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This study aims to examine the roles of customer orientation (CO) and two distinct stress coping strategies – problem-focused (PC) and emotion-focused (EC) – in the positive relationship between customer incivility (CI) and job stress (JS).

Data were collected via a survey of casino dealers in South Korea. Common method variance was assessed using an unmeasured latent method construct, confirming both convergent and discriminant validity. Collinearity diagnostics were conducted to evaluate potential multicollinearity among independent variables. Hypotheses were tested using PROCESS Macro Models 1 and 3 to examine moderating effects and three-way interactions.

CI is positively related to JS. Employees with high CO experience greater JS when faced with CI compared to those with low CO. Highly customer-oriented employees with low coping strategies encounter significant JS when dealing with uncivil casino patrons.

Casino practitioners should balance CO strategies with effective stress management and support systems. This finding calls for a reevaluation of training programs and policies to maintain high service quality while ensuring employee well-being.

This study challenges the traditional view of CO as merely a stress-buffering factor by revealing its paradoxical role. It identifies individuals more susceptible to JS and demonstrates how the interaction between CI, CO and coping strategies (i.e. PC or EC) can escalate JS.

Virtual grocery shopping (VGS), or online grocery shopping, traditionally has seen slow adoption in Canada; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced consumers to seek safer ways to shop. Retailers have invested in building new infrastructure to meet the current consumer demands for VGS. However, the main driver for VGS behaviour has not been yet clearly identified. Additionally, it is also not unknown whether the shopping modalities will continue VGS after the pandemic. This study provides insights into consumer intentions to use VGS by extending the model of goal-directed behaviour (MGB) to incorporate consumer technological readiness.

The study collected 935 valid survey responses from an online survey panel of Canadian consumers. A two-step approach was applied to analyse the data, comprising confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). The data quality and model fit were tested before testing the proposed relationships among the constructs: attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, positive and negative anticipated emotions, as well as technological readiness, desire and behaviour intentions. The mediation role of desire between frequency of past online grocery shopping behaviours and the future behavioural intention was also tested using SPSS PROCESS.

The study results showed that attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, positive and negative emotions, technological readiness and frequency of past VGS have a major impact on consumers' desire to embrace VGS in the future. Consumer desire also played a significant mediating role between frequency of past VGS behaviours and future shopping intention online. In addition, the frequency of past VGS showed an even stronger impact on behavioural intention among female consumers than among male consumers.

The findings of this study provide an original insight into the social, cultural and psychological factors that impact consumers' use of VGS, particularly the impacts of gender.

Although various booking platforms have been contributing to the dramatic growth of hotel industry, little research has been conducted to understand consumer psychological processes and behaviors in online hotel booking. To fill this gap, the current study examines the effect of switching barriers (switching cost and alternative attractiveness) on consumers' decision postponement and repurchase intention. Additionally, the moderating effect of time pressure in different phases of booking decision is investigated.

A total of 352 samples was collected through an online platform. Data analysis was conducted via Amos 23 (structural equation modeling) and SPSS 24 (descriptive analysis and PROCESS macro).

Results show that switching cost and alternative attractiveness are two significant drivers of decision postponement and repurchase intention. Meanwhile, time pressure only has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between switching cost and decision postponement.

The findings of this research reveal that hotel operations need to implement strategies to prevent customers' delayed booking decisions and overcome the influence of time pressure on customer decision-making.

These findings stress the importance of consumer perceptions of switching barriers and time span when making hotel reservations online. Hotel practitioners are encouraged to provide multiple human–computer interaction applications to attract novice consumers and increase their familiarity with booking process.