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This research explores the impact of classical aesthetics (e.g. order and symmetry) and expressive aesthetics (e.g. creativity and distinctiveness) on consumer green consumption.

This research conducted three studies. Study 1 explored the main effect of appearance aesthetics (appearance: plain vs classical vs expressive) on green products purchase intention through a one-factor between-subjects design. Study 2 verified the mediating role of perceived naturalness through two types of appearance aesthetics (appearance: classical vs expressive) between-subjects design. Study 3 verified the moderating role of product identity-symbolic attributes through a 2 (product identity-symbolic attributes: non-identity-symbolic vs identity-symbolic attributes) × 2 (appearance: classical aesthetics vs expressive aesthetics) between-subjects design.

Consumers will be more likely to purchase a green product that has classical aesthetics appearance (vs expressive aesthetics). Perceived naturalness mediates the effect of aesthetic appearance on consumer green consumption. Product identity symbol attributes moderate this effect. Specifically, for non-identity-symbolic green products, classical aesthetics can effectively enhance consumer purchase intention. For identity-symbolic green products, expressive aesthetics can effectively enhance consumer purchase intention.

Existing research suggests that aesthetic appearance can increase consumers’ evaluation of electronic products, beauty products and food, but the difference between aesthetics has not yet been explored. This research compares two aesthetics, contributing to the literature on aesthetic appearance in green products and offering valuable insights for managers’ green products marketing.

The very soul of cultural and arts entrepreneurship (CAE) is aesthetic. However, what is the importance of being aesthetic in CAE? An understanding of aesthetics substantially improves both our comprehension of CAE and our capacity to theorise about entrepreneurship and creative industries. Furthermore, when seeking to understand CAE, the authors expand their knowledge about aesthetics, an ordinary but complex and neglected kind of knowledge. The authors mobilise three perspectives in organisational aesthetics theory (sensible knowing, connection, and judgements) to develop and propose initial ways to connect aesthetics to CAE. These perspectives help to explore and explain the vital importance of aesthetics in CAE and its innovation process. Aesthetics is a source of innovation in CAE, and the authors propose to perceive entrepreneurial innovations as aesthetic learning, persuasion, and flow.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic importance of visual aesthetics and presentation modality for consumer responses to fashion luxury brand content posted on Instagram.

A content analysis of 40,679 posts on the official Instagram accounts of 15 global luxury brands was conducted.

Brand posts using expressive aesthetic image received more likes and comments on Instagram than those with classical aesthetics. Brand video content received more likes and comments than static content. There was also a significant interaction between visual aesthetics and presentation modality in generating likes and comments. Brand content adopting expressive aesthetic and audio-visual modality generated more responses when using audio-visual modality, while content using classical aesthetics produced more responses in a visual-only format.

As visual aesthetics and modality resulted in different responses to Instagram ads, luxury marketers should consider using appropriate approaches when creating brand posts on Instagram.

This is one of the few studies examining the effectiveness of visual aesthetics and presentation modality in Instagram advertising, especially in luxury fashion brand context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how visual aesthetic referents used in branding can help foster a transnational imagined community (TIC). The authors use brands embedded with Middle Eastern visual aesthetics as a research context. As such, the study aims to examine how Middle Eastern non-figurative art is used by non-Middle Eastern brands to foster an imagined Middle Easternness.

Through a critical visual analysis, the authors apply a visual social semiotic approach to Middle Eastern art canons to better understand the dimensions of transnational imagined communities.

The study finds and discusses six sub-dimensions of Middle Easternness, which compose two overarching dimensions of TIC, namely, temporal and spatial. These sub-dimensions provide brand managers and designers with six different ways to foster transnational imagined communities through the use of visual aesthetic referents in branding.

This research identifies the specific visual sub-dimensions of brands that enable transnational communities to be imagined.

Understanding the visual aesthetic sub-dimensions in this study provides brand managers with practical tools that can help develop referents that foster transnational imagined communities in brand building to achieve competitive advantage and reach a transnational segment.

Prior studies have primarily focussed on how visual aesthetics help in understanding issues related to national identity. In contrast, this paper examines the use of visual aesthetics in branding from a transnational perspective.

The success of e-commerce websites depends on their effective communication and influence on their users. At first glance, the users are impressed by the website design and, if inspired, they would continue their operations on the website. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of visual aesthetic of the Web pages on users’ behavior in online shopping environment. In particular, the paper aims to evaluate the elements of visual aesthetic on the organism variables (i.e. “satisfaction,” “arousal,” “perceived on-line service quality” and “trust”) and measure them on the users’ response (i.e. purchase, comparison and re-visit).

Using the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework, the authors first assessed direct and indirect effects of visual aesthetics of e-commerce websites on customer responses. Then, the Visual Aesthetics of Websites Inventory (VisAWI) method was used to examine the effects of four dimensions (i.e. craftsmanship, simplicity, diversity and colorfulness) on users’ perceived website aesthetics. To do so, DigiKala.com, a famous Iranian e-commerce website was selected and the questionnaires were distributed among its users.

The study results revealed that the website aesthetics in the S-O-R evaluation had the greatest direct impact on “perceived quality of online services,” “trust,” “satisfaction” and “arousal,” respectively. These variables also indirectly affected “shopping,” “revisit” and “comparison to similar products on other websites.” Regarding the evaluations based on the VisAWI, the component “craftsmanship” played the most central role in expressing the website aesthetics, followed by the variables “simplicity,” “diversity” and “colorfulness,” respectively.

Although the considerable effect of Web aesthetics on customers’ purchase behavior has been identified in previous research, it has not been accurately measured. Furthermore, studies on Web aesthetics are mostly limited to information systems’ users and do not concern consumers. Therefore, considering the increasing growth in online shopping and the significance of Web aesthetics to online consumers, investigating how consumers respond to Web aesthetics is of vital importance.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between aspects of aesthetics and the performance of organizations. It outlines a research agenda for studying the impact of aesthetic factors upon organizational design and change.

In the paper, a set of seven propositions is developed to address various aspects of organizational performance that are influenced by beauty in organizations. These propositions are based on a distinction between the concepts process aesthetics, product aesthetics and aesthetic sensibility.

The hypotheses suggest that organizational performance might be enhanced by the beauty of products and services, and indirectly by the aesthetics of organizational work processes, organizational structures, the personal well‐being of employees and organizational designers with a high degree of aesthetic sensibility.

The hypothesis in this paper should be tested by future researchers.

The paper might enhance the awareness of practitioners of the practical value of aesthetics

The paper adds to the new field of organizational aesthetics a performance‐oriented approach based on a design perspective.

Applying the stimulus–organism–response model, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of design aesthetics (stimulus) on adoption and recommendation intentions (response) of mobile banking applications through the mediating role of perceived usefulness and trust (organism). Importantly, this research further examines the moderating effect of persuasion knowledge, which attenuates the effects of design aesthetics on perceived usefulness and trust.

A survey is conducted with the help of panellist among a sample of 213 bank customers who are not yet users of mobile banking. Data are analysed using the PROCESS macro.

The results show that design aesthetics positively influence perceived usefulness and trust. These variables, in turn, positively affect adoption and recommendation intentions of mobile banking applications. Interestingly, the findings also demonstrate that persuasion knowledge moderates the effects of design aesthetics on perceived usefulness and trust, as well as their mediating effect.

Because the results demonstrate that persuasion knowledge weakens the effects of design aesthetics on perceived usefulness and trust, the originality of this research rests upon its reconsideration of the “what is beautiful is good” effect and the questioning of the supremacy of this effect. These results provide insights for academics to better explain and increase adoption and recommendation intentions. Moreover, the results can help banking practitioners to improve their policies and strategies pertaining to mobile banking applications.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of research focusing on the relationship between aesthetics and spirituality in the Australian services sector.

The research employs an interpretive mixed‐method approach. The data were collected using an online survey developed from a range of existing research tools. The population of interest is employees in the Australian services sector. The results were analysed using quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques.

The results of the analysis suggest that people who work in the Australian services sector tend to consider themselves “spiritual”, but it is a spirituality that is not necessarily religious, it might more likely be derived from aesthetics.

The main limitation of this study is the small sample size, which limits the inferences that can be drawn. Despite this limitation, this study has important implications in that it illuminates and attempts to resolve some of the conceptual confusion and contradictions in the existing literature relating to aesthetics and spirituality. It is proposed that aesthetics be equated with an expressed spirituality that has no connection with religiosity and spirituality be equated with expressed religious beliefs.

This paper presents an investigation of the relatively neglected area of spirituality and aesthetics in the context of the Australian business environment and stimulates the debate about spirituality and aesthetics in the workplace.

This study aims to examine the linkages between port aesthetics, destination image, tourist satisfaction and tourist loyalty in Hong Kong.

To achieve this objective, the authors surveyed 247 tourists in Hong Kong. Using factor analysis and structural equation model (SEM) to identify the constructs of port aesthetics and analyze its relationship with destination image, tourist satisfaction and tourist loyalty.

Five-port aesthetics constructs were identified, namely, leisure and culture, design and cognition, atmosphere, recreational facilities and memory. The results of SEM revealed the following: port aesthetics positively influenced destination image; destination image positively influenced tourist satisfaction; and tourist satisfaction had a positive influence on tourist loyalty. This research also found that the indirect effect of port aesthetics on tourist loyalty via destination image and tourist satisfaction.

While the environmental qualities of a port could potentially affect destination image, tourist satisfaction and loyalty, this study developed and validated a measurement instrument of perceived port aesthetics from a tourist’s perspective. Specifically, this research proposed a structural model to explain the relationships between port aesthetics, destination image, tourist satisfaction and loyalty.

This study aims to investigate the impact of experience product portal page aesthetics on bounce rate.

This research collected data from an online shop selling original design furniture on Taobao.com. It employed deep learning algorithm and manual coding to operationalize image and text aesthetics.

The empirical results indicate that text aesthetics has a U-shaped relationship with bounce rate, whereas the relationship between image aesthetics and bounce rate is insignificant. Moreover, the U-shaped relationship between text aesthetics and bounce rate is weakened by image aesthetics.

This study addresses an important but understudied topic – the bounce rate of experience products in the context of e-commerce. Although the high bounce rate has increasingly gained attention from practitioners, there remains a scarcity of research that addresses the effect of product portal page aesthetics in the specific context of experience products. The authors theorize product portal page aesthetics as the design elements of an e-commerce website and deeply analyzed the role of product portal page aesthetics by classifying it into text aesthetics and image aesthetics. The authors’ findings provide implications for online sellers and platforms to effectively design product profile pages to reduce the bounce rate.