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Climate change news and educational awareness programs have swamped Australia in the past four years, with earlier campaigns raising awareness in Europe and the USA via television and the internet. What is the impact on people's psychological states of such concerns? The purpose of this paper is to explore the psychological impact of climate change within the general population and investigate what makes an individual vulnerable to distress.

A questionnaire was completed by 275 adults that assessed personality factors as well as environmental beliefs and religiosity. The design was cross‐sectional, and correlational analyses determined the associations between climate change distress and symptoms indicative of depression, anxiety and stress. Independent samples t‐tests and ANOVA revealed group differences for age and gender. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to identify important, unique predictors and to determine the extent to which environmental beliefs, future anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and religiosity accounted for the variability in climate change measures beyond the effects of age and gender.

This study indicates that the public is becoming increasingly concerned about climate change and that there is a relationship between this concern and symptoms that are indicative of depression, anxiety and stress. The results indicate that an individual is more likely to be distressed about climate change if they are female, under the age of 35 years, have a pro‐environmental orientation, and possess personality traits such as high levels of future anxiety.

Bringing attention to the existence of climate change distress, understanding the extent of these fears and what makes a person vulnerable will be helpful in the treatment and prevention of general and clinical levels of climate‐related distress.

The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise in early 2020. The preventive measures imposed by many countries limited human movement, causing uncertainty and disrupting consumption patterns and consumer decision-making. This study aims to explore consumers’ panic buying (PB) and compulsive buying (CB) as outcomes of the intolerance of uncertainty (IU). The moderating role of sustainable consumption behaviours (SCBs) (e.g. quality of life [QOL], concern for future generation and concern for environmental well-being) were also tested to raise awareness of responsible and mindful consumption amongst the society and business stakeholders.

To empirically examine the grocery shopping behaviours of Malaysian consumers during COVID-19, a total of 286 valid grocery consumer survey responses based on a purposive sampling were collected and analysed during the movement control order period between March and July 2020.

The findings confirmed the statistically significant impact of IU on both PB and CB and the impact of PB on CB behaviour. Amongst the three SCBs tested, only QOL significantly moderated the relationship between the IU and PB.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to construct a framework of consumers’ PB and CB during the pandemic, building upon the stimulus-organism-response model and the concepts of IU and SCB. This study further serves as the pioneering study on the moderating role of SCB in consumer behaviour research in the pandemic context, whereby consumers’ QOL significantly moderates the relationship between their IU and PB. This study has also drawn specific implications for grocery retailers and government agencies for retail and policy planning to promote positive social transformation in consumer buying behaviours during a pandemic or crisis.

This paper explores the moderating effects of four personal cultural orientations or PCOs (independence, interdependence, risk aversion and ambiguity intolerance) on the relationships among counterfeit proneness, subjective norms, ethical judgments, product evaluation and purchase intentions for counterfeit products.

A field study with 840 consumers in Hong Kong using a self-administered structured questionnaire is used to test all the hypotheses.

Consumers with high (low) scores on interdependence (independence) show stronger positive effects of counterfeit proneness on subjective norms and its effects on the counterfeit evaluation and purchase intentions. In contrast, consumers with high (low) scores on independence (interdependence) show stronger positive effects of counterfeit proneness on ethical judgments and its effects on counterfeit evaluation and purchase intentions. Consumers with higher scores on risk aversion and ambiguity intolerance show negative moderating effects on most of the relationships in the unified conceptual framework.

The authors collected data in Hong Kong, which is predominantly Chinese in culture. Hence, future research in other parts of the world with more diverse cultural values would help test the validity and generalizability of the results.

The findings would be useful for managers of genuine brands to learn more about the process that explains deliberate counterfeit purchase behavior.

The authors extend the unified conceptual framework for deliberate counterfeit purchase behavior by incorporating four PCOs to explore cultural differences in the socio-psychological decision-making process underlying this behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to address a long-standing gap in current research on intercultural service encounters, by exploring the direct and indirect roles of four personal cultural orientations (PCOs) [independence, interdependence (INT), risk aversion (RSK) and ambiguity intolerance (AMB)].

A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with customers in two countries (Australia and China) using scenarios to manipulate service outcome (failure or success) and photos of foreigners as customer or employee to prime perceived cultural distance (PCD).

Customers with higher (vs lower) independence perceive greater interaction comfort, service quality and satisfaction (SAT) and are affected to a lesser extent by PCD and service outcome, but those with higher (vs lower) RSK or AMB perceive lower interaction comfort, service quality and SAT and are affected more strongly by PCD and service outcome.

The authors used an “experimental” design with “imaginary” service scenarios to collect data in “two” countries using “four” PCOs for greater control in this paper, but all of these choices may restrict the generalizability of the findings.

Service managers need to look beyond visible cultural differences, such as ethnicity, nationality and language, and focus more on the invisible cultural differences in customs, values and norms, as reflected by the four PCOs in this paper.

The authors extend prior research on intercultural service encounters by exploring the moderating effects of PCOs on the influence of service outcome and PCD on interaction comfort, service quality and SAT.

Financial threat is defined as fearful-anxious uncertainty regarding one’s current and future financial situation. The purpose of this paper is to examine predictors and outcomes of financial threat in two samples of students who completed an online questionnaire for course credit. The theoretical model the authors proposed tested the association between personal debt, anxiety, and economic hardship with financial threat, and in turn, financial threat’s relationship with willingness to change financial behavior (e.g. increase income, cut expenses, and reduce debt), job search activity, and psychological distress. Consistent across samples, structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that the data fit the model and supported all four hypotheses. Debt, economic hardship, and anxiety were all related positively to financial threat, which itself related positively to willingness to change, job search, and psychological distress. Importantly, financial threat mediated the relationship between these economic-situational predictors and affective-behavioral outcomes of financial stain. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Using an online questionnaire, participants completed measures of economic hardship, intolerance of uncertainty, job search behavior, financial threat, life satisfaction, general health, perceived stress, and willingness to change to financial behavior. The authors developed and tested a model that explores emotional and cognitive reactions to financial stressors following the recession.

Results of SEM revealed that the data fit the model and no modification indices were suggested. Examination of parameter estimates indicated that total debt, economic hardship, and anxiety were positively related to financial threat. Financial threat, in turn, positively related to willingness to change one’s financial behaviors, job search, and psychological distress. In addition, economic hardship and anxiety were positively related to psychological distress. That is, individuals who were feeling more threatened by their financial situation were more willing to change their financial situation and were more likely to engage in job search behavior. They were also more likely to report more psychological distress than individuals reporting lower levels of financial threat.

This study was cross-sectional and therefore precludes causal interpretations of the findings. Longitudinal data with repeated assessments of all measures would help determine the direction of causation. Also, the study relied on self-report data, which is prone to bias. For example, it is possible that some participants did not know their exact debt levels, which may have resulted in an under- or overestimation of debt levels. Future research should extend this line of research using objective measures. While the model tested in this study examined the impact of economic factors on perceived threat, behavior, and psychological distress, it did not include social and psychological resources. For example, the authors did not include measures of social support, coping, or personality, which may moderate the impact of economic variables and stress on psychological distress. Although financial knowledge/literacy was not studied here, future research could include it since it has been associated with a variety of financial behaviors such as cash-flow management, credit management, saving, and investing. There is some evidence that financial literacy can decrease emotional stress and anxiety (Vitt et al., 2000).

The current study can help researchers and practitioners understand the concept of financial threat among university students. For example, if students have incurred student loans and debt and begin displaying symptoms of distress, like anxiousness, worry, and irritability, they could be referred to a professional experienced in working with emotional and behavioral disorders related to financial issues. It can also help practitioners gain an understanding and insight into clients’ poor financial decision making. Government could initiate programs that help individuals cope with the negative effects of unemployment. Given that young people are experiencing disproportionately high unemployment that can have a lasting adverse effect on employment prospects and future earnings, the current post-secondary curriculum needs to prepare young people for the world of work, and gain a footing in the labor market. One way to achieve this is through high-quality work experiences (e.g. internships/apprenticeships). Identifying ways to mitigate the effects of debt and economic hardship is also imperative. For example, money and debt advice may improve one’s financial circumstances, which, in turn, may improve their physical and psychological well-being.

Future studies could focus on developing models predicting to financial stress using personality, psychological resources, and an objective measure of financial knowledge. Despite these limitations, this research demonstrates how emotional factors need to be included in economic models that also include debt and economic hardship. The study contributes to the economic and psychological literature by documenting how economic hardship and debt influence perceptions of threat, planned behavior, and psychological distress. The authors take a unique approach to describing economic hardship and financial threat as antecedents of distress, job search, and willingness to change. Future research could be directed toward employing the model for predicting behavior that would lessen economic stress and thereby leading to increased psychological well-being.

The study develops and tests an original theoretical model linking financial, emotional, and psychological variable in a comprehensive framework that is then tested empirically. This model is original with this paper.

This chapter discusses the current risk perception literature in the tourism field. The chapter critiques the literature and offers a solution through a more conceptual and operational definition of risk perceptions. Specifically, the inclusion of affective risk perceptions will be added to the literature via the risk-as-feelings hypothesis. Extension of the current literature will enhance research moving forward.

The chapter will provide a literature review, propose a conceptual model, and operationalize the risk perception variables.

The outcome of this chapter is to provide a conceptual model as a framework to address risk perception studies in tourism and hospitality in the future. The model will provide clear measurement scales to be tested.

This chapter gives a much needed theoretical and conceptual foundation to the study of risk perceptions in the travel and tourism literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a dimension of logistics service quality (delivery time) interacting with shipping charges and purchase importance on customer satisfaction and purchase intentions in an e-commerce context. Uncertainty in terms of perceived ambiguity and perceived riskiness is shown to be the theoretical mechanism that plays a mediating role in the relationships between delivery time and customer satisfaction, as well as between delivery time and purchase intentions.

This study used a scenario-based role playing experiment. Three variables are manipulated in the design of the study – delivery time, shipping charges, and purchase importance. Participant responses (n=360) were collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk with perceptual measures.

Results indicated that increased delivery time significantly increased customers’ perceived ambiguity and perceived riskiness which reduced satisfaction as well as negatively impacted purchase intentions. Further, free shipping reduced customers’ perceived ambiguity when delivery time was lengthy, but strengthened the perception of ambiguity when the delivery time was short.

This paper sheds light on how a dimension of logistics service quality (delivery time) interacts with shipping charges and purchase importance to impact customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. It introduces uncertainty in the form of perceived ambiguity and perceived riskiness, to the logistics service literature as the mechanism that can explain how delivery time interacting with shipping charges and purchase importance impact customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. The implications for online retailers are that they should display separate shipping charges for shorter delivery times but for longer delivery times they should display a total price for the product which includes the shipping cost. Also when the purchase is important to the customer, they should offer shorter shipping time choices if they want to increase customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and the impact of negative electronic word of mouth (eWoM) on Muslim consumers’ tolerance and to look for evidence on whether it can pose threat to high-tolerance products and cause spillover effect on products in similar category.

This study used a qualitative method with purposive sampling, and data were collected from 23 Malay Muslim consumers using in-depth interviews.

Findings from this study clearly showed that consumers’ perception toward effected products can easily be distorted with negative claim which indicates that halal issues are very sensitive to Muslim consumers. The negative eWoM distorts consumers’ perception toward effected product and the effect was also found to escalate into other brands that share similar category as the effected products.

By examining the negative impact of eWoM, it validates the severe impact it has on Muslim consumers, and it is quite obvious that no products are really safe from it, including high-tolerance products. Evidence from this study revealed the importance and the urgency for organizations to handle any rumors immediately because further delay can result from significant loses in sales and can tarnish the brand image.

Negative claims related to the halal product status often sparks negative reactions, especially among Muslim consumers, and despite frequent occurrence of such event, very little information is available on its impact on consumers’ tolerance. Certain products fall under safe product category, or high-tolerance products are also found to be vulnerable to negative impact of eWoM because once the consumers’ trust is shaken, confidence will be replaced by doubt, which often leads to loss of sales and loyalty. It is commonly known that effected products and brand will suffer from this event; however, spillover effect is another side effect of negative eWoM that is not yet highlighted in previous studies.

Previous literature has reported inconsistent findings regarding the impact of uncertainty avoidance (UA) on intercultural experiences. This includes positive, negative and insignificant associations between UA on the one hand and cosmopolitanism or comfort with intercultural service encounters (ICSE) on the other hand. The purpose of this paper is to participate in addressing these contradictions. More specifically, this study examines how UA affects expatriate cosmopolitanism as well as approach of service environments patronized by local customers by introducing two moderators: national identification and perceived discrimination.

The authors propose a conceptual model based on the results of a literature review. The authors test it with survey data collected from Indian expatriates (n=341) living in Qatar, using structural equation modeling.

The results corroborate the moderating role of national identification. Under low identification, expatriate consumers engage in a prospective form of uncertainty management, leading them to adopt a more cosmopolitan stance. Under high identification, their uncertainty plays an inhibitory role, reducing their cosmopolitanism and negatively affecting their approach of service places patronized by local consumers. Perceived discrimination did not moderate the impact of UA as expected on either cosmopolitanism or approach.

This paper extends the prior research on UA by testing how two moderators could activate either a prospective or an inhibitory form of uncertainty. It also contributes to research on ICSE, by focusing on customer-to-customer interactions in a multicultural marketplace.

This study aims to identify the factors influencing Chinese outbound tourists’ perceptions of safety in Thailand. A media coverage analysis compares the safety perceptions of visitors and non-visitors.

A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Based on a content analysis of 204 news items related to safety incidents in Thailand, this paper divides the factors of safety perception into four dimensions. The quantitative data were gathered by self-administered questionnaires from 370 visitors who have previously visited Thailand and 407 potential visitors yet to visit Thailand.

The results demonstrated significant differences in the safety perceptions of visitors and non-visitors, indicating non-visitors’ fear of uncertainty and intolerance of the exotic. The study also confirmed social-demographic characteristics influence destination safety perceptions. For non-visitors, safety issues tend to have a negative influence on future visit intention, but those with previous travel experience have less concerns.

The findings provide valuable insights to industry practice. More publicity campaigns within the Chinese media may reduce the spillover effects of crisis events and correct the potentially inaccurate images of disease and terrorism risk. Thai government is suggested to develop the Chinese inbound market, improve the quality of tourism infrastructure and standardisation and efficiency of tourism services.

The media plays a significant role in destination image, tourist decision-making and safety measures imposed by governments. This study identified the factors influencing Chinese outbound tourists’ perceptions of safety in Thailand through an analysis of media coverage. The study provides a better understanding of the differences in safety perceptions between visitors and non-visitors to Thailand. The segmentation of visitors and non-visitors also may help destination managers to cater to differing expectations of safety.

本研究旨在探讨中国赴泰游客和潜在赴泰游客对泰国安全认知的影响因素。本研究通过对媒体报道文本的分析，识别出中国出境游客泰国安全感的影响因素，并进一步对游客与潜在游客在安全感知上的差异进行对比。

本研究采用了混合方法。本文通过对204篇泰国安全事件新闻报道的内容进行分析，将安全感知因素分为四个维度。定量研究数据是从370名有泰国旅游经历的游客和407名没有去过泰国的潜在游客中收集的。

研究结果显示游客与潜在游客在安全认知上有显著差异，体现了潜在访客对异国情调的不确定性和不宽容。本研究也证实了社会人口学特征对两个群体的目的地安全感知都有影响。此外，对于潜在游客来说，大多数安全问题都会对他们未来的访问意图产生负面影响，但对于游客来说，结果则相反。

媒体在目的地形象、旅游决策和政府安全措施方面发挥着重要作用。本研究以媒体报导为分析工具，探讨中国出境游客泰国安全感的影响因素。这项研究有助于更好地了解中国赴泰游客和潜在游客在安全认知方面的差异。游客和潜在游客的细分也有助于目的地管理者满足他们对安全的特定期望。

我们的发现为行业实践提供了有价值的见解。在中国媒体上开展更多的宣传活动，可以减少危机事件的外溢效应，纠正有关疾病和恐怖主义风险的潜在地不准确形象。此外，泰国政府应提高旅游基础设施的质量，提高旅游服务的标准化和效率。

Este estudio identifica los factores que influyen en la seguridad percibida de Tailandia por los turistas emisores chinos, con el análisis de la cobertura de los medios, y además compara las diferencias en las percepciones de seguridad entre visitantes y no visitantes.

Se ha adoptado una metodología mixta. Basado en el análisis de contenido de 204 noticias sobre incidentes de seguridad en Tailandia, este trabajo divide los factores de percepción de seguridad en cuatro dimensiones. Los datos cuantitativos se recopilaron mediante cuestionarios autoadministrados de 370 visitantes que tenían experiencia en viajes a Tailandia y 407 visitantes potenciales que no habían estado en Tailandia.

Los resultados demuestran diferencias significativas en la percepción de seguridad de los visitantes y no visitantes, lo que indica el miedo de los no visitantes a la incertidumbre y la intolerancia de lo exótico. Este estudio también confirma que las características sociodemográficas influyen en la percepción de seguridad del destino de cada grupo. Además, para los no visitantes, la mayoría de las cuestiones de seguridad influyen negativamente en su intención de visita futura, pero para los turistas, los resultados son contrarios.

Los resultados brindan información valiosa para la práctica de la industria. Más campañas publicitarias en los medios chinos podrían reducir los efectos secundarios de los eventos de crisis y corregir las imágenes potencialmente inexactas sobre los riesgos de enfermedades y terrorismo. Además, el gobierno tailandés debería mejorar la calidad de su infraestructura turística y aumentar la estandarización y eficiencia de los servicios turísticos.

Los medios de comunicación juegan un papel importante en la imagen del destino, la toma de decisiones turísticas y las medidas de seguridad de los gobiernos. Este estudio identifica los factores que influyen en la seguridad percibida de Tailandia por parte de los turistas chinos, con el análisis de la cobertura de los medios. El estudio proporciona una mejor comprensión de las diferencias en las percepciones de seguridad entre visitantes y no visitantes de Tailandia. La segmentación de visitantes y no visitantes también ayuda a los gestores de los destinos a satisfacer expectativas específicas de seguridad.