How reviewers’ use of profanity affects perceived usefulness of online reviews

This research explores the effects of profanity on perceptions of online reviews’ usefulness. Based on the prior research that described asymmetric attribution effects, we predict that when consumers see profanity in an online review, their reactions differ depending on the valence of the review. Specifically, when profanity is used in a negative review, it should reduce review usefulness because of decreased perceived reviewer objectivity. Among positive reviews, profanity increases review usefulness through greater perceived reviewer credibility. Through analysis of Yelp data, we show that the effect of profanity on usefulness depends on review valence. Experimentally, we demonstrate the opposing mediating effects of perceived objectivity and credibility on the usefulness of the review.     

How money priming affects consumers in an advertising context: the role of product conspicuousness and consumers’ signalling needs

ABSTRACT

Effects of money priming on basic psychological processes are well established in the literature. However, research that investigates money priming in an advertising context is scarce. This article presents two empirical studies examining consumer reactions after being primed with money and exposed to advertisements presenting either conspicuous or non-conspicuous products. Consumer reactions were investigated with respect to their attitude towards the ad, product evaluation and signalling needs. The findings indicate that the evaluation of a conspicuous product, and the respective ad promoting it, benefit from money priming while the evaluation of a non-conspicuous product is not affected. Moreover, money priming elicits signalling needs in situations where consumers are confronted with conspicuous products. Our moderated mediation models show that these signalling needs mediate the positive effects of money priming in conspicuous situations.     

Study on the steady state of the propagation model of consumers’ perceived service quality in the community group-buying

The consumption stickiness relationship established by community group buying is a typical complex social network. The network structure, member size, interaction frequency and purchase quantity are determined by the effective communication of customer perceived service quality (PSQ). This paper introduces the social reinforcement effect to construct a G-SCIR model of PSQ propagation in the community group-buying, and improves the calculation method of propagation probability and node status attributes. We use numerical simulation methods to explore how the social reinforcement effect can promote the spread of PSQ and achieve a steady state by influencing recovered nodes. The simulation results show that the G-SCIR model proposed in the paper has better stability and higher coverage than the traditional SCIR model. The change trend of the attributes of each node in the network is also closer to the real one, which can effectively simulate the propagation process and evolution characteristics of PSQ in the context of community group-buying. Meanwhile, the paper verifies that the steady state of PSQ propagation is usually affected by its initial conversion probability of community group-buying, its upper limit and social reinforcement factor, and there are significant Markov properties in the propagation process of PSQ. The findings may further enrich the community business and online group buying theory, and provide theoretical reference and practical guidance for community group-buying enterprises to optimize market layout and formulate scientific communication strategies.     

The role of national institutions in the effects of consumers’ perceived customer orientation and firm innovativeness

Many multinational corporations force global customer orientation and firm innovativeness. However, little is known about how or why they benefit from perceived customer orientation and firm innovativeness in one country but not in another. The authors fill this gap by referring to information processing and institutional theories. They contribute to research by analyzing the roles of country development and dimensions of national culture in the direct and indirect effects of perceived customer orientation through firm innovativeness on consumer product purchase intention across 53 countries. The results of multilevel structural equation modeling show different explained variances of the institutions and varying moderations for the differently strong effects of perceived customer orientation and firm innovativeness. Institutional theory strongly complements behavioral theorizing. The findings have direct implications for managers interested in understanding how perceived customer orientation and firm innovativeness interact and attract consumers in different country contexts.     

Quality of past performance: Impact on consumers’ responses to service failure

The conceptual model developed in this paper for the airline industry examines the relationship between quality of past service performance and consumers’ responses to service failures (causal attributions, emotions and satisfaction). The empirical results obtained indicate that for those consumers with higher perceptions of quality the causes underlying service failures are seen as less stable and less controllable by the firm than the causes identified by consumers with lower perceptions of quality. Attributions about the failure not only influence satisfaction directly but also moderate the effect of quality on satisfaction. We also analyse the mediating effect of negative emotions on the relationship between service failure attributions and consumer satisfaction.

Effects of social media on consumers’ purchase decisions: evidence from Taobao

Given the rapid growth of social media, it is important to understand the effects of social media on consumers’ purchase decisions in the e-commerce environment. However, although some e-commerce sites have started to link themselves to social media to enhance user interactions, previous studies of social media and service management have shed little light on the effects of social media on consumers’ purchase decisions. This study proposes a theoretical research model that includes social media factors, social impact transfer factors, and e-commerce outcome factors. We posit social interaction ties and social media commitment as key elements of social media. An online questionnaire was conducted to test the research model and hypotheses based on survey data collected from Taobao, the largest e-commerce site in China. The analysis results indicate that social interaction ties have significant positive effects on social impact transfer factors and trust in online vendor, whereas they do not directly influence visit intention. Social media commitment plays a crucial role in increasing social impact transfer factors and e-commerce outcomes. The findings reveal the different effects of normative and informational social influences on consumer purchase decisions. Further implications are discussed.     

Frontline service employees’ customer-related social stressors, emotional exhaustion, and service recovery performance: customer orientation as a moderator

This study investigates the structural relationships among customer-related social stressors (disproportionate customer expectation, ambiguous customer expectation, disliked customers, and customers?? verbal aggression), emotional exhaustion, and service recovery performance, with customer orientation (CO) serving as a moderator between customer-related social stressors and emotional exhaustion as well as emotional exhaustion and service recovery performance. The study uses data collected from a survey of 1,014 frontline service employees in Korea??s tourism service sectors. The results indicate that customer-related social stressors positively influence emotional exhaustion; emotional exhaustion negatively influences service recovery performance; and CO acts as a moderator. CO moderates both the effects of customer-related social stressors on emotional exhaustion and those of emotional exhaustion on service recovery performance, by weakening the effects for higher CO employees. This study contributes to both theory and practice by combining the four constructs of customer-related social stressors, emotional exhaustion, service recovery performance, and CO in addition to examining their relationships while focusing on customer-related factors.     

Effect of service recovery on customers’ perceived justice,satisfaction, and word-of-mouth intentions on online shopping websites

As consumers become better informed and more demanding about their purchase of services, service provider's failure to satisfy all consumers during delivery of service is unavoidable. Consequently, to alleviate consumer dissatisfaction that results from service failure has become important. However, empirical consensus has been lacking on the effects of various service recovery activities. Thus, this study examines the impact of different types of service recovery on customers’ perceptions of justice, post-recovery satisfaction, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. The results indicated that consumers’ perceptions of distributive and interactional justice differ by the types of service recovery and supported significant relationships among perceptions of justice, satisfaction, and WOM intentions. The results implied that consumers respond differently to different types of service recovery and that consumers particularly favor apology among types of service recovery.     

Distinguishing between the impact of social media public and private compliments on customers’ future service recovery expectations

We seek to explore whether customers’ levels of service recovery expectations differ across customers who, prior to the service failure, publicly complimented the firm on social media and customers who, in advance of the service failure, privately complimented the firm on social media. We explore these differences in terms of satisfaction with the service provider and willingness to go back to the service provider. We conduct an experiment to test the research hypotheses. Our study results show that customers who complimented the service provider publicly (relative to privately) on social media in advance of a service failure require a higher level of service recovery to be satisfied with the service provider and go back to the service provider. Further, these effects are partly moderated by customer loyalty and social media usage intensity.     

Effects of confidence and social benefits on consumers’ extra-role and in-role behaviors: A social identity and social exchange perspective

This study explores the effects of relational benefits on consumers' extra-role (civic virtue) and in-role (consumer loyalty) behaviors from social identity and social exchange perspectives, in addition to the mediating role of consumer–company identification (CCI) and perceived value. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 254 consumers. The findings reveal that relational benefits promote consumers’ extra-role and in-role behaviors. Specifically, confidence and social benefits, directly and indirectly, affect civic virtue and consumer loyalty. Supporting our integrative framework, the results demonstrate that CCI mediates the effect of confidence and social benefits on civic virtue and consumer loyalty, whereas perceived value only mediates the relationship between confidence and social benefits and consumer loyalty. This study presents important implications for academicians and practitioners.     

Overcompensation as a service recovery strategy: the financial aspect of customers’ extra effort

Service Business - Compensation is one of the most important elements of service. Companies often pursue a strategy of overcompensation; however, there are contradictory results in the literature...     

The effect of attribute originality on consumers’ adoption intention of customization: The role of construal level

As consumers' preferences become increasingly diversified, many companies strive to satisfy individual needs by offering customization options for products or services. To enhance the effectiveness of customization strategies, managers need to decide what type of attributes to provide for consumers to customize and also take consumers' individual differences into consideration. The current research investigates the joint impacts of the originality of the attributes involved in a customization option and consumers' construal level on their intention to adopt customization. Findings from two experiments consistently demonstrate that, in comparison to customization options that include common customizable attributes, offering customization options that includes original customizable attributes undermine consumers’ adoption intention. However, such negative effects will be mitigated when consumers have a high construal level.     

What influences consumers’ intention to purchase organic personal care products? The role of social reassurance

Green and organic markets have grown rapidly in recent times, thanks to the increasing global popularity of having a healthier lifestyle. Rising consumer awareness of the risks of synthetic chemicals for humans as well as the environment have boosted the demand for organic personal care products (PCPs). To better understand the micro-mechanisms guiding the organic PCPs buying process, this study builds on the social proof theory by examining the drivers leading this process in two different national contexts. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to conduct a multigroup analysis on a sample of 473 consumers (n = 266 from Spain, n = 207 from Italy). Findings reveal the significant role of environmental value, product knowledge, convenience & quality, and information adoption. Furthermore, the study introduces and validates the new construct ‘social reassurance’ explaining the psychological mechanisms leading the organic PCPs buying process.     

The role of benefits and transparency in shaping consumers’ green perceived value,self-brand connection and brand loyalty

Building on the literature on green consumption, this study investigates consumers’ perceptions of a brand's green benefits (utilitarian environmental and warm glow) and green transparency on their green perceived value (GPV). In particular, this study tests the mediating role of GPV and self-brand connection on the relationships between green benefits and green transparency and brand loyalty. We used structural equation modeling to test the research model with a sample of 826 Chinese respondents. Our findings suggest that most of the hypotheses were supported. However, comparison between brands of physical goods and services indicate that the approach to develop consumers’ green value perceptions is different and that the influences of GPV and self-brand connection on brand loyalty are significantly different between these two groups of brands. Hence, it would be more effective for organizations to have diverse green branding strategies between these two groups of brands.     

Revealing travellers’ satisfaction during COVID-19 outbreak: Moderating role of service quality

User-Generated-Content (UGC) has gained increasing attention as an important indicator of business success in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Previous literature has analyzed travelers' satisfaction through quantitative approaches using questionnaire surveys. Another direction of research has explored the dimensions of satisfaction based on online customers' reviews using the machine learning approach. This study aims to present a new method that combines machine learning and survey-based approaches for customers' satisfaction analysis during the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, we investigate the moderating role of service quality on the relationship between hotels' performance criteria and customers' satisfaction. To achieve this, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used for textual data analysis, k-means was used for data segmentation, dimensionality reduction approach was used for the imputation of the missing values, and fuzzy rule-based was used for the prediction of satisfaction level. Following that, a survey-based approach was used to validate the research model by distributing the questionnaire and analyzing the collected data using the Structural Equation Modeling technique. The result of this research presents important contributions from the methodological and practical perspectives in the context of customers' satisfaction in tourism and hospitality during the COVID-19 outbreak. The outcomes of this research confirm the significant influence of the quality of services during the COVID-19 crisis on the relationship between hotel services and travellers’ satisfaction.     

When I feel invaded,I will avoid it: The effect of advertising invasiveness on consumers’ avoidance of social media advertising

As companies increasingly use social media as the platform for promoting their products and services, it is critical for consumers to be receptive to social media advertising (SMA). However, consumers may feel invaded when viewing SMA. The literature on advertising invasiveness has focused primarily on consumers’ attention invasiveness (i.e., the interruption of their attention). We argue that such a focus is limited, and we propose space invasiveness as an additional dimension for understanding advertising invasiveness in social media. Data were collected from Chinese consumers, and the results show that space invasiveness had a stronger effect than attention invasiveness did on advertising irritation, and that irritation in turn led to advertising avoidance. Furthermore, psychological ownership moderated the relationship between social influence and space invasiveness. This study provides important guidelines for practitioners to reduce advertising avoidance in social media.     

The impact of retail out-of-stock options on preferences: The role of consumers’ desire for assimilation versus differentiation

This study tested the hypothesis that retail customers’ drive to assimilation or differentiation moderates the effect on their initial preference for a particular product of their discovery in the store of a previously unconsidered comparable alternative, which happens to be presently out of stock. The results revealed that new awareness of alternative options has an impact on customers’ preferences, even if they are unavailable when the choice is being made. Participants who were more concerned with differentiation exhibited a stronger preference for the option originally under consideration if they were told that the alternative was out of stock due to heavy demand rather than short supply. By comparison, those more concerned with assimilation had a weaker preference for the initial product when they learnt that its unavailability was said to be due to heavy demand, not supply shortfall. The article concludes with theoretical implications and areas for future research.     

Online anthropomorphism and consumers’ privacy concern: Moderating roles of need for interaction and social exclusion

Online privacy concern has become a critical ethical and managerial issue for online retailing. However, we know limited information about what marketing practices may exacerbate consumers’ privacy concern. This study intends to examine the undesirable intertwining effect of online anthropomorphism and individual features on consumers’ privacy concern and downstream variables. Three experiments were conducted to test hypotheses. The results suggest that consumers who have a low need for interaction in business encounters and who experience social exclusion indicate a higher privacy concern and lower willingness to register online in anthropomorphic (vs. non-anthropomorphic) websites. Moreover, the interactive effect of online anthropomorphism and social exclusion extends to consumers’ online purchase intention, which works via privacy concern as a mediator in this process. The findings suggest that incorporating anthropomorphic elements online may exacerbate consumers’ perceptions of privacy risk and detract their behavioral intention toward the websites and thus individual features should be taken into account. We conclude by discussing the implications, limitations, and directions for future research.     

How scolding can encourage consumer engagement with plastic waste issue? The moderating role of consumers’ mindset

Extant literature has reported mixed findings on the effectiveness of praising versus scolding in social marketing messages, such as how to encourage consumer engagement with plastic waste issue. Against this backdrop, this research investigates the moderating role of consumers' mindset in this regard. This research reports two experimental studies and demonstrates that consumers with a growth (vs. fixed) mindset will experience higher levels of outcome efficacy when evaluating a scolding (vs. praising) message. In addition, this research employs different methods of eliciting consumers' mindset and examines different dependent variables (product choice in Study 1 and donation allocations in Study 2). The results of this research thus offer a fresh theoretical perspective on the effectiveness of scolding (vs. praising) in enhancing consumer engagement with plastic waste issue by examining the moderating role of consumers’ mindset and establishing the underlying mechanism.     

The entrepreneur’s mode of entry: the effect of social and financial capital

This article uses a French database of firms set up in 1998 to investigate the determinants of takeovers versus startups as a mode of entry. It focuses on two determinants that previous research has not fully analyzed: social capital and financial capital. Our findings suggest social capital affects the mode of entry. They show that entrepreneurs with social capital are more likely to create new firms from scratch than to take over existing firms. We confirm the effect of financial capital on the mode of entry. Bank loans are more often associated with takeovers than with startups and low initial wealth is more often associated with startups than with takeovers. These results show that finance affects the mode of entry.