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This study aims to explore the impact of store atmospherics on urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ behavioural intentions to purchase apparel in an emerging African market context. This study also considers purchase antecedents to attitude, perceived behavioural control and social norms as determinants of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ apparel behavioural intentions.

Using non-probability sampling, specifically purposive and interlocking sampling, data collection was secured from 881 economically active Namibian urban bottom-of-the-pyramid respondents through interviewer-administered questionnaires. Covariance-based structural equation modelling assessed the significant relationships among all constructs in the conceptual model.

This study found that for favourable apparel behavioural intentions of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers to occur, apparel retailers should emphasise trust, perceived awareness and self-identity through apparel assortment and groupings, easy-to-read visible signage, together with competent, friendly and respectful sales personnel in their store atmospherics.

The findings of this study may guide apparel retailers in other emerging African markets to develop regional integration, market-based solutions and inclusive economic growth focusing on “non-essential” products, such as apparel, among urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers.

This study expands the intellectual boundaries of urban bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers’ behavioural intentions towards “non-essential” products. The theoretical framework supports the integration of both the stimulus-organism-response model and the theory of planned behaviour into one single model for empirical investigation. Additionally, adopting a novel theoretical framework helped identify the impact of store atmospherics from a bottom-of-the-pyramid perspective in an emerging African market context, such as Namibia.

This paper aims to identify the mechanism through which consumer empowerment, created via the Facebook brand page (FBBP), is transformed into brand page stickiness. Specifically, a model examining the mediating role of FBBP experience and the moderating role of brand love is proposed and tested.

Data from 283 FBBP users were analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least squares.

The findings reveal the positive effect of consumer empowerment and brand page experience on brand page stickiness. The mediating role of brand page experience and the moderating role of brand love were prominent in the consumer empowerment–brand page stickiness link.

This paper is novel in inaugurating the association between consumer empowerment and FBBP stickiness, which is mediated by brand experience and moderated with brand love. This paper enriches the understanding of how brand page stickiness can be enhanced in the social media context.

This paper guides managers to best utilize FBBP to create a pleasant experience and yield stickiness.

The purpose of this study is to consolidate the fragmented research on augmented reality (AR) as a marketing tool and provide a comprehensive understanding of its possible marketing applications.

The study conducted a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of 103 papers on AR-marketing to identify the most prevalent topics and conceptual frameworks. Performance analysis and science mapping were utilized to examine the key marketing domains influenced by AR.

The analysis revealed that AR has had the biggest impact on marketing domains such as consumer acceptability, customer interactivity, retail, and destination marketing.

The results of this study provide organizations with insights into the current state of AR-marketing, enabling them to successfully use AR to improve their marketing strategies. Furthermore, the study highlights potential areas for further research and development in AR for marketing.

This research offers a valuable, comprehensive overview of AR’s role in marketing by systematically reviewing and analyzing the existing literature. The findings open doors for organizations and researchers to explore AR’s potential applications in marketing strategies and future research opportunities.

This study aims to understand how brand personality affects purchase intention through brand love and perceived quality in e-commerce.

Three hundred forty-eight users of e-commerce sites in New Delhi, India, were surveyed for the study. The data set was examined using confirmatory factor analysis, and the research hypotheses were assessed using structural equation modeling.

Two important conclusions emerged from the study. First, brand love and perceived quality have been considerably and favorably influenced by all six dimensions of brand personality of e-commerce brands. Second, the purchase intention toward the e-commerce sites is significantly and positively impacted by brand love and perceived quality.

This study by exploring various dimensions of brand personality, will assist e-commerce executives in increasing purchase intention toward the e-retailing sites.

This research is supposed to be the foremost to look at how brand personality, through brand love and perceived quality affects purchase intention toward e-commerce websites. The attachment theory is used in this study as a theoretical foundation for linking e-commerce brand personality to customers’ purchase intentions via brand love and perceived quality.

Understanding how to retain users of augmented reality (AR) shopping apps and to motivate them to purchase is vital to the success of AR apps. This study assessed the chain effect of AR attributes on purchase intention and reuse intention through cognitive and affective factors.

The data were collected from Thai users of the IKEA Place app using an online survey. A link to the survey was posted on Thai furniture groups on social media platforms. The 439 responses were analysed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach.

The results revealed that all four AR attributes, namely interactivity, vividness, novelty and spatial presence, significantly influence perceived enjoyment, perceived diagnosticity and perceived value. Brand attitude, as a key driver of purchase intention, is influenced by perceived value. Attitude towards the app significantly affects reuse intention and is affected by affective and cognitive factors.

The findings enable shopping app designers and marketers to successfully promote the brand, retain users and boost sales by effectively incorporating AR.

The study extends the literature on the impacts of AR apps on customer behaviours by including affective factors in addition to cognitive factors to explain why AR attributes influence customer attitudes and behaviours. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the serial causal paths from AR attributes to customer behaviours.

To better understand continuities and changes in consumer behaviour, it is also important to examine the original antecedents of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2). Studying Generation Y is crucial for developing competitive online marketing strategies, as Generation Y plays a substantial role in online purchases. Therefore, this study aims to examine the actual use of small business websites based on the UTAUT2 among Generation Y.

A total of 375 valid questionnaires were collected via a systematic sampling among Generation Y in Canada. All participants in the study had at least a high school education, were internet and computer literate, and had purchased a good/service from the retail websites of Canadian small businesses.

The results show performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, social influence and habit have significant effects on behavioural intentions. The habit and behavioural intentions also have significant effects on actual usage of small businesses’ retail websites. Additionally, this study supported the significant difference between male and female UTAUT2 models.

The study examines how small retail businesses can attract and retain Generation Y customers by improving their website’s performance. Performance expectancy, hedonic motivation and social influence are significant factors in determining behavioral intention. Small businesses can enhance their website usability, design and content to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Hedonic motivation is crucial for Generation Y customers, who seek pleasure and excitement when visiting websites. Social influence is crucial for male customers, whereas performance expectancy, hedonic motivation and habit are more important for female customers. The study also suggests that Canadian governments should encourage online purchasing to increase the usage of small retail business websites.

This study provided few valuable insights into small businesses’ retail websites behavioural intentions and actual usage between males and females in Canada.

Given the growth of virtual reality (VR)-based tourism experiences in the past five years, this study aims to investigate the impact of VR-based interactions (ergonomics and embodiment) on memorable experiences and revisit intention mediated by cognitive and emotional responses.

This study has used an exploratory sequential mixed methodology research design to operationalise this research. Study 1 uses qualitative in-depth interviews to explore the proposed research questions, and Study 2 uses a 3 × 3 factorial experimental research design to test the proposed hypothetical model with 355 samples.

The results indicate that embodiment plays a more crucial role than VR ergonomics. Also, the cognitive response in the virtual tour indirectly generates a more memorable experience than the emotional response.

This research uses the theory of technological mediation as an overarching framework to conceptualise the research. Also, the research has applied the tenets of cognitive embodiment theory, metacognitive theory and other related theories to develop the arguments. Thus, the results of this research will extend the holistic understanding of these theories.

This research will guide VR tourism developers in understanding the requirements and expectations of tourists. It also serves as a manual to understand how tourists process the VR tour psychologically.

Very minimal focus was given to understanding the tourists’ interaction with technology in VR tours. The concept of ergonomics and embodiment investigated as an experimental variable is a novel approach in technology-based tourism research.

Fashion brands are one of the strongest means of expressing consumers identity. This study explores and empirically validates the concepts of brand love and hate for masstige fashion brands from the purview of emerging markets. This study deciphers three components of masstige fashion brand promise through the lens of hedonic identity, uniqueness and expected social gains for the affluent middle-class consumers. The model is complemented by the impact of environmental and society’s well-being.

Empirical evidence was obtained through an online survey in India. Total of 222 complete responses were used to test hypotheses by fitting a model with the partial least squares algorithm.

Fashion brand love is triggered by consumers’ hedonic identity and expected social gains. Brand hate is fuelled by environmental and societal well-being concerns, expected social gains and uniqueness. Theoretical contribution is threefold: First, the relevance of social and environmental consequences reflecting consumers’ accepted responsibility for their masstige consumption is introduced. Second, the study deciphers the emotions related to masstige brand love and brand hate for emerging market’s affluent middle-class. Third, empirical results contribute to the ongoing discussion on whether brand hate and love are two distinct concepts or collapse to be two extremes of one and the same continuum.

Middle-class consumers in India are strict in their avoidance and rejection of the lower classes’ preferred fashion brands. Targeting must consider the social classes hierarchy. Marketing-mix design, particularly prices and distribution networks, need to enable a distinction between the social classes.

Masstige fashion brand love and hate turn out to be two distinct constructs that co-exist rather than being two extremes of one and the same dimension.

Indian middle-class consumers satisfy their need of environmental and social caretaking by avoidance and brand hate but continue to choose masstige brands to demonstrate social status and are not modernizing their traditional accumulative materialism.

M-wallets have emerged as one of the most important financial innovations of the 21st century, enabling users to carry digital cash by securely storing payment methods on their mobile devices. However, the continued use of m-wallets varies among people for several reasons. This study used the technology continuation theory (TCT), gamification and trust factors to examine the variables affecting consumers' intentions to continue using mobile wallets.

The SmartPLS partial least squares software was used to analyze data from 431 m-wallet users in Vietnam using the structural equation modeling technique.

The data revealed that the research model can predict users' intentions to continue using mobile wallets. TCT constructs demonstrated strong exploratory power in explaining consumer satisfaction and attitudes towards m-wallets. Furthermore, the study confirmed the direct effect of the perceived effectiveness of gamification on perceived ease of use and attitude, as well as its indirect effect on consumers' continued use intentions of mobile wallets via attitude. In addition, the trust negatively influenced consumers' intentions to continue using m-wallets.

The findings of this study can help researchers, practitioners and policymakers improve m-wallet design, development and adoption, as well as advance financial technology and define the future of digital payments in terms of consumer attraction, engagement and financial inclusion.

Based on TCT theory, this study enriches m-wallet research by examining two important factors, gamification and trust, and thus provides insights into how to improve consumers’ intentions to continue using m-wallets in developing countries. This study offers timely insights into theory and practice regarding these factors. It therefore paves the way for researchers and practitioners to learn how easy, enjoyable and secure the end-user experience should be to keep users engaged with m-wallets.

Given that existing retail brand research tends to treat each level of a retail brand as a separate concept, this paper aims to unveil the holistic nature of a multi-level retail brand, considering the distinctiveness of each level and the interrelationships between the images of different levels.

This study uses a scoping review approach that includes 478 retail brand articles. Subsequently, a thematic analysis method is applied.

The brand attributes that shape the distinct image of each retail brand level encompass diverse intrinsic and extrinsic attributes. Moreover, the holistic nature of a multi-level retail brand is formed by the interrelationships between the images of different levels, which are reflected in the presence of common extrinsic attributes and their interplay at attribute, benefit and attitude levels.

Theoretically, this review provides conceptual clarity by unveiling the multi-level yet holistic nature of a retail brand, helping researchers refine and extend existing theories in retail branding, while also providing new research opportunities in this field. Practically, the findings could guide retailers in implementing differentiated branding strategies at each level while achieving synergy across all levels.