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Handicraft entrepreneurs often lack the marketing funding needed to achieve brand awareness and, ultimately, sales. While positive word-of-mouth (WOM) from customers can bridge the funding gap, handicraft entrepreneurs may not have knowledge of how to generate WOM effectively. The purpose of this study is to examine role of self-schema and brand love in generating positive WOM in a developing country research context, namely, South Africa.

This study used a quantitative approach. A survey was completed by 250 South African respondents who purchase handmade home décor items. The interrelationships between constructs were analysed using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

Self-schema and brand love are instrumental in generating positive WOM, albeit via different underlying mechanisms. Brand love mediates the relationships between self-schema (inner- and social self) and positive WOM.

This paper contributes to the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) field theoretically by providing a needed customer perspective for EM strategies from a developing country. Moreover, by considering underlying cognitive and emotional processes that underpin WOM, the authors demonstrate how handicraft entrepreneurs can use customers as a resource in their marketing strategy. Practical recommendations for handicraft entrepreneurs and policymakers are also offered.

This paper aims to understand consumption values buying from informal retail markets (i.e., street vendor retailing). It also explores why consumers prefer daily necessary goods from the informal compared to the formal retail market (such as supermarkets, retail chain outlets and e-commerce).

Employing the qualitative research approach, this study collected data from nine respondents in two areas in Malaysia. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using the thematic analysis technique. Only representative verbatim codes were presented under five themes of consumption value theory.

Consumers are triggered by the convenience, ease, and exclusive products (conditional value), friendly and known relationship with informal sellers, as well as the availability of some particular food items (emotional value) and lower price and freshness of groceries (functional value) while buying from informal compared to formal retail vendor.

This study provides knowledge implications to the consumption value theory. Functional, emotional, and conditional values are the dominant components of purchase behaviour in informal compared to formal retail channels. Social values are common, whereas epistemic value is more substantial in formal retailing.

Findings are helpful for informal retail businesses to understand consumers' buying behaviour. Informal retail owners should ensure that commodities are fresh, highly affordable and available in the local communities. Building a friendly relationship with consumers would be a key to the success of this retail sector.

Authorities should support informal sellers to set up mobile retail stores in residential areas. This effort would offer greater convenience to both parties in informal businesses and ensure informal sellers' financial and social well-being.

Despite the widespread acceptance of buying goods from informal retail vendors, research on consumption value in informal retailing is largely overlooked. Previous research primarily deals with formal market phenomena due to their size and economic contribution. Consequently, current literature lacks an understanding of why consumers prefer to buy from informal retail vendors for their daily groceries when the formal retail channel could fulfil similar needs. Using a qualitative research design, this research uncovers consumers' buying motives from informal compared to formal vendors.

This research considers new and unexplored explanations of why consumers continue to engage in environmentally damaging, fast fashion consumption. It explains why rational arguments alone do not prevent fast fashion consumption or encourage consumers to move toward greater adoption of sustainable fashion consumption behaviours.

This research compared the effects of a “neutral” control and an “intrasexual rivalry” experimental condition on: (1) likelihood to buy, and (2) willingness to pay, of frequent female fast fashion shoppers (N = 184).

Women use fast fashion as a conspicuous signal to other women, although this is not necessarily why they waste fast fashion purchases. Mating motives appear to produce a significant increase in fast fashion buying behaviour with women feeling intrasexual pressure to engage in consumption, and utilising consumption themselves as a self-promotion strategy.

Retailers tackling wasteful fast fashion consumption can demonstrate that sustainable consumption provides a superior conspicuous signal to fast fashion consumption, instead of solely using rational messaging.

Grounded in evolutionary psychology, this study uses three theories of intrasexual rivalry, conspicuous consumption and conspicuous waste to understand how both the volume and variety of fast fashion consumed are used as conspicuous signals in a mate attraction context.

In the context of omnichannel distribution development, this study aims to understand how and why trying products out helps people make good purchase decisions (i.e. decisions that they do not regret later).

The paper uses mixed methods consisting of an experiment (n = 162), a series of interviews with consumers (n = 16) and in-store observations (n = 202).

Results show that trying products out allows us to evaluate how they will fit, which increases purchase intention. They also indicate that trying leads to better decision-making.

This paper enriches product trial literature and sheds new light on how sales channels combine in omnichannel distribution.

The conclusions of this research will be useful to retailers who want to help consumers make better purchasing decisions.

Helping consumers make better decisions minimizes the societal impact of consumption by reducing the frequency of re-purchases and product returns.

The originality of this research lies in using mixed methods, providing a complete understanding of why consumers try products out and how they do so.

The study aims to fulfil two objectives, namely, to explore what dimensions comes into play in the current consumer EV purchase behaviour based on relevant literature identified in the past and to find out whether there are other reasons that are peculiar to the Indian automobile market which influenced consumers to adopt this eco-friendly technology.

Mixed method approach for collecting the primary data was used. The study was conducted in five cities across India, through a questionnaire administered to 266 existing EV owners using judgemental sampling, that included dimensions as to what made them purchase EVs (any variant whether hybrid or battery) and encouraged their green behaviour. Moreover, the survey also took care of gathering other motivational constructs that may have played a significant role in the Indian EV market. To take care of this, use of single open-ended question was done. Statistical techniques like exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) version 4.0 were performed to gain meaningful insights from this investigation.

Based on our analysis, EV purchase behaviour in the Indian market could be explained by six configurational paths identified in conceptual framework of this study. The data analysed revealed long-term operational benefits or relative advantages, trialability or prior driving experience and positive attitude towards EVs playing an important role towards EV purchase decision followed by environmental concern, social norms and personal values of Indian consumers. Besides, several other factors were identified in open comments like favourable government policies, brand consciousness, compatibility and functional benefits in terms of comfortable and noiseless driving which tend to drive the decision of Indian consumers towards buying EVs. The identification of these motivations can help policymakers in targeting the customer market accordingly.

Although the study is restricted by its scope of sampling criteria, yet is distinct in its methodological approach and thereby adds value to existing literature on marketing and diffusion of EVs. The study explores the untapped gap in the current literature by helping identify reasons on the basis of which consumers made their choices of different EVs. Instead of analysing the potential antecedents of EV uptake, the study brings to light the actual reasons of EV purchase behaviour in the context of an emerging economy like India. That is to say, the horizon of EV motivations spans across technological, individual and regulatory attributes in the Indian automobile market.

This study is relevant and fulfils the underlying gap in the existing literature related to actual motivations that consumers look for before buying a high involvement product such as EVs. The results can be beneficial for marketers to design effective marketing strategies from the perspective of consumers. Promotional strategies addressing ease of using EVs and how battery technology is better than before needs to be clearly communicated by the marketers. Consumer education is necessary, in this regard, to make people aware of the rising air pollution levels. They have to be made understood the real advantages of owning EVs and how these non-conventional vehicles are far better when compared to traditional cars. In a nutshell, the study underscored potential determinants or reasons that made Indian consumers to go for EVs, based on statistically significant evidences which can be crucial for stakeholders operating in the Indian EV industry.

The study has important implications for members of the community. By sacrificing their egoistic tendencies or individual preferences for energy intensive products such as ICE based vehicles, people can imbibe altruistic orientation and can contribute to the collective benefit of all by shifting towards energy rich vehicles powered by electricity. This is necessary to achieve the broader goals of sustainable development and to curtail the rising climate change phenomenon.

The study applied both quantitative (deductive) and qualitative (inductive) approach to study into the reasons for consumers’ purchase motivations towards electric cars. Taking a distinct methodological approach, the study enhances the knowledge on EVs by asking consumers to comment in their own words as to why they purchased EVs. This was necessary so as to better explore the needs of the Indian automobile market and which factors govern the purchase of EVs in domestic market. Past literature majorly focused on purchase intention towards EVs but this study in unexampled and analysed the purchase behaviour towards EVs. It should be noted that our investigation reveals the complexity of EV purchase reasons than those identified in past literature and it adds to the current pool of literature on EVs by explaining factors with unrivalled illustrative power.

The current study analyzes product review videos of influencers to determine why they are popular among customers. The study on electrical and electronic appliances covered by YouTubers is an entirely new field of research. Knowing why customers watch their product review videos before purchasing would be interesting.

We analyzed 172 product review videos from influencers on YouTube. Subsequently, the study employed negative binomial regression (NB2) to predict the explanatory power of the independent variables over the dependent variables.

This paper recommends two different models for viewer engagement in online review videos. One can be used for high and the other for low viewer engagement. Comparatively, viewers put more effort into commenting on a video than liking it. Yet both have their importance as per the requirement.

We only focused on video content in English and Hindi. The study data considered review videos from various electrical and electronic appliances. Future researchers may replicate this study on different product categories.

This study makes a remarkable contribution to how firms and their managers can optimize video content when designing marketing strategies, particularly for retailers and e-tailers.

The current paper takes the lead in contributing to the existing literature on marketing in two ways. First, focusing on product review videos from influencers and second, employing a video analysis approach. Furthermore, this study recommends two different viewer engagement models for marketing practices when employing quantitative and qualitative video content.

Advances in digital technologies and the growing number of touch points have had a significant impact on the shopping behaviour of omnichannel customers. Several research papers have explored different facets of omnichannel, but only a few have thoroughly explored the literature on showrooming and webrooming simultaneously. This paper aims to identify the key groups of antecedents influencing customer buying behaviour in omnichannel, under the influence of digital technologies, with a particular focus on showrooming and webrooming.

Our study conducted a systematic literature review to identify the factors influencing customers’ buying behaviour in omnichannel, which have been the subject of academic discussion over the last decade. We finalized 149 articles for the thematic analysis and identified three groups of antecedents: channel-related, product-related and consumer-related with their subgroups.

Under channel-related antecedents, cost and perceived benefits, search convenience, need for interaction and situational circumstances have been identified as major attributes. The expressiveness of the product, product demonstration and search and experienced products have been identified under product-related antecedents, followed by price consciousness, past experiences, perceived risks and shopping motivations as leading attributes under consumer-related antecedents. The study revealed the multifaceted influence of digital technologies on omnichannel buying behaviour. Digital technologies are shaping the antecedents related to channels, products and consumers. Digital technologies simultaneously mediate between antecedents and the selection of a specific path within an omnichannel environment. Showrooming and webrooming should no longer be seen as general concepts. The rise of digital technologies has led to the development of new consumer journey patterns and the blurring of distinctions between showrooming and webrooming. A conceptual framework has been proposed to understand consumers' omnichannel behaviour, having considered the identified antecedents and the role of digital technologies.

This study advances the academic understanding of consumer behaviour in omnichannel under the influence of digital technologies and provides important implications for omnichannel management. With the advancement of digital technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality, retailers should implement channel integration strategies to bridge the gap between online and offline channels, providing a memorable shopping experience for omnichannel customers.

This study is unique because it identifies and analyses the antecedents of consumer behaviour in omnichannel settings under the influence of digital technologies. It also uncovers new potential combinations of showrooming and webrooming patterns. The proposed framework can help retailers in their future planning of omnichannel strategies.

This study describes how a multinational enterprise (MNE) gains acceptance after rebranding acquired brands from different countries among its internal and external stakeholders and identifies factors that influence this process.

The study employed a single case-study approach, including 18 semi-structured in-depth interviews with employees of a firm involved in the rebranding process in six countries. The countries are Sweden, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

The findings reveal how the MNE integrated brands it acquired in different international markets into one overarching corporate brand. The study shows that in emerging countries, external legitimation (external implementation process, country profiles and customer buy-in) constitutes the most significant challenge. By contrast, in developed countries, internal legitimation (employee buy-in and internal implementation process) is more challenging.

The study contributes to and extends the rebranding literature by using a legitimation lens to analyze the rebranding process. This lens shows how internal and external stakeholders are both crucial to successful rebranding. The study provides a comprehensive perspective of the process, identifies challenging factors and differentiates between their importance in emerging and developed countries.

To address the dearth of research on how firms legitimize a new brand in different national contexts, the study compares the rebranding process in multiple countries and discusses the factors influencing the rebranding process.

Drawing on prospect theory, terror management theory, and social influence theories, this study explores the phenomenon of panic buying amid the COVID-19 pandemic, namely its situational antecedents such as fear of COVID-19, increased media exposure to COVID-19-related news, and context-specific paranoia. It offers insight into the situational nature of panic buying, contrary to the purely dispositional/trait conceptualization of irrational spending, usually depicted through the phenomenon of compulsive buying.

This is a cross-sectional study. An online questionnaire was used for data collection from 621 Croatian citizens. The questionnaire features a series of validated instruments designed to measure compulsive buying, fear of COVID-19, and context-specific paranoia. The media exposure scale (MES) was also specifically developed and empirically tested for the purpose of this research.

The results suggest that individuals who exhibited greater fear of COVID-19 while also experiencing increased exposure to COVID-19-related news were more likely to engage in panic buying. This connection has remained significant even after controlling for compulsive buying tendencies, suggesting that panic buying witnessed during the coronavirus pandemic was a situational phenomenon, not strictly dispositional. This establishes the fear of COVID-19 and increased exposure to pandemic-related news content as situational antecedents to panic buying. After controlling for compulsive buying, this paper does not demonstrate a significant connection between context-specific paranoia and panic buying. Furthermore, context-specific paranoia does not mediate the relationship between media exposure to pandemic-related content and panic buying, whereas the fear of COVID-19 significantly mediates the same relationship.

This study recognizes people's panic behavior amid the COVID-19 pandemic as a byproduct of a situational, reactive process – not a psychopathological one. Furthermore, it recognizes media sensationalism and the audience's impaired capacity for rational spending as major risk factors preceding the event of panic buying.

This study proposes a novel conceptual framework of irrational spending amid crises such as COVID-19 pandemic, introducing the differentiation between the situational nature of the phenomenon (panic buying), thereby separating it from its previous dispositional operationalizations (hoarding, compulsive buying).

This paper seeks to understand how a new elite, known as the cork aristocracy, emerged in the Bordeaux wine field, France, between 1850 and 1929 as wine merchants replaced aristocrats. Classic class and status perspectives, and their distinctive social closure dynamics, are mobilized to illuminate the individual and organizational transformations that affected elite wineries grouped in an emerging classification of the Bordeaux best wines. We build on a wealth of archives and historical ethnography techniques to surface complex status and organizational dynamics that reveal how financiers and industrialists intermediated this transition and how organizations are deeply interwoven into social change.