Abstract This study investigates the influence of psychological and emotional elements on green purchase intentions. With the growing environmental concern in recent years, understanding these elements is essential for the development of effective green marketing campaigns. The research explores the relationship between key constructs such as green consumer values, psychological reactance, sense of belonging in a community, subjective well-being and scepticism towards advertising. By integrating and drawing on several theories such as Psychological Reactance Theory and Belongingness Theory, this study proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework. Results from a survey of 200 consumers demonstrate the complex relationships between these psychological and emotional variables and consumers’ intentions to purchase green products, emphasising the mediating effect of subjective well-being and the moderated mediating effect of scepticism towards advertising. These findings provide theoretical contributions to environmental psychology and green marketing and offer valuable insights and practical implications for marketers who aim to design effective green marketing strategies.

Abstract Many sellers turned to e-commerce as a safer and more practical alternative to in-store shopping. Tiktok shop pays attention to the impact of shoppertainment (shopping information and entertainment) on consumers’ purchase intentions with live-streaming content on the E-commerce platform. This can be understood as the entertainment in a live stream that pleases the audience, the live interaction as well as the content delivery in an interesting way. Live streaming has emerged as a powerful way to attract more consumers, the combination of entertainment and shopping increases revenue for businesses. This study investigates a sample of 471 respondents by using PLS_SEM to yield the empirical results. By providing a blend of useful information and engaging content, online stores can create a more enjoyable shopping experience that encourages revisit and repurchases. The mediation of pleasure and the moderating role of hedonic value are illustrated. Understanding these effects can offer deeper insights into the psychological processes that drive consumer decisions in the context of live-streaming e-commerce. This research aims to fill the gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the critical role of entertainment in shaping consumer behavior in the context of the streaming trend of social media platforms, specifically in TikTok Live. The practitioners create their contents to enhance customer engagement through live-streaming platforms like TikTok Live.

Abstract Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of virtual influencer type (avatar vs. composite) and advertising appeal type (informational vs. emotional) on consumer purchase intent within digital advertising contexts. It also examines the mediating roles of perceived credibility and parasocial interaction in influencing consumer behavior. Design/methodology/approach: A 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment was conducted with 250 participants exposed to simulated advertisements featuring virtual influencers. The experiment manipulated influencer type (avatar or composite) and ad appeal type (informational or emotional). Participants’ responses on purchase intent were measured alongside assessments of perceived credibility and parasocial interaction. Findings: Results indicate that avatar influencers engendered higher levels of perceived credibility and stronger parasocial relationships compared to composite influencers. Emotional appeals consistently outperformed informational appeals across both influencer types in terms of enhancing purchase intent. Perceived credibility was found to have a more substantial mediating effect on purchase intent than parasocial interaction. Originality: This research contributes to the emerging field of virtual influencer marketing by offering insights into the differential impacts of influencer type and advertising appeal type on consumer behavior. The study underscores the effectiveness of emotional storytelling when paired with avatar influencers, suggesting novel strategies for optimizing virtual influencer advertising campaigns in digital environments. The findings provide both theoretical advancements and practical implications for marketers aiming to leverage virtual influencers in contemporary social media marketing strategies.

Abstract Although the social media websites decreased the firms’ control over their brand personalities, there is little research on the incongruence between communicated and perceived brand personality of Indian service brands. The impact of bots and suspicious accounts on the online brand personalities also remained unexplored. We analyzed 58,024 tweets of nine Indian service brands using machine learning. Some of the newer brands are savvier in managing their brand personalities. The public sector brands have poorer alignment between communicated and perceived brand personalities. A counterintuitive finding is that the brand sentiment changes in value, but not in category, after removing the suspicious accounts.

Abstract The creation of a consideration set, which constitutes a cluster of brands that a consumer contemplates buying from, plays a vital role in purchasing behavior. An understanding of its composition aids in the development of effective marketing strategies. However, existing research does not sufficiently explore brand convergence in the consideration set across consumers (BCCS). This study explored variations in BCCS according to whether the purchase is intended for self-use or as a gift, as well as the nature of the product (utilitarian or hedonic). A questionnaire survey involving 1219 participants provided data for empirical analysis. The findings revealed a higher BCCS for purchases made for self with respect to utilitarian products such as ballpoint pens, whereas hedonic products such as chocolates showed a higher BCCS when purchased for others than for self. These findings offer new insights into the underexplored area of BCCS; they suggest that desired assortment size should be tailored according to purchase intent and the nature of the targeted product (utilitarian or hedonic).

Abstract Considering the advancement of technology, companies need to update their knowledge regarding consumer behavior and try to adapt to these changes to stay profitable. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relative importance of market segmentation categories when assessing consumers’ online buying behavior. The data were collected through a standard AHP questionnaire from 71 individuals who lived in North Cyprus and have online shopping experience. The results were analyzed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology by Expert Choice software. Findings demonstrated that age, gender, and marital status are the most critical factors in determining online consumer behavior. However, group influence, adaptability, and brand loyalty were found to be the least important factors that can stimulate consumers to shop online. Managers are encouraged to target their consumers based on the essential categories since running marketing campaigns and advertising costs money and time. They can also benefit from the results of this study and apply more target-oriented segmentation strategies to enhance their companies’ performance. This paper provides a pioneering instrument to assess the relative importance of market segmentation categories in online market.

Abstract Through the years, a great deal of research had been dedicated to understanding how consumers think, feel, and behave in the marketplace. From its early development to the present, consumer researchers have adopted different methods and followed different approaches to describe the consumption phenomena. By pursuing a probabilistic approach, the current study aims to provide in-depth insight into consumer behavior research’s evolution and transformation between 1980 and 2020. The results exhibit a strong increase on subjects like consumer trust, self-identity, digital consumption, social media engagement, consumer culture theory, consumer motivation, and brand–consumer relationships. The citation analysis shows the most impactful articles and topics in consumer behavior research. The results indicate that articles on customer service satisfaction, experiential consumption, consumer trust, digital consumption, and social media engagement tend are heavily cited. And to understand each journals contribution an analysis based on citations, journal impact and topical diversity is also included. The study also includes the possible research directions for the future of consumer behavior.

Abstract This study investigates the effects of country image and animosity on brand quality evaluation and purchasing intention among Asian consumers. Data was collected from Chinese (n = 540) and South Korean (n = 360) consumers. Two brands Sony and Dell, originating from countries-target of animosity, respectively Japan and the US, were designated as foreign brands. The model was empirically tested with structural equation modeling. The results highlight the key role of the country image-brand quality association to leverage the purchase intention, in a context of animosity. Although the country image of both US and Japan is negatively affected by Chinese and South Korean animosities, it would still impact positively the evaluation of the quality of their respective brands, which would, in turn, increase the purchase intention. In particular, the results show that Japan’s country image would have an indirect (i.e. through the brand quality path) and direct effects on the purchase intention, however, “the US country image has only an indirect effect on the purchase intention”. Herein, Chinese and South Korean consumers would not buy US brands per se unless the country’s image relates to the argument of brand quality.

Abstract When firms advertise a vertically differentiated product attribute, they increase the weight consumers put on that attribute. This creates a spillover effect as one firm’s advertising can increase demand for other firms that also have the attribute. I develop a market share attraction model and find that as spillover increases, firms advertise less. Profit can be increasing or decreasing in spillover depending on the particular industry environment. Spillover lends a “public good” quality to advertising and firms free-ride in equilibrium. An advertising ban has an ambiguous effect on the profits of firms with the attribute, but always increases profits of firms without the attribute.