We Eat First with Our (Digital) Eyes: Enhancing Mental Simulation of Eating Experiences via Visual-Enabling Technologies

This research examines how consumers’ intentions to purchase food change depending on the visualisation mode (3D vs. AR) and product format (served vs. packaged). In three studies, we demonstrate that mental simulation of eating experiences (process and outcome) mediate these effects. Study 1 shows that AR visualisation of a served food improves simulation of the eating process over 3D visualisation, with a positive effect on purchase intention. Study 2 reveals that 3D visualisation improves purchase intention for packaged products (high instrumental properties) over served products (low instrumental properties) while the opposite is true for AR visualisation. In addition, interactivity and immersion mediate the effects of 3D (vs. AR) on mental simulation of the eating process for packaged products. Study 3 extends these results by showing that 3D increases purchase intention by eliciting mental simulation of the eating outcome, when the food is visible due to transparent (vs. opaque) packaging (displaying both sensory and instrumental properties), but that no such differences emerge for AR. This research highlights the importance of using different visualisation modes to promote food depending on the product format. The findings have important implications for both offline and online retailers.     

Sensory Aspects of Retailing: Theoretical and Practical Implications

Sensory elements are an important aspect of both offline and online retail stores and can non-consciously influence consumer judgments and purchase behavior. In offline settings, ambient factors like scent, lighting, and music have been shown to influence customers’ shopping experiences and their buying behaviors. For online retail outlets, sensory factors related to color, display patterns, and layouts can have significant effects on consumer behavior. Sensory elements have strong managerial relevance since they can non-consciously influence behaviors and because they are relatively easy to change; for example, it requires minimal effort to change the lighting or the music at a physical retail store or the display pattern for an online store. The eight papers in this special issue address theoretical and practical issues related to how different sensory elements can strongly influence retail practices. These papers focus on underexplored topic areas and also on emerging technologies, which stimulate thoughts for further research in these areas.     

Effects of augmented reality technology characteristics on customer citizenship behavior

In recent years, augmented reality (AR) technology has received considerable attention from academics and practitioners. Although AR technology has a bright side, its dark side has been relatively overlooked. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of AR technology characteristics on customer citizenship behavior via two conflicting mechanisms: customer immersion and customer fatigue. The study also explored the boundary conditions of customer experience. A total of 247 questionnaires were collected from customers who had prior experience of using IKEA's AR mobile shopping application. A structured model was analyzed using SmartPLS 3 and PROCESS Macro for mediation and moderated mediation effects. The study enriches the current knowledge on AR technology by demonstrating that AR technology can lead to customer citizenship behavior in relation to a brand's AR technology. Interestingly, customer immersion was found to positively mediate the relationship, but customer fatigue was found to negatively mediate it. Furthermore, customer experience was found to strengthen the positive mediation effect of customer immersion and weaken the negative mediation effect of customer fatigue.     

Strategies for the successful implementation of augmented reality

The potential benefits of augmented reality (AR) to consumers include high levels of interactivity, exposure to an extensive virtual inventory tailored to their needs, high-quality customer support, and better integration between web- and store-based shopping experiences. The anticipated benefits of a successful AR strategy to a brand or retailer include higher inventory turnover, increased average sales, reduced sales costs, lower customer returns, higher levels of related-item selling, and better customer support outcomes. Despite these revenue- and loyalty-enhancing benefits, few companies use AR, develop a highly integrated AR plan, or incorporate AR into their marketing programs. This article focuses on the successful planning and implementation of AR through a six-step process: (1) Determine how AR can help achieve marketing objectives; (2) choose appropriate products, channels, and target markets for AR; (3) select among AR application types; (4) design AR apps; (5) evaluate alternative AR organizational formats; and (6) measure the success of AR programs.     

Virtual reality and mixed reality for second chance tourism

The deterioration of attractions, landmarks, artefacts and destinations is a critical issue facing tourism across the world. The closure of tourism sites and attractions is increasingly more common due to the difficulty and expense of managing preservation with onsite tourism engagement. However, the closure or destruction of tourism sites presents challenges for tourism development. The inability to foster meaningful visitor engagement at sites has implications for the local communities. This paper aims to explore the efficacy of creating tourism experiences in destinations and sites that have succumbed to over-tourism, resultant deterioration and even, destruction. To achieve this objective, the paper introduces the concept of second chance tourism and the role of innovative preservation methods such as virtual and mixed reality. Based on the proposed framework, the collation of data will provide indications on site preservation and impact mitigation via a second chance to reduce pressure on inherently fragile destinations.     

Light at the end of the tunnel: Visitors' virtual reality (versus in-person) attraction site tour-related behavioral intentions during and post-COVID-19

Consumer behavior is changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus compelling attraction sites to find new ways of offering safe tours to visitors. Based on protection motivation theory, we develop and test a model that examines key drivers of visitors' COVID-19-induced social distancing behavior and its effect on their intent to use virtual reality-based (vs. in-person) attraction site tours during and post-COVID-19. Our analyses demonstrate that visitor-perceived threat severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy raise social distancing behavior. In turn, social distancing increases (decreases) visitors' intent to use virtual reality (in-person) tours during the pandemic. We find social distancing to boost visitors' demand for advanced virtual tours and to raise their advocacy intentions. Our results also reveal that social distancing has no effect on potential visitors' intent to use virtual reality vs. in-person tours post-the pandemic. We conclude by discussing vital implications that stem from our analyses.     

A model of tourism advertising effects

This study develops the AIEDA tourism advertising effects model and examines this model by tourism destination types and advertising formats in a field experiment. The AIEDA model extends the traditional AIDA model in the advertising field and additionally considers the unique features of tourism products. It includes five hierarchical stages: Attention→ Interest→Evaluation (Perceived Usefulness→ Perceived Credibility) → Desire →Action. Findings of experimental research indicate that destination type and advertising format have main effects and interaction effects on tourism advertising effects. In addition, this study discovered that, for natural and cultural destinations, video ads yielded similar or more positive advertising effects than virtual reality ads, whereas print was the least effective advertising format.     

The Impact of Students’ Cultural Intelligence on Their Psychological Safety in Global Virtual Project Teams

This study addresses a call for the design and implementation of course curricula that prepare students to develop their CQ and gain experience working with peers on global virtual project teams. We explored how US-based and Peru-based students’ cultural intelligence (CQ) impacted their sense of psychological safety (PS) during a month-long global, virtual team project. We also examined the students’ people-focused (PF) and task-focused (TF) behaviors as mediators of the CQ-PS relationship. The results of mediation analyses provide support for our hypothesis that the relationship between cultural intelligence and psychological safety will be mediated by people-focused behaviors. Finally, we provide a model and suggestions for virtually bringing together students from different countries to collaborate on a global virtual project, and avenues for future research. Here we encourage a focus on a curriculum that educates students about their cultural intelligence and ways to develop psychologically safe learning environments. We also highlight the potential learning for faculty teaching such courses, and note how our experience collaborating with our counterpart in Peru constituted a fractal of what our students were experiencing on their global projects.     

基于多软件平台的机电液一体化虚拟试验方法

提出一种针对复杂机电液系统的虚拟仿真试验方法,分别在ADAMS、AMESim、MATLAB/Simulink软件中建立机械子系统、液压子系统和控制子系统模型,并基于软件间接口技术,建立动态数据共享通道,实现系统的全面仿真分析,为系统设计与优化、控制策略选择等提供依据.该方法对于复杂机电液系统仿真分析具有普遍适用性,对缩短产品开发周期、降低产品研发成本、减轻仿真工作复杂性具有重要意义.