Last-mile delivery is the quintessential example of a logistics sector that is ripe for innovation, owing to a powerful confluence in the advancement of technologies and consumption models. Compared to the conventional delivery mode, the delivery robot offers countless advantages, including maintaining social distancing, improving health safety, protecting the environment, and reducing shipping costs and delivery times. Considering the high investments associated with developing and introducing delivery robots, a better understanding is needed of the consumers’ perceptions and willingness to guide practitioners on whether it is worth starting/continuing investing in such innovation. For this reason, this study addresses the following research questions: 1) What are the relevant characteristics of robot delivery and how do consumers cognitively and affectively respond to these characteristics? 2) What are the processes that form consumers’ willingness to reuse the delivery robot and spread the word about it (i.e., WOM)? Drawing on the technology-task fit model, the present study provides three interesting theoretical insights in relation to the post-adoption behaviour on delivery robots. In the first part, the findings enrich the literature by revealing that consumers’ evaluation of the perceived fit of using delivery robots are based on a combination of internal, external and conditional factors. This study found that hedonic motivations, perceived anthropomorphism and robotic service quality exhibited a positive influence on perceived task-technology fit. This indicates that, being able to experience a sense of fun or enjoyment when using novel technologies (e.g., robot services) will encourage future behaviour and push individuals to continue exploring the benefits of this innovation. Also, consumers tend to attribute the human-like robots as more capable and reliable as it gives the feeling that they are interacting with a social entity. The findings also value to current scarcity research and demonstrate the positive influence of service quality in matching the performance and functionality of delivery robots. In the second part, the empirical findings confirm the positive influence of perceived task-technology fit on trust and value-in-use in the emerging context of delivery robots. In the last part, this research goes further, revealing the indirect link between perceived task-technology fit and post-adoption behaviour. In line with consumer behaviour literature that suggests the individual will undergo a psychological state (or mental evaluation) in goal-oriented behavior, this research deepens our understanding of the mechanisms involved in this relationship. It reveals that trust and value-in-use acted as the missing links in bridging the associations through which perceived task-technology fit influences service reuse likelihood and positive word-of-mouth.

In recent years, the trend of customer demand and personalization has become more and more obvious. The previous innovation model can no longer meet the diversified needs of consumers. Therefore, firms vigorously develop open innovation to promote internal and external innovation (von Hippel, 1988). With the rapid development of AI technology, open innovation communities have more interactions with the users. Organizations continue to rely on their open innovation community to collect innovative ideas from non-professional customers and then integrate them into their new product development process to produce innovative products that are more in line with customer preferences (Bayus, 2013). At present, the research on user design focuses on how to increase user design implementation and the idea popularity (Yang et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2022). Few studies discussed how to motivate consumers to participate in innovative content output from the source. In addition, academic research on user design is mostly limited to management comments, lacking in-depth empirical research (Franke et al. 2008). Previous studies have proved that the number of leading users in the open innovation community is far less than that of non-leading users (Hofstetter et al., 2018), so it is very necessary to improve the willingness of users to participate in community creative activities. With the vigorous development of the new technology, it is an urgent problem to be solved to encourage users to participate in innovation activities and improve the innovation performance of firms (Chesbrough, 2012). Today, firms pay more and more attention on the implementation of AI technology. With AI and user design as the research background, “AI recommendation” and “willingness to design” as the key variables, and the “S-O-R model” and “Self-determination Theory” as the basis, this paper deeply explores whether AI recommendation can be used as a factor affecting user’s participation in design activities from the perspective of users, focusing on the intermediary role of user’s inspiration, competency and self-expression. It also puts forward that product involvement and aesthetic experience openness (Donghwy and Youn, 2018) are the boundary conditions that affect user’s willingness to participate in design. The results show that user’s willingness to participate in design is higher when providing AI recommedation, and the sense of inspiration, competence and self-expression play a mediating role in it. Furthermore, the results show that when product involvement is high, users are more willing to participate in design. Similarly, users with a high degree of aesthetic experience openness are more willing to participate in design activities. This study enriches the theory of enterprise community management, promote the internal information flow of the open innovation community, and provide theoretical guidance and reference for firms to optimize the new product design process.

This study proposes a conceptual model to investigate consumers' behavioral intention to use m-payment based on social cognitive theory and the value-based adoption model. The model compares the behaviors of two consumer cohorts in Thailand, generation X and Z.

Live streaming commerce is a novel form of an e-commerce platform, which works by establishing a temporary virtual community shared by streamers and customers in real time. With the popularity of live streaming shopping, many e-retailers adopted this new platform to promote their products in an effort to boost their sales volume. On the basis of signalling theory and social exchange theory (SET), this study proposes a research model to examine the informational signals and customer-streamer exchanges that two parties shared using live streaming platform. An online survey with 735 samples was collected through a professional online survey service platform (i.e., Wenjuanxing) to measure our model. Our results indicate that both service-centred signal (interaction quality) and product-centred signal (streamer credibility) have significant positive influences on customer evaluation of information quality. The results also denote that the received information quality acts as a significant predictor of customer engagement and buying tendency. Moreover, the results confirm the mediation role of customer engagement in predicting impulsive buying tendency, and the moderation effects of guanxi orientation on customer engagement and impulsive buying tendency. By synthesizing the preceding findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the context of live streaming commerce.

Existing studies report that social media influencers’ number of followers is a determinant of their influence. However, not every consumer follows an influencer with a high number of followers. Therefore, differences in individual characteristics should be considered in the effectiveness of influencer marketing. This study draws on the cultural dimensional theory to examine the moderating role of consumers’ cultural values at the individual level in the effects of social media influencers with many followers. The results show that the relationship between social media influencer follower count and brand reputation depends on the cultural values of individual consumers. This study makes certain contributtions to the advancement of research on influencer marketing and cultural values by identifying the different impact of follower account of social media influencers with many influencers.

This study aims to empirically investigate how corporate strategy mitigates consumer boycotts caused by animosity toward economic sanction. First, the study focuses on the cross-culture emotions (i.e., animosity and affinity) and explores the direct and indirect effect of animosity toward economic sanction on boycott attitude (via consumer affinity). Additionally, it focuses on the moderating effect of brand strength and corporate social contribution on boycott attitude. We conduct a longitudinal analysis of boycotts by South Koreans on the Japanese products, which started in South Korea in 2019; and additionally, we employ PROCESS macro to test the moderated mediation hypothesis, using the data collected from South Korea in 2020 and 2021. Our findings reveal that the data collected in 2020 and in 2021 have the same implications. The main findings are as follows. First, while animosity toward economic sanction directly increases boycott attitude, it also indirectly increases boycott attitude via consumer affinity. Second, the assumption that both brand strength and corporate social contribution weaken the positive and direct effects of animosity toward economic sanction on boycott attitude was not supported. Third, we find that corporate social contribution weakens the positive and indirect effect of animosity toward economic sanction on boycott attitude. However, unlike our prediction, brand strength strengthens the positive and indirect effects of animosity to economic sanction on boycott attitude. The three key theoretical implications are as follows. First, while many studies have examined the role of animosity as a cause of boycott, only a few studies have simultaneously addressed the conflicting emotions of affinity (Kim, Yan, Kim, Terasaki, & Furukawa, 2022). This study extends boycott research by exploring the relationship between animosity and boycott attitudes by considering the mediating effect of affinity. Second, to our best knowledge, only a few boycott studies have explored corporate strategies that adequately respond unanticipated country boycotts where the companies are not directly associated with the causes or motives of such boycotts (Kim & Kinoshita, 2023). This study extends boycott research by investigating brand strength and corporate social contribution as corporate strategies in the context of consumer boycotts. Third, although it is known that consumer boycotts change with time, only a few boycott studies are based on longitudinal analyses (Ettenson & Klein, 2005); hence, this study examines consumer boycotts longitudinally to improve the generalization of our findings. Our findings also present some managerial implications for global companies facing unexpected country boycotts by local consumers. When boycotts are caused by economic sanctions between countries, brand strength exerts a two-sided effect. Regarding consumer sentiment, the higher the brand strength, the higher the affinity for the country represented by the brand, and vice versa; however, consumers may also choose to boycott a brand with high strength. Consumers may feel angry and engage in boycotts when they feel betrayed by a brand with strong brand strength. However, corporate social contribution reinforces a sense of closeness in the country it presents and contributes toward mitigating the boycott attitude; this is because consumers consider their corporate social contribution as a beneficial activity for their country. Therefore, global companies that expand overseas should not only use their brand strength, but also engage in activities that are beneficial to the country and enhance the familiarity of the consumers of the country to develop a sense of cultural affinity. In addition, this study also has implications for policymakers. Economic sanctions against a specific country not only lower consumers’ affinity, but also leave a negative impact on the global companies with high brand strength. Therefore, policymakers must proceed with caution when they make an economic sanction for a certain country.

The E-commerce market continues to grow in recent years, many companies have generated customer satisfaction by improving the quality of fulfilment, but the effects needed further investigation. Customer satisfaction research in e-commerce is one of the major areas of e-commerce research. Previous studies have investigated customer satisfaction factors in e-commerce from the perspective of e-SERVQUAL (e-service quality). Zeithaml et al. (2000) investigated that fulfilment has a significant impact on customer satisfaction in e-commerce. China's e-commerce market is the largest in the world at $2,879 billion and accounts for the largest share of the total retail market worldwide at 50.4%. This research focused on China’s e-commerce market.

We propose a sales prediction model based on the number of new members, online advertising, and consumer reviews for a short period. Considering purchase behaviors of new and existing members, we predict reliable sales amounts, which can be monthly updated. Our study provides digital marketers with a feasible prediction approach.

The study investigates how the presence of blockchain technology affects social fairness and selfish monetary decisions. Based on the assumption that blockchain technology enhances transparency and traceability in social exchanges, the study predicts that individuals will make less selfish decisions when blockchain is present. To test these predictions, the study conducted three experiments using a modified version of the dictator game scenario where participants decide how to divide a sum of money among themselves. In Study 1, the results show that individuals took less money for themselves and allocated more to the third player when blockchain technology was present, and the importance of social fairness was higher under the blockchain-presence condition. The mediation analysis indicates that the increase in social fairness mediates the effect of blockchain technology on monetary decisions. Study 2 replicated Study 1 with real monetary incentives. The results showed that individuals took less money for themselves only under the blockchain-image condition, and the importance of social fairness was higher only under the blockchain-image condition. Study 3 examined the moderating effect of the first player's allocation on participants' behavior under the presence or absence of blockchain technology. The study provides empirical evidence that blockchain technology can positively influence social fairness and reduce selfish monetary decisions. The findings have implications for policymakers and blockchain developers to design and implement blockchain systems that promote transparency and traceability in social exchanges, thereby enhancing social fairness.

The economic recession and changes in purchasing habits of young adults (aged 18–25) has led to a decline in the sales of Japanese fashion apparel. This younger generation’s choice of fashion items is primarily based on price. They are not devoted to a favourite brand with a frequent purchase history. Thus, developing customer loyalty and strengthening brand value are essential for the fashion industry. This study explores the improvement in fashion companies’ financial performance (FP) through young generation’s behavioural brand loyalty (BBL) from two aspects: social media brand engagement (BE) and loyalty programmes (LPs). This study listed 14 popular Japanese fashion brands which belonged to 14 publicly traded companies in Japan. Further, we surveyed 183 consumers about their brand related behaviours. The findings reveal the positive and negative effects of the same variable (BE and LPs) on the outcome (short- and long-term FP), indicating that not all activities related to BE and LPs boost FP. FP is influenced by various combinations of these causal factors and complex situations, such as consumers’ demographics and shopping characteristics. The results deepen our understanding of brand loyalty formation and the linkage among BE, LPs, and FP in a realistic marketplace, and offer multiple practical solutions to achieve high levels of short- and long-term FP by targeting the right consumers based on their specific characteristics.

Metaverse blends the physical and virtual worlds, transforming the customer's shopping experience. This study aims to identify the psychological mechanism in the metaverse environment and the relationship between metaverse experience and consumer happiness. To identify metaverse experiences, both behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies were conducted. In a behavioral study, we found that consumers' happiness increased when participants were in an immersive metaverse space. In the fMRI study, we found greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and lateral occipital cortex (LOC) regions in the high level of the immersive metaverse and found a positive relationship with consumers' happiness. This paper is the first attempt in marketing to provide an integrative brain map for the metaverse experience. This brain map helps marketers better understand the consumer experience. This study suggests that only in the immersive metaverse space where virtual and physical experiences interact can consumers become one with the virtual space and maximize customer experience values.

Intelligent machines (e.g., artificial intelligence, algorithms, and robotics) with the capability to make decisions autonomously either augment or substitute human employees due to rapid evolution in technology (Man Tang et al., 2022; Larivière, et al., 2017). Therefore, studies have shown that in consumer services, the role of intelligent machines falls into two categories: augmentation or substitution of human employees (McLeay et al., 2021; Larivière, et al., 2017). Specifically, human employee augmentation means that the role of intelligent machines is to assist and complement human employee, with the two used together to produce better outcomes (Larivière, et al., 2017). For example, in a retail bank in Japan, collaborative robots work side by side with bank employees to serve customers (Marinova et al., 2017); IBM’s Watson can assist doctors with diagnosis (Larivière, et al., 2017). Human employee substitution reflects the role of intelligent machines to replace human workers (McLeay et al., 2021). For example, restaurants such as Spyce, where robots are replacing human employees to take orders for customers (Wang et al., 2022). However, there are still a lot of unexplored aspects concerning consumers’ specific reactions toward this new form of a service provider. The study examines customers responses when human employees are augmented or substituted by intelligent machines, including responses that promote beneficial consumption (e.g., join a health program) and those that promote harmful consumption (e.g., pursue high return-risk offerings, enhance preferences for risk-taking behavior). In this article, we attempt to answer the following questions:

Organizations are increasingly implementing recommendation systems on their websites. A growing body of research is focusing on how the characteristics of online message content affect consumers’ consumption intentions, taking into account consumers’ static personal information, such as demographics. However, limited research has explored how the social context of consumers and online message content characteristics can affect the consumers’ intention to consume events. To address this gap, the present study investigates the joint effects of consumers' social context and arousal potential cues on their intention to attend cultural events. Based on the Target-arousal level theory, we suggest that people who anticipate solo consumption (i.e., accompanied by no one) will tend to attend cultural events promoted by a low arousal potential cue ("A calming experience."), while those who anticipate social consumption (i.e., accompanied by one or more companions) will tend to attend cultural events promoted by a high arousal potential cue ("An exciting experience”). Furthermore, we argue that anticipated enjoyment will mediate this relationship. The joint impact of the social context and arousal potential cues of a cultural event on consumers' intention to attend, as well as the mediating role of anticipated enjoyment, were demonstrated through two studies. The use of message cues and personalized recommendation algorithms as tools to target consumers and improve attendance rates is discussed. References available upon request.

Emojis have become an important element in human-chatbot interaction to communicate emotion. In addition to facilitating emotional communication, emojis are able to engage consumers, enhance relationship strength and influence consumer behavioural intention. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how the use of emojis affects customer-chatbot rapport and purchase intention in the consumption context.

Despite both travel and work being vital for human functioning, inconsistent views on whether they’re opposing domains, a so-called work-leisure conflict, are documented in tourism and management literature. For example, some researchers argued that leisure activities may damage people’s job performance based on the compensatory reasoning in the short run (e.g., consume time and vigor), while others, in contrast, proposed that leisure and travel may contribute to one’s work efficiency due to recovering from stress, self-development, and so forth. To add more understanding to this dilemma, this research proposes a novel role that tourism memory plays in enhancing people’s creativity at the individual level, a key factor in individual and organizational success. Thus, the proposed effect illustrates that travel might be conducive to job performance in the long run.

The hospitality industry is widely using customer data to develop successful personalized marketing communication. However, in the event of information leakage, personalized advertising may escalate customers’ privacy distress. Building on Conservation of Resources theory, this study proposes three dimensions for privacy threats that impact the relationship between personalized hospitality advertising and consumer responses. Findings from six experiments across high and low involvement hospitality products demonstrate diverging effects of personalized advertising depending on the type of privacy threat communicated. Results further indicate that customers’ psychological comfort mediates the relationship between high-personalized advertising and the customer response to the advertising when privacy threat is high. Additionally, when the perceived severity and distance of the announced privacy threat are high and low respectively, rational appeals generate higher levels of psychological comfort, while the same happens for emotional appeals when the perceived scope of the threat is high. The study concludes with value-adding theoretical and managerial implications for the hospitality industry.

The hotel industry is facing a complex business environment due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing competition. The ability to build resilience in adverse conditions is key to the survival and sustained growth of hotel enterprises. Against this backdrop, as a Chinese domestic hotel group, Huazhu Group actively embraces digital technology and takes the lead in developing and adopting digital measures such as hotel smart robots and digital platforms to effectively improve work efficiency, reduce employee burden, manage supplier and owner relationships, and achieve digital transformation.However, the issue of how digitalization enables hotels to form resilience, the process and mechanism of empowerment, and the dimensions of hotel enterprise resilience have not been explored in detail from a theoretical perspective. Therefore, this study adopts an inductive qualitative research method and a single-case study approach, selecting Huazhu Group's subsidiary hotels as the research objects. The aim is to explore the practical aspects of digital empowerment and construct a framework for achieving hotel enterprise resilience through digital empowerment.

As digital technology becomes more prevalent in today’s business environment and interest in digital trust rises, restaurants need to identify whether and how their mobile apps enhance the customer experience, and what features of the apps can strengthen customers’ attachment to them. However, few studies have examined the role of restaurant mobile apps as a catalyst for building customer loyalty. Considering restaurant mobile apps as a means to build a trustworthy relationship between customers and restaurants, this study develops and validates a research framework to measure digital trust between restaurants and customers through restaurant mobile apps. Specifically, due to the lack of measurement constructs for digital trust, a reliable and valid set of measurements that can explain digital trust in relation to restaurant mobile apps is developed and the effects of mobile apps’ digital trust on customers’ trust in a restaurant brand, overall experience, and their continued use intention are assessed.

The tourism industry specifically experienced distinct failing revenues and was an economic sector among those most rigorously influenced by the pandemic. In the gradual recovery period after the pandemic, the technology implementation in travel has been a great achievement for travel companies. This study is based on a systematic literature review to examine the ability of Virtual Reality (VR) and Geographic information systems (GIS) to serve as a facilitator of sustainable tourism development goals. The potential impact of VR and GIS within tourism will bolster the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and will be conceptualized. The use of these technologies in connection to the SDGs can associate with SDG No. 8, SDG No.9, SDG No.11, and SDG No. 13, which are related to "decent work and economic growth", "industry, innovation, and infrastructure", "sustainable cities and communities", and "climate action."

This research intends to examine whether these types of data – behavioral versus social networking data – affect consumer response to personalized ads. With the advancement in technology, marketers have access to various types of personal data, including their online/offline behaviors and social networking activities, and use those data to retarget consumers. Moreover, this research examines the moderating role of SNS privacy concerns on consumer response to different types of retargeted ads. The findings of this research may offer theoretical and practical implications to understand consumers' responses to retargeted ads that use social networking information.