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The COVID-19 pandemic has, besides the health concerns, caused an unprecedented social and economic crisis that has particularly hit service industries hard. Due to extensive safety measures, many service employees have to work remotely to keep service businesses running. With limited literature on leadership and virtual work in the service context, this paper aims to report on leadership effectiveness regarding employees' work performance in virtual settings brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Drawing on the input–process–outcome (IPO) framework, this research investigates the effectiveness of leadership on service employees' work performance mediated by work-related tension, autonomy, and group cohesiveness. Furthermore, this study explores moderating effects of the service provider's digital maturity. To test the derived model, the authors collected survey data from 206 service employees who, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unexpectedly had to transform to a virtual work environment. The authors analyzed the data using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results indicated that it took task- and relation-oriented leadership behavior to maintain service employees' work performance in a virtual environment during crisis situations. Further, results indicated mediating effects of service employees' individual job autonomy and team cohesiveness; surprisingly, work-related tension did not impact employees' work performance. Results offered service businesses guidance on how to effectively lead in times of crisis when service employees predominantly work in virtual environments.

This is the first empirical study to show how leadership affects service employees' work performance in a virtual work environment during crisis times. Thus, the study contributes to the scarce literature on the impact of leadership in service firms that have to operate in such a setting.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to marketing communications literature by exploring consumer responses to covert advertising (CA) in a social media context.

The persuasion knowledge model was used to explore the impact of CA on brand evaluations. A factorial design experiment was conducted in a social media context (YouTube).

The results of the study show that triggering knowledge about CA changes the way consumers respond to unfamiliar brands that use such tactics. This implies that for unfamiliar brands, with future development of persuasion knowledge, CA in social media will not only be ineffective but also detrimental with damaging effects on the brand.

An important contribution of this study lies in the application of the persuasion knowledge model to social media context.

The results indicate that firms should desist from covert product and brand communications in social media contexts, and instead employ disclosed brand communications.

Given that the effects of CA have not been investigated in an online context, this study makes a unique contribution to brand communications research by providing valuable insights and better understanding of the effects of CA in social media, specifically YouTube.

New approaches in loyalty programs try to activate membership by rewarding not just financial transactions but also customer engagement. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of rewarded customer engagement on loyalty intentions and behavior by applying a social media context.

A field study in the mobility service industry (focus groups (n=18) and questionnaire (n=1,246)) and a laboratory experiment (n=141, 2 (rewarded engagement and transaction/rewarded transaction)×2 (low/high reward) between subjects design) were conducted to determine the effect of rewarded engagement on loyalty.

In the field study, the participants could gather loyalty points through their social media engagement. Their attitudinal loyalty to the loyalty program and the company was significantly higher than that of the loyalty members who collected points solely through transactions. This effect is especially prevalent with respect to engagements rewarded with monetary incentives and is underlined by behavioral data. The results of the laboratory experiment show that rewarded engagement positively moderates the impact of intrinsic motivation on loyalty intentions. Offering rewarded engagement in loyalty programs offsets the undermining effect of rewards.

Rewarding customers for social media engagement can be a beneficial way of boosting active participation in loyalty programs, but this experience should be enjoyable and self-determined.

The study is the first to show the impact of rewarded customer engagement on the attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of members of a loyalty program.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to facilitate service provision and forms the basis for various smart services, such as augmented reality (AR) apps. The purpose of this study is to investigate the guiding help of an AR app in elaborate servicescapes, which typically constitute complex environments. The study examines how an AR guidance app impacts service evaluation.

This research conducted a field experiment during a trade fair. It employed a two-group between-subjects design (AR app vs traditional 2D map) in order to examine how guidance through complex environments affects overall service satisfaction. Hypotheses were tested through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), moderated regression, and PROCESS.

The results reveal that an AR app compared to a traditional 2D map leads to significantly higher overall service satisfaction. This relationship is mediated by perceived complexity reduction. Moreover, perceived behavioral control acts as a moderator. Further, the usage of an AR app tends to improve customer loyalty.

Managers learn whether it is worthwhile to employ AR apps in elaborate service environments as well as how to implement them.

By conducting a field experiment and examining a concrete AI-based smart service (i.e. an AR app), this research adds to the AI literature, which has been mostly conceptual, and contributes to the underexamined field of elaborate servicescapes.

Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI), such as schizophrenia, frequently experience public stigma, which can be further enhanced if the individual has an offending history. This study aims to examine how perceiver attributes, including empathy and endorsement of right-wing views, can impact perceptions and attitudes towards individuals with schizophrenia who offend.

The study used an online survey method, recruiting an international public sample (N = 396), with an age range of 18–71 years (M = 33.15, SD = 11.42). Participants’ level of contact with mental illness, empathy and right-wing views were measured and considered in relation to their impact on reported stigma.

Results highlighted that a greater level of contact with individuals with schizophrenia, and increased levels of empathy, were strong predictors of decreased levels of stigma towards individuals with schizophrenia who offend. Whereas stronger endorsement of right-wing attitudes were associated with increased stigma towards this population.

This research offers a unique contribution by considering a variety of perceiver attributes that contribute towards stigma directed at this population. The theoretical and practical implications of this research are considered, thus contributing to the limited literature on perceptions of individuals with schizophrenia who offend. The discussion highlights limitations and makes suggestions for future research.