This study examines readers’ perception of quality and originality in AI-generated and human–AI collaborated Japanese literary fiction. Fifty-eight participants with backgrounds in creative writing ranked the endings of 25 stories across four conditions. In all cases, the first half of each story was authored by professional or amateur writers; the second half varied by condition: original human-authored text, zero-shot AI generation, AI generation with detailed prompt specification and human–AI collaboration combining multiple-shot prompting with human editing. Focus group sessions followed to explore the criteria underlying the ranking provided by participants. Human–AI collaboration received the highest mean quality rankings, followed by original human writing, detailed prompt specification and zero-shot generation. While the differences between conditions were small relative to within-condition variance, the contrast between human–AI collaboration and zero-shot generation was statistically significant. In addition to that, collaboration was rated highest in perceived quality but lowest in originality, a dissociation that previous research had not clearly identified: AI-assisted editing produces polished, coherent prose that readers find accessible, but at the cost of the stylistic expression that defines literary fiction. These findings suggest that the contribution of generative AI to creative writing is better characterised as a reduction of variance than a tangible elevation of quality.
Advances in technology have led to a new form of human interaction, especially with consumers. Faced with this change, companies have begun to adopt new practices and tools in a competitive environment. Thus, problem-solving in marketing is understood as a more dynamic form of interaction, with greater assertive impact, aimed at cost reduction, brand recognition and increased sales. However, significant challenges are posed by advances in emerging technologies, particularly generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). This article synthesises practitioners’ and academics’ perspectives on the use of GenAI by ‘slave’ in the context of advertising. These perspectives build a narrative about organisations’ dependence on AI for co-creation and problem-solving. This research offers a significant and timely contribution to marketing practitioners by highlighting challenges and concerns in the current context and by reinforcing that dependence on AI can have consequences, including limitations on critical thinking and on the human co-creation process.
This research investigates the intersection of research productivity, library resource allocation and placement outcomes within top-ranked private B-schools in India. Using a quantitative approach and purposive sampling, the study analyses 12 elite private institutions ranked in NIRF 2025. Data were synthesised from institutional research and publication metrics from Scopus and Web of Science, benchmarked against globally recognised lists (ABDC, ABS, FT50 and UTD). The study reveals a strong positive correlation between library budget per capita and both research quality and median salary outcomes. Notably, institutions that prioritise high-impact ‘Quality Publications’ over the total volume tend to secure higher market valuations for their graduates. These findings offer a strategic roadmap for B-school administrators and researchers, proving that financial investment in academic infrastructure is not merely a cost but a driver of institutional prestige and student success.
Influencer marketing enhances brand visibility and shapes consumer decisions. With recent advances in technology, virtual (non-human) influencers have emerged alongside human influencers, raising questions about whether their impact on consumer behaviour differs. Using the stimulus-organism- response (SOR) framework, the study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Results show that human influencers hold an advantage over virtual influencers. Both positively affect brand love, which mediates their impact on brand advocacy, brand fidelity and electronic word of mouth (eWOM). This study offers insights for fast fashion firms on when and how to utilise human and virtual influencers effectively. This research pioneers the integration of human and virtual influencers within the SOR framework, offering a tested model that advances the understanding of how brand advocacy, fidelity and eWOM are shaped in the context of Instagram marketing.
Advances in media technologies have afforded audiences greater control over how, and to what extent, they engage with brand content and advertising. In response, brands have pursued more immersive and participatory ways of reaching consumers, with transmedia storytelling-the coordinated communication of a narrative across multiple platforms with each medium contributing unique elements-emerging as one such approach. While scholarship has examined transmedia storytelling in brand contexts, research has largely centred on case studies of completed campaigns or conceptual investigations, leaving the dynamics of practice underexplored. Drawing on 21 interviews and a cross-national survey of 256 brand communicators, this study investigates the challenges of adopting transmedia storytelling, the industry categories perceived as most suited, and whether obstacles vary across sectors or are broadly consistent. Findings suggest that the most significant barriers tend to arise from external and organisational constraints rather than creative limitations. Although obstacles were largely consistent, sectors such as fashion, health and beauty revealed distinct implementation challenges, while categories like automotive and education showed more uniform patterns. Informed by these findings, the Transmedia Brand Storytelling Model for Practice is reframed to emphasise the organisational and relational conditions shaping the practice in contemporary brand communication.
Previous research has shown that social media platforms afford cancer patients an opportunity to manage their treatment issues. However, limited research has examined personal experiences that cancer patients authentically share through short videos. This study analyses 114 online short videos to examine a colon cancer patient's (A'Jian) personal experience. Drawing on the concept of the 'disease course', which is extended from the life course theory, the analysis reveals that a patient's physical space and social space have been impaired brutally by the incurable disease cancer. This study unpacks the fundamental dilemmas of a cancer patient by focusing on changes in the disease course afforded by short videos, moving beyond a temporal analytical angle. In addition, this study contributes fresh insights to the intersection of social media and health communication by investigating how short videos afford cancer narratives in the TikTok (short video) era, which provides a new research path on the affordances of visible short videos for future health-related research.
As the world is increasingly becoming a global village, there is an urgent need to understand consumer behaviour around every market. Consequently, the understanding of culture and sub-culture has become increasingly critical and central to understanding consumer behaviour. Several studies have focused on finding the effect of cultural factors such as norms and values on consumer behaviour, but very few studies have directly investigated the role of religion, which is an important predictor of consumer behaviour. Religion is often used as an explanatory variable to explain differences in consumption habits in different parts of the world. The current study is an attempt to investigate the effect of religious commitment on consumer behaviour towards controversial advertisements using the 'divine command meta-ethics theory'. The study specifically explores the effect of consumers' behavioural intentions and ethical judgement towards controversial advertisements. The results obtained by the application of structural equation modelling reveal that there exist significant negative relationships between religious commitment, purchase intentions and ethical judgement towards controversial advertisements and significant positive relationship between religious commitment and consumer complaint intentions towards controversial advertisements.
This study examines the impact of self-concept, brand personality and media on using fashion as a vehicle for self-expression, while considering the mediating role of different forms of civic engagement (political, social and environmental). To address our research questions, we conducted a qualitative study to explore how fashion serves as a means of self-expression. A research model informed by both the literature review and the findings from this study was subsequently tested with a survey. The findings indicate that self-concept and media influence all forms of civic engagement, which, in turn, shape the use of fashion as a medium for self-expression. While consumer research often examines civic engagement in isolation, this study integrates the concept within the fashion industry, offering insights into how self-concept and media influence individuals' expression of political, social and environmental issues through fashion.
This study examines government communication practices targeting marginalised communities in Jharkhand, India, through a hybrid research design that combines a structured literature review with qualitative inquiry. Using the theory, context, characteristics and methodology (TCCM) framework, the study systematically maps the existing literature, identifying conceptual and contextual gaps that guide the subsequent qualitative investigation. The findings show that while previous research has mainly focused on top-down messaging strategies, the lived experiences of marginalised groups reveal significant shortcomings in cultural resonance, linguistic accessibility and participatory feedback mechanisms. By emphasising intersectional and context-specific factors, this research advances public and strategic communication theories while reinforcing their core principles. Ultimately, the study offers a pathway for future research to engage with overlooked contexts and populations, advocating for grounded, participatory models of government communication that address the diverse needs of marginalised publics.
Companies have adopted green advertising in response to consumer demands for environmentally responsible practices and as part of their efforts to secure a competitive advantage. Moreover, banking institutions are known to employ emotional appeals to strengthen their brand equity. However, poorly executed campaigns may hinder consumers from forming emotional bonds and, consequently, from developing customer loyalty. Although previous studies have examined the relationships among corporate social responsibility, emotional advertising and brand equity, there remains a paucity of research linking these three dimensions. No prior study has empirically analysed this phenomenon through neuroscientific methods. This exploratory study aims to fill this gap by comparing individuals' implicit and explicit emotional responses to two bank advertisements: one with a sustainability appeal and another without. For this purpose, the skin conductance levels and explicit emotional perceptions of university students were measured. The results indicated higher levels of emotional arousal in response to advertisements with a sustainability-focused narrative, consistent with the explicit data. This pattern was observed in both average skin conductance levels and peak responses. The findings provide relevant practical insights for marketing professionals in the banking sector, as they highlight the potential of neurophysiological methods to objectively assess and monitor brand-building strategies.
This study aims to identify a strategy to reduce parental vaccine hesitancy by examining the moderating role of the perceived prevalence of COVID-19 children's vaccination in the relationship between perceived vaccine risk and parental vaccine hesitancy. We conducted a survey in August 2022 in a southwestern US city. Participants included parents of children under age 12 living in the city (N = 113). We first visited two local childcare centres to recruit participants. To maximise the sample size, we then recruited additional participants from local Facebook parent groups. We found that perceived vaccine risk was positively associated with parental vaccine hesitancy, but the perceived prevalence of children's vaccination was not significantly associated with vaccine hesitancy. Importantly, results indicated that the perceived prevalence of children's vaccination moderated the relationship between perceived vaccine risk and parental vaccine hesitancy. For parents who perceived that vaccinating children against COVID-19 was prevalent, perceived vaccine risk did not significantly impact their hesitancy. This study contributes to expanding the existing knowledge about vaccine hesitancy and helps inform targeted interventions and health communication strategies to effectively address vaccine hesitancy among parents of young children. Highlighting the prevalence of children's vaccination is especially effective in high-risk, uncertain contexts involving new technology.
Our study provides a scientometric overview of the Journal of Creative Communications ( JOCC) for the period January 2006 to April 2025. The evolution of major research topics and the influence of key contributors, including prominent journals, authors, institutions and countries, are examined. We identify landmark articles and patterns of intellectual connections, key research themes and collaboration patterns through co-citation network analysis, keyword co-occurrence mapping and examination of co-authorship networks. Furthermore, we examine the disciplinary influences and patterns of knowledge exchange across research fields. The findings reveal that JOCC makes notable contributions to fields such as general business, marketing, sociology and social sciences, information systems and computer science, demonstrating a substantial interdisciplinary impact. Over the past 5 years, keywords such as 'artificial intelligence', 'brand love', 'social media' and 'digital media' have attracted significant scholarly attention. Thematic analysis categorises research topics into basic, motor, niche and emerging themes. Among these, 'artificial intelligence' stands out as a well-developed and influential theme in shaping the future growth of JOCC's research. We discuss the key findings and their implications for scientific stakeholders, followed by the study's limitations and suggestions for future research.
Neurocinematics is an emerging discipline within neuroscience that studies cinematic art through the analysis of viewers' brain activity. Similarly, Cognitive Film Theory focuses on the examination of the emotional and cognitive processes elicited during film viewing. This study examines the brain activity of young viewers using electroencephalography during the screening of a 'cine quinqui' (delinquency cinema) movie, filmed with non-professional actors in a low-income neighbourhood of a town in Alicante, Spain. For the experiment, the film's director selected two scenes, one with positive and one with negative emotional content. The results indicated activation in the orbitofrontal and temporal regions of the brain, areas anatomically associated with emotional processing. Moreover, the negatively charged sequence elicited a stronger impact on viewers than the positively charged one. These findings may contribute to a deeper understanding of the influence of emotional valence on brain activity during cinematic experiences.
The present study focused on identifying and analyzing the factors that contributed to customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as examining the linkage between them in apparel retail outlets. Employing a hypothesis-testing research design, the study surveyed 500 customers from select apparel retail outlets across major and satellite cities of the NCR, using a combination of quota and purposive sampling. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire, primarily via the in-store intercept method, and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings revealed a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing valuable insights for apparel retailers. Understanding the factors that drove satisfaction and loyalty allowed retailers to develop and refine strategies that enhanced customer experiences, ultimately enabling stores to gain a competitive advantage by offering the right combination of factors that fostered both satisfaction and loyalty.
This study examined the presence and implications of post-feminist discourses in internationally award-winning femvertisements featuring Indian women and sociocultural themes. Using Windels et al.’s (2020, Journal of Advertising , 49 (1), 18–33; 2023, Feminist Media Studies , 23 (1), 1–18) six-element post-feminist framework, 102 advertisements (73 global and 29 Indian) were analysed for evidence of commodity feminism, individualisation, self-surveillance and related discourses. The findings revealed a dominant presence of commodity feminism and confidence culture in Indian femvertising, while global ads exhibited higher occurrences of self-surveillance and individualisation. Statistical comparisons showed significant differences between Indian and international campaigns, particularly in the portrayal of empowerment through brand consumption, objectification under the guise of agency and the invisibilisation of caste, class and intersectional struggles. Viewers in India favoured ads saturated with post-feminist tropes, reinforcing internalised neoliberal ideals. The study concludes that Indian femvertising largely reflects faux feminism, commodifying empowerment while neglecting the political and structural roots of inequality. It calls for more inclusive, intersectional representations aligned with the fourth wave of feminism. It introduces the Self-esteemed–Empowered–Allied framework as a tool for more authentic feminist advertising practices.
Using the stimulus–organism–response model as a framework, this study investigates (a) the relationship between motivations and Instagram use, (b) the relationship between Instagram use and life satisfaction, which has controversial findings in the literature, (c) the previously ignored relationship between Instagram use and perceived information overload (IO), (d) the relationship between perceived IO and life satisfaction and (e) finally, the moderating role of gender on Instagram use and life satisfaction. To understand how the relationships between motivations, Instagram use and life satisfaction are shaped, this study aims to quantitatively investigate the relationships between motivations, Instagram use and life satisfaction. A total of 403 Instagram users participated in this cross-sectional study in which data were collected through an online survey. It was found that Instagram use was negatively associated with life satisfaction. On the other hand, Instagram use is positively associated with seeking convenience and seeking entertainment motivations. It was discovered that gender played a moderating role in the association between Instagram use and life satisfaction. For male users, the link between Instagram use and life satisfaction was negative, whereas this relationship was negligible for female users. The study contributes to resolving contradictory results in the relationship between Instagram use and/or other platforms and life satisfaction in rare studies.
This article investigates the influence of appraisal and positive emotions on consumers' impulse buying behaviour concerning the use of mobile discount sales promotion techniques. Grounded on both attribution and cognitive appraisal theory, hypotheses were devised based on the relationship between sales discounts to positive psychological responses, resulting in impulse purchases. A closed-ended survey involving 251 consumers who had recently made purchases utilising discount promotions was conducted. The study reveals that consumers' impulse buying behaviour is positively affected by appraisal attributes, specifically price-quality perception, goal interest and goal importance, associated with discount sales promotions. Moreover, positive emotions are identified as a mediating factor in the relationship between these appraisal attributes and impulse buying behaviour. As the scope of the findings is limited to the mobile discount sales promotion technique, various possibilities for further exploration and expansion of these findings are discussed. Insights derived from this study offer a targeted focus and resource prioritisation in terms of theoretical and managerial implications.
A medical robot (MedBot) is a chatbot developed on AI that provides well-grounded and consistent medical data. AI application to MedBots creates a new direction of possibilities in the healthcare sector as one can be sure that there will be an opportunity to provide a better communication system with patients, a system of processing data, patterns of diagnosis and surgical staff. The present research article analyses the adoption curves of an adopted MedBot to the healthcare system following the Bass diffusion model. The innovation together with the imitation must be applied in the hospitals, must have the capacity to form an S-shaped curve with an innovation coefficient (p = .03) and a coefficient of imitation (q = 0.60). The outcome has achieved the level of 45% in 3 years and 70% in 5 years. This shows the reaction of the user that 85% of the people were able to gain a better truth in the discovery, and 75% had improved truth on how to manage the records of the patrons. The ease of usability, trust of the AI technology and compatibility of the new systems to the existing ones are the significant factors that determine the adoption. The results also give a practical implication to the policymakers and the rest of the stakeholders that have any business in the healthcare sector as to the possibility of MedBots positively impacting how the healthcare is delivered to people and how the progress can be made in accomplishing Sustainable Development Goal 3.
Live-streaming e-commerce has rapidly emerged as a powerful format that blends real-time interactions, entertainment and product promotion that could shape consumer behaviour. Understanding factors influencing consumers' impulsive purchase behaviour in a live-streaming context is essential for developing effective strategies and promoting responsible digital consumption. This study applies the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to investigate how external platform features influence consumers' impulsive buying behaviour. It examines two categories of external stimuli: interaction quality (personalisation, informativeness, professionalism, responsiveness) and technological affordances (visibility, metavoicing, guided shopping). These stimuli are hypothesised to affect internal psychological states that comprises emotional arousal and cognitive immersion, which subsequently drive impulsive purchase intention. Data were collected from 506 respondents in Indonesia via an online survey using the purposive sampling method and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The result reveals that arousal emotion and immersion significantly predict impulsive purchase intention. Among the stimuli, personalisation and informativeness significantly influence arousal, while guidance shopping, visibility and metavoicing improve immersion. Interestingly, professionalism and responsiveness did not have a significant effect on arousal. The study advances the theoretical understanding of consumer behaviour in live-streaming by incorporating social interaction quality and technological affordance into the S-O-R framework, especially within the underexplored Indonesian market. The findings contribute to creative communication literature by highlighting how emotionally engaging and interactive mobile environments, shaped by anchor-led storytelling and platform design, influence consumer behaviour. Practical implications are discussed for enhancing mobile branding and emotionally resonant communication in live commerce settings.
