ABSTRACT. In the online retail context, the integration of augmented reality (AR) has revolutionized customer experiences and interactions with brands and products. Recognizing the consumer's inherent role in value co-creation, multiple studies assert AR's capacity to facilitate and enhance this collaborative process. However, very few studies have explored value co-creation behavior following the use of a mobile AR application. In this sense, the present study aims to explore the influence of AR on customer value co-creation throughout the purchase and post-purchase phases. Utilizing a qualitative research approach with nineteen online consumers, a thematic content analysis on their speeches was conducted. The findings of the study reveal that the impact of AR on the co-creation of value is centered on two key facets: (1) the AR application itself and (2) the content it offers. Furthermore, this influence is manifested through the lens of three essential components: (1) experience, (2) personalization, and (3) relational value.

ABSTRACT. Augmented Reality (AR) blends virtual elements into the real world, reshaping users' perceptions and enabling data collection for personalization. AR's role in shaping the Metaverse, a digital world fostering human interaction, is significant. Although it holds great business potential, privacy concerns arise, with over half of AR users worried about their privacy, which further results in privacy paradox due to their inconsistent behaviours. While there has been some initial research to investigate how to interrupt the privacy paradox, we still know little about the factors that can amplify or interrupt it. Considering the intersection of other benefits- utilitarian and social remains unexplored. This study delves into the influence of social factors on the privacy paradox. We aim to uncover how the presence of others affects individuals’ behavioural intentions in private contexts of AR. Additionally, we explore how these effects may be mediated by impression management concerns, and how individuals’ motivations may vary based on their personal values. This study is anticipated to contribute both theoretical and practical insights in the domain of immersive technology and business ethics.

ABSTRACT. This study empirically examines the use of AI Augmented Reality Digital Assistants (ARDA) and their role in enhancing consumers’ phygital service experience satisfaction. Our research develops understanding into how ARDAs influence consumers’ phygital service experience satisfaction based on the level of anthropomorphism (perceived physical presence: Human vs Robot). Although our experimental data shows that there are no differences between robot vs. human ARDAs on overall phygital service experience satisfaction, this is an interesting finding in establishing that ARDAs are powerful service enhancement tools through the provision of a personified assistant experience, regardless of their aesthetic. Further results show the significance of the personified ARDA with the presence of immersion and authenticity. Interestingly, authenticity was experienced by users of both the robot and human ARDA experiences in this instance, which may indicate that in a phygital environment, due to the use of technology and the blend of the digital and physical environment, consumers do not significantly process a difference between human and robot in relation to service experience satisfaction. This opens interesting avenues of research in attempting to move beyond silos of digital and physical worlds and to understand social presence and anthropomorphism in a blended phygital service environment.

ABSTRACT. The paper presents insights into the consumption experience associated with wine. Not all wine drinking is driven by ephemeral pleasure. Here, a mixed-methods approach following traditional scale development procedures provides an avenue for developing and initially validating a higher-order scale capturing the value of wine drinking. The more abstract second-order wine value dimension is indicated by four first-order dimensions. These first-order dimensions represent social value, epicurean value, coping value, and utilitarian value.

ABSTRACT. Wine festivals represent not just notable ways to provide wine tourism experiences, but also an opportunity for wine businesses, especially small scale ones, to educate consumers and seize wine marketing benefits. Recently, wine festivals have attracted scholarly attention for their role in celebrating an area’s unique terroir. Even if empirical evidence has been provided regarding terroir as a wine choice factor, its investigation in the context of wine festivals is still lacking. Previous literature has mainly investigated behavioral intentions referring to visitor loyalty in the form of repeated visits and positive recommendations to others, while less attention has been given to wine purchasing behavior. With a survey on 282 participants to a wine festival in the South of Italy, the present research developed a model by bringing together terroir-authenticity perceptions and wine involvement of wine festival’s attendees, festival educational experience and behavioral intentions towards wines at the core of the festival. Structured equation modeling analysis revealed that terroir-authenticity, wine involvement, and festival educational experience, all positively influence behavioral intentions of festival’s attendees towards local wines. Furthermore, festival educational experience plays a partial mediating role on the relationships between terroir-authenticity perceptions and behavioral intentions and between wine involvement and behavioral intentions.

ABSTRACT. Nutrition labeling has gained substantial attention in the 21st century and aims to educate consumers about nutritional content of packaged foods. Especially the rise in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has increased interest of organizations and governments in a measure capable of effectively informing consumers and promoting healthier food choices. In particular, placing simplified nutrition labeling in form of front-of-pack labels (FOPL) holds promise of efficiently educating consumers about the nutritional quality of food items and aiding them in making well-informed and healthier food choices. Children and adolescents constitute a significant audience for FOPL, as food packaging can shape their preferences, and healthy eating habits during youth are predictive of healthy dietary behaviors in adulthood. While there is a growing interest in solutions addressing health-related issues associated with food consumption at a young age, there is limited research on the impact of FOPLs on product perception and behavior in children and adolescents. In light of this, our study aims to offer profound insights into the influence of FOPLs on the assessment of healthy and unhealthy food products by children and adolescents. Our findings provide valuable insights for both scientific and practical applications in this field.

ABSTRACT. Organic labels certify that a product promotes ecological balance. The problem is that such organic products may also be perceived as healthier than non-organic products and thus inadvertently encourage overconsumption. While this may be beneficial in the case of fruits and vegetables, it is more problematic when it comes to alcohol (e.g., red wine). The present studies conducted with US participants revealed an organic = healthy = tasty intuition at the implicit level, and a willingness to drink and buy more organic than non-organic wine at the explicit level. However, when the colour of the label was changed from green to red, a red label = unhealthy = tasty intuition was observed. Moreover, participants indicated wanting to buy more wine but, to consume less, when the label was changed from green to red. These findings have implications for marketers and policy-makers wanting to support more responsible wine consumption.

ABSTRACT. This study sought to understand the factors influencing consumers’ circular economy engagement behaviour. We use an online survey and draw on a cross-national sample of 307 Kenyans in East Africa and 296 Egyptians in North Africa to test the predictions in the research. The findings show that individual social responsibility influences consumers’ climate change concerns in Kenya and Egypt. Moreover, whereas individual social responsibility had a significant positive influence on circular economy engagement in Kenya, such a relationship was not confirmed in Egypt. Similarly, the findings show climate change concerns strongly predicted circular economy engagement in Kenya and Egypt. The findings also show that future-focused beliefs moderate the relationship between individual social responsibility and climate concerns in Kenya but not in Egypt, suggesting that increased awareness and emphasis on the future promote a sense of social responsibility to amplify climate concerns. However, the Egyptian counterparts did not show similar effects. The study offers several managerial implications for companies and social enterprise firms interested in promoting circular economy behaviours.

ABSTRACT. Fashion brands have been witnessing unprecedented growth, but at the same time, consumers increasingly incorporate CSR considerations into their purchase decisions while expecting authenticity and transparency in companies’ green marketing efforts. To gain an understanding of how online shoppers process eco-friendly cues, we conducted an eye tracking experiment (N = 77) in which we investigate the role of two product attributes and two design elements on consumers’ perceptions of fashion stores and their products. We found that product country of origin and website colors play a role, while eco-labels and different brand logo shapes do not.

ABSTRACT. In the last decade, academic interest in the consumer- or customer engagement concept has gained traction. While important insight has been gleaned into engagement’s conceptualization, dimensionality, and nomological network, understanding of consumers’ sustainable or green engagement with brands lags behind, warranting further investigation. In parallel, consumers are increasingly concerned about climate change and its effects on our everyday lives and on that of future generations. To combat climate change, firms are increasingly incentivizing consumers to engage with more sustainable brands. However, despite emerging insight into the, to date, largely disparate topic areas of consumers’ brand engagement and climate change, their theoretical interface remains tenuous, exposing a key literature-based gap. Specifically, the drivers, characteristics, and effects of consumers’ engagement with brands in an era of climate change remain tenuous. Addressing this gap, the proposed expert panel will discuss the interface of these theoretical entities, and identify ways to cultivate or leverage consumers’ brand engagement to foster enhanced climate change outcomes in this Special Session.

ABSTRACT. In response to the rapid growth of the second-hand luxury market and its implications for luxury brands, this research examines consumers' resale behavior and its influence on their relationship with luxury brands. An exploratory mixed-methods approach is used to materialize the influence on the consumer-brand relationship on one hand. Thus, two qualitative studies with both consumers and luxury experts show that consumers perceive the brand as a business partner facilitating their resale activities on the second-hand market. On the other hand, this methodology aims to conceptualize, develop and validate a measure of this new form of brand relationship, namely "Luxury Brand as Business Partner". The results are then briefly discussed, and avenues for future research are outlined.

ABSTRACT. Second-hand luxury can be defined as pieces of clothing, produced by luxury brands, that have been used before despite the age of the clothes. Given the large amount of waste the clothing industry produces, second-hand fashion shopping can be a solution to waste management. This study investigates (a) the effect of e-seller rating on buyer’s trust in the product and (b) the moderating role of price fairness on the relationship between buyer’s trust and second-hand luxury fashion shopping in online multi-seller platform. We do so by using survey data of 312 participants. We find that e-seller-rating influences buyers’ trust in the product and that price fairness moderates the impact of buyers’ trust in the product on second-hand luxury fashion shopping. The study provides support for the role of trust in online second-hand luxury fashion shopping and extends the S-O-R framework and the prospect theory into second-hand luxury research. Practical implications of the findings include discussions on the necessities of a rating system in C2C platforms and provide suggestions on how to increase the trust-price synergy.

ABSTRACT. The emergence of Web 3.0 has promoted the emergence of new concepts and consumption patterns, including the rise of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that are being integrated into brand strategies, particularly in the luxury fashion domain. While some studies have focused on the technical aspects of NFTs, there is a paucity of research exploring consumer behaviour and brand strategy in this context. To address this research gap, this study adopts a quantitative methodology and uses Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the influence of the perceived coolness of luxury fashion brands on the purchase intention of NFTs. Additionally, the study also explores the antecedent of brand coolness, self-congruence, and its outcomes including brand love, word-of-mouth (WOM), and willingness to pay (WTP). The findings of our study reveal that self-congruence positively influences brand coolness, and brand coolness, in turn, positively impacts brand love, WOM, and WTP. However, we did not observe a significant influence of brand coolness on the purchase intention of NFTs, nor did we find significant moderating effects. Further research is needed to delve deeper into the factors influencing NFT purchase intentions and the potential role of moderators in this relationship.

ABSTRACT. Contemporary research reveals a paradigm shift in luxury consumption, with inconspicuous consumption emerging as a notable trend. Unlike traditional conspicuous displays, this trend emphasizes subtlety, refined elegance, and discreet signaling of affluence. This reflects a broader cultural shift towards valuing quality, craftsmanship, and exclusivity over ostentation. Inconspicuous luxury experiences, ranging from tailored clothing to exclusive wine tastings, offer refined indulgence without overtly showcasing wealth. This study investigates the role of self-congruity on consumer behavior within inconspicuous luxury consumption. Recognising luxury's deep connection with self-identity expression, we focus on how motivations for inconspicuous luxury impact purchase intentions and subsequent behavior via self-congruity. Our analysis covers both physical and digital luxury offerings, aiming to reveal the dynamics between self-congruity and inconspicuous luxury consumption across diverse domains. This comprehensive examination advances our understanding of contemporary luxury experiences.

ABSTRACT. The consumers of luxury brands are getting younger, and their behavior with luxury brands and luxury product packaging is evolving. Anecdotal evidence from social media platforms shows that young consumers tend to keep the packaging from their luxury purchases and display it with great pride. While packaging has garnered research interest over the decades, to date, the motivations of why consumers tend to hold on to their luxury packaging has not been explored. This paper delves into the meaning derived from luxury packaging, and sheds light on the post-purchase journey of luxury packaging. Using a mixed-methods approach, we uncover the motivations of Generation Z (Gen Z) consumers’ propensity to interact with luxury packaging beyond the occasion of the luxury purchase. Luxury brand managers can gain insights on Gen Z’s post-purchase experience, develop more effective packaging strategies, and plan for the next wave of consumers by understanding the important role of packaging for Gen Z.

ABSTRACT. Despite the growing interest in luxury consumption and related research, there is limited research on the dark side of luxury consumption. To contribute to this gap, this study introduces the concept of luxury addiction, a three-dimensional construct, and develops a valid multi-dimensional scale for its measurement. Through a multi-phase research program that involved 25 interviews with front line employees of luxury brands and a survey of 818 luxury buyers in the US, we identified three facets of luxury addiction, namely Behavioral Addiction, Negative Psychological Addiction and Positive Psychological Addiction. We demonstrate that the resultant scale has strong psychometric properties and that the facets of luxury addiction behave differentially vis-à-vis drivers and outcomes in the construct’s nomological network.

ABSTRACT. The rise of mobile payment technologies within Africa and other emerging markets has caught the particular attention of researchers and practitioners. Researchers agree that while African economies face the seeming disadvantage of underdeveloped financial infrastructures, mobile payment technologies enable a unique opportunity to leapfrog legacy institutions and technologies that have been part of the growth of developed economies (Kumar et al., 2019; McNutt & Spencer, 2014; PWC, 2016).

Extant research within emerging economies has been particularly focused on institutional approaches that engender the diffusion of these digital technologies. These institution-centric approaches have faced limits in supporting the move of informal economic actors towards institutionalized business organizations.

This study builds on this by utilising more culturally cognitive lenses to investigate the impact that constitutive rules of mobile payment technologies (Ehret & Olaniyan 2023) have on the dynamic marketing capabilities of small retailer firms in Nigeria. By adopting a dynamic capabilities approach (Teece, 1997), we propose a conceptualisation of how mobile payment technologies engender the formation of dynamic (marketing) capabilities within the SME firm. We further show how mobile payment platforms may be reconfigured in practice to further enhance the digitization processes and institutionalisation of SMEs within African economies.

ABSTRACT. Supply chain disruptions threaten entrepreneurial well-being, but how and under what conditions firm resilience to such events affects entrepreneurial well-being outcomes is under-theorized and examined empirically. This study draws on the conservation of resources literature to theorize how firm resilience relates to entrepreneurial well-being at varying conditions of supply chain disruption and entrepreneurs’ dependency ratio. The study uses ex-post survey data from 373 women entrepreneurs in diverse agricultural supply chains in Ghana and moderated regression analysis as an analytical tool to test its hypotheses. The results indicate that the associations between firm resilience and economic and subjective well-being outcomes change in magnitude and direction in different supply chain disruption and dependency ratio situations. Notably, the study finds that firm resilience has stronger positive associations with economic and subjective well-being when dependency ratio is low, but supply chain disruption is high. The relationships are negative when both supply chain disruption and dependency ratio take on low values. The theoretical analysis and empirical evidence from this research broaden and enrich the literature on the firm-level economic outcomes of firm resilience, showing how firm resilience can be a double-edged sword for women entrepreneurs operating in low-resource contexts.

ABSTRACT. Pilgrimages are a feature of all major world religions, as well as spiritual movements and more secular realms. Pilgrimages are sites where the sacred and the profane overlap and where exploration of the relationship between religion, spirituality and consumption can be undertaken to further our understanding of consumption's nature and consumer behaviour dimensions. This multi-site ethnographic research has been conducted in Morocco and has focused on Muslim and Jewish religious heritage sites (some shared). Morocco presents an interesting case of country-specific religious practices surrounding the cult of saints (called maraboutism) shared by both Moroccan Jewish and Muslim religious communities. This paper explores the diverse motivations of visitors and the significance of the rituals they engage in. This research seeks to add to the body of literature in consumer studies that deals with religious and spiritual consumption by focusing on the consumption practices of those partaking in religious tourism, a growing and lucrative industry.

ABSTRACT. While much has been written about ‘new product failure’, the time is ripe for innovation scholars to consider broadening the boundaries of enquiry to develop new knowledge around the domain of innovation failure. Our review of scholarly work in this domain reveals that innovation failures are complex and result from multiple events that occur within and outside of organisational boundaries, an understanding of which requires an “across the spectrum” approach.

We first identify the critical failure-related deficiencies in the innovation literature and argue that existing perspectives have been limiting in that they have marginalized scholarly attention towards failure and hindered the theoretical advancement of the concept. We then propose a broader conceptualization and definition of the innovation failure construct encompassing cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects. Our work provides interesting insights on innovation failure and a starting point towards the theoretical advancement of this important, yet understudied topic.

ABSTRACT. Innovation in service organizations is vital for their long-term strategic competitive advantage Recently bootlegging has been suggested as a way of generating more and more successful innovations however there is a lack of research as to the impact of individual factors on bootlegging activities. We suggest that understanding individuals propensity for creative devianace will give insights into a service orgnaizations boootlegging activity and its comeptitive advantage. This study is based on two level data from a large organization involved in technical and vocational training. Data was obtained from managers, and 2 employees each, from 230 separate business units. Analysis shows that manager’s constructive deviance and employees’ constructive deviance both have direct influences on the extent of the unit’s bootlegging initiatives which in turn drives its strategic competitive advantage. Results show that managers also influence bootlegging by encouraging deviance in their employees. Higher levels of employees’ constructive deviance positively strengthens the relationship between manager’s deviance and degree of bootlegging.

ABSTRACT. Firms involve customers in new product development (NPD) to succeed in increasingly competitive and complex markets. Yet, research continues to show conflicting findings regarding the benefits of involving customers as co-developers. Building on the open innovation literature, we propose that it is critical to differentiate between customer involvement in problem-solving versus decision-making activities, within a co-development context. Our findings suggest that problem-solving and decision-making distinctly influence two critical NPD outcomes, new product innovativeness and new product development speed. We also find that customer need specificity is an important boundary condition that changes the impact of these activities on the two NPD outcomes. Our research addresses the inconsistent findings in the literature regarding customer involvement and provides novel insights into leveraging different co-developing activities. We offer practical implications to NPD managers on how to work with customers to develop innovative new products while managing the development speed.

ABSTRACT. Services play a significant role in the global economy, yet research on services innovation still lags product innovation. Given the differences in developing service innovations, compared with product innovations, especially with respect to the co-creation of value with customers, this study incorporates a deeper examination of external (e.g., customer) knowledge in realizing service innovation. While there is increasing recognition that the acquisition and integration of different knowledge sources is critical, the integration pathways and service innovation outcomes are not well understood. In addressing this gap, our study uses a qualitative approach to explore the nature and types of customer-based knowledge integration in the context of service innovation.

ABSTRACT. Through the use of CCT, this paper examines Islamic consumption of services (financial) and how the negotiations between the sacred and the profane impacts on their consumption. The Muslim population is projected to grow by 70% in 2060 compared to other religions such as Christianity (34%), Hindus (27%) and Jews (15%), making it the fastest-growing demographic. As consumers, Muslims are becoming more aware of their needs to apply their religious faith into their lifestyle, often by assimilating their local cultural values and material consumption. This makes their religious consumption a unique market because of their faith-based consumption practices that have their own peculiarities. For instance, Muslims consume not only on the basis of Islamic principles such as “halal-ness” (permissible) or “haram-ness” (impermissible), but also continuously interpret and re-interpret their religious beliefs according to their lifestyle and social-cultural context. Our research employs a qualitative approach using semi structured interviews and a thematic analysis. We find that Islamic consumption deals with a variety of meanings, religious beliefs and attachment of phenomenological values. This can lead to a better understanding of religious consumption and how market formation takes place in complex markets where multi-ethnicity and different religious practices are common grounds.

ABSTRACT. Today, healthcare plays a leading role in the data economy through digital technologies such as high-performance computing, cloud, IoT, Big Data analytics, and artificial intelligence in an increasingly connected and dynamic world. In recent years, the World Health Organization itself has also reaffirmed the strategic value of digital technology in making healthcare systems more efficient and sustainable and ensuring more equitable access and more effective treatments to improve the health and quality of life of citizens, especially patients with chronic diseases. The paper aims to investigate through 38 in-depth interviews, participant observations, and secondary data analysis how the eHealth service ecosystem as a digitally mediated healthcare service ecosystem emerges as a disruptive reality aimed at providing new solutions and managing new links and actors' and resources' integration to co-create transformative value. In particular, the eHealth service ecosystem perspective enables us to explore how new solutions emerge, how new interactions are managed, and how new resources are integrated to co-create transformative value. From our analysis, we have derived four focal aspects for transformative value in the eHealth service ecosystem: transformative service ecosystem design, innovative service practices, engaged human agents, and changes in social structures.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to identify the patients’ perception of value generated in a co-creation process during the interaction with healthcare service providers. The data collection entailed 36 personal in-depth interviews exploring in detail patients' views in encounters with healthcare professionals over a malaria treatment process in healthcare delivery in a clinic in Ghana. Three themes emerged from the literature and the data: (i) “patient value in use in co-creation” (ii) “continuous improvement: services enhancing patients' co-creation experiences” and (iii) "challenges in patients' value co-creation”. This study contributes to the patients' perception of value in use in a co-creation process during interaction with service providers in the malaria treatment journey

ABSTRACT. Following a failed service recovery, customers often engage in third-party actions, including the recourse to mediation. This article examines the effects of mediator-complainer (M-CO) and mediator-service firm (M-SF) coalitions on customer relationship quality. A field study shows that within internal mediation, M-CO coalition is a double-edged sword: compared with a M-SF coalition, a M-CO coalition leads to higher trust in the firm, and consequently, to higher behavioral loyalty, whereas the direct effect of that coalition is negative. The scenario-based experiment extends these findings and shows that internal mediation attenuates the detrimental impact of the M-CO coalition on the customer relationship quality compared to external mediation.

ABSTRACT. Globally, 360 million people urgently require humanitarian aid, a 30% surge since early 2022, with over 110 million displaced and 260 million facing famine risks amidst prolonged conflicts. Despite the focus on Transformative Service Research (TSR) and Transformative Service Initiatives (TSIs), criticisms arise due to TSR's narrow micro-level scope. Emerging research on TSIs, an offshoot of TSR, aims to address the lack of practical implications, albeit with a heavy focus to date on refugees. While TSIs aim to enhance individual and collective wellbeing, unintended consequences often harm wellbeing instead. Surprisingly, little research delves into ‘intentional consequences,' with no exploration of the ‘weaponization’ of essential services. Delays in humanitarian aid, crucial for oppressed communities, face condemnation from both aid organizations and the oppressed. This paper centers on the existential Palestinian crisis, revealing how TSIs unwittingly aid in the weaponization of services, resulting in ‘Destructive TSIs’ (DTSIs). Contrary to existing literature, this study contends that weaponized services lead to ‘intended’ consequences, with TSIs serving as deliberate distractions by incumbents (States) for armed retaliation against the oppressed. Essentially, TSIs become tools for heightened retaliatory actions, whether by covert or explicit means.

ABSTRACT. In competitive, interconnected markets, reacquiring lost customers is critical. Most reasons for customer defection relate to service failures. The authors focus on the impact of such failures and the relationship with a competitor on company reconsideration. A field study conducted in the banking sector finds a mediating effect of relationship satisfaction between reasons for defection and company reconsideration. Study 2 uses survey findings to establish the role of satisfaction with the competitor, which moderates the mediation and has a retrospective effect on customer satisfaction. This study shows that the creation of a satisfactory link with a competitor contributes retrospectively to the deterioration of the relationship with the company and accentuates the negative effect of service failures. Finally, the experimental Study 3 indicates that post-failure communication is an effective win-back strategy for customers who left after a service failure. Empirical evidence affirms that this strategy issuing from the service recovery management field is also effective in the win-back context.

ABSTRACT. By utilizing advanced text mining techniques and semantic network analysis, this paper delves into the potential of Big Data in the field of services marketing. We introduce the Semantic Brand Score (SBS) metric, which serves as a key to unlocking hidden dimensions of brand importance. Our research aims to unravel the intricacies of service marketing by scrutinizing vast amounts of data to uncover patterns, customer preferences, and behavioral trends. Through empirical evidence from two case studies in the tourism industry, we demonstrate how this approach can significantly inform and enhance management and marketing strategies, offering practical solutions for service providers and stakeholders. This study effectively bridges the gap in harnessing the potential of Big Data in services marketing, employing text mining and social network analysis to provide valuable insights for both scholars and practitioners.

ABSTRACT. In an era dominated by automation, organizations increasingly leverages Automated Social Presence (ASP) through service robots to maintain a socially engaging service encounter. Despite receiving significant attention, the effectiveness of ASP in customer service frontline experiences remains unclear, making it a top research priority in service. This study tackles the issue in three ways. First, it introduces an integrative framework grounded in ASP theory, providing a holistic model to analyze the relationships between ASP and customer outcomes. Second, through a meta-analysis of 98 studies, it delves into the underlying processes—social cognition and psychological ownership— and reconciles inconsistencies, offering insights into the absolute and relative strength of ASP on customer outcomes. Third, it explores the influence of contingency factors, including the type of service robot, industry, and culture on the effectiveness of ASP. Results aim to provide empirical generalizations on the impact of ASP on customer outcomes, unravel the intricacies of social cognition and psychological ownership, and offer nuanced recommendations for managers integrating different service robots into customer interactions. By enhancing our understanding of ASP in service robot-led service encounters, this study contributes to the service literature and offers valuable insights for both academics and practitioners alike.

ABSTRACT. Enhancing Gen Z's subjective well-being (SWB) is of both societal and political interest. Gen Z places a high emphasis on SWB, with approximately 56% experiencing intense social isolation (Cox, 2022). Reducing social isolation is crucial, as it adversely impacts their SWB (Young, 1982). However, limited research explores the mechanisms surrounding this relationship. Drawing from self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2002), we propose a model to explain how and when social isolation's negative impact on Gen Z's SWB can be mitigated or intensified. We conducted two studies—an experiment (Study 1) and a survey (Study 2) to establish causal and correlational links between social isolation, personal information sharing on social media, and SWB. Additionally, we examined moderating factors, including fear of missing out, rumination thinking, perceived ethical privacy care, and privacy risk. Our findings suggest that unmet social needs drive Gen Z to share personal information online, which, in turn, enhances their SWB. The positive impact of personal information sharing on SWB is strengthened by perceived ethical privacy care but weakened by fear of missing out, rumination thinking, and privacy risk. These results challenge the notion that sharing personal information on social media is inherently detrimental, contributing to both theory and practice.

ABSTRACT. Physical and smart objects play an important role in consumer behavior and consumption culture. The more these objects are integrated with the Internet, the more the consumers discover new dimensions of their preferred activities. In some cases, objects interact directly with the consumers and some of them can be connected between each other and to digital resources (platforms, social networks, etc.) which give consumers further opportunities in terms of original, varied, and changing patterns of self-realization and self-expression. These processes present important individual and collective properties and implications. In this paper I focus on amateur cycling, which is increasingly characterized by the introduction of sensors, smart objects, IoTs which add new layers of meaning and experience to the traditional cycling practices. This paper is descriptive and aims at providing an overall framework of the complex assemblage in which amateur cycling is embedded and has evolved recently. In describing it, I employ a special version of assemblage theory which is defined object-oriented ontology, inscribed in a so-called post-humanist perspective.

ABSTRACT. Augmented Reality (AR) offers marketers a realm to enrich consumer-brand experiences. While recent research underscores positive consumer responses to AR, few studies explore the specific motivating factors i.e., reasons-for, such as the appeal of entertainment, trendiness, customization, interaction, and augmentation quality. Conversely, reasons-against AR acceptance, such as perceived lack of realism, skepticism, or perceived deception, are also underexplored. Guided by the behavioral reasoning theory, the current study delves into consumers' personal values and beliefs, their reasons-for and reasons-against using AR apps, and how these factors influence their engagement and relationship performance with AR apps. Utilizing a mixed methods approach with AR app users, results reveal that while perceived value compatibility has no influence on reasons-for using AR apps, it negatively influences reasons-against and positively influence connectedness to AR apps. Interestingly openness to change does not significantly influence users’ connection to the AR apps, and no association was found between reasons-against and connectedness to AR apps, and relationship performance. However, a positive relationship was observed between users’ connectedness to AR apps and their relationship performance. By offering these insights, this study contributes to a foundational understanding of the behavioral intricacies and dynamic interaction patterns within the rapidly emerging AR user base.

ABSTRACT. Virtual reality (VR) enables real estate consumers to remotely experience a property as if they were physically there, which can lead to quicker transactions (Sihi, 2018). Yet, there is limited research on how VR affects the real estate industry and its consumers. This study aims to investigate how playfulness, informativeness, and perceived risk influence purchase intentions of a property experienced through VR. Quantitative results were derived from 200 participants who used VR headsets to view a property and then completed the questionnaire. This study confirms playfulness and informativeness influence real estate purchase intentions, reinforcing the positive link between playfulness and real estate marketing decisions. Findings further reveal that VR property tours enhance market efficiency and decision-making through a playful experience. Finally, this study concludes that VR tours also inform consumers and enhanced informativeness increases purchase intentions.

ABSTRACT. The collaborative consumption, specifically through digital sharing platforms, are on the rise globally these years. Several studies point to a large potential of sharing practices and analyzied digital sharing platforms (e.g. Airbnb or BlablaCar), but the study of user’s behaviour is only just emerging. We know next to nothing about the link between users and digital sharing platforms. This research aims to investigate factors leading to user discontinuance in home swapping usage and to explore this process. Our findings complements the theoretical frameworks about digital sharing practice and highlights the importance of discontinuance as a new research stream.

ABSTRACT. This article investigates the influence of haptic technologies integrated into mobile charity advertisements to change attitudes toward people in need and encourage donations. Haptic technologies, commonly referred to as ‘haptics’, enable consumer interfaces (e.g., smartphones) to simulate sensations experienced in the physical world, in stimulating the user’s sense of touch when viewing the ad in the present case. The results of three experiments comparing the same advertisement disseminated both with and without haptics on a smartphone demonstrate how haptics influence charity advertising goals solely when added to a positive appeal. In this case, the use of haptics (1) fosters attitudes toward the advertisement and increases sympathetic identification (tendency to imagine oneself in the position of the character described) but decreased empathetic identification (tendency to put oneself in the position of the character described by mobilizing the latter’s frame of reference). As such, the use of haptics (2) fosters attitudes toward the non-governmental organization (NGO), but does not influence the audience’s intention to donate. Therefore, advertisers should consider implementing haptics as an initial step of sensitizing the audience, but this technology is counterproductive if they want to radically change the audience's view of the people in need.

ABSTRACT. Brands are increasingly letting consumers choose social responsibility initiatives that they will support. This research investigates the brands implications of cause related marketing with choice, in which the consumer, instead of the brand, select the charitable cause to which the brand will give donations. While previous research has shown that cause-related marketing campaigns with choice positively impacts brand performance metrics, we aim to address here more conditions under which introducing consumer choice is effective. Thus, relying on an experiment (N=239) conducted in France, we show that letting consumers select from causes linked to one same domain (i.e intra-cause domain choice set) is more efficient in improving word of mouth towards the brand than inter-cause domain choice set (causes are from different domains). Results also indicated that when consumers had to select causes associated to a high brand cause fit, they will express higher word of mouth than when selecting causes with low brand cause fit. Our findings also evidenced brand cause choice set and brand cause fit and the interaction effects between these two variables on brand attitude and purchase intention. Managerial recommendations could help professionals better design characteristics of their Cause Related Marketing with choice campaigns.

ABSTRACT. Businesses are increasingly incorporating CSR initiatives into their customer loyalty programs, allowing consumers to donate their reward points to charitable causes. However, it is likely that cultural background plays a significant role in influencing consumers' intentions to make such donations. This study aims to establish a theoretical model that illustrates how cultural orientation affects the likelihood of consumers donating their rewards. The specific focus is on examining whether the strength of corporate reputation and brand advocacy are influenced by these types of CSR initiatives. This cross-cultural study surveyed consumers in the United States and Taiwan. The findings suggest that collectivism and materialism positively influence consumers' likelihood to donate their reward points, while uncertainty avoidance has a negative impact on reward donations. Moreover, the study reveals that consumer reward donations generate strong corporate reputation and brand advocacy. These findings highlight the effectiveness of cause-related marketing as a means of promoting corporate social responsibility.

ABSTRACT. Countries and companies worldwide continue to face social, economic and environmental challenges and innovations are seen as a way to address those. Social innovations, which refer to novel solutions that can solve social problems and promote social progress, are thought to hold promise for delivering cost-effective solutions and may resolve issues such as environmental sustainability, poverty, and affordable healthcare. Although the success of social innovations depends on the attitude of consumers, little is known about the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ attitude towards social innovations.

One of the factors that plays a major role in the adoption and success of products is their origin. Considering that social innovations can address social problems, promote progress, and that countries exhibit varying levels of innovation and environmental performance, the perception of the COO emerges as a potentially important antecedent that can foster attitudes towards social innovation. We propose a conceptual framework that considers country-specific stereotypes as antecedents and product-country typicality as a moderator. Our research seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the role that the country of origin plays in shaping individuals’ perspectives on social innovation, offering valuable insights for future research and practical applications within this domain.