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By applying social practice theory to green consumption, this paper extends our understanding of consumer insight on green consumption processes beyond linear decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to provide knowledge about how best to mitigate perceived barriers to green consumption processes including the purchase and disposal of household products and to contribute to current discourse about widening social marketing research beyond a predominant focus on individuals’ behaviours.

Thematic content analysis exploring the lived experiences of participants’ green consumption was undertaken by conducting 20 in-depth interviews of Australian consumers. These interviews were analysed through a social practice lens.

The research identified six emergent social practice themes of green consumption. By using social practice theory, a different paradigm of social research than the linear models of behaviour is used. This unconventional investigation into the green consumption process, including the purchase and disposal of household products, extends literature past the attitude–behaviour gap and highlights the importance of aligning green consumption processes with social practice.

By integrating social practice theory into the marketing discipline, this paper explores consumption as part of sustainable marketing and provides suggestions about how best to mitigate perceived barriers to green consumption processes. These insights have relevance to micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social marketing, and can help alter consumption practices making them more sustainable.

Deviant consumer behavior (DCB) has serious negative effects on organizations, employees and other customers. While research to date has largely focused on understanding why consumers engage in deviant behaviors, less focus has been placed on exploring how to deter them. This paper aims to shift the conversation from research exploring why consumers engage in deviant behaviors to understanding how DCB could be deterred.

In this conceptual paper, a research agenda of deterrence tactics is provided with associated propositions to guide future research in the field of DCB.

A deterrence–neutralization–behavior (DNB) framework is proposed to underpin the seven deterrence tactics outlined in this research agenda. The DNB framework illustrates the positive relationship between neutralization techniques and engagement in DCB, because the techniques reduce the level of cognitive dissonance associated with performing a deviant act beyond an individual’s deviance threshold. The framework adds a new proposed moderating role of deterrence tactics. Deterrence tactics are mechanisms that will reintroduce cognitive dissonance, previously reduced through a neutralization technique, by presenting the consumer with a competing piece of information that challenges their attitudes, beliefs or behavior. Therefore, the authors propose that certain deterrence tactics could diminish the positive effect of different neutralization techniques on DCB if the tactics challenge the justifications consumers are using to excuse their actions – subsequently reintroducing cognitive dissonance.

Practically, this paper is the next step in an effort to provide evidence-based solutions for managers seeking to reduce the negative impact that deviance has on the organization.

To date, research has focused on understanding why DCB occurs with limited attention on how it can be deterred. The value in this paper is in proposing a series of deterrence tactics that are theoretically matched to established antecedents and neutralization techniques associated with DCB. Overall, this paper provides a future research agenda with propositions to build knowledge on effective deterrence tactics for curbing instances of DCB.

This paper is part of the Special Issue series Improving Life on Planet Earth – A Call to Action for Service Research to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This paper aims to provide the groundwork for Service Research Theme 2 – services that provide OPPORTUNITY for all humans. Service Research Theme 2 comprises SDG4, quality education; SDG5, gender equality; and SDG10, reduced inequalities and seeks to mobilize ServCollab’s aspirations to reduce human suffering, improve human well-being and enable well-becoming.

A scoping review appraising existing service research related to SDG4, SDG5 and SDG10 was conducted, establishing interlinkages, identifying patterns within each SDG and then assembling a research agenda for service researchers.

The scoping review identifies 18 patterns in service research (six patterns per SDG) pertaining to Service Research Theme 2. Common patterns among the SDG4, SDG5 and SDG10 included underrepresentation, consumer-centricity, the absence of explicit SDG linkages, the predominance of one theoretical anchor and the preference for quantitative studies, particularly surveys. Overall, the scoping review found that service research related to Service Research Theme 2 is patchy in that it is overdeveloped in some topics, methodologies and methods yet underdeveloped or silent in others.

The high-level research problem of Service Research Theme 2 is as follows: How have services provided OPPORTUNITY for all humans? This paper analyzes patterns in service research and, from these patterns, assembles a research agenda that sparks and guides further research.

The purpose of this study is to examine the underresearched transformative service research (TSR) and social marketing segment of young adults who use drugs and identify motivators that have been studied in previous literature, using a service ecosystem lens and provide direction for future research into this area. This research provides the evidence-based knowledge for transformative service and social marketing practitioners to design transformative services that target these motivators.

This systematic review, guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis framework, examines and analyses 207 articles published between 2015 and 2020.

This study identified that young adults are motivated to take drugs to enhance one’s experience, to cope, for social reasons, because of individual characteristics and for other reasons. Research has largely focused on microsystem and mesosystem motivators with data collected mainly using a microsystem approach.

This paper contributes to the TSR and social marketing literature by providing a holistic investigation into all motivators relevant to young adult drug use. An ecosystem classification and theoretical framework of the motivators is curated to help guide future TSR and social marketing research and interventions.

This paper aims to examine how individuals’ need for distinction moderates the effect of perceived harm to others as a result of preferential treatment on customers’ attitudes towards the service provider.

Two experiments test the hypothesis that when a customer receives preferential treatment, the effect of perceived harm to others on the customer’s attitudes towards the service provider is moderated by their need for distinction and mediated by negative moral emotions, such that mediation occurs for customers with a lower (but not higher) need for distinction.

When customers have a lower need for distinction, they scan the environment to seek information about others when judging their own experience. In contrast, customers with a higher need for distinction tend to disregard others’ opinions and feelings, focusing solely on the benefits they receive from the service provider and avoiding moral emotions. Our results show that customers with a higher need for distinction tend to evaluate the service provider more favourably than those with a lower need for distinction in scenarios where the benefit given to an advantage customer imposes a disadvantage on other customers.

To the best of author’s knowledge, this research is the first to examine the interaction between perceived harm to others and one’s need for distinction as drivers of customers’ response to preferential treatment. The authors are the first to show that negative moral emotions may arise for customers with a lower need for distinction but not for those with a higher need for distinction.

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it seeks to understand how different forms of anthropomorphism, namely verbal and visual, can enhance or detract from the subjective well-being of consumers and their co-creation behaviors whilst collaborating with artificial intelligence (AI) service agents. Second, it seeks to understand if AI anxiety and trust in message, function as primary and secondary consumer appraisals of collaborating with AI service agents.

A conceptual model is developed using the theories of the uncanny valley and cognitive appraisal theory (CAT) with three hypotheses identified to guide the experimental work. The hypotheses are tested across three experimental studies which manipulate the level of anthropomorphism of AI.

Results demonstrate that verbal and visual anthropomorphism can assist consumer well-being and likelihood of co-creation. Further, this relationship is explained by the mediators of anxiety and trust.

The empirical results and theorizing suggest verbal anthropomorphism should be present (absent) and paired with low (high) visual anthropomorphism, which supports the “uncanny valley” effect. A moderated mediation relationship is established, which confirms AI anxiety and trust in a message as mediators of the AI service agent anthropomorphism-consumer subjective well-being/co-creation relationship. This supports the theorizing of the conceptual model based on the “uncanny valley” and CAT.

Online trolling is a detrimental behavior for consumers and service businesses. Although online trolling research is steadily increasing, service research has yet to thoroughly explore how this behavior impacts businesses. Further, the role of bystanders, consumers who witness a victim (business) being trolled, remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is thus to introduce online trolling to the service literature and begin to identify when (types of online troll content) and why (empathy and psychological reactance) bystanders are likely to intervene and support a service business being trolled by posting positive eWOM.

This research uses a two-study (Study 1 n = 313; Study 2 n = 472) experimental design with scenarios of a service business experiencing online trolling (moral versus sadistic). Participants' responses as bystanders were collected via an online survey.

Results reveal bystanders are more likely to post positive eWOM to support a service organization experiencing sadistic trolling. Psychological reactance is shown to mediate the relationship between trolling type and positive eWOM. Further, spotlight analysis demonstrates that bystanders with higher levels of empathy are more likely to post positive eWOM, whereas bystanders with low levels of empathy are likely to have a significantly higher level of psychological reactance.

This research is among the first in the service literature to specifically explore the consumer misbehavior of online trolling. Further, it provides new perspectives to online trolling by probing the role of bystanders and when and why they are likely to support service organizations being trolled.

The current research aims to introduce the concept of frontline employee (FLE) vulnerability and examine its antecedents and consequences using a framework grounded in Job Demands-Resource theory (JD-R).

A systematic review and meta-analysis guided by PRISMA is utilized to review previous FLE literature (204 studies) and develop a conceptualization of FLE vulnerability. The meta-analysis then examines the antecedents and consequences of FLE vulnerability and provides generalizable findings including the identification of critical areas for future research.

The meta-analysis provided support for the proposed conceptualization of FLE vulnerability. Specifically, job demands and individual characteristics were observed to increase FLE vulnerability, conceptualized as an individual's susceptibility to experience state-based harm. Job resources were seen to minimize FLE susceptibility to vulnerability. FLE vulnerability was also observed to significantly strengthen negative outcomes and decrease positive outcomes.

This research addresses calls for greater investigation into how negative events may impact FLE vulnerability. This is achieved by defining FLE vulnerability as a concept which represents one's susceptibility to experience state-based harm as a result of job and/or individual characteristics. The research also provides greater understanding of the health impairment process within JD-R through the introduction and expanded definition of harm that moves beyond physical considerations to also include emotional and psychological harms. Finally, the research adds to the small body of meta-analytic research in the field of service management.

This paper aims to report on the first comprehensive, social marketing systematic review of interventions targeting illicit drug use by young adults.

A total of 3,169 papers were screened, with 20 relevant empirical studies meeting the eligibility criteria for the systematic review. These were analysed according to Andreasen’s (2002) and NSMC’s (2006) social marketing benchmarks.

The findings provide evidence regarding the efficacy of behavioural and clinical interventions targeting individuals and groups, including motivational, life skills training, cognitive behavioural therapy, comprehensive health and social risk assessments and buprenorphine treatment interventions. Further, results evidence that there is yet to be an intervention which has implemented the full marketing mix, and limited studies have used the social marketing benchmarks of exchange and competition.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to conduct a comprehensive systematic review and provide key recommendations outlining the potential for social marketing to support the improved uptake and efficacy of interventions. A research agenda is also put forward to direct future social marketing scholarship in the area of young adult drug interventions.