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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumers respond to price changes by analyzing online product reviews (OPRs) posted on a product (Amazon’s Kindle 2), and to suggest several future research topics on online consumers’ reactions embedded in OPRs.

An exploratory case study is conducted using OPRs added to the Kindle 2. By analyzing 6,714 OPRs, the authors examine how online consumers respond to two continual price decreases embedded in the observable (star rating and review depth) and implicit (positive and negative emotions) features of OPRs as well as how the number of OPRs per day has changed after two price drops.

The authors found that all four features of OPRs (star rating, review depth, positive emotion, and negative emotion) and the number of OPRs per day had significantly changed after two price decreases for both long-term and short-term periods. In addition, online consumers’ reactions to price decreases in terms of these four features and the change in the number of OPRs per day were different between the first and the second price drops.

This study investigates online consumers’ reactions to price decreases only. Future research should investigate other cases where price changes under the dynamic pricing strategy in order to find the relationship between price increases/decreases and consumers’ reactions.

This study implies that online merchants should consider consumer groups’ innovation adoption stages and make strategic decisions for price decreases to improve the sales of their products.

While prior research involving the effects of price changes on consumers’ reactions has focussed on offline consumers, this is among the first attempts to address the long- and short-term reactions to price changes in terms of both the observable and implicit features of OPRs, and suggests that consumers’ reactions to price changes in OPRs are more complex.

This study aims to analyse what type of premium, hedonic or utilitarian, is preferred in a promotional context. Additionally, it seeks to examine the role of affective and cognitive reactions in decision processes where utilitarian and hedonic premiums are involved.

Three experiments were conducted. A single factor within-subjects design was employed, with the nature of the premium (hedonic/utilitarian) as the treatment factor. Respondents were asked to make their choice between two promotional offers. Affective and cognitive reactions were measured. Regression analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized effects.

The results show that hedonic premiums are preferable to utilitarian ones in a promotional context, other characteristics of the premium (e.g. premium attractiveness) being equal. The findings also identify that a preference for the hedonic/utilitarian premium is more likely to emerge when affective/cognitive reactions are incited, and indicate that the nature of the preferred premium determines the mediating effect of cognitive reactions.

The paper only focuses on the hedonic/utilitarian nature of the premium. However, premiums come in very different forms and several characteristics – such as a premium with a relatively low price, the reception delay of the premium, and the perceived fit between the product and the premium – may reverse the relative preference for hedonic premiums.

The hedonic vs utilitarian nature of the premium should be considered when planning premium promotion. It appears that the use of more hedonic premiums increases the effectiveness of promotional actions alongside other variables such as premium attractiveness, the promotional benefit level or the product-premium fit. Furthermore, the type of premium offered influences the role of affective and cognitive reactions aroused during shopping. Thus, the nature of the premium may influence the reactions of consumers when participating in promotional actions.

The research extends the factors that may explain the effectiveness of premium promotions, since few studies to date have focused on the hedonic or utilitarian nature of premiums.

Management response to consumer comments has become a widely adopted marketing strategy to address the undesirable effects caused by negative remarks. Yet, when and what management response is more effective and under what circumstances remains under-researched. This study aims to fill this gap.

In three experiments using five different products, the authors manipulate psychological construal level (psychological distance: distant vs proximal) and management response (response of primary vs secondary features) and thereafter assess their bearings on consumer psychological and behavioral reaction toward products of two distinctive natures (hedonic vs utilitarian).

At a psychological distance, consumers show a preferable reaction to management response of primary over secondary features. In contrast, when the psychological distance is proximal, consumers react more positively to management response of secondary than primary features. In addition, these effects vary as a function of product nature, hedonic vs utilitarian.

The findings of this research bring a significant contribution to marketing communication literature and extend the construal level theory.

A better understanding of the relative effectiveness of distinct types of management response to negative consumer comments is essential for more targeted and effective marketing strategies.

Little research has documented the effects of distinct types of management response. How psychological distance might underpin these effects has not been explored. In addition, whether the interaction effect of management response and psychological distance varies with differences in product nature, namely, hedonic and utilitarian, remains unanswered until this research.

This study aims to understand how digital storytelling advertising impacts online consumers’ responses towards advertisements on Facebook considering the different story features and the different consumers’ cultural backgrounds.

The grounded theory approach guided the development of this study that adopts an interpretivist positioning with an abductive approach that links the already existing knowledge on how storytelling affects consumer behaviour to the empirically retrieved data from two qualitative studies between France and Tunisia using a netnographic method to collect consumers’ responses to culturally adapted storytelling advertising.

The results reveal similarities and differences between Tunisian and French consumers regarding the effectiveness of digital storytelling advertising in influencing their cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses. Specifically, Tunisian consumers tended to hold more cognitive reactions originating from story plot and characters features as compared to French consumers who performed more affective responses towards the story plot feature. Interestingly, only French consumers performed behavioural reactions aligned with a cognitive and behavioural engagement with the storytelling advertising generated by story plot and verisimilitude elements. Findings also highlight the impact of some cultural influences on consumers’ reactions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first known study to explore and compare the effects of digital storytelling advertising between Tunisia and France. The major contribution of this study lies in investigating and comparing consumers’ reactions to digital storytelling advertising across countries. This study adds to the body of literature on international marketing communication by offering two frameworks associating story’s elements with their outcomes in their relevant context and providing fruitful insights for future research and for brand managers to design effective storytelling content.

The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in consumer reactions to high- versus low-equity brands in terms of consumer attitude toward the brand, involvement with the brand, company credibility and consumer purchase intentions.

Experimental procedure is conducted to test three hypotheses using 317 consumer participants. The experiment is carried out comparing a high-equity personal computer (PC) brand and a low-equity PC brand involved in product-harm crisis.

The results indicate that, in the case of product-harm crisis, negative consumer perceptions regardless of brand equity level; less negative perceptions for a high-equity brand than for a low-equity brand; and smaller loss in consumer perceptions for a high-equity brand than for a low-equity brand.

The findings highlight the importance of brand equity in crisis management explained by covariation theory of attributions.

Although product-harm crisis is inevitable for many firms, continuous investment in brand equity can mitigate the negative consequences.

Product-harm crisis can pose serious consequences for firms on both financial and intangible dimensions. Given the occurrence of numerous product-harm crises involving both reputable and less known brands, it is important to consider potential influences of brand equity on consumer reactions to such crisis.

Considering the ongoing discourse on diversity, equity and inclusion, brands aim to develop marketing campaigns that demonstrate respect for all individuals. Despite these intentions, many advertisements still provoke strong negative reactions from consumers due to brand transgressions in social media marketing campaigns that violate these values. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the repercussions that such social media marketing campaigns have on brands, categorizing these campaigns as brand transgressions in social media advertising.

This research uses a mixed-method design that includes semi-structured interviews (Study 1), a content analysis (Study 2) and an online experiment (Study 3).

This paper clarifies the elements that qualify as brand transgressions in advertising within the diversity, equity and inclusion discourse. The negative electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) associated with brand transgressions in advertising comprises negative emotions (e.g. anger, contempt, disgust and hate) and behavioural intentions to penalize the brand (e.g. negative word-of-mouth, brand avoidance and protest behaviours). The negative e-WOM stemming from these transgressions amplifies the adverse consequences for consumer–brand relationships by negatively influencing other consumers through sympathy towards the offended parties.

This paper offers brand managers guidelines for preventing and managing negative consumer reactions towards brands based on their responses to marketing campaigns that contradict the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.

This paper contributes to the literature on brand transgressions related to diversity, equity and inclusion values by exploring their impact on consumer–brand relationships and highlighting the pivotal role of sympathy in perpetuating negative consequences.

This study aims to investigate the role of interpersonal influence on consumer purchase decisions regarding foreign products, specifically by exploring consumers’ social reaction styles (acquisitive and protective) when confronted with normative pressures and their subsequent impact on consumers’ purchase behavior in the context of situational animosity.

Three studies were conducted in China to empirically examine the proposed research model. The US–China Chip War of 2022 was used as the research context for situational animosity, while the Japan–China relationship representing a stable animosity condition was used for contrast.

This study establishes the mediating role of perceived normative pressure in linking animosity attitudes to purchase avoidance in situational animosity. It also validates that consumers’ social reaction styles (acquisitive and protective) help predict distinct behavioral outcomes, holding significant implications for advancing research in the field of product and brand consumption.

This research provides a novel perspective by exploring consumers’ social reaction styles when dealing with normative pressure in situational animosity. The distinction between acquisitive and protective reaction styles adds depth and originality to the study. Moreover, this study examines consumer behavior in two distinct consumption contexts: switching intentions to local products and purchase intentions for products from offending countries in hidden consumption situations. This dual perspective offers a comprehensive exploration of consumers’ purchase behavior under normative pressure, contributing to the novelty of this research.

Previous research on brand crisis has introduced the difference between a values-related crisis and a performance-related crisis. However, little remains known regarding consumers’ varying negative responses towards these two different types of brand misconduct. This paper aims to investigate and compare consumers’ affective and behavioural negative reactions (i.e. negative word of mouth and purchase intention) towards a faulty brand during a values-related crisis and a performance-related crisis by testing the mediation of negative emotions and introducing the moderating role of cultural belongingness (collectivistic vs individualistic).

The authors tested a model of moderated mediation in a cross-cultural investigation on a sample of 229 Italian and Asian consumers. The study is a 2 (cultures: collectivistic vs individualistic) × 2 (crisis: performance-related vs values-related) between-subjects experimental design. The moderated mediation model shows that consumers’ negative reactions (negative word of mouth and negative purchase intention) towards a faulty brand involved in different crisis typologies is explained by the mediating role of negative emotions, and that this mediation depends on a consumer’s cultural belongingness.

The results suggest that consumers belonging to a collectivistic culture (e.g. Asian culture) tend to react in a more severe and strict manner when faced with a values-related brand crisis event then when faced with a performance-related crisis. The arousal of negative emotion towards a brand represents the mediating variable in behavioural responses (i.e. negative word of mouth and purchase intention).

The present study extends current knowledge in the field of consumers’ negative response to brand irresponsibility behaviours while introducing the role of crisis typology and cultural belongingness. In particular, individualistic people are more sensitive to a values-related crisis in comparison with a performance-related one. The findings of this study have strong managerial implications for defining effective response strategies to negative events involving brands in different markets.

Reports the results of a three‐study research program whose purpose is to gain a better understanding of consumer reactions to premium‐based promotional offers. In the first study, elaborates and evaluates a comprehensive typology of premium‐based promotional offers with respect to its content and predictive validity. In the next study, explores the semantics that are used by consumers when they are presented with premium promotions and develops a series of research hypotheses from qualitative interviews with 12 consumers. In the final study, conducts a survey of 182 adult consumers to test these research hypotheses. The results reveal that consumer appreciation of premium‐based promotional offers is more positive when the premium is direct than when it is delayed, when there is a relatively lower quantity of product to purchase, when the value of the premium is mentioned, when brand attitude is positive, when interest in the premium is great, and when consumers are characterized by deal‐proneness and compulsive buying tendencies. Consumers’ perception of manipulation intent is affected mainly by directness of the premium, mention of the value of the premium, interest in the premium, and deal‐proneness.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain insights into Vietnamese consumers’ knowledge and relevance of as well as their reaction to modern food retailers (MFRs) responsible and irresponsible conduct.

Data were obtained from an online survey applying content analysis, uni- and multivariate tests and multivariate regression models.

In total, 60 percent of respondents are not aware of (ir)responsible conduct of MFR. Most of those aware of such behavior indicate that this has induced a change in their shopping behavior. This holds to a similar extent for those not aware but envisaging the (ir)responsible conduct of MFRs. The findings point to a negativity bias in that consumers’ reaction is more sensitive regarding irresponsible than responsible firm behavior. This bias is higher for consumers already knowledgeable about the (ir)responsible behavior of MFRs. The likelihood that consumers punish irresponsible conduct is influenced by the importance they attach to “food quality and safety” while those having high concerns for environmental, social and ethical’ issues are more likely to reward responsible firm actions.

The negativity bias which implies that consumers react more sensitive regarding irresponsible than responsible firm behavior is likely underestimated in hypothetical studies.

Customer loyalty is at stake for MFRs behaving irresponsible while it can be strengthened by responsible firm conduct.

This research is the first to highlight the importance consumers in Vietnam attach to responsible firm conduct. It also points to a lack of awareness of such behavior.