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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customer participation (CP) influences the two contrasting relationship maintenance mechanisms: dedication and constraint, and identifies its antecedents in the context of business-to-business information technology (IT) services.

An empirical study was conducted through a survey of 126 firms receiving IT services in Taiwan. The partial least squares method was used to test the conceptual model of the study.

The results indicated that CP positively relates to IT service quality, thereby influencing satisfaction (i.e. dedication). In addition, CP was also found to be positively associated with switching costs (i.e. constraint). Both satisfaction and switching costs have significant influences on loyalty. Furthermore, IT capabilities, organizational compatibility, and role clarity are positively related to CP.

Longitudinal studies are needed to explore how CP affects the dual mechanisms in different phases of customer-firm relationships.

The study contributes to a thorough understanding of the influences of CP on relationship maintenance.

The study aims to propose an instrument for measuring product-centeredness (i.e. the extent to which comment content is related to a product) using word embedding techniques as well as explore its determinants.

The study collected branded posts from 205 Instagram influencers and empirically examined how four factors (i.e. authenticity, vividness, coolness and influencer–product congruence) influence the content of the comments on branded posts.

Post authenticity and congruence are shown to have positive effects on product-centeredness. The interaction between coolness and authenticity is also significant. The number of comments or likes on branded posts is not correlated with product-centeredness.

In social media influencer marketing, volume-based metrics such as the numbers of likes and comments have been researched and applied extensively. However, content-based metrics are urgently needed, as fans may ignore brands and focus on influencers. The proposed instrument for assessing comment content enables marketers to construct content-based metrics. Additionally, the authors' findings enhance the understanding of social media users' engagement behaviors.

When encountering novel technology, customers often use the term “cool” to express their thoughts; therefore, coolness has become crucial for launching service robots. However, research on the impact mechanism of “coolness” is lacking. This study explored the relationship between delight and behavioral intention regarding the coolness of service robots in the food and beverage industry while discussing the mediating roles of utilitarian and hedonic values.

Questionnaires were distributed online with links to the survey posted on restaurant discussion boards on Facebook and online community platforms such as Dcard. In total, 540 responses were deemed valid. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares structural equation modeling method.

The results indicate that coolness positively impacted both utilitarian and hedonic values and that both perceived values positively impacted delight. Moreover, coolness does not directly impact delight but must be mediated by perceived value to be effective.

Increasing customer perceptions of the coolness of service robots is recommended. Moreover, regarding customer revisits, utilitarian value services can delight customers more effectively than hedonic value services.

The stimulus-organism-response model was used to identify the relationships among coolness, perceived value, delight and behavioral intention. Moreover, the authors investigated the impact of coolness on utilitarian and hedonic values. These findings are significant for the development of smart restaurants and provide a critical reference for exploring service robots.

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is a considerably influential factor for consumers to search for product information. Nowadays, consumers can easily post visual information (e.g. pictures or videos) to convey product information and consumption‐related experiences. Yet, prior eWOM studies focused primarily on the verbal information of eWOM. Few studies have paid sufficient attention to the effects of visual information in eWOM communication. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to employ blogs to investigate the effects of visual information on consumers' perception of eWOM message quality, credibility, product interest, and purchase intention.

The authors conducted two empirical studies in the field of different product categories. Data were collected from subjects ranged in age from 16 to 50 (n=155 for study 1, n=309 for study 2), and analyzed using independent‐samples t test and univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results show that subjects rated eWOM articles in blogs with visual information significantly higher in four areas than identical articles without visual information. Furthermore, there is an interaction effect between product category and visual information on product interest and purchase intention. Compared with experience products, when subjects read the eWOM information of search products with pictures (versus without pictures), they would generate greater product interest and purchase intention. In addition, the effect of visual information is stronger not only for search products (no matter whether utilitarian or hedonic products) but also for experience‐hedonic products than for experience‐utilitarian products.

The findings of this study provide useful knowledge for internet marketers to develop effective eWOM marketing and thus increase consumer trust in eWOM and intention to purchase products. Although visual information is found to be important, different product categories should take advantage of visual information in different degrees.