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This study aims to investigate the impact of brand engagement on consumer responses to brand extensions, particularly in terms of value perception, attitude and purchase intention in a masstige context. The study examines low-fit/high-functionality and high-fit/low-functionality products. It also explores the crucial role of self-congruence in enhancing brand engagement, which leads to positive consumer responses towards brand extensions.

After establishing the theoretical foundations, pre-tests identified the product types and their fit level. In this quantitative study, 464 questionnaires were administered. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling validated the model and tested the hypotheses for low-fit/high-functionality and high-fit/low-functionality products of a masstige brand.

Data analysis shows that brand engagement positively affects value perception, attitude and purchase intention. However, consumers’ responses to brand extension differed for low-fit versus high-fit products. Moreover, social self-congruence and actual and ideal self-congruence positively impact consumers’ active engagement with masstige brands.

This research shows that low-fit extensions of masstige brands can succeed with high functionality, while high-fit extensions mitigate the negative effects of low functionality, a key attribute of masstige brands. The study adds to the limited literature on self-congruence and engagement by identifying actual and ideal self-congruence as determinants of brand engagement. It is also among the first to demonstrate that social self-congruence drives brand engagement for masstige brands.

This study explores the influence of textual social cues on virtual influencers' perceived attractiveness, homophily and credibility, and their impact on consumers' purchase intentions. The moderating role of perceived anthropomorphism is also assessed.

A randomized between-subjects experiment with 265 participants (134 low social cue/131 high social cue) was conducted. Participants viewed a fictional virtual influencer’s social media profile and post, then completed a survey. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was used to examine the effects of textual social cues on attractiveness, attitude homophily, credibility and purchase intention as well as the moderating role of perceived anthropomorphism.

The study found that textual social cues directly influence attractiveness and attitude homophily, which significantly impact virtual influencer credibility. Credibility, in turn, strongly predicted purchase intention.

Incorporating textual social cues into a virtual influencer’s profile to create a likable persona can help overcome the novelty effect and build lasting relationships with followers. Marketers should use textual cues, like emojis and self-disclosure, to enhance marketing effectiveness and select virtual influencers aligned with their target audience.

This study is among the first to explore the role of textual social cues in virtual influencers, extending the source credibility model and social information processing theory to the influencer marketing context.

This research makes an effort to empirically investigate the role of source credibility theory (SCT) in the prevailing modern influencer marketing context by establishing an association between virtual influencers ((VIs) non-human) and the buying behavior of their followers. It further provides insights into the mediating role of virtual engagement on the affiliation between VIs’ credibility and the buying behavior of followers.

The study used structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) to assess data from a survey conducted online of 538 participants (Instagram followers of virtual influencers).

The results reveal that source credibility dimensions significantly affect followers’ buying behavior in the context of VIs except the trustworthiness dimension. However, mediation analysis has shown that virtual engagement substantially mediates between source credibility dimensions including trustworthiness.

The study highlights the value of the credibility of VI and its alignment with the followers’ buying behavior. The study provides valuable inputs for the brand managers as the credibility of the VI can be effectively leveraged in implementing strategies to encourage their followers/consumers on social media platforms to purchase the goods/services they endorse.

The study overcomes the shortcomings of recent studies by empirically investigating the affiliation between VIs’ credibility and followers’ buying behavior through Instagram. The study uniquely extends the potential of SCT in the context of non-human VIs.

Nowadays, more and more brands are developing their own virtual ambassadors for interactive communication and marketing with consumers. Exploring the interactive effectiveness of virtual brand ambassadors on consumer behavior is crucial to understanding the interactions between brands, virtual ambassadors and consumers as well as further increasing consumer engagement in AI-mediated interactive marketing.

This study investigated different interactive effects of virtual ambassadors on consumer behavior in terms of virtual ambassadors’ anthropomorphism, virtual experience and consumer behavior through a mixed method of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.

The results indicate that consumers’ sharing, reviewing and purchasing behavior is significantly and positively influenced by virtual ambassadors’ anthropomorphism and virtual experience. In addition, specific anthropomorphic features and virtual experiences were discussed in detail.

This study helps brands develop and manage their virtual ambassadors and consumers in AI-mediated interactive marketing and communication.

This study aims to investigate the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and disclosure transparency by examining over 12,000 disclosures of financial statements extending over 20 years. The purpose is to understand how CSR ratings relate to the level of disaggregation in financial statement line items. The study considers additional factors, such as firm size and governance, that can accentuate or moderate this relation.

This study applies regression analysis, including interactions, to test the magnitude of the relation between CSR ratings and disclosure transparency. CSR is measured as a composite score that ranks firms on their reputation over numerous indicators compiled by Morgan Stanley Capital International. Disclosure transparency is measured as the level of disaggregation in financial statement line items.

The study reveals evidence consistent with the notion that firms which are more CSR conscious are also more transparent with financial statements. Evidence shows that the level of transparency is more sensitive to changes in CSR for firms less CSR conscious. Firm size is found to moderate this relation, whereas enhanced governance accentuates it.

There is limited research on the relation between CSR ratings and disclosure transparency. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical evidence on the relation between CSR ratings and the disaggregation of financial statement line items. Results from this study help us understand the drivers of disclosure transparency, which can aid regulators, investors and other stakeholders in knowing how such drivers impact managerial decisions on the disaggregation of financial statements. Accountants play a central role in producing transparent and disaggregated accounting disclosures, and their role is pivotal in effectively integrating CSR into accounting and reporting models.

It is generally believed that business spending on capital expenditure tends to decrease as interest rates rise, and vice versa, this is not always the case. The previous literature produces inconclusive results vis-à-vis the interest rate and investment nexus. This study analyzes the responsiveness of investment to changes in high and low levels of interest rates in India through a quantile-based, non-parametric method utilizing annual data from 1980 to 2022.

This study uses Quantile-on-quantile (QQ) technique proposed by Sim and Zhou (2015) to examine the impact of interest rate quantiles on quantiles of investment. In addition, long-term association and the direction of causality are estimated through the Cho et al. (2015) test of quantile cointegration and the Jeong et al. (2012) Granger causality in quantile (GCQ) test, respectively.

The empirical evidence validates that the linkage between investments and interest rate is not consistently negative and varies from quantile to quantile. The study finds a negative impact at median quantiles and a positive impact at extreme higher quantiles. Conversely, the impact at lower quantiles is negligible, which is also observed from quantile cointegration, indicating the presence of a statistically significant association above the median quantiles. Additionally, the study finds one interesting finding that there exists unidirectional causality from investment to interest rates in India rather than other way around.

The study provides significant implications for policymakers as it suggests that during extreme economic conditions, the effectiveness of traditional monetary policy tools to boost capital formation is restricted. Policymakers may consider alternative measures to stimulate investment during these time periods. The study additionally posits that the neoclassical theory of investment may not be readily applicable in emerging economies in its unaltered state, mostly due to the lack of well-developed financial markets.

There is a limited literature available on non-linear linkage between interest rates and investment. The present study adds to the existing knowledge by investigating how investment responds differently to fluctuations in interest rates, while incorporating the complete distribution of both the variables.

The purpose of this study is to review the literature on the adoption determinants of mobile health (M-health) applications for health behavior change following a systematic methodology.

This review systematically identified 134 peer-reviewed studies out of 10,687 from Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) published between 2010 and 2021. This review used a thematic analysis to produce the main themes conceptualizing a holistic framework of the investigated M-health application adoption factors.

Despite the exploration of multifaceted adoption determinants and behaviors, the current publications exhibit limitations. The studies not only show a lack of representation of multiple health behaviors and medical conditions but also fail to involve data from low- and middle-developing countries, where M-health application utilization is crucial. Findings revealed that there is a considerable absence of a solid theoretical foundation that unveils a gap in interpreting the adoption factors effectively. Understanding cultural and demographic variances and exploring financial factors and healthcare provider involvement is essential for tailoring M-health application interventions. Continuous assessment of technological factors and evaluation of the actual impact of M-health application usage on behavioral changes and health outcomes will further enhance the effectiveness and adoption of these technologies.

This review is one of the first comprehensive reviews of determinants of M-health application adoption targeting health behavior change for the general public and patients.

With growing evidence of financial misconduct spreading through director networks, research on financial fraud contagion has garnered significant attention. This study incorporates the regulatory enforcement perspective into existing literature to examine how regulatory penalties mitigate financial fraud contagion within director networks.

This study uses a panel dataset of A-share listed Chinese firms covering 2007–2022. Based on the nature of the dataset, we construct ordinary least squares regression models with firm- and year-fixed effects. Data are collected from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research, Wind Information Co., Ltd and China Research Data Services. We use Python to scrape the coordinates of regulators and firms and retrieve travel distances from the Baidu Maps API.

This study verifies the existence of financial fraud contagion in director networks. Our findings indicate that regulatory penalties can mitigate the contagion between director-interlocked firms, improving accounting quality. Moreover, the mitigation effects are mediated by independent directors’ dissent and auditors’ efforts at director-interlocked firms and are more pronounced when these firms have superior network centrality and internal control quality.

This study enriches the literature on financial fraud contagion by examining director networks and regulatory penalties. We propose mediating effects of auditor effort and director dissents on the relationship between regulatory penalties and financial fraud contagion. Our findings provide insights for regulators to alleviate pressures and highlight the importance for directors to consider financial risks within their networks.

As the search engine platform, Baidu has already developed keyword advertising as one of its main business scopes, while in-feed advertising is emerging as another intelligent choice for the company. Our purpose is to validate the effectiveness of keyword and retargeted in-feed advertising on offline sales and whether the effectiveness of these two advertising strategies relies on keyword attributes work.

We utilize data from the ad campaigns of a prominent manufacturer within the machinery and equipment (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) on Baidu. To scrutinize the research hypotheses, we have employed linear regression models. Subsequently, we address potential endogeneity issues and use various techniques to ascertain the reliability of the results.

Empirical evidence indicates that both keyword and in-feed advertising enhance offline sales. Upon examining the moderating role of keyword attributes (specificity and length), we observe that specific keywords (price and word-of-mouth (WOM)) accelerate the boosting effect of advertising on sales; similarly, the longer the keywords, the more obvious the enhanced impact of advertising on sales. Moreover, the positive influence of specific keywords (price and WOM) on advertising effectiveness is more outstanding when the keywords are longer.

To our knowledge, no empirical investigation has yet to analyze keyword and retargeted in-feed advertising concurrently within the search engine context. Our research is the inaugural work to reveal that they serve as mutual substitutes regarding their impact on sales. Furthermore, this paper pioneers examining the moderating effects exerted by keyword attributes (specificity and length) on the effectiveness of these two ad types. The findings presented herein offer valuable insights into the harmonious coexistence and collaboration among companies, advertisers, users and search engine platforms.

Despite firms’ growing investments, process improvement (PI) programs often fail to deliver the expected benefits. In this paper, we argue that the widespread adoption in PI research of a paradigm founded in positivism plays a primary role in deriving these conclusions and limits the development of PI theory and practice.

We examine the main characteristics of the dominant paradigm in PI research and then propose an alternative perspective drawing on research in management innovation and complexity. Findings from two empirical case studies in a pharmaceutical and an automotive firm are reported to support our theoretical argument.

The proposed perspective highlights the interaction between various PI approaches – such as lean, Six Sigma and total quality management (TQM) – and the context-dependence and experiential aspects of PI. We argue that this perspective can better account for where, by whom and how PI approaches are shaped and used and, ultimately, can more effectively advance both theory and practice.

This study suggests that PI approaches should be considered as adaptable rather than static, in combination rather than as single entities and as continuously interpreted and translated by organizational actors rather than homogeneously diffused across companies and business units. In this paper, we discuss the substantial conceptual, methodological and practical implications of adopting this perspective.