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This study aims to examine how young consumers perceive the advertising effectiveness of endorsements by virtual idols and how endorsements by virtual idols differ from endorsements by real human celebrities such as traditional celebrities and online influencers.

An experimental study was conducted with 400 randomly selected young respondents in China in December 2022. A 3 × 2 factorial design was used to test how the type of celebrity endorser and level of product involvement influence the persuasiveness of advertising aimed at young adults. Among 400 respondents, the average age was 21.5 years. A total of 193 male and 207 female respondents participated in the experiment.

Young consumers find virtual idols, online influencers and traditional celebrities attractive. Although virtual idols are the least credible among the three types of celebrity endorsers, young consumers tend to be more convinced by their endorsements of products with low levels of consumer involvement than those with high levels of involvement. Among the three types of celebrity endorsements, young consumers find traditional celebrities the most effective. In addition, young consumers’ attitudes toward celebrity endorsers mediate the impact of celebrity endorsers’ attractiveness and credibility on their attitudes toward the advertisements. The perceived level of product involvement moderates the transfer of meaning from the attitude toward the celebrity endorsers to the attitude toward the advertisement.

First, when choosing celebrity endorsers to advertise products targeting young consumers, marketing communication practitioners should give priority to the endorsers’ perceived credibility, as young consumers have a variety of views about them that can significantly affect their attitudes toward the advertisement. Second, real human celebrity endorsers are more effective than virtual idols in celebrity endorsements. However, virtual idols may be suited for use in advertisements to promote products with low involvement levels, such as soft drinks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first experimental study to attempt to analyze the effectiveness of virtual idols in advertising aimed at young consumers. This is also the first comparative study to introduce virtual idols as celebrity endorsers in product advertising and to compare their effectiveness with that of the two other types of commonly discussed celebrity endorsers, traditional celebrities and online influencers.

This research investigates how consumers who are most active on Facebook during the day vs in the evening differ, differ in their ad consumption, and how advertising effects vary as a function of a key moderator: gender.

Using a survey of 281 people, the research identifies Facebook users who are more intensely using mobile social media during the day versus in the evening, and measures five Facebook mobile advertising outcomes: brand and product recall, clicking on ads, acting on ads and purchases.

The results show that women who are using social media more intensely during the day are more likely to use Facebook to seek information, hence, Facebook mobile ads tend to be more effective for these users compared to those in the evening.

This contributes to the literature by analyzing how the time of day affects social media behavior in relation to mobile advertising effectiveness, and broadening the scope of mobile advertising effectiveness research from other than just clicks on ads to include measures like brand and product recall.

By analyzing the effectiveness of mobile advertising on social media as a function of the time of day, advertisers can be more targeted in their media buys, and so better use their social media budgets, i.e. advertising is more effective for women who use social media (Facebook) more intensely during the day than for those who use social media more intensely in the evening as the former tend to seek more information than the latter.

This research extends media ecology theory by drawing on circadian rhythm research to provide a first demonstration of how the time of day relates to different uses of mobile social media, which in turn relate to social media mobile advertising consumption.

While research on social media advertising has been steadily increasing, little has been explored on how users consume ads when they engage with social media at different periods along the day. This paper extends media ecology theory by investigating time of day, drawing on the circadian rhythm literature, and how it relates to social media usage.

The study employs two independent experimental studies to collect data. It focuses on the matching effect between advertising appeals and product types. The Elaboration Likelihood Model serves as the theoretical framework for understanding the cognitive processing involved in consumers' responses to these advertising appeals and product combinations.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of advertising appeals on consumers' intentions to purchase organic food. We explored the interaction between advertising appeals (egoistic vs altruistic) and product types (virtue vs vice) and purchase intention. The goal is to provide insights that can enhance the advertising effectiveness of organic food manufacturers and retailers.

The analysis reveals significant effects on consumers' purchase intentions based on the matching of advertising appeals with product types. Specifically, when egoistic appeals align with virtuous products, there is an improvement in consumers' purchase intentions. When altruistic appeals match vice products, a positive impact on purchase intention is observed. The results suggest that the matching of advertising appeals with product types enhances processing fluency, contributing to increased purchase intention.

This research contributes to the field by providing nuanced insights into the interplay between advertising appeals and product types within the context of organic food. The findings highlight the importance of considering the synergy between egoistic appeals and virtuous products, as well as altruistic appeals and vice products. This understanding can be strategically employed by organic food manufacturers and retailers to optimize their advertising strategies, thereby improving their overall effectiveness in influencing consumers' purchase intentions.

Tourism destination marketers use videos that incorporate storytelling and visual and audio components to evoke emotional arousal and memorability. This study aims to examine the increase in participants’ level of arousal and the degree of memorability after watching two different videos.

A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 45 participants who watched two destination promotional videos. One video used storytelling whereas the other used scenic images and music. The level of arousal was measured using both tonic and phasic electrodermal activity levels. The memorability of each video was measured after seven days by testing the recall accuracy.

Scenic imagery and music videos were associated with higher-than-average arousal levels, while storytelling videos generated larger-amplitude arousal peaks and a greater number of arousal-evoking events. After a week, the respondents recalled more events from the storytelling video than from the scenery and musical advertisements. This finding reveals that the treatment, storytelling and sensory stimuli in advertising moderate the impact of arousal peaks and memorability.

These results indicate that nonnarrative videos using only sceneries and music evoked a higher average level of arousal. However, memorability was associated with higher peak levels of arousal only in narrative storytelling. This is the first tourism study to report the effects of large arousal peaks on improved memorability in advertising.

Managers engage in marketing efforts to boost sales and in setting marketing budgets based on current or historical sales. Past studies have overlooked the reciprocal relationship between marketing spending and sales. This study aims to examine the nature of the relationship between sales and marketing expenses in the B2B market.

Five hypotheses on the relationship between sales and marketing expenditures were framed. A total of 30 of India’s dyeing firms provided data on revenues, sales (in units) and marketing expenditures over time. The structural vector auto-regressive model and the vector error correction model were fitted to the data.

The results show that marketing expenses and sales are related bidirectionally in a sequential way. Furthermore, sales drive the long-term equilibrium relationship to a greater extent than marketing expenditures.

The findings of this study should assist managers in predicting sales and marketing budgets simultaneously and devising precise marketing strategies and tactics.

Using econometric models in data-driven research is not a frequent practice in marketing. This study adds value to the body of marketing literature by advancing the theory of the relationship between sales and marketing spending using real-world data and econometric models in the B2B sector.

This study aims to provide a holistic review of social media influencers (SMIs) research based on a unique approach of bibliometric analysis and content analysis between 2011 and 2020. The review examines the main influential aspects, themes and research streams to identify research directions for the future.

The sample selection and data collection were done from the Scopus database. The sample dataset was refined based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria to determine the final dataset of 183 articles. The dataset was exported in the BibTeX format and then imported into the BiblioShiny app for bibliometric analysis. The content analysis was done following the theory-context-methodology framework.

The several findings of this study include (1) Co-word analysis of most used keywords; (2) Longitudinal thematic evolution; (3) The focus of the research papers as per the theory-context-methodology review protocol are persuasion knowledge model, fashion and beauty industries, Instagram and content analysis, respectively; and (4) The network analysis of the research studies is known as the co-citation analysis and depicts the intellectual structure in the domain. This analysis resulted in four clusters of the research streams from the literature and two emergent themes (Chen et al., 2010)

In general, the previous reviews in the area are either domain, method or theory-based. Thus, this study aims to complement and extend the existing literature by presenting the overall picture of the SMI research with the help of a unique combined approach and further highlighting the trends and future research directions based on the findings of this study.

This paper aims to elucidate how humorous prompts affect tourists’ heritage responsible behaviors (THRBs).

Three scenario-based experiments were conducted through Credamo (an online survey platform). Studies 1 and 2 used a single-factor (language style: humorous vs serious) between-subject design to test the direct and indirect effects of humorous prompts. Study 3 used a 2 (environmental quality: high vs low) × 2 (language style: humorous vs serious) between-subject design to further reveal the boundary condition (environmental quality) of the humor effect.

The results revealed that humorous (vs serious) prompts better persuade tourists to engage in heritage responsible behaviors (HRBs). Content liking mediates the relationship between humorous prompts and THRBs. Moreover, environmental quality significantly moderates the effect of humorous prompts on THRBs, whereby the persuasive effect of humorous prompts is greater in high environmental quality conditions than in low environmental quality conditions.

Destination management organizations can use humor to reduce tourists’ reactance against prompts for behavioral persuasion. Moreover, it is also important to adapt humorous prompts to changes in environmental quality in a timely manner.

Based on psychological reactance theory, the research confirmed the dominant effect of humorous prompts by using content liking as a mediating variable, providing a new research perspective for research on the regulation of THRBs. Moreover, the authors clarified a boundary condition for the persuasiveness of humorous prompts, which helps reinforce the comprehension of humor persuasion.

本研究旨在厘清幽默提示语如何影响游客遗产责任行为的差异效应与过程机制。

本研究利用见数平台开展了三个情景实验。实验1与实验2采用单因素（语言风格：幽默 vs. 严肃）组间实验设计, 验证了幽默提示语对遗产责任行为的直接与间接效应。实验3采用2（语言风格：幽默 vs. 严肃）×2（环境质量：高 vs. 低）组间实验设计进一步揭示环境质量对幽默提示语效果的调节效应。

相较于严肃提示语, 幽默提示语可更好地说服游客产生遗产责任行为。内容喜爱在幽默提示语与遗产责任行为过程中发挥完全中介作用。此外, 环境质量调节了幽默提示语对遗产责任行为的影响, 即幽默提示语（较严肃提示语）仅在环境质量较高的遗产地中具备优势。

遗产地管理组织可使用幽默来降低游客对提示语的心理逆反程度, 从而达到行为说服的目的。与此同时, 管理者也要根据目的地环境质量及时调整幽默提示语的使用策略。

基于心理逆反理论, 本研究以内容喜爱为中介变量, 证实了幽默提示语的优势说服作用, 为游客遗产责任行为管理的相关研究提供了一个新的理论视角。同时, 本研究厘清了幽默提示语在遗产旅游地中的应用边界, 并强化了对幽默说服的理解。

Esta investigación pretende aclarar cómo afecta el humor al efecto persuasivo de la señalización sobre el comportamiento responsable de los turistas respecto al patrimonio.

Se realizaron tres experimentos basados en escenarios a través de Credamo (una plataforma de encuestas en línea). En los estudios 1 y 2 se utilizó un diseño entre sujetos de un solo factor (estilo de lenguaje: humorístico frente a serio) para comprobar los efectos directos e indirectos de los señalización humorísticos. El estudio 3 utilizó un diseño entre sujetos de 2 (calidad del entorno: alta frente a baja) × 2 (estilo lingüístico: humorístico frente a serio) para revelar con más detalle la condición límite (calidad del entorno) del efecto del humor.

Los resultados revelaron que las señalización humorísticas (frente a las serias) persuaden mejor a los turistas a participar en las HRB. El gusto por el contenido influye en la relación entre los señalización humorísticos y las HRB. Además, la calidad del entorno modera de forma significativa el efecto de los señalización humorísticos sobre los THRB, de modo que el efecto persuasivo de los señalización humorísticos es mayor en condiciones de alta calidad del entorno que en condiciones de baja calidad del entorno.

Las organizaciones de gestión de destinos pueden utilizar el humor para reducir la reacción de los turistas ante las señalización a la persuasión conductual. Además, también es importante adaptar oportunamente las señalización humorísticas a los cambios en la calidad del entorno.

Basándonos en la teoría de la reactancia psicológica, nuestra investigación confirmó el efecto dominante de las señalización humorísticas empleando el gusto por el contenido como variable mediadora, proporcionando una nueva perspectiva para la investigación sobre la regulación de las THRB. Además, aclaramos una condición límite para la persuasión de los señalización humorísticos, lo que ayuda a reforzar la comprensión de la persuasión humorística.

The purpose of this study is to identify the process of virtual influencer stickiness in the age of influencer marketing, which has received little attention in the literature. This is essential because the research creates a theoretical model of follower loyalty/stickiness to virtual influencer techniques from the standpoint of influencer marketing, which has a substantial effect on the evolution of the global marketing world.

In 2022, 302 people who currently follow an Instafamous virtual influencer took part in an Instagram self-administered online survey.

The findings show that both expertise and trustworthiness have a positive and significant influence on parasocial interaction, which in turn has a significant influence on virtual engagement and stickiness.

This research will specifically assist international readers in understanding how to harness and increase the efficiency and efficacy of interactive marketing strategies and methods to engage and retain followers of Instafamous virtual influencer. Moreover, the findings will be beneficial to opinion leaders, brand managers, company investors, entrepreneurs and service designers.

1. The study pioneers a holistic virtual follower stickiness mechanism that comprises the role of source credibility, parasocial interaction, informational influence and virtual follower’s engagement and their interrelationship to each other.

2. This study is based on parasocial interaction theory and source credibility theory to understand the relationship between virtual followers and influencers stickiness process at social media platforms.

3. In addition, the study examined the subsequent effects of sources of credibility components on parasocial interaction; as well as, on virtual follower engagement and stickiness.

4. This study also categorized and examined the moderating effects exerted by the genres of informative influence of virtual influencer.

The study pioneers a holistic virtual follower stickiness mechanism that comprises the role of source credibility, parasocial interaction, informational influence and virtual follower’s engagement and their interrelationship to each other.

This study is based on parasocial interaction theory and source credibility theory to understand the relationship between virtual followers and influencers stickiness process at social media platforms.

In addition, the study examined the subsequent effects of sources of credibility components on parasocial interaction; as well as, on virtual follower engagement and stickiness.

This study also categorized and examined the moderating effects exerted by the genres of informative influence of virtual influencer.

Consumers are increasingly spending more time on social media platforms to cope with anxiety and loneliness resulting from the recent pandemic. The extraordinary times, characterised by isolation and lockdown, has placed increasing dependence on online technology as a coping mechanism in which social media influencers (SMIs) served as the human face of brands, helping both consumers and brands maintain human connection. How should practitioners navigate their social media campaigns in this changing environment?

To answer this question, the Source Connectedness Pyramid is proposed to help explain and compare the interactions between consumers and SMIs in ordinary and extraordinary times.

In their interactions with influencers during ordinary times, consumers are satiated with influencer source characteristics of attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. However, during extraordinary times, consumers substitute their usual preference to focus on connectedness, characterised by relatedness, belongingness and attachment.

The empirical study within this paper lends support to this proposition and offers additional insights. The proposed Source Connectedness Pyramid contributes to influencer communication theoretically and has strategic implications for practitioners when navigating their social media campaigns in these extraordinary times.

The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of different brand positions (underdog vs top dog) and comparative advertising on consumers’ brand attitudes. Additionally, this study also aims to demonstrate the effects of inspiration, self-relevance and empathy on the relationship between brand positioning and comparative advertising.

A two-by-three factorial design was employed with brand positions (underdog vs top dog) and three types of comparative advertising (noncomparative, indirect comparative and direct comparative) as the independent variables. Inspiration serves as the mediator, while self-relevance and empathy act as moderators and brand attitude is the dependent variable.

The results show that different brand positions significantly affect brand attitudes, with respondents having a better brand attitude toward the underdog brand. Brand attitude is partially mediated by inspiration. Self-relevance moderates the relationship between brand positioning and brand attitude. However, brand positioning, comparative advertising and empathy do not have interaction effects.

This study contributes to a better understanding of the effect of psychological variables on brand positioning and comparative advertising.

The results suggest that the underdog setting requires a real and honest story because consumers will spot a fake underdog story, which will damage consumer trust in the brand and harm the brand image.

There is a lack of research using psychological variables to demonstrate the effect of being the underdog brand. This study contributes to the literature by employing psychological variables to illustrate the effect of underdog positioning. These findings can help brands develop branding positioning strategies.