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This study aims to examine the role of price discounts and how to communite such discounts for masstige brands. While a price discount might encourage potential (first time) customers seeking higher status to buy a masstige brand, it might deter existing (repeat) customers from purchasing the brand due to a decline in perceived status. Such paradoxical effect of price discounts on masstige brand’s purchase requires a detail investigation into whether masstige brands should offer price discounts and if so, how to communicate such discounts. Current research investigates this phenomenon.

Four experimental studies were executed. Study 1 investigated the impact of monetary discount (absent vs. present) on the purchase intention of masstige brands for different customer types (potential vs. existing). Study 2 investigated the mediating role of perceived status. Study 3 examined the effectiveness of metaphoric communication of monetary discounts (absent vs present) on masstige brand’s purchase. Study 4 tested the moderating effect of customers’ need for cognition.

Overall, monetary discounts positively affect purchase intention of masstige brand; however, the effect is negative for existing customers and positive for potential customers owing to differences in perceived status these customer groups experience (positive for potential and negative for existing customers). Metaphoric communications of monetary discounts restrict the declining purchase intention and status perception of existing customers besides keeping the potential customers’ purchase intention intact.

This research is confined to a particular country limiting the gneralisability of the study’s findings. Furthermore, this research is cross-sectional in nature.

The findings of this research provide valuable insights and actionable recommendations for masstige brands to effectively leverage price discounts, especially in the emerging markets.

To date, a question of whether or not masstige brands should offer price discounts and if so, how to communicate such discounts remain opaque. This is the pioneering study exploring this phenomenon.

This study aims to examine the role of message appeals (concrete vs abstract) posted by greenfluencers in determining their behavioral intention toward the sponsored sustainable product. This study examined the underlying mechanism of message authenticity and product sustainability image in this relationship. This study also investigated the boundary condition of product type (utilitarian vs hedonic) in the effect of sustainability message appeal on purchase intention.

Four studies were carried out. One field experiment on Facebook and three scenario-based online experiments were conducted to test the proposed relationships.

This study found that a concrete message appeal results in a higher purchase intention of the promoted product than an abstract message appeal. This effect is a result of message authenticity and product sustainability image. Furthermore, product type moderates the impact of message appeal on behavioral intention via message authenticity and product sustainability image.

This study contributes to the literature on influencer marketing, sustainability communication and the persuasion process.

This study’s findings provide insights for greenfluencers and firms that leverage greenfluencers to promote their sustainable products on social media. Specifically, it lays out how the sustainability message should be framed to be persuasive.

This study findings offer novel insights for greenfluencers and firms in developing effective message strategies to promote sustainable products on social media.

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of sustainability communication on social media. More specifically, the effects of message appeal (sensual vs guilt) and message source (hotel vs social media influencer [SMI]) on perceived environmental corporate social responsibility and the intention to stay at the eco-friendly hotel were examined.

Three studies using the experimental design were carried out. Study 1 examined the relationship between message appeal (sensual vs guilt), perceived environmental social corporate responsibility and the intention to stay at the eco-friendly hotel when the hotel posts sustainability messages on social media. Study 2 replicated Study 1 findings when the SMI posts sustainability messages. Study 3 examined the moderating role of message source (hotel vs influencer) in the effects of message appeal (sensual vs guilt) on behavioral intentions.

Sustainability messages with the sensual (vs guilt) appeal are more persuasive when the eco-friendly hotel (vs SMI) posts it on social media. Furthermore, the traveler’s perception of the hotel’s environmental corporate social responsibility mediates this relationship.

This study extends the literature on sustainability communication by demonstrating the role of message source and message appeal in influencing the traveler’s perceptions and intentions toward eco-friendly hotels.

According to the study findings, eco-friendly hotels can motivate travelers to make pro-sustainable choices by accurately matching the message appeal with the message source in the sustainability communication on social media.

This study is one of the earliest studies that examine the congruency effect of message appeal and message source for sustainability communication on social media in the hospitality realm. The findings offer novel insights for eco-friendly hotels to develop effective sustainability communication on social media.

Building on consumer socialization theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine antecedents and consequences of generating and sharing brand-related content on social media in a restaurant context.

A scale development process was undertaken to develop the scale for brand-related user-generated content (BRUGC). Then the authors tested the antecedents and consequences of BRUGC using 375 responses obtained through a mall-intercept survey. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with AMOS.

Study findings revealed that age, time on Facebook, number of Facebook friends, Facebook usage intensity, and need for self-enhancement were key antecedents of both the generation and sharing of BRUGC. The results also indicated that gender, race and need for self-affirmation were not significantly related to generating and sharing BRUGC. Both generating and sharing BRUGC were positively associated with attitude and intentions toward the restaurants.

This study is the first to develop a BRUGC scale through a rigorous scale development process. It thus contributes to consumer socialization theory literature in considering social media as a socialization agent. The findings provide valuable insights for both academicians and social media managers and aid in enhancing BRUGC.

Despite a growing interest in investigating green skepticism, there has been a paucity of effort in synthesizing green skepticism research. This study aims to synthesize extant green skepticism research. This study is useful in providing a comprehensive synthesis of research on green skepticism and identifying key gaps in the existing literature, thereby paving the way for future research directions. This research demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the dominant theories, contexts (i.e. countries), characteristics (i.e. key variables and their associations) and methods (i.e. research design) employed in green skepticism research.

A hybrid review method that combined an Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with lexicometric analysis was employed to present a comprehensive synthesis of the green skepticism literature.

The findings showed that many theories have been applied to green skepticism research with the theory of planned behavior and attribution theory being prominently used. The review also proposes a conceptual framework that illustrates the relationships between antecedents and consequences reported in the green skepticism literature. Lexicometric analysis identified six major themes in green skepticism research, including trust in green products, product-related attributes, environmental attributes, social responsibility, organic consumption and promotional campaigns.

This review included only papers authored in English. Consequently, studies conducted in other languages were not taken into account. Future research could broaden the understanding of green skepticism by incorporating studies conducted in different languages.

This study provides practical implications for retailers, marketers and policymakers to combat green skepticism and encourage the purchase of green items. This study suggests integrating endorsements from authorized third-party organizations or celebrities into green marketing campaigns to reduce skepticism. Further, aligning corporate social responsibility efforts with genuine social welfare goals can build consumer trust. Finally, securing third-party endorsements for ecological claims will emphasize product credibility and drive green purchase intention.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to review the extant literature in green skepticism by integrating a systematic review approach, lexicometric analysis and the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology framework. Through this approach, (1) SLR provides a detailed synthesis of green skepticism research to date, (2) Lexicometric analysis aids in the identification of key themes investigated in green skepticism research to date, and (3) the TCCM framework assists in identifying crucial avenues for future research endeavors in the realm of green skepticism.

The present research builds upon the social identity theory and Balaji et al.’s (2016) research model to investigate student–university identification. The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of university identification, namely, university brand knowledge, university brand personality and university identity. Furthermore, consequences of university identification, such as advocacy intentions, suggestion for improvements, university affiliation and strength of attachment, are examined.

A quantitative research design was used, collecting data from students in private and government universities in Jordan. Structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 2.0 is employed to test the proposed research hypotheses.

The results revealed that all the antecedents and consequences suggested in the research model have positive significant relationships with university identification in the Jordanian higher education sector.

University identification has been less precisely conceptualized and empirically tested in the higher education context in developing countries. The results improve our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of university identification for students in higher education. In addition, the constructs of university identification and strength of attachment are incorporated in the research conceptual model and have not been tested before.

This study introduces three variables related to brands that have the potential to enhance university students' advocacy intentions. The research explores how university brand identification, the perceived prestige of the university brand and the social benefits associated with the university brand impact students' advocacy intentions. Additionally, the study examines the moderating role of gender in these relationships.

Cross-sectional surveys of 326 undergraduate students enrolled in a Spanish university, and structural equation modeling was used to test and validate the conceptual model.

The findings from the structural equation modeling indicate that university brand identification, perceived university brand prestige and university brand social benefits significantly influence students' advocacy intentions. Furthermore, the multigroup analysis reveals a gender difference in the factors influencing advocacy intentions. Female students demonstrate significance in all three antecedents, whereas male students only show significance in university brand identification and perceived university brand prestige.

The current study's findings provide several insights for higher education institutions in developing enduring and committed relationships with their students.

This study offers relevant insights into the body of research on university branding, explaining the students' advocacy intentions through the variables of university brand identification, perceived university brand prestige and university brand social benefits. Also, this study is a novelty in introducing empirical evidence for the importance of the moderating role of students' gender.

This study aims to examine the potential guest perception of green hotel attributes (GHAs) and the underlying mechanism through which GHA perception influences attitude toward green hotels, intention to stay at green hotels and willingness to pay a premium. It also investigates the moderating roles of personal norms and social norms in the influence of GHA perception on identification and trust toward green hotels.

A two-stage survey was used to collect data via Prolific Academic. The authors tested the hypotheses on 521 valid responses using the partial least squares method.

The results show that identification and trust mediate the effect of GHA perception on attitude, intention to stay and willingness to pay a premium for green hotels. The authors found a positive interaction effect between GHA perception and personal norms on identification and trust and a negative interaction effect between social norms and GHA perception on trust. The interaction effect of GHA perception and social norms on identification is not significant.

This study presents an integrated framework for green hotel adoption by examining the potential guest perception of GHAs and explores how it fosters positive guest responses. Findings show that GHA perception positively influences potential guest responses through identification (the personal route) and trust (the social route). This study also simultaneously considers personal norms and social norms, together with the effects of their interactions with GHA perception on identification and trust.

Given the role of communication in relationship development and maintenance, the purpose of this study is to examine the multidimensional nature of relationship communication and examine its association with customers’ cognitive and affective states (consisting of trust, intimacy and image) and relationship commitment.

A set of hypotheses is developed based on review of the literature. The hypotheses are tested empirically using partial least square path modelling on survey data collected from users of retail banking services.

Results show that relationship communication is a second-order construct consisting of the first-order factors of clarity, pleasantness, responsiveness and language. The findings suggest that service firm’s communications influence customers’ cognitive and affective states, which, in turn, affects customer’s commitment towards the firm.

The study provides useful insights to both researchers and practitioners on the role of relationship communication in relationship development and maintenance. Through investigation of the relationship communication dimensions, an optimum communication mix can be achieved to deliver messages in an effective way to the customers.

The contribution of the study lies in proposing and testing relationship communication as a higher-order construct and explicating its role in developing committed customers.

Using the basic framework of the service profit chain, this study aims to develop an integrated model that explains the relationships among role overload (RO), customer orientation (CO), service interaction quality (IQ), customer satisfaction (CS) and sales performance.

A large-scale survey of 872 customers and 530 frontline employees across 50 branches of a major retail bank in New Zealand serves as the study setting.

The results indicate that RO has a significant negative effect on IQ. Nevertheless, CO mitigates the negative outcome of RO on IQ. IQ fully mediates the relationship between RO and CS. Additionally, the effect of IQ on branch sales is fully mediated by CS.

The cross-sectional nature of the current survey does not permit causal inferences. Thus, future studies should adopt longitudinal designs. Also, future studies should explore the roles of other variables (e.g. job crafting, work-related self-efficacy) as possible moderators.

Results suggest that service managers should create a balance between the role requirements and organizational resources to mitigate the adverse effects of employee RO. To enhance IQ and CS, bank managers should coach employees about work overload and train them in CO while prioritizing the tasks.

Empirical research pertaining to employee–customer interaction through a nested framework accommodating data from customers, employees and firm performance is scarce. This study fills in the void.