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The notion of luxury has changed due to the democratization and the fast adoption pace of intangible luxury service providers embedding voice-controlled assistants. In particular, Amazon’s Echo Look is expected to further democratize luxury services and consumer experience; indeed, this camera-based device acts as a personal consultant as it provides fashion advices based on the pictures of its users. Nonetheless, as the Echo Look proliferates the market, concerns around its potential disruption to the marketplace alongside usage-related issues, such as privacy, will arise. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The research adopted an exploratory approach using elite interviewing. The sample included 17 experts in the fields of digital marketing, fashion consulting, information technology security and retailing.

The study pioneers the discussion on how interactive voice-activated assistant (IVA) devices can potentially outweigh concerns around safety and privacy through providing luxury-like personalized services. To that end, the Echo Look device was taken as the key example based on the unique features and benefits it provides to its users, namely, in being perceived as a personal fashion consultant.

The literature on intangible luxury based on IVA devices is still nascent. This study fills a considerable gap in the literature related to retailers’ technological innovations aimed at democratizing luxury-like personalized experiences.

Are consumers tired of standing out? This study probes whether or not fast fashion understands the implicit behavior of their customers while dressing up or down. Retailers tend to market their more ready-to-wear (dress-down) fashion product in an approach that allows the customer to customize the outfits to become easily “me-self,” through a big selection of accessories for men and women such as hats, glasses, and scarves. Versus the dress-up look that echoes with conforming to social norms. Today marketers seem to misunderstand the tendency that when one dresses down they often seek to blend in more with the environment rather than display their own personality through fashion. The study extends the literature through explicating the process of picture introspection and member check using confirmatory personal introspection (CPI). Even though when one dresses down you would expect more individuality, according to the findings the subject sample was also more inclined to blend in society and stand out less. In the dress-up look there was a strong call for displaying features of a powerful and strong individuality.

Austrian economics figures centrally in organizational entrepreneurship research. However, researchers have focussed almost entirely on the Austrian school's “gales of creative destruction” and “entrepreneurial discovery” metaphors, which are rooted in equilibrium assumptions and thus downplay the more subjective and dynamic aspects of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to question such assumptions, proposing instead a “kaleidic” metaphor drawn from the radical subjectivist strand of Austrian economics. The paper develops, grounds, and enriches the theoretical concepts this metaphor embodies in order to advance the general understanding of entrepreneurship as a radically subjective, disequilibrium phenomenon, as well as the specific knowledge of entrepreneurs’ career and venture experiences. In doing so, the paper highlights creative imagination as a wellspring of entrepreneurship.

The paper employs a case study design to inductively develop the theoretical concepts embodied in the kaleidic metaphor and deductively ground them in the accounts 12 entrepreneurs provided about their career and venture experiences. The paper employs symbolist methods to develop thicker descriptions, generate alternative understandings, and facilitate richer interpretations. Moreover, the paper adopts a reflexive approach in considering the study's implications.

The results suggest the kaleidic metaphor comprises five overarching ideas that resonate, often very strongly, with entrepreneurs.

The study is the first to theoretically develop and empirically ground the ideas the kaleidic metaphor embodies. The paper contributes to a growing body of conceptual work and joins a handful of empirical studies by organizational entrepreneurship scholars using the radical Austrian perspective.

This study aims to examine the influence of the derived attributes of embedded artificial intelligence-mobile smart speech recognition (AI-MSSR) technology, namely perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived enjoyment (PE) on consumer purchase intention (PI) through the chain relationships of attitudes to AI and consumer smart experience, with the moderating effect of consumer innovativeness and Generation (Gen) X and Gen Y in fashion retail.

The study employed a quantitative survey strategy, drawing a sample of 836 respondents from Sri Lanka and India representing Gen X and Gen Y. The data analysis was carried out using smart partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The findings show a positive relationship between the perceived attributes of MSSR and consumer PI via attitudes towards AI (AAI) and smart consumer experiences. In addition, consumer innovativeness and Generations X and Y have a moderating impact on the aforementioned relationship. The theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed with a note on the research limitations and further research directions.

To multiply the effects of embedded AI-MSSR and consumer PI in fashion retail marketing, managers can develop strategies that strengthen the links between awareness, knowledge of the derived attributes of embedded AI-MSSR and PI by encouraging innovative consumers, especially Gen Y consumers, to engage with embedded AI-MSSR.

This study advances the literature on embedded AI-MSSR and consumer PI in fashion retail marketing by providing an integrated view of the technology acceptance model (TAM), the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and the generational cohort perspective in predicting PI.

Managing risk and making decisions presents an increasing challenge to doctors as they are encouraged to adopt a partnership approach with patients to dealing with risk, within a “risk society” constructed around individuality, uncertainty, blame and responsibility. In‐depth interviews, stimulated by clinical vignettes, were used to explore the key position of doctors within this risk society. Analysis, sensitised through contemporary texts, revealed unexpected findings that portrayed doctors as reflexive jugglers of risk. Discourses in this study revealed indecision and uncertainty, balanced against needs to preserve professional roles and engage patients in addressing risk, whilst preventing widespread harm and conflict. In concluding, the alternative approaches to risk with older people will suggest a more trusting and positive process that presents a real opportunity for truly sharing risk and decisions that benefit both doctor and patient.

Discusses the reconfiguration of a CD‐ROM workstation for use with the Census Test Disc in addition to the ERIC database. Lists the new batch files to transfer users from one system to another, and the new menu and user instructions installed.

Digital technologies have made it possible for organizations to enhance service delivery and provide consumers a way to experience a product or service before even seeing it in person. Prior work has validated consumer purchase decision-making models like the Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (EKB) model in digital and multi-channel purchase environments. This research aims to explore the various impacts of digital technologies, specifically virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) features, on the different stages of the EKB model in a high involvement purchase decision context. In addition, the use of such technologies is examined as a competitive advantage for sales agents.

An in-depth market analysis of VR and AR technologies related to residential real estate is conducted. Then the research questions are analyzed through detailed feedback gathered from 33 prospective home-buyers and realtors in the USA.

Insights from buyers and sales agents (realtors in the context of this research) suggest that VR and AR technologies can enhance consumer information search and expedite the time consumers spend evaluating purchase alternatives. As these technologies advance in their customization features, they may also increase the conversion between alternative evaluation and purchase, but only if they are realistic and provide high quality experiences. Finally, digital technologies are viewed as becoming a necessity in high involvement sales contexts, suggesting that additional features or innovative ways to use these technologies may serve as sources of competitive advantage for sales agents.

This is one of the first research studies to explore the perceived impacts of VR and AR technologies on the stages of the EKB model consumer decision model. It builds on prior work and offers direction for future research.

To cope with the complexity of modern retail stores and personal time constraints, shoppers must be selective in processing information. During a typical shopping trip, they visit only a fraction of a store’s departments and categories, examine a small subset of the available products, and often make selections in just a few seconds. New research techniques can help marketers understand how customers allocate their attention and assess the impact of in-store factors on shopper behavior. This chapter summarizes studies using observational research, virtual reality simulations, and eye tracking to identify the drivers of shopper attention, product engagement, and purchase conversion. These include shopper goals; product assortment, package appearance, price, and merchandising; shelf space allocation, organization, and adjacencies; and salesperson interaction. The research reveals that small changes in a product’s appearance and presentation can have a powerful impact on consideration and choice.