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The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and tone management in the annual report. This is based on the notion that managers, driven by personal interests, may use their ESG accomplishments by using an abnormal positive tone to enhance their reputation or career prospects.

Using panel data from Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2022, this study first investigates the relationship between ESG performance and abnormal tone management. The study then uncovers this relationship is mediated through the mechanisms of equity-based incentive and analyst coverage. The conclusions of this paper hold even after a series of robustness tests, such as propensity score matching, Heckman two-stage method and two-stage least squares with instrumental variables.

This study finds a positive correlation between ESG performance and the presence of abnormal positive tone in annual reports. Furthermore, the mechanistic analysis reveals that managers in companies with strong ESG performance are motivated to use an overly positive tone, largely due to their vested interests in equity-based compensation. Moreover, in an effort to alleviate the pressure stemming from heightened financial analyst coverage and enhance the impression conveyed through analysts' reports, managers with superior ESG performance also tend to inflate the tone within their annual reports.

This study provides significant insights into the ongoing dialogue surrounding ESG-related equity incentives, which incentivize managerial manipulation of stock prices through the use of abnormal positive tone. The findings call upon investors to exercise greater vigilance in examining narrative information in annual reports, as abnormally positive tones may not always faithfully represent performance but rather reflect managerial self-interest.

There is an emphasis on the importance of robust oversight mechanisms within corporate governance bodies to curb the manipulation of tone for managers’ personal gain.

This study enhances the theoretical foundation of ESG studies, offering a holistic perspective on the intricate interplay among ESG performance, managerial behavior and financial markets, with potential implications for researchers, investors and regulators.

Visual sustainability has gained significant relevance for both firms and consumers. While the importance of perceived sustainability in package design is well researched, there is a research gap regarding divergent responses of consumers to perceived visual sustainability. This research aims to close this gap by providing deeper insights into the underlying mechanisms of perceived visual sustainability in package design. As a boundary condition, this work also investigates gender differences in response to a design’s visual sustainability.

To explore the mediating influences of cognitive (i.e. a product’s gentleness and power) versus emotional (i.e. moral satisfaction) attributes as well as the role of consumer gender in the perceived visual sustainability–purchase intention relationship, the authors extend previous research through three experiments.

Study 1 provides initial evidence supporting the main effect of perceived visual sustainability on purchase intention. Findings of Study 2 show that moral satisfaction serves as a significant driver of purchase intention for females, while power-related attributes are more influential for males. Study 3 provides additional evidence for the main effect, the interaction effect with consumer gender and underlying mechanisms.

These findings have important implications for marketers and designers aiming to design packages that appeal to different consumer groups based on their (gender-specific) values regarding visual sustainability.

This work extends the literature on green behavior by highlighting the importance of perceived visual sustainability as a factor that influences purchase intention and the role of cognitive versus affective mechanisms in shaping consumer responses to design sustainability.

Since buying slow fashion can be both a rational choice and socially reactive behavior, this study adopts the prototype willingness model to predict Flemish young adults’ slow fashion consumption.

An online survey was administered to consumers aged 18–25 years old (N = 264). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data.

Attitude and descriptive norm predicted intention to buy slow fashion, which in turn predicted current self-reported slow fashion consumption. Injunctive norm, prototype favorability and prototype similarity predicted socially reactive willingness to buy slow fashion.

The sample is predominantly female and higher educated. The results were partially in line with the PWM, indicating that the model is suitable for predicting young adults’ self-reported slow fashion consumption.

Slow fashion brands might benefit from increasing the visibility of slow fashion consumption and the occurrence of socially reactive shopping situations as well as improving the prototypical image of slow fashion consumers and the perception of what others approve.

Prior research generally uses rational behavioral models to predict slow fashion consumption. This study is the first to apply the PWM to slow fashion consumption, accounting for rational (i.e. reasoned) and non-rational (i.e. socially reactive) decision-making. Furthermore, this study argues the relevance of “prototypes” in sustainable decision-making.

Integrating the psychological threat perspective of voice with cognitive dissonance theory, the current research seeks to uncover how managers’ experience of shame shapes the extent to which they are threatened by and subsequently react defensively to voice(r).

A two (employee voice: voice condition vs no-voice condition) by two (manager shame: shame vs control) between-subjects experiment with 263 participants (i.e. front-line managers from mainland China) was conducted to test the hypotheses.

Employee voice (vs no voice) induced a higher ego threat among managers experiencing a higher than lower level of shame. The heightened ego threat, in turn, negatively affected the perceived warmth of the employee via perceived behavioral appropriateness. In a similar vein, it affected the perceived competence of the employee via perceived behavioral constructiveness.

Organizations and managers should be aware of the potential unfavorable effects of managers’ emotional state of shame on voice(r) evaluations and take action to improve managers’ emotional regulation skills. Employees should work on their emotional intelligence, which helps them better “read the wind” before speaking up.

The present work advances the understanding of managerial defensive reactions to employee voice by demonstrating that shamed managers are more likely to cognitively denigrate the voice and the voicer as an approach to defend their threatened ego.

This study aims to examine the impact of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation platforms’ green marketing on consumers’ pro-environmental behavioural intention through the mediation of consumer trust and engagement, following the social influence theory and the stimulus–organism–response model.

A questionnaire survey was designed to collect data from American P2P accommodation consumers. Data collection was conducted through an outsourced survey company. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

The study reveals that P2P accommodation platforms’ green marketing orientation was positively associated with consumer trust in the platform and consumer engagement with the platform. Both consumer trust and consumer engagement positively enhanced consumers’ pro-environmental behavioural intention in the P2P accommodation consumption, serving as effective mediators between consumers’ perceptions of green marketing orientation and pro-environmental behavioural intention.

The study offers practical insights for P2P accommodation platforms and operators in engaging in green marketing and fostering consumers’ pro-environmental consumption behaviours in P2P accommodations.

The study addresses the grand question of whether business operators’ responsible production behaviour can possibly lead to consumers’ responsible consumption behaviour in the P2P accommodation sector. It contributes to the literature on P2P accommodation by providing evidence to show green marketing practices of P2P accommodation platforms can lead to consumers’ pro-environmental behavioural intention. It provides both theoretical value for knowledge advancement and practical value to guide more sustainable industry practices.

Sequel advertisements, although used often in practice, are not well studied in literature. This study aims to define sequel advertisements, investigate their effectiveness on customer attitudes towards ads/brands and identify key elements leading to their effectiveness.

The authors first conduct a field study using Facebook data to show that sequels are more effective than non-sequels and repeat ads. Study 2 experimentally tests recall and brand attitudes of sequels over new advertisements, Study 3 tests the effectiveness of different character retention and plot extension variations in sequels and Study 4 experimentally establishes the cognitive path that leads to greater effectiveness of sequel advertisements.

Sequel advertisements are more effective on consumer recall and brand attitudes as compared to new or repeat advertisements, with message format of the first advertisement moderating the effectiveness of the sequel. Consumers’ recognition of the prior-sequel connection mediates the effectiveness of the sequel advertisement. Plot extension with character retention is the most effective sequel advertising strategy.

This research opens opportunities for research on the effectiveness of sequels across different media formats/product categories and sequential ads.

The findings suggest that managers can profitably adopt a strategy of narrative ad followed by a sequel that extends the plot while retaining the characters.

The authors define sequel advertisements, describe the process mechanisms leading to greater effectiveness of sequels and identify superior sequel advertising strategies.

This study aims to explore the relationship between social capital and real earnings management (REM).

Using the social capital index from 1990 to 2014, this study investigates whether managers are less likely to carry out real earnings management when firms headquartered in a county with greater social capital and whether this impact will differ according to firm characteristics and the external environment.

Social capital is negatively linked to a firm’s REM, as a manager’s mindset toward misconduct might be more constrained by a better social environment and a lower tendency to undertake real earnings manipulation. Furthermore, we find that the effect of social capital on real earnings management is stronger for firms with geographically concentrated structures, weaker external monitoring, Sarbanes-Oxley Act adoption and greater pressure to meet earnings targets.

This study sheds light on the relation between social capital and accounting decisions by exploring whether social capital can influence real earnings management and provides evidence that social capital has a beneficial impact on reducing certain misbehaviors in financial reporting and that the effect is stronger when a firm has a geographically concentrated structure, weaker external monitoring, SOX adoption and less pressure to meet earnings targets.

Children are beginning to socialize as consumers earlier than ever, highlighting the importance of their saving behavior as an effective form of consumer protection. The paper explored the influence of parents, peers, attitudes, knowledge, past behavior, allowance and self-efficacy on saving intention.

With the aim to explore a range of determinants of adolescent saving and to specify the potential mechanisms through which different determinants operate, we adopted a multitheoretical approach based on theories of planned behavior, consumer and financial socialization, and self-efficacy. The paper investigates the formation of the saving intentions on a sample of 1,476 children 10–15 years old in Croatia.

The results indicate strong importance of parental influence and self-efficacy, implying that saving intention among tweens requires a supportive family structure as well as beliefs in the tweens themselves that they are able to save money and face difficulties.

This paper investigates the very nature of saving intention formation at a crucial developmental stage; it investigates the interplay of mechanisms through which determinants of savings operate at that developmental stage; and it explores the age-variance of the mechanism and the interplay of relevant variables, shedding light on the nature of the mechanism of development.

Purpose: This study investigates the relationships between environmentally conscious behaviours and intentions among the Romanian population, focusing on the interplay between disposition towards supplementary payment for eco-friendly products (DSPEP), intention for purchasing green products (IPGP), environmentally aware behaviours (EAB), and anticipated eco-behaviour intention (AEI).

Methodology: Questionnaire, the participants being selected using a convenience sampling method, taken from the population of Romania in the period 2021–2022, and the final sample being formed from the answers of 759 participants. Data were analysed using SPSS Process Model 6, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), correlation analysis, and mediation analysis.

Findings: Pearson’s correlation coefficients revealed significant positive associations among DSPEP, IPGP, EAB, and AEI, indicating that individuals with a higher disposition towards eco-friendly products are more likely to have stronger intentions and behaviours related to environmental conservation. Mediation analysis further elucidated the mediating roles of EAB and AEI in the relationship between DSPEP and IPGP. Specifically, AEI exerted both direct and indirect effects on DSPEP, with EAB and IPGP acting as significant mediators.

Implications: Implications for policymakers and marketers seeking to develop interventions and strategies to foster environmental conservation efforts and promote eco-friendly consumption behaviours.

Limitations: The provision of empirical evidence only from the Romanian population. The sampling method and the cross-sectional nature of the data generate methodological limitations, which limit the generalisation and inference of causality of the findings.

Future Research: Research can be extended to validate these findings in different cultural contexts and explore additional factors influencing environmentally conscious behaviours and intentions.

This study aims to advance services marketing research by examining how credence claims, such as sustainability messaging, shape social norms and decision-making behaviors among professional service providers (PSPs). It introduces a typology of PSPs based on their integration of sustainability expertise and normative beliefs. In doing so, the study demonstrates service providers’ role in influencing brand recommendations. By positioning PSPs as intermediaries who translate sustainability knowledge into actionable guidance, the research highlights how credible eco-claims drive pro-social behaviors, underscoring the importance of services marketing in promoting pro-environmental actions and fostering societal change.

A sample of 467 veterinarians were contacted from across North America with the assistance of a major pet food supplier. Structural equation modeling measured the degree to which social norms, a belief in eco-claims and sustainability expertise shaped sustainability importance for professionals. A post hoc 2 × 2 typology placed professionals in quadrants based on eco-related factors, with sustainability-based brand recommendations analyzed based on their quadrant placement.

Social norms and sustainability expertise were instrumental in predicting the importance of professionals’ environmental stewardship. The typology determined that each quadrant of professionals reported significantly different likelihoods of recommending eco-friendly products to their clients.

This study introduces a novel perspective in services marketing by linking sustainability messaging to social norms and decision-making. It presents a unique typology of PSP profiles based on sustainability expertise and normative influences. By positioning PSPs as intermediaries who translate sustainability knowledge into actionable guidance, the research emphasizes the service sector’s capability of driving pro-environmental behaviors and advancing sustainable practices.