ABSTRACT. Market orientation (MO), an indigenous marketing theory developed in 1990s, is a normative firm business strategy that addresses how firms can gain competitive advantage and superior performance (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993). “The fundamental normative imperative of MO strategy has become that, to achieve competitive advantage and, thereby, superior financial performance, firms should systematically (1) gather intelligence on present and potential customers and competitors and (2) use such intelligence in a coordinated way across departments to guide strategy recognition, understanding, creation, selection, implementation and modification” (Hunt, 2012, pp. 9). MO has since gained prominence, so much so that it is considered a rare, successful, indigenous marketing theory (Hunt, 2012). The present work extends this theory with an emphasis on the "marketing work" involved in and transforming MO.

ABSTRACT. Advancing development of a theory of marketing work (TMW) by identifying and delineating interoperable revenue governance as a foundational yet under-theorized domain in contemporary organizations. Here, the Chief Revenue Officer orchestrates growth systems of interdependent actors whose activities must be coordinated to generate value.

ABSTRACT. The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape the nature of academic work, especially for research and teaching. This development raises important questions: how does AI change professors' identities and skill sets, and what are the processes of change? Building on these questions, the present paper explores a theory of academic work in the age of AI, with a particular focus on the implications for experienced marketing scholars.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how and to what extent virtual agents with anthropomorphic characteristics influence trust, customer experience (CX), and purchase and usage intention in online retailing.

Based on an extensive literature review, a structural equation model was developed (see Fig. 1). Anthropomorphism functions as an exogenous variable influencing the mediators Customer Experience (CX) and Trustworthiness, which in turn affect the endogenous variables Purchase Intention and Usage Intention. Positive relationships are postulated. Anthropomorphism, CX, and Trustworthiness were modeled as higher-order constructs composed of multiple dimensions. The construct Need for Interaction (NFI) mediates the influence of anthropomorphism on trustworthiness and CX.

Data analysis was performed using PLS-SEM. The explained variance is substantial for Trustworthiness (R² = 0.782) and Customer Experience (R² = 0.738), and moderate for Purchase Intention (R² = 0.555) and Usage Intention (R² = 0.531).

Results indicate significant positive effects of anthropomorphism on both trustworthiness and CX (β = 0.859). CX emerges as the strongest predictor of purchase (β = 0.588) and usage intention (β = 0.758). Trustworthiness significantly affects purchase intention but not usage intention.

The moderation analysis confirms that Need for Interaction (NFI) significantly strengthens the relationship between anthropomorphism and trustworthiness but not between anthropomorphism and CX.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates how the type of service agent (AI vs. human) influences consumer self-gifting behavior. Drawing on impression management theory , the study posits that consumers fear being judged as wasteful or self-indulgent by human agents, which suppresses their willingness to self-gift. In contrast, AI agents are perceived as non-judgmental, reducing this "fear of negative evaluation" and thus encouraging the behavior. Two experiments support these hypotheses. The findings consistently show that consumers interacting with an AI agent have a higher interest in self-gifting and spend more money on self-gift items compared to those interacting with a human agent. This effect is statistically mediated by the fear of negative evaluation. The study concludes that AI agents can foster a non-judgmental environment that stimulates self-reward purchases. This extends impression management theory to human-machine contexts and offers a practical strategy for marketers: using AI agents may effectively encourage sales for products positioned as self-rewards.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how personalization in AI-driven smart city services affects trust, well-being, and user intention across private and public contexts. Drawing on psychological reactance and cognitive load theories, it develops and tests a moderated mediation model using two experiments in smart home and autonomous driving environments (N = 370). Results show that perceived personalization significantly enhances trust, which in turn improves well-being and behavioral intention. However, excessive personalization reduces well-being in private contexts, reflecting the personalization paradox, while maintaining a positive effect in public, task-oriented settings. These findings demonstrate that personalization is not uniformly beneficial but context-dependent, with its psychological impact shaped by the balance between adaptivity and autonomy. The study contributes to human-centered AI design by emphasizing context-aware personalization strategies that optimize user trust and emotional comfort, supporting sustainable smart city development grounded in well-being and psychological resilience.

ABSTRACT. This study develops and empirically validates a nomological framework of indicators for understanding the performance of B2B service providers in sales roles. Drawing on meta-analytical foundations (Churchill et al., 1985; Verbeke et al., 2011; Chawla et al., 2020; Kerr and Marcos-Cuevas, 2023), the study integrates aptitude, skill, motivation, role perception, and organizational context into a two-tiered hierarchical model. Using survey data from 389 Norwegian service-oriented firms, complemented by qualitative insights from experienced practitioners, the study applies PLS-SEM to assess both direct and indirect relationships among indicators. Findings demonstrate that skill and motivation are the strongest direct drivers of service provider performance, while aptitude exerts indirect effects through its influence on these factors. Role perception shows limited explanatory power, suggesting it functions more as a contextual or boundary variable. Organizational leadership and context do not exhibit significant direct or moderating effects, challenging assumptions in earlier frameworks. The model achieves explanatory power comparable to meta-analytical benchmarks (adjusted R² ≈ 0.27). The research contributes theoretically by advancing an integrated framework of interdependent indicators and practically by offering guidance for recruitment, training, and performance management in B2B service contexts. Future studies should refine organizational variables and explore cross-industry and cultural differences.

ABSTRACT. Advertising spending disclosure has emerged as a topic of growing interest among firms and marketing scholars, with recent top-journal articles underscoring its strategic relevance. While prior research has focused on external consequences—such as reduced investor or analyst uncertainty—this study is the first to examine the firm‐internal effects of advertising disclosure. Drawing on organizational control theory, we conceptualize disclosure as a governance mechanism that activates market, bureaucratic, and clan control, thereby enhancing marketing efficiency, funding stability, and marketing’s standing within the firm. Using panel data on 2,167 U.S. publicly listed firms from 2001 to 2024 and addressing self-selection through state-of-the-art peer-based instrumental variables, we find that advertising disclosure significantly improves both short- and long-term marketing efficiency and reduces the likelihood of large marketing budget cuts, while it has no effect on the marketing department’s formal power within the top management team. Our findings highlight that input-based disclosure mechanisms can selectively strengthen internal marketing accountability and performance, offering managers a new rationale for voluntary transparency.

ABSTRACT. We explore competitive backward channel strategies with products differentiated by environmental performance (measured by emission abatement). An analytical model is developed to analyze the strategic impact of backward decentralization and integration on firms’ emission decisions, profits, and welfare. It compares different channel structures to characterize competing manufacturers’ equilibrium backward channel strategies. We reveal that the manufacturers’ emission abatement decisions and channel strategies critically depend on the level of market coverage. First, under full market coverage, the manufacturers’ backward integration shrinks the gap between the products’ emission abatement. In contrast, under partial market coverage, the manufacturers’ backward integration enlarges the products’ emission abatement gap. Second, the manufacturers strictly prefer backward channel decentralization over integration under full market coverage, but strictly prefer backward integration over decentralization under partial market coverage. Moreover, the manufacturers’ backward decentralization (integration) constitutes a win-win equilibrium channel strategy under full (partial) market coverage. Third, the socially optimal welfare can be achieved with the manufacturers’ backward channel strategies under partial market coverage, but not under full market coverage. Our findings provide practical implications from different perspectives including green product development and distribution channel strategies, as well as environmental policy makers in terms of green innovation and industry regulation.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the relative influence of consumer xenocentrism, country of origin, and brand prominence on purchase intention toward foreign brands. Through a between-subjects experimental design, data were collected from Turkey, using scenarios that varied in brand origin (a developed country (Italy) vs. a developing country (India)) and brand prominence (prominent vs. no logo). The research positions xenocentrism as a deeper, affect-driven attitudinal disposition compared to cognitive and external cues like country of origin and brand prominence. Results also show that consumer xenocentrism consistently exerts the strongest influence on purchase intentions, while country of origin also plays a significant role. Brand prominence, although significant, demonstrates a weaker effect. These findings underscore the dominant role of affective, identity-based motivations in consumer behaviour, suggesting that emotional orientations like xenocentrism may outweigh traditional branding strategies.

ABSTRACT. Emotions play a powerful role in decision-making within organizations. This review article focuses on how emotions affect decision-making in the context of internationalisation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In particular, it first consolidates current knowledge on the SME internationalisation area from an emotional standpoint, identifies key emotional aspects influencing international decision-making of SMEs and highlights key theories as well as theoretical and empirical gaps. Second, by synthesizing key findings from the SME internationalization literature with interdisciplinary insights —from the emotion literature in psychology and in organization research— our work develops a theoretical framework of how emotions can shape international decisions in SMEs internationalization stages. This framework serves as a foundation for generating novel and relevant research questions, which we suggest, to inform and shape future studies on the role of emotions in the internationalization of SMEs.

ABSTRACT. In volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) markets, marketers must integrate rapid intuition with systematic analysis to balance global ambitions with local relevance. While prior work has predominantly focused on consumer cognition, our study highlights how cultural background and gender influence the balance between intuitive and analytical thinking in strategic marketing and business tasks. Grounded in Dual Process Theory, Cognitive-Experiential Self Theory and cultural dimensions research, this study surveyed 194 Austrian and Indian business professionals and business students and analyzed 159 narrative essays. We identify four decision profiles reflecting both intuitive, fast-paced responses and deliberate, analytical reasoning. Austrian respondents rely on metric driven frameworks, whereas Indian counterparts favor narrative rich heuristics. Women are overrepresented in ambidextrous roles. Our findings offer guidance for culturally adaptive marketing and decision making. We contribute to the literature on managerial decision-making by incorporating socio-cultural and gendered dimensions into the understanding of dual processing in organizational contexts. For practitioners, these insights help understanding how gender and cultural norms shape decision-making to assign tasks more effectively, build diverse teams, and lead with empathy.

ABSTRACT. Online shopping cart abandonment (OSCA) has reached unprecedented levels of approximately 90% (Wang et al., 2023; Mittal, 2025), prompting a surge of research on the topic. Much of previous research treats OSCA as a purchase failure, relying on the premise that primarily goal-oriented consumers visited an online store and could not accomplish a purchase due to low value, decision overload, privacy concerns, unclear process or technical difficulties (Chernev et al., 2015; Mittal, 2025; Roy and Shaikh, 2024). Alternatively, cart abandonment is explained by purely functional usage of the cart: it is a convenient tool for creating wish lists, estimating a budget, and evaluating the checkout procedure (Close and Kukar-Kinney, 2010). However, there are only a few attempts to explore browsing and adding to cart as a self-standing entertaining consumer activity, and the psychological process behind it. The research demonstrates that consumers with affective impulse buying tendency add to the online cart for hedonic reasons, thus generating psychological ownership for items and emotional affect before abandoning the purchase session.

ABSTRACT. Abstract This study investigates how perceived scarcity moderates the relationship between consumer confusion, hesitation, and purchase delay during sales periods. Drawing on Psychological Reactance Theory and Cognitive Load Theory, the research highlights the ambivalent effects of scarcity, which can both stimulate and inhibit consumer action. Data were collected from 230 French consumers who had recently participated in a fashion sales event and analyzed using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis comparing low vs. high perceived scarcity conditions. Results show that confusion does not directly affect purchase delay but operates indirectly through hesitation, confirming its mediating role. The moderating effect of scarcity is dual: under moderate scarcity, hesitation decreases and purchases accelerate; under high scarcity, confusion intensifies and decision-making slows down. The findings introduce the notion of “comfort urgency”, encouraging retailers to calibrate scarcity cues to foster engagement without triggering cognitive overload or psychological resistance

ABSTRACT. N/A (structured asbtract)

ABSTRACT. Online secondhand marketplaces have been growing steadily, challenging traditional retail models and brands' control over consumer perceptions of value. However, there is limited research has examined how secondhand markets shape consumer perceptions, particularly regarding the value of new products and how purchasing typically lower-value used items influences brand perceptions. This gap is particularly important given the growing prominence of online peer-to-peer (P2P) secondhand consumption in the country.

This study aims to explore consumers' attitudes and purchasing decisions within the context of online secondhand peer-to-peer (P2P) markets in the Philippines. Drawing on the work of Shivonen and Turunen (2016), who identified six key antecedents of perceived value in Finnish Facebook flea markets, this research examines how these factors influence Filipino buyers' attitudes toward secondhand branded clothing, and how these attitudes, in turn, affect their purchase intent.

An online survey generated 216 valid responses. The findings highlight the influential role of younger consumers, particularly those aged 18-24, in driving the adoption of secondhand goods. Additionally, urban students, especially in the National Capital Region, exhibited more favorable attitudes and higher purchase intent toward secondhand branded clothing. The study also suggests that attitudes mediate the relationship between perceived value antecedents and purchase intent.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of social media influencers on fashion brand loyalty among South African consumers aged 18 to 24. Drawing on self-congruence theory, the research explores how four key influencer attributes, expertise, perceived congruence, authenticity, and trust, shape consumer attitudes toward influencers, and how these attitudes subsequently influence brand attitude and loyalty. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was conducted with 252 consumers. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that trust, authenticity, and perceived congruence significantly predict positive attitudes toward fashion influencers, while perceived expertise showed no significant effect. Bivariate correlations confirmed strong relationships between influencer attitude and brand attitude, and between brand attitude and brand loyalty. These findings suggest that emotional and psychological alignment with influencers plays a more critical role than technical expertise in driving brand outcomes. The study contributes to theory by extending self-congruence frameworks to influencer-brand dynamics in an emerging market context. Practically, it offers guidance for fashion marketers in selecting influencers who resonate with target audiences. By highlighting the relational pathways from influencer attributes to brand loyalty, the study provides a nuanced understanding of digital influence in the fashion industry.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the growing influence of live-streaming commerce in enriching and extending the e-servicescape model within e-retailing environments. Using a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 participants in China to understand their perceptions and experiences of live-streaming as part of the online retail environment. Thematic analysis revealed six sub-dimensions that enhance the e-servicescape framework: attractiveness and authenticity, reliability and credibility, responsive lively interactions, social connectivity, celebrity influence, and community consciousness. These dimensions highlight how live-streaming commerce transforms the online shopping experience into one that is more engaging, interactive, and socially connected. The findings contribute new insights into how consumers evaluate live-streaming attributes in shaping their perceptions of online retail spaces. Practically, the study provides guidance for e-retailers in designing dynamic and trustworthy live-streaming environments that enhance consumer engagement and satisfaction. Theoretically, it extends the e-servicescape model by integrating the experiential and social aspects of live-streaming commerce. As one of the first studies to conceptualize the live-streaming dimension within e-retailing, this research offers a foundation for future quantitative studies to empirically test the enriched e-servicescape and its influence on consumer behavioural responses.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how gender and legitimacy concerns shape students’ trust and perceived educational value of generative AI (GenAI) tools in higher education. Building on theories of technology trust and perceived legitimacy, it proposes that doubts about the legitimacy of AI-assisted work reduce trust in GenAI and, in turn, its perceived learning value. A survey of 467 university students across Austria, the Netherlands, and Portugal examined these relationships using validated multi-item scales. Mediation analysis confirmed that higher legitimacy concerns significantly decrease trust (B = –0.09, p = .039), which positively predicts perceived value (B = 0.51, p < .001). Trust mediates the negative effect of legitimacy concerns on perceived value (B = –0.05, 95% CI [–0.10, –0.004]). Gender differences were also found: female students reported higher legitimacy concerns and lower trust than males, though both groups perceived similar educational benefits. These findings suggest that gender differences in self-perception and critical engagement influence early attitudes toward AI, potentially shaping future professional adoption patterns. Educators are encouraged to address these psychological and ethical dimensions to foster both confidence and critical reflection with GenAI, promoting equitable and reflective AI-supported learning environments.

ABSTRACT. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping higher education. In marketing programs, where creativity, analysis, and communication are core learning goals, GenAI tools are increasingly embedded into teaching. Yet, their unregulated use raises concerns about reduced cognitive engagement and superficial learning. This tension, between accessibility and educational depth, calls for pedagogically grounded integration strategies. One promising approach lies in customization, defined as tailoring AI systems to individual learners and course content. In GenAI, customization involves adapting language models through embedded knowledge bases, instructional prompts, or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) techniques to ensure alignment with pedagogical objectives. However, few empirical studies have examined how customization shapes learning outcomes across contexts. This research addresses this gap by comparing students’ experiences with customized GenAI tutors across two settings: a hybrid, instructor-supported course and a fully AI-driven online environment. Drawing on Bloom’s Taxonomy, findings reveal that GenAI tutors effectively support memorization and task organization in guided contexts but provide limited benefits for complex topics and self-directed learners, particularly those with a high need for human interaction. The study highlights that the pedagogical value of GenAI customization is context-dependent and emphasizes the need to align design choices with instructional structure, task complexity, and students’ socio-cognitive profiles.

ABSTRACT. This mainly qualitative research study explores the essential components for designing, developing, and implementing effective faculty-led short-term study abroad (FLSTSA) programs. While traditionally overshadowed by semester-long or year-long formats, FLSTSA programs have gained popularity due to their affordability, reduced cultural anxiety, and minimal disruption to students’ personal and academic commitments. Drawing on three years of program data, this study highlights the comparable benefits of short-term programs in fostering global competence along with personal and professional growth. The findings reveal consistent patterns in student development, including increased global competence. Key factors contributing to successful program outcomes include intentional curriculum design, inclusive pedagogical strategies, and logistical scalability. The research underscores the importance of aligning program goals with institutional priorities and student needs to create impactful global learning experiences.

ABSTRACT. This special session offers insights into the social media activities of the Academy of Marketing Science (AMS). The contributors will outline the platforms currently used, the strategic objectives guiding communication efforts, the types of content shared, and planned future activities and events. Shuang Wu, Jasmine Parajuli, and Philipp Brüggemann will provide perspectives on the social media channels of the AMS, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and the AMS Review. In addition, Philipp Brüggemann will present the independent marketing initiative “Marketing Scholars: Call for Papers, Research News and more” and share exclusive first insights into the development of a new app designed to disseminate calls for papers and other relevant information for the marketing scholar community. The session is designed to be interactive. Questions, suggestions, and discussion points are strongly encouraged, and dedicated time will be provided for open exchange and dialogue.

ABSTRACT. Augmented Reality (AR) is transforming digital commerce by enabling consumers to visualize, evaluate, and interact with products in their own environments before purchase. Despite growing evidence of AR’s business value, the psychological mechanisms through which it influences consumer behavior remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on the Service-Dominant Logic, this research conceptualizes AR as a platform for value co-creation and examines how two experiential dimensions: augmentation quality and perceived user control, affect consumers’ perceived experience, personalization, relationship, value-in-use, and ultimately online purchase intention. A laboratory experiment was conducted using a within-subject design comparing an AR shopping interface with a traditional non-AR interface. Participants (N = 132) interacted with unbranded furniture products under both conditions and completed validated measurement scales. Data were analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that both augmentation quality and perceived control significantly enhance perceived experience, personalization, and relationship, with stronger effects in the AR condition. Furthermore, while experience and relationship positively influenced value-in-use in AR, personalization did not. Value-in-use strongly predicted purchase intention in both conditions, with a notably higher effect under AR.

ABSTRACT. Given the increasing awareness and adoption of augmented reality (AR) technology across various industries, the use of AR technology is projected to continue growing. The food industry represents a promising yet underexplored area of research that could benefit from this development. Thus, the objective of the current research is to gain qualitative insights into the opportunities and challenges, as well as the motivations and perceptions, regarding the AR application in the food industry. The research question guiding the current study is: “What are the opportunities, challenges, and prospects of using AR in the food industry?” To address this question, exploratory research was conducted through a qualitative survey of practitioners and business owners in the fields of AR and the food industry. The study aims to gather the industry's perspective on the use of this immersive technology, including the value it brings and the challenges it currently faces, as well as any potential developments in the field.

ABSTRACT. Augmented reality (AR) try-on apps are transforming how people explore products, engage with brands, and make purchasing decisions, making shopping more immersive, interactive, and personalized for each person. Despite AR try-on apps' critical importance in customer journeys, extant literature has largely focused on technology adoption factors, neglecting the deeper psychological and experiential factors, such as how these AR try-on apps aid consumers in achieving personal values related to their distinct self-concept. The core objective of this study was to uncover the linkages between AR try-on attributes (A), the consequences (C), and the underlying human-centric values (V) they seek to achieve. This study adopted an exploratory approach grounded in the Means-End Chain (MEC) theory, conducting 30 laddering interviews with AR try-on users from different regional cities in India. Data was analyzed using a three-step process: data coding into A-C-V categories, constructing an implications matrix, and plotting the dominant A-C-V ladders on a Hierarchical Value Map (HVM). The findings reveal how AR try-on app attributes like interactivity and perceived usefulness foster positive emotions, which strongly enhance human-centric values such as self-growth and happiness. Conversely, attributes like reality incongruence led to negative emotions, such as frustration and disappointment, which undermine assurance and security.

ABSTRACT. Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged from its entertainment origins to become a transformative force for innovative customer experience. The global VR market is experiencing a surge in demand, fuelled by advancements in immersive technologies and the rise of virtual commerce within the metaverse. While this evolution presents significant opportunities, VR impact on customer brand experience and psychological behaviour holds potential for detailed investigation. Addressing this gap, the present study integrates the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model and Flow Theory to examine how varying levels of technological immersion of VR versus non-VR affect customer brand engagement and purchase intentions toward luxury and non-luxury fashion brands in the metaverse. A 2 (brand type: luxury vs. non-luxury) × 2 (reality: VR vs. non-VR) between-subjects experimental design was conducted, where participants interacted with branded virtual storefronts. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). This study contributes to the growing body of experiential marketing research by clarifying the psychological mechanisms of VR-based brand experiences and offers actionable insights for marketers seeking to integrate immersive technologies into their metaverse branding strategies.

ABSTRACT. Marketing research has proposed trust as an essential driver of continued business-to-business (B2B) relationships for decades. Trust enables supplier-customer communication and investment in the relationship, facilitating its expansion. However, the emergent role of digital platforms is deeply redefining the formation and development of B2B relationships. On digital platforms, firms often prioritize benefits such as expanded market access and transactional efficiencies, accepting power dynamics where algorithmic control and platform architectures systematically favor platform owners over participants. Recent empirical work seems to suggest that traditional tenets on the role of trust need to be re-examined in this context. This research proposes a novel understanding of the role of trust in firm-platform relationships, suggesting a model that draws on the social exchange theory and the commitment-trust theory. Furthermore, it integrates the technology-driven service strategy typology and recent work on platform power dynamics. The model is assessed using sufficiency and necessity logics, by combining partial least squares structural equation modeling and necessary condition analysis. The study will clarify the effects of trust and its necessity for a firm’s intention to renew its contract with a platform.

ABSTRACT. Digital ecosystems are reshaping how firms organize to create and capture value through data enabled connections. As technological change accelerates, firms rely on boundary spanning collaboration to adapt, mitigate risk, and stay agile. We use data driven value capture to describe the appropriation of economic and relational value through the strategic use of data resources and digital infrastructures within ecosystems. Yet research on how such value capture unfolds remains fragmented, with limited integration of ecosystem logics and their theoretical foundations.

This work in progress study conducts a systematic literature review to synthesize how ecosystem logics structure collaboration and data driven value capture. We map the conceptual landscape by organizing logics around participation principles, coordination strategies, and actor roles, and consolidate the theoretical lenses used. Additionally, the review maps the conceptual and theoretical evolution of this domain and provides future directions for understanding data driven value capture in digital ecosystems.

ABSTRACT. Research on digital servitization in emerging economies increasingly highlights the role of firms’ internal capabilities for orchestrating data and platforms. This study develops and tests a model linking digital platform capabilities—platform integration and platform reconfiguration—to innovation ambidexterity (exploration and exploitation), and in turn to digital servitization (servitization and digitalization) and firm performance. Environmental turbulence is theorized to strengthen the effects of innovation ambidexterity on servitization and digitalization. Survey data were collected from 286 senior managers in Vietnamese manufacturing firms and analyzed using SPSS and PLS-SEM (SmartPLS). Results show that both platform integration and platform reconfiguration significantly enhance innovation ambidexterity; ambidexterity strongly advances servitization, digitalization, and their additive composite, digital servitization; and digital servitization and its components each improve firm performance. Environmental turbulence positively moderates the relationships between ambidexterity and servitization and between ambidexterity and digitalization. The study contributes by unpacking how platform-based capabilities translate into ambidextrous innovation and value-adding service/digital offerings in an emerging-market context, and by clarifying when turbulent environments amplify these effects. Managerially, the findings recommend simultaneous investments in platform integration and reconfiguration to build ambidexterity and accelerate digital servitization.

ABSTRACT. Virtual influencers are becoming increasingly important marketing agents. Understanding how consumers with different cultural backgrounds perceive the characteristics of the virtual influencer (VI) versus the human influencer (HI) is crucial. Using a between-subjects online experiment across Lithuania, Spain, and China, the paper compares VI and HI by assessing perceived credibility (trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness), authenticity, and their impacts on purchase intention, with cultural masculinity as a moderator. The findings reveal that the perceived trustworthiness, expertise and authenticity are lower for VI than for HI. Only trustworthiness significantly mediates the relationship between influencer type (VI vs. HI) and purchase intention. Moreover, the perceived advantage of HI over VI diminishes in cultures with higher masculinity values, particularly in terms of trustworthiness, expertise and authenticity. In contrast, perceptions of attractiveness remain consistent across both influencer types and all levels of cultural masculinity.

ABSTRACT. Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of anti-globalist sentiment and protectionist policies across many nations. Examples include steel import tariffs, cuts to duty-free raw material quotas, and the imposition of duties along with the removal of the ‘de minimis’ exemptions, moves suggestive of a neo-mercantilist approach. Historically rooted in mercantilism, a doctrine that emphasized state-led trade surpluses, import restrictions, and the protection of domestic industries, neo-mercantilism appears again as states seek asymmetric economic advantage. In this think piece, we explore how the shift from globalist frameworks to neo-mercantilist environments may reshape both strategic and operational marketing, affecting targeting, branding, product development, distribution, and regulation. Specifically, we elucidate how unchallenged neo-mercantilism may detrimentally affect marketing and leave key stakeholders worse off as a result.

ABSTRACT. Digital transformation has made technology a structural driver of value creation in services, raising expectations for efficient yet emotionally engaging firm–customer interactions. However, research still lacks integrative evidence on how perceived technology and humanization jointly shape customer satisfaction, and whether these mechanisms vary across cultural contexts. This study investigates whether, how, and under what cultural conditions technology-mediated business-customer interactions translate into customer satisfaction by combining functional path and a relational path. A cross-national survey in Brazil and the United States (n = 742) was conducted, and a sequential-mediation framework was tested using structural equation modeling, with multi-group measurement. The model showed a good fit and explained meaningful variance in perceived technology, human-like approach, and customer satisfaction. Problem-solving interactions increased satisfaction directly and indirectly through perceived technology and, sequentially, through perceived technology followed by a human-like approach, while perceived personalization and cultural context did not significantly alter these mechanisms. It was concluded that customer satisfaction in technology-mediated contexts depends on the joint presence of functional excellence and perceived humanization. Personalization functions mainly as a baseline expectation, and these psychological mechanisms generalize across markets with high digital usage, offering guidance for the design of customer-centric digital services.

ABSTRACT. This research investigates how enrollment policies in electronic health records (EHR) systems specifically, opt-in versus opt-out settings-affect consumers' privacy concerns, trust, and willingness to disclose personal health data. Using France's transition from an opt-in to an opt-out policy in 2022, we employ a difference-in-differences method to analyze survey data collected before and after the policy shift. Findings indicate that an opt-out setting, where patients are automatically enrolled, leads to higher privacy concerns but also increases trust and willingness to disclose health data, likely due to the convenience and systemic endorsement implied. In contrast, opt-in settings require active enrollment, which may reduce privacy concerns but result in lower trust and engagement due to enrollment barriers. These insights suggest that default settings in EHR enrollment significantly shape patient attitudes and behaviors, emphasizing the role of policy design in digital health adoption. Understanding these dynamics can help policymakers optimize strategies to nudge patient engagement.

ABSTRACT. Service environments (i.e. servicescape) is critical to people’s wellbeing, satisfaction and productivity (Parish et al., 2008). Previous studies have fragmentedly documented the influence of various aspects of service environments on people’s wellbeing, including ‘biophilic servicescapes’ (Purani and Kumar, 2018), ‘therapeutic servicescapes’ (Higgins and Hamilton, 2019), ‘restorative servicescapes’ (Rosenbaum, 2009; Mody et al., 2020), ‘soundscapes’ (Smalley et al. 2022), and ‘holisticscape’ (Valente-Pedro et al., 2023). Despite its importance, empirical research on this aspect of retail healthcare servicescape is very scant and thus requires further development. The current study explores the relationships between design characteristics of retail servicecape and customer wellbeing. This project is underpinned by attention restoration theory (ART) originated in the environmental psychology domain (Kaplan, 1995) and resource exchange theory (Brinberg and Wood, 1983), which informs a two-stage fieldwork using mixed methods, more specifically, 10 qualitative interviews with photo elicitation using convenience sampling which informs developing a conceptual framework and online experiments. The project also involves 500 online survey questionnaires using visual stimuli via Prolific. The findings extend our understanding of how retail healthcare service environments affect people’s wellbeing. It provides implications for organisations on how to reconfigure their service environments that would be beneficial to people’s wellbeing.

ABSTRACT. The Salary Bonus is one of the social programs created by the Brazilian government aimed at addressing the diverse social characteristics of the country, promoting income to stimulate the market. Initially, in 1970, the following were created: the Social Integration Program (PIS), for employees to participate in the development of companies, and the Public Servant's Asset Formation Program (PASEP), where civil and military public servants participate in the revenues of public institutions. The programs were merged in 1975 through Federal Complementary Law No. 26, of September 11, 1975, establishing the PIS/PASEP Fund.This article aims to verify the effectiveness of non-face-to-face service provided by the Ministry of Labor regarding the demands of workers who were entitled to the salary bonus. 25.567 million Salary Bonuses were paid, referring to the base year 2020; 23,098,694 were from PIS (total of R$ 20,428,213,742.00 in resources paid by Caixa Econômica Federal) and 2,468,449 were from PASEP (total of R$ 2,752,713,590.00 paid by Banco do Brasil), DATAPREV (2022). In public service, it is not possible to measure service quality solely based on expected results. This study contribute as a reference for other studies related to the quality of public service.

ABSTRACT. Omnichannel integration is a critical, yet complicated, challenge for franchise networks, where central strategic coordination must be balanced with the legal and entrepreneurial autonomy of local franchisees. Based on a qualitative study across seven franchise networks, involving 91 interviews with franchisors and franchisees, this paper identifies the core barriers to integration across strategic, organizational, technological, logistical, and commercial dimensions. Franchisor obstacles include the lack of a clear long-term strategy and resource scarcity due to their SME structure. Franchisees primarily face strategic resistance stemming from the perception of central digital channels as internal competition, compounded by a local deficit in time, resources, and technical competence. This research also reveals how these barriers are intricately linked in causal spirals. Theoretically, these findings highlight a resource dependency trap and the risk of a fundamental vertical agency disalignment, as the current digital revenue-sharing model starves the franchisor of necessary investment capital. Managerial implications emphasize the need for proactive strategic roadmaps, focused technological investment, and a revised, transparent financial model to achieve sustainable network integration.

ABSTRACT. The rapid development of mobile technologies has dissolved boundaries of traditional retail services: Customers can shop not only at any time, but also at any place. Using a comprehensive scale development process, this study develops and tests scale for measuring mobile service quality. High levels of fragmentation in the literature make a new scale necessary for in-depth understanding of customer perception of service quality. Building on means–end chain theory, this study finds that the construct should be conceptualized as a third-order formative construct, with second-order formative dimensions, and first-order reflective attributes. A total of 14 attributes define five essential dimensions: ubiquity of service, store design, order fulfillment, customer service, and security/privacy. The 45-item scale was developed using insights from focus groups and a critical incident study. Findings from two additional customer surveys show that the scale has good psychometric properties. The scale enables managers to enhance customer-centric outcomes, improving service quality and mobile shopping experience.

ABSTRACT. This research examines how customer forewarnings—preemptive information about potential service problems—shape attitudes and intentions in joint consumption. Across four experiments, honest forewarnings improved evaluations after failures, even when customers ignored the advice. Even inaccurate warnings outperformed no warning. Forewarnings reduced dissatisfaction by managing expectations and shifting blame away from the firm, and they worked in both individual and group settings. Their effectiveness depended on accuracy (correct > incorrect) but not strongly on personalization. Crucially, forewarnings must be paired with accommodative recovery (e.g., apology/compensation): this combination preserved satisfaction at levels similar to error-free service, whereas defensive responses eliminated forewarning benefits.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the integration of a Digital Consumer Journal as an experiential learning tool to foster reflective thinking and metacognitive awareness among MBA students enrolled in a Consumer Behavior course. Conducted at a private university in Mexico, the activity engaged 52 students who recorded their daily digital consumption over two weeks, identifying triggers, actions, and reflections associated with their purchasing decisions. More than 550 entries were analyzed to explore purchase patterns, behavioral triggers, and gender-based differences. Results indicate that functional and situational triggers (e.g., needs, store visits, social influence) were the most influential in prompting purchase actions, whereas emotionally charged or entertainment-based digital stimuli (e.g., social media, YouTube) generated lower conversion levels. Across the two-week period, both male and female participants exhibited a decrease in purchasing behavior and an increase in deliberate non-purchase actions, suggesting enhanced self-awareness and self-regulation. Beyond the behavioral insights, the exercise proved to be an effective pedagogical strategy for bridging theory and practice. Through structured self-observation and reflection, students demonstrated higher-order thinking aligned with experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984) and marketing education approaches emphasizing metacognition (Reavey & Zahay, 2022).

ABSTRACT. Blockchain technology is quickly changing how supply chains work, making it important to teach this topic in colleges and universities. This paper introduces a model to help include blockchain in supply chain education. The model is based on popular learning theories like Constructivism, Experiential Learning, and Social Learning Theory. It takes a clear, people-focused, and cross-disciplinary approach to teaching. The model has four steps: (1) learning the basics, (2) using that knowledge through hands-on activities, (3) working in teams and thinking critically, and (4) considering the ethical and social effects of using blockchain. The paper reviews current research and teaching methods to build a framework that helps students learn both technical blockchain skills and important soft skills like critical thinking, ethics, and teamwork. The aim is to prepare future supply chain experts to use blockchain in smart and responsible ways. This will help make global supply chains more open, efficient, and eco-friendly. By offering a detailed and theory-based teaching plan, this paper helps educators keep up with fast changes in technology and meet the growing need for new ideas in supply chain education.

ABSTRACT. This study explores how individual level factors and underlying psychological mechanisms shape students’ readiness to adopt VR based study tours. Specifically, it examines the mediating role of students’ responsiveness to instructional innovativeness (RII) between perceived technological efficacy (PTE) and students’ readiness to adopt VR based study tours. This study forms part of the Virtual Global Learning Project which seeks to widen access to international learning opportunities by removing barriers such as cost, finance, time, or visa. The project spans institutions in South Africa, Mauritius, and Western Australia. A Qualtrics survey was distributed electronically to students enrolled across 5 institutions located in South Africa, Mauritius and Australia and 365 useable responses were obtained. Mediation and direct effects were tested using PROCESS. The results demonstrate that in the African sample, the direct effect of PTE on readiness to adopt was stronger than in the Australian sample, whereas other direct effects were weaker. RII partially mediates the relationship between PTE and readiness to adopt; this study highlights the importance of individual characteristics in implementing VR based study tours and has implications for educational innovation theory and practice in higher education.

ABSTRACT. The rise of Gen-Z consumers and digital transformation have positioned virtual platforms, including the metaverse, as central to social interaction and online consumption. Digital avatars allow users to express themselves through customization. While prior research links avatar customization to purchase intention, the role of sexualization and self-objectification remains underexplored. This study investigates how creating an ideal versus actual self-avatar influences item selection and purchase intention through perceived sexualization.

We recruited 199 UK-based participants to create avatars on ZEPETO reflecting either their actual or ideal self, then select a virtual item for further customization. Measures included purchase intention and perceptions of attractiveness, expertise, sexualization, and social value of the selected item. Results showed no direct effect of avatar type on purchase intention. However, ideal self avatars selected more items perceived as more sexualized, which in turn increased purchase intention. Mediation analyses confirmed that perceived sexualization mediated this relationship, with a more pronounced effect among female participants.

These findings extend self-discrepancy and self-objectification theories, highlighting sexualization as a mechanism linking ideal self avatars to virtual consumption. They also raise psychological concerns, suggesting platforms should promote intrinsically motivated self-expression to support well-being while maintaining engagement.

ABSTRACT. Advertising in the metaverse is influenced by multiple interconnected constituents that shape how consumers perceive, process, and respond to immersive brand communication. This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) follows PRISMA 2020 standards, synthesizes findings from 35 peer-reviewed studies to identify the key factors impacting advertising in virtual environments. The analysis reveals that metaverse advertising is primarily driven by technological constituents (interactivity, immersion, realism, telepresence), which create the foundation for user experience; psychological constituents (flow, enjoyment, presence, trust), which mediate emotional and cognitive engagement; and behavioral constituents (attitude, intention, loyalty), which determine response outcomes. However, the characteristics of the advertisement message itself remain largely overlooked, revealing a gap between channel features and message-level persuasion and emphasizing the need for research that unites both perspectives to advance understanding of advertising effectiveness in the metaverse.

ABSTRACT. Virtual reality (VR) has significant marketing potential, but its ability to evoke nostalgia and the impact of multisensory experiences, such as adding scents, remain underexplored. To address this gap, we conducted two experiments: one in a holiday market setting and another in a theme park. Our studies investigated whether nostalgic framing (retrospective vs. prospective) combined with scent cues influences patronage intentions through evoked nostalgia. The results show that high-immersivity VR is more effective in evoking nostalgia (Study 1). Furthermore, we found that nostalgic framing interacts with the presence of real or imagined smells in VR to predict downstream responses (Study 2).

ABSTRACT. Despite the benefits of digital technology and digitalization being the key priority, SMEs often struggle to realize these advantages and face barriers preventing them from successfully adopting and applying new technologies. This study responds to calls to better understand digitalization in small businesses, operating in B2B, context and how digital technology affects and shapes their business practices. Existing studies remain limited in scope, largely conceptual, technology-specific, or sector-specific, mainly focused on large firms, and none has examined B2B SMEs. Given SMEs limited resources and distinctive ways of operating, there is a clear gap between the speed of digitalization and the realities of small firms. Adopting a practice perspective, this study aims to develop a conceptual framework for B2B SMEs digitalization, generating knowledge relevant to academia and practice. This paper deepens understanding of digitalization in B2B SMEs as a continuous process linking adoption, application, and impact. Since research on SME digitalization still focuses on why firms adopt technologies or what outcomes they achieve, the application stage has been largely overlooked. We argue that digitalization in small B2B firms is rarely a straight or purely technical path, shifting the emphasis from technology to how managers make it work in everyday business routines.

ABSTRACT. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute 99% of all firms and employ more than 60% of the working-age population in the European Union. In recent years, they have faced increasing pressure to engage in digital transformation, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0 (Schmidt et al., 2020). Nevertheless, many SMEs continue to lag behind in adoption due to limited resources and insufficient managerial readiness (Fathi & Ghobakhloo, 2020). Most existing studies focus on technological implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing sector, while the marketing strategy dimension remains underexplored. Therefore, the research problem of this study concentrates on the identification of the main cognitive and organisational factors influencing the suitability and behavioural intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies in SME marketing strategy. Integrating three theoretical frameworks (TAM, TPB and TOE), the study tests how perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, managerial attitude, top management support and competitive environment affect the intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies in SME marketing strategy.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the digitalization of customer reacquisition strategies in B2B markets from the seller’s perspective. While acquisition and retention have dominated research and managerial focus, reacquisition remains underexplored despite its higher profitability potential. Drawing on in-depth interviews with experienced B2B sales professionals, the study develops a structured framework to understand how sellers diagnose customer loss, respond through justice-based actions, and leverage digital tools such as CRM and social media. Findings indicate that customer loss is mainly driven by stronger competitor offers, delayed responses, contractual issues, and product or service failures. Sellers rely on distributive, procedural, and interactional justice to re-engage customers, often through improved offers, quick responses, and acknowledgement of mistakes. CRM is widely used for identifying inactive customers but lacks qualitative insights, while LinkedIn serves as a contact channel but is less effective than personal interactions for trust rebuilding. Managerial support emerges as critical for validating offers and motivating sellers in recovery efforts. The study contributes by proposing a typology of reacquisition strategies and highlighting the enabling roles of digitalization and leadership. It emphasizes that customer reacquisition should be institutionalized as a strategic process rather than treated as ad hoc recovery.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the purchase intentions of consumers in Ukraine during the ongoing war in the product categories of electronics, household goods, furniture, and furnishings, which are both durable and non-essential goods. Based on the PERVAL model and additional constructs (subjective well-being, perceived usefulness, crisis perception), quantitative data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that the PERVAL dimensions have no significant impact on purchase intention, whereas the additional variables have significant effects in both product categories. In addition, age is a relevant control factor with a negative influence.

ABSTRACT. The pervasive use of mobile devices for social media in both personal and professional contexts can lead to problematic behaviors such as social networking site addiction (SNSA) and digital stress (DS). This study investigates how SNSA and DS affect employee outcomes across cultures. Using survey data from German and Japanese employees, multigroup structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the impact of SNSA and DS on psychological strain, workplace performance, and life satisfaction. Results show that both SNSA and DS contribute to increased psychological strain, which negatively influences performance and life satisfaction. Performance is also positively associated with life satisfaction. These patterns hold across both cultural contexts, suggesting SNSA and DS are global challenges in the workplace. The findings emphasize the need for organizations to assess and manage employees’ digital behaviors to mitigate negative outcomes.

ABSTRACT. In recent years, consumers have increasingly turned to alternative protein sources such as plant-based, fermented, lab-grown, and insect-based foods. Understanding which types of alternative proteins consumers prefer, what values influence these choices, and their potential for future dietary inclusion is essential. This study aimed to examine how different consumption values influence Lithuanian consumers’ purchase intentions toward alternative proteins. A quantitative descriptive design was employed using a computer-assisted web survey (CAWI) with a sample of 1,000 respondents. The results revealed that for plant-based proteins, conditional, emotional, functional (quality), and social values were the most influential. For lab-grown proteins, emotional, functional (quality), and social values dominated, with epistemic value playing a minor role. The purchase of fermented proteins was primarily shaped by functional (quality), emotional, conditional, and social values, while insect-based proteins were driven by conditional, emotional, epistemic, and functional (quality) values. From a practical perspective, the findings suggest that marketers and policymakers should emphasize product quality, sensory appeal, and emotional connection in their communication strategies to enhance acceptance and encourage the integration of alternative proteins into consumers’ diets.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to extend the current understanding of customer stewardship control (CSC) within the context of service encounters. Specifically, this study examines the downstream effects of frontline service employees' sense of CSC on customers. By collecting data from dyadic pairs of frontline service employees (FLSEs) and their respective customers (n=230), during service encounters within the organization, this study finds that FLSEs' CSC during service encounters can positively predict customer engagement and customers' tolerance for service failures, with customers' psychological ownership and service experience mediating this mechanism. Moreover, the cluster analysis demonstrates that FLSEs differ in their levels of CSC, allowing for classification into three groups: Champions, Middle of the roaders, and Laggards. Theoretically, the study contributes to retailing and service marketing literature by integrating stewardship theory, psychological ownership theory, and social exchange theory, and by mapping the linkages among the underlying constructs. It also proposes a novel classification of FLSEs. From a managerial perspective, the study provides insights into how organizations can identify, develop, and leverage stewardship-oriented employees to enhance customer experiences and foster long-term relational outcomes.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the dual impact of human density on customer satisfaction within luxury servicescapes, specifically premium airport lounges. Drawing on theories of spatial and social crowding, the research identifies two opposing mechanisms: spatial crowding reduces satisfaction by compromising perceived space sufficiency, while social crowding enhances satisfaction by fostering excitement and belonging. Moreover, the influence of these dynamics is moderated by time of day, linked to fluctuations in physiological arousal driven by circadian rhythms. Using field data from 16,033 airline passengers, the findings reveal that crowding perceptions evolve throughout the day, with spatial discomfort intensifying and social belonging becoming more rewarding. These insights advance understanding of how crowding dynamics shape experiences in luxury contexts and offer actionable strategies for optimizing customer satisfaction.

ABSTRACT. Apparel represents a product category that is not only characterised by utilitarian or hedonic aspects, but is also largely important in social interactions and serves as a medium for communication with others. Thus, consumers’ involvement in apparel purchasing is influenced by expectations regarding how products signal identity and trigger social responses. This study explores how two dispositional factors - propensity to trust others and reciprocity anxiety - shape individuals’ involvement with apparel and their engagement with online apparel store brands. Analysis of empirical data obtained from an online survey shows that both trust propensity and reciprocity anxiety positively influence category involvement, which in turn positively affects brand engagement. Reciprocity anxiety also has a direct positive effect on engagement, whereas trust does not, though both effects were significantly mediated by involvement. Our study contributes to engagement literature by highlighting the relationship dynamics among involvement in an apparel category and engagement with a store brand. Additionally, it discloses that involvement in a category is an important mediator of the relationships between personal characteristics and engagement.

ABSTRACT. To succeed, retailers must achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by effectively leveraging their resources and capabilities to differentiate themselves from competitors. Augmenting CRM capabilities with accurate data and superior intelligence to effectively identify and meet customers' needs are crucial for retailers’ quest to improving customer relationships, promoting loyalty, and gaining a competitive edge. AI has led to much debate in retailing, both from an academic and practitioner point of view. The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationships among CRM capabilities, AI technology application and SCA within the South African retail sector. It explores how CRM capabilities are associated with SCA and how the application of AI technologies moderates this relationship.The population for this study included employees working in South Africa's retail sector focused on clothing, textile, footwear and leather goods (CTFL) category. We report the results, discuss the theoretical and managerial implications and make some conclusions.The research empirically extends the RBV and DC theories, demonstrating how AI integration transforms firm-specific capabilities into drivers of competitive advantage.

ABSTRACT. The evolution of omnichannel strategies is increasingly defined by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. While existing research often focuses on technological integration or seamless customer journeys, a theoretical gap remains in understanding the underlying processes that make these intelligent experiences both adaptively responsive and authentically human-centered. To address this gap, this study employs a qualitative grounded theory approach to develop a substantive theory. The research design incorporates dual-phase data collection: a netnography of organic consumer discourse from online platforms and social media, supplemented by in-depth interviews with senior marketing executives. The analysis is designed to generate a theoretical model centered on the core category of Adaptive Seamlessness—the dynamic, context-aware coordination of technology and human touchpoints. The emergent model will elucidate key mechanisms, central tensions (e.g., over-automation, the personalization-privacy paradox), and the contextual conditions that characterize intelligent omnichannel experiences. By introducing the "Adaptive Seamlessness" lens, this study reconceptualizes the customer journey as a co-created, socio-technical system and provides a novel theoretical framework with actionable, empathy-centered insights for designing omnichannel ecosystems that are both intelligently adaptive and authentically human-centered.

ABSTRACT. The rise of online shopping has increased markedly in recent decades, leading to a strategic shift where managers are integrating digital and physical storefronts to enhance the consumer experience. This integrated approach is pivotal in marketing strategies, focusing on consumer engagement and distribution in line with consumer preferences. The challenge lies in melding physical and digital experiences, influencing consumer attitudes and behaviors. Research has explored aspects such as website design and omnichannel strategies separately; however, this study aims to examine their combined effect on online shopping dynamics. Our research initially explored how online shopping platforms align with consumer self-concept and the need for tactile interaction. Then it narrowed down to assess how specific design elements—color, brightness, information density, anthropomorphization, and omnichannel presence—affected consumer perceptions. Analyzing the responses of 148 participants to various online shopping setups, we found that tactile interaction significantly mediates the relationship between website design and consumer self-extension. Color emerged as the most influential design element, significantly affecting online shopping experience configurations. This research contributes to understanding the interplay between color psychology and online shopping design, offering insights for enhancing consumer engagement in online retail and highlighting the importance of omnichannel strategies.

ABSTRACT. As service robots increasingly enter retail spaces, customers are becoming exposed to new forms of in-store interaction that blend automation with social interaction. While prior research has focused on robots’ perceived authenticity, warmth, or privacy concerns, little is known about how these technologies will shape customer experience in intimate, body-salient contexts such as fitting rooms. This study will address this gap by examining how a robot’s role framing (servant vs. partner) interacts with the spatial intimacy of the retail environment (shop floor vs. fitting room) to influence instrumental customer experience, the cognitive, behavioral, and social appropriateness dimensions of interaction, and micro-emotions such as playfulness or awkwardness. Using a first-person video-based experimental design filmed in a realistic apparel store, the research aims to reveal how the same robotic behavior may foster comfort in public zones but trigger discomfort in private ones, advancing understanding of social experience in technology-mediated retailing.

ABSTRACT. In response to rising societal expectations and shifting consumer values, this paper introduces a refined strategic framework for brand-conscious marketing—an emerging paradigm that repositions brands as agents of ethical, pro-social, and transformative impact. Despite its growing relevance, conscious marketing remains conceptually ambiguous and often conflated with adjacent constructs such as CSR, cause marketing, and brand activism. To address this gap, the paper applies Suddaby’s (2010) construct clarity methodology, offering semantic and constitutive definitions, historical contextualization, and scope conditions to establish brand-conscious marketing as a distinct and operationally useful concept. Anchored in four foundational pillars—reason for being, objective beyond profit, pro-social contribution, and transformative impact—the framework integrates three second-order dimensions: responsibility, responsiveness, and relevance. These dimensions are supported by measurable subcomponents that enable empirical research and practical implementation. By clarifying the construct and aligning brand strategy with stakeholder values, this paper responds to the disciplinary gap identified by Yadav (2010), who notes the decline of conceptual articles in marketing scholarship. By offering a robust framework for brand-conscious marketing, this paper hopes to contribute to the revitalization of theory-building in the field.

ABSTRACT. The core research gap addressed in this paper is the limited empirical research on how co-creational sustainability, defined as a relational, value-generating process between corporate brands and their stakeholders, impacts B2B corporate brand identity across industries. Primary data was collected through 12 semi-structured interviews with managerial staff responsible for the branding and sustainability functions, aiming to elicit rich, contextualised interpretations of co-creational sustainability. The collected data were transcribed and thematically analysed using the Gioia methodology, supported by NVivo, to iteratively code, abstract, and aggregate conceptual dimensions. The findings show that co-creational sustainability is a multidimensional construct comprising three core domains: environmental, economic, and social. This research is original in empirically advancing co-creational sustainability as a strategic driver of B2B brand identity, offering a multidimensional framework that highlights stakeholder-driven value creation across environmental, economic, and social domains, an area with limited prior empirical attention.

ABSTRACT. Greenwashing, sportswashing, woke washing, rainbowwashing, pinkwashing, and other forms of reputation laundering often mislead consumers regarding companies and countries. The term consciousness washing is offered as an overarching parsimonious construct to reduce construct proliferation and advance research. Importantly, new forms of consciousness washing are largely associative and without brand claims. A definition of the new construct and a model of consumer focused washing are presented. Theories useful in investigating consciousness washing are provided. The conceptualization of consciousness washing as an encompassing construct is useful for understanding the evolving range of behaviors in this interdisciplinary space and identifying how audiences perceive ethically questionable communications and associations.

ABSTRACT. Companies have recognized their role in achieving sustainability while incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guiding principle. And while companies in the business-to-business (B2B) sector could leverage the communicative power of brands to promote sustainability to industrial customers and other stakeholders, the question remains as to how exactly B2B branding and sustainability influence each other. To clarify the relationship between B2B branding and the SDGs, this study applies an integrative review to the current body of sustainable B2B branding literature. The results indicate that the engagement of B2B marketing scholars with sustainability is emergent but nascent. Combining an outside-in and inside-out perspective and integrating the empirical results of pervious research, we conceptualize the “virtuous cycle of branding and sustainability in the B2B context”. This describes the process, in which firms adopt sustainable practices to reap branding benefits, and the resulting strong, purpose-driven brand can again then be leveraged to advocate for and implement greater sustainability initiatives. With this conceptualization, we aim to advance theory on B2B value creation and support practitioners in leveraging branding and sustainability in mutually reinforcing ways.

ABSTRACT. This research draws upon organizational population ecology theory to investigate how the evolving product populations of two-sided platform ecosystems affect the growth of new products (i.e., volume and quality) offered by external innovators on such platforms. Moreover, this research examines how the marketing strategies of platform differentiation and product multihoming influence this new product growth. Empirically, this study collects longitudinal data from the video game industry, including more than 10,000 games and ratings by more than 100,000 users, to employ an instrumental variables approach using two-stage least squares. The findings indicate that platform differentiation has negative implications for the platform ecosystem by attenuating the rate of new products launched by external innovators while negatively influencing the quality of those new products. These unintended consequences of platform differentiation counteract platform managers’ goals of enticing the talents of external innovators. Furthermore, the results suggest that developer product multihoming attenuates the rate of new products launched and, thus, has negative repercussions for the platform ecosystem. This is especially detrimental for young platforms that need to encourage new product growth to garner platform adoption. Consequently, this research offers marketing strategy insights for platform managers and external innovators who develop new products for those platforms.

ABSTRACT. Small independent retailers in emerging markets often struggle to translate digitalization into service‐led value. Anchored in the Technology–Organization–Environment lens, the resource‐based view, and dynamic capabilities, this study theorizes that owner-level entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and entrepreneurial competence (EC) foster exploratory and exploitative innovation, which in turn drive digitalization and enable servitization. We further posit that the perceived value of digital servitization amplifies the translation of ambidextrous innovation into concrete digital moves, whereas competitive pressure does not. A cross-sectional survey of Vietnamese small retailers analyzed with variance-based structural equation modeling supports these propositions: EO and EC consistently promote both exploration and exploitation; both innovation modes advance digitalization; and digitalization facilitates service extension. Perceived value strengthens the effects of exploration and exploitation on digitalization, while market rivalry shows no conditioning effect. The study clarifies the micro-foundations linking entrepreneurship, ambidexterity, and the digitalization–servitization pathway in small retail, and directs managers toward building owner capabilities and value-focused framing to mobilize innovation into digitally enabled service growth.

ABSTRACT. We suggest a machine-based research literature method for managerial decision making specific to startups, by utilising marketing and management scientific literature. Based on artificial intelligence developments from materials science research, we describe how offline and online marketing and management science can be extracted from documents, classified and tokenised into individual words. This method could eventually be used for the transfer of knowledge to practice both at specific time points and across a roadmap as well as for the automated formulation of hypotheses. We conclude with recommendations for next steps.

ABSTRACT. Food waste in restaurants is a major sustainability challenge, often driven by portion-size misalignments and limited consumer anticipation. This study investigates how AR-based e-menus, which enable portion customization and preview, foster anticipated meal completion as a proxy for perceived food waste. Drawing on the AR-enhanced dining experience (AR-EX) model and the Online Customer Experience (OCE) framework, this study introduces eudaimonic experience, defined as personal meaning and reflection from value-aligned choices, as a fourth dimension alongside utilitarian, hedonic, and social ones. A mixed method design with structural equation modeling examines how the AR-based e-menu’s verbal and visual design elements shape AR-enhanced dining experiences and influence anticipated meal completion and reuse intentions.

ABSTRACT. Despite the increasing integration of technology in online retail, such as virtual fitting rooms (VFR), its adoption remains inconsistent due to shifting consumer concerns about usability, perceptions, risk, and trust. This research presents a novel experimental investigation into VFR technology adoption, specifically analysing its impact on shoppers’ real behaviour while buying shoes. The research is divided into two parts. Study 1 focuses on an untrained non-user (control group) of VFR, while Study 2 examines a trained non-user (experimental group) of VFR users. The theoretical contribution extends beyond demonstrating that VFR influences adoption to elucidating how specific interactive features function as stimuli that recalibrate consumer perceptions, thereby offering practitioners an evidence-based framework for optimising VFR design elements to maximise user engagement.

ABSTRACT. Despite documented advantages in presence and engagement, 360° video has not achieved mainstream adoption for tourism content, even with available technology and infrastructure. We investigate this paradox through two within-subjects experiments (N=50; N=52). Study 1 confirmed 360°'s substantial superiority over 2D content derived from the same footage, showing large effects across experiential, functional, and behavioral dimensions. Study 2, however, revealed a striking reversal: these advantages largely disappeared when 360° competed against professionally produced 2D content. Professional cinematographic techniques—drone footage, dynamic camera movements, strategic framing—achieved format parity on presence, engagement, and enjoyment, with only spatial understanding favoring 360°. Qualitative analysis exposed the underlying tension: while 360° delivered superior informativeness and exploration capabilities, it demanded higher cognitive effort; professional 2D provided comparable immersion with significantly lower consumption barriers. Context suitability ratings further indicated 360°'s viability remains confined to spatial exploration domains (real estate, tourism) rather than entertainment. Findings challenge prior assumptions about inherent format superiority and explain 360°'s adoption barriers through unfavorable cognitive effort-reward trade-offs.

ABSTRACT. This study examines how luxury is transmitted from mothers to daughters, focusing on its emotional, symbolic, and spiritual dimensions. A qualitative multi-method approach was used, combining semi-structured interviews with an innovative art-based projective technique: the collective collage. Ten mother–daughter dyads participated, leading to the creation of two collages—one maternal, one filial—that visually expressed their shared meanings of luxury. The findings reveal two complementary visions. Mothers view luxury as timeless, authentic, and spiritual—a philosophy of life expressed through the body, soul, and spirit. The body reflects material beauty and craftsmanship, the soul conveys emotion and memory, and the spirit embodies intuition and inner light. Daughters, on the other hand, reinterpret inherited luxury as hybrid, expressive, and future-oriented, blending tradition with modernity. These insights lead to the addition of a fifth phase—projection to the established transmission model (Sherry, 1983; Kessous et al., 2017), showing how new generations reinvent heritage. The study also demonstrates the power of visual, art-based methods to uncover hidden meanings in luxury consumption. Managerially, it encourages brands to foster circularity, personalization, and intergenerational collections that connect the past, the present, and the future.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the relationship between brand architecture and financial performance in global luxury conglomerates over a ten-year period (2014–2023). Drawing on longitudinal data from 30 annual reports of LVMH, Kering, and Richemont, the research employs a mixed-methods approach to analyze how different architectural models, house of brands, hybrid, and endorsed, affect strategic resilience, brand extension, and economic outcomes. Findings reveal that LVMH’s decentralized structure fosters operational elasticity and symbolic coherence, enabling superior growth (+190%) and stable margins. Kering’s overreliance on Gucci (accounting for up to 63% of revenue) highlights the risks associated with dependence on a single anchor brand. At the same time, Richemont’s specialization in high-end watchmaking ensures margin preservation but limits its adaptability. The study contributes to brand architecture theory by demonstrating that volume and prestige are not mutually exclusive when supported by narrative control and creative curation. Managerial implications include the need for diversified portfolios, symbolic risk governance, and proactive digital integration. Brand architecture is a central driver of resilience and sustainable growth in luxury markets, especially during global crises

ABSTRACT. In luxury hospitality landscape, AI is redefining the consumer experience by bringing unparalleled levels of personalization which is vital for the luxury consumers. However, its impact on consumers’ engagement, specially their visual attention, it is still not clear. This research explores the impact of AI (vs. human) on guests’ visual attention patterns and their willingness to pay by examining how engagement and status play a role in these outcomes. Across two studies, including eye-tracking evidence, this research reveals that AI-driven interactions reduce consumers’ visual attention (pilot study) and their engagement (study 1) with the service experience. This reduction in engagement leads to a decrease in perceived status, which is a crucial aspect of the luxury consumer experience, ultimately leading to a decreased willingness to pay. This study offers important theoretical and managerial implications for the luxury hospitality landscape by shedding light on the impact of the type of interaction (AI vs. human) in the luxury hospitality and its challenges to consumers’ experience.

ABSTRACT. This article aims to understand the concept of artification in the interaction between commercialized brands and museums. The specific objectives are: a) to identify which artification micro-processes are incorporated into branded exhibitions or museums compared to traditional museums; and b) to examine how brand history has been utilized in branded museums. Drawing on interpretive interactionism and ethnographic observations of exhibitions in London, the findings reveal that traditional museums confer symbolic legitimacy to brands through displacement, renaming, and reclassification, whereas brand museums represent a partial artification due to their commercial nature. A conceptual model is proposed to illustrate the strategic interactions between brands, art, and cultural institutions. The study contributes to branding theory by integrating artification into brand heritage, offering managerial insights for leveraging cultural partnerships to enhance brand value and support museum sustainability.

ABSTRACT. Mass media plays an increasingly influential role in shaping consumer perceptions of service providers. This research investigates how televised portrayals, specifically those from popular Italian competition shows 4 Ristoranti and 4 Hotel, affect consumer sentiment toward service providers. While these shows aim to celebrate local identity and culinary authenticity, the resulting exposure can have unintended consequences. We propose that such shows may inadvertently inflate inexpert viewers’ confidence in their own ability to judge service quality. Using a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) design and over one million Tripadvisor reviews, we estimate the causal impact of appearing on these shows on consumer sentiment. Results show that media exposure often leads to a decline in sentiment, suggesting a backlash driven by overconfidence in one’s ability to judge. These findings offer a novel perspective on (voluntary) media visibility, emphasizing that while it brings attention, it also invites intensified scrutiny. For small and family-run service providers, this can result in a reputational paradox: celebrated on screen yet criticized in practice. The study contributes to research on consumer behavior, media effects, and hospitality marketing, while shedding light on the psychological mechanisms that shape consumer evaluations following media exposure.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the sequential dynamics between budget performance, sales performance, and satisfaction in B2B service contexts, comparing hierarchical and non-hierarchical models. Using survey data from 389 Norwegian service-oriented firms, the research incorporates both practice-based measures (budget attainment) and research-based constructs (relative and absolute performance, financial and social satisfaction). Findings from the hierarchical model show that budget performance predicts sales performance, which in turn predicts satisfaction, confirming a sequential pathway. However, the non-hierarchical model reveals a more nuanced dynamic: budget performance significantly influences both relative and absolute performance, but only absolute performance predicts financial and social satisfaction. Relative performance shows no significant direct effect. Moreover, financial satisfaction partially spills over into social satisfaction, suggesting that economic recognition precedes relational fulfilment. The results emphasize that perceptions of absolute performance—how service providers evaluate their own effectiveness—are more decisive for satisfaction than objective comparisons. This study contributes by bridging practical and academic measures, offering a unified framework to understand service providers’ outcomes in B2B contexts. Managerially, the findings highlight the need to complement budget monitoring with feedback, recognition, and support systems that foster both financial and relational satisfaction among frontline sales staff.

ABSTRACT. Fitness advertising often features models wearing skin-revealing attire. While showcasing a fit physique can signal expertise, overly revealing outfits may backfire if seen as inappropriate. This research isolates the effect of outfit length in yoga advertising. An online experiment (n = 300) tested how trainer attire influences cognitive and affective ad and trainer perceptions, as well as participation intentions. An eye-tracking study (n = 96) examined the dual role of visual attention as both outcome and moderator. Results show that both highly revealing and unusually conservative outfits are less effective than standard fitness attire, but for different gender-specific reasons. Women found revealing outfits unappealing and preferred cues of ad quality and trainer confidence unrelated to clothing. Men viewed long outfits as lacking sensuality and perceived short outfits as signs of open-mindedness, increasing their interest. Skin exposure shifted some gaze from the face to the upper body but did not reduce attention to contextual information. Visual attention further influenced how outfits were interpreted.

ABSTRACT. Economic conditions influence retailers, brand managers, and consumers alike. In times of crisis, consumer behavior often changes, requiring adjustments to the marketing mix. Yet, little is known about how such adaptations should reflect the economic environment. This study addresses this gap by examining how the share of national brand (NB) price promotions, as a central element of the marketing mix, affects retailer performance under different economic conditions. Based on Bayesian statistics and a panel dataset of over 22 million purchases from 2006 to 2023, the study provides evidence for an inverted u-shaped relationship between the Share of NB Promotions and retailer performance. This confirms previous research and enables the identification of an optimal promotional share that maximizes performance – the “Honeymoon”. Importantly, the findings show that deviations from the optimal Share of NB Promotions are more harmful in times of crisis. These results extend the promotional pricing literature by incorporating the role of economic conditions. For practice, the study offers a framework to determine and adjust optimal promotion strategies in response to external market pressures. In an era marked by multiple global crises, aligning promotional intensity with economic reality is key to maintaining long-term competitiveness.

ABSTRACT. Price promotions can bundle multiple features, such as discount depth, time restrictions, purchase quantity limits, and eligibility conditions. Such features are known to independently influence consumer response. Less known, however, is how such promotional features might covary in the minds of consumers. We extend Friestad and Wright’s (1994) Persuasion Knowledge Model, by suggesting that consumers learn from statistical regularities in the promotional environment thereby allowing the formation of naïve beliefs about how discount depth and time restrictions typically co-occur To assess our primary hypotheses, we conducted an experiment to obtain the consumer response data needed for elasticity estimation and within-person covariance calculation. Our results suggest that these beliefs may arise from automatic learning rather than effortful persuasion knowledge deployment. Second, these covariance beliefs exhibit diagnostic asymmetry suggesting that cue-diagnostic principles likely extend to second-order relational structures. Third, the universality of the observed covariance pattern challenges expertise-based schema theories, suggesting remarkable robustness in distributional beliefs across individual consumers. From a managerial perspective, our findings provide concrete and systematic guidance. Promotions violating expected covariance structures (e.g., “70% off all October”) will be perceived as atypical, potentially resulting in attributional discounting of product or retailer attributes.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the impact of perceived sincerity in promotional price display on purchase intention and positive word of mouth (WOM), considering the mediating roles of credibility and brand personality, as well as the moderating role of brand knowledge. To test the proposed model, we conducted two online experiments with a final sample of 282 respondents. The results indicate that “more sincere” promotional price displays enhance consumer perceptions of credibility and brand personality, ultimately leading to increased purchase intentions and positive WOM. Furthermore, our findings suggest that brand knowledge does not significantly mitigate the negative effect of “less sincere” promotional price displays. This research extends the existing literature on price promotions and price displays, demonstrating that retailers should reshape traditional promotional price display strategies to appear more sincere, regardless of whether the brand is well-known.

ABSTRACT. New forms of mobility are rapidly emerging, but remain inaccessible to many due to factors such as cost or location. Improving access requires not only novel vehicle technologies but also pricing models that are affordable for diverse demographic groups. Initial approaches to data-driven pricing already exist. However, it is essential to note that these approaches are primarily driven by profit. This paper introduces “social AI-based pricing”, a model that applies artificial intelligence in a socially informed manner, intending to promote equitable access to new technologies and advance social justice in the mobility sector. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the concept. Study 1 utilizes a driving simulator to examine the perceived fairness of social AI-based pricing in a realistic scenario. Study 2, designed as a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, validates and extends these findings. Both studies reveal the “AI-paradox of social price fairness”, where fair prices may cause dissatisfaction or mistrust. The phenomenon can be explained through social dilemma, data sensitivity, and social stigmatization. The study also highlights the crucial role of service fairness in shaping consumer acceptance. The paper concludes by outlining implications for marketers, companies, and policymakers to address these challenges and propose directions for future research.

ABSTRACT. The imitation of packaging by private labels is a widespread practice. Increasingly, even established brands with strong brand identities are considering imitating distinctive packaging features of competitors. This research investigates the consequences for well-established brands when they engage in such imitation, drawing inspiration from the legal dispute between Milka and Ritter Sport over the iconic square chocolate bar shape. Across four experimental studies, the findings demonstrate that imitation by an established brand negatively affects attitude toward the imitator. The effect is mediated by reduced perceptions of brand authenticity and brand trust. Study 1 confirms the iconic status of the Ritter Sports square bar shape, Studies 2 and 3 show that only the imitation of iconic (vs. non-iconic) designs triggers negative reactions, and Study 4 reveals that the effect occurs only when the imitator is a well-established (vs. lesser-known) brand. Overall, the results suggest that brands with iconic design elements have more to lose than to gain from imitating unique elements of competitors’ packaging. Unlike private labels without dedicated brand identities, established brands do not benefit from knowledge transfer, but risk a decline in brand authenticity, brand trust, and eventually, attitude toward the brand.

ABSTRACT. The increasing share of Gen Z in the labor market, combined with a shortage of young professionals in the public sector, poses a risk to institutional knowledge transfer, public service efficiency, and innovation. A potential solution is an employer brand – the strategy to attract, retain, and motivate employees. This study aims to examine how the employer value proposition impacts organizational attractiveness, specifically through the mediating effect of public service motivation among Generation Z. A quantitative cross-sectional research design using an online survey was selected to test the hypotheses. The findings indicate that public service motivation serves as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between the employer value proposition and organizational attractiveness among Generation Z. While employer value proposition exerts a direct positive effect on perceptions of public sector organizations as desirable employers, public service motivation strengthens this relationship by shaping how young individuals interpret and value these propositions. This suggests that Generation Z’s evaluation of public employers also depends on their intrinsic motivation to contribute to the public good, therefore, policymakers and organizations should place greater emphasis on the narrative surrounding the meaning of work in the public sector.

ABSTRACT. This paper proposes a typology of logotypes by identifying their essential constitutive elements. Despite the central role of logos on consumer response (Deng et al., 2010; Celhay & Luffarelli, 2024; Liang et al., 2024), marketing research still lacks a consensual academic classification (Kim & Lim, 2019). Existing practitioner typologies remain inconsistent, relying on aesthetic or functional distinctions without theoretical grounding. This absence of a clear framework based on a multidisciplinary approach (Foroudi et al., 2017) limits the comparability of experimental studies and the operational efficiency of branding strategies. The objective of this study is therefore to establish a rigorous, interdisciplinary typology of logos based on their fundamental components.

ABSTRACT. The literature on the benefits allying with human brands perceived as authentic or true to themselves can bring to service/product brand partners is rapidly gaining traction (Duffek et al., 2025). After nearly a decade of research on human brand authenticity (Moulard et al., 2014), and 18 years following the first study on human brand alliances (Seno & Lukas, 2007), the central question seems simple yet intricate: how could different cognitive characteristics of partners be leveraged to enhance the attitudinal benefits/behavioural intentions human brand authenticity offers the ally? Using quantitative data from 860 consumers in the UK, this study verifies whether the effects of human brand authenticity on partner’s attitudes/intentions diverge, when alliance’s congruence, expectancy and human brand’s perceived selfless motives differ among target audiences. This research reveals that managers aspiring to enhance cognitions (trust, self-brand identification, attitude) and behavioural intentions towards their brand, should ally with a human brand perceived as authentic, congruent with their brand, and the alliance expected to be executed by their target audience(s). If the objective is to boost solely the brand cognitions (trust, self-brand identification, attitude), managers can launch alliances with human brands whom their target audience(s) deem authentic and holding selfless motives for collaborating.

ABSTRACT. While anthropomorphic AI is widely used in consumer markets to foster trust and engagement, this design strategy presents a significant paradox by creating unintended cognitive harms. This paper presents a systematic literature review that synthesizes evidence from 164 articles to answer the question: What are the negative cognitive consequences of anthropomorphic AI in consumer contexts? Our thematic analysis reveals four primary categories of cognitive downsides: (1) cognitive dissonance from unmet, socially-grounded expectations; (2) impaired judgment and biased decision-making due to the activation of social heuristics; (3) erosion of consumer agency and skill atrophy from sustained cognitive offloading; and (4) psychological vulnerability and emotional discomfort arising from blurred social boundaries. By consolidating these fragmented findings, this review offers the first typology of anthropomorphic cognitive liabilities. It provides crucial insights for theory and practice, highlighting the need for designers and marketers to calibrate human-like features to mitigate these cognitive risks.

ABSTRACT. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric cartography of 45,126 marketing articles spanning 1956-2025, revealing the discipline's systematic construction of theoretical infrastructure essential for AI integration. Through advanced topic modeling and multiple correspondence analysis, we identify 50 distinct thematic clusters representing accumulated epistemological capital across consumer behavior, service excellence, relationship dynamics, digital transformation, and ethical responsibility. Our analysis documents marketing's exponential growth trajectory - from 135 articles (1956-1960) to 8,834 articles (2021-2025), with AI-specific research accelerating from 11 papers (1991-2015) to 419 papers (2021-2025). We demonstrate how foundational methodological innovations, service quality frameworks, relationship marketing theory, service-dominant logic, and market orientation research have created theoretical scaffolding enabling responsible AI deployment. We identify five critical paradoxes that demand continuous negotiation: personalization versus privacy, efficiency versus authenticity, optimization versus exploration, algorithmic fairness versus business performance, and transparency versus competitive advantage. Our proposed framework for AI-Augmented Marketing Intelligence (AAMI) integrates these tensions through six core principles: augmentation over automation, algorithmic value co-creation, trust-centered design, fairness by design, dynamic privacy equilibrium, and experiential richness preservation. This synthesis advances marketing theory by revealing how seven decades of disciplinary development have positioned marketing to navigate AI's epistemological, methodological, and ethical challenges while maintaining commitment to human welfare.

ABSTRACT. As technology advances in the field of artificial intelligence, social chatbots are becoming increasingly relevant. Their ability to simulate human interactions and emotions can intensify the experience of parasocial interaction and contribute to the development of a parasocial relationship. However, how parasocial relationships and their specific forms, e.g., love relationships, emerge and what effects they can have is still not fully understood. To fill this gap, we apply commitment-trust theory to the context of parasocial relationships with chatbots. Our empirical results show that communication, anthropomorphism, personalization, and escapism contribute to trust, which in turn strengthens commitment. In addition, perceived love and a parasocial preference for the chatbot can develop on the basis of commitment. Consequently, commitment-trust theory can be used to explain how chatbot love and a parasocial preference for the chatbot arise.

ABSTRACT. Despite increasing global environmental sustainability efforts, consumption levels continue to rise, contributing to environmental degradation and health challenges. Traditional policy measures have proven insufficient to curb overconsumption, emphasizing the need to understand consumer behavioral underpinnings. Materialism – a value orientation emphasizing possessions as a means to happiness and success – has been traditionally associated with unsustainable behavior. However, recent evidence indicates that materialism can, under certain circumstances, promote pro-environmental behavior, such as when sustainability signals status or social identity. These inconsistent findings suggest the coexistence of opposing evaluative systems within consumers. This study applies the Dual-Attitude Model to explain how implicit and explicit attitudes toward materialism jointly shape pro-environmental behavior. Specifically, it examines how cognitive load moderates the effect of these dual attitudes on behavioral outcomes. An experimental design was employed, combining an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess implicit materialism and explicit materialism manipulation for dual-attitudes activation, and a simulated online shopping task to capture behavioral responses. Results indicate that consumers with positive implicit and negative explicit materialism, particularly under low cognitive load, demonstrated stronger pro-environmental behavior. These findings highlight dual-attitude activation in explaining consumer behavior paradoxes and offer new insights into behavioral mechanisms in explaining pro-environmental consumer behavior.

ABSTRACT. Emerging AI technologies are transforming consumer–brand relationships by enabling personalized and emotionally aware experiences. This conceptual paper integrates classic brand equity models with relationship marketing theory and recent AI findings to propose a comprehensive framework for understanding how empathetic AI personalization fosters brand trust and emotional brand loyalty. The model highlights the role of AI personalization intensity, perceived empathy, emotional congruence, ethical transparency, and consumer privacy concerns. Ethical transparency and privacy concerns are proposed as key moderators shaping the empathy–trust dynamic. Managerial implications emphasize the importance of balancing emotional intelligence with ethical safeguards. The framework provides a timely contribution to the growing field of AI-driven marketing by offering a foundation for future empirical studies and helping brands build sustainable, trust-based customer relationships in the digital era.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how trans-parasocial relationships between influencers and followers affect follower responses in influencer marketing. Social presence mediated the effects of trans-parasocial relationships on word-of-mouth and brand attitude, while perceived homophily and persuasion knowledge moderated these relationships. Results based on 361 Taiwanese social media users show that trans-parasocial relationships significantly increase followers’ word-of-mouth and attitude toward recommended brands. The results highlight social presence, perceived homophily, and persuasion knowledge as key psychological mechanisms explaining how trans-parasocial relationships influence follower responses. These findings extend the literature on trans-parasocial relationships and provide practical guidance for marketers to effectively engage and target diverse follower segments.