Product portfolio strategy is a critical decision that requires firms to allocate limited resources and select which products to showcase. Using comprehensive operational data from the Shanghai movie market, encompassing 431 movies across 344 theaters and 58,596 observations at the movie-theater level, we investigate how theaters adjust their movie-portfolio strategies in response to peers’ decisions. We operationalize these strategies through theaters’ decisions about movie run lengths and find robust evidence of significant, positive peer effects on these decisions. We further provide evidence at the movie- and theater-level that learning mechanisms drive such peer effects. Finally, we investigate the managerial implications of peer effects in movie run-length decisions and find that theaters achieve approximately a 1.92
Although different eco-labels are often used interchangeably to signal a product’s environmental impact, this research shows that the specific terminology that is used can have important marketplace implications. We demonstrate that labeling a product as sustainable gives it an edge over labeling it as green, increasing its choice share over a conventional alternative lacking an eco-label. This “sustainable edge effect” arises from the semantic association of sustainable with longevity, which affects inferences consumers make about the product’s design process and durability. Consequently, the effect occurs more often when consumers are concerned about product durability. This research contributes to the academic literature by showing that two highly prevalent (yet unregulated) eco-labels are construed by consumers as being markedly different, which can yield different temporal orientations. Beyond providing deeper understanding of semantics and inferences in labeling, our findings offer implications for marketers and policymakers, helping curb greenwashing and encouraging planet-friendly behaviors.
Online review platforms shape consumer purchase decisions, yet sustaining review contributions remains a key challenge. This research examines how peer comments (i.e., comments from other users on their reviews) influence subsequent reviewing behavior at both the incidence and evaluation stages. Exploiting the relative timing between reviews and peer comments, we identify causal effects by comparing users who make their next review before versus after receiving their first peer comment. Using data from a leading mobile game platform, we find that receiving peer comments leads users to review more popular products. Their subsequent reviews have lower ratings, are longer and more controversial, without improvement in helpfulness. Three controlled experiments further explore the psychological mechanisms underlying these effects. Together, this research highlights the unintended consequences of peer comments on review contributions and offers actionable guidance for platforms deciding whether and how to implement this platform feature.
Despite the substantial practical and theoretical relevance of mystery products (i.e., items purchased without knowing their specific nature), research on consumer preference for them remains underexplored, particularly from a social interaction perspective. Across eight main studies and two supplementary studies (N = 5,787), we demonstrate that social (vs. solitary) consumption increases preference for mystery products. This effect is supported by diverse methods, including large-scale survey, field observation, controlled experiment, and incentive-compatible design. A sequential mediation underlies this effect: social (vs. solitary) consumption enhances perceived social support, which reduces uncertainty avoidance, thereby increasing mystery product preference. We further identify three theoretically-grounded and marketing-relevant moderators. The social consumption effect emerges primarily with close companions, is attenuated when an active online community provides supplemental social support, and weakens when surprise-oriented advertising reduces consumers’ reliance on social support to cope with uncertainty. These findings provide actionable insights for the design and positioning of mystery product offerings.
Amid the influencer marketing boom, companies are increasingly shifting resources from real to virtual (computer-generated) influencers. While virtual influencers can influence consumers, what makes their content more (or less) impactful? The current research examines whether social tie presence (i.e., appearing in photos with humans with whom they seem to have social interactions) shapes consumer engagement. A multimethod investigation, combining automated image and text analysis of thousands of social media posts with controlled experiments, demonstrates that social tie presence increases impact above and beyond the mere presence of a human (i.e., without interaction). These effects are driven by anthropomorphism and trust: social tie presence makes virtual influencers seem more human, which in turn makes them seem more trustworthy and, consequently, increases engagement and choice. Supporting our theorizing, the results indicate that the effects of social ties are stronger when the virtual influencer looks less humanlike, but are attenuated when the human other is merely present, when the companion is another virtual entity, and when the poster is a human influencer. These findings shed new light on consumer responses to virtual influencers, explain why social ties affect consumer perceptions, and provide actionable insights for designing more impactful social media content.
When firms respond to social media complaints with “Please DM us,” why do some consumers comply while others publicly resist? We examine this question by studying how complaints evolve as online audiences become involved. Using Twitter field data, experiments, and interviews, we identify three stages of emotional escalation and show that effective recovery depends on matching firm responses to these stages. Our findings reveal two key insights. First, appreciation is more strongly associated with favorable public outcomes than apology, particularly as complaints intensify. Second, although explanations remain essential, compensation presents a paradox: at high emotional intensity, it improves public-resolution evaluations, whereas field and interview evidence suggests that private compensation offers may be resisted as consumers prioritize public accountability over private gain. We explain this tension as a strategic trade-off between public validation and private problem-solving. For managers, we offer a stage-based framework clarifying when to invite private contact, when to act proactively, and when public acknowledgment is necessary.
Green marketing communication (GMC) enables brands to signal environmental responsibility, yet its effectiveness remains inconsistent across contexts. We conduct a meta-analysis of 156 studies comprising 146,961 participants to examine how GMC influences consumers’ evaluative and behavioral responses. Results show that while GMC has a positive overall effect, it is less effective for green brands than for conventional brands, with effectiveness varying across brand types and communication characteristics. For green brands, GMC is more effective for new brands, communication that is emotional, abstract, delivered via packaging, and supported by lower levels of evidence. For conventional brands, effectiveness is enhanced by rational messaging, advertising, stronger supporting evidence, and brand familiarity. Meta-analytic structural equation modelling shows that GMC operates through both message and product evaluation. Conceptually, we demonstrate that GMC effectiveness depends on the diagnostic value of environmental claims and whether they are interpreted as informative or persuasive, providing a generalizable explanation for mixed findings.
This research analyzes the role of visual features in influencer marketing campaigns, focusing on visual consistency within campaigns. Using 707 posts and 1,105 stories from 182 campaigns, we extract 47 visual and consistency features along four fundamental visual dimensions: color, complexity, composition, and content. Results show that visual consistency is a key factor. Posts perform better when visually consistent, while stories require a feature-specific mix of consistency and variation. These associations differ by influencer size and campaign type: Consistency is most effective for posts by macro influencers, whereas variation is positively linked to stories by micro influencers. Product campaigns favor consistency in posts but variation in stories; service campaigns show mixed patterns for both formats. Simulations show that a model-informed visual strategy outperforms briefing strategies that ignore consistency or focus exclusively on consistency and variation, emphasizing the value of managing feature-specific consistency. These findings offer practical guidance for visual strategies in influencer marketing campaigns.
Contemporary marketing increasingly relies on engagement from diverse actors beyond the firm–customer dyad. Yet existing research offers limited guidance on how to strategically manage multi-actor engagement. We develop a framework for Actor Engagement Management (AEM), comprising three foundational activities: Setting engagement scope, Evaluating actor engagement, and Facilitating actor engagement behaviors. We then identify four ideal types of AEM that translate the theoretical framework into actionable managerial approaches in complex, multi-actor settings comprising differing degrees of role heterogeneity among engaging actors and varying network distance from the focal firm. This study responds to calls for a deeper understanding of engagement management and contributes to the evolution of marketing thought by extending engagement theory into complex, multi-actor domains. Specifically, it (1) positions AEM as a strategic approach that is shaped by the complexity inherent in multi‑actor environments, (2) advances a systemic, dynamic view on AEM, (3) unravels the impact of multi-actor complexities on AEM, and (4) highlights the relevance of disengagement for AEM.
This editorial introduces JAMS’s new policy on research data and source code availability. It argues that reproducibility—the ability to obtain the same results from the same data and analyses—is a fundamental prerequisite for credible and cumulative science. Drawing on recent evidence from the social and behavioral sciences, the article highlights persistent barriers to reproducibility, including limited access to data, code, and analytical workflows. It outlines how JAMS’s new policy seeks to enhance transparency, facilitate verification, and strengthen trust in marketing research while recognizing practical constraints on data sharing.
Manufacturers increasingly combine more products, services, and digital technologies, yet accumulating more of these resources does not necessarily improve performance. This study uses configuration theory as an analytical framework and service-dominant logic as an interpretive perspective, combining fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis with machine learning to examine the nonlinear fit of 1,027 manufacturing firms in three resource attributes: form, scope, and rhythm. The results indicate that performance depends on configurational fit rather than resource accumulation. The study discovers three patterns: regarding form, digital intensity above a critical threshold can substitute for service depth under product complexity; in terms of scope, service breadth and depth as mutually constraining logics, their joint expansion forms a performance trough; in terms of rhythm, when product innovation is combined with deep services, incompatible resource rhythms will arise. These mismatches will be punished under market constraints (non-SOEs, globally engaged companies), but may be mitigated under institutional protection (SOEs). The study contributes a configurational account of servitization performance and offers managers a diagnostic logic: before adding more services or digital resources, assess whether the product, service, and digital elements fit.
As firms increasingly deploy artificial agents with social capabilities, the effectiveness of automated social presence (ASP), defined as agents’ ability to evoke the perception of interacting with a socially present other, has become a top research priority. However, empirical findings remain mixed and fragmented. This study meta-analytically integrates 165 studies (N = 54,917) to clarify ASP’s effects, underlying mechanisms, boundary conditions, and antecedents. The results reveal that ASP is strongly and positively associated with customer satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty, and shows a weaker relationship with psychological well-being. A mediation analysis shows that social cognition and psychological ownership drive distinct outcome pathways. Moreover, ASP’s effects weaken in emotionally charged and long-term encounters. Finally, a crisp-set qualitative comparative meta-analysis, using a novel two-dimensional taxonomy of artificial agent design characteristics, reveals how multiple configurations of capability (knowledge domain, interaction modality, interaction flexibility) and identity features (appearance, name, female gender) interact in shaping ASP. These findings refine theoretical understanding of ASP and offer insights for designing artificial agents that evoke ASP.
Influencers play a central role in promoting products and services on digital platforms. Understanding the impact of their linguistic choices, including the use of profanity, is therefore important for marketers seeking to engage target audiences. This study investigates how influencers’ profanity usage shapes user engagement. The authors analyze videos shared by influencers on a popular video-sharing platform and extract auditory, visual, and verbal features using a range of machine-learning tools. The findings indicate that profanity in focal content is associated with lower engagement, with a substantially larger effect in categories where profanity is less normatively expected. This negative effect is more pronounced when influencers are female, when the post is sponsored, or when the content is otherwise polite. At the same time, an influencer’s profanity history attenuates this effect, though this adaptation is constrained in categories where profanity is less normative. In these settings, consistent usage can even amplify negative reactions. These results indicate that the engagement consequences of profanity in influencer marketing are shaped by category-level norms and the influencer’s established communicative style. The findings offer important implications for marketers, influencers, and platform owners.
The authors offer a systems-level, managerial and strategic framework that organizes cross-disciplinary evidence on how marketing has harmed consumers, and most importantly to offer thoughts on how marketing might instead make well-being a central component of value creation.
As firms face pressure to communicate about their environmental sustainability, effective messaging remains a challenge. Drawing on mental simulation theory, this research positions firms (rather than consumers) as mental simulation agents and examines how firms can effectively use process (e.g., “We deployed electric vehicles”) versus outcome (e.g., “We reduced our carbon footprint by 50
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) is a central construct in theory and practice; yet its role as a strategic resource is often underappreciated. This article synthesizes the conceptual foundations, measurement approaches, empirical findings, and managerial applications of CSAT research. This article defines CSAT as a post-consumption evaluative judgment of whether customers receive the promised value, and distinguishes it from related constructs such as service quality, engagement, loyalty, experience, and value. Drawing on multiple scales and a comparative study across consumer demographics, we demonstrate that widely used CSAT measures exhibit strong convergent validity. A historical review of the evolution of CSAT research highlights the multi-level nature of the resulting frameworks, providing individual-, firm-, and industry-level insights. Furthermore, we use a large-scale dataset of more than 285 million ratings across 1,126 brands to replicate and extend prior meta-analytic evidence and show that CSAT is robustly associated with customer mindset metrics, accounting outcomes, and stock market performance. Finally, we develop micro-, meso- and macro-level conceptual frameworks and outline a forward-looking, multi-level research agenda to revitalize CSAT scholarship and practice.
Brands communicate who they are through visual content (e.g., images, videos). How does the visual complexity of such content shape perceived brand status (prestige, luxury)? This research examines two key aspects of visual complexity: edge complexity (edge density and irregularity) and color complexity (hue quantity and dissimilarity). Drawing on computer-vision analyses of over 400,000 visuals and a controlled experiment, the findings show that: (1) edge complexity exerts a U-shaped effect on perceived brand status, such that status perceptions are lowest at moderate levels of edge complexity and higher at low or high levels; (2) color complexity consistently reduces perceived brand status; and (3) these effects operate sequentially through perceived visual curation (how intentionally and professionally crafted a visual appears) and perceived exclusivity (how limited in availability the offering appears). Theoretical, methodological, and managerial implications are discussed.
Access-based consumption, defined as transactions that may be market mediated in which no transfer of ownership takes place, is conceptualized by Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012). While it was introduced to explore consumer engagement in the sharing economy, conceptually it challenges the dominant assumption of ownership in marketing. This paper reflects on the impact of ABC and its boundary conditions. We critically interrogate and expand on five challenges of the original concept: the static dichotomy of access versus ownership; its transactional framing; its lack of identity value; its treatment of ideology; and its reliance on one context. We discuss the implications of ABC for marketing research related to: a prosumer role of the consumer; its ambivalent responsibility and governance; the bundled, or layered notions of access/ownership for digital ownership; as well as its implications for platformized consumption, which reinforces its instrumental sociality, and where value is extracted through data rather than ownership.
This paper develops a unified framework that combines flow theory with assemblage theory to explain consumer experience in AI-powered environments. Traditional flow theory, which conceptualizes optimal experience as an individual psychological state arising from skill-challenge balance, inadequately addresses the distributed agency and emergent properties of human-AI interactions. We reconceptualize flow as an assemblage-level phenomenon emerging from dynamic consumer-object relationships rather than individual experience alone. Our framework makes three contributions. First, it demonstrates how assemblages moderate both consumer skills and object challenges, leading to skill-challenge congruence. Second, it extends flow concepts to encompass object experience, proposing that AI systems exhibit measurable states analogous to flow, anxiety, and boredom. Third, it reveals how assemblages in flow develop emergent self-repair capabilities through cycles of territorialization and deterritorialization. These insights yield strategic implications for marketing practice, including designing for mutual human and object flow rather than individual consumer flow, making object states transparent, and enabling assemblage self-governance.
