ABSTRACT. JGM proposes a special session to kindle thought leadership in marketing scholars and create an academic discourse that addresses global and international marketing strategies and challenges that firms, industries, and government agencies encounter worldwide. We intend to foster collaboration among scholars from diverse backgrounds, generate innovative ideas for global marketing strategies, and emphasize the importance of emerging markets in the global economy.

JGM Board members will explore new age paradigms, global trends, and ideas, and discuss how to write excellent research papers that align with the Journal of Global Marketing's aims and scope. The presenters will give 15-minute presentations on the following topics aligned with some of the tracks in the Conference.

Presentation 1: Riding the Digital Wave: Balancing Innovation, Ethics, and Agility in A Globalized Market Place

Presenters: Sakshi Kathuria JGM Senior AE, Dominyka Venciute, JGM AE for Baltics, and Li Huang, JGM Senior AE

Presentation 2: Future of Marketing Innovation: From Local Labs to Global Markets – Youth-Driven Innovation Presenter: Shiri Gandhi, JGM Deputy Editor

Presentation 3: Consumer Culture Theory in a Globalized World

Presenter: Seema Bhardwaj, JGM Associate Editor

Presentation 4: Tips from the Editors of JGM

Presenter & Chair: Ajay Manrai & Katharina Hofer

ABSTRACT. The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in creative domains such as visual art has introduced profound questions regarding the nature of authenticity and consumer acceptance. Despite AI’s increasing technical capabilities, consumer resistance persists, particularly when artworks are perceived as lacking human intention, emotional depth, or embodied creativity. This paper examines how perceived authenticity functions as a central construct shaping consumer evaluations of AI-generated art. Drawing on self-determination theory, we propose that art attributed to a human creator will increase perceived authenticity compared to AI-generated art. Additionally, we posit that storytelling will attenuate the negative effect of AI involvement by signaling passion and intrinsic motivation. This conceptual paper advances a research model proposing that perceived authenticity mediates the effect of art source (human vs. AI) on attitude toward the art, attitude toward the artist, and purchase intention, while storytelling moderates these effects. A 2 × 2 experimental methodology is proposed to empirically test these relationships. Theoretical implications contribute to the evolving discourse on authenticity in emerging AI contexts, and practical implications inform artists, marketers, and creative industries navigating the future of human-AI collaboration.

ABSTRACT. Artificial intelligence (AI) has made an impact on content creation, particularly within social media marketing communication, where AI-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent. Of course, humans still remain as the main content creators, but the capabilities to use AI in an appropriate way for social media content are increasing. This study explores the implications of human vs AI authorship in social media communication, examining whether and how the perceived source of content, whether created by AI or a human, affects audience engagement, trust, and brand perception. In this research, we investigate two core questions: (1) Does the authorship of brand-related social media communication content (humans and AI) influence consumers' perceptions of content authenticity? (2) Does the authorship make an impact on intentions to share the content, and overall attitude towards the content? Initial findings will suggest which type of content, human-created or AI-generated, tends to foster higher levels of trust and engagement, particularly in emotionally resonant or narrative-driven posts. These insights will be valuable for marketing and social media professionals. As brands increasingly adopt AI for content generation, understanding the nuances of how authorship attribution influences audience perception can guide more adoptable and effective communication strategies.

ABSTRACT. In an increasingly digital economy, artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operate, compete, and engage with consumers. Within South Africa’s clothing and textile sector, AI adoption presents new opportunities for efficiency, innovation, and market differentiation. However, many SMEs still struggle with limited resources, infrastructural challenges, and a lack of digital skills, affecting their ability to fully integrate AI technologies. Existing literature highlights AI’s capacity to enhance data-driven decision-making, automate processes, and personalise customer experiences. For SMEs, these technologies can optimise production, improve inventory management, and strengthen consumer relationships. Yet, research also cautions that excessive automation can reduce authenticity and erode consumer trust, particularly in creative industries that rely on personal connection.

Qualitative interviews with South African SME owners revealed that AI tools—such as automated chatbots, analytics platforms, and social media algorithms—boost productivity and customer engagement. However, participants emphasised the ongoing need for human interaction to maintain credibility, emotional connection, and brand loyalty. AI integration supports business growth when balanced with authentic communication and ethical application. SMEs should adopt hybrid business models combining AI-driven efficiency with human insight, invest in digital skills development, and ensure transparency to sustain long-term consumer trust and competitiveness.

ABSTRACT. Prior research demonstrates that social media algorithms shape consumption, behaviour, ideas and political opinions, yet marketing science still understands surprisingly little about the hidden power structures and discourses that underpin them and shape our ethically normative environment. This conceptual paper examines how algorithms – that are developed based on underlying normative systems – shape ethical norms on social media through a Foucauldian lens of power and discipline. It argues that algorithms as polypanopticons, operating as disciplinary mechanisms that reinforce and stabilise ethical norms in digital discourse through rewards and sanctions. These norms extend into offline spaces, further amplifying the influence of algorithmic discipline. The findings highlight challenges for regulators and raise critical ethical questions for marketers regarding engagement with algorithmic power. Specifically, the paper considers how marketing practices might advance business objectives while risking the compromise of human integrity and well-being.

ABSTRACT. AI-driven marketing exposes a dangerous blind spot in innovation management: the assumption that technological adoption equals progress. True innovation may also mean innovating less, discontinuing more, and prioritizing sufficiency over excess. This research explores the intersection of AI-driven digital marketing and environmental harm. Through conceptual synthesis of interdisciplinary literature spanning marketing, information systems, and sustainability domains, the study demonstrates how AI-powered marketing systems generate substantial yet poorly understood environmental impacts across the creation and delivery stages, and the underlying infrastructure of digital ecosystems. The analysis uncovers a pattern of willful ignorance on behalf of corporations and a dearth of regulatory policy constrained by measurement complexity, platform dependencies, and greenwashing. The research develops a multi-level framework demonstrating how environmental constraints reshape innovation trajectories across consumer awareness, organizational practices, and regulatory architectures, revealing that meaningful transformation requires coordinated systemic interventions. The study argues that the future of innovation may not lie in "more AI" but in rethinking sufficiency, discontinuance, and planetary responsibility.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how AI experience in smart home settings shapes the dual perceptions of warmth and competence and, in turn, enhances consumer well-being. A survey of 200 Taiwanese consumers who used a centralized hub (e.g., PC, tablet, smartphone, or voice assistant) to connect and control more than two smart home devices was conducted. Structural equation modeling results reveal that AI intimacy and understanding (AI-IU) and AI enjoyability and involvement (AI-EI) significantly increase perceived warmth, while AI autonomy (AI-A) and AI–IoT connectivity (AI-IoT) significantly enhance perceived competence. Furthermore, all four AI experience dimensions, together with warmth and competence, positively influence consumer well-being. The results also indicate that warmth partially mediates the effects of AI-IU and AI-EI on well-being, while competence partially mediates the effects of AI-A and AI-IoT. These findings underscore the importance of dual perceptions in explaining smart home adoption and its implications for consumer well-being.

ABSTRACT. In a context of profound transition, marketing is being called upon to revisit its frameworks by placing relationships at the heart of its practices. While the relational paradigm has been a major step forward in refocusing marketing on supposedly sustainable and ethical relationships, commercial interactions remain largely marked by asymmetries, power relations, and structural vulnerability that limit any truly “caring” dynamic. This contribution proposes, through the ethics of care, a reinterpretation of these interactions and puts forward an approach based on a protective care relationship, oriented towards reciprocity, respect, and sustainability. The resulting framework, known as the 4Rs: Rebalancing (R1), Respectful Attentiveness (R2), Responsibility (R3), and Responsiveness (R4), provides both a theoretical framework for care marketing and a practical guide for more respectful and ethical commercial interactions.

ABSTRACT. Amid renewed geopolitical tensions and evolving defense priorities, modern armed forces face growing challenges in communicating their missions to increasingly polarized publics. This research investigates how political orientation and moral framing jointly shape responses to military recruitment messages. Across three experimental studies (N = 724, UK samples), we examined attitudinal and behavioral reactions to messages and testimonies framed through either binding moral values (duty, loyalty, authority) or individualizing moral values (care, fairness, freedom). Study 1 established ideological sensitivity, showing that conservatism positively predicted favorable attitudes and monetary support for military communication. Study 2 revealed that ideological congruence moderated these effects: conservatives responded more positively when service was justified through binding moral motives, while liberals’ reactions remained stable across frames. Study 3 extended these findings to action-oriented narratives, confirming that congruence effects operate at both motivational and behavioral levels. Attitude consistently mediated the relationship between ideology and support. Together, the studies demonstrate that moral congruence enhances persuasive impact and clarifies how institutional narratives resonate with divergent moral worldviews. By distinguishing between moral motivation and moral action, this research advances understanding of ideological communication and offers practical insights for designing recruitment messages that acknowledge moral diversity while mitigating polarization.

ABSTRACT. We currently lack a comprehensive understanding of the effects of sufficiency marketing on the consumer. While current research examines concepts like the use of sufficiency advertising historically or marketing strategies for sustainability-focused outdoor companies, we currently lack understanding of these strategies’ impacts on outcomes like cognitive dissonance. A better understanding of the impacts of sufficiency marketing on the consumer would, in turn, help to better understand why and how to implement such tactics. We draw on Self-Determination Theory and literature on identity to develop three testable propositions, which we hope to provide empirical evidence for at the 2026 AMS World Marketing Congress.

ABSTRACT. Governmental and sustainability concerns about single-use packaging are driving major changes in consumer packaging, including increased uses of recycled plastic packaging. By investigating how recycled plastic packaging biases consumers’ perceptions of product naturalness, across five studies, we establish that consumers tend to perceive products in recycled plastic packaging, compared with regular plastic packaging, as more natural, reflecting stronger corporate social responsibility beliefs. This effect does not exist for recycled versus non-recycled cardboard packaging. Moreover, products in recycled packaging are chosen more often than products in regular packaging when product naturalness is primed. These effects apply to both food and non-food products. This evidence that recycled plastic packaging affects the perceived naturalness of products and in turn consumers’ purchase intentions as well as product choices, is highly relevant to product manufacturers, public policy makers, and consumers, especially in their efforts to act more environmentally friendly. Finally, these results call for caution as recycled packaging might be a double-edged sword: it might directly contribute to the preservation of our planet but also leads to (biased) naturalness perceptions which might deceive consumers.

ABSTRACT. Existing theoretical frameworks explaining sustainable purchasing intentions have primarily emphasized cognitive factors, overlooking the role of emotional response. Drawing on Default-Interventionist Theory and recent neuroscientific evidence highlighting the importance of knowledge in eliciting emotional response, this study examines sustainability label knowledge as a moderating factor between cognitive and emotional responses and consumers’ purchase intention. Sixty participants were assigned to high- and low-label-knowledge groups and completed a sustainable product purchase task while electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were analyzed, focusing on the cognitive (P3) and emotional (LPP) components. Results indicate that sustainability label knowledge activates distinct decision-making pathways. The high-label-knowledge group exhibited stronger emotional response (LPP), which, together with cognitive response (P3), predicted purchase intentions. In contrast, the low-label-knowledge group showed stronger cognitive response (P3), but neither cognitive (P3) nor emotional (LPP) response had a significant effect on purchase intentions. Moderation analysis confirmed that sustainability label knowledge influences the link between emotional response (LPP) and purchase intention. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of sustainable purchasing behavior. It is the first study to integrate Default-Interventionist Theory into sustainable purchase intentions, confirming the importance not only of cognitive response in sustainable purchase decisions but also of emotional response.

ABSTRACT. Customer education aims to enhance both objective and subjective knowledge among consumers. Increasing awareness and understanding of sustainability is viewed as a potential means to reduce the green value–behavior gap. This study investigates how consumers’ sustainability-related objective and subjective knowledge and physiological stress influence sustainable consumption in fashion e-commerce. Two studies were conducted in Finland (N = 50) and Germany (N = 75) during simulated online shopping experience. For measuring participants physiological stress, we used wearable optical heart rate sensor made by Polar. Results indicate that subjective knowledge, when paired with stress, increases perceived greenness, thereby widening the gap. Conversely, when subjective or objective knowledge and stress align with strong green consumption values, perceived greenness decreases, narrowing the gap. Furthermore, the combined effects of subjective knowledge, objective knowledge, and stress lead to a reduced perception of greenness, further diminishing the gap. Overall, the results demonstrate that both types of knowledge and physiological stress significantly influence green consumption behavior—effects that surpass those of green consumption values alone.

ABSTRACT. Online review credibility, online review quantity and brand trust are powerful drivers of online review usage in e-shopping. The objective of this study is to examine how online reviews influence e-shopping behavior. It is further projected that brand trust will mediate online review credibility and attitude toward using online reviews. It is also expected that green claim will moderate the relationship between online review importance and attitude toward using online reviews. Established items (measures) from existing literature will be adopted/adapted to measure all the independent, dependent, mediating and moderating variables. The constructs of the proposed model will employ a 7-point Likert scale where 1 represents “strongly disagree” and 7 indicates “strongly agree”. This study should provide practical solution with regards to organization’s credibility strategies that intends to use online reviews as a tool to increase e-shopping behavior. Furthermore, the study may also provide insights on how green claim influences consumers’ attitude of using online reviews.

ABSTRACT. Online review systems (ORS), which integrate quantitative ratings and qualitative feedback, have become the symbolic “stars” guiding consumer decisions across digital platforms. Yet, identical five-star scales often tell different stories, as the underlying designs of ORS vary widely in rules, interaction, and credibility. This study examines how such structural differences shape authenticity and participation by mapping and categorizing ORS across major platform models. A scoping review of 26 core studies was combined with systematic observation of nine representative platforms in e-commerce, tourism, and local services. The analysis identifies two foundational design dimensions—verification strictness and sociality—whose combinations yield four governance models: Trust-Embedded Communities, Verification-Oriented Utilities, Open Interactive Commons, and Crowd-Sourced Directories. Results reveal trade-offs between credibility assurance and user engagement: stricter verification enhances authenticity but limits participation, whereas high sociality fosters interaction but increases authenticity risks. The framework extends platform governance research by linking design features to institutional logics and provides a comparative basis for evaluating ORS heterogeneity across digital ecosystems.

ABSTRACT. Brand-managed communities on social media have become central to branding practice, yet firms still struggle to explain how these communities create brand value. This study develops and tests a process model in which Social Capital embedded in a brand’s community increases Trust in the brand, Trust sustains Engagement with the brand’s page, and Engagement increases consumer-based Brand Value. The study follows a two-stage design. First, a qualitative phase (netnographic observation and in-depth interviews) was used to refine the constructs and adapt multi-item measures. Second, a survey of 318 consumers from three large Brazilian brand communities in automotive, beer, and hospitality was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and Bayesian structural equation modeling. The results support three hypotheses. Perceived Social Capital in the community predicts Trust in the brand. Trust predicts Engagement with the brand’s page. Engagement predicts perceived Brand Value. Multi-group tests show that this chain is stable across durable goods, fast-moving consumer goods, and services. The study clarifies trust as a precondition for engagement, rather than only an outcome, and shows that engagement with the community is a mechanism through which firms convert collective social dynamics into brand value.

ABSTRACT. The growing e-grocery sector has evolved rapidly, transforming how consumers evaluate products in online environments. This study presents a systematic literature review on visual merchandising (VM) in the context of e-grocery. Specifically, it examines how product presentation and imagery influence consumers’ perceptions, trust, and purchase intentions. Following PRISMA guidelines, ten peer-reviewed articles were synthesized to identify key theoretical themes and managerial insights. Findings suggest that online VM plays a critical role in digital shopping contexts where sensory loss is inherent, shaping cognition and behavior through cue utilization, signaling, sensory marketing, mental imagery, and self-referencing. Effective virtual visual merchandising reduces consumer uncertainty, enhances trust, and facilitates multisensory mental simulations, whereas poor design increases cognitive load and perceptual bias. The review identifies four thematic domains: sensory substitution and perceptual accuracy, immersive presentation formats, digital atmospheric design, and behavioral and affective outcomes. Integrating theories from cue utilization and signaling, this paper advances understanding of how consumers process visual information in low-sensory environments. The study concludes with research propositions emphasizing the need for immersive, authentic, and consumer-centric visual merchandising strategies to enhance the e-grocery experience.

ABSTRACT. The French government officially backed an interpretative front-of-pack label which gives an overall nutritional evaluation of food products : the Nutri-score label, a scale composed of 5 levels. We assessed the influence of disclosing the most extreme levels of Nutri-score, namely nutri-scores A vs E, on purchasing intentions in the context of food ads in Instagram. Two experimental studies were conducted: study 1 contrasting the 2 levels to a control condition, and study 2 focusing on the nutri-score E (vs control condition) considering the additional fact of informing (vs not) consumers that brands could avoid displaying Nutri-score by paying a fine. Study 1 shows that perceived nutritional quality and perceived healthiness of cereals from a fictitious brand are mediators of the effects of the Nutri-score (positively for the level A and negatively for the level E). Study 2 reveals the awakening effect of mentioning the fact of brands having to pay in order not to display the Nutri-score: negative effect via perceived healthiness of a chocolate spread and attitudes toward the product on purchasing intentions. The brand being real this time, we observe negative effects on purchasing intentions via brand attitudes, while some positive effects emerge via increased nutritional transparency.

ABSTRACT. Artificial intelligence is transforming consumer cultures across diverse contexts. Its applications both preserve and transform cultural identities, generating new hybridized spaces where human and AI interactions co-create meaning. Cross-cultural differences increasingly influence how consumers perceive AI, while consumer-facing chatbots introduces their own “cultures.” As AI systems participate in cultural expression and exchange, they redefine how social groups collaborate, connect, and maintain traditions in a digitally mediated environment. For marketers, AI offers both remarkable opportunities and profound challenges. Its widespread adoption alters the human experience of marketing by transforming creativity, decision-making, and consumer insight generation. The fusion of emotional intelligence with AI technologies is becoming essential to human-AI collaboration. The future of marketing depends on reconciling technological innovation with empathy, trust, and human meaning. Psychologically, AI’s growing presence as a perceived “companion” provokes complex emotional and ethical consequences. While AI systems can enhance comfort and personalization, they also introduce risks related to dependency, insecurity, and erosion of authentic human experience. Frictionless AI tools amplify human intentions through digital power. AI’s ability to learn socially and act creatively blurs boundaries between tool and partner, forcing society to confront new dimensions of trust, autonomy, and psychological well-being in the age of intelligent companionship.

ABSTRACT. As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly capable of performing both clinical and emotional functions, it raises critical questions about empathy in healthcare. This research examines how the embodiment of vulnerability, whether anchored in the body (embodied) or the mind (disembodied), influences perceived empathy and satisfaction in human versus AI healthcare interactions. Drawing on Embodiment Theory and Mind–Body Dualism, we propose that empathy effectiveness depends on the match between the type of vulnerability and the agent’s mode of understanding. When vulnerability is embodied, distress is experienced through the physical self (e.g., pain, fatigue), eliciting expectations of warmth and affective resonance best met by humans. Conversely, when vulnerability is disembodied (e.g., anxiety, loneliness), empathy relies on cognitive understanding, allowing AI to perform comparably. Three studies (two controlled experiments and a text analysis of health app reviews) reveal that, in embodied vulnerability contexts, humans are perceived as more empathetic, whereas in disembodied contexts, AI matches human agents. The findings advance theory by demonstrating that the embodiment of vulnerability shapes how consumers judge the emotional capacity of human- and AI-driven tools in healthcare.

ABSTRACT. Chatbots have become increasingly prevalent in online service systems; however, their functional capabilities remain under development, and their potential effectiveness has yet to be fully realized. Despite their growing presence, limited research has explored how the anthropomorphic design of AI chatbots influences their role in service recovery following service failures. To address this gap, the present study investigates the effectiveness of AI chatbots in enhancing customer satisfaction with service recovery, with particular attention to the interactive effects of chatbot anthropomorphism and causal attribution of the service failure. A series of hypotheses are developed, and an experimental study is proposed to empirically test these relationships.

ABSTRACT. This research investigated the impact of consumers' propensity to attribute moral and general agency to AI versus human decisions on service satisfaction. The rapid deployment of AI in morally relevant service sectors necessitates understanding how changing interaction patterns affect consumer reactions. Using a quantitative, experimental design, the study revealed that consumers attribute similar levels of moral agency to both AI and human decision-makers in morally ambiguous service contexts. The favorability of the decision was the primary driver of moral agency attribution: favorable outcomes increased it, and unfavorable outcomes decreased it, irrespective of the decision-maker type. However, the attribution of general agency remained significantly higher for humans. Crucially, the propensity to attribute moral agency was found to positively impact perceived fairness, which subsequently mediated the relationship between moral agency and service satisfaction. These findings demonstrate that fairness is a critical link in determining consumer satisfaction with morally-loaded AI and human decisions, offering key insights for businesses implementing AI solutions.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores how digital transformation reshapes business-to-business (B2B) customer journeys. It considers advanced and evolving digital technologies as well as customer-centric strategies. Through an expanded literature review and a qualitative analysis of eight in-depth B2B expert interviews, the study identifies critical success factors, barriers, and actionable strategies for implementing seamless, digital-first pathways in the B2B domain. Key differences between B2B and B2C journeys, including the multi-stakeholder decision-making procedures and a hybrid channel integration, are examined in depth, alongside recent case studies. The findings of the paper highlight the need for cross-functional collaboration, data-driven leadership, and an adaptive organizational change management to overcome resistance and to drive sustainable results. The study argues that hybrid models blending digital convenience with a personalized human engagement approach best meet the evolving expectations of B2B customers. To conclude, the research provides guidance for B2B organizations seeking to optimize their customer journey design and leverage digital transformation for their competitive advantage in a complex, rapidly changing market environment.

ABSTRACT. Emotions shape business relationships, yet B2B marketing research centers on individual affect. The shared emotional experiences that emerge among multiple organizational actors remain conceptually and empirically underexplored. Collective emotions (CE) are emergent affective states arising from social interaction that shape alignment and cooperation and among firms. This non-consideration is critical in B2B value co-creation (VCC) contexts, where success often depends less on structural or technological than on affective coherence. A systematic literature review across Scopus, Web of Science and PsycINFO identified 37 relevant studies from 6,045 initial records. Using the TCCM framework, the analysis synthesized theoretical perspectives, contexts and methodological approaches. The findings show that research on CE in B2B-VCC is fragmented and mainly borrowed from adjacent disciplines. Three gaps persist: missing conceptual clarity on how CE evolve across micro-meso-macro levels, an overreliance on self-reports and insufficient analysis of contextual drivers like power asymmetries and digital mediation. The study provides a systematic synthesis of CE in B2B-VCC and proposes a research agenda and multilevel process framework linking CE to alliance resilience and innovation. Positioning CE as the missing affective layer in B2B marketing theory.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how paradoxical tensions emerge and persist across customer journeys in multistakeholder service contexts such as insurance. While customer experience (CX) research often adopts a dyadic firm–customer focus, this study reframes CX as a systemic process shaped by multiple actors with interdependent yet conflicting interests. Drawing on stakeholder and paradox theories, the research distinguishes between operational challenges, negotiable tensions, and structural paradoxes, which are persistent tensions arising from equally valid but opposing logics. Based on thirty qualitative interviews with customers, brokers, insurers, and regulators, the study maps paradoxes across five journey stages. Findings reveal recurring paradoxes: transparency versus simplicity in pre-purchase communication, personalization versus privacy in underwriting, efficiency versus inclusion in servicing, speed versus fairness in claims, and loyalty versus commercial incentives in renewal. These paradoxes evolve rather than resolve, as fixing one often makes another worse. The study introduces the concept of “paradox journey salience,” capturing how certain tensions become ethically and strategically critical at specific journey points. It further identifies governance levers such as privacy-by-design, shared data systems, and transparent pricing that align ethical and performance objectives, offering a dynamic framework for managing enduring paradoxes.

ABSTRACT. This research explores the impact of Augmented Reality (AR) features on Customer Experience (CX) via Customer Engagement (CE) in the field of cultural and heritage tourism. This work analyzes the relationships among the technological features of AR (vivacity and interactivity), the dimensions of customer experience (aesthetics, education, entertainment, and escapism), and visitors' behavior, particularly their intentions to revisit, by mobilizing theoretical frameworks related to the experience economy (Pine and Gilmore, 1999) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989). The research approach is quantitative. The study involved 147 visitors of the Bardo Museum, who tested the BARDO UP augmented reality application. The conceptual framework was analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results reveal that interactivity and perceived usefulness are key drivers of engagement and customer experience, while vivacity has no significant impact. Furthermore, customer experience plays a mediating role in the relationship between visitor engagement and visit intention. Moreover, the present research contributes to the literature by enriching theories of engagement and customer experience while offering practical recommendations to heritage site managers and AR application developers.

ABSTRACT. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has transformed travel and tourism, enhancing personalization, automation, and data-driven decision-making. Despite growing research on GenAI adoption using innovation and technology adoption frameworks, limited attention has been paid to the accompanying privacy concerns inherent in data-intensive AI applications. Addressing this gap, this study develops and empirically tests an integrative model combining Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and Privacy Calculus Theory. In our model, IDT constructs such as relative advantage, compatibility, and trialability capture the perceived benefits of GenAI, while privacy-related dimensions, including transparency, perceived control, data protection, and fairness, represent perceived risks. The model was tested using PLS-SEM on data from 1,055 Romanian travelers with prior GenAI experience. Compatibility emerged as the strongest predictor of intention to use GenAI for travel planning, followed by trialability and relative advantage, while ease of use showed no significant effect. Fairness in handling personal information was found to mediate the relationship between privacy perceptions and intention to use. This study contributes by integrating privacy and innovation perspectives, emphasizing fairness as a critical determinant of adoption, and offering practical guidance for fostering user trust through transparent and ethical data governance.

ABSTRACT. Tourist motivation remains one of the most complex and multidimensional constructs in consumer behavior research. This study develops and empirically validates the Cognitive–Affective Motivational Model (C-AM), which extends the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior by integrating expectancy-based mechanisms from Expectancy–Value Theory. Data were collected through a nationally representative online survey in Lithuania (N = 976) examining how expectations, as cognitive anticipations, influence affective desire and behavioral intention in long-haul leisure travel. Results from PLS-SEM analysis show that expectations significantly affect attitude, perceived behavioral control, and anticipated positive emotions, which in turn mediate their impact on desire. The direct path from expectations to desire was nonsignificant, confirming full mediation. Expectations also moderate the desire–intention relationship: when cognitive certainty is high, travelers are better able to transform desire into behavioral intention. The model explained 53.5% of variance in desire and 25.9% in intention, confirming substantial predictive validity. Findings support the theoretical premise that motivation in tourism arises from the continuous interaction between cognition and affect, with expectations functioning as both cognitive antecedents and regulatory mechanisms within this dual process.

ABSTRACT. This research examines how mythical-media memorialistic ambiences facilitate symbolic-affective recognition by integrating sensory and cognitive experiences. Themed food spaces—such as Jurassic Park Burger Restaurant, Beco Hexagonal, and SpongeBob Burger & Restaurant—utilize recurring sensory and narrative elements to create immersive environments. We developed a customized Likert-like scale (inspired by Likert, 1932) to qualitatively evaluate sensory (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste) and aesthetic-narrative (originality, remake, adaptation, rereading, intertextuality) dimensions. A qualitative methodology was adopted, combining bibliographic research, applied ethnography, case studies, and interpretative categorical analysis. Fieldwork adhered to the principles of multi-sited ethnography (Lima & D’Andrea, 2021), emphasizing the researcher’s role in constructing the research field. Data were analyzed using interpretive scales rated from 1 to 5 and visualized through radar charts generated with JASP software. Bardin’s (2016) content analysis guided the categorization of findings. The study reveals how sensory stimuli and narrative features interact to shape symbolic-affective experiences, activating memory, desire, and cultural identification (Duarte, 2009; Rocha & Silva, 2007). Rather than aiming for statistical precision, the interpretive mapping highlights varying degrees of performative immersiveness, showing how body, culture, and media converge to construct ambiences that resonate with fan imaginaries.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates why and how one predominant cue in communication, the spokesperson’s nonverbal expression of power, will affect consumer responses to corporate transgression. It also looks into how the relevance of the corporate transgression to an individual influences this effect, as well as its underlying mechanism.

ABSTRACT. Online shopping provides convenience but also creates challenges, particularly product returns, which are costly for retailers, inconvenient for consumers, and harmful to the environment. To address this, some retailers have adopted “Please Keep It” (PKI) refunds, allowing customers to keep items while receiving a full refund. Despite their growing prevalence, research on PKI refunds is in its early stages.

Our research, using a mixed-method sequential exploratory design (focus group n = 6; online experiment n = 205), indicates that PKI refunds are generally perceived as a positive and unexpected gesture, evoking emotions such as happiness and pleasant surprise that enhance post-purchase satisfaction and attitudes toward the retailer. Both qualitative and quantitative results indicate that these emotional responses translate into greater brand support, including stronger word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions.

Yet, there are indications that long-term effects are more nuanced. While trust and expectations remained largely unaffected in the experiment, focus group participants expressed concerns about potential misuse, waste, and guilt. Retailers offering PKI were also perceived as significantly less reliable. These findings underscore the need for further research, particularly on the long-term implications of PKI refund strategies for customer trust and brand relationships.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates post-experience dissonance among users of digital collaborative consumption platforms. Although the circular economy is growing and such platforms have been widely studied for adoption factors, motivations, and trust-building, little attention has been paid to users’ psychological tensions after use. Through a netnographic analysis of HomeExchange, a leading home-swapping platform, this study examines how dissonance emerges in user-generated content on social media and how users attempt to manage it. Findings reveal a paradox: while members express strong emotional attachment and a sense of belonging, they also voice frustrations about the platform’s commercialization, virtual-currency system, and lack of authentic social ties. To cope, users adopt strategies such as rationalization, moral justification, or disengagement. These insights extend the theoretical understanding of post-experience dissonance, emphasizing how emotional attachment and disappointment coexist within the same community. The study also questions the sustainability and legitimacy of the sharing economy, showing that its ideals can generate consumer vulnerability and platform fragility. In line with the AMS 2026 theme on marketing and human experience, this research highlights the ambivalence of digital innovations that foster connection yet create psychological strain, challenging marketing to balance innovation with user well-being.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how young consumers navigate food and food waste practices as they transition from home to university life. Drawing on in-depth interviews and food diaries from 23 undergraduate students, it examines how autonomy, responsibility, and identity formation intersect with sustainability, convenience, and emotional wellbeing. The findings reveal a dynamic evolution of food practices—from trial-and-error cooking to planned provisioning—accompanied by tensions between health, cost, and sociality. Despite strong environmental awareness, food waste remains prevalent due to infrastructural, temporal, and social constraints. The study conceptualizes food as a contested domain, highlighting its emotional, cultural, and symbolic dimensions during youth transitions. Theoretically, it contributes to understanding food-related identity and sustainability behaviors. Practically, it offers implications for universities to foster inclusive, sustainable, and wellbeing-oriented food environments through peer-led interventions, community initiatives, and improved infrastructural support.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates psychological mechanisms underlying sustainable fashion consumption, conceptualized through two behaviors: sustainable fashion purchasing and secondhand, vintage, or rental fashion consumption. We distinguish two mindfulness dimensions: novelty seeking dimension, characterized by a desire for newness often linked to overconsumption, and novelty producing dimension, involving creative engagement with existing items, which fosters sustainability. Additionally, we examine the role of green warm glow, the intrinsic satisfaction derived from environmentally friendly actions, as a motivator for sustainable behavior. Using data from a sample of Slovenian consumers, structural equation modeling reveals that novelty seeking negatively impacts sustainable consumption, while novelty producing and green warm glow positively influence it. Sustainable fashion purchasing significantly increases willingness to pay for sustainable clothing, whereas the effect of secondhand consumption on willingness to pay is significant only among highly fashion-conscious consumers. Fashion consciousness moderates these relationships; higher fashion consciousness amplifies positive effects and mitigates negative effects associated with mindfulness dimensions. This moderation suggests segment-specific marketing strategies, emphasizing style and uniqueness for fashion-conscious consumers to enhance emotional rewards and willingness to pay. The findings advance theoretical understanding of mindfulness facets in fashion and provide practical insights for promoting sustainable consumption through targeted communication.

ABSTRACT. With corporate social responsibility (CSR) becoming a global priority, an increasing number of corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) cases have been exposed, generating growing public concern. The study investigates the determinants of consumer responses to corporate irresponsibility, with a particular emphasis on the cognitive stage of evaluation. Specifically, it explores the relationships among corporate irresponsibility incidents, consumer awareness, and behavioral outcomes such as punishment and forgiveness, while examining the moderating roles of perceived severity and moral disengagement. By doing so, this research deepens theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying consumer reactions to corporate irresponsibility and enriches the literature on CSR and sustainability management.

ABSTRACT. While comparative advertising (CA) is a well-studied strategy in traditional media, its application in the digital world remains largely unexplored. Social media has driven a resurgence and fundamental evolution of CA, changing its dynamics and impact. This paper provides the first mixed-method exploration of contemporary CA. We combined a content analysis of 83 real-world CA messages from social media (Study 1) with in-depth interviews with senior advertising executives (Study 2). Findings from Study 1 reveal that digital CA is common, dominated by video (85.5%), and frequently used by low and medium-share challenger brands. We identify a new theoretical dimension: CAs are a blend of ‘primarily informative’ (53%) and ‘primarily immersive’ (47%) content. Findings from Study 2 indicate practitioners view CA on social media as fundamentally different and more powerful than traditional CA, offering unique advantages in engagement and targeting. However, this power comes with significant new risks, including viral consumer backlash. Theoretically, this paper introduces a new ‘informative vs. immersive’ dimension for CA. Practically, it highlights that while social media amplifies CA’s power, managing the high risk backlash makes authenticity and message tone paramount.

ABSTRACT. As influencer marketing reaches a forecasted $30 billion market value in 2025, a counter-phenomenon has emerged: de-influencing. Content creators now actively discourage consumption, expose commercial tactics, and critique influencer marketing practices. However, current knowledge around the theoretical mechanisms explaining de-influencing's effectiveness is incomplete. Despite extensive work investigating positive influencer outcomes, very few studies focus on counter-persuasion dynamics within influencer marketing.

Our study focuses on Attribution Theory's three dimensions (locus, stability, and controllability) and investigates how de-influencers strategically manipulate these to reshape consumer perceptions. We contribute to the influencer literature by understanding how de-influencing operates through attribution reframing and by providing a comprehensive conceptualisation distinguishing de-influencing from negative word-of-mouth, consumer resistance, and influencer avoidance. We define de-influencing as the intentional practice of actively discouraging consumption through public communication that exposes commercial tactics and recommends alternatives. This work sheds light on how attributional shifts reduce trust and engagement while increasing persuasion resistance, moderated by prior experiences, persuasion knowledge, and parasocial relationships. Our framework reconceptualises authenticity as dynamic attribution negotiation between creators and audiences. The influencer landscape functions as a continuous attribution contest where influence depends on which motives audiences perceive as most credible.

ABSTRACT. With the rise of social media use, averaging over two and a half hours daily, nature-related content has become a pervasive part of online life. While research consistently shows that exposure to nature imagery promotes positive affect and well-being, it remains unclear whether these benefits extend to nature content presented in social media contexts. Across two preregistered experiments (N₁ = 340; N₂ = 597), we examined how presentation format (social media vs. neutral) and nature type (beautiful vs. mundane) shape viewers’ affective and evaluative responses. Results showed that participants liked and enjoyed beautiful nature images less when viewed in a social media format, whereas mundane nature images were liked and enjoyed more in the same context. Viewing beautiful nature on social media also reduced happiness and, in one study, lowered subjective life satisfaction. These findings suggest that the well-being benefits of nature imagery are context-dependent: social media platforms may attenuate the positive effects of beautiful nature by triggering social comparison and self-presentational concerns, yet enhance the appeal of mundane nature by exceeding expectations. The study advances understanding of how digital contexts shape emotional experiences of nature and informs the design of online well-being interventions.