Following the Antecedents, Methods, and Outcomes (AMO) framework, this paper contributes to a better understanding of corporate activism (CA) in an international context. Through an in-depth review of publications over the past 33 years, we aim to shed light on the rising trend of CA and identify its most important antecedents, manifestations, and the short-term and long-term consequences of CA. In this context, we focus particularly on cross-country differences. Guided by the scientific Procedures and Rationales for a Systematic Literature Reviews Protocol (SPAR-4-SLR), this paper offers a framework-based systematic literature review on CA. We observe that the topic of CA is somewhat underexplored in the literature. Moreover, CA is very often misinterpreted, and lines between CA and similar terms, such as Corporate Social Responsibility, CEO activism, and lobbying often remain blurred. Nevertheless, our review identifies a rising trend among companies to express their stance on various controversial issues. Reflecting this trend, we can also witness a substantial increase in the number of studies on CA over the past two years. Through the articles identified in our literature review, we improve the understanding of the common antecedents and manifestations of CA, but also observe a lack of conceptual clarity in many extant contributions on CA. As to the outcome of CA, the literature indicates that the long-term and shortterm consequences of CA also still call for further analysis. The international nature and ramifications of CA, recently highlighted by the considerable CA in response to the war between Russia and Ukraine and its spillover effect worldwide, is neglected in current research. Thus, given the international dimension of some CA there is a particular need to research both, national idiosyncrasies and international consequences of CA.

In an increasingly globalized world, consumers are continuously exposed to global products in their domestic markets. As a result, companies are seeking ways to adapt their business in order to target the global consumer segment, which is favorably disposed to global market offerings (Papadopoulos & Martin Martin, 2011). Research on conceptualizing consumers’ positive dispositions towards global products is burgeoning, with a number of researchers focusing on the role of global/local consumer identities (i.e. Tu, Khare, & Zhang, 2012). Global identity implies that a person identifies with the entire human kind and feels as a resident of the entire world (Cannon & Yaprak, 2002), and consequently has a more positive view toward globalization and shows more interest into global events (Guo, 2013). Local identity, on the contrary, derives from the overall awareness of belonging to a community that shares the same national values and cultural norms (Thompson, 2001). Empirical evidence shows that global and local identities positively influence the evaluations and willingness to purchase global and local brands, respectively (Verlegh, 2007; Zhang & Khare, 2009). Despite the growing academic focus on consumers’ location-based identities (i.e. global/local) and their impact on consumer decision making, research on this topic is mainly focusing on tangible products, ignoring how digitalization has transformed the international marketing landscape. Drawing on social identity theory and the existing literature with regards to how global/local identity is influencing consumers’ disposition towards global products, this paper considers the case of global digital products. In particular, we aim to investigate whether global and local consumer identities influence the usage of two of the most famous global Social Network Sites (SNSs), namely Facebook and Instagram. Combining existing literature on global consumer culture and marketing of SNSs, we develop and empirically test a set of hypotheses with two samples of Facebook and Instagram users from Austria and Thailand. The choice of these specific countries allows us to explore whether consumers with global or local identities behave similarly in marketplaces characterized by completely different settings regarding the availability and use of SNSs.

One specific manifestation of CSR is the solicitation of donations in collaboration with an NGO. Especially in an online environment, companies can easily control if they present donation options to consumers either before or after the actual purchase moment of their products. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the sequence of purchase and donation requests in the customer journey influences the willingness to donate to a charitable cause and the potential revenues for the seller. As theoretical frame, we use two related concepts of moral self-regulation, namely moral licensing and moral cleansing. We assume that consumers spend a higher sum on a luxury product after donating to an NGO (moral licensing) and vice versa donate a higher sum to charity after purchasing a self-indulgent product (moral cleansing). While we do not consider luxury products as morally questionable per se, prior research has shown that consumers repeatedly feel bad after purchasing a luxury item. Our results indicate that the moral cleansing effect is present in our experiment. On average, participants who first indicate their WTP for a luxury product are subsequently more prone to donating money to an NGO. We could not observe a moral licensing effect at large. Both conditions lead to comparable mean WTP measures, hence to similar total potential revenues. In general, our results indicate that both parties profit the most, if donation options are available after purchase decisions.

Moral licensing is a non-conscious effect that provides a moral boost in the self-concept, which increases the preference for a relative immoral action by dampening the negative self-attributions associated with such behavior. Applied to a marketing context, moral licensing explains why a purchase of a green product (a positive moral act) is likely to increase the likelihood of subsequently purchasing a luxury good (a negative moral act). This study addresses the question how big this effect typically is and which factors influence its size by conducting a Meta-Analysis and a Meta-Regression. Based on a random effects model, the point estimate for the generalized effect size Cohen’s d is 0.365 (SE=0.047; p=0.000). Results of a Meta-Regression indicate, for the first time, that the three moderators cultural background, type of decision and type of comparison explain a substantial amount of the total variation of moral licensing effect’s size.

The events industry continues to grow and is estimated to be worth around 30 billion dollars yearly involving more than 50 million trips worldwide. MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions) offer opportunities for business networking, business development and customer loyalty, and are used for internal company purposes as well as for external commercial gain. However, capturing the value of any given MICE appears difficult and relatively little is known about how customers engage in co-creation and there are few models or frameworks. Moreover, dyadic encounter and value from a provider perspective ignore the measurement of customer value in multi-actor service encounters. The research questions posed by this study were therefore: How do multi-actor service encounters differ from dyadic ones? Do current value frameworks capture all the value created in these encounters? And how can multi-actor service providers increase customer value? To address these questions, we embarked on a qualitative study with 35 actors (attendees, organizers, speakers) from networking events, using a service-dominant logic approach to conceptualizing customer perceived value from networking events. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first empirical studies to address the joint creation of value in service encounters characterised by multiple providers (provider network approach) and multiple customers (customer group approach) at the same time and studied from the perspectives of both sides. In answering our first research question of how do multi-actor service encounters different from dyadic ones, we first identify several characteristics that define multi-actor services and compare them to traditional one-to-one services. Our second research question asked whether current value taxonomies capture all the value created in these encounters and we conceptualised the dimensions of event value (social, professional, learning, emotional and hedonic), and show how these relate to existing value taxonomies, as well as highlighting professional value which is new and novel to event encounters. Thirdly, in answering how multi-actor service providers can increase customer value, we supplement previous research on customer value from the providers’ view by adding how the design and execution of service impacts customer value. From this managerial perspective, our study brings new perspectives for event management in understanding when and where value is created and therefore when and how it should be measured. In terms of assessing interaction and engagement, we have found that few practices are in place. We suggest that observation within an event setting could be complemented by video recording.