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Plastic pollution is a major issue that plagues modern society. Scholars are interested in comprehending consumers’ behavioural actions to address plastic pollution. This study aims to delve into the determinants of consumers’ engagement with social media as a medium to address plastic pollution.

A conceptual model is developed that extends the behavioural reasoning theory (BRT). Using a quantitative approach, 476 responses underwent structural equation modelling analysis.

Results indicate that “reasons for” positively correlate with attitude and intention towards socially responsible engagement. Contrarily, “Reasons against” demonstrated a positive association with socially responsible engagement intention. Attitudes favouring socially responsible engagement correlate positively with the underlying intention. The moderation analysis underscores the positive relation of social return on social media with consumers’ attitude and their “reasons for” leaning towards socially responsible engagement intention. Notably, a positive connection was established between socially responsible engagement intention and the trifecta of consumption, contribution and content creation behaviours.

By enhancing the BRT, this research sheds light on novel perspectives regarding consumers’ engagement on social media platforms. Distinctively, it is among the handful of studies probing the influence of behavioural intention across diverse behavioural outcomes. The insights gained from this study, grounded in empirical evidence from an emerging market, are poised to guide policymakers, governmental agencies and industry practitioners in formulating effective strategies to combat plastic pollution. Additionally, the study can assist in achieving the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), specifically SGD 12, SGD 13, SDG 14 and SGD 17.

Obesity is today’s most neglected, yet blatantly visible, public health problem. This study aims to examine the role of social media and goal-directed behavior in motivating healthy lifestyle intentions for customers experiencing obesity. It investigates the distinct roles of self-conscious emotions (shame and pride) and weight-transformational posts shared by others on social media as moderators of these relationships.

The conceptual model uses the goal-directed behavior theory and social comparison theory, tested using data collected from 804 obese customers in Fiji through an experimental design.

Weight-loss transformation posts by others on social media, elicit distinct emotions for obese customers. Obese customers who felt guilt and shame due to shared weight-loss transformation posts showed a stronger association between goal disclosure and healthy lifestyle intention. In addition, the association between goal disclosure and healthy lifestyle intention is conditionally mediated by goal commitment, specifically for those obese customers that elicited guilt over shame due to shared weight-loss transformation posts by others on social media.

Despite the adoption of an experimental design using a fictional stimulus being a commonly used method in marketing studies, external validity issues are likely. Also, this study examines obese customer behavior relating to Facebook. In addition, data collection for this study has been done from a single country perspective. Therefore, caution needs to be exercised when generalizing the findings of this study.

The findings assist businesses and marketers in the health and fitness industry to better leverage social media and goal-directed behavior and understand the emotions of obese customers to undertake data-driven precision marketing strategies.

The findings provide novel insights into goal disclosure and commitment, electronic word-of-mouth on social media platforms, self-conscious emotions and healthy lifestyle intentions for customers experiencing obesity.

This study aims to adopt the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to assess travel purchase intentions in Fiji and Solomon Islands. The UTAUT model is extended with the inclusion of trust and attitude. This allows for new relationships to be tested. Both countries are classified as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). These two countries are chosen because they are both exemplars for developing countries in the Pacific, which are often overlooked in the literature. In doing so, the study increases the generalizability of the research instrument and the UTAUT model.

This study adopts a quantitative approach and collects data from Fiji and Solomon Islands residents. The survey instrument comprises two broad sections. The first section contains a standard set of demographic questions, including age, gender, income, and education level. The second section contains the variable items for this study. The snowballing sampling technique was used to collect 620 responses using an online survey. Links to the questionnaire were circulated through the use of social media Facebook. The survey was designed and hosted using an online survey tool (SurveyMonkey).

The findings of this study show that both perceived trust and attitude have been found significant in both countries. On the other hand, performance expectancy (PE) and effort expectancy (EE) have not been found significant for Fiji and Solomon Islands respectively. This study also finds that PE affects attitude for both countries, however, EE is only significant in the Solomon Islands.

Similar to other studies, this study is also bound by limitations that provide fertile ground for future research. The data in this study was based on convenience sampling. Thus, generalizations of the results need to be done with caution. Future research may be conducted that matches the sample to the population proportions. The definition of online travel purchases is another limitation of this study. A broad definition of an online purchase is considered in this study, which involves hotel reservations, holiday packages, cruises, and airline tickets. Thus, future research can be carried considering distinct purchasing motivations of categories of travel products rather than travel being considered as one category.

The results of this study provide valuable implications for both businesses to formulate and execute strategies to increase customers’ adoption of online travel purchases. The findings show how the differences in characteristics at the country level give rise to differences in customer perceptions and their intention to engage in online travel purchases. In doing so, businesses will be able to exploit the full commercial potential of their travel websites and reduce the administrative and personnel costs associated with traditional purchasing processes.

Insights from this study would be effective in understanding the unique characteristics of countries and their influence on customer behavior. This would enable more effective strategy development to improve customers' adoption of online travel purchases. The study also contributes theoretically by highlighting the importance of contextual factors in influencing the view of theories. It is one of the first studies to investigate the customer's adoption of technology in SIDS. In doing so, this study increases the generalizability of the research instrument and the UTAUT model by testing it in a developing country context where empirical evidence is lacking.

This paper aims to identify factors that influence customers' panic buying behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 357 participants in Fiji, and structural equation modeling to analyze the collected data.

Results indicate that expected personal outcomes is positively associated with customers' attitudes while expected community-related outcomes negatively impact customers' attitudes. Factors such as attitude, subjective norms, scarcity, time pressure and perceived competition were found to positively influence customers' panic buying intention. Furthermore, scarcity and time pressure were confirmed to positively influence perceived competitiveness while perceived social detection risk negatively influences customer's panic buying intention.

The findings highlight the need for better measures to ensure that every customer has access to goods and services and is not deprived of such necessities in times of a crisis. These results will assist store managers and policymakers in introducing better management, social policies and resource utilization mechanisms to mitigate panic buying during the pandemic.

This study's findings contribute to the literature on customer's panic buying behavior during a global pandemic. Research in this area remain scarce, inconsistent and inconclusive. Novel insights are generated as this study is the first to combine the theory of planned behavior, privacy calculus theory and protection motivation theory. Applying these theories allows new relationships to be tested to better understand customer behavior during a global pandemic. With most studies on customer behavior during crises and disasters in developed countries, this study generates new insights by exploring customer behavior in a developing country.

This study aims to simultaneously examine the interrelated influence of antecedents involved in developing fast-food restaurant customer loyalty. A conceptual model which incorporates service quality attributes, price fairness, customer satisfaction, brand image and trust and the resultant effect on customer loyalty is proposed to better understand how fast-food restaurant customer loyalty can be optimized.

A quantitative research methodology adopting structural equation modelling was used to understand the interrelatedness and influence of antecedents involved in optimizing fast-food restaurant customer loyalty.

The findings indicate that service quality attributes (food quality and employee service quality) and price fairness significantly influence customer satisfaction and brand image, while physical environment quality has no significant influence. Additionally, customer satisfaction was found to influence brand trust and customer loyalty, while the brand image does not influence customer satisfaction but does influence brand trust and customer loyalty.

Understanding the interrelatedness and influence of antecedents involved in developing fast-food restaurant customer loyalty would enable academics and practitioners to formulate honed marketing and operational strategies to optimize customer loyalty and fast-food restaurant profitability.

This research addresses the paucity of research and marketing gaps regarding the interrelatedness and influence of antecedents involved in optimizing fast-food restaurant customer loyalty in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Little is known about the external stimuli, which trigger a change in a consumer's cognitive and affective state and lead to a consumer's willingness to pay a premium price (WTPPP) behavioural response. This study aims to close this knowledge gap by providing insight into how a unique combination of antecedents affects consumer attitude toward purchasing free-range eggs and leads to a behavioural response, which is measured by consumer WTPPP for free-range eggs.

An online questionnaire was developed, with data collected from 392 Australian consumers. This study employs confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the measurement model before testing the hypothesised relationships using covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM).

The study reveals that the tested customer perceived value (CPV) dimensions, animal welfare and source credibility are positive stimuli of consumer attitude towards purchasing free-range eggs, which subsequently promotes consumer WTPPP for free-range eggs.

Findings drawn from Australian consumers may not be generalisable to consumers from disparate contexts, and stimuli beyond those tested may influence consumer attitude and WTPPP.

This is one of the first studies to use the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theory to investigate and contribute to extant knowledge and understanding of consumer behaviour relating to free-range eggs and specifically of consumer attitude towards purchasing and WTPPP for free-range eggs. This study offers practical implications for free-range egg farmers, retailers and policymakers.

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors affecting locals’ domestic gastronomic behaviour. A conceptual framework is developed that examines domestic restaurant coolness, social return and tourism ethnocentrism as antecedents to attitude towards domestic gastronomic tourism, while positive word-of-mouth and domestic gastronomy behaviour are modelled as consequences.

The study adopts a quantitative methodology to conduct a cross-national examination in Italy and Fiji. A total of 621 responses (Italy = 302 and Fiji = 319) were collected through an online survey and analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

The results of this study show that the positive relationship between domestic restaurant coolness and tourism ethnocentrism on attitude is stronger for Italy. The positive relationship between social return and attitude is only significant for Fiji. Moreover, the positive relationship between attitude towards domestic gastronomic tourism and positive word-of-mouth is stronger for Fiji. Finally, the positive relationship between attitude towards domestic gastronomic tourism and domestic gastronomic tourism behaviour, while significant in both countries, depicted no significant differences in results.

The findings of this study highlight the need for building a cool image based on vibrant, iconic, rebellious and authentic attributes. Marketers need to focus on local restaurants’ effective use of social media platforms to increase the symbolic value of local restaurants. To remain competitive, there is a need for domestic restaurants to manage and understand tourism ethnocentrism to leverage success.

This study contributes to the scarce domestic tourism literature. It contributes to understanding destination coolness in the context of domestic restaurants and increases the generalisability of the destination coolness scale. The study also adds to understanding the symbolic value in domestic gastronomy by examining social returns from peers. It also contributes to the limited research on tourism ethnocentrism by being the first to investigate tourism ethnocentrism in domestic travel and gastronomy experience. Overall, the cross-national nature of the study demonstrates the difference between decision-making behaviour between two distinct countries.

This study examines the influence of service quality dimensions (food quality, physical environment quality and employee service quality) and brand image of fast-food restaurants on price fairness and its consequence on customer retention.

This survey collected 331 responses using the public intercept method. Data analysis involved performing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the measurement model, followed by structural equation modeling. Moderation analysis was performed using SPSS (model1 in process macro), while mediation was performed using model 4 in process macro.

Empirical results of this study revealed the positive effect of restaurant service quality dimensions on price fairness and price fairness on customer retention. It also revealed that brand image strengthened the restaurant service-quality/price fairness interrelationship, and that customer satisfaction partially mediated the price fairness/customer retention interrelationship.

Findings of this study are useful to marketers and fast-food restaurateurs in establishing the right combination of service quality dimensions and brand image that increase perceptions of price fairness and increase customer satisfaction and retention.

This study contributes to advancing the theoretical foundations of customers' perceived price fairness and retention research, specifically in the understudied fast-food sector of emerging economies. It extends the application of the equity theory to expose the direct and indirect influences on customer perceived price fairness and customer retention. The findings provide a better understanding of price fairness perceptions.

With the increasing popularity of online games like Pokémon Go, a new wave of crowdsourcing communities have emerged, allowing gamers to collaborate, communicate and share useful game-related information. This paper aims to examine the factors that influence gamers' crowdsourcing behaviour.

A conceptual framework is developed that combines the DeLone & McLean model, self-determination theory, and different levels of engagement behaviour. The online survey collected 371 responses that were analysed using Covariance Based Structural Equation Modelling (CB-SEM).

The results show that extrinsic and intrinsic motivation positively influenced gamers' crowdsourcing engagement intention. System quality and information quality were also confirmed to be positively associated with gamers' crowdsourcing engagement intention. Furthermore, crowdsourcing engagement intention was found to be positively associated with crowdsourcing content consumption, contribution, and creation.

The findings of this study are useful for the owners of Pokémon Go and other gaming-related crowdsourcing platforms in devising tailored strategies to increase the crowdsourcing engagement of gamers.

This study provides the first empirical evidence of factors motivating online gamers' crowdsourcing intention. This study also presents novel insight into online gamers' crowdsourcing intention by combining diverse theories which offer different perspectives and a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. Contribution to the research on the intention-behaviour gap by modelling three behavioural outcomes (content creation, contribution, and consumption behaviour) of crowdsourcing engagement intention, is another important contribution of this study.

This study explores consumers' intentions to utilize online food delivery services (OFDS) in a shared economy beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, employing the protection motivation theory (PMT) as the underlying framework.

Utilizing a random sampling technique, a quantitative approach was employed to gather responses from 347 Australian consumers. The proposed model was tested through covariance-based structural equation modelling.

The findings of this study demonstrate significant positive relationships between restaurant credibility, food quality, e-service quality, price, online food delivery applications, consumer e-satisfaction and e-loyalty. It reveals that consumers satisfied with OFDS may continue exhibiting e-loyalty intentions in a shared economy beyond COVID-19. The relationship between consumer e-satisfaction and e-loyalty intention is moderated by consumer-perceived COVID-19 risk.

This study offers practical implications for online food delivery providers, restaurants, regulators, application developers and policymakers. These implications aim to enhance the e-service quality, price value, usefulness and security of OFDS, along with strategies to improve the online food delivery application.

This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by examining a unique selection of antecedents, including the OFDS app, to determine consumer e-satisfaction and e-loyalty in the context of a shared economy beyond COVID-19. The utilization of the OFDS app as a second-order construct adds a meaningful contribution to the OFDS literature. Furthermore, this study investigates and contributes to the limited understanding of the moderation effect of consumer-perceived COVID-19 risk on consumer e-satisfaction and their intended continued use of OFDS.