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Influencer transgressions can disappoint their followers. However, there is a lack of clarity about the effects of a false allegation on an influencer–follower relationship. Drawing from cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning theory, the current study aims to examine how this relationship is shaped across three time periods (before the allegation is leveled, after the allegation is leveled, and when the allegation is found to be baseless).

We study comments posted by followers of two falsely alleged social media influencers (SMI) on their YouTube and Instagram channels. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) followed by netnography is used for thematic analysis. LDA is a social media topic modeling method that processes a statistically representative set of words to explain the tone and tenor of qualitative conversations. A sentiment analysis of the comments is done using SentiStrength.

When an allegation is leveled initially, the response from followers is overwhelmingly negative toward the influencer owing to moral coupling. However, when the allegations are proven to be false, the followers return to a positive opinion of the influencer, owing to feelings of dissonance and guilt.

The study contributes to the fields of influencer marketing, cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning. It highlights how endorsers can take advantage of the positive sentiment that arises once an accused SMI’s transgression is proven false.

This study introduces the concept of “Sentiment Reversal,” which is exhibited in the social media space. In this phenomenon, sentiments move from negative to positive toward the falsely accused SMI as they are vindicated of the previous charge.

This research is conducted in the context of beauty salons in India, to investigate how enhanced perceived acceptance in interpersonal relationships through consuming beauty salon services can generate narcissistic brand love among consumers via the mediation of brand happiness. It also investigates the moderating impact of consumer's anxious interpersonal attachment style and cynicism on the relationship between perceived salon brand-interpersonal acceptance goal congruence and salon brand happiness.

To test the hypothesized relationships, a survey was conducted among 225 regular consumers of beauty salon brands. The data were analyzed using Hayes' (2017) process macro in SPSS.

The results suggest that perceived goal congruence between beauty salon brand-interpersonal acceptance positively influences brand happiness, which in turn predicts consumer's narcissistic brand love. Consumer's anxious interpersonal attachment style positively moderates the effect of brand-interpersonal acceptance goal congruence on brand happiness, while cynicism negatively moderates the path.

Value of the study lies in extending interpersonal acceptance and rejection (IPAR) theory to the domain of consumer–salon brand relationship, to posit that if salon brands satisfy consumers' interpersonal acceptance goals, there is a potential for such happy consumers to love the salon brand, albeit narcissistically.

Deepfakes are fabricated content created by replacing an original image or video with someone else. Deepfakes have recently become commonplace in politics, posing serious challenges to democratic integrity. The advancement of AI-enabled technology and machine learning has made creating synthetic videos relatively easy. This study explores the role of political brand hate and individual moral consciousness in influencing electorates' intention to share political deepfake content.

The study creates and uses a fictional deepfake video to test the proposed model. Data are collected from N = 310 respondents in India and tested using partial least square–structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS v3.

The findings support that ideological incompatibility with the political party leads to political brand hate, positively affecting the electorates' intention to share political deepfake videos. This effect is partially mediated by users' reduced intention to verify political deepfake videos. In addition, it is observed that individual moral consciousness positively moderates the effect of political brand hate on the intention to share political deepfake videos. Intention to share political deepfake videos thus becomes a motive to seek revenge on the hated party, an expression of an individual's ideological hate and a means to preserve one's moral self-concept and strengthen their ideologies and moral beliefs.

The study expands the growing discussion about disseminating political deepfake videos using the theoretical lens of the negative consumer-brand relationship. It validates the effect of political brand hate on irrational behavior that is intended to cause harm to the hated party. Further, it provides a novel perspective that individual moral consciousness may fuel the haters' desire to engage in anti-branding behavior. Political ideological incompatibility reflects ethical reasons for brand hate. Therefore, hate among individuals with high moral consciousness serves to preserve their moral self.

The emergence of mHealth applications has led to the rise of health-based services delivered over smartphones. Younger people are often found to be more innovative toward technology, especially related to smartphones (Rai et al., 2013). Most mHealth application downloaders are continually shifting between applications because of the hyper-competition making achieving loyal consumers challenging (Racherla et al., 2012). The purpose of this paper is to study the determinants that help increase young consumers mHealth application loyalty. This study integrates self-determination theory (SDT), gamification elements and engagement to examine loyalty.

A valid sample of 263 college student’s data was obtained for data analysis from a survey conducted in multiple campuses of the Delhi University in India.

The three psychological needs: need for autonomy, need for competence and need for relatedness, showed a positive impact on intrinsic motivation. From the gamification factors; perceived playfulness, the level of challenge and social interaction, only the first two showed a positive impact on extrinsic motivation. Both motivation factors influence engagement, showing a frequent interaction with the application, leading to loyalty.

Previous studies examined the adoption of mHealth services, this study is one of the first to examine young consumers’ loyalty in using mhealth apps. It sheds light on the existing literature and contributes to research on mHealth applications by determining the factors that lead to loyalty by the young consumers.

The goal of this paper is to identify the main factors influencing mobile service adoption and define a universally applicable holistic concept capable of explaining all types of mobile service adoption that will be useful to all stakeholders.

A systematic method was used to identify and select relevant articles for appraisal and analysis of their data, as well as to summarize existing research in mobile service adoption studies.

After reviewing and analyzing the articles, 25 major variables were identified. According to the article analysis, usefulness and experience were identified as the primary motivators for adoption, and that negative barriers to adoption must be controlled in order to improve adoption. Demographics play a role in adoption and technology acceptance model (TAM) emerged as the most suitable model to study the variables affecting mobile service adoption.

The generic concept of mobile services adoption will help industry stakeholders and researchers to use a more focused approach to study and encourage adoption and use of mobile services. Empirical testing of the proposed concept is a limitation which can also be a future scope of the study.

The review provides a holistic mobile services adoption process which is able to define adoption for all kinds of mobile services and is universally applicable as well. The study presents potential implications and relevant insights in mobile services adoption and contributes to a better understanding of mobile service adoption process.

The study investigates the effect of an uncivil comment made by a party representative on social media and tests whether it can lead to a change in observers' attitude toward the party.

Data are collected from 196 respondents using a scenario-based survey. Proposed model is tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

It is found that individual's moral identity and issue involvement influence perceived civility of the online post, which in turn affects attitude toward the party as well as the individual. It is observed that for high partisans, effect of perceived civility on attitude toward the party is stronger compared to low partisans. Party's lack of responsiveness to address the uncivil comment from its representative increases party's incivility accountability and lowers the partisan attitude toward the party.

The study presents a novel understanding of how political party representatives can influence the image of the party by engaging in an uncivil discourse on social media. Results support that strong partisan would react more unfavorably indicating that loyalty toward the party cannot be taken for granted.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-03-2020-0084

People with disabilities (PwDs) encounter several impediments to employment prospects, contributing to India's huge employment gap. Entrepreneurship offers a different avenue for PwDs to overcome these constraints. Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) play a significant role in assisting PwD entrepreneurs. The present study aims to explore challenges encountered by entrepreneurs with disabilities (EwDs) in starting or sustaining a business in an Indian ecosystem. The study further aims to examine the status of entrepreneurial outcomes while comprehending the intersection of the challenges of disability and entrepreneurship. The study draws on stakeholder and social identity theories to understand this critical connection.

A qualitative approach is applied to study the phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 EWDs and 5 ESOs to explore the challenges faced and the available support in the Indian context. The study explores the level of coordination and roles these organizations play in fostering an entrepreneurial culture for PWDs.

The research findings explore novel challenges and facilitators of entrepreneurial pursuits of EwDs. The study further offers implications for policymakers to foster inclusive infrastructure, financial institutions to provide accessible credit options, and ESOs to amplify tailored assistance. Importantly, these dynamics have implications for advancing relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

The intersectional lens of disability and entrepreneurial challenges offered to study PwD entrepreneurship highlights new directions for exploring the phenomenon in deeper detail. Further, the theoretical underpinnings of stakeholder and social identity theories provide practical and indispensable insights into the phenomenon.

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos compared to traditional preview modes in shaping customer perceptions and behavioral intentions toward the hospitality service provider. Specifically, the study investigates how self-construal moderates this relationship, offering novel and nuanced understanding of the customer decision-making process in the hospitality sector.

Three experiments were carried out. Study 1 examined the impact of preview modes on customers’ behavioral intentions. Study 2 examined the psychological mechanism of mental imagery and being hooked in the relationship between preview modes and behavioral intentions. Study 3 examined the moderating role of self-construal in the relationship between preview modes and behavioral intentions.

The study findings revealed that 360-degree VR videos are more effective than traditional preview modes in determining customers’ behavioral intentions. Mental imagery and being hooked explain this relationship. Furthermore, customers with highly independent self-construal evaluate 360-degree VR videos more favorably, while those with highly interdependent self-construal evaluate traditional preview modes more positively.

The research indicates that adopting VR applications can offer competitive advantage for hospitality service providers. The study findings provide hospitality providers with insights to tailor their marketing strategies by selecting preview modes that align with the psychological profiles of the customers.

The originality of the study lies in its pioneering efforts to explore how self-construal shapes customer responses to different preview modes. Furthermore, this study reveals the importance of psychological constructs in understanding the impact of VR applications on customer behaviors.

Consumer–brand relationship literature has seen a recent surge of work on the concept of brand hate. Considering that hate is not easily acknowledged, it is challenging to uncover the psychological mechanisms that underpin its development. Using the concept of “self” as over-arching theory, this study aims to uncover consumers’ psychological triggers for hating a brand by providing contextualized perspectives from the informants.

The authors use an interpretive approach focused on exploring the role of self in explaining the development of brand hate. Data is collected through 25 in-depth interviews and inductively analysed using the NVivo 12.

The findings of the study align with the motivational perspective of hate discussed in psychology literature. Six psychological strategies (coping, moral consciousness, ego defense, self-esteem protection, power reinstatement, and self-concept strengthening) cater to three motives of the self (self-preservation, self-defense, and self-enhancement).

The current study uses an interdisciplinary approach and draws perspectives from psychology, sociology and interpersonal relationship theories to study consumer brand hate. It uncovers the subconscious mechanisms that lead to the germination of brand hate and provides answers to unexplained and missing pieces in the existing literature. In particular, it offers a detailed perspective on how self-related motives can explain the psychology of brand hate.

Consumer brand relationship literature has recently seen a surge of studies on brand hate, its antecedents and outcomes. Hate alone will not drive consumers to engage in negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and indicates the interplay of other social relationship factors that can strengthen the effect of brand hate on negative eWOM. The purpose of this study is to integrate the emerging concept of brand hate and perceived social media power with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to expand the understanding of negative eWOM.

Data is collected through a survey conducted among university students based in the National Capital Region of Delhi in India. The research model is empirically tested using structural equation modeling in AMOSv23.

The three TPB dimensions, including brand attitude, subjective norms and individual’s propensity to anthropomorphize, are found to influence brand to hate significantly. The other perceived control factors included in the model, perceived homophily and social media self-efficacy, were found to affect perceived social media power, which, in turn, is crucial in predicting consumers’ engagement in negative eWOM behavior, both directly and through interaction with brand hate.

The study contributes to brand hate literature and offers a novel perspective by advocating the role of consumers’ propensity to anthropomorphize in augmenting feelings of brand hate.