ABSTRACT. This study examines the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) identity disclosure on viewers’ resistance based on the Psychological Model of Resistance. Specifically, the mechanism was examined through the serial mediation of creepiness and discomfort. The result suggest implications for AI identity disclosure as art creator.

ABSTRACT. Despite the growing interest in immersive experiences, there remains a paucity of exploratory research investigating the key drivers of user engagement and purchasing behavior within the Metaverse. This study addresses this gap by examining how aesthetic experiences, brand authenticity, and user-centric features influence engagement, ultimately fostering the adoption of both virtual and physical fashion wearables. To advance the understanding of brand engagement within immersive digital environments, the research introduces the ERC Framework of Authenticity, specifically tailored to the Metaverse. Drawing from data collected through interviews with 25 industry experts (Sample 1) and 48 regular Metaverse users (Sample 2), this study provides a comprehensive analysis of the Metaverse ecosystem. Insights from industry professionals highlight the strategic role of brand authenticity, while user responses offer valuable perspectives on their experiences and expectations regarding virtual wearables. Using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics, the study constructs a conceptual framework that identifies key engagement drivers and offers practical guidance for brands seeking to optimize their virtual wearable offerings. The findings contribute to both theoretical development and managerial practice, providing actionable insights for enhancing user engagement, driving virtual wearable sales, and suggesting avenues for future research.

ABSTRACT. The rapid advancement of digital technologies has allowed businesses to leverage the metaverse to promote their products and brands. Metaverse is conceptualized as the technology-mediated environment of “scalable and potentially interoperable extended reality environments merging the physical and virtual realities to provide experiences characterized by their level of immersiveness, environmental fidelity, and sociability” (Barrera & Shah, 2023, p. 6). Through the fusion of real and virtual environments, people can easily transition between them for various tasks, such as social interactions, games, learning and professional development, healthcare, and hobbies (Bilgihan et al., 2024; Buhalis et al., 2023). The user penetration is predicted to be 17.4% in 2025 and is expected to increase to 39.7% by 2030 (van Gelder, 2024). Given a significant demographic focus on youths, user engagement in the metaverse is projected to grow. While the metaverse is considered to present a new paradigm of the consumer environment, a comprehensive understanding of consumer experience in the metaverse remains ambiguous due to the scattered knowledge. This research aims to fill this gap through a systematic review of literature to foster scholarly dialogue and provide clear future directions for marketers and retailers. Specifically, the following research questions are answered: What is the existing knowledge on consumer experience in the metaverse? (RQ1) What are the major theories, contexts, characteristics, and methodologies appeared in the literature? (RQ2) What are the literature gaps and future research agenda on consumer experience in the metaverse? (RQ3)

ABSTRACT. This quasi-experimental study investigates how avatar self-congruity influences consumer perceptions and adoption intentions for virtual try-on applications. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model and Self-Congruity Theory, this study investigates the links between avatar-self-congruity, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and adoption intention. The VTO experiment involved 91 female students and found strong relationships between avatar self-congruity and perceived usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment. Furthermore, perceived ease of use, utility, and enjoyment were found to be substantially associated to adoption intention, emphasizing the relevance of user perceptions in the adoption of VTO applications. The findings contribute to a deeper knowledge of consumer behavior in the context of online fashion purchasing and virtual try-on experiences, emphasizing the role of avatar-self-congruity in shaping user perceptions and adoption intentions.

ABSTRACT. High return rates pose a significant challenge for retailers and brands, prompting 85% of U.S. apparel retailers to consider implementing virtual try-on (VTO) tools with digital twin technology to facilitate more informed purchasing decisions. The pervasive integration of these digital technologies into consumers' daily lives necessitates an investigation into how consumers perceive and value their digital twins across different demographic groups. Applying flow theory, this study investigates the effect of digital twins on VTO adoption across diverse demographic groups, examining how perceived telepresence and self-congruity from digital twins induce flow, shape experiential and instrumental values, and influence adoption intentions. An online experimental study with 403 participants was conducted using Qualtrics and Prolific platforms. The results reveal significant demographic differences in digital twin-based VTO adoption. Younger consumers demonstrate a stronger reliance on experiential value, while older consumers only emphasize instrumental aspects in the digital twin-based VTO adoption process. Gender differences were also funded. This research advances the literature by elucidating the nuanced mechanisms of digital twin-based VTO adoption across demographic groups. The findings provide theoretical and practical guidance for VTO researchers and developers, with emphasizing the necessity of tailored design approaches that integrate both experiential and instrumental values to effectively target diverse consumer segments in the evolving digital retail landscape.

ABSTRACT. This study examines psychological and thematic factors influencing data-sharing attitudes in immersive platforms. Computational text analysis reveals that anxiety, moralization, and power concerns reduce willingness to share data, while affiliation, curiosity, and re-wards increase positivity. Findings highlight transparency, incentive alignment, and per-ceived control as key strategies for encouraging data sharing.

ABSTRACT. In the digital environment, AI chatbots have gained attention as a tool to provide emotional support for humans. Existing studies have focused on the relationship between loneliness and AI chatbots. Still, there is a lack of approaches to study the effects of AI chatbot dependence and loneliness reduction by quantitatively constructing social capital. Therefore, based on Social Capital Theory, this study aims to analyze further the effects of social capital components (trust, network, social norms, reciprocity) on AI chatbot dependence and empirically examine the effects of social capital and loneliness on loneliness reduction after using AI chatbots. This study established a research model with social capital (structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions) and loneliness (chronic, temporary, subjective, and emotional loneliness) as independent variables, and AI chatbot dependence and loneliness reduction effects as dependent variables. The research methodology used a combination of survey-based research and behavioral experiments to measure the psychological changes and dependence of AI chatbot users. Individuals with low social capital are expected to use AI chatbots more frequently and are more likely to use them more frequently in each of the structural, cognitive, and relational dimensions. In addition, individuals with higher levels of loneliness are expected to show greater satisfaction with their interactions with AI companions, as measured by chronic, episodic, and subjective emotional loneliness. First, we conduct a survey experiment based on the UCLA Loneliness Scale to measure users' loneliness index on a Likert scale. The level of social capital is measured using Instagram activity indicators (number of followers, likes, and comments) as a proxy variable. Based on the collected data, we categorize users into high and low social capital groups, and then conduct an experiment using AI chatbots to compare the loneliness index and reliance on chatbots before and after use. For statistical analysis, DID is used to verify the loneliness reduction effect before and after using the AI chatbot, and ANOVA (analysis of variance) is applied to analyze the difference in AI chatbot dependence by social capital level. In addition, we use structural equation modeling (SEM) to measure the direct and indirect effects of social capital and loneliness on loneliness reduction through AI chatbot dependence.Then, we crawl the text of users interacting with AI chatbots and the text of AI chatbot responses to analyze user reactions and states. We quantitatively evaluate the changes in social capital and loneliness levels before and after using AI chatbots. Finally, we apply a random forest model to predict the dependence on AI chatbots by group. By showing that the components of social capital influence AI chatbot dependence, this study contributes to the development of emotional support services and marketing strategies utilizing AI technology. In particular, this study suggests that companies and brands should design emotionally customized services to help consumers with low social capital utilize AI chatbots more effectively.

ABSTRACT. Marketers seek optimum promotion strategies to encourage customer participation and increase sales revenue. “Spend & save”, also known as threshold discount, is a prevalent approach in which the seller offers customers cents-off or percentage-off discount when the total spending reaches a specified amount (i.e., threshold). While customers always encounter spending imbalances (i.e., the difference between the actual spending and the threshold) at checkouts, they might need to decide either to forgo the discount, or to purchase more items to fulfill the threshold and get the discount. Although such promotion tactics have been widely adopted practically, no prior consumer behavior research examines “Spend & save” imbalance in online promotions. An interesting research question is how to make customers more likely to pay a large imbalance. We propose that gambled (vs. regular) discount framing can increase the likelihood of paying a large imbalance in such promotions.

Study 1 uses a 2 (imbalance prime: small vs. large) x 2 (threshold discount frame: regular vs. gambled) between-subjects design, and reveals a significant two-way interaction (F(1, 124) = 13.25, p < .001, ηp2 = .097) on the likelihood to pay the imbalance. Particularly, among those primed with large imbalance, gambled (M = 4.47, SD = 1.78) versus regular (M = 3.03, SD = 1.28) threshold discount framing significantly increased likelihood to pay the imbalance (F(1, 124) = 13.86, p < .001, ηp2 = .101). However, this difference disappeared for those in the small imbalance condition (Mgambled = 4.17, SD = 1.66 vs. Mregular = 4.75, SD = 1.50; F(1, 124) = 2.14, p = .146, ηp2 = .017).

This study enriches the gamification literature by identifying how gambled discount frame accounts for the increased likelihood of paying large imbalance in the prevailing “Spend and save” promotion, and provides marketers practical implications on how to strategize an effective “Spend and save” promotion by incorporating gambled elements.

ABSTRACT. Research has shown that human and virtual influencers each have their own strengths and limitations. However, the emergence of symbiotic AI—where humans and machines collaborate and complement each other—suggests that combining these strengths could maximize persuasive impact. This research investigates this collaborative potential through four pre-registered experiments. It examines how the presence and type of co-influencers, when paired with virtual influencers, impact credibility and consumer engagement through social presence. The research also considers two moderators: the perceived closeness between the virtual influencer and co-influencer, and their gender congruence. The findings suggest that including a human co-influencer significantly enhances social presence compared to a virtual influencer alone (Study 1) or when paired with another virtual co-influencer (Study 2). Furthermore, positioning the virtual influencer closer to the co-influencer increases social presence (Study 3). Lastly, pairing virtual influencers with human co-influencers of the same gender maximizes social presence, thereby enhancing the credibility of the virtual influencer and boosting consumer engagement with the content (Study 4). Overall, the optimal strategy for virtual influencer collaborations is to pair them with a human co-influencer of the same gender and position them in proximity.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the evolving landscape of consumer behaviour, technological advancements, and societal shifts by exploring the congruence between the self, the digital self with the brand in the context of social media.

By collecting and analysing data from two distinct time periods, 2009 and 2025, this research provides a longitudinal perspective on how consumers’ relationships with brands on social media have transformed over time. The study adopts a qualitative approach, more specifically a Netnographic approach- contemporary qualitative research methodology that adapts ethnographic research techniques to the study of cultures and communities within computer mediated communications” (Kozinets, 2015), thus adopting participant observation, collection of online data and qualitative interpretive interviewing.

The qualitative interpretative research enabled the interrelated issues to be explored by thematically analyzing 42 interviews. In-depth interviews were conducted 2008-2009 with 27 social networking site users and five social media managers/practitioners alongside 15 interviews with consumers of the same age group conducted in 2024-2025. The 42 consumer interviews captured demographics such as age, nationality, frequency of using SNS, the brands with which they associate and interact and the types of online activities such as joining brand groups, posting in groups, taking part in brand quizzes, sharing branded posts.

Findings indicated that the use of social networking sites for brand congruence is of less importance in the current times than in previous years. Users associate with brands that are of significance to them, by perceiving high brand congruency with their image of self-concept. The ‘ideal self’ is portrayed more succinctly than the ‘actual self’ with the ‘social self’ holding more saliency than the presentation of the individual. All the considerations of the possible selves and the exhibition of identity on such platforms create tensions due to the user’s various front and backstage identities.

The study explores the changes in which individuals engage with brands and the gratifications they seek from such engagements. Additionally, it delves into the role of self-congruency in shaping consumer-brand relationships, particularly in the context of identity construction and self-expression in digital spaces. By comparing data across these two timeframes, the study highlights key changes in consumer expectations, digital engagement strategies, and the broader socio-technological environment that influence brand perception and consumer loyalty.

ABSTRACT. Virtual influencers, known as computer-generated, human-like or not that are controlled by artificial intelligence (AI)(Sands et al., (2022), are now being deployed to encourage consumers to relate to specific brands. For example, the use of anthropomorphic AI such as Lil Miquela, Imma, Bermuda and Rozy (hereafter referred to as a virtual influencer (VI), are known to intensify the interaction between a brand and the consumer, and is especially of interest from the perspective of synchronizing the stages in the customer journey (Berger and Calabrese 1975; Ho et al., 2018a). Alongside the popularity of VIs among consumers and increasing interaction with VIs, there are also many researchers who have undertaken research into evolving areas of psychological interest. Some research has focused on whether individuals relate to humanoid Artificial intelligence as a friend ( e.g., Crolic et al., 2022; Skjuve et al., 2021); how individuals respond to a VI in comparison with human influencers (e.g., Sands et al., 2022; Franke et al., 2023; Li et al., (2023); or what aspects of VI’s characteristics affect consumer engagement (Kim and Park, 2023); and the effect of VI’s realism (in the form of and behaviour of) (Kim et al., 2024). More recently, some researchers have investigated VI’s authenticity, the perceived trust of VIs or the credibility of VIs in comparison with human influencers (Lee et al., 2024). These researchers have made a useful contribution to knowledge by providing insights into why consumers interact with VIs and how this interaction is used by brand managers to establish parasocial interactions and/or relationships that help build sustainable relationships with consumers. This has proved valuable in explaining how interactive influence helps change consumer attitudes towards a brand and, at the same time, yields data that is used to identify unmet customer needs. Nevertheless, interaction with Artificial intelligence/virtual influencers is an emerging field, and to an extent, research needs to be carried out to investigate further why humans are interacting so fully with VIs. Our proposed research will build on existing VI studies and will help identify the factors that relate to positive interaction experiences with VIs, and their effect on purchase intention and how source credibility moderates/mediates the interaction between positive interaction experience and purchase intention. In doing so, we are going to utilize the elaboration likelihood model and interaction model and provide recommendations for online marketing. We intend to collect primary data through a survey and carry out an analysis of the data using structural equational modelling. The outcomes will help to deepen our understanding of what motivates consumers to interact with VIs and how motivations were satisfied and effect perceived source credibility and purchase intention that a VI endorses.

Keywords: Consumer -VI interaction; Source Credibility; Purchase Intention

Selected references: Berger, C.R. and Calabrese, R.J. (1975), “Some Explorations in Initial Interaction and Beyond: Toward a Developmental Theory of Interpersonal Communication”, Human Communication Research, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 99–112, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.1975.tb00258.x. Dencheva, V. (2023), Share of Consumers Who Follow at Least One Virtual Influencer in the United States as of March 2022, by Age Group, Statista. Ho, A., Hancock, J. and Miner, A.S. (2018), “Psychological, relational, and emotional effects of self-disclosure after conversations with a chatbot”, Journal of Communication, Vol. 68 No. 4, pp. 712–733, doi: 10.1093/joc/jqy026. Longoni, C. and Cian, L. (2022), “Artificial Intelligence in Utilitarian vs. Hedonic Contexts: The ‘Word-of-Machine’ Effect”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 86 No. 1, pp. 91–108, doi: 10.1177/0022242920957347. Scarpi, D., Pizzi, G. and Matta, S. (2022), “Digital technologies and privacy: State of the art and research directions”, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 39 No. 9, pp. 1687–1697, doi: 10.1002/mar.21692. Verhoef, P.C., Broekhuizen, T., Bart, Y., Bhattacharya, A., Qi Dong, J., Fabian, N. and Haenlein, M. (2021), “Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 122, pp. 889–901, doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.022.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how the amount of information in green advertising affects consumers’ green behavior intention and whether the presence of Digital Product Passports (DPP) moderates this relationship. Using a 2x2 experimental design, the study found that while the amount of information did not directly impact green behavior intention, DPP moderated the effect of information overload caused by green advertising. Additionally, information overload was found to positively influence consumers’ green behavior intention. The findings highlight the potential of DPP in mitigating information overload and promoting sustainable consumption, offering insights for eco-friendly advertising strategies in the fashion industry.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the persuasive impact of voice assistants in advertising by examining personality (warmth vs. competence) through the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and interactivity, within the Heuristic-Systematic Model. An experimental approach incorporating Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and survey will assess consumer responses, offering insights into optimizing AI-driven marketing communication.

ABSTRACT. The rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has significantly transformed digital advertising, enabling the automated creation of marketing content. However, concerns persist regarding its impact on brand perception, particularly in terms of brand love and authenticity. This study examines how the adoption and disclosure of GenAI-generated video advertisements influence consumer perceptions. Using a 2x2 between-subjects experimental design, the research investigates the interaction between GenAI adoption (AI-generated vs. human-created) and disclosure (label present vs. absent) on brand love, with brand authenticity as a potential mediator. Expected findings suggest that disclosing AI-generated content negatively affects brand love, while perceived brand authenticity may mitigate this effect. The study contributes to the literature on AI in branding and offers practical insights for marketers navigating the balance between technological innovation and brand trust in digital advertising.

ABSTRACT. Implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in marketing management is a contemporary research topic that requires empirical investigation. This article explores the impact of AI and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) on Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Data from 384 surveys of marketing managers were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the theoretical model. The results confirm that AI significantly enhances CRM, which, in turn, positively influences IMC. However, AI does not directly affect IMC; instead, its impact is mediated through CRM, indicating a significant indirect effect. This research contributes to the research in marketing management, data-driven marketing, integrated marketing communications, and generative AI. It offers valuable insights for marketing managers planning to implement AI in managing customer relationships and marketing communications.

ABSTRACT. In a first social encounter, individuals strive to follow social norms regarding appropriate behavior and expect others to do the same. These norms shape how people interpret and respond to interactions, influencing their perceptions. Although prior research has explored a robot’s social skills and behaviors affecting consumer trust, little attention has been given to the social etiquette consumers should exhibit toward robots, particularly in their initial interactions. Focusing on two forms of non-verbal communication—touch and eye contact—this paper examines whether consumers are concerned about the appropriateness of their actions toward robots and how this influences trust perceptions. In a lab experiment where participants engaged with the robot Astro for the first time, we found that personalization significantly shaped their responses. When the robot was personalized (vs. not personalized), touching it was perceived as intrusive and disrespectful, leading to lower trust perceptions. Conversely, maintaining eye contact with a personalized robot was considered respectful, positively influencing trust. Our findings suggest that personalization enhances a robot’s perceived social awareness, making consumers more mindful of their behavior. This paper underscores the importance of reciprocal social relationships in human-robot interactions, highlighting that personalization can strengthen users’ sense of social etiquette toward robots, thereby influencing trust-building processes.

ABSTRACT. In recent retail environments, brand image robots are increasingly being utilized to enhance consumer experiences. Prior literature has analyzed various design features in exterior-facing displays, but installation robots have received little research attention. Based on retail brand equity theory, this study evaluates the impact of brand image robots on retail brand equity and purchase intention. Furthermore, based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, this study examines the differences between Chinese and Korean consumers. A survey will be conducted with consumers who have experienced brand image robots to analyze their perceptions and responses. The findings provide valuable insights into the application of brand image robots, offering practical implications for researchers and practitioners.

ABSTRACT. Athlete endorsements (i.e., an athlete endorses a branded product; e.g., Serena Jameka Williams endorsing Oreo cookies) appearing in advertisements are a popular business practice. However, previous research has analysed only the success of athlete endorsements of sport-related products, without focusing on an important product classification, namely non-sport-related products. This paper bridges this gap by proposing six research hypotheses. The first three posit that athlete–product similarity positively affects consumers’ attitudes towards advertisements, their attitudes towards the brand, and their purchase intention. The final three hypotheses speculate that athlete–brand consistency moderates consumers’ attitudes towards advertisements, their attitudes towards a brand, and their purchase intention. This study utilizes a 2 (athlete–product fit: good/poor) × 2 (athlete–brand consistency: consistent/inconsistent) experimental design (n = 403). We find that, compared with a poor athlete–product fit, a better fit results in an enhanced consumer attitude towards the advertisement and a stronger purchase intention. Additionally, a better athlete–product fit, together with athlete–brand consistency, can enhance consumer attitudes towards the brand. This paper bridges a critical knowledge gap in marketing by examining consumer evaluations of non-sport-related products in the athlete endorsement context. This paper also provides a normative guideline for brand managers to select a suitable athlete endorser.

ABSTRACT. Live streaming commerce (LSC) is currently one of the emerging marketing strategies, particularly post-COVID-19. Notable platforms such as Shopee and LINE have incorporated live streaming functionalities to enhance consumer engagement. Shopee introduced Shopee Live in 2019, while LINE, which began as a communication platform, launched its LINE Shopping feature in 2018 and commenced testing live commerce in 2021. By June 2022, LINE's live commerce had garnered over 27 million views, capitalizing on its strengths in communication and mobile payment to markedly improve traffic and dissemination speed. LSC is characterized by the convergence of live video streaming and online shopping (Ki et al., 2024). During live streams, presenters demonstrate products in a manner that resonates with consumers.

Previous research has primarily focused on customer-related antecedents (Luo et al., 2023), including hedonic and utilitarian motivations, perceived financial benefits, uncertainty, and personality traits (Qu et al., 2023), as well as interactions between platforms and customers (Xie et al., 2022) or between streamers and customers (Lv et al., 2022). The present study seeks to investigate how the appearance and product preferences of streamers influence consumer cue-reactivity and craving, ultimately affecting purchasing decisions and post purchase behaviors. Additionally, the convenience of live shopping, which alleviates temporal and geographical constraints, has increased the prevalence of impulsive buying behavior. This research aims to determine whether craving is moderated by varying levels of Impulsive Buying Tendencies (IBT), resulting in differences in purchasing behavior.

A total of 370 valid participants were recruited through an online platform. Among these participants, 176 were male, representing 47.6% of the total sample, while 194 were female, accounting for 52.4%. The most prevalent age group among the respondents was 25-29 years, which comprised 23.5% of the sample.

To address the research questions, two pretests and one experimental study were conducted. The pretests manipulated two experimental stimuli: the appearance of streamers (favorite/unfavorite) and product preference (high/low). Subsequently, a factorial experiment was executed to evaluate the analytical model. This study employed the scale developed by Rook and Fisher (1995) to measure impulsive buying tendency. The cue-reactivity of participants, subsequent to their exposure to the experimental stimuli, was evaluated using the continuous scale introduced by Trotzke et al. (2020). Following this, participants provided ratings of their craving intensity on a continuous scale from 1 to 100. Finally, participants were asked to make a decision regarding whether to proceed with a purchase.

The findings indicate that cue reactivity and craving are significant predictors of purchasing behavior. Both male and female participants who made purchases demonstrated significantly higher levels of cue reactivity and craving compared to those who did not. Notably, female consumers placed greater importance on product preference; when product preference was low, the influence of the streamer's appearance was minimal. Conversely, for both genders, the faces of unfavorite streamers elicited high cue reactivity when associated with highly preferred products (Mean female, unfavorite/high = 2.56, Man female, favorite/high = 2.39, p = .007; Mean male, unfavorite/high = 2.42, Mean male, favorite/high = 2.24, p = .002).

Moreover, impulsive buying tendencies exhibited significant variations across different purchasing behaviors and demonstrated a strong correlation with purchasing behavior under more extreme stimulus combinations (favorite/high preference and unfavorite/low preference). Specifically, in the unfavorite/low preference scenario, impulsive buying tendencies moderated the effect of craving on purchasing behavior. Additionally, varying levels of impulsive buying tendencies also moderated the effects of different stimulus combinations on cue reactivity and craving (p female, cue < .001; p male, cue < .001; p male, crave < .001).

The results indicate that the efficacy of stimuli in live streaming commerce (LSC) is contingent upon the interaction between the visual presentation of streamers and consumer product preferences. Customizing stimulus combinations in accordance with gender and impulsive buying behaviors may enhance consumer engagement and yield more favorable marketing results. By taking these variables into account, platforms and marketers can gain deeper insights into consumer behavior and formulate targeted strategies aimed at maximizing sales.

ABSTRACT. This article studies the dynamics of publications in sports marketing in order to identify new avenues of research to be explored by future researchers during future research. For this purpose, a dataset of 1092 articles published in WoS between 1993 and 2023 is analysed using VOSviewer. As a result, sports management encompasses both business and social issues, with an increasing focus on the latter. Topics that are increasing in popularity and impact are social context, sport for development and sports diversity. However, there has rarely been coordination between the different continents. Greater cooperation between continents is needed to take advantage of sports marketing tactics around the world, given that there are many high-profile leagues in sports such as football, cricket, etc. It is suggested that to increase the visibility of sports marketing initiatives, further work is needed in niche areas such as sponsorship, attitude, image, sports knowledge, corruption, etc.

ABSTRACT. Consumer innovativeness has received considerable scholarly attention in marketing literature for its importance explained in Bass model of innovation diffusion. This paper examines a novel antecedent of consumer innovativeness, which is consumers attitude towards globalization. Using one secondary panel dataset of more than 100 countries, one individual-level survey, and one experiment, we find that attitude toward globalization has a positive effect on consumer innovativeness. Furthermore, we identify desire for new experiences as a possible mechanism underlying this effect. More moderators will be explored. These findings contribute to both desire for experiences and globalization literature.

ABSTRACT. This paper integrates situational crisis types, attribution and contingency theories to propose a practical framework for adaptive crisis marketing. By aligning marketing responses with crisis typologies and attribution levels, the framework equips marketers with crisis management knowledge to dynamically preserve brand equity and enhance resilience through evidence-based, context-sensitive strategies.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates how the absence of a hybrid food option (a middle-ground choice between goal-consistent and indulgent options) influences consumer food choices, particularly among individuals with varying levels of weight-control goals. Building on existing theories such as the compromise effect and interruption effect, the study examines how emotional disruptions triggered by the unavailability of the hybrid option affect decision-making. The key finding of this research is that when the hybrid option is absent, individuals with strong weight-control goals are more likely to make goal-consistent (healthier) food choices, while those with weaker weight-control goals are more inclined to indulge in less healthy options. We propose that this effect is driven by the unwanted interruption and jilt caused by the absence of the hybrid option, which leads individuals to either adhere more strongly to their initial dietary goals.

Additionally, the research explores gender differences in food decision-making, revealing that men are more susceptible to the presence of the hybrid option than women. Specifically, male participants in the hybrid option present condition are more likely to make goal-consistent choices than when the hybrid option is unavailable. This highlights the role of gender in influencing consumer responses to choice architecture interventions, with men being more responsive to the compromise option compared to women.

Two experiments were conducted to test these hypotheses. The first experiment, with 100 participants, found that individuals with dieting goals were significantly more likely to choose healthier food options when the hybrid choice was unavailable. The second experiment, with a larger sample of 400 participants, confirmed the gender differences and reinforced the robustness of the findings. The study's main contribution lies in its exploration of how being interrupted while making a decision caused by the absence of a hybrid option shape food decision-making, a topic largely overlooked in previous research. Furthermore, the study extends the literature on the compromise effect by investigating not only the presence of a hybrid choice but also its absence, offering new insights into consumer behavior under choice constraints.

This research has significant theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, it provides a deeper understanding of the psychological mechanisms that influence food choice, highlighting the importance of emotional disruptions and individual motivations. The study also adds nuance to the existing body of work on choice architecture, revealing how the absence of a middle-ground option can lead to more goal-consistent decisions for certain consumer segments. In sum, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of decision-making in food conflicts and offers valuable insights into how choice options and individual differences interact to shape consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. ABSTRACT

Drawing on the dynamic capabilities view, this study examines how strategic ambidexterity moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and relocation decisions, analysing 11,990 firm-year observations of North American manufacturing firms (1997-2017) and finding a positive effect of entrepreneurial orientation on offshoring and a negative effect on nearshoring.

INTRODUCTION

Given globalization that shaped global competitive landscape by triggering the widespread adoption of outsourcing and overseas production, particularly with the intention to benefit from location advantages (Gereffi, Lim and Lee, 2018), numerous organizations have actively engaged in offshoring, thereby relocating value chain activities to foreign locations since 1980s (Mukherjee et al., 2023). Nevertheless, the dynamics of the global landscape have undergone significant fragmentation due to various recent circumstances (Ciravegna and Michailova, 2023). In response to these disruptions, companies operating beyond their national boundaries are compelled to reconsider their location-specific strategies (Meyer and Li, 2022). Recently, this has led to an increased adoption of nearshoring, which refers to the relocation of the value chain activities to a location closer to the home country, as an emerging relocation strategy (Ellram et al., 2013) and an alternative to offshoring, implying to the relocation of the value chain activities from the home country to a foreign country overseas (Contractor et al., 2010). Nonetheless, despite the shifting landscape of global value chains and the resurgence of regional manufacturing (Handfield, Graham, and Burns, 2020), it remains unclear how firms' internal strategic orientations and capabilities enable them to engage in nearshoring and offshoring activities. Drawing on dynamic capabilities view (DCV), specific objectives of this study are; (1) to explain whether entrepreneurial orientation drives relocation decisions (i.e.., offshoring and nearshoring) in international markets (i.e., H1 and H2); (2) to understand how exploitation or exploration-dominant actions of strategic ambidexterity intersect with firms’ EO to shape distinctive relocation strategies (i.e., H3a and H3b).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To construct our sample, we gather data from the CRSP, Compustat, Fama French Portfolios/Factors, and Hoberg and Moon (2017) offshoring database, which employs textual analysis on 10-K filings of all publicly listed North American firms in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) EDGAR database. Due to the unbalanced nature of our data and the application of several inclusion/exclusion criteria, we end up with a final dataset comprising 11,990 firm-year observations for 946 publicly traded North American firms, covering the time period from 1997 to 2017. We present random-effects logistic panel regression results, wherein the explanatory variables are systematically introduced across Models 1–6 to test our hypotheses (H1-H3).

CONCLUSION

This research particularly emphasizes how firms manage the tension between exploration and exploitation, either by simultaneously pursuing both or by strategically knowing when to explore and when to exploit, thereby navigating the complexities within highly dynamic and rapidly evolving environments. Our findings corroborate the positive impact of EO on offshoring (H1), and a negative impact on nearshoring decisions (H2). Our study also highlights the moderating role of strategic ambidexterity in influencing firms' relocation decisions in a way that firms with an exploitation-dominant strategic focus are more likely to engage in offshoring activities (H3a), while those with an exploration-dominant focus are more inclined towards nearshoring decisions (H3b).

*References Available upon Request

ABSTRACT. This study explores the strategic role of social media in facilitating foreign market entry and enhancing internationalization performance. Anchored in the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the conceptual model delineates how social media usage drives internationalization outcomes through the mediating roles of marketing agility and interaction orientation. The model also investigates the moderating effects of cultural distance and market turbulence, contextualizing the impact of these capabilities across diverse global environments. This research advances the understanding of digital tools in international business strategies, offering insights for firms seeking to leverage social media in their internalization efforts.

ABSTRACT. Digitalization drives many importers to use cross-border B2B online platforms such as Alibaba and Amazon to conduct business with exporters. When selecting exporters on such online platforms, importers rely heavily on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) or online reviews. In particular, visual charts that show the distribution of star ratings in online reviews have a significant impact on viewers’ evaluations because they are visually easy to understand. Prior studies examine the effect of online review dispersion on product evaluation. However, these studies focus on the B2C context and do not offer any findings for international B2B platforms. Therefore, there is a lack of understanding of how conditions specific to cross-border B2B exchanges, such as firm characteristics and international business environment, play a role in the relationship between online review dispersion and evaluation. Accordingly, we examine the effect of exporter online review dispersion on foreign importers’ evaluations and investigate the moderating effects of importer characteristics (i.e., risk-taking orientation) and country characteristics (i.e., psychic distance). This study contributes to the international marketing literature by providing a better understanding of importers’ perceptions on cross-border B2B platforms and presenting useful suggestions for exporting firms.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how nations with rich cultural resources structure their institutional communication to enhance the understanding of cultural heritage’s role within the theoretical framework of country image. The research explores how twenty-four prominent countries, ranked in the 2023 Anholt-Ipsos index, present their cultural heritage to international audiences by conducting a content analysis of official web-based documents. The study adopts an inductive approach, recognizing that modern communication systems play a crucial role in shaping national heritage narratives. Methodologically, the research follows three key phases: data collection, analysis, and interpretation. This structured approach ensures a comprehensive examination of both explicit and implicit communication strategies, shedding light on how countries strategically position their cultural heritage as a component of their broader national image. Additionally, the study provides insights into the effectiveness of these communication efforts in reinforcing cultural identity and global perception.

ABSTRACT. Knowledge-sharing behavior can promote mutual learning among individuals within an organization, enhance employees' innovation capabilities, and improve corporate performance. Leadership is an important influencing factor for knowledge-sharing behavior. However, we currently have limited knowledge about how responsible leadership promotes employees' knowledge-sharing behavior. Drawing on signaling theory, we propose a chain mediation model. Responsible leadership can enhance the signal transmission of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The signal of CSR reduces the negative stereotypes of hotel employees held by society and individuals, that is, it alleviates employees' social occupational stigma consciousness. Employees who are no longer burdened by stigma pressure are more willing to engage in knowledge-sharing behavior in the workplace. Data from 229 hotel employees indicate that CSR plays a mediating role in the relationship between responsible leadership and employees' knowledge-sharing behavior. CSR can alleviate employees' social occupational stigma consciousness. CSR and social occupational stigma consciousness play a chain mediating role in the relationship between responsible leadership and knowledge-sharing behavior. Subsequently, we discuss the theoretical implications of this study.

ABSTRACT. Driven by the rapid rise of live streaming platforms, tourism marketing has undergone a significant transformation, especially among tech-savvy Z-Generation consumers who increasingly rely on digital content to make travel decisions. Despite this trend, existing research lacks a comprehensive examination of how live streaming anchors influence tourism intentions through their unique information source characteristics, nor has it effectively integrated these dynamics with established behavioral theories like the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). To address this gap, this study explores three key questions: How do anchor credibility, professionalism, and attractiveness uniquely shape Z-Generation’s cognitive and emotional experiences during live streams? How do these experiences mediate the formation of tourism intentions? And how does the interactive nature of live streaming amplify tourism-related behaviors? To answer these questions, this study employs a combination of scenario experiments with 497 Z-Generation participants and structural equation modeling. Participants were exposed to two distinct tourism live streams—one led by a professional CEO and the other by an influencer—followed by surveys measuring cognitive and emotional experiences, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and tourism intention. The findings reveal that anchor professionalism has the most significant impact on Z-Generation’s cognitive experiences (β=0.419, p<0.001), while credibility strongly influences emotional engagement (β=0.345, p<0.001). Although attractiveness plays a role, its impact is secondary (β=0.198–0.307). Moreover, cognitive and emotional experiences collectively explain 34.3%–35.1% of the variance in tourism intention, surpassing traditional TPB factors like subjective norms (β=0.407). Importantly, high-credibility anchors double participants’ likelihood of sharing destination content (p=0.017), highlighting live streaming’s potential to foster word-of-mouth and enhance brand identity. This study makes three significant contributions to the field of tourism research. First, it advances the understanding of tourism intention by shifting the focus from "intention as a result" to "intention formation process", highlighting how digital marketing tools like live streaming can shape tourism behavior. Second, it integrates anchor characteristics with tourism intentions, offering new insights into how digital influencers can shape consumer behavior in the tourism sector. Third, it underscores the role of interactive digital marketing in enhancing tourism intention, providing practical guidance for tourism marketers on leveraging digital platforms to drive consumer behavior. For tourism marketers aiming to engage younger demographics effectively, this study suggests prioritizing credibility-building strategies, such as leveraging CEO endorsements, over mere entertainment. It also highlights the importance of interactive storytelling to enhance emotional resonance and designing platform-specific content that aligns with Z-Generation’s preference for authenticity and expertise. In summary, this study contributes to the understanding of how tourism live streaming influences Z-Generation tourism intentions by highlighting the role of anchor characteristics, interactive experiences, and enhanced intentions in shaping consumer behavior. It provides a theoretical foundation for future research and practical strategies for tourism marketers aiming to engage younger demographics effectively.

ABSTRACT. Large language models, a breakthrough in artificial intelligence, are reshaping operational frameworks across industries, with profound implications for tourism. While AI-generated content (AIGC) demonstrates transformative potential, its economic value in tourism marketing remains underexplored. Existing literature primarily focused on the linguistic features of AIGC, leaving its economic impact less evident. This study aims to evaluate the economic value of AIGC on the peer-to-peer accommodation platform. Specifically, this study adopted a hypothetical analysis approach based on a prediction–interpretation–inference machine learning framework. A controlled simulation allowed us to isolate key variables, enabling a more precise measurement of AIGC’s effect on listing performance while holding other factors constant. By comparing booking days and revenue between AIGC-generated and non-AIGC-generated listing descriptions, we quantify the economic value of AIGC. This study contributes to the emerging literature on AIGC by providing a preliminary view of its potential financial benefits within the tourism sector.

ABSTRACT. In today's fast-paced world, stress is a common issue affecting mental and physical health. This study designs multisensory virtual tourism experiences to explore how the visual and acoustic vastness alleviates daily stress. Through three studies with physiological and psychological measures, it shows that both visual and acoustic vastness independently alleviate stress, with their combined presence producing stronger restorative effects. These benefits are facilitated by an increased self-transcendence an enhanced sense of connection to others and the larger world. These results underscore the importance of integrating multiple sensory modalities to create more restorative digital experiences, offering practical implications for stress reduction interventions, especially for those with limited access to nature.

ABSTRACT. Solo travel is one of the fastest-growing sectors in tourism. However, this potential market has not received enough attention from practitioners and scholars. This work investigated whether travelers choosing different travel modes (solo vs. group) prefer wellness tourism programs differently and the underlying mechanisms. Study 1 used secondary data on online reviews, revealing that solo (vs. group) travelers mentioned wellness more often, wrote longer reviews and generated more positive affective outcomes. Study 2, employing an online scenario-based experiment showed the solo (vs. group) traveler have a higher need for eudaimonic well-being (NEWB), which in turn leads to higher preference on the wellness tourism programs.Our work provides evidence for helping tourism practitioners better understand the solo travel market and develop effective strategies.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the usage of chatbots in customer services context using a systematic review. The latest review covers literature up to year 2022. There are hundreds of paper have been published in the year 2023 and 2024. It is necessary to provide an update review on the topic. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol was used in the study. 188 articles were identified. Three themes emerged: chabot anthropomorphism, trust and communication. Future research areas are acceptance of elderly of chatbots and complaints handling. This leads to the retail service transformation.

ABSTRACT. This work examines the role of evaluation order in shaping consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) across evaluation modes. While normative decision theory suggests stable consumer preferences, behavioral decision theory posits that preferences are ad-hoc and context-dependent. Drawing on evaluability theory, the research highlights how consumers focus on easy-to-evaluate attributes during separate evaluations and shift to harder-to-evaluate attributes during joint evaluations. Furthermore, the study investigates how the anchoring heuristic influences WTP, demonstrating that the product evaluated first anchors subsequent judgments.

Using a between-subjects experimental design, participants evaluated two dinnerware sets—a 20-piece set with some damaged items (superior in hard-to-evaluate attributes) and a 12-piece intact set (superior in easy-to-evaluate attributes)—in different sequences before completing a joint evaluation. Results revealed significant anchoring effects, where participants who evaluated the 12-piece set first exhibited higher WTP for both products in joint evaluations compared to those who evaluated the 20-piece set first.

These findings underscore the persistent influence of anchoring, even in contexts where comparative information becomes available. The study has practical implications for marketing and e-commerce, suggesting that strategically ordering product presentations can enhance perceived value and influence purchasing decisions. Future research could explore these effects across diverse product categories and consumer demographics.

ABSTRACT. The paper aims to shed light onto the design of place-experience in high-end venues (luxury and cultural), with specific reference to the integration of digital and new-age devices, platforms and applications.

Drawing from 18 interviews conducted on managers, designers and consultants in luxury retail, hospitality, travel, public museums and private galleries, the paper profiles the attitudes and perspectives of industry professionals towards the use of technology.

The thematic analysis conducted on the data shows that technology is acknowledged to afford unparalleled opportunities to enrich the customers/visitor journey, creating a richer and more immersive connection between the provider and the recipient.

Yet, the interviewed professionals highlight that an indiscriminate implementation of technology can on the opposite side flatten the unique quality of the place-experience, obliterating the luxury value of these venues. Especially in the aesthetic sectors, there is shared consensus about the fact that most technology should be used in its supporting role to the "human touch", empowering staff and managers to deliver a highly luxurious/aesthetic experience.

In the "hyperphysical", postpandemic era, managing the Janus-faced nature of technology thus becomes the strategic tool to ensure the ultimate physical value delivery of brands and cultural institutions.

ABSTRACT. Using experiments, we examine how anthropomorphic cues of AI-enabled chatbots influence consumers buying intent in an online retail setting. We found that anthropomorphism perception of the chatbot influences consumers’ trust which in turn impacts on purchase intention. This mediation is moderated by consumers sense of uncanniness of the chat bot.

ABSTRACT. The research aims to examine Australian consumers’ knowledge, interests, preferences, and willingness to pay for traceable food products. Using a mixed-method approach with 10 interviews and 300 consumer surveys, the study will inform industry stakeholders and policymakers while advancing an understanding of consumer behaviour regarding food traceability.

ABSTRACT. The rapid advancement of AI technology has led to the emergence of various AI-generated applications across industries. The successful adoption and diffusion of these innovations are crucial for their commercialization and widespread use. This research aims to investigate the role of innovation diffusion theory and experimental marketing strategy in the adoption of AI-generated technology. By applying a comprehensive questionnaire based on a reference paper, this study seeks to gain insights into the factors influencing the adoption of AI-generated technology and how experimental marketing can effectively facilitate its diffusion. With cross country analysis between Japan and Taiwan.

ABSTRACT. 1.Brief summary: The study reviews the impact of digital technologies on traditional business paradigms. It highlights the strategies for organizations to adapt, innovate, and thrive in a fast-evolving landscape. Emphasizing data-driven decision-making, customer-centric approaches, and agile management practices, the study will offer actionable insights for enhancing resilience and sustainable growth amid disruption.

2.Introduction 2.2Context and background of the research. The rapid increase in digital technologies has fundamentally reshaped industries, challenging traditional marketing and management practices as the opportunities and risks it presents shift over time (Evans & Forth, 2015). Organizations now face unprecedented disruption driven by innovations such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and digital platforms. These changes demand a shift from conventional approaches to more customer-centric strategies to remain competitive. Organizations are compelled to adapt, innovate, and reinvent to stay relevant and competitive (Wang, 2024) Understanding how to navigate this transformation is critical for businesses aiming to encash digital opportunities while minimizing risks. This study delves into the intersection of digital disruption, marketing evolution, and management adaptation, providing a comprehensive framework to guide organizations through this complex transition.

Digital disruption has fundamentally transformed the way organizations approach marketing and management. The integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, and automation has opened new avenues for improving efficiency, enhancing customer experience, and creating innovative business models. However, these changes also present significant challenges for organizations, including the need for agile strategies, adapting to fast-paced technological shifts, and managing a more complex, digitally-savvy workforce.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the digital resilience of social enterprises in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a region in the Philippines vulnerable to armed conflict, high poverty incidence rates and cultural preservation issues. This research also examines how these social enterprises leveraged digital marketing tools and achieve business recovery amidst the impact of Marawi Siege and the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this paper navigates various factors contributing to the digital resilience of the social enterprises. Anchored on Resource Based View, Institutional Theory and Dynamic Capability Theory, this study made use of thematic analysis to elicit valuable insights from the in-depth interviews. Findings revealed that the social enterprises capitalized on Facebook marketing to promote their products to their potential and existing customers. One social enterprise has maintained a company website, attracting viewers and visitors from different countries. These tools paved way for collaborations and support from various government and non-government organizations. Moreover, the social enterprises’ digital resilience was significantly influenced by their core internal resources and capabilities; planned and adaptive resilience strategies; social capital and network ties; institutional support; and cultural factors. The study concludes that digital resilience is not just about adopting technology, but also building strong communities, developing innovative strategies and adapting to ever-changing environments. Hence, this study recommends the importance of context-specific solutions and the need for creating a social enterprise ecosystem that will equip, empower and support social enterprises to thrive and flourish in conflict affected regions and during disasters.

ABSTRACT. Globally, over 100 million startups are launched annually, yet 92% fail within three years, often due to poor strategic execution and resource limitations. In Canada, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) comprise over 97% of businesses, yet the reasons for their failures remain underexplored. Addressing this gap, our research develops a digitized impact analytics tool to support SMEs in leveraging big data and digital marketing strategies to mitigate risk and enhance performance.

Big data has emerged as a critical asset, characterized by its volume, velocity, variety, and value. However, many SMEs lack the capabilities and resources to harness this potential for informed decision-making. This project aligns with the Marketing Science Institute’s priorities of advancing tools for growth and fostering marketing agility. Drawing on foundational theories, including growth hacking (Bohnsack & Liesner, 2019), dynamic capabilities (Teece, 2018), and marketing agility (Kalaignanam et al., 2021), our research seeks to bridge the strategy-execution gap.

Through a mixed-method approach, we introduce a Growth Mapping Model grounded in Lean Philosophy. This framework categorizes strategic tactics into logical groupings—Recruitment, Retention, and Revenue—that resonate with SMEs. By incorporating advanced predictive analytics and growth hacking methodologies, the model provides a taxonomy of tactics, each defined as a "growth hack," with quantifiable direction and magnitude. These forces collectively shift an organization’s equilibrium on a Growth Map, enabling SMEs to calibrate objectives, assess efficacy, and optimize resource allocation.

Our proposed decision support system combines qualitative and quantitative tools to evaluate internal, external, and market variables, offering SMEs a systematic approach to track performance and calibrate strategies. By identifying leading and lagging indicators of success and failure, we aim to enhance SMEs' capacity to execute strategic plans effectively, beyond customer acquisition and sales growth.

This study contributes to marketing science by demonstrating the scalability and transferability of growth mapping across diverse SME contexts. It provides actionable insights into how data-driven decision-making and agile marketing practices can transform SMEs into resilient and sustainable enterprises.

ABSTRACT. Despite the common belief in the benefits of combining AI applications across various functions to boost firm performance, the specifics of how to do so effectively and which AI-enabled functions contribute most remain unclear, especially considering their complex interactions. This study addresses these gaps by adopting a business process perspective. We systematically categorize AI-enabled processes at the task, business function, and firm levels, examining their intricate interactions to build our research model. We conducted two empirical studies: Study 1 constructs a measurement tool for AI applications in different business functions, analyzing data from 37 retailers. Study 2 employs this tool to measure AI in customer service, store operations, logistics and supply chain, marketing, and cybersecurity and risk management, through a survey of 140 retail executives. We applied fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to reveal effective AI implementation configurations. Our findings identify four configurations that facilitate efficiency and four that drive innovation, as well as isomorphic configurations that enhance both. Notably, AI in customer service and cybersecurity and risk management dominates configurations for both efficiency and innovation. This suggests a spillover effect, where AI in these functions not only achieves goals at the function level but also strengthens organization-wide capabilities. These insights provide nuanced guidance on managing AI across functions for enhanced firm performance.

ABSTRACT. This study examines narrative agency and transportation in narrative-driven board games, proposing a typology of narratives that balance immersion and player agency. Highlighting dynamic narratives as a model of ludonarrative harmony, it offers insights for cultural industries on how participatory mechanics enhance engagement in board and video games, museums, theaters, or music venues.

ABSTRACT. As music consumption among younger audiences becomes increasingly digital, live music venues face new challenges. This study explores the personality of live music venues, identifying genre-specific traits through exploratory factor analysis, contributing to the understanding of how venues reflect and embody the unique identities of different musical genres.

ABSTRACT. Digital Humans (DHs) have been widely adopted in virtual environments across healthcare, education, and customer service sectors, with extensive empirical research documenting their effectiveness. However, research on DHs' potential as cultural mediators remains scarce, and empirical studies examining their impact on actual visitors are limited. Through empirical investigation, this study examines the impact of DH realism on visitors' aesthetic experiences when Digital Humans serve as cultural mediators (docents) in virtual exhibitions. We specifically investigate the dual mediation pathway through narrative transportation and emotional enjoyment, while analyzing how heritage traits moderate this relationship.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to analyze the revitalization of underutilized spaces through cultural and artistic content based on Place Attachment Theory and to explore visitor experiences from the perspective of experiential marketing. Using Naver Map and blog review data, this research collects visitor narratives related to underutilized spaces where cultural and artistic content has been applied and conducts qualitative text analysis using NVivo. The analysis framework is based on place attachment theory, categorizing visitor experiences into four dimensions: sensory, emotional, cognitive, and social. The findings reveal that cultural and artistic content strengthens the identity of a space, fosters emotional bonds with visitors, and enriches spatial experiences through sensory elements. Additionally, cognitive stimuli enhance visitors’ perception of space, and social interactions contribute to the formation of community hubs within these spaces. This study makes both academic and practical contributions by empirically analyzing the impact of cultural and artistic content on place attachment formation. It is expected to provide valuable insights for future urban regeneration strategies and cultural policy development.

ABSTRACT. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping consumer markets, particularly in fitness services, where AI-driven instructors are transforming how consumers engage in workouts. This research investigates how AI instructors address emotional needs by fostering psychological closeness and alleviating loneliness in digital fitness environments. Through three studies involving 592 participants, partial least squares path modeling reveals that, although human instructors initially provide stronger emotional connections, AI instructors significantly narrow this gap when co-presence and perceived enjoyment are high. Moreover, these factors amplify the effects of psychological closeness on reducing loneliness, underscoring their role in enhancing AI-driven service experiences. By addressing emotional and psychological needs, this study highlights how digitalization and servitization can create empathetic and immersive AI solutions, fostering consumer well-being and advancing sustainable innovation in digital fitness markets.

ABSTRACT. Generation Z (Gen Z) grows up in an ever-changing environment filled by new technologies, which results in new consumption phenomena that are significantly different from other generations. Vaping as a significant new consumer cultural phenomenon has been observed among Generation Z, while its harm is not fully clear. Therefore, based on Behavioural Reasoning Thery, this research adopted multi-method approach (i.e., 21 interviews and an online survey (n = 804)) to explore the facilitators and decelerators against vaping, thereby deciphering the Gen Z’s vape quitting engagement. Our multi-method approach discovered and verified a series of concepts that are significant in unpacking the consumers’ engagement in vaping (e.g., relative disadvantage and perceived uncountability) and clarified the psychological mechanism behind vaping. Our finding reveals on the dark side of technologization and brings important implications to enhance the health-related behavioural engagement among the younger generation from the perspectives of industrial development, policymaking and public health management.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the perceived values of Gen Z consumers in adopting wearable devices, comparing users and non-users. Findings highlight the importance of health, hedonic, social, and monetary values, with health value being the strongest predictor of their attitude toward the product (i.e., smartwatch), while hedonic, social, and monetary values significantly influenced their purchase intention for a smartwatch. The findings also indicate significant differences between users and non-users in their perceptions, suggesting the need for tailored strategies when targeting these consumer groups. These results offer valuable insights for marketers to align wearable devices with the core values of Gen Z consumers to drive adoption and engagement.

ABSTRACT. As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to integrate into various industries, concerns about AI trustworthiness, fairness, and security have become increasingly significant. Consumers are more aware of AI-driven decision-making processes and demand greater transparency, accountability, and ethical compliance from AI-powered brands. This study investigates how AI trustworthiness standard compliance—specifically adherence to ISO/IEC 42001, IEEE 7000, NIST AI RMF, and ITU-T AI Trustworthiness Standards—influences consumer brand trust and, in turn, affects purchase intention.

Using a mixed-method approach, this research incorporates quantitative consumer surveys and comparative case studies of AI-compliant and non-compliant companies to analyze the relationship between AI trustworthiness, brand trust, and consumer behavior. The study finds that companies that comply with global AI trustworthiness standards experience higher consumer trust levels, greater brand loyalty, and stronger purchase intention. In contrast, non-compliance with AI trust standards leads to brand distrust, reduced consumer confidence, and reputational damage.

Additionally, the research highlights the mediating role of brand trust in linking AI trustworthiness compliance to consumer purchase decisions. Results indicate that ITU-T AI Trustworthiness Standards, particularly in telecommunications and AI-driven global services, significantly enhance consumer confidence in AI-powered brands. The findings emphasize that AI fairness, transparency, and security are critical determinants of consumer purchase behavior and should be prioritized by AI-driven companies.

The study contributes to the growing discourse on AI governance and consumer trust, providing valuable insights for business leaders, policymakers, and AI ethics researchers. The findings suggest that companies should adopt ITU-T and other global AI trustworthiness standards to gain a competitive edge in AI-powered markets. Future research should explore the longitudinal effects of AI trustworthiness compliance on brand equity and consumer loyalty across diverse industries and regions.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how luxury brand values influence purchase intention by segmenting customers based on product involvement, need for status, and collectivism. The findings reveal distinct luxury consumption patterns across three consumer clusters. This research provides insights into consumer purchase intention for luxury products.

ABSTRACT. Purpose –This study investigates the influence of herd behaviour in group buying within the framework of a stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model. Utilising partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), the research focuses on fashion products, which include apparel, cosmetics, accessories, and beauty services.

Methodology –A survey of 320 group buying shoppers was conducted to evaluate the effect of other consumers’ herd behaviour (S) on the focal consumer’s four-dimensional shopping experience (O), which encompasses informativeness, entertainment, social presence and sensory appeal. This shopping experience subsequently affects the urge to buy impulsively and continuance intention (R). This study also examined the mediating role of customer experiences and the moderating effect of parasocial interaction. Furthermore, the model differences between apparel and cosmetics segments were examined.

Findings –Results show that herd behaviour significantly affects customer experience across all perspectives and indirectly contributes to consumers’ continuance intention to shop for fashion products. Additionally, herd behaviour has a weak positive impact on the urge to buy impulsively for cosmetics shoppers, but not among apparel shoppers. All customer experiences except for social presence, mediate the verified causal relationships. Furthermore, parasocial interaction does not strengthen the influence of herd behaviour on customer experiences.

Implications –This study provides theoretical insights for understanding the robust influence of the customer experience in mediating the effect of herd behaviour on continuance intention. Additionally, influencer marketing is less critical in fashion group buying, as the insignificant effect of influencers in enhancing the impact of herd behaviour on customer experience. Instead, fashion retailers should focus on developing product-specific marketing strategies.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the integration of generative AI (Gen AI) in fashion design, particularly its effects on work efficiency and the psychological mechanisms influencing designers' intentions to use it. Study 1 demonstrated that Gen AI enhances 'fashion design capabilities' and 'fashion design work efficiency'. Study 2 identified intrinsic motivation factors—autonomy, competence, relatedness, and pride of authorship—that drive designers' perceptions of Gen AI's value and their continuous use intention. Based on Self-Determination Theory, the study highlights the role of intrinsic motivation in fostering engagement with Gen AI, suggesting that its use can enhance creativity, reduce time, and increase productivity in fashion design workflows.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the impact of influencer marketing on Generation Z within the fashion industry, focusing on the relationship between social media usage and the behavior of these digital natives. Five key hypotheses were examined: (1) the influence of influencer marketing through social media on online purchase decisions for fashion and accessories, (2) the factors and motivations driving online purchases, (3) the effect of influencer marketing on these factors and motivations, (4) the impact of these factors and motivations on consumers' personal shopping experiences, and (5) the role of influencers in shaping personal shopping experiences in the fashion sector. A mixed-methodology approach was employed, combining a theoretical framework with empirical data collected through a survey of Generation Z participants. The findings reveal that while influencer marketing significantly affects this generation's purchasing decisions and motivations, there remains a notable preference for in-person fashion shopping over online alternatives

ABSTRACT. The main objective of this research study is to investigate why consumers are willing to pay more for fashion brand collaborations. The study will first identify the antecedents of consumers’ WTPM for fashion brand collaborations. In doing so, this research study examines the impact of brand image fit on consumers’ perception of luxury, symbolic value, authenticity, and novelty towards fashion brand collaboration. The study uses a mixed method approach. There are two phases in the study. Phase 1 is an exploratory study that consists of two focus groups (N=16) that aims to uncover additional variables that can influence consumers’ perceptions and evaluation of fashion brand collaboration. Phase 2 comprises of two pre-tests for stimulus development and an online self-administered questionnaire (N=800) to empirically test the research model and variables. Theoretically, the study contributes to the literature by extending Signalling Theory, Congruity Theory, and the Spillover effect into brand collaboration within a fashion domain. Methodologically, it demonstrates high ecological validity and enhances reliability of data collected on consumer perceptions of real fashion brand collaborations. From a managerial perspective, it provides practitioners with richer understanding on consumer-related factors that can influence consumer product evaluation and WTPM. With this knowledge, practitioners can develop sound collaboration strategy for their new fashion brand collaboration products.

ABSTRACT. AI as a disruptive technology to drive fashion design innovation is impacting the fashion industry. Concerning fashion designers, AI is regarded not only as a design tool to enhance productivity but also as a threat that cuts off their job opportunities. In order to transform the threat into productivity, it is necessary to explore what extra skills are needed to embrace AI for fashion designers. The research first investigates the status quo of fashion design in the AI era from the perspective of the fashion ecosystem, as opposed to those devoid of AI, to capture the pertinent types of stakeholders and the relevant activities. A model of AI-generated fashion design innovation can be explored to address how AI is involved. Based on this model which uses the lens of the fashion ecosystem, the upskilling that fashion designers should acquire is finally identified. Given that AI in fashion is a new emerging research area, an exploratory approach using semi-structured interviews is employed to gain insight into its procedure, its ecosystem, and upskilling for AI-integrated fashion design innovation. In addition, a comparison between Ai-integrated fashion design practices and traditional approaches is examined to provide a deeper insight into the benefits and challenges of AI adoption in the industry. The results indicate that communication with AI via prompts, interaction capability with stakeholders, aesthetic ability, sensitivity to fashion trends, and quick decision-making ability are all significant. Conversely, the illustration skill is less important. The research sheds light on the impact of AI on fashion design innovation through the lens of the ecosystem. It informs the necessity of upskilling for fashion designers and contributes to their competitiveness in the era of AI. It also benefits educators to enhance the fashion program with identified upskill. The limitation of the research is the lack of validation of these skills in practical circumstances to have a more comprehensive understanding.

ABSTRACT. The research deals with AI agents in the context of advertising and shopping and their interaction with humans in the Metaverse. The results of a qualitative study with in-depth individual interviews show that the functional effectiveness of AI is challenged by consumers' adverse emotional reactions to the agents.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of consumer experience and trust on the use of Digital Product Passports (DPP) in the luxury fashion industry. As experience and trust become pivotal in consumer decision-making, DPPs have emerged as an innovative tool to strengthen customer relationships through various services. By employing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a theoretical framework, this research examines how perceived usefulness and ease of use influence user acceptance and behavior. A survey of 250 consumers who had previously purchased luxury fashion product was conducted; data was analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS. This research suggests that DPPs can significantly transform interactions in luxury fashion, fostering a more informed and engaged customer base while providing brands that adopt these technologies with strategic advantages.

ABSTRACT. While Web3 rises in prominence, little is known about end-users' perceptions of its value compared to Web2. Through a controlled experimental design in the metaverse gaming industry, we provide theoretical and practical insights into the value of Web3 and its influence on behavioral intentions.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how AI response delay (fast, moderate, slow) affects perceived competence, moderated by task complexity. Grounded in the effort heuristic, findings suggest a moderate delay boosts processing fluency for complex tasks, fostering trust, whereas faster responses benefit simpler tasks, offering insights for optimal AI design and user experience.

ABSTRACT. The growth of consumer buying has been notable, progressing from the barter system and street marketplaces to online shopping platforms and most recently, the metaverse. The metaverse offers immersive and interactive shopping experiences that could dramatically change the retail landscape. In metaverse retailing, consumers can shop in an ideal blend of the real and virtual worlds by navigating metaverse platforms with their avatars, interacting with other users （either actual customers or virtual assistants）, and improving their overall shopping experience. This study aims to apply the theory of consumption values to examine the factors that influence the consumer’s attitudes and behavioral intentions towards metaverse retailing. To validate the proposed framework, the data obtained from 504 Chinese consumers through online survey. China, with over one billion internet users, is a global leader in consumer markets and has a significant edge in advancing the metaverse business. The results indicate that realism, availability, customization, arousal, variety seeking, and preference value have positive significant impact, while social interaction, self-image expression, and pleasure have no significant impact on attitude towards metaverse retailing. The negative moderating effect of perceived complexity is found on the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention. The findings offer several critical implications for managers aiming to increase the behavioral outcomes towards metaverse retailing.

ABSTRACT. This study explores whether allow consumers to customize algorithmic bias levels in AI recommendations can improve trust and reduce ethical backlash (it is the user's negative reaction to perceived unethical or unfair behavior). We propose a novel "Controllable Fairness" framework, where users choose between fairness first (equitable outcomes) and preference first (personalized results) modes. Through experiments, we test how this customization affects satisfaction, trust, and behavioral intentions, offering actionable insights for ethical AI design.

ABSTRACT. This meta-analysis investigates the comparative marketing effectiveness of virtual influencers (VIs) and human influencers, addressing a timely question amidst the burgeoning VI market. Examining 48 studies through a random-effects model using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software, we analyze the impact of VIs on brand and influencer attitudes, message evaluation, and purchase intent. Our findings reveal significant differences in consumer responses to VIs versus human influencers, providing valuable insights for brands navigating the evolving influencer landscape.This research offers a comprehensive understanding of when and how VIs can be strategically deployed to maximize marketing ROI.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the role of AI-generated influencers in sustainability marketing, focusing on their impact on consumer perceptions of credibility, authenticity, greenwashing, brand trust, and engagement. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design, the research compares AI and human influencers, varying disclosure, reputation, and third-party certification. Findings reveal that AI influencers are generally perceived as less credible than human influencers, but this credibility gap narrows when the human influencer has a negative reputation. Contrary to expectations, AI influencers do not significantly increase greenwashing perceptions, which are more influenced by a brand’s prior sustainability record. The study also finds that disclosing an influencer as AI reduces brand trust, with perceived authenticity mediating this effect. Third-party certifications mitigate skepticism and enhance trust in AI-driven sustainability messaging. These findings provide strategic insights for marketers seeking to integrate AI influencers into ethical advertising while highlighting the need for credibility-enhancing mechanisms in digital persuasion.

ABSTRACT. With the rapid development of digital fashion in recent years, virtual fitting services have emerged as an innovative tool that transforms the way consumers interact with brands and products. The virtual fitting market has steadily grown every year, attracting significant interest from fashion companies. Meanwhile, Generative AI-based virtual fitting services can offer a more sophisticated, personalized virtual “try-on” experience than traditional online stores, positioning them as a key technology to innovate the fashion industry. However, research on the impact of virtual fitting services on consumer behavior remains insufficient, with existing studies primarily focusing on the technological aspects of such services. Therefore, this study analyzes the effects of Generative AI virtual fitting services on consumer behavior, focusing on the dual mediating mechanisms of technology acceptance and emotional responses. It explores the key factors that drive acceptance intention and purchase intention and provides practical strategic directions for companies to effectively leverage consumer-centered AI technologies. The findings will advance consumer behavior research while expanding the practical applicability of Generative AI technologies in the fashion and e-commerce sectors by offering valuable insights for its effective implementation.

ABSTRACT. As luxury fashion brands increasingly adopt AI-based advertising, effectively conveying brand emotional value through multimodal content has emerged as a critical challenge. This research experimentally investigates how different anthropomorphic cues (verbal, auditory, and visual cues) and emotional expressions in AI-generated luxury fashion advertising affect consumer responses in multimodal environments. Specifically, we analyze the mediating effects of agency and experience based on Mind Perception Theory. This research theoretically expands the understanding of emotional communication in AI-driven luxury fashion advertising and practically provides actionable guidelines for optimizing emotional expression.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the impact of discrepancies between AI-generated marketing content and actual products on consumer trust, focusing on the mechanisms of expectation disconfirmation and perceived credibility. It uncovers a transparency paradox, where disclosing AI use may enhance credibility but reduce the perceived attractiveness of the content, creating a tension between trust and expectation.

ABSTRACT. With the rapid rise of virtual influencers (VIs)—computer-generated characters crafted to build relationships and engage audiences—they have emerged as game changers in online branding and advertising. Positioned at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI) and influencer marketing, these artificial yet seemingly authentic figures foster deep connections with followers and bring new dimensions to influencer practices. Despite their growing influence over the years, research on VIs remains scattered across disciplines, leading to a need for a systematic examination of the intellectual landscape. To address these gaps, this study undertakes a meta-narrative and bibliometric analysis of VI research, aiming to map the status quo, understand the intellectual structure, and identify central themes and future directions within the field. The overarching question we aim to answer is: How has the virtual influencer research paradigm evolved over the years? By systematically mapping the VI research landscape, this study will be among the first to provide a comprehensive overview of existing scholarship and to offer researchers and practitioners a cohesive foundation for further exploration of the field.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the mediating role of customer engagement behavior in transforming irritation caused by live commerce sales approaches into increased usage frequency. Drawing on persuasion knowledge theory, the research highlights how active and passive customer engagement behaviors mediate this relationship differently. While irritation fosters active engagement that positively influences usage frequency, passive engagement plays a less significant role. Pleasure moderates these effects, mitigating the negative impact of irritation and enhancing engagement. The findings provide actionable insights for optimizing customer engagement in digital-first environments.

ABSTRACT. Nowadays, “pilgrimage” is no longer limited to religious tourism. Media such as films, TV series, and anime have become significant drivers of consumer engagement in popular culture tourism (Irimiás et al., 2021). As a rapidly evolving form of popular cultural media, video game-induced tourism has emerged as a new boom (Nan, 2024). However, the key factors that influence popular culture tourism, driven by video games, remain underexplored.

We address several key limitations of previous studies. First, seeking (e.g., knowledge and novelty seeking) is considered a significant motivation influencing travel intentions (Fakfare et al., 2020; Maghrifani et al., 2022). However, the role of authenticity seeking is yet to be adequately explored (Liu et al., 2021). Second, object-based authenticity, existential authenticity, and familiarity have been widely discussed as critical factors influencing travel intentions in other tourism contexts (Artigas et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2016). However, in the context of popular cultural tourism, the roles of object-based and existential authenticity as well as the influence of familiarity on the level of perceived authenticity have not been adequately explored. Compared to other popular cultural media, advancements in graphical technology and interactivity make video games appear more authentic (Dubois & Gibbs, 2018).

To fill this gap in the literature, this study draws on narrative transportation theory to explore the impact of game immersion, game authenticity seeking, object-based authenticity, existential authenticity, and familiarity on travel intention.　

Our study proposes the following hypotheses: Game immersion positively affects travel intention (H1), and game authenticity seeking positively mediates the relationship between game immersion and travel intention (H2, H3). Object-based authenticity (H4a) and existential authenticity (H4b) enhance the positive effect of game immersion on game authenticity seeking. Familiarity strengthens the positive interaction effect of game immersion, object-based authenticity, and existential authenticity on game authenticity seeking (H5).

Currently, we are still in the data collection and analysis phase. We plan to survey 500 Chinese video game consumers regarding their travel intentions toward destinations featured in the video game scenes. 　 Our study is expected to provide several implications for video game consumer behavior and tourism. (1) A preliminary exploration of motivations for video game-induced tourism from the perspective of authenticity provides a theoretical explanation for destination managers. (2) Destination managers should actively support game developers (e.g., permission for 3D scanning and cultural heritage consultants) to enhance the authenticity of in-game scenes. (3) Destination managers should actively seek opportunities to be game backgrounds or leverage game scenes in marketing. Well-known destinations and background cultures are more likely to become potential visit targets for video game tourists.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, chatbots have played an important role in consumer communication. AI-powered chatbots are considered a powerful tool for improving customer experience, and there are many examples of their implementation. However, the visual elements of chatbots, particularly the impact of icon design on consumer impressions and evaluations, remain poorly understood. This study attempts to clarify the impact of chatbot icon design on customer satisfaction and provide insight into design optimization. Specifically, we will classify chatbot icon designs into two types, “realistic human” and “animated human,” and compare the impact of each on customer satisfaction. In addition, we will also examine the factors that may reduce the decline in customer satisfaction when chatbots fail to solve consumer problems. Prior research has shown that anthropomorphic chatbot icons are more likely to elicit positive consumer responses than nonanthropomorphic icons (Go & Sunder, 2019). However, the degree of “humanness” that is optimal has not been adequately discussed. Furthermore, in the context of service recovery, Hu and Pan (2024) suggest that “cute” elements may mitigate consumers’ negative emotions, and we examine whether this effect is applicable in chatbot icon design. Through experiments, this study will examine the effect of icon design on consumer satisfaction. In particular, this study will measure consumers’ satisfaction with failed problem resolution when chatbot icons of different designs are presented. By doing so, we aim to systematically clarify the effects of chatbot icon design on consumer behavior and provide practical guidelines. The results of this study are significant in that they provide concrete suggestions for companies to understand the importance of visual design and to select the most appropriate icon design when introducing and operating chatbots. It is also expected to provide new insights into the impact of icon design on consumer emotions and behavior from an academic perspective.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates consumer attitudes towards digitally monitored animal welfare (DMAW) practices, aiming to understand their acceptance and associated values. It explores the potential of digital technology to enhance decision-making among consumers by reducing animal welfare concerns. Using Means-End Chain theory (MEC) and Schwartz's value typology, the study explores the motivational layers and product attributes linked to consumer values. Twenty pork consumers were interviewed using semi-structured methods, revealing hierarchical relationships between product attributes, benefits, and values. Analysis via NVivo 14 and LadderUX software resulted in themes and a hierarchical value map (HVM). Findings show consumers prioritise attributes such as animal diets, stress-free environments, humane processing, and health conditions, linking these to both ethical and hedonic values. Intrinsic attributes like appearance and freshness dominate at-home consumption decisions, while sustainable packaging concerns also influence choices. Differences in consumption contexts, such as at-home versus dining out, highlight varied consumer behaviours. The study highlights the importance of transparency, ethical practices, and product qualities in influencing consumer decisions. The findings offer actionable insights for marketing strategies, emphasising transparency, ethical practices, and intrinsic product qualities. Overall, the research guides marketers and policymakers in promoting ethical consumption and improving animal welfare standards.

ABSTRACT. Consumer boycotts have emerged as a global trend, posing a challenge to modern businesses. However, there is a gap in existing research on consumer reboycott patterns. Our study seeks to address this by exploring these patterns through the lens of negative psychological responses, specifically corporate brand betrayal and consumer animosity towards fashion companies. We also examine the moderating effects of consumers' perceived severity of corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and cosmopolitanism, drawing on cognitive emotion and social identity theories. To evaluate our hypotheses, we conducted a hierarchical linear regression analysis and utilized the PROCESS macro (Model 4) with data from 725 Chinese fashion consumers. Our findings reveal that corporate brand betrayal directly and positively influences consumers’ reboycott intention. Furthermore, consumer animosity towards fashion companies acts as a positive mediator in the relationship between corporate brand betrayal and reboycott intention. The perceived severity of CSI amplifies the positive effect of corporate brand betrayal on consumer animosity toward fashion companies. Conversely, consumer cosmopolitanism mitigates the positive interaction between perceived severity of CSI and corporate brand betrayal on consumer animosity towards fashion companies. This research expands the scope of boycott studies by interpreting anti-consumption behavior from a novel perspective, focusing on consumer reboycott intentions, and examining the impact of psychological responses such as corporate brand betrayal and animosity towards fashion companies. Moreover, it underscores the significant roles of perceived severity of CSI and consumer cosmopolitanism in shaping consumers' psychological responses to their reboycott intention. This study contributes to the existing literature and provides valuable insights for practitioners to develop strategies to effectively manage CSI-related crises.

ABSTRACT. Influencer marketing has become an important means of marketing products and brands. In particular, influencers’ influence in social media is growing and has become an indispensable promotional tool for companies. On the other hand, there have been a number of scandals involving social media influencers and their negative impact on related companies and brands. Some influencers have been involved in unethical behavior such as tax evasion, adultery, and buying fake products, which in turn have affected the image of related products and brands. On the other hand, some influencers are actively engaged in sustainable social activities to build trust with consumers.

The purpose of this study is to identify how influencers’ contributions to sustainability may mitigate the negative impact of consumers’ sense of betrayal toward social media influencers on brand trust. This study examines influencers’ contributions to sustainability in three categories: environmental, social, and economic (Yasmeen & Longsheng). The results of this study are expected to suggest that influencers’ active engagement in sustainable activities may mitigate the sense of betrayal felt by consumers and help rebuild brand trust.

The results of this study provide important theoretical and managerial implications. Theoretically, we extend the theoretical framework of influencer marketing by clarifying the impact of influencers’ sustainability contributions on consumers’ brand trust and attitudes. In practical terms, we suggest that companies can improve brand image and enhance crisis management by selecting influencers who are active in sustainable activities. Even in the event of a scandal, the influencer’s activities should be carefully evaluated in advance, as their contribution to sustainability may mitigate negative consumer reactions. This will provide companies with concrete guidelines to strengthen their relationships with consumer segments that are eco-oriented and value ethical values, and to establish a competitive advantage in a competitive marketplace.

ABSTRACT. The empirical evidence on religiosity and luxury consumption is inconclusive and even contradictory. A key limitation of extant literature is that it mainly focuses on religious values, but it ignores the fact that a key motivation for adherents to have religion is to have a sense of meaningfulness in their existence. Thus, our research explores whether luxury brands engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives provides religious consumers a sense of meaningfulness in their luxury consumption, leading to positive word-of-mouth (WOM). By differentiating intrinsic religiosity from extrinsic religiosity, another goal of our research is to see whether religious orientation moderates the mediating role of a sense of meaningfulness. Our three experiments jointly suggest that engaging CSR (vs. control) increases religious consumers’ sense of meaningfulness in their luxury consumption, leading to positive WOM. But this is moderated by religious orientation, more evident when intrinsic religiosity is higher.

ABSTRACT. When is counterfeit signaling deemed to be morally permissible? Four studies reveal that counterfeit luxury consumption is seen as morally equivalent to genuine luxury consumption when the genuine item is unavailable and when there is a signal of vulnerability.

ABSTRACT. The global luxury goods market is growing rapidly, driven by consumer demand, post-pandemic recovery, and demographic shifts. This study examines the purchasing behavior of affluent Japanese consumers, segmented by financial assets, highlighting preferences for durable goods, luxury experiences, and online shopping. Key drivers include status signaling, emotional engagement, and sustainability. An analytical model categorizes determinants into individual, psychological, cultural, and product-related factors, with outcomes such as purchase intentions and brand loyalty influenced by peer pressure and social media. Future research should explore ESG initiatives, technology, and cross-cultural dynamics to understand evolving luxury consumer trends.

ABSTRACT. Brands are increasingly taking an active stance on divisive socio-political issues such as racial justice, transgender rights, gun control, and international conflicts (e.g., the Ukraine-Russia war). Due to its polarizing nature, brand activism can be a risky strategy, and it is not yet understood how consumers react to brand activism conducted by luxury firms. We propose that activism by luxury brands can act as a novel form of marketing communication that leads to favorable brand outcomes. In four studies (and one pre-test), we demonstrate the positive effect of luxury activism on consumer purchase intentions and brand evaluations. The effect, to an important extent, is driven by self-expressive value perception, which enhances the brand’s luxury perception, resulting in enhanced purchase intentions. We validate the proposed framework by examining various activism topics (the Ukraine-Russia war, abortion rights, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement). The findings further demonstrate that the effect of brand activism is contingent upon consumer political identity. Specifically, this effect holds for liberal consumers but not for conservative consumers due to the symbolic benefits the former derive from activism, which can manifest in higher purchase intentions.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates whether different sustainable product transformations influence consumers' perceptions of luxuriousness and their responses. We found that consumers respond less favorably to sustainable items transformed into the same product type for luxury brands, with perceived luxuriousness serving as a critical underlying mechanism.

ABSTRACT. Luxury brands are increasingly incorporating corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, often using celebrity endorsements to promote their environmental and social initiatives. While these collaborations help align luxury with sustainability, there is limited research on how different types of sustainable causes-social versus environmental-affect consumer preferences. The purpose of this study is to explore how consumers respond to luxury brands' sustainability efforts, particularly when they are endorsed by celebrities, and whether social or environmental commitments resonate more. A 2 (cause: environmental vs. social) x 2 (celebrity: presence vs. absence) between-subjects experimental design was developed and tested with 869 respondents. PLS-SEM was used to test for causal relationships between variables. The results suggest that luxury brands that support sustainable causes, especially with celebrity endorsement, generate positive customer reactions, with support seemingly driven by genuine altruism rather than green conspicuity motivations. Moreover, social causes appear to be preferred by customers over environmental causes, possibly because social advocacy is less common and therefore more valued than the now-normalized environmental efforts.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to analyze the asymmetric impact of different hotel service attributes on overall customer satisfaction and the moderating effects of Hofstede’s 5 cultural dimensions. We analyze a total of 62.069 online reviews extracted from Booking.com, for 120 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels in Athens, Greece, posted between 06/2022 – 08/2024. Results show that there are asymmetric effects of service attributes on customer satisfaction, and these are moderated by all five cultural dimensions.

ABSTRACT. Research gaps exist in understanding VFR hosts and guests have about each other regarding their emotional solidarity and the quality of hosting and visiting experiences. This recent phenomenon not only encourages researchers and tourism practitioners to understand how VFR hosts and guests experience VFR but also enables a better understanding of how the residents and tourists as well as the actors and the place interact in general. The VFR experience incorporates interactions that involve guiding and emotional connections through the interactions between the hosts and guests. What is missing in the body of literature is the linkages between the experiences of the hosts and the guests and between the actors and the surrounding environment through the experiences. So, the outcomes of the experiences of the surrounding environment enabled through experiencing the visiting region together should be more widely approached than the situation when conventional leisure tourists interact with the service providers and their attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, which has strong managerial implications for the hospitality and tourism industry as well as destination management entities. For VFR, the outcomes can go beyond recommendation and revisit intentions. The outcomes of the experiences can be more widely approached – from the perspectives of the tourism industry to the perspective of how such experiences change the attitudes and behaviors toward the places they reside and visit. More importantly, in the VFR context, both the hosts and guests are key actors who impact the reputation and viability of the region and this value needs to be understood to facilitate more sustainable and healthy management of the region. This study is one of the first attempts to integrate the understanding of host-guest relations, their destination experiences, and a wider range of the outcomes of such experiences by going beyond capturing behavioral intentions and focusing on place attachment, the outcomes of the experiences of human-human interactions and human-environment interactions, and the results of the VFR experiences. In doing so, this study not only integrates and advances the knowledge of resident-tourist interactions, but also enables a deeper understanding of the VFR contexts, VFR experiences, and how such experiences affect individuals. More importantly, such integration is enabled in this study by the integration of the theories on emotional solidarity and place attachment. By doing so, this study further seeks theoretical advancement in understanding individuals who experience a destination with local hosts or guests with personal relationships and how the experiences affect their lives and perceptions of their environments. The data were collected through a survey conducted on 470 pairs (n = 940) of hosts and guests in 2023, and PLS-SEM was used for data analysis. The results show that host-guest emotional solidarity and the host’s professional competence are linked to memorable VFR experiences, which can contribute further to place attachment and behavioral intentions of VFR experiences.

ABSTRACT. In the extant word of mouth (hereafter WOM) literature, there is limited research attention on outcome of referral failure and acceptance (Claus et al., 2012). This brief research investigates the reflexive effect of recommendation being rejected (vs. accepted) on the positive WOM (pWOM) giver. Thus, we make contribution to the nascent WOM literature that seeks to understand the reflexive effects of giving WOM on the sender itself. We know the reflexive effect of giving WOM on the sender’s commitment, loyalty, future WOM intentions and their self-enhancement (Chawdhary & Dall’Olmo Riley, 2015; Garnefeld et al., 2011). However, to the best of the author(s) knowledge only one study has investigated the impact of referral failure and acceptance on the sender’s self-related outcome such as their identity (Claus et al., 2012). This study builds upon Claus et al.’s (2012) work by investigating the reflexive effect of referral failure and acceptance on the pWOM giver’s firm-related outcomes such as WOM volume and switching intentions. Word of mouth is a social communication between individuals. We recruited a sample (n=379) from a commercial panel based in the United Kingdom following our designed online experiment. Hotels are the research context of this study because it is a highly familiar and widely used service category within United Kingdom. Familiarity of the research context enhances realism of the scenario-based experiments which is the research method employed in this study. We employed the post-test control group experimental research design wherein we manipulate positive WOM (pWOM vs. No pWOM). There are two treatment groups and one control. Respondents in the treatment group provided the negative advice in writing to either to their strong ties (operationalised as best friend) or weak ties (operationalised as former colleague), whereas the respondents in the control group were told they have intentions to give pWOM but do not do so at this point to avoid creation of an experimental artifact. Pre-tests were conducted to assess the validity of the scenarios. Results passed the manipulation checks. Further, the respondents found the scenarios to be realistic (Roschk & Kaiser, 2013). Realism checks reduces concerns pertaining to low external validity of experimental designs (Gelbrich, 2011). To avoid contamination of results, respondents included in the pre-tests are excluded from the main study. In order to test the research model and relevant hypotheses based on latent variables, this research applies partial least squares (PLS)-based structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. This study adds to WOM literature by examining the reflexive effects of giving WOM on the sender itself, providing empirical evidence by investigating the reflexive effect of referral failure and acceptance on the pWOM giver’s firm-related outcomes such as WOM volume and switching intentions. It finds that reaction to WOM by the WOM receivers mainly affects future WOM behaviours by the senders, while repurchasing or switching behaviours are not significantly affected by the reaction to WOM. This calls for future research on further distinguishing the drivers and motives of the two types of loyalty behaviours, WOM and repeat purchase. Furthermore, the findings suggest entirely different mechanisms in terms of two scenarios whether the WOM is accepted or rejected. If a sender’s WOM is accepted by its receiver, the tie strength between the sender and the receiver will negatively affect the sender’s switching behaviours. In a different word, when a close friend accepts one’s positive recommendation toward a hotel, this person who recommends the hotel will be more loyal to this hotel than a different scenario where the recommendation is directed to a less close friend. When the WOM is accepted, narcissism leads to more future WOM upon the adoption and self-righteousness. Interestingly, narcissism will also result in less loyal purchase behaviours in the form of switching hotels. It suggests a potential pass-over effect in customer loyalty when customers feel that they have already fulfilled their responsibilities as loyal customers by successfully bringing in other customers. Practically speaking, hotel managers should monitor to their best interests their customers’ WOM behaviours and outcomes if possible. For instance, service providers nowadays put in place mechanisms via which they could incentivise their existing customers to refer their services to potential customers and reward them by recording their referral identity codes in new coming transactions. Hotel managers should essentially encourage their customers to recommend their close friends and family to further increase their WOM volume. They should also pay close attention to those customers showing narcissistic characteristics for their effects on future loyal behaviours. Specifically, they should understand the natural positive rewarding effects in these referrals on existing customers’ loyal behaviours, while carefully developing mechanisms to retain existing customers in case of the occurrence of the pass-over effect of loyalty.

ABSTRACT. This research proposes both a theoretical framework and an empirical research design. The framework introduces time as a key variable that can enhance ecotourism awareness, spark interest, reinforce decision-making, and motivate action. Time—through its past, present, and future orientations—creates an abstract, yet vivid and synthesized, "movie-like" narrative in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. By simulating both past and future travel scenarios, the time dimension deepens tourists' understanding of the environmental damage caused by past behaviors and the potential consequences if sustainable, ecotourism-focused behaviors are not adopted. This immersive experience encourages tourists to reflect deeply on harmful practices, view ecotourism in a broader context, and develop a high-level cognitive framework to guide sustainable choices.The study tests hypothetical connections between time dimensions, psychological distancing, and ecotourism behavior using an experimental design with adult participants recruited online. Time perspectives—serial time, past, and future—are manipulated through various scenarios. Participants then complete surveys measuring psychological distancing and their intentions to engage in ecotourism. The study aims to determine whether these time manipulations influence participants' intentions and encourage behaviors that align with ecotourism principles. Results assess changes in behavior and mindset based on time manipulation.

ABSTRACT. This research seeks to explore the impact of online travel platforms’ price discrimination on tourist behavior, particularly platform-switching intention and booking intention, as well as the underlying psychological mechanisms. Three experimental studies were designed. Study 1 investigated the impact of price differences on tourists' purchase intentions and platform-switching intention in the context of hotel booking; Study 2 replicated Study 1 in an airline ticket booking context and examined the mediating roles of relative deprivation and platform moral evaluation; Study 3 introduced self-importance of moral identity as a moderator on the impact of price discrimination. Findings of this research suggest that price discrimination decreases customers’ booking intentions and increases their switching intentions. Notably, the magnitude of price difference did not matter in the negative influence of price discrimination on tourist behaviors. Also, perceived deprivation and moral evaluation of the platform were found to mediate the impact of price discrimination on tourist behaviors. Additionally, self-importance of moral identity can strengthen the negative influence of higher price on customers’ platform-switching intentions. The findings of this research shed light on price management on online travel platforms and development of a fair-priced market.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to explore cultural entropy as a novel framework for understanding cultural tourism. It examines how increasing cultural complexity impacts authenticity, sustainability, and accessibility, highlighting strategies to manage uncertainty in cultural interactions. The framework offers insights into balancing cultural preservation with dynamic, multi-cultural interactions in tourism destinations.

ABSTRACT. A breakthrough marketing tool in the development of e-grocery is personalization, which made it possible to get closer to each consumer and customize sales almost individually. This study is designed to explore the development by determining the impact of AI personalized marketing tools on consumer satisfaction in BRICS e-grocery markets.

ABSTRACT. Recommender Systems (RS) are particularly challenging in fashion retail because fashion recommendations require more knowledge and sophisticated processes. With the advent of Generative AI, the emphasis has shifted towards applying large language models (LLMs) to RS, as illustrated by eBay and Walmart efforts. We have developed a solution environment that combines LLMs and RS tasks to enrich the conventional recommendation process by exploring the qualitative and semantic context of these recommendations. This solution is suitable and feasible for small retailers who want to get into online marketing.

ABSTRACT. The aim of the study to identify modern strategies for the development of Private Labels (PLs) used by retail chains and online retailers in the Russian market, considering the current realities. Research methodology: exploratory empirical research based on the observation method, retail chain store audits and expert interviews with representatives of the largest Russian retailers. The obtained data were processed using content analysis Research results: the PLs development strategies used in the Russian retail market were systematized in accordance with the logic of marketing tasks faced by retailers. The tendency of PLs sales by retailers to third parties was revealed. The prospects and directions of PLs development in the marketing practice of domestic retailers, including portfolio solutions, have been assessed. Originality and significance of the results: the article presents an original research that provides a comprehensive review of retailers' PLs development strategies in the Russian market. For the first time an attempt has been made to systematically evaluate the existing practices of forming portfolio decisions regarding PLs in terms of price segments.

ABSTRACT. This study explores consumers’ perceptions of ethical personal data collection through the lens of perceived risk theory and protection motivation theory. By surveying 445 participants, it was found that threat appraisal, transaction-specific uncertainty and online loyalty, and consumer attitude have a significant impact on purchase intention.

ABSTRACT. Click-and-collect (C&C), also known as buy-online-pick-up in-store (BOPIS), has emerged as an essential fulfillment strategy in omni-channel retail. While the global pandemic accelerated retail digital transformation and widespread C&C adoption, the substantial technology investments and operational complexities involved raise questions about its viability for retailers of different sizes. This research examines how firm size influences the relationship between C&C implementation and firm performance. The empirical analysis is conducted using a longitudinal dataset of 784 observations from 94 brick-and-mortar retailers between 2010 and 2023. We employ the Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (BVAR) method to account for endogeneity between interrelated performance metrics and unobserved firm heterogeneity. Our empitical findings demonstrate that firm size significantly moderates the impacts of C&C on both online and store sales performance, as well as financial constraints. Smaller retailers experience performance disadvantages in C&C implementation across both online and offline channels, and financial constraints. Concerning the effect of C&C implementation on firm mortality, we observe no difference between small and large retailers. These insights into how C&C strategy affects performance across different firm sizes provide valuable guidance for retailers when navigating challenges with digital transformation. In particular, the research findings highlight the importance of organizational size and financial constraints when evaluating the short-term and long-term effects of C&C implementation.

ABSTRACT. Currently, Malaysia's university technology commercialization landscape remains in the developmental phase, requiring substantial effort and attention. Although the importance of university technology commercialization is widely acknowledged, there is limited understanding of the factors influencing commercialization intentions, particularly among junior lecturers. This study aims to identify the factors affecting junior lecturers' technology commercialization intentions and to examine the moderating effects of psychological empowerment on these relationships. Based on a comprehensive literature review, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Psychological Empowerment (PE) theory were adopted as the theoretical foundations of this study. Data for this quantitative research were collected through a mail survey questionnaire using purposive sampling, with a minimum of 102 responses obtained. The findings revealed that personal attitude and perceived behavioral control positively influenced technology commercialization intentions, while subjective norms did not. However, psychological empowerment significantly moderated the relationship between subjective norms and technology commercialization intentions, although it did not affect the relationships involving personal attitude and perceived behavioral control. These findings provide valuable insights into the technology commercialization intentions of junior lecturers and offer a basis for continuous improvements in technology transfer within public universities.

ABSTRACT. ABSTRACT Background Innovation in the High-Technology Manufacturing Industry is becoming increasingly important in the light of the new and emerging phase of industrialization that is known as Industry 5.0. The innovation success of individual High-tech firms is determined by many different factors. One set of factors relates to the risk orientation of the firm’s decision-makers, for example, risk-taking, autonomy, and innovativeness. It is both important and interesting to understand exactly how these factors impact innovation success. For example, which measures of risk orientation have an unambiguously positive effect? Which have an unambiguously negative effect? More interestingly, is it the case that for certain measures, success is highest at mediocre levels of risk-taking, but suffers when risk-taking is either too high or too low?

Brief literature mapping Studies suggesting the close relationship between risk-taking and innovation performance appear in various literatures including Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Strategy Management (Latham and Braun, 2009; March and Shapira, 1987). Some studies have highlighted that innovation success requires risk-taking at all levels of the firm (March, 1987; Garcia-Granero et al., 2015; Colquitt et al., 2007; Zahra, 2005). Many studies focus on sub-categories of risk orientation based on their research objectives (e.g, Dai et al, 2014). From a managerial perspective, the link between risk-taking and innovation performance has been examined using a wide range of approaches, such as the Leadership literature (Covin and Slevin, 1986; Wu et al., 2010).

Research Objective The research objective is to examine the effect of risk orientation on innovation success using standard Econometric methodology.

Method & Data The study used Korea Innovation Survey (KIS) data from the year 2020. The sample consists of 4,000 High-tech Manufacturing Companies in Korea. Binary Logit Analysis is applied, with the binary dependent variable being an indicator of whether the firm was granted at least one patent in the previous three-year period. The key independent variables are five self-reported measures of risk-orientation: general risk orientation, innovativeness, proactiveness, employee autonomy and competitive aggressiveness. Quadratic terms are included in order to allow for non-monotonic effects. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis is used to assess the predictive performance of each estimated model.

Findings For 30% of the firms in the sample, the binary indicator of innovation success equals one. The logit modelling led to a number of interesting findings. First, a firm’s willingness to take risks appears to increase the probability of innovative success. However, this effect is eliminated when other risk-orientation variables are added to the model. Second, employee autonomy has a strong positive effect on innovation success while proactiveness has a strong negative effect on innovation success. Some measures have non-monotonic effects. Notably, competitive aggressiveness has an inverted U effect, implying that moderate levels of competitive aggressiveness are desirable. The ROC analysis reveals that predictive performance is good.

Conclusion The study tales an in-depth look at Korean high-tech manufacturing industry survey data in order to understand how the firm’s risk orientation affects innovation performance in this sector. The main contributions are to apply flexible estimation approaches in order to detect effects of different types of Risk Orientation on innovation success, and to apply ROC analysis to evaluate model performance.

ABSTRACT. Brief Literature Mapping According to the technology gap approach (Fagerberg, 1987; Kim, 2020), the international economic system is characterized by differences in technological levels and trends, which can be overcome through radical changes in technological, economic, and social structures. Products vary in terms of their technological intensity, and it is assumed that the higher the technological intensity of a product, the more significant the impact of technological capabilities on labor productivity (Filippetti & Peyrache, 2015). This implies that the productivity gap between a country and its more advanced trading partners increases as the technological intensity of traded products rises.

Research Objectives The study has two primary objectives: (1) To examine the impact of R&D activities (including expenditure, organization, and partners) and government financial support on the R&D success of SME manufacturers in the high-tech industry. (2) To investigate the moderating effect of technology gaps on the relationship between government financial support and technological innovation.

The Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses The conceptual model of this study is developed based on the causal relationships among the technology gap, government financial support, technological innovation activities of the firm and innovation performance of the firm as R&D success.

The dependent variable is the number of patents granted to the firm in the survey year. This dependent variable is an accurate measure of the firm’s level of patent activity.

Independent variables are government support policies based on the different innovation stages of the firm, technological innovation activities of the firm and the characteristics of the firm. First, the stage of the technological innovation of the firm is various like the planning stage, development stage, or business stage. The different support policies for different innovation stages of the firm will affect the innovation performance of the firm. Second, technological innovation activities for the firm include how much the firm spends R&D expenditure for internal and external R&D (Wakelin, 2001), whether there is an R&D department in the firm (Nieto, 2003) and which types of R&D partners they have (Song, Seol, and Park, 2016). These innovation activities will affect the innovation performance of the firm. Fourth, the characteristics of the firm are considered as one of the main factors to affect innovation performance (Andries and Faems, 2013; Forés and Camisón, 2016; Stock, Greis, and Fischer, 2002). Therefore, we consider the characteristics of the firm as the factors that affect innovation performance.

A moderator variable is the technology gap between competitive countries in the manufacturing sector.

The hypotheses are as follows: H1. Government financial support has a positive impact on patent activity. H2. R&D activities have a positive impact on patent activity. H3. The technology gap has a moderating effect on the impact of government funding on patent activity.

Method & Data The study uses data from the 2019 and 2022 SMEs Technology Statistics Survey, collected by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in Korea. The sample consists of a total of 7,600 small and medium-sized manufacturers in the high-tech (i.e., materials, parts, and equipment) sector with 3,800 company samples in 2019 and 2022, respectively. Since the dependent variable (number of patents) is a count variable with over-dispersion, Negative Binomial Regression will be used. Moreover, since the count variable contains excess zeros, the Zero-inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) regression model will be used. This model allows separation of the extensive and intensive margins; that is, it allows us to separate the determinants of the firm’s decision to apply for patents, from the determinants of the level of patent activity. The independent variables include measures of R&D activities and measures of government financial support. A measure of the technology gap is interacted with government financial support to detect the moderating effect of interest.

Findings The variable R&D Expenditure has a huge positive effect, but only at the extensive margin, not the intensive margin. R&D expenditure boosts the likelihood that the firm will engage in patent activity, but conditional on such engagement, it does not have a noticeable effect on the level of patent activity.

At the intensive margin, Government support has a significant positive effect. Interestingly, government support at the planning stage has a particularly strong effect, while government support at the development and commercialization stages seems less important. Moreover, the positive impact of planning support appears much greater in 2022 than in 2019.

Most interesting of all, the positive effect of planning support appears to be considerably lower for firms with a favorable productivity gap relative to China.

Conclusion and Expected Contributions This study examines the conceptual model and discusses the causal relationships among the technology gap, government financial support and the success of R&D with 7,600 SME manufacturers with negative binomial regression. The main finding is that government innovation policies contribute to firm-level innovation performance in the manufacturing sector, particularly in the presence of a technology gap.

ABSTRACT. The rise of digitalization is changing the way customers interact with companies. Thanks to new technological advances (e.g., AI), companies are offering highly personalized content to customers and improving customer experience. At the same time, individuals tend to share information online about themselves and no research has yet explored the consequences of sharing AI-generated content with others. In this research, we examine the actual sharing behavior of personalized content generated by AI and how sharing AI-generated content enhances customer-brand connections and improves one’s perceptions of authenticity. Therefore, this work highlights the benefits of encouraging customers to post AI-generated content on social media platforms.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the role of big data investments and artificial intelligence in driving key account management (KAM) effectiveness through business intellinge and analytics (BI&A)-enabled dynamic capabilities in banking organizations, in the context of an emerging economy. We also examine the moderating effect of artificial intelligence utilization on the relationship between dynamic capabilities and KAM effectiveness. Using primary data collected from 335 key account managers in Nigeria, we find that big data investments and artificial intelligence enhance a bank’s business intelligence and analytics (BI & A) sensing capability. In turn, BI & A sensing capability strengthens a bank’s BI & A seizing capability, which in turn enables its business process change capability. Our findings also indicate that BI & A sensing and BI & A seizing capabilities enhance KAM effectiveness, whereas business process change capability has a negative impact on KAM effectiveness. With respect to moderating effects, our results reveal that at high levels of artificial intelligence adoption BI & A sensing and BI & A seizing capabilities have a negative influence on KAM effectiveness, whereas business process change capability has a strong positive effect on KAM effectiveness. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory development and managerial practice and provide directions for future research.

ABSTRACT. Retailers are increasingly losing the attention of consumers (Stipp, 2018) and are therefore looking for new, attention-grabbing advertising methods such as gamification (Högberg et al., 2019). Gamification uses game elements to motivate consumers to behave in a certain way in non-game contexts (Deterding et al., 2011; Seaborn and Fels, 2015). Retailers can use gamified promotions that combine a traditional promotion with game elements such as digital prize wheels. Although such gamified promotions can potentially increase sales (Bauer et al., 2020), they can also lead to negative public and consumer perceptions. Previous literature has observed negative effects of gamification on consumer purchase intention (Högberg et al., 2019). These findings suggest that positive effects of gamification cannot be taken for granted. For example, some consumers may ignore gamified advertising or abandon the game. This behavior could have a negative impact on attitudes towards the app and the retailer.

We conducted three studies using scenario experiments with a mock-up app to investigate the dropouts of a gamified promotion. The results of studies 1 to 3 show that gamified promotion dropouts have a more negative attitude towards the app and the retailer than players. The results of studies 2 and 3 show that the difference between dropouts and players can be explained by consumer reactance. In addition, study 3 shows that consumer reactance can be reduced if the prize is announced before (vs. after) playing and that retailers should implement a feedback option, e.g. in the form of a push message, so that consumers can decide whether they want to receive the option to play a game next time.

The contribution of our work is threefold. First, we examine the effect of dropouts (vs. players) of a gamified promotion on consumers’ attitude toward the app and the retailer. Second, we consider reactance theory by Brehm (1966) to explain the abovementioned effect. Third, we contribute to existing literature by providing implications on how retailers should manage dropouts. In addition, our work highlights the importance of considering dropouts and provides insights into how retailers can deal with them.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how watching films of different genres influences subsequent retail behavior using panel methods on a large dataset. Results show light movies increase, while action movies decrease, the likelihood of visiting hypermarkets. Effects vary by gender and movie-watching frequency, with implications for coupon distribution and movie scheduling strategies.

ABSTRACT. In the omnichannel era delivering a great customer experience is a priority for retailers. Assessing the customer journey phases is key to provide shoppers with a unique experience. Using a multimethod approach for customer journeys analysis in two grocery stores, we point out technology and human-based elements that contribute to an enhanced customer experience.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates customer data-sharing behavior in digital commerce, emphasizing trust, benefits, and privacy concerns. Analyzing data from 1,010,000 sources, it explores how hyper-personalization impacts trust and satisfaction while balancing privacy risks. Introducing perceived intrusion as a moderating variable, it examines minimizing digital interruptions to boost engagement, trust, and purchase intent.

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ABSTRACT. In the market for talent, understanding how managerial abilities affect brand performance is a critical question for both academics and practitioners. Using data from the English Premier League (EPL) on manager-club matches, which represent some of the world’s most prominent global brands, we study the role of managerial abilities and their alignment with organizational capabilities in determining success. Employing an extended revealed preference semi-parametric two-sided matching maximum score estimator (MMSE) framework, we address two primary econometric challenges: (1)the endogenous manager-club matching process and (2)the complex interdependencies arising from competitive equilibrium outcomes. Relative to the conventional MMSE, our advanced method enables the estimation of manager-specific attributes, provides richer interpretative insights, and directly links match value functions to brand performance. We leverage a Large Language Model (LLM) to quantify managerial abilities from large volumes of publicly available textual data, offering a direct assessment of managerial qualities while avoiding limitations associated with proxy measures or subjective evaluations. Our findings reveal that the returns on strong interpersonal skills diminish with increasing squad size, whereas returns on tactical expertise grow with higher player quality. Notably, managerial integrity failures impose more severe consequences on lower-tier clubs, while elite clubs demonstrate resilience despite heightened scrutiny. This study establishes a foundational framework with broad applicability to marketing research in matching markets.

ABSTRACT. The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare services presents both opportunities and ethical challenges. Despite the benefits of AI-based diagnostic tools, consumer concerns about trust and perceived ethical risks have hindered their widespread adoption. This study investigates how varying levels of transparency in AI health diagnostic tools influence consumer trust and adoption intention. Drawing upon trust theory, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), signaling theory, and procedural justice theory, we examine how transparency shapes perceived competence, benevolence, and integrity—three key dimensions of trust. A between-subjects experimental design with low, medium, and high transparency conditions was employed to explore these effects. The results demonstrate that higher transparency significantly enhances trust and increases the likelihood of adoption, both directly and indirectly. This study contributes to the literature by deepening the understanding of trust dynamics in AI-driven healthcare and highlighting the role of transparency in ethical risk mitigation. Practically, the findings offer actionable insights for AI developers and policymakers aiming to foster responsible and trustworthy AI healthcare solutions.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how meme culture and celebrity effects influence the perceived virtual art value of NFTs among young consumers. Using a mixed-methods approach, including qualitative interviews and behavioral experiments, we categorize NFT value into Informative, Entertainment, Unique, Expressive, and Social dimensions. Drawing on consumer value theory, we examine how status consumption, personality innovativeness, and community orientation moderate consumer perceptions of NFTs. Findings reveal that meme-based celebrity endorsements enhance perceived NFT value, but over-reliance on celebrities may create speculative bubbles. The study contributes to NFT marketing strategies by integrating cultural and psychological insights into digital asset valuation.

ABSTRACT. Many decisions made by individuals are discrete. Many of these decisions are strategically interdependent, i.e. they affect each other and are therefore anticipated. Examples include market entry or pricing decisions by firms. Discrete games concern choices made from a finite set of alternatives, where the payoff of each choice depends on other choices. Discrete games are thus discrete choice models with strategic interactions. In this paper I will present different formulations of discrete games and how these models can be estimated using simple two-step estimation strategies. Finally, I will apply discrete games to the pricing and data disclosure decision of app providers.

ABSTRACT. This research explores the philosophical and technological dimensions of 3D virtual fashion retailing, proposing immersive virtual stores that either replicate physical spaces or embrace thematic creativity. Conceptual models emphasize consumer-centered interactivity, psychological and symbolic dynamics, and emerging technologies. Future directions highlight imitation-versus-creation paradigms, addressing social hierarchies, connectivity, sustainability, and ethical considerations.

ABSTRACT. The ever-evolving nature of the digital landscape has positioned artificial intelligence (AI) at the forefront of influencer marketing, particularly within the fashion industry. In this context, virtual influencers (VIs) have emerged as a prominent phenomenon in social media. This study examines how the dimensions of source credibility—trustworthiness, attractiveness, and expertise—affect consumer attitudes toward VIs and, in turn, how these attitudes influence purchase intention. Source Credibility Theory informs this study. Understanding the impact of influencer credibility on consumer attitudes and purchasing behavior is crucial for researchers and marketers seeking to develop effective strategies and advance scholarly inquiry, specifically in the fashion world. The fashion market has grown substantially, with projections indicating an increase exceeding 250 billion U.S. dollars by 2028. Social media has catalyzed a surge in fashion influencer marketing, characterized by collaborations between brands and social media influencers (SMIs) to increase brand visibility and consumer engagement. Concurrently, the rise of AI represents a significant technological development, with anticipated global expenditure set to escalate from $50 billion (US) in 2020 to over $110 billion (US) by 2024

Data were collected from 178 active social media users aged 18 and above through non-probability convenience and snowball sampling. A self-completion questionnaire was hosted on Qualtircs and distributed via various social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and WhatsApp). Pre-testing was done, and all ethical standards were adhered to. Given the limited sample size, the study utilized basic yet suitable statistical analyses that aligned with the data, allowing for meaningful insights while acknowledging potential constraints on generalizability. Multiple regression and simple linear regression were run to interpret the findings.

The questionnaire consisted of different sections, including screening questions, questions regarding the respondent’s familiarity and perceptions of VIs, measurement items of the various constructs, questions about the respondent’s social media usage and questions regarding the respondent's fashion product purchases.

To provide more context and consistency, four social media posts by South African virtual influencer Kim Zulu were provided to all respondents. To measure the different constructs, respondents were asked to evaluate each statement using a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). All the constructs were adapted from prior literature to suit the current study. The trustworthiness of a VI was measured using five items, the attractiveness of a VI was measured using five items and the expertise of a VI was measured using five items from Ohanian’s scale (1990). Attitude towards a VI was measured using four items from Chetioui, Benlafqih and Lebdaoui (2020). Purchase intention was measured using four items from Kim and Park (2023).

The findings indicate that attractiveness significantly influences consumer attitudes toward VIs, whereas trustworthiness and expertise do not exhibit statistically significant effects. Moreover, consumer attitudes toward VIs strongly predict purchase intention.

This study contributes to the limited body of research on the role of VIs in developing countries, offering valuable insights into consumer behavior in the fashion industry. The findings suggest that while marketers should prioritize attractiveness in virtual influencer strategies, trustworthiness and expertise remain essential components of source credibility. Future research may benefit from incorporating authenticity as a construct to explore consumer attitudes in virtual environments further.

This study also contributes to the understanding of how the credibility of virtual VIs shapes consumer attitudes and, ultimately, purchase intentions. By applying Source Credibility Theory to the context of virtual fashion influencers, this research extends the theory into a relatively unexplored domain. While the findings affirm the continued relevance of source credibility dimensions, their influence may differ in virtual environments.

ABSTRACT. The integration of chatbots in the luxury fashion retail sector has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years, resulting in a growing interest among both scholars and professionals. However, there is a discrepancy between consumer adoption and increasing business interest as consumers report unpleasant chatbot experiences. Yet, research is limited on what and how the negative aspects of chatbots impact luxury fashion customers. This study therefore explores the potential detrimental impact of chatbots on luxury fashion consumers and their subsequent coping strategies. Grounded in the technology paradox theory, this study conducted 36 semi-structured in-depth interviews with millennial luxury fashion consumers to provide a better understanding of the impact of chatbots on luxury fashion consumers. The findings reveal eight chatbot paradoxes experienced by millennial customers including control/chaos, efficiency/inefficiency, competence/incompetence, fulfils/creates needs, freedom/enslavement, personalisation/privacy, engaging/disengaging, and enhancing/devaluing luxury. Correspondingly, the findings also identify how millennial luxury fashion consumers adapt to conflicts and anxiety experienced with chatbots by developing approach or avoidance coping strategies, such as abandonment, distancing, accommodation, acceptance, and trade-offs. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the use of chatbots with millennial luxury fashion consumers on luxury fashion retail websites and provide a rich understanding of the link between chatbot paradoxes and related consumer coping strategies. Furthermore, this study provides practical implications to inform luxury fashion retailers, and future research directions are established.

ABSTRACT. Our study focuses on how consumer-perceived stress in online fashion stores affects the sustainability of purchases. To measure consumer-perceived stress, we use an optical heart rate sensor to track heart rate variability (HRV). For online fashion stores, we chose four different brands representing a range of sustainability practices and approaches to current fashion trends: Fast Non-Sustainable Fashion, Fast “Sustainable” Fashion, Slow Sustainable Fashion, and “Slow” Non-Sustainable Fashion. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) underpins much of this research, proposing two distinct routes of persuasion: the central route (thoughtful and analytical processing of information) and the peripheral route (decisions influenced by superficial cues such as emotions and aesthetics). According to ELM, we assess motivation by measuring consumers' green consumption values, while ability is measured through consumers' subjective and objective knowledge. ELM posits that perceived stress will increase impulsive purchasing, leading to unsustainable consumption, whereas a lack of stress will increase deliberate purchasing, leading to more sustainable consumption. However, variations across different online fashion platforms are expected to shape these relationships, highlighting the need for further investigation into platform-specific influences on consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. The Russian fashion market has undergone significant changes over the past few years. As a consequence of crisis periods associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the tightening sanctions from 2022, changes in consumer preferences and digital trends have significantly affected the activities of retailers. An exodus of globally recognized fashion brands has also changed the Russian fashion landscape: general sales decreased by 14.2%, and clothing sales decreased by 37% percent in 2022 (RBC, 2024). As part of a study of the changes in the Russian fashion market, various market players related to the production and sale of product categories will be considered: clothing, shoes, and accessories. This paper aims to identify current trends in the Russian fashion market, describing the use of digital technologies and opportunities to adapt business strategies and will also demonstrate the results.

ABSTRACT. Virtual Try-On (VTO) technology has emerged as a transformative tool in e-commerce, leveraging augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance online shopping experiences. This study investigates the cross-cultural differences in consumer responses to VTO technology between the United States and Taiwan, applying the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model. Specifically, it examines how perceived anthropomorphism and perceived risk influence cognitive and emotional trust, which subsequently affect self-disclosure and adoption intentions in the context of luxury retailing. An online between-subject experiment was conducted using three avatar types—mannequin, digital-styled, and photo-realistic—generated by commercial VTO software. Data were collected from 400 participants across the two countries from 2024 to 2025. Findings reveal that perceived anthropomorphism significantly enhances both cognitive and emotional trust in both cultures. However, perceived risk negatively impacts trust only among U.S. consumers, while no significant effect is observed for Taiwanese consumers. Emotional trust positively influences self-disclosure in both groups, but cognitive trust does not. Both cognitive and emotional trust significantly drive adoption intentions across cultures. The post-hoc analysis highlights notable differences in attitudes, with Taiwanese respondents scoring higher on most variables. This research offers theoretical insights into cross-cultural consumer behavior and practical implications for VTO developers aiming to optimize user adoption globally. Future research should explore additional cultural contexts, longitudinal effects of VTO usage, and ethical concerns such as data privacy to further enhance understanding of this rapidly evolving technology.

ABSTRACT. Sustainable fashion marketing faces challenges, including siloed decision-making, digital fragmentation, and disjointed integration across key functions. This study presents the AI-Agent-Driven Sustainable Fashion Marketing System as a benchmark for overcoming these barriers, embedding artificial intelligence into a continuous feedback and optimisation cycle. Its flexible design allows expansion beyond fashion retail, enabling data-driven advancements in sustainable practices.

ABSTRACT. Luxury fashion brands have become increasingly visible since 2009 after the successful rejuvenation of Burberry on social media (Phan, Thomas, & Heine, 2011.) Social media enables great accessibility, allowing consumers to interact with luxury brands and enjoy brand or user-generated content regardless of their economic or social status. Over the years, social media has become a powerful outlet for brand marketing and offers exciting opportunities for brand awareness and engagement, business retention, and growth. The popularity of social media platforms also created challenges and risks for luxury brands. Statistics Marketing Insights states, " The conceptual key to understanding luxury in marketing is exclusivity.” “Exclusivity remains the cornerstone of luxury marketing, upheld through high prices and deliberately restricted sales volumes and distribution channels.” Many scholars have doubted social media's compatibility with luxury (i.e., Cheung et al., 2021; Godey et al., 2016; Kim & Ko, 2012; Liu et al., 2021; Okonkwo, 2009).

In early 2021, Bottega Veneta became the first luxury brand to withdraw from social media by announcing that it would no longer post on Instagram and Facebook. The brand’s deletion of Instagram and Twitter profiles with 2.5 million followers without explanation and cleaning up Facebook posts made a big splash. As Kering’s CEO, Francois-Henri Pinault (Kering is Bottega’s parent company), explained, “It’s not disappearing from social networks; it’s merely using them differently. Similarly, luxury brands such as Versace deleted all their Instagram posts shortly after the acquisition of Capri Holdings. Balenciaga is one of the brands that clean their Instagram account from time to time.

This study aims to identify implications for luxury brands in digital marketing and social media platforms by looking at examples employed by luxury brands. The study examines the relationship between brands' social media postings (by content type, posting frequency, and platforms) and brand performance. The research reveals that luxury brands must be particularly cautious about balancing the impact on brand perception and exclusivity in social media marketing. To implement social media marketing successfully, marketers need to creatively reinforce brand value and customer loyalty and focus on brand essence and heritage to strengthen brand value. Growing consumer interest and demands need to be balanced with maintaining exclusiveness and brand success in the long run.

ABSTRACT. Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to explore the influencing factors and mechanisms of user stickiness in the metaverse context, and improve user stickiness to promote and realize the application of the metaverse in the consumer field. Design/methodology/approach- The metaverse scenario was designed and 317 valid questionnaires were collected. The structural equation model was constructed by SPSS and AMOS for empirical study. Findings- The research shows that: in the metaverse context, tele-presence and perceived ease of use have a significant positive impact on user stickiness, while sensory experience has no significant impact on user stickiness, behavioral experience has a significant positive impact on user stickiness, behavioral experience plays a mediating role between independent variables and user stickiness, and sensory experience and behavioral experience play a chain mediating role. Originality/value- Combined with the metaverse shopping mode, this paper deeply studies the influencing factors and internal mechanism of user stickiness, and explores the possible chain intermediary relationship between sensory experience and behavioral experience in the metaverse context. It has enriched the relevant research of metaverse shopping, expanded the application scenarios of brand experience-related theories, technology acceptance model and telepresence theory, helped the rapid advancement of metaverse shopping, and provided new reference and management enlightenment for enterprises to introduce metaverse shopping.

ABSTRACT. Research on customer engagement has largely focused on loyalty programs, yet the role of rewarded customer engagement in driving participation across digital platforms—particularly mobile and metaverse loyalty programs—remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining rewarded customer engagement’s impact within both mobile app-based and metaverse-based loyalty programs. Specifically, it explores: (1) how rewarded customer engagement influences loyalty in mobile and metaverse loyalty programs, and (2) whether rewarded customer engagement in mobile loyalty programs encourages members to engage in a brand’s metaverse loyalty program.

Using in-depth semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 17 loyalty program members, this study uncovers key insights into the relationship between rewarded customer engagement, mobile, and metaverse loyalty programs. The findings reveal that (1) rewarded customer engagement has a stronger association with loyalty in mobile loyalty programs than in metaverse loyalty programs, and (2) rewarded customer engagement in mobile loyalty programs does not necessarily translate to engagement in a brand’s metaverse loyalty program, as other critical factors, such as prior experience, trust and presence of social circle influence this transition.

This study provides valuable insights for marketing scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the rise of the metaverse, the differing impacts of rewarded customer engagement across digital platforms, and the interplay between mobile and metaverse loyalty programs—ultimately informing strategies to enhance customer engagement and boost long-term loyalty.

ABSTRACT. Recommender Systems (RS) are particularly challenging in fashion retail because fashion recommendations require more knowledge and sophisticated processes. With the advent of Generative AI, the emphasis has shifted towards applying large language models (LLMs) to RS, as illustrated by eBay and Walmart efforts. We have developed a solution environment that combines LLMs and RS tasks to enrich the conventional recommendation process by exploring the qualitative and semantic context of these recommendations. This solution is suitable and feasible for small retailers who want to get into online marketing.

ABSTRACT. Due to limitations in information processing capacity and "cognitive bandwidth," users often experience information overload when faced with an overwhelming array of e-commerce platforms and an oversupply of products. In this context, recommendation systems become particularly important. Collaborative filtering recommendation and content-based recommendation have been widely adopted by enterprises, and studies have demonstrated their significant impact on purchase intention. However, in-depth analysis of their underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions remains insufficient. Therefore, this study constructs a dual-mediation research model incorporating personalized perception and perceived recommendation accuracy. Through experimental research, the findings reveal that both collaborative filtering recommendation and content-based recommendation significantly enhance consumers' purchase intention. Specifically, collaborative filtering recommendation primarily influences purchase intention indirectly by enhancing consumers' personalized perception, whereas content-based recommendation operates by improving perceived recommendation accuracy. Furthermore, this study uncovers the crucial moderating role of product type in this process: for hedonic products, collaborative filtering recommendation has a stronger effect on enhancing personalized perception, whereas for utilitarian products, content-based recommendation more effectively improves perceived recommendation accuracy. Therefore, e-commerce platforms should match appropriate recommendation methods based on product type, strategically activating consumers' personalized perception or perceived recommendation accuracy to effectively enhance the conversion efficiency of recommendation systems.

ABSTRACT. Recent years have witnessed rapid advancements in AI technology, leading to the widespread deployment of intelligent assistants and service robots in diverse customer service scenarios. While existing studies generally indicate that anthropomorphic and intelligent AI service agents enhance user acceptance and satisfaction, there remains a critical gap in understanding the specific psychological responses elicited during consumers’interactions with highly anthropomorphic and intelligent AI assistants, as well as how these reactions shape downstream behavioral outcomes. Within the service marketing domain, current research presents a notable gap in systematically examining the mechanisms through which highly anthropomorphic and intelligent AI assistants trigger distinct psychological processes in consumers.

Consequently, this study constructs a theoretical model delineating the relationship between AI service assistants and consumer service experience through the mediating roles of perceived warmth and perceived control. Utilizing survey data and structural equation modeling (SEM), the findings reveal: Highly anthropomorphic and intelligent AI service assistants, when endowed with human-like mental capacities, exhibit enhanced empathy and emotional expressiveness. During consumer interactions, these attributes activate warmth perception through social judgment mechanisms, thereby exerting a positive influence on service experience. This effect is moderated by service type: the warmth-mediated positive impact is significantly stronger in hedonic (vs. utilitarian) service contexts.Interactions with highly intelligent and anthropomorphic AI agents trigger identity threat and output uncertainty, which diminish consumers’perceived control over the interaction context, ultimately impairing service experience. This negative pathway is moderated by technology proficiency: the adverse effect mediated by perceived control is attenuated among consumers with high (vs. low) technology proficiency.

Therefore, in service marketing contexts where consumers interact with AI agents, practitioners should empower consumers with procedural control (e.g., decision-making autonomy in interaction processes) and informational transparency (e.g., explainable AI outputs). These strategies enhance situational predictability, thereby mitigating control deprivation caused by uncertainty and reducing identity threats inherent to anthropomorphic designs, ultimately fostering superior service experiences.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines how green prestige advertising influences consumers' negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) intentions through envy and schadenfreude. Based on social comparison theory, it explores how status-driven green ads provoke upward comparisons that induce envy, leading to schadenfreude and NWOM. Two experiments with different consumer goods (a car and a restaurant) were conducted to test the model. Results show that green prestige ads increase envy and schadenfreude compared to non-prestige green ads. Additionally, anti-egalitarianism (AEG) was found to moderate this effect, with individuals high in AEG displaying lower levels of envy, schadenfreude, and NWOM. The study highlights the role of individual differences in hierarchy-maintenance motives and suggests marketers of green prestige brands use inclusive messaging to reduce envy and NWOM.

ABSTRACT. Sustainability is central to contemporary consumer culture and business strategies, particularly among Generation Z and Millennials, often described as the "sustainability generation." While these cohorts express heightened awareness and advocacy for climate action, a disconnect persists between their sustainable intentions and actual behaviors, often due to limited sustainability literacy and skepticism toward greenwashing. The fashion industry has responded with initiatives like recycled materials, plastic-free packaging, and collaborative consumption models, including second-hand clothing, rentals, and recycling. However, the nuanced perspectives of younger consumers on these models remain underexplored.

This study examines how Gen Z and Millennial consumers construct narratives and personas around collaborative consumption in the fashion industry. Through 31 semi-structured interviews and six focus groups with Canadian participants aged 12 to 42, the research reveals distinct generational differences in understanding and adopting sustainable practices. While younger Gen Z participants equate thrifting with recycling, older Gen Z and Millennials exhibit a more informed, though cost-sensitive, perspective. Across all groups, style, affordability, and convenience often outweighed sustainability as primary motivators for clothing purchases.

Thrifting emerged as a widespread practice, driven by affordability, social appeal, and sustainability benefits, yet sometimes leading to overconsumption. Concerns about hygiene, accessibility, and the overwhelming selection in thrift stores highlighted barriers to adoption. Participants expressed frustration with the burden of making informed choices, underscoring the need for transparent and engaging sustainability communication.

Key findings identify consumer personas such as Eco-Advocates and Casually Green individuals, revealing aspirations and barriers in promoting circular fashion. Themes like affordability, trust, style, and the demand for accessible information provide actionable insights for brands seeking to engage eco-conscious consumers. This study contributes to both academic and industry discourses on sustainability, offering strategies to align consumer behavior with the goals of the circular economy.

ABSTRACT. This study extends the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore the role of consumer personal values in pro-environmental behavior. Schwartz’s (1994) framework of personal values and the concept of green advertising skepticism are integrated as key constructs in the pro-environmental decision-making process. The findings demonstrate that personal values significantly influence pro-environmental behavioral intention within the extended TPB model. Furthermore, consumers’ green advertising skepticism negatively moderates the relationships between attitudes towards green advertising, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, and pro-environmental behavior intention.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of the market environment and financial behavior through four sociological senses, control, and financial knowledge to examine the GFSB of Indonesian digital generation consumers. Online surveys conducted via Google Forms with 928 electric vehicle users in Indonesia were analyzed using SEM-PLS 3.0. Norms, control, and knowledge significantly affect the market environment. Knowledge and market settings are the most significant positive influences for green behavior, indicating that green financial knowledge and a robust eco-friendly worldview were crucial for developing a positive attitude toward GFSB, dismissing range anxiety. Knowledge and behavior have the most potent positive effects on GFSB. Norms and control significantly emphasized the social influence and perceived capability in promoting GFSB. Altruism is less impactful, while Ego negatively affects Green Behavior. The results underscored enhancing knowledge and fostering supportive norms to drive positive, eco-friendly GFSB overarching themes for policymakers, marketers, financial institutions, and other relevant stakeholders in this Digital Era.

ABSTRACT. Product harm refers to a discrete event in which products are identified as defective, bringing harm to consumers particularly those who purchase a brand’s products or service. Most of the extant research centers on the consumer responses to product harm in the context of the affected brand. Beyond the direct impacts on affected brands, some studies have investigated the spillover effects of product harm, where the crisis influences other, non-affected brands, particularly related to affected brand. However, little is known about how product harm affects consumer behaviors that are not directly tied to the affected firm, competitive brands, or those within the same product category. To address this gap, the current study investigates the effect of experiencing product harm on consumer sustainable consumption. Drawing from the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), this research proposes that individuals who experience product harm are more likely to seek and consume information related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. Such engagement with CSR information, in turn, encourages sustainable consumption. Furthermore, the research hypothesizes that this effect is strengthened for individuals who exhibit a strong sense of efficacy (i.e., an individual’s perceived ability to perform specific actions to achieve desired outcomes) in product and service purchase.

ABSTRACT. The United Nations estimates that Tourism constitutes 5% Carbon Dioxide emissions globally and that would increase drastically by 130% by 2035 (UNWTO, 2010). However, environment and tourism has to go hand in hand and the industry has to find a fine balance between sustainability and profitability (Moellar, Dolnicar, Leisch, 2011). In recent years, all the major constituents of the tourism industry including hospitality have taken several sustainability measures and have widely publicised them to create awareness among tourists. The changing customer awareness and preference for green lodging (Manganari, E.E.& Dimara, 2015) has made many hotels opt for eco-friendly measures but customer awareness is low for these measures (Rahman, I. & Reynolds, D., 2017). It is therefore imperative for the hospitality industry to communicate the several green measures they have undertaken to create trust among the customers. This research is to understand how altruistic mindset affects attitude and intentions with regard to green practices in the hospitality industry. Hence an empirical research was conducted to understand antecedents to green consumption behavioural intent in Hotel industry. This research establishes critical role of environmental communication in developing attitude. This finding will help the green hotels to adequately design suitable communication strategies to increase consumer awareness, positive attitudes and pro-environmental behavioural intentions.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the marketing challenges faced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in promoting garment recycling in Hong Kong. The relentless cycle of production and excessive consumption of low-cost, low-quality fast fashion has fostered a detrimental "throwaway culture," contributing to a global waste crisis (Riba et al., 2020). Each year, over 92 million tons of garment and textile waste are discarded in landfills or incinerated (Moazzem et al., 2021). NGOs are pivotal in garment waste management, playing a crucial role in collecting and processing textile waste while fostering sustainable awareness and community engagement in recycling practices. While existing literature has proposed strategies for optimizing operations and decision-making models (Chowdhury et al., 2023) and integrating smart technologies in waste management (Rehman et al., 2024), it often overlooks the communication and operational practices that present challenges in engaging the community in garment waste recycling. A lack of understanding of recycling practices from a marketing perspective further complicates the design and implementation of effective strategies aimed at increasing public awareness and participation, ultimately hindering improvements in recycling rates and efficiency.

This exploratory study employs a mixed-method approach, including in-depth interviews with representatives from NGOs involved in the Community Used Clothes Recycling Bank Scheme in Hong Kong and consumer surveys during recycling campaigns. Preliminary findings reveal several key communication and operational challenges faced by these NGOs in engaging the community in garment recycling. Communication challenges include: 1) low public awareness and understanding of recycling practices, 2) ineffective public engagement strategies, 3) limited utilization of communication and marketing tools, 4) inconsistent messaging, and 5) insufficient outreach capacity. Operational challenges encompass: 1) resource constraints, 2) logistical and storage limitations, 3) a lack of recycling facilities, and 4) contamination of collected garments. This research highlights how challenges faced by NGOs influence the effectiveness of garment recycling initiatives, aiming to enhance public engagement and raise awareness of circular fashion practices.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the interactive effects of message framing and environmental knowledge on green advertising effectiveness. Drawing on dual-process theories of persuasion and consumer information processing, we theorize that the congruence between message framing (gain vs. loss) and the type of environmental knowledge (subjective vs. objective) systematically influences consumers’ responses to green advertising. Across two studies, we demonstrate that subjective environmental knowledge (SEK) enhances the effectiveness of gain-framed messages but attenuates the impact of loss-framed appeals. Conversely, objective environmental knowledge (OEK) strengthens the persuasiveness of loss-framed messages while diminishing the effectiveness of gain-framed appeals. Furthermore, perceived authenticity serves as a key mediating mechanism, fully mediating the relationship between environmental knowledge and advertising effectiveness in gain-framed conditions. In loss-framed contexts, however, the mediating role of authenticity is contingent on the type of environmental knowledge, exerting a significant effect for consumers with high OEK but not for those with high SEK. These findings contribute to the literature on green advertising by elucidating the boundary conditions of message framing effectiveness and highlighting the role of authenticity in shaping consumer responses. Theoretical and managerial implications for sustainable marketing strategies are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Olfactory marketing, which examines the strategic use of scent to influence consumer perceptions and behaviors, has gained increasing attention across marketing, psychology, and sensory science. Despite its increasing relevance, the field remains fragmented, lacking a comprehensive synthesis of its intellectual development. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of 113 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection, mapping key trends in publication patterns, research themes, influential scholars, and collaborative networks. The findings reveal that olfactory marketing research has experienced significant growth since 2010, with three dominant themes emerging: (1) the psychological and behavioral effects of scent, (2) the strategic role of ambient and product scents in marketing, and (3) scent’s integration with multisensory marketing approaches. Additionally, the study identifies research gaps in cross-cultural scent preferences, digital olfactory marketing, and long-term brand impact. By providing a structured overview of the evolution and intellectual structure of olfactory marketing research, this study contributes to both academia and practice, offering insights into how olfactory cues shape consumer experiences, brand perception, and decision-making.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, Benefit Corporations and B-Corp certified companies have played a key role in promoting sustainability, particularly in the fashion industry, which is known for its significant environmental impact. A B-Corp is a for-profit company certified by B Lab for meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency, while a Benefit Corporation is the legal status granted to companies that commit to balancing profit with social and environmental responsibility. Italy, a cornerstone of the global luxury fashion industry, is facing a deep crisis in its "Made in Italy" sector, where the social and environmental sustainability of craftsmanship is increasingly under threat. Offshoring and the decline of traditional manufacturing practices are eroding the quality and ethical values associated with this distinctive label. The adoption of the B-Corp model represents a concrete opportunity to foster sustainability, protect artisanal heritage, and strengthen industry ethics, positioning Italian fashion companies as global examples of responsible innovation. This study examines the role of Benefit Corporations and B-Corp certified companies in the Italian fashion industry through a multi-case empirical analysis. Four high-impact Italian B-Corps were selected, using a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews and internal report analysis. The research explores the benefits of B-Corp certification for branding and marketing, assessing its contribution to strengthening the global image of "Made in Italy". The findings highlight the potential of B-Corp certification as a strategic tool for competitiveness, enhancing brand perception and reinforcing "Made in Italy" as a symbol of excellence, tradition, and ethical production. By demonstrating a clear commitment to social and environmental responsibility, certified companies can gain greater consumer trust and credibility, positioning themselves as leaders in the global movement toward sustainable fashion. Moreover, B-Corp certification offers strategic marketing advantages by leveraging sustainable practices to further solidify "Made in Italy" as a hallmark of regenerative, ethical production. Furthermore, the research identifies key success factors, including leadership commitment, innovation, and stakeholder engagement, while also analyzing the challenges of balancing profitability with sustainability. Ultimately, this study fills a gap in the literature on B-Corps in the Italian fashion industry and provides practical recommendations for businesses, policymakers, and stakeholders, with the goal of fostering a more responsible and sustainable fashion industry.

ABSTRACT. Abstract submission for 2025 Global Marketing Conference, Hong Kong

Food banks and society: A psychological analysis of monetary donations to food banks in Japan

According to the World Bank statistics (2025), food insecurity is a persistent problem for nearly 161 countries, and 43.5% of these countries have food price inflation that exceeds the country's overall inflation, making it an urgent situation. Several indicators point out how food insecurity could be handled through international cooperation, enhanced research related to food security and food wastage (UN, 2025), policy interventions (Healthy People, 2030), and community initiatives. Community-based interventions come across as an urging force in not only controlling societal issues and declining interhuman relations but also helping to provide immediate relief to local and global social complexities. Among various community-based interventions for addressing food insecurity, the domain of food banks is a growing phenomenon. Food banks are defined as establishments that collect food that can no longer be sold by various actors in the food chain. This food is then distributed to communities and other institutions who in turn distribute the food to those in need (Pettersson, 2015; Blessely and Mudambi, 2022). Extant research has highlighted that food banks play a major role in distributing food resources to financially, physically, and emotionally vulnerable populations (Chantelle et al, 2016). Community interactions and participation with food banks are gaining prominence and increasing research attention is laid on the interrelation between food banks and social welfare arrangements in several countries. Some recent extant research looks at discussing aspects like food bank beneficiaries (Tarasuk et al, 2020); socio-political factors (Bazerghi et al, 2016), diversity and inclusivity with the increasing number of global food banks (Schanes & Stagl, 2019) to name a few. However, there is thin academic evidence regarding the motivations and hindrances related to local demographies concerning their behavior toward food banks (Verpy et al, 2003; Bazerghi et al, 2016; Bennett et al, 2021). Aspects such as public interest, individual financial status, knowledge and awareness of donation impact, and influence of public identity and individual image building need more research investigation.

This paper addresses the research gap and investigates societal perceptions regarding donations to food banks in the form of monetary donations. It is a work in progress and at this stage, the relation between the inclination for monetary donations to food banks and the associated identity and image-related nuances are explored. We analyze the motivations and nudges that can be important for instigating and motivating donation behavior among people. A survey was requested from a research company, and the panel survey was launched online to collect 1,000 samples with the allocation of location, age, and gender according to the national census data in Japan. To gain responses regarding food donation behavior, an experimental approach was used with a systematically designed Image scale. The respondents were asked to answer a survey with various aspects related to food donation behavior using a 7-point scale. The image scale consisting of 25 adjective pairs was used, where the image scale was divided into two patterns: the image that "I" have, and the image that "others" have when they see a respondent indulging in food donation behavior. Further, relative image motivation was measured by conducting a mean value test for "oneself" and "others." The Semantic Differential method (SD method) was used to extract the image of food donations. SD method is used as a method to measure the meaning or image of a wide range of events (Inoue and Kobayashi, 1985). The survey results showed that most of the 25 image scales showed a positive tendency toward donating to food banks. Of these, 16 scales clearly showed a tendency to think that others' evaluations were more negative than one's evaluation. In particular, the scales that perceived the review from others relatively negatively were "embarrassing > proud," "hypocritical > good," and "pretense > true." The conclusion of the paper is based on the current status of the experimental approach to co-relate the importance of ‘self’ and ‘others ’-based image constructs to the tendency for monetary donations among people. The analysis indicates that there are some important perspectives such as embarrassment, hypocritical attitudes, and pretense and show, that underline how the image of self and the image of others play out for societal donation behavior. It is important to eliminate images that are seen as embarrassing and hypocritical. Respondents are not interested in creating a pretense around food donation behavior to improve the image of donation. This is a positive sign in Japanese society and should be used to promote an ethical and humane understanding of the crucial role of food donation and food donation behavior in people. However, it was suggested that images such as being praised or diplomatic have little effect on promoting donations to food banks.

ABSTRACT. Online sales promotions (SP) have become a key component of marketing strategies with the growth of digital marketing and e-commerce. This study examines how complex promotional conditions influence consumer intentions to participate in online sales promotions in Japan. Through three experiments, this study finds that higher complexity leads to lower consumer participation. However, offering appropriate incentives can mitigate this negative effect. Additionally, consumer confusion—arising from similarity, ambiguity, and overload—plays a crucial role in this relationship. These findings provide practical insights for businesses seeking to design more effective promotional strategies.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to examine the causal relationship among the source credibility of frontline employees, customer brand enthusiasm, and customer citizenship behavior while considering information asymmetry. Currently, this study is in the data collection and analysis phase. This study is expected to provide the following academic and practical implications regarding the evolution of customer strategies in the omni-channel era, driven by the reduction in information asymmetry resulting from digitalization. From an academic perspective, this study contributes to the literature by addressing a research gap in omni-channel studies, where the application of the expectation-confirmation model with information asymmetry as a moderating variable has been insufficiently explored. Practically, this study provides business insights into how companies can cultivate customer citizenship behavior by co-creating value with customers at touchpoints and revitalizing brand communities.

ABSTRACT. We experienced how fake news and misinformation (false information) in health damaged our society during the COVID-19 pandemic. They polarize and increase the distrust within our society, make people question whether their privacy has been compromised, and influence people to make wrong health decisions. To develop a generalized solution to solve this problem, we developed two studies to investigate this year. Study 1 is a qualitative study that examines how false health information has developed in Japan and Guam. These societies have all been going through different paths in recovering from COVID-19. A comparative study among them would provide insights for researchers, policymakers, and public members to know how we can solve the problem. This study will examine how the COVID-19 pandemic and healthcare policies amplified distrust in societies, triggering some citizens to worry about privacy. Semi-structured interviews are conducted in both locations, and a theme table is developed to explain the factors making people believe in false information, factors making people alert to false information, and factors that strengthen or weaken those effects. Study 2 focuses on gaining a better understanding of how members of the public in America are looking into this matter through a sentiment analysis using data obtained from popular social media forums in the United States with discussions related to this issue. The findings of the sentiment analysis would provide us with insight into how members of the public feel about health misinformation problems. Furthermore, the findings can provide us with further information on how academics, public health authorities, and the public can work together to tackle this problem and how we can use suitable marketing strategies in social media and traditional media to catch public attention in getting the correct health information.

ABSTRACT. This study underscores the increasing significance of cultural sensitivity in global hospitality, emphasizing the crucial role of effectively managing cultural diversity. By respecting guests' cultural preferences and beliefs, hotels and integrated resorts can foster guest loyalty and establish a welcoming brand image that resonates with diverse guests. Hotel guests and casino patrons often value lucky room or floor numbers as a symbol of joy and good fortune; understanding how numbers are interpreted and their meanings in different cultures is essential for implementing culturally informed numerology practices. The research objective addresses a significant gap by developing a cross-cultural numerology belief template that illustrates that numbers hold different connotations of luck across cultures. This template challenges the conventional practice of excluding digits 4 and 13 from room and floor numbering, a practice that can limit cultural diversity and inclusivity. It serves as a resource for accommodating numerology beliefs and demonstrating their significant impact on brand image and guest relations in the hospitality sector. The study further analyzes how numerology beliefs influence the behavior, experiences, and decision-making processes of hotel guests and casino patrons, deepening the understanding of their perspectives and responses. Additionally, it explores how relevant numerology practices might integrate with AI-enhanced customer relationship marketing and branding strategies backed by supportive management. Utilizing qualitative methods, with Macau as the research venue, this study includes focus groups with hotel guests and casino patrons to explore their perceptions of numerology beliefs. Semi-structured interviews with hospitality practitioners assess the impact of cultural numerology sensitivity on personalized guest experiences and satisfaction. Findings reveal a strong demand for integrating culturally informed numerology practices into hospitality operations. To conclude the research, the author developed the Holistic Cultural Numerology Integration Framework (HCNIF), a roadmap for incorporating culturally informed practices into AI-enhanced customer relationship marketing strategies. This framework aims to enrich personalized guest experiences through cultural awareness, sensitivity, and inclusivity. The HCNIF begins by identifying and segmenting the cultural numerology beliefs of hotel guests and casino patrons to improve understanding and management of diverse cultural perspectives. The framework encompasses several strategic processes. First, it emphasizes branding development by aligning brand messaging, workshops, and visual elements with culturally informed practices for an authentic experience. Second, it focuses on integrating these practices into customer interactions, engagement, targeted campaigns, and loyalty programs. Third, it leverages AI technologies to deliver personalized, culturally sensitive experiences through data analysis, chatbots, and human service. Lastly, it advocates for customizing guest experiences by tailoring room assignments, amenities, services, and event programming to reflect cultural numerology. These intertwined strategic processes are supported by the implementation and organizational initiatives for resource sharing, collaboration, training, and fostering a culturally competent brand image. Outcomes flow through performance monitoring, enabling result measurement, feedback collection, and periodic reviews. This study significantly contributes to the marketing perspective of hospitality literature by providing a valuable resource for understanding and accommodating diverse cultural beliefs, paving the way for future research at the intersection of numerology and hospitality practices, and offering practical implications for industry advancement and academic inquiry.

ABSTRACT. We first develop an analytical model to investigate the impact of corporate privacy policies on consumers. The model reveals that when firms respond to consumers’ sensitivities, they can entice consumers to opt-in to their service by adopting a moderate data strategy, enhancing both firm profits and consumer surplus. Building on this insight, we build a comprehensive framework for measuring the effectiveness of privacy policies and a scalable AI-based assessment agent, PrivaAI. PrivaAI offers several key abilities, including revealing consumer preferences in data policies, generating industry reports, and providing actionable recommendations for firms to strategically personalise their sustainable data strategy.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of Green Media on consumers’ Purchase Intention for eco-friendly products and explores the moderating role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing this relationship. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the research examines how exposure to green marketing messages shapes consumer attitudes and intentions toward sustainable consumption. Using a quantitative approach, data were collected from 260 respondents in Malaysia through an online survey. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The results confirm that green media positively influences purchase intentions, suggesting that sustainability-focused marketing messages play a critical role in driving eco-friendly purchasing behavior. Furthermore, AI significantly moderates this relationship, indicating that personalized, AI-driven green media campaigns are more effective than traditional approaches. AI enhances the relevance and impact of green marketing by delivering tailored messages that align with individual consumer preferences and behaviors. The findings offer theoretical contributions by extending the TPB framework to include AI as a moderating variable and provide practical implications for businesses seeking to leverage AI in their sustainability initiatives. This study acknowledges limitations, such as the cross-sectional design and the focus on a single geographic context. Future research should explore longitudinal approaches, cross-cultural comparisons, and the role of emerging AI technologies in green marketing. The integration of AI into green marketing strategies presents significant opportunities for fostering sustainable consumption, building consumer trust, and achieving long-term business success.

ABSTRACT. The luxury hospitality industry is pioneering technological innovation through virtual AI humans, enhancing guest experiences via personalized services and recommendations. However, the increasing reliance on AI-driven personalization raises ethical concerns, particularly around transparency. This study explores how transparency can be effectively integrated into AI systems, balancing personalization with ethical considerations. Drawing from qualitative interviews with 50 diverse guests, findings reveal an appreciation for personalization, a demand for transparency, and a preference for AI as allies rather than data collectors. The study introduces Dynamic Transparency Protocols (DTPs), a novel framework that adjusts transparency levels based on guest preferences and technological literacy. By connecting insights from the luxury hospitality sector with transparency practices from industries like e-commerce and healthcare, the research provides actionable design recommendations. These include fostering trust through clear communication, ethical data practices, and culturally adaptive AI systems, ultimately addressing critical gaps in AI ethics and enhancing guest satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to revolutionize the interior design industry by leveraging deep learning technology to automate and personalize the design process, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction. Traditional methods, often slow and labor-intensive, struggle to meet modern demands for speed and customization. To address this, the research proposes a hyper-personalized intelligent design and product recommendation system using advanced AI models. The system collects extensive furniture and design data through web scraping and search engine keyword functions, creating a robust training database. After data cleaning, the study employs the Stable Diffusion model to generate tailored design solutions and the Llama 3.2 language model to analyze user preferences. For furniture recognition and recommendation, the ResNeXt convolutional neural network and DINO ViT-S/16 self-supervised learning model are used to identify furniture types and placements accurately. A key innovation is the integration of a deep image feature matching algorithm, which recommends real products from a database that align with the design style and spatial requirements, providing detailed product information and purchase links. This seamless integration of design and product recommendation offers a one-stop service experience. Experimental results demonstrate that the system significantly improves the accuracy of product recommendations and the personalization of design plans. By combining deep image feature matching with AI-driven design, this solution not only enhances consumer convenience but also drives the digital and intelligent transformation of the interior design industry, paving the way for revolutionary advancements.

ABSTRACT. The advent of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) has initiated a profound transformation in service sectors. While there is extensive global enthusiasm extolling the benefits and business values of adopting GAI, customer acceptance remains low, especially when it comes to the service industries especially these industries are based on human touch and relationships.Understanding of GAI is bound to be highly subjective; it is therefore essential to identify the interplay of internal and external factors of GAI in shaping the behaviour of individuals. The aim of this research is to delve into the underlying motivations that influence individual judgement of GAI performance.

ABSTRACT. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in driving personalization has led to a significant transformation in the marketing landscape, providing new opportunities and challenges. Arguably still in its infancy, the public currently has limited awareness of personalization, let alone AI-driven personalization. Analyzing consumer behavior and gaining consumer insights further enhance the understanding of AI technology as it applies to marketing, while helping advertisers in improving effective AI-driven marketing strategies. Therefore, this paper aims to understand the public’s response to AI-driven personalization and recommendations through the lens of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) using in Python programming language. Data will be collected from social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), etc. for topic modeling and sentiment analysis. This paper aims to provide practical and scholarly implications and real-time, data-based insights to marketers and scholars on the social media public’s attitudes toward AI-driven personalization and their willingness to accept the new AI generated recommendations.

ABSTRACT. Il Viaggio Travel pioneers accessible tourism in Costa Rica through tailored travel services, advocacy, and sustainability initiatives. Partnering with the Costa Rica Tourism Accessible Network, it influences policy while promoting Donatapa’s circular economy model and La Inspiración’s adaptive clothing. The study provides insights into best practices, challenges, and opportunities for advancing accessibility in tourism.

ABSTRACT. As marketers and researchers become able to utilize a variety of unstructured data, including text, images, and videos (Wedel & Kannan, 2016; Zhan et al., 2024; Zhu & Cheng, 2024), especially tourism and hospitality researchers have witnessed the potential to extract novel insights from large-scale unstructured data, including the effects of social media content (Son & Park, 2024a, 2024b), consumer needs (Timoshenko & Hauser, 2019), and tourism demand forecasting (Hu et al., 2024). The current study aims to extract travelers’ needs for visiting a total of 16 cities across the world, including Hong Kong, New York City, Dubai, Madrid, and London, based on the destination marketing literature. Specifically, we collect all posts from these cities’ official Instagram accounts, starting from the account creation date to April 4, 2024. In addition, traveler comments on each post are also examined to measure customer responses to the posts. Ultimately, by adopting cutting-edge natural language processing and computer vision techniques, a total of 96 travel destination posts’ textual, image, and video features are extracted from more than 20,000 posts. Then, consumer responses, including the number of likes, number of comments, and consumer comment sentiment, are modeled utilizing features and their interactions through causal forest.

ABSTRACT. The Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) analyzes people’s risk decisions, has received extensive attention. However, the application in tourism has not yet formed a comprehensive and systematic review for understanding how tourism stakeholders’ coping behaviors to complex and diverse risks. This study aims to contribute to the existing knowledge by analyzing, comparing and synthesizing the literature in PMT in the domain of tourism. Following semi-systemic literature review method, this study selected 80 articles from the Web of Science between 2014 and 2024. This study is based on two methods, keyword knowledge mapping and PRISMA model. The research shows that: Firstly, the application scenario of PMT in tourism is divided into four main research themes: climate risk, public health emergency, economic risk and complex disaster chain. Secondly, the stakeholders presented a complex response process. Related studies expand the PMT model in combination with planned behavior theory, extended parallel process model, included fear appeal as mediator, and tested vary control variables and moderators. Finally, a integrated threat-coping behavior research framework for multi-scales and multi-dimensional risks is constructed. The PMT help tourists to form appropriate risk perception and adopt corresponding protection behaviour. Based on the current research trend, future research should further deepen the application of PMT in tourism.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to examine consumers' travel service shopping experiences and identify their characteristics. To achieve this, online panel data, which recorded consumers' use of travel services in Korea, were analyzed in conjunction with survey responses. The study utilized single-source panel data, linking behavioral log data with survey responses. The survey data were analyzed to gain insights into consumers' values associated with travel service shopping and their perceptions of the services. The use of single-source data facilitates a gap analysis between actual service usage and memory-based usage, providing a deeper understanding of how consumers perceive travel services from their own perspectives. In the context of the digital travel service shopping environment, this study offers valuable insights into travel service shopping behaviors by integrating actual behavioral data with survey responses. This combined approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of consumers' service choices, preferences, and usage attitudes.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to examine foreign tourists’ perceptions of ocean and leisure tourism in South Korea, focusing on travelers from seven countries across various regions: Asia (China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore), the Americas (United States), Oceania (Australia), and Europe (United Kingdom). To achieve this, comments from digital platforms were crawled and analyzed using text mining techniques, such as Quantification III and Social Network Analysis, and Key-player analysis. These methods were employed to gain a deeper understanding of tourists’ perceptions of their travel experiences in South Korea, cluster major network communities, and identify key player-based keywords that emerge as central to the discourse surrounding South Korea’s tourism.

ABSTRACT. Research Question: Adopting China as an example of a state-led market, the goals of the present study are to focus on: 1) the roles of the state and its agencies in transitioning eSports from marginal to mainstream 2) the underlying state-led mechanisms for mobilising its agencies to deploy bureaucratic, administrative, and legal interventions to different actors to navigate eSports transition at both industrial and macro-levels, and 3) the theoretical and practical implications of this transition. Research Methods: Using multisource databases, we collect 2,775 pages of textual data documenting how eSports evolves between 2002 and 2023 and utilise a qualitative hermeneutic approach for data analysis. Results and Findings: We theorise the marginal-mainstream transition of eSports in China as a three-phase state-led governmentality practice: market demarcation, stabilisation, and invigoration. In each phase, we identify two aspects of the governmentality efforts to mobilise disciplinary, legal, and security apparatus with various strategic governmentality functions. Implications: Our findings, which are deliberately attentive to meso- and macro-level in state-led markets, supplement and extend the extant studies examining 1) how eSports evolve, by highlighting the significance of states in codifying multilevel orders of responsibility for stakeholders, especially consumers, in addressing social criticisms that challenge the legitimacy of eSports; 2) why eSports evolve, by pinpointing the crucial need for fine-tuning the development paths eSports following prevailing yet changing state agendas

ABSTRACT. Drawing on dual-route theory, this study examines the impact of systematic and heuristic factors on tourists' cognitive and affective images of ski destination, as well as the influence of the ski destination images on winter sports tourists' future revisit intentions. The moderating effect of perceived security is also examined. Perceived security moderates the relationships between systematic and heuristis factors and ski destination images. The reserch findings will will make significant contributions to the literature on smart winter sports tourism and the information systems (IS). Additionally, our analysis will offer valuable insights for the winter sports tourism industry.

ABSTRACT. With the 2024 transition of Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) broadcasts to a paid streaming model via TVING, a notable shift has emerged: KBO now allows unrestricted sharing of game footage under 40 seconds on social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram. This decision challenges traditional sports broadcasting models that strictly protect media rights and raises critical questions about its impact on official broadcast viewership. This study examines whether influencer-generated baseball content on YouTube complements or substitutes official KBO broadcasts. Using daily-level data from the 2023 season, covering 720 game days, we analyze the relationship between the volume and engagement of influencer-generated videos and the consumption of official broadcasts. Key metrics include video count, total duration, cumulative views, and audience sentiment. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is applied to determine the short- and long-term effects between influencer content and official broadcast consumption. Findings will contribute to the broader discourse on digital media strategies in sports, informing whether leagues and broadcasters should leverage social media for audience growth or reinforce media rights protections to sustain subscription-based revenues.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the cross-cultural differences in Olympic athlete branding and social media engagement across the United States, China, and South Korea during the 2024 Olympic Games. Utilizing content analysis and integrating Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions with Goffman’s self-presentation theory, the research explores how cultural contexts influence athletes’ self-presentations on social media and their impact on brand endorsement and follower engagement. The study investigates frontstage and backstage behaviors of athletes, analyzing engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments. Practical implications suggest that global brands can optimize marketing strategies by tailoring athlete endorsements to align with cultural values, enhancing the effectiveness of partnerships and campaigns.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the relationship between strategic emphasis, specifically advertising and research and development (R&D), and corporate social irresponsibility (CSRI), with a particular focus on the moderating role of top management team (TMT) pay inequality. Using a dataset of 2,398 publicly traded companies spanning from 2012 to 2021, the findings reveal that strategic emphasis has significant implications for corporate social behavior. Firms prioritizing advertising tend to exhibit higher levels of CSRI, while those emphasizing R&D demonstrate reduced CSRI. Furthermore, TMT pay inequality, measured through the gender pay gap and pay concentration, moderates these effects. Both TMT gender pay gap and pay concentration weaken the negative relationship between advertising emphasis and CSRI, while simultaneously amplifying the positive impact of R&D emphasis on CSRI. These results highlight the complex interplay between strategic focus and internal organizational structures in shaping corporate social behavior. The study offers critical insights for firms aiming to mitigate social irresponsibility, emphasizing the importance of balancing strategic priorities and addressing TMT pay disparities to achieve more ethical organizational outcomes.

ABSTRACT. By including competitive comparison events, this study contributes to the literature on competitive dynamics. We offer a theoretical model that investigates how status disparities, multimarket contact, and competitive networks influence the relationship between a target firm's awareness and its propensity to respond competitively, based on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework. Our results support the hypotheses put forth, showing that a target firm is more likely to defend against a comparative attack by a focal firm in the following scenarios: when the focal firm is more prominent, when the firms compete in a large number of markets, when both firms are simultaneously targeted by other organizations, when the target firm is frequently compared over time, and when the target firm is positioned relatively peripherally in a competitive comparison network.

ABSTRACT. Despite the market's potential relevance for marketing theory and practice, its concept is surprisingly not well-defined in the literature. Definitions and guidelines for estimating the concept vary in academic literature, undergraduate textbooks, and websites aimed at practitioners. The lack of consensus leads to considerable confusion among different terms, particularly sales forecasting, demand forecasting, and market potential. Given this context, our research identifies current definitions and key dimensions of market potential through a systematic literature review. The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis protocol, according to Page et al. (2021). The adherence test results and data are available in the project repository: https://osf.io/2pd7t/.

Based on the literature review, we identified four dimensions for the market potential construct: Demography (e.g., population, household income), Economy (i.e., GDP per capita, employment rates), Market characteristics (e.g., consumer expenditures; agglomeration /store clustering), and Geography (e.g., accessibility; points of interest count; diversity). Only five studies incorporated demographic and economic variables into their market potential models. This highlights a significant disparity in the dimensions addressed in previous studies. We propose the market potential estimation as the theoretical upper limit of a product’s or service's reach in the market under the highest possible level of market penetration in a determined geographic area and time period. Finally, we call for marketing scholars to turn this definition and dimensions into a comprehensive Market Potential Index (MPI).

Our key findings highlight the lack of consensus on a market potential definition, the shortfall of dimensions covered in previous studies, and the need for a complete and comprehensive market potential index. We also contribute to the literature by suggesting areas for future studies. For businesses, a new and more comprehensive market potential index will offer valuable insights for strategic decision-making. By identifying the key components of market potential, businesses can make informed decisions, e.g., where to locate franchising, evaluate business competition, identify regions' unmet customers' needs, and estimate business success in a given location.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how new product preannouncement (NPPA) specificity affects stock market reactions in today's evolved market environment. Using an event study, current study find that specific NPPAs can lead to negative returns, contrary to previous findings, but strong corporate governance can effectively buffer these adverse effects. The results challenge conventional assumptions about voluntary disclosure benefits and impression management strategies, suggesting that managers should carefully balance disclosure specificity while investors should consider firms' governance mechanisms when evaluating specific preannouncements.

ABSTRACT. Organizations globally are usually faster and more efficient at introducing new products than discontinuing them (Avlonitis, 1985). The literature suggests that companies focus on new product launches and overlook discontinuation strategies (Fenech & Longford, 2014). Effective product discontinuation maximizes resource efficiency and ensures profitability (Pourhejazy, Sarkis & Zhu, 2020). Effective discontinuation strategies enable firms to redirect resources toward high-performing products and innovations, supporting sustainable growth. However, product elimination remains an underexplored area compared to innovation-focused research, partly due to pro-innovation biases (Fenech & Longford, 2014). This research addresses this gap by proposing a framework that combines the Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value (RFM) model (Abe, 2009; Fader et al., 2005) with Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) clustering algorithm (Kaufman & Rousseeuw, 2009). The goal is to build a replicable and scalable framework to identify SKU candidates for discontinuation based on forward-looking measures (or variables) derived from RFM at the SKU and the category level. These variables (measures) were inputs to PAM clustering algorithm. The development of the model included these SKU level variables: (1) the expected number of purchases (ENP) per SKU; (2) the probability of each SKU being active at the end of the calibration period; and (3) the expected contribution margin (ECM) per SKU; (4) the sum of ENP of all SKUs within a given category; (5) the maximum probability of an SKU being active at the end of the calibration period among all SKUs within a given category; and (6) the sum of ECM of all SKUs within a given category. The inclusion of the category level allows accounting for assortment requirements, which may prevent managers from discontinuing some low-performing SKUs from a given category. This is because there is a need to meet technical and commercial requirements to offer a complete set of product variations (e.g., types of sizes, weights, and so on). By applying the proposed framework (RFM and PAM Clustering) to the product portfolio of a major Brazilian electrical component manufacturer with 4,130 SKUs, and a transaction log of seven years, we clustered these SKUs into six distinct clusters based on the average silhouette width measure (Kaufman & Rousseeuw, 2009). Clusters 1 and 2 emerged as the most prominent (comprising 896 SKUs, 21.70% of the total SKUs). These clusters accounted for 88.01% of the total ECM and have the highest median ENP at the SKU and the category levels. Clusters 3 and 4 are intermediary-level SKUs and represent most of the total SKUs (2,546, 61.64% of the total). They have low but reasonable values for the clustering variables, especially those at the category level. This indicates that these categories have at least some SKUs still generating value. The whole category should be kept in the product portfolio due to assortment requirements. Finally, Clusters 5 and 6 comprise 688 (16.66%) SKUs, which are the clusters with the lowest performance. The sum of the ECM of these two clusters represents only 0.03% of the total ECM. The median p-active per SKU, ENP per SKU, and ECM per SKU are all 0. In addition, the category level variables are also very low, if not 0. Our proposed framework identified 688 SKUs performing poorly at the SKU and category levels. These are the SKUs that should be discontinued. Overall, our results demonstrate that the proposed framework is parsimonious and scalable while also being a robust and forward-looking method for firms to maintain competitive agility by coping with the challenge of product discontinuation.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates when and how digital servitization (DS) leads to improved financial performance in the manufacturing industry. As digital technologies such as IoT, AI, and big data are increasingly integrated into industrial operations, manufacturers are shifting from traditional servitization—where services are added to products—to DS, in which digital tools fundamentally transform production, delivery, and value creation processes. Although DS promises enhanced efficiency and competitiveness, many firms still face internal and external challenges in realizing financial returns, including technological complexity, unclear monetization strategies, and organizational resistance. These inconsistent effects of DS point to the need for a better understanding of the conditions under which DS is financially beneficial. While previous research has explored enablers of DS adoption—such as business model innovation, ecosystem collaboration, and organizational capabilities—most studies have relied on conceptual arguments or case-based qualitative methods, lacking large-scale empirical evidence. Moreover, as DS emerges as an independent domain, beyond merely the intersection of digitalization and servitization, the mechanisms through which DS contributes to firm performance remain underexplored. In response, this study develops and empirically tests a contingency-based conceptual model grounded in the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework, aiming to identify when DS leads to improved financial outcomes. Using firm-level data from the 2022 Korean Innovation Survey, we employ OLS regression to examine both the direct impact of DS on financial performance and the moderating effects of five contextual factors - technology breadth; technology fit; organizational resistance; technology intensity; government regulation. The results show that DS positively affects financial performance, but its effectiveness depends on firm-level and environmental conditions. Notably, technology fit enhances performance outcomes, while organizational resistance and government regulation reduce them. Technology breadth, however, does not show the expected inverted U-shape. Technology intensity shows no significant moderating effect. Overall, these findings suggest that while DS can create value, its impact is contingent on the alignment between technology, organization, and industry environment. This study contributes to the DS literature by empirically demonstrating that the success of DS is not uniform, but depends on contextual readiness and strategic alignment. The TOE-based framework helps explain why DS yields divergent outcomes across firms. For practitioners, the findings suggest that successful DS implementation requires more than adopting digital tools—it requires addressing three fundamental questions: Is it the right technology? Are we ready to offer it? Is it necessary for our industry? These considerations are essential for firms seeking to realize the full financial benefits of DS.

ABSTRACT. This study proposes a conceptual framework to explore the relationship between psychological ownership, supply-based scarcity, and customer engagement, with self-congruity acting as a moderator. The proposed model examines how psychological ownership, driven by intimate knowledge, and supply-based scarcity, heightened through brand familiarity, influence customer engagement outcomes, including brand loyalty, word-of-mouth (WOM), and purchase intention. While the study does not yet include empirical data, it provides a theoretical foundation by integrating behavioural and psychological constructs. Self-congruity moderates the strength of these relationships, suggesting that personalized alignment between a consumer's self-concept and brand identity enhances the effects of scarcity and ownership on engagement. This conceptual framework offers valuable insights for marketers, providing guidance on how to leverage these constructs to foster emotional connections, enhance customer engagement, and build long-term brand loyalty.

ABSTRACT. Fast fashion products are able to meet customer expectations and reach a wide range of consumers at low prices. Taking advantage of fast inventory turnover, retail stores deliberately manipulate merchandise by continually introducing new products (rather than restocking) and stocking a limited number of each style, thus creating an atmosphere of scarcity and convincing purchasers that they must buy their favorite products immediately. If a product is perceived or offered as scarce, consumers will worry about missing the opportunity to own it. Consumers' fear of missing out on an opportunity can put pressure on consumer decisions, which encourages purchases and leads to impulse buying behavior. On the other hand, not all consumers will buy a product outright for fear of missing out. They will choose to hold the item in their hands before making a decision. This hoarding behavior reflects risk-averse behavior, where the fear of others (or consumers) using or owning it also accelerates impulse buying. In addition, this study further investigates different consumer behaviors resulting from differences in who is buying. Data were collected in China using WJX with 280 responses and data were analyzed using the macro process model.83 The results confirmed the mediating role of fear of missing out as well as in-store hoarding, and tested the moderating role of consumption target due to whether they buy for themselves or for others.

ABSTRACT. Scarcity as a common aspect of life, has mainly been studied in the context of physical products and resources. Consumers experience product scarcity when there is insufficient product versus demand (e.g. out of stock shelves in supermarkets). Consumers endure resource scarcity when they face a lack of time, money and space, used as input to fulfil their needs (Hamilton et al. 2019). In the past few years, consecutive, major environmental shocks (e.g. Covid-19, cost-of-living crisis, climate change, wars) have created sustained periods of product and resource scarcity for consumers. As a result of turbulent times, consumers face disruptions in their day-to-day, increasing their reliance on service systems, comprising profit (e.g. retailing systems) and non-profit entities (e.g. government, educational and health settings). Given the relevance of service systems in consumers’ lives (Ostrom et al. 2021), the purpose of this conceptual paper is to investigate the concept of scarcity within services settings. Accordingly, this article synthesises and integrates literature across multiple streams and extends scarcity research in the context of services.

In some cases, consumers respond to scarcity in service settings in similar ways to physical product scarcity. For instance, consumers perceive scarce services to be more desirable, enhancing the perception of uniqueness and value and leading to positive (e.g. excitement – Gupta & Gentry, 2019) and negative emotions (e.g. anger – Biraglia et al. 2021). However, unlike products, unused capacity (e.g. an empty hotel room, unused seating at a concert, extra seats at university), due to the perishable nature of services, cannot be stored for later. Service quality is variable and can fluctuate depending on frontline employee performance and/or demand levels. Services rely extensively on human expertise making scarcity a complex issue (Subramony et al. 2021). In addition, the nature of services makes consumer reactions to scarcity context-dependent, driven by urgency (time), exclusivity, and perceived value.

Responses to scarcity in service settings can be atypical, sometimes leading to impulse purchases (e.g. Li et al. 2021). Crowding, as a form of space scarcity influences consumer evaluations of service experiences (Pons et al. 2014). Time, one type of resource scarcity is very prevalent and utilised in service contexts (e.g. time limited promotions), leading to dynamic pricing. Services like Uber and Airbnb utilise surge pricing at peak times (see Hamilton et al. 2019), favouring consumers who experience mild chronic, or situational financial scarcity (Hosany & Hamilton, 2023), hence exacerbating inequalities.

Scarcity in services is a critical issue that impacts individuals, businesses and society. Unlike physical goods, services are often perishable, intangible, inseparable from providers, and highly variable in quality. These unique characteristics make scarcity in service settings complex and, at times, more disruptive than product shortages. Studying scarcity in service contexts is essential, making the broad topic of scarcity pertinent for conceptual refinement in services.

References

Biraglia, A., Usrey, B., & Ulqinaku, A. (2021). The downside of scarcity: Scarcity appeals can trigger consumer anger and brand switching intentions. Psychology & Marketing, 38(8), 1314-1322. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21489

Gupta, S., & Gentry, J. W. (2019). ‘Should I Buy, Hoard, or Hide?’- Consumers’ responses to perceived scarcity. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 29(2), 178-197. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593969.2018.1562955

Hamilton, R., Thompson, D., Bone, S., Chaplin, L.N., Griskevicius, V., Goldsmith, K., Hill, R., John, D.R., Mittal, C., O’Guinn, T., Piff, P., Roux, C., Shah, A., & Zhu, M. (2019). The effects of scarcity on consumer decision journeys. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47, 532-550. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-018-0604-7

Hosany, A. S., & Hamilton, R. W. (2023). Family responses to resource scarcity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51(6), 1351-1381. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00882-7

Li, C., Wang, Y., Lv, X., & Li, H. (2021). To buy or not to buy? The effect of time scarcity and travel experience on tourists' impulse buying. Annals of Tourism Research, 86, 103083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103083

Ostrom, A. L., Field, J. M., Fotheringham, D., Subramony, M., Gustafsson, A., Lemon, K. N., Huang, M. H. & McColl-Kennedy, J. R. (2021). Service Research Priorities: Managing and Delivering Service in Turbulent Times. Journal of Service Research, 24(3), 329-353. https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705211021915

Pons, F., Mourali, M., & Giroux, M. (2014). The density–satisfaction relationship revisited: The role of scarcity and consumers affective reactions in a crowded retail situation. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(1), 54-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2013.09.004

Subramony, M., Groth, M., Hu, X. J., & Wu, Y. (2021). Four decades of frontline service employee research: an integrative bibliometric review. Journal of Service Research, 24(2), 230-248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670521999721

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the role of contrived versus genuine scarcity tactics in shaping consumers’ trust, loyalty, and perceptions of service quality in the growing sector of quick commerce (q-commerce). Q-commerce refers to digitally enabled platforms offering expedited delivery—often within minutes—of groceries, personal care items, and other day-to-day necessities. Many such platforms now carry additional categories such as mobile devices, electronics, sporting goods, apparel, and books, thereby threatening traditional e-commerce in some markets. While these services promise unparalleled convenience and speed, they are also called out for employing deceptive design practices. The deployment of “fake urgency,” in which a platform displays false or exaggerated messages of scarcity (“Only two left!”) or time pressure (“Hurry, ends in ten minutes!”), has become increasingly common deceptive practice. Previous research has extensively documented how scarcity cues affect consumer behavior. According to commodity theory, an item or service gains perceived value when it is scarce or at risk of running out. Scarcity triggers a fear of missing out, prompting consumers to accelerate their decision-making to secure a purchase. Fake urgency. Like other forms of deceptive design practices, can undermine user autonomy and erode trust. In services that depend on timely arrival and platform honesty, discovering a fabricated deadline may provoke heightened feelings of betrayal and blame. We hypothesize that awareness of fake urgency significantly lowers brand trust and loyalty, while authentic urgency (rooted in real stock or time constraints) will bolster trust due to its transparency. We also propose that perceived betrayal mediates the link between contrived scarcity and negative outcomes, and that perceived service quality can buffer some of these negative reactions if users regard the overall service as efficient and reliable. We run an experimental study, focusing on users of Indian q-commerce platforms. India has seen the rise of an array of q-commerce or rapid delivery services, particularly in metropolitan areas. The government of India has also recently taken steps to regulate dark patterns through initiatives like the 2023 Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns and the Dark Patterns Buster Hackathon. These efforts reflect a growing recognition at the policy level that digital manipulations can significantly compromise user welfare. Our experiment will randomly assign participants to one of three conditions: genuine scarcity, contrived scarcity, and a control condition with no scarcity cues. By including both contrived (fake urgency) and genuine scarcity, we aim to clarify whether consumers differentiate between legitimate service constraints (such as low stocks or time-limited offers due to operational realities) and artificially created illusions of limited availability. After seeing screenshots of a q-commerce platform and knowing if the scarcity was real or fake, participants will complete a survey measuring brand trust, loyalty, perceived e-service quality, negative word-of-mouth, punitive intent, and perceived betrayal. This study offers important insights for both theory and practice. While existing theories like commodity theory and regret theory explain much of consumer motivation under genuine scarcity, contrived scarcity involves an ethical breach when consumers discover the deception. This breach can heighten regret and blame, which are potent drivers of negative word-of-mouth and punitive behaviors. Moreover, examining the mediating role of betrayal could refine our understanding of the emotional processes at play when consumers transition from being enthusiastic to resentful patrons, as has been documented in the literature on consumer revenge and avoidance in service failures. Managerially, the results will guide q-commerce platforms in balancing the allure of urgency-driven sales against the risk of reputational harm. Regulatory bodies—especially in India, where new guidelines target deceptive design—may also use these insights to differentiate authentic constraints from manipulative illusions. Our study aims to guide marketers, UX designers, and policymakers alike in understanding if and how to deploy scarcity ethically. Overall, our work underscores the importance of transparent scarcity cues in preserving trust and fostering sustainable consumer relationships in modern retail service ecosystems.

ABSTRACT. The role of service environments in shaping meaningful customer experiences is often undervalued in services literature. This paper proposes Value-in-Being (VIB), an alternative theoretical framework rooted in Heideggerian philosophy (Heidegger, 1962) and first conceptualized by Alimamy et al. (2024). VIB shifts the focus from the utilitarian and transactional dimensions of value-in-use (Vargo & Lusch, 2004) to the deeply personal and context-sensitive, emphasizing the transformative role of immersive and meaningful environments in fostering a deeper sense of ‘being’ within service interactions. Drawing on Heidegger’s concept of “dwelling,” this theory highlights the importance of environments that authentically engage customers and enable relational connections. Alimamy et al. (2024) articulate dwelling through four foundational dimensions: (i) creating authentic atmospheres that reflect the service’s core values, (ii) enabling immersion through multisensory environments, (iii) fostering higher purpose by connecting to customers' aspirations, and (iv) cultivating belonging through human-centric relationships.

This paper develops VIB as a theoretical framework by situating it in parallel to value-in-use, positioning the environment as central to value co-creation. VIB reconceptualizes the customer’s experience within service environments as one that transcends utility (Bitner, 1992), focusing instead on authentic and immersive states of dwelling. This reconceptualization is particularly salient with the advancement of technology-enabled service contexts, such as the metaverse, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) platforms, where environments significantly shape the customer’s sense of presence, meaning, and connection (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). The paper also extends its theoretical contribution by exploring the application of VIB across diverse service sectors. For instance, in healthcare, VIB can transform patient recovery rooms into healing environments using AR landscapes. In education, virtual classrooms inspired by students' cultural roots can foster engagement and purpose. In tourism, VR-guided tours can blend immersive storytelling with cultural authenticity to create unforgettable experiences.

The implications for this research is wide-reaching. For instance, practitioners can leverage VIB to design service environments that prioritize existential well-being, authenticity, and relational value, moving beyond traditional transactional models. For scholars, this paper opens new avenues for research into the experiential and relational dimensions of service environments. Future studies should empirically explore the interplay of VIB’s dimensions across various contexts, examining how authenticity, immersion, meaning, and belonging drive value co-creation and enhance customer engagement. Additionally, research should investigate the role of emerging technologies, with technologies such as AR and VR enabling new forms of immersive environments, VIB provides a framework to design service contexts where customers experience heightened presence, meaning, and connection, exemplified in virtual healthcare consultations and interactive tourism platforms. Moreover, further research could explore the specific foundational mechanics underlying the VIB framework, especially within the context of established frameworks such as the service dominant logic or (operant and operand) resource integration within co-creation of value.

ABSTRACT. The rapid digitization of customer experiences has often prioritized convenience over the sensory and emotional depth provided by physical interactions. This working paper explores how businesses can strategically balance digital and physical touchpoints in customer service journeys to maximize consumer satisfaction and well-being. Drawing on Embodied Cognition Theory (Barsalou, 2008) and Servicescape Theory (Bitner, 1992), the paper examines how different touchpoint sequences—Physical-Digital-Physical (P-D-P) and Digital-Physical-Digital (D-P-D)—may influence key consumer outcomes, including emotional engagement, sensory satisfaction, cognitive efficiency, perceived value, and purchase intentions.

This conceptual framework proposes that physical-first sequences (P-D-P) are likely to enhance emotional engagement and sensory satisfaction due to their immersive and multisensory nature, while digital-first sequences (D-P-D) are expected to excel in cognitive efficiency by reducing mental effort through structured and accessible information. The framework also considers product involvement as a critical moderator, suggesting that high-involvement products may benefit more from sensory engagement in physical-first sequences, whereas low-involvement products might align better with the cognitive convenience of digital-first sequences.

By integrating insights from cognitive psychology, services marketing, and the cybernization framework (Tuunanen et al., 2019), this paper lays the groundwork for future research on how hybrid phygital strategies can create cohesive and satisfying customer journeys. Through the proposed conceptual model, the paper aims to contribute to the evolving discourse on phygital marketing, offering a roadmap for businesses seeking to innovate service delivery and enhance consumer well-being in a digitally driven marketplace.

ABSTRACT. The study tests if the effect of human resource (HR) analytics on labor productivity is stronger for organizations with a greater service intensity and if this effect varies across companies operating in growing versus declining markets. The study combines manager-reported survey data with secondary performance data from 380 companies and finds that service intensive firms benefit more from HR analytics than their product-oriented counterparts, and that this effect is significantly stronger in declining markets.

ABSTRACT. As artificial intelligence technologies, including service robots, become increasingly integrated into the service industry, the dynamics of human-robot collaboration warrant deeper exploration. While previous research has focused on consumer-robot interactions, this study shifts attention to how consumers perceive human employees working alongside robots. We propose that human service providers are perceived as having greater relative power when collaborating with robots as opposed to other humans, due to the lay belief that robots lack flexibility. Drawing on leadership literature linking flexibility to power, we hypothesize that this heightened power perception of the service provider enhances customer cooperation with the service provider’s requests. The results of two scenario-based experiments provided empirical evidence that human-robot service teams increase customer cooperative behaviors through sequential effects of enhanced flexibility and power perceptions. This research enriches the literature on human-robot collaboration and bridges insights from leadership and service management.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the impact of spatial layout, navigation, consumer engagement on consumer behavior in VR retail environments. Results show that interactivity and enjoyment significantly influence usage intention, while ease of navigation enhances engagement. This study highlights the need to balance immersive design with usability to optimize virtual shopping experiences.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, store design has gained significant prominence, where the architecture of space first captures consumer’s attention, even before the products themselves. Today, retail has undergone a significant transformation. Maximizing the shopping experience, with a focus on customer service, their needs, preferences, and the ongoing analysis of consumer psychology, has become a key strategic priority. The in-store experience is increasingly relevant and a subject of research, especially due to the growing e-commerce competition and the rise of emerging brands redefining the concept of both fast fashion and new luxury. The evolution of the shopping experience over time is analyzed through the case of Inditex, the leading global player in the retail sector. This Spanish company has been selected for its pioneering role in global fashion distribution. Since its founding in 1963, Inditex has undergone various transformations, standing out for its ability to offer an innovative shopping experience. Its strategy, based on scarcity and the opportunity for immediate purchase, has been key; for example, an item sold in one week might no longer be available the next. This dynamic, along with the crucial role of its architectural windows and the effectiveness of its physical stores as advertising tools, has allowed Inditex to attract hundreds of thousands of customers to its more than 5,000 stores worldwide. This study focuses on analyzing the evolution of Inditex’s stores, with particular emphasis on Zara, which constitutes the most relevant brand of the conglomerate. Since its inception in 1975, Zara has maintained a leadership position in the global market. The key question guiding this analysis is the evolution of Zara from the mainstream to nearly luxury experiences in the retail sphere. This work seeks to understand how Zara has managed to adapt to new market paradigms, integrating both omnichannel business models and physical in-store experiences with a customer-centric commercial approach, becoming a pioneer of phygitalization. Through an analytical methodological approach, the study explores: a) how space architecture has become an essential component of the in-store experience, transforming into a strategic factor to attract and retain customers; b) the incorporation of phygital experiences in-store; and c) the new outlet Zara Man Hermosillla 14 (Madrid) selected as a case study, summarizing the synthesis of Zara’ evolution from mainstream to new luxury approach.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of Sustainable Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) on Brand Loyalty in the omnichannel fashion retail sector, with a focus on the mediating role of Customer Engagement. By leveraging data from 385 fashion retail consumers, analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and multigroup analysis, the findings demonstrate that Sustainable IMC significantly enhances both Customer Engagement and Brand Loyalty. Customer Engagement serves as a critical mediator, illustrating how sustainability-driven communication influences consumer behavior in omnichannel ecosystems. This research contributes to the growing discourse on digital fashion marketing by showcasing how sustainability-focused strategies, integrated with digital technologies, strengthen consumer-brand relationships. From a managerial perspective, the findings underscore the importance of delivering consistent, interactive, and sustainability-driven messaging across digital and physical channels to foster Brand Loyalty in the digital transformation era.

ABSTRACT. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming a central element in the digital transformation of industries, particularly in fashion e-commerce. However, there is a lack of research specifically exploring how AI tools, integrated into online fashion shopping apps, influence consumer purchasing intentions, especially given the uncertainty surrounding their use. Many consumers have concerns regarding technological advancements, which can affect their purchasing decisions. This study aims to explore the impact of AI on consumers' purchasing intentions in the context of online fashion shopping. Additionally, this study investigates how the satisfaction with shopping app quality influences the purchase decision. The research employs a quantitative methodology, utilizing a questionnaire distributed across various social networks with participant-driven sharing. This resulted in a non-probabilistic convenience and snowball sampling. Of the 390 responses collected, 331 were valid, with the sample excluding those who had not made fashion purchases online. This study contributes to academic literature by raising awareness of the role AI plays in fashion e-commerce and offering insights into the integration of AI tools in digital shopping platforms and apps. From a business perspective, the research underscores the importance for fashion brands to understand the potential influence of AI on consumer behavior. This understanding enables brands to develop strategies that address consumer concerns while leveraging AI’s capabilities for personalized shopping experiences. Furthermore, the study explores the factors affecting customer satisfaction and attitudes towards AI within the online fashion shopping environment, examining how these factors influence purchase intentions. By analyzing previously unexplored elements at the intersection of AI and fashion, the research fills a gap in the existing literature, offering valuable insights for both academics and businesses seeking to navigate the evolving digital landscape.

ABSTRACT. Purpose This study examines the adoption of wearable technology in the UK fashion industry, focusing on how consumers balance hedonic (emotional, fashion-oriented) and utilitarian (practical, functional) motivations. It also identifies key barriers to adoption, such as high costs, privacy concerns, and comfort issues, while highlighting opportunities for blending technology with fashion to meet consumer needs. Methodology The study uses qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews and focus groups, to explore consumer behaviour. Data were collected from 30 participants, selected through purposive sampling to ensure diversity across age, gender, and technological experience. Thematic analysis was applied to identify key patterns in consumer preferences and barriers to wearable technology adoption. Findings The findings show that consumers are driven by both hedonic and utilitarian motivations, valuing wearable technology for its aesthetic appeal and multifunctionality, such as health monitoring and communication. Key barriers include high costs, privacy concerns, and comfort issues. Participants emphasised the need for stylish, ergonomic, and affordable wearable devices with strong privacy protections. The study also highlights the potential for greater adoption if wearable technology is seamlessly integrated into fashion, and it explores the role of collaborations between tech companies and fashion brands. Limitation This study is limited by its sample size and focus on the UK market, which may not fully represent global consumer preferences. Future research could expand the sample to include cross-cultural comparisons and explore how technological advancements, such as smart fabrics, influence adoption. The findings provide a basis for further investigation into how behavioural drivers like privacy concerns and social status shape wearable tech adoption. Practical implications The study suggests that manufacturers of wearable technology should focus on developing devices that balance both style and functionality to appeal to consumers' aesthetic and practical needs. Companies should prioritise ergonomic designs, offer products at varied price points, and incorporate robust data protection measures to address privacy concerns. These insights can guide the development of future products and brand collaborations between tech and fashion industries. Social implications Wearable technology, when effectively integrated into fashion, has the potential to influence consumer identity and social behaviour. As these devices become more ubiquitous, they could play a role in shaping social norms around privacy, health, and personal expression. Ensuring accessibility through affordable pricing and design diversity could also promote wider societal adoption, reducing the digital divide. Originality This study offers original insights into the dual role of wearable technology as both a fashion statement and a functional tool. It highlights the balance between hedonic and utilitarian motivations and provides practical recommendations for addressing barriers such as cost, comfort, and privacy. The findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on wearable tech adoption and provide a foundation for future research and product development.

ABSTRACT. In this qualitative study, we aimed to uncover the impacts of livestream shopping on US luxury and high-end consumers’ perceived risk, perceptions, and purchase intention. Using semi-structured interviews, the researchers found varying influences on perceptions and purchase intention in livestream shopping, while participation positively influenced perceived risk for the participants.

ABSTRACT. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the fashion industry, including fast fashion, which operates on ultra-short lead-time. However, fast fashion has questionable sustainability performance. This study uses bibliometric analysis to map existing research clusters and uncover gaps in research on AI application relating to sustainability in the fast fashion industry.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in generating culturally resonant marketing insights, particularly in rapidly digitizing economies like China and India. It argues that transforming raw data ("bytes") into meaningful brand connection ("resonance") requires a blend of computational and human intelligence. While AI offers advanced analytical power, achieving authentic cultural understanding necessitates systematic adaptation and enhancement beyond its baseline capabilities, especially given the richness of cultural contexts and the prevalence of unstructured consumer data.

Drawing on the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities frameworks, the paper posits cultural expertise and AI infrastructure as key resources. It highlights the importance of continually reconfiguring these resources to adapt to diverse markets. The concept of "co-intelligence" is central, framing AI not just as a tool but as a collaborative partner guided by human cultural insight. Through cross-cultural interviews and observations, the research shows that effective AI implementation involves integrating cultural knowledge deeply, either by embedding it within AI systems or through expert validation. The paper contrasts successful approaches, like listening247's culturally-attuned models, with misapplications where AI fails to compensate for poor foundational research. It concludes that synergistic human-AI collaboration, emphasizing ethical sensitivity, is crucial for achieving genuine brand resonance across cultures.

ABSTRACT. This research was conducted using bibliometric analyses examining the current state and future directions for research on Artificial Intelligence and Fashion. A bibliometric analysis of Scopus database data revealed that 4,545 publications emerged up to January 2025 and were related to "Artificial," "Intelligence," and "Fashion." This demonstrates a tremendous growth in publications during recent years, showing just how powerful AI will prove to be for transforming the future of the fashion industry. The performance analysis highlighted an unusual growth of interest in the use of AI and fashion, with 1453 papers published alone in 2024. Over 100 documents further appeared in the first week of 2025. The top contributing authors and journals show a clear diversity of contributions in the field. The co-authorship and co-occurrence analysis through science mapping has outlined four primary research streams related to the area - (1) Machine Learning and Big Data; (2) AI, Social Media, and Consumer Trust; (3) Sustainability and Digital Transformation; and (4) AI in Supply Chain Management. For researchers, this study highlights the need for investigating AI’s role in ethical fashion as well as consumer behavior. For practitioners it is evident that future organizations need to consider further investing in AI tools for improvement of customer experiences as well as operational efficiencies.

ABSTRACT. The current research proposes a conceptual framework exploring AI literacy, machine heuristic, and information source availability as three determinants of the use of Generative AI (GenAI), perceived AI information credibility and trust in AI-assisted decision-making. This research contributes to the theory by considering cognitive perspectives in the GenAI utilization in decision-making.

ABSTRACT. Programmatic Advertising poses significant challenges for SMEs. This exploratory qualitative study identifies three key factors influencing the adoption of PA by German SMEs: financial resources, technological infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. The gradual implementation of PA and using first-party data are proposed to achieve incremental growth on limited budgets.

ABSTRACT. Intercultural competence plays a vital role in fostering sustainable tourism by enhancing communication between tourists and local stakeholders. As globalisation advances, tourists encounter cultural differences that may hinder meaningful interactions and engagement with local communities. This study explores how cultural personalization in smart tourism applications can bridge these gaps by improving tourists’ intercultural competence and overall destination experience. By leveraging technology-driven personalisation, such applications can create more immersive and inclusive tourism experiences, ensuring greater cultural understanding and reducing the risks of cultural misunderstandings.

Smart tourist destinations have revolutionised the tourism industry, enabled by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) (Mitas et al., 2023) and pervasive sensing technologies. These digital innovations maximize the benefits of personalized recommendations based on individual preferences, geographical context, and real-time user interactions (Bethune, Buhalis & Miles, 2022; Shafiee et al., 2023). Smart applications dynamically refine itineraries by considering tourists’ demographic characteristics, leisure preferences, and cultural interests, offering a tailored travel experience (Alvarado-Uribe et al., 2018; Chen & Tsai, 2019). This study investigates the role of personalised digital tools in fostering deeper intercultural understanding among travellers and enhancing their engagement with local communities.

The foundation of this research lies in intercultural competence theory, which emphasises the ability (Scherle & Nonnenmann, 2008) to effectively communicate and interact across cultures (Reisinger & Dimanche, 2010). Tourists’ engagement with new cultures often presents challenges such as misunderstandings, stereotyping, and cultural shock. According to Reisinger and Turner (2012), culture shapes behavioural norms and expectations, making it critical for visitors to acquire knowledge and skills that facilitate smoother interactions. Intercultural competence addresses these challenges and fosters engagement between tourists and local stakeholders by facilitating improved communication, strengthening relationships, enhancing problem-solving capabilities, promoting cultural sensitivity, increasing participation, and enhancing experiences (Fan et al., 2022).

The growing reliance on AI-powered recommendation systems has significantly changed how tourists engage with destinations. These recommendation models analyse user behaviours and preferences to deliver tailored experiences that resonate with tourists' individual expectations (Kamperman, 2021). Research highlights the importance of understanding tourists' cultural backgrounds to identify the distinct preferences of different market segments, ultimately enhancing engagement through personalised experiences (Chen et al., 2023). These personalised suggestions improve satisfaction and foster deeper cultural immersion, as visitors are encouraged to participate in local traditions, cuisine, and social practices.

This study employed a mixed-methods approach, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative data collection. Surveys were administered to tourists visiting Elliniko-Argyroupoli, assessing their levels of intercultural competence before and after using smart applications. In-depth interviews and focus groups with local stakeholders, including hospitality professionals, cultural institutions, and municipal authorities, provided insights into how personalised digital experiences impacted interactions between visitors and local communities. Statistical analyses were employed to determine the correlation between personalised experiences and tourists’ intercultural skill development.

Preliminary research suggested that tourists engaging with culturally personalised digital experiences exhibited higher cultural sensitivity and social adaptability. Personalised smart tourism applications offer visitors tailored content, including interactive cultural guides, features highlighting local storytelling, and AI-driven chatbots. These tools facilitate multilingual communication and enhance the visitors' comprehension of the local community from their perspective. This fostered a more inclusive and informed travel experience, reducing the likelihood of cultural friction and misunderstandings (Tsaur & Tu, 2019).

The findings of the study provide valuable insights for policymakers, tourism planners, and technology developers regarding the importance of integrating cultural personalisation within smart tourism frameworks. Municipalities and tourism boards can utilise these insights to formulate strategies that foster sustainable tourism practices while safeguarding local cultural identities and enhancing intercultural dialogue. Additionally, businesses in the tourism sector could enhance customer engagement by integrating AI-powered personalisation tools, creating a more enriching and responsible tourism ecosystem.

By enhancing tourists’ intercultural competence through personalised digital experiences, this research contributed to the broader discourse on sustainable and responsible tourism. As smart applications became more integrated into travel planning, the need for culturally adaptive AI-driven recommendations continued to grow. This study underscored the importance of intercultural competence as a key driver for enriching tourist experiences, strengthening local engagement and fostering mutual understanding and respect among cultures. Future research should explore further technological advancements in AI and machine learning that can enhance digital cultural mediation, ensuring a more inclusive and mutually beneficial tourism industry.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the influence of Virtual Try-On (VTO) tools on purchasing intentions in beauty retailing. Using the VTO tool of a luxury beauty brand with 220 respondents, findings suggest that age affects perceived value, income moderates practicality, and attitude mediates purchase intent. Insights will assist beauty marketers in improving their targeting and messaging strategies.

ABSTRACT. Rapid technological advancements have fundamentally transformed buyer-seller dy-namics, with consumer perspectives necessitating a deeper understanding in this new environment (Benk et al., 2024; Ahearne et al., 2022; Grewal et al., 2020). This shift encompasses a broad spectrum of communication channels, extending beyond in-person communication to include technology-driven and multiformat interfaces (Moffett et al., 2021; Bitner et al., 2000; Fernandes and Oliveira, 2021). Digitalization and staggering amounts of information have played a catalytic role in reshaping and reassessing the relationship between informed buyers and sellers (Singh et al., 2019; Arli, Bauer & Palmatier, 2018). In this study we draw on the literature of Service-Dominant Logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004) and Service Ecosystems (Vargo and Lusch, 2016, Jaakkola and Alexander, 2014) by incorporating a philosophical depth to address the emerging chal-lenges (Hartmann, Wieland and Vargo, 2018; Bolander et al.,2015). We highlight how consumers increasingly integrate technology for purchasing decisions but also for form-ing social meaning. In the same vein, this paper tries to shed light on the interplay be-tween individual seller capabilities and broader institutional arrangements, emphasizing the need for sellers to act as drivers of both institutional and societal well-being (Rapp et al., 2017). Moreover, this study offers further conceptual insights, introducing the concept of “Eudaimonic Selling”, which emphasizes the ethical practices and the mutual value creation in the pursue of long-lasting relational exchanges. In this context, selling resonates with modern sustainability and contemporary regulations emphasizing values, honesty, fairness and empathy, that promote institutional flourishing and human well-being. This also resonates with modern consumers’ growing emphasis on the aforemen-tioned, and increasingly values purpose-driven organizations and ethical practices (Hartmann and Vandecasteele, 2021). Finally, this work outlines key challenges while framing the path ahead for continued exploration in the field of sales, especially the contemporary communication strategies and tactics that will enable sellers to effective-ly engage with informed buyers and cultivate strong relationships (Hochstein et al., 2019).

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ABSTRACT. The growing global demand for organic food is influenced by increased consumer awareness about health benefits, environmental sustainability, and ethical production practices. Despite significant market growth projections, the penetration of organic food in Malaysia remains low, with cultural, economic, and behavioral dynamics playing critical roles. This study examines the impact of cultural factors, self-risk perception, and consumer attitudes on the purchase intentions toward organic food among Malaysian consumers. A structured questionnaire was administered to 174 respondents across Malaysia, incorporating both urban and rural demographics to ensure diverse coverage. The survey focused on capturing data on cultural beliefs, values, lifestyle, self-risk perception, and attitudes towards organic food, and how these factors correlate with purchase intentions. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and SmartPLS, providing a robust framework for understanding the interactions between these variables. Results from the study indicate that cultural factors and consumer attitudes towards organic food have a significant positive impact on purchase intentions. Cultural alignment, particularly beliefs and values related to health and the environment, strongly influences consumer attitudes and, subsequently, their purchasing decisions. Interestingly, while self-risk perception was also a significant factor, its impact was less pronounced than that of cultural and attitudinal influences. This suggests that while health concerns are relevant, they are overshadowed by the more dominant cultural and attitudinal factors within the Malaysian context. The analysis further revealed that economic barriers significantly deter the purchase of organic foods. High product costs and limited accessibility, especially in rural areas, restrict the consumption of organic products to more affluent and urban consumers. This economic sensitivity highlights a critical gap between consumer interest in and actual purchases of organic foods, suggesting that pricing and distribution strategies need to be addressed to convert interest into sales. The study highlights the complexity of consumer behavior in the organic food market in Malaysia, driven by a mix of cultural, attitudinal, and economic factors. Marketing strategies that are culturally resonant and emphasize the health and environmental benefits of organic products are likely to be more effective. Moreover, addressing economic barriers through pricing strategies and improved distribution could facilitate broader market penetration and consumer adoption of organic products. In conclusion, this research provides valuable insights into the dynamics of organic food consumption in Malaysia. It highlights the importance of cultural factors and attitudes in shaping purchase intentions and points to significant economic challenges that must be overcome. Future research should explore the specific cultural values that influence organic food purchases and potential demographic differences in consumption patterns. For industry stakeholders, the findings suggest the need for targeted marketing campaigns and pricing adjustments to make organic options more appealing and accessible to a wider range of Malaysian consumers. By aligning marketing strategies with local cultural and economic realities, the organic food market in Malaysia can tap into the growing global movement towards health and sustainability.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the responsiveness of Malaysian consumers to value framing theory, with the objective of understanding their behavior and engagement with green marketing messages. Given the increasing environmental importance and urgency in adopting sustainability concepts within companies, this research seeks to provide insights into Malaysian consumers' engagement with marketing messages framed through value perspectives. The study focuses on consumers in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching, selected from a total population of approximately 25 million Malaysians aged 18 and above. A survey was conducted with a sample of 200 consumers from these locations. The results indicate that Malaysian consumers exhibit a stronger response to gain-oriented messages compared to loss-oriented ones. Additionally, the digital landscape plays a mediating role in the relationship between green marketing messages and consumer behavior. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of consumer behavior in response to green marketing, highlighting the effectiveness of value framing in promoting sustainable practices.

ABSTRACT. The rapid growth of the global organic product industry, with an annual market value exceeding $227 billion in 2023, highlights the increasing demand for sustainable practices in marketing. Sustainability has become a critical concern as consumers now prefer products that are not only healthy but also environmentally responsible and ethically produced. Advertising plays an important role in promoting these values by shaping how consumers perceive and engage with products. Among various advertising strategies, handwritten typefaces have gained attention for their ability to convey naturalness, care, and authenticity (Liu et al., 2019). These qualities resonate with sustainability-minded consumers who value human connection and transparency. However, little research has explored the role of handwritten typefaces in promoting sustainable consumption through organic product advertising. This study aims to address this gap by examining how handwritten typefaces, compared to machine-typed fonts, influence consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. Using cue utilization theory and cue consistency theory as foundations, it also investigates how narrative perspectives (first-person vs. third-person) and perceptions of congruence and sincerity mediate these effects. The goal is to provide insights into how visual and narrative cues can drive sustainable consumption and enhance green marketing practices.

This study is based on two key theories, cue utilization theory and cue consistency theory. Cue utilization theory indicates that products give consumers two types of information: intrinsic (e.g., ingredients) and extrinsic (e.g., typefaces). In organic product advertising, extrinsic cues like handwritten fonts can show effort, care, and authenticity. These cues help consumers understand the product more easily. Cue consistency theory implies that consumers respond better when the features of the product and its advertising match (Hsieh, 2023; Slovic, 1966). Handwritten typefaces align well with organic products because they feel natural and human. When ads use fonts and messages that match, consumers trust them more and find them easier to understand. The study suggests that handwritten fonts make ads feel more congruent and sincere, leading to better consumer responses. First-person narratives make these effects stronger by making the ads feel more personal and engaging (Kim et al., 2020), while third-person narratives do not create the same connection.

The study tested these ideas through two experiments respectively.Study One tested the main effect, indicating that handwritten typefaces improve consumer attitudes toward ads and increase purchase intentions compared to machine-typed fonts. This occurred since handwritten fonts feel more real and human, which matches the natural qualities of health product products. Study Two looked at how typefaces and narrative perspectives work together. It employed a 2 (typeface: handwritten vs. machine-typed) x 2 (narrative perspective: first-person vs. third-person) design. It found that first-person narratives make handwritten typefaces even more effective by increasing feelings of congruence and sincerity. When ads use first-person narratives, consumers feel more emotionally connected. Third-person narratives do not create the same level of connection.

This study adds new insights to cue utilization theory, showing that handwritten typefaces are more than just design elements. They help ads feel authentic, sincere, and human. The study also supports cue consistency theory, showing that consumers respond better when typefaces and product qualities align. It identifies congruence and sincerity as important factors that explain how consumers react to ads. First-person narratives further enhance these effects by making ads more engaging and personal.In addition, marketers can use handwritten typefaces to make their ads feel more authentic and trustworthy. These fonts show care and effort, which match the values of health-conscious consumers. Using first-person narratives with handwritten fonts creates a stronger emotional connection between the brand and the consumer. This helps build long-term trust and loyalty. Handwritten typefaces can also be used on product packaging to reinforce these feelings. These strategies are especially helpful in green marketing campaigns, where trust and authenticity are very important.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how the past identity of upcycled products influences consumers' purchase intentions, with a focus on emotional connections such as nostalgia, uniqueness, and novelty. By transforming discarded materials into valuable items, upcycling not only extends product lifecycles but also promotes sustainable consumption. Previous studies have shown that highlighting a product’s past identity can create emotional bonds and narrative value, which significantly shape consumer attitudes and behaviors. The research delves into how emphasizing a product's history enhances consumer engagement and drives purchase intentions. A survey is conducted with two groups, where Group A receives information emphasizing the product's past identity as upcycled, while Group B is informed only that it is a regular recycled product, to clarify the role of past identity. The findings offer practical insights for brands looking to strengthen sustainable marketing strategies and build deeper connections with eco-conscious consumers.

ABSTRACT. Firms are enhancing sustainability efforts to address environmental and social challenges, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting impoverished communities. In marketing communication, product packaging serves as a primary touchpoint, increasingly featuring QR codes alongside sustainability message to communicate their sustainability efforts to consumers. Despite extensive research on sustainability advertising and eco-labels, the effectiveness of QR codes and message on product packaging remains underexplored. This study examines how sustainability message framing (positive vs. negative) and sustainability initiative type (environmental vs. social) influence QR code scanning intentions and product attitudes. Using a 2×2 online experiment, the findings contribute to the understanding of the cognitive dimensions of consumers' perceptions of sustainability information and provides practical insights for developing effective sustainability communication strategies.

ABSTRACT. Social media has emerged as a crucial tool for corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, enabling fashion brands to engage consumers and convey sustainability efforts. This study examines how fast fashion and sustainable brands utilize Instagram and TikTok for CSR messaging, analyzing content from six brands—H&M, Zara, Shein, Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, and Everlane—throughout 2023. Using content analysis, the study identifies key themes in sustainability communication and evaluates audience engagement through likes, comments, and shares.

Findings reveal that sustainable brands consistently integrate CSR messaging into their brand identity, emphasizing environmental conservation, circular fashion, and transparency. Patagonia leads with activism-focused content, while Eileen Fisher highlights ethical sourcing and Everlane engages audiences through educational storytelling. Their messaging fosters trust and loyalty, aligning with consumer expectations for responsible business practices.

Conversely, fast fashion brands display inconsistencies in CSR communication. H&M’s efforts center on social inclusivity, particularly diversity campaigns, but environmental sustainability messages remain secondary. Zara focuses on technological innovation but lacks engagement on TikTok, limiting its outreach to younger audiences. Shein, despite promoting eco-friendly initiatives, faces skepticism due to greenwashing concerns.

This study underscores the importance of transparency, authenticity, and platform-specific strategies in CSR communication. Sustainable brands provide a model for aligning CSR efforts with consumer values, while fast fashion brands must enhance credibility by integrating sustainability into their business models. Social media’s role in shaping brand perception highlights the need for proactive and honest engagement. The findings contribute to CSR communication literature and offer strategic insights for brands seeking to improve consumer trust and digital engagement in the evolving fashion industry.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the relationship of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and social norms in shaping green skepticism toward sustainable footwear. The data was collected from 510 United States respondents and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Results reveal that environmental knowledge positively influences green skepticism, while attitude toward green footwear does not significantly mediate this relationship. Social norms does not moderate the relationship between Environmental Knowledge and Green Skepticism. Findings highlight the importance of leveraging transparent environmental claims to reduce skepticism toward green footwear marketing. Theoretical contributions challenge traditional assumptions about attitude formation and emphasize the multidimensional nature of skepticism. This study underscores the need for credible, socially driven green marketing strategies.

ABSTRACT. Consumers encounter a variety of products and services in the market, yet due to information asymmetry, they often struggle to assess quality. To bridge this gap, firms use various signals, such as brand logos and certifications, to communicate the excellence of their products and services. These signals help reduce information asymmetry and uncertainty while assuring consumers of quality. Previous research has shown that consumer awareness of certifications increases purchase intention. However, most studies have focused on food, clothing, or environmental sustainability, while research on professional service sectors, such as fire safety, remains scarce. This study applies signaling theory to examine the impact of certification on consumer trust in the fire safety service market. A survey was conducted targeting fire safety managers in companies and buildings. The findings extend the implications of signaling theory and highlight the importance of providing brand and certification signals in professional service industries.

ABSTRACT. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a multifaceted and critical area of focus for marketing management. AI-enabled e-commerce marketing, in particular, has been widely adopted by retail companies to enhance customer engagement, broaden touchpoints, and drive sales. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – particularly those transitioning from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to online platforms – face significant challenges in adopting appropriate AI-enabled marketing tools. These challenges stem from factors such as costs, organizational structures, limited resources, the uncertain effectiveness of AI-enabled marketing, and the varied needs of their customer base. This study investigates the impact of AI-enabled marketing strategies on customer purchase intention within SMEs. Focusing on SMEs in the multi-channel service and retail sectors, the research uses SCQA method (Situation-Complication-Question-Answer) and proposes an AI-enabled strategic marketing model for SMEs’ e-commerce. It explores how SMEs can strategically utilize online product showcases to boost sales, strengthen brand management, and cultivate customer trust. The study contributes to marketing by: (1) Evaluating and delineating the current landscape of AI-enabled marketing strategies and their relevance to SMEs; (2) Identifying the specific challenges SMEs face in optimizing business outcomes through e-commerce marketing; (3) Providing actionable insights and propose solutions, with a particular emphasis on the role of AI-enabled brand touchpoints in addressing emerging challenges; and (4) Paving a road for the empirical study for digital marketing researchers. The results offer practical guidance for SMEs navigating the transition to digital marketing, illustrating how traditional brand elements can be effectively leveraged to establish credibility and trust in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace.

ABSTRACT. How do consumers make sense of the anthropomorphized artificial intelligence (AI) social entities (‘social AI’)? This paper zooms into the hedonic and utilitarian intersections with perceived uses and threats from examples of generative and robotic AI social images and entities. From the perspectives of uses and gratifications model as well as the intergroup threat theory, a qualitative approach in understanding sentiments was utilized through depth interviews and investigative netnography. Two exemplars from the Philippine context served as the focal objects of evaluations – television generative AI sportscasters and an automated meal-serving robot. From the reception analysis, data were constructed and interpreted through a humanistic qualitative analysis forming the themes of hedonic and utilitarian uses and threats. The contribution is positioned in the domain of social cognition in AI social imageries in relation to human-like and anthropomorphistic entities in brand contexts. Furthermore, the paper explores the implications towards the layers of social taste and distinctions emanating from social capital profiles.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores how consumers respond to AI chatbots under disconfirmed expectations. Findings show that feeling-oriented AI chatbots (vs. thinking-oriented) enhance reuse intention and interaction satisfaction through consumer tolerance. However, perceived authenticity negatively moderates the indirect effect of AI chatbot design on reuse intention, highlighting its impact on consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. This study focuses on AI-powered chatbots as a touchpoint and explores the impact of branding on consumer perceptions. As businesses integrate chatbots into customer service, understanding how these factors influence psychological constructs such as warmth, competence, empathy, and consumers' willingness to recommend services becomes essential for effective customer engagement strategies. An experimental design featuring three chatbot interaction scenarios, was utilised. Participants were randomly assigned to these scenarios, with perceptions being assessed. Results indicate that branded chatbots significantly enhance perceptions of competence, warmth, empathy and willingness to recommend. The findings highlight the importance of using brand identities as well as incorporating human-like attributes in chatbot design to bolster brand perception and foster emotional engagement.

ABSTRACT. This study examines consumer reactions to human versus virtual influencers in various endorsement contexts. Building on attribution theory and construal level theory, this research investigates how consumers evaluate VIs and human influencers when endorsing conventional versus pro-environmental fashion in terms of endorsement motives and how these perceived motives influence social media post attitudes, brand attitudes, and influencer credibility. Further, this study explores the role of endorsement count (single vs. multiple endorsements) in shaping consumer perceptions. Consumers are expected to exhibit more favorable attitudes toward the post and brand(s) and perceive higher influencer credibility for VIs compared to human influencers, along with viewing a VI’s endorsement motive as more altruistic. The results are also anticipated to demonstrate a moderating effect of influencer theme and endorsement count, where consumers will perceive a significantly stronger altruistic motive when a VI endorses green fashion compared to when a human influencer promotes green fashion. Moreover, consumers are likely to respond more negatively to a human influencer endorsing multiple brands in conventional fashion, whereas this effect is not expected for VIs. Findings of this study provide empirical evidence that VIs can be an effective tool for brands to engage consumers through social media influencer marketing campaigns. Furthermore, given the increasing emphasis on pro-environmental business practices, these findings provide valuable insights for marketers on how to strategically leverage VIs to communicate sustainability values effectively.

ABSTRACT. The study explores how Large Language Models (LLMs) can enhance brand communication while maintaining brand consistency, focusing on AI-powered chatbots as brand touchpoints. While text-based AI applications are widely used in marketing, a major challenge remains in ensuring that AI-generated content aligns with brand identity. This research presents a design approach for brand-aligned chatbots using Few-Shot Prompting combined with the OCEAN personality model and evaluates its impact on brand perception.

Chatbots are increasingly used for customer interaction, yet their brand alignment has been largely overlooked in research. Brand consistency is crucial for maintaining consumer trust and positive brand associations, as supported by theories such as the mere exposure effect and fluency theory. However, AI-generated content often lacks distinctiveness, making brand differentiation difficult. To address this, the study compares three approaches for optimizing AI-generated brand touchpoints: Few-Shot Prompting, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and Fine-Tuning. Few-Shot Prompting was selected due to its practicality and ease of implementation, allowing brands to guide AI outputs with structured brand-specific examples.

Empirical validation included an expert study and a consumer experiment. In the expert study, 16 branding specialists assessed chatbots with different levels of brand alignment (no brand prompt, weak brand prompt, and OCEAN-based brand alignment). The results showed that chatbots using the OCEAN model received higher evaluations for brand fit, with 75% of experts favoring the brand-aligned chatbot for Red Bull. In the consumer study, participants interacted with either a non-branded chatbot or an OCEAN-aligned chatbot and then evaluated brand attitude and brand equity. Preliminary findings suggest that strong brand alignment improved brand perception for Red Bull but had little impact for Nespresso.

The study provides managerial insights, showing that brand consistency remains essential even as AI transforms marketing. The proposed approach offers a cost-effective way for companies, including SMEs and start-ups, to ensure AI-generated communication aligns with brand identity. Beyond chatbots, this method is applicable to AI-generated social media content, advertisements, and websites. The research also contributes to AI-driven branding by introducing a structured design approach and highlighting the need for further studies on emerging brands, emotionally charged interactions, and multimodal brand communication using images and videos.

ABSTRACT. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have given rise to virtual social media influencers (vSMIs). vSMIs are real-time rendered avatars that mimic human influencers and blur the boundaries between reality and fiction. Marketing with vSMIs has attracted considerable research attention. We contribute to this field of study by exploring how differently sex appeal of human social media influencers (hSMI) affects consumer behavior in comparison with virtual social media influencers (vSMI). Drawing from evolutionary psychology and social comparison theory, we develop a series of hypotheses on how sex appeal of female hSMIs and vSMIs affects consumers’ attitude toward the endorsed brand and purchasing intention, depending on the gender match with the consumer. We argue that men are more aroused by female SMI’s sex appeal than women, leading to enhanced attitudes toward the brand and purchase intentions. We expect for male consumers (but not for female consumers) that this effect is independent of the human versus virtual nature of the SMI. Moreover, we surmise that ego depletion mediates the effects of SMIs sex appeal on brand attitudes and purchase intentions, with significant differences between male and female consumers. We expect for female consumers that female vSMIs with high sex appeal led to less depleting consequences than hSMI, and that this effect difference is smaller for men because ego depletion reduces their mental effort to differentiate hSMI from vSMIs.

ABSTRACT. The emergence of virtual influencers has revolutionized social media advertising, enabling brands to craft personalized content that appeals to targeted audiences. With AI-generated personalities, virtual influencers’ impacts span various industries, including luxury brands. While prior research has predominantly focused on customer responses to virtual influencers’ characteristics in brand endorsement, the more nuanced interaction between celebrity, brand, and customer congruence remains underexplored. Celebrity-brand-customer congruence is critical to investigate because the alignment between these elements can enhance the perceived credibility of the endorsement, which is essential in building strong consumer relationships. Grounded in congruence theory, this study examines how virtual influencer-brand congruence, virtual influencer-customer congruence, and customer-brand congruence influence customer engagement and brand interest. Study 1 employs an online survey of 386 Chinese customers and utilizes Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLSPM) to test all direct relationships and the mediating role of perceived credibility. Study 2 adopts an online experiment with a between-subjects design involving 300 participants, randomly assigned to either a prestige or masstige brand condition, to assess the moderating effect of product status. The findings offer practical insights for brands seeking to optimize virtual influencer strategies by leveraging congruence dynamics to shape consumer perceptions and behaviors.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the moderating roles of gender, income and education on the relationships among social media marketing activities (SMMA) and both purchase intention (PI) and purchase decision (PD) among adult luxury consumers in France, through a quantitative approach, on 243 adult luxury consumers revealing that gender and income does not significantly moderate these relationships, education plays an important role in influencing PD in response to specific SMMA, and when examining gender, income, and education together, the results indicated significant moderation effects.

ABSTRACT. With the rise of live-streaming commerce as a key driver for secondhand luxury retail, concerns over counterfeits and the lack of standardised authentication hinder consumer trust in products and retailers. AI authentication, leveraging machine learning and real-time image recognition, offers a potential solution by providing automated, highly accurate verification during secondhand luxury live-streaming commerce.

Although AI authentication has been employed across various industries, its application in secondhand luxury live-streaming has yet to be investigated. This study addresses this gap by examining AI authentication-related factors that influence consumer trust in products and retailers in secondhand luxury live-streaming commerce. This research enhances the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by including AI-authentication-specific factors to assess their influence on customer trust in products and retailers, which subsequently influence purchase intention. This study addresses counterfeit issues, fostering ethical consumption and greater transparency in secondhand luxury markets.

ABSTRACT. This study examines stakeholder motivations and expectations in interdisciplinary Challenge-Based Learning programs, addressing the demand for flexible lifelong learning. Using qualitative analysis, it offers recommendations to improve program effectiveness, aligning with evolving professional learning cultures and generational needs, to meet both organizational and individual goals.

ABSTRACT. Corporate board composition is increasingly shaped by stakeholder demands for diversity. However, despite extensive research, board diversity lacks a precise and common definition. This paper analyzes existing literature to develop a targeted, multidimensional definition and conceptual framework for board diversity, emphasizing its relevance to board dynamics and performance.

ABSTRACT. Personalized pricing, driven by AI and big data, offers significant profit potential but faces challenges in consumer acceptance due to fairness concerns. This work explores how framing tactics, in particular customized e-coupons, influence consumer reactions, focusing on their effectiveness in improving acceptance and mitigating negative responses to first-degree price discrimination.

ABSTRACT. Authenticity shapes credibility, reputation, and corporate performance, yet its measurement remains challenging. In CSR, authenticity fosters trust and legitimacy, influencing initiative success through communication. Despite its importance, measurement approaches are limited. This paper reviews existing literature and empirically tests a newly developed CSR authenticity communication scale for reliability and validity.

ABSTRACT. Sport mega-events (SMEs) attract the attention of billions worldwide, while also becoming a growing space for concern regarding Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI). By employing a systematic literature review using the Antecedents-Decisions-Outcomes (ADO) framework we propose an effect decision typology of CSI in SMEs.

ABSTRACT. Textual data is abundant and informative yet underutilized for behavioral prediction due to its unstructured nature. Large language models offer a solution. This paper maps LLM-based behavioral prediction and introduces the SMART taxonomy (Specialization, Modality, Accessibility, Resources, Trustworthiness) to guide researchers in selecting suitable LLMs for accurate and reliable results.

ABSTRACT. Occasional service failures are inevitable for service providers, which creates the necessity to develop effective interventions to deal with them. Previous research has shown that both tangible and intangible components are essential for successfully managing service recoveries. It is suggested that a higher perception of control among consumers leads them to evaluate the service recovery more favorably. The present thesis expands prior literature by transferring the Two-Process Model of Perceived Control and its further development from the health domain to consumer research. Drawing on a scenario-based online experiment with 364 participants, this study investigates the impact of primary and secondary control during service recovery on consumers' perceptions of control and, ultimately, on their responses following the service recovery. The results of the present work suggest that primary control mechanisms are positively related to consumers' perceived control and ultimately reinforce their favorable responses towards the service provider. Secondary control mechanisms show no statistically significant effect, and the combination of primary and secondary control does not appear to be more effective than primary control alone. Moreover, the results support the notion that perceived justice acts as a mediator between consumers’ perceived control and their final responses. In conclusion, the study contributes to research by integrating primary and secondary control into service recovery, highlighting the influential role of primary control mechanisms, and thereby providing promising managerial guidelines for developing more successful service recoveries.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates optimizing product mixes in system semiconductors. In so doing, it develops a geometric simulation method using Convex Hulls and Cartesian Products. Our model integrates dynamic market demands and resource availability, offering actionable insights through case studies and enhancing decision-making in the B2B semiconductor sector.

ABSTRACT. Trade liberalization policies such as tariff reductions have faced growing criticism for harming domestic suppliers by intensifying competition. This research investigates whether domestic firms that rely on the government as a major customer exhibit greater resilience to foreign competition. Using the United States’ granting of permanent normal trade relations to China as an exogenous shock, we show that suppliers with major government customers outperform their peers when their industries are heavily influenced by import shocks. The beneficial effect is stronger for firms with greater financial constraints or less business diversification. Further analysis shows that government customers mitigate demand uncertainty, enabling firms to sustain investment and investment efficiency when import competition intensifies. The findings have important policy and managerial implications.

ABSTRACT. With the rise of political consumerism, consumers and other stakeholders often assert pressures on firms to voice their stance on sociopolitical issues. In response to these pressures, multinational corporations (MNCs) have been increasingly engaging in corporate social activism (CSA), which refers to a public statement or action taken by a firm to express its support for or opposition to a sociopolitical issue. In the recent Russo–Ukrainian War, various MNCs (e.g., Apple, Nike and McDonald’s.) announced their withdrawal from the Russian market to demonstrate the stance against the war. These CSA-oriented market-exit decisions are substantially different from the traditional view of market exits with the economic logic of abandoning underperformed markets. Firms engaging in CSA can satisfy target stakeholders, which may benefit the corporate sales. Nevertheless, market exits implicate resources and cost commitments, making the financial return of the CSA-oriented market exits questionable. Thus, taking the MNCs’ market exit from Russia amidst the 2022 Russo–Ukrainian War as the research context, this study explores whether a CSA-driven market exit benefits firm performance. The implications of the results to marketing literature and practices on CSA are discussed.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how virtual reality (VR) technology affects online auction markets by enabling Information Search Autonomy (ISA) - the degree to which users can independently search for, discover, and evaluate product information. Drawing on a dataset of 2.2 million judicial property auctions, we investigate how VR implementation influences bidding behavior and market outcomes. Our empirical analysis reveals that VR-enabled auctions achieve 2-percentage point higher success rates and 12.8-percentage point higher price premiums. These improvements are associated with increased bidder aggressiveness through jump bidding, where bidders place bids substantially above the minimum increment. We establish causality through multiple identification strategies, including propensity score matching and an instrumental variable approach using court-property distance. Our cross-sectional analyses identify two fundamental mechanisms driving VR's effects: (1) an experiential effect, where immersive virtual inspections reduce psychological distance between bidders and properties, particularly for furnished and residential properties; and (2) a confirmation bias effect, where bidders strategically search for attributes aligned with their prior beliefs, enhancing valuation certainty. The latter effect is weaker when objective validations (insurance services) are available and in markets with strict purchase restrictions. Our findings extend auction theory by highlighting how information acquisition mechanisms influence market participant behavior beyond the information itself.

ABSTRACT. Service customization is a valuable operational strategy that accommodates individual preferences, yet it is often constrained by high operational costs. The advent of large language models (LLMs) offers a promising solution to increase employees’ working efficiency in delivering customized services while maintaining cost-effectiveness. This study investigates the impact of LLM adoption on customization efficiency using management responses to online hotel reviews on TripAdvisor. We first demonstrate that LLM-generated responses exhibit significantly higher levels of customization compared to staff-written responses, even at a minimal cost. Leveraging a quasi-experimental variation of LLM accessibility across countries, we employ a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach to estimate the real-world effects of LLMs. Our results reveal that LLM introduction increases response customization observed on TripAdvisor by 2.0 percentage points—a 13.7% efficiency improvement compared with the baseline before LLM introduction. We also find that the response rate increases significantly. Furthermore, experimental findings show that LLM-driven customization enhances customers’ repurchase intent, particularly in addressing negative reviews. These findings provide actionable insights for managers seeking to integrate generative AI into their workflows and highlight the importance of policy that regulates AI usage and disclosure.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, a notable trend has emerged in Chinese digital media, particularly in the films and social media, where a significant number of media productions have opted for narratives centred on criminal activities in Southeast Asia. The media's reporting on crime has had a subsequent impact on the travel behaviour of Chinese tourists. It is evidence of the digital media that have the capacity to act as a vehicle with the potential to influence the perceptions and decision-making processes of tourists. Inflated Chinese film and television portrayals of Southeast Asian crime have thus eroded the confidence of Chinese tourists in travelling to these destinations. It is needed to understand those factors that influence the risk perception and travel decisions of Chinese tourists about Southeast Asian destinations. However, less research investigated negative digital media content impacting tourists' decisions about travel destinations at a regional scale. This study employed the SEM approach based on the theory of narrative transportation, in which independent variables of narrative empathy, story immersion, and belief change influence risk perception and destination image and, consequently, tourists' hesitation with regard to making destination decisions. The findings reveal that fear signals are frequently framed within vivid, emotionally charged narratives that facilitate narrative transportation. Chinese tourists who experience higher levels of narrative transportation exhibit greater decision hesitancy, characterised by increased risk perception, information-seeking behaviour, and delayed booking intentions. This study identifies the critical role of narrative transportation in shaping tourists' responses to fear signals and decision hesitancy. The findings give insight into consumer decision marketers and policymakers on how to minimise the impact of fear signals on the decision-making of tourists to ensure safe and resilient tourism.

ABSTRACT. Androgynous fashion has become popular with celebrities, influencers and male followers of this trend. The influence of celebrity culture and fashion influencers on fashion trends (Nouri, 2018) While extant literature has explored how fashion diffuses and is adopted (Sproles, 1974) there is limited research that explains why males adopt androgynous fashion. This study explores the male androgynous fashion phenomenon. This is an exploratory study based on 12 semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis, a model is proposed to illustrate the factors that influence male androgynous fashion adoption that include changing social values, celebrity, and pop culture influences.

ABSTRACT. The rapid advancement of cutting-edge technologies has profoundly impacted various sectors, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), including generative AI (GenAI). While recent research has extensively explored GenAI’s applications and efficacies, theoretical explanations of its diffusion and adoption remain relatively understudied. Therefore, this study aims to develop a unified conceptual and theoretical framework by reviewing the literature on technology adoption and diffusion and identifying the dominant theoretical frameworks in this field. Building on research in new technology and innovation, this study identifies three predominant theoretical frameworks that have been widely utilized: (1) Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT), (2) the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and (3) the Technology Readiness Index (TRI). By juxtaposing both the congruences and incongruences within these three dominant frameworks, this study proposes the Technology Readiness-Acceptance-Diffusion Model (TRADM). Based on this unified theoretical framework, the study also formulates measurable propositions that establish causal relationships within the proposed framework, enhancing theoretical robustness in the technology adoption and diffusion research stream, particularly for GenAI as a disruptive technological innovation.

ABSTRACT. In Chinese culture, lai see in Cantonese (利是) or hong bao in Mandarin (紅包) is the tradition of gift exchanging red packets filled with money that are given as gifts during auspicious occasions such as birthdays, weddings and Chinese New Year celebrations. The act of giving lai see is a widely practised form of gift-giving that symbolises luck for people who receive them. With the advent of digital payment technologies of peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, PayMe and Line Pay, the practice of physical red packets (i.e. lai see) has evolved into a digital form of “e-lai see”. For example, HSBC reported that users of PayMe, the HSBC mobile P2P transfer app, gave more than 5.3 million electronic red packets (i.e. e-lai see), amounting to a total of HK$85 million (US$ 10.9 million) in 2023 (Yiu, 2024). Recent research has studied gift recipients’ preference for digital gift cards (Reshadi et al., 2023) and embarked cash gifts (Givi and Das, 2022). However, limited studies in gift-giving practices examined digital money (i.e., e-lai see) as a gift due to the cultural norm that money is traditionally regarded as inappropriate in Western gift-giving contexts (Mortelmans and Sinardet, 2004). While extensive research has focused on determining suitable gift choices, limited attention has been given to types of gift occasions and multimedia messaging attached to the gifts in gift-giving practices. This paper examines the impact of media richness (voice vs. text messages) and gift-giving occasions (individual-based vs. collective-based occasions) on thoughtfulness.

This study tested the hypotheses of the impact of gift occasions (individual-based birthday vs. collective-based Chinese New Year - CNY) on perceived thoughtfulness by media richness (voice vs. text message). Data collection was conducted through a random sampling procedure in the present study. A 2 (media richness: voice vs. test message) x 2 (gift occasions: individual-based birthday vs. collective-based Chinese New Year) between-subjects scenario-based experiment was employed. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four scenarios (Condition 1: voice message x birthday; Condition 2: voice message x CNY; Condition 3: text message x birthday; Condition 4: text message x CNY) (Figure 2). Five hundred and twenty-nine valid samples were found (58.4% female; 7.8% aged 18-25, 34.2% aged 26-35, 35.3% aged 36-45, 12.9% aged 46-55, 7.0% aged 56-65 and 2.8% aged 66 or above). Each condition has around one hundred thirty-one to one hundred and thirty-four samples. After reading a randomly assigned scenario in which they were the e-gift money recipient, participants were asked to complete the questionnaire to measure perceived thoughtfulness (Givi and Das, 2022).

The results showed that the main and two-way interaction effects significantly influence the participants’ perceived thoughtfulness. Occasion (collective – CNY vs. individual – Birthday) has a direct effect on thoughtfulness, as respondents perceived receiving an e-money gift on a birthday as more thoughtful than those in CNY. Media Richness (text vs. audio greetings) has no direct effect on thoughtfulness. The interaction of occasions and media richness has a significant effect on thoughtfulness (Figure 3). Thoughtfulness in the individual-voice condition (M = 5.248) is significantly higher than in the collective-voice condition (M = 4.885). It means voice messages are specifically used to enhance thoughtfulness on individual-related occasions (e.g., birthdays in our study or maybe others like anniversaries, weddings, etc.).

The findings in this research contribute to gift-giving literature, adding types of messages and gift occasions in the context. The findings also provide practical suggestions for marketers regarding creating mobile payment app campaigns such as sales promotion (e.g. lucky draw), interactive visuals and audio to enhance user experience and encourage more participation. The future direction for the research can be to examine gift-recipient asymmetry in terms of media richness and gift occasion on perceived thoughtfulness and appreciation.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how the simplicity of food packaging design influences consumers' perceptions of various food properties and their willingness to pay (WTP). While previous research, particularly the work by Ton et al. (2024), suggests that simple packaging signals higher food “purity” (fewer unwanted ingredients), this study demonstrates that the relationship between packaging simplicity and consumer perception is more complex and depends on which food properties consumers prioritize.

The research addresses a significant gap in existing literature by introducing and examining three key food properties: purity (the degree to which food contains few unwanted ingredients), fortification (the amount of essential ingredients), and enrichment (the variety of essential ingredients). Previous studies have primarily focused on purity while overlooking these other important dimensions of food properties that consumers consider when making purchasing decisions.

The researchers conducted four studies testing how package design simplicity affects consumer perceptions and WTP. Study 1 examined the relationship between packaging simplicity and perceived fortification using nut chocolate. With 287 participants aged 10s-70s, the study revealed that when consumers prioritized fortification, simple packaging led them to infer lower amounts of nuts, resulting in lower perceived fortification and WTP. Conversely, when consumers prioritized purity, simple packaging led to higher WTP.

Study 2, with 298 participants, investigated the relationship between packaging simplicity and perceived enrichment using mixed nuts. The findings paralleled Study 1: when consumers prioritized enrichment, simple packaging led them to infer lower ingredient variety, resulting in lower perceived enrichment and WTP. When purity was prioritized, simple packaging led to marginally higher WTP.

Studies 3 and 4 examined how emphasis displays on packaging (e.g., "high fruit content") moderate these effects. Using fruit yogurt and fruit granola with 146 and 166 participants respectively, the researchers found that explicit emphasis on high levels of fortification or enrichment neutralized the negative effect of simple packaging design. This finding has particular relevance for brands with limited flexibility in modifying packaging designs.

The research revealed several key findings that challenge existing assumptions about packaging design. Package design simplicity serves as a quality cue for consumers, but its interpretation varies significantly depending on which food properties consumers prioritize. Simple packaging designs can negatively impact perceived levels of fortification and enrichment, leading to lower WTP among consumers who prioritize these properties. However, the presence of explicit emphasis on high levels of fortification or enrichment can effectively overcome the negative effects of simple packaging design.

These findings provide important practical implications for companies in the food industry. Organizations should carefully adjust packaging design simplicity based on their target consumers' priorities, using simple designs when targeting consumers who prioritize purity and complex designs when targeting consumers who prioritize fortification or enrichment. When unable to modify design simplicity due to brand constraints, companies can strategically use emphasis displays to communicate high levels of fortification or enrichment. Furthermore, package design strategy should consider both the presence of emphasis displays and consumer priorities regarding food properties.

The study significantly expands the understanding of packaging design effects by introducing new concepts of fortification and enrichment alongside purity, demonstrating how consumer priorities moderate the effect of packaging simplicity, and showing how emphasis displays can override packaging simplicity signals. This multi-dimensional approach provides a more nuanced understanding of how packaging design influences consumer perceptions and behavior.

While the research has limitations, including small-scale data and limited experimental materials, it provides valuable insights for both academic understanding and practical application in food packaging design. This research challenges the simplistic view that simpler packaging designs are always better, suggesting instead that optimal packaging design depends on both the target consumer's priorities and the food properties being emphasized. Future research could explore additional product properties beyond purity, fortification, and enrichment, particularly in the context of durable consumer goods where different qualities might be prioritized.

The research methodology employed robust statistical analyses, including bootstrap tests with 5,000 samples, to validate the findings. These analyses confirmed the mediating effects of package design simplicity on WTP through consumer inferences about ingredient content and variety. The study also highlights the importance of considering the interaction between packaging design elements and explicit product claims, suggesting that marketers need to carefully coordinate these different aspects of product presentation to effectively communicate desired product attributes to consumers. This integrated approach to packaging design and marketing communication represents a significant advancement in understanding how visual and textual elements work together to shape consumer perceptions and purchase decisions.

ABSTRACT. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a critical concern related to health and well-being, especially given the increase in indoor activities in modern society, often referred to as the 'indoor generation.' The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges, prompting public health scientists to reexamine something essential to life yet often overlooked—indoor air quality (IAQ). The latest research public health reports that IAQ influences not only airborne transmission risks, but also sleep quality in bedroom. Among IAQ parameters, indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) that results from human respiration increases infectious respiratory illness and decreased sleep quality when there are high CO2 concentrations indoors. In its infancy, this study aims to explore IAQ's potential as a positive signal to determine service quality in hotel selection and to provide preliminary results of IAQ field tests conducted with major hotel chains to shed light on both theoretical and managerial implications. By deploying reliable IAQ instruments in each occupied guestroom of four 3.5-star chain-operated hotels in the Northeast United States, indoor air quality samples were collected for two nights. The findings of the study show that sleep quality is likely to be compromised when sleeping overnight in a hotel room due to high indoor CO2 concentrations resulting from exhaled breath, along with insufficient ventilation when a guestroom is shared by a family of four with children. Only one hotel in the same chain provided an invisible environment suitable for quality sleep without disturbance. The preliminary results showed that IAQ variations of each hotel guestroom and perceived sleep quality followed IAQ levels (i.e., inverse relationship), which is consistent with the previous research in environmental sciences. The combined results also suggest the potential of IAQ as one of the perceived service qualities when staying in hotels, especially for guests seeking health and well-being.

ABSTRACT. Financial social media influencers, or “finfluencers” in short, have become vital intermediaries between financial service providers and consumers, sharing information using financial products that allow consumers to evaluate the product and make a purchase. Despite the industrial focus on finfluencers, empirical studies examining how followers of finfluencers perceive finfluencer communications and affect their personal financial behaviors are limited. This study examines how finfluencers can enhance the effectiveness of financial marketing through the parasocial relationship with followers and the finfluencers’ motives on followers’ financial self-efficacy and financial behaviors. Data was gathered through an online survey, adopting purposive sampling targeting individuals in Malaysia aged 18 to 42 who follow finfluencers on social media platforms(N = 244). Results demonstrated that parasocial relationship with the finfluencer enhances followers' financial self-efficacy, leading to more positive financial behaviors and outcomes. A stronger parasocial relationship with the finfluencer attributed more significant affective motivations to the finfluencer’s posts, resulting in positive advertising outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. Virtual influencers (VIs) utilize computer graphics and artificial intelligence to promote brands, engage consumers, and champion prosocial causes. An online experimental study revealed that VIs’ human-likeness prevailed over message framing in shaping persuasion outcomes. Human-like VIs (vs. anime-like VIs) fostered pro-environmental behavioral intentions through perceived authenticity and parasocial interaction.

ABSTRACT. The rapid evolution of social media marketing has been characterized by the dominance of influencer-driven promotions, fostering a culture of aspirational consumption. However, this landscape is undergoing a profound transformation with the emergence of de-influencing, a counter-movement that challenges traditional influencer marketing paradigms. This paper presents a theoretical framework that conceptualizes de-influencing as a systemic challenge to established marketing practices, integrating insights from Institutional Theory, Social Movement Theory, and Signaling Theory. By critically examining de-influencing’s role in reshaping digital marketing norms, this study highlights the implications for brands, influencers, and policymakers navigating this shifting landscape. Influencer marketing has emerged as a pivotal strategy in digital commerce, leveraging social media platforms to shape consumer perceptions and drive purchasing decisions. Through peer-like endorsements and curated authenticity, influencers have historically built consumer trust and engagement. However, growing concerns regarding authenticity, excessive consumerism, and ethical transparency have led to the rise of de-influencing, a movement that urges audiences to critically assess influencer recommendations and resist impulsive consumption. This backlash against commercialized authenticity has been particularly pronounced among Generation Z consumers, who demand greater transparency and ethical responsibility in influencer marketing. Institutional Theory posits that industries operate within a shared logic that shapes organizational behaviors and consumer expectations. Social media marketing has long been governed by aspirations and consumption, where influencer-led promotions serve as the primary mechanism for engagement and economic activity. However, de-influencing disrupts this dominant logic, exposing contradictions in influencer marketing—such as the promotion of unsustainable products by influencers advocating for ethical consumption. Platforms like TikTok, where de-influencing content garners billions of views, illustrate this shifting dynamic, compelling brands to realign their strategies with emerging ethical norms. Social Movement Theory provides a lens to understand de-influencing as an organized response to the hyper-commercialization of digital spaces. De-influencers employ diagnostic framing to highlight deceptive influencer tactics, prognostic framing to propose ethical consumption alternatives, and motivational framing to mobilize audiences toward conscientious purchasing behaviors. Digital affordances, such as TikTok’s duet feature and Reddit’s community fact-checking, amplify de-influencing’s reach, transforming individual critiques into a broader movement demanding accountability and authenticity in influencer marketing. Signaling Theory explains how influencers cultivate trust through perceived authenticity cues, such as expertise and sincerity. However, de-influencers actively challenge these signals, exposing manipulative sponsorships and deceptive marketing tactics. This has led to a trust recalibration, where micro-influencers and community-endorsed figures gain credibility by rejecting commercial incentives, a phenomenon known as counter-signaling. This shift reinforces consumer-led scrutiny, positioning de-influencers as watchdogs who hold brands and influencers accountable for ethical misalignments. Brands and influencers must adapt to the de-influencing movement by prioritizing transparency, ethical alignment, and genuine consumer engagement. Strategies include emphasizing authenticity by leveraging micro- and nano-influencers with niche expertise and genuine engagement to withstand de-influencing scrutiny. Proactive transparency, including clear sponsorship disclosures and unfiltered product representations, can help maintain consumer trust. Aligning with ethical consumerism by integrating sustainability and social responsibility into messaging can mitigate backlash. Regulatory compliance, such as stricter enforcement of sponsorship disclosure mandates by regulatory bodies like the FTC, ensures credibility in influencer marketing. The adoption of AI-driven tools for content verification can enhance authenticity verification, further reinforcing consumer trust in digital endorsements. De-influencing represents a paradigmatic shift in digital marketing, signaling a movement away from aspirational consumption toward ethical scrutiny. This transformation underscores the fragility of influencer credibility and the growing demand for authenticity and transparency. By integrating Institutional, Social Movement, and Signaling Theories, this study provides a comprehensive framework to understand de-influencing’s impact on digital marketing strategies. As the digital marketplace continues to evolve, brands and influencers that embrace ethical adaptation and genuine engagement will be better positioned to thrive in this era of heightened consumer awareness and accountability.

ABSTRACT. Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personas, also called virtual influencers, who engage with people on digital platforms, have changed the marketing and content creator industry. Virtual influencers are computer-generated personas designed to influence consumer decision-making and are gaining significant popularity these days. The present study examines audience sentiments, responses, and recurring concerns about AI-driven influencers from India called Naina_avtra using advanced natural language processing (NLP) techniques, text analytics, sentiment analysis, and thematic analysis. A dataset of 20,000 user comments from the Instagram page of India's top virtual influencer, Naina_avtra, was extracted, cleaned, and examined with lexicon-based sentiment analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for topic modeling.The sentiment analysis revealed that 53.88% of the users had neutral opinions, 5.11% of the audience had negative opinions that emphasised doubt about authenticity, where words like "fake" and "confused" were found to be regularly occurring along with positive sentiments (41.04%), such as "beautiful," "real," and "amazing." In Topic modeling analysis, the study identifies three topics, which are Topic 1: Perception of AI influencers, wherein users discussed authenticity, aesthetics, and their influence; Topic 2: Realism in Technology and Culture, discussion about AI-driven enhancements, filters, and Bollywood and Indian culture influence; and Topic 3: Human-like virtual character, its intelligence, and engagement with the audience, concentrating on emotional responses and the acceptance of virtual personas. Results show the combination of admiration, skepticism, and interest in the changing role of AI-driven influencers in marketing communication and consumer engagement within India's social media environment. The study uncovers critical user concerns and offers practical recommendations for improving user engagement with AI-driven personas by highlighting sentiment patterns and emotional drivers.This research underscores the nuanced role of virtual influencers in shaping user attitudes and fostering engagement, particularly in culturally diverse contexts like India, offering valuable insights for researchers and marketers seeking to leverage virtual personas effectively.

ABSTRACT. The current research explores human discrimination of AI-generated and human-generated commercial news stimuli using 7T fMRI. Behavioral results show that the discrimination accuracy of subjects in the scanner session is 72.92%, which means that most participants can accurately identify whether the outputs were AI-generated rather than human-generated. And the neuroimaging experiment investigates the brain’s neural network when consumers compare AI-generated deepfake news with authentic counterparts, finding that the frontoparietal network and ventral attention network emerge to process the discrimination task most, while the linguistic network shows less engagement. These findings underscore the neural insights into marketing commercial news, providing valuable views on the importance of human-generated marketing commercials.

ABSTRACT. A digital twin AI agent, which represents a virtual counterpart of an individual, enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI), can emulate human behavior, preferences, and decision-making processes. This study aims to explore the factors influencing the adoption of digital twin AI agents from a consumer perspective, examining the psychological, social, and technological factors that drive individuals to engage with these advanced systems. By focusing on how digital twin AI agents can interact with both digital and physical domains, the research highlights the role of these systems in reshaping consumer behavior and interactions with technology. We also discuss the implications of such agents in enhancing user experience, optimizing decision-making, and fostering personal autonomy in the digital age.

ABSTRACT. Abstract This paper delves into the implementation of neuromarketing and neuroscience in brand creation, illustrated by the development of Arter in Armenia’s grains market. The challenge lay in building a distinctive brand in a highly competitive sector where consumer loyalty is hard to secure. Neuromarketing tools and methodologies were employed to uncover subconscious consumer preferences, guiding the design of branding elements that resonate deeply with target audiences.

The study highlights how neuroscience-informed insights shaped Arter’s visual identity, messaging, and packaging to evoke trust, quality, and connection. Advanced technologies, such as eye-tracking and EEG monitoring, were leveraged to test and refine packaging and brand communication, ensuring optimal engagement and recall. The paper also evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of the branding process using data-driven approaches, presenting measurable results such as improved brand recognition and purchase intent.

This paper underscores the potential of neuroscience and neuromarketing to revolutionize traditional branding strategies, offering valuable lessons for mass-market industries aiming to create impactful, consumer-centric brands.

ABSTRACT. The study examines how review sources (AI-generated summary vs. Human-generated reviews) influence consumer decision-making in e-commerce by shaping information processing modes and perceptions of review helpfulness. Drawing on the Heuristic-Systematic Model (HSM), the study explores how perceived information richness and aggregation drive consumer evaluation. Additionally, it investigates how product type (search vs. experience) moderates these effects. The findings offer meaningful implications for academics and managers by demonstrating the practical applications of AI-generated summary reviews in e-commerce.

ABSTRACT. Objectives - The key objective of this research is to unveil how emotional antecedents (Anticipated Elation, Anticipated Envy from Others and Comforting Rationalizations) of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) can affect an individual’s FOMO which can affect their purchase intentions during strategic dates campaign in e-marketplace. This research was conducted in Indonesia focusing on the e-marketplace with Millennials being the sample of the study. Method - The data used in this research was gathered through online questionnaire distributing to 150 targeted respondents. Validity and Reliability test was implemented in order to ensure that the data can be used for further analysis. The hypothesis testing was conducted by using partial least square

Results - The findings of the research shows that out of the emotional antecedents of FOMO, there are two antecedents that positively affect millennials FOMO which are anticipated elation and anticipated envy from others. Furthermore, findings from this research shows that FOMO has a direct affect towards millennials purchase intention during strategic dates campaign in e-marketplaces. However, the findings from this research shows that comforting rationalizations one of the emotional antecedents of FOMO negatively affect millennials FOMO and hence lowers their purchase intention. Conclusion – FOMO laden appeals that implemented by marketers during strategic dates campaign has been proven to increase millennials purchase intention during strategic dates campaign that is implemented by e-marketplaces in Indonesia. As e-marketplace is a high competitive market, this emotional antecedents of FOMO can be the key for marketers to successfully run marketing campaign and win over the market.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how AI-generated product reviews influence consumer word-of-mouth (WOM) and purchase intentions through using a 2x2 experimental design. Study 1 examines the impact of message type (human vs. AI) and review valence (positive vs. negative) on customers’ WOMs and willingness to buy. Study 2 investigates the moderating role of customer loyalty, comparing high-loyalty versus low-loyalty customers. The study hypothesizes that AI-generated reviews will lead to weaker authenticity perceptions and stronger moral disgust, which will negatively affect WOM and purchase behavior, particularly in positive review contexts. Additionally, loyal customers may be less affected by AI-generated reviews than non-loyal customers. This study aims to deepen understanding of how AI in content creation shapes consumer attitudes and behaviors. This study contributes to future AI-driven advertising by providing valuable insights into how AI-generated content, particularly product reviews, influences consumer perceptions and behaviors.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, computer-generated avatars and virtual influencers have begun to leave a distinct imprint on social media platforms. Despite their increasing visibility, research in this domain is still in its infancy, largely focusing on commercial branding while neglecting their potential to drive pro-social campaigns. As virtual influencers are reshaping marketing efforts by offering innovative ways to connect with consumers, there is a pressing need to investigate their influence in this revolutionary area. Drawing upon Parasocial Interaction Theory, this netnographic study explores how virtual influencers shape consumers’ pro-social engagement. Using a combination of participant observation and in-depth interviews, our analysis uncovered six themes – personalisation, fantasy, ambiguity, storytelling, community, and collaboration – that explain the mechanisms through which virtual influencers shape pro-social engagement. These findings offer theoretical insights into how virtual influencers can promote positive social change and provide social implications for groups and organisations committed to addressing societal challenges.

ABSTRACT. This research examines how humor and endorser types interact to affect consumers’ advertising attitudes. Two studies show that clever humor improves ad attitudes more with expert endorsements than non-expert ones, driven by positive affect. Marketers are advised to align clever humor with expert endorsements to maximize advertising effectiveness.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how media and social media shape everyday consumption through a cross-cultural lens, focusing on Muslim women in Kuwait and New Zealand. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the research highlights similarities and differences in digital engagement, consumption behaviors, and cultural influences. Implications include strategies for culturally sensitive digital marketing and global consumer engagement.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how a firm's resources change and develop within the evolving environment to co-create value over time. How do a firm's resources combine to co-create value over time? Specifically, it seeks to understand the temporal and spatial dimensions within the dynamics of relationship development and resource combinations through a plurality of actors to co-create value. A case study of a traditional glass manufacturer is examined. Despite the growing attention on value co-creation processes and innovation, scholarship is nascent in elucidating how multiple actors evolve in value co-creation, mainly focusing on temporal and spatial aspects. This study proposes a holistic methodology for comprehending the interdependencies between the temporal aspect of value, the notion of space, and value co-creation.

ABSTRACT. Brands and their management are foundational for every business and a key source of competitive advantage in most industries. Despite its importance, branding has been viewed to be of limited significance in B2B and industrial marketing (e.g., Saunders and Watt, 1979; Sinclair and Seward, 1988; Bendixen, Bukasa and Abratt, 2004; Rosenbrojer, 2001; Seyedghorban, Matanda and LaPlaca, 2016). The problem rests partly in the belief that because brands are irrational, they have little significance when dealing with a corporate entity that makes buyers’ decisions on a rational basis (e.g., Kotler et al, 2006; Bendixen et al, 2004; Rosenbrojer, 2001).

Especially in the last two decades, however, there has been explosion of research, which not only acknowledges the importance of brand, but also reveals its influence on decision making of organizational buying processes (Lynch and de Chernatony, 2004, 2007; Seyedghorban, Matanda and LaPlaca, 2016). Seyedghorban and her colleagues (2016) described that this discipline has reached a certain degree of maturity to be treated as an exclusive field of study in their bibliometric analysis of extant articles on B2B branding.

For decades, organizational buying decisions have been primarily based on tangible factors such as price, quality, and delivery time, which provide objective and measurable criteria for rational decision-making (Anderson et al., 1987). However, recent studies suggest that intangible factors, such as brand perception, significantly influence organizational purchasing decisions (Mudambi, 2002). Notably, brand credibility and firm reputation play a crucial role in business-to-business (B2B) transactions, especially in industries involving intangible products such as consulting services (Ballantyne & Aitken, 2007).

According to seminal studies on organizational buying models, such as those by Robinson, Faris and Wind (1967) and Webster and Wind (1972; 1996), the organizational purchasing process consists of several stages including problem recognition, general description, product specification, supplier search, proposal solicitation, supplier selection, order-routine specification and performance review. However, empirical research that quantitatively compares brand effects at each stage remains limited (Gomes et al., 2016). In particular, organizational purchasing decisions typically involve two key phases: the sorting stage, where potential suppliers are narrowed down, and the ranking stage, where the final selection is made (Verville & Halingten, 2003). While this two-stage evaluation process is critical in organizational purchasing, brand effects across these stages has not been thoroughly examined.

This study addresses two research gaps: (1) the lack of research on intangible goods purchases, which are growing rapidly due to digitalization (Pagani & Pardo, 2017), and (2) the insufficient understanding of brand effects at different stages of the purchasing process (Leek & Christodoulides, 2012). Using an online survey targeting decision-makers in Japanese buying firms with recent experience in SaaS (Software as a Service) procurement, this study finds that (1) traditional purchasing factors differ in intangible markets, (2) brand influence operates through distinct mechanisms, and (3) brand effects vary across purchasing stages. These findings highlight the dynamic role of brands in B2B purchasing and provide implications for marketing strategies tailored to different decision-making phases.

ABSTRACT. The Japanese soft drink market has many unique attributes amongst the developed world, namely the proliferation of limited-edition products that are only available for a relatively short period and are sometimes relaunched into the market after a period of time. While the main effort in deciphering this market phenomenon leans heavily towards leader/follower strategy and scarcity, research based on consumer behavior, especially the shifting consumer preference is less frequent. This research aims to take an empirical approach towards deciphering the role of consumer behavior in the market reality by a series of experiments, hoping that it will be an anchor point for future research.

ABSTRACT. The rise of online shopping, especially post-COVID-19, has worsened environmental impact by making shopping more effortless. While e-commerce offers convenience, inaccurate clothing selection leads to misfits, reducing consumer satisfaction and increasing return rates—adding costs for retailers and amplifying environmental burdens (Islam et al., 2024; Januszkiewicz et al., 2017; Noordin et al., 2018). To mitigate these challenges, virtual fitting technologies have emerged, providing size and fit recommendations(Januszkiewicz et al., 2017; Ornati et al., 2022). To enhance the realism of virtual fitting, we employed sequence diagrams to visualize and compare the differences between actual and virtual fitting experience. The diagram showed current virtual fitting technologies mainly address conceptual-based satisfaction, while sense-based satisfaction—which reflects real-world fitting experiences—remains largely unfulfilled. Bridging this gap between actual and virtual fitting is essential for improving consumer satisfaction and fostering more sustainable online fashion consumption. To develop a sustainable virtual fitting system, this research aims to clarify the system requirements necessary to holistically satisfy consumer behavior by employing Buddhist psychology as a theoretical lens. Buddhist psychology has the potential to expand the scope of conventional consumer behavior studies, which predominantly stem from Western perspectives and may lack universal applicability (Mick, 2017; Pham, 2013). Additionally, a system approach is used to analyze the context and interaction between the sustainable virtual fitting system and the wearer during the utilization stage from a Buddhist psychology perspective. This approach enables a deeper understanding of the wearer’s genuine needs. By integrating multiple perspectives, this research seeks to complement conventional virtual fitting systems, offering a transformative perspective on sustainable fashion. Focusing on Japanese fashion e-commerce, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) What are the challenges faced by current virtual fitting systems in Japan in enhancing consumer sense-based satisfaction? (2) What are the requirements for a sustainable virtual fitting system from a Buddhist psychological viewpoint? We believe that the contribution of this paper extends beyond the fashion industry, offering a novel approach to the development of virtual online systems that enhance consumer satisfaction while addressing the environmental impact of current consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. Introduction With the rise of digital platforms like YouTube and TikTok, parasocial relationships (PSRs)—one-sided psychological connections between audiences and influencers—have become a key factor in shaping consumer behavior. Unlike traditional celebrity endorsements, digital media allow for direct interactions between influencers and viewers, creating a stronger sense of engagement. Despite this increased accessibility, not everyone engages with influencers in the same way. Some individuals form deep PSRs, while others remain indifferent, leading to the core research question: What drives this variation in engagement?

This study focuses on self-esteem as a key psychological determinant of PSR formation, proposing that individuals engage with influencers through two distinct psychological pathways. High self-esteem individuals seek uniqueness, leading them to follow influencers who represent distinctiveness and aspiration. Low self-esteem individuals, on the other hand, experience unsatisfied belonging needs, causing them to rely on influencers as social surrogates. These mechanisms ultimately shape consumer attitudes and influence purchase intentions.

Theoretical Background PSRs occur when audiences develop one-sided emotional attachments to influencers, perceiving them as personal acquaintances despite the lack of real-life interaction. Traditionally, PSRs were considered less persuasive than word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing, as influencer communication is often seen as commercialized (Trusov et al., 2009). However, recent research suggests that PSRs can be as influential as traditional social interactions, especially for individuals who actively form and strengthen them.

Previous studies have identified loneliness (Rubin et al., 1985), perceived homophily (Hoffner & Buchanan, 2005), and self-esteem (Derrick et al., 2009) as key psychological drivers of PSRs. Derrick et al. (2009) found that low self-esteem individuals struggle with real-life social relationships, leading them to engage in PSRs as a form of social surrogacy. This study expands upon prior findings by suggesting that self-esteem not only influences PSR formation but also determines the motivation behind it, differentiating between uniqueness-seeking and belonging-seeking pathways.

Hypotheses and Methodology This study proposes that self-esteem influences PSR engagement through two mechanisms:

• H1: High self-esteem individuals experience a rise in the need for uniqueness, leading to stronger PSRs. • H2: Low self-esteem individuals experience unsatisfaction of the need to belong, leading to stronger PSRs. • H3: Stronger PSRs result in more favorable attitudes toward influencer-recommended products. • H4: More favorable product attitudes lead to higher purchase intentions.

To test these hypotheses, a scenario-based experiment was conducted, where participants were randomly assigned to one of three self-esteem conditions (high, medium, low). Each scenario manipulated their perceived self-worth, after which they watched an influencer video and completed a survey assessing PSR strength, product attitudes, and purchase intentions.

• High Self-Esteem Condition: Participants were made to feel academically superior but enrolled in a less prestigious university, prompting them to seek ways to stand out. • Medium Self-Esteem Condition: Participants entered a university that matched their abilities and maintained a stable social life without major concerns. • Low Self-Esteem Condition: Participants were admitted to a top university but felt socially disconnected from their ambitious peers, reinforcing unsatisfied belonging needs.

Results Statistical analyses confirmed that self-esteem significantly influences PSR formation through two distinct pathways. High self-esteem individuals exhibited a stronger need for uniqueness (M = 6.15) compared to the medium (M = 4.95, p < 0.01) and low self-esteem groups (M = 4.35, p < 0.001). Low self-esteem individuals showed the highest unsatisfaction of the need to belong (M = 6.20), significantly higher than the medium (M = 5.10, p < 0.01) and high self-esteem groups (M = 4.45, p < 0.001).

Both high and low self-esteem groups developed stronger PSRs (M = 5.60, M = 5.75, p < 0.01) compared to the medium group (M = 4.95). Stronger PSRs led to more favorable attitudes toward influencers and their endorsed products, ultimately increasing purchase intentions.

Discussion and Implications

These findings suggest that both high and low self-esteem individuals compensate for their social positioning by engaging in PSRs. This insight challenges the assumption that WOM is always more persuasive than influencer marketing, demonstrating that PSRs can be a powerful driver of consumer behavior.

For marketers, these insights suggest that self-esteem-driven engagement strategies could be leveraged in influencer marketing. High self-esteem consumers may respond better to influencers who emphasize uniqueness and exclusivity, while low self-esteem consumers may engage more with influencers who foster a sense of belonging and emotional connection.

Conclusion By identifying self-esteem-driven motivations behind PSR formation, this study contributes to both consumer psychology and influencer marketing. Future research should further investigate causal relationships between PSRs and traditional WOM marketing to develop a comprehensive model of digital consumer engagement.

ABSTRACT. Many retailers rely on cause-related marketing (CRM) to achieve positive outcomes, such as customer trust and loyalty. However, only a few companies associate their CRM campaigns with potential disadvantages, such as increased product prices, as seen in so-called “true price” campaigns. Most retailers focus on vague CRM campaigns, simply stating that they are doing something good for society or the environment (i.e., Corporate Social Responsibility). Retailers like the supermarket chain Albert Heijn (in the Netherlands) and discount retailer Penny (in Germany) have implemented the concept to test customer acceptance. “True prices” are the result of a transparent accounting approach in which all social and ecological costs are taken into account. These costs include fair wages for all levels of the supply chain and the integration of real production costs (e.g., CO2 emissions and the use of chemicals).

However, the effects of this practice are not well known and are therefore the focus of our study. True price campaigns are not simply efforts to communicate a higher price for products, such as organic or fair trade items. Instead, these campaigns explain in detail why the sales price is higher and specify which components of the price come from production, logistics, and market processes. Hence, true price campaigns represent an interesting hybrid of high-price communication and sustainability efforts of retailers. The concept is based on the practical assumption that environmental and social issues are important to consumers. But how do consumers perceive such true price campaigns? One way to assess perceptions is through surveys. However, surveys can be biased and may lead to socially desirable answers that do not accurately reflect consumers' true assessments. As a result, retailers may make incorrect decisions when associating their products with true price campaigns. Therefore, we investigate how retail consumers perceive a real-world example from the German discount retailer Penny, which recently implemented a true price campaign.

We collected 398 consumer posts from a daily newspaper about Penny's “True Prices” campaign (“Wahre Preise”) and conducted a content analysis to evaluate these posts. Our results show that customers do not universally support environmental and social price markups for food items. Instead, consumers respond with psychological reactance, displaying strong negative reactions. Furthermore, they indicate a refusal to purchase from the retailer in the future. The most common emotion expressed is anger, followed by irony, which consumers use to cope with the perceived negative situation. Our study contributes to the growing body of research on CRM and CSR campaigns, documenting negative effects on customers.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the impact of green consumption values on consumer financial well-being by examining the interplay of personal and psychological factors within sustainable consumption behaviors. Grounded in Resource-Advantage Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and the Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior (KAB) model, this research highlights how intrinsic motivation and effective marketing messages shape eco-friendly behaviors. Using survey data from 300 young consumers, the study employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to assess the influence of green consumption values, self-determination, and demographics on financial outcomes. Findings reveal that consumers driven by internal motivations experience significant financial and environmental benefits, with self-determination mediating the link between green consumption values and financial well-being. The results provide practical insights for marketers to design campaigns that leverage psychological motivators and for policymakers to implement targeted initiatives that bridge the gap between environmental awareness and sustainable behavior. By integrating financial and sustainability goals, this research offers a comprehensive approach to fostering long-term eco-conscious consumer habits and promoting overall well-being.

ABSTRACT. Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the influence of charging infrastructure, environmental concern, social influence, Electric Vehicle (EV) performance, technophilia, on EV acceptance using Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of technology (UTAUT) as underpinning theory.

Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a quantitative research approach and employes a standardized questionnaire distributed via an instant messaging application, WhatsApp who are aware of the EV technology. SmartPLS 4.0 was used to test the responses of 210 samples from Malaysia and Indonesia using purposive sampling.

Findings: The result indicates that charging infrastructure, environmental concern, social influence, EV performance, and technophilia as mediator have positively significant influence on EV acceptance.

Originality/value: The study further extends the conceptualization of technophilia and EV acceptance into UTAUT theory. In addition, this study contributes to the literature on EV acceptance, and provide insights to the practitioners and government on the markets particularly in developing countries.

ABSTRACT. The fashion industry is expanding rapidly and is expected to be at USD 387.3 billion by 2028. However, this growth raises significant environmental concerns. Organic clothing, made from natural fibers without harmful chemicals, is one of the sustainable solutions to prevailing environmental challenges. Given its environmental benefits, understanding consumer behavior toward organic clothing is essential. The aim of this study is threefold. First, to understand the impact of long-term orientation (LTO) on organic clothing consumption. Second, to examine the mediating role of a sustainable lifestyle in the relationship between LTO and purchase intentions. Third, to investigate the influence of a sustainable lifestyle on purchase intentions for organic clothing. Data was collected through an online survey targeting Indian consumers. We assessed construct reliability and validity through Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability, and discriminant validity. Path coefficients, and t-statistics were used for hypothesis testing. The findings reveal that a sustainable lifestyle significantly influences purchase intentions for organic clothing. Additionally, LTO positively impacts a sustainable lifestyle implying that future-oriented consumers are more likely to engage in sustainable living. The indirect relationship between LTO and purchase intentions through a sustainable lifestyle suggests a strong mediating role of a sustainable lifestyle. However, we found the direct effect of LTO on purchase intentions for organic clothing was not significant. These findings present critical theoretical and practical implications for academicians, marketers, and policymakers.

ABSTRACT. The increasing availability of customer data has transformed grocery retailers' marketing strategies, enabling highly targeted promotional efforts based on individual purchasing behavior. Despite the growing demand for ethical products and government pressure to promote responsible consumption, ethical purchasing remains largely concentrated within consumer segments already predisposed to such behavior. This study investigates how retailers can expand the market for ethical products by identifying psychological, social, and contextual factors that influence ethical consumption beyond the "ethical" consumer segment.

Building on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (HoN) and the Attitude-Behavior-Context (ABC) framework, this study explores the interplay of consumer needs, values, and external influences in shaping ethical purchasing decisions. The research hypothesizes that psychological factors—such as price consciousness, social affiliation (peer influence), self-esteem, and openness to experience—affect ethical consumption behavior differently across consumer segments. Furthermore, the role of retailers as informants is examined as a potential driver of ethical purchasing, particularly among consumers with lower intrinsic ethical motivations.

The study is based on a survey of 1,187 Finnish grocery consumers, analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Multi-Group Analysis (MGA). The findings reveal that intrinsic motivations, such as openness to experience and self-esteem, significantly drive ethical consumption. In contrast, external factors, particularly retailer-provided information, play a more prominent role among consumers who are less inclined toward ethical purchasing. Price consciousness was found to negatively impact ethical consumption, especially among non-ethical consumers, reinforcing cost as a key barrier. Additionally, while peer influence did not have a significant effect on purchasing decisions, retailer informativeness was more influential for non-ethical consumers, highlighting the importance of targeted sustainability messaging.

These insights highlight the critical role of retailers in bridging the attitude-behavior gap in ethical consumption. While ethical consumers are primarily driven by intrinsic factors, non-ethical consumers rely more on external enablers, suggesting that retailers can influence purchasing behavior through education, transparency, and targeted marketing strategies. Retailers should focus on sustainability messaging and price incentives for non-ethical consumers while leveraging identity-driven marketing for those already engaged in ethical consumption. Furthermore, this study suggests that consumers classified as "open to new experiences" may be more responsive to ethical product marketing, offering a potential avenue for expanding ethical consumption beyond its current niche.

Overall, the study underscores the societal role of retailers as key facilitators of ethical consumption. By tailoring marketing strategies to distinct consumer segments and leveraging their role as trusted informants, retailers can contribute to more sustainable consumer behavior at scale. Future research should further explore additional consumer traits that influence ethical purchasing, providing a more nuanced understanding of how to mainstream ethical consumption beyond its existing base.

ABSTRACT. According to the congruence effect, when product or brand attributes match their broader concepts (such as product types, brands, or related campaigns) this leads to more favorable consumer evaluations (Henderson et al., 2019; Kuo and Rice 2015; Mandler, 1982). We proposed that a similar effect occurs in the context of large "green project" evaluation and its locations. Specifically, we hypothesize that in laypeople's perceptions, green projects fit well in green areas (vs. non-green areas) and therefore may be perceived more favorably when they are implemented in such green locations. This study sheds light on the schema congruity and environmental policy literature. This research demonstrates how powerful perceptual congruence can impact people's perception differently by involving the project itself and only the locations. It uncovers explicit direction for costs and successful rate estimations of a green project, affecting the future implementation of environmental policies.

In previous studies, aesthetic locations of large projects lead to a positive attitude (Warren, Lumsden, O'Dowd and Birnie, 2005; Gross, 2007; Guo, Ru, Su and Anadon, 2015; Devine-Wright, 2011). When several factors influenced the estimating project cost accuracy (Aibinu and Pasco 2008), such as different project types and geographical regions (Flyvbjerg, Holm, and Buhl 2002). For example, hosting mega sports events, such as the Olympics and the football World Cup could cause underestimated costs and overestimated benefits regarding colossal public; however, it could be an economic catastrophe that negatively affects other social funds after the events for several years (Whitson and Horne 2006). For environmentally-friendly projects, their core product or underlying production process is an initiative designed and implemented with the goal of minimizing negative impacts on the environment and promoting sustainability (Thoumy and Vachon 2012; Qi, Shen, Zeng, and Jorge 2010), their locations could be a matter for social support and public acceptance. Therefore, it leads to our research question of whether a level of (in)congruence between a location and a green project leads to positive perceptions, in which individuals tend to perceive the project-cost estimation to be lower, higher successful rate, and more favorable attitudes towards those projects.

This study uses a quantitative approach by using an experimental research design in three studies. The studies were between-subjects design experimental studies; participants were from a master-level business class at a university in Portugal and participated for course credit. Three experimental studies (ntotal = 550) examine the project-location congruence in different scenarios, comparing a green area with other types of locations 1) a city suburb, 2) an industrial area, and 3) a brownfield (e.g., a former landfill). Results across these three studies show that consistent with a congruence effect, individuals have more favorable attitudes toward green projects in green areas and non-green projects in non-green areas. Also, alternatives that require more cognitive effort (such as a successful rate and cost estimation) did not lead to consistent results across studies. This research demonstrates perceptual congruence that can change consumers’ attitudes directly even when it does not impact more rational considerations, thereby contributing to the congruence (Mandler, 1982; Meyers-Levy and Tybout, 1989), feeling-as-information (Schwarz, Jalbert, Noah and Zhang, 2021), and environmental-policy literature.

These three studies were based on well-educated Master’s students, as well as individuals from European countries with high awareness of environmental concerns. While this provides valuable insights into a demographic that is already knowledgeable about sustainability, it may not fully capture the perspectives of the general public or individuals from regions with varying levels of environmental awareness. Additionally, the study was constrained by a limited number of green and non-green project examples (e.g., solar power plants and eco-friendly manufacturing plants), which may have restricted participants’ ability to evaluate diverse sustainability initiatives comprehensively. Future research should focus on laypeople in Asian countries, where levels of environmental awareness and cultural perspectives on sustainability may differ significantly from the European sample. Furthermore, incorporating a broader range of projects from diverse locations and industries would provide a more comprehensive understanding of how environmental initiatives are perceived across different contexts.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates how blockchain-visualized sustainability information in tourism souvenirs influences tourists' willingness to pay through two studies. Drawing upon resource-based view theory, we examine the direct relationship and underlying psychological mechanisms of perceived sustainability authenticity and warm glow, with altruism as a moderator. Survey data reveals that blockchain visualization enhances willingness to pay both directly and indirectly through authenticity perception and emotional experience. The findings extend blockchain theory in tourism retail and provide practical insights for sustainable souvenir marketing.

ABSTRACT. This research explores the effect of second-person pronouns (i.e., you, yours) on advertising on click-through rates. While prior studies suggest these pronouns can negatively impact customer satisfaction and purchase intention, we propose that messages using you and yours, compared to those focusing on product attributes, enhance consumers' sense of power. This leads to higher self-brand congruity and click-through rates, especially for those with a high need for uniqueness. The use of second-person pronouns fosters a sense of control, strengthening the connection with the brand. This increased relevance and empowerment make ads more compelling, particularly for individuals who value uniqueness. Two experimental studies demonstrate that ads with second-person pronouns boost consumers' sense of power and self-brand congruity, resulting in higher click-through rates, moderated by the need for uniqueness. These findings contribute to research on linguistic cues in advertising and consumer-brand relationships, emphasizing their role in shaping consumer power. Marketers can apply these insights to design more effective personalized and targeted online advertisements.

ABSTRACT. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into present day enterprise methods has appreciably transformed the entrepreneurial environment, generating new possibilities and difficulties. This study seeks to discover the convergence of AI and digital entrepreneurship through studying the impact of AI on the development of entrepreneurial abilities and the advertising of creative business fashions. The study will investigate the important capabilities required by means of entrepreneurs within the virtual age and the methods in which AI technology would possibly increase these talents. The study will examine the impact of AI-driven enterprise models on profitability, gaining and keeping customers and marketplace growth. This paper pursuits to provide a thorough expertise of AI's effect on entrepreneurship by way of integrating theoretical frameworks with empirical data, thereby informing destiny research on this domain.

ABSTRACT. Social media and branding significantly influence the tourism sector, reshaping how destinations are perceived and promoted. This study explores the impact of User-Generated Content (UGC), Firm-Generated Content (FGC), and Online Brand Communities (OBCs) on Destination Brand Equity (DBE) using Aaker’s Brand Equity Model. UGC offers authentic, experience-driven insights, helping travelers make informed decisions and fostering trust in destination brands. In contrast, FGC provides firms with a direct channel to communicate value and enhance consumer perceptions strategically. OBCs serve as dynamic platforms for interaction, where shared experiences build loyalty and emotional connections with a brand. This research underscores the interplay between these three components, emphasizing their collective role in shaping DBE through increased brand awareness, perceived quality, and loyalty. By adopting measurement scales adapted from previous studies, the study evaluates the credibility and effectiveness of UGC and FGC, the role of OBCs, and their combined influence on DBE.

ABSTRACT. Marketing communication is a key element for any company seeking to promote its products or services to potential or existing customers, and at the same time, build and keep a relationship of trust. Initially, marketing strategies relied heavily on traditional, centralized media channels like television or print. However, with the advent of digital technologies (such as the internet), and the creation of various digital devices (like smartphones), real-time engagement and personalized messaging have become possible in a more efficient and cost-effective way. Latest innovations, such as blockchain and metaverse technologies, are further revolutionizing marketing communication, pushing the limits of what is possible, aligned with the company brand’s strategic delivery of personalized and enhanced consumer experience. This paper explores the evolving landscape of marketing communication, the role and impact that the integration of blockchain and metaverse technologies could have on brand loyalty or consumer engagement, while at the same time is highlighting issues that need to be taken into account, such as regulatory concerns or technological barriers.

ABSTRACT. Operating in highly complex and uncertain environments, contemporary entities face numerous challenges arising from the asymmetry between opportunities and available resources. Regardless of an entity’s size - ranging from individuals to collective systems, such as corporate or political institutions - the abundance of potential pathways coupled with resource scarcity places opportunity assessment and, consequently, action prioritization at the forefront of strategic planning. Yet, in a volatile world where technological advancements generate vast amounts of data daily, accessing meaningful information that can lead to actionable insights has become significantly more challenging than in the past. To this end, reciprocal marketing communication can provide a solid foundation for decision making based on the principles of adaptive governance, a scientific theory rooted in environmental sciences, which pertains to the process of evolving rules and norms to meet human needs in changing social, economic, and environmental contexts. The present manuscript introduces a dynamic decision-making support model that manages intelligence through a structured approach, emphasizing the importance of timely and systematic analysis of bidirectional input to and from stakeholders. This study on data-driven methodology for adaptive governance through reciprocal marketing communication, seeks to leverage predictive analytics to assess system entropy, equipping decision-makers with a robust tool to align resource allocation with stakeholder expectations, thus fostering trust among interested parties.

ABSTRACT. The potential use of event marketing for fashion brand communication is discussed in this abstract. A comprehensive literature analysis was conducted to determine whether event marketing may be used for fashion brand communication. In addition, strategies for improving the fashion brand’s communication were suggested.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to analyze Hong Kong’ s consumer behavior in the F&B industry, and particularly the spirits sector, as an empirical field. Starting from the colonial past till its present Chinese domination, this region’s special history is marked by a series of migration waves which shaped its society and unique culture drawing from both the East and the West. A comparison with Asian and Western traditions through Hofstede’s and Hall’s cultural characteristics becomes useful in understanding Hong Kong consumers’ habits and the underlying reasons guiding their purchase intentions. The concept of face and the importance of reputation in collectivistic societies becomes helpful in explaining why factors like the Country of Origin are so important in the decision-making process, together with a high acceptance level of foreign F&B products due to the lack of local production facilities. The adaptation of global strategies to the local market, which goes by the name of Glocalization, turns out to be the effective way to target local consumers with foreign product offers. A case study on the Italian brands Aperol and Campari is therefore useful in understanding how these two Western products can successfully reach such a diverse public thanks to localized strategies. Drawing from Aaker’s brand equity model, and studying how to successfully increase it, brand awareness seems to be strictly connected to events which can create a brand experience being educational, entertaining or simply esthetic, but still having a strong effect on how the brand is kept in people’s mind.

ABSTRACT. This paper delves into the potential of blending feng shui, Taoist metaphysics, and Buddhist thought to create new trends in the luxury industry. In introducing the research background, we pointed out that as consumers increasingly focus on traditional culture and spirituality, especially with the younger generation seeking psychological comfort, the luxury industry is seeking to integrate these elements into its product design and marketing strategies to attract a broader audience. [Purpose/Significance]

This study elaborated on the core concepts of feng shui and its application in catering to consumer demands within the luxury industry. The principles of feng shui are utilized in the marketing of luxury goods to enhance their appeal and resonate with consumers' preferences. Taoist metaphysics has influenced the philosophical underpinnings and sustainability principles of luxury items, underscoring the importance of harmony with nature and the pursuit of inner peace and balance. Meanwhile, Buddhist thought, through its concepts of compassion, wisdom, and purity, has enriched luxury brands with deeper cultural heritage and spiritual significance.

To support these viewpoints, we conducted an extensive literature review and analyzed multiple cases of successfully integrating traditional cultural elements into the luxury industry. Through market research and consumer surveys, we collected a vast amount of data to assess the impact of these elements on consumer behavior and brand loyalty. Additionally, we adopted a quantitative research method (QUANTI) by collecting questionnaires, and verified our hypotheses and findings through statistical analysis and model building. [Method: Case Study + Quanti]

The results show that feng shui, Taoist metaphysics, and Buddhist thought have significant influence in the luxury consumption. They not only enhance product attractiveness and market competitiveness but also strengthen consumers' identification with and loyalty to brands. However, the study also identified some limitations and challenges, such as cultural differences and consumer acceptance. [Result]

ABSTRACT. This study uses Python-based analyses to compare user-generated content on smart homes from China and the U.S., integrating the Technology Acceptance Model with Hofstede’s cultural theory. It uncovers cultural differences in smart home concerns and provides insights for companies to tailor market strategies and boost adoption across cultures.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how cultural traits influence the effectiveness of persuasive messaging in reducing food waste in upscale hotel settings. A nine-week field experiment was conducted in Italy (collectivism) and Australia (individualism), testing two message frames at the croissant buffet: a loss-framed, self-benefit message (health-focused) and a gain-framed, other-benefit message (environment-focused). Results indicate that the gain-framed message was significantly more effective in Italy, reinforcing that collectivist societies respond more positively to pro-social appeals. The loss-framed message also proved more effective in Italy, challenging expectations and suggesting that self-benefit concerns can drive behavior change even in collectivist cultures. These findings provide practical insights for upscale hotels to implement culturally tailored interventions that promote sustainable food consumption.

ABSTRACT. This study explores a unique equity strategic alliance in Italy’s luxury fashion sector, enabling SMEs to maintain independence while accessing vital resources. Emphasizing workforce training and collaboration, the model enhances innovation, economic performance, and competitiveness by fostering shared values, strategic planning, and a strong, formalized production network.

ABSTRACT. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into management education offers a path to address the enduring challenge of providing personalized instruction at scale, often termed the "two sigma problem" (Bloom, 1984). This paper examines how AI, functioning as a co-intelligence partner alongside educators and students (Mollick, 2024), can enhance learning through adaptive simulations and other AI-enhanced pedagogical approaches. We present findings from an exploratory study using AI tools for teaching complex management concepts, illustrated with scenarios integrating marketing and financial planning. The study suggests AI tools can create dynamic, personalized learning pathways, improving student engagement and allowing practice with complex decision-making across functional areas. The proposed co-intelligent pedagogical model emphasizes AI augmenting, not replacing, the educator, whose role shifts towards learning design, critical evaluation guidance, and ethical oversight. We discuss the practical implementation of this approach through a phased institutional adoption framework, the necessary development of student and educator AI literacy, and critical ethical considerations relevant to management education. This work contributes insights into how management education can strategically utilize AI to improve learning outcomes and better prepare students for an AI-influenced professional world.

ABSTRACT. This research examines the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in transforming sales training by providing an updated framework incorporating emerging technologies for the effective transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge essential for developing expertise. Defined as the combination of skills, knowledge, and behaviors, sales capabilities are imperative to a salesperson's development from novice to expert (Mutonyi et al., 2020). AI or computer-mediated training offers a structured and scalable approach to simulating customer exchanges of varying complexity, bridging the divide in traditional knowledge transfer methods. This study examines how merging AI simulations with human coaching optimizes the novice-to-expert trajectory, highlighting the critical role of tacit knowledge. Through a longitudinal analysis of advanced sales students engaged in CRM-driven, AI-facilitated role plays, this study evaluates adaptive selling, self-efficacy, and tacit knowledge acquisition. Our findings will contribute to sales training theory by diving into the interplay between computer-mediated and human knowledge transfer methods and their impact on training efficacy and scalability. Practical implications offered will be actionable strategies for integrating AI in organizations and an updated and current framework for sales training, aligning theoretical advancements with the realities of digital transformation in business practices.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in higher education, specifically within a Marketing Strategy course at a French business school in Dubai. The research aims to understand the current level of "prompt literacy" among senior undergraduate marketing students and to propose pedagogical approaches that encourage the development of prompting skills while fostering critical and creative thinking. The study involved a practical experiment where students used LLM tools to assist in writing a group report, with their prompts analyzed to identify best practices and varying degrees of prompt literacy. The findings suggest that while LLMs can significantly enhance learning, their effective use requires a specific pedagogical environment designed to foster collaboration, interaction and reflection in authentic problem environments (which we called “Constructivist AI-Competency” or CAC model). The paper concludes with an exploration of how to integrate the CAC framework in marketing education, emphasizing the need for constructivist pedagogies that develop higher-order thinking skills and prepare students for the cognitive challenges and opportunities presented by AI technologies.

ABSTRACT. Artificial intelligence offers a wide range of tools and possibilities for optimising teaching and programme management. This paper shows how artificial intelligence tools can be used in an MBA programme. In particular, it addresses the opportunities and challenges involved.

ABSTRACT. The rapid evolution of Generative AI (GenAI) technologies is fundamentally reshaping marketing practices and creating new imperatives for marketing education. As organisations increasingly adopt GenAI for tasks such as content creation, market research, and campaign optimisation (Grewal et al., 2024), marketing educators face challenges of integrating these technologies into curricula and ensuring students are prepared for an AI-driven professional landscape. Despite the growing prevalence of GenAI in industry, research indicates that many university students remain unfamiliar with its applications, highlighting a critical gap between technological advancements and educational preparedness. This study addresses this gap by investigating the factors that influence marketing students’ adoption of GenAI technologies, drawing on the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) frameworks.

This research employs a quantitative survey methodology, targeting postgraduate marketing students who have completed a GenAI-focused learning module. The study investigates two primary research questions: (1) What is the relationship between marketing task-GenAI technology fit and students’ cognitive responses (performance expectancy and effort expectancy) toward GenAI adoption? (2) What factors determine marketing students’ GenAI adoption intentions?

The study contributes to the marketing education literature by developing and testing a theoretical model of GenAI adoption in educational settings. It provides empirical evidence of the factors that influence students’ acceptance of GenAI technologies, offering practical insights for educators seeking to align curricula with industry demands. Furthermore, this research highlights the transformative potential of GenAI in marketing education and provides a roadmap for educators to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities of technology-augmented marketing landscape (Grewal et al., 2024).

ABSTRACT. Research has been focused on the identification of sensory stimuli for attracting and holding individuals’ attention and enhancing customer engagement, aiming at outcomes related to satisfaction and loyalty in consumption contexts (Fong et al., 2022). Recent studies call for a more humanized approach to experience management, addressing aspects related to well-being associated with long-lasting changes in self-perception and mental restoration (Agapito & Sigala, 2024; Neuhofer, 2024). The focus of this study is to reflect on the intersections between sensory experiences and well-being and depict prominent research opportunities and challenges in experience design in leisure-based contexts. This perspective paper follows a critical review approach, which is reflective in its orientation (Snyder, 2019). A research framework is offered focused on how to move forward in this research area in terms of research objects, theories, and methods. While a stakeholder and multidisciplinary approach is called for, contemporary experiences tend to combine physical and digital elements or become virtual in nature. Technology has facilitated the emergence of new experiences and opportunities for (bio)data collection and the use of mixed methods, moving beyond the reliance on self-reported data. This paper delves into research directions of sensory experience design within contexts of leisure consumption. The research contributes to advancing customer experience management by understanding the intersections between sensory experiences and the well-being of individuals guiding service providers to a better design and marketing of experiences.

Acknowledgement: This work is financed by National Funds provided by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology through project UID/04020/2020: Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being.

REFERENCES

Agapito, D., & Sigala, M. (2024). Experience management in hospitality and tourism: reflections and implications for future research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 36 (3), 57-76. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM11-2023-1722 Neuhofer, B. (2024). Positive tourism experiences for human transformation: a Horizon 2050 paper. Tourism Review, 80 (1), 39-52.https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-12-2023-0888 Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: an overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039 Fong, L.H., Lei, S.S.I., Chow, C.W.C., & Lam, L. W. (2022). Sensory marketing in hospitality: A critical synthesis and reflection. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35 (8), 2916-2928. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2022-0764

ABSTRACT. This study examines the effects of the social presence (viewer, seller, platform) and telepresence on purchase intention in live streaming commerce, focusing on the mediating roles of perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness. The findings reveal that while all dimensions of social presence and telepresence significantly enhance perceived enjoyment, only seller presence and telepresence have a significant impact on perceived usefulness. This suggests that social presence influences emotional engagement and cognitive evaluation in different ways. Additionally, the mediation analysis indicates that seller presence strengthens purchase intention through perceived usefulness, whereas viewer and platform presence primarily enhance emotional engagement, which indirectly influences usefulness perception and purchase intention. These results suggest that while social interaction in live commerce effectively attracts consumer interest through enjoyment, actual purchase decisions are driven by the recognition of usefulness. This study highlights the importance of balancing experiential elements that drive emotional engagement with reliable information delivery to maximize the effectiveness of live streaming commerce.

ABSTRACT. ABSTRACT This study investigates the factors influencing impulse buying in livestream shopping among 125 Vietnamese Generation Z consumers, employing the stimulus-organism-response framework and PLS-SEM analysis. Findings reveal that parasocial interaction, source credibility, and price worthiness positively influence perceived enjoyment, which drives impulse buying. The results underscore the importance of affective factors.

INTRODUCTION The e-commerce landscape has undergone a remarkable transformation, with social commerce emerging as a key force in its dynamic market. Of particular interest are video platforms such as TikTok, which provide the technology for livestream shopping. Livestream shopping is a new e-commerce model that combines real-time video streaming with online shopping to create an immersive and interactive shopping experience. This format enables direct, real-time interactions between streamers and customers, allowing instant product demonstrations, Q&A sessions and transactions (Xiao et al., 2022; Yin et al., 2023). While livestream shopping continues to gain momentum and scholarly interest, significant research gaps remain. This study conceptualizes a research model for livestream shopping by focusing on Vietnamese Generation Z consumers: How can livestream shopping influence impulse buying decisions?

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This study uses a stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to examine how external stimuli influence livestream shopping behavior on TikTok. Livestream shopping inspires consumers through content- and scene-related factors (Song et al., 2024). It is characterized by impulse buying, which can be described as a sudden, unplanned purchase that occurs after experiencing a strong urge to buy (Beatty & Ferrell, 1998).

Several models of livestream shopping have been developed from various perspectives and tested for other demographics. For example, Guo et al. (2022) found evidence for the relevance of streamer characteristics such as beauty, warmth, expertise, humor, and passion, which influence behavioral intentions through utilitarian and hedonic values. Chen et al. (2020) focused on trust in the product and the reviewer in combination with the elaboration likelihood model. Lu and Chen (2021) focused on signaling theory and the importance of the similarity between the physical characteristics and values of streamers and consumers. Lee and Chen (2021) found evidence for the factors of perceived enjoyment and perceived usefulness. Xu et al. (2020) supported the positive effects of streamer attractiveness, parasocial interaction, and information quality.

This study examines three independent variables that affect impulse buying. First, parasocial interaction refers to the illusory relationship that viewers develop with media personalities, including livestream hosts. It increases viewers' trust and engagement with the streamer and can create a sense of intimacy and connection, making viewers more receptive to product recommendations. Stronger parasocial relationships can lead to increased purchase intentions because viewers feel a personal connection with the streamer (Xu et al., 2022). Second, source credibility includes the perceived trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness of the livestream host. Credible streamers can reduce the perceived risks associated with online shopping, thus increasing consumer confidence (Fu & Hsu, 2023). Third, price worthiness, or the perceived value of a product relative to its cost, is an important consideration in livestream shopping. Livestreams often feature limited-time offers and exclusive deals, making price a key factor that drives immediate purchases (Zhang et al., 2024). All three factors are expected to positively influence attitude toward livestream shopping and perceived enjoyment which should positively influence impulse buying (Figure 1).

METHODOLOGY This study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the relationships between the constructs in the proposed model. The measures used in this study were derived from existing measures and presented as 7-point Likert scales.

Data were collected through an online survey distributed to a convenience sample of 125 Vietnamese Generation Z consumers aged 18 to 30 (mean: 23.5, SD: 2.62), 76.8% of whom were female.

RESULTS The reflective measurement model showed appropriate outer loadings (>.7), good internal consistency reliability (>.7), convergent validity (>.5), and no discriminant validity issues. Adjusted R2 values for the dependent variables indicate substantial explanatory power (attitude toward livestream shopping: .720, perceived enjoyment: .682, and impulse buying: .693). All the hypotheses were supported (p<.05), except for the relationship between attitude toward livestream shopping and impulse buying (p=.205).

DISCUSSION These results are consistent with those of previous studies. Perceived enjoyment was the main factor influencing impulse buying. This is in line with Lee and Chen (2021), who show that perceived enjoyment has a greater impact than perceived usefulness. However, price worthiness was supported by this study and not by Lee and Chen. Furthermore, the positive effect of parasocial interaction supports Xu et al. (2020) and source credibility supports Chen et al. (2020). The effect of attitude toward livestream shopping on impulse buying was not supported, thus highlighting the importance of affective factors. Xia et al. (2024) also analyzed affective factors, focusing on pleasantness, arousal, and perceived uncertainty. The findings demonstrate Generation Z‘s focus on enjoyment which can be delivered by interactive, authentic, and value-driven livestream content.

ABSTRACT. This study delves into the complex dynamics of social media influencer (SMI) marketing, focusing on the interplay between influencer conformity, obedience, and their impact on consumer purchase intention. It highlights the critical role of SMIs in enhancing marketing efficiency by reducing information search time and facilitating informed purchase decisions. However, it also addresses the challenge of information overload, where excessive information can hinder decision-making. The research investigates the effects of conformity and obedience within the context of SMIs, examining how these factors influence consumer behaviour and purchase intention.

The study identifies a gap in the literature regarding the impact of conformity on purchase intention in the context of SMIs. While previous research has examined source characteristics and their influence on purchase intention, limited attention has been given to conformity and its effects. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the role of conformity and obedience in shaping consumer purchase decisions. It also examines the moderating role of information overload, which exacerbates social media fatigue and contributes to information complexity and ambiguity.

Employing a model rooted in conformity theory, the study emphasises the significance of social status in influencer-consumer relationships. It integrates conformity theory with the obedience framework, considering information overload as a moderator in the relationship between obedience and purchase intention. The findings suggest that conformity and obedience significantly influence purchase intention, with information overload moderating this relationship. The study provides insights into specific aspects of influencer-induced behaviour and information overload that remain elusive in the current body of knowledge.

The research has practical implications for marketers, offering strategies to manage the negative effects of information overload and enhance the effectiveness of influencer marketing. It suggests that marketers should consider psychological factors influencing consumer behaviour, such as the desire for social status and the impact of information bias. By tailoring content to align with consumers' aspirations for social recognition and providing in-depth product details, marketers can mitigate the negative impact of information overload on purchase intention.

ABSTRACT. Essential to the customer experience is a conducive interaction between customers and salespeople in multiple touchpoints. During the customer experience, salespeople will choose different influence tactics. This paper shows that, paradoxically, salespeople who want to make money will not make any, while salespeople who desire to make a prosocial impact will sell more because of the different influence tactics they select to manage the customer experience. Building on self-determination theory and data on 356 real estate agents in California, the paper finds that salespeople with an extrinsic motivational orientation tend to employ coercive tactics of threats and promises in the management of the customer experience, while salespeople with a prosocial motivational orientation tend to employ rational tactics of information and recommendation. As a result, evidence shows that salespeople with high extrinsic orientation will book more appointments per month but are less likely to close them, failing to attain higher sales volume. On the contrary, salespeople with high prosocial motivation will reach higher sales volume despite not being able to book more appointments per month. The paper provides indications for the right and wrong approaches to the management of the customer experience by salespeople, identifying which salespeople are more effective for the optimization of the customer experience.

ABSTRACT. Higher educational institutions are keeping up with the times and promoting the use of mobile apps as teaching pedagogy. The research on this innovation is often insufficient, as it is performed with over-used models and a quantitative approach that does not add exploratory depth to the research topic. The purpose of this study is to judge, through a single case study design, the effectiveness of a mobile app as a teaching tool for sales students at a university. It used the technology acceptance model in an innovative way, in a qualitative setting, to provide structure to the research and content validity to the interview protocol. The study surveyed 10 students who had completed two years of a practical sales module facilitated with a mobile app that was downloaded to the students’ cell phones. Data was analysed using a hybrid thematic analysis by utilising deductive and inductive coding. The main finding indicates that developers need to keep mobile apps relevant to the module and easy to navigate to ensure adoption. This study’s contribution is twofold: it provides new evidence to an academic neglected area; and practically, it guides managers to ensure adoption

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates how organizations cultivate "co-intelligence"—a synergistic partnership between human expertise and AI capabilities—within their marketing operations. Moving beyond viewing AI as simple automation, it emphasizes AI's role as a collaborative partner that enhances value creation when combined with human judgment, creativity, and strategic vision. Successful AI adoption hinges on deliberate strategic capability development, focusing on technical literacy among professionals, robust knowledge integration protocols, and clear strategic alignment with business objectives.

 Drawing on research within Fujian's dynamic e-commerce sector, the paper identifies a practical continuum of human-AI collaboration: AI-informed human decisions, collaborative intelligence (the vital "missing middle" where humans and AI work interdependently), and AI-driven automation. Examples from livestreaming and retail illustrate how firms strategically select different collaborative modes for various functions, carefully balancing operational efficiency with the need for authentic customer connection. The study contrasts the efficiency potential of automation, such as AI avatars in livestreaming, with a prevalent preference for human-led, AI-enhanced approaches to maintain brand trust and customer relationships. It underscores the critical importance of developing domain-specific AI marketing competencies and establishing ethical frameworks to guide responsible implementation. Ultimately, the paper concludes that the most effective strategy involves a balanced, reflective integration that leverages the complementary strengths of both human and artificial intelligence to achieve sustainable marketing effectiveness.

ABSTRACT. In today's digital age, we increasingly question whether the content we encounter is created by humans or Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially since few marketing campaigns disclose their sources. This lack of transparency contrasts with existing literature emphasizing that transparency fosters trust and strengthens brand-consumer relationships. In this experiment, we examine three conditions to evaluate marketers' strategic options: Should marketing content be human-generated or AI-generated and in either cases, should its origin be disclosed or not disclosed?

Our literature review shows that, while transparency and trust issues have been highlighted in the current marketing litearture (e.g. Huang and Rust 2021; Chakraborty et al. 2024), also genuity and authenticity and related emotions (e.g. Kim et al. 2020; Arango et al. 2023; Brüns and Meißner 2024) among the consumers have been raised important in understanding the AI conctention creation and how it affects the consumers’ intentions and behavior. Moreover, Yoganathan and Osburg (2024) idenfied four distinct groups according to their perceptions towards automated AI systems: avoiders, skeptics, supporters, aficionados. This study is also one of the few pointing out that the AI technlogy acceptaince is the most important factor determining the user behavior followed by trust and gender.

Our study adopts the Elaboration Likelyhood Model (ELM) which states that human information processing happens through two routes: central route involving thinking deeply, analyzing facts being critical, and peripheral route with emotions, feelings and first impressions (Petty Cacioppo 1980). ELM states that if consumers are motivated and they have the ability he/she will use the central route of information processing, while if some of the antecedents are lower he/she will use peripheral route of information processing.

With ELM, we build a unique research model considering transparency and comparing trust and emotions as well as considerations of user’s technology acceptance levels (Figure 1). Our conceptual model addresses three different strategic choices that the marketers need to consider when designing and creating marketing content in the age of generative AI: 1) human vs. AI content, 2) AI disclosure vs. nondisclosure, 3) human disclosure vs. nondisclosure.

To test our conceptual model, we conducted an online experiment comparing three different conditions of visual marketing content: (1) human-generated, (2) AI-generated, and (3) content from a non-disclosed source. The context for the study was a charity campaign by a United Nations (UN) organization. By selecting a global, well-established entity, we aimed to minimize variability in brand attitudes and their influence on the studied variables and outcomes. Moreover, the charity campaign context was chosen to capture both cognitive and emotional responses – a context that allows for the examination of both ELM information processing routes and related elaborations. In the first condition, the human-generated visual marketing content was sourced directly from the UN organization’s charity site, along with a brief textual description of the charity destination. For the AI-generated marketing content (Condition 2), the original human-generated visual was used as a prompt, combined with textual inputs, and processed through a state-of-the-art visual AI generator (DALL-E 2). For both of these conditions the textual descriptions remained the same, despite a disclaimer in the title disclosing that the content was human / AI generated. In the third condition the source was not disclosed.

After data cleaning, our data consists of 256 respondents for human condition, 255 for AI, and 253 for nondisclosure. The manipulation check question on how human-kind the marketing content was perceived resulted significant differences (<.001) for all groups resulting highest 5,78 for human condition, 5,09 for AI and 4,09 for nondisclosure. ANOVA between the group analysis showed that there were significant differences for trust (Grimmelikhuijsen, 2017 as cited in Scandurra et al, 2023) and emotions (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974 as cited in Havlena & Holbrook, 1986), but not for other parameters including technology acceptance (Rojas-Osorio, 2019) and donation intentions (Rojas-Osorio, 2019). Age, income, gender as well as green consumption value (Haws et al., 2014) were included as control variables in the model. In addition, to including trust and emotion in the model as central and peripheral routes of information processing, following ELM, green consumption value as motivation and technology acceptance as ability were theoretically relevant inclusions. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated good discriminant and convergent validity for the variables in the model. SPSS and Process macro model 8 were applied in the data analysis for three different models comparing the marketers’ strategic choices.

The findings suggest the effectiveness of marketing content is context-dependent, influenced by both audience characteristics (e.g., technology enthusiasm or resistance) and the degree of transparency regarding content origin. Marketers should strategically consider the origin and disclosure of their content to optimize trust, emotional engagement, and consumer behavior outcomes.

ABSTRACT. Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) services, originating in the United States in the 1990s, allow users unlimited access to streaming videos for a fixed monthly fee. Dominated by platforms like Netflix and Hulu, the SVOD market has expanded globally, including significant traction in Japan. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of consumer behavior by examining consumer values and cognitive demand scales, areas that have not been thoroughly explored in previous research. Focusing on Netflix and TVer, the study employs logistic regression and covariance structure analysis, alongside basic analyses, to identify and clarify the distinctive characteristics of their customer bases.

ABSTRACT. In the rapidly evolving travel comparison industry, where the Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption remains underexplored, this study delves into how AI and non-AI-generated website advertisements shape attitudes towards advertisements, customer satisfaction and purchase intention, in the travel comparison industry. An online experiment examines emotional triggers (curiosity and frustration), revealing how AI-generated advertisements significantly enhance curiosity while reducing frustration, improving consumer attitudes, higher purchase intentions and increased satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how expected answer quality, reliability, empathy, friendliness, and privacy concerns influence usage intentions of bot-based services. Data collected through online survey (159 individuals) and analysed using SPSS statistics revealed that expected empathy is the best predictor of user intention, followed by expected answer quality and expected answer reliability. The study found that disclosing the chatbot's identity decreased the negative effect of privacy concerns on user intention.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how AI-empowered co-creation (vs. non-AI) impacts willingness-to-pay through psychological ownership and perceived price fairness, with self-efficacy as a moderator. Through multi-scenario experiments (T-shirts, phone cases, eco-bags), we are expected to offer implications for fashion companies to consider the potential impact of AI-empowered co-creation on consumer fairness perceptions.

ABSTRACT. This research explores how to leverage AI-based chatbots in resolving brand transgressions through the lens of perspective-taking. Across three studies, findings reveal the precondition (anthropomorphism) and boundary conditions (negative emotion, temporal perception) of such an implementation. Implications highlight tailoring chatbot interactions to consumers’ emotions and perceptions for maintaining consumer-brand relationships.

ABSTRACT. This study explores guest interactions with a social humanoid robot in a hotel, comparing its functions as an information provider and entertainment source. Using video analysis, we examine interaction patterns, engagement levels, and emotional responses. Findings suggest that entertainment-focused interactions foster higher engagement and stronger emotional responses than information-based interactions.

ABSTRACT. The rapid advancement of technology has led to the widespread adoption of service robots across numerous industries. Although these robots are designed to deliver precise and reliable services, challenges arise when technical errors disrupt service delivery. This study examines how users perceive various apology strategies that service robots employ after task failures. In Study 1, we explore the impact of service agent type and apology style on perceived role congruity and recovery satisfaction. Study 2 investigates how task characteristics, specifically the task objectivity, influence these responses. Our findings suggest that the theory of anthropomorphism, which posits that human-like features in AI agents can elicit more favorable reactions, may not hold true in the context of task failure. This research provides meaningful insights into effective service recovery strategies for robots, contributing to the optimization of user experiences across diverse service environments.

ABSTRACT. With rapidly evolving consumer preferences and growing concerns about environmental sustainability, a new industry segment- Lab-Grown Diamonds (LGDs) - has been emerging. LGDs are chemically identical to mined diamonds but produced in controlled environments. Their appeal lies in ethical sourcing, affordability, and customisation options, making them an ethical and economical purchase for consumers (Wenzel, 2007; Scipioni & Libassi, 2018). LGDs offer an attractive alternative to mined diamonds due to their reduced environmental impact and conflict-free production, providing a new perspective on the diamond industry. Although LGDs have been around for over a decade now, they have gained traction in recent years, and their popularity shows no signs of slowing down in 2025 (Treadgold, 2024). One of the driving forces behind the lab-grown trend is affordability. Another reason for their popularity is sustainability reasons. LGDs are nearly identical to traditional options and do not harm the environment or living beings. (Wenzel, 2007; Scipioni & Libassi, 2018). Today’s consumers are more aware and conscious of how their decisions are affecting the environment. Research indicates that consumers are increasingly concerned about the sustainability and ethical sourcing of the products they purchase (Achabou & Dekhili, 2013; Nielsen, 2015). Moreover, a luxury buying decision for today’s consumer does not mean purchasing the most expensive product that will give them status recognition in society. For the youth, it is more about resonating with what the brand and product stands for, and how they are impacting society in the long run. This is where their preference for LGDs comes into play as well. The adoption of LGDs has been on the rise, particularly among millennials, driven by environmental consciousness, ethical considerations, and price sensitivity (Daniels, 2016; Wen-Yun et. al., 2022). Millennials, the largest consumer cohort, exhibit distinct purchasing behaviours shaped by environmental and ethical awareness. They prioritize sustainability and ethics in their consumption choices (Daniels, 2016). Several retailers, including Bloomingdale's and Reed Jewellers, have begun testing the potential of the LGD market (DeMarco, 2019). In May 2018, De Beers excitedly introduced a game-changing move by offering stunning lab-grown diamonds to the jewellery market! The growing popularity of LGDs highlights their appeal as a better buy, while a contrasting segment views natural diamonds as symbols of luxury and tradition, favouring them as timeless heirlooms over synthetic alternatives. LGDs are often seen as less rare and prestigious than natural diamonds. As a result, while consumers may seek socially responsible products, the emphasis on sustainability may sometimes diminish the perceived value of these products. Other lab-grown products face similar challenges as LGDs due to consumers seeking scarce and prestigious items to maintain or enhance their social status (Davies et.al, 2012). With years of emphasis placed on natural diamonds, it is difficult to change the status quo bias of consumers or alter their belief system concerning synthetic jewels. Understanding the reasons behind millennials' adoption of LGDs requires a deep dive into their values and the rationale behind their decisions. Marketers face challenges in effectively positioning luxury goods due to the novelty of LGDs. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing consumer biases, behaviour patterns, preferences, and thought processes that drive them to make diamond-purchasing decisions, specifically LGDs. A comprehensive understanding of these factors is crucial for effectively marketing LGDs to millennials. Our research uses behavioural reasoning theory to investigate the factors influencing millennials' adoption of LGDs. By integrating reasons for and against adoption, the study seeks to provide a nuanced understanding of the attitudes and behaviours shaping this trend. Specifically, this research aims to understand the reasons driving and deterring millennials' adoption of LGDs. Our research adopts a mixed-method approach to provide a comprehensive understanding of millennials' adoption of LGDs. We collected qualitative data through in-depth interviews with millennials, LGD business owners, and Diamond experts. This was followed by a quantitative survey targeted towards millennials in urban areas to test the proposed model. The findings contribute to the growing body of research on sustainable consumer behaviour and provide actionable insights for marketers and policymakers in the jewellery industry. The findings underscore the importance of communicating ethical and environmental considerations in driving millennials' adoption of LGDs. A comprehensive framework focusing on the reasons driving and deterring millennials' adoption of LGDs contributes to both academic literature and industry practice.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the second-hand luxury watch market, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of its dynamics and implications. Consumer behaviour is also analysed investigating the motivations that drive individuals to opt for second-hand luxury products. The paper explores both materialistic and psychological needs that influence purchasing decisions, along with a detailed analysis of the target audience. The strategies employed in the sale of used luxury watches are discussed considering various sales methods, including collaboration with authorized dealers, branding strategies and pricing tactics. The paper presents a case study of Richemont's strategies in the used luxury watch market. It analyses the acquisition of Watchfinder and Enquirus, exploring the history, strategies and impact of these moves on the high-end watch industry.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the phenomenon of luxury shaming – criticism and negative judgments directed toward the luxury industry and its consumers. Through a mixed-methods approach, the research integrates generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools, including ChatGPT and NotebookLM, with qualitative consumer insights to explore the dimensions, triggers, and coping mechanisms associated with luxury shaming. Study 1 employs GenAI to identify five key dimensions of luxury shaming: intellectual (e.g., superficiality, cultural insensitivity), economic (e.g., inequality, artificial scarcity), socio-cultural (e.g., elitism, cultural commodification), physical/aesthetic (e.g., frivolity, logo-centric designs), and ethical/moral (e.g., environmental harm, labor exploitation). Studies 2 and 3, comprising 26 semi-structured interviews, reveal that luxury shaming evokes personal emotions (e.g., frustration, self-doubt) and social emotions (e.g., inferiority, resentment), prompting consumers to adopt adaptive coping strategies. These strategies include quiet luxury consumption, value-based purchasing, ethical alignment, and adherence to social norms. This research contributes to marketing and psychological literature by highlighting the social costs of luxury consumption and introducing GenAI as an innovative tool for cultural analysis. Furthermore, our findings provide actionable insights for luxury brands to align their strategies with evolving societal values, emphasizing discretion, quality, and ethical responsibility.

ABSTRACT. Purpose: This study examines the critical factors for brand growth in the €283 billion luxury fashion market during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The research aims to identify how luxury brands have sustained and enhanced their value and digital presence in response to the crisis, contributing to an under-researched area crucial for luxury fashion companies. Methodology: The study employs a qualitative approach, incorporating critical analysis of existing literature and in-depth interviews with senior luxury brand managers. The challenges faced in securing interview data highlight the sector's secretive nature, yet the obtained insights provide valuable perspectives on brand performance and success factors. Findings: The findings underscore the importance of digital innovation, balanced omnichannel strategies, and enhanced customer experience in driving brand growth post-pandemic. The study reveals a significant shift in consumer behaviour towards online engagement, necessitating luxury brands to adapt quickly and rethink their digital strategies. Originality: This research contributes to the limited literature on luxury brand growth during crises, offering practical recommendations for luxury brand managers to achieve sustainable growth in a post-pandemic world.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the challenges and opportunities faced by women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in adopting artificial intelligence (AI) within the fashion industry. Leveraging the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework, a systematic literature review of 19 articles published between 2015 and January 2025 was conducted using the Web of Science database and the PRISMA approach. The analysis identified four key barriers to AI adoption: skill gaps, financial constraints, technological barriers, and gender-specific challenges. Despite these obstacles, AI presents significant opportunities for SMEs, such as enabling hyper-personalized marketing, streamlining supply chains, and improving operational efficiency. The TAM framework, combined with gendered perspectives and digital transformation insights, provides a lens to interpret these findings, highlighting the influence of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, and facilitating conditions on AI adoption. The study concludes by emphasizing the need for targeted interventions, such as gender-sensitive training programs, low-cost AI tools, and collaborative projects, to support women-led SMEs in overcoming barriers and realizing the transformative potential of AI in the fashion industry. Future research should expand the scope by incorporating diverse cultural and geographical contexts and employing qualitative approaches to capture the lived experiences of female entrepreneurs.

ABSTRACT. The fashion industry, while providing essential goods globally, is often criticized for unethical labor practices, environmental damage, and a lack of consumer awareness. The rise of fast fashion, with its focus on cheap, rapidly produced clothing, exacerbates these issues. In response to growing concerns about sustainability, many companies have started promoting green initiatives to gain consumer trust. However, these efforts are sometimes undermined by deceptive practices such as greenwashing and bluewashing, which exploit consumers' inability to verify claims. Some companies engage in greenhushing, remaining silent about their environmental efforts, while others focus on showcasing their sustainability through dedicated sections on their websites. Despite these efforts, it remains difficult for consumers to distinguish between authentic commitments and misleading statements. B-Corp certification provides a reliable way for fashion companies to demonstrate their social and environmental commitment, ensuring that their impact aligns with recognized sustainability standards. The study explores sustainability communication strategies adopted by fashion companies, focusing on the analysis of e-commerce websites. A qualitative analysis was conducted on 40 international fashion companies, divided into four groups based on their B-Corp certification and market positioning (luxury vs. fast fashion). Data were systematically collected from product descriptions and institutional sections of the websites, aiming to examine how companies communicate their commitment to ESG principles. The study highlights differences in strategies adopted by different business models to make these efforts more transparent and accessible to consumers. By comparing B-Corp and non-B-Corp companies, the research fills a gap in the literature regarding ESG disclosures of fashion companies on e-commerce platforms, analyzing and categorizing the information into key performance indicators (KPIs) with a focus on transparency. The findings contribute to both academic research and practical marketing applications, offering insights into sustainable communication strategies within the global fashion industry. It examines how B-Corp certification enhances brand credibility and differentiates genuine sustainability from greenwashing. It will provide practical recommendations to improve ESG transparency, with best practice examples for both B-Corp and non-B-Corp companies. Additionally, it will assess communication strategies in the luxury and fast fashion sectors, helping brands meet the demand for authenticity. Finally, it will contribute to the development of guidelines to make sustainability communication clearer and more effective, supporting more informed consumer purchasing decisions.

ABSTRACT. Purpose: As the European Union introduces Digital Product Passports (DPPs) to improve sustainability transparency, this study explores the effects of Augmented Reality (AR) enabled DPPs within the realm of luxury fashion. This research analyses how the completeness, credibility, and persuasive nature of DPP information affect perceived environmental sustainability, ultimately influencing perceptions of luxury, risks associated with product quality, and purchase intentions.

Study design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study involved 307 high-income female consumers from the USA and UK who interacted with a virtual AR luxury handbag with a DPP. The data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to evaluate key relationships, with moderation analysis exploring how status consumption orientation influences these effects.

Results: Credible and complete DPP information enhances perceived environmental sustainability, which subsequently increases luxury perceptions and reduces concerns about product quality. This, in turn, leads to higher green luxury purchase intentions. However, moderation analysis revealed that status-driven consumers were less influenced by sustainability details, suggesting that tailored messaging is needed to align with their preference for exclusivity.

Originality/value: This study provides new insights into how AR-enabled DPPs can integrate sustainability transparency into luxury retail without compromising the luxury experience. It offers practical guidance for luxury brands on leveraging DPPs and AR technology to support sustainable consumption while addressing the unique preferences of status-oriented consumers.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates consumer empowerment within the often-overlooked context of close interpersonal relationships, focusing specifically on the dynamics of parental food provision and control. By conducting 17 in-depth narrative interviews incorporating photo elicitation, the research explores parental food provision and control within consumer journeys of empowerment.

The findings challenge traditional individualistic notions of consumer empowerment, instead revealing a more relational and paradoxical perspective. Rather than empowerment being a solely agentic or autonomous process, this study highlights how it emerges through complex interactions, negotiations, and interdependencies between parents and children. The research sheds light on the tensions the adult children experience in managing the relationship through food provision and consumption.

By situating empowerment within the context of family relationships, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the nuances of empowerment, demonstrating how empowerment is both enabled and constrained by relational dynamics. We demonstrate a need to further explore an alternative, relational and paradoxical, understanding of consumer empowerment.

ABSTRACT. Emotions play a pivotal role in shaping judgments, evaluations, and decisions, a phenomenon extensively studied in psychology and consumer behavior. In an era of rapid technological advancement, including artificial intelligence, emotions remain a uniquely human domain, influencing consumer decision-making in ways that technology strives to contend. This study focuses on pain—an inherently human experience—examining its impact on product evaluations across different product contexts, from art appreciation to technology-derived products. This research challenges conventional views that link pain solely with negative experiences and avoidance behaviors. Instead, it examines that individuals can derive value from embracing pain as part of the consumer experience. The study explores how sensory language, specifically related to pain, shapes consumer responses by influencing perceptions of authenticity and its subsequent effects on consumer evaluation. In doing so, it establishes a connection between individual traits and cognitive appraisal using the construal level theory(CLT). This involves exploring how individuals with different construal levels (high vs. low) respond to the emotion of pain presented in different product contexts. The study theorizes that varying construal levels will influence how individuals perceive authenticity in response to pain, subsequently affecting consumer evaluation, ultimately affecting product assessments.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the evolving landscape of consumer behaviour, technological advancements, and societal shifts by exploring the congruence between the self, the digital self with the brand in the context of social media.

By collecting and analysing data from two distinct time periods, 2009 and 2025, this research provides a longitudinal perspective on how consumers’ relationships with brands on social media have transformed over time. The study adopts a qualitative approach, more specifically a Netnographic approach- contemporary qualitative research methodology that adapts ethnographic research techniques to the study of cultures and communities within computer mediated communications” (Kozinets, 2015), thus adopting participant observation, collection of online data and qualitative interpretive interviewing.

The qualitative interpretative research enabled the interrelated issues to be explored by thematically analyzing 42 interviews. In-depth interviews were conducted 2008-2009 with 27 social networking site users and five social media managers/practitioners alongside 15 interviews with consumers of the same age group conducted in 2024-2025. The 42 consumer interviews captured demographics such as age, nationality, frequency of using SNS, the brands with which they associate and interact and the types of online activities such as joining brand groups, posting in groups, taking part in brand quizzes, sharing branded posts.

Findings indicated that the use of social networking sites for brand congruence is of less importance in the current times than in previous years. Users associate with brands that are of significance to them, by perceiving high brand congruency with their image of self-concept. The ‘ideal self’ is portrayed more succinctly than the ‘actual self’ with the ‘social self’ holding more saliency than the presentation of the individual. All the considerations of the possible selves and the exhibition of identity on such platforms create tensions due to the user’s various front and backstage identities.

The study explores the changes in which individuals engage with brands and the gratifications they seek from such engagements. Additionally, it delves into the role of self-congruency in shaping consumer-brand relationships, particularly in the context of identity construction and self-expression in digital spaces. By comparing data across these two timeframes, the study highlights key changes in consumer expectations, digital engagement strategies, and the broader socio-technological environment that influence brand perception and consumer loyalty.

ABSTRACT. The traditional ‘push-pull’ theory fails to fully reveal the interaction between tourists‘ psychological needs and landscape features when explaining tourism attractiveness, while Affordance theory provides a new perspective for understanding tourism attractiveness through the dynamic matching between environmental features and tourists’ needs. This study takes Linzhi, Tibet as a case study, integrates Affordance theory and hierarchical processing theory, and adopts eye tracking and metaphor extraction techniques to analyse the functional affinity of landscapes in terms of shallow visual processing and deep emotional processing. The results show that in the shallow processing stage, the landscape of Linzhi demonstrates significant Functional Affordance by attracting attention and arousing interest, and there are significant differences between different landscape types and gender factors, and the detailed elements become the core of visual attention. In the deep processing stage, the Functional Affordance of the landscape of Linzhi is manifested through the functions of emotional healing and spiritual growth, with the natural and humanistic factors constituting its root base, and the atmospheres of ‘paradise’ and ‘secular pilgrimage’ becoming the core of its visual attention.This study reveals the dynamic and interactive mechanism of tourism attraction formation, provides new perspectives for related theoretical research, and offers practical guidance for landscape optimisation and tourism product development.

ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION

Gift-giving is important to maintain and strengthen social bonds between givers and recipients (Liu et al., 2019). Past research on gift giving is extensive, however, the literature on gift-giving has largely not considered gifts to stigmatized individuals. Therefore, in our research, we focus on obesity as the stigma and examine if gift-givers would choose vice vs. virtue consumption products as gifts for the stigmatized person.

THEORY AND HYPOTHESES

Extant research shows that congruence between the gift and the recipient’s image results in a greater appreciation for the gift (Luo et al., 2019). Within the context of gift giving, we argue that gifting virtuous products is more likely in cases where the intended recipient falls within non-stigmatized groups as opposed to stigmatized individuals who are considered lazy (Olson et al., 2020) and unable to care for themselves (Major et al., 2014). In other words, they are held in lower regard for perceived competence. Further, a fit between the product and the recipient can enhance the recipient’s favorable responses toward both the giver and the product (Luo et al. 2019). A stigmatized individual would secretly wish for the vice product as they present the allure of a forbidden fruit (Sinha, 2016). Hence, they are likely to be perceived as less appreciative of virtue products. We thus hypothesize: H1: The givers perceive vice products to be a better fit for the stigmatized recipient. H2: The perception of competence and subsequently perceived appreciation for the product mediates the choice of gift such that givers perceive stigmatized(non-stigmatized) recipients to have lower (higher) competence and lower (higher) perceived appreciation for virtuous products.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Method

We asked the participants to imagine that they were going to meet their friend today who was very charming and generous. In the stigma (control) condition we described that their friend suffers from severe obesity (maintaining a healthy lifestyle). We asked them to choose between a bag of chocolate cookies and a bag of nuts and raisins as a gift. Next, we measured to what extent the participant perceived the competence of the individual (Przybylski et al. 2014) and to what extent they thought he/she would appreciate their gift (Flynn and Adams 2009). Further, we measured to what extent their choice of gift was to indicate the perception of virtuousness (Ward and Broniarczyk, 2016) and to avoid offending your friend (Liu et al., 2013). Lastly, we recorded their gender and age.

Analysis

A sample of 197 Prolific volunteers (55% female, 70% aged 18-45 years) participated in the study and passed the required attention checks. The obesity perception was greater in the stigma condition (Ms 6.7 & 1.8; t=34.5, p<0.001) and the bag of nuts and raisins was perceived as significantly healthier (Ms 5.75 & 2.1; t=25, p<0.001). We observed that male givers choose the virtue option more (61% vs. 56%) for stigmatized (non-stigmatized) individuals while the female givers donot discriminate. H1 doesnot hold. We conducted a PROCESS model (model 6; Hayes 2018) analysis with the presence (or absence) of the stigma as the independent variable, perceived competence and perceived appreciation as serial mediators, and the choice of gift as the dependent variable. A significant indirect effect confirm H2, the serial mediation (=0.21, CI. 0.09,0.41). We further found the gender of gift-giver to moderate the effect of competence on appreciation (model 91, Index=0.14, CI. 0.03,0.32). We considered the intention to appear virtuous, avoid offense, gender of recipient and age as control variables. We find signficant effects of the intention to appear virtuous (=-0.2, t=-3.6, p<0.001) and to avoid offense (=0.22, t=4.1, p<0.001) on the perception of competence. Also, intention to appear virtuous (=-0.1, t=-2.2, p=0.03) and to avoid offense (=0.11, t=2.6, p<0.001) have a significant effect on the path competence -> appreciation.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

The findings support our theorization that the stigmatized individuals are perceived as of lower caliber or competence and appreciate the gift choice (virtue) less, among male gift-givers. The finding is interesting and counterintuitive as a lower perceived appreciation should ideally push the gift-giver to choose the alternative (that would result in a higher perceived appreciation). These individuals consider it their responsibility to make the virtuous choice when gifting to a stigmatized person since they perceive the stigmatized individual as not competent enough to appreciate the right choice. We find female gift givers to choose vice gift to avoid offending but not male gift-givers who are more inclined to appear virtuous. Theoretically, this not only extends previous research on stigma and gift giving, but also finds instances where the outcome deviates from the expectation. The research outcomes carry important social implications and necessitates a closer examination of our mindset to make unbiased choices for a stigmatized individual. The findings have important strategic implication for marketers when designing their communication content targeting specific customer segments or product purposes.

ABSTRACT. Brands are working with virtual influencers more and more to support their social media initiatives. however, Brands frequently aren't aware of the potential hazards associated with virtual influencers. Virtual Influencers’ excessive human similarity causes consumers to perceive interacting with human-like virtual influencers on social media as creepy. We looked into the function of anthropomorphism on avoidance of the brand endorsed by the virtual influencer in a virtual influencer context, based on the Uncanny Valley theory. By conducting three experimental studies, we first examined the impact of the level of anthropomorphism of a virtual influencer on influencer avoidance behavior revealing the mediating role of creepiness. The second study investigated the moderating role of social presence. We showed that the influence of anthropomorphism on creepiness and brand avoidance was attenuated when the social cue was prominent. The third study investigated the moderating role of message abstraction. We found that abstract endorsement messages will accentuate creepiness and brand avoidance. This study advances the literature on the Uncanny Valley Theory and provides insights into the factors that may accentuate or mitigate consumers’ sense of creepiness. Alongside this, our findings offer practical implications for practitioners managing virtual influencers in their social media campaigns.

ABSTRACT. In today’s market environment, consumer experience has emerged as a key factor that goes beyond the mere quality of products or services, becoming central to continuous engagement and relationship-building with consumers. In particular, as contact-free trends accelerated following the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers now expect more diverse and intense sensory and emotional experiences than ever before. Accordingly, companies have been actively adopting experiential marketing strategies to maximize interaction between brands and consumers. Among these, pop-up stores stand out as an effective method for delivering a powerful brand image by leveraging the unique conditions of limited time and space. However, previous studies have largely focused on spatial design or event participation elements of pop-up stores, with relatively little in-depth discussion on how the emotional responses that consumers directly experience translate into brand loyalty. To fill this research gap, the present study empirically investigates how the experiential attributes of pop-up stores trigger consumers’ emotional responses, and how these responses, in turn, lead to long-term increases in brand loyalty. The significance of this study is highlighted by two main points. First, while interest in experiential marketing has been growing, there is limited academic evidence clarifying the specific mechanisms by which these experiences lead consumers to form stronger relationships with brands. Although it has consistently been suggested that experiential attributes can elicit emotional responses (e.g., Pleasure, Arousal, Dominance) that ultimately result in repurchase intention or positive word-of-mouth, few systematic empirical studies have confirmed this. Second, in a market environment characterized by heightened segmentation and competition, how brands reinforce an “emotional connection” with consumers has become a core challenge that influences a company’s mid- to long-term competitiveness. With digital platforms expanding the range of consumer touchpoints, cultivating loyalty has become all the more difficult. In this context, pop-up stores have surfaced as a compelling channel for offering consumers direct, real-world experiences, enabling them to perceive the brand as “personal and intimate.” This study’s implications are especially important for marketing strategies targeting Generation Z. Accustomed to digital environments, they place greater emphasis than other generations on sensory and emotional satisfaction the moment they encounter a brand. They also display a strong need for self-expression, and characteristically share their experiences in real time via social media, thereby exerting immediate influence on other consumers. Consequently, the “special moments” provided by pop-up stores likely have a greater effect on Gen Z’s brand perceptions than on those of other generations. By systematically examining this phenomenon, the present study aims to establish a foundation for refining experiential marketing strategies focused on Generation Z. The primary methodology of this study, briefly stated, involved surveying Gen Z consumers who had visited a pop-up store at least six times within the past six months. . The collected data were examined using SPSS through exploratory factor analysis to verify validity and reliability, and a PLS structural equation model was constructed to test direct path hypotheses and mediation hypotheses. In addition, moderating effects were analyzed using the PROCESS Macro. The key academic and practical implications of this study’s findings are as follows. First, pop-up stores should be reevaluated not as mere one-off events but as “branding platforms.” Recent marketing trends indicate that consumers place more importance on the emotional value provided by a brand than on its functional utility. By harnessing limited time and space, pop-up stores can create strong memory points that form a long-term emotional bond between brands and consumers. Therefore, it is essential to go beyond simple product promotion or providing an experience, and to spatialize and actualize the brand narrative such that consumers perceive themselves as co-creators of the brand. Second, focusing on Generation Z in this study reaffirms that even individuals accustomed to digital environments have high expectations and desires for direct offline experiences. Gen Z users instantly record and share their experiences through channels such as SNS, and their reviews and feedback can quickly spread as “instant viral” content, a distinguishing feature of this demographic. This indicates that the sensory and emotional satisfaction gained from pop-up stores does not merely end with a single experience; rather, it can generate ongoing conversations online and expand the brand’s image. Consequently, brand managers must more carefully craft features that stimulate Gen Z’s “sharing value,” such as photo zones, SNS events, and hashtag campaigns to foster participation and dissemination. These findings are expected to provide brand managers with valuable insight into how experiential factors influence brand loyalty, thereby offering direction for brand strategy formulation. Furthermore, they may also contribute to devising strategies and action plans that elicit emotional responses from target consumers.

ABSTRACT. The rapid evolution of omnichannel strategies is reshaping the retail landscape, with grocery retailing at the forefront of this transformation. While online grocery shopping has grown significantly, physical stores remain crucial for consumer engagement, data collection, and seamless omnichannel integration. This study proposes a novel framework for integrating brand, panel, and retail data with georeferenced insights to enhance retail decision-making. By adopting an empirics-first approach and leveraging NielsenIQ’s datasets, we explore how data-driven strategies can optimize inventory allocation, refine assortment planning, and improve targeted marketing. Our findings highlight the strategic role of georeferenced data in enabling more effective store segmentation and localization-driven retail strategies. The proposed framework bridges theoretical and practical applications, providing retailers and manufacturers with actionable insights to enhance market responsiveness, customer experience, and operational efficiency in an increasingly complex retail ecosystem.

ABSTRACT. When a manufacturer enters an overseas market, a critical decision-making issue is how to achieve the firm's performance while adapting to the environment of the entry market. This study aims to present a theoretical framework, grounded in the optimal distinctiveness theory, to examine how and when manufacturers can combine channel strategies and product strategies to enhance firm performance in foreign markets, and to validate its empirical relevance. The optimal distinctiveness theory is a framework that argues firms can improve performance by orchestrating actions that acquire legitimacy, based on institutional theory, and those that achieve distinctiveness, based on competitive strategy. An empirical analysis targeting Japanese industrial products manufacturers indicates that when the competitive intensity in the target market is high and either the regulatory/normative distance or cultural distance is significant, enhancing both channel strategy legitimacy and product innovativeness leads to higher performance.

ABSTRACT. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous technologies is transforming value co-creation in the hotel industry. This study examines how hotel guests’ perceptions of these technologies influence their co-creation capabilities, with a particular focus on the moderating role of perceived innovativeness. Drawing on the Service-Dominant Logic framework, the research explores the extent to which guests are willing to engage with AI-driven services such as personalised search and chatbots. While technological advancements promise efficiency and enhanced guest experiences, misperceptions can lead to co-destruction, increasing employee workload or diminishing perceived service value. This study provides insights into how automation affects guests’ perceptions of service relevance and process effectiveness. The findings contribute to both theory and practice by offering recommendations for managing guest expectations and fostering positive interactions with AI and automation. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for hotels aiming to enhance innovation adoption and maximise value co-creation.

ABSTRACT. In today’s digital marketplace, online reviews have evolved beyond personal opinion-sharing, becoming powerful determinants of corporate reputation, consumer trust, and market performance. Negative reviews, in particular, hold disproportionate influence, shaping brand perception and purchasing decisions. Yet, one key question remains underexplored: when are consumers most likely to leave negative reviews? This study investigates whether the timing of review submissions influences their negativity. While previous research has examined the motivations behind negative reviews, little attention has been given to temporal patterns. Consumers post reviews throughout the day—some in the morning, others late at night—but could the time of day impact the tone of consumer complaints? We propose that circadian rhythms, which regulate physiological and psychological processes, play a crucial role in shaping consumer sentiment in online reviews. Circadian rhythms influence self-regulatory resources, which gradually deplete from morning to evening. Research shows that impulse control diminishes at night, making it harder for individuals to suppress negative emotions. Baumeister et al. (2000) suggest that impulsive behaviors, including crime, peak in the late evening due to self-regulation decline. Similarly, consumers may be more prone to expressing negativity in online reviews during late-night hours when self-regulatory resources are most depleted. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed Yelp restaurant reviews from U.S. states with populations exceeding 10 million. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Boyd et al., 2022), we examined three key variables: review ratings, timestamps, and a swear index (the proportion of profanity in reviews). Timestamps were measured in hourly increments from a 5 a.m. baseline, aligning with established circadian cycle research (Gullo et al., 2019). We controlled for restaurant characteristics, such as average rating and review volume, and incorporated fixed effects at the state, year, and month levels. Regression analyses revealed a significant negative relationship between review timestamps and ratings (β = -2.244, p < .001), indicating that reviews submitted later in the day were more negative. Additionally, reviews posted later contained significantly more profanity (β = .228, p < .001). When reviews were categorized into daytime (5 a.m.–5 p.m.) and nighttime (5 p.m.–5 a.m.) periods, nighttime reviews exhibited significantly lower ratings (β = -18.352, p < .001) and higher profanity usage (β = 3.371, p < .001). These findings suggest that as the day progresses and self-regulatory resources wane, consumers are more likely to express dissatisfaction in stronger, more emotionally charged terms. This research contributes to marketing scholarship in two key ways. First, it introduces temporal context as a novel explanatory factor in consumer review behavior, highlighting that review negativity fluctuates systematically throughout the day rather than being solely driven by individual or situational factors. Second, it extends biologically informed cognitive resource theories into consumer behavior research, linking circadian rhythms to digital consumer interactions. While prior work has established the role of physiological rhythms in decision-making, empirical research in marketing has largely overlooked these effects. From a managerial perspective, these findings offer actionable insights for businesses and review platform operators. Understanding that negative reviews are more likely at night suggests strategic interventions, such as optimizing customer service response times or using automated sentiment monitoring to identify and address late-night negativity. Additionally, platforms could experiment with nudging techniques, such as prompting late-night reviewers with cooling-off messages before submission, potentially mitigating the severity of negative reviews. In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of considering biological and psychological rhythms in consumer research. By demonstrating how circadian cycles shape online consumer sentiment, we provide new avenues for understanding digital consumption behaviors and inform strategies for managing brand reputation in the ever-evolving landscape of online reviews.

ABSTRACT. The business community, including both sellers and buyers, is experiencing rapid changes and needs to adapt to them in order to benefit from ever-changing sales systems. One big change would be the innovation and use of AI by online retailers and platforms. The pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce and the digitalization of consumer behavior. Nowadays, it's not uncommon to come across great discounts and limited-time-sale signs, which are often claimed to be deceptive pricing or fake discounts that lure customers who are browsing. Some consumers, especially vulnerable consumers, are found to believe sale signs at face value and are likely to purchase sale items with little or no doubt. Prospect theory may explain consumer psychology that places more emphasis on avoiding loss of gains. This study's objective is to analyze different types of consumers and decision-making processes that are more susceptible to deceptive pricing strategies.

ABSTRACT. As the retail landscape rapidly evolves, fashion retailers face a critical choice: should they continue using traditional online stores, or shift to the innovative virtual store model? The lack of empirical evidence comparing the effectiveness of these two e-retail models adds complexity to this decision. This study aims to provide valuable insights by comparing the effectiveness of online stores versus virtual stores in the fashion retail sector. Specifically, it examines key factors such as navigation time, user experience, user satisfaction, hedonic and utilitarian values, and purchase intentions. Data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and independent t-test sample. The results reveal that in online stores, perceived enjoyment and user experience positively influence purchase intentions, while in virtual stores, both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment influence purchase intentions. Additionally, consumers tend to spend more time navigating virtual stores than online stores. The findings also indicate that shoppers experience higher levels of telepresence, enjoyment, and overall user satisfaction in virtual stores compared to online stores. Importantly, purchase intention is significantly greater among those shopping in virtual stores than those using online stores. This study addresses the lack of empirical evidence comparing traditional online stores with virtual stores, offering new insights into how different e-retail models affect consumer behaviors and decision-making in the fashion retail sector.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of market orientation on retailer outcomes in Japan, focusing on the interplay between proactive (PMO) and reactive (RMO) market orientations and the moderating role of knowledge sharing with proactive suppliers (KSPS).

We hypothesized that PMO positively influences sales growth rate, that RMO positively moderates the effect of PMO on sales growth rate, and that KSPS negatively moderates RMO's moderating effect. This study surveyed 311 Japanese retail firms.

The results largely supported the first two hypotheses. Higher PMO effect on increased sales growth, and the combination of PMO and RMO proved especially effective. This suggests that retailers can gain a competitive advantage by simultaneously addressing both RMO and PMO, creating differentiated product assortments.

The third hypothesis received partial support. KSPS showed little impact when RMO is high but significantly affect sales growth when RMO is low. This unexpected finding warrants further investigation. The study highlights the importance of supplier relationships, particularly for retailers lacking manufacturing capabilities. Proactive suppliers become crucial for innovation and knowledge sharing, especially when retailers heavily rely on RMO.

The study concludes that the nature of market orientation in retail is unique, differing from other sectors. Success is often determined by effectively balancing PMO and RMO and leveraging strategic supplier relationships for knowledge and product assortment. Further research is needed to refine the understanding of KSPS's influence and explore the observed interactions between PMO, RMO, and KSPS more deeply.

ABSTRACT. Japan is now regarded as the “golden market” in the global luxury industry, offering critical insights into how symbolic, ethical, and digital values coalesce in luxury perception. This study investigates how luxury and sustainability consumer evaluations differ by product category among brand-loyal Japanese customers. It focuses on two key segments: Hard luxury (e.g., jewelry and watches) and Soft luxury (e.g., apparel). Prior research has shown that Hard luxury prioritizes asset value and heritage, while Soft luxury is aligned with aesthetic gratification and high-frequency consumption. Using data from the 2022 “Luxury and Sustainability” survey conducted by Forbes JAPAN and the University of Tokyo, this study employs covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) alongside regression analysis to examine how three latent constructs—purchase Behavior Trait, Luxury Perception, and Sustainability Awareness—shape perceptions of product quality and ethical resonance. Grounded in the lead author’s executive experience managing loyalty and sustainability programs for a global luxury house, this study integrates practical insight with academic rigor. The results uncover divergent logic across segments. In the Hard luxury group, Luxury Perception negatively predicts Excellent Quality (β = –0.59), and Sustainability Awareness reduces perceived harmony with sustainability (β = –0.51). Conversely, the Soft luxury group shows positive relationships for both (β = 0.57; β = 0.36). This structural divergence supports the development of “divergent equations of luxury,” a new theoretical framework for explaining value logic variation by product type. The findings inform branding and sustainability strategies in an era of ethics and digital transformation. The proposed framework enables category-specific segmentation, strategic storytelling, and future educational design, with implications extending across cosmetics, mobility, and hospitality industries.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates interorganizational integration within omnichannel platforms, with a specific focus on shopping centers and department stores conceptualized as two-sided markets. While prior omnichannel research has emphasized internal channel integration within individual firms, this paper highlights the overlooked complexity of coordinating omnichannel strategies between platform providers and multiple independent tenants. Drawing on theories of interorganizational cooperation, the study distinguishes between vertical integration (between platform operators and tenants) and horizontal integration (among tenants), emphasizing the dual challenge of cooperation and competition, or "coopetition." The paper outlines eight key research questions addressing platform influence on tenant strategies, conflicts in coordination, data sharing, institutional frameworks, and the role of coopetition. By shifting the analytical lens from firm-level integration to platform-level governance, this study provides a new research agenda for understanding omnichannel strategy and coordination in retail agglomerations. The findings contribute to both theoretical advancement and practical guidance for platform management in increasingly complex retail environments.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the relationship between consumer values, sales channels, purchase intention, and purchasing behavior in the cosmetics market using single-source data from 2,500 consumers. Factor analysis identified five consumer value categories: value-oriented, cost-performance-oriented, evaluation-oriented, environmental and safety-oriented, and trends-oriented. Covariance structure analysis revealed trends-oriented consumers’ strong association with sales channels, while other values influenced purchasing patterns differently by gender. Female consumers favored high-priced products in department stores and low-priced items in drugstores, whereas males preferred high-quality products in convenience stores and cost-effective options in drugstores. These findings highlight the need for marketing strategies tailored to consumer values and sales channels. Future research should examine online shopping and demographic factors to deepen insights into consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. This research aimed to explore the effects of claim type (concrete vs. abstract) and message sidedness (one-sided vs. two-sided) on consumer perceptions of green compensation claims, focusing on message credibility, attitudes toward the advertising, and booking intentions. Drawing on Construal Level Theory (CLT) , the study investigated how the interplay between claim type and message sidedness influences consumer responses. One Online experiment (n = 320) was conducted. Results revealed that concrete claims significantly enhanced message credibility and attitudes compared to abstract claims. Specifically, two-sided messages amplified the positive effects of concrete claims on booking intentions through improved message credibility and ad attitudes.

ABSTRACT. This study emphasises the integration of internal marketing and green marketing to improve the efficacy of environmental sustainability and achievement of organisational sustainable goals. Applying marketing philosophy inside a firm, IM regards employees as internal customers and Through the application of IM, this study contributes to enhanced employee engagement into the green marketing and organisational strategic green marketing orientation, ultimately improving organisational competitive advantages and achieving organisational sustainable goals.

ABSTRACT. Sustainable consumption is emerging as an important trend among consumers, prompting marketers to demonstrate the commitment of their brands to ethical practices. In such a context, we set out to explore two concepts that have become buzzwords in today’s market—Brand Purpose (BP) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). While CSR has long been recognized as a fundamental component of corporate ethos, the notion of brand purpose has recently gained popularity and is being hailed as a roadmap for companies looking to give their brands a more meaningful and relevant purpose. In this study, we sought to uncover whether consumers valued one over the other by paying differently. We also tested whether these factors had any effect on brand equity and purchase intention for the products. We designed an experiment to resonate with Gen Z, a group of consumers known for their heightened social consciousness. In this experiment, participants took part in an interactive online auction game based on the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism. This method allowed us to capture real-world consumer behavior as participants bid on different types of products offered by a major FMCG company. Each participant was given a random product and exposed to one of three conditions: a narrative emphasizing CSR initiatives, another highlighting BP, or a neutral control condition with basic company information. After the bidding game, participants shared their perceptions using established measures for brand equity and purchase intention. While both BP and CSR perceptions boosted purchase intentions and improved brand equity, they did not translate into a significantly higher willingness to pay across both utilitarian and hedonic product categories. The findings also reveal a reciprocal influence between BP and CSR—awareness of one bolsters the perception of the other. The study demonstrates the power of brand purpose and CSR in influencing consumers, highlighting why marketers should communicate these attributes in various ways. Companies can harness the symbiotic relationship between BP and CSR to create compelling, purpose-driven narratives that resonate with socially conscious consumers. This work adds to the expanding corpus of research on sustainable consumption and green marketing, opening the door for further exploration into how CSR and BP strategies can be leveraged to build stronger brands in the modern marketplace.

ABSTRACT. The fashion industry is the second-largest contributor to global pollution, prompting a growing emphasis on sustainable or eco-fashion initiatives aimed at reducing environmental and social harm. Sustainable fashion emphasizes renewable, biodegradable, and recycled materials, such as organic cotton and bamboo fiber, alongside energy-efficient and low-emission production processes. On the consumer side, it encompasses domains including green clothing, second-hand fashion, clothing rentals, recycled fashion, and upcycled fashion. Among these, upcycled biofashion—transforming organic or food waste into unique, eco-friendly garments—presents a highly innovative avenue for promoting sustainable consumption.

Upcycling reduces the demand for virgin materials, conserves natural resources, and lowers emissions. Furthermore, biofashion derived from food waste (e.g., apple peels, bagasse) addresses dual sustainability challenges—fashion waste and food waste. Yet despite its promise, consumer-focused research on upcycled biofashion remains limited, with existing studies primarily emphasizing production techniques.

To address this gap, this study integrates Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine consumer acceptance of upcycled biofashion. IDT explains how innovation attributes—such as relative advantage, observability, trialability, compatibility, and complexity—shape initial perceptions. TPB complements this by identifying the psychological determinants of purchase intention: attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

Based on these theories, we propose a model linking IDT innovation attributes to consumer attitudes, which in turn influence purchase intention. Data were collected via a survey of 430 South Korean consumers using validated measurement scales. The questionnaire was translated and reviewed for linguistic accuracy, and a pilot test was conducted. Analysis was performed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS 4.0.

The results confirm that perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitudes significantly influence purchase intention. In turn, relative advantage, observability, compatibility, and complexity significantly affect attitudes toward upcycled biofashion. Notably, trialability did not have a significant effect. These findings suggest that consumers value the visible environmental and social benefits of biofashion, but are less concerned with physically trying products before purchasing them. However, complexity in understanding materials and production may hinder adoption.

This research contributes to both theory and practice. It extends IDT and TPB to a novel sustainable consumption domain, highlighting that not all innovation attributes equally influence consumer attitudes. Practically, it provides actionable insights for marketers and designers to emphasize visibility and compatibility while simplifying product communication. Further research is needed to explore conditions under which trialability becomes relevant, and to examine cross-cultural generalizability.

ABSTRACT. Fashion consumption has a potential negative impact on environmental sustainability. Policymakers and marketers aim to promote sustainable fashion consumption by educating and providing information related to sustainable fashion. Interestingly, several types of information are used to educate consumers: past, present, and future. Built upon the construal level theory (CLT), previous studies tend to focus on the present and future information by referring to present information with a low construal-level and future information with a high construal-level. Thus, the role of past information is neglected. Moreover, as the efficacy of present and future information is unique in promoting sustainable fashion purchases, it is interesting to examine whether construal level can explain past information and the efficacy of each category of information. Two studies consisting of qualitative and quantitative studies will be performed. First, this study aims to classify past, present, and future information based on construal level. Second, this study also aims to test the relationship between temporal information categories and consumers’ level of construals. The results found the primacy of present information in affecting consumers’ green fashion purchase. Moreover, although CLT suggests that present information is related to low construal, it was found that consumers with high construal level are also attuned to present information as it links present action with future goals. Hence, it is recommended for practitioners to use a combination of present and past or present and future information to motivate consumers purchasing green fashion.

ABSTRACT. Across a field study, we demonstrate that using either process or outcome framing (but not both) in brand’s environmental communication enhances consumer social media engagement. Process framing works better with affective language while outcome framing is more effective when paired with concrete language.

ABSTRACT. In Greece, tourism is arguably the most fundamental factor supporting the country's economic expansion. Therefore, the ongoing enhancement of the services provided in the tourist sector has a big impact on customer satisfaction and encourages more people to travel to hotels and, in turn, the nation. In order to boost competitiveness, encourage and improve consumer satisfaction, tourism managers employ a variety of strategies. When choosing a hotel, guests are influenced by a variety of things. Interaction with customers who share their experiences through online reviews is a crucial tool that aids managers in analyzing the factors that contribute to customer satisfaction. Many studies have examined customer satisfaction in the global tourist sector using information gleaned from online customer evaluations. However, there aren't many studies that examine how satisfied Greek hotel customers are. Therefore, by examining online reviews from www.booking.com for particular hotel categories in Greece, this study aims to investigate the elements that influence consumer satisfaction in the hotel industry. The findings of this study assist tourism managers in meeting the needs of their customers by helping them enhance the services they provide and comprehend the elements that influence satisfaction. Additionally, they will be able to enhance hotel performance and service innovation based on the findings of this research.

ABSTRACT. We ask what happens when men defy masculine norms to convey brand messages. We found that the penalties are asymmetric, wherein non-assertive language by men is penalized even more than assertive language used by women. Further, men with higher (vs. lower) influence are penalized significantly more for using non-assertive language.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the influence of storytelling advertisements of a popular FMCG brand on buying behaviour, with a focus on narrative rationality, narrative transportation, and emotional engagement. The purpose of the study is to understand how these narrative themes/elements affect key brand outcomes such as perception, recall, and affinity, and their subsequent impact on purchasing behaviour. Given the prevalence of digital media and the increasing reliance on emotional connections in advertising, understanding how consumers perceive and react to storytelling advertisements will inform both academic theory and marketing practice. A quantitative approach was employed and while storytelling advertisements significantly enhance brand perception, recall and affinity, their direct impact on purchasing behaviour is inconsistent. Narrative rationality was linked to improved brand perception and recall, while narrative transportation and emotional engagement strengthened brand affinity with the brand. The study underscores the importance of crafting culturally resonant and emotionally engaging stories. Recommendations include integrating storytelling with personalised, data-driven marketing strategies, leveraging immersive technologies, and adopting culturally nuanced narratives.

ABSTRACT. The study presented in the document, "Rediscovering Wellness: How Hotels are Redefining Their Core Values," explores the burgeoning wellness hotel market. This sector has seen significant growth, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted consumer priorities towards health and well-being. The research identifies a gap in understanding the comprehensive motivations driving consumer behavior in choosing wellness hotels. These motivations include personal wellness goals, perceived quality and brand reputation of hotels, and the influence of social media and word-of-mouth communications. The study employs relationship marketing theory to investigate how these factors impact guests' intentions to revisit and recommend wellness hotels.

A quantitative analysis was conducted using data from 400 hotel guests in mainland China, with a focus on their satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The research highlights the need for hotels to align their marketing strategies with the wellness priorities of their customers, particularly by emphasizing health goal salience—a key factor affecting customer satisfaction and subsequent behavioral intentions. The study aims to guide hotel operators in developing effective marketing strategies that cater to the dynamic needs of wellness-focused travelers, thereby enhancing guest loyalty and satisfaction. Overall, the research contributes to a deeper understanding of the wellness hotel market, offering insights into consumer motivations and the strategic responses required by hotels to succeed in this evolving market landscape.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to analyze the various factors that determine revisit intentions in wellness tourism utilizing local cultural and natural resources from a multidimensional perspective. Specifically, it examines management aspects (service quality), individual aspects (demographic characteristics, health beliefs), and destination management aspects (perceived fit, perceived uniqueness). The goal is to provide theoretical and practical implications for the sustainability of wellness tourism based on regional resources. In particular, the study uses a sample of over 600 respondents in the context of marine wellness tourism and employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, and machine learning techniques for a comprehensive analysis. Based on the results, the study aims to provide key insights. The study contributes to understanding how perceptions of service quality, health benefits, and regional fit influence tourists' decision-making processes. The findings offer valuable insights for enhancing the sustainability of wellness tourism.

ABSTRACT. The study examines the impact of country stereotypes on the perceived authenticity and purchase intentions of Italian-sounding food products. Using the Italian American case study of the Belgioioso company, the study contributes to the literature on how stereotypes and perceptions of authenticity influence brand attitudes and purchasing behavior in products that evoke the imagery of their founders’ country of origin. The findings reveal that competence-related associations of the manufacturing country can strengthen the product category's image, while warmth-related associations of the recalled country can positively influence brand attitudes. This study presents the first integrated model exploring the relationship between stereotypes and authenticity within the Italian-sounding phenomenon.

ABSTRACT. Food-focused travel is growing, emphasising local gastronomy's role in tourism. Authenticity is key, yet its perception varies. This study examines how Venetian restaurateurs maintain authenticity amid overtourism, comparing them with the Euganean Hills. Through 21 interviews, it explores how cultural diversity among customers influences traditional food offerings and restaurant strategies.

ABSTRACT. Juventus, one of the most famous football clubs in the world, was looking for new opportunities to grow, with the aim of leveraging the team’s success in Italy to become an icon for a wider audience. The new Juventus identity, launched in 2017, has had an overwhelming impact on the sector by transforming football into a way of thinking and acting as a platform for innovation and experience. This approach was addressed not only to football fans, but also to entertainment fans, who are further away from football as a sport. The club has been able to sustain its growth and extend its influence in international markets. The rebranding operation of Juventus F.C. is a perfect example of strategy and commercial vision that the Italian club implemented especially after the sensational Calciopoli scandal, which led to the exclusion of the Bianconeri from Serie A as well as the revocation of the 2004-2005 championship title and the non-assignment of the 2005-2006 championship title. The aim of the board was to reposition themselves in the market and in the public perception, a change that urgently needed to articulate a new identity for the Juventus F.C. brand at an international level. Having quickly returned to Serie A, the Bianconeri needed to propose a radical change, a decisive turn, an acceleration that would bounce the club's credibility back from the worst moment in the club's history towards a newfound leadership both in Italy and abroad. The first move was to aim for the construction of a new privately-owned stadium. The project went far beyond the idea of a stadium conceived according to the English model and aimed at redeveloping the entire surrounding area.The stadium, fully part of the elements that contribute to the creation of the brand identity, is a place of sharing an experience, a place where one can learn about and build the myth of a team, a place where one can play an active role in the match day spectacle rather than being a passive spectator. The rebranding operation of a football club is a bold strategy and not without risks, as it is often difficult to get fans to accept changes, especially such radical and traditional ones. The idea initiated by the Bianconeri club eight years ago was to redesign the logo to make it easily recognizable in foreign markets while embodying the club's values: the choice shifted towards a minimalist representation of the emblem, eliminating superfluous elements and moving away from the typical conformities of all Italian football emblems. The new identity of Juventus and the need to create a bond with the fan base founded on entertainment are the premises that have allowed the birth of a rich digital ecosystem made up of various media and the implementation of different strategies. The strategy put in place by Juventus F.C. involved transforming itself into a sports entertainment brand Through this operation, the company aims to develop a new positioning in the minds of its stakeholders and a distinctive identity with respect to that of its competitors. We will also look at the application of this process to the sports sector, since it is evident that the most popular sports have reached an economic dimension and that a great deal of money revolves around these competitions, thanks also to investors from outside this world and especially to television broadcasters.

ABSTRACT. The current ongoing study aims to empirically investigate the capability of face-reading technologies to identify emotions depicted in paintings and to verify the mirror neuron effect of depicted emotions.

ABSTRACT. National image and nation brand significantly influence firms' exports performance and international marketing strategies. In the context of intensifying global competition, public diplomacy plays a crucial role in expanding soft power and shaping global competitiveness. Understanding the interplay of these factors is essential for developing effective strategies to enhance a nation's economic performance. Despite the importance of these relationships, empirical studies investigating the links between national image, public diplomacy, nation brand, and exports performance remain limited. This study examines these relationships through the lenses of resource-based theory, institutional theory, and a mechanism-based view. Using survey data and secondary statistics from 38 countries over 13 years (2012–2024), the analysis employs SPSS Macro Process models to uncover nuanced insights. The findings reveal that national image directly and indirectly influences nation brand and exports, with public diplomacy outcomes significantly moderating the relationship between national image and nation brand. The moderated mediation analysis highlights that higher levels of public diplomacy performance amplify the positive effects of national image, mediated through nation brand, on exports. This research provides actionable insights for policymakers, businesses, and practitioners, offering a robust theoretical foundation for designing nation branding strategies aligned with public diplomacy objectives. By emphasizing the strategic value of soft power, this study contributes to enhancing global competitiveness and provides significant implications for international marketing practices and public policy formulation.

ABSTRACT. This paper takes a dramaturgical framework to study the daka phenomenon in Chinese consumer behavior, with the triple viewpoint of the front stage, backstage and outside. This is the first paper to examine daka in this way, centralizing the consumer performance.

ABSTRACT. This study examines overtourism and tourismphobia in Gramado, Brazil. Through qualitative interviews with residents and tourists, it explores mass tourism's impact on the city's image and residents' quality of life. Findings reveal concerns about gentrification, infrastructure strain, and potential local character loss, highlighting the need for sustainable tourism management strategies.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates destination image congruence (DIC) by examining the alignment between cultural authenticity, destination marketing organization (DMO) strategies, and tourist experiences. Two UNESCO-listed cultural destinations—Macao (China) and Vienna (Austria)—are selected as case studies study. Using big data analytics, we analyze DMO promotional materials (texts, visuals), cultural authenticity benchmarks (UNESCO criteria, heritage policies), and tourist-generated content (social media, reviews). The research aims to explore (1) the alignment between tourist-perceived destination image and DMO-projected destination image, (2) the alignment between DMO-projected destination image and the destination's objective authenticity, and (3) the moderating role of constructive authenticity in shaping this destination image congruence. Findings will advance theoretical frameworks for DIC and provide practical insights for DMOs to review and modify their marketing strategies with cultural preservation.

ABSTRACT. Kazakhstan is an emerging country that became known to the average American citizen not due to its vast natural resources or a motherland to a Cosmodrome but because of the controversial “Borat" movie. The government of Kazakhstan learned a hard lesson that the country's branding cannot be neglected. Since then, various world-scale political, cultural, and sports events have been conducted in two major cities of Kazakhstan: Almaty and Astana. Due to the location of Kazakhstan on the world map, it may rely mainly on internal travelers and some transit tourists flying through two major cities of the country. In this case, citizens’ perceptions are becoming crucial for identifying key attraction factors and further building metropolitan brands and tourism development. The current study presents citizens’ associations for two major former and current capital cities and suggests the areas of development for attracting foreign tourists.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the influence of AI-generated dietary supplements on consumers' intentions to adopt, purchase, and recommend to others. Although AI has advanced healthcare with enhanced diagnostics and personalized treatments, consumers harbor skepticism towards AI-derived dietary supplements due to concerns over authenticity, safety, and data privacy. Utilizing priming theory, the research explores how subconscious activation of beliefs and health goals through AI-driven advertising can sway consumer decisions. This research comprises two experiments. Study 1 employed a 2 (Formula Type: Human vs. AI) × 2 (Belief Priming: Manipulative Motives vs. Caring Motives) between-subjects factorial design. Study 2 utilized a 2 (Product Type: Human vs. AI) × 2 (Health Goal Priming: No Goal vs. Healthy Eating) between-subjects factorial design. These experiments specifically investigate the moderating effects of belief priming and health goal priming on the perceived health benefits and trustworthiness of AI-generated dietary supplements.

ABSTRACT. Physicians are increasingly prescribing plant-based diets for health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. We use a phenomenological interview method (Thompson et al., 1989) to understand the lived-experience of individuals as they adopt and maintain a plant-based lifestyle as well as physicians who are prescribing plant-based diets.

ABSTRACT. Referencing to the Nutrition Facts label is one of the simplest ways for people to make healthier food choices. Across five studies, the current research tests the intelligible-unit effect: interpreting nutrition numbers with intelligible units (e.g., “A bottle of juice containing 51 grams of sugar, that is equal to the sugar content of 12 sugar cubes.”) leads to a higher perceived magnitude than using only normal units (e.g., “A bottle of juice containing 51 grams of sugar”), and this effect is mediated by narrative transportation. This finding is robust regardless of whether the nutrition content is positive (e.g., Vitamin C) or negative (e.g., sugar content and calorie). The intelligible-unit effect will be attenuated when the numbers are expressed in contradictory units. (122 words)

ABSTRACT. Whereas pain is undesirable, painful experiences are not only prevalent but also anticipated (e.g., in the healthcare context). However, little is known regarding which practices can heighten individuals’ pain anticipation and need to be avoided. The current research examines physiological health tracking (i.e., the use of wearables and/or health-tracking apps to track individuals’ physiological activities) as a practice that intensifies the anticipation of pain among their users. We further show that the effect of physiological health tracking on heightened pain anticipation is driven by physiological health tracking drawing individuals’ attention to their physical body, increasing their sensory anticipation, including their anticipation of physical pain. While physiological health tracking is gaining popularity for its acclaimed health-promotion benefits, this research documents an unexpected downside of this practice—heightened pain anticipation. Doing so, the research informs individuals, health organizations, and health practitioners of the multifaceted impact of new information technologies on individuals’ health.

ABSTRACT. This study focuses on the crucial influence of women in leading and shaping social welfare programmes designed for vulnerable women in Pakistan. Employing a qualitative methodology, it features in-depth interviews with female leaders in these initiatives, coupled with a thematic analysis of their stories and experiences. The research reveals how women, through their unique perspectives and empathetic approaches, tailor social welfare strategies to meet the intricate needs of female beneficiaries effectively. There are limited management studies that have specifically considered the role of women in societal issues (Bannò et al., 2023). Those which considered women leadership have predominantly considered aspects like their usage of scarce resources towards social projects (Johnsen et al., 2017) and mainly issues like sustainability reporting (Arayssi et al., 2016) environmental sustainability (Atif et al., 2021).

The present study highlights a notable gap in existing literature pertaining to the lack of comprehensive analysis on how female leadership impacts the efficiency and long-term viability of social welfare programmes in Pakistan where societal challenges are often largely prevalent. Applying upper-echelon’ theoretical perspective which argues that leadership team composition and characteristics matters in firm’s activities (Hambrick & Mason, 1984), the core contribution of this paper lies in its detailed exploration of the ways women's leadership promotes community solidarity, empowerment, and culturally sensitive solutions within social welfare. It underscores the necessity of integrating women's insights and leadership skills into the development of social welfare programmes, arguing that such inclusion can bridge significant literature gaps and enhance the effectiveness of these initiatives globally.

By evaluating/spotlighting the success factors identified through the narratives of these female leaders, including local cultural knowledge, gender-sensitive practices, and inclusive decision-making, this study advocates for a transformative shift in how social welfare programmes are conceptualised and implemented. It proposes a new model that prioritises gender inclusivity and empowerment, thereby offering vital insights for crafting more responsive and impactful social welfare strategies worldwide. This research not only contributes to filling the identified literature gaps but also sets a precedent for future studies on the pivotal role of women in social welfare across the globe.

References: Arayssi, M., Dah, M., & Jizi, M. (2016). Women on boards, sustainability reporting and firm performance. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 7(3), 376-401. Atif, M., Hossain, M., Alam, M. S., & Goergen, M. (2021). Does board gender diversity affect renewable energy consumption? Journal of Corporate Finance, 66, 101665. Bannò, M., Filippi, E., & Trento, S. (2023). Women in top echelon positions and their effects on sustainability: a review, synthesis and future research agenda. Journal of management and governance, 27(1), 181-251. Hambrick, D. C., & Mason, P. A. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of management review, 9(2), 193-206. Johnsen, T. E., Miemczyk, J., & Howard, M. (2017). A systematic literature review of sustainable purchasing and supply research: Theoretical perspectives and opportunities for IMP-based research. Industrial Marketing Management, 61, 130-143.

ABSTRACT. This study explores key factors influencing consumers’ intention to adopt cultured meats. A conceptual framework integrating way-of-life, religiosity, neophobia, and ethnic-cultural and religious variables was developed and tested. Data collected from different ethnic-cultures and religions groups (Jews, Muslims, Christians), confirmed most of the hypotheses tested thus advancing our understanding of novel food technologies acceptance. In particular, the study found authenticity leads consumers to avoid buying cultured meat, while religiosity highlights the need for meat products to be Halal or Kosher for consumers to consider adopting this innovative technology. Introduction Cultured meat, a type of cellular agriculture, is produced by growing animal cells in a lab without animal slaughter (Post, 2012). This innovation has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of meat production, as cultured meat generates far fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires less land and water (Steinfeld & Gerber, 2010; Tuomisto, 2019). Additionally, it addresses critical concerns related to animal welfare, food security, human health, and the growing global demand for meat products, which grew from 280 million tons in 2008 to 340 million tons in 2020. (Redefine Meat, 2021). Cultured meat, despite its promise, is currently an early-stage technology with minimal market presence (Lucas, 2019; Pakseresht et al., 2022). It is largely unfamiliar to most consumers and faces significant challenges, including cost reduction, regulatory approval, and addressing social issues, such as consumer appeal and acceptance, ethical, religious, and ethnic-cultural considerations (Chen et al., 2022). While considerable attention has been given to the potential for consumer acceptance of cultured meat (Bryant & Barnett, 2018; Wilks et al., 2019), other dimensions of its interaction with the social world have received less focus. This study examines selected key aspects individually, presenting cultured meat as a technology with a wide range of societal considerations and significant social implications.

Literature review Religious considerations: The religious status of cultured meat has been relatively underexplored in consumer marketing and consumption research, despite its relevance to the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, 1.1 billion Hindus, 500 million Buddhists, and over 10 million Jews, comprising almost half of the global population. These people all follow religions with specific rules and customs around meat consumption. In Islam, the key consideration for meat consumption is whether it is deemed halal. Hamdan et al. (2018) argue that cultured meat can be considered halal if the cells are sourced from an animal slaughtered according to halal guidelines and no blood or animal-derived serum is used in the production process. In Judaism, most rabbis agree that cultured meat is kosher, although some argue that the cells must originate from an animal slaughtered according to kosher guidelines (Kenigsberg & Zivotofsky, 2020). In Hinduism, many adherents interpret ahimsā, the principle of nonviolence, as a mandate for vegetarianism. As a result, vegetarian Hindus may view cultured meat as a means of avoiding harm to animals (Dudek, 2013). Way of life, ethnicity, and cultural factors: Way of life, ethnicity, and culture are also factors that cultured meat producers must consider (Chiles & Fitzgerald, 2018). Consumer way of life is one of the biggest challenges to cultured meat consumerism. Hino (2010) and Hino and Levy (2016), for example, investigated the role of cultural values associated with food consumption. They argue that consumers’ way of life, as a cultural expression, involves such aspects as expected behavioral living practices shared by members of a community, and the retention of behaviors and attitudes related to food consumption and eating habits. For example, a significant portion of ethnic-cultural populations places great importance on preparing meals at home, consumes only ethnic and traditional foods daily, and uses only fresh and authentic ingredients that are familiar to them in cooking. (Hino, 2014). This suggests that meeting the criteria of sustainability, ease of use, and healthiness alone may not be sufficient to motivate consumers to choose cultured meat.

Research questions: 1) The influence of perceived utility (healthiness, sustainability) on cultured meat (CM) adoption. 2) The influence of familiarity on CM adoption. 3) The influence of way-of-life on CM adoption. 4) The influence of authenticity on CM adoption. H5: The role Neophobia plays in CM adoption.

Methodology: The research instrument is a structured questionnaire that included 6 constructs measured using validated scales adapted from past studies. These include “way of life”, “familiarity”, “food preparation and eating habits”, “religiosity”, “neophobia”, “perceived utility” in terms of healthiness and sustainability (Tuomisto, 2019).

Main Results The research model indicated a medium amount of variance explained in cultured meat adoption (R2= 59%). Most of the study’s hypotheses were supported thus providing statistical support to the study’s claim that ethnic-cultural, and way-of-life are key factors affecting consumers’ intention to adopt cultured meat.

References: available upon request.

ABSTRACT. The advent of Industry 5.0 emphasizes human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience, leveraging advanced technologies such as collaborative robots, digital twins, and extended reality. While its theoretical benefits are well-documented, empirical methods to measure Industry 5.0 adoption remain underdeveloped. This study addresses this gap by introducing an Industry 5.0 score to quantify firms' alignment with its principles, including sustainability, human-centric innovation, and resilience. Additionally, it explores the impact of Industry 5.0 adoption on Myopic Marketing Management (MMM) behaviors, which prioritize short-term financial outcomes over long-term investments. The moderating role of CEO leadership styles, particularly regulatory focus and regulatory mode complementarity is examined to understand their influence on balancing short- and long-term strategic priorities. Employing text mining techniques and financial data, this research provides a robust framework for understanding how leadership dynamics and strategic orientations influence firms' ability to transition toward sustainable industrial practices.

ABSTRACT. The integration of digital technologies into communication in B2B relationships has become essential for modern business practices. This study synthesizes and critically analyses existing research on the use of digital tools in B2B relationships, concentrating on how these technologies influence communication practices. Digital platforms such as CRM systems, social networks, collaborative tools, and data analytics have transformed B2B interactions while reducing costs. However, digital communication also presents challenges, such as the absence of sensory cues and cybersecurity challenges. This paper employs the SPAR-4-SLR protocol to review 132 peer-reviewed articles, utilizing the ADO framework to identify antecedents, decisions, and outcomes of digital communication tool adoption in B2B settings. The findings highlight the holistic nature of digital communication in B2B relationships and propose directions for future research to address gaps in understanding the comprehensive impact of digital technologies on these relationships.

ABSTRACT. Smartphone notifications are a key marketing tool, yet excessive messaging can lead to notification fatigue and digital disengagement. This study explores how consumers manage and respond to marketing notifications, highlighting the role of personalization, timing, and digital well-being. Findings provide insights for brands to create more effective, consumer-centric notification strategies.

ABSTRACT. Although prior research on cosmopolitanism is prolific, empirical evidence on its impact on consumers’ foreign, domestic, and global brand preferences remains inconclusive. This is compounded by the fact that alternative scales measuring the cosmopolitanism construct exist and are used without clear reasoning. A meta-analysis of 178 effect sizes obtained from 22 articles across 22 countries and a total sample of 38,420 consumers assesses the impact of cosmopolitanism on different outcomes using diverse consumer origins and testing the predictive validity of the two dominant scales. Results suggest that the impact of cosmopolitanism is greater on foreign and global than on domestic product preference, with no difference between foreign and global. Furthermore, the COSMO scale is stronger in predicting foreign product preference, whereas the COS scale is better at predicting global product preference. No differences were found with respect to cosmopolitanism’s impact on attitude and evaluations versus intentions, and regarding developing versus emerging market consumers. Implications for theory and practice are considered.

ABSTRACT. This research analyzes e-commerce conversion rates (CRs) across 25,000 websites and 100+ countries, providing a rare cross-industry perspective. It explores temporal, regional, and category-level trends, uncovering key drivers of CR variation. By moving beyond single-website studies, this work offers relevant insights into global online retail performance and strategic optimization.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how the transparency of AI recommendation systems affects consumer attitudes, according to the level of AI competence. Drawing on procedural justice theory, this research proposes that high transparency can mitigate negative attitudes by enhancing perceived fairness in decision-making processes. This research expects that transparency will reduce the negative impact of low AI competence and prevent polarized attitudes based on outcomes. This research contributes to AI ethics by highlighting the importance of transparency in fostering trust and acceptance, even in systems that are not perfect.

ABSTRACT. In the context of healthcare and caregiving for vulnerable populations, the importance of designing for user interaction with social robots becomes particularly salient. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence have rendered virtual and physical social robots suitable for diverse applications. However, there is a paucity of research examining the impact of these different types of robots on users. To address this critical research gap, this study employs an empirical approach to examine the impact of the type of social robot on user behavior, drawing upon the principles of affordance theory. The findings of this study offer a comprehensive understanding of how the characteristics and types of robots influence consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. In the digital age, social media has become the leading source of travel inspiration. In 2023, 77% of global travelers used one of the online platforms to shape and plan their next adventure (Expedia, 2023). Visual content and influencer collaborations have become essential marketing tools to promote travel destinations (Sesar et al., 2021). With influencer marketing being a key marketing channel, markers are increasingly allocating larger budgets for collaboration with influencers, leveraging image and video content to maximize engagement and reach (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2024). This qualitative analysis aims to gain a deeper understanding of how the content type impacts the travel narrative and marketing strategies. After analyzing three types of tourism, the findings highlight some differences in the way that images and reels can impact travelers. The findings highlight the advantages of reels in influencing traveler decisions by driving engagement and creating an emotional connection, while static posts make impressions that last through time while using beautiful visuals and captivating captions.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how a robot’s anthropomorphic design affects usage intention, with interaction comfort as a mediator and task uncertainty as a moderator. The findings indicate that anthropomorphism heightens adoption under high uncertainty, providing insights for designing service robots that effectively enhance user trust and acceptance.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between service-dominant orientation (SDO) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) mediated by organizational relationship capital (ORC). The study is justified by the growing interdependence between these elements to create sustainable competitive advantages. An effort is made to optimize these interactions to achieve and sustain a lasting advantage in a dynamic environment and identify how value cocreation, trust and interdependence in organizational relationships aid the efficiency, innovation and adaptability of firms. The study was conducted by way of a survey with a sample of 209 valid responses in the context of the Brazilian printing industry production chain. It was concluded that firms that focus on cocreation and effective connections with diverse stakeholders tend to build a sustainable competitive advantage. The positive relationship between service-dominant orientation and organizational relationship capital highlights adaptability and flexibility in dynamic environments. Although organizational relationship capital may mediate the relationship between service-dominant orientation and a sustainable competitive advantage, the evidence is not highly significant, suggesting that further research is required. Service-dominant orientation stands out as a vital strategy for value cocreation, while organizational relationship capital reflects trust and interdependence in relationships. The practical implications include tactics for consolidating business partnerships, validation of research methods for Brazilian firms, and considerations for managers.

ABSTRACT. In an era where higher education is increasingly expected to contribute directly to economic development and innovation, academic institutions are transforming into entrepreneurial platforms. This study investigates how universities and research centers adopt Silicon Valley–style business models and growth marketing strategies to enhance value creation, stakeholder engagement, and global positioning. This study compares seven institutions: Korea Institute for International Industrial Cooperation (KIIIC), MIT Industrial Liaison Program (MIT ILP), Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Tsinghua-Tencent, Startup KAIST, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and Stanford University. And this study applies modern marketing frameworks such as the Business Model Canvas, STP, and the 7P Marketing Mix to examine how innovation-oriented institutions design, deliver, and deliver value. Findings reveal that successful institutions integrate business model innovation with stakeholder-focused marketing practices to build scalable and sustainable collaboration platforms. Whether through policy-aligned international education (KIIIC), high-touch corporate engagement (MIT ILP), applied R&D services (Fraunhofer), national co-innovation platforms (Tsinghua-Tencent), or student-driven venture ecosystems (Startup KAIST), each institution leverages strategic design and marketing to differentiate its position and expand its influence. And the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s initiatives, including partnerships with industry leaders like Huawei Hong Kong and Red Date Technology, demonstrate a commitment to fostering industry-academia collaboration and technological advancement. Similarly, the Stanford University's Industrial Affiliates Program exemplifies structured engagement with corporate partners to facilitate knowledge transfer and innovation. The study concludes with implications for institutional leaders and policymakers, emphasizing the importance of strategic agility, co-branding, and digital engagement in the evolution of the entrepreneurial university.

ABSTRACT. This study introduces a practical example of project-based learning (PBL) aimed at enhancing student engagement and participation in a fashion business context. The approach combines lecture sessions that cover key theoretical concepts with tutorial sessions focused on hands-on, team-based activities. By integrating these elements, the method seeks to balance theoretical understanding with practical application. Additionally, the approach concludes with an exhibition of project outcomes, providing students with motivation and a platform to showcase their work. By sharing this example, the study offers valuable insights and practical strategies for educators looking to foster active learning and greater participation through interactive and collaborative assignments.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this study is to design a course that can teach students majoring in fashion business in developing the capacity to establish and implement creative and effective fashion communication strategies. Fashion-based marketing communication education encompasses additional elements beyond the conventional promotion mix. Firstly, fashion brands must consider a more diverse array of elements in the omnichannel. Given their high-involvement nature, fashion brands do not adhere to conventional retail formulas or strategies. Merchandising display constitutes a pivotal communication domain for fashion brands. Furthermore, the fashion show, which serves as the optimal conduit for articulating the brand's distinctive identity, constitutes a pivotal element of communication for the fashion brand of the year. Consequently, the objective of fashion communication education is to empower students to execute special marketing communication strategies that are unique to fashion brands, while maintaining a comprehensive grasp of general marketing communication principles.

ABSTRACT. The tourism industry has become one of the key factors for economic growth and development of the country's reputation. Countries carefully consider the principles of branding as a strategic tool to convey their vision, shared values, and cultural identity to the global community. This approach serves as an essential instrument in shaping international reputation, shaping the country’s distinct brand image. Using the Philippines as a case, it inquired the strategies and shifts of communication approaches of the country’s tourism agency and investigated whether the concept of brand sustainability is inherent in the management of tourism promotions. The paper advances two claims; first, despite the frequent changes of tourism slogans of the country, the objective of instilling a sense of national pride among Filipinos and establishing global recognition for the Philippines is still inherent in most of the communication campaigns. Second, shifts in the campaigns while sticking to the country's vision of international reputation is needed to be able to adapt to the changing landscape of market behavior.

The study further revealed that changes in tourism promotion strategies can be perceived as an act of proactively seeking opportunities for improvement to be able to establish a resilient, and sustainable country brand.

ABSTRACT. The fast fashion market has encountered tremendous competition. In this demanding situation, could retailer’s CSR image influences loyalty intention? Based on social identity theory, we found that, for collectivism (vs individualism) markets, the impact of CSR image of retailers on loyalty is mediated by consumer’s identification with the retailer.

ABSTRACT. Cobranding (CoB) is noted for its market advantages, but its long-term effects, such as impacts on original products and opportunities for single-branded extensions, are often overlooked. This research, based on associative network theory, investigates: 1) spillover effects between CoB and single-branded original and extended products; 2) how integration level moderates these effects; and 3) whether this moderation depends on product launch sequence. To investigate these, Study 1 involves market values of products launched between 2020 and 2024 from Stock X (n=644), which indicates the positive association between the single-branded products and CoB, moderated by the level of integration. An experiment (n=597) in Study 2 confirms the positive association between products and shows that integration's moderating role depends on the product launch sequence. Our findings highlight product-level CoB spillovers, offering practical insights for brand managers to optimize CoB.

ABSTRACT. Purpose – This research aims to analyze the influence of perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on purchase intention; this study also examines the mediating effect of Brand Attitude and Brand Image and the moderating effect of Gen Z CSR Attitude. Design/methodology/approach – This study tested the model with a sample of 128 generation Z consumers using jamovi: Open Statistical Software. Findings – The research findings indicate that Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (PCSR) significantly influences purchase intention among Gen Z retail consumers in Iligan City. This positive impact is mediated by brand image, signifying that positive brand perceptions formed through CSR initiatives drive consumer purchase decisions. Furthermore, Gen Z's CSR attitude moderates this relationship, highlighting their sensitivity to companies' social and environmental responsibility when making purchasing choices. Practical implications – Organizations should make CSR a core part of the brand image and should communicate CSR efforts openly and honestly, tailoring the CSR initiatives to align with Gen Z's concerns.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates the effectiveness of brand activism in rebuilding brand trust and enhancing consumer attitudes during crisis and non-crisis situations. Through two online experiments, we examine how consumer traits, such as ethnocentrism, and the fit between crisis and activism influence brand evaluations. Study 1 finds that brand activism advertising significantly enhances brand trust, attitude, and word-of-mouth (WOM) when brands are not in crisis, but not during a crisis. Study 2 reveals that for consumers with high ethnocentrism, high crisis-activism fit (e.g., patriotic CSR initiatives) improves brand trust, attitude, and WOM during a crisis, while low ethnocentrism consumers show no significant differences. The findings suggest that brands should strategically align their activism with consumer values and cultural contexts to optimize post-crisis communication and rebuild trust effectively.

ABSTRACT. To what extent can cultural heritage be leveraged to generate economic and social wealth for the territory in which it is located? How can a tourism destination transform cultural heritage into a set of resources to address both destination branding and sustainability issues and thus safeguard heritage conservation and authenticity? Is the reason and the fundamental purpose for which there are initiatives such as Ovidio Running,cross country in Italy and in other countries of Europe. The demand for research outlines the value of cultural heritage and sporting events to make an amplifier of sustainability. The United Nations Global Compact’s Sustainable Development Goal 2030 Sustainable Development Goals systematize the evidence on concepts, policies and strategies, to provide an interpretative synthesis that illuminates the factors considered critical by researchers for the sustainable integration of heritage and tourism. To achieve the purpose of understanding sustainable tourism in this case. The theme of sustainability combined with integrated planning in a network of sustainable tourism, with sport care, deepened a theme whose approach always focuses on cultural heritage. This document aims to trace the impact of a major event such as Ovidio Running and lay the foundations for future improvement. The goal is not only to report data but also to bring perspectives, stories, and testimonies from the event's stakeholders, whose involvement is fundamental to designing a link. We would like to define a business model in which 5 impact areas of the event relevant to sustainability are considered relevant: Culture Heritage, Well-being, Circularity, Happiness and health, and Education and involvement (Agenda 2030). For this, a questionnaire was generated with questions covering the following dimensions. This phase is based on the collection of qualitative data and involves all key areas and functions of organizations: suppliers, internal organizations, local stakeholders, and partners. The methodological approach allows to collection of information through interviews, public information, and anonymous surveys, and results are represented within a model that allows to identification of virtuous practices and areas of improvement and define concrete actions to start a path of progressive improvement. All this referred to the Ovidio Running sports event. The category "sustainability of tourism" ( similarly mentioned in the text as "sustainable tourism") emerges as a broad theme, characterized by a diversity of approaches and research methodologies used (Bramwell, B., & Lane, B. ,2005) important for the perception of the cultural component as a competitive advantage. This is the study to analyze multiple dimensions: physical, social, economic, cultural, and environmental. The study enhances the value of existing literature on sustainable marketing by providing information on how it is applied in the sports events sector.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the challenges faced by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) during air travel, emphasizing the need for inclusive service strategies within the airline industry. Utilizing a netnographic approach, the study analyzed data from Skytrax and social media platforms to understand the experiences of ASD passengers. Thematic analysis identified five key areas of concern: accessibility, sensory sensitivity, communication, emotional management, and social stigmatization. The findings suggest that airlines can enhance the travel experience for ASD passengers by incorporating multi-sensory elements, such as calming scents, dimmed lighting, and noise reduction technologies, and by implementing clear communication strategies, including dedicated support channels and digital platforms for pre-travel special needs declarations. This study contributes to Transformative Service Research (TSR) and service design by proposing an inclusive sensory branding framework, aimed at enhancing the well-being of neurodiverse consumers while promoting social equity in service delivery. Beyond improving the passenger experience, these inclusive practices are shown to strengthen customer loyalty and improve brand reputation, offering strategic benefits for airlines. The research calls for a shift toward more empathetic and adaptable service environments, which accommodate diverse consumer needs and foster a more equitable travel ecosystem.