The use of artificial intelligence (AI) service robots is on the rise. With service frontlines gradually shifting to human–robot interactions, the question of whether AI robots should be humanlike or machinelike has emerged. While many firms use robots that resemble humans in their appearance and actions, others use machinelike robots, assuming that very humanlike robots may lead to uncanny valley effects. There is no consensus on whether the anthropomorphism of service robots facilitates or constrains consumers’ experiences. To fill this gap, this article examines when and how service companies should use anthropomorphic AI service robots.

This study aims to investigate online commerce repertoire-based clusters and their characteristics with shopping values and commerce attributes. This study analyzes Nielsen panel log data that recorded nearly 6,000 panelists’ use of 48 major commerce websites and mobile applications. In addition, a survey was conducted with a sample of the panelists, which supplemented the behavioral data and provided cognitive and attitudinal data. Six commerce clusters were identified: “Social commerce centric,” “Secondhand centric,” “PC centric,” “scattered,” “Home-shopping centric,” and “Fashion centric". Also, “Hedonic” was statistically significant and “Quick delivery,” “Membership” are perceived to be effective. Also, there were discrepancies between the log and survey on usage. As online marketing and advertising driving conversion becomes critical, the understanding of online commerce repertoires and related consumer perceptions and characteristics should offer significant implications.

Characterized by connectivity, recent digital technologies have a significant effect on relationships between consumers and firms. Consumers rely on SNS to learn product and/or service information to decide what to purchase. In dealing with this change, some firms struggle to leverage SNS because it fundamentally changes the way marketing communications are executed. Previously, marketing departments planned and executed marketing communications with their prospects and customers. However, owing to connectively through recent digital technologies, everyone in firms can send a message to consumers. Therefore, decentralization of marketing communication roles plays critical roles in recent digital environment.

Metaverse provides technology for people to connect, find communities, and grow businesses. Its sales have seen growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an era of metaverse, luxury brands such as Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Balenciaga, and Dolce & Gabbana are trying to adapt to new changes. They launched NFT(Non-fungible token) goods, digital fashion, and virtual luxury goods on various metaverse platforms such as Zepeto, Roblox, and Fortnite. For example, Ralph Lauren in Zepeto provides various types of luxury items, immerses in virtual performances, and has a game plot interaction. As people immerse themselves in the Metaverse, they feel happy from various activities—such as watching advertisements, drinking juice, and playing with friends. Thus, what factors should be considered when the luxury brands manage the metaverse?

This study suggests that using AI chatbots with highly human-like characteristics could reduce the effectiveness of personalized AI chatbot advertising because they will likely worsen consumer concerns about privacy. Conversely, using AI chatbot with less human-like characteristics will not heighten consumer privacy concerns, thereby increasing the impact of personalized AI advertising.

Interest in metaverse-based NFTs is growing rapidly. Therefore, NFT fashion marketing is increasing in fashion-leading luxury brands. This study provides a deep understanding by analyzing NFT cases of luxury brands through the typology of NFT fashion. Based on the ternary model of stimulants and brand attitudes through case analysis, in-depth interviews are conducted targeting experts in the fashion industry. Through this, this study aims to investigate the brand attitude toward NFT fashion of luxury brands. As a result of the analysis, NFT fashion marketing of luxury brands creates an immersive consumer experience and increases participation in raising brand value for young consumers. Contribute to brand favorability by responding quickly to market changes. This study provides theoretical implications and marketing strategy directions for NFTs in the context of luxury brands.

Research in entrepreneurial marketing (EM) has put considerable effort into identifying various factors associated with entrepreneurial success, including skills and competences of prospective entrepreneurs. At the same time, little consensus exists regarding the relative importance of particular marketing skills. Moreover, the literature to date does not outline any essential marketing-related competencies needed for nascent entrepreneurs. Our study looks to identify specific marketing competencies relevant to entrepreneurial context. A three-stage mixed-methodology approach to data collection is deployed. Qualitative documentary analysis and exploratory interviews provide preliminary findings and guide the design of a subsequent quantitative survey of UK entrepreneurs, resulting in insights into the most beneficial marketing competencies for entrepreneurship. Further, these insights are used to equip educators with improved practice of developing marketing practice for future entrepreneurs. This research is expected to advance the understanding of nascent entrepreneurship research, practice and pedagogy within EM field.

The aspiration of entrepreneurs to extensively grow their firms has been found to make stronger contribution to economic growth than the entrepreneurship rate in general. Formal and informal institutions shape the business environments in which companies are operating. Thus, they affect entrepreneurs’ beliefs about firm growth. However, prior research gives little attention to the interaction effects of formal and informal institutions on entrepreneurial growth aspiration.

Diversity has long been discussed to impact on firm innovation (Arun and Joseph, 2021; Tshetshema and Chan, 2020; Xie et al., 2020; Zhan et al., 2015; Ostergaard et al., 2011). On the one hand, the value of diversity literature suggests that employee’s diverse knowledge is a key driver of competitive advantage at organizational level (Lungeanu and Contractor, 2015; Teece, 2009; Chandler, 2001; Grant, 1996). Employees with diverse knowledge, experience and skills benefit the firms by creating more innovation opportunities via triad-and-error or knowledge combination approaches (Quintana-Garca and Benavides-Velasco, 2008). They extend organizational routines and search activities (Dosi, 1988), and increasing absorptive capacity (Zahra and George, 2002) and organizational learning (van der Vegt and Janssen, 2003). The integration of different resources and knowledge embodied and embedded across the diversified employees within a firm generates new products (Grant, 1996). On the other hand, some empirical studies found that employee diversity result in conflict, division and disbanding of the innovation teams. It creates stereotyping, and in-group/out-of-group and cognitive biases (Williams and O’ Reilly, 1998). For example, gender diversity can create emotional conflicts, reducing team performance (Pelled et al., 1999), and the quality of new ideas may be reduced (Cave and Valentine, 1999). Thus, it is very difficult for firms to manage the employees with diverse cognitive and demographic backgrounds (Joshi and Roh, 2009; Harrison and Klein, 2007; Williams and O’s Reilly, 1998), and eventually get benefits of it (Roberge and Dick, 2010). Employee diversity “appears to be a double-edged sword, increasing the opportunity for creatively as well as the likelihood that group members will be dissatisfied and fail to identify with the group” (Milliken and Martins, 1996, p.403; Zhan et al., 2015; Gonzalez-Moreno et al., 2018).

Improvisation is an important firm competence in product innovation as firms increasingly face inherent uncertainty in new product development (NPD) process and frequent jolts in the external environment. While there is some empirical and conceptual work on the value of improvisation for several new product outcomes, there is lack of empirical research on the antecedents of improvisation in innovation studies. We attempt to address this gap by studying the role of team variation and team convergence traits in the occurrence of improvisation in a sample of 118 NPD teams from manufacturing firms.

The aim of this paper is to conceptualise the internationalisation of food and drink SMEs by developing and evaluating a framework specifically for food and drink SME internationalisation. SME internationalisation is an established area of research that has seen a wealth of research since the seminal work of the Uppsala scholars on the stage approach (cf. Johanson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975; Johanson & Vahlne, 1977). In recent decades SME internationalisation research has focussed on a range of issues that impact on internationalisation, from company characteristics (cf. Jones & Coviello, 2005; Hsieh et al., 2019) entrepreneur characteristics (cf. Reuber & Fischer, 1997; Ramón-Llorens et al., 2017), network connections (cf. Johanson & Mattson, 1988; Johanson & Vahlne, 2009) and determinants to international growth (Katsikeas et al., 1996; Li, 2018). This wealth of research underlines the complexities in understanding and explaining internationalisation. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to understand and evaluate the critical determinants of internationalisation specifically for food and drink SMEs, through an evaluation of relevant theory and the development of a framework for food and drink SME internationalisation. These aims address three gaps in the literature, namely, limited research on specific industries, limited research on food and drink SMEs, and few efforts to conceptualise the SME internationalisation process.

In the wake of the global pandemic of obesity of the young generation in Europe, with varying prevalence depending on culture and television advertising consumption, the role of marketing communications in the process needs to be re-addressed. Hence, the manner in which the food and beverages are promoted to children in various geographical settings becomes crucial concern for not only parents and teachers, but also society as the whole, represented majorly by regulatory bodies. Previous research within the theme of the correlation between TV advertising and youth obesity have focused on the reaction of children and parents to the advertisements targeting children, mostly disregarding the actual content of the ads, the level of their influence on children and specific context in which this interaction occurs.

Today’s society has become increasingly sensitive to humanity’s impact on the environment. Corporations are now measured by their scores pertaining to the environment, sustainability, and governance, or benchmarked for their level of corporate social responsibility. Another dimension of individuals’ environmental practices is purchasing merchandise such as clothing in the secondhand market. Consumers’ intention to buy in the secondhand market is rarely just related to economic concerns regarding such purchases, but rather to a deliberate nod to utilizing products fully rather than wasting them, therefore helping to reduce the negative environmental impact caused by human activities.

The purpose of this research is to better understand what factors influence on households’ waste sorting behavior at source in Mongolia. To accomplish the goal, this study conducted online survey with self-report questionnaire method and the 353 participants’ data were collected through Facebook groups and pages related to house owners’ associations and waste recycling related non-profit organizations. The results show that the underlying factors determining the intention of waste sorting at source are (1) motivational bases such as prior beliefs and social norms; (2) and an ability/knowledge about the waste sorting at source. Furthermore, the intention is crucial predictor of the real behavior of waste sorting at source, but the most important one is an opportunity to do so. The conclusions and the recommendations are provided.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations have become increasingly important for firms' sustainability. Mandates for ESG information disclosure have been implemented in over 25 countries, including the EU, Australia, and China (Krueger et al., 2021). However, little attention has been paid to the drivers and mechanisms of ESG, which remain unclear. The existing literature has mainly focused on the consequences of ESG which shows mixed results and paid little attention to the drivers of ESG (Paolone et al., 2021). The majority of prior research suggests that ESG activities positively affect firms' financial performance (Nekhili et al., 2019). On the other hand, some researchers show a significant and negative relationship between ESG performance and a firm's financial performance (Duque-Grisales and Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021). To fill the research gap, this study attempts to identify 1) firms' internal and external factors that lead to ESG performance as drivers of ESG, and 2) firm performance as the consequences of ESG. The study found that environmental innovation activities, ESG committees, external audits, and ESG compensations related to environmental innovation could be drivers of ESG application and performance, leading to better firm performance. Moreover, the findings indicate that ESG performance positively affects firms' financial and non-financial performance. Understanding the adoption of ESG is crucial for firms since ESG requires a long-term perspective. This study contributes to the literature on ESG and firm sustainability and suggests new directions for managers to implement ESG in their business model. Especially, this study argues that taking a carrot-and-stick approach could lead to better ESG performance and firm performance. Therefore, managers might consider internal policies to encourage ESG that can lead to better firm performance.

In many situations, consumers have to make a sacrifice (e.g., price premium, loss of personal comfort and efficiency) when choosing a green product over its traditional alternative. Utilizing attribution theory, we offer a set of research propositions as an attempt to explain how consumers may rationalize their perceived sacrifice in making green purchases. First, we posit that consumers’ internal attribution (i.e., individual behaviors cause environmental degradation) enhances their green purchase behavior. Second, internal attribution would generate senses of self-efficacy and guilt, which lead to motivations to accept the perceived sacrifice in purchasing green products. Third, when green purchase indicates a significant sacrifice, consumers tend to develop a coping strategy by switching attribution of responsibility to others, and thus the influence of internal attribution on green purchase will be weakened.

Even though more than half a century has passed since the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) emerged, many people still have an interest in CSR. According to a survey, eighty-seven percent of American consumers said they would purchase a product produced by a corporation that supported at least one specific social issue. Also, more than three-quarters (76%) would refuse to buy a product if they found out the company endorsed the issue contrary to their beliefs. These numbers align with consumers’ intent to purchase or boycott based on CSR commitment. Do CSR activities affect sales? Many studies have been conducted to answer this question in the academic field, but the results have not been consistent. Some articles reported that CSR activities positively impact the firm’s various aspects, including financial performance. But other studies reported that the impact of CSR on firms’ performance is unclear or even harmful.

Some digital platforms introduced a novel positive-framing design in the multi-dimensional rating system, which framed the attribute with positive words for consumers to rate. The results from a cross-platform quasi-natural experiment show that the positive-framing design can increase the rating scores compared with the traditional non-positive framing design.

The impact of firms' marketing communication on word of mouth (WOM) has been studied extensively in recent years, with a growing focus on electronic word of mouth (eWOM). The advent of the internet and the participatory web or Web 2.0 has dramatically changed the relationship between marketers and consumers, with consumers playing a more active role. However, there is a gap in understanding this area, including a lack of research on identifying specific groups of consumers that companies should focus on for eWOM marketing. Eye-tracking techniques have been suggested to address this issue, but these methods can be costly and rely on lab-based observations. Analyzing unstructured data from consumer-to-consumer interactions on social media is an underutilized approach in current marketing literature. The authenticity of eWOM is a highly valuable trait, but there can be a tension between commercial and communal norms, even in relatively informal settings like a blogger endorsing a product.

The study aims to explore older consumers’ insights by applying the netnography approach. The posts by corporate in their online community on Facebook were content analysed. Results reveal insight behaviours and classify corporate-generated content typologies, reflecting the motivation stages of older consumers to engage with the online community.