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On the basis of the approach-avoidance motivation theory, this study aims to examine the role of information confusion in influencing consumer switching intention among social commerce platforms, with the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of social overload.

This study applied a multi-method quantitative approach including a survey and two experiments. Data were obtained from consumers on popular social commerce platforms in China. The survey's sample size was 327 respondents, whereas a total of 1,621 consumers participated in the two experiments.

Findings from the survey reveal that information confusion affects switching intention directly and indirectly via emotional exhaustion. Moreover, social overload moderates the emotional exhaustion–switching intention relationship and the indirect impact of information confusion on switching intention. Results of the two experiments further confirm the relationships found in the survey.

This study develops and validates a mediation and moderation model which expectedly serves as a framework to better explain consumer switching intention on social commerce platforms. The study also offers fresh insights into consumer switching intention in the unique context of social commerce in an emerging market (i.e. China), which has been largely ignored in the prior literature.

The purpose of this study is aimed at analysing the contributors of consumer confusion from the perspective of both information providers and recipients.

Using Sri Lanka as a case study, this study demonstrates views of consumer confusion in terms of information and its contributors in light of the framework adopted by Lu and Gursoy (2015).

The results ascertain that too much, too similar and too ambiguous information from information providers’ perspective have a significant impact on consumer confusion in the context of the inbound tourist industry in Sri Lanka. Most importantly, it is evident that the information recipients’ knowledge and behaviour attributes, namely, internet experience, learning orientation, tolerance for ambiguity, price consciousness and requirement for cognition have no significant impact on consumer confusion. Furthermore, the quality and quantity of information provided are crucial for the minimisation or avoidance of consumer confusion.

The practical implications drawn from this study could influence all stakeholders of the inbound online tourism trade including managers, advertising executives and marketing experts in providing good quality information to promote tourism.

The contribution of this research is related to the analysis from a theoretical and an empirical perspective of both the information providers’ and decision-making of recipients.

这项研究旨在从信息提供者和接受者的角度分析造成消费者困惑的因素。

以鲁和古尔索伊（2015）所采用的框架为基础, 本研究以斯里兰卡为例, 就有关信息及其贡献因素方面展示了消费者困惑的观点

调查结果确定, 就斯里兰卡入境旅游业而言, 从信息提供者的角度来看, 太多, 太相似和太含糊的信息会对消费者混乱产生重大影响。最重要的是, 很明显, 信息接收者的知识和行为属性, 即互联网体验, 学习倾向, 对歧义的容忍度, 价格意识和认知需求, 对消费者的困惑没有显着影响。此外, 所提供信息的质量和数量对于最小化或避免消费者混淆至关重要。

这项研究得出的实际意义可能会影响入境在线旅游业的所有利益相关者, 包括管理人员, 广告主管和营销专家, 以提供高质量的信息来促进旅游业。

此项研究贡献与从信息提供者和接收者的决策的理论和经验角度进行的分析相关。

este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar a los contribuyentes de la confusión del consumidor desde la perspectiva de los proveedores de información y los destinatarios.

utilizando Sri Lanka como el caso, esta investigación demuestra puntos de vista de la confusión del consumidor en términos de información y sus contribuyentes a la luz del marco adoptado por Lu y Gursoy (2015).

los hallazgos determinan que demasiada información, muy similar y demasiado ambigua desde la perspectiva de los proveedores de información tiene un impacto significativo en la confusión del consumidor en el contexto de la industria turística entrante en Sri Lanka. Lo más importante es que es evidente que los atributos de conocimiento y comportamiento de los destinatarios de la información, a saber, la experiencia de Internet, la orientación al aprendizaje, la tolerancia a la ambigüedad, la conciencia del precio y la necesidad de cognición no tienen un impacto significativo en la confusión del consumidor. Además, la calidad y la cantidad de información proporcionada son cruciales para minimizar o evitar la confusión del consumidor.

las implicaciones prácticas derivadas de este estudio podrían influir en todas las partes interesadas del comercio de turismo en línea entrante, que incluyen gerentes, ejecutivos de publicidad y expertos en marketing para proporcionar información de buena calidad para promover el turismo.

la contribución de esta investigación está relacionada con el análisis desde una perspectiva teórica y empírica tanto de los proveedores de información como de la toma de decisiones de los destinatarios.

People are living in a very rich and diversified information world. However, they are facing an explosion of information on social networking site (SNS) bombarding them every day. People get confused when they expose to similar, overloaded, ambiguous and misleading information. Unfortunately, the effect of information confusion on users' psychological outcome and behavioral intention has been absent in prior literature. Thus, this study investigates the relationship between information confusion and users' intention to stop using SNS with a moderated mediation effect of psychological distress and perceived novelty.

This study uses questionnaire survey to collect a sample data of 380 Facebook users in Vietnam. Structural equation modeling is used to test hypotheses in this study.

Empirical results show that information confusion has a positive influence on stop using intention. Furthermore, psychological distress is found to have a mediating effect in the link between information confusion and stop using intention. In addition, perceived novelty moderates the relationship between psychological distress and stop using intention. Perceived novelty also moderates the indirect effect of information confusion on stop using intention through psychological distress.

The influence of information confusion on users' psychological outcomes and behavioral intention has not been determined in prior literature. This study is one of the first studies that provide empirical evidence to clarify the relationship between information confusion and users' intention to stop using SNS. Furthermore, this study helps to clarify the mediating and moderating mechanism of psychological distress and perceived novelty in this relationship. By investigating the issue of information confusion and its impact on users in SNS environment, this study provides implications for researchers and practitioners regarding management and development of SNS.

This study aims to develop a conceptual model demonstrating the antecedents and outcomes of consumers’ online tourism information confusion.

A deductive approach was utilized to propose eight variables as antecedents of online confusion and five confusion reduction strategies as outcomes of consumers’ online tourism confusion. The underlying mechanisms in which these variables might lead to consumers’ online tourism information confusion are elaborated using elaboration likelihood model (ELM) (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986) as the major theoretical underpinning.

The model indicates that consumers could experience overload, similarity and ambiguity confusion when the information acquired is too much, too similar and/or too vague. In addition, as suggested by the ELM (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986), online users who are low in learning orientation, price consciousness, cognition need and Internet experience and high in ambiguity tolerance are more likely to experience confusion because of their lower motivation/ability to process external stimuli.

One limitation of this study is the lack of empirical test of the proposed model. Another limitation is that only five individual characteristics that might make online consumers prone to confusion were included. Other variables related to individual differences that could influence confusion should be explored as well.

This paper provides valuable implications for online tourism marketers to address consumers’ confusion during information search process. Five individual characteristics proposed as important antecedents of consumers’ confusion can be utilized by online tourism marketers to develop customized online communication strategies for different segments.

This paper is one of the few studies that connect the concept of consumers’ confusion to the online tourism field as well as discuss the concept of consumers’ confusion through the integration of information provider and recipients’ perspective.

Consumer confusion is an emerging phenomenon of interest that significantly drives choice behaviour. Considering the dearth of scholarly focus on confusion faced by consumers in a healthcare setting, this paper aims to conceptualize and validate a patient confusion model consisting of its drivers and outcomes.

Drawing upon adaptive decision-making framework and consumer confusion literature, patient confusion model has been developed. Empirical data of 310 patients from three private sector hospitals in India was collected through pen and paper survey administration. The hypothesized patient confusion model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to derive confirmatory results.

The results confirm the role of decision-making variables such as information overload, information similarity, information ambiguity, information asymmetry, patient involvement and physician-patient communication in the occurrence of patient confusion. A significant impact of confusion on switching intention was also confirmed, providing insights for healthcare managers.

The effect of confusion on switching intention of consumers found through the present study holds significant implications from a healthcare management standpoint. Dissemination of credible information, improved communication between doctors and patients and creation of organized channels of health information provision also represent some of the notable implications for healthcare managers to mitigate patient confusion.

This study presents an empirically validated model of patient confusion creating a research agenda for theory development in this emerging area. Consumer confusion represents a core consumer behaviour problem that is of utmost significance in the healthcare sector. This paper is one of the first and early attempts to address this research problem.

Consumer sovereignty assumes that consumers have adequate product information and are able to understand that information in order to make an informed choice. However, this is not the case when consumers are confused. Recently, Walsh et al. identified dimensions of consumer confusion proneness and developed scales to measure these dimensions. Drawing on their concept of consumer confusion proneness, this paper seeks to examine consumers' general tendency to be confused from marketplace information and its effect on three relevant outcome variables – word of mouth, trust, and satisfaction.

The reliability and validity of the consumer confusion proneness scale was tested on the basis of a sample of 355 consumers, using confirmatory factor analysis. The study employs structural equation modelling to examine the hypothesised relationships.

The results show that the consumer confusion proneness scale has sound psychometric properties and that the three dimensions of similarity, overload, and ambiguity have a differential impact on word of mouth behaviour, trust, and customer satisfaction.

The findings have implications for marketing theory and management, as well as consumer education. Marketers may apply the consumer confusion proneness scale to their customers and assess which dimension is the most damaging in terms of the three marketing outcomes examined.

This is the first study to test Walsh et al.'s consumer confusion proneness scale and to extend their work by analysing the effect of the three construct dimensions on three key marketing outcome variables.

Explores the concept of consumer confusion; what causes it, how consumers react to it and how marketers can influence it. The focus proposed differs from previous work by integrating the notions of stimulus overload and stimulus similarity as well as acknowledging conscious and unconscious confusion. The marketing determinants of confusion are classified and an inventory of confusion reduction strategies is discussed. Examines the marketing and policy implications of confusion, presents a checklist for brand managers to use when conducting a confusion audit and highlights areas for future research, especially into measurement of the concept.

Consumer confusion is an often discussed, but seldom investigated, construct central to marketing. This study aims to conceptualize consumer confusion as an intellectual emotion with cognitive and emotional components, and examine it in the context of qualified health claims and conflicting marketplace information.

A between-subjects experimental design is used to test the hypotheses.

Structural equation modeling suggests that weak science discussions and conflicting information on dietary supplements evoke consumer confusion. Confusion, in turn, impacts scientific certainty perceptions, product quality and firm credibility. Incorporating confusion measures in theoretical models significantly increases the amount of variance explained in consumer perceptions. Implications are offered for businesses, consumer behaviorists and public policymakers.

It is hard to think about many of marketing’s focal issues (e.g. trademark theory, disclosures and warnings, advertising deception, search and shopping behavior) without using the term confusion. While confusion is central to discussions of these domains, it has evaded focused attention and study. Indeed, no previous research in marketing has directly addressed the experience of consumer confusion per se. The current research fills a gap in the marketing literature by explicitly defining the construct of confusion and offering a measurement approach that is easily adapted to many business/consumer interactions. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate the role of confusion in the context of qualified health claims by showing how conflicting information between health claims, qualifiers and external information can create confusion, and in turn, lead to negative consumer perceptions.

Cluttered website layout and a poor presentation of information on limited web space are present on tourism websites as ineffective marketplace stimuli that give rise to the problem of consumers' confusion. Based on stimulus organism response theory (SOR), this research investigates the three-dimensional confusion framework, its direct and indirect effect on negative eWOM, and consumers' decision postponement, considering negative emotion as a mediator.

On the data gathered from 501 respondents, structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed research hypotheses.

The results reveal the existence of the ineffective marketplace stimulus as an antecedent of consumer confusion. Further outcomes validate the cognitive, affective and response behaviour state by demonstrating the direct influence of different types of confusion on negative emotions, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and decision postponement. The association between cognitive and response behaviour is also mediated by negative emotion.

The study offers substantial practical insights for managers and company operators to better grasp the significance of the affective dimension in consumer confusion in view of the extended SOR model to encapsulate the role of human consciousness.

This study is among the first extensive studies to examine consumer confusion in the context of the modified SOR model that captures the essence of human consciousness by understanding the role of affective emotions between various confusions, negative eWOM and decision postponement. In addition, the ineffective marketplace stimulus as a confusion antecedent and negative eWOM as a response behaviour were studied for the first time.

Internet emergence has evolved the business of tourism companies, and every tourism company is available online and provides abundant choices, which causes consumers' confusion. The current study aims to investigate the interaction effect of demographic variables on confusion, decision postponement as a negative consequence of confusion and self-efficacy as a moderator in light of the stimulus organism response (SOR) model. Also, an attempt has been made to integrate the smart technology-based solution to deal with consumers' confusion.

Three-way ANOVA, Andrew Hayes process, structural equation modelling and random forest algorithm were used to assess the 507 self-filled questionnaire responses for examining consumers' confusion.

The results reveal that confusion decreases with increased education levels for each gender and age group. Also, for every gender and education level, consumer confusion increases and then decreases. Further, it was observed that self-efficacy effectively moderates the influence of different confusions on decision postponement. An artificial intelligence-enabled predictive model with an accuracy of 71.49% was established, which forecasts the possibility of consumers' decision postponement.

This study offers the comprehension of how the travel site administrators and stakeholders have used artificial intelligence-enabled solution for consumers' confusion and to reduce decision postponement.

To the best of the authors' awareness, this is one of the first studies to unveil the interaction effect of demographic factors on confusion, assess the role of self-efficacy as a moderator and provide artificial intelligence-enabled solutions for consumers' confusion.