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This paper aims to investigate the impact of perceived variety on consumers’ online shopping cart abandonment (OSCA). It also discerns how e-tail format (single- vs multi-brand), the cognitive processing styles of consumers (System 1 vs System 2) and device type (mobile vs laptop) influence shopping cart abandonment asymmetrically.

Three studies were conducted. Data were analysed using Hayes’ Process macro.

Perceived variety increases the likelihood of OSCA via the mediation of cognitive load. The consumer is likely to experience a greater (lesser) cognitive load for a multi-brand (single-brand) e-tailer. System 1–oriented thinkers tend to experience lesser cognitive load, thus diminishing the effect of cognitive load on OSCA compared to individuals who rely on System 2 processing. Furthermore, the impact of perceived variety on cognitive load decreases significantly when a laptop is used rather than a mobile phone.

This paper establishes linkages between OSCA and choice overload literature to demonstrate how an excess of choice may be detrimental to e-retailers’ prospects and the asymmetries of single-brand vs multi-brand e-tail formats for this effect.

This research aims to empirically test the boundary conditions under which the archetype-based narrative structure of storytelling brand advertisement through internal endorsement can generate brand love by making the consumers anthropomorphize the brand archetype.

Two studies based on survey and experimentally designed stimuli were conducted to validate the conceptual framework. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and process macro on SPSS.

The results support that when the brand is endorsed in the storytelling ad by an internal endorser or storyteller, the narrative structure of the storytelling ad impacts brand love via the anthropomorphization of the brand archetype. The congruence between the internal storyteller’s personality and the archetype’s personality moderates the effect of the narrative structure on the anthropomorphization of the brand archetype, leading to brand love. The psychological sense of brand community further conditions the moderating impact of congruence.

The research provides insights to the brand marketers that internally endorsed archetype-based storytelling brand ads can be effective when the personality of the internal endorser is congruent with the personality of the archetype and the target consumers have a strong psychological sense of brand community.

Based on the stereotype content model (SCM), this study aims to enrich comprehension of virtual service assistant (VSA)-enabled service delivery through two pivotal avenues. Firstly, it aims to conceptualize and test the fundamental mechanism underlying how businesses deploy services using VSAs. Secondly, this study explores whether the paradigms of service co-creation versus service recovery differentially impact customers’ perceptions of warmth and competence in VSA-enabled service delivery.

This study used a one-factorial (service paradigm: service co-creation vs service recovery) field experiment. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data.

The results show that VSA service quality dimensions impact satisfaction for service co-creation and both trust and satisfaction for service recovery. The stronger link that mediates this effect is competence for service co-creation and warmth for service recovery.

This research extends the understanding of SCM to VSA-enabled services and shows the asymmetries of mediation between the paradigms of service co-creation versus service recovery to suggest the most effective approach for VSAs to successfully meet customer requirements for establishing trust and satisfaction.

Although climate change-related risks affect all stakeholders along the supply chain, the potential impact on small and micro-sized suppliers is incredibly excessive. The corresponding toll of these climate risk threats on the mental health and well-being of owners of small and micro-sized suppliers can adversely affect their participation in sustainability efforts, ultimately impacting the firm's performance. This often-overlooked dynamic forms the core of our research. We probe into two pivotal aspects: how industry dynamism and climate risk affect the mental health and well-being of owners of small and micro-sized suppliers and how, in turn, dictate involvement and, consequently, supply chain sustainability performance. This is further nuanced by the moderating role of the abusive behavior of buyers.

Our study is built on resource dependency theory and the supporting empirical evidence is fortified by a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. This study comprises three phases. In the first phase, our experiment examines the effect of industry dynamism and climate risk exposure on sustainable supply chain management performance. Hypotheses H1a and H1b are tested in the first phase. The second phase involves using a survey and structural equation modeling to test the comprehensiveness of the model. Here, the relationship between industry dynamism, climate risk exposure, mental health and well-being of owners of small and micro-sized supplier firms, supplier involvement and sustainable supply chain management (H2–H7) is tested in the second phase. In the third phase, we adopt a qualitative approach to verify and provide descriptive explanations of phase two findings.

Our findings underscore the significance of small and micro-sized suppliers in sustainability, offering invaluable insights for both theoretical understanding and practical implementation. Our study highlights that buyers must allocate sufficient resources to support small and micro-sized supplier firms and collaborate closely to address climate change and its impacts.

The key takeaway from this study is that buyer firms should consider SDG 3, which focuses on the good health and well-being of their employees and the mental health and well-being of owners of small and micro-sized suppliers in their upstream supply chain. This approach enhances sustainability performance in supply chains.

This is one of the first studies that shows that industry dynamism and climate risk exposure can negatively impact small and micro-sized suppliers in the presence of a contextual element, i.e. abusive behavior of buyers, and ultimately, it negatively impacts sustainable supply chain performance dimensions.