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Studies show that discourses are important in legitimating emerging fields. However, we still lack understanding of how potential participants’ interpretations of discourses shape their involvement in emerging fields – particularly when the field’s definition is ambiguous. Drawing on an in-depth study of the emerging nanotechnology field we show that individuals’ affective responses to discourses play an important role in their decisions to participate. We find that discourse, expectations, affective responses, and participation in emerging fields are mutually constituted, and develop a model that shows these interconnections. Theoretically, our study expands understandings of discourse and field emergence by incorporating affect.

While the issue of “Blackness” has long pervaded American society, it has rarely been problematized in social science literature and treated as a taken-for-granted. This article utilizes in-depth interviews with second generation West Indian adults in New York City to examine the ways in which they conceive of their Blackness, both racially and ethnically. New York City is viewed as an important urban context that in many ways facilitates the formation of identity for this population. The assimilation process, or not, of second generation West Indians is also considered in terms of socioeconomic status and gender. The results indicate that second generation West Indians strongly identify with both their racial and ethnic identities, which in turn calls for a reconceptualization of “Blackness”. There is also evidence that points to New York City as a space of cross-cultural integration where identity formation is significantly impacted by the presence of other immigrants (and their children) that leads to a pan-immigrant or pan-ethnic identity among young New Yorkers.

The winter 1991 issue of Reference Services Review featured an annotated bibliography of literature on Christopher Columbus from 1970 to 1989. That literature covered such topics as Columbus' ancestry, heraldry, and the locations of both his American landfall and burial site. This annotated checklist focuses mainly on Columbus' legacy, on works that offer a dissenting point of view from most previous writings about Columbus (and on works that react to the dissenters), on material written by Native American and other non‐European authors, and on materials published by small and noncommercial presses.

This paper aims to understand how structural characteristics of social media enable consumers to satisfy needs related to marketer-generated content (MGC) and identify the consequences of consumer exposure to MGC.

This paper revisits research on antecedents and consequences of advertising consumption to build an emergent conceptual model applied to MGC through the investigation of consumer experiences in social media. Thirty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers who follow brands on Instagram. The interview transcripts were coded and analysed using a grounded theory approach.

This study finds that, structurally, MGC consumption is characterised by the combination of: consumer micro-control over both content and timing/place of consumption and ease of consumption, enabling consumers to seek pleasure and utility without effort. The data show that MGC is only likely to be shared to a restricted group with strong social connections, such as family members and close friends with similar interests, with whom new interactions develop over brands and products, online or in person. MGC consumption experiences also generate significant consumer learning that improves purchase outcomes for consumers. Three types of MGC consumers were identified in the data: “enthusiasts”, “circumstantial” and “occasional”.

This study updates previous literature, offering a conceptual framework that specifies how the structural characteristics of social media are conducive to consumer exposure to self-curated MGC flows. This research also uncovers unique social dynamics and consumer learning related to MGC consumption.

Insights from this study suggest alternative business models that may be attractive for consumers, brands and social media platforms. This research also suggests ways in which brands can improve consumer MGC experiences.

This research demonstrates how and why consumers embrace MGC at scale through social media and reveals consequences of MGC consumption.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the determinants of social networking site loyalty, paying special attention to the roles of user attitude, perceived risk and satisfaction.

The impact of uses and gratifications of social networking sites, attitude, perceived risks and satisfaction on social networking site loyalty is tested through structural equation modelling techniques. The sample consisted of 811 Spanish social networking site users collected through a personal survey. Risk is measured as a formative construct.

Data analysis shows that attitude is a key variable in increasing satisfaction and loyalty towards social networking sites. Sociability and entertainment gratifications and perceived risks (psychological, time loss and social) are the main drivers of user attitude towards social networking sites.

This research enables managers to know what aspects to highlight in their communication strategies to increase social networking site use and positive word‐of‐mouth. The research findings show managers that social networking site content should provide fun and foster user interactions in order to improve user attitude. Practical recommendations to increase social networking site satisfaction and loyalty and guidelines to reduce perceived risk dimensions are also provided.

Despite the importance of social networking sites for companies, only limited work has been done to identify motivators and barriers of social networking site loyalty. This work aims to combine the influence of gratifications provided by social networking sites, perceived risks, attitude and satisfaction in order to construct an improved model for social networking site loyalty formation. Furthermore risk is measured as a formative construct because there is no reason to expect that risk dimensions in social networking site use are correlated.

Large numbers of older workers are remaining in the global workforce, raising questions concerning age-related differences in perception and behavior. The purpose of this paper is to examine the interplay between employee age, gender and ethnicity on benevolence perceptions of new co-workers.

Data were obtained through scenario methods from a sample of 215 full-time, team-based employees across nine North American business organizations. Participants evaluated three provocative scenarios depicting initial meetings with new colleagues.

Workers of greater age perceived significantly less benevolence in all three scenarios. In evaluating a new boss, women perceived lower benevolence than men, and gender moderated the relationship between age and perceived benevolence, where aging was associated with significantly lower levels of perceived benevolence only among men.

Deeper understandings are needed concerning the behavioral and cognitive mechanisms related to age and workplace perceptions.

Older employees, guided by experience, are skeptical of the intentions of a wide variety of newly acquainted colleagues, signaling organizational leaders to customize behaviors and develop programs to encourage awareness and positive relationships across age- and gender-diverse employee groups.

This research uniquely explores age influences, and interactions with gender and ethnicity, on benevolence perceptions of diverse new coworkers. The results are robust, considering that age was related to lower benevolence perception across three disparate scenario interpretations.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how personality variables related to technology (innovativeness, compatibility and affinity) can modify the influence of classical technology acceptance model (TAM) variables on behavioural adoption intention of mobile shopping.

The impact of innovativeness, compatibility, affinity, TAM beliefs (ease of use and usefulness) and attitude on mobile shopping adoption is tested through structural equation modelling techniques. The sample consisted of 470 Spanish mobile telephone users selected on the basis of convenience.

Data analysis shows that the effect of perceived usefulness and, in a minor degree, perceived ease of use are over dimensioned if personality variables are omitted making intention formation to be perceived as more rational than it really is. Personality variables (affinity to mobile telephones, compatibility and innovativeness) have a direct and positive influence on the intention to engage in M‐shopping.

This research enables mobile shopping agents to know what aspects to highlight in their communication strategies to increase the M‐services adoption rate. The complementary use of the mobile and the internet is recommended since the similarities between both methods may favour the acceptance of distance shopping systems. Mobile services should not be simply designed as easy to use, but also as an enjoyable experience.

Despite the importance of personality factors on mobile shopping adoption, they were explicitly ignored when the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology was formulated. This research does not try to propose an extension of the TAM model, but analyses the degree in which the explicit rejection of personality variables could impoverish its performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse key drivers of consumer acceptance of short messaging services (SMS) to participate in TV programmes.

The technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) have been integrated for the determinants of the acceptance of mobile data services incorporating variables regarding consumer‐media interaction (perceived value and affinity). The model has been tested using structural equation modelling.

Perceived value, attitude and affinity towards television (TV) programmes determine SMS acceptance to participate in TV programmes in Spain. In contrast, subjective norm, perceived value and attitude are the key drivers of SMS acceptance in Colombia.

This paper enables mobile companies and TV channels to know what aspects to improve in order to promote SMS‐based TV programmes. Marketers should highlight in their communication strategies user friendliness, usefulness and perceived value of mobile data services. In Colombia, programme stars and presenters should encourage the use of mobile services to interact with TV. Spanish companies should offer reliable and entertaining programme contents to improve consumers' affinity.

Although TAM and TPB have successfully explained behavioural intentions, previous research posits that they should be extended to properly explain mobile services acceptance. This paper combines the influence of perceived value, affinity and the TAM and TPB models to develop an improved model for SMS acceptance. The study also integrates variables for two communication media (TV and mobile) and compares SMS acceptance to participate in TV programmes in two markets with different culture and mobile services penetration rates.

Although the role of information has been previously studied in the ethical consumer literature, practices related to information searches and interpretation have not been fully examined in relation to ethical consumption. The purpose of this paper is to explore the search and use of information by ethically oriented consumers in order to understand the problems involved in this process, and how ethical consumers address them by adopting a number of practices.

Using a qualitative approach and diaries, the paper explores how consumers carry out their informational search and interpretation over an 11-week period.

First, insights are provided about the specifics of information search and the contexts, timing and use of information. Second, the information management practices used by participants to navigate the problems they encounter are identified. These practices are discussed in relation to the maximizing vs optimizing approach adopted by the participants.

New technologies, such as mobile applications and geo-localization, could overcome some of the problems inherent to information searches identified in this study. The use of social networks may also prove particularly interesting for companies and NGOs that target ethically oriented consumers.

Information search and the use and interpretation of information are part of the efforts undertaken by ethical consumers, but they have not been the focus of past research. This study provides empirical evidence on consumer practices employed to circumvent the problems found in a context of information asymmetries, and the gradual development of consumer skills in relation to ethical information searches and management. It shows how information search and management shapes the practice of ethical consumption.