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The purpose of this paper is to examine how users on social media view brands with a heritage. Consumers commonly post opinions and accounts of their experiences with brands on social media. Such consumer-generated content may or may not overlap with content desired by brand managers. Drawing from “The medium is the message” paradigm, this study text-mines user narratives on Twitter1 to shed light on the role of social media in shaping public images of brands with heritage through the lens of the stereotype content model.

The study uses a data set of almost 80,000 unique tweets on 12 brands across six categories, compares brands high versus low in heritage and combines dictionary-based content analysis with sentiment analysis.

The results indicate that both user-generated content and sentiment are significantly more positive for brands low rather than high in heritage. Regarding warmth, consumers use significantly more positive words on sociability and fewer negative words on morality for brands low rather than high in heritage. Regarding competence, tweets include more positive words on assertiveness and ability for low-heritage brands. Finally, overall sentiment is more positive for brands low rather than high in heritage.

Important from co-creation and integrated marketing communication perspectives, the findings provide brand managers with actionable insights on how to more effectively use social media.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first to examine user-generated content in a brand heritage context. It demonstrates that heritage brands, with their longevity and strong links to the past, need to be aware of how contemporary social media can detract from their image.

The main purposes of this article are twofold: (1) to investigate the unexplored connections among destination gender personality, destination stereotypes, brand attachment and destination brand love and (2) to examine the moderating role of destination involvement in the association between destination stereotypes and destination brand attachment (DBA).

The conceptual model is evaluated using qualitative methods (i.e. three focus groups, six academic experts and a pilot study). In addition, using an empirical study with 610 international travelers who visited Egypt selected by systematic random sampling, 8 hypotheses were analyzed and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) by AMOS 23, confirmatory factor analyses and exploratory factor analyses.

The study’s results suggest that destination gender plays a vital role in enhancing stereotypes, stereotypes positively affect attachment and DBA positively affects destination brand love. Finally, the results show that destination involvement moderates the dual influence of the warmth and competence of stereotypes on destination attachment.

The research supports the contention that social perception mechanisms are crucial in destination brand perception. It offers new understandings of the association between customers' destination brand perceptions and their responses to destinations.

This paper contributes to the travel literature by analyzing a novel model of destination gender personality, stereotypes, DBA and destination brand love using both social role (SR) theory and a stereotype content model (SCM). Besides attempting this task, it explores the moderating role of destination involvement in the association between stereotypes and destination attachment using the elaboration likelihood model.

Drawing on anthropomorphism and the stereotype content model, this study aims to explore the impacts of robot anthropomorphism on hotel guests’ word of mouth and continuous usage intention through perceived warmth and competence. This study also investigates the moderating effects of guests’ expertise.

A total of 524 valid data was collected with Chinese hotel guest through an online survey. Data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that robot anthropomorphism positively affects perceived warmth and competence. Perceived warmth positively affects guests’ word of mouth and continuous usage intention, while perceived competence only positively influences guests’ continuous usage intention. The findings further show that guest expertise weakens the positive relationship between robot anthropomorphism and perceived warmth and competence.

This study advances robot service literature by integrating the stereotype content model with robot anthropomorphism in exploring hotel guests’ perceptions on service robots. This study also discovers the vital boundary role of guest characteristics in human–robot interaction. This study provides valuable information for hoteliers to design and adopt better robots for optimal guest experiences.

基于拟人化和刻板印象内容模型, 本研究探讨了机器人拟人化通过感知温暖和感知能力对酒店客人的口碑和持续使用意向的影响。此外, 本研究也探讨了客人专业知识的调节作用。

通过在线调查问卷, 我们共收集了来自中国酒店客人的524份有效数据, 并采用结构方程模型对这些数据进行了分析。

研究结果表明, 机器人拟人化积极影响感知温暖和感知能力。感知温暖会对客人的口碑和持续使用意向产生积极影响, 而感知能力只对客人的持续使用意向产生积极影响。研究结果进一步表明, 客人的专业知识会削弱机器人拟人化与感知温暖和能力之间的积极关系。

为了探索酒店客人对服务机器人的感知（状况/情况）, 本研究将机器人拟人化因素整合到刻板印象内容模型中, 其结果推动了机器人服务研究的发展。本研究还发现了客人特征在人机互动中的重要边界作用。本研究为酒店经营者设计和采用更好的机器人以获得最佳的客人体验提供了有价值的参考。

Se recopiló datos válidos de un total de 524 clientes de hoteles chinos mediante una encuesta en línea. Los datos fueron analizados mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales.

Basándose en el antropomorfismo y en el modelo de contenido estereotipado, este estudio explora el impacto del antropomorfismo de los robots en el boca a boca de los clientes del hotel y en la intención de uso continuado a través de la calidez y la competencia percibidas. El estudio investiga también los efectos moderadores de la experiencia de los huéspedes.

Los resultados indican que el antropomorfismo del robot afecta positivamente a la calidez y a la competencia percibidas. La calidez percibida influye positivamente en el boca a boca y en la intención de uso continuado de los huéspedes, mientras que la competencia percibida sólo influye positivamente en la intención de uso continuado de los huéspedes. Los resultados muestran, además, que la experiencia del cliente debilita la relación positiva entre el antropomorfismo del robot y la percepción de calidez y de competencia.

Este estudio supone un avance en la literatura sobre robots de servicio al integrar el modelo de contenido estereotipado con el antropomorfismo de los robots, en la exploración de las percepciones de los huéspedes de hoteles sobre los robots de servicio. Este estudio también muestra el papel vital que desempeñan las características de los huéspedes en la interacción humano-robot. El estudio proporciona información valiosa para que los hoteleros diseñen y adopten mejores robots para ofrecer experiencias óptimas a los huéspedes.

The study aims to examine how different types of green brand ritual (GBR) influence customer engagement behavior and the mediation mechanisms and boundary conditions of the positive and negative pathways.

The study conducts two online experiments to collect data from a total of 940 consumers in China. Hypotheses are tested by independent samples t-test, two-way ANOVA and Hayes' PROCESS model.

Different kinds of GBR have different effects on customer engagement behavior. Internal GBR is more likely to play a positive role by inciting connectedness to nature. External GBR is more likely to play a negative role by inciting psychological resistance. This dual effect is especially pronounced for warm brands rather than competent brands.

The study pioneers the brand ritual into the field of interactive marketing and enriches its dual effect research. Additionally, the study figures out whether the category of brand ritual can trigger negative effect.

Inappropriate brand rituals are worse than no rituals at all. The results provide guidance for green companies to design effective brand rituals to strengthen the connection with consumers. Green brands should describe brand rituals in vivid detail and consciously lead consumers to immerse themselves in them.

The purpose of this study is to fill the research gap by investigating the impact of brand social initiatives on both the warmth and competence dimensions of the brand, as well as examining the brand's potential to induce pro-environmental behavioral change among consumers.

The study employed a scenario-based survey design and surveyed 415 consumers in India. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0.

The results show that social initiatives enhance both dimensions of social perception and increase cooperative intentions. Brand competence is more crucial than warmth in predicting behavioral intentions. Brand-cause fit, CSR commitment and initiatives' impact all influence the brand image. A brand's commitment to the cause is more significant than brand-cause fit in determining how consumers evaluate a brand.

This research provides insights into how social initiatives can enhance brand image and encourage helping intentions through effective communication traits. It can aid brands in building consumer trust, benefiting society and boosting finances. The study offers a framework for effective cause communication strategies, highlighting the importance of commitment to the cause over fitting with the brand's image to elicit desired responses.

This study is a novel attempt that uses the stereotype content model and costly signaling theory to explore how social initiatives influence a brand's warmth and competence and impact consumer behavior. It provides critical insights into the psychological mechanisms behind social initiatives' impact on consumer behavioral intentions.

Although situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is centered on rationality and cognitive information processing, it ignores that people are also driven by irrationality and non-cognitive information processing. The purpose of this study aims to fill this gap by examining how gender stereotypes, based on perceived spokesperson sex influence the public’s perceptions of crisis response messages.

A 2 (industry type: automotive vs daycare industry) × 2 (spokesperson’s sex: male vs female) × 2 (crisis response appeal: rational vs emotional) between-subject online experiment was conducted to examine the effect of gender stereotype in crisis communication.

Results showed that either matching spokesperson sex with sex differed industry or matching sex differed industry with appropriate crisis response appeal can generate a more positive evaluation of the spokesperson and the organization. The results also revealed under which circumstances, the attractiveness of different sex of the spokesperson can either promote or mitigate people’s perceptions of the organization. Furthermore, when people are aware of a spokesperson’s sex, in a female-associated industry, a mismatching effect of a positive violation of a male-related stereotype overrides a matching effect of a female-related stereotype in crisis communication.

This study is among the first to identify how the gender of a spokesperson and industry type affect publics’ crisis response.

This study aims to examine how consumers’ propensity to purchase imported wines is influenced by their attitudes and perceptions toward the countries of origin (COO) of those wines.

The questionnaires were distributed online and 298 valid completed questionnaires were received. This study measured the perception of the wines’ countries of origin by adopting two independent dimensions of competence and warmth in the stereotype content model.

The results show a relationship between the purchase intention and the perception of the country of origin of the wine. Furthermore, the perceived image of the country of origin impacts the brand image of the wine and the quality of wine from its country of origin.

This study’s questionnaire was distributed online. Future research would benefit from in-depth qualitative investigation and a wider range of sample sizes across countries.

The results of this study guide imported wine companies in product marketing design and advertising. By promoting the countries of origin of premium wines to target consumers, trust in the quality of imported wine can be improved, thereby increasing consumers’ purchase intention.

This study contributes to the understanding of consumer perception of the country of origin in the context of wine marketing. It provides valuable implications for wine companies’ marketing positioning and strategy, benefiting wine marketers, distributors and importers.

Financial services industry is increasingly showing interest in automated financial advisors, or robo-advisors, with the aim of democratizing access to financial advice and stimulating investment behavior among populations that were previously less active and less served. However, the extent to which consumers trust this technology influences the adoption of rob-advisors. The resemblance to a human, or anthropomorphism, can provide a sense of social presence and increase trust.

In this paper, we conduct an experiment (N = 223) to test the effect of anthropomorphism (low vs medium vs high) and gender (male vs female) of the robo-advisor on social presence. This perception, in turn, enables consumers to evaluate personality characteristics of the robo-advisor, such as competence, warmth, and persuasiveness, all of which are related to trust in the robo-advisor. We separately conduct an experimental study (N = 206) testing the effect of gender neutrality on consumer responses to robo-advisory anthropomorphism.

Our results show that consumers prefer human-alike robo-advisors over machinelike or humanoid robo-advisors. This preference is only observed for male robo-advisors and is explained by perceived competence and perceived persuasiveness. Furthermore, highlighting gender neutrality undermines the positive effect of robo-advisor anthropomorphism on trust.

We contribute to the body of knowledge on robo-advisor design by showing the effect of robot’s anthropomorphism and gender on consumer perceptions and trust. Consequently, we offer insightful recommendations to promote the adoption of robo-advisory services in the financial sector.

The crowdfunding concept and activities have recently been the focus of attention of many researchers and practitioners over different business contexts. However, there is a dearth of literature considering the main aspects of e-equity crowdfunding activities and their impact on the innovation performance for entrepreneurial business. Therefore, this study aims to explore how entrepreneurs' engagement in e-crowdfunding activities could enhance both knowledge acquisition and innovation performance.

The conceptual model will be proposed based on three main theoretical perspectives: relationship marketing orientation (RMO); Kirzner's alertness theory; and the DeLone and McLean model of information systems. The data of the current study were collected using an online questionnaire from a sample of 500 entrepreneurs who have actively engaged in e-crowdfunding in Saudi Arabia.

The statistical results of structural equation modelling (SEM) approved the impacting role of RMO, entrepreneurial alertness, system quality and service quality on the entrepreneurs' engagement in e-equity crowdfunding, which in turn, predicts both knowledge acquisition and innovation performance.

There are several limitations which could be addressed in future studies, for example, this study has only considered one form of crowdfunding (equity based crowdfunding) and due to its nature these findings would not be easily generalized to other kinds of crowdfunding (i.e. donation-based crowdfunding; rewards-based crowdfunding; and debt-based crowdfunding). Future studies could consider these kinds of crowdfunding activities.

This study has contributed to the understanding of e-equity crowdfunding in several aspects. For example, this study presents results that assist both researchers and practitioners in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia to develop an in-depth knowledge of e-equity crowdfunding by considering new dimensions such as RMO and information system success factors.

This study aims to investigate the effect of the virtual spokesperson type on the consumers' preference for new products. To meet the consumer needs of Generation Z, virtual spokespeople have become new assistants in brand marketing. However, how virtual spokespersons drive consumer preference for new products is minimally understood.

This research conducts three experiments to investigate the influence of virtual spokesperson type on consumers' preference for new products.

The research shows that, for radically new products, competent virtual spokespersons improve consumers' perception of self-efficacy and thus consumers' preference; for incrementally new products, warm virtual spokespersons improve consumers' perception of social connection and thus consumers' willingness to buy.

This study broadens research on brand spokespersons and virtual spokespersons. This research also enriches and expands research on the consideration of new product types in brand spokespersons.