Amorphous molybdenum sulfide ( MoSx) has been regarded as a promising hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst due to its mild preparation conditions and low-cost precursor materials. In this work, we report a simple strategy combining the growth of amorphous MoSx on the surface of metal organic frameworks (ZIF-67) and annealing treatment to prepare Co-doped MoSx nanopolyhedrons (denoted as CoMoSx NPs). The CoMoSx NPs exhibit excellent HER activity in acid condition with an overpotential of 188 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm− 2 (η10), and a relatively stable overpotential after 2000 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles testing. The excellent HER performance of the CoMoSx NPs can be attributed to the doping of Co element adjust the electronic structure and increase the conductivity of catalyst, and the nanopolyhedrons structure which can expose more active sites for HER electrocatalytic. This study offers a low-cost and simple strategy to prepare high-activity HER catalyst, which holds great promises in developing advanced electrocatalysts for energy storage.

This study aims to integrate the protection motivation theory (PMT) model and attitude to explore the factors influencing consumers’ usage behavior toward online food delivery platform services (OFDPSs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The utilitarian value and hedonic value of OFDPSs, which may influence consumers’ attitude, were also included in the integrated research model. This study collected a total of 384 participants who are with experience in using OFDPSs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan for analysis

Many companies seek to position their brands as global players to benefit from favorable quality and prestige inferences. Yet, recent research calls into question whether global brand positioning strategies are invariably beneficial. In many Western markets, the political environment becomes increasingly tense, with nationalism and ethnocentrism on the rise. Against this background, we seek to answer the question: How does political ideology influence the effectiveness of global brand positioning strategies? Do global brand positioning strategies create more value in liberal or conservative environments?

Given the conundrum of moral washing in CSR communication, this research examines the effectiveness of narrative richness using storytelling in marketing. In the process, the moderating role of moral imagination is further explored. An online experiment with a 2 (Narrative Richness: High vs. Low) x 2 (Moral Imagination: High vs. Low) between-subjects factorial design was conducted with two well-known companies (Shell vs. Facebook) suffered from a reputation crisis as the target brands. The results (N = 287) showed that the effects of narrative richness on consumer responses, including positive emotion, negative emotion, and behavioral intention, were significant for Facebook whereas its effect on positive emotion was significant for Shell. Most importantly, the two-way interaction between narrative richness and moral imagination on attitude toward the brand was significant for Shell, indicating that the effect of narrative richness on attitude toward the brand was augmented by moral imagination. In other words, consumers with high moral imagination view narrative-rich messages with virtuous thoughts to figure out the conundrum of CSR communication for the company, and vice versa. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

In recent years E-commerce platforms recommend some products for consumers based on their shopping history and user persona. However, sometimes, unfamiliar products or styles would be recommended to consumers unintentionally or intentionally. Curiosity drives consumers to try but this idea would be declined with the consideration of product fit uncertainty. Augmented Reality (AR) is the integration of digital information with the user‘s environment in real-time (Hilken et al. 2018), it can deal with issues related to physical apprehension that hinder consumers’ online shopping (i.e, clothes, cosmetics), especially for the unfamiliar style. This study aims to investigate whether AR technology could improve consumers' purchase likelihood. Augmented Reality (AR) can enhance customer experiences in a multichannel environment (Hilken et al. 2017). AR Integrates online experiences into the offline experience (Hilken et al. 2018), such as virtual try-on or magic mirrors. Customers often find it difficult to imagine how firms’ products and services fit them personally or fit with their environment (Hilken et al. 2018). Drawn on AR, consumers can easily evaluate the fitness between themselves and the selected products. Prior studies have explored the different underlying processes of why AR technology could improve consumer purchase intention and customer experience. For instance, according to the situated cognition theory, AR creates a feeling of spatial presence (Hilken et al. 2017). The usage of AR benefits mental imagery, improving decision comfort (Heller et al. 2019). AR can compensate for consumers’ need for touch and offer hedonic and/or utilitarian benefits (Gatter et al. 2022). Based on media richness theory, AR offers more information for customers (Hoffmann et al. 2022), which represents a fitting concept for customers to evaluate the product (Javornik 2016).

With the development of social media, most people will use social media to watch the videos of digital influencers to get spiritual comfort, and they will think that digital influencers are like friends who are connected with their own lives. However, most of the previous studies focused on the influence of digital influencers on followers’ behavioral intentions (e.g. loyalty, and purchase intention). They rarely discussed the online social well-being obtained by followers after watching digital influencers' posts. Therefore, this study integrates the attributes of followers (loneliness, low self-esteem, empathy) and the characteristics of digital influencers (social attractiveness, expertise, homophily) to explore the influence of the parasocial interaction established between digital influencers and followers on followers’ online social well-being. This study uses the Internet to collect questionnaires and takes users who have watched digital influencers' posts on social media as the research object. A total of 597 valid questionnaires are collected. The research results show that: the characteristics of digital influencers (social attractiveness, expertise, and homophily), and followers' attributes (low self-esteem and empathy) have positively affected parasocial interaction. It is noteworthy that loneliness has no significant effect on parasocial interaction.

Biomass carbon materials with high rate capacity have great potential to boost supercapacitors with cost effective, fast charging– discharging performance and high safety requirements, yet currently suffers from a lack of targeted preparation methods. Here we propose a facile FeCl3 assisted hydrothermal carbonization strategy to prepare ultra-high rate biomass carbon from apple residues (ARs). In the preparation process, ARs were first hydrothermally carbonized into a porous precursor which embedded by Fe species, and then synchronously graphitized and activated to form biocarbon with a large special surface area (2159.3 m2 g− 1) and high degree of graphitization. The material exhibited a considerable specific capacitance of 297.5 F g− 1 at 0.5 A g− 1 and outstanding capacitance retention of 85.7% at 10 A g− 1 in 6 M KOH, and moreover, achieved an energy density of 16.2 Wh kg− 1 with the power density of 350.3 W kg− 1. After 8000 cycles, an initial capacitance of 95.2% was maintained. Our findings provide a new idea for boosting the rate capacity of carbon-based electrode materials.

To solve the problem of water pollution, researchers have proposed a photocatalytic degradation technology, in which the key factor is the development of efficient photocatalytic materials. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), an n-type semiconductor, has been widely studied due to its suitable band gap (2.7 eV), low cost, easy preparation, non-toxicity, and high photostability. However, the pure-phase g-C3N4 still has defects such as low specific surface area, insufficient visible light absorption, low charge mobility, few active sites for interfacial reaction, and easy recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, which leads to the lower photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4. Aiming at the problems mentioned above, this paper focus on the synthesis of g-C3N4-based composites with high photocatalytic activity via lemon juice induction method. Thiourea and lemon juice were selected as precursors, and carbon quantum dots (CQDs) as electron mediators were introduced anchoring on the surface of g-C3N4 to build g-C3N4/CQDs with compact interface. The results showed that small-sized CQDs are uniformly distributed on the surface of g-C3N4, and the g-C3N4/CQDs composite has a 2D0D structure, which reduces the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 4% g-C3N4/CQDs for RhB reaches the highest data of 90.9%, and the photocatalytic degradation rate is 0.016 min− 1, which is about 2.3 times that of g-C3N4. After four cycles of photocatalytic reaction, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the material remained at 81.7%. Therefore, the g-C3N4/CQDs synthesized via lemon juice induction has a more stable microstructure, and the charge separation efficiency is greatly improved, which is suitable for practical photocatalytic environmental protection.

With the continuous prosperity and development of the marine industry, the number of ships is increasing while greenhouse gas emissions are rising. In order to meet the relevant international ship emission regulations, the solution of developing electric ships is proposed. As the core device of the electric ship propulsion system, the maturity and applicability of power battery technology play a key role in the development of the electric ship. This article introduces the principles and advantages of the fuel cell, lithium-ion battery as well as supercapacitor battery, respectively, and analyzes the application status and challenges of power batteries in existing electric ships. The development direction and problems to be solved of power battery in current and future ship applications are put forward, which can provide a reference for further research.

원남과 티베트는 중국 남서 국경 지역에 위치하고, 여러 민족과 종교가 혼재되어 있어 중국정부가 통치하는데 많은 어려움을 겪고 있다. 또한 국 경선의 길이가 길어 국가의 중요한 방어구역이기도 하다. 하지만 이 지역 에 대한 학계의 관심과 연구는 상대적으로 빈약하다. 이러한 상황에서 본 논문은 이 지역들의 소속민족의 발전 및 건설 그리고 이들 지역의 고토수 비(守土固边)에 대해 연구한다. 문헌연구를 통해 국가안보차원에서 소수 민족 마을에 대한 건설과 고토수비현황에 대해 기초시설, 경제발전, 민생 발전, 생태문명 등 네 가지 분야로 깊이 고찰한 다음, 이를 통해 문제점을 발견하고 해결책과 발전방안을 제시하였다.

The remarkable electrical, thermal, mechanical, and optical properties of graphene and its derivative grapheme oxide have recently gained great importance, along with the large surface area and single-atoms thickness. In this respect, several techniques of synthesis such as chemical exfoliation, mechanical exfoliation, or chemical synthesis have been discovered. However, the development of graphene with fewer defects and on a large scale poses major challenges; therefore, it is increasingly necessary to produce it in large proportions with high quality. This paper reviews the top-down synthesis approach of graphene and its well-known derivative graphene oxide. Furthermore, characterization of graphene oxide nanomaterial is a critical component of the analysis. The characterization techniques employed to determine the quality, defects intensity, number of layers, and structures for graphene oxide nanomaterial at the atomic scale. This article focuses on the different involved characterization methodology for graphene oxide with their percentage utilization for the past 11 years. Additionally, reviewing all of the characterization literature for the last 11 years would be a difficult task. Therefore, the aim is to outline the existing state of graphene oxide by different characterization techniques and provide a comparative analysis based on their percentage utilization.

현존하는 한자구조의 분석이론은 그 유형과 명칭이 매우 복잡하고 많을 뿐만 아니라, 글자를 식별하고 쓰고 듣는 교육에 있어 그 효과를 알기 어렵다. 여기에서 필자는 간단하고 쉬운 방법으로 축을 이용하는 법을 제시한다. 한자 구조를 가로축, 세로축 및 십자 축으로 하고, 한자를 서로 다른 원수 및 층 유형의 글자로 구분하였다. 중국어, 일어, 한국어의 한자 및 베트남 한자에 대한 다양한 시험을 통해 이 분석 방법이 중화권에서 사용되는 여러 한자와 간화자, 일본 한자, 한국 한자 및 베트남 한자 연구에 활용될 수 있음을 증명하였다. 제시한 양축분석법은 한자와 자의 자음의 이해 및 학습에 있어 보다 진일보한 효과를 형성하여 한자 학습의 난제를 극복하는 데 도움될 것으로 기대한다.

The purpose of this research is to explore the factors that affect a celebrity’s perceived authenticity on social media sites. In total, 653 Taiwanese consumers were recruited to examine the proposed model. The findings generally support our model. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed.

China emerges to be one of the largest wine importing and wine consumption countries in the world. With the rapid growth of Chinese wine market, it becomes an essential issue to understand the wine importing and distribution practices in Chinese wine market. This study was designated in the context of Australian wine trading to China to explore the characteristics of wine importing channels and wine retailing models in China. A semi-structured interview approach was adopted in this study to fulfil the research purposes. 15 Chinese wine industry practitioners were recruited through the 1st wine tourism trip fair in Ningxia, China, in May 2017. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 11. The results revealed the features of 8 wine importing channels from Australia to China, and 4 distribution models in the wine retailing market in China. Regarding the wine importing channels, the 8 main importing channels were (1) retailers selected wines directly from Australian wineries; (2) retailers adopted the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) mode to produce wines; (3) supply chain businesses imported wines through their business networks; (4) wine business companies invested in overseas wineries; (5) companies purchased wines from wine exhibitions and fairs; (6) companies purchased wines from Hong Kong and other neighbouring SAR districts; (7) companies imported wines from other wine business operators; (8) companies smuggled wines by transiting from Southeast Asian countries. In addition, 4 retailing models were identified through the interviews, including (1) complete control over the distribution channels; (2) brand franchising and wholesaling; (3) enterprise subscription; (4) retailing through e-commerce and supermarkets. The findings suggested that OEM mode represented the most popular importing channel in present Chinese wine market, whilst the vendor group purchasing was the most profitable distribution models in the retailing market. Implications for wineries and wine business companies were also provided in the paper.

An increasing number of Internet users use hotel booking websites and online travel agencies to arrange trips and search for information related to their travels. This study investigates the impact of customer engagement on user perceptions of the quality and value of an online hotel-booking website, as well as whether such perceptions further influence user trust in online websites (eTrust) and result in behavioral intention of eLoyalty. The empirical results of structural equation modeling analysis of 400 questionnaire results collected in Taiwan reveal that customer engagement has a positive impact on perceived website quality (i.e., usability, ease of use, entertainment, and complementarity), which in turn influences perceived value. The results do not show a direct impact from customer engagement on perceived value. Finally, the results verify that eTrust mediates the relationship between consumers’ perceived website quality and behavioral intention of eLoyalty toward an online hotel-booking website; eTrust also mediates the relationship between consumers’ perceived value and behavioral intention of eLoyalty toward an online hotel-booking website. The findings provide both academic researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of customer engagement and facilitate development of more effective customer engagement strategies for online booking platforms.

Introduction Globalization not only increases human mobility, but changes the relationship between international migrants and their country of origin. With improved transportation systems and new technologies, migrants can stay connected to their homeland in multiple ways. In the past, it was costly and time-consuming for migrants to "keep in touch" with their homeland. Thus, the ability to assimilate into the culture and lifestyle of the mainstream society was important (Alba & Nee, 2003; Portes & Zhou, 1993). At the same time, migrants and minority groups also form ethnic enclaves (e.g., Chinatown, Little Italy) where they can maintain the culture and traditions of "home" and preserve a part of their cultural identity (Portes & Manning, 1986). Contemporary migrants, however, live in a transnational social field (Louie, 2006). They can easily communicate with their friends and family back home. Even if they reside in rural areas, most goods from the old country can be found in the new country. Migrants can shop online for the groceries, books, fashion, beauty products, kitchenware, etc. from their homeland. They can listen to hit songs in their native language, keep up with the major news events, follow the newest TV series, cheer for their favorite sports teams, watch live election results, and more—almost as if they have never left. Traveling back to the homeland is one important way for migrants to main transnational ties (Haller & Landolt, 2005). This type of travel is commonly known as diaspora tourism (Coles & Timothy, 2004), VFR tourism (Uriely, 2010), and roots tourism (Maruyama & Stronza, 2010). Migrants may visit the homeland for various reasons, including: leisure, business, local food, culture and heritage, quest, retain ties, finding oneself, roots-seeking, personal identity, connection with place, obligation to ancestors, recovery of social identity, and family togetherness (Kluin & Lehtom, 2012; Li & McKercher, 2016; Murdy, Alexander, & Bryce, 2018; Ray & McCain, 2012). Given that contemporary migrants can engage in transnational practices in the host society, and take part in various types of leisure activities that are related to the culture and lifestyle of "home," the question is: do migrants still feel the need to visit the homeland in person? Or since everything is readily available, they do not need to go back as often as before. On one hand, participating in transnational leisure activities may strengthen their attachment to the homeland and increase their longing to return. On the other hand, the accessibility of homeland goods, services, culture, and relationships through global networks may decrease the desire and frequency of traveling back to the homeland. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between transnational leisure activities and motivation to visit the homeland. Specifically, do migrants‘ transnational leisure participation and involvement influence their diaspora tourism motivation? Literature Review Transnationalism refers to the interconnected lifestyle and social experience of immigrants maintaining multiple ties with their home and host societies (Basch, Glick-Schiller, & Blanc, 1994). Transnationalism could be sustained through different types of activities, including economic, political, social, familial, religious, and cultural activities. Although leisure activities have not been a focus of transnationalism research, some cultural transnational practices overlap with leisure activities. The Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles study (IIMMLA) found that 8.1% of second-generation immigrants participated in organizations associated with their parents‘ country of birth, and 48.7% watched TV or listened to the radio in their parents‘ language at least once a week or more (Rumbaut et al., 2008). The Immigrant Second Generation in New York study (ISGNY) revealed that ethnic music is very important to West Indian immigrants, and they listened to more ethnic music. Chinese-Americans, however, might listen to some Cantonese pop, but usually not traditional Chinese music (Kasinitz et al., 2008). Within leisure research, most studies on the leisure activities of immigrants employ the theory of acculturation. The focus was not on transnational leisure, but on immigrants‘ leisure participation within the mainstream culture of the host society. Many studies examined the effect of acculturation on immigrant leisure, be it participation, perceived benefits, motivations, or constraints. Floyd and Gramann (1993) compared Mexican- and Anglo-Americans to determine if the former‘s outdoor activity patterns and site visitation would be similar to the latter, based on different levels of structural assimilation. Shaull and Gramann (1998) also examined Hispanic- and Anglo-Americans to determine the impact of cultural assimilation on one‘s perceived benefits of outdoor recreation. They found a strong Anglo-conformity pattern in Hispanic-Americans‘ perception of nature-related benefits, while family-related benefits were less prone to the impact of cultural assimilation. Another study by Walker, Deng, and Dieser (2001) compared the motivations of Chinese-Canadians and Euro-North Americans for outdoor recreation. Their findings indicated that acculturation influenced the recreation motivation of Chinese-Canadians, both directly and indirectly through self-construal. The relationship between acculturation and leisure was also examined in Yu and Berryman‘s study (1996) on immigrant adolescents, which revealed a positive relationship between acculturation and recreational activities, and a negative relationship between acculturation and perceived barriers. A similar relationship was found in Scott, Lee, Lee and Kim‘s (2006) study of Korean migrants. They identified some constraints (i.e., lack of English proficiency and fear of discrimination) that varied by one‘s level of acculturation, while the biggest constraint, time, was not influenced by acculturation. Stodolska and Santos (2006) were the first to propose the concept of "transnational leisure," and they defined it as "leisure that is maintained by transnational migrants to foster their ties with their countries and communities of origin" (p. 162). Huang, Norman, Ramshaw, and Haller (2015) identified different types of transnational leisure activities by second-generation Chinese-Americans, and categorized them into four types: ethnic events and festivals, ethnic social clubs and organizations, ethnic media and pop culture, and Internet-based activities. As these previous studies were qualitative in nature, there is a need for more quantitative research so as to compare and identify different patterns of transnational leisure (e.g., level of involvement, frequency of participation) and examine how transnational leisure relate to other variables. Methods This study aims to examine the transnational leisure involvement and travel motivation of diaspora tourists. Specifically, overseas Chinese residing in North America (i.e., the USA and Canada) was selected as the target population. The service of a reputable and reliable international online survey company was obtained to reach out to this specific population of interest. Data collection took place from December 2016 to January 2017. A total of 808 responses were gathered. A questionnaire was developed based on previous literature. A list of transnational leisure activities with 19 items was developed based on the work of Huang et al. (2015). The transnational leisure involvement scale was adapted from the works of Kyle, Graefe, Manning, and Bacon (2003) and Kyle, Bricker, Graefe, and Wickham (2004). The scale consists of 14 items and three dimensions: Attraction, Centrality, and Self-expression. As there are many types of transnational leisure activities, respondents were first asked to go through the list and indicate their frequency of participation in each activity. Next, they were asked to think about "these activities" as they answered the leisure involvement scale. The measures for diaspora tourism motivation was developed based on Poria and colleagues‘ scale for heritage tourism motivation (2004; 2006a; 2006b), Kluin and Lehto‘s (2012) scale for family reunion travel motivations, and Li and McKercher‘s (2016) qualitative study on diaspora tourists. The last section of the questionnaire will be used to collect demographic information. Findings EFA was conducted to explore if transnational leisure activities can be categorized into different types. Three items were removed due to double loading (i.e., Sing Chinese songs in the karaoke, Online shopping for Chinese/Asian items, and Connect with friends and relatives in China through social media). Factor 1 consisted of 3 items that are basic common activities in migrant life, and was labeled "Basic" transnational leisure (i.e., Eat Chinese food, Shop for Chinese/Asian groceries, and Celebrate Chinese holidays). Factor 2 consisted of 7 items that are related to pop culture and internet-based leisure activities, and was labeled "Media-based" transnational leisure (e.g., Listen to Chinese songs and music, Watch Chinese drama, Visit websites related to Chinese or Chinese-American culture, and Read/watch the news related to China). Contrary to the individualistic nature of the activities in Factor 2, Factor 3 consisted of 6 items that are more likely to be group activities, and related to social clubs events and activities (e.g., Attend events hosted by Chinese ethnic organizations, Participate in Chinese cultural activities, Play Chinese board or card games, Attend Chinese concerts/performances, and Follow Chinese/Chinese-American sports players or teams). Thus, Factor 3 was labeled "Event-based" transnational leisure. Respondents‘ participation in these activities was measured on a 5-point scale of frequency, from 1=Never to 5=Always/Everyday. Overall, "Basic" transnational leisure received the highest mean score (M=3.82), while the means for "Media-based" (M=2.86) and "Event-based" activities (M=2.62) were lower. Although the mean scores in Factor 2 and 3 were not high, it should be noted that the nature of these activities are different. Chinese migrants can "Eat Chinese food" every day, but they cannot "Attending Chinese concerts" every day. Therefore, the mean scores for "Event-based" activities were the lowest. Moreover, ANOVA was conducted to compare five migrant generation groups (e.g., first-generation migrants who were born in the old country and relocated to a new country and second-generation migrants are native-born in the new country). The second generation had the lowest level of participation, while the first generation and 4+ generation had the highest level of participation in most types of transnational leisure activities. Correlation analyses further revealed that the frequency of "Media-based" activities and "Event-based" activities were positively correlated to the number of homeland trips, while the relationship between "Basic" transnational leisure and number of homeland trips was not statistically significant. Lastly, CFA was conducted to confirm the underlying dimensions of Transnational Leisure Involvement: Attraction (6 items), Centrality (4 items), and Self-expression (4 items). EFA was conducted to identify the dimensions of diaspora tourism motivation. The 11 items loaded on one of two factors: Chinese Culture (6 items) and Family Heritage (5 items). Multiple regression analyses were conducted, with the three dimensions of transnational leisure involvement as independent variables, and the two dimensions of diaspora tourism motivation as dependent variables. It was found that Attraction and Centrality would influence respondents‘ motivation for Chinese Culture, while Attraction, Centrality, and Self-expression would influence respondents‘ motivation for Personal Heritage. Discussion Results showed that transnational leisure involvement is useful in understanding the activity patterns of different migrant generations. Specifically, the relationships between transnational involvement and diaspora tourism motivation were consistently positive, which provides an effective means of segmenting diaspora tourists. Transnational leisure activities are good opportunities for homeland destinations to connect with diaspora tourists prior to their travel. Other than direct promotional activities, transnational leisure provides an alternative way to increase diaspora tourists‘ level of engagement and frequency of travel to the homeland.

On the basis of the protection motivation theory (PMT) research model, this study employed perceived moral obligation as a determinant to improve predictions of people’s intention to engage in energy savings and carbon reduction behavior aimed at mitigating the threat of environmental climate change through their protection motivation. The sample comprised 930 participants who completed self-reported questionnaire surveys in Taiwan. The empirical results of structural equation modeling indicated that the extended PMT model was more explanatorily powerful than the original model. The results not only confirmed that people’s perceived moral obligation plays a crucial antecedent role in predicting their intention to engage in energy savings and carbon reduction behavior but also verified the mediation effects of protection motivation in the extended PMT model.

Introduction The social Web is becoming more and more visual. While Facebook remains the leading social networking site (SNS), visual-based platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have showed a significant increase in the proportion of online users worldwide (Greenwood, Perrin, & Duggan, 2016; Statista, 2017; Pew Research Center, 2017). The trend toward visual communication on SNSs is influenced by the emergence of advanced mobile technologies and the shifting habits of how social media users consume content today. While images displayed on Instagram are past-oriented sharing of memories, or present-oriented displays of creativity, Pinterest presents opportunities for future-oriented inspiration to evolve (Jin, Lin, Gilbreath, & Lee, 2017; Phillips, Miller, & McQuarrie, 2014). Pinterest also serves as a searchable archive of visual content, allowing users to seek and include brand-relevant pins and boards into their own aspirations and inspirations, thus facilitating the sharing of branded content (Phillips et al., 2014). Extant industry reports also suggest that Pinterest users are more likely to image-search for products, interact with sponsored pins, and show favorable attitudes toward advertising, compared with Facebook or Twitter users (McMullen, 2015; Ruscillo, 2017; Williamson, 2015). Considering the benefits of social media for global marketing and the role that imagery plays for developing international brands (Mikhailitchenko, Javalgi, Mikhailitchenko, & Laroche, 2009), this research focuses on the visual aspects of consumer engagement with branded content on Pinterest and investigates how such engagement leads to consumer-brand relationship building and Pinterest-inspired purchase intention. Theoretical Frameworks The extant consumer research has documented the superiority effect of visual content on facilitating persuasion (Childers & Houston, 1984; Miniard, Bhatla, Lord, Dickson, & Rao, 1991). Recent research on social media marketing also suggests that branded content with visual elements help generate favorable consumer responses (De Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2012; Trefzger, Baccarella, & Voigt, 2016). The presentation of branded posts is directly related to the flow construct and trust (Bart, Shankar, Sultan, & Urban, 2005; Hoffman & Novak, 1996). Along this logic, consumer engagement, the degree to which consumers consume, contribute, and create social media content in relation to brands (Schivinski, Christodoulides, & Dabrowski, 2016), is likely to be influenced by brand-related visual cues on Pinterest. While consumption refers to consumers’ acquisition of both brand-created and user-generated content (Muntinga, Moorman, & Smit, 2011), contribution refers to consumers’ inputs to content created by brands or by other consumers (Shao, 2009). Further, creation is the highest level of engagement, which refers to consumers’ generation of brand-related content that could stimulate further consumption and contribution (Muntinga et al., 2011). Therefore, the visually dominant and appealing presentation style, such as appearance, layout, and images, on Pinterest would provide users with high information content, and is likely to increase both active and passive consumer engagement with brands (Bart et al., 2005). Consumer engagement is then expected to encourage social media users’ willingness to actively promote and endorse brand-related content, including organic and sponsored pins. Such volunteer display of their preferred brand-related content is likely to help engender eWOM communication and make such content become more influential in the social Web (Chu & Kim, 2011). As a result, users’ brand-related Pinterest activities are likely to enhance their relationships with brands (Rapp, Beitelspacher, Grewal, & Hughes, 2013) and their intention to purchase from the brands featured in the pins and boards (King, Racherla, & Bush, 2014). All hypothesized relationships are therefore formulated and displayed in Figure 1. Methods To test the proposed conceptual model, an online survey was conducted with participants recruited from a consumer panel administrated by Qualtrics. A total of 467 Pinterest users (58.2% female, Mage = 28.9, SDage = 5.6) comprised the sample, including Caucasian (76%), African American (7.5%), Hispanic (7.4%), Asian (6.9%), multiracial (1.3%), and others (.9%). The participants spent an average of 9.5 hours on Pinterest per week. Smartphones (54.8%) emerged as the most dominant devices for their Pinterest usage, followed by computers (34.9%) and tablets (10.3%). They had an average of 33.7 boards (Range = 1,233), 1,384.1 Pins (Range = 69,000), 930.1 likes (Range = 100,000), 319.0 followers (Range = 44,231), 65.0 following topics (Range = 3,442), 173.0 following people (including brands, Range = 7,000), and 102.0 following boards (Range = 6,000). To note, 78.3% of the participants reported that they made Pinterest-inspired purchases frequently (including 24.8% always, 24.4% usually, and 29.1% often). In addition, the participants were asked to answer questions pertaining to their perceptions of visual cues related to a self-selected brand on Pinterest, engagement with brand-related content, brand endorsing behavior, consumer-brand relationships, and Pinterest-inspired purchase intention (see Table 1). Results To test the proposed hypotheses, a two-step modeling approach following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) procedures was employed. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the measurement model achieved acceptable fit for the data (χ2 = 1178.30, df = 393, χ2/df = 2.99, RMSEA = .065, SRMR = .054, CFI = .930, TLI = .922). The constructs had good composite reliability (>.70). Factor loadings of the construct indicators were all above .70 with significant t values, which indicated good convergent validity for each of the construct items (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Following Fornell and Larcker’s (1981) criteria, the results achieved satisfactory discriminant validity because the average variance extracted (AVE) for each factor was above .50 and greater than the squared correlations between each pair of constructs. The factor scores were then used to perform a path analysis for hypothesis testing which showed satisfactory fit of the conceptual model (see Figure 2). The results indicated that visual cues positively influenced consumer engagement with brand-related content (β = .68, p < .001), which positively led to brand endorsing behavior (β = .86, p < .001). Consequently, brand endorsing behavior positively enhanced the development of consumer-brand relationships (β = .97, p < .001) and increased Pinterest-inspired purchase intention (β = .48, p < .001). In turn, all hypotheses were supported. Discussion and Conclusion In response to the thriving academic interests in understanding how social media users connect and interact with international brands across SNSs (Hennig-Thurau, et al., 2010), this research sheds light on factors that determine social media users’ active discovery, creation, and distribution of visual branded content and the effects of consumer engagement on social media marketing outcomes. By focusing on Pinterest, the research findings showed that users, both men and women, actively seek inspiration from Pinterest across brand-relevant categories. They are highly engaged, open to brand activities, and ready to take Pinterest-inspired actions in the real world. The visual presentation of branded content plays an important role in generating consumer engagement, which is likely to act as a form of perceived relationship investment and subsequently stimulates brand endorsing and advocacy behavior (Simon & Tossan, 2018). Engaged Pinterest users search and select brand-relevant visual content, including sponsored pins, as part of their self-presentation to others (Phillips et al., 2014). Through such interactions with brands and other like-minded users on the platform, their relationships with brands and purchasing behavior are likely to be further enhanced. This research integrates several important literature streams in the conceptual model and employs a representative adult sample to provide theory-driven and generalizable insights into how visually-focused social media marketing works. Marketing managers face opportunities and challenges that social media and the interconnected international business environment present. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how social media users interact with brands on different platforms in order to tailoring brand strategies accordingly for fostering consumer engagement. Specifically, as Pinterest’s popular visual discovery engine continues to attract myriads of global users, managers should harness the power of visual content marketing and engage current as well as potential consumers on the platform, which could have a significant impact on consumer-brand relationship building and business performance in domestic and foreign markets. Building on the findings of this research, future studies should further delve into the psychological underpinnings and motivations that drive consumer engagement with visual branded content on SNSs across cultures and discover how paid, owned and earned brand communication on visual-based SNSs can help strengthen consumer-brand relationships.