AI-based chatbot usage in services has diversified, and complaint handling is no exception. While existing literature explores responses such as satisfaction, eWOM, and loyalty intentions, it overlooks the role of dignity and negative social emotions in high-stakes human-chatbot-interactions. This study introduces 'perceived disrespect', a moral-emotional response to unfair treatment, as a key mechanism explaining user frustration during chatbot-induced service failures. Adopting a sequential mixed-methods design, the study identifies antecedents: lack of empathy, uniqueness neglect, and poor human integration, and key outcomes: perceived disrespect and frustration. The hypotheses were subsequently tested using structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that uniqueness neglect, poor human integration (and not lack of empathy) directly lead to frustration. Instead, the impact of lack of empathy is fully mediated by perceived disrespect, suggesting that emotionless responses are punished only when users interpret them as an interpersonal slight. The study establishes a new theoretical construct in human-chatbot interactions, and also offers practical insights for designing AI-based service chatbots that respect consumer dignity in sensitive service encounters.
This study explores how different visual types of virtual influencers (VIs) - realistically human, anime-style, and non-human - shape perceptions of warmth, competence, and discomfort in the context of sustainable brand endorsements. Grounded in the Stereotype Content Model, the paradigm of computers are social actors and the uncanny valley theory, the study investigates how a VI's anthropomorphism affects consumers' social judgements of the VI and in turn, brand attitudes and purchase intention. Results suggest anthropomorphism can directly increase purchase intention, while only having an indirect effect on brand attitude via perceptions of warmth and competence. On the other hand, perceived discomfort is increased by the VI's anthropomorphism level, but it does not significantly influence brand attitudes and purchase intention. Interestingly, this study found that non-human VIs, like a bee, are perceived as the most warm and competent among other VIs, while eliciting the least discomfort, which offers novel insights for green marketing strategies and VI research.
Generative AI accelerates the visual homogenization of green brand communication, making it harder for consumers to distinguish genuine green brands from greenwashing brands through visual cues. Prior research seldom addresses how AI-generated visuals shape perceived green brand authenticity. Building on the warmth-competence theory, this study proposes that warmth and competence visual cues function as asymmetric diagnostic dimensions in AI-generated contexts. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 employed a 2 & times; 2 between-subjects simulated scenario experiment (N = 451). Study 2 applied computer vision to decompose tone, brightness, and saturation from platform AI-generated green brand images, combined with subjective evaluation (150 participants, 900 observations) using crossed random-effects modeling. Convergent results show that competence-oriented cues consistently outperform warmth-oriented cues in differentiating genuine green from greenwashing brands, enhancing brand trust and green purchase intention. AI technology attitude moderates this process by shifting consumers' cue reliance. This research advances green brand authenticity scholarship from textual validation to first-screen visual attribution and extends the warmth-competence theory by revealing the dimensions' asymmetric diagnosticity in AI-generated green communication.
Much of the literature on social media marketing, and social media influencers in particular, has focused on influencer characteristics and endorsement outcomes. What is lacking, however, is a deeper understanding of the motivations and consumer values associated with social media influencers within increasingly interactive and dynamic digital environments. This study seeks to develop a comprehensive model of consumers' motivational patterns towards social media influencers. The current study utilizes laddering interviews to explore consumers' perceptions of SMIs through a Means-End Chain approach. Drawing on a holistic MEC framework, the study examines how consumers cognitively connect influencer attributes, interaction consequences, and higher-order personal values. The Means-End Chain analysis revealed four key values that captured the motivational patterns of consumers: (1) stimulation, (2) hedonism, (3) social bonding, and (4) accomplishment. The findings further demonstrate how influencer characteristics are translated into socially embedded and emotionally meaningful value structures through dynamic influencer-consumer interactions. The Means-End Chainanalysis presents a look beyond the surface of what has become an increasingly important area of social media marketing.
Declining wine sales have heightened concerns about how the tradition-bound wine industry can cultivate relevance among younger consumers. As consumption norms shift across product categories, attracting and retaining Gen Z and Millennial consumers has become increasingly difficult for wine brands, with American consumers in both generational cohorts exhibiting low engagement. These cohorts demonstrate strong interest in corporate social responsibility, lifestyle alignment, and experiential value; characteristics that create opportunities for brand communication extending beyond the industry's traditional symbolic emphasis on heritage, land, craftsmanship, and time. Instagram, among the most-used social media platforms by young American consumers, provides a visual environment in which brand-generated content shapes perceptions of authenticity and identity. This study examines how leading U.S. wine brands utilize Instagram posts, identifying gaps between observed practices and research-informed recommendations for appealing to younger consumers. A quantitative content analysis of 900 posts from 18 top-selling wine brands assesses post type (static, dynamic), usage occasion framing (traditional, new), presentation of product development, and inclusion of cause-related marketing. Findings indicate limited use of content strategies aligned with younger American consumers' values, lifestyles, and communication expectations, with brands relying heavily on traditional content conventions.
The increasing tendency of compulsive buying behavior in e-commerce highlights the significant interplay between perceived platform features and psychological factors. However, studies integrating consumer perceptions of digital transaction features with personality traits such as narcissism and fear of missing out (FOMO) remain limited. To address this gap, this study examines the associations between perceptions of e-payment features, cash on delivery (COD), and free shipping, along with narcissism and FOMO, and compulsive buying behavior. It also investigates the link between narcissism and FOMO, and the moderating role of narcissism in the relationship between perceived platform features and compulsive buying behavior. Using a quantitative survey approach focused on a profile of compulsive buyers, 558 valid responses were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS. The results indicate that positive perceptions of electronic payment, COD, and free shipping, as well as narcissism and FOMO, are all significant predictors of compulsive buying behavior. Narcissism also associates with increased FOMO and partially moderates the relationship between perceived platform features and compulsive buying behavior. These findings urge e-commerce platforms to refine features and promotions, encourage ethical marketing, and use customer profiles to support responsible purchasing
