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Many firms are investing in digital services to improve customer experiences. Virtual service agents, or “e-service agents” (“e-agents”) such as chatbots, are examples of these efforts. Chatbots are types of virtual-assistant software programs that interact with users through speech or text. This paper aims to investigate whether the perceived hedonic and utilitarian attributes of chatbots can influence customer satisfaction and, consequently, their relationships with brands.

Data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey among a sample of Italian consumers. A convenience sampling technique was used. Data were then analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to provide a prediction-oriented model assessment. The findings were then complemented with an importance–performance map analysis (IPMA) to gain more detailed insights and actionable guidelines for managers.

The findings highlighted that the perceived hedonic and utilitarian attributes of chatbots positively influenced customer satisfaction and improved customer relationships with the brands. However, the IMPA highlighted that the performance levels of two most important attributes – system quality and experience with chatbot – could be improved resulting in additional improvements of customer satisfaction.

This study suggests the importance of firms’ investments in and adoption of e-agents to strengthen consumer–brand relationships and of considering both the hedonic and utilitarian attributes of their e-agents.

This article attempts to enrich and consolidate the growing body of literature concerning the impacts of new technologies – and, specifically, chatbots – in service marketing.

Due to a staggering growth rate in the recent past, halal products have attained a significant attention of marketers across countries. However, marketing practitioners seek to have detailed understanding of what drives consumers of different demographics towards this product category so as to better market and position themselves in the competitive landscape. Correspondingly, this study aims to provide insights into the Muslim women consumers’ halal cosmetics purchase behaviour and examines the variables (and their interplay) when purchasing such products.

The data for the study were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from 371 Muslim respondents from India. The data were analysed through structural equation modelling using AMOS 22.0 SEM software.

The findings of this study reveal that religious knowledge, religious commitment and halal certification(s) affect consumers’ actual purchase behaviour of halal cosmetics, which subsequently drives their repurchase intention. The findings further reveal a non-significant effect of religious orientation with both the actual purchase behaviour and repurchase intention towards halal cosmetics. Additionally, actual purchase behaviour of halal cosmetics is found to positively affect customers’ repurchase intentions.

Despite the recent growth of overall beauty industry, this particular segment of halal cosmetics has a huge potential given the phenomenal preference that Muslim consumers have shown in such niche. Therefore, this paper contributes towards examining the key factors influencing consumers purchase behaviour towards halal cosmetics in India that can be capitalized on.

Few studies have explained how and when consumers are willing to engage in online brand-related activities (COBRAs). This study examines the role of brand love in a consumer’s decision to engage in online brand-related activities, considering the mediating effect of attitudinal brand engagement and the moderating effect of brand value on this relationship.

The study analysed data from 404 Spanish consumers using structural equation modelling and the PROCESS package in SPSS to test hypotheses, including mediation and moderation effects.

The study expands on previous research by revealing the mediating role of brand attitudinal engagement in the relationship between brand love and COBRAs and the moderating role of brand value in the relationship between brand engagement and COBRAs. The results show that online consumers who feel brand love from an online store are likelier to be engaged with the brand. This predisposes them to comment on, share, and create content related to the company or brand. Furthermore, consumers who attribute a high value to the brand are likelier to engage in brand-related online activities.

This study offers valuable insights into mechanisms to encourage consumers to generate content, known as user-generated content, to the extent that the tools for developing this content are the same.

至今, 很少研究嘗試去探討消費者為何或於何時會樂意去參與與品牌相關的在線活動。本研究擬探討品牌摯愛對消費者會否決定參與與品牌相關的在線活動所扮演的角色; 研究方法是透過分析態度品牌參與的中介效應和品牌價值在上述品牌摯愛與參與在線活動之間的關聯上所起的調節效果,以求達至研究目的。

研究人員收集來自404名西班牙消費者的數據,並以結構方程模型和SPSS裏的模組PROCESS,去檢測有關的假設,包括就中介效應和調節效果的假設。

研究揭示了態度品牌參與在品牌摯愛與COBRAs 之間的關聯上所扮演的中介角色,研究亦揭示了品牌價值在品牌參與與COBRAs之間的關聯上所扮演的調節角色; 就此而言, 本研究拓展了從前學者探討有關的領域。再者,研究結果顯示,如果消費者從網上商店產生品牌愛慕的話,他們會投入這個品牌; 這使他們更有可能去評價有關的公司和品牌,以及去分享和創建關於公司和品牌的內容; 而且,若消費者視品牌本身擁有高度價值的話,他們會更易於參與與品牌相關的在線活動。

本研究提供了寶貴的啟示,使我們更了解驅使消費者去創造內容 (即用戶生成內容) 的機制,以至生成這些內容的工具均儘相同的地步。

Due to the recent development of Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) technology solutions in customer relationship management (CRM), this paper provides a systematic overview of the field, thus unveiling gaps and providing promising paths for future research.

A total of 212 peer-reviewed articles published between 1989 and 2020 were extracted from the Scopus database, and 2 bibliometric techniques were used: bibliographic coupling and keywords’ co-occurrence.

Outcomes of the bibliometric analysis enabled the authors to identify three main subfields of the AI literature within the CRM domain (Big Data and CRM as a database, AI and machine learning techniques applied to CRM activities and strategic management of AI–CRM integrations) and capture promising paths for future development for each of these subfields. This study also develops a three-step conceptual model for AI implementation in CRM, which can support, on one hand, scholars in further deepening the knowledge in this field and, on the other hand, managers in planning an appropriate and coherent strategy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematise and discuss the literature regarding the relationship between AI and CRM based on bibliometric analysis. Thus, both academics and practitioners can benefit from the study, as it unveils recent important directions in CRM management research and practices.

This paper aims to explore the mechanisms by which employees’ happiness at work (HAW) can be promoted. Drawing on the social exchange theory (SET), this study examined the relationships among discretionary human resource (HR) practices, perceived organizational support (POS), meaning of work (MOW) and HAW.

A three-path mediation model was developed to test the proposed relationships. The data were collected from Pakistani business professionals (n = 361), and hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macro for SPSS .

The results suggest that POS mediates the relationship between discretionary HR practices and HAW. Also, MOW mediated the relationship between discretionary HR practices and HAW. Hence, both POS and MOW were found to be independent mediators. Further, the data provided support for the serial mediation of POS and MOW in the relationship between discretionary HR practices and HAW.

This research provides insights to organizations and their management on how discretionary HR practices can enhance employees’ POS, MOW and HAW.

The findings show that discretionary HR practices are associated with employees’ HAW. In addition, two mediators (POS and MOW) were found to serially mediate the aforesaid relationships. These findings are novel, as no prior research has used this nascent methodological approach to deepen our understanding by examining the associations between discretionary HR practices, POS, MOW and employees’ HAW.

This study examines mosquito-borne diseases and health hazard of using mosquito repellents in Bangladesh. This study also targets to explore the use of different mosquito repellents and associated health hazard between slum and residential people.

This study has applied a stratified systematic sampling technique taking 120 adult individuals from residential and slum areas covering users and non-users of mosquito repellents of Khulna city, Bangladesh. A structured questionnaire has been used to collect data from respondents.

Econometric techniques are exercised to examine the occurrence, severity and duration of different respiratory diseases. Results exhibit that poor and less-educated slum people are more prone to face respiratory diseases compared to residential people. The health cost of slum and residential people is estimated US$ 134 and US$ 9, respectively.

Relevant stakeholders under public health programs should spread awareness among people regarding the negative health effect of using mosquito repellent, encourage them to limit the use of harmful repellent and instead use herbal product (neem coil), avoid using repellent in living room rather use outside of room and close window and use proper bed net at night.

This study underpins arranging public health programs and taking averting actions as an impetus to raise consciousness toward the negative health effect of using mosquito repellents.

This paper investigates the suitability of fuzzy-logic-based support tools for initial screening of manufacturing reshoring decisions.

Two fuzzy-logic-based support tools are developed together with experts from a Swedish manufacturing firm. The first uses a complete rule base and the second a reduced rule base. Sixteen inference settings are used in both of the support tools.

The findings show that fuzzy-logic-based support tools are suitable for initial screening of manufacturing reshoring decisions. The developed support tools are capable of suggesting whether a reshoring decision should be further evaluated or not, based on six primary competitiveness criteria. In contrast to existing literature this research shows that it does not matter whether a complete or reduced rule base is used when it comes to accuracy. The developed support tools perform similarly with no statistically significant differences. However, since the interpretability is much higher when a reduced rule base is used and it require fewer resources to develop, the second tool is more preferable for initial screening purposes.

The developed support tools are implemented at a primary-criteria level and to make them more applicable, they should also include the sub-criteria level. The support tools should also be expanded to not only consider competitiveness criteria, but also other criteria related to availability of resources and strategic orientation of the firm. This requires further research with regard to multi-stage architecture and automatic generation of fuzzy rules in the manufacturing reshoring domain.

The support tools help managers to invest their scarce time on the most promising reshoring projects and to make timely and resilient decisions by taking a holistic perspective on competitiveness. Practitioners are advised to choose the type of support tool based on the available data.

There is a general lack of decision support tools in the manufacturing reshoring domain. This paper addresses the gap by developing fuzzy-logic-based support tools for initial screening of manufacturing reshoring decisions.

Consumer well-being (CWB) is a flourishing area of research. It is an important field of study for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG-3 (Good Health and Well-Being). However, despite some recent reviews, there is a lack of a comprehensive overview of the broad themes emerging in the CWB literature. The study aims to thoroughly integrate and organize the fragmented existing literature on CWB by uncovering its emergent themes and their impact.

To address this gap, this study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 166 peer-reviewed journal articles from 2013–2023 following the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews protocol from the Scopus and Web of Science databases.

This study’s SLR uncovered seven themes: subjective well-being; psychological well-being; food well-being; financial well-being; environmental well-being; social well-being; and societal well-being. Further, this study identifies that these themes impact consumers on three levels: micro, meso and macro. Thus, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the emergent themes along the levels of impact.

This paper anticipates that the study, which is a thorough overview of the CWB literature, will provide managers, academics and students with an introduction to the topic.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first articles that shows the themes of the CWB literature along the respective levels of impact and draws avenues for future research.

El bienestar del consumidor (CWB) es un área de investigación en auge. Es un campo de estudio clave para los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), en particular el ODS-3 (Salud y Bienestar). Sin embargo, a pesar de algunas revisiones recientes, falta una visión general completa de los amplios temas emergentes en la literatura de CWB. El objetivo de este estudio es integrar y organizar exhaustivamente la literatura existente sobre CWB, revelando sus temas emergentes y su impacto.

Para abordar esta brecha, el estudio presenta una revisión sistemática de la literatura (SLR) de 166 artículos de revistas revisados por pares, publicados entre 2013 y 2023, siguiendo el protocolo SPAR-4-SLR, extraídos de las bases de datos Scopus y Web of Science.

Nuestra SLR reveló siete temas: (a) bienestar subjetivo; (b) bienestar psicológico; (c) bienestar alimentario; (d) bienestar financiero; (e) bienestar ambiental; (f) bienestar social; y (g) bienestar societal. Además, identificamos que estos temas afectan a los consumidores en tres niveles: (i) micro, (ii) meso y (iii) macro. Así, este estudio proporciona una visión completa de los temas emergentes a lo largo de los niveles de impacto.

Anticipamos que este estudio, que ofrece una revisión exhaustiva de la literatura de CWB, proporcionará a gestores, académicos y estudiantes una introducción al tema.

Según nuestro conocimiento, este es uno de los primeros artículos que muestra los temas de la literatura de CWB junto con sus respectivos niveles de impacto y traza rutas para futuras investigaciones.

消费者幸福感(CWB)是一个蓬勃发展的研究领域, 对可持续发展目标(SDGs), 尤其是 SDG-3(良好健康与幸福感), 具有重要意义。然而, 尽管近期已有一些综述, CWB 文献中出现的广 泛主题仍缺乏全面概述。本研究旨在深入整合和组织现有 CWB 文献, 通过揭示其新兴主题及其影响, 填补这一空白。

为解决这一问题, 本研究按照 SPAR-4-SLR 协议, 从Scopus和Web of Science数据 库中选取了 2013 年至 2023 年的 166 篇经过同行评审的期刊文章, 进行系统文献综述(SLR)。

我们的文献综述揭示了七个主题:(a)主观幸福感; (b)心理幸福感; (c)食品幸福感; (d)金融幸福感; (e)环境幸福感; (f)社会幸福感; (g)社会整体幸福感。此外, 我们发现这些 主题在三个层面上影响消费者:(i)微观层面; (ii)中观层面; (iii)宏观层面。因此, 本研究提供 了沿影响层面的新兴主题的全面概述。

我们期待这篇全面概述 CWB 文献的研究能为管理者、学者和学生提供关于该主题的全 面介绍。

据我们所知, 这是首篇阐释 CWB 文献主题及其相应影响层次的文章之一, 并为未来研究指 明了方向。

This paper aims to critically discuss the mounting role of social media (SM) or social networking sites (SNSs) on various human resource management (HRM) practices.

The paper is based on 87 published papers collected from the Web of Science Database particularly from 2010 to 2020 (up to June) using VOSviewer software. After reviewing those paper contents, the author briefly highlighted the findings.

According to most of the previous studies, the utilization of SM information for various HRM practices is rising although such utilization is mostly limited to talent search and recruitment & selection at present. Further, it was found that Facebook and LinkedIn are the two most accepted sites among the hiring professionals where the first one mostly provides behavioral information and the second one provides job-related information. Finally, it was revealed that organizations can develop a strong corporate branding through the presence in SM.

This review paper is expected to motivate further research initiatives regarding the role of social media into different HRM practices.

The author expects that based on the findings, the organizational policymakers can get some practical guidelines regarding the efficient utilization of such a platform.

Social media is a powerful platform for flourishing business entities, promoting products, branding, talent search and so many more purposes. An organization can well promote its existence through this popular platform. In particular, the media can be a well-established platform for searching competent employees and creating employer branding. Therefore, more and more research studies should be carried out focusing on this recent issue. This review paper can be a base for the upcoming researchers as it has accumulated the previous literature and their findings.

This research work aims to arise from developing new communication channels for customer service in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), such as chatbots. In particular, the results of the usability testing of three chatbots implemented in MSMEs are presented.

The methodology employed includes participants, chatbot development platform, research methodology, software development methodology and usability test to contextualize the study's results.

Based on the results obtained from the System Usability Scale (SUS) and considering the accuracy of the chatbot's responses, it is concluded that the level of satisfaction in using chatbots is high; therefore, if the chatbot is well integrated with the communication systems/channels of the MSMEs, the client receives an excellent, fast and efficient service.

The paper analyzes chatbots for customer service and presents the usability testing results of three chatbots implemented in MSMEs.