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The recent surge of subscription box services calls for research to understand how consumers respond to curation services. This study aims to develop and test a theoretical model to predict consumer response to AI (vs human). Particularly, the authors tested the role of stereotyping in shaping consumer perception of creativity in this context while considering the contextual moderators, shopping goals (hedonic vs utilitarian) and product category (fashion vs meal).

Two preliminary studies and the main study (total n = 761) tested the assumptions and hypotheses of the study. Preliminary study 1 (n = 511 Amazon mTurk, online survey) confirmed consumer stereotypes of humans and machines. Preliminary study 2, a single-factor between-subjects online experiment (recommender: human vs AI), was conducted at a large Midwestern university in the US (n = 56). The main study was conducted as a 2(recommender: human vs AI) × 2(product: fashion vs meal) × 2(goal: utilitarian vs hedonic) between-subjects online experiment (n = 194, Amazon mTurk).

The results confirmed that consumers are more likely to follow recommendations made by a human more than recommendations made by AI and the perceived creativity of the recommender explained the effect. Significant differences across product categories and shopping goals of the consumers were observed, calling for attention to the context of consumption.

This study extends the understanding of consumers' responses to recommendations in curation subscription services by highlighting the role of perceived creativity of humans versus AI.

Despite the prevalence of technology in health care, marketing research on social media in the birthspace is limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore how birthing women leverage social media for transformative well-being in the liminal context of birth.

A qualitative study of women who had recently experienced birth was undertaken. Thematic analysis of data from in-depth interviews reveals birthing women’s digital practices and social media capabilities for well-being in a liminal space.

Within the birthspace, women use social media and digital platforms in an effortful and goal-directed way for role transitions and transformation, curating self and other history, goal striving and normalizing experience. These digital practice styles facilitate consumer integration of the liminal digital birthspace and in situ service encounter enabling diverse value outcomes. Drawing on liminality and social presence theories, the authors interpret these practices as demonstrating three interactive liminal stages of suspending, comprehending and transforming. Multi-modality and rapid connection afforded by digital devices and social media platforms provide social presence (according to perceived immediacy and intimacy) enabling transformative well-being outcomes.

This study is unique, as it provides insights into the traditionally private health service experience of birth. Further, the authors extend the understanding of liminal spaces and use of digital technology, specifically for transformative outcomes, by proposing a framework of consumers’ digital practice styles for well-being in liminal spaces.

Servicescape is well recognized by marketing scholars as a key influence in transformative service outcomes. However, the concept of enabling transformative health outcomes through physical servicescape design is often overlooked. The purpose of this study is to integrate marketing's servicescape research with birth territory theory and the enabling places framework, conceptualizing a Co-Curated Transformative Place (CCTP) framework.

This cross-disciplinary conceptual paper uses three places of birth (POB) servicescapes for low-risk birthing women to ground the CCTP framework.

Positioned within transformative service research, this study shows how POB servicescapes are CCTPs. The organizing framework of CCTP comprises four key steps founded on agile and adaptive co-curation of physical place resources.

This study extends the servicescape conceptualization to incorporate the continuum of terrain, introducing adaptive and agile co-curation of places.

The materiality of place and physical resources in CCTP are usefully understood in terms of co-curated substantive staging according to service actor needs. The CCTP servicescape maximizes desired value outcomes and quality experience by adaptive response to service demands and service actors’ needs.

Theoretical discourse of health servicescapes is expanded to focus on the material components of place and their foundational role in generating resources and capabilities that facilitate the realization of service value. In the CCTP, service actors flexibly select, present and adapt physical artifacts and material resources of the service terrain according to dynamic actor needs and service responsibilities, enabling transformative outcomes. Co-curation facilitates reciprocal synergy between other dimensions of place and servicescape.

This study, a conceptual paper, analyses the growth of curation in tourism and hospitality and the curator role in selecting and framing products and experiences. It considers the growth of expert, algorithmic, social and co-creative curation modes and their effects.

Narrative and integrative reviews of literature on curation and tourism and hospitality are used to develop a typology of curation and identify different curation modes.

Curational techniques are increasingly used to organise experience supply and distribution in mainstream fields, including media, retailing and fashion. In tourism and hospitality, curated tourism, curated hospitality brands and food offerings and place curation by destination marketing organisations are growing. Curation is undertaken by experts, algorithms and social groups and involves many of destination-related actors, producing a trend towards “hybrid curation” of places.

Research is needed on different forms of curation, their differential effects and the power roles of different curational modes.

Curation is a widespread intermediary function in tourism and hospitality, supporting better consumer choice. New curators influence experience supply and the distribution of consumer attention, shaping markets and co-creative activities. Increased curatorial activity should stimulate aesthetic and stylistic innovation and provide the basis for storytelling and narrative in tourism and hospitality.

This is the first study of curational strategies in tourism and hospitality, providing a definition and typology of curation, and linking micro and macro levels of analysis. It suggests the growth of choice-based logic alongside service-dominant logic in tourism and hospitality.

Given the acute competition between music-streaming platforms (MSPs), the purpose of this study is to identify the relational motivators of brand loyalty towards the MSP in terms of user-brand involvement, brand trust, brand engagement, brand recommendation and brand loyalty.

Cross-sectional quantitative data, gathered from a total of 340 eligible respondents via an online questionnaire survey, were empirically analysed and validated using a hybrid predictive-analytics structural equation modelling (SEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method.

The results of this study demonstrate that user-brand involvement promotes brand loyalty toward a MSP by fostering brand engagement, brand trust and positive word-of-mouth. SEM and ANN data comparison reveals good consistency.

The generalizability of the research outcomes may be constrained, as this study only considers the data from a single country (i.e. Malaysia) and one music streaming platform (i.e. Spotify). This study highlighted the relevance of user-brand involvement and non-core supporting services in the cultivation of brand loyalty, particularly their salient roles in promoting favourable attitudes and behaviours towards platform brands.

The insights produced can aid MSPs in devising better user retention strategies that can be used to maintain their competitive edge over time. The findings of this study made it abundantly evident that practitioners should facilitate more user-brand cooperative activities to encourage user-brand involvement and, ultimately, foster brand loyalty.

This study has addressed a major research gap by examining the relational roots of brand loyalty, which transcend the typical focus on transactional factors and technical lock-in. This study pioneered the investigation of brand involvement with user involvement.

The rapid evolution of curation practices today is a response to expanded access to information and knowledge and the dynamic development of intelligent technologies well suited to curatorial practices. This chapter provides an overview of traditional curation theory and practice. It identifies its historical origins of anthropology, ethnography, museum work, and archival practices. The authors note that traditional curatorial practices have been a subset of preservation practices. Today it draws heavily from traditional practices but expands the goal and purpose beyond simple preservation to storytelling, learning, creating new perspectives, interpreting the past and present, and creating new business knowledge. The chapter lays out the emerging spectrum of curation purposes and practices. The widespread access to curatorial tools now opens curatorial work to the general public. More comprehensive access argues for a broader dialog around the new competencies and capabilities these new practices require.

The aim of this paper is to assess the use of social media by Gen Z consumers and the ways they impact on and re-shape their fashion consumption journey. This generational approach uses the lens of uses and gratifications theory (UGT) to explore the customer fashion retail journey from the perspective of the Gen Z consumer.

The research uses an exploratory approach in response to the relative lack of research in to GenZ consumers combined with a need to understand shopping journeys. Mixed methods were used with a first phase of interviews followed by a survey of 102 Gen Z students recruited online in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study found that GenZ users of social media for shopping sought gratification from experiences derived from social relationships, entertainment and information. The need for immediate gratification was found in new information and meeting new people to maintain social relationships, learn about products and inform the shopping journey. Further, the research supported the importance of visual images in the affective gratification of shopping needs. Resale sites on social media were favoured for their low prices, information about previously owned fashion items and the opportunity to exercise sustainable fashion choices.

The research advances understanding of fashion shopping journeys through social media and online resale sites. It demonstrates that younger consumers, GenZ, shop through the gratification of experiences informed by their social networks and wider contacts. The linear stages of pre to post–purchase shopping are merged and looped as they exchange information about their shopping journey, from information gathering to post–purchase comments. The role of the brand to these knowledgeable consumers conducting their own resale trade is to facilitate access to and information about their products.

The purpose of this study is to investigate characteristics of apparel-related critical incidents that motivate both Generation Z and Y consumers to share electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) via specific online channels.

The current research used an exploratory mixed-methods approach.

Qualitative findings of critical incidents revealed that the main situations that led to the spread of eWOM involved new purchases (49%), product quality (21%), pricing and promotions (19%), complaints (9%) and brand content (48%). Participants were motivated to spread information about the critical incidents by a desire to connect with friends and family (83%), help others (37%), influence others (48%) and express brand loyalty (32%). Quantitative results indicated significant relationships between critical incidents, motivations and eWOM channel choice.

This study has theoretical implications for apparel researchers attempting to gain insight into critical incidents that motivate consumers to engage in eWOM on specific channels in a positive or negative manner.

These findings are important for marketers as it appears that brand content does an efficient job at driving engagement on SM; marketers need to increase efforts to engage with consumers via feedback on websites, as this is an opportunity to counteract negative experiences and retain consumers’ loyalty.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first to extend theories of communication and motivation to connect critical incidents with situational intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for spreading eWOM via online channels for Millennial and Generation Z consumers.

This study explores how chatbot gender and symbolic service recovery may improve the satisfaction of angry customers in the context of service failures. It provides a strategy for companies to deploy chatbots effectively in customer anger.

This research relies upon a systematic literature review to propose three hypotheses, and we recruit 826 participants to examine the effect of chatbot gender on angry customers through one lab study and one field study.

This research shows that female chatbots are more likely to increase the satisfaction of angry customers than male chatbots in service failure scenarios. In addition, symbolic recovery (apology vs. appreciation) moderates the effect of chatbot gender on angry customers. Specifically, male (vs. female) chatbots are more effective in increasing the satisfaction of angry customers when using the apology method, whereas female (vs. male) chatbots are more effective when using the appreciation method.

The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence technology have significantly enhanced the effectiveness of chatbots as virtual agents in the field of interactive marketing. Previous research has concluded that chatbots can reduce negative customer feedback following a service failure. However, these studies have primarily focused on the level of chatbot anthropomorphism and the design of conversational texts, rather than the gender of chatbots. Therefore, this study aims to bridge that gap by examining the effect of chatbot gender on customer feedback, specifically focusing on angry customers following service failures.

This paper aims to explore the overall research question “How can artificial intelligence (AI) influence consumer information disclosure?”. It considers how anthropomorphism of AI, personalisation and privacy concerns influence consumers’ attitudes and encourage disclosure of their private information.

This research draws upon the personalisation-privacy paradox (PPP) and privacy calculus theory (PCT) to address the research question and examine how AI can influence consumer information disclosure. It is proposed that anthropomorphism of AI and personalisation positively influence consumer attitudes and intentions to disclose personal information to a digital assistant, while privacy concerns negatively affect attitude and information disclosure.

This paper develops a conceptual model based on and presents seven research propositions (RPs) for future research.

Building upon PPP and PCT, this paper presents a view on the benefits and drawbacks of AI from a consumer perspective. This paper contributes to literature by critically reflecting upon on the question how consumer information disclosure is influenced by AI. In addition, seven RPs and future research areas are outlined in relation to privacy and consumer information disclosure in relation to AI.

El papel del antropomorfismo, la personalización y los problemas de privacidad y perspectivas para la investigación futura

Resumen

Este artículo explora la pregunta general de investigación “¿Cómo puede influir la inteligencia artificial (IA) en la divulgación de información por parte de los consumidores? Se analiza cómo el antropomorfismo de la IA, la personalización y la preocupación por la privacidad influyen en la actitud de los consumidores y fomentan la revelación de su información privada.

Esta investigación se basa en la paradoja de la personalización y la privacidad y en la teoría del cálculo de la privacidad para abordar la pregunta de investigación y examinar cómo la IA puede influir en la revelación de información de los consumidores. Se propone que el antropomorfismo de la IA y la personalización influyen positivamente en las actitudes de los consumidores y en su intención de revelar información personal a un asistente digital, mientras que la preocupación por la privacidad afecta negativamente a la actitud y a la revelación de información.

Este artículo desarrolla un modelo conceptual basado en siete propuestas de investigación para el futuro.

Basándose en la paradoja de la personalización y la privacidad y en la teoría del cálculo de la privacidad, este artículo presenta un punto de vista sobre los beneficios e inconvenientes de la IA desde la perspectiva del consumidor. Este artículo contribuye a la literatura al reflexionar de forma crítica sobre la cuestión de cómo influye la IA en la revelación de información del consumidor. Además, se esbozan siete propuestas de investigación y futuras áreas de investigación en relación con la privacidad y la divulgación de información del consumidor en relación con la IA.

鼓励消费者分享他们的秘密？拟人化、个性化和隐私问题的作用以及未来研究的途径

摘要

本文探讨了 “人工智能如何影响消费者的信息披露？"这一总体研究问题。它考虑了人工智能（AI）的拟人化、个性化和隐私问题是如何影响消费者的态度并鼓励他们披露私人信息的。

本研究借鉴了个性化-隐私悖论和隐私计算理论来解决研究问题, 并研究人工智能如何影响消费者信息披露。本文提出, 人工智能的拟人化和个性化对消费者向数字助理披露个人信息的态度和意图有积极影响, 而隐私问题对态度和信息披露有消极影响。

本文在此基础上建立了一个概念模型, 并为未来的研究提出了七个研究命题。

在个性化-隐私悖论和隐私计算理论的基础上, 本文从消费者的角度提出了对人工智能的好处和坏处的看法。本文通过对消费者信息披露如何受到人工智能影响的问题进行批判性反思, 对文献做出了贡献。此外, 本文概述了与人工智能相关的隐私和消费者信息披露方面的七个研究命题和未来研究领域。