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As organizations increasingly engage with consumers over mobile devices, there is a growing need to understand how consumers react to impression management over platforms with limited textual content. The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess how different impression management tactics can be used in mobile media to enhance consumer perception-attitude-intentions toward a corporate brand.

We surveyed 670 consumers and estimate structural equation models and repeated-measures ANOVAs to determine how short passages employing alternate impression management tactics influence consumers’ perceptions, attitudes and purchase intentions.

Results reveal that each impressions management tactic (i.e. ingratiation, intimidation, organizational promotion, supplication and exemplification) influences consumer perceptions, attitudes and intentions. The authors compare differences in how the impressions management tactics influence each stage of the perception-attitude-intentions model and find evidence that initial differences in perceptions favoring ingratiation and exemplification appeals become magnified for purchase intentions.

Recent calls for research focus on an understanding of how consumers process information on reduced-content platforms of small-screened mobile devices. These results provide empirical evidence of the use of impression management and the difference between five impression management tactics on enhancing consumer perception-attitude-intentions model.

The results of this study will provide marketers with insights to optimize communications and corporate brands with consumers over mobile media.

This paper adds to the nascent yet vital literature on mobile marketing by focusing on how impression management tactics influence perceptions, attitudes and intentions through the short message characteristic of mobile platforms. The authors develop a framework for how corporate brand management can strategically use impressions management tactics in this novel domain.

This chapter explores how early theorising about information behaviour and the emergence of conceptual modelling in information behaviour research had its beginnings in thinking that was taking place in the very late 1970s and early 1980s in Europe and the USA. Some of these ideas were presented in papers that are very familiar and much cited, but others in papers which may be less familiar and, consequently, may not be much cited, but which together contribute to explain why the rapid development in conceptual thinking about, as opposed to the simple empirical study of, information behaviour took place from that period to the present. Four dimensions are identified which together underpin the emergence of conceptual modelling in contemporary information behaviour research. The four dimensions are (1) the adoption of a social science perspective, (2) a qualitative as opposed to a quantitative orientation, (3) a focus on the modelling of information behaviour and (4) a concern with empirical validation and exemplification in the development of such models. These four dimensions came together to provide a tacit rather than explicit framework for subsequent theorising about information behaviour, and in particular underpinned studies involved the conceptual modelling of information behaviour. Information behaviour research then began to develop conceptual models very different from the empiricism of earlier studies, and, at the same time exhibited a strong concern for the exemplification or validation of these models in empirical studies. This combination of theoretically based conceptual modelling and empirical exemplification and validation together gave much of the character to information behaviour research from the later 1970s and early 1980s, an influence that extends to the present.

Being ignored or excluded is a painful experience. Belongingness theory suggests that individuals inherently desire for belongingness and social interactions. This study aims to explore whether ostracized employees take actions to seek potential re-inclusion in the workplace.

Data were collected from a two-wave survey. Ordinary least squares regressions were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Workplace ostracism is positively associated with victims’ impression management behaviors (i.e. self-promotion and exemplification) through need for approval. In addition, these indirect relationships are more salient for victims with stronger self-face concerns.

This study examines how ostracized employees strive for potential re-inclusion and who are more likely to seek approval. Specifically, this study identifies two impression management behaviors as victims’ potential re-inclusion tactics in response to ostracism in the workplace.

Human brands in the music industry use self-presentation tactics on social media to manage audience impressions. This practice has led to many posts asking followers to adopt behaviors favoring the human brand. However, its effectiveness in leveraging relevant performance metrics for musicians outside social media, such as popularity in specialized media, music sales and number of contracted concerts, needs further exploration. This study aims to reveal the effect of impression management tactics conveyed on social media on the market performance of musicians’ human brands.

Secondary data research classifies 5,940 social media posts from 11 music artists into self-presentation tactics (self-promotion, exemplification, supplication and ingratiation). It shows their predictions on three market performance metrics in an annual balanced panel study.

Impression management tactics via posts on social media are mostly self-promotion, improving the musicians’ market performance by increasing the number of contracted concerts. Conversely, ingratiation generated the most positive effect on the musician’s popularity but reduced music sales. Besides lowering the musicians’ popularity, exemplification also reduced the number of contracted concerts, while the supplication had no significant effect.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the research is the first to use social media postings of musicians’ official human brand profiles based on self-presentation typologies as a complete impression management tool. Furthermore, it is the first to test the effects of these posts on market performance metrics (i.e. outside of social media) in a longitudinal study.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate how managers react to their own abusive supervision. Accordingly, this research identified a mechanism that managers may use to make amends for their abusive supervisory behaviors.

Two studies were designed. Study 1 was an online experimental study involving 99 full-time managers in the hotel industry that examined how managers’ internal factors moderated the relationship between enacted abusive supervision and embarrassment. By applying a critical incident technique to survey 235 full-time managers in the hospitality industry in Study 2, the moderating role of power distance belief as a context-related factor was tested. Furthermore, the mediating role of embarrassment between managers’ abusive supervision and their impression management was examined.

Managers who enact abusive supervision may experience embarrassment and thus be more likely to use impression management tactics, such as apology. Moreover, this study revealed the boundary conditions that influence managers’ reaction toward their own abusive supervision.

Hospitality industry practitioners can use the findings of this study as a basis for the development of policies and training programs to promote positive organizational culture and minimize unethical workplace behaviors.

Previous studies in this area have focused on subordinate-centric perspectives; this study is one of the few that has examined abusive supervision from an actor-centric perspective.

Leaders model behaviors they want followers to emulate, and they use various technologies to enhance their message, but which tools are most effective? Using two studies, this paper sets out to compare the effectiveness of newer and older computer technologies used by leaders for describing and demonstrating desired behaviors.

The first study, an interdisciplinary experimental design, involved 110 students across two college campuses and data were analyzed using a 2 (modeling and no modeling)×2 (older and newer technology) between‐subjects ANOVA. The second study further explored modeling with both technologies on one campus, and data were analyzed with independent samples t‐tests.

Newer technology was more effective than older technology in increasing desired behaviors but only when coupled with modeling of those behaviors by the leader. However, after the novelty of the new technology had worn off, no significant difference in production of desired behaviors was observed.

Justifying the expense of purchasing new technology to replace functional older equipment is an important consideration for businesses and universities. Organizational leaders need factual, unbiased data to guide their decisions about allocating limited financial resources.

The studies were designed to provide decision‐makers with some much‐needed empirical data.

Although Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection in the USA, much controversy exists with respect to HPV vaccination, especially among parents of adolescents. Previous research has shown that exemplars in the media influence public opinion estimates about controversial social issues. However, little is known about the underlying psychological processes of how exemplars influence public opinion formation. The purpose of this paper is to systematically explore such psychological processes based on the projection theory. To this end, the important yet controversial public health issue, the mandatory HPV vaccination, was chosen.

A two-factor (exemplar vs proportion), between-subject experiment was conducted using online newspaper articles as main stimuli. A total of 138 participants completed the study. The analytical framework comprised the Sobel test with the Bootstrap method and a series of Ordinary Least Square hierarchical regression analyses.

The higher the proportion of exemplars against the HPV vaccination in a news article was, the greater the number of individuals who became opposed to it was. And the high personal opposition translated into negative public opinion change estimation.

The findings indicate that news exemplars may influence individuals’ personal opinion formation, and, in turn, contribute to their estimations of future public opinion climate, as suggested by the projection theory. Theoretical, methodological and practical implications for journalists, health educators and policy makers are discussed.

Public service announcements (PSAs) have been shown to be effective instruments that raise awareness, educate society, and change behaviors and attitudes. Many governments and organizations have utilized PSAs on social media to promote online safety among children and youth. However, we have limited understanding of the range of topics that these PSAs address and how they present their content to audiences. This study provides an inventory of the types of online safety topics that current PSAs address and a catalogue of the types of persuasive features employed by PSAs.

A content analysis of 220 YouTube PSA videos on online safety was conducted. Various topics under the umbrella of online safety were identified. Guided by the prospect theory and exemplification theory, different persuasive features employed in the PSAs were sought.

The findings highlight that the primary focus of these PSAs is on online safety behaviors and general instructions on online hygiene. Interestingly, nearly half of the videos employ a neutral frame, while a significant portion provides no evidential support. Additionally, video length was associated with the number of views and likes it gathered but not with the number of comments.

The inventory of PSAs can help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers better understand the type of content being produced and disseminated online as well as identify topics that are either over or under-represented. Further, the catalogue of the types of persuasive features employed by PSAs would be helpful in guiding research, practice, and policymaking in the context of creating effective online safety videos.

Purpose – To develop an alternate metaethical framework based upon a specific modality of difference.

Methodology/approach – A radicalisation of Moore's naturalistic fallacy and the application of the open question argument within the broader context of the continental tradition allow one to direct the ethical question away from non-naturalism and towards a speculative ethics.

Findings – Suggesting an ethical modality irreducible to ontological description or political prescription, the chapter argues for a metaethics of ‘exhortation’.

Originality/value of chapter – The chapter opens a new space for thinking ethics, and further encourages the continuing rapprochement between continental and analytical traditions in philosophy.

Practical implications – Questions of practical ethics will find new modes of engagement and expression in the context of a hortative metaethics.

One of the most prolific areas of misinformation research is examining corrective strategies in messaging. The main purposes of the current study are to examine the effects of (1) partisan media (2) credibility perceptions and emotional reactions and (3) theory driven corrective messages on people's misperceptions about COVID-19 mask wearing behaviors.

The authors used a randomized experimental design to test the hypotheses. The data were collected via the survey firm Lucid. The number of participants was 485. The study was conducted using Qualtrics after the research project was exempt by the Institutional Research Board of a large University in the US. The authors conducted an online experiment with four conditions, narrative versus statistics and individual versus collective. The manipulation messages were constructed as screenshots from Facebook.

The findings of this study show that higher exposure to liberal media was associated with lower misperceptions, whereas higher credibility perceptions of and positive reactions toward the misinformation post and negative emotions toward the correction comment were associated with higher misperceptions. Moreover, the findings showed that participants in the narrative and collective-frame condition had the lowest misperceptions.

The authors tested theory driven misinformation corrective messages to understand the impact of these messages and multiple related variables on misperceptions about COVID-19 mask wearing. This study contributes to the existing misinformation correction literature by investigating the explanatory power of the two well-established media effects theories on misinformation correction messaging and by identifying essential individual characteristics that should be considered when evaluating how misperceptions about the COVID-19 crisis works and gets reduced.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2021-0600