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The study aims to look at the types of social media participants through user-generated content (UGC) and how this leads to brand engagement in a fashion retail context. In doing so, it explores the effects of social context of brand-related content on other social media users, which promotes socially influenced consumer brand engagement (SICBE) in social media settings.

The study postulates the existence of social realities as consistent with social constructivism, with multiple realities of social influence outlined on the basis of ontological relativism. To fulfil the proposed research objectives, research data were gathered from professional and social participants based on specific inclusion criteria, purposive sampling technique and a semi-structured interview method.

Findings highlighted various types of UGC participants with differing objectives in their use of UGC; these participant types are passive, creators, critics and collectors/consumers. The study uncovered many social context that can increase the effectiveness of UGC. The social context is explored through social trust, Fashion UGC expertise and relevance. These UGC participants and social context can foster SICBE in a fashion retail context.

This study proposes a holistic framework which highlighted the role of UGC participants and social context can foster SICBE in a fashion retail context.

The purpose of this research is to explore the effect of goal type of user-generated content (UGC) on consumers' intention of within-domain and across-domain compensatory consumption in closed social media platforms, the mediating effect of self-threat, self-enhancement and self-protection motivation and the moderating effect of self-efficacy.

Four between-subject experiments were conducted to verify the hypotheses presented in this research. Study 1a had a sample size of 60 respondents and examined the effect of goal type of UGC on compensatory consumption. Study1b replicated the effect by using a sample size of 60 respondents. Study 2 had a sample size of 70 respondents and verified the mediating role of self-threat, self-enhancement motivation and self-protection motivation. Study 3 examined self-efficacy as a critical moderator by using a sample of 255 participants.

Study 1a and Study 1b demonstrate that UGC with an attainment goal (vs maintenance goal) is more easily produced within-domain and across-domain compensatory consumption. Study 2 verifies that the effect of goal type of UGC on within-domain compensatory consumption is serially mediated by self-threat and self-enhancement motivation, and the effect of goal type of UGC on across-domain compensatory consumption is serially mediated by self-threat and self-protection motivation. Study 3 demonstrates that self-efficacy not only moderates the effects of self-threat on within-domain or across-domain compensatory consumption respectively, but also moderates the whole mediating path structure.

This research extends the understanding of UGC and addresses the inconclusive evidence of the impact of goal type of UGC on consumer compensatory behavior in the context of closed social media platforms. The authors identify the moderating role of self-efficacy, which explains why consumers adopt different compensatory strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the source of brand-related user-generated content (UGC) (a close friend vs a celebrity) interacts with content sponsorship (organic UGC vs sponsored UGC) to influence consumer causal attributions, brand attitude, and intention to comply with the recommendation.

In all, 285 college students participated in a two (source: a close friend vs a celebrity) by two (content sponsorship: organic vs sponsored) between-subjects online experimental design.

Results showed that recommendation from a close friend generated more information-sharing attributions and less monetary-gain attributions than did recommendation from a celebrity when the brand-related UGC was organic. In contrast, source type did not influence causal attributions differently when the UGC was sponsored. Further, this study demonstrated that both information-sharing and monetary-gain attributions mediated the effects of source type and content sponsorship on brand attitude and intention to comply with the recommendation.

This study is one of the first to examine the effectiveness of celebrities as a source of brand-related UGC. Also, this research extends the existing knowledge about source effects by examining the relative effectiveness of two sources of product information, close friends and celebrities, who have both been found to be individually effective in the traditional marketing context. Additionally, the findings of this study that the relative effectiveness of source type depends on whether brand-related UGC is sponsored or not add a further insight into how source type influences the effectiveness of brand-related UGC.

The purpose of this study is to examine how social media (TripAdvisor) content influences restaurant visit intentions and liking expectations, how online review valence affect the viewing behavior of the social media page and which social media elements capture the initial attention of the consumer.

The pictures posted by firms and opinions posted by users attracted consumers’ attention. However, in the negative valence condition, participants needed to expand upon the content by reading additional (and more detailed) online reviews with specific cues, revisited the content more often and more closely fixated on specific online ratings. Moreover, the picture of the restaurant was the first area seen (reflecting a bottom-up process) and the third-party ad tended to be viewed last (reflecting selective attention).

All social media elements are seen but only some affect decisions, with negatively (vs positively) valenced reviews requiring consideration of an extra element. Of relevance to managers, this study stresses the importance of the pictorial element and the influence of user-generated content on the attention and judgment of consumers.

This study suggests that, to form an opinion, viewers devote more cognitive effort and attention when evaluating restaurants with negatively (vs positively) valenced reviews. However, viewing patterns appear unaffected by review valence. It also demonstrates how consumers pay attention to different social media elements.

There is considerable interest in the value of user-generated content (UGC) and its antecedents. Despite its growing importance, existing studies have largely ignored the effects of UGC on customers’ responses to recovery efforts in the fashion industry. The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which UGC influences customers’ responses to providers’ service failure and recovery efforts, particularly how millennials’ interactions impact recovery efforts.

The study uses a phenomenological hermeneutics and adopts theoretical sampling to collect empirical data from three European countries (France, Italy and the UK). The authors interviewed 60 millennials who had online service failure experiences in online fashion. This methodological framework was designed to illustrate the close relationships between subject and object as well as identify that data analysis and collection are undertaken in relation to consistent iterative interpretations in an evolving process of study. Drawing on multi-theoretical lenses, using actor–network and social influence theories, this study advances understanding through the development of a new conceptual model relating to individual characteristics.

Using actor–network theory and social influence theory, this study developed a conceptual model of four customer groups’ responses to service failure based on the severity of service failure and the level of customers’ online response following service failure.

The authors suggest some pragmatic implications of their conceptual model and explain how awareness of different customer groups can lead to effective decision-making for marketers. This study provides a set of practical insights that brand managers can use to recover service failures.

Short-form videos have gradually become important marketing tools for tourist destinations. However, chaotic sources and homogenized content have led to poor user experiences. Taking Kulangsu and Xi'an City Wall in China as examples, this study explored the influence of matching short-form video sources with destination types on user engagement and visit intention.

This study selected three short-form videos from different sources for each destination on TikTok and conducted an empirical research using a 3 × 2 experimental design to examine the proposed research model.

The results showed that the matching effect between short-form video sources and destination types will positively affect user engagement and visit intention. (1) the short-form videos with user-generated content (UGC) or professional user-generated content (PUGC) in hedonic destinations can obtain higher user engagement and visit intention; (2) the short-form videos with professionally generated content (PGC) or PUGC in utilitarian destinations can obtain higher user engagement and visit intention and (3) perceived credibility and perceived usefulness played mediating roles in these interactions.

This study considers short-form video sources as antecedent variables influencing user engagement and visit intention and confirms the matching effect between short-form video sources and tourism destination types. The findings will help researchers and marketers better understand the impact of short-form video on destination marketing.

The purpose of this empirical study is to investigate extrinsic motivations that may affect adding or acknowledging user-generated content (UGC) on business websites, which are based on voluntary crowdsourcing.

A conceptual model of extrinsic motivations for knowledge sharing in UGC-based websites was developed, suggesting reciprocity, awareness of rewards and prestige as main extrinsic motivations for adding content. The model was examined via an online survey of users of three websites that varied in the attributes of knowledge shared and reward type: The Traveler (tangible rewards), Stack Overflow (virtual rewards) and Waze (virtual rewards).

Importance of extrinsic motivations varied among websites, as it may be affected by attributes of the knowledge shared. Reciprocity positively affected recommending the website, and adding content affected acknowledging content.

Investigating extrinsic motivations is important because websites may take actions that affect them. Further research is required to reveal the potential of voluntary crowdsourcing in business contexts addressing both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, prosumption and open innovation.

When reciprocity is a major aspect of a UGC website, badges and similar mechanisms may serve as a main extrinsic motivation to share knowledge.

The novel empirically validated model provides theoretical and practical insights for designing mechanisms for increasing extrinsic motivation for knowledge sharing according to specific characteristics of UGC websites.

This paper sets out in the wider context of globalization to examine how and what specific reform strategies the Government of the Hong Kong special administrative region (HKSAR) has adopted in reforming its higher education system to enhance the competitiveness of its higher education in the increasingly globalizing economic context. More specifically, this paper has chosen a focus to examine how, and in what way universities in Hong Kong have attempted to make themselves internationally competitive, and what systems have been introduced to assure quality.

This paper adopts a case study approach in examining recent higher education changes/reforms in Hong Kong. Using literature survey, documentary and policy analysis, intensive interviews, as well as field observations, the paper has provided a comprehensive review and a critical analysis of higher education governance in Hong Kong.

This paper has reviewed major higher education reforms in the HKSAR, with particular reference to examine how higher education institutions have changed the ways that they are governed and managed. Academics working in Hong Kong nowadays are confronted with increasing pressures from the government to engage in international research, commanding a high quality of teaching and contributing to professional and community services. As Hong Kong universities have tried to benchmark with top universities in the world, they are struggling very hard to compete for limited resources. “Doing more with less” and “doing things smarter” are becoming fashionable guiding principles in university management and governance. Internal competition in the university sector is inevitably becoming keener and intensified.

The paper discusses the case study of Hong Kong which reflects how a rapidly developed economies in East Asia have attempted to tackle the growing impact of globalization on higher education governance.

This paper provides a comprehensive picture of how the universities in Hong Kong have responded to increasingly intensified quality assurance pressures, and fills an identified information gap on specific strategies in promoting the international competitiveness of universities in the city‐state in East Asia.

Social media's role in engaging participants in sports events, particularly during the pandemic, is acknowledged. However, previous studies often utilized sports events for diverse objectives but overlooked brand equity's influence on sports event development. And very limited research explores social media's impact on brand equity in esports events, despite its significance. Therefore, this study aims to explore how social media affects esports event brand equity and participants' satisfaction and engagement with social media through brand equity's influence.

The study focused on League of Legends World Championships (LOLWC) participants, who completed a self-judged questionnaire online. The questionnaire included demographic details and latent constructs. Data analysis involved two steps: exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to assess measurement scale validity and structural equation modeling (SEM) to study relationships between traits.

The results reveal that, within the esports event context, controlled communication exerts a meaningful and dual impact – both directly and indirectly – on the fundamental components of brand equity. This, in turn, serves as a catalyst for increasing participant contentment and their posting intention.

This study applies brand equity theories to the esports domain, exploring participant-based brand equity concepts, user behavior and the influence of social media communication on event branding and engagement. It also recommends strategies for event improvement, emphasizes controlled communication for brand equity and highlights marketing's role in brand awareness, association and participant satisfaction. Additionally, it suggests government regulation to address cyber violence during esports events.

Some consumers are engaged in online curation, a type of user-generated content, in ways that can be impactful for brands. An example of online curation includes organizing themed collections of product images on Pinterest. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework of online consumer curation, introducing this topic to the marketing literature.

Through the analysis of the business and academic literature, as well as a careful study of many examples of online consumer curation, the authors present a framework for understanding online consumer curation.

The actions taken by online consumer curators are similar to those of museum or art gallery curators: acquiring, selecting, organizing and displaying content for an audience. The motivations for consumers to engage in online curation include building/displaying their identities and making social connections with their online audience. One outcome possible for the audience that views the curation is gaining access to carefully selected and recommended content.

As online consumer curation is a new area of research, the authors suggest several marketing- and brand-relevant propositions that can be addressed in future research.

As consumers are frequently using product images and brand symbols in their online curation, it is important for marketing academics and practitioners to understand their actions.

The aim of the paper is to present a thorough introduction to the idea of online consumer curation by outlining relevant examples, providing a framework for understanding this activity and its implications for brand management, and listing ideas for future research.

Algunos consumidores se dedican a la “curación” en línea, un tipo de contenido generado por el usuario (UGC), de manera que pueden ser impactantes para las marcas. Un ejemplo de “curación” en línea incluye la organización de colecciones temáticas de imágenes de productos en Pinterest. El propósito de esta investigación es presentar un marco sobre la “curación” del consumidor en línea, introduciendo este tema en la literatura de marketing.

A través de nuestro análisis de la literatura académica y empresarial, así como del estudio cuidadoso de muchos ejemplos de “curación” de los consumidores en línea, presentamos un marco para comprender la “curación” de los consumidores en línea.

Las acciones realizadas por los “curadores” son similares a las de sus homólogos en museos o galerías de arte: adquirir, seleccionar, organizar y mostrar contenido para una audiencia. Las motivaciones para que los consumidores participen en la “curación” en línea incluyen construir/mostrar sus identidades y establecer conexiones sociales con su audiencia en línea. Un resultado posible para la audiencia que ve la “curación” es obtener acceso a contenido cuidadosamente seleccionado y recomendado.

Como la “curación” en línea es una nueva área de investigación, sugerimos varias propuestas relevantes de marketing y marca que pueden abordarse en futuras investigaciones.

Como los consumidores utilizan con frecuencia imágenes de productos y símbolos de marca en su “curación” en línea, es importante que los académicos y profesionales de marketing comprendan sus acciones.

La investigación presenta una introducción exhaustiva a la idea de la “curación” del consumidor en línea describiendo ejemplos relevantes, proporcionando un marco para comprender esta actividad y sus implicaciones para la gestión de la marca, y enumerando ideas para futuras investigaciones.

“Curación” del consumidor en línea, Comportamiento del consumidor en línea, Contenido generado por el usuario, Gestión de marca