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This study aims to look into the role of gamification as an effective marketing tool to engage with consumers and influence purchase behaviours. As there are a plethora of gamified elements, it is crucial to determine which of them can significantly facilitate consumer purchase behaviour. Therefore, a unique stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework which encompasses four popular gamified elements (i.e. fun, rewards, competition and badges) was employed to investigate consumers’ engagement.

An online survey was utilized to collect the data which yielded 307 responses. Subsequently, partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data.

Among the gamification elements assessed in this study, fun was revealed to be the strongest facilitating antecedent of shopping engagement. However, reward was revealed to have an insignificant effect on shopping engagement. In addition, it was found that consumers undergo a processual development with regard to their impulse buying of retail food products. More precisely, shopping engagement is a significant facilitator of customer satisfaction which subsequently motivates impulse buying.

This is among the pioneering studies to provide detailed insights into the effect of different gamified elements on consumer engagement. Furthermore, a number of practical and theoretical implications for the relevant stakeholders were discussed.

The main aim of this study is to examine the effect of virtual store atmospheric factors on impulsive purchasing in the metaverse context.

Grounded in purposive sampling, 451 individuals with previous metaverse experience were recruited to accomplish the objectives of this research. Next, to identify both linear and nonlinear relationships, the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) approaches.

The findings underscore the significance of the virtual store environment and online trust in shaping impulsive buying behaviors within the metaverse retailing setting. Theoretically, this study elucidates the impact of virtual store atmosphere and trust on impulsive buying within a metaverse retail setting.

From the findings of the study, because of the importance of virtual shop content, practitioners must address its role in impulse purchases via affective online trust. The study’s findings are likely to help retailers strategize and improve their virtual store presentations in the metaverse.

The discovery adds to the understanding of consumer behavior in the metaverse by probing the roles of virtual store atmosphere, online trust and impulsive buying.

The launch of ChatGPT has brought the large language model (LLM)-based generative artificial intelligence (GAI) into the spotlight, triggering the interests of various stakeholders to seize the possible opportunities implicated by it. Nevertheless, there are also challenges that the stakeholders should observe when they are considering the potential of GAI. Given this backdrop, this study presents the viewpoints gathered from various subject experts on six identified areas.

Through an expert-based approach, this paper gathers the viewpoints of various subject experts on the identified areas of tourism and hospitality, marketing, retailing, service operations, manufacturing and healthcare.

The subject experts first share an overview of the use of GAI, followed by the relevant opportunities and challenges in implementing GAI in each identified area. Afterwards, based on the opportunities and challenges, the subject experts propose several research agendas for the stakeholders to consider.

This paper serves as a frontier in exploring the opportunities and challenges implicated by the GAI in six identified areas that this emerging technology would considerably influence. It is believed that the viewpoints offered by the subject experts would enlighten the stakeholders in the identified areas.

This study aimed to examine consumers’ impulse purchases of luxury products in the metaverse, specifically by exploring how consumers’ motivational and emotional experiences affect virtual luxury product purchases in the metaverse.

An online survey was administered to a total of 230 users of various metaverse platforms in China. The data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) disjoint two-stage approach.

The findings indicated that motivational experience (goal importance and goal interest) and positive emotion (fantasy, feeling and fun) have positive effects on impulse buying of luxury products in the metaverse, but none for negative emotions (loneliness and isolation).

This study indicated that understanding and leveraging consumers’ motivational experiences and positive emotions can drive their impulse buying behaviour of luxury products in the metaverse, hence providing virtual and brand retailers with a testbed for their products before they launch in the physical market.

This study enriches our comprehension of consumers’ metaverse luxury purchases by delving into the impacts of motivational and emotional experiences on impulse buying behaviours.

This research investigates the dark sides of virtual work climate by examining how blurred work-nonwork boundaries serve as a turning point leading to amotivation at work.

This quantitative study involved 487 employees from small and medium-sized enterprises in China who completed a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method.

The study found that virtual work climate positively influences workplace flexibility. However, blurred work-nonwork boundaries mediate the relationship between workplace flexibility and psychological demands, transforming the positive effects of virtual work climate in terms of flexibility into negative outcomes. Psychological demands from both work and nonwork domains contribute to amotivation at work.

The study provides practical insights for managers on satisfying employees’ needs for flexible working arrangements within a virtual work climate by advocating for clear policies that establish distinct work-nonwork boundaries, thereby ensuring employee motivation is not compromised.

This research unveils the dark sides of the virtual work climate, extending the self-determination through the lens of the “too-much-of-a-good-thing” theory. The findings suggest that blurred work-nonwork boundaries may be the turning point where the virtual work climate leads to amotivation at work.

This study integrates the theories of perceived value and human-robot interaction to develop a framework for examining the influence of artificial intelligence-based service chatbot’s (AI-BOT) attributes on user stickiness (US) in the context of human-centric services. The study specifically examines the mediating role of perceived competence (PC) in the association between AI-BOT attributes and the US. It also examines how perceived empathy (PE) moderates the correlation between PC and US.

The empirical data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire from 470 respondents with prior experience of interacting with AI-BOTs. The data was analysed using SMART-PLS by performing structural equation modelling.

The study found a positive and significant impact of selected AI-BOT attributes on US. Among all selected attributes, personalization had the strongest impact on PC and recommendations had the strongest impact on US. Responsiveness did not emerge as a contributory factor for generating PC. This paper confirmed the mediating role of PC among relationships between selected attributes and US but such mediation was minor. PE moderated the relationship between PC and US negatively.

This study provides novel insights by identifying that PE dampens the relationship between PC and US. Additionally, it provides a framework to stimulate the US for AI-BOTs by combining technical aspects (human-computer interaction theory) with value aspects (theory of perceived value) and by positioning constructs specific to human-centric services. All in all, the study offers a dual-layered perspective regarding value-in-use resulting in a comprehensive understanding of human-technology interactions during human-centric service encounters.

This study aims to propose and validate a research framework pertaining to the willingness to disclose information in the context of mobile banking apps. The interrelationships between privacy protection, perceived personalization, social presence, design aesthetics, consumer empowerment, parasocial interactions and privacy concerns are assessed as antecedents of willingness to disclose information.

Based on a self-administered survey, this study gathered data from 450 Chinese consumers. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling via SmartPLS 4 software.

The findings indicate that (1) privacy concerns are negatively related to willingness to disclose information, (2) parasocial interaction reduces privacy concerns, (3) consumer empowerment is positively influenced by privacy protection and perceived personalization and (4) social presence and design aesthetics positively contribute to the formation of parasocial interaction.

The current study serves to reinforce a theoretical understanding of the willingness to disclose information in mobile banking apps, which is underresearched. The findings offer alternative psychological mechanisms (i.e. consumer empowerment and parasocial interaction) and relevant mobile banking app attributes to explain the willingness to disclose information.

This paper aims to investigate the triangular interconnections among supply chain finance (SCF), supply chain risk management (SCRM) and supply chain sustainability (SCS) within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the theoretical foundation of dynamic capabilities view.

A total of 319 valid data sets were gathered from SMEs in China to evaluate the research model. This study uses partial least square structural equation modelling and necessary condition analysis as the two statistical methodologies for the assessment.

The findings indicate that SCF positively impacts on both SCRM and SCS, whereas SCRM also positively influences SCS. Furthermore, it has been observed that SCRM partially mediates the connection between SCF and SCS.

The findings contribute to the literature of SCS by empirically validating the direct and mediating impacts of SCRM on SCS.

The results provide valuable insights that can assist SME stakeholders, owners and managers in developing strategies to effectively incorporate SCF and SCRM practices, thereby enhancing SCS performance.

This study expands the existing research on SCF and SCRM in the context of promoting SCS, specifically from the viewpoint of an Asian developing country.

Since its inception, ChatGPT has been disruptively transforming how businesses operate along the whole value chain. The service sector is no exception from these technological advances. Given its potential and significance, five major areas whereby ChatGPT has great potential in services management are identified and discussed in terms of opportunities, challenges and research agendas: service marketing, customer experience, digital services, cost-effective service excellence, and ethical and corporate digital responsibility.

By adopting an expert-oriented perspective approach, the study leverages the expertise of 11 knowledgeable contributors from the fields of service and information systems to foresee the implications of ChatGPT in services. The article comprehensively examines the current body of literature and practices in ChatGPT and services and proposes a forward-thinking research agenda for service scholars and practitioners.

The contributors recognize that ChatGPT has the potential to transform service offerings significantly, enrich customer experiences, optimize service costs, and contribute to societal advantages through improved digital services. However, they also acknowledge the disruption ChatGPT may cause to traditional service practices, including the potential loss of human touch in services, challenges to privacy and security, and the potential negative outcomes affecting service consumers and employees in terms of inequality, biases, and misuse of ChatGPT.

This article introduces a groundbreaking investigation into the use of ChatGPT in services management. The originality is demonstrated by examining the potential and obstacles to applying ChatGPT in different service domains. In addition, this research serves as a guiding light for subsequent studies by suggesting an in-depth research agenda, including understanding the design and optimization of ChatGPT in the customer service journey, the role of ChatGPT in assisting service organizations to promote responsible services, and implications of ChatGPT on service stakeholders.