Purpose This study aims to examine the digital signals and mechanisms involved in shaping consumer attitude towards online private label brands (OPLBs) in an emerging digital market under conditions of heightened uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach A multi-method design focused on the cosmetics and personal care sector was employed. Study 1 used a survey of 637 OPLBs consumers in Pakistan. Study 2 employed a 2 × 2 experimental design that manipulated social media influencer reputation and heuristic cues (high vs low) and included 232 participants. Findings Social media influencer reputation, consumer confidence and bandwagon positively affect consumer attitude towards OPLBs. While heuristic cues have no direct effect in the survey, experimental evidence shows that they influence attitude under conditions of heightened salience. Across both studies, consumer confidence and bandwagon effect mediate the effects of social media influencer reputation and heuristic cues on consumer attitude towards OPLBs. Originality/value This study extends signaling theory by positioning OPLBs as a distinct digital retail context in which consumers rely heavily on externally observable digital signals. It develops a unified signaling framework explaining how source-based credibility signals and popularity-based engagement signals shape consumer attitude through receiver-side mechanisms of evaluative certainty and conformity in uncertainty-rich emerging markets.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of pharmaceutical companies in countering health misinformation through social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. While pharmaceutical companies emerged as pivotal yet deeply contested actors in the public health information ecosystem, their role in infodemic management remains empirically understudied compared with governmental agencies and platform-level interventions. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes 6,466 tweets from six major pharmaceutical companies over 2020–2021, combining BERT-based topic modeling, lexicon-based misinformation strategy detection and emotion analysis to examine communicative orientations, boosting and refutation strategies and affective tone and their effects on user engagement measured through likes and retweets. Findings Results indicate that science-based communication generates significantly higher user engagement than other types of content; that boosting strategies predominate and are associated with greater audience amplification than refutation; and that neutral factual content outperforms positively framed messaging. This suggests that epistemic credibility, rather than emotional resonance, shapes audience responses during health crises. Originality/value This research provides empirical examination of how pharmaceutical companies operationalize misinformation counterstrategies in naturalistic social media environments, with implications for corporate crisis communication and the broader governance of public health information.
Purpose This study aims to examine how consumer strain reshapes the balance between identity-consistent consumption and resource constraints by focusing on loyalty toward authentic brands and non-deceptive counterfeit purchase as alternative responses. Specifically, it investigates how self-brand connection, social influence and perceived counterfeit benefits and risks shape consumer decision-making when marketplace disruption, financial pressure and uncertainty make ordinary consumption choices more constrained. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a structured online questionnaire from 177 consumers who were instructed to answer with the pandemic as the reference context for strain. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the direct net associations between the predictors and the two outcomes, while fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis identified configurational pathways through which identity-related and evaluative mechanisms combine to produce loyalty towards authentic brands or counterfeit purchase. Findings Self-brand connection strengthens loyalty towards authentic brands under strain, confirming the stabilising role of identity-relevant brands. Perceived counterfeit benefits reduce authentic-brand loyalty and increase counterfeit purchase, whereas perceived counterfeit risks discourage counterfeit purchase. Social influence does not operate as a direct net predictor, but the configurational results show that it matters conditionally, particularly when perceived counterfeit benefits are weak. The findings therefore show that loyalty and counterfeit purchase are not simple opposites, but context-dependent responses shaped by different combinations of identity-related and evaluative conditions. Originality/value The study contributes by integrating brand loyalty and counterfeit consumption within a single strain-based framework. It explains how consumers preserve authentic-brand loyalty, consider non-deceptive counterfeits or reject counterfeits depending on how identity motives, social pressures and benefit-risk evaluations combine under conditions of strain. By revealing multiple pathways to these responses, it advances a configurational understanding of adaptive consumption under constraint.
Purpose In the context of social media advertising, the study investigates the effectiveness of different ways in which an endorsement is expressed i.e. endorsement modes (explicit, implicit, imperative, co-present) introduced by McCracken in his 1989 study. This study also aims to examine if consumer involvement moderates the effect of endorsement modes on advertising effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach The research used two experimental studies using fictitious Instagram posts (by a popular celebrity) to manipulate the endorsement modes. Study 1 tested the effectiveness of the endorsement modes in an ecologically realistic setting. Study 2 was aimed at providing internal validity by controlling for argument type and information load to isolate the impact of endorsement mode. The effectiveness of endorsement modes was assessed in terms of attitude toward the brand, attitude toward the advertisement and purchase intentions. Findings No significant effects of endorsement modes alone were observed. However, the two experimental studies consistently revealed a significant interaction of endorsement modes with CI. Explicit and imperative modes yielded more favorable brand attitudes under high CI; however, these benefits did not manifest under low CI. The results suggested that endorsement mode does have an impact on brand evaluations, independent of argument type and information load, although the impact is contingent on CI. Originality/value The paper extends endorsement literature by distinguishing the impact of endorsement mode from that of argument type and information load and by demonstrating that endorsement modes interact with CI in social media advertising. Using a muti-study approach, the study also refines Elaboration Likelihood Model-based expectations by suggesting that endorsement mode becomes particularly important under high CI.
Purpose This study aims to investigate how affective experiences associated with Fear of a Better Option (FoBO) and Maximizing Tendencies (MT) are reflected in consumer decision-making in Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) environments. Specifically, it investigates how choice overload and social comparison relate to maximizing behavior and how these processes contribute to decision avoidance and post-decision regret. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods design was employed. Study 1 uses survey data from 205 SVOD users and partial least squares structural equation modeling to examine relationships among choice overload, social comparison, recommendation system strategy, maximizing tendencies, decision avoidance/paralysis and post-decision regret. Study 2 comprises 20 in-depth interviews exploring consumers’ experiences during content selection, providing qualitative evidence that participants’ descriptions of affective experiences are conceptually consistent with FoBO and their relationship to maximizing behavior. Findings Choice overload and social comparison were associated with maximizing tendencies, which in turn were associated with decision avoidance/paralysis and post-decision regret. The recommendation system strategy was positively associated with maximizing tendencies but did not mitigate their effects on decision outcomes. Qualitative findings suggest participants described concern about overlooking better alternatives before making a decision and extensive search and comparison as responses, complementing the quantitative results by showing how affective experiences and cognitive-behavioral processes jointly shape decision-making in SVOD environments. Practical implications The results highlight the need for SVOD services to tailor decision-support features to different decision-making styles and to develop strategies that reduce choice anxieties. Originality/value By integrating quantitative and qualitative evidence, it advances understanding of decision anxiety in high-choice digital environments and clarifies the FoBO affective experience and MT cognitive-behavioral orientation relationship.
