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This study aims to investigate how Internet memes affect brand image.

The authors first used the Delphi method to refine Internet memes' constructs and dimensions and developed a scale for Internet memes. Second, the authors used a questionnaire to collect data from 348 valid Internet consumers.

The authors proposed four significant characteristics of Internet memes: humour, high positive emotional intensity, brand interactions and prestige, and high spreadability to prompt consumers to remake, share and spread memes. The study results indicate that Internet memes positively influence the brand image. However, not all meme characteristics were correlated with the brand image; only brand prestige, interaction and humour enhanced brand image.

For scholars in online marketing communication research, this study shifts the current paradigm of brand-generated and customer-passive to user-generated and customer-active. It also addresses the importance of pandemic effects of Internet memes on brand image. To be specific, this study presents the important symbolic values that Internet memes need to include to affect consumers' behaviour in response to perceived brand image by applying both mind infection and symbolic value perspectives. Finally, this study redefines the dimensions and measurements of Internet memes to address the lack of consensus and concrete scales regarding meme transmission characteristics and extending into online marketing communication strategies.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2019-0364

With the proliferation of virtual reality (VR) applications in electronic commerce, investigations on the effects of VR on consumer responses are important. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of online presentation modes (i.e. situational VR, pure VR and picture) on consumer responses for three product types (i.e. geometric, material and mechanical).

This study conducted a 3×3 between-subjects experiment to validate the research model and hypotheses.

The results revealed that both the situational VR mode and the pure VR mode had a greater impact on product knowledge and purchase intention than the picture mode. The situational VR mode yielded a higher level of product knowledge and purchase intention than the pure VR mode although it was not statistically significant. Furthermore, the pattern of VR modes superiority was found to be consistent across geometric, material and mechanical product types.

This research study contributes to the VR literature by investigating a new type of VR: situational VR, and offering a more comprehensive picture of consumer responses to online product presentations. The authors then drew the implications from the findings to suggest guidelines for practitioners to efficiently allocate resources and maximize the effectiveness of online presentation modes.

Employee voice can improve organizational and individual performance. The purpose of this paper is to consider individuals’ evaluations of various features of their work situations. In particular, emotional exhaustion mediates the influence of facades of conformity on employee voice behavior and job satisfaction. This study examines a model in which facades of conformity negatively affects employee voice and job satisfaction through emotional exhaustion.

A total of 401 employer–employee dyads from a large manufacturing company and public organizations in Taiwan were surveyed. Two-wave data demonstrated a significant positive relationship between facades of conformity and its outcomes, mediated by emotional exhaustion.

The results reveal that facades of conformity relates to employee voice and job satisfaction. Additionally, emotional exhaustion is an important mechanism in the relationships between facades of conformity and employee voice and facades of conformity and job satisfaction.

Although this study obtained data from employer–employee dyads, practical constraints prevented complete consideration of issues in the work domain, such as colleagues, which might influence employees’ voice and job satisfaction.

Employee who exhibit facades of conformity in an organization may work smoothly for short periods of time, the emotional response triggered by the conflict between their external behavior and their inner values can further reduce their voice behavior and thus affect the organization’s overall performance voice refers to an employee providing challenging advice to contribute to the success of an organization.

The findings have implications for the understanding of employees’ conditions and its associations with social issues in the workplace.

Grounded on the value-based adoption model and innovation diffusion theory, this study examined consumer purchase decisions of mobile Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation apps. In addition, this study also investigated the moderating role that perceived availability of free substitutes (PAFS) plays in the relationship between perceived value and purchase intention. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Data collected from 219 mobile users were analyzed against the research model using the partial least squares approach.

The results showed that compatibility, relative advantage, perceived enjoyment, perceived cost (positively), and complexity (negatively) influenced these users’ value perceptions and purchase decisions. Furthermore, PAFS significantly weakened the positive relationship between perceived value and purchase intentions.

Based on these findings, the authors provide practical suggestions for mobile app developers to increase mobile app sales. This study also helps advance knowledge of mobile internet marketing.

This study is a pioneering effort in explaining consumer purchase intentions in the context of mobile GPS navigation app.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of customer misbehaviors on airline in-flight customer contact personnel. A theoretical framework was proposed to test the meditating role of role stress and emotional labor in the relationship between consumer misbehaviors and emotional exhaustion.

In all, 336 cabin crew members employed by international airline companies participated in the study. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling with AMOS 20.0.

The results provide evidence that customer misbehaviors relate positively to employee role stress, emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, role stress and emotional labor play important roles in enhancing the impacts of customer misbehaviors and thereby influence employee emotional exhaustion.

The findings potentially impact on employers both within and beyond the airline industry by demonstrating how frontline employees can be provided with support to reduce stress or exhaustion, leading ultimately to increased satisfaction.

This study has provided deeper theoretical insights into customer misbehaviors and their effects on employee role stress, emotional labor and emotional exhaustion.

Considering that users’ information privacy concerns may affect the development of e-commerce, the purpose of this paper is to explore what drives internet users’ willingness to provide personal information; further, the paper examines how extrinsic rewards moderate the relationship between users’ information privacy concerns and willingness to provide personal information.

Data collected from 345 valid internet users in the context of electronic commerce were analyzed using the partial least squares approach.

The result showed that agreeableness, risk-taking propensity and experience of privacy invasion were three main antecedents of information privacy concerns among the seven individual factors. Additionally, information privacy concerns did not significantly affect users’ willingness to provide personal information in the privacy calculation mechanism; however, extrinsic rewards directly affected users’ disclosure intention. The authors found that extrinsic rewards had not moderated the relationship between users’ information privacy concerns and their willingness to provide personal information.

This study is an exploratory effort to develop and validate a model for explaining why internet users were willing to provide personal information. The results of this study are helpful to researchers in developing theories of information privacy concerns and to practitioners in promoting internet users’ willingness to provide personal information in an e-commerce context.

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.

The rapid growth of blogs over the Internet has gradually attracted the attention of enterprises that want to engage in business and develop their online communication channels for customer relationships. The study aims to develop and examine the determinants of enterprise blog (E‐Blog) adoption for the service industry. Organization size is used as a moderating factor to disclose its influence on the effects of the variables.

The research model of the empirical study integrates three composites: social exchange theory, innovation diffusion theory, and organization dynamics. For the results, data are analyzed by using factor analysis to derive the actual composites and structural equation model to test the hypotheses.

The main results show the following findings. First, social exchange via E‐Blog fosters enterprise reputation. Second, enterprises are doubtful whether they can build online relationships via E‐Blog with their customers and E‐Blog visitors. Third, virtual trust and the unknown virtual social structure are barriers for enterprises in using E‐Blog. Fourth, E‐Blog adopters are likely to be purpose‐sensitive as the numbers of blog type increase.

The research findings reveal that E‐Blog vendors and agents should emphasize reputation development to attract the attention of their customers (enterprises). In addition, small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises prefer the relative advantages and simplicity of E‐Blogging. In contrast, large enterprises are more concerned with competition pressure and market dynamics involved in the adoption attitude. These findings would be useful for E‐Blog service providers to analyze the requirements of their customers. In addition, E‐Blog vendors and agents should persuade enterprises adopting E‐Blog to ease competition pressure, particularly for large firms who have not adopted the technology. Finally, E‐Blog platforms and vendors should emphasize that E‐Blog can help increase reputation by attracting the attention of enterprises to adopt E‐Blogging.

In the virtual socialization process, the blog has been developing its own characteristics that are linked to social behaviour. This link explains social change and stability in cyberspace from the social psychology and sociology points of view. The research findings differ from those of previous research because early studies focused on individual Internet user blog participation without placing emphasis on the adoption intention of enterprises. The findings of this study will be helpful for both E‐Blog service providers and enterprises.

To examine the effectiveness of a multichannel strategy, this study mainly investigates two issues: (1) whether customers' five value perceptions (i.e. product quality, service quality, innovation, price and store image) extend from e-stores to physical stores and (2) whether customers' five value perceptions derived from e-stores/physical stores facilitate purchase intention within and beyond the channel context.

This study develops a research model to elaborate on the relationships between the focal constructs and collects 177 useable responses via an online community and personal contacts survey. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methods and mediation analyses are conducted to validate the proposed hypotheses.

The results show that the values perceived in e-stores/physical stores generally motivate online/offline purchase intention, respectively. Next, based on Tversky's belief/feature matching process, the five value perceptions correlate with their counterparts across online and offline channels. The results of the mediation analyses suggest that the advantages established in online channels may be contagious to offline channels at the belief level. Specifically, four of the five online value perceptions may have different effects on offline purchase intention: (1) product quality perceived in e-stores directly (negative) and indirectly (positive) results in offline purchase intention, demonstrating cannibalization effects and (2) service quality, innovation and store image perceived in e-stores indirectly and positively contribute to offline purchase intention, indicating synergetic effects.

The findings of this study provide several important theoretical and practical implications for multichannel and omnichannel retailing strategies.

The aim of this paper is to understand the importance of consumer loyalty in the specific context of Hotel Family Business. This study proposes a conceptual model to examine how perceived service quality and corporate social responsibility (SCR) influence guest satisfaction and loyalty, and also how they relate to corporate image, perceived value and price.

Through the structural equation model (SEM), a research model was proposed to examine SQ and CSR affect satisfaction and loyalty to the Douro Family Hotel and also, how they interact with corporate image, perceived value and price. The main purpose is to analyse the drivers of guest loyalty and its importance for the development and sustainability of family hotels in Douro (Portugal).

The results of the study indicate that CSR and SQ perceived by the guest have a direct and positive effect on guest satisfaction and loyalty to Douro family hotels. These variables are also determinants of the perceived value, corporate image and price.

The sample is restricted and obtained by the convenience technique, but with sufficient size for the application of the structural equations model. However, the results obtained cannot be generalised to all hotels or contexts, as they only reflect information on family hotels in the Douro.

Family businesses are a substantial share of the European economy, from the industrial sector to the services industry, including also hospitality. In Portugal, family businesses likewise play a key role, both in terms of wealth creation and job creation.

These findings provide knowledge to family hotels on how they should implement a CSR policy that promotes service quality, corporate image and guest satisfaction, and therefore their loyalty and the competitiveness of the family hotel business.