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The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, the authors investigate the influence of other customer perception (OCP) on focal customer’s service quality perception and service revisit intention in hotel services. Second, they examine whether negative effects of OCP can be managed through customer participation. Finally, they examine the effectiveness of CP as a strategy when individuals vary in terms of their need for uniqueness (NFU).

A 2 (OCP: favorable versus unfavorable) × 2 (customer participation: customer participation versus no customer participation) × 2 (NFU: high versus low) between-subjects experiment was conducted to collect responses. Analysis of variance and pre-planned contrast tests were carried out to test the hypotheses.

Customers who are exposed to unfavorable OCP reported low service quality evaluation and revisit intention. However, two-way interaction results supported that in unfavorable OCP situation, customers who are exposed to high customer participation have reported high revisit intention compared to those who are not exposed to customer participation. In addition, the three-way interaction effects indicate that customer participation may work as an intervention mechanism to reduce the negative effects of OCP to form favorable service quality perception and revisit intention only for customers with low NFU.

This is the first in its stream of studies examining the following research questions: “Can the negative effects of OCP be mitigated with the help of managerial intervention?”; and “Would a customer’s individual differences influence the effectiveness of such an intervention strategy?”

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of brand prominence, game involvement and persuasion knowledge on gamers’ brand recall and attitude in the context of online advergames. Specifically, this investigation uses limited capacity model of attention and persuasion knowledge model to expound the conditions under which brand placements create attention, elaboration and subsequent brand recall and brand attitude.

A 2 (brand prominence: prominent versus subtle) × 2 (game involvement: high versus low involvement) × 2 (persuasion knowledge: high versus low) between-subjects measures design is used. A total of 224 student gamers participated in the study. A between-subjects measures multivariate analysis of variance is used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that an advergame with prominent brand placement under low game involvement condition results in high brand recall but less favorable brand attitude than under high game involvement condition. Furthermore, a three-way interaction shows that for a prominent brand placement advergame with high game involvement, the subjects with high persuasion knowledge report high brand recall than the subjects with low persuasion knowledge. The findings also reveal that for a prominent brand placement advergame with high game involvement, the subjects with high persuasion knowledge report less favorable brand attitude than the subjects with low persuasion knowledge.

This paper adds to advertising literature from a non-traditional advertising viewpoint, predominantly in the context of online advergames, and expounds the role played by brand placement and its boundary conditions to create customers’ brand memory and attitude. Furthermore, this investigation adds to the marketing knowledge on how and where to position and embed the brands effectively in advergames taking into account the characteristics of the gamer, such as the game involvement and gamers’ persuasion knowledge about the advergame.

This study adds to the works of online advertising, particularly the advergames by discovering the impact of brand prominence, game involvement and persuasion knowledge on gamers’ brand recall and attitude. Also, this study is the first in its stream toward understanding the moderating role of persuasion knowledge on Indian gamers’ recall and attitude in the context of online advertising.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential influence of the mobile banking (M banking) servicescape on customer attitude and engagement. The stimulus-organism-response framework was adapted to formulate a conceptual model, in which the M banking servicescape was modelled as an antecedent (stimulus) of customer attitudes towards M banking (organism), in turn directing customer behaviour (response), namely, customer engagement.

A web-based survey of 345 M banking users was conducted to gather data. The structural equation modelling technique was employed to analyse the conceptual model and test the proposed set of hypotheses.

The results of data analyses showed that M banking servicescape is a strong predictor of customer attitude towards M banking, which then influences customer engagement. The findings also demonstrate that customer attitudes towards M banking mediate both the M banking servicescape and engagement.

The extension of servicescape literature from the physical to the online context of M banking provides a notable new realm in which academicians can extend the current paradigms. This study also enhances understanding of potential improvements to customer attitude towards and engagement with M banking.

The purpose of the paper is to examine whether there is any difference in persuasion of brands embedded in the advergame because of the differences in nature of the game (speed), and are there any differences in persuasion in the same context if the brand is prominently placed versus subtly placed and congruent versus incongruent with the game context.

A 2 (nature of advergame: fast or slow) × 2 (brand prominence: prominent or subtle) × 2 (game-product congruence: high or low) between-subject measures design is used; 280 graduate students participated in the study. A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects ANOVA is used to test the hypotheses.

The findings support that slow-paced advergames with prominent brand placements result in high ad-persuasion compared to subtle brand placements. On the other hand, fast-paced advergames show no difference in persuasiveness despite the fact that whether it is a subtle placement or prominent placement. Furthermore, results also indicate that slow-paced games with prominent placement in low game-product congruence condition resulted in high ad-persuasion compared to that in high game-product congruence condition.

The process of experimentation used in this study to collect responses were susceptible to some limitations. However, findings of the study are very important for advertising practitioners in terms of game design, implementation and for an effective use of brand and product placements in advergames.

This research contributes to the literature of online advertising, specifically advergaming context by exploring the impact of nature of game and brand prominence on gamers’ ad-persuasion. Also, this study is the first attempt toward understanding the moderating role of game-product congruence on gamers’ ad-persuasion in the context of advergames.

This paper aims to investigate how consumers’ satisfaction and commitment towards hotel brands can be impacted by the consumers’ prevailing brand relationship norms.

Data were collected through experimental design and analysed using MANCOVA, structural equation modelling and Preacher and Hayes’ (2008) techniques.

The study findings indicate that the egoistic norms positively impact brand attachment styles/orientations, and the attachment orientations in turn negatively impact hotel brand satisfaction and commitment through the mediation of brand trust. Findings also reveal that altruistic norms have no significant impact on the attachment styles, but altruism impacts brand trust positively, which in turn positively impacts satisfaction and commitment.

This research adds value by examining how different consumer–brand association norms differently impact final brand satisfaction and commitment outcomes through creating healthy versus detrimental consumer–brand attachments.

This paper aims to explain the effect of flow, game repetition and brand familiarity on players’ brand attitude and purchase intention in the context of mobile advergaming.

Data from 227 participants who played a mobile advergame were analysed. Structural equation modelling with partial least squares was used to test the research model.

The results reveal that the independent variables (i.e. game repetition and brand familiarity) significantly influence the dependent variables explored in this study (i.e. brand attitude and purchase intentions of players). Results also show that brand familiarity influences players’ flow experience, which in turn significantly affects players’ purchase intentions.

The findings of this study are important for advertising practitioners and advergames’ developers as understanding the determinants of mobile advergaming effectiveness is crucial for designing successful advergames that persuade players the most.

This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides new insights into the effectiveness of mobile advergames, which is an under-researched area. Second, it offers empirical evidence of the effects of game repetition, flow and brand familiarity on mobile advergaming effectiveness.