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Online advertising becomes an essential tool to reach the target audience. One of the most widely used strategies is re-targeting. Firstly, this study explores the impact of ethics, privacy and ads' perceived benefits (ad effectiveness and ad relevance) on consumers' attitudes toward online advertising. Secondly, the study investigates the mediating effect of attitudes toward re-targeting online advertising on consumers' purchase intentions. Finally, the study investigates the moderating effect of the perceived ethicality of re-targeting online advertising on consumers' purchase intentions.

Participants (n = 307) were recruited through an online survey platform (MTurk) in the USA. The sample consisted of 65% male and 35% female respondents. The majority are aged 25–34 years, followed by 35–44 years (20%), 45–54 years (14%), 18–24 years (8%) and 55 years and older (6%).

The results show that ad effectiveness and ad relevance influenced consumers' attitudes toward re-targeting. This study shows that consumers are willing to trade their privacy for better search quality. Moreover, perceptions toward the ethicality of re-targeting ads moderated the relationship between consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions.

This study will make several contributions. First, the study will extend the consequential theory in the context of online advertising. Second, the study will assist companies in using re-targeting strategies. The results will reveal which factor is the most important factor impacting consumers' attitudes toward re-targeting strategies.

This is one of the first few papers investigating consumers' perceptions of the ethicality of re-targeting online advertising.

This study investigates how personality traits influence individuals’ intention to become community group buying (CGB) leaders.

Data include 517 valid questionnaires that are employed to examine the research model and test the hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

This study reveals that among the Big Five personality traits, extroversion and neuroticism have more impact on the perceived ease of use and usefulness of social media, and individuals with high levels of these traits are more likely to become CGB leaders. Perceived ease of use only mediates the relationship between agreeableness and CGB leader intention, whereas perceived usefulness mediates the relationships between conscientiousness and CGB leader intention and neuroticism and CGB leader intention.

This study can serve as a catalyst for advancing the exploration of how personality traits and social media affect the intention of being CGB leaders. In addition, the study investigates the mediating effect of social media technology acceptance obtaining valuable insights into how social media affects individuals’ intention to become CGB leaders, expanding the research in this field.

• (1)

  Individuals with extroversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness personality traits exhibit higher perceived ease of use and usefulness of social media.

• (2)

  Unlike previous research suggested, neurotic individuals appear to be attracted to becoming community group buying (CGB) leaders.

• (3)

  Individuals with high agreeableness are encouraged by ease in pursuing CGB leadership.

• (4)

  Perceived usefulness mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and CGB leadership intention and neuroticism and CGB leader intention.

Individuals with extroversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness personality traits exhibit higher perceived ease of use and usefulness of social media.

Unlike previous research suggested, neurotic individuals appear to be attracted to becoming community group buying (CGB) leaders.

Individuals with high agreeableness are encouraged by ease in pursuing CGB leadership.

Perceived usefulness mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and CGB leadership intention and neuroticism and CGB leader intention.

This study aims to investigate the role of social media in increasing trust, self-perceived creativity and millennial entrepreneurial satisfaction.

The empirical analysis was conducted using a sample of 385 millennial entrepreneurs that were recruited for online survey. After conducting reliability and validity tests, the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results showed that the quality of social media information had a direct and indirect positive and significant effect on trust and satisfaction. Social media marketing activities had a direct and indirect positive and significant effect on trust and self-perceived creativity. System Quality of social media also has a significant direct influence on trust. However, there is no direct relationship to satisfaction. Finally, social media marketing activities have a significant direct effect on trust and satisfaction.

This research can contribute to marketing experts and millennial entrepreneurs in improving the quality of advertising information and the credibility of social media used to support creativity, trust and satisfaction. In addition, marketing experts and millennial entrepreneurs with online-based communities should optimize their marketing activities on social media.

This study has shown a more comprehensive model of the relationship between information quality, system quality, social media marketing activities, self-perceived creativity, trust and satisfaction. This study also reveals a significant direct and indirect effect of social media marketing activities on satisfaction.

Online reviewers' identity information is an essential cue by which consumers judge reviews on ecommerce platforms. However, few studies have explored how prior anonymous reviews and focal reviews affect reviewers' preference for anonymity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate why reviewers seek anonymity in terms of prior anonymous reviews and focal reviews.

Based on restaurant reviews collected from meituan.com, one of the largest group-buying ecommerce platforms in China, this study employed logistic regression to examine how prior anonymous reviews and focal reviews are associated with reviewers' preference for anonymity.

Results show that the volume and sequence of prior anonymous review are positively associated with the likelihood of reviewers' preference for anonymity, whereas focal review valence is negatively correlated with this preference. Focal review length is positively correlated with reviewers' preference for anonymity but negatively moderates the roles of review valence and prior anonymous reviews on this preference.

This study expands the information disclosure literature by exploring determinants of user identity disclosure from a reviewer perspective. This research also offers a methodological contribution by employing a more accurate measure to calculate reviewers' preference for anonymity, enhancing the empirical results. Lastly, this work supplements the online review literature on how prior anonymous reviews and focal reviews are associated with reviewers' identity disclosure.

Given the continuing need to study service marketing adaptations that emerged in the wake of Covid-19, this paper aims to look at the formation and evolution of purchase groups (PGs) that arose in Indian gated communities during the pandemic and have continued functioning in the post-pandemic marketplace. Not only did these groups act as much-needed interstitial markets during a time of significant external disruption, but they also served as sites of value co-creation, with consumers collaborating with each other and with service providers.

Using a phenomenological research approach, the authors conducted 22 in-depth interviews with Indian consumers and small service providers to gather accounts of how PGs started and evolved with time. Subsequent data coding and analyses are conducted with NVivo 12.

Using the service ecosystem perspective, the authors illustrate seven distinct themes that capture the nuances of the formation and evolution of PGs. These consist of entrepreneurality, collectivity, and fluidity at the service ecosystem level, hybridity and transactionality at the servicescape level, and mutuality and permeability at the service encounter level.

This study provides an empirical and theoretically grounded account of a long-term service marketing adaptation that has persisted in the post-pandemic marketplace. This helps us address recent calls for such research while also adding to the work on value co-creation in collective consumption contexts and extant discourse on service ecosystems.

This research aims to examine the factors that influence customers' product return intentions and proposes that YouTube product reviews can mitigate customers' desire to return a product.

The proposed theoretical research model and hypothesized relationship were investigated using a quantitative process. This study used 302 data from Indonesian young adult respondents to examine the structural model, which was analyzed using the SmartPLS 3.2 software package.

The results show that YouTube product reviews, product fit uncertainty and customer satisfaction are the key determinants of customers' product return intention. Furthermore, the results show that the credibility of YouTube product reviews has a major impact on customers' familiarity with a product, satisfaction and the likelihood of returning goods to sellers.

In the e-commerce industry, increasing the use of YouTube product reviews will help businesses eliminate unnecessary product returns. Sellers are also encouraged to collaborate with YouTube producers to review specific products, which can benefit companies by raising brand awareness and gaining customer feedback. Furthermore, YouTube online product reviews can help consumers avoid having an unpleasant shopping experience that causes emotional reactions and lowers satisfaction.

Most research has not considered antecedents in observing the product return phenomenon; this study observes a prerequisite of consumer product returns (i.e. information asymmetry and product familiarity) and investigates the relationships between YouTube product reviews, customer satisfaction and product return intention.

The substantial expansion of technology and the efficacy of digital platforms in reaching young audiences have led to enhanced targeting and customization of promotional communications. Notwithstanding the expansion and efficacy of contemporary advertising platforms, scholarly attention has not kept pace with this domain of inquiry. This study aims to assess the antecedents of Google Shopping Ads (GSA) on intention to purchase behavior among the Generation Y and Z cohorts.

The current study used a quantitative approach and snowball sampling technique to gather primary data via a questionnaire and Google Forms, which resulted in the collection of 5,808 questionnaires among the cohort members. A principal component analysis and multigroup confirmatory multigroup structural equation modeling (between Generation Y and Z) were used to assess the research data and model.

The results show positive trust and perceived value associations with intention to purchase, particularly among Generation Y and Z consumers. The findings also show negative irritation, product risk and time risk associations with intention to purchase, especially among the Generation Y cohort, which indicates that young consumers generally do not observe perceived risk due to the usage of GSA.

GSA will continue to grow and become an increasingly important integrated marketing communications tool as the digital landscape develops. It can be concluded that young consumers show a high degree of perceived value and low levels of perceived risk due to the use of GSA. This study, therefore, promotes improved understanding among academics, marketers and businesses of search engine advertising among young cohorts of consumers (Generation Y and Z) in a developing country context.

The ecosystem concept has attracted attention in information system research to explain business competition, innovation and many other emerging phenomena. Existing studies focus more on a single ecosystem type or a single ecosystem goal and pay little attention to the ecosystem’s evolution. The objective of the study is to investigate the factors that impact the evolution of the information ecosystem (IE) to gain a better understanding of strategic thinking.

The IE involves many actors, so the multi-case study approach is conducted with purposeful sampling to recruit all the significant ecosystem actors. The collected qualitative data are analyzed by coding data, exploring data relationships and structuring pattern steps; institutional theory is used as a theoretical framework.

The results demonstrate that industry practices, laws and regulations, new actors and the mimetic pressure of outsourcers drive the growth of the ecosystem. Strategy intention, cost pressure and normative pressure all contribute to the IE’s evolution.

The concept of ecosystems has attracted attention in information system research. The study investigates the factors contributing to the evolution of the IE from an institutional theory perspective. Our suggestion is that new players can find a niche in offering information technology (IT)/ information services (IS)-related solutions to survive in the ecosystem; however, they need to pay attention to the normative pressure.

This study aims to examine the mechanisms underlying social media commerce by investigating the interplay between platforms, people and information. Drawing upon trust transfer theory, the research model proposes that the platform’s information provision enhances the credibility of the information source, leading to increased information usefulness, adoption and sharing, ultimately influencing purchase intention.

The research design used in this study was a quantitative approach using a cross-sectional survey method. The study developed a research model based on trust transfer theory and hypothesized relationships between the platform’s information provision, information source credibility, information-related responses and purchase intention. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the collected data and test the research hypotheses.

The findings supported most of the hypotheses and provided valuable insights into the role of information credibility in shaping consumers’ purchase intentions. Specifically, the study revealed that the platform’s information provision enhances the credibility of the information source, leading to increased information usefulness, adoption and sharing. Furthermore, information usefulness and adoption mediate the relationship between information source credibility and purchase intention.

The limitations of this research include the use of convenience sampling, which may not represent the broader population, and the cross-sectional design, which does not provide an in-depth understanding of the adoption process. The reliance on self-reported data and the limited scope of investigation with only six constructs are additional limitations. Future studies should consider national random sampling, longitudinal designs, multiple data sources and explore negative effects and other potential mediating variables. Despite these limitations, this research contributes to the understanding of social media commerce mechanisms and provides valuable insights for practitioners in the field.

The findings of this study provide valuable insights for platform providers and marketers in the social media commerce environment. First, the study emphasizes the importance of effective messaging in improving information credibility. Platform providers should focus on delivering accurate and trustworthy information to enhance consumers’ perceptions of product quality and increase purchase intentions. Second, marketers can leverage the information-related factors identified in this study, such as information usefulness and adoption, to optimize their marketing efforts. By understanding how consumers perceive and interact with information on social media platforms, marketers can tailor their strategies to effectively engage and influence potential customers. Overall, these practical implications can enhance success in the competitive social media commerce landscape.

The social implications of this study are significant for social media commerce practitioners. The findings highlight the importance of effective messaging and information provision on social media platforms in improving information credibility, thereby enhancing purchase intention. By understanding the mechanisms that drive consumer behavior in the context of social media commerce, platform providers and marketers can optimize their marketing efforts. This includes focusing on delivering trustworthy and useful information, fostering information adoption and sharing among users and ultimately increasing the likelihood of successful transactions. These insights provide valuable guidance for practitioners to navigate the competitive landscape of social media commerce and enhance their chances of success.

The originality of this research lies in its application of trust transfer theory to investigate the mechanisms driving social media commerce. By examining the interplay between platform, people and information, the study specifically focuses on the role of the platform’s information provision in enhancing information credibility and its impact on information-related responses and purchase intentions. This study extends the understanding of the trust transfer mechanism between customers and sellers/brands in customer-to-customer social commerce by emphasizing the importance of effective messaging and information credibility in shaping consumer behavior. The empirical findings contribute to the understanding of information trust transfer and provide a unique perspective on the underlying mechanisms that drive social media commerce.

During the past few years, social media has faced the challenge of maintaining its user base. Reports show that the social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter experienced a decline in their users. Taking WhatsApp's recent change of its terms of use as the case of this study and using the push-pull-mooring model and a configurational perspective, this study aims to identify pathways for switching intentions.

Data were collected from 624 WhatsApp users recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and analyzed using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The findings identify seven configurations for high switching intentions and four configurations for low intentions to switch. Firm reputation and critical mass increase intention to switch, while low firm reputation and absence of attractive alternatives hinder switching.

This study extends extant literature on social media migration by identifying configurations that result in high and low switching intention among messaging applications.

The study identifies factors the technology service providers should consider to attract new users and retain existing users.

This study complements the extant literature on switching intention that explains the phenomenon based on a net-effect approach by offering an alternative view that focuses on the existence of multiple pathways to social media switching. It further advances the authors’ understanding of the relevant importance of switching factors.