ABSTRACTThe development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has driven the widespread use of smart (AI) services and significantly enhanced consumer convenience and personalized experiences. However, contextual bias in smart (AI) services can significantly and negatively impact consumers' experiences and hinder the sustainable development of smart (AI) services. To investigate the effect of contextual bias in smart (AI) services on consumers' usage intention and identify its mediating mechanism and ways to mitigate the negative impact, we introduce the explanatory role of information processing fluency to examine the moderating role of anthropomorphism. We adopted an experimental approach, setting up four different experiments. Studies 1 and 2 investigated the effects of different forms of contextual bias on consumers' usage intention; cultural bias impacted consumers more negatively than personal bias did, and information processing fluency mediated the effects of contextual bias on the consumers' usage intention of smart (AI) services. Studies 3 and 4 showed that this process was moderated by anthropomorphism. Social orientation (vs. task orientation) better moderated cultural bias, and low‐form anthropomorphism (vs. high‐form anthropomorphism) better moderated personal bias.

ABSTRACTThe global issue of sustainable consumption has raised interest in consumer behavior, especially regarding the continuous adoption and maintenance of sustainable consumption behaviors. Despite increasing awareness of environmental, social, and economic issues, a persistent attitude–behavior gap hinders the continuous adoption of sustainable consumption. This study addresses these gaps by systematically examining the post‐purchase phase of consumer behavior to understand how attitudes toward sustainable products are formed, maintained, and translated into continuous purchasing. Through a systematic literature review, this study synthesizes insights from various theoretical frameworks and develops an integrated model incorporating these theories, including the theory of planned behavior, Rosenberg's attitude model, the value–attitude–behavior model, and the means‐end model. A newly integrated conceptual framework has been proposed that highlights the roles of perceived values, perceived product instrumentality, and value importance in shaping and maintaining consumer attitudes and behaviors over the long term. Key findings emphasize the importance of aligning sustainable products with consumers' continuously changing motivations and goals to foster loyalty and continuous purchases of sustainable products. This study contributes to the literature by bridging theoretical gaps, exploring the dynamics of post‐purchase behavior, and extending existing models to account for continuous purchase behavior toward sustainable products. Practical implications for marketers include strategies to improve the value perceived by consumers of sustainable products and address their long‐term goals, while policymakers can design interventions that integrate behavioral insights. By advancing our understanding of sustainable consumption patterns, this study offers a foundation for encouraging continuous purchase behavior toward sustainable products and promoting broader sustainability objectives.

ABSTRACTBrick‐and‐mortar stores in the e‐commerce era with declining revenues emphasize augmented reality (AR) to foster brand loyalty. This study examines how AR technological and cultural factors impact experiential values (EV) (playfulness and aesthetics), which subsequently influence brand loyalty in the UK and UAE, mediated by satisfaction. Whereas AR psychological engagement moderates the satisfaction‐brand‐loyalty link. Using the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) theory, data were collected via questionnaires from 500 women, with an 84% response rate. Analysis reveals AR technological and cultural factors significantly impact EVs. Meanwhile, satisfaction mediates the relationship between EV and brand loyalty. However, the magnitude of these effects differs between the UK and UAE. AR's psychological engagement as a moderator is insignificant. The study offers unique insights by framing cultural factors as contextual stimuli within the SOR framework, enriching AR research by shaping EV. The study contributes novelty by examining the impact of EV on brand loyalty via satisfaction in the beauty industry with innovative technology AR magic mirror in the UK. Additionally, pioneering AR research in the underrepresented UAE beauty industry. The study offers substantive insights for researchers and practitioners alike, recommending culturally adaptive AR solutions, personalized and playful features, and sleek interfaces for the UK and UAE markets, respectively.

ABSTRACTHow to engage consumers with circular economy principles in the luxury industry? To answer this question, this paper focuses on the engagement journey of consumers embracing circular luxury. Drawing from a life story interview approach with consumers of second‐hand luxury fashion, we identify three engagement journeys: (1) the price‐sensitive journey, (2) the uniqueness journey, and (3) the sustainability journey—each characterized by specific motives (ranging from self‐interest in the form of searching for lower prices to more altruistic motives concerning keeping products in use) and manifestations of engagement (ranging from nonbehavioral to behavioral engagement with circular luxury) in response to firm‐controlled and non‐firm‐controlled touchpoints. The findings carry important implications for both companies and society as they show how a more ethical consumption behavior can be encouraged in the luxury industry.

ABSTRACTThe influence of consumers on social commerce purchase intention is currently a subject of academic research. Consumers play a critical role in influencing the purchase intention of fellow consumers through interactions. However, the influence of organic consumer‐to‐consumer (C2C) interactions is under‐researched. Therefore, this study investigates the influence of C2C interactions on social commerce purchase intentions while considering the mediating effect of C2C trust and consumers' intimacy. It focuses on organic C2C interactions, independent of sellers' intervention and control. The study employed a dual‐method approach, that is, survey and experimental designs in Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. From the survey method, we identified possible correlations in the context and established causal effects from experimental design, resulting in robust findings and contributions. Findings from both designs reveal that C2C interactions significantly influence purchase intention. Moreover, C2C trust partially mediates this relationship, underscoring its essential role in enhancing consumer confidence in purchase intention. Conversely, consumers' intimacy does not mediate the relationship. The findings portray the importance of utilizing organic C2C interactions to boost business transactions in Social Commerce.

ABSTRACTIn recent years, companies have increasingly adopted virtual conversational agents (VCAs) to interact with their consumers. A significant number of these agents are assigned to a specific gender, typically female, thereby reinforcing gender‐related stereotypes. This work employs the stereotype content model (SCM), especially focusing on the two subdimensions sociability and morality, to investigate how the VCA's gender impacts social presence in two studies (Study 1: avatars; Study 2: chatbots). Both studies show an indirect effect of the VCA's gender (female) on social presence through sociability, but not through morality. Contrary to expectations, the indirect effect through sociability is significant for both male and female consumers. The findings indicate that the indirect effect is robust across different product categories (i.e., finance, fashion, holiday trip, and toothbrush) and types of VCAs (i.e., visual and verbal). This research demonstrates how established stereotype theories (i.e., SCM) can serve as a valuable framework for exploring human‐machine communication. Moreover, the results provide a fundamental basis for addressing and reducing the persistence of gender stereotypes, initiating a more extensive discussion about the ethical considerations related to interactions between humans and technology.

ABSTRACTWith the growing integration of digital innovations in retail, a critical challenge persists: how can augmented reality (AR) applications be utilized to entice the intended target markets to engage and remain loyal? To this end, this study aims to bridge this gap by analyzing the effects of AR‐based apps on consumers' brand loyalty in the beauty goods sector with specific reference to the UK and the UAE. Using the S‐O‐R framework as the theoretical framework of the research, the study examines the influence of experiential values such as playfulness and aesthetics in brand loyalty mediated by customer satisfaction. The results from a questionnaire completed by 550 female AR Mobile App users were examined by testing nine hypotheses. Emphasizing the research findings, it can be further determined that while evaluating the experiential value, there appears to be a significant emphasis on brand loyalty. However, aesthetic value has had minimal influence on consumers within the UAE. Also, AR psychological engagement could have been higher and interacted with satisfaction and brand loyalty in the two regions. Thus, this research extends the understanding of AR research by examining the implications for consumer behavior in the region and providing practical recommendations for managers who want to use AR apps to improve brand loyalty.

ABSTRACTConsumers are increasingly taking up activism to modify, or at the very least, penalize a company's contentious behavior. This paper presents a systematic literature review of 404 studies on consumer activism published between 1975 and 2023, applying the extended stimulus‐organism‐response‐outcomes (S‐O‐R‐Om) framework. It investigates the underlying causes and significant outcomes of consumer activism. The results reveal how various factors such as political conditions, human rights violations, environmental degradation, religion, and consumer disregard stimulate internal evaluations of perceptual, physical, emotional, and philosophical activities in people. These evaluations often prompt consumers to respond via boycotts, anti‐brand activism, commodity activism, and even buycotts, all of which have varying consequences for different stakeholders. The findings suggest that consumer activism can serve as a powerful tool for societal change, shaping brand strategies and influencing business practices. These insights underscore the necessity for businesses to align their operations with the evolving values and expectations of their consumer base, emphasizing the critical role of ethics in consumer‐brand relationships. This research contributes to the understanding of modern consumer behavior by providing the Consumer Activism framework, which is based on the S‐O‐R‐Om framework. This comprehensive exploration provides valuable insights into the mechanisms driving consumer activism and its significant implications for brand management and consumer behavior research. The study also identifies key research gaps in existing literature and offers a detailed set of recommendations to guide future research on the evolving dynamics of consumer activism.

ABSTRACT Wearing a mask or face covering can serve not only as a health defense measure or a requirement for certain activities and rituals, but can also influence consumer purchasing behavior. This research examines whether, how, and when mask wearing fosters store engagement (e.g., higher intention to try on, longer staying time, and higher repeat patronage intention). Building on social observation and social monitoring theory, we conducted five studies and found that mask wearing leads consumers to perceive they are being observed/evaluated less and therefore to feel more relaxed; this feeling in turn leads to greater store engagement, especially for those who are high in self‐monitoring. Studies 1–3 indicate that consumers who wear (vs. not wear) masks generate higher engagement across different shopping contexts, demonstrate the proposed mechanism through serial mediation while ruling out alternative explanations, and show that being observed/evaluated less has a unique effect beyond perceived invulnerability to viruses on feelings of relaxation. Study 4 demonstrates the moderating role of self‐monitoring, such that this effect diminishes when consumers are low in self‐monitoring. Finally, Study 5 generalizes the mask‐wearing effect using a different facial covering situation. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT This study developed and tested a model exploring the antecedents and outcomes of psychological ownership of avatars in the metaverse, considering the moderating role of virtual currency acquisition methods. Using data from 252 ZEPETO users and Partial Least Square‐Structural Equation Modeling (PLS‐SEM), the study found that the ability to control, intimate knowledge, and invest in self significantly enhances psychological ownership of avatars, which extends to virtual products. Notably, the reward system (versus direct purchase) for acquiring virtual currency amplified this ownership extension, and the transference of psychological ownership from avatars to virtual products significantly influenced the intention to purchase corresponding real‐world products. The study underscores the interplay between virtual and real‐world dynamics, highlighting the impact of digital activities on real‐world consumer behavior.