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Although stress has become a prominent research theme in consumer behavior and occupational health, to the authors knowledge there is only one review on the relationship between consumer behavior and stress (i.e., when internal and external factors exceed an individual’s resources and endangering the individual’s well-being) and this was published 10 years ago. Further, research on occupational stress has yet to be fully integrated into the consumer stress literature. In this chapter, the authors attempt to advance research on consumer stress by a drawing on a satisfaction mirror framework which outlines that consumers and employees influence each other through a “mirror” where they positively and cyclically influence each other in a service environment. The authors argue that consumers and employees may likewise mirror each other in a negative cycle of stress and well-being depletion. First, the authors describe how stress is viewed in consumer behavior and marketing. Second, the authors review evidence that consumption serves as a form of coping with stress. Third, the authors discuss the role of consumption as a stressor that may drive consumer stress. Finally, the authors introduce the satisfaction mirror model and outline the bi-directional influence on increased stress and well-being depletion at the consumer–employee interface in service encounters. The model introduced in this chapter serves as a framework for organizing findings related to stress and well-being in the fields of consumer behavior and occupational health. In addition, the model serves as a springboard for developing propositions for future research. Ultimately, the authors hope this chapter both updates and builds upon previous findings on stress and consumer behavior, as well as grounds future research on stress and well-being at the intersection of consumers and employees.

This paper argues for the following sensitizing proposition. At its core, much of consumer behavior that involves brand meanings is an attempt to influence, or symbolically mark, interpersonal relationships.

This paper presents a conceptual argument based on a literature review.

First, I argue that our pervasive concern with other people is a basic genetic component of human beings, and discuss some possible evolutionary pressures that may have led to this result. Then I discuss how this pervasive concern influences consumer behavior related to brand meanings. This discussion is structured around two aspects of social relationships: interpersonal closeness and social status. Relationship closeness is discussed with regard to brand communities, gifts, special possessions and brand love, and the often hidden ways that social relationships permeate everyday consumer behavior. Social status is discussed with reference to materialism. Materialism is sometimes misunderstood as an obsession with physical object, or as occurring when people care more about products than they do about people. In contrast, I argue that materialism is better understood as a style of relating to people.

This paper integrates a range of disparate findings in support of a broadly applicable generalization that nothing matters more to people than other people. This generalization can function as a sensitizing proposition that managers and researchers can bear in mind as they seek to interpret and understand how brand meaning influences consumer behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to re-evaluate the sustainable attitude-behavior gap by reconsidering the cognitive-rational aspects of consumer purchase behavior. We aim to show how companies can benefit from focusing on hedonic aspects of consumption in their marketing of sustainable products. We claim that consumer culture research needs to examine the link between hedonic, aesthetic, and cognitive-rational aspects of sustainable consumption.

We use the electric vehicle marketing strategy in the United States as an example of an approach to bridge the attitude-behavior gap. More specifically, we focus on the car manufacturer Tesla as an example of marketing a sustainable product.

We find that Tesla’s marketing strategy focuses on aesthetics and hedonics-ludic performance. Similarly to other luxury cars, Tesla markets itself with a full compliment of consumer benefits. Compared to economical electric vehicles, sustainability is not the primary focus of Tesla’s marketing communication strategy.

Sustainable consumption theory benefits from examining the interlinking of hedonic, aesthetic and cognitive-rational aspects product purchasing and use. Future research in the development of sustainable consumption theory in additional complex product categories is needed.

Greater regard for consumer experience in sustainable consumption offers the potential for additional strategies to bridge the attitude-behavior gap and marketing of sustainable goods.

We move beyond the attitude-behavior gap by not only focusing on expressed attitudes of sustainability, but also focusing on the hedonic aspects at play in sustainable consumption.

This work examines the interplay between power, status and style. Building on the dual role of power and status as two primary sources of social influence in contemporary consumer society, we propose that stylistic choices associated with greater status can imbue the wearer with greater feelings of power. We focus on a pervasive stylistic choice for women – whether to wear heels – and test two critical relationships regarding consumers' choice of heels that can act as a bridge between status and power. First, we propose that the stylistic choice of wearing heels increases wearers' perceived status (but not perceived power) – the heeled status-enhancement hypothesis, whereby (1) wearing heels increases wearers' perceived status (but not perceived power) among observers and (2) lacking power (vs having power or baseline) yields greater desire for heels over flats. Second, we propose that an increase in status stemming from wearing heels increases consumers' feelings and behaviours of high power – the status–power transfer hypothesis. Three studies confirm the use and perception of heels as status symbols and provide support for both hypotheses. We show that wearing heels (vs flat shoes) makes individuals feel and behave more powerfully by thinking more abstractly and taking more actions, two hallmarks of high power, but only when heels are worn conspicuously (i.e., the wearer knows the observer sees them). In addition, these effects are mediated by wearer's feelings of power and unexplained by perceptions of sexiness. Implications for the literatures on style, status, power and conspicuous consumption are discussed.

Purpose: The research investigates the presence of technology ideologies in consumer discourse on tourism and hospitality robots.

Design/methodology/approach: Using a netnographic approach, the research involved immersion in online discourses and collection of consumer posts from a variety of social media platforms. Data was subjected to a thematic analysis informed by the technology ideology framework described in the literature review.

Findings: Online consumer narratives about tourism and hospitality robots are dynamic and varied and reveal a multitude of technology ideology-related positions. The research confirms the applicability of the technology ideology framework to online discourses on service robots and finds that anthropomorphism triggers additional concerns.

Research implications: The findings suggest that future research on the acceptance and use of service robots should go beyond psychological concepts.

Practical implications: Without uncovering and understanding technology sensemaking processes with respect to service robots, the introduction of service robots in hospitality and tourism might trigger consumer resistance or lead to inferior service experiences.

Social implications: The research suggests that sensemaking of technology, specifically service robots, is complex and colored by pertinent ideologies. Policies and regulations regarding service robot adoption and implementation should consider these various positions.

Originality/value: The paper introduces technology sensemaking and technology ideology as important theoretical frameworks to understand consumer perceptions, attitudes, uses and relationships in regard to service robots in hospitality and tourism contexts.

Several inferential procedures are advocated in the literature. The most commonly used techniques are the frequentist and the Bayesian inferential procedures. Bayesian methods afford inferences based on small data sets and are especially useful in studies with limited data availability. Bayesian approaches also help incorporate prior knowledge, especially subjective knowledge, into predictions. Considering the increasing difficulty in data acquisition, the application of Bayesian techniques can be hugely beneficial to managers, especially in analysing limited data situations like a study of expert opinion. Another factor constraining the broader application of Bayesian statistics in business was computational power requirements and the availability of appropriate analytical tools. However, with the increase in computational power, connectivity and the development of appropriate software programmes, Bayesian applications have become more attractive. This chapter attempts to unravel the applications of the Bayesian inferential procedure in marketing management.

Anthropomorphism in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered devices is being used increasingly frequently in consumer-facing situations (e.g., AI Assistants such as Alexa, virtual agents in websites, call/chat bots, etc.), and therefore, it is essential to understand anthropomorphism in AI both to understand consequences for consumers and to optimize firms' product development and marketing. Extant literature is fragmented across several domains and is limited in the marketing domain. In this review, we aim to bring together the insights from different fields and develop a parsimonious conceptual framework to guide future research in fields of marketing and consumer behavior.

We conduct a review of empirical articles published until November 2021 in Financial Times Top 50 (FT50) journals as well as in 41 additional journals selected across several disciplinary domains: computer science, robotics, psychology, marketing, and consumer behavior.

Based on literature review and synthesis, we propose a three-step guiding framework for future research and practice on AI anthropomorphism.

Our proposed conceptual framework informs marketing and consumer behavior domains with findings accumulated in other research domains, offers important directions for future research, and provides a parsimonious guide for marketing managers to optimally utilize anthropomorphism in AI to the benefit of both firms and consumers.

We contribute to the emerging literature on anthropomorphism in AI in three ways. First, we expedite the information flow between disciplines by integrating insights from different fields of inquiry. Second, based on our synthesis of literature, we offer a conceptual framework to organize the outcomes of AI anthropomorphism in a tidy and concise manner. Third, based on our review and conceptual framework, we offer key directions to guide future research endeavors.

This chapter focuses on the question: What is Humanism? The chapter discusses definitions of Humanism. It synthesises such definitions in order to provide a philosophical understanding of Humanism. This understanding has epistemological, ontological and axiological dimensions. The chapter points out that Humanism is transcultural. Common objections to Humanism are discussed by engaging with the works of the historian Yuval Noah Harari. Based on the general understanding of Humanism, the approach of Radical Humanism is introduced. Radical Humanism is a particular form of Humanism. Its epistemological, ontological and axiological aspects are outlined. The chapter discusses four examples approaches of Radical Humanism (Karl Marx, Erich Fromm, Wang Ruoshui, David Harvey).

Purpose: This chapter presents criticisms of financial inclusion.

Methodology: This chapter uses critical discourse analysis to critique the modern financial inclusion agenda.

Findings: The findings reveal that (i) financial inclusion is an invitation to live by finance and leads to the financialization of poverty; (ii) some of the benefits of financial inclusion disappear after a few years; (iii) financial inclusion ignores how poverty affects financial decision-making; (iv) it promotes digital money which is difficult to understand; (v) financial inclusion promotes the use of transaction accounts; (vi) digital money is difficult to understand; and that (vii) some financial inclusion efforts bear a resemblance to a campaign against having cash-in-hand.

Implication: This study will help policymakers in their assessment of the economic, social, political, and cultural factors that hinder financial inclusion as well as the consequence of financial inclusion for society. For academics, this study will provide a critical perspective to on-going financial inclusion debates in the large positivist literature on financial inclusion.

Originality: Currently, there are no studies that use critical discourse analysis to analyze the broader concept of financial inclusion. This chapter is the first study that uses critical discourse analysis to critique some aspects of the modern financial inclusion agenda.