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This study uses instrumental stakeholder theory to explore the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance in various market sectors. It aims to show how CSP, driven by stakeholder demands in different markets, affects financial outcomes.

Using panel data analysis on data from 2007 to 2020, this research examines how stakeholder demand impacts a firm's ability to turn social performance into financial gains. The study ensures reliable results by addressing methodological and endogeneity issues related to CSP.

The results show that a firm's success in converting social performance into financial benefits depends on stakeholder demands in different markets. While better CSP generally leads to improved financial performance, the extent of this benefit varies based on stakeholder expectations. This highlights the importance of managers strategically addressing stakeholder demands to maximize financial returns from social initiatives.

By examining the CSP–financial performance link through the lens of market and stakeholder demands, this research provides new insights into how firms can strategically gain stakeholder support for financial benefits. It shows the long-term value of CSP as an investment that gains stakeholder support over time. This approach broadens the understanding of CSP by considering diverse stakeholder influences across industries, filling a gap in long-term CSP research.

This study aims to expand understanding of the diversity of virtual influencer forms by investigating their nonhuman-like, animal and graphic or cartoon variations.

A three-year multisite longitudinal netnography studied 174 virtual influencers and spanned ten social media platforms. Typological categories were constructed from the data set, focusing on 14 influencers located across quadrants. In-depth findings were then developed for eight illustrative cases.

Findings deepen the knowledge of the virtual influencer sphere by highlighting diversity in human-like, nonhuman-like, imaginative and realistic forms. The authors postulate four types of virtual influencers: hyper-human, antihuman, pan-human and alter-human. These forms are linked to specific personalities and communication styles, addressing various consumer needs. Imaginatively represented virtual influencers may prompt audiences to reevaluate beliefs, values and behaviors. These findings challenge prior work’s focus on attractive, hyperreal and human-like virtual influencers, encouraging consideration of divergent types engaged in novel meaning-shaping activities and targeting different segments.

This research paves the way for consumer and marketing researchers and practitioners to broaden their representations of virtual influencers beyond the human-like, beyond the commercial and into new worlds of fantasy, imagination and posthuman possibility.

Different types of virtual influencers speak to diverse audiences and convey marketing messages in subtly different ways. Some forms of virtual influencers fit into roles like defiant voices, oppositional characters, activists, educators, entertainers and change leaders. As the universe of virtual influencers diversifies, this research opens new avenues of marketing for brands.

This study pioneers comprehensive qualitative research across the universe of virtual influencers and their communities, exploring links to popular culture. It offers connections between virtual influencer forms and communication strategies for marketers.

This research, titled ‘AI in Digital Marketing: The Ethical Implications of Digital Influence on Markets and Consumers,’ conducts a comprehensive examination of the nuanced role played by artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping consumer behaviour and influencing decision-making processes. While the incorporation of AI in marketing offers commendable advantages, such as providing personalised content and optimising strategies to enhance customer experiences and market efficiency, it concurrently introduces ethical considerations. This study meticulously scrutinises the latent potential for market grooming, wherein AI subtly guides consumers towards decisions that may not align with their best interests. By delving into instances of data privacy breaches, algorithmic biases and the unintended consequences of hyper-personalisation, this research contributes substantively to the ongoing discourse on the responsible utilisation of AI. The study underscores the imperative need for regulatory frameworks aimed at ensuring ethical practices in the dynamically shifting digital landscape. It endeavours to strike an equitable balance between the constructive contributions and potential pitfalls of AI in the realm of marketing. Through this research, we aim to shed light on the ethical dimensions associated with the digital manipulation of markets and consumers, providing insights that can inform industry practices, policymaking and public awareness.

This paper tries to retrospect the mounting application of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the human resource management area. The document applies bibliometric analysis and uses relational techniques to explore dimensions of documents in the field. The results highlight publication trends, most impactful authors, countries and institutes in the research area. The science mapping along with co-citation and bibliometric coupling analysis revealed major developments in the field. The thematic mapping and trend analysis highlighted the past and emerging trends towards significant and impactful research in the areas of robotics, big data, AI and data analytics. This paper sets the base for future researchers by coordinating and combining various past researches to help in understanding the evolution of ML and AI in human resource management and expansion of knowledgebase.

The purpose of this article is to meet Professor Paul T.P. Wong, PhD, CPscyh, who is based at the Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Wong represents an interesting case of how a racial/cultural minority could achieve success in a hostile environment consisting of the systemic biases of injustice, discrimination and marginalization. His life also epitomizes how one can experience the paradoxical truth of healing and flourishing in an upside-down world through the positive suffering mindset (PSM).

This case study is presented in two sections: a positive autoethnography written by Wong, followed by his answers to ten questions. The core methodology of positive autoethnography allows people to understand how Wong’s life experience of being a war baby in China, a constant outsider and a lone voice in Western culture, has shaped a very different vision of meaning, positive mental health and global flourishing.

Wong reveals how to live a life of meaning and happiness for all the suffering people in a difficult world. He has researched the positive psychology of suffering for 60 years, from effective coping with stress and searching for meaning to successful aging and positive death. According to Wong’s suffering hypothesis and the emerging paradigm of existential positive psychology (Wong, 2021), cultivating a PSM is essential for healing and flourishing in all seasons of life.

An expanding literature has been developed to illustrate why the missing link in well-being research is how to transcend and transform suffering into triumph. Wong reveals how this emerging area of research is still not fully embraced by mainstream psychology dominated by the individualistic Euro-American culture, and thus why, in an adversarial milieu, existential positive psychology is limited by its inability to attract more researchers to test out Wong’s suffering hypothesis.

The wisdom and helpful tools presented here may enable people to achieve mature happiness and existential well-being even when they have a very painful past, a very difficult present and a bleak future.

This autoethnographic case study offers new grounds for hope for all those who are injured by life, marginalized by systemic biases or tormented by chronic illnesses and disorders. It also provides a road map for a better world with more decent human beings who dare to stand up for justice, integrity and compassion.

Meaning as reflected in suffering is according to Wong the most powerful force to bring out either the worst or the best in people. The new science of suffering shows us how the authors can achieve positive transformation through cultivating a PSM, no matter how harsh one’s fate may be.

The increased digital interactions in the B2B industry have enhanced the importance of customer engagement as a measure of firm performance. This study aims to map and analyze temporal and spatial journeys for customer engagement in B2B markets from a bibliometric perspective.

The extant literature on customer engagement research in the B2B context was analyzed using bibliometric analysis. The citation analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis, three-field plot and bibliographic coupling were used to map the intellectual structure of customer engagement in B2B markets.

The research on customer engagement in the B2B context was studied more in western countries. The analysis suggests that customer engagement in B2B markets will take centre stage in the coming times as digital channels make it easier to track critical metrics besides other key factors. Issues like digital transformation, the use of artificial intelligence for virtual engagement, personalization, innovation and salesforce management by leveraging technology would be critical for improved B2B customer engagement.

The study provides a comprehensive reference to scholars working in this domain.

The study makes a pioneering effort to comprehensively analyze the vast corpus of literature on customer engagement in B2B markets for business insights.

An AI concierge is a technologically advanced, intelligent and personalized assistant that is designated to an individual customer, proactively taking care of that customer’s needs throughout the service journey. This article envisions the idea of AI concierges and discusses how to leverage AI concierges in the customer journey.

This article takes a conceptual approach and draws insights from literature in service management, marketing, psychology, human-computer interaction and ethics.

This article delineates the fundamental forms of AI concierges: dialog interface (no embodiment), virtual avatar (embodiment in the virtual world), holographic projection (projection in the physical world) and tangible service robot (embodiment in the physical world). Key attributes of AI concierges are the ability to exhibit semantic understanding of auditory and visual inputs, maintain an emotional connection with the customer, demonstrate proactivity in refining the customer’s experience and ensure omnipresence through continuous availability in various forms to attend to service throughout the customer journey. Furthermore, the article explores the multifaceted roles that AI concierges can play across the pre-encounter, encounter and post-encounter stages of the customer journey and explores the opportunities and challenges associated with AI concierges.

This paper provides insights for professionals in hospitality, retail, travel, and healthcare on leveraging AI concierges to enhance the customer experience. By broadening AI concierge services, organizations can deliver personalized assistance and refined services across the entire customer journey.

This article is the first to introduce the concept of the AI concierge. It offers a novel perspective by defining AI concierges’ fundamental forms, key attributes and exploring their diverse roles in the customer journey. Additionally, it lays out a research agenda aimed at further advancing this domain.