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The purpose of this study is to explore stakeholder responses to an airline’s sustainability signaling act. Responding stakeholders, their interpretations and feedback to the signal are studied in light of signaling theory and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This study was conducted using the social media analytics approach. A total of 7,002 publications in the public domain were collected from the internet’s news services, blogs and major social media websites. These posts were subjected to content, sentiment and reach analyses.

Diverse stakeholder groups, ranging from industry professionals to societal influencers, responded via social media to a CSR-related press release, the main types being general influencers of society and those working in the aviation or tourism industry. The themes of responses ranged from sustainability, technical development and the future of transport to green transition policies. Hence, the press release as a signal was linked to other discussions prevalent in society. Sentiments of the publications were mainly neutral or positive, with very few negative responses from stakeholders. Many responses were supportive, and the critical responses did not contain accusations of greenwashing.

Environmental CSR communications are strategically important to companies operating in carbon-intensive industries. The public may view breakthroughs in technology as an efficient way of emissions reductions cascaded with improvements in processes and practices. Utilizing new technology also affects several stakeholders and creates new opportunities for them. Knowledge on the subject may influence the tone of discussion.

This study views a press release as sustainability-related signaling and examines stakeholder responses in social media, contributing to CSR and signaling research in the context of the airline industry by observing the signaling process over time along with the behavior of the actors involved.

This systematic review comprehensively examines corporate political contributions (CPC), exploring their antecedents, evolving mechanisms and diverse organizational outcomes. It offers a holistic understanding of the business–politics relationship and proposes a managerial decision-making framework for strategic CPC engagement. The study also identifies gaps in the literature and suggests future research avenues.

This study employs a systematic review process to assess the CPC literature. Utilizing leading journals and databases like Web of Science, Scopus and EBSCO, we apply rigorous screening criteria to select 72 relevant papers critically analyzed using the “Antecedents-Phenomenon-Consequences” framework.

The research identifies two primary dynamics influencing CPC: “essential need” for firm survival and “elective choice.” It reveals that CPC strategies impact various firm performance metrics, including market returns, operational performance and policy outcomes. Research is concentrated in the US, with a limited focus on developing economies. Future research should focus on industry-specific studies, timing of contributions and cross-national comparisons.

This paper provides managers with a comprehensive framework for CPC engagement, helping them navigate political dynamics, optimize contributions and enhance firm performance while maintaining ethical and strategic considerations.

This paper systematically reviews the complex political strategy of CPC, providing a nuanced understanding of how CPC operates across different countries and contexts. It offers academics and professionals insights to develop robust theories and make informed decisions in a modern, complex business environment.

This paper aims to propose the sensory stimulation spillover effect phenomenon, defined as the process by which sensory stimulation in one area generates positive impressions and favorably impacts opinions in other areas. Specifically, this paper demonstrates that the spillover effect of sensory priming via an advertised brand impacts the viewer’s self-brand connections (the mental representation of a brand connected to an individual’s self-concept), brand attitude and brand purchase intention.

Across six experiments, 883 participants considered advertised brands from diverse product categories (food snacks, electronics and detergent). The multisensory prime in Studies 1–3 uses positively valenced sensory imagery and text, whereas the multisensory prime in Studies 4–6 is a sensory imaging task. Studies 1–4 examine the spillover effect of the multisensory prime on consumers’ self-brand connections, as well as downstream brand-related variables. Studies 5 and 6, respectively, examined the moderating roles of advertising appeal, regulatory focus (promotion vs prevention) and cognitive versus affective tone.

Results provide robust evidence of the proposed sensory stimulation spillover effect. Sensory priming strengthens self-brand connections and positively impacts brand attitude and purchase intention; self-brand connections mediate the relationship between a multisensory prime and brand attitude and purchase intention. The sensory stimulation spillover effect is stronger when advertisements have a promotion (vs prevention) focus and particularly for participants with a stronger intrinsic promotion (vs prevention) orientation, as well as for advertisements with an affective (vs a cognitive) tone.

The authors manipulated sensory stimulation using visual images and text as well as using a multisensory-imaging task. Future work can explore the use of actual sensory stimulation, and retail spaces or public venues may provide opportunities for field experiments to study sensory stimulation in situ.

The research focuses on spillover effects in an advertising context with broader implications for consumers’ in-store shopping experiences based on multisensory store architecture and atmospherics, as well as online shopping that is impacted by multisensory information.

This paper introduces the phenomenon of sensory stimulation spillover effect, the process by which sensory stimulation in one area generates positive impressions and favorably impacts opinions in other areas and demonstrates that multisensory priming strengthens self-brand connections and downstream brand-related variables, with self-brand connections as the mediator. The results are robust across multiple product categories and are contingent upon the type of advertising appeal. The research focuses on spillover effects in an advertising context with broader implications for consumers’ in-store shopping experiences based on multisensory store architecture and atmospherics, as well as online shopping which is impacted by multisensory information.

This study aims to provide empirical evidence to verify the dimensional structure of artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot quality and examine the impact of these dimensions on consumer satisfaction and brand advocacy among Gen Z in the fast food industry in Egypt.

The empirical data was obtained with an electronic self-administered survey instrument from 397 young consumers who had prior experience using AI Chatbots across multiple fast food brands in Egypt. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the formulated hypotheses.

The results showed that AI Chatbot quality dimensions, specifically information authenticity and system compliance, significantly enhance young consumers’ satisfaction. In addition, information authenticity of AI Chatbot quality was observed to wield a significant influence on young consumers’ advocacy. In contrast, an insignificant relationship was noticed between satisfaction and advocacy. Moreover, the mediating role of consumer satisfaction was not established.

Given that Gen Z is more technology savvy and computer literate, marketers and practitioners of fast food brands should invest in AI tools to respond to young consumers’ expectations and improve their perception of their services.

This study uses stimulus-organism-response theory to understand the mediating effect of young consumers’ satisfaction in the relationship between AI Chatbot quality and consumer brand advocacy within the fast food industry. Also, it introduced two novel main constructs of AI Chatbot quality, namely, information authenticity and system compliance.

Although various stakeholder groups frequently advocate and call for greater heterogeneity among directors and managers, it remains unknown whether team heterogeneity can be beneficial for audit committee to exercise the auditor selection functions. This study aims to address this question.

Drawing on a sample of domestically listed nonfinancial A-share firms in China from 2008 to 2022, the authors empirically examine whether and how firm’s audit committee heterogeneity associates with the selection of auditors.

Firms with higher levels of audit committee heterogeneity are more likely to be associated with lower-quality auditors. Further examination reveals the mediating role of risk-taking: higher levels of heterogeneity are associated with higher levels of risk-taking, influencing firms to employ lower-quality auditors. Moreover, the authors document that increased audit committee heterogeneity is associated with more audit committee meetings and lower audit efficiency, and that hiring lower-quality auditors can influence the market value of firms with high audit committee heterogeneity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine whether and how audit committee erogeneity associates with the selection of auditors. Moreover, because China is a high-power distance, collectivism-oriented, more relations-based (i.e. guanxi-based) than rules-based society, it is critical to examine the influence of team heterogeneity based on the unique cultural context and transitional nature of China’s business environment.

In addition to business stresses, small business owners (SBOs) face moral conflict and moral identity challenges when providing services during a crisis, such as a natural disaster, war or global health issues. This netnography study explores SBOs as they leverage online service communities to modify practices, sustain services and manage the resulting moral conflict.

We employ a netnographic approach, including engagement with a global forum, online surveys and interviews. Data were collected from virtual reality photographers working in residential real estate at the height of the pandemic crisis.

The netnographic data reveal that the crisis threatened their businesses and caused these SBOs to question whether their services were essential or merely capitalizing on the crisis, creating moral tension and role conflict. We find that online service communities offer a social alliance and verification that can promote a co-creative process, leading to creative business practices. Additionally, the community interactions inspire SBOs to adopt a moral identity, which assists in bringing normalcy to the delivery of their service while keeping others safe.

This study utilized netnography innovatively, including incorporating open-ended surveys and broad-reaching member checks. This yielded insights during a time-bound crisis context within an online service community. Additionally, using social identity and organizational identity theories, we introduce the concept of SBO identity and investigate the owners’ journey through early crisis management.

This study aims to understand the mechanism by which the value of ride-sharing services influences consumers’ continuance intention.

The authors collected data from 484 Chinese ride-sharing respondents and analyzed them using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results show that hedonic value, social connection value and environmental value positively affect consumers’ cognitive fit and emotional fit, while utilitarian value has no significant effect on either cognitive fit or emotional fit. In addition, both cognitive fit and emotional fit significantly affect consumers’ satisfaction and continuance intention. Furthermore, satisfaction mediates the effects of cognitive and emotional fit on continuance intention.

Ride-sharing practitioners should have a clear understanding of all the value dimensions of ride-sharing services, which would subsequently increase customers’ continuance intention.

This study defines and divides the dimensions of ride-sharing value and demonstrates the significant impact of environmental value on the sustainability of ride-sharing services. This study extends fit theory by dividing it into two dimensions.