This study explored dominant topics about the metaverse discussed in Twitter and the sentiments in each topic in the case of Decentraland using topic modeling and sentiment analysis. The appraisal theory of emotion and motivation theory were used to explain why positive or negative sentiments were expressed toward specific topics. The majority of topics were related to economic benefits such as coins, NFTs, tokens, estate, land, and spaces or socializing with others at specific events. Many of them included predominantly positive sentiments because consumers appraised them as motive consistent. This serves as an important implication for marketers and developers in the metaverse that they need to focus more on these features so that consumers can interact with the motive-consistent features and thus have positive emotions.

Despite the importance of technology-based innovation and customer participation for both practitioners and academics, the impact of different customer participation types in new product innovation has rarely been addressed. Since consumers' positive assessment of new technologies leads to positive outcomes in the market, consumer evaluation of new technologies is important. Thus, examining the consumer perception of technology-based innovation including the different levels of customer participation is meaningful to new theoretical and practical insights.

Expressing political stances is not rare among service providers such as taxi drivers and chefs. For instance, in 2021, a restaurant owner angry at the death of U.S. soldiers during the evacuation of Afghanistan posted a sign on the front door telling Biden supporters to eat elsewhere (Miller 2021). Given findings from research on brand activism, consumers can be expected to have less favorable attitudes toward service providers who are more politically different from them. However, if service providers who are politically opposite are more competent than ones who are politically identical, would consumers still choose politically identical but less competent service providers? To our knowledge, no research has been conducted to examine what factors influence consumers’ choices between more competent but politically opposite service providers and less competent but politically identical service providers. To fill that gap, in our research, we examined the role of consumers’ political ideology (i.e., conservative vs. liberal) in making trade-offs between more competent but politically opposite service providers and less competent but politically identical ones.

Today, the metaverse is everywhere; it has become a major buzzword. The term was first coined in an American writer’s 1992 science fiction novel, Snow Crash, as a portmanteau of meta (Greek prefix meaning beyond) and universe. Nearly three decades later today, it is no longer the setting of a science fiction epic. Rather, it is becoming as real as the physical world. In the current time, the metaverse is used as a concept to describe a seamless convergence of the physical and digital worlds, or a virtual community where people can work, play-to-earn, transact and socialize (J.P. Morgan, 2022).

Virtual reality (VR) has been set with an expectation of becoming the technology to enable new electronic businesses on metaverse platforms. VR is an application of three-dimensional computer graphics to create a convincing virtual environment where users can interact (Cowan & Ketron, 2019). The most used immersive VR devices are head-mounted displays. Importantly, in addition to visual sense, auditory, haptic, and olfactory senses stimulating devices are used in conjunction with head-mounted displays to reach a multi-sensory VR experience (Xi & Hamari, 2021). VR has been part of the brand strategy for various marketing endeavours (Cowan & Ketron, 2019) such as viewing furniture or kitchen setups by IKEA or creating virtual customer experiences in the real estate sector. However, VR’s impact on the consumer thought model has not been thoroughly examined. This extended abstract contributes to this shortcoming.

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

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

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

Social media has emerged as a prevalent tool for businesses in recent years through which brands actively engage in promotions. This development has resulted in several social media trends aimed at garnering increased consumer engagement on various social media platforms that brands utilize routinely. We investigate one such prevalent social media trend: brands sharing memes. Several popular brands, such as Netflix, regularly post memes on social media platforms. Therefore, it is important to study the brands’ use of memes and their resultant impact on consumer behavior.

Involving issues of environmental, consumer safety and health, and/or social concerns, a morally controversial action refers to an activity that does not have a single standard of ethics for all people, making it challenging to draw a clear line between what is ethical versus unethical. Despite its ambiguity, any firm can be involved in it, especially when the firm operates in the global marketplace where a variety of social, health, and environmental consequences surrounding a given action are questioned by consumers. If consumers come to know of a familiar brand’s morally controversial behavior, it can create approach-avoidance conflicts in their minds; they may see the brand’s action as mismatched with their own moral standards (“avoidance” manifested through a measurable construct––moral incongruence), while being tempted to justify the action (“approach” manifested through moral rationalization).

The hospitality, tourism, and travel (HTT) industry has a significant environmental impact due to its water, energy, and waste production. One of the main challenges faced by the HTT industry is the reduction of the negative environmental impact of hotel businesses. Recent studies have shown that consumers are willing to pay a premium for green hotels that adopt environmentally friendly practices to minimize their impact on the environment. While interest in these practices has been increasing, not all consumers are familiar with actual benefits of green hotels. Therefore, it is necessary to employ strategies to increase consumers’ awareness and encourage positive pre-purchasing decisions when selecting a green hotel.

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.

This study examined the MZ Generation Consumers’ perception and needs of HMR (Home Meal Replacement) using local food. The paper provides basic data for deriving a plan to promote local food consumption and reports the implications for various development and distribution strategies regarding HMR using local food. In this study, a quantitative survey was conducted targeting 600 consumers to examine the general consumption status of HMR using local food by MZ consumers. In addition, a qualitative survey was conducted targeting 21 people to derive the specific perceptions and unmet needs of MZ consumers. These results showed that MZ consumers require healthy and fresh HMR but have low awareness of HMR using local food. Therefore, it is necessary to deliver sufficient information and promote it. In particular, MZ consumers have high expectations for ‘healthy and safe’ food when purchasing HMR using local food, which plays an important role in purchasing decisions. They also valued ‘convenience’, which means ‘simple cooking’, ‘subdivision packaging’, and ‘accessibility of purchasing channels’, as important when purchasing HMR using local food. Lastly, MZ consumers positively evaluated the values of ‘healthy eating’ and ‘revitalization of the local economy’ through local food.

Controlling fashion waste throughout the entire product lifecycle is critical in a circular economy. This study explored the possibility of establishing a public recycling system for fashion waste. Since consumer interests and participation are essential, theoretical research, social-text analysis, and quantitative research were conducted to identify consumers’ perceptions of the public recycling of fashion waste and circular fashion. Data were collected via an online survey among women in their 20–30’s living in Korea, and 304 samples were used for data analysis. The results were as follows. First, consumers’ perceptions of recycling fashion waste were composed of recycling difficulty, the need for public recycling, and the need for EPR. Circular fashion perception comprised favor, environment protection, attractiveness, economics, quality and hygiene risks, and lack of diversity. Second, the reuse-recycle attitude and need for EPR affected the favor of all types of circular fashion products. Third, environmental concerns impacted attractiveness, and the favor significantly affected the purchase intention of all types of circular fashion products. In particular, quality and hygiene risk negatively affected the purchase intention of used-fashion products, while attractiveness positively impacted the purchase intention of upcycled-fashion products. The results implied that discussing the public recycling system of fashion waste and EPR policy is imperative. The results also showed the need to classify different types of circular fashion products, such as used, upcycled, and regenerated fashion items, to examine consumers’ perceptions. In addition, the recycling of the fashion waste scale developed in this study could be used for further research.

본 연구는 K-뷰티브랜드의 CSR동기가 CSR 진정성과 브랜드 신뢰에 주는 영향과 CSR 진정성 과 브랜드 신뢰가 브랜드 지지에 주는 영향을 확인하고자 한·중 소비자 데이터를 이용해 비교연구하여 진 행하였다. 수집된 데이터 중 392부를 검증에 사용하였고 2단계 접근법과 최우도 측정법을 활용해 분석하였 다. 연구 결과, 자기본위적 동기를 제외한 가치지향적, 이해관계자지향, 전략적 동기는 CSR 진정성과 브랜 드 신뢰에 긍정적 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 CSR 진정성은 브랜드 신뢰에 긍정적 영향을 주었고, 이는 브랜드를 지지하는 것으로 나타났다. 한·중 소비자를 비교한 결과, 두 나라 모두 CSR동기가 진정성과 브랜드 신뢰에 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났으나 중국소비자가 한국소비자보다 더 많은 부분에서 높게 나타 난 결과를 보였는데 이러한 결과는 K-뷰티 브랜드의 중국시장 확장을 위해서는 중국소비자를 이해하고 그 들이 추구하는 CSR동기 전략을 강화해야 한다는 시사점을 가진다.

본 연구의 목적은 텍스트 마이닝과 소셜 네트워크 분석을 활용한 소비자 맞음새 평가의 주요 특징을 규명하는 것이다. 이를 위해 SNS에서 수집된 소비자의 2,000여건의 의복 맞음새 평가 후기로부터 의복 맞음새 관련된 텍스트 데이터를 추출하고 의미연결망 분석과 CONCOR 분석을 수행하였다. 연구 결과, '팬츠'와 '스커트'가 많은 맞음새평가 어를 공유하며 다양한 형태로 평가되는 것을 확인하였고 의복의 길이가 가장 많이 평가되었다. 인체부위 중 '허리'는 다양한 의복의 맞음새를 평가하는 가장 중요한 부분이며 의복 맞음새평가어 중 '넓은', '큰', '와이드한', '긴' 등이 가장 많이 사용되는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 소비자 맞음새 평가에 사용된 언어의 구조적 관계와 의미를 구체적으로 규명하고 의복 맞음새의 향상을 위한 실증적 기초 자료를 제공하는데 의의가 있다.

We conducted this study to determine the TikTok usage status of Chinese consumers, and the effect of fashion advertisement type preference and TikTok characteristics on fashion product purchase intentions. For this study, we conducted a literature review and survey method. The following conclusions were drawn by collecting data online and performing statistical analysis. Firstly, the period of use was 2–4 years, and 95.1% of people used it for 2–3 hours a day, and 95.1% of the people had a purchasing experience on TikTok. Secondly, the most people were interested in self creating and editing videos in TikTok. With regards to TikTok content, groups aged 30 are significantly more interested in fashion coordination suggestions and influencer’ recommendations than groups aged 20. Thirdly, this study found that the characteristics of TikTok fashion advertisements significantly influenced purchase intention. Among the characteristics of fashion advertisements, this study conclude that the “fashion entertainment” characteristic factor that fashion advertisements are fun and entertaining was the most influential variable on purchase intention, followed by useful information, reliability, and interactivity related to fashion. Fourthly, the types of preferred TikTok fashion advertising had a statistically significant effect on product purchase intention. The influential types of preferred advertising are top view, live advertisement, hashtag challenge, in-feed ads, and sticker ads.