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Benefiting from the development and innovation of artificial intelligence and affective computing technology, social chatbots that integrate cognitive analysis and affective social services have flooded into the consumer market. For cognition and emotion-oriented tasks, social chatbots do not always receive positive consumer responses. In addition, consumers have a contradictory attitude toward the anthropomorphism of chatbots. Therefore, from the perspective of mind perception and the two dimensions of social judgment, this research explores the mechanism of consumer responses to anthropomorphic interaction styles when social chatbots complete different service tasks.

This paper utilizes three behavior experimental designs and survey methods to collect data and the ANOVA, t-test and bootstrap analysis methods to verify the assumed hypotheses.

The results indicate that when the service task type of a social chatbot is cognition-oriented, compared to a warm anthropomorphic interaction style, a competent anthropomorphic interaction style can improve consumer responses more effectively. During this process, agent-mind perception plays a mediating role. When the service task type of a social chatbot is emotion-oriented, compared with a competent anthropomorphic conversation style, a warm anthropomorphic conversation style can improve consumer responses. Experience-mind perception mediates this influencing relationship.

The research results theoretically enrich the relevant research on the anthropomorphism of social chatbots and expand the application of the theory of mind perception in the fields of artificial intelligence and interactive marketing. Our findings provide theoretical guidance for the anthropomorphic development and design of social chatbots and the practical management of service task scenarios.

This study aims to propose a novel mirroring digital content marketing (MDCM) framework that extends the current consumer-based digital content marketing (DCM) framework to encompass the provider’s perspective. Relying on the stimulus–organism–response theory, the authors posit that content stimuli influence behavioural engagement responses that, respectively, mirror the motives and self-reported engagement from the consumer-based DCM.

To empirically verify the provider side of the MDCM framework, the authors used one newsletter and one matching website with corresponding 117 weekly data points. Data were drawn from three sources for six countries: newsletter content stimuli, newsletter performance indicators and Google Analytics metrics on matching website performance. OLS and panel regressions were used to analyse the data and generate results.

The results show that content stimuli do explain the behavioural engagement responses of consumers recorded by the provider. However, the effects of the different stimuli are inconsistent: functional stimuli have both positive and negative effects, while social stimuli positively impact the behavioural engagement response. The authors further show that the newsletter engagement response influences subsequent engagement responses across channels (e.g. via the linked news media website).

Further research definitely needs to empirically verify the connection between two sides of the MDCM framework. As proposed by authors, provider-based stimuli are corresponding to the consumer-based motivations, however, which stimuli are triggering which motivations and how they can consequently be translated to both consumer- and provider-based behavioural engagement is still an open question. Different theoretical lenses could be taken in the usage of MDCM framework.

Our observations are relevant for marketers that want to use certain stimuli in their digital content, in particular a content introduced in the newsletter and the website. The authors show that stimuli are indeed related to the behavioural engagement response of consumers and that various stimuli impact engagement differently. Furthermore, the recommendations for the marketing managers of news media are to use priming across the platforms in their Web communication strategies.

This study proposes and empirically tests the provider side of the MDCM framework across two news media channels, focusing on behavioural engagement responses.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and marketing capability on consumer behavioral responses in the mobile telecommunication industry in Ghana. Particularly, the study estimated the moderating effect of marketing capability on the relationship between CSR and consumer behavioral responses.

Both customers and employees of three major mobile telecommunication companies were sampled for this work. A mixed linear regression technique was used to examine the relationship between corporate responsibility, marketing capability and customer behavioral responses.

The empirical results revealed that marketing capabilities moderate the relationship between CSR and consumer responses in the telecommunication industry.

The study proposes practical dimensions to the mobile telecommunication companies that the extensive development of strong marketing capabilities serves a conduit for CSR to achieve favorable consumer responses.

The results have opened up rather a limitation studies on the moderation role marketing capabilities in relationship between CSR and consumer behavioral responses in the telecommunication industry.

Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, this study aimed to investigate direct and indirect effects of apparel store environmental characteristics and consumers' positive emotional responses to the environment on impulse buying behavior. Also, this study sought to examine how situational variables interact with consumers' positive emotional responses in influencing impulse buying behavior.

Survey data were collected using a store intercept method from 118 female consumers of an outdoor retail store in the western region of the USA.

The study found direct effects of ambient/design characteristics on consumers' positive emotional responses and direct effects of consumers' positive emotional responses to the retail environment on impulse buying behavior. Money availability and task definition moderated the relationship between consumers' positive emotional responses and impulse buying behavior.

The conceptualization of a theoretical framework of impulse buying behavior for apparel resulted from this study.

Managing appealing store design characteristics may increase consumers' positive emotions and impulse purchases. Displays designed to attract impulse purchasers should target browsers without restricted budgets.

This study expands the application of the S-O-R model in the context of apparel by including situational factors as moderating variables.

Food packaging pictures are one of the most important extrinsic cues for consumers to evaluate food products before purchasing. Over the past decades, marketers have used exaggerated pictures to attract consumers' attention, enhance their attitude toward a product and increase their purchase intention. This study examined the interplay of “puff-up” product picture, food type and picture type in influencing consumers' responses via persuasion knowledge.

The research comprises two 2 × 2 factorial experiments. Study 1 tested the interaction effect of puffery (high vs low) and food type (utilitarian vs. hedonic) on consumers' responses using two fictitious brands of prepared food, whereas Study 2 tested the interaction effect of puffery (high vs. low) and picture type (ingredients vs. cooked food) using a fictitious brand of Chinese delicacy.

Results demonstrated that the degree of picture puffery did not influence consumers' responses to utilitarian food and ingredient image. Conversely, consumers were sensitive to puffery when they see hedonic food and cooked-food image. Our findings also suggested that consumers' persuasion knowledge mediates the relationship between puffery and their responses.

The presented findings facilitate marketers to know consumers' attitude about food puffery pictures.

This research is one of the first efforts to empirically explore the influences of persuasion knowledge on food puffery pictures. The importance of this work is underscored by the fact that a growing number of visual exaggerations are adopted on food packaging.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of consumer role (involved vs observing) on consumer responses in the context of online group buying (OGB) service failures.

A scenario simulation method with a 2×3 factorial design was used to investigate the impact of consumer role (i.e. involved consumers and observing consumers) on consumer responses (i.e. perceived quality, negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), and switching intention). The moderating role of seller offering type (i.e. physical products, true services, and pseudo services) on the relationship between the consumer role and responses was also tested.

The differences in perceived quality, negative eWOM, and switching intention between involved consumers and observing consumers were significant. Further, seller offering type moderated the relationship between consumer role and consumer response.

These findings provide several important theoretical and practical implications in regard to OGB service failure and recovery.

This study enriches OGB and service failure literature by a pioneering investigation of how consumer roles respond to OGB service failures and how different seller offering types influence the relationship between consumer role and consumer response. The results will help service providers of OGB benefit from enhancing their service recovery strategies to cope with OGB service failures.

Management response to consumer comments has become a widely adopted marketing strategy to address the undesirable effects caused by negative remarks. Yet, when and what management response is more effective and under what circumstances remains under-researched. This study aims to fill this gap.

In three experiments using five different products, the authors manipulate psychological construal level (psychological distance: distant vs proximal) and management response (response of primary vs secondary features) and thereafter assess their bearings on consumer psychological and behavioral reaction toward products of two distinctive natures (hedonic vs utilitarian).

At a psychological distance, consumers show a preferable reaction to management response of primary over secondary features. In contrast, when the psychological distance is proximal, consumers react more positively to management response of secondary than primary features. In addition, these effects vary as a function of product nature, hedonic vs utilitarian.

The findings of this research bring a significant contribution to marketing communication literature and extend the construal level theory.

A better understanding of the relative effectiveness of distinct types of management response to negative consumer comments is essential for more targeted and effective marketing strategies.

Little research has documented the effects of distinct types of management response. How psychological distance might underpin these effects has not been explored. In addition, whether the interaction effect of management response and psychological distance varies with differences in product nature, namely, hedonic and utilitarian, remains unanswered until this research.

Brand crises are widespread in the marketplace and how consumers perceive and respond to such crises is crucial for brand survival. This paper aims to elucidate the critical role of brand age in shaping consumers’ negative responses to competence-related versus ethics-related crises, with a particular focus on the Eastern cultural context. In addition, the roles of information diagnosticity and culture are investigated.

In a series of four studies conducted across China and the USA, the authors use a rigorous between-subject experimental design to delve into the dynamics of how the interplay between brand age and brand crisis impacts consumers’ negative responses, specifically negative word-of-mouth and boycott tendency, toward brands perceived as guilty.

Results show that brand age helps mitigate the negative responses of consumers in competence-related crises, yet exacerbates such reactions in ethics-related crises. In addition, information diagnosticity mediates the interactive effect of brand crisis and brand age on consumers’ negative responses. However, the results of the cross-cultural comparison study suggest that brand age exaggerates consumers’ negative responses to ethics-related brand crises only in Eastern cultures, but not in the Western contexts.

The research reveals the dual-edged impact of brand age during crises, enriches the literature that draws on information diagnosticity within the hierarchical restrictive schema theory. It also clarifies the boundary mechanisms related to cultural differences.

The findings of this research provide meaningful implications for brand managers by communicating the oldness of a brand may serve to buffer negative consumer responses to competence-related crises but can exacerbate the consequences of ethics-related crises.

This research offers a novel perspective on the nuanced influence of brand age on consumers’ adverse reactions to brand crises. It clarifies why emphasizing the oldness of brands in Eastern-culture markets is effective in mitigating competence-related crises but often counterproductive for ethics-related crises.

This research uses the distinction between communal relationships (based on mutual care and concern) and exchange relationships (based on the principle of quid pro quo) to propose a framework that predicts differences in the shape of consumer response function to increasing levels of brand transgressions.

The paper proposes a conceptual model based on insights from prior research on brand relationships.

The premise being proposed in this paper is that exchange-oriented consumers, being focused on the balance of inputs and outcomes, base their evaluations on an objective assessment of the final outcome, such that their response function will be relatively proportional to increasing levels of brand transgression. On the other hand, communally oriented consumers are concerned with whether or not the relationship partner cares for them, such that up to a point brand transgressions are overlooked while beyond a threshold there is a sudden negative shift in brand evaluations. These consumers thus exhibit a step-function response to brand transgressions.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework and leaves it to future researchers to test it empirically.

Managers now have a toolkit to better manage instances of product and service failure.

Findings from this model can be applied to better manage interpersonal relationships too.

This paper proposes a model that shows how and why consumers might differ in their response to brand transgressions. Further, this is a dynamic model in that it traces the response function of the consumers at increasing levels of transgressions.