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This study aims to make a distinction between two types of authenticity (indexical vs iconic), the influence of both of which on the consumer’s inference of companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) motivation is determined. Meanwhile, the consumer inference of CSR activities can be affected by the situational context within which the CSR activities are contained. Therefore, the effect of the interaction between the authenticity type and the given social distance (based on the construal level theory) was also examined.

The study conducted a 2 × 2 between-subjects design experiment to examine the effects of authenticity type (indexical/iconic) and social distance (close/distant) on the perceived motive of the CSR information in a scenario.

The findings showed significant main effect of authenticity type but no significant main effect of social distance on persuasion knowledge. Participants in the indexical authenticity condition perceived a higher degree of persuasion knowledge than the participants in the iconic authenticity condition. Social distance moderated the effect of authenticity type such that for indexical authenticity, there was a significant difference on persuasion knowledge when the social distance was large. However, for iconic authenticity, the perception of persuasion knowledge was not significantly different between a large distance and a close distance.

The study identified the type of authenticity that is mainly perceived as a result of CSR activities and also determined its relation to the social distance dimension to infer a firm’s CSR motives.

This paper aims to determine the affecting factors of the brand authenticity of startups in social media.

Using a qualitative method based on a grounded theory approach, this research specifies and classifies the affecting factors of brand authenticity of startups in social media through in-depth semi-structured interviews.

Multiple factors affecting the brand authenticity of startups in social media are determined and categorized as indexical, iconic and existential cues through this research. Connection to heritage and having credible support are determined as indexical cues. Founder intellectuality, brand intellectuality, commitment toward customers and proactive clear and interesting communications are identified as iconic cues. Having self-confidence and self-satisfaction, having intimacy with the brand and a joyful feeling for interactions with the community around the brand are determined as existential cues in this research. This research furthers previous arguments on a multiplicity of brand authenticity by shedding light on the relationship between the different aspects of authenticity and the form that different affecting factors can be organized together. Consumers eventually evaluate a strengthened perception of brand authenticity through existential cues that reflect the cues of other aspects (iconic and indexical) which passed through the goal-based assessment and self-authentication filter.

The research sampling population can be more diversified in terms of sociodemographic attributes. Due to the qualitative methodology of this research, assessment of the findings through quantitative methods can be considered in future research.

Using the findings of this research, startup managers can properly build a perception of authenticity in their consumers’ minds by using alternate factors while lacking major indexical cues such as heritage. This research helps startup businesses to design their brand communications better to convey their authenticity to their audiences.

This research determines the factors affecting the authenticity of startup brands in social media. It also defines the process of authenticity perception through different aspects of brand authenticity.

Readability formulas have been criticised as a method for scoring accounting narratives because of their focus on word‐ and sentence‐level features and not on whole‐text aspects, their lack of regard for the interests and motivation of the reader, and their inappropriateness for evaluating adult‐based and technical accounting narratives. The literature of linguistics offers theoretical and practical validation for application of a texture index which addresses these criticisms. The paper shows how the general model drawn from applied linguistics can be tailored to the specific situation of an accounting narrative – the Operating and Financial Review. Rules which provide for objectivity in replication are specified and illustrated for a sample narrative. Illustrative empirical analysis shows that there is no evidence of association with the Flesch readability score. This suggests that the texture index is potentially a powerful tool for analysis of accounting narratives and association testing.

Purpose – We examine the meanings of objects that have indexical (or direct first-hand) connections to celebrities. In so doing, we distinguish between the meanings of proximal indexicality versus contagious indexicality. We reveal how these disparate meanings are linked to how consumers use a celebrity object, either by displaying the object or by using the object as the celebrity had originally used the object.

Methodology – Our informants were consumers participating in sales of celebrity-owned items. Data include videotaped depth interviews, photographs of auction participants and celebrity objects, field notes, and auction catalogue descriptions.

Findings – Some consumers were fans who desired to be close to the celebrity, while others participating in celebrity-object auctions desired to become a celebrity themselves. Those that desired to be close to the celebrity (fans) were attracted to the proximal indexical meaning of the object, in which an indexical link conveyed a perceived closeness between the perceiver and the signified (e.g., consumer and celebrity) through the indexically linked object. Those that desired to become a celebrity themselves were attracted to the contagious indexical meaning of the object which facilitates a perceived contamination of the perceiver (e.g., consumer) by the essence of the signified (e.g., celebrity) through the indexically linked object.

Contributions – We contribute to the Peircian semiotic framework as used in consumer research by differentiating between the meanings of proximal indexicality and contagious indexicality. We show these meanings are linked to consumers’ display use versus the original use of the celebrity-owned object.

To understand the phenomena of people revealing regrettable information on the Internet, we examine who people think they’re addressing, and what they say, in the process of interacting with those not physically or temporally co-present.

We conduct qualitative analyses of interviews with student bloggers and observations of five years’ worth of their blog posts, drawing on linguists’ concepts of indexical ground and deictics. Based on analyses of how bloggers reference their shared indexical ground and how they use deictics, we expose bloggers’ evolving awareness of their audiences, and the relationship between this awareness and their disclosures.

Over time, writers and their regular audience, or “chorus,” reciprocally reveal personal information. However, since not all audience members reveal themselves in this venue, writers’ disclosures are available to those observers they are not aware of. Thus, their overdisclosure is tied to what we call the “n-adic” organization of online interaction. Specifically, and as can be seen in their linguistic cues, n-adic utterances are directed toward a non-unified audience whose invisibility makes the discloser unable to find out the exact number of participants or the time they enter or exit the interaction.

Attention to linguistic cues, such as deictics, is a compelling way to identify the shifting reference groups of ethnographic subjects interacting with physically or temporally distant others.

We describe the social organization of interaction with undetectable others. n-adic interactions likely also happen in other on- and offline venues in which participants are obscured but can contribute anonymously.

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a brand imitation strategy for the package design of male-targeted, female-targeted and gender-neutral products.

Three (2 × 2 × 2) between-subjects factorial experiments were conducted with three independent variables, namely, visual shape, color and logo, each classified as relevant/divergent. The dependent variables were participants’ attitudes toward the brand, attitudes toward the product and purchase intention.

There were no significant main effects or interactions for the male-targeted product. The results for the female-targeted product revealed no significant main effect of visual shape, a significant main effect of color and significant two-way interactions between visual shape and color and between visual shape and logo. Significant main effects were found for visual shape and color for the gender-neutral product.

A color scheme similar to that of a leading brand in the same product category more powerfully influenced participants’ attitudes and purchase intention, while a more holistically similar design had greater impact than a less holistic design. Some “divergence” or distinctive design elements of the female-targeted product positively influenced participants’ attitudes and behavior. These findings suggest that a brand imitation strategy offers a means for competing in the marketplace, but should be used with caution.

A conceptual continuum of brand imitation is proposed, incorporating visual semiotics, creativity theory and gender differences in cognitive styles to provide a more systematic method for delineating brand imitation levels.

The impact of colour is acknowledged within the marketing field. However, research on colour communication is limited, with most prior studies focusing on pre-defined meanings or colour associations. The purpose of this paper is to reveal insights into colour meaning and propose an alternative view to understanding colour communication.

The study takes a conceptual approach and proposes Peircean semiotics to understand colour communication. The proposed framework is applied to analyse a set of colour meanings detected by prior colour research.

The study elucidates the underlying mechanism of how colour is read and interpreted in various marketing activities, and how meaning is conveyed. This study addresses this mechanism by identifying colour semantics and colour as a symbolic, iconic and indexical sign.

The study contributes to the scholarly knowledge of colour in marketing. It enriches the understanding of how consumers interpret representations of single visual signs expressed in contexts such as products, brands and brand packaging to make informed product decisions.

By understanding consumer interpretation as a stage in the communication process, marketers can develop more informed marketing activities to communicate the intended meanings. This may well strengthen the brand identity and contribute to the perceived brand value.

By elaborating on how colours convey meanings and the mechanism that explains such meanings, this study demonstrates that colour meaning is far more than mere association. The study contributes to the current knowledge of colour by facilitating a deeper understanding of how consumers interpret representations of single visual cues expressed in various contexts.

Individuals use money, time, and effort to consume, yet implicit in most consumer research is the availability of these resources, particularly money. While the literature provides an explanation of many aspects of consumption experiences, an explanation of how money is used to fund consumption is needed.

In the present research, I explore ordinary consumer behaviors through depth interviews with individuals regarding everyday experiences to develop an understanding of the relationship between earmarking money and consumption.

Prior research finds consumers earmark monies thereby allocating it to distinct purposes, such that this earmarking influences consumer behaviors. Emergent from these data, I find evidence for two categories of consumer behaviors: protective, which are those addressing responsibilities in daily life; and, prospective which are those for shaping and representing identity. Further, I find protective or prospective behaviors are systematically associated with earmarking of money to either indexical or prosaic accounts, respectively, to fund consumption in support of the behaviors.

This study explores everyday experiences to develop an understanding of how monetary earmarks are used to fund consumption. Other resources necessary for consumption, specifically time and effort, were not examined, yet are influential in consumption experiences and therefore are in need of study.

These findings contribute a distinct pattern of funding evident in the relationship between types of earmarks and categories of everyday behaviors.

Existentialist progenitors emphasized the contextual or situational nature of human action and meaning. This paper reviews some of these ideas and then compares how different approaches in sociology have embodied this view: symbolic interaction, dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, the California School of Existential Sociology, grounded theory methodology, and macro existential sociology. These perspectives will be compared to assess their relative emphases on the contextual or situational nature of human action and meaning.

This research explores two interconnected questions: (1) How do we approach stylistic features of multimodal rhetorical artifacts such as protest posters? (2) Do said artifacts designed for different purposes exhibit systematic stylistic differences? Drawing on Charles Sanders Peirce’s semiotic categorization, this study develops a framework for examining concision, one of the primary stylistic considerations for multimodal rhetorical artifacts such as protest posters. This paper illustrates the use of this framework by exploring the correlation between rhetorical purpose and concision in posters created and disseminated before and during the 2011–2012 Québécois student movement. This study fine-tunes our existing knowledge on multimodality with style sensitivity, and demonstrates how an economy-of-sign based semiotic approach could enrich the empirical examination of multimodal rhetorical artifacts by generating more controlled interpretations.