Previous research has compared still images employing the actor’s perspective to those employing the observer’s perspective and found that the former increases service evaluations if the consumers are promotion-focused, whereas the latter increases service evaluations if the consumers are prevention-focused. The research compares three kinds of vlogs, i.e., vlogs employing the actor’s perspective, vlogs employing the observer’s perspective without the actor’s face, and vlogs employing the observer’s perspective with the actor’s face. The results show that the highest service evaluations are induced by the actor’s perspective in case of promotion-focused consumers, whereas they are induced by the observer’s perspective without the actor’s face in case of prevention-focused consumers.

In this research, we investigate the effectiveness of bleed brand logos for the metaverse shopping travelers from the viewpoint of a container metaphor. Bleed is a technique that enlarges parts of a logo while omitting others. Many firms use a bleed logo to improve visibility and allow the metaverse shopping travelers to retrieve the brand-related information quickly. Regarding the issue, we conducted three studies and found that in a metaverse space not filled with other traveler avatars, travelers would feel that the environment is in their control, and they could enjoy the experience. In this instance, firms could earn a high brand evaluation with a high bleed logo. However, when the metaverse space is crowded with other traveler avatars and, thus, travelers experience negative feelings brought up by their sense of being out of control, a high bleed logo results in their low evaluations of the brand because shopping travelers feel like some contents in the logo are out of the frame.

Previous research has found that taking photos during travel for the purpose of sharing with others via SNS (social networking sites) induces self-presentational concerns, which can decrease engagement and enjoyment of the experience. However, the previous studies have defined travel engagement and enjoyment too narrowly and failed to consider the heterogeneity in terms of the importance of photo-taking. While some travelers are reluctant photo takers and regard taking photos as a bother, others place more importance on photo-taking than sightseeing, and may therefore find it difficult to enjoy the travel experience without taking photos. To address these deficiencies, we modeled not only negative, but also positive relationships between photo-taking and travel engagement and enjoyment. The results showed that when taking photos, travelers who regard photo-taking as important were more engaged in the experience and enjoyed it more than travelers who regarded photo-taking as less important. Thus, this study provides a theoretical contribution to research on travel engagement.

Previous research has suggested that if WOM (word-of-mouth) receivers are exposed to a video message in which a person tell that he/she had great effort to earn money and purchase a desirable product, they feel benignly envious and increase WTP (willingness-to-pay) for the recommended product; if they are exposed to another message in which a person tell that he had no effort to earn money and purchase the product, they feel maliciously envious and increase WTP for a related, but different, product. However, it may not be true in the context of e-WOM (electronic word-of-mouth) through SNS (social networking sites). This research conducted three laboratory experiments in the context of e-WOM, unlike the context of face-to-face WOM. The results showed that: (1) receivers were less likely to feel maliciously envious to friends and increase WTP for the products; (2) receivers were less likely to feel maliciously envious if they are exposed to the message as a tool for marketing; and (3) receivers were less likely to avoid the recommended product even though they feel maliciously envious if they have any other measures of retaliation. With these findings, this research contributes to a progress in the field of e-WOM through SNS.

Consumers tend to anthropomorphize brands and treat products under the anthropomorphized brands as if they were human beings. Previous research has pointed out that there could be two kinds of anthropomorphized brands, i.e., servant and partner brands and claimed that typical consumers (non-materialists) prefer brands-as-partner, whereas materialists prefer brands-as-servant. However, there is room for improvement: (1) Previous studies have examined only brands-as-servant and brands-as-partner and brands-as-master have been ignored; and (2) they have regarded materialists as a unidimensional construct, though it can be divided into instrumental and terminal materialists. Thus, we conducted multiple comparison tests among the three kinds of anthropomorphized brands with a dataset of three kinds of consumers. The results showed that non-materialists, instrumental materialists, and terminal materialists prefer, brands-as-partner, brands-as-servant, and brands-as-master, respectively.

Some clothing manufacturers and retailers use attractive endorsers on their advertising. However, according to recent research, consumers with low body esteem evaluate the clothing items more negatively when they try them on in the fitting room and find that they are inferior to the attractive advertising endorser wearing the same items (Dahl, Argo, & Morales, 2012). Is it always true? Should clothing companies not use attractive endorsers? When Dahl, et al. (2012) emphasized the negative impact of an attractive endorser and discussed body esteem, they implicitly assumed body-related consumption, in which consumers wear clothing items to enrich their physical appearance. However, other research on fashion has suggested that consumers often wear clothing items for self-expression (e.g., Piacentiti & Malier, 2004). Luxury fashion brands have been particularly regarded as symbols of wealth, so consumers wear luxury fashion clothing items to show off their high status (Shavitt, 1989; Wilcox, Kim & Sen, 2009). Thus, status-related consumption should be considered in addition to body-related consumption. Considering status-related consumption, this research introduces another kind of self-esteem, i.e., status esteem, which refers to how confident consumers are in their status. Assuming that there are two types of self-esteem, body esteem (or external esteem) and status esteem (or internal esteem), both of which are related to clothing, we hypothesize that consumers low in status esteem will evaluate a status-related product more positively than consumers high in status esteem when their consumption aligns (vs. when it does not align) with an attractive endorser even though they are low in body esteem. To test the hypothesis, we conducted three laboratory experiments. The result of multiple regression analysis showed that our hypothesis was supported. By suggesting that even consumers with low body and status esteem can evaluate status-related product positively, when finding that they are inferior to the advertising endorser in terms of body, this research expands our understanding on how attractive advertising endorsers affect consumer evaluation of clothing items focusing on two kinds of selfesteem, body and status esteem.

In the context of the consumption of luxury goods, WOM generation seems to be an important way for individuals to express their identity. It has long been implied that luxury goods should be “conspicuous” because, generally, individuals are motivated to consume particular goods to communicate their social identity (cf. Belk, 1988; Berger & Health 2007). However, once individuals send positive messages about a luxury good, that item may be adopted by others whom they dislike. Thus, individuals may use moderation in generating positive WOM and prevent use of their favorite luxury brands from trickling down (Berger & Ward, 2010). In this regard, recent research has examined the effects of need-for-uniqueness (NFU) on consumers’ intention to generate word-of-mouth (WOM) and suggested that high-NFU consumers are unwilling to generate (positive) WOM because WOM results in the adoption of the product and would harm the consumers’ unique image (Cheema & Kaikati, 2010). However, they have focused on only one (avoidance-of-similarity) of the three types of NFU: avoidance of similarity (AS), unpopular choice counter-conformity (UCC), and creative choice counter-conformity (CCC) (Tian, Bearden, & Hunter, 2001). The purpose of this study is to examine how different types of NFU affect consumers’ willingness to generate WOM, considering the moderating role of product domain in the relationship between NFU and WOM. We examined the effects of types of NFU and product domain on positive WOM generation using a 3 (WOM sender type: high-AS/high-UCC/high-CCC consumers) × 2 (product domain: more identity-relevant, luxury vs. less identity-relevant, ordinary goods) between-subjects experimental design. The participants were 80 university students. We selected a high-quality coat as a luxury item and a high-end flash drive as an ordinary product. The former was represented as more identity-related than the latter. The results of ANOVA showed that three types of NFU have different effects on consumer’ willingness to generate positive WOM. High-AS consumers, as well as high-UCC consumers, are more unwilling to generate positive WOM, whereas high-CCC consumers are more willing to generate WOM; moreover, these effects are more pronounced when the consumers were referencing a more identity-relevant, luxury good. The implications of this study may help firms understand the factors that elicit or prevent WOM generation.

With the advent of the Internet in the United States, Japan, and other developed countries, electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) consumer reviews have come into vogue. While most studies have shown that negative e-WOM has negative effects on consumer attitude, some recent studies implied that the existence of negative e-WOM on a single website can enhance consumer attitude toward the website. However, no research has not identified the conditions for the positive effects of negative e-WOM. Thus, we investigate the moderating effects of the types of receivers, reviews, and products. Also, we investigate the moderating effects of the order of positive and negative e-WOM reviews posted in a single website. The effects of four factors are investigated —product characteristic (utilitarian vs. hedonic), review characteristic (attribute- vs. benefit-centric), receiver characteristic (expert vs. novice), and the orders of negative e-WOM (top vs. bottom) when the ratios of positive to negative e-WOM reviews are 10:0, 8:2, and 6:4. A laboratory experiment with virtual e-WOM sites is utilized. Four hundred twenty students participate in the experiment. All hypotheses are supported in at least 5% levels. The results of ANOVA show that negative e-WOM has positive effects on consumer attitudes towards products in the case of hedonic products and expert consumers reading attribute-centric review. Moreover, negative e-WOM has a greater positive effect when it is at the top of the website as opposed to at the bottom. This study contributes to our current understanding of e-WOM effects on consumer behavior.

Japanese animation, called anime, has long been regarded as a niche culture reserved for ‘nerds’ (otaku) in Japan. The word otaku refers to individuals who spend most of their time alone at home watching anime, reading comics (manga) and/or playing video games. However, in recent years, otaku, or anime viewers, have changed their behavioral patterns, resulting in a new transcultural movement. That peculiar phenomenon is known as anime pilgrimage, which involves traveling to locations that resemble particular scenes in anime pieces, even though the locations themselves may be ordinary places. Research on ordinary tourism has focused mainly on destination attributes as determinants of visit intention/destination loyalty. Research on film tourism places additional emphasis on the role of film involvement. We focus here on social influences. The results of structured regression analyses show that our new models were superior to previous models that omitted investigation of social influences. Furthermore, the results show that though, during the pre-trip period “within home”, anime nerds may expect that they will interact primarily with other nerds, they enjoy interactions with the local people while traveling. Such transcultural experiences result in higher destination loyalty during the post-trip period “beyond home”.

This study investigated the impacts of two different health claim regulatory systems, FoSHU (Foods for Specified Health Uses) and FFC (Foods with Function Claims) systems, in Japan on consumer evaluations of food products in terms of healthfulness. The FoSHU system was introduced in 1991 as an individual product approval system to allow product-specific health claims, while the FFC system was introduced lately in 2015 as a notification system like NLEA (Nutrition Labeling and Education Act) in the US. The latter system seems advantageous over the former in terms of shortening the product development period. However, the FoSHU system awards brand with a symbolic logo designed for FoSHU foods, whereas the FFC system does not. Which system leads to higher consumers’ healthfulness perceptions? The results of ANOVA showed that, if the health functions of the food product are not attributed to the product category, but to a specific food product brand, health claims have a strong impact on healthfulness. In contrast, if the health functions are attributed to the entire product category, health claims do not have a strong impact on healthfulness perception. In the latter cases, the FoSHU symbolic logo helps consumers to identify functional foods. Thus, in this study, it is suggested that, in Japan, the new US style health claim regulatory system is affective in the limited product categories. Public policy makers should recognize the important role of the symbolic logo for the previous system and consider introducing another logo to the new system.

Customization systems have incarnated the notion of co-creation and provided a wide variety of customized products which fit individual customers’ needs. However, most customized fashion items are no more than modified products based upon existing products and, therefore, satisfy only expressed needs. In contrast, mass-production systems can offer more innovative fashion items satisfying latent needs, though they may not fit individual needs in detail. To investigate the relationship between the type of market orientation (responsive vs. proactive market orientation) and the type of production system (mass-production vs. customization systems), we conduct a consumer survey regarding four types of fashion items (sneakers, business shirts, belts, and underwear). The results of ANOVA showed that fashion categories in which customers have the needs for responsive market orientation have much potential for developing customized products, whereas fashion categories in which customers have the needs for responsive market orientation have less potential for providing customized products. The results also showed that fashion categories in which customers have the needs for proactive market orientation have much potential for providing new, innovative (mass-produced) products, whereas fashion categories in which consumers have proactive market orientation have less potential for providing new, innovative (mass-produced) products. Firms should emphasize on the responsive market orientation if their customers perceive much potential for developing a customization system in the category; firms should emphasize on the proactive market orientation if customers perceive much potential for offering new, innovative products under the previous mass-production system. If there are potentials for developing both innovative mass-produced products and customized products, firms need ambidextrous market orientation.

Informative messages on product packages—especially on packages of food products—should be credible. Otherwise, the firm might experience a serious fall in brand equity. However, because nutrition intake and health promotion are “credence attributes”, it isdifficult for consumers to evaluate them. Moreover, if nutrition message or health claims were false or puffery, consumers might suffer a serious health damage. Regarding the problems, in 1991, Japanese Government took the initiative in the world by introducing the FoSHU (Foods for Specified Health Uses) system—a license system in which the government tries to control all health claims on packages of food products launched in the country. It should be noted that there are two factors which can be appeared on packages only with the permission of Japanese Government. One is health claims, of course, and the other is the “FoSHU seal”—a symbolic mark designed for FoSHU foods. Interestingly, these two licensed factors may have different effects on perceived product value in health. In this research, we conducted two studies to examine the difference of the effects on product value in health. The results showed that consumer evaluations of food products are affected by the FoSHU seal. The FoSHU seal has a strong signaling effects on evaluations of the particular food products for specified health uses. On the other hand, unlike the FoSHU seal, approved health claims themselves have no main effects on evaluations of the FoSHU products. This implies that health claims have positive external effects on evaluations of non-FoSHU products in the same category. The results showed that the external effects can be inhabited by product differentiation through the FoSHU seal and./or packaging.