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The objective of this study is to examine the effect of human model facial presentation (a smiling facial expression vs a neutral facial expression vs no facial presentation) on consumers' approach behavior and to determine the mechanism and boundary conditions behind such effects.

The research consisted of four laboratory experiments.

The results of four studies showed that a smiling facial expression led to the highest score for approach behavior. Pleasure and arousal mediated the effect of facial presentation on approach behavior. In the relationship between facial presentation and approach behavior, the moderating effects of emotional receptivity and the situation were significant. To be specific, for participants with high emotional receptivity, smiling facial expressions led to the highest approach behavior; for participants with low emotional receptivity, neutral expressions led to the highest approach behavior. In a browsing situation, the approach behavior of participants in response to a smiling facial expression was the highest. However, no significant differences were found in approach behavior under the three conditions regarding a purchasing situation.

This study supplements the literature on human model presentation and enriches the study of facial expressions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of atmospherics and affective state on shoppers’ in-store behaviour using the two approaches in structural equation modelling (SEM), i.e. Frequentist and Bayesian approaches. Shoppers’ affective state was tested for its mediating effect on in-store shopping behaviour.

The final sample consists of 382 respondents who were drawn from shoppers at selected apparel stores in six of the most popular shopping malls around Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). A frequentist approach to SEM is common among researchers and offers generally an analysis of the relationships between multiple latent variables and constructs. Alternatively, the Bayesian SEM (BSEM) approach stems from the diffusion of the model’s posterior distributions using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique. More specifically, this technique is inherently more flexible and substantive in determining parameter estimates as compared to the more conventional, the frequentist approach to SEM.

The results show the mixed effects of atmospheric cues in retail setting on shoppers’ affective state. More specifically, the positive direct effect of atmospheric cues (music) on in-store behaviour was confirmed while other atmospheric cues (colour and store layout) were found to be fully mediated by affective state. The Bayesian approach was able to offer more distinctive results complementing the frequentist approach.

Although the current sample size is adequate, it will be interesting to examine how a bigger sample size and different antecedents of in-store behaviour in retailing can affect the comparison between the frequentist approach in SEM and BSEM.

The authors found that a combination of well-designed store atmospherics and layout store can produce pleasurable effects on shoppers resulting in positive affective state. This study found that results from both frequentist and Bayesian approaches complement each other and it may be beneficial for future studies to utilise both approaches in SEM.

This paper met the aim to compare the approaches in SEM and the need to consider both approaches on in-store shopping environment. Overall, the authors contend that the Bayesian approach to SEM is a potentially viable alternative to frequentist SEM, especially when studies are conducted under dynamic conditions such as apparel retailing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how informativeness and entertainment, two important online store characteristics, influence consumers’ approach behaviors. The current research also investigates the mechanism and boundary condition behind these relationships.

The study proposed a conceptual framework that included five variables to understand consumers’ approach behaviors toward online stores. By surveying 307 Chinese online shoppers using a comprehensive questionnaire, the authors collected data that were then used to test the hypotheses. Data were examined using regression analysis.

The results showed that online store informativeness and entertainment significantly affected consumers’ approach behaviors. In the relationship between these two online store characteristics and consumers’ approach behaviors, pleasure played a mediating role. Hedonic value moderated the effect of informativeness on consumers’ approach behaviors. However, the moderating role of hedonic value was not significant in the relationship between entertainment and consumers’ approach behaviors.

The present study supplements the research on online store characteristics based on the perception of overall online store environmental cues. This paper also examines the online shopping experience of consumers in emerging markets like China.

This article argues the value of integrating pragmatism in applying behavioural science to complex challenges. We describe a behaviour change-led knowledge co-production process in the specific context of climate change in Australia. This process was led by an interdisciplinary research team who struggled with the limitations of the prevailing deterministic behaviour change paradigms, such as the “test, learn, adapt” model, which often focuses narrowly on individual behaviours and fails to integrate multiple interpretations from diverse stakeholders into their knowledge co-production process.

This article uses collaborative reflection as a method of inquiry. We document the team’s experience of a recent challenge-led, programatic research initiative that applied behaviour change strategies to reduce climate vulnerabilities. We demonstrate the necessity of critical reflection and abductive reasoning in the face of the complexities inherent in knowledge co-production addressing complex problems. It underscores the importance of accommodating diverse perspectives and contextual nuances over a one-size-fits-all method.

The article shares lessons learnt about integrating collaborative and critical reflection throughout a project cycle and demonstrates the capacity of abductive reasoning to ease the challenges arising from the tension between behaviour change paradigms and knowledge co-production principles. This approach allows for a more adaptable and context-sensitive application, acknowledging the multiplicity of understandings and the dynamic nature of behavioural change in relation to climate adaptation.

This reflection contributes original insights into the fusion of pragmatism with behaviour change strategies, proposing a novel framework that prioritises flexibility, context-specificity and the recognition of various stakeholder perspectives in the co-production of knowledge.

There is ample evidence supporting the generalizability of the stimuli-organism-response framework in the retail field, with limited extensions to digital signage inside malls. This article postulates that favourable perceptions of the mall environment result in stronger approach behaviours than positive experienced emotions. This varying indirect effect is predicated to be moderated by shoppers' enjoyment of hedonic digital signage content.

This study was conducted at two upmarket super-regional malls in South Africa with a wide variety of contemporary digital signage displaying hedonic content. Purposive quota sampling was used to intercept and survey 400 regular shoppers viewing dynamic hedonic digital signage content. Data was collected via an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. Hayes macro conditional process analysis was used to determine the moderating role of hedonic content enjoyment and to estimate regression coefficients of the proposed model.

It was found that favourable perceptions of the mall environment is strongly associated with approach behaviours relative to the indirect effect of positive experienced emotions. When shoppers' enjoyment of hedonic content is factored in the model, low enjoyment of hedonic content shows an insignificant effect of digital signage on approach behaviours. However, for high enjoyment of hedonic content, this relationship is positive and significant.

Digital signage was only studied as a design cue and the promising role as social cue or ambient factor were thus not take into account. It also applied a cross-sectional survey rather than an experiment and has modelled the effects of digital signage as a part of retail atmospherics rather than its presence or absence in malls. The results were generated based on a survey with shoppers from two upmarket super-regional malls in South Africa while viewing digital signage displaying hedonic content. Findings might differ for utilitarian content and other settings.

Practical recommendations on how shopping mall management could utilise digital signage to possibly increase approach behaviours are provided.

There is very limited research on the effects of digital signage on shoppers in the mall environment. This study is one of the first to consider enjoyment of digital signage content inside malls as moderating variable. Additionally, this study contributed to this growing field of shopper-oriented technologies in methodological and pragmatic manners.

This study aims to develop a robust theoretical framework to explain the impact of hotels’ green brand authenticity on guests’ perceptions of well-being, customer engagement and approach behaviors toward green brands.

In this study, the authors examined the effect of green brand authenticity on perceptions of well-being, customer engagement and approach behaviors toward green brands. For the quantitative empirical analysis, 352 samples were used. Green brand authenticity integrates quality commitment, heritage, uniqueness and symbolism as high-dimensional factors.

The study conceptualizes green brand authenticity as a multi-dimensional phenomenon with four dimensions: quality commitment, heritage, uniqueness and symbolism. The results showed that green brand authenticity has a positive effect on hotel guests’ perceived well-being and behavioral intentions. Interestingly, environmental values did not have a statistically significant regulatory role, while green behavior in everyday life had a partial regulatory role.

This study aims to develop and empirically test a conceptual model that depicts the function of green authenticity in explaining customer responses to green brands. The results and the theoretical framework proposed in this study provide significant insights for researchers and practitioners in the hotel industry.

Further than evaluating brand authenticity generally, this study evaluates the authenticity of a brand's environmental protection efforts. As a result of the empirical analysis conducted in this study, the green brand authenticity of a hotel had a positive effect on customers’ emotional and behavioral aspects. This finding provided valuable and meaningful insights for green hotels and hotel brand-related research.

The purpose of this paper is two‐fold: to examine two approaches buying firms can utilize to manage supplier quality; and to investigate the ways in which factors inherent in supply chain relationships affect the use of these approaches in supply chain quality management.

Drawing on agency theory, this paper proposes a conceptual framework that relates the underlying factors of a supply chain relationship to the use of quality management approaches. Two types of approaches, outcome‐based and behavior‐based, are discussed in terms of their focuses, purposes, and methods. Propositions are developed about the effects of these factors on the decisions buying firms make about supply chain quality management.

This study suggests that rather than relying on one generic supply chain quality management approach for all suppliers, firms need to choose different management mechanisms for different suppliers based on the salient attributes of individual suppliers and their relationships with the buyers. Five types of agency‐based factors are discussed. These factors – information asymmetry, goal conflict, risk aversion of suppliers, length of relationship, and task characteristics – can be expected to influence how firms design and manage their quality management systems for supply chains.

A better understanding of the distinction between outcome‐based and behavior‐based approaches helps managers evaluate which approach is best suited to managing the quality of their suppliers. The propositions pertaining to the key factors provide managers with some guidelines about the critical conditions they should consider when building their firm's supply chain quality management system.

Having an effective quality management system of a supply chain is essential for maintaining a smooth supply of high quality products and services to customers. However, little is known about how a firm should design this supply chain quality management system. The paper addresses this gap by applying agency theory to examine the two essential approaches to managing supplier quality and to explore the critical factors that should be taken into account when considering the appropriate approaches for different suppliers.

Methodological pluralism in consumer research is usually confined to post‐positivist interpretive approaches. Argues, however, that a positivistic stance, radical behaviourism, can enrich epistemological debate among researchers with the recognition of radical behaviourism′s ultimate reliance on interpretation as well as science. Although radical behaviourist explanation was initially founded on Machian positivism, its account of complex social behaviours such as purchase and consumption is necessarily interpretive, inviting comparison with the hermeneutical approaches currently emerging in consumer research. Radical behaviourist interpretation attributes meaning to behaviour by identifying its environmental determinants, especially the learning history of the individual in relation to the consequences similar prior behaviour has effected. The nature of such interpretation is demonstrated for purchase and consumption responses by means of a critique of radical behaviourism as applied to complex human activity. In the process, develops and applies a framework for radical behaviourist interpretation of purchase and consumption to four operant equifinality classes of consumer behaviour: accomplishment, pleasure, accumulation and maintenance. Some epistemological implications of this framework, the behavioural perspective model (BPM) of purchase and consumption, are discussed in the context of the relativity and incommensurability of research paradigms. Finally, evaluates the interpretive approach, particularly in terms of its relevance to the nature and understanding of managerial marketing.