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The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the boundary conditions of the effect of the valence of word-of-mouth on social networking sites (sWOM) on consumer responses (attitude toward the service provider, purchase intention and positive word-of-mouth intention). Specifically, the authors examine two moderators: the tone of voice (factual vs emotional) of the sWOM and service type (utilitarian vs hedonic) of the service that the sWOM is about.

A 2 (message valence: positive vs negative) × 2 (tone of voice: factual vs emotional) × 2 (service type: utilitarian vs hedonic) full-factorial between-subjects online experiment with 400 respondents was conducted and the data were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro.

The results show that message valence exerts a greater impact on consumer responses with factual sWOM messages compared to emotional ones. Furthermore, the impact of message valence is stronger for hedonic services compared to utilitarian services. In contrast to the authors’ expectations, there is no significant impact of matching the tone of voice to the service type.

First, for sWOM senders, factual messages are found to be more influential: backing an sWOM up with arguments and specific details increases the chance of it affecting consumers’ responses. As a result, marketers, especially of predominantly hedonic services, should encourage their followers and customers to spread positive factual sWOM about their service.

The study tests two previously unstudied moderating variables that affect the relationship between message valence and consumer responses to sWOM messages. Moreover, this study provides interesting insights for marketers and bloggers or reviewers.

This study aims to examine differences in the perceived value of luxury as drivers of luxury purchase intentions between individualist and collectivist cultures (at a country level) and consumers of Muslim versus Christian religious backgrounds. Moreover, this study investigates how consumers’ acculturation to the global consumer culture (AGCC) impacts their perceived luxury values.

The authors conducted two online survey studies. The first study compares Muslim consumers in Kuwait versus Muslims consumers in the UK. The second study compares the UK Muslim sample to a UK Christian sample. The authors collected data from 600 and 601 respondents, respectively. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to test this study’s research hypotheses.

The perceived personal values of luxury primarily drive consumers’ luxury purchase intentions. The hedonic value of luxury impacts luxury purchase intentions significantly more for Muslims in the UK than in Kuwait. No significant differences were observed between religions. Consumers’ AGCC exerts a positive impact on all included perceived luxury values and more strongly impacts perceived uniqueness for Muslims than for Christians.

The paper builds on an integrative luxury values framework to examine the impact of luxury values on consumers’ purchasing intentions by studying the moderating effect of culture and religion on these relationships. The study is partly set in Kuwait, an understudied country, and investigates a Muslim minority in the UK.

This study aims to assess the relative importance of the argument strength, argument sidedness, writing quality, number of arguments, rated review usefulness, summary review rating and number of reviews in determining the perceived usefulness and credibility of an online review. Additionally, the authors use insights from the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to explore the effect of consumers' product category involvement on the cues' relative importance.

A conjoint analysis (N = 287) is used to study the relative importance of the seven previously mentioned attributes. A balanced orthogonal design generated eight cards that correspond to individual reviews. Respondents scored all eight cards in a random order for perceived usefulness and credibility.

Overall, argument strength is the most important cue, while summary review rating and the number of reviews are the least important for perceived review usefulness and credibility. The number of arguments is more important for people who are more highly involved with the product, while writing quality and rated review usefulness are relatively more important for the low-involvement group.

This study provides a comprehensive test of how consumers perceive online reviews, as it the first to the authors’ knowledge to simultaneously investigate a large set of cues using conjoint analysis. This method allows for the implicit valuation (utility) of the individual cues, revealing the cues' relative importance, in a setting that comes close to a real-life context. Besides, insights of the ELM are used to understand how the relative importance of cues differs depending on the level of review readers' product category involvement.

Engaging in webcare, i.e. responding to online reviews, can positively affect consumer attitudes, intentions and behavior. Research is often scarce or inconsistent regarding the effects of specific webcare strategies on business performance. Therefore, this study tests whether and how several webcare strategies affect hotel bookings.

We apply machine learning classifiers to secondary data (webcare messages) to classify webcare variables to be included in a regression analysis looking at the effect of these strategies on hotel bookings while controlling for possible confounds such as seasonality and hotel-specific effects.

The strategies that have a positive effect on bookings are directing reviewers to a private channel, being defensive, offering compensation and having managers sign the response. Webcare strategies to be avoided are apologies, merely asking for more information, inviting customers for another visit and adding informal non-verbal cues. Strategies that do not appear to affect future bookings are expressing gratitude, personalizing and having staff members (rather than managers) sign webcare.

These findings help managers optimize their webcare strategy for better business results and develop automated webcare.

We look into several commonly used and studied webcare strategies that affect actual business outcomes, being that most previous research studies are experimental or look into a very limited set of strategies.

This paper aims to assess the effects of explicit partner brand mentions (as opposed to a mere partnership mention) in communications by brand allies on consumers’ purchase intention and willingness to pay for an innovation, as mediated by the perceived relational embeddedness of the allies and their respective perceived corporate credibility. In Study 1, the authors investigate the effects of (reciprocal) explicit brand mentions by both allies (as opposed to by a single ally) and further test whether explicit brand mentions moderate spillover effects from the ally. In Study 2, the authors investigate the effect of reciprocity of explicit brand mentions and whether this is moderated by a company’s experience.

The authors conduct two online experiments. Study 1 (N = 216) is a four-level between-subjects experiment (single communication by Partner A with explicit brand mention, single communication by Partner B with explicit brand mention, explicit brand mentions by both allies and mere partnership mention by both allies) where participants judge a social alliance related to a new tablet. Study 2 (N = 376) builds upon these findings in a 4 (explicit brand mentions by both allies; mere partnership mention by both allies; explicit brand mention by Partner A, mere partnership mention by Partner B; explicit brand mention by partner B, mere partnership mention by Partner A) × 2 (Partner A experience: established vs startup) between-subjects experimental design for a co-created battery.

Spillover effects from one ally to the other are stronger with explicit brand mentions than with a mere partnership mention. There is no added value of two allies communicating over one, provided that both partners explicitly mention their partner brand. However, when allies do communicate separately, it is crucial that an explicit brand mention is reciprocated. This effect is explained by an increase in the perceived relational embeddedness of the partners, which in turn positively influences their corporate credibility. This effect does not differ depending on a company’s experience.

This research is one of the first to study effects of how a brand alliance is communicated and extends previous studies on the effects of communication about brand and co-creation alliances by demonstrating that communications moderate spillover effects, that brand mention reciprocity is crucial, and by introducing the concept of perceived relational embeddedness.

This study aims to understand the impact of religiosity and acculturation to the global consumer culture (AGCC) on Muslims’ perception of luxury values. Prior results on the effect of religion/religiosity on luxury consumption and purchase intentions are inconsistent. Then, while AGCC is argued to affect consumers’ perceptions of luxury values, research in this area is scarce.

Based on an online questionnaire with 300 Kuwaiti respondents recruited from a paid consumer panel, the authors explore the relations between religiosity and AGGC on the one hand and luxury values on the other through linear regressions.

Religiosity enhances the perceived extended self, perfectionism, materialistic and sustainable value of luxury. AGCC enhances Muslims’ perception of all luxury values under study. Globalized Muslims mainly perceive luxury as means of self-identification.

The study is the first, to the knowledge, to investigate the impact of religiosity and AGCC on Muslims’ perception of luxury values. The authors propose an integrative set of luxury values that reflect both the social and personal value of luxury. The study focuses on Muslims in Kuwait; a potential luxury market that is under-investigated.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate parents' attitudes toward advertising to children, and advertised foods in particular, as well as parental concern regarding children's nutrition habits and the degree to which these perceptions influence television monitoring by parents.

A questionnaire assessing attitudes was distributed among parents of Belgian primary and secondary school children. Parental mediation of television viewing was measured by self‐reports. A structural equation model was built using data from a sample of 485 parents.

The study finds that parental nutrition attitudes and the degree to which advertising causes family conflicts and pestering are among the most important drivers of restrictive mediation of television. Attitudes towards food advertising, the degree to which children can understand the commercial intent of advertising and the perceived influence of advertisements on children do not directly affect restrictive mediation.

The model was based on a single‐country study, and did not distinguish between parents of different socio‐economic backgrounds or between parents with children in different age categories. All the constructs used in this model were self‐reports. The model could also be extended to encompass different types of mediation.

Parents serve as gatekeepers for children's television viewing. Advertisers targeting children need to obtain the green light of the gatekeepers before they can reach the children. It is therefore important that advertisers have an understanding of how parents perceive advertising and which factors specifically incite them to restrict their children's viewing.

Attitudes of parents are considered as a multidimensional construct, consisting of “commercial intent”, “conflict” and a separate component relating to advertised foods. The differential impact of each of these components, as well as parents' nutritional concerns and perceived advertisement influence, on restrictive mediation is assessed.

This study aims to explain how program liking, program connectedness, and product category involvement influence brand attitudes as a result of advertiser funded programming.

We conduct a field study on a panel of real television viewers that were surveyed one week after the final episode of an advertiser funded fashion program was broadcasted. A moderated mediation model is constructed and tested that captures the interplay of three determinants of brand attitudes: program liking, product category involvement, and program connectedness.

Liking of the program is transferred to brand attitudes. This effect is complementarily mediated by connectedness with the program, and this mediation is moderated by product category involvement. Program liking only spills over to brand attitude through connectedness for viewers with moderate to high levels of involvement with the sponsor product category.

The findings add to the understanding of the role of program liking and program connectedness in the formation of brand attitudes. Although prior research has established that liking and connectedness are indeed an important determinant of brand attitudes, this research unveils product category involvement as an important boundary condition for this effect.

Consumers can develop liking for even an advanced form of brand placement, an Advertiser Funded Program (AFP). When consumers’ evaluations of the program are positive, they connect to the program on a personal basis, also leading to positive brand effects. Advertising practitioners should focus on the meaningful integration of their brand in a context that is involving for their target audience.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the globalization (vs localization) of different cues (advertising copy, brand name, spokesperson, brand logo) influences consumers’ perceived brand globalness.

The authors conducted conjoint analyses for two products differing in product category involvement (chocolates vs computer) with 200 consumers from the Netherlands. Additionally, based on cluster analysis, the authors divide respondents into two groups: local vs global consumer culture individuals, and the authors compare the results of the conjoint analysis for these two clusters.

Advertising copy is most important in determining perceived brand globalness. The spokesperson and the brand logo determine perceived brand globalness more strongly for a low-involvement product, whereas the brand name is more important for a high-involvement product. Further, the spokesperson and the brand logo are relatively more important for global consumer culture individuals, while local consumer culture individuals find the brand name and advertising copy relatively more important.

The most important cue to position a brand as global is the advertising copy. Brand managers of a low-involvement product and/or targeting global-minded consumers should concentrate on the spokesperson and the brand logo to position their brand. Managers of a high-involvement product and/or targeting local-minded people should focus on the brand name.

While a number of researchers have emphasized the importance of perceived brand globalness for international consumer behavior, the present study is the first to the authors’ knowledge to investigate the relative importance of different cues in creating perceptions of brand globalness.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of level of graphic threat (weak and strong) and the amount of information (low and high) on message effectiveness for an unfamiliar (a muscle disorder due to lack of physical exercise) vs a familiar (injuries as a result of traffic accidents due to drunk driving) issue.

The method employed was experimental 2 (issue familiarity: unfamiliar, familiar issue)×2 (amount of information: low, high)×2 (graphic threat level: weak, strong) full factorial between‐subjects design. Data are collected from a sample of 206 Belgians.

It was found that a strong graphic threat message has a greater effect for an unfamiliar than for a familiar issue. For a familiar issue, adding information to a weak threat appeal increases perceived severity. For an unfamiliar issue, adding information to a strong graphic threat appeal has a similar effect. Perceived severity of threat, perceived probability of occurrence, evoked fear and perceived coping efficacy have a significant effect on the intention to adopt the recommended behavior. For an unfamiliar issue, perceived efficacy and perceived probability of occurrence primarily have the greatest impact on coping intention. For a familiar issue, perceived severity, evoked fear and perceived efficacy determine coping intention.

The results substantially support the use of different message tactics for health threats that are either new or familiar for the target group.

Most studies have limited themselves to studying the impact of threat strength on perceived threat and response efficacy, on evoked fear and on message acceptance. The present study adds the contextual and message elements, namely issue familiarity and amount of information provided, the link of which with threat appeal has – as far to the authors' knowledge never been studied before in one integrated analysis.