This study examined human brand positioning and health communication strategies among Bangladeshi fitness influencers by analyzing 1,049 Facebook posts from 18 content creators. Findings revealed a dominant preference for ideality-focused positioning (84.4%) paired with self-efficacy messaging (77.2%), indicating that influencer identity and message strategy are structurally coupled. Chi-square analysis confirmed significant associations between brand positioning and communication strategies, χ2(8, N = 1049) = 100.680, p < .001, Cramér's V = .22. Engagement analysis identified significant differences across strategies, F(4, 1032) = 10.023, p < .001, with attitude-focused content generating higher visible engagement; content strategy explained only 3.8% of variance, indicating that platform-structural factors outweigh message content in driving reach. Physical inactivity remains a major noncommunicable disease risk factor in Bangladesh, underscoring the public health significance of these findings. Integrating human brand theory with extended parallel process model-informed analysis, this study provides the systematic baseline for fitness influencer health communication in a Facebook-dominant South Asian context.
This study examines the development of health marketing communications research through a bibliometric analysis of 171 articles indexed in Scopus within the Business, Management, and Accounting domain. Using Bibliometrix and Biblioshiny, the study maps publication trends, influential sources, collaboration patterns, and thematic development. The findings show that the field is anchored in health communication, health marketing, and social marketing, while stronger thematic streams have emerged around persuasion, message framing, prevention-oriented communication, and co-design. The study also highlights underdeveloped areas related to digital health, cultural context, and health equity, offering a foundation for future research in health marketing communications.
Health marketing research has paid limited attention to how everyday digital platforms function as informal health marketing systems that shape adolescents' perceptions of appearance, self-worth, and treatment value. Positioning social media platforms as marketplace-mediated environments that produce health-related norms and consumer vulnerability, this study examines dental self-confidence (DSC) as a form of health-related market value among adolescents. Using data from 502 parent-child dyads in New Zealand and applying multivariate analysis and PLS-SEM, the findings show that lower dental self-confidence is associated with greater social and psychological impact (PI), with social impact operating as a key pathway. Active social media use was associated with a weaker protective DSC-PI association. This study extends health marketing theory by (a) conceptualizing dental appearance as a form of health-related market value, (b) positioning everyday digital platforms as informal health marketing systems, and (c) extending consumer vulnerability frameworks to adolescent health consumers navigating marketing-mediated appearance norms.
The rapid development of Meta Humans, i.e. Artificial Intelligence-based virtual assistants, has expanded transformative services opportunities for people with disabilities. This research note adopts a narrative literature review to explore how Meta Humans can enhance service experiences and wellbeing, while identifying opportunities and challenges in inclusive service contexts. This review scrutinized a total of 58 publications (N = 58) and identified three interrelated themes: (1) the application and impact of Meta Humans for people with disabilities, (2) the role of Meta Humans in transforming wellbeing and service experiences for people with disabilities, and (3) privacy, trust, ethics and inclusiveness of services by Meta Humans. Building on this background, this article proposes future Transformative Service Research directions relating to Meta Humans serving people with disabilities. It aims to stimulate academic discussion on how Meta Humans can advance digital inclusion and social participation and provide theoretical guidance for ethical policy formulation.
Social media discourse surrounding obesity management medications (OMMs) has generated significant public attention, driven largely by celebrities and influencers sharing narratives about their use. However, much of this influencer-generated content remains underexamined, raising concerns about how health beliefs are communicated within sociocultural narratives. This study examines how medical and patient influencers communicate health beliefs about OMMs through signals embedded in their content. Using a qualitative content analysis informed by netnographic principles, 213 YouTube video transcripts by medical and patient influencers were analyzed. Drawing on the health belief model and signaling theory, the study identifies key communicative signals within influencer discourse. Findings reveal that medical influencers emphasize evidence-based signals, while patient influencers foreground experience-based ones. The analysis also uncovers paradoxical signals, including boomerang effects, commercial intent, and contradictory empowerment. This study integrates the health belief model and signaling theory to advance understanding of credibility and persuasion in online health communication.
Systematic health issues among rural women in emerging economies are a key concern for policymakers. A promising development in this domain is the rapid expansion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which may contribute to improved health outcomes. We examine how individual-level ICT usage relates to the health outcomes of rural women, analysing primary survey data from 626 women in Rajasthan alongside secondary data from the NFHS-5 and IHDS-II datasets. Using multiple empirical approaches, we find that higher ICT usage is consistently associated with stronger health beliefs and better self-reported health, with psychological empowerment (PE) significantly mediating this relationship.
Millions of people relocate each year, yet little is known about how relocation shapes dietary behavior. Drawing on social identity threat and dysplacement frameworks, this research examines how perceived involuntariness shapes food choices across the processing continuum. Three studies provide complementary evidence linking perceived involuntariness to social identity threat and dietary vulnerability. A survey of recently relocated adults finds that perceived involuntariness is associated with greater interpersonal social identity threat. A laboratory experiment suggests that social identity threat is associated with increased preferences for ultra-processed foods. Analysis of large-scale survey data from international migrants suggests that discrimination, a theoretically related source of social identity-relevant threat, is associated with reduced fresh food consumption through emotional distress. Together, the findings suggest that relocation experiences perceived as forced may be associated with greater reliance on ultra-processed foods and reduced fresh food engagement, with implications for health marketing interventions targeting mobile and displaced populations.
Implementation science struggles to bridge the evidence-to-practice gap because market dynamics at the T3 (translation to practice) and T4 (translation to populations) stages remain unaddressed. This commentary advances three theoretical claims: implementation stages constitute distinct markets where adoption failures are market failures; exchange theory must extend to multi-level ecosystems; and system dynamics-based interactive learning environments (SD-ILEs) enable mental model restructuring via co-created narrative experiences. I propose a social marketing framework across the T3-T4 continuum, differentiating it from leading implementation frameworks. The approach is illustrated through Pb-ROADS, a narrative-computational ILE for lead (Pb) exposure prevention. Implications include new outcome metrics (e.g., market share of evidence-based practices), practitioner competencies like "systems fluency," and a reassessment of academic training infrastructure.
This study explores customer-to-customer co-creation and co-destruction practices within social media health communities, focusing on diabetes-related customer interactions on Facebook and YouTube. Based on the existing understanding of C2C interaction, the study explores how individuals integrate resources within social media health communities to enhance well-being. The study adopts a netnography approach and analyses 536 textual posts along with nested comments (spanning 28,965 words). The findings reveal three dimensions, encompassing nine co-creative and co-destructive customer-to-customer practices in online social media health communities. The findings provide implications for healthcare providers, social media moderators, and policymakers, emphasizing the need to empower patients while safeguarding against potential harm on social media platforms. This study contributes to health marketing by theorizing how peer-to-peer interactions simultaneously generate value and risk in loosely regulated digital health environments.
This study examines how perceptions of an AI counselor influence trust, health empowerment, and compliance intention within an AI digital health intervention. Using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM), the research reveals that perceived transparency, ethical perception, and empathy are the primary predictors of trust, whereas perceived intelligence and fairness are statistically non-significant. These findings suggest that the success of AI-mediated support depends on relational qualities rather than technological sophistication alone. The results demonstrate that trust facilitates the co-creation of health value by driving both compliance intention and psychological empowerment. Notably, the study identifies an Uncanny Empathy Paradox, where significantly high levels of simulated emotional warmth negatively influence trust. Furthermore, mediation analysis confirms a serial pathway where trust fosters health empowerment, which subsequently drives compliance. By positioning empowerment as a critical mediator, this research provides a theoretical foundation for managing AI as a supplemental resource, rather than a substitute for professional clinical care. The findings emphasize that responsible service delivery requires clear ethical boundaries and transparent communication to foster autonomous health management.
Trust is a critical determinant of vaccine acceptance, particularly in large-scale public health campaigns. This study examines how four dimensions of trust-safety, transparency, competence, and accessibility-were perceived differently in India's polio eradication and COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Using a cross-sectional survey of urban and rural respondents aged 35-50 in North India, the study explores how trust varies by educational attainment and geographical setting. Findings reveal that the polio campaign benefited from sustained interpersonal engagement, while the digitally driven COVID-19 campaign faced challenges in trust-building, particularly among highly educated and rural populations. Trust was significantly associated with vaccine uptake, highlighting its role as a behavioral catalyst. The study identifies key gaps in health marketing strategies and underscores the need for differentiated communication tailored to demographic contexts. Recommendations include adopting longitudinal and experimental designs to better understand trust dynamics and leveraging digital and interpersonal outreach to strengthen public health engagement.
Young adults often encounter and share misinformation in desirable social media messages. This process, challenging to disrupt, can contribute to substance misuse. This study tested whether a novel, meme-style, infographic-based media literacy intervention could mitigate effects of appealing but misleading substance use-related social media content for U.S. adults aged 18-29 (N = 1201). Results of a mixed between-subjects factorial, post-test-only online experiment detected small effects on expectancies for tobacco use among adults aged 18-20 and on intent to avoid sharing misinformation among adults aged 27-29. These age differences suggest that media literacy interventions can benefit by segmenting strategies according to cognitive and emotional communication processes that are associated with neurocognitive and social characteristics of young adults. For example, emerging adults may benefit from digital messages that focus on refuting short-term emotional benefits offered by social media misinformation. Adults in their late-20s may be interested in the logical ramifications of sharing misinformation.
Physical activity, defined as "any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscle that results in energy expenditure" has the potential to mitigate some of the high rates of noncommunicable diseases, which autistic individuals are more susceptible to than are their peers; however, physical inactivity remains a challenge in this population. Unique drivers and barriers have been identified in previous research, but these are rarely described in a practitioner-friendly way that might inform intervention design and delivery. Taking a novel segmentation approach, this research aims to draw on behavioral science frameworks to describe groups or "Personas" that can be considered in intervention implementation. Results identified three distinct segments in the sample. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed sufficient group differences between capability, opportunity, motivation, and behavior framework (COM-B) constructs to form clusters (p < 0.001 for all). Qualitative themes included reframing and disguising physical activity, lack of self-efficacy, social comparison, unsuitable physical activity environments, strong interests, and sensory challenges. Three Personas were described as the Interested and Engaged, the Unsure and Uncertain, and the Uneasy and Averse.
This study is first to examine the link between using social media as a primary COVID-19 information source and preventive behavior, while examining moderating effects. Using the O-S-R-O-R model and panel survey data from Germany (N = 776), it finds a negative direct effect of informational social media use on preventive behavior, and a negative indirect effect through conspiracy beliefs. However, the negative impact is less pronounced in individuals with high knowledge and trust in science. These findings underscore the importance of accurate, comprehensive social media communication, especially in crises, and have practical implications for policymakers and scientific institutions.
Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this scoping review combines bibliometric and systematic analyses of 50 studies selected from 1,870 records screened for mobile health applications published between 2013 and 2024. The review identifies publication trends, conceptual structures, and key variables used in research. The findings reveal five thematic clusters under two main themes: user-centered experiences and psychological dimensions (1) and system-level design and health service integration (2). Although research on mobile health applications has grown rapidly, previous reviews lacked an integrated approach combining conceptual mapping with applied insights. This study addresses that gap by offering a foundation for future research and ecosystem development.
Given the global importance of safe sex practices, understanding what drives condom purchase intention (CPI) among young people is especially critical in emerging regions. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and protection motivation theory, this study scrutinizes the associations between self-efficacy (SE), perceived behavioral control (PBC), subjective norms (SNs), comfort in purchasing (CIP), information regarding sexually transmitted infections (IRSTIs), embarrassment about negotiation (EAN) and CPI among Generation Z. This study employed a mixed-methods design to examine these relationships in the context of Vietnam, a developing country. Using a sample of 318 participants, the results show that SE, PBC, IRSTIs, and EAN are associated with CPI, whereas SNs and CIP are not. Moreover, the connection between SNs and CPI is weaker among single individuals than partnered ones. Findings offer theoretical and managerial implications, contributing to literature on decision-making concerning safe sex practices, preventive behaviors, and condom marketing in developing nations.
The rise of digital disruption and the spread of misinformation pose significant challenges for health marketers striving to develop credible and reliable content. Using Taylor's Six-Segment Message Strategy Wheel, this analysis assesses how strategic appeals in anti- and pro-vaccination messages influence recognition and audience perception of vaccination stance. Results show that emotional messaging, especially when visual, enhances recognition, while combining emotional and informational appeals increases persuasive impact. By analyzing user-created health messages, this study offers practical guidance for crafting campaigns that resonate with audiences and counter misinformation, ultimately supporting efforts to restore trust in public health marketing campaigns.
This study examines the drivers of continued telemedicine use in the post-COVID-19 era by integrating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with the Health Belief Model (HBM) and introducing credibility as the linking mechanism between the two frameworks. An online survey of prior telemedicine users in South Korea produced 329 valid responses. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, we find that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence significantly increase behavioral intention, which in turn promotes continued use. HBM beliefs (perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, and self-efficacy) increase credibility, and credibility mediates their influence on behavioral intention and continued use. Results indicate that continued engagement depends on both technology evaluations and psychological determinants, particularly credibility. The findings can direct health marketing to prioritize credibility-anchored value propositions and clear processes over risk appeals, offering actionable guidance for government-supported telemedicine promotion initiatives.
Digital healthcare offers a promising solution for bridging the equity gap and leveraging technology to deliver healthcare services remotely to vulnerable populations. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to enrich our understanding of how variables previously identified in the literature fit the research context. Eleven research hypotheses that were developed were tested using quantitative methods. Results highlight that customer operant, clinical, personal network, and digital resources enhance participation behavior in digital healthcare. This study provides insights into how participation behaviors improve subjective well-being and effectively strengthen loyalty through the mediating role of subjective well-being.
