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This paper aims to assess retail shopping avenues for young consumers based on the type of guidance and assistance they pursue (social media vs professional service provider) in purchasing situations judged to be important. Young consumers consider themselves pet parents and pets represent an extension of self. Thus, pet-related products, by their importance, represent an excellent area of analysis for this inquiry.

Data collection was completed in a way that is contextually relevant and gives the results ecological validity with the assistance of a major supplier of pet food. A total of 470 Gen Z owners of small companion animals were obtained. The partial least squares structural equation modeling testing method is considered appropriate for the model analysis due to the structure and homogeneity of the sample and due to the precision of the method.

Results indicate that, in accordance with social media engagement (SME) theory, high SME elevated social commerce purchase intentions while professional advice seekers reported increased brick-and-mortar shopping. Thus, context-dependent, young consumers may purchase from brick-and-mortar sites.

This paper draws on SME and Advice Response Theory and proposes an original model explaining channel selection preferences for young consumers based on the type of advice sought for important purchasing decisions. The model represents a steppingstone to investigate the mechanism that translates information search sources into buying through different channels.

The authors argue that privacy is integral to the well-being of consumers and an essential component in not only corporate social responsibility (CSR) but what they term uniquely as social media responsibility (SMR). A conceptual framework is proposed that delineates the privacy issues companies should pay attention to in artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled social media environments.

The authors review literature on privacy issues in social media and AI in the academic and practitioner literatures. Based on the review, arguments focus on the need for an SMR framework, proposing responsible use of consumer data that is attentive to consumers' privacy concerns.

Implications from the framework are a path forward for social media companies to treat consumer data more fairly in this new environment. The framework has implications for companies to reduce potential harms to consumers and consider addressing their power and responsibility. With social media and AI transforming consumer behavior so profoundly, there are a variety of short- and long-term social implications.

Since AI tools are becoming integral to social media company activities, this research addresses the changing responsibilities social media companies have in securing consumers' data and enabling consumers the agency to protect their privacy effectively. The authors propose an SMR framework based on CSR research and AI tools employed by social media companies.

The rising occurrence of digitally driven public consumer complaints has made it necessary for enterprises to obtain consumer forgiveness. However, existing research has provided little understanding regarding how to obtain consumer forgiveness effectively. Thus, the present study examined how brand avatars can improve consumer forgiveness in the context of public apology.

This study tested the mechanism of a brand avatar on consumer forgiveness using three studies. Specifically, we explored the direct and mediating effect of empathy toward a brand (Study 1); we identified the moderating mediating effect of humorous responses (Study 2) and product type (Study 3). Data for these studies were collected on Credamo. We analyzed the data using SPSS (26.0) for the primary analysis and PROCESS (3.5) for the mediating and moderating mediating analysis.

The results indicate that brand avatars enhance consumer forgiveness. Moreover, empathy toward a brand plays a mediating role in the effect of brand avatars on consumer forgiveness. Additionally, when a humorous response is present, a brand avatar can enhance customer forgiveness through empathy toward that brand. Compared to utilitarian products, hedonic products can also increase the impact of a brand avatar on empathy toward the brand, thus enhancing consumers' forgiveness.

From the perspective of emotion, this study explored the impact of brand avatars on consumer forgiveness via empathy toward a brand. It augments the research on brand avatars and consumer forgiveness. The study also verified the moderating mediating effect of humor response and product type while expanding the brand avatar research boundary.

This study addresses tourists' post-consumption perspectives on the impact of online destination experiences and animosity on travel decisions. Developing a framework based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, we examine the previously unexplored relationship between post-negative events, online destination brand experience (ODBE), tourists' animosity and destination boycott intentions within the domestic tourism context.

Data from 355 actively engaged domestic travelers in Pakistan who follow destination social media pages (i.e. Instagram and Facebook) was analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that post-negative events ODBE significantly stimulate tourists' animosity, which in turn drives destination boycott intentions. The ODBE indirectly affects boycott intentions through animosity, acting as a partial mediator. The analysis highlights the significance of the users' prior experience levels (novice vs experienced). Multigroup analysis shows that novice visitors are more sensitive to negative online experiences, resulting in stronger animosity than experienced visitors. Animosity significantly drives boycott intentions, particularly among experienced visitors.

This study’s novelty lies in its comprehensive examination of post-negative events, focusing on how the ODBE influences tourists' negative emotions and boycott intentions. These findings offer valuable insights for tourism researchers and destination marketers, underscoring the importance of optimizing post-service failure ODBE strategies for brand repair, online reputation management, digital marketing innovation and customized service recovery to mitigate the impact of negative events.

Drawing upon the service-dominant logic (S-D logic) and elaboration likelihood model (ELM), this paper provides an integrative model to investigate how argument quality and source credibility of CSR communication affects customer value co-creation behavior, resulting in increased brand trust. Additionally, it unveils how brand trust and the perception of COVID-19 risk influence both brand love and subjective well-being.

The data of this study were collected through survey questionnaire from 304 coffee shop customers using convenience sampling and tested using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to validate its model.

The research findings confirm the positive association between source credibility and customer value co-creation (i.e. customer participation and citizenship behavior). By contrast, argument quality is revealed to have a significantly positive effect on customer citizenship behavior (CCB) but a non-significant effect on customer participation behavior (CPB). Additionally, the study identifies that customer value co-creation behavior significantly promotes brand trust. Finally, findings indicate that brand trust and the perception of COVID-19 risk significantly influence brand love and subjective well-being.

This study contributes to the literature on CSR communication and S-D logic and provides new insights for marketers and advertisers to manage brands in the post-pandemic scenario through CSR communications. Furthermore, this study theoretically extends the ELM model to the CSR communication research. Finally, this study expands the relevant literature by clarifying the relationships between the perception of COVID-19 risk, brand love and subjective well-being.

Drawing from stakeholder (ST) and social exchange theory (SET), the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between customer perceived ethicality (CPE), electronic word of mouth (eWOM), customer trust (CT) and customer loyalty (CL). Furthermore, this study aimed to understand the dual role of CPE and eWOM in obtaining CT and achieving CL.

Using a quantitative, cross-sectional research design, data were collected from face-to-face surveys, yielding 358 responses. The partial least square algorithm was used to test the proposed hypothesis.

The analysis revealed that CPE and eWOM positively affect CT and CL, and CT has a mediating effect on the association between CPE–CL and eWOM–CL. CT was also found to positively affect CL.

Hotel managers can prioritize ethical practices and leverage the power of eWOM to build trust and achieve loyalty. This integrated approach not only enhances customer satisfaction and retention but also creates a competitive advantage.

The novelty of this study lies in the investigation of the dual role played by CPE and eWOM as antecedents of CT and CL within the hotel industry. Finally, this study explains the drivers of CT and CL, thereby making a novel contribution to the literature.

This study introduces a new type of platform recommendation about mutual funds and draws on the signaling theory to conduct a quasi-experimental design to investigate how the platform recommendation influences investors’ investment decisions. Moreover, the authors examine the combined effect of star ratings and the platform recommendation on fund flow and test the investment value of recommended funds.

This study implements a quasi-experimental design based on 1,295 mutual funds traded on Alipay’s online platform to test the hypotheses.

The empirical results show that the recommended funds received higher fund flows from investors when the platform recommendation was established. Moreover, a substitution effect between tag recommendation and star ratings on fund flow was identified. We also uncovered that investing in platform-recommended funds can yield significant and higher fund returns for investors than those without platform recommendations.

Our findings shed new insights into the role of platform recommendations in helping fund investors make investment decisions and contribute to the business of online mutual fund transactions by investigating the effect of platform recommendations on fund flow and performance.

Extending the Attitudes-Behavior-Context (ABC) theoretical framework by incorporating consumer expertise as an antecedent, the study investigates the intricate relationship between consumer attitudes toward locally produced goods (wine) and purchasing behavior, examined within the context of consumer ethnocentrism.

The study employed an online survey of Texas wine consumers (N = 895). To investigate consumer attitudes towards local wine, the data were first subjected to descriptive analyses, namely means comparison and chi-square tests. Subsequently, path analysis was employed to explore the hypothesized relationships within the proposed model.

While consumers with higher wine knowledge are less likely to choose local wines for various consumption occasions, consumers who are highly involved with wine tend to exhibit more favorable perceptions. Taste emerged as the strongest driver of purchase intent. Consumer ethnocentrism plays a critical role, boosting purchase intent for those with positive general attitudes and considering local wines for various occasions. However, this effect disappears when perceptions of the taste of regional wines are unfavorable, highlighting once again the critical role of taste in purchase decisions, even for ethnocentric consumers.

This study expands the ABC framework by incorporating consumer expertise with a product as a new antecedent, thereby broadening its applicability to consumer behavior research within an ethnocentric context.

Although trade volumes in e-retailing have increased significantly in recent years, logistics service failures are inevitable, especially at the delivery stage. Therefore, it is essential to provide customers with effective recovery strategies to increase their satisfaction and repurchase intentions. There is a lack of empirical evidence on whether the response time or the discount offered in compensation is more crucial for customers. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether the response time or the discount offered for high and low criticality failures has a greater impact on customer satisfaction levels and repurchase intentions for female and male customers.

A scenario-based experimental design method has been adopted to collect data, and 697 participants aged 18 and 58 years have been reached. The research utilized a between-subjects design, incorporating three factors: gender (female vs male), criticality (high vs low) and compensation (7 days: 10% discount, 10 days: 20% discount and 14 days: 30% discount). Six scenarios depicting the failure of an online retailer were created, and factorial univariate ANOVA was conducted to test the hypotheses.

The study's results show that in terms of customer satisfaction, female customers attach more importance to the response time in the case of high criticality and the amount of discount offered in the case of low criticality. On the other hand, male customers give more importance to the response time in terms of customer satisfaction when they experience a high or low criticality failure. In the case of low criticality, response time is more important for male customers to increase their repurchase intentions, while the amount of the discount is more important for female customers.

The study demonstrates the relative importance of the response time and discount amount according to the criticality level of failures and to guide business managers in terms of the recovery strategies they will implement. It focuses on gender differences and determine whether the response time or discount amount is more important for male and female customers in high or low-criticality situations.

This study identifies benefits and challenges of PL partnerships, and recommendations to improve the PL partnership process.

Qualitative data was collected via semi-structured interviews (n = 8) with Irish PL retail buyers (n = 4) and producers (n = 4). Data was coded and thematically analysed.

Three key themes were identified. Theme 1 provides an overview of the benefits of PL partnerships for producers (e.g. volume driven orders, increased efficiencies) and for retailers (e.g. unique products, meeting consumer demand). Theme 2 presents challenges of PL partnerships specific to small and large producers (e.g. small producers may need significant investment to upgrade facilities, while larger producers may require significant volume to justify adaptation of production lines). Challenges common to both (e.g. risks related to short-term contracts, concerns about brand identity) are also discussed. Theme 3 summarised recommendations for successful PL partnerships generally (e.g. setting clear expectations and goals, building rapport and trust), and recommendations specific to producers and buyers specifically (e.g. producers should diversify customers to reduce risk, and retailers should communicate needs and direction).

There is currently limited research on PL partnerships between producers and retailers. This study addresses this gap by identifying key aspects for producers to consider when entering PL partnerships and key aspects for retailers to be aware of to help improve the attractiveness and success of these partnerships.