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The purpose of this study is to investigate consumer characteristics (gender, subjective knowledge of product category, susceptibility to social influence, attitude to internet shopping and internet use) having a bearing on the proportion of online information searches conducted using personal and impersonal information sources, and to explore which of these factors impact the use of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM).

A real-time longitudinal design is used to survey 274 consumers about their information searches when shopping for high involvement goods.

Susceptibility to normative social influence and internet use prove the main drivers of the inclination to resort to the internet to conduct searches using personal information sources. Subjective knowledge also positively impacts the proportion of time spent online conducting searches using personal information sources. Men and consumers with a positive attitude to internet shopping use a greater proportion of impersonal online information sources. Complementary analyses show that the use of eWOM is driven by almost all consumer characteristics (except gender) investigated.

By using a real-time longitudinal approach, this study directly addresses calls for more research into information searches by investigating multi-channel source use in actual purchase situations and minimizing bias relating to forgotten information, while facilitating the collection of more valid data on consumer information search behaviour. The paper also ranks as one of the first to revisit the drivers of the proportion of online information sources in personal and impersonal sources in the era of Web 2.0.

Increasingly popular mobile health technology is creating a new paradigm for the delivery of care to patients involving a role of the pharmacist. This study aims to propose a renewed patient–pharmacist relationship in this environment and present an empirical case study investigating the influence of key variables, including the consumer’s attitude toward personalized monitoring performed by the pharmacist, on the intention to adopt a mobile health app. Other drivers identified were ease of use and perceived usefulness of the app, individual and health-related factors (perceived vulnerability and severity of health condition, social norms and innovativeness with technology) and quality of relationship with the pharmacist.

A self-administered online survey was completed by 356 Canadian mobile device owners of more than 40 of age. Analyses were performed using structural equation modeling.

The main factor driving adoption intentions was perceived usefulness followed by the respondent’s innovativeness with technology and perceived vulnerability of his/her health condition. Attitude toward personalized monitoring depends primarily on the relationship with the pharmacist. No relationship was found between adoption intentions and attitude toward personalized monitoring.

This research features a multidisciplinary approach by using variables from relational marketing, information technology and health and inclusion of the pharmacist (vs physician) as a health consultant, offering relevant marketing avenues for pharmacists.

This study aims to examine the relationships between brand attachment, mobile service quality (MSQ), and positive word-of-mouth (WOM) for mobile banking applications (m-banking apps).

An online survey was conducted among 759 Canadian consumers who had used m-banking apps in the previous six months. To test the research hypotheses, a causal model using structural equation modeling was developed.

The results reveal that, in the m-banking context, brand attachment is associated with three MSQ dimensions – value-added features, security/privacy and interactivity – and positive WOM, with the usability dimension replacing interactivity in this case. Brand attachment is also associated with positive WOM.

To promote WOM, mobile banking managers should foster brand attachment and improve MSQ, mainly in terms of value-added features.

This is the first study to examine the relationships between brand attachment, mobile service quality and WOM in the context of m-banking apps. It also highlights the prominent role of value-added features available on m-banking apps to persuade customers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the multidimensional concept of mobile banking service quality (security/privacy, practicity, design/aesthetics, enjoyment and sociality) and the impact of the latter on the quality of the relationship (commitment, trust and satisfaction) between consumers and their primary financial institution.

An online survey was conducted using a sample of 375 respondents, all owners of a mobile device and all accustomed to conducting banking activities on mobile platforms. Results were analyzed using structural modeling techniques (EQS 6.1).

Findings confirm that trust significantly and positively impacts commitment/satisfaction. Mobile banking service quality dimensions also influence trust and commitment/satisfaction. Trust is associated with security/privacy and practicity (regarded as utilitarian factors), while commitment/satisfaction is driven by enjoyment and sociality (dimensions more hedonic by nature). No link is found between interface design and either trust or commitment/satisfaction.

This study contributes to bank marketing theory since it is the first to demonstrate how key mobile banking service quality dimensions drive customer perceptions of relationship quality. In doing so, this research extends beyond mobile adoption (short term) by addressing customer engagement with financial institutions and issues relating to relationship quality (long term). Regarding managerial implications, findings signal to marketers in the financial services industry the importance of not underestimating the power of hedonic factors (sociality and enjoyment) when developing mobile platforms. These dimensions are often overlooked in the banking industry, a sector in which consumers are believed to be mostly driven by utilitarian motives.

Marketing scholars have devoted little attention to the study of practices which grant multiple lives to goods. However, these practices can considerably extend products lifecycles with far-reaching implications for traditional retailers and the economy. Accordingly, this paper aims to provide scales for perceived impact and motivations of goods multiple lives practices and to investigate the influence of impacts on motivations.

A qualitative phase (three discussion groups and 15 in-depth interviews) identified consumers’ motivations and perceived impacts of goods multiple lives practices. Two online surveys were then conducted on online panels, involving more than 2,200 consumers, to develop the measurement scales and test the structural model.

Results show that impacts measured only marginally influence economic motives but account significantly for a broad range of other motivations (ecological, protester and social contact motives).

The study design is cross-sectional, therefore lacking causality. Replication studies could cross-validate the findings by means of experimental research.

The findings may prove of specific interest to marketers and organizations in the goods multiple lives sector seeking to harness consumer interest in these types of practices for reasons above and beyond lone economic incentives.

This study is innovative in two regards: it explores a relatively under-theorized field in marketing, namely, goods multiple lives practices; and it proposes a challenging theoretical perspective which supposes that consumers’ perceived impact of their practices plays a significant role in motivating them to engage in practices of the like.

This study aims to examine the antecedents of privacy concerns in the era of artificial intelligence. Specifically, it focuses on the impact of various factors related to interactions with a chatbot (creepiness and perceived risk) and individual traits (familiarity with chatbots and need for privacy) in relation to privacy when interacting with a chatbot in the context of financial services. The moderating effect of gender on these relationships was also examined.

A total of 430 Canadians responded to an online questionnaire after interacting with a chatbot in the context of a simulated auto insurance quote. A structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses.

The results showed that privacy concerns are influenced primarily by creepiness, followed by perceived risk and the need for privacy. The last two relationships are moderated by gender. Conversely, familiarity with chatbots does not affect privacy concerns in this context.

This study is the first to consider the influence of creepiness as an antecedent of privacy concerns arising from interactions with AI tools and highlight its key impacts. It also shows how gender moderates specific relationships in this context.

This study aims to build on the notion of brand evangelism developed by Becerra and Badrinarayanan (2013) by examining how brand relationship variables regarding one brand (i.e. brand loyalty, brand community identification and self-brand connection) influence oppositional referrals to a rival brand (i.e. desire to harm and trash-talking) in the high definition (HD) videogame console industry.

A survey of online communities devoted to video gaming was conducted using a sample of 809 respondents, all owners of either a PlayStation or an Xbox.

The results show that the desire to harm the rival brand is strongly and positively associated to participation in trash-talking. Brand loyalty is connected to both dimensions of oppositional brand referrals. Consumers’ connection with the brand affects trash-talking only indirectly through the desire to harm. No association is found between identification with the brand community and oppositional brand referrals.

This study is the first to demonstrate the mechanism linking brand relationship variables regarding a focal brand with consumers’ disparagement of a rival brand, showing that a desire to harm plays a central role. Just as the desire for retaliation drives negative word-of-mouth in the context of an unsatisfactory experience with a brand (Grégoire and Fisher, 2006), the desire to harm drives trash-talking against a rival brand by brand evangelists. This study improves our understanding of the relationships consumers build with their preferred brands and how this relationship may influence their rejection of competing brands with which they do not have direct experience.

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of reading a web site's privacy statement on the perceptions of control over privacy and trust in a cyber merchant.

Two experiments were designed to monitor the actual reading of the privacy statement. Study one compares the influence of actual reading with self‐reported claims. Study two manipulated the format of the privacy statement (opt‐in or opt‐out) and included a control condition to assess the influence of the presence of a privacy statement and the influence of the format on the dependent variables.

The findings show that the mere presence of a privacy statement has a positive influence on perceived control. However, reading the privacy statement does not necessarily have a positive influence on perceived control and trust, contrary to commonly held assumptions. Participants who read the opt‐in format felt significantly more control and trust than the participants who read the opt‐out format. The opt‐out format decreases perceived control compared with the group that did not read the privacy statement when it was available.

The sample size for both experiments was relatively modest, which limits the generalisability of the findings.

Cyber merchants should devote particular attention to the strategic role of the format of the privacy statement.

In contrast to other studies that relied on surveys, this paper assesses the impact of the actual reading of the privacy statement via an experimental approach. Moreover, the impact of the format of the privacy statement has been empirically tested.