game industry. The data was collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Usable sample is 113. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modelling. The findings show that while only improvisation has a significantly positive effect on innovation performance, the role of strategic planning and problem solving between two collaborating partners remains unclear. For example, strategic planning has shown to be a negative influence in our empirical research. Problem solving has no effect on innovation performance, but it interacts with community sensing and subsequently facilitates innovation outcome.

ABSTRACT. Artificial Intelligence (AI) are emerging as a new way to improve services, readjusting and impacting all business industries and relationships among people. The main purpose is to investigate the interactions between service robots and humans. This will be crucial to understand the possible contributions of the customer-robot emotional relationship on customers’ feelings of wellness. A total of three studies have been conducted to explore the research questions in the current paper. This research gives relevant theoretical contributions to the research fields of robotics and AI, mostly regarding the customer-robot relationship created, and its possibility to promote well-being.Service robots are no longer just expected to be efficient; customers await them to be emotional and empathic, as if they were human partners. Thus, one of the most important drivers of consumer well-being when interacting with service robots is the degree of bonding between humans and machines

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the interactive effect of regulatory mode and positive emotion in driving social media engagement in advertising meat alternatives. This research employs social media data (N = 966 Facebook posts) to examine sharing (Study 1). Three experiments (N total = 1,359) were then conducted to establish causal evidence in the context of Facebook advertising by employing three different emotion manipulations (emoji in Study 2, emotion recall in Study 3, and image in Study 4) and examining click-through rates (Studies 2 and 4) and intentions to click (Study 3). The results demonstrate that the fit effect (a) between locomotion messages and love, and (b) between assessment messages and awe increase social media engagement. Further, this effect was driven by the experience of feeling right. The findings of this research could assist managers in developing effective social media advertising strategies to promote meat alternatives.

ABSTRACT. The podcast uses the voice to produce, this study aims to find out the producers' voice and listeners' psychological needs that affect listening intention. Drawing on research from podcasts, we identify 3 important voice characteristics-speech speed, voice gender, and pitch-and link these characteristics to proximity, affiliation needs, and epistemic curiosity. First, make sure that the stimuli sound natural. Second, we use speech rate and voice pitch to make sure that there are significant differences in the manipulation of variables. Last, we used a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subject factorial design to prove the effectiveness of the speech rate(fast/slow), voice gender (male/female), and voice pitch (high/low) to affect the proximity. Our results show that listeners' proximity is significantly influenced by voice characteristics. In addition, affiliation needs to prove the mediating effect between proximity and listening intention.

ABSTRACT. While an increasing number of brands recognize the value of memes and utilize them for promotion on social media, little is known about how brand posts with memes affect consumer psychology and behavior. Building on the notion that one of the common emotional themes in memes is humor, the authors examine the relationships among brand posts with memes, perceived humor, and consumer engagement. Across studies, consumers perceive brand posts with memes to be more humorous. Furthermore, the perceived humor of memes increases consumer engagement reflected by the number of likes and shares (retweets) on social media, displaying the critical role of perceived humor. However, the authors document that using memes backfires for cause-related advertising campaigns, resulting in a decrease in consumer engagement.

ABSTRACT. It is well accepted that smiling salespeople lead to customers’ positive attitude and behaviors. Contrary to this conventional wisdom, however, this experiment reveals that in the metaverse, sad sales avatars (vs. smiling avatars) are more effective in increasing users’ intentions to interact, purchase, and spread WOM through higher subcultural appeal.

ABSTRACT. Metaverse tourism is blurring the boundaries between the virtual and physical worlds. Among the core technologies in the metaverse world (e.g., Avatar, Virtual reality, Augmented reality, NFTs, etc.), the avatar has the potential power to revolutionise customer experience. Destination management organisation (DMO) can boost customers’ immersion through effective avatar customer journey design (ACJD) in the metaverse world. Yet, there is a lack understanding of how practitioners view an effective ACJD in the metaverse world. This study aims to explore the role of avatars on customer journey design in a metaverse tourism program (e.g., Dunhuang) from practitioners’ perspectives through a qualitative study. This study advances theoretical understanding about metaverse tourism in the tourism literature, and provides important implications for tourism industry on how to design tourist experiences in metaverse tourism.

ABSTRACT. This research proposes the application of new technologies in tourism advertising to resonate with and respond to unconscious desires that are embodied within consumers. The ethnographic research first questions how consumers form their desires regarding tourism and illustrates that advertising does not create desire; consumer desires for travel, often embodied, exist before consumers are exposed to advertising messages. Such desires derive from past experiences, imagination and sensorial imageries learned from stimuli. Consumers react positively to multi-sensorial, empathetic messages. Based on the findings, the research summarizes cross-disciplinary research of tourism advertising and new technologies 4.0 and conceptually illustrates how the applications of new technologies 4.0 may assist with the understanding of consumers’ multi-sensorial desires, imagination, and memories to design empathetic advertising messages.

ABSTRACT. Little attention has been paid to the effect of the presentation order of information in tourism advertising, which commonly includes several pieces of information within one unit of advertising. We propose a significant consequence of presentation order on behavioral intentions in promoting tour programs on Instagram. Building on the match effect and processing fluency theory, this study explores the interactive influence of tolerance for contradiction and information presentation order in the given context. The results demonstrated that consumers with a higher tolerance for contradiction exhibit stronger behavioral intentions than those with a lower tolerance for contradiction when desirability-focused information is presented first and feasibility-focused information is shown later. Moreover, advertising attitude and processing fluency serially mediate the proposed effects, which shows the underlying mechanism. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

ABSTRACT. Service robots are increasingly adopted in the tourism and hospitality sector. Drawing on the saturated-self theory, this study investigates the impact of individuals’ social media dependency on their intention to use service robots in hospitality settings. The findings of the study reveal that social media dependency causes individuals’ feelings of loneliness and an increase in public self-consciousness, leading to an increase in service robots use intention and a reduction in in-person interaction needs.

ABSTRACT. The extensive application of robots in hospitality and tourism service has transformed the original human-contact into contact-less, so it is necessary to understand the transformation of customers consumption behaviors under this new service mode. To address this issue, we explore how service robots shape customers autonomous behaviors in hospitality and tourism services. Drawing on the social impact theory, we presented an underlying process in terms of social discomfort, and reveal the boundary conditions. The results of three experiments showed that service robots motivate customers to express their service desires more autonomously. Service robots are perceived as less social impact, which align with the autonomously expression triggered by social comfort. However, such effect is eliminated when self-presentation concern has been activated. This study makes theoretical and practical contributions to research on hospitality and tourism service and the application of robotics.

ABSTRACT. This research aims to determine the heterogeneity of tourism SMEs through a latent class segmentation technique. This study considered the technologies used, the level of infusion of smart technology and the mindfulness towards technological transformation. The sample was composed of 877 surveys from SMEs located in Europe and the USA.

ABSTRACT. This study quantifies drivers and consequences of positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) engagement on social networking sites building upon social identity theory. Fitting a structural model using software smartPLS 4.0, the analysis compares two distinct groups of respondents. Though these groups seem to belong to the same in-group. Nevertheless, group members differ with respect to the drivers and consequences of their positive and negative eWOM engagement. As engagement is often used in the context of service-dominant logic, we reveal which non-monetary value co-creating and value-reducing consequences result from positive and negative eWOM engagement. This study highlights the impact of eWOM engagement on self-brand connection and self-brand incongruity and identifies commitment as a major driver. For international respondents negative eWOM does not automatically increase self-brand incongruity but low negative eWOM has a positive effect on the self-brand connection.

ABSTRACT. In response to the increasing deployment of brand chatbots in the service sector, this study developed a conceptual framework to examine the psychological processes through which brand chatbots contribute to relationship building efforts. A 2(interactivity: high vs. low)X2(anthropomorphic conversation style: warm vs. competent) between-subject design was conducted in the context of the coffee service business. The findings showed that brand chatbots with modality, message, and source interactivity effectively enhanced social presence when warm attributes were used. Similarly, the indirect effect of interactivity on brand-related behavioral intention via social presence, consumer engagement, and BRQ components was also contingent on the communication style used. This study provided a nuanced understanding of the relative importance of BRQ components in the relationship-building process, and delineated important insights into how brand chatbots foster stable service brand relationships.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents the experimental results of a widely used online advertising tactic in travel service business – eWOM. Effectiveness in promoting travel destinations using different types of influencers (travel KOL, tourists, friends, and a control) to share FOMO-laden (fear of missing out) content in social media was examined.

ABSTRACT. This study aimed to examine factors which influence attitudinal and behavioral responses to location-based advertising (LBA). The results showed that the perceived benefit in the advertisement is the key that connects consumers to LBA. Trust and privacy risk alter the favorable consequences of benefits.

ABSTRACT. This research investigated the effects of para-social interaction (PSI) in online and traditional celebrity endorsements. The data was collected by distributing questionnaire sets. And covariance structural equation modeling was used to analyze the model. The findings showed that para-social interaction is the moderator variable in the online celebrity endorsement effect.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to investigate online commerce repertoire-based clusters and their characteristics with shopping values and commerce attributes. This study analyzes Nielsen panel log data that recorded nearly 6,000 panelists’ use of 48 major commerce websites and mobile applications. In addition, a survey was conducted with a sample of the panelists, which supplemented the behavioral data and provided cognitive and attitudinal data. Six commerce clusters were identified: “Social commerce centric,” “Secondhand centric,”“PC centric,”“scattered,”“Home-shopping centric,” and“Fashion centric". Also, “Hedonic” was statistically significant and “Quick delivery,” “Membership” are perceived to be effective. Also, there were discrepancies between the log and survey on usage. As online marketing and advertising driving conversion becomes critical, the understanding of online commerce repertoires and related consumer perceptions and characteristics should offer significant implications.

ABSTRACT. Recent digital technologies affects both consumers' shopping behaviors and retail firms need to adapt to such changes by leading various digital initiatives. This research aims to clarify digital leadership role of managers who works with their digital native staff members by analyzing SNS posting promotions.

ABSTRACT. In an era of metaverse, luxury brands such as Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, and Dolce & Gabbana are trying to adapt to new changes. For example, Ralph Lauren in Zepeto provides various types of luxury items, immerses in virtual performances, and has a game plot interaction. As people immerse themselves in the Metaverse, they feel happy from various activities—such as watching advertisements, drinking juice, and playing with friends. Thus, what factors should be considered when the luxury brands manage the metaverse? Consumer research insists that fantasy plays a critical role to build the positive experience of modern consumption. This research aims to identify the metaverse's environmental inputs and how they shape consumer motivations for fantasy experiences in luxury brands. Then, the study examines the relationship between fantasy experience and the attitude towards brands. Further, the study aims to determine the effectiveness of metaverse characteristics for advertising.

ABSTRACT. This study suggests that using AI chatbots with highly human-like characteristics could reduce the effectiveness of personalized AI chatbot advertising because they will likely worsen consumer concerns about privacy. Conversely, using AI chatbot with less human-like characteristics will not heighten consumer privacy concerns, thereby increasing the impact of personalized AI advertising.

ABSTRACT. Environmental concern has escalated as the climate crisis is a prevalent issue for the global society. Consumer behaviours are shifting, materialising in greener purchasing behaviour and heightened expectations of environmental brand practices. This phenomenon is affecting consumer attitudes and behaviour towards fashion brands. This paper contributes to the existing literature on brand credibility and brand communications. Building upon Erdem and Swait’s (2004) seminal work, this study assesses the drivers of brand credibility within an environmental marketing communications context, and provides practical recommendations for fashion brands targeting GenZ consumers by analysing five fashion brands social media practices. Results indicate an evident relationship between environmental communication and perceived brand credibility amongst GenZ consumers, seeing brands observing darker or extreme green strategies yielding highest credibility.

ABSTRACT. Interest in metaverse-based NFTs is growing rapidly. Therefore, NFT fashion marketing is increasing in fashion-leading luxury brands. This study provides a deep understanding by analyzing NFT cases of luxury brands through the typology of NFT fashion. Based on the ternary model of stimulants and brand attitudes through case analysis, in-depth interviews are conducted targeting experts in the fashion industry. Through this, this study aims to investigate the brand attitude toward NFT fashion of luxury brands. As a result of the analysis, NFT fashion marketing of luxury brands creates an immersive consumer experience.

ABSTRACT. Research in entrepreneurial marketing (EM) has extensively sought to identify various factors associated with entrepreneurial success, including skills and competences of prospective entrepreneurs. At the same time, little consensus exists regarding the relative importance of particular marketing skills. Moreover, the literature to date does not outline any essential marketing-related competencies needed for nascent entrepreneurs. Our study looks to identify specific marketing competencies relevant to the entrepreneurial context. A three-stage mixed-methodology approach to data collection is deployed. Qualitative documentary analysis and exploratory interviews provide preliminary findings and guide the design of a subsequent quantitative survey of UK entrepreneurs, resulting in insights into the most beneficial marketing competencies for entrepreneurship. This research is expected to advance the understanding of nascent entrepreneurship research, practice and pedagogy within EM.

ABSTRACT. While the aspiration of entrepreneurs to grow their firms has been found to make strong contribution to economic growth, there is a few research to examine how the interaction between the formal and informal institutional environment affects entrepreneurial growth aspiration. Drawing from institutional theory, this study seeks to fill this gap by examining the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance on the relationship between investment in knowledge and entrepreneurial growth aspiration. Using multi-level modeling methods on 50 countries from GEM data between 2010 and 2015, we found that the relationship between growth aspiring entrepreneurs and institutions is complex. The results demonstrated that investment in knowledge has a U-shaped relationship with entrepreneurial growth aspiration and uncertainty avoidance moderates the U-shaped relationship.

ABSTRACT. Gender is one of the most challenging diversity issues in the business literature, and this problem is considerably critical in science and engineering disciplines. Accordingly, our research Question is "How gender diversity in R&D function affects innovation behaviors (in terms of innovation activities, innovation performance and types of innovation) in Korean service industry?"

Using survey data from 4000 service companies in Korea in 2021, we adopted binomial logistics regression analysis method to verify our research question. We found that gender diversity is negatively correlated with innovation performance. In process innovation, we found that gender diversity is statistically correlated with three process innovation. In innovation activities, gender diversity is found to negatively relate to independent R&D, and have no relationship with joint R&D and R&D outsourcing service. These findings provide new insights on how gender diversity affect product and service innovation.

ABSTRACT. Improvisation is an important firm competence in product innovation as firms increasingly face inherent uncertainty in new product development (NPD) process and frequent jolts in the external environment. While there is some empirical and conceptual work on the value of improvisation for several new product outcomes, there is lack of empirical research on the antecedents of improvisation in innovation studies. We attempt to address this gap by studying the role of team variation and team convergence traits in the occurrence of improvisation in a sample of 118 NPD teams from manufacturing firms.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to conceptualise the internationalisation of food and drink SMEs. Despite a wealth of research on SME internationalisation, this paper responds to calls for industry-specific research, particularly in low-tech industries, by developing and evaluating a framework specifically for food and drink SME internationalisation, underpinned by Resource-based View theory. Set in two parts, initially a framework for the internationalisation of food and drink SMEs is developed from a discussion of theories of SME internationalisation and place-based marketing issues specific to the food and drink industry. Secondly, the framework is evaluated for its validity and reliability. A framework of 12 constructs is developed from an extensive review of the literature. Validity and reliability findings imply that the framework can be supported, however, further research in different research contexts would be advisable to enhance understanding of the framework’s suitability.

ABSTRACT. Using practice theory, the study explores the narratives of craft entrepreneurs which will reveal the triumphs, challenges and strategies of micro-businesses and how they market and become more fluid in times of crisis.

ABSTRACT. Aim of this study is to examine the role of TV advertising content regarding food promotion to children in the region of South Eastern Europe. Ads content and children’s cultural dimensions play role in their ad preferences and recall. Ethical aspect of food ads’ creators is discussed too.

ABSTRACT. This study used Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework to examine how individual consumers’ cultural value orientation influences their sustainable consumption practices (SCP), such as secondhand clothing purchase. Our study found all three cultural dimensions examined (i.e., collectivism, masculinity, and long-term orientation) were found statistically significant in predicting environmental concern. This study also makes a contribution by revealing three major antecedents of consumers’ engagement in buying secondhand clothing: environmental concern; materialistic value; and distance from the consumption system. Another important finding for this study is discovering a positive relationship between materialistic value and consumer SCP engagement. The results of this study can help stakeholders who seek to lessen their environmental impact and increase their social responsibility by targeting key consumer segments and developing effective promotional messages.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this research is to better understand what factors influence on households’ waste sorting behavior at source in Mongolia. To accomplish the goal, this study conducted online survey with self-report questionnaire method and the 353 participants’ data were collected through Facebook groups and pages related to house owners’ associations and waste recycling related non-profit organizations. The results show that the underlying factors determining the intention of waste sorting at source are (1) motivational bases such as prior beliefs and social norms; (2) and an ability/knowledge about the waste sorting at source. Furthermore, the intention is crucial predictor of the real behavior of waste sorting at source, but the most important one is an opportunity to do so. The conclusions and the recommendations are provided.

ABSTRACT. The current study attempts to identify antecedents and consequences of ESG considering possible firms' internal and external factors that lead to ESG performance and the effect of ESG on firm performance. The findings provide significant implications for academics and managers by identifying the holistic process of ESG implementation.

ABSTRACT. In many situations, consumers have to make a sacrifice (e.g., price premium, loss of personal comfort and efficiency) when choosing a green product over its traditional alternative. Utilizing attribution theory, we offer a set of research propositions as an attempt to explain how consumers may rationalize their perceived sacrifice in making green purchases. First, we posit that consumers’ internal attribution (i.e., individual behaviors cause environmental degradation) enhances their green purchase behavior. Second, internal attribution would generate senses of self-efficacy and guilt, which lead to motivations to accept the perceived sacrifice in purchasing green products. Third, when green purchase indicates a significant sacrifice, consumers tend to develop a coping strategy by switching attribution of responsibility to others, and thus the influence of internal attribution on green purchase will be weakened.

ABSTRACT. Do CSR activities affect sales? Many studies have been conducted to answer this question in the academic field, but the results have not been consistent. The results of this research provide several important implications. First, customer awareness is essential in the relationship between CSR and product sales. In this study, we verify that CSR activities in news reports, which help consumers recognize a firm’s good deeds, positively affect sales. While many papers explore the relationship between CSR and sales, they present conflicting results. Second, if a company plans to advance into overseas markets, it can help carry out CSR activities and inform them of the target market. As the result of previous research, MNCs can establish legitimacy and avoid a sense of dissimilarity in foreign markets by actively conducting CSR activities and publicizing them.

ABSTRACT. Opinion leaders often play key roles in online knowledge-sharing communities, which has interested a lot of researchers and practitioners worldwide. However, it is not clear how various characteristics of opinion leaders may affect their followers. to investigate this question, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model that use the two step flow theory of communication. We find that more experienced users are posting better deals than the new users. This we can say as our models gave the most influencing features as the user attributes like hottest deal by the user, number of deals by the user, average number of deals that he is posting, frequent updates of the deal posted, likes that the user received, percentage of deals that are being flagged as hot by that respective user. In other words, the users are gaining the experience with time and are posting the better deals that are attracting the customers.

ABSTRACT. Some digital platforms introduced a novel positive-framing design in the multi-dimensional rating system, which framed the attribute with positive words for consumers to rate. The results from a cross-platform quasi-natural experiment show that the positive-framing design can increase the rating scores compared with the traditional non-positive framing design. Our moderation-of-process analyses show that the effect is negatively moderated by the certainty of the experience, which is consistent with the acquiescence bias theory. We also rule out the priming effect by moderating analysis and text analysis.

ABSTRACT. We employ advanced data analysis methods like natural language processing, opinion analysis, and complex network analysis to comprehend consumer preferences on the Reddit platform. Specifically, we gather a large dataset of online discussions, extract consumer opinions, and predict the spread of information in actual consumer networks.

ABSTRACT. By applying the netnography approach, the research aims to classify content typologies posted by the corporate and understand the underlying motivation states of engagement. This research explores older consumers’ online community on Facebook. The posts by corporate were included during 2020-2022, and using a content analysis method. Results reveal the most engaged media type and classify corporate-generated content types, reflecting the motivation stages of older consumers to engage with the online community.

ABSTRACT. Youtube is more effective in increasing purchases than other channels. Over-The-Top (OTT) is another pillar of the new media market, which has emerged with the development of internet and communications technologies. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore whether YouTube video clips actually lead to watching OTT. In addition, this study examines the moderating effect of genre and the generation on such relationship. This study will receive responses from 300 Korean millennials and generation Z who have watched clips of dramas/movies, entertainment/sports. Data collection will be conducted using both online questionnaires and offline surveys. While drama and movie video clip have a more positive impact on the relationship between watching YouTube clip and watching OTT than entertainment and sports video clip. Moreover, generation Z is expected to have a stronger influence on such relationship rather than millennials.

ABSTRACT. Since consumers have expanded their interest in global countries with the ease of access to global content through online platforms such as YouTube, marketing practitioners endeavor to uncover an underlying mechanism on how consumers’ such interest in global countries would prompt their digital shopping behavior. However, prior literature has not concentrated on the influence of watching videos about global countries on consumers’ digital shopping intentions. By scrutinizing a proprietary dataset regarding consumers’ YouTube watching history and shopping website/app usage behavior, we find that watching global content could increase consumers’ digital shopping duration. In addition, we also find that consumers watching more global content have variety-seeking tendencies when they use shopping websites and apps. Furthermore, we investigate the moderating factors such as social media search and consumers’ sentiment toward different countries on digital shopping.

ABSTRACT. The present study aims to determine the influence of conspicuous-related factors, more specifically, the expected social return on the process of choosing a holiday destination. An online survey was applied to a sample of 177 consumers to test a research model involving the impact of Social Return, Electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM), and variables of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) – Attitude, Subjective Norm and Perceived Behavioral Control – to understand the Intention to Visit a vacation destination. The results show that e-WOM can give rise to both positive and negative attitudes towards the destination in question. Expected Social Return, e-WOM and Subjective Norm influence the Intention to Visit a destination, thus highlighting the impact of the amount of expected positive feedback. This research contributes to understanding the influence of social media on choosing tourism destinations and provides useful guidelines for tourism practitioners.

ABSTRACT. The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought significant changes to today’s life. Human contact is regarded as a source of risk. The low-contact services provided by service robots have gained more attention in the hospitality industry. However, a relatively smaller proportion of empirical research exists about service robots on the consumer side. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among stimulus (coolness and affinity), organism (utilitarian value and hedonic value) and response (intention to use and word-of-mouth recommendation). A total of 554 customer questionnaires were collected. Restaurants constantly seek to make innovation and improve the customer experience. This study contributes to a better understanding of service robots for restaurant managers and can be used as follow-up development for smart restaurants.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the construct of destination brand coolness and develop a measurement scale. An in-depth interview, focus group, and content analysis were used to generate preliminary items. Subsequently, two surveys were administered. The first and second involved 276 tourists and 284 tourists, respectively. The scale items were then subjected to purification and analysis. This rigorous procedure resulted in a reliable and valid destination brand coolness scale comprising five dimensions (i.e., destination attractiveness, destination extraordinary, destination fascination, destination uniqueness and destination aesthetics) and 20 items. In management practice, the scale can allow destination managers learn about visitors’ perception of the coolness of their tourist destination brands, on the basis of which tourist destination branding, marketing, and management can be made.

ABSTRACT. This study explores ways to improve the effectiveness of digital service communication by influencing customers’ intention to use e-service agents. Through experimental designs, this study varies digital service communication strategies by conditioning the perceived authority level of the digital communicator and the style of digital communication and examines their effects on customers’ intent to use e-service agents in future service interactions via perceived warmth and perceived competence. Findings indicate that, when the digital communicator with high authority is engaged in providing customer services, customers show stronger intention to use e-service agents through greater perceived warmth and competence, and such authority effects were more pronounced in a communication style using emojis than one not using emojis. This study is the first to explore the effects of digital service communication strategies on customers’ internal and behavioral responses.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the relationship between customer psychological engagement (CPEngagement) and value co-creation in the digital and physical aspects of hospitality services. We find that CPEngagement interacts with digitally enabled hospitality services to improve customer value co-creation behaviors—participation and citizenship—that affect perceived service quality, goal attainment, and loyalty.

ABSTRACT. Big data and e-commerce have changed brand-consumer relationships. This study analyzes how data-driven internet retailers influence consumer behavior and preferences. This research reveals how big data affects e-commerce consumers' digital activity and provides advice for firms trying to better their big data-driven strategy. This study analyzes how big data affects digital behavior and e-commerce purchase decisions. The research explores how online retailers use big data to adapt the shopping experience and influence consumer behavior, as well as how consumers engage with brands and make purchases. Surveys, interviews, and case studies examine how big data affects e-commerce. Big data affects consumer behavior and preferences, and the findings offer advise for e-commerce companies embracing big data. The research seeks to understand how big data is transforming e-commerce and provide a roadmap for companies using big data to compete online.

ABSTRACT. Dual process theory presents a fast and slow thinking system where fast thinking takes less cognitive effort. Immersive virtual reality (VR) in metaverse shopping takes cognitive effort depending on a variety of variables. This research abstract theorizes when dual thinking processes are used in immersive VR context.

ABSTRACT. Despite the orientation towards online retailing journey accelerated by the application of new-age technologies in the pandemic context, the role of the physical store still has a central role in luxury shopping in the digital omni-channel perspective. Digital technologies have increased their impact on consumers (Evanschitzky et al., 2020; Klaus & Zaichkowsky, 2020; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2020; Davenport et al, 2020; Huang and Rust, 2021a; Pantano et al, 2022). The study explores the role of AI in transforming the in-store experience with respect to the omni-channel consumer shopping journey. Linking the digital omnichannel literature framing consumers’ experience with emerging literature on AI in retailing, this study focuses on Chinese millennial consumers. It uses a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews with a sample of 145 millennials the study evidences the transformative role of an AI pervasive store with respect to the omnichannel luxury shopping journey.

ABSTRACT. This study investigated how immersive VR store experience generated consumers' urge to buy via self-imagery and pleasure. It also identified that the processing varied by the level of self-relevance to the VR store. The findings suggest that the impact of VR store experience can be expanded to impulsive/compulsive purchases.

ABSTRACT. Using a tablet (versus a mouse) when shopping online has been shown to increase a shopper’s overall preference. Three studies demonstrate that this effect is robust across various contexts.

ABSTRACT. We combine CRM data of 1079 firms to a secondary country distance variable to study the effectiveness of B2B digital content marketing in lead nurturing. We demonstrate that digital content marketing in owned, paid, and earned media drives the lead score but increasing buyer-seller distance reduces this effect.

ABSTRACT. Co-branding strategies of firms operating in consumer markets have been largely studied. The same can not be claimed with regards to firms operating in business markets. This becomes especially relevant in the case of international entrepreneurial ventures, which can draw internationalization and growth benefits when branding in connection with foreign business partners. By using a signaling theory perspective, this paper sheds light on how international entrepreneurial ventures co-brand with international players by using a multichannel approach involving offline and online means of communication, such as social media platforms. Accordingly, by increasing awareness of the digital branding strategies of internationally operating ventures through social media, the contribution to signaling theory within international marketing literature is multi-fold.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to enhance the understanding of the service experience of buyers by empirically studying the effect of customers’ service experiences on repurchase intention in the exchange relationship between buyers and suppliers in the capital goods industry while considering the distinct characteristics of B2B marketing. The data used in this study were collected through a three-step screening of the survey respondents using the snowball sampling method. Based on this, the research was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The study results not only extend previous studies in the B2B industry on buyer service experience in the capital goods industry, where long-term service is experienced, but also practically imply the importance of customer engagement of buyers (customer knowledge sharing and value co-creation) and the significance of organizational agility in meeting the needs and desires of clients.

ABSTRACT. This study conceptualizes network relationships based on the cohesion and diversity of network resources in the firm-firm and firm-government network. Using a survey and archival data obtained from 186 firms, this study reveals how external network partners contribute to marketing capabilities. We found that diversity in firm–firm and firm–government networks produced comparable results, but cohesion in these two networks produce different results. The findings indicated that diversity in firm-firm and firm-government networks contributed to marketing capabilities. While cohesion in firm-firm networks contributes to marketing capabilities, the same is not true for firm-government network cohesion. Besides, the effect of network connections on marketing capabilities is contingent upon environmental dynamism and knowledge tacitness. The findings also revealed that marketing capabilities mediate the effect of the firm–firm network on sales growth.

ABSTRACT. Agility refers to the dynamic capabilities that can quickly sense and respond to new situations, reduce complexity, and reconfigure ecosystem opportunities. It focuses on integrating and reconfiguring resources to adapt to environmental changes. While scholarly interest in agility has been growing, research on how B2B firms can develop the agility to enhance resilience in complex international ecosystems is still limited. The complexity of ecosystems in international marketing and interfirm relationships in B2B contexts has been highlighted in existing research, indicating the need for further investigation in this area. This study adopts a qualitative method based on focus groups and in-depth interviews. The aim is to contribute to the ongoing discussion about the evolution of B2B firms' capabilities, strategies, and patterns to gain agility in their internationalization efforts.

ABSTRACT. To successfully expand their business activities in overseas markets, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must first acquire a thorough knowledge and understanding of prevailing environmental and market conditions. This study examines the crucial role that a learning orientation can play in the generation of relevant foreign market knowledge. It also investigates the impact of foreign market knowledge on strengthening internationalizing SMEs’ operational adjustment agility and market capitalizing agility, which in turn enhance firms’ international venture performance. Our empirical effort is based on data collected from 209 Nigerian industrial SMEs which internationalize their efforts. Our findings confirm the positive role of learning orientation, foreign market knowledge and organizational agility on driving the international venture performance.

ABSTRACT. Now that we live in the metaverse, where the boundaries between offline and online are blurry, virtual life and reality peacefully co-exist, and a variety of inter-individual interactions in terms of social, economic, and cultural dimensions take place to create value (Barrera & Shah, 2023; Dwivedi et al., 2022), there exists a growing need for additional research to investigate whether individuals exhibit such compensatory consumption behavior in the metaverse, and if so, whether there is any difference between the two forms of compensatory behavior in the real world and the metaverse. Toward this end, the current research conducts a laboratory experiment in which the sense of powerfulness (vs. powerlessness) is manipulated and relative preferences for three pairs of status-related products are measured between the real world and the metaverse.

ABSTRACT. Will consumers be jealous of machines? This project investigates the effects of human versus virtual influencers and their impact on perceived envy and subjective well-being. Through two experimental studies, we conclude that only human influencers can incite benign envy, leading to positive well-being and reducing ill-being.

ABSTRACT. We explore how young, educated consumers in a collectivist emerging market, utilize social media (SM) to increase self-esteem through interaction with retailers and achieve emotional well-being. Primary data were collected in Vietnam through a survey. 192 responses were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The findings show that SM provides an online space for value co-creation, where young consumers feel more closely connected with the service provider and express themselves to retailers. Close interaction via a retailer’s mediation “responsiveness” facilitates consumer learning and provides opportunities for consumers to convert initial knowledge to second stage knowledge through conversion. In the process of mediation and interaction, SM is used to facilitate the learning cycle. Also, retailers apply the value-in-use concept by adapting relevant information to better suit a particular individual’s needs. This imbues a sense of self confidence and results in consumers gaining self-esteem.

ABSTRACT. Whereas the metaverse is seen as a unique marketing channel for brands to reach a new base of consumers, less is understood about what such a digital space and avatars and digital fashion in the metaverse really means for its users. This study addressed these voids in the literature.

ABSTRACT. How do people perceive new technology-embedded machines? Based on the previous literature on mind perception, this research proposes how people perceive the mind of machines including artificial intelligence (AI), robots, recommendation systems, chatbots, and self-service technologies (SSTs).

Results of integrative factor analyses (N = 1,400) show that people perceive the mind of machines based on three dimensions; ‘Affect’, ‘Cognition’, ‘Sense’. Among the three dimensions, machines are perceived to have the worst capacities in the ‘Affect’ one, while there are no substantial differences among the machine types. In contrast, machines are perceived to have the best capacities in the ‘Cognition’ dimension among the three. With respect to the ‘Sense’ dimension, people’s perception differs according to the machine type. Finally, AI, among all the machines, is perceived to have superior capabilities for all functions, whereas SST and Chatbot are perceived as inferior to the others.

ABSTRACT. With the growth of blockchain technology, the potential of NFTs is receiving significant attention across all industries. As NFTs emerge as a novel type of asset, they are drawing attention as a potentially important market, particularly for many luxury goods. This study aims to understand the concept of NFTs and their influence on e-WOM. This study develops a research model that facilitates an understanding of luxury brands’ NFT marketing activities and tests it with a consumer survey. Our analysis reveals important characteristics of perceived NFT marketing activities such as scarcity, resaleability, and authenticity. Furthermore, the impact of specific NFT marketing activities and their influence on e-WOM are discussed. This study contributes theoretical insights for researchers and has practical implications for practitioners who manage marketing activities for NFTs.

ABSTRACT. Digital technology has been increasingly applied in the traditional tourism forms, including the heritage tourism. However, the role of technology and tradition for attracting tourists in industrial heritage tourism destinations has not been clearly identified. To narrow the research gaps, this study applied grounded theory, adopted a two stage study, and explored the stimulus that attract tourists visiting industrial heritage tourism destinations. In Study 1, through 60 in-depth interviews, 10 stimuli factors in 3 categories were identified. In Study 2, based on the results of Study 1 and literature review, 7 factors were retained as on-site stimulus, factor analysis were conducted to test the model. We thus established and tested a model of on-site stimulus factors in industrial heritage tourism destinations and discussed technology’s role in attracting visitors. Findings deepen the understanding of industrial heritage tourism and offer practical implications.

ABSTRACT. The tourism and hospitality metaverse experience is a new and urgent issue waiting for exploration. Among the metaverse scenes, the connection between the physical and digital world through the internet of things was rarely paid attention to before. This study aims to uncover the role of the IoT, which is one of the fundamental metaverse technologies for customers' metaverse experience in tourism and hospitality. This study did document analysis, literature review and interviewed twelve metaverse experts to explore the result. The finding uncovered three metaverse scenes in tourism and hospitality that needs the IoT to connect the physical and digital worlds and also provides several cases corresponding to the scenes for providing practical suggestions to the practitioners.

ABSTRACT. While there is an increasing number of studies highlighting the power of videos in influencing audience attitudes and behavior, academic research in tourism is largely behind due to the methodological challenges of analysing unstructured video data. This study adopts an automatic video analytics approach to examine the relationship between content features of pro-environmental videos and audience engagement in tourism. Artificial intelligence was used to extract video content features by detecting scenes and shots as well as labels (e.g., trees). Our findings suggest that there exists an inverted U-shape relationship between video informativeness and audience engagement. This study makes significant theoretical and methodological contributions to extant tourism literature by theoretically explaining and empirically testing how video content features influence audience engagement in pro-environmental video communications in tourism.

ABSTRACT. The challenge of adjusting to new travel trends due to COVID-19 has led to a quest to find ways to motivate people to travel again and make the industry more resilient long term, and the implementation of phygital marketing seems promising for raising people’s need to travel. However, there is no study considering phygital marketing initiatives as an approach to trigger people’s travel intentions. An online questionnaire incorporating a scenario-based experiment with a longitudinal prospective explored the impact of phygital marketing initiatives as an innovative approach to trigger travel intentions. Study 1 shows that the experience of using phygital initiatives not only builds trust but also encourages people to visit destinations, leading to a dynamic experience. Study 2 is currently in the field to compare to Study 1’s results. Alongside theoretical contributions, this study presents practical implications on how destinations could implement phygital marketing initiatives.

ABSTRACT. As an important segment, tourism e-commerce live streaming (TEcLS) has emerged as a new marketing channel actively embraced by destination marketing organizations (DMO) and tourist firms. The marketing effects of e-commerce live streaming have attracted scholars’ attention. Some studies start to explore the factors influencing consumer purchase behavior from product, technology and live streamer perspectives, arguing that advantages of breaking through time and space constraints, strong interactivity, and celebrity nura encourage online purchase. The research from consumer perspective is relatively little even though such constructs as social presence and customer engagement have been discussed. But the crucial function of value co-creation has been largely ignored. In tourism area, academic research on TEcLS is far behind the industry practice. Why and how tourism livescape influencing tourists’ online purchase intention are remain unclear.

ABSTRACT. Service robots are playing a premium role on customer experience in various service scenarios today. Employee-robot collaboration is increasingly appearing owing to the complementary nature of robots’ and humans’ capabilities. Based on interdependence theory, this study examines how employee-service robot interdependence have an impact on consumer satisfaction in specific catering service contexts, and further explores the explanatory mechanisms and boundary conditions. Through three studies with experimental vignette method, this paper finds that consumers are more satisfied with service robots with high autonomy than those with low autonomy when employees and service robots are interdepended. This study enriches the literature on human-computer interaction by providing insight from the perspective of employee-service robot interdependence. It provides guidance for researchers and managers on the research and implementation of service robots.

ABSTRACT. Service robots provide businesses with new opportunities to reorganize their frontline and serve their customers in new and innovative ways. Advanced technological innovations that become better, smaller, and smarter are virtually renovating the servicescape. Transformation in the Healthcare industry is happening the world over. RoboDocs can help standardize the common surgical procedures and catalyze a paradigm shift in the healthcare sector. RoboDocs are the linchpin to greater efficiency, more value, and reducing surgical variability. This study explores the potential role healthcare robots will play in impacting consumers' perceived credibility of Robots-equipped healthcare facilities. This study facilitates the understanding of Robotic Assisted Surgeries adoption by consumers and thus, help the healthcare service practitioners to attain the effectiveness of their service offers. The findings focus on how service robot design influences perceived credibility of the RoboDocs.

ABSTRACT. An AI anchor is a computer-generated news anchor that can mimic the human voice, appearance, and facial expressions to present the news. This research investigates how the news media utilize an AI anchor in the news program. The data used in this research was collected from YouTube videos in the time frame of 2020 to 2022. The research questions are as follows: (1) What are the differences in news topics reported by AI and human anchors in television news programs? (2) How does viewership differ based on these topic choices, with a focus on the emotional impact? To answer these questions, news content analysis of existing news broadcasts will be conducted. The results of this study will contribute to the understanding of the AI role in the news industry and provide insights for the development of AI anchors that are capable of presenting news in a way that appeals to the audience while considering the emotional impact of the content.

ABSTRACT. The paper investigates the potential of collaboration between researchers and AI bots in transforming the future of academic research. Using a qualitative research design and employing interviews and surveys to gather data from researchers and experts in the field, the findings were analyzed and synthesized to suggest that AI bots can greatly enhance the efficiency and productivity of research by automating routine tasks, collecting and analyzing large amounts of data, and generating insights that would be difficult for humans to uncover. Additionally, the collaboration can lead to new and innovative research methods and approaches. This study is unique in its focus which has not been widely explored in academic literature and has the potential for far and wide-reaching practical and social implications to transform the way research is conducted and accelerate scientific discovery, job displacement, and the need for ethical considerations in the development and use of AI in research.

ABSTRACT. With the development of WEB 3.0 and the metaverse, the emergence of chat GPT, and AI is attracting attention across all industries. AI technologies such as robotics, advanced analytics, and in-store applications created a sensation in the fashion industry, as well as created an exceptional customer experience. In this study, fashion AI types (e.g. AI models: generative, conversational, AI applications: design, production, sales, retail, marketing) and case analysis (e.g. concepts, characteristics, benefits, risks) are examined. Consumer experiences with fashion AI are also discussed for future research directions. Finally, the Fashion AI research framework and research agenda are discussed for future research.

ABSTRACT. The ever-evolving technology demands quick adaptation and presents new opportunities and challenges for the optimization of communication, especially for advertisers. Digitalization and new developments in ICT have brought significant changes to the ways in which information, especially promotional messages, is disseminated to consumers. Additionally, with explosive interests in the anticipation of fully autonomous vehicles, this study identifies and addresses the potential to optimize communication in an under examined digital media environment – in-vehicle infotainment system. Therefore, this study proposes a text-image embedding method recommender system for the personalization of multimedia contents and advertisements for in-vehicle infotainment systems. Unlike most previous research, the current study explores the understanding, development and application of text embedding models and image feature extraction methods simultaneously in the context of target advertisement research.

ABSTRACT. User-generated content in online communities plays a key role on consumer decisions, particularly in the restaurant industry. In this work we propose a novel topic modelling approach using BERTopic, to evaluate the relevance of the context in customers online reviews on different scenarios: food, staff, atmosphere, situation, and experience.

ABSTRACT. The main objective of this research is to analyze the importance of Virtual Reality (VR) as a technology able to digitally promote perceived green brand trustworthiness in online settings. We propose a conceptual framework based on the Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) paradigm to understand whether the use of VR can increase cognitive experiential state, affective experiential state, and customers' perception of green brands' trustworthiness.

ABSTRACT. Some well-known luxury fashion brands log off social media or deliberately keep their accounts empty. The article investigates how consumers of high-end fashion brands react to this social media strategy through a series of experiments. This study provides managerial implications for social media strategy of luxury fashion brands.

ABSTRACT. Based on the construal level theory, psychological reactance, and attribution theory, this research examines the effect of influencer type (human vs. VI) and endorsement count (single vs. multiple) on consumer response to the influencer endorsement. Through an online between-subject experiment in which the influencer type and endorsement count will be manipulated, consumer evaluations (attitude toward the influencer/product/brand, purchase intention) will be measured. Further, as the psychological mechanism to explain the interplay of influencer type and endorsement count, perceived endorsement motive will be investigated as a mediator. Findings from this research are expected to provide insights into influencer marketing, more specifically the type of influencers that brands make partnerships with and how to address the context of influencer endorsements (i.e., endorsement count).

ABSTRACT. This research addresses financial market communication of marketing information (i.e., information related to firms’ organic growth opportunities) through depth interviews (Study 1) and quantitative data on conference calls and stock market reactions (Study 2). The investigation (1) reveals that marketing, despite high potential relevance for financial markets, often plays only a marginal role in firms’ financial market communication and (2) develops a framework for effectively communicating marketing to financial markets.

ABSTRACT. Personalized pricing provides great potential for revenue, but is also accompanied by negative consumer reactions. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate potential mechanisms and variables that could mitigate these negative effects. In this context, the following paper examines the role of perceived fairness, cognitive dissonance, and product categories.

ABSTRACT. This study takes the perspective of a brand introducing its own second-hand products to the re-commerce market. The project finds that consumers are more willing to forgive a transgressing second-hand product compared to a new product, which leads to lower negative word-of-mouth intentions. The relationship is mediated by the underdog effect.

ABSTRACT. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities substantially impact a company’s reputation. As companies increasingly embrace social media to communicate CSR activities, they face the challenge of selecting the appropriate message source. In this context, this paper examines the role of message source in the relationship between CSR communication and corporate reputation.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to capture the impact of stakeholder-oriented corporate actions on consumer purchasing behavior, a factor directly related to business performance. I found that consumers' purchase intentions improved when they were aware of a company's social action of downsizing its Russian operations in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

ABSTRACT. Corporate purpose is postulated across industries as a strategic success driver. In the context of a literature analysis, this study works out whether the concept of purpose is anchored in well-known concepts such as mission and vision. An empirical study will examine the assessment of purpose in relevant stakeholder groups.

ABSTRACT. The present study explores an international sustainability campaign, #ACTNOW, on Twitter. The actnow campaign was launched by the United Nations in 2018 to encourage individuals and businesses to be aware of the impacts of various sustainable issues, including food and fashion sustainability. By exploring two years of Twitter data, our study confirmed that consumers react to negative comments more often than positive postings.

ABSTRACT. The main innovation of upcycled products is the ingredient. However, no existing research has explored the impacts of different ingredient usage of upcycled foods. Moreover, consumers' acceptance of new products is generally lower than that of conventional products due to quality concerns. Hence, for the upcycled products that are made from “imperfect” ingredients, consumers’ perception of quality varies when different percentages of those ingredients are integrated into the upcycled products. Furthermore, schema congruity theory suggests that the relation between perceived product incongruity and product evaluations follows an inverted U. Consumers may perceive upcycled foods as more incongruent than conventional foods due to the ingredient difference. Therefore, this study aims to investigate (1) whether an inverted U shape relation exists between different degrees of ingredient incongruity and purchase intention and (2) the mediating effect of perceived product quality.

ABSTRACT. Marine industry generates tons of waste; however, marine residual raw materials contain lipids rich in omega-3 fatty acid, which has several beneficial physiological effects. Food fortification with omega-3 fatty acid from marine residual raw materials can therefore provide health benefits and contribute to a circular food system. The current research explores consumer acceptance of the food fortified with microencapsulated fish oil derived from marine residual raw materials through a focus group study. The results demonstrate positive attitude towards this food. Health benefits and utilization of residual raw materials are the most important motivations. Sensory characteristics and expected high price represent the potential barriers. This study advances understanding of the consumer acceptance of the food with residual raw materials (so far under investigated in the literature), and provides a basis for finding an efficient strategy for communicating its benefits to consumers.

ABSTRACT. Luxury, which can be defined as 'high standard goods’ provide symbolic, emotional values based on scarcity and exceptional quality. In reference to previous studies, luxury fashion product is classified differently from other general products because of their differentiated quality, design, and premium price. There are a few stereotypes about people who wear luxury fashion products which are known as high social status, materialism, fashion involvement, and sustainability. As these various perceptions of luxury fashion consumption are established among people, this study intends to examine how these perceptions are formed when people wear luxury fashion products from an observer’s perspective and explore the effects of perceptions on emotions, and evaluations regarding the wearer. Lastly, within the formation of perception, emotion, and evaluation of luxury fashion wearers, this study aims to examine the differences between the real world and the metaverse.

ABSTRACT. Even though Indonesia ranks as one of the biggest coffee exporters in the world, its coffee production for the global market is recently declining. Case study analysis of smallholder coffee farmers and their cooperatives revealed difficulties in production and business knowledge. This study conducted a quantitative survey of 84 overseas buyers from 29 countries and enriched it by interviewing representatives of the Indonesia Trade Promotion Centre in 9 countries. Insight from these global players generates fruitful information, such as product information, and quality requirement. The findings indicate the need for relevant business actors to support smallholder farmers and cooperatives meeting the global market requirements. Accordingly, this study develops a coffee value chain model. With various insights from overseas buyers, marketing could help to increase the economic growth of smallholder farmers and cooperatives to increase their welfare.

ABSTRACT. Drawing from the uses and gratification theory (UGT), the study intends to investigate audiences’ motivation to watch Livestream and its influence on subscription and donation. The roles of viewers’ parasocial relationships and identification with live streamers were also examined. The results also indicate the presence of a mediation effect.

ABSTRACT. The underlying empirical work aims at examining the consequences of advertising intrusiveness in relation to influencer marketing. A Partial Least Square analysis investigates that the repetition of an advertising post has a positive influence on the advertising intrusiveness, wihich, in turn, has a negative impact on loyalty towards the influencer.

ABSTRACT. Engagement is a central aspect of discussions surrounding online brand communities. The current paper advances the existing thinking associated with conceptualisation of engagement in the context of online brand communities. By understanding how brands engage in an online community we can provide better community management and benefit a brand. It is found that existing scales are limited in their reach since they tend to focus on behaviour, cognitive and emotional dimensions only. The current study focuses in depth on the behaviour element which is a consequence of cognitive and emotional engagement. Following the extant scale development literature, the current study developed a research design with three phases: Phase 1: Construct definition and item generation. Phase 2: Initial validation of the scale. Phase 3: Final validation. The proposed 18-item scale offers a tool for future researchers to benchmark online brand communities and their engagement.

ABSTRACT. To create and sustain competitive advantage over time companies’ marketing strategies must be constantly innovated to satisfy consumer needs. Technological advancement drives consumers to spend much of their time on digital platforms such as live streaming. This paper aims to analyse the role of digital platforms in creating consumer-brand relationships.

ABSTRACT. With social media spreading and social media influencers (SMIs) becoming popular and monetising their content, research on how they become entrepreneurs and the enterprising characteristics of SMIs remains limited. Due to this, the study examines through the use of case studies the evolution of hobbyist SMIs into professional entrepreneurs.

ABSTRACT. Building on communication accommodation theory, we examine the effect of language style matching – the degree to which the language style of a response matches the language style of a relevant negative review – on prospective customers’ attitudes toward firms and firms’ sales performance, and the moderating effect of firms’ overall ratings.

ABSTRACT. We investigated how political ideology influences consumers’ reactions to highly competent but politically opposite service providers. Two experiments showed that conservative consumers preferred highly (vs. less) competent service providers regardless of whether the service providers were politically identical or opposite to them, whereas highly (vs. less) competent service providers were less preferred by liberal consumers when the service providers were politically opposite to them.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how travellers adopt information from travel review websites, i.e., Tripadvisor and how online travel reviews influence their intention to visit a tourist attraction. Based on the Information Adoption Model (IAM), a conceptual model was developed and tested using the data obtained from 227 valid respondents. The partial Least Squares Structure Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach using SmartPLS 3 was used to test the relationships in the suggested model. The results revealed that argument quality, source credibility and needs of information have positive influences on information usefulness, which in turn predicts information adoption and attitudes towards information. The results also show a significant positive impact of imitating others on information adoption. Finally, the study confirms that travellers’ intention to visit a tourist attraction is positively influenced by information adoption and attitudes towards information.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to examine the effects of animosity and affinity felt by perspective tourists towards a destination on their travel intentions. Drawing from Greek tourists, we investigate the impact that animosity and affinity towards Russia has on their intentions to visit the destination. Considering the rising animosity against Russia in light of the Ukrainian conflict, this topic is timely and important. Through the lens of complexity theory, we use fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to analyse the data. Results reveal three pathways that impact travel intentions of Greek tourists: a) affinity and animosity, b) destination characteristics and c) risk perceived animosity. Theoretical and practical implications in terms of tourism management and marketing are drawn as conclusions.

ABSTRACT. This study adds to the current literature on public house choice behavior, as a drinking space, using a foraging theory lens. We assess how consumers holistically, using various trad offs, choose which pub to visit and why, taking into account context, spatial and social aspects and through a test/application of various foraging theories including prey, patch, currency, constraint and social foraging. The qualitative analysis utilizes data from 20 participant pub visitors, using digitalized journaling and interview methodologies.

ABSTRACT. Brand resonance plays a crucial role in customer relationship management and the development of brand equity between customers and the brand. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationships among brand coolness, customer inspiration, and brand resonance in the hospitality industry, as well as the mediating influence of customer inspiration. A total of 433 restaurant customers in Taiwan returned questionnaires. The results revealed that brand coolness positively affected customer inspiration and brand resonance and that customer inspiration positively affected brand resonance. Furthermore, customer inspiration mediated the relationship between brand coolness and brand resonance. The study contributes to the hospitality literature of brand resonance. These findings can apply for the practice of brand management and customer relationship management in the hospitality industry.

ABSTRACT. This study supplements the literature by determining how restaurant innovativeness is linked to customer advocacy as well as considering self-image congruity as mediator of this relationship. A questionnaire survey of 385 restaurant customers was conducted in Taiwan. The results indicated that restaurant innovativeness is positively related to customers’ self-image congruity and customer advocacy. Customers’ self-image congruity is positively associated with customer advocacy. In addition, self-image congruity mediates the relationship between restaurant innovativeness and customer advocacy. The research contributes to literature by extend the relationships between restaurant innovativeness, self-image congruity, and customer advocacy. Restaurant managers should adopt approaches (e.g. innovativeness-related activities) for enhancing self-image congruity in customers

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the relationship between escapism, gaming, and digital fashion. The research addresses the role of digital fashion in today’s changing world and the potential implications for the fashion industry through studying early adopters of this concept in the world of online virtual reality gaming.

ABSTRACT. Using the cultural legitimacy perspective of Institutional Theory, we explore urbanites’ pet adoption and childbearing intentions, and how pet adoptions affect pet food consumption. 20 respondents (policymakers, online and offline pet shop owners, and pet adopters) are invited for interview. Both text and image-based vignettes are used to enrich the data collection.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the relationship between consumers’ shopping for green products as a sustainability practice and minimalism, an individual characteristic. Two purposes of the study are: 1) to examine the relationship between consumer minimalism and purchase intention for green products and 2) to investigate mediating roles of self-esteem and self-confidence in the consumer minimalism-green purchase intention relationship. A web-based survey with Gen Z and Gen Y consumers (N = 380) was administered via Amazon MTurk for data collection. The mediation model was analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (model 4). Results showed that consumer minimalism positively influenced purchase intention for green products. We also found partial mediation of self-esteem and self-confidence that consumer minimalism affects green consumption directly as well as indirectly though self-esteem and self-confidence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. The paradox of increasing digitalization in luxury marketing and technological limitations in alternative business model infrastructure, exemplified by fashion rental makes sustainable activities challenging. Blockchain’s intention is to increase fashion supply chain transparency and traceability while fostering consumer trust and enhancing privacy and security. Yet, blockchain’s prevalence is unrealised in fashion. This study examines fashion rental barriers and how blockchain may support and establish new fashion service offerings from organisational perspective, highlighting how emerging technologies can be used to achieve these goals. Qualitative semi-structured interviews are conducted with experts whose first-hand, experiential knowledge is valuable for academic inquiry and business decisions. This study offers opportunities to reflect and evaluate blockchain and luxury marketing techniques, which can inform future research. Initial findings will be presented at the conference.

ABSTRACT. NFTs are becoming key to increasing consumers’ engagement and loyalty. However, there is a lack of research on critical factors for NFT brand communities and brand engagement using NFTs. This quantitative research aims to address this GAP analysing the relationship between NFTs and brand engagement (emotional, cognitive, and social).

ABSTRACT. Previous research on green product innovation (GPI) has primarily focused on the performance of new product development, neglecting the critical, early fuzzy front-end (FFE) phase. Drawing upon the firm's resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities perspective, this study explores how co-production affects FFE outcomes (creative idea and product definition proficiency) of GPI and whether joint learning ambidexterity is a mediating mechanism in international buyer-supplier relationships. Additionally, we provide a contingency perspective by considering the moderating role of the innovation ecosystem on the relationship between co-production and joint learning ambidexterity. Finally, this study contributes to a theoretical understanding, analyzing co-production as a predictor, joint learning ambidexterity as a mediator, and innovation ecosystem as a moderator.

ABSTRACT. Prices have a leverage effect on firm profits. Prices, however, have also an impact on customer’s perceived price fairness and thus indirectly on firm’s bottom line. A growing body of literature shows this. Papers on the level of the fair price, however, are rather scarce. Based on different concepts of justice, two levels of fair prices are proposed: square equity and mean prices. I run an experiment which shows that both are considered fairer than cost-based or value-based prices. The results can be used to assess fairness implications of prices ex ante and hence complement traditional pricing approaches.

ABSTRACT. We provide a case study of Tesla’s platform model based on Anderson et al. (2022)’s theory to suggest a platform innovation for the growing industry of biotechnology. We identify the practices of traditional closed-patent business models in biotechnology and fill the gap by unfolding the potential positive network effects and suggesting an open-platform business model. This paper calls for further empirical studies to collect company-level data to analyze the benefits and challenges of open platform models and understand how local networks may foster the success of international healthcare companies.

ABSTRACT. As the baby boomer generation spans nearly two decades and older baby boomers may think, feel and behave significantly differently compared to their younger counterparts. Thus, further research is needed to address consumers’ needs and aspirations in different life stages The objective of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of aging baby boomers’ shopping experiences for apparel products. According to some researchers (Morton, 2001; Reisenwitz nd Iyer, 2007), baby boomers can be sub-divided into early baby boomers/older baby boomers/Vietnam Group (1946-1955) and late baby boomers/younger baby boomers/Me group (1956-1964). This division was adapted to guide our data collection.

In total, 600 surveys, including 300 younger baby boomers and 300 older baby boomers, were collected in Canada through Qualtrics online panels. The surveys have been collected for analysis and the findings will be presented at the conference in July.

ABSTRACT. Based on a conceptual review of 1,516 sustainable marketing articles, a case study analysis of Patagonia, and the theoretical framework of Service-dominant Logic, we conclude that we should not frame the sustainable attributes of the product itself but instead, we need to market the sustainable service of the product and sustainable relationship with the company.

ABSTRACT. As of March 24, 2020, the global aviation industry damage forecast that global airline's sales will increase by 44% compared to 2019 due to the spread of COVID-19, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The expected decrease would result in a revenue loss of $252 billion. By region, it was found that the estimated sales loss in the Asia-Pacific market was $ 88 billion, the highest among all regions. Asia-Pacific countries that suffered the biggest losses began to create new air tourism products later that year. One of them is the "Flights to Nowhere" travel package. Flights to Nowhere are flights that start and finish at the same airport without landing elsewhere. These flights have been offered as a new trend of Flight Service during the pandemic. This study aims to investigate the “Flight to Nowhere” consumer behavior and the effects of internal and external factors on people's behavior and purchase outcomes.

ABSTRACT. This study will investigate the effects of induced awe on ethical tourist behavior. The positive emotion of awe has not been fully investigated in the context of tourism. This study will fill the gap by conducting an experimental design. The purpose of this study is to identify a message type that appeals to awe effectively. This study will be built on the construal theory. We will use a 2 (emotion: positive awe vs. negative awe) × 2 (message appeal: desirability vs. feasibility) between-subject design in study 1 and a 2 (emotion: positive awe vs. negative awe) × 2 (message appeal: desirability vs. feasibility).

ABSTRACT. Cryptocurrency is gaining worldwide recognition. This research examines the role of personality and psychological factors in consumers’ cryptocurrency adoption behavior. 452 samples are collected from U.S consumers and the data are analyzed by PLS-SEM. The findings reveal that consumer innovativeness has a positive influence on the intention to use cryptocurrency and its impact is partially mediated by attitude. The LOHAS lifestyle moderated the influence of consumer innovativeness on the cryptocurrency intention as well as the relation of attitude with the intention. This research provides theoretical and practical implications for the cryptocurrency market.

ABSTRACT. The problems of global warming and environmental pollution are getting increasing attention from human beings. Therefore, the sustainable consumption of environmental protection and natural health has come into people’s life. In addition, an environmental movement is underway in today’s market. Marketers convey sustainable product information to customers using advertisings in the hopes of raising their awareness of sustainable consumption so that they will support it. Existing research shows that emotional factors have a significant impact on consumer behavior and that the expression of emotional appeals in advertisings often has an obvious impact on consumers’ purchase intentions of sustainable products. However, marketers are facing the challenge of how to better integrate emotional appeals into advertisings, with positive appeals or negative emotional appeals.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to explore consumers' preference for AI recommendation agents compared with human agents when a consumer is in an upgrading consumption. AI is proved to be more popular in the functional consumption context. As the development, this study proves that customers prefer AI's help when their self-image is matched with the products but prefer human recommendation when their self-image is lower than the product's. Furthermore, this study argues that psychological distance is the mechanism of the above effects since customers seek figurative information (functions, augments, and product information) when they are under a short psychological distance. Finally, this study also considers brand switching as the moderator of the mechanism since it frequently happens in the upgrading consumption.

ABSTRACT. Based on the metaverse situation, this paper explores the influence of Perceived usefulness and usability on brand experience. The brand experience include two dimensions of sensory experience and behavioral experience.And then, based on 329 valid data collected through online experiment, it makes an empirical analysis by structural equation model and hierarchical regression. Results show that, metaverse situational perceived usefulness and usability have significant effects on customer sensory experience and behavioral experience, and sensory experience plays a mediating role in the effects of usefulness and usability on behavioral experience. Social presence plays a positive moderating role in the influence path of usefulness and usability on sensory experience and behavioral experience.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, with its amazing online interactive promotion ability, e-commerce live streaming has attracted the attention of theoretical scholars and practical experts. This study takes co-presence and social presenc, which are the prominent features of e-commerce live streaming, as the breakthrough point to explore the mechanism of the influence of co-presence and social presence on purchase intention. In this study, consumers with e-commerce live streaming watching experience are taken as participants, and the method of structural equation modeling is used. It is found that: presence significantly impacts flow experience and consumer purchase intention, while the impact of the two kinds of presence is variable. the promotion effect of the two kinds of presence on consumer purchase intention is completely mediated by flow experience. The mediating effect of co-presence on consumer purchase intention through flow experience is regulated by e-commerce live streaming topicality.

ABSTRACT. Social media influencers are becoming increasingly important to the advertising world. As individuals who use their extensive following to endorse products, create trends and ultimately drive purchase intentions, influencers are often seen as role models, especially as pertains to body image. As such, we conduct experimental research to examine how influencer size (0 vs. 14) affects attractiveness perceptions, perfectionist expectations, and purchase intentions. Drawing on self-determination theory we find that perfectionism toward others is the underlying mechanism for the effects of motivation and size. Societal and managerial implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Despite the importance of technology-based innovation and customer participation for both practitioners and academics, the impact of different customer participation types in new product innovation has rarely been addressed. This study develops six hypotheses and two experimental studies are conducted. The results have theoretical contributions. First, prior research in technology-based innovation has mostly focused on the outcome or performance in terms of firm perspectives. The present study focuses on comparing the impact of different levels of technology-based innovation based on consumer perspectives. Second, the differential impact of each type of customer participation was explored. Third, this study examines and tests the moderated-mediation effects of perceived customer orientation. Finally, managerial implications and limitations will be discussed.

ABSTRACT. The significance of customer brand engagement (CBE) is proliferating expeditiously with the emergence of synergetic technological advancements, primarily focusing on consumer’s interactive and participative escapades with a brand. Gamification is an emerging field of study which is being intrinsically tied to customer engagement. In spite of the increasing hype garnered by the current discussion, the available literature on gamification of customer engagement remains fragmented due to limited prior endeavours to corroborate the extant literature through utilization of a systematic review. Our research intends to address this gap by pragmatically analysing extant literature thereby contributing towards an integrated encapsulation of gamification of customer engagement. The research indicates the need to investigate gamified engagement in utilitarian contexts in light of upcoming technological advancements.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this article is to elaborate on how being in virtuality influences consumption. Virtual objects and experiences are presented as digitally tangible and equal to physical counterparts, where the real – virtual relationship is harmonious and meaning is viewed as principally the same, though contextually different.

ABSTRACT. This study aimed to develop a research model and examine the factors influencing consumers’ intention to use online food delivery services. By reviewing and analyzing 52 studies with 53 independent samples (N = 22,937), the meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) approach was carried out to assess the research model. The findings indicate that convenience significantly impacted perceived ease of use but had no direct impact on perceived usefulness. Price-saving orientation significantly influenced both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Moreover, relationships between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived trust were significant, and these factors ultimately significantly led to the intention to use food delivery services. The findings contribute to theoretical advancement in the extant literature on food delivery services and help firms develop to provide better food delivery services for consumers’ continuous usage.

ABSTRACT. The sharing economy claims for research on its particularities and implications for management. This paper explores the way hosts of Peer-to-Peer Accommodation (P2P) develop relationship marketing with their guests and how it influences the business. The researchers conducted 30 semi-structured interviews to hosts of Airbnb, in order to obtain their perspective on the importance and application of relationship marketing in this context. Hosts with a B2C and a C2C business perspective were interviewed, and cultural differences in the relationship approach were also considered. The results show that the hosts are aware of the importance of interactions and personal contact with guests. Different results were identified depending on the type of business, accommodation, the culture and nationality of guests. Findings show that relationship marketing is highly explored in P2P sharing accommodation, exploring the interactivity of digital platforms to deepen those relationships.

ABSTRACT. Using processing fluency (Lee and Labroo 2004) and cultural typology (Hofstede 1980) theory, two experiments were performed both in South Korea and USA. This research answers the following questions. (1) Does form design matter in USA and South Korea? (2) Does culture affect the effect of form design on willingness to buy? (3) how does the form design and function innovation interplay in two diverse cultures? (4) how should the new products be designed in two diverse cultures?

The results suggest that the form influences the willingness to buy (WTB) in USA such that more typical form leads to higher WTB than less typical form while functionality plays important roles in South Korea to determine the WTB.The interaction effect was significant both in USA and South Korea. Design impact was significant in INP (Incrementally New product) of USA and RNP (Radically New Product) of South Korea. But the design effect was much attenuated in RNP of USA and INP of South Korea.

ABSTRACT. The present study choose to conduct consumer behavioral research in Metaverse situation, explores factors that influence consumer shopping enjoyment and purchase intention from product, service and technology perceptive. The research team gathered the primary data through questionnaire subjecting to Chinese consumers (n=300) who know about TaoBao future city which themes on virtual buying in Metaverse. In addition, structural equation modeling is employed to examine the hypothesized relationship among the variables. The result shows that all the driving factors positive effects consumer shopping enjoyment and then influence purchase intention positively. The finding is significantly fundamental to establish theoretical framework future about virtual shopping in Metaverse, and help marketers realize how to set virtual stores in Metaverse to enhance consumer shopping experience so that they could improve consumer purchase intention in the context.

ABSTRACT. The independent variable of this study is consumption type: Pre-sale Products vs. Spot Products. Pre-sale Products are quite popular currently, especially technological products. Construal-level theory (CLT) offers a valuable framework to explain the mechanisms that trigger evaluations, predictions, and behaviors by linking the degree of mental abstraction (the construal level) to psychological distance (Trope & Liberman, 2000; 2003; 2010). Four dimensions including temporal, special, social, and probability distance are argued to present the psychological distance. Liberman et al. (2022) discuss the time distance and argue the distant-future events are represented in a more abstract, structured, high-level manner than near-future events.

ABSTRACT. There are a lot of brand experience in Metaverse. When the consumers experience the events in Metaverse, they have to use their avatar by making an user name. They have the option of using either their real or fictional name in Metaverse. There are two types of avatar in Metaverse. First, they can use actual self avatar by using their real name. Second, they can create totally new avatars using made up name. Which type of avatar will then enhance the brand engagement? Results show that the consumer experience with avatars affected brand attitudes differently. Also, the consumer's experience with avatars based on their actual images in the Metaverse affected the positive brand attitude. This study suggests that Metaverse avatars can also let people interact with themselves and with each other in parasocial ways. This study examines the role of avatar in virtual world; consumers experience with avatar can provide useful implications in terms of digital transformation.

ABSTRACT. Fashion non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have garnered immense attention, yet it is not clear how fashion NFTs differ from digital fashion. Using topic modeling, we analyzed consumer perceptions toward fashion NFTs and digital fashion, finding that fashion NFTs have specific uses, while digital fashion has a broader scope, thereby advancing research by delineating fashion NFTs from digital fashion.

ABSTRACT. Integrating both the Computers-Are-Social-Actors Theory and Social Exchange Theory, this study investigates human-robot interactions in a frontline service setting. Data was collected via an intercept survey of 282 Gen Z visitors at a polytechnic library in Singapore. The data was analyzed using structural equation modelling with partial least squares. The results demonstrate the significant positive effects of robot anthropomorphism attributes, namely perceived warmth, perceived coolness, appearance, social capability, and personalized service on perceived trust as well as the significant positive effects of perceived coolness and social capability on positive emotion. Both trust and emotion affected consumer co-creation while only emotion impacted consumer wellbeing. The results add to the service robot literature and offer practical guidance for service managers to leverage trust in designing and personalizing inclusive service experiences for successful human-robot interactions.

ABSTRACT. ABSTRACT

Every day more and more influencers are born on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Influencers run their blogs in various directions and areas and compete with each other using creative applications, writing eloquent stories and attractive pictures and videos, which are widely aware of the brand and product and influence customers’ intentions to buy. Customers’ reasons for buying a product can be affected by such factors as attractiveness, expertise, novelty, and ethic. However, the same factors specifically influence the customers’ value co-creation behavior.

This study aims: 1) to understand whether value co-creation behavior affects purchase intention within the context of attractiveness, expertise, novelty, and ethic; 2) contribute to influencer marketing research on the mutual benefits and value co-creation between influencers and their audiences.

This research is now underway.

ABSTRACT. With the popularity of live streaming commerce, the characteristics of streamers and products subtly influence consumer behavior through visual live streaming form. Based on dual-process theory, this paper develops a comprehensive theoretical model to examine how consumer perceived streamer characteristics and product characteristics influence streamer attractiveness and product attractiveness, and explore how consumer behavior inertia is affected by streamer attractiveness and product attractiveness. An online survey consisting of 300 participants was recruited to empirically examine the proposed research model. The results indicated that consumer perceived streamer characteristics and product characteristics are important factors affecting the streamer attractiveness and product attractiveness, which in turn positively affect consumer’s shopping experience memory, which further influence consumer behavior inertia. In addition, the moderating effects of mindfulness are also examined.

ABSTRACT. An increasing number of companies are using service robots, such as physical robots and virtual chatbots, to interact with their customers. Service robots are autonomous agents with the purpose of providing services to customers by performing a variety of physical and nonphysical tasks. Real examples of the inclusion of these robots in retail settings already exist. Social robots such as Pepper can use their sensors and cameras to interpret customer reactions and adapt accordingly. We will offer a more detailed understanding on the complex interplay of various perceptions service robots elicit in humans and how these perceptions interact to drive attitudes toward the service robot. Moreover, the application of fsQCA offers also a methodological contribution that allows gaining insights of various combinations of robot perceptions that can explain the adoption of different service robot types.

ABSTRACT. This study proposes a model related to a product’s comparative price depending level of service communication (barista versus robot) and shows how customers’ perceptions and expectations about product match based on price-related cues and psychological distance. Further, the study defines how these matches and mismatches influence customers' attitudes, intentions, and following consuming behavior. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to provide unique insights into service product design and price formation through a novel factor theoretical framework of customer mindset about coffee. The examination of customer mindset in this study defines how perceptions, knowledge, and stereotypes about coffee obtained through experience and cognition, influence the customer's judgment of service as adequate to price and his intention to revisit the café.

ABSTRACT. In this research, we investigate how sponsored listings on an online search engine influence the consumer’s final decision choices. In an era of digital transformation where companies very often opt for sponsored advertisements, we explore how an anchoring effect (exacerbated by other factors) impacts the evaluation process and final outcome.

ABSTRACT. In this research, we investigate the effectiveness of bleed brand logos for the metaverse shopping travelers from the viewpoint of a container metaphor. Bleed is a technique that enlarges parts of a logo while omitting others. Many firms use a bleed logo to improve visibility and allow the metaverse shopping travelers to retrieve the brand-related information quickly. Regarding the issue, we conducted three studies and found that in a metaverse space not filled with other traveler avatars, travelers would feel that the environment is in their control, and they could enjoy the experience. In this instance, firms could earn a high brand evaluation with a high bleed logo. However, when the metaverse space is crowded with other traveler avatars and, thus, travelers experience negative feelings brought up by their sense of being out of control, a high bleed logo results in their low evaluations of the brand because shopping travelers feel like some contents in the logo are out of the frame.

ABSTRACT. Despite the significance of AI in the digital economy, there has been relatively little attention paid to the impact of AI capacity on entrepreneurs and start-ups in the tourism sector. From organisational learning perspective, this paper aims to examine the influence of AI capability on effectuation and routine renewal. Data was obtained from machine-augmenting entrepreneurs in AI tourism start-ups. The findings show that AI capability has a negative correlation with effectuation and a positive correlation with organizational routine renewal. Further analysis indicates that the multi-homing strategy positively moderates the relationship between AI capability and organisational routine renewal while negatively moderates the relationship between AI capability and effectuation. This research unveils the dark side of the capabilities of AI while advancing the research of man-machine collaborative entrepreneurship in the tourism industry.

ABSTRACT. While there is substantial research on the adoption of new technologies in tourism, the potential of virtual reality is yet to be fully investigated. This study investigates the association between mental imagery and affective forecasting to understand the effects of VR (vs 2D) in the tourism context.

ABSTRACT. With service frontlines gradually shifting to human–robot interactions, the question of whether the anthropomorphism of artificial intelligence (AI) robots facilitates or constrains consumers’ experiences has emerged. This article focuses on the individual factor “consumer mindset” (competitive vs. collaborative) and examines how it impacts consumers’ attitudes toward AI robots. Across three studies, we confirm our main prediction that competitive mindset consumers respond less favorably to anthropomorphic (vs. non-anthropomorphic) AI robots, whereas collaborative mindset consumers respond more favorably to anthropomorphic AI robots. We test the mediating role of perceived psychological closeness and the moderating role of interaction distance to explain the underlying mechanism. Our findings provide theoretical insights into the mixed results of previous studies of service robot anthropomorphism and have practical implications for service agencies using frontline robots.

ABSTRACT. With the development of artificial intelligence, AI influencers have been widely used in advertising. This study constructs a model to predict ad attitude when AI influencers act as ad endorsers, explore perceived expertise and perceived empathy as mediator based on the Computers Are Social Actors theory. In the results, search (compared to experience) products and rational (compared to emotional) ad appeal have more positive ad attitude, perceived empathy and perceived expertise as mediator. These three variables can be reinforced by the consistency of ad appeals and product categories. The research extends the boundaries of research on AI influencers, explored perceived emotional between consumers and AI influencers and deepened within the framework of CASA theory, and extends the congruence theory to the match between product categories and ad appeal in AI advertising. It was also beneficial for brands and ad designers to better understand the applicable scenarios of AI influencers.

ABSTRACT. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology offers many opportunities for use in influencer marketing. There is however, no standardised ethical frameworks for use in this specific field. We offer a foundation framework to emphasise the social well-being goal and relate it to stakeholders involved.

ABSTRACT. The present study compared the effectiveness of virtual influencers (VIs) to human influencers through the theoretical lens of the uncanny valley and parasocial relationship using an online experiment. We hypothesized that highly humanlike VIs would evoke the feeling of the uncanny valley, compared to human or cartoonlike influencers, which, in turn, would act as a psychological barrier to building a parasocial relationship and positive advertising attitude. The hypothesis was supported except that people felt a similar level of uncanniness from both highly humanlike and cartoonish influencers compared to human influencers. However, the negative psychological experience elicited by VIs was moderated by individual differences in anthropomorphism. This is one of the first studies that directly compared the effectiveness of different types of influencers in an experimental setting. Theoretical and managerial contributions of the study were discussed.

ABSTRACT. Addressing their marketing potential, the current study aims to explore how VIs can serve as effective CSR endorsers. Utilizing text mining, we 1) delve into narratives of their CSR messages; 2) computationally analyze consumer reactions toward their CSR posts; and 3) examine how consumer reactions are associated with their humanness and narratives.

ABSTRACT. Non-monetary sponsorships, where brands give influencers a product as a gift for a free trial, are widely used in influencer marketing. Yet, there is little understanding of the impact of non-monetary sponsorship disclosure on i) consumers’ downstream behaviors, ii) perceived product quality, and iii) the brand itself. To fill this gap, we empirically examine the impact of non-monetary compensation disclosure on customer engagement on an Instagram dataset using a matching model. The result shows that non-monetary compensation disclosure increases engagement, and that the disclosure has a stronger positive impact on engagement when the post is generated by a micro-influencer. Using a lab experiment, we provide evidence of a causal link between non-monetary sponsorship disclosure and media engagement, brand attitude, and purchase intention, and support the mediation through higher perceived product quality and brand trust. The findings provide insights to brand marketers and influencers.

ABSTRACT. To investigate the presence and effects of plus-size models’ sexual appeals on social media, this study analyzed over a year of Instagram posts and comments about Victoria's Secret, the most followed fashion brand having sexual image positioning. With the help of a robustly trained deep learning model, the content analysis examined (1) how often the plus-size models appear in those posts, (2) how the degree of their sexual appeals is related to the number of likes and comments, and (3) whether such relationship and sentiment of comments are different between plus-size and thin models. Findings reveal that while the use of plus-size models and their sexual appeals are considerable, their sexual appeals can increase the number of likes and comments as much as thin models. But, plus-size models’ explicit sexual appeals resulted in less positive and more negative sentiments of comments compared to thin models’.

ABSTRACT. As the spread of COVID-19 has reduced mobility, consumers have increasingly searched for information online or used online shopping. Furthermore, the spread of Covid-19 has significantly impacted changes in consumer behavior and advertising marketing activities. We empirically analyze how the Covid-19 outbreak from Shincheonji affects consumer search behavior and search advertising performance. We construct a difference-in-difference model using search advertising data from domestic search engines. The results reveal that impressions and clicks increase after the event than before compared to the previous year. Second, the biddings and CPC decrease after the event compared to the previous year. These results demonstrate that the spread of Covid-19 boosts search advertising performances and advertising efficiency. We suggest the direction of search advertising strategies to advertisers and provide substantial implications for understanding consumers' behavior in search advertising.

ABSTRACT. Do you feel empathy for someone who likes brands you dislike? In three experiments, using a person perception paradigm in the context of digital brand placements, participants felt less empathy for a target person wearing a disliked brand and held lower attitudes toward the digital brand placement featuring that person.

ABSTRACT. Prior studies have focused primarily on the issue of consumers’ privacy concerns in personalized advertising, but little is known about the effect of transparency awareness using data collection notifications on consumers. This study focuses on the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of the AI algorithms underlying online behavioral advertising (OBA) and the advertising effects. Our research model indicates that displaying data collection notifications regarding OBA and personalized ads increases favorable perceptions of AI systems, such as transparency. Moreover, the model suggests that personalized ads induce higher perceived surveillance than non-personalized ads.

ABSTRACT. Experiential advantage indicates that people are happier when purchasing experiential products (e.g., vacations and concerts) than material products. This phenomenon imposes an issue for firms manufacturing mainly material goods. The current research shows that posting on social media can imbue social aspects, which is a key drive of the experiential advantage. Specifically, posting products photos or consumption episodes can enhance the perceived sociability, which then will increase attached to and liking of the products. This research contributes to the literature of experiential consumption by adding a new perspective of experiential framing or experientization.

ABSTRACT. A bibliometric analysis, spanning five decades of knowledge is employed with the aim of: (i) assessing core intellectual knowledge of international services research; (ii) examining the contribution of international services marketing to broader research disciplines; and, (iii) estimating forecasting trends for the most promising international services research directions.

ABSTRACT. We find that consumers are more willing to forgive a luxury brand’s service failure if the brand is perceived as equal status to them (self-congruent) than if a brand that is perceived as higher status to them (self-enhancing). Moreover, this effect is mitigated by high power distance beliefs of consumers.

ABSTRACT. With the increasing internationalisation of firms, interest in international entrepreneurship (IE) has grown rapidly over the past three decades. Despite the considerable advancement to date, the field lacks insight into the conceptual domain, drivers, and contingencies of export marketing strategy implementation. Using primary data gathered from entrepreneurial firms operating in Russia, the study shows that increases in both entrepreneurial orientation and export marketing strategy implementation are associated with increases in export performance. In addition, the study finds that while increases in psychic distance weaken the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on export performance, it strengthens the effect of export marketing strategy implementation on export performance. These findings draw attention to the idea that cognitive distance between home and host country markets may play a paradoxical role in explaining when entrepreneurial orientation may help or hurt.

ABSTRACT. As Hollywood relies heavily on global markets, it is particularly important for studios to understand how their decisions, including on casts, may affect their movies’ box-office in foreign markets. While research has started to examine the effects of actors’ ethnic origins, the marketing literature in this area is still scant. Anecdotal evidence shows that casting actors with similar facial features may be problematic in foreign markets. Against this backdrop, we examine how casting actors with similar facial features affects the international box-office performance of U.S. movies. We further expect this main effect to be moderated by actors’ characteristics (e.g., star power) and movie characteristics (e.g., script complexity). We focus on U.S. movies’ box-office in East Asian countries and regions. Our findings will be of interest to Hollywood studios, which consider East Asian countries, China in particular, as their primary foreign markets.

ABSTRACT. Along with the continuously growing availability of market data, firms increasingly rely on analytical capabilities as a source of competitive advantage. However, even if the capability perspective to marketing analytics has gained more ground in recent research, the understanding of analytical capabilities as a source of performance differentials remains nascent. In this study, we advance the current understanding of analytical capabilities by drawing on the resource-based view. We develop a new scale for measuring analytical capabilities, which considered internal and shared analytical capabilities that together define firms' ability to leverage data and analytics in managerial decision-making. Based on this scale, we further evaluate the role of analytical capabilities in driving firms' business performance, considering a number of moderators. Finally, we offer several practical implications for managers that want to develop and leverage the analytical capabilities of their firms.

ABSTRACT. Based on Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT), consumers’ valid preferences and values are better reflected in decisions resulting from unconscious product deliberations. While most consumers today claim to have pro-environmental values, this research abstract theorizes how multisensory metaverse marketplaces could promote unconscious thoughts and further contribute to sustainable behavior.

ABSTRACT. This study investigated the conditions under which participatory CSR could be effective and focused on consumer power as the key variable. When the consumer's power was low, CSR participation intention was lower for those in the high (vs. low) effort condition. When power was high, there was no difference according to the level of participation effort.

ABSTRACT. This study addresses the problem caused by unhealthy = tasty intuition (UTI) when positioning innovative new categories of food products. Our research on Japanese consumers’ choice of soy meat hamburgers shows that UTI formed by the old category influences choices in the new product category.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was first, to examine the social and environmental sustainability practices of the selected B Corps and their impacts; second, to investigate the metrics and criteria used to measure and evaluate their performances; and third, to explore their success factors. A qualitative research method was adopted employing document analysis and interview techniques. This study provides academics and practitioners with empirical evidence of the significant roles that B Corps play in addressing social and environmental issues and effectively contributing to sustainable development. Furthermore, it helps them to better understand the increasing link between B Corp and sustainable development.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the role of digital technologies on patients’ trust toward general practitioners (GPs), during Covid-19 pandemic. Results show that whether the relationship with the GP takes place in the traditional way (in person or by telephone) or using digital technologies, there is no significant relationship with trust.

ABSTRACT. In the era of post-materialism, consumers’ concern about health issues has made health food increasingly popular in the market. However, aside from the popularity status quo, consumers often find it difficult to make wise choices when purchasing health food due to insufficient knowledge to process information related to health food. Thus consumers tend to rely on external cues when making food purchase decisions. Food labeling, especially labels with digital information, as an important means of expressing product information, can significantly affect consumers’ judgments. Although numbers themselves do not carry emotions, they often inspire consumers' differentiated perceptions and ultimately have a significant impact on their consumption decision-making behavior. It is worth noting that even when conveying the same food content information, there may be different numerical expressions.

ABSTRACT. We propose a new neural network architecture for item recommendation with structural information. Our model, structural neural recommender (SNR) is based on neural networks and operates on a hierarchy paradigm, aiming to explore the effectiveness of incorporating different structural information for recommendation. SNR simultaneously learns representation from user-item interactions and item-item relationships. Empirical studies on eight real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of incorporating such structural information, by outperforming classic and recent baselines. We further conduct a field experiment to demonstrate that the effectiveness of algorithmic SNR can further increase by using different types of message framing. Our results show that recommendations framed with a relevance appeal are more effective in general, yet recommendations that are framed with a popularity appeal are more effective for customers who have stronger (versus weaker) social orientation.

ABSTRACT. Most individuals watch digital influencers' videos on social media for emotional support and consider them to be friends. However, most studies examined digital influencers' effects on followers' behavioral intentions but ignored effects on social well-being. Parasocial interaction explains how digital influencers affect their followers. This study explores how parasocial interaction affects followers' social well-being, investigates the effect of followers' traits on parasocial interaction and examines the digital influencers' characteristics through parasocial interaction. An online survey was conducted on 597 participants who had browsed digital influencers’ videos. As the result, digital influencers' characteristics, and followers' traits have positively affected parasocial interaction, and parasocial interaction positively affects social well-being. It’s noteworthy that loneliness has no significant effect on parasocial interaction.

ABSTRACT. Consumers visiting platforms that host UGC not only consume content but also generate content by investing time and effort. This paper seeks to examine a UGC platform's content provision strategy. As UGC and the platform's own content perform the same function, one may be inclined to think that the two types of content are substitutes. Our analysis shows that they could function as strategic complements. The fact that consumers dislike advertising could lead us to believe that consumers will be less motivated to generate UGC if ad space increases. On the contrary, we find that consumers may be motivated to increase UGC provision to make up for the loss in enjoyment and increase the overall quality of contents on the platform. The public good characteristics of UGC could prompt us to think that UGC provision on the platform will be less than the socially optimal level. Our analysis identifies conditions when the total provision of UGC can be more than the social optimum.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to explore the influence of social marketing efforts on consumer brand engagement in the context of Vietnamese fashion brands. Social marketing efforts include five dimensions of entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization and word-of-mouth. A self-administered online survey was delivered to Vietnamese consumers, which included 281 valid responses who follow Vietnamese fashion brands on Facebook or Instagram. The empirical results show that social media efforts engage consumers differently on brand engagement dimensions. The key finding indicates that entertainment and word-of-mouth are positively related to brand engagement in affective, cognitive and behavioral dimensions. Interaction is positively related to affective and behavioral brand engagements. Trendiness is positively related to behavioral brand engagement. Finally, customization is positively related to cognitive brand engagement.

ABSTRACT. This research examines branded app continuance intention from the fit perspective. An online survey was conducted and PLS-SEM was used to analyse 198 valid data. The results indicate that person-app fit, person-brand fit, and brand-app fit facilitate app attitude, and then continuance intention, which validates the app fit perspective.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how brand-influencer, influencer-user, and user-brand congruences affect consumers' fantasy about the influencer and closeness toward the brand when an Instagram ad is endorsed by a celebrity (vs. non-celebrity) model. The study employed a between-subject online experiment by manipulating a posting by a popular celebrity influencer and a non-celebrity model. The study results suggest that congruency between brand-influencer matters to build effective relationships.

ABSTRACT. [Short abstract]This research explores an effective approach to activate tourists’ mental simulation of destination experiences. We found that destination promotional photos with human presence could effectively stimulate mental simulation of future traveling experiences, which then generates higher perceived destination attractiveness. The boundary conditions and marketing implications of this effect are revealed.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to examine consumers’ sustainable behavior when ordering food from an online platform. The visual cue of using single-use plastics was used in this study to examine the effectiveness of consumers’ behavioral changes. A between-subjects quasi-experimental design was applied, and 200 participants was randomly assigned to one of four scenarios and subjects asked about preferences regarding ordering food from an online platform. The study contributed to the body of knowledge in consumers’ sustainable behavior regarding perception of plastic waste and had implications for the restaurant industry in designing an online ordering system for consumers’ sustainable consumption.

ABSTRACT. Tourists tend to conform to the majority in their purchase decisions to avoid negative outcomes. Therefore, newly developed yet unpopular tourism destinations are facing difficulty of sales growth. On the basis of evolutionary psychology, this study investigates the effect of mating motive on tourists’ preference for minority-endorsed tourism destinations. The study identifies that tourists with activated mating motives are more likely to visit minority-endorsed destinations than majority-endorsed ones. Uniqueness seeking plays a mediation role. Findings of this study contribute to the promotion of unpopular tourism destinations by appealing to the attribute of demonstrating individual uniqueness and attracting potential mates.

ABSTRACT. The associated components of the tourism industry such as airlines, railways, bus services, hotels, and event planners have had developed several promotional strategies and health measures with the help of the government to deal with tourism amid covid-19. In the present study, efforts have been given to verify the promotional strategies used such as discounts and use of social media; health measures such as cleanliness and sanitisation, temperature checks, and social distancing protocols. These efforts by the tourism industry and their impact on consumer perception towards that have been checked. Further, the study also verifies that how the positive consumer perception leads to intention to stay at hotels by the consumers. The study is based on the multiple linear regression analysis, which has been conducted on the data collected from the consumers in India.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to explain the role of retailer mobile apps’ Personalized Technology Service (PTS) on consumers’ omnichannel shopping experiences by: (1) identifying PTS values specific to retail mobile apps for in-store shopping and (2) testing the PTS values – channel integration – consumer responses dynamics. Consumer responses were examined in terms of customer engagement and shopping satisfaction. Two web-based survey studies were performed with US consumers who have had in-store shopping experiences with mobile app-mediated PTS offered by the retailer. Study 1 identified five value dimensions underlying the app-mediated PTS: hedonic value, utilitarian value, self-efficacy, co-creation, and synchronicity. Study 2 confirmed the proposed structural model that PTS values affected channel integration which in turn influenced customer engagement and shopping satisfaction. Additionally, customer engagement partially mediated the effect of integration on satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Many companies based on online services are proposing O4O (online for offline) business model. Using data and technologies accumulated from existing online services, O4O can provide a differentiated consumer experience for offline customers. From fashion products to electronic devices to beer, many brands are expanding their business models through collaboration with eSports based on the popularity of eSports. Consumers experience items or products collaborated through eSports characters in online space and purchase actual products offline based on this experience. This research aims to find competitive ways to improve corporate performance by securing a sustainable competitive advantage in o4o services through eSports. Through this study, we will provide basic research data for ways to be fully operational O4O services to companies that carry out online-offline transmedia marketing.

ABSTRACT. Consumers' online reviews have become more powerful in the Internet market. Consumers' online reviews affect the acceptance of VR products. This study used Amazon's VR product user review, which confirmed the purchase, to predict and select algorithms that are more likely to match the Helpful reviews through machine learning. Next, text was extracted through helpful review and Topic modeling was performed. As a result, 1) product use experience, 2) product evaluation, 3) product composition, 4) immersion and 5)interaction were acceptable to potential customers. The results of this study will help potential customers of VR products create the services based on a marketing perspective.

ABSTRACT. This study investigated older adults’ adoption behavior of mobile health (mHealth) apps, applying protection motivation theory (PMT) and technology readiness (TR) as frameworks. The research aimed to understand the influences of threat and coping appraisals, alongside older adults’ positive and negative TR, on their adoption behaviors. Data was collected from 600 older adults aged over 55 using online surveys and analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling. Results showed that coping appraisals significantly impacted older adults’ attitudes and intentions to use mHealth apps, with response efficacy being the most crucial factor. Moreover, older adults' beliefs about mHealth apps (TR) significantly influenced their coping appraisal processes, with positive TR playing a more critical role in predicting coping appraisals. The study suggests identifying TR and understanding various protective motivation components related to mHealth app usage among older adults.

ABSTRACT. The proliferation of online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) markets has made it easier for consumers to sell their possessions in secondary markets, and consumers’ emotional attachment to their possessions can play a crucial role in their selling decisions. This study focuses on resale behavior in online consumer-to-consumer market platforms and examines the factors that promote and hinder the resale behavior of sellers. The evidence from the experiment suggests the negative effect of emotional attachment on resale intention and the moderating effect of resale possibilities.

ABSTRACT. Digital humans integrating anthropomorphism into the performance and problem-solving features of AI offer innovative sources of insights and value that promotes a product, service, or brand. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a digital human’s aura and anthropomorphism on perceived interactivity, attitude toward a brand, attitude toward a digital human, electronic word of mouth (eWOM) intention, and purchase intention. An entrenched digital human’s aura and anthropomorphism increase perceived interactivity, attitude toward a brand, attitude toward a digital human, eWOM intention, and purchase intention. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the concept of the digital human’s aura and anthropomorphism and the relationships between perceived interactivity, attitude toward a brand, attitude toward a digital human, eWOM intention, and purchase intention.

ABSTRACT. Recently, the metaverse (i.e., a virtual world with avatar interaction) has been widely used as a marketing tool in various fields to enhance user engagement. However, few studies have examined the effects of avatar-self resemblance on user attitude and intention in the metaverse. In this sense, this study examines the mechanism by which avatar-self resemblance influences brand attitude and virtual item purchase intentions in the brand-oriented metaverse. In particular, we identify the role of virtual item purchase intention as a mediator and the number of concurrent users as a moderator. The main venue for the experiment is Zepeto’s ‘Ralph Lauren brand world.’ This research provides several implications. Theoretically, this study complements the adoption of the metaverse as a virtual technology in the marketing field. As a practical implication, this study also provides marketing managers with valuable insights for designing an effective brand-oriented metaverse.

ABSTRACT. Offering a good customer and shopping experience on the web is key for fashion luxury brands. However, it is not a field much analyzed by researchers. This research presents a systematic analysis of the usability of the web and its content in more than 60 fashion luxury e-commerce.

ABSTRACT. With increasing importance of relationship with customers, customer relationship management (CRM) has become a vital element of marketing. Previous research emphasized discovering, attracting, and retaining long-term profitable customers (Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995; Villanueva et al. 2007, Song and Kim 2020; Song 2020). This is because long-term relationship with customers leads to repeated transactions, consequently enhancing firm performance (Kumar 2008; Rust et al. 2004). However, acquiring profitable customers and developing and maintaining long-term relationships with them is an expensive affair (Dowling and Uncle 1997; Reinartz and Kumar 2000). Consequently, the efficacy of CRM has been questioned, considering it can reduce revenue in the short term (Villanueva et al. 2007; Jones and Sasser 1995; Musalem and Joshi 2009; Song 2020). Therefore, this study analyzes the Customer Equity Sustainability Ratio (CESR) to examine the effect of CRM.

ABSTRACT. Digital technologies that travel between the real and virtual worlds are rapidly adopted by many fashion brands for building virtual fashion spaces. This study aims to investigate the consumer experience of the components of the virtual fashion show and their effect on virtual fashion space, perceived benefits, perceived risk, and behavioral intention in the immersive fashion virtual space. The stimulus for this study was selected as the Prada virtual reality (VR) fashion show which is one of the most active in the VR field. The influence of perceived virtual fashion space and the moderating effect of VR sickness and fashion innovativeness are discussed. This study provides implications about consumer perception and behavior using VR in the context of virtual fashion space for researchers and practitioners.

ABSTRACT. In the metaverse, digital avatars, instead of physical human beings, become the main communication entities. Therefore, it is of great value to explore and understand how avatar-enabled consumer communications in the metaverse will be different from the physical world. Yet so far, the current literature on this topic is still in its infancy and requires more effort to further conceptualise how avatar-enabled communications work in the metaverse. To shed light on this research direction, the authors synthesise the existing literature from a multidisciplinary perspective and identify three themes that underline the avatar-enabled communications between consumers and other entities. The authors also elaborate on a conceptual framework that serves as a theoretical foundation for future research on avatar-enabled consumer communications in the metaverse. Theoretical and managerial implications, as well as future research agendas, are also discussed.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to answer which type of framing (i.e., scientific AI vs. magic AI) is beneficial for advertising AI-created subjective products. This study shows that magically framed AI technology may be more beneficial to appeal to product innovativeness for hedonic and less functional products. On the contrary, when subjective product functionality became important, scientifically framed AI technology was found to be more likely to generate higher perceived product attractiveness and purchase intention.

ABSTRACT. The widespread use of digital technology has spurred the number of first-time young investors into the stock market. This study aims to explore what are criteria of the first-time young investors compare and select different online brokerages. Using the means-end chain theory as a research frame with a hard laddering interview technique, the results show that first-time young investors considered good trading advice information, brokerage brand image, investment tool are key attributes that lead to the key consequences of ease of use and trust in which fulfill the end value on satisfaction, peace of mind, and quality of life for the first-time young investors.

ABSTRACT. This study, based on mixed method research design, explores the mechanism by which online service provider experiences are indirectly influenced by service interactions (service manner and need identification) in a rarely explored context (e-learning service and digital product/online MBA). The mediating role of psychological comfort is established to positively influence consumer behavior (engagement, trust), significantly impacting on prospective students' online service experiences in pre-purchasing stage of their virtual journey, boosting satisfaction and use/purchase of this type of credence services.

ABSTRACT. This study examined how the Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs influence continuous usage intention through the mediating effects of perceived privacy risk and perceived security. It also investigated the moderating role of perceived privacy awareness in the relationship between perceived privacy risk and continuous usage intention as well as the moderating role of information sensitivity in the relationship between perceived security and continuous usage intention.

ABSTRACT. In the current study, we aim to investigate how extant consumer expectations of advertising in the physical world can be confirmed or violated in the immersive and interactive context of the metaverse, and how the valence of these confirmations or violations impact consumer attitudes and behaviors. For example, based on the normative experiences of advertising in the physical world, advertising in the metaverse with static text is likely to seem less rewarding than immersive and interactive advertising for the same product. Guided by the frameworks of the bifold triadic relationships model and EVT, we explore how consumer expectations of advertising that they bring from the physical world can shape their advertising experiences in the metaverse.

ABSTRACT. The fusion of electronic sports (e-sports) and hospitality is a new category of entrepreneurial business model innovation in the post-epidemic era. This research aims to explore the digital business model innovation and the category emergence mechanism of the e-sports hotel with mixed methodology. Study 1 conducts exploratory research based on the 1.2 million order comments using machine learning method; Study 2 takes 36 cases as typical representative digital start-ups, unmasking the business model innovation and category emergence mechanisms. The findings indicate that the outstanding e-sports hotels can connect their value creation elements with the digital equipment and e-sports culture efficiently in various configurations. The category emergence mechanisms are catalyzed and accelerated by different audiences. Our research contributes to research on digital business innovation and category emergence in the hospitality and tourism industry.

ABSTRACT. The historical roots of the mechanization of sex were gynocentric but technological innovations in sex robots are largely aimed at male consumers. In this research, the authors discuss sex robot technologies, the practical aspects of the incorporation of sex robots into hospitality and tourism, and the impact that such a technological jump will have upon sex tourism and its contribution to the sustainable development of destinations with a transformation of sex tourism into a new paradigm. The authors conclude explaining the ways in which this technological innovation impact upon males and females and the interactions between the genders, transforming human connections and hospitality. This research will be the first to discuss how the digital aspects of the new generation of sex robots will impact upon the marketing of automated sex services, since the intimate nature of service suppliers will require marketing finesse unlike other more openly disseminated hospitality services.

ABSTRACT. Tourism digitalization induces digital interpretation platforms, reforming traditional interpretation services and marketing. Such platforms widely embraced celebrity interpreters to attract users and increase purchases. However, the celebrity effect in such platforms remains unknown. This study applied a mixed-method design: first explored tourist attitudes toward celebrity interpreters through scenario-based interviews; then examined the celebrity effect on attracting free triers and increasing interpretation purchases based on data from a digital interpretation platform. Results show that interpretations provided by celebrities have insignificantly fewer free triers and significantly fewer purchases than professional interpreters. Such an effect on purchases is mediated by the voice characteristics (speech rate, loudness). This study extends the literature on tourism digitalization, tour interpretation, and celebrity effect and offers practical implications.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the performance of a penalized neural network and the replication of customer engagement survey scales with text information in the hotel industry. Although the empirical analysis shows highly accurate model performances in the training sample, the limitations and future tasks are discussed for practical applications.

ABSTRACT. Voice assistance (VA) has been adopted in the tourism and hospitality industry to interact with tourists and provide travel recommendations. This can involve communicating the environmental sustainability features of tourism products and services as it can be the competitive edge. However, lack of research has been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of VA in promoting sustainable consumption of tourism products or services. This study proposes that customising environmental sustainability messages for tourists with different cultural orientations and VA usage purposes can enhance their engagement with the VA, which can affect their consumption. The results from a scenario-based experiment demonstrate that tourists with interdependent/independent cultural orientation have higher engagement with the environmental sustainability messages communicated by the VA when they are with a non-transactional/transactional purpose. Implications for tourism marketing strategies are discussed.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this research is, therefore, to understand how textual features and image features generate user engagement in social media utilizing cutting-edge transfer learning techniques and to propose how these features should be customized to maximize user engagement for online travel shopping companies. We collect and analyze more than 10,000 Instagram posts from three online travel shopping companies, including Expedia, Priceline, and Kayak. The results from transfer learning algorithms utilizing 24 features, such as the number of people in the image, emotions expressed in the people in the image, hue, and RGB value, successfully predict the level of engagement measured by the number of likes and comments.

ABSTRACT. MARKETING RESEARCH IN HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM HAS BEEN RISING CONTINUOUSLY. THIS STUDY PROVIDES A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON MARKETING RESEARCH AND AIR TRANSPORT. IT IDENTIFIES KEY THEMES AND TRACKS THE CHANGES IN SCHOLARLY RESEARCHERS’ PERSPECTIVES PRE AND POST PANDEMIC. A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND AN AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH BASED ON EMERGING RESEARCH TOPICS IS PROVIDED.

ABSTRACT. Despite the importance and dynamism of knowledge intensive industries, there is only scant Institutions (HEIs). A two-stage mixed methods design was adopted, comprising semi-structured interviews and a census of all employees in public and private HEIs in Cyprus, to explore the structure and components of Internal Marketing (IM) and Employee Engagement (EE).

ABSTRACT. Retail therapy produces immediate and positive psychological effects through simple browsing and even not buying. However, studies on the therapeutic effects of online retail therapy and its antecedents have been limited. We drew on self-regulation theory and operationalized the Filipino deserve ko ‘to mindset, as a form of self-gift motivation, and investigated how value and price consciousness moderate the effects of personal characteristics on online retail therapy. Using multiple moderated regression analysis, we surveyed business students in a private college in Bulacan. Our findings revealed that self-efficacy (strongest predictor), self-gift motivation, and unplanned buying tendency positively and significantly influence online retail therapy. We also found out that the relationship between self-gift motivation and self-efficacy in online retail therapy is not the same across customers but significantly differs in their value and price perception levels.

ABSTRACT. People’s brand-related behaviours on social media are numerous and dispersed, ranging from passive activities to very active behaviours (Buzeta et al., 2020). A recent behavioural construct that effectively deals with this variety of brand-related behaviours is the notion of consumers’ online brand-related activities, or COBRAs (Muntinga et al., 2011). COBRAs are understood as behavioural constructs (Mishra, 2021).Their role is to unify the understanding of the categories of activities that consumers perform online (Schivinski et al. 2016).This study adopted a progressive, future-research-oriented perspective, in terms of organizing, synthesizing, and critiquing the huge body of literature, which seeks to advance the marketing literature and contributes in providing an overview of relevant research and maps the key themes that have been examined to date and presenting specific research gaps identified and suggesting key issues that need to be addressed in future research studies.

ABSTRACT. The advent of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies have pushed user’s expectation for online experience to a new level. Social connections via texts alone can no longer satisfy appetite for the reality of virtual interaction. Subsequently, the metaverse is invented to reimagine the way people work, play, socialize and live online (Xi et al., 2022). Following the rebranding of Facebook to Meta, there is a rapidly growing interest in the field of metaverse. This study employs a bibliometric analysis to determine the current stage and avenues for future research of the metaverse. The performance analysis demonstrates that this research field is still in its early phase with great potential for growth in publications. Main directions for future research include improvement of experience in the augmented world and advancement in virtual reality technologies of the metaverse. Funding also proves to be a key driver for publications.

ABSTRACT. In this article, we address this shortcoming by exploring the concept of AI-based sustainable service—an offering that embeds artificial intelligence in ways that meet the needs of current consumers by contributing to socio-economic equalities and conserving the natural environment.

ABSTRACT. This study will explore the paradoxical tension influencer face when promoting sustainable luxury leisure activities for sponsoring brands. Social media influencers play a powerful role in shaping consumption trends and consumer behaviours because they provide practical insights for their audience through their content. Content featuring luxury leisure activities in extravagant settings has become an influential genre on social media networks such as Instagram and YouTube, and this visual content has amplified luxury travel imaginaries. Social media users and followers are drawn by the content and try to replicate a similar experience themselves. The profile and work created by social media influencers are considered part of self-branding practices that could evolve into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Influencers establish enduring, parasocial relationships with their followers and consequently generate sustained interest from corporations and associated brands.

ABSTRACT. The paper examines how omnichannel communication of sustainability of luxury fashion brands enhances consumer brand engagement. We propose a multiple case study of four Italian high-end fashion brands. The study advances the literature on sustainable luxury fashion and omnichannel communication and offers guidelines for managers to effectively communicate sustainability.

ABSTRACT. Key means for luxury houses to manage their products’ life cycles is through facilitating the second-hand market. Currently, only a few studies have explored circular economy approach as a chance for business extension. In this article, different business models pertaining to second-hand luxury are presented.

ABSTRACT. Webpage cookies collect and authorise access to users’ online footprints and regulate the data authorisation for access, sharing, and usage. Data authorisation, which is built based on, but exceeding cookies protocol, enables personalised recommendations under the framework of data-driven content-user matching in a way against customer privacy invasiveness and data breaches. However gaps exist in how user’s desire for personalised experience and site’s perceived ethics contribute to the site-trust and cookies acceptance of categories at each type of site and how business’s reward incentives and cookie-based controls may intensify the willingness to contribute to the user data donation continuously. This project starts with cookies research from individual choices and integrates technological infrastructure, commercial interests and legal compliance and explores cookies marketing’s scope for data authorisation and empowerment via quantitative studies on different portals.

ABSTRACT. We examine how online conformity, consumer efficiency and usage time of Instagram affect social media WOM. Secondary data accessed from the 2020 Taiwan Communication Survey. The results demonstrated that online conformity positively predicted social media WOM by the moderated mediation role of consumer efficiency and usage time of Instagram.

ABSTRACT. The current research examines the role of consumer brand engagement on consumer psychological brand ownership, brand loyalty, purchase intention, electronic word of mouth (eWOM), and consumers’ willingness to defend the brand on social media. The findings provide convincing evidence of consumer psychological process to support the benefits of using social media to connect with consumers, so consumers are likely to spread positive WOM and be protective of the brand.

ABSTRACT. Livestreaming has become a new interactive channel for e-commerce globally. This study examines the impact of influencer-audience and audience-audience interactions in Livestream e-commerce by extending personal worship of the influencer to the brand and snowballing the opinions that empower other watchers. The findings reveal how the two drives impact consumers' attitudes and buying intentions separately and collectively. The sole-factor experiment shows how these two factors can significantly tow consumers' attitudes towards favouring a brand and a higher willingness to purchase. The second stage experiment found strong alleviating effects exist when the audience regularly receives and takes credit for the subsequently amended information that contradicts the earlier statement. The findings enrich the existing literature on online marketing persuasion and convention theory by projection, referencing, and temporal effect.

ABSTRACT. E-review has emerged as a major factor in influencing consumers' decisions to make purchases online. Thus, the aim to classifies e-reviews according to their valence, frequency, and quality then testing the relationship of e-review and shopping online intention. There are three results from the investigation: It has been found that (1) e-satisfaction is positively affected by valence, (2) e-satisfaction is generally increased with the high quality of e-review, but the quantity of e-review does not necessarily affect customers' e-satisfaction, and (3) e-satisfaction given in the context of an e-commerce platform has a strong effect on customers' online shopping intention. Moreover, the Artificial Neural Network approach was engaged to sort out reletively significant predictors acquired from SEM. This study sheds new light on iGen's online buying habits and offers valuable management implications for iGen, online merchants, and e-commerce sites.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the perceptions and knowledge about HIV/AIDS information that is disseminated by Mizoram State Aids Control Society, using media traditional and new media such as Television, hoardings, pole kiosks, bus panels, information panels, radio, social media and celebrity endorsement in Mizoram.The study followed exploratory research design. Survey technique was followed whereby questionnaires were administered in person and using Google forms to a sample size of 200 people from the general public, who are the target audience or message recipients of HIV/AIDS information in Mizoram.The findings of this paper indicate that key activities undertaken by Mizoram State Aids Control Society(MSACS) to prevent and control HIV/AIDS in Mizoram, the state with highest cases of HIV/AIDS in India is helpful but not sufficient.

ABSTRACT. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a project which was established by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.This research intends to find out the perception of 3 categories of participant countries in BRI and they have different success possibilities in globalization, international trade, and equality and also having the different opportunities of BRI. The participant countries in the BRI will experience success in globalization, international trade, and equality if the country have good condition in political stability, education, and life expectancy. Besides that, the country should have a low corruption level and external debt. The survey was conducted in two countries, namely Malaysia and Indonesia, to 200 respondents. The survey result shows that there are perceptions in Malaysia only a few have positive perceptions related to BRI.

ABSTRACT. This paper tests firms’ strategic response to negative consumer sentiment. We use sentiment analysis on social media posts to detect and proxy for negative consumer sentiments toward the firms and operationalize the number of ESG positive news about the firms as the strategic response to the sentiment. We document a surprising phenomenon that negative sentiment toward a firm is positively associated with future ESG news announcements by the firm. The effect is stronger for B2B firms than for B2C ones. We argue this is the firm’s strategic reaction rather than being a true change in the firm’s ESG policy, because (1) The ESG effect only lasts for a short period, and (2) the negative sentiment toward the firm decreases after the ESG news. Using former US president Trump’s tweets as external shocks, we show the causal relationship in a DID framework.

ABSTRACT. By merging Bourdieu's cultural capital with self-determination theory, this study aims to better understand smoking cessation behaviour in Egypt. The results demonstrate that the accumulation of cultural capital satisfies three fundamental needs, contributes to the self-determination theory's motivating forms, and serves as an independent cause for smoking cessation in Egypt.

ABSTRACT. Understanding consumers’ prioritization of corporate social responsibility initiatives within the global marketplace is a crucial concern for marketers. Focusing on the ethical fashion industry, which supports artisans and utilizes environmentally sustainable resources within its supply chain, the study uncovers that consumers possessing a global (local) identity exhibit more favorable responses to global (local) CSR initiatives, and the matching effect is amplified when presented with high (low) construal level messages.

ABSTRACT. Food waste is a major sustainable development problem in the world, and the promotion of ugly food may help address this issue. According to cue utilization theory and the VAB model, the primary purpose of this research is to investigate the role of green packaging in ugly food with multiple internal and external cues. A conceptual model with eight hypotheses are proposed. Conclusion, contributions of study and research limitations are finally shown.

ABSTRACT. The discipline of marketing and consumer behavior has potential to contribute to scholarship on plant-based diets and the resultant benefits to human health and the environment. For example, a recent literature review highlighted the potential for the field of consumer psychology to influence the plant-based movement (Bublitz et al., 2023). Using a phenomenological interview method, we interview 20 individuals who have chosen a plants-based lifestyle. By providing insights into their motivations and the resultant behavior changes, I plan to provide recommendations to policy makers, food marketers, physicians and public health officials to develop effective communication strategies and intervention measures to influence others to adopt healthy and sustainable eating habits.

ABSTRACT. Considering meat consumption's massive impact on climate change, environmental NGOs are increasingly campaigning to encourage consumers to reduce unsustainable meat consumption, i.e., to eat less and/or better meat. They usually use messages based on environmental appeals to do so. Yet, the effectiveness of such appeals in international campaigns may depend on countries as cultural beliefs influence food consumption behaviors. Therefore, in this research, we explore the effectiveness of such campaigns across 5 European countries, controlling for individual cultural orientations. Considering an environmental degradation appeal, we first show that countries have no influence on the campaign’s effectiveness, unlike specific individual cultural orientations, including masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. We replicate these results in the same 5 countries considering an alternative appeal, i.e., animal welfare. Recommendations to international NGOs managers result from these results.

ABSTRACT. A new type of food created in laboratories – lab grown meat (LGM) is an alternative to traditional animal farming and attracting attention of media, industry experts and consumers. Why is this new product so controversial? It is claimed that cell-based meat production is more environmentally friendly, ethical and sustainable than traditional methods that involve animals. Hence, being less harmful and potentially slowing down environmental degradation that leads to climate change. However, consumers have concerns regarding product quality, sourcing of cells used for production and use of growth serums. So many differing views are present, even before LGM is introduced as a marketable product. This paper examines what drives public discourse regarding how this new industry can be regulated, technology and how social media posts, fake news and publicly available rhetoric address consumer concerns and consumer acceptance regarding this new food category.

ABSTRACT. In the last decade, labels have been multiplying on food products (e.g. organic labels, Nutri-Score) to foster nutritious and sustainable food purchases, as such raising the question of the effect of multi-labelling. In this article, we use the prism of information processing and specifically address the question of multi-labelling when the labels have simultaneously positive and negative valences. Such a situation could confuse consumers and therefore, harm multi-labelling ability to empower consumers. An experiment shows that 1/ adding a good Eco-Score to a good Nutri-Score enhances warm glow among the most ecology-sensitive consumers, though it does not significantly increase purchase intentions, 2/ adding a bad Eco-Score to a good Nutri-Score increases consumer confusion, i.e., a discomfort due to ambiguous stimuli that requires mental efforts to cope with but does not decrease purchase intentions. Recommendations to food managers and public policy makers result from these results.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to clarify the concept of mindfulness and examine its effects on climate-friendly food perception and choice, thereby uncovering climate-friendly food by parsing out the different effects of mindfulness vs. mindlessness and exploring the key consumer outcomes. The value of this study lies in clarifying the role of climate-friendly food and mindfulness in perceived food value and food choice. This study provides a framework for examining the effects of climate-friendly food and mindfulness, thereby shedding light on climate-friendly food and discovering perceived climate-friendly food value and food choice as main outcomes. This study contributes to the literature on value by clarifying the concept of mindfulness and the relationships between perceived food value and food choice. The findings also offer practical implications for how marketing strategies for value work more effectively and cater to different types of mindfulness.

ABSTRACT. Tourists’ purchase intention is a rational process and affected by safety. Tourist behavior are associated with price, and service environment which is a mixture of rational and emotional considerations (Wang & Li, 2022). The purpose of this study is to provide a review of moderating factors on the relationship between intention and behavior of sustainable tourism.

The source of data comes from the Scopus database, which includes over 23,700 peer-reviewed journals and Web of Science database as well. Findings including publication trend, publication outlets, subject area, methodology used are provided. A new proposed model explain the intention and behavior of sustainable tourism is proposed. Research gaps in the current research and directions for future research are provided by listing out specific questions unanswered in the existing literature.

ABSTRACT. Despite the increasing popularity of spiritual tourism, there has not yet been an effort to provide an overview of the growing body of research. Addressing this void, this study employs a systematic literature review of 45 articles to highlight the state of knowledge and important gaps in the field.

ABSTRACT. This research explores the digital persona travel in South Korea on Xiao Hongshu, a popular used social media platform for Chinese Gen Z traveling. The posts from tourists as virtual communities recurring patterns of dramatic structure textually and visually generated the personae of the destination. In this study, the concept of persona based on Bormann’s symbolic convergence theory is used to illustrate the fantastic theme of traveling to Korea on the Xiao Hongshu platform. Qualitative research based on fantasy theme analysis was applied with interviews and observation in this study, which allowed the author to collect the posts from participants. Four fantasy themes illustrated in this study, that build Korea as a modern traditional destination, provide a formula for Xiao Hongshu users as tourists, on how to travel while posting about Korea on the social platform.

ABSTRACT. The current study explores customers’ experience across different categories of accommodations on a P2P platform (i.e., Airbnb versus Airbnb+). Airbnb+ represents a relatively new concept in the hospitality industry; hence, this study is the first attempt to unveil customers’ experience with this type of accommodations. Based on a sample of 14.680 reviews of 468 listings in three major European tourism destinations, this study adopted a mixed-method approach combining text analytics and manual thematic analysis to contribute to the growing research on customer experience with P2P accommodation in the hospitality industry. The study’s findings demonstrate that significant differences exist between guests' experiences within the two P2P accommodations in terms of number and types of amenities offered, customer involvement, and dimensions of the experiences.

ABSTRACT. As the metaverse platform has been settled as widely accepted by the young generati on familiar with technology advancement, numerous industries started to utilize it wit hout understanding the importance of consumer attitudes, behaviors, and the metavers e environment. Hence, this research will investigate antecedent consumer factors rega rding the metaverse platform.

ABSTRACT. Smart retail enabled through in-store technology (IST) is believed to be the future of retail. However, several IST impacts, especially on individuals' well-being remain undisclosed. This study attempts to discover IST impact, particularly electronic shelf label (ESL) as a prospective technology, on customer well-being and post-transaction behavior (i.e., willingness to pay (WTP) and positive word of mouth (PWOM). Survey were from generations X, Y, and Z generating 305 respondents. A post hoc analysis utilizing PLS MGA is discussed for Gen X & Millennials vs. Gen Z groups. This study provides empirical evidence of smart retail on customer well-being and how it affects customer post-purchase behavior, namely WTP and PWOM. This study also provides evidence of how it differs across generational cohorts.

ABSTRACT. Financial services industry shows increasing interest toward robo-advisors in the aim to democratize access to financial advice and stimulate investment behavior. However, the use of robo-advisors depends on the extent consumers trust this technology. Resemblance to a human or anthropomorphism can provide the sense of human presence and increase trust. In this paper, we test with an experimental design (N=223) the effect of anthropomorphism and gender of robo-advisor on the perceived humanity (i.e., social presence and warmth) and expertise (i.e., integrity and persuasiveness) on trust (cognitive and emotional) and consequent robo-advisor usage intent. Our results show that consumers mistrust humanoid robo-advisor appeal and prefer human avatars, with no discrimination between female and male appearing robo-advisors. The effect is explained by perceived expertise. We provide recommendations to stimulate adoption of robo-advisory in the financial sector.

ABSTRACT. Recently, Digital Human Avatars (DHAs), created with digital human generation technology and equipped with artificial intelligence, are emerging in increasingly convincing forms in both appearance and behaviors to the point that they are almost indistinguishable from real humans (Sylaiou and Fidas 2022). With their extended roles as mediators of cultural contents, they have recently attracted interests in culture, art and entertainment area. Our study focuses on examining how the levels of humanness of DHAs delivering commentary in visual art exhibitions affect the consumers’ aesthetic experience. Specifically, we investigate the moderating roles of heritage branding for the effects of humanness of DHAs on aesthetic experience and unveil the underlying psychological mechanism for the effects.

ABSTRACT. With the development of information technology, the integration of emerging digital technology and the fashion industry is accelerating. So far, separate studies have been carried out in various academic fields on the combination of Metaverse and NFT, but the current status and nature of relevant research are still incomplete. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of digital fashion marketing stimulation on consumer brand attitudes using the stimulation-organ-response (SOR) framework model. By analyzing 75 cases of virtual fashion shows in China, this study obtained antecedent variables and designed a research model. An online sample of 300 Chinese Gen Z consumers was collected and analyzed using SPSS and FSQCA. This research hopes to provide valuable information for the sustainable development of China's fashion industry, and to help Chinese fashion brands confirm the future market development direction of Metaverse and NFT.

ABSTRACT. In a series of three studies, we demonstrate that entitled individuals behave more prosocially when, (1) they are given an opportunity to self-enhance, (2) when the prosocial behavior is performed in a public (vs. private) context, (3) when the social status of other individuals who engage in prosocial behavior is high.

ABSTRACT. Internal reference price (IRP) is conceptualized as “a dynamic, internal price to which individuals compare the offered price of a product or service”. For this internal price, multiple conceptualizations and operationalizations have been proposed. This study finds heterogeneity in the use of reference price cues when consumers form an IRP.

ABSTRACT. Prior research has documented that consumers have altruistic concerns when they refer products and services to others. For instance, they may not care whether a company rewards them for referring a product or rewards the recipient. However, most of these studies have focused on one-sided referral programs, where either the recommender or the recipient is rewarded. Across four studies, we show that in when both are rewarded (i.e., two-sided programs), referral likelihood is higher when recommenders receive a higher reward than recipients (Study 1). Study 2 shows that the effect occurs only for two-sided but not one-sided programs. Study 3 shows that the effect is attenuated when altruistic (vs. fairness) concerns are salient among recommenders. Finally, Study 4 shows that fairness concerns mediate the effect of incentive structure on referral likelihood. The results show that designers of two-sided referral programs need to be especially mindful of the incentive structure.

ABSTRACT. The apparel industry is growing and is an essential contributor to the developing economies. However, they are also adding to the environmental concern. As a result, the circular economy should be the answer to this challenge. The current research studied how message framing and self-construal influences consumer perception in supporting the environment. A 2 (holistic versus analytical message frame) x 2 (independent versus interdependent) self-construal between-subject experiment was designed. It was found that independent (vs interdependent) self-construal respondents have higher environmental perception of the product. This surprising result is actually not in line with the hypothesis, yet yields insightful finding that opens up discussion and new avenue for the future research in this area.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims at analyzing, throughout an Italian and American cross-cultural study, one of the phenomena which is booming in the fashion luxury sector: the resale market. It is evident that Covid-19 has boosted a deep transformation, that the world of luxury was already going through: a) the increased relevance acquired by the experiential consumption; b) platforms that offer new forms of digitalized buying experiences; c) request for sustainability. The research in the field is very recent. Each consumption’s driver considered is associated with the Hofstede model’s dimensions. An empirical analysis is conducted comparing resale luxury consumption in Italy and USA to understand cultural differences divers. Eight hypotheses have been formulated: seven of them suppose correlations between American and Italian’s position in the Hofstede's indexes; the other associates cultural differences and the role played by Covid-19 in the luxury secondary market.

ABSTRACT. Based on the Stereotype Content Model and the credibility and persuasion literature, this study examines the influence of COO on advertising claim credibility and purchase intentions. A set of hypotheses were developed and tested with an experimental design on a British sample of consumers.

ABSTRACT. Prejudice has become increasingly of major importance to scientific thinking about relations between groups. However, little is known about how prejudice affects consumer buying behavior, especially regarding shopping activities that involve crossing between suppliers. This study aims: 1) to examine the influence of prejudice perceptions on cross-shopping in the context of minority-majority group relationships; 2) to evaluate the moderating effect of intercultural-related factors on the relationship between negative prejudice and cross-shopping. A sample consisting of 202 respondents was obtained from across an Israeli ethnic-minority consumers. The results provide evidence of the conflicting effects of positive and negative prejudice on cross-shopping intention and shed light on the moderating role of intercultural factors on the relationship between negative prejudice and cross-shopping intention. Implications are identified together with limitations and avenues for future research.

ABSTRACT. The wellness travel industry faces a curious challenge: it experiences high consumer demand for indigenous experiences while also facing growing accusations of cultural appropriation of authentic practices. According to the Global Wellness Summit (2023), “hyper-indigenous” wellness travel is a global trend for 2023, as travelers seek the source of ancient healing knowledge. However, many of these cultural practices have already spread across national borders like the turmeric latte served in Western retreats or yoga that is practiced globally, leading to an established yoga tourism market (Market Research, 2022). How can these conflicting realities, rooted in the concept of authenticity, be reconciled? This study aims to explore this research question by analyzing two wellness narratives: one that commodifies ingenious practices outside their original borders and another that safeguards them within national and cultural boundaries.

ABSTRACT. Luxury brands are starting to embrace live commerce. However, the knowledge of how to effectively promote luxury brands by effective live streamers while not diluting the luxury aura is sparse. This study aims to investigate the impact of live streamer characteristics on luxury brand perceptions in the context of livestreaming commerce. A survey study among 432 Chinese respondents who watched livestreaming for luxury brands showed that streamer credibility, self-congruity, and parasocial interaction positively impacts upon luxury brand perceptions via enhanced feelings of presence. This is the first study that revealed what kind of streamers are good for enhancing luxury perception in live commerce. Implications for luxury marketers and researchers are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Few studies have examined strategies to encourage the adoption of sustainability applications, a promising way to promote sustainability behaviors. This research aims to develop an attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) model for sustainability apps. The results show that attention, relevance, confidence factors facilitate app engagement, and then use intention.

ABSTRACT. This research consolidates ethical and environmental issues surrounding the supply chain to luxury marketing research. The literature explored social and psychological factors that influence luxury consumption and provided crucial insights to the luxury marketing discipline. Indeed, the study explored the impact of ethical and environmental considerations in the decision-making process. The findings of this study evidenced that luxury consumers considered ethical and environmental concerns before buying luxury items.

ABSTRACT. This study examines Japanese consumers’ innovative behaviors toward adopting electric vehicles and the differences between men and women car owners in the adoption process. Active innovation resistance, cognitive innovativeness, and social innovativeness influence female car owners’ behaviors in adopting EVs. Affinity for newness and social innovativeness predict male car owners’ intentions to adopt EVs. In this instance, male car owners perceive electric vehicles as hedonic products. This study shows gender differences do exist and these differences may have implications for marketing communication strategies. To target female car owners, marketing communication strategies should use informational appeal. In this case, communication is information based and factual. For male car owners, the communication strategies should focus on the emotional or fun aspects of driving an EV.

ABSTRACT. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and physical feeling of deprivation or exclusion from an event. This paper aims at finding key factors and sub-factors responsible for FOMO among social media users. The survey data for conducting factor analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) was collected from heavy and moderate users of social media. It analysed the role of gratification, popularity, and acceptance by social media users in the FOMO phenomenon. The factor analyses gave the final construct impacting FOMO. The study highlighted the agenda for future researchers in the given domain.

ABSTRACT. This study explores internal and external factors that influences consumer’s novel food technology acceptance (NFTA). Findings suggests that the primary driver of the purchase intention of NFTA is hedonic motivation. Also, level of trust in the food regulatory organizations can play a vital role in driving consumers’ NFTA.

ABSTRACT. This research proposes that consumers’ perceptions of automation in the frontline are influenced by the change in the scripts of manned and unmanned service encounters, specifically the shift from implicit human-to-human communication to explicit human-to-machine communication. A 2x2 within-subjects experiment found that script change resulted in consumers perceiving unmanned service encounters as less reliable and more difficult to use than manned ones, despite acknowledging their usefulness. The research offers a new perspective for the investigation of consumers’ acceptance of self-service.

ABSTRACT. A new high-tech product - lab grown meat (LGM), has been gaining media attention while initiating public discourse on social media (SM) platforms. This netnographic study is based on a dataset of selected SM public posts, comments and discussions collected during 30 days in early 2023. The findings indicate that LGM is highly contradictory, while not being fully understood how it is produced or when it will become commercially available. The findings indicate that this novel food requires carefully designed marketing strategies: when naming a new product category; must allow transparency and sensibly explain all product’s attributes; and invest time and efforts to educate consumers, leading to higher adoption rates when launched on mass consumer markets, as an alternative to conventionally grown foods.

ABSTRACT. Social marketing concepts were applied to design a national government support program reinforcing climate technology transfer in the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism. The paper reports on three sequential exploratory research testing social marketing applications in increasing local climate technology business sector participation in international projects.

ABSTRACT. E-waste is a global wicked problem. Guided by the COM-B theoretical framework, a qualitative study was conducted to examine if COM-B (2011) framework can be applied to identify facilitators and barriers to e-waste practices. Results showed that COM-B (2011) can be applied to identify potential solutions to increase e-waste recycling rates through increasing motivations, improving people’s capabilities and importantly extending opportunities that support e-waste recycling.

ABSTRACT. Entomophagy (or insects eating) is seen as a new, sustainable and promising protein alternative for consumers in Western countries. Currently, literature evidences multifaceted aspects relevant to entomophagy adoption in the Western world, such as cultural barriers and food neophobia. We link entomophagy adoption to Virtual Reality (VR) and show how this medium can be a potential successful enabler of insect-based food willingness to eat (WTE).

ABSTRACT. Today, customers have more authority thanks to digital tools, and extensive information access. Customers use technology to hold companies accountable and utilize consumer rights. Personal data and information can be generated, stored, and exchanged almost indefinitely through digital and the Internet. In particular, maintaining a digital environment requires facilitating collaboration and simplifying decision-making, and companies need structures and plan to facilitate faster, easier, and more efficient flows. This study focuses on the impact of Corporate Digital Responsibility-based ESG fashion brand activities on purchasing intentions, and we will present suggestions after identifying value congruence, brand trust, and attitude effects on CDR-based ESG fashion brand activities.

ABSTRACT. Disinformation can distort real-world events and influence individual’s decision making, posing a serious threat to society. However, moderating this disinformation content is still a major challenge for social network operators, as misleading content is omnipresent and social media’s ease-of-use, anonymity, and interconnectedness enable its rapid diffusion. Until now, research has not provided clear guidance to decide which disinformation content needs prioritization in censoring efforts which presents network operators with the difficult task of fulfilling their social responsibility. Using a unique dataset of ~400 million live-crawled messages on Twitter surrounding the US presidential election in 2020, we investigate which content and context characteristics make disinformation go viral. Our results help identify the most critical content on social media in order to curb the spread of threatening disinformation online.

ABSTRACT. This field experiment explores how in-group identities that both voters and a candidate share can increase the voters’ support for the candidate. The randomized controlled trial was integrated into a three-wave panel study conducted during a state election in Germany in May 2022. The findings shed light on the impact of group identities and identity alignment on political persuasion.

ABSTRACT. This article would be to look into the impact of consumption in terms of national pride as a motivating factor. The study would take a sample of about 150-200 initially in terms of the pilot approach. Later this paper would take on even further respondents. The purpose of the study would be to understand the role of national pride especially in India to utilize make in India products. It would help to understand whether the dependence on the Chinese products is actually happening or not? In this manner the concept of country of origin effect and its impact in the present world can be looked into. Not only that how consumer culture is influenced in the modern times based on geo-political understandings and nation branding can be brought forth. The paper would ultimately look into three aspects which would be consumption pattern, nation branding and geo-political narratives. The questions would also be set as such to focus on these three dimensions with focus on electronics, automobile.

ABSTRACT. In the last decades, increasingly rapid changes in industrial structure, technologies, and global competition have occurred. Companies face more than the challenge of disruptive innovation stemming from digitalization.Disruptions in the macro-environment such as political conflicts and trade tensions in market economy countries as well as in emerging markets impact on their entrepreneurial activities. Although most B2B companies deal with regular customers, unfettered market forces remain a stumbling block when selling products and services globally. This paper evaluates the success factors of a B2B company’s marketing management strategies within the context of disruptive economic market and industry conditions, e.g., trade policy changes. Our qualitative research findings indicate that disruptive strategy differs according to the importance of the market.

ABSTRACT. This research shows that individuals exposed to disease threat avoid products of which designs are high in visual complexity. When disease threat was present, individuals had lower purchase intention for products with complex designs. The perceived uncleanliness mediated the effect of visual complexity and disease threat on purchase intention.