Search results

This study aims to examine the role of price discounts and how to communite such discounts for masstige brands. While a price discount might encourage potential (first time) customers seeking higher status to buy a masstige brand, it might deter existing (repeat) customers from purchasing the brand due to a decline in perceived status. Such paradoxical effect of price discounts on masstige brand’s purchase requires a detail investigation into whether masstige brands should offer price discounts and if so, how to communicate such discounts. Current research investigates this phenomenon.

Four experimental studies were executed. Study 1 investigated the impact of monetary discount (absent vs. present) on the purchase intention of masstige brands for different customer types (potential vs. existing). Study 2 investigated the mediating role of perceived status. Study 3 examined the effectiveness of metaphoric communication of monetary discounts (absent vs present) on masstige brand’s purchase. Study 4 tested the moderating effect of customers’ need for cognition.

Overall, monetary discounts positively affect purchase intention of masstige brand; however, the effect is negative for existing customers and positive for potential customers owing to differences in perceived status these customer groups experience (positive for potential and negative for existing customers). Metaphoric communications of monetary discounts restrict the declining purchase intention and status perception of existing customers besides keeping the potential customers’ purchase intention intact.

This research is confined to a particular country limiting the gneralisability of the study’s findings. Furthermore, this research is cross-sectional in nature.

The findings of this research provide valuable insights and actionable recommendations for masstige brands to effectively leverage price discounts, especially in the emerging markets.

To date, a question of whether or not masstige brands should offer price discounts and if so, how to communicate such discounts remain opaque. This is the pioneering study exploring this phenomenon.

This study aims to examine the role of message appeals (concrete vs abstract) posted by greenfluencers in determining their behavioral intention toward the sponsored sustainable product. This study examined the underlying mechanism of message authenticity and product sustainability image in this relationship. This study also investigated the boundary condition of product type (utilitarian vs hedonic) in the effect of sustainability message appeal on purchase intention.

Four studies were carried out. One field experiment on Facebook and three scenario-based online experiments were conducted to test the proposed relationships.

This study found that a concrete message appeal results in a higher purchase intention of the promoted product than an abstract message appeal. This effect is a result of message authenticity and product sustainability image. Furthermore, product type moderates the impact of message appeal on behavioral intention via message authenticity and product sustainability image.

This study contributes to the literature on influencer marketing, sustainability communication and the persuasion process.

This study’s findings provide insights for greenfluencers and firms that leverage greenfluencers to promote their sustainable products on social media. Specifically, it lays out how the sustainability message should be framed to be persuasive.

This study findings offer novel insights for greenfluencers and firms in developing effective message strategies to promote sustainable products on social media.

Building on consumer socialization theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine antecedents and consequences of generating and sharing brand-related content on social media in a restaurant context.

A scale development process was undertaken to develop the scale for brand-related user-generated content (BRUGC). Then the authors tested the antecedents and consequences of BRUGC using 375 responses obtained through a mall-intercept survey. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with AMOS.

Study findings revealed that age, time on Facebook, number of Facebook friends, Facebook usage intensity, and need for self-enhancement were key antecedents of both the generation and sharing of BRUGC. The results also indicated that gender, race and need for self-affirmation were not significantly related to generating and sharing BRUGC. Both generating and sharing BRUGC were positively associated with attitude and intentions toward the restaurants.

This study is the first to develop a BRUGC scale through a rigorous scale development process. It thus contributes to consumer socialization theory literature in considering social media as a socialization agent. The findings provide valuable insights for both academicians and social media managers and aid in enhancing BRUGC.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and develop a scale for measuring employees’ perception on the sustainability of service organisations. With several companies adopting sustainability initiatives, it is prudent to measure the sustainability performance of those companies. Given the multidisciplinary nature of the sustainability measures and its associated challenges, this paper attempts to develop a scale to measure employees’ perception of sustainability of an organisation.

A structured questionnaire was developed and 977 samples were collected based on snowball sampling method. For scale development, this study randomised 586 samples to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and used the remaining samples for validation using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The existing literature on sustainability focusses on three dimensions, namely, economic, social and environmental sustainability measures. This paper explored the similarities of the three dimensions to serve as critical determinants for measuring employees’ perception of sustainability with the collected data from service industries. The EFA revealed that there were six factors for organisational sustainability with 26 questionnaire items. The six factors are as follows: environment management, employee-related sustainability, public related sustainability, financial sustainability, pollution control measures and governance sustainability. The identified factors were tested using CFA and the results are discussed.

This paper will be beneficial for the academicians in sustainability and the policy-makers as it provides a scale to measure employees’ perception on the sustainability of an organisation. This paper adds value to the research by providing a six-factor measurement model for organizational sustainability of selected service industries.

The paper is highly beneficial to the organisations to measure employees’ perception on sustainability and ascertain their position in supporting the holistic development of environment and society, thereby improving the goodwill and reputation of the organisation.

This paper provides insights about measuring employees’ perception on organizational sustainability. A six-factor measurement model has been proposed for organisational sustainability.

This research investigates the barriers for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) adoption among the patients in India. Despite the established role of CAM in the Indian healthcare system for several years, the WHO (WHO) reports limited adoption of these therapies among Indian patients. This study investigates the key barriers toward wider CAM use within the Indian context.

This study used a combined interpretive structural modeling (ISM)-MICMAC approach to identify barriers to CAM usage. In the first phase, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to understand the barriers. Subsequently, experts in the Indian healthcare system were identified and interviewed to capture the contextual intricacies of these barriers within the Indian context.

The study identified ten key barriers to CAM adoption through ISM. A hierarchical model was developed to understand the relationships and interactions among these barriers, revealing their linkages. A MICMAC chart was created to determine the driving and dependent power of the barriers, categorizing them as dependent barriers, linkage barriers or independent barriers. The House of CAM framework was then derived from the ISM-MICMAC analysis, providing a structured, sequential approach for CAM adoption.

The awareness of the potential benefits and usage of CAM is significantly low among Indian patients. There is a pressing need to investigate and systematically conceptualize the barriers to CAM adoption. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers, insurers, practitioners of alternative and complementary medicine, multi-specialty hospitals offering CAM services and regulatory bodies. Understanding these barriers will enable these stakeholders to develop and implement strategies that effectively address these issues.

This research makes substantial contributions to the understanding of barriers to the adoption of CAM. Through a comprehensive investigation, the study introduces the House of CAM framework developed using ISM-MICMAC analysis, providing a strategic approach for targeted intervention against identified barriers.

Despite a growing interest in investigating green skepticism, there has been a paucity of effort in synthesizing green skepticism research. This study aims to synthesize extant green skepticism research. This study is useful in providing a comprehensive synthesis of research on green skepticism and identifying key gaps in the existing literature, thereby paving the way for future research directions. This research demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the dominant theories, contexts (i.e. countries), characteristics (i.e. key variables and their associations) and methods (i.e. research design) employed in green skepticism research.

A hybrid review method that combined an Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with lexicometric analysis was employed to present a comprehensive synthesis of the green skepticism literature.

The findings showed that many theories have been applied to green skepticism research with the theory of planned behavior and attribution theory being prominently used. The review also proposes a conceptual framework that illustrates the relationships between antecedents and consequences reported in the green skepticism literature. Lexicometric analysis identified six major themes in green skepticism research, including trust in green products, product-related attributes, environmental attributes, social responsibility, organic consumption and promotional campaigns.

This review included only papers authored in English. Consequently, studies conducted in other languages were not taken into account. Future research could broaden the understanding of green skepticism by incorporating studies conducted in different languages.

This study provides practical implications for retailers, marketers and policymakers to combat green skepticism and encourage the purchase of green items. This study suggests integrating endorsements from authorized third-party organizations or celebrities into green marketing campaigns to reduce skepticism. Further, aligning corporate social responsibility efforts with genuine social welfare goals can build consumer trust. Finally, securing third-party endorsements for ecological claims will emphasize product credibility and drive green purchase intention.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to review the extant literature in green skepticism by integrating a systematic review approach, lexicometric analysis and the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology framework. Through this approach, (1) SLR provides a detailed synthesis of green skepticism research to date, (2) Lexicometric analysis aids in the identification of key themes investigated in green skepticism research to date, and (3) the TCCM framework assists in identifying crucial avenues for future research endeavors in the realm of green skepticism.

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of sustainability communication on social media. More specifically, the effects of message appeal (sensual vs guilt) and message source (hotel vs social media influencer [SMI]) on perceived environmental corporate social responsibility and the intention to stay at the eco-friendly hotel were examined.

Three studies using the experimental design were carried out. Study 1 examined the relationship between message appeal (sensual vs guilt), perceived environmental social corporate responsibility and the intention to stay at the eco-friendly hotel when the hotel posts sustainability messages on social media. Study 2 replicated Study 1 findings when the SMI posts sustainability messages. Study 3 examined the moderating role of message source (hotel vs influencer) in the effects of message appeal (sensual vs guilt) on behavioral intentions.

Sustainability messages with the sensual (vs guilt) appeal are more persuasive when the eco-friendly hotel (vs SMI) posts it on social media. Furthermore, the traveler’s perception of the hotel’s environmental corporate social responsibility mediates this relationship.

This study extends the literature on sustainability communication by demonstrating the role of message source and message appeal in influencing the traveler’s perceptions and intentions toward eco-friendly hotels.

According to the study findings, eco-friendly hotels can motivate travelers to make pro-sustainable choices by accurately matching the message appeal with the message source in the sustainability communication on social media.

This study is one of the earliest studies that examine the congruency effect of message appeal and message source for sustainability communication on social media in the hospitality realm. The findings offer novel insights for eco-friendly hotels to develop effective sustainability communication on social media.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to determine the role of emotions in customer evaluation of service failures; and second, to examine how customers’ emotion regulation impacts customer satisfaction and behavioural responses (e.g. repurchase intentions and negative word-of-mouth).

A scenario-based survey was used to elicit responses in a hospitality setting. Structural equation modelling and hierarchical regression analysis were used to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results show that both positive and negative emotions mediate the relationship between perceived injustice and customer satisfaction. The emotion regulation of customers through suppression and reappraisal influences the effects of satisfaction on both negative word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions.

This study advances service managers’ understanding of customer experience during service failure by demonstrating how emotion regulation influences customer response behaviours. With a better understanding of customers’ emotion regulation strategies, managers and frontline employees can more effectively develop and execute recovery strategies which adapt to customer emotions while eliciting more satisfying outcomes.

This research is one of the first to examine the moderating role of customers’ emotion regulation strategies in determining their behavioural responses. Conducted in the hospitality services context, this study provides support for relationships among perceived injustice, customer emotions, emotion regulation, customer satisfaction, negative word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions.

This study aims to examine the potential guest perception of green hotel attributes (GHAs) and the underlying mechanism through which GHA perception influences attitude toward green hotels, intention to stay at green hotels and willingness to pay a premium. It also investigates the moderating roles of personal norms and social norms in the influence of GHA perception on identification and trust toward green hotels.

A two-stage survey was used to collect data via Prolific Academic. The authors tested the hypotheses on 521 valid responses using the partial least squares method.

The results show that identification and trust mediate the effect of GHA perception on attitude, intention to stay and willingness to pay a premium for green hotels. The authors found a positive interaction effect between GHA perception and personal norms on identification and trust and a negative interaction effect between social norms and GHA perception on trust. The interaction effect of GHA perception and social norms on identification is not significant.

This study presents an integrated framework for green hotel adoption by examining the potential guest perception of GHAs and explores how it fosters positive guest responses. Findings show that GHA perception positively influences potential guest responses through identification (the personal route) and trust (the social route). This study also simultaneously considers personal norms and social norms, together with the effects of their interactions with GHA perception on identification and trust.

This paper aims to understand the process of guest-robot value co-creation in the restaurant context. It empirically examines the guest perception of value facilitation by service robots and its impact on guest value co-creation and advocacy intentions. It also investigates the moderating role of interaction comfort in the relationship between service robot value facilitation and guest value co-creation.

A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Ten customers who had dined at a service robot restaurant in China were interviewed in the qualitative study, followed by a quantitative study with 252 restaurant patrons to test the relationships between service robot value facilitation, guest value co-creation, interaction comfort and advocacy intentions.

Guest perceptions of six robot attributes, including role significance, competence, social presence, warmth, autonomy and adaptability, determine service robot value facilitation. Interaction comfort moderates the influence of service robot value facilitation on guest value co-creation. Additionally, guest value co-creation mediates the effect of service robot value facilitation on advocacy intentions.

This study offers an understanding of six robot attributes that can improve service robot value facilitation. Nevertheless, the authors collected data from guests who had experience at service robot restaurants. The authors encourage future research to use random sampling methods to ensure study representativeness.

This study offers strategic guidance for managers to deploy service robots in frontline roles in restaurants and provides important implications for service robot design to improve their facilitating role in the guest value co-creation process.

This study responds to a recent call for research on the role of service robots in the guest value co-creation experience. Unlike prior studies that focused on the adoption or acceptance of service robots, it examines the role of service robots in the value co-creation process (post-adoption stage). Furthermore, it is one of the early studies to identify and empirically examine the service robot attributes that enable value facilitation and foster value co-creation in guest-robot service encounters.