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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of pre-existing mood valence, mood arousal and ad-evoked arousal on response to television and print advertising. It combined the arousal-as-information and arousal regulation approaches into a single arousal congruence theory. It sought an extended application of arousal congruence theory in the persuasion domain with several novel findings.

Four experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses. Analysis of variance, multivariate analysis of variance and pairwise comparison were used for data analysis.

Consumer judgment is a joint function of mood valence, mood arousal and ad-evoked arousal. Positive mood does not always generate more positive evaluations and vice versa. Ad-evoked arousal can more strongly influence consumers’ judgments when they are in a negative rather than a positive mood. Furthermore, consumers in a positive mood rate a target more favorably when the ad-evoked arousal level is congruent with their current arousal state, while those in a negative mood rate a target more favorably when the ad-evoked arousal level is incongruent with their current state of arousal. Arousal polarization intensifies such congruence (and incongruence) effects.

The findings reveal a mood-lifting opportunity based on ad-evoked arousal. This has implications for the design of advertisements, promotional materials, marketing campaigns and retailing environments.

This paper’s findings highlight unexpected effects of stimulus-evoked arousal in persuasion when consumers are exposed to multiple emotional cues from the environment. The paper demonstrates the utility of an integrated model, explaining the relative importance of valence and arousal in influencing consumer judgments. It has been the first to examine arousal congruence, arousal polarization and arousal regulation mechanisms jointly.

Valence is one of the key dimensions underlying actor engagement, yet there is limited research to provide a comprehensive understanding of the concept. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise engagement valence in actor networks and develop an agenda for future research.

The exploration of the psychological foundations of the concept of valence and a systematic literature review from a multiple database search contribute to four sets of propositions defining the domain of the concept of actor engagement valence.

The propositions posit that valence resides in the engaging actor’s past, current and future psychological dispositions, which can shift between positive, negative and ambivalence. Actor engagement valence is triggered by the engagement objects and value propositions of other actors in the network. The antecedents of actor engagement valence comprise individual factors such as cognitive evaluations and hedonic feelings, as well as network-related factors such as social norms and shared beliefs, and the network structure. The net balance of actor engagement valence determines the actor’s engagement behaviours, and this relationship is moderated by individual and network factors.

This is the first study to conceptualise actor engagement valence, which contributes to the refinement of the actor engagement concept. This research defines the conceptual domain, deepens the understanding and provides an agenda for future research into the valence of engagement among actors in networks. The study recognises the institutional influences on actor engagement valence, and contributes to an understanding of the nature of actors’ psychological dispositions and how their valence determines the actors’ behavioural engagement manifestations.

With the appearance of additional review functionality on e-commerce platforms emotional changes in composite reviews have become more diverse. How consumers process the emotional changes in composite reviews is an important concern for companies. This study investigates the impact of explores how changes in the emotional valence and emotional intensity of composite reviews on consumers' information adoption.

Based on emotion as social information theory, this study constructs a double mediation model of how the change in emotional valence of composite reviews affects consumers' adoption intention and examines the moderating effect of the dynamic change of emotional intensity. One field and three online experiments were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.

Consumers were more likely to adopt positive–negative composite reviews than negative–positive composite reviews. Compared to negative–positive composite reviews, positive–negative composite reviews led to higher perceived empathy and lower motivational suspicion, which, in turn, led to higher information adoption. Moreover, dynamic changes in emotional intensity played a moderating role in this effect. Interestingly, the amount of attribute difference changed the differences in perceived empathy and motivated consumer suspicion generated by the composite review when considering the reviewer’s attribute difference description.

The findings have important theoretical contributions that deepen business and consumer understanding of the impact of composite reviews and have practical implications for improving the management of composite reviews by businesses.

The purpose of this paper is to study the nature and concept of emoticons/emojis. Instead of taking for granted that these user-generated formats are necessarily emotional, we empirically assessed in what extent are they and the specificity of each one. Drawing on congruent mood state, valence core and emotion appraisal theories we expected a compatible statistical association between positive/negative/neutral emotional valence expressions and emoticons of similar valence. The positive emoticons were consistently associated with positive valence posts. Added to that analysis, 21 emotional categories were identified in posts and correlated with eight emoticons.

Two studies were used to address this question. The first study defined emoticon concept and interpreted their meaning highlighting their communication goals and anticipated effects. The link between emojis and emoticons was also obtained. Some emoticons types present more ambiguity than others. In the second study, three years of real and private (Facebook) posts from 82 adolescents were content analyzed and coded.

Only the neutral emoticons always matched neutral emotional categories found in the written interaction. Although the emoticon valence and emotional category congruence pattern was the rule, we also detected a combination of different valence emoticons types and emotion categories valence expressions. Apparently the connection between emoticon and emotion are not so obviously straightforward as the literature used to assume. The created objects designed to communicate emotions (emoticons) have their specific corresponding logic with the emotional tone of the message.

Theoretically, we discussed the emotional content of emoticons/emojis. Although this king of signals have an Asian origin and later borrowed from the western countries, their ambiguity and differing specificity have never been analyzed.

When the spread of online health rumors on social media causes public concerns, the public is calling for action. However, little study has investigated how Facebook reaction icons (expressing feelings function) affect online users' behavioral intentions (intention to trust and share) toward online health rumor posts. The current study addresses this gap by focusing on the effect of Facebook reaction icons in two conditions: Facebook reaction icons' presence (versus absence), and Facebook reaction icons' emotional valence (positive versus negative versus neutral). Moreover, the authors also investigated the interaction between Facebook reaction icons' emotional valence and online health rumor posts' framing headlines (gain versus loss).

The authors used a 7 (Facebook reaction icons: Love, Like, Haha, Wow, Sad, Angry and no icon) × 2 (Facebook framing headlines: gain and loss) between-subjects design, analyzing 507 samples from online users with one-way ANOVA and MANOVA.

Results show that online health rumor posts without Facebook reaction icons are more likely to negatively change online users' behavioral intentions than the posts with Facebook reaction icons; negative reaction icons (Sad and Angry) lower online users' behavioral intentions than positive reaction icons (Love and Like). Further, the incongruency effect of interaction (i.e. positive reaction icons with a negative message) would have more negative effects on online users' behavioral intentions than the congruency effect (i.e. positive reaction icons with a positive message).

This study has rich contributions to theoretical and practical implications for the Facebook platform and Facebook users to apply Facebook reaction icons against online health rumor posts.

This paper aims to investigate whether the interactional effects of recommendation valence, tie strength and service type produce different effects on attitude and buying intention in a social networking context.

A 2 × 3 × 3 between-subject experiment was carried out, involving 616 participants, and MANOVA was used to test hypotheses.

The interactions of valence by tie strength and valence by service type affect attitude, but not intention. The review valence × tie strength × service type interaction influences both attitude and intention, and its effect on intention is fully mediated by attitude.

Negative recommendations for credence and experiential services communicated by individuals with no-tie relationships have a strong negative effect on attitude. However, positive recommendations from strong and weak ties for search and experience services are more influential than recommendations from no ties for credence services.

The results are explained by using cue sufficiency theory, which suggests that a single extreme cue serves as a defining feature.

While the information source is likely to affect job search process, it is still unknown how the information source interacts with the information content and information valence. In this study, first, the authors examine the influence of information source, information content, and information valence on employer attractiveness and job pursuit intention; and second, the authors estimate the interaction of information source with content and valence of information on employer attractiveness and job pursuit intention.

The authors adopted a 2 (information source: company-independent vs company-dependent) x 2 (information content: instrumental vs symbolic) x 2 (information valence: positive vs negative) between-subject factorial design to achieve the study’s research objectives, using a sample of 240 job applicants; and applied multivariate analysis of covariance for estimating the main and interaction effects.

The authors find a significant interaction of information source with the content and valence of information, indicating a differential effect of content and valence, depending on the information source. The study reveals that the effect of information content (i.e. symbolic vs instrumental) on employer attractiveness varies depending on the source of information (i.e. company-independent vs company-dependent), with the company-independent source having a higher effect than the company-dependent source.

Considering that the information source has a differential effect on job seekers, it would be useful to account for such differences in designing recruitment communications. Results guide managers in deciding the appropriate recruitment information outlet for communicating symbolic and instrumental attributes. The use of symbolic attribute content is recommended for generating favourable evaluations about an employer.

This study is a novel attempt to examine on how information source interacts with information content type and information valence in influencing recruitment outcomes. The authors provide valuable insights to human resource managers or employer brand managers to design effective recruitment communications and leverage the company-independent information sources appropriately.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model of the uncertainties and benefits influencing the repurchase intentions of buyers in cross-border e-commerce (CBEC).

The authors draw on the valence framework to hypothesize effects of positive valences (utilitarian benefits) along with negative valences (pre- and post-contractual uncertainties) on buyers’ repeat purchase intentions. Data were collected using an online survey from 378 international B2C buyers on a CBEC platform in China.

Results explain 51.4 percent of the variance and reveal that overall value, as determined by monetary saving, convenience and product offerings as positive valences, exerts the strongest effect on repeat purchase intention. However, negative valences remain significant, and are particularly salient for female shoppers.

The authors extend the valence theory into the study of repeat purchase behavior and contribute to much needed literature on why consumers return to repurchase from a CBEC platform.

Repeat purchase and loyalty of online consumers is essential for success of e-commerce providers. The results help online providers competing in international markets understand how buyers form repurchase intentions based on their evaluations of both value and uncertainty.

Buyer behavior in CBEC has received relatively less attention than domestic e-commerce. This paper is among the first to examine how both positive and negative valences combine to effect repurchase intention of international buyers in CBEC.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between organic (i.e. naturally occurring) and sponsored (i.e. marketer influenced) consumer-generated blog reviews, by examining how blog source and review valence can impact upon perceived credibility, brand attitude, and behavioural intentions.

This study used an online experiment, where participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions in a 2 (blog source) × 3 (review valence) between-subjects factorial design.

The findings indicate that balanced reviews are perceived to be the most credible. Negative reviews led to the lowest ratings on brand attitude and purchase intention, while positive reviews led to the highest ratings on these two constructs. However, the effects of review valence were not found to differ based upon whether a blog was organic or sponsored.

The findings of this study extend and contribute to the knowledge of the impact of source and valence in electronic word of mouth settings. Moreover, the findings of this study provide practical insight into how consumers react to the sponsorship of blog web sites on the internet.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of signaling a review as the most helpful review according to other users’ votes on product attitude. Thus, the first study focuses on the influence of signaling a review as the most helpful on consumer attitude and analyzes whether the interaction between that signaled review and incongruent aggregate information in valence clarify the main effect. Additionally, the authors further investigate whether the level of fit between the consumer’s goals and the content of the signaled review moderates the initial effect.

The authors conducted two experiments: a 3 (presence of most helpful review) × 2 (overall valence) between-subjects design and a 2 (presence of a most helpful review) × 3 (level of fit between the consumers’ goals and the most helpful review content) × 2 (overall valence) design.

The results confirm that the presence of a “most helpful” review whose valence is incongruent with the overall valence of the reviews significantly impacts attitude towards the product. Specifically, the authors found that the impact of a review which has been voted as the most helpful on consumers’ attitudes depends on: the congruity between the valence of the most helpful review and the overall average valence of all the reviews received by the product; and the congruity between the consumer’s goals and the most helpful review content.

This paper contributes to the electronic WOM literature by examining how signaling a review as the most helpful affects attitude, being that effect moderated by the congruency between that signaled review and the aggregated overall valence of the reviews and the level of fit with the consumer’s goals.