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This study aims to examine the interaction effects of chatbots’ language style and customers’ decision-making journey stage on customer’s service encounter satisfaction and the mediating role of customer perception of emotional support and informational support using the construal level theory and social support theory as conceptual frameworks.

This study used a scenario-based experiment with a 2 (chatbot’s language style: abstract language vs concrete language) × 2 (decision-making journey stage: informational stage vs transactional stage) between-subjects design.

Findings show that during the informational stage, chatbots that use abstract language style exert a strong influence on service encounter satisfaction through emotional support. During the transactional stage, chatbots that use concrete language style exert a strong impact on service encounter satisfaction through informational support.

Findings provide some suggestions for improving customer–chatbot interaction quality during online service encounters.

This study offers a novel perspective on customer interaction experience with chatbots by investigating the chatbot’s language styles at different decision-making journey stages.

This study aims to examine the use of the metaverse in tourism and hospitality to comprehend better how the technology might shape customer journey management, especially relative to information provision, experiences and customer benefits.

This explanatory research used a two-stage approach of media analysis and practitioner interviews to analyse the interactions among tourism information provision, customer experiences and customer benefits in the metaverse. It conceptualized and mapped the consumer journey of the emerging metaverse experience, focusing on the ideas and practices of metaverse design pioneers in tourism and hospitality.

Based on the media analysis and interviews with 27 designers, the metaverse – information – experiences – benefits (MIEB) model was proposed, containing three parts (information characteristics, customer experiences and customer benefits) and 31 supporting items grouped into nine components.

One of the unique contributions of this research is the MIEB model for applying the metaverse in customer journey management (pre-, during- and post-trip). The findings contribute to the current literature with this model based on the practical perspectives of metaverse designers and provide insights on how to incorporate the MIEB model in applying the metaverse in tourism and hospitality management. The findings also address existing literature gaps of insufficient research on metaverse management and design through all stages of the customer travel journey and by paying attention to stakeholders’ viewpoints, including the media and designers of metaverse applications. Engaging in semi-structured interviews with pioneers of the metaverse to gain insights into the design of tourism experiences was also different from other metaverse tourism research, although this is not claimed as a significant point of innovation.

This paper aims to introduce the experience-dominant (Ex-D) logic model, which synthesizes the creation, perceptions and outcomes of Ex-D logic. It is designed to offer valuable insights for strategic managerial applications and future research directions.

Employing a qualitative approach by using eight selected product launch events from reviewed 100 event videos and 55 in-depth interviews with industrial managers to develop an Ex-D logic model, and data were coded and analysed via NVivo.

Results show that the firm’s Ex-D logic is operationalized as the mentalizing of the three types of customer needs (service competence, hedonic excitations and meaning making), the materializing of three types of customer experiences and customer journeys (service experience, hedonic experience and brand experience) and the moderating of three types of customer values (service values, hedonic values and brand values).

This study has implications for adding new insights into existing theory on dominant logic and customer experience management and also offers actionable recommendations for managerial applications.

This study sheds light on the importance of Ex-D logic from a strategic point of view and provides an organic view of the firm. It distinguishes firm perspective from customer perspective, firm experience from customer experience and firm journey from consumer journey.

The different dimensions of the online engagement behaviors exhibited by omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on the online channel for information search, are still understudied. This study aims to investigate how service journey quality (SJQ) has an impact on the overall omnichannel customer experience leading to customer identification (CI) with the store, subsequently leading to their exhibition of online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions.

The research is cross-sectional, quantitative and descriptive. Purposive sampling was used to choose the research's participants. Data were collected from 591 Indian omnichannel customers who had previously made an omnichannel purchase that included the concurrent usage of various channels of a retailer using a verified self-administered survey. Using the Smart PLS 4.0 software, the proposed conceptual model has been evaluated.

The results indicate that omnichannel customer experience mediates the relationship between SJQ and CI with the store, subsequently leading to their exhibition of online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions). The perceived customer gratitude toward the store significantly and positively moderated the direct relationship between SJQ and different online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions).

The study relied upon the omnichannel shoppers of only Indian population and relied on a cross-sectional data collection procedure for this research.

Post-pandemic, with highly dynamic shifts in customer preferences, the need for channel-agnostic shopping leading to the unpredictability of purchase patterns has made SJQ the only dimension to achieve sustainable loyalty intentions through value co-creation in an omnichannel retail context. Emphasizing post-purchase behaviors like different online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and services online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions), this study is the first to show that SJQ might affect four different online customer engagement behaviors through omnichannel shopping experience and CI with the store. The moderating effect of customer-perceived gratitude toward the retailer on a few proposed hypotheses was also tested to give managerial recommendations. The study also answers the call to investigate the moderating role of customer gratitude in determining service quality-driven engagement behaviors.

The objective of this research is to analyze how omnichannel consumer journey design (OCJD) influences the online customer experience (OCE) and e-satisfaction in consumers' multirooming behavior (searching for information in online and offline channels and purchasing the product online).

The problem-solving theory and experiential marketing perspective are the theoretical background that enables the establishment of five hypotheses. A survey is conducted on multiroomers who had purchased a product online, following an online and offline research journey.

The results showed that OCJD directly and indirectly (through online consumer experience) influences e-satisfaction. Females and younger individuals exhibited higher levels of e-satisfaction.

First, this research analyzes consumers' multichannel search strategies. Second, the consumer journey is incorporated into the study of multichannel retailing. Third, an emergent typology of cross-channel free-riding behavior is analyzed: multirooming.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what (service) experience is and examine it using three distinct perspectives: customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and human experience (HX).

The present conceptualization blends the marketing and organizational behavior/human resources management (OB/HRM) disciplines to clarify and reflect over the meaning of (service) experience. The marketing discipline illuminates the concept of CX, whereas the OB/HRM discipline illuminates the concept of EX. The concept of HX, which transcends CX and EX, is examined in light of its recent development in service research. For each of the three concepts, key themes are identified, and future research directions are proposed.

Because the goal that individuals seek to achieve depends on the role they are enacting, each of the three perspectives on experience (CX, EX and HX) should have a different focal point. CX requires to focus on the process of solving customer goals. EX necessitates to think in terms of organizational context and job content that support employees. Finally, the focus of HX should be on well-being via enhanced gratification, and reduced violation, of basic human needs.

This paper offers an interdisciplinary perspective on (service) experience and simultaneously addresses CX, EX and HX in order to reconcile the different perspectives on experience in service research.

This paper aims to examine why retail firms seldom achieve full integration of online and offline channels as prescribed in omni-channel literature. It examines the intermediate process of channel integration from an internal, operational perspective.

This study is composed of two parts. In the first part, the authors interviewed informants from nine firms that were engaged in channel integration. In the second part, the authors conducted case studies with three firms from the cosmetics and skincare industry against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic to find evidence to support or negate the propositions made in the first part.

The first part identified six operational challenges to channel integration. The authors categorized these challenges into two groups: inter-channel communication and inter-channel competition. Inter-channel competition carries more weight at the latter stage of integration. The authors also identified two antecedents that affect the seriousness of these challenges: heterogeneity among channels in business operation and external competitive pressure. In the second part, the authors found that both inter-channel communication and inter-channel competition were improved because of the external competitive pressure exerted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the heterogeneity of offline channels against online channels in business operation is a double-edged sword.

The study identifies the changing effects of the challenges of channel integration and their antecedents in the midst of integration. The positive influence of a specific dimension of channel heterogeneity against other channels increases and then decreases along channel integration. The identification of the changing effects lays the foundation for a finer stage model of channel integration.

Despite the increasing relevance of seamless shopping experience in an omnichannel context, research on how seamless shopping experience affects customers’ word of mouth on social media (sWOM) remains scant. Based on the attribution theory, this study aims to investigate the effects of seamless shopping experience types on customers’ sWOM intentions from the perspective of smart-shopping feelings and validated the moderation role of shopping orientation.

Using a data set of 301 omnichannel customers, three scenario-based experiments were conducted to address the research questions.

An efficient and interconnected experience is more likely to positively affect sWOM intentions than an inefficient but interconnected experience. Furthermore, smart-shopping feelings were found to have a significant mediating effect. For experiential-oriented shoppers, the positive relationship between an efficient and interconnected experience, smart-shopping feelings and sWOM intentions was significantly strengthened.

This research contributes to the sWOM and omnichannel service experience literature by investigating the influences of seamless shopping experience types on customers’ sWOM intentions. This research also provides recommendations for designing and delivering a superior, seamless shopping experience for omnichannel shoppers.

The paper’s main goal is to examine the relationship between the video marketing of financial technologies (Fintechs) and their vulnerable website customers’ brand engagement in the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

To extract the required outcomes, the authors gathered data from the five biggest Fintech websites and YouTube channels, performed multiple linear regression models and developed a hybrid (agent-based and dynamic) model to assess the performance connection between their video marketing analytics and vulnerable website customers’ brand engagement.

It has been found that video marketing analytics of Fintechs’ YouTube channels are a decisive factor in impacting their vulnerable website customers’ brand engagement and awareness.

By enhancing video marketing analytics of their YouTube channels, Fintechs can achieve greater levels of vulnerable website customers’ engagement and awareness. Higher levels of vulnerable customers’ brand engagement and awareness tend to decrease their vulnerability by enhancing their financial knowledge and confidence.

Fintechs should aim to increase the number of total videos on their YouTube channels and provide videos that promote their customers’ knowledge of their services to increase their brand engagement and awareness, thus reducing their vulnerability. Moreover, Fintechs should be aware not to over-post videos because they will be in an unfavorable position against their competitors.

This research offers valuable insights regarding the importance of video marketing strategies for Fintechs in promoting their vulnerable website customers’ brand awareness during crisis periods.

The online brand advocacy behaviors of omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on integrated brick-and-mortar stores (recognized as a vital channel for delivering a seamless shopping experience and meeting the dynamic needs of the shoppers), are still understudied. This study aims to investigate how integrated store service quality (ISSQ) may elicit both positive and negative emotions that contribute to a memorable omnichannel shopping experience and have an impact on shoppers' attachment to the store, leading to their exhibition of online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression).

The study is a cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative investigation. The research participants were chosen using a purposive sampling technique. Using a validated self-administered questionnaire, data were gathered from 886 Indian omnichannel shoppers who often purchase at the integrated brick-and-mortar store. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Smart PLS software for partial least squares-structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that positive and negative emotions mediate the relationship between ISSQ and memorable omnichannel shopping experiences, subsequently impacting omnichannel shoppers' attachment to the store and leading to online brand advocacy behaviors. The relationship strength perceived by shoppers significantly positively moderated the relationship between store attachment and different online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression).

The study relied upon single cross-sectional data from the Indian population, where omnichannel retailing is still nascent.

This study addresses the need to investigate the different emotions that arise while evaluating service quality in omnichannel retail purchase journeys leading to memorable shopping experiences. Emphasizing post-purchase behaviors like different online brand advocacy behaviors (brand defense, brand positivity, brand knowledge sharing and virtual positive expression), this study is the first to show that ISSQ might affect four different OBAs through memorable omnichannel shopping experience and the shopper's sense of attachment to the store. The moderating effect of relationship strength perceived by shoppers with the retailer on a few proposed hypotheses was also tested to give managerial recommendations.