As more consumers make purchase decisions based on social media content, digital marketers have become keen to unveil the use of social media content as a marketing tool. In recent years, it has become evident that the role of social media could have a negative effect on consumers, by creating fear and misunderstanding of topical issues and causing panic buying. This study aims to discover whether social media, through the spreading of inaccurate information, maybe responsible for panic buying. Data will be collected and analysed in order to indicate the perceived dominant factors that drove consumers to panic buying. The analysis of the data is aiming to reveal how user-generated content may lead to perceived scarcity and creation of more inaccurate information that will enhance panic buying.

Luxury brands increasingly engage in art infusion in their marketing activities. While the positive outcomes these activities are linked to have been frequently discussed, the factors leading to these outcomes are not clear yet. This paper aims explore the mechanism through which positive outcomes from art infusion arise. We draw a connection to luxury brands’ perceived brand globalness and consumers’ acculturation to global consumer culture. To be specific, the indirect effect of perceived brand globalness on purchase intention through the serial mediation role of acculturation to global consumer culture and perceived luxuriousness is examined. A cross-sectional study was designed and a survey with a sample of 125 luxury consumers was launched, while the results confirmed our hypothesis. The study adds to the literature by explaining how acculturation to global consumer culture is linked to art infusion for luxury brands. Managerial implications and limitations are discussed.

Websites have been credited as important advertising and direct marketing channels, which have the potential to revolutionize brands. Yet, several significant shifts have been taking place in regarding website elements, from the inclusion of new technologies, the reference to brand elements and the alignment with meaning created on various other social media the company has presence in. These shifts influence the way the online experience is shaped, rendering it crucial to re-examine it. At the same time, there is ongoing discussion about the move toward the relational element of brand engagement. A brand’s online presence and especially its website becomes a crucial asset. This chapter develops a framework regarding how website elements shape the online experience and tests this framework in luxury websites. Managerial and academic implications are discussed.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how environmental concern, eco-labelling, influencers and user-generated content affect Generation Z's green purchase intention. The objective of this study is to contribute with a new scope that combines influencers and user-generated content on digital platforms with environmental concern for Generation Z. The study also aims to add new value in predicting Generation Z's green purchase intention and results that can be implemented in future marketing strategies. To test the framework, a quantitative research approach, with an online survey, was applied to collect data from Generation Z. The sample size consisted of 393 individuals from Generation Z. Structural Equation Modelling was applied to test the hypothesized framework. All hypotheses were accepted, and hence, this research has identified key variables to predict Generation Z's green purchase intention. Additionally, this paper found that environmental concern has a significant positive impact on Generation Z's user-generated content and eco-labelling, and influencers positively affect Generation Z's user-generated content. This study can aid companies that employ an influencer marketing approach to comprehend how they can motivate customers to buy sustainable products more frequently. This study provides crucial and valuable insights into further understanding how the sustainable consumption behavior of Generation Z can be impacted by the utilization of influencer marketing and their concern for the environment. It also provides a deeper understanding of how influencers and their perceived concerns for the environment can be combined with user-generated content and eco-labelling, as well as subsequent effects on the green purchase intention of members of Generation Z.

This paper investigates how consumers' individual differences (personal values and characteristics in the adaptations level of personality) affect responses to luxury advertising laden with two opposing values: self-esteem versus image. Drawing on literature from luxury marketing, advertising and psychology, we examine the role of different personality variables in the effect of advertised values on attitudes and perceptions. Studies 1 and 2 show that susceptibility to normative influence and status consumption moderate the effect of advertised value on attitudes. Study 3 demonstrates that "for me" perceptions mediate the effect of advertised value on attitudes. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The rise of the "post-pandemic new digital consumer" who cherishes personalization, demands trust and expects immersive online experiences has led brands to reexamine their online presence. Brand-driven, experiential and consistent online customer experiences are critical in this context, and it is a brand's website that operates as a hub for its online presence. Understanding how websites can offer online customer experiences that will lead to the desired consumer responses is fundamental. Even though significant research exists regarding online customer experiences on websites, it is highly fragmented across the business and IT literature. Most studies either separately examine the stages of the customer journey or simultaneously examine more than one stages. There have been no attempts to critically review and synthesize the existing body of knowledge regarding how online customer experiences are constructed on websites and their subsequent consumer responses in each separate stage of the customer journey. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by synthesizing existing knowledge through a systematic literature review method and providing an overall direction for managing such online customer experiences. The findings indicate under-explored areas and serve as a resource for future studies and practice.

This chapter aims to present how luxury brands engage in cultural production and strategically use it for the acculturation of a global consumer culture. A content analysis is adopted from interviews of luxury brands’ creative designers were analyzed through content analysis. Our findings underpin the relevance of cultural production for luxury brands and indicate how the combination of the above can be strategically used. Managerial and academic implications are discussed.

Abstract Social media are increasingly leveraged on for the establishment of strong consumer–brand relationships, however the causal relationships leading to them have yet to be clarified. The underlying theory suggested to contribute to this gap is rhetoric, indicating the available means of persuasion to achieve one's goal. This paper builds on Aristotle's view, that effective rhetoric is based on the combination of Logos, Pathos and Ethos and examines how social media marketing activities help strengthen the connection between the consumer’s self and the brand. The proposed framework is tested in 183 consumers, which follow a brand on Facebook. The findings indicate that social media marketing activities positively affect brand attachment, through the mediating role of self-brand connections. Furthermore, brand engagement in self-concept moderates the effect of self-brand connections on brand attachment. Significant implications both from a theoretical and managerial perspective are discussed.

This paper explores the factors affecting consumers' evaluation of luxury corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. In particular, it examines how corporate identity and consumer attitude influence the importance they attribute to a variety of luxury CSR practices. The existing academic literature neglects this question, and there has been a call for understanding which type of CSR practices is appropriate for luxury brands. Findings from an empirical study regarding the French luxury brand Hermes indicate that corporate identity is a significant predictor of which CSR practices consumers evaluate as important. As well that, consumer attitude mediates the latter effect. The current research thereby stresses the need for luxury brand managers to link CSR practices to corporate identity and to acknowledge how consumers' attitude can affect this relationship.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the innovation adoption process taking place in the public relations field through the use of Web 2.0 applications and social network activities. Design/methodology/approach - Innovation adoption of electronic public relations (E-PR) is examined at personal, organizational, and environmental levels by employing, for each one of the previous, a number of different sub-dimensions leading to the creation and verification of a hierarchical tree structure. Findings - E-PR innovation adoption can be influenced at personal, organizational, and environmental levels. Each of the aforementioned levels is hierarchically linked to a number of factors that can actually speed up the process. Originality/value - Never before to the authors' knowledge the E-PR adoption process was examined as a hierarchical model bridging the innovation adoption literature with the public relations literature.

The portrayal of women in advertising is a prolific research topic and extant studies have emphasized the negative attitudes of female consumers toward stereotypic depictions of women in advertising in general. However, empirical evidence regarding female consumers' responses to specific ads depicting women in decorative roles is scarce and conflicting. Drawing on the principles of evolutionary psychology, the present paper proposes that women's attitudes toward such ads are underlied by the evolved context-sensitive mechanism of intrasexual competition. Relevant hypotheses are tested through two experimental studies. The findings indicate that decorative portrayals in advertising elicit more favorable attitudes when female consumers compete through a self-promotion strategy with regard to a competitor derogation one. Additionally, the temporal orientation of self-referencing during ad processing emerges as a moderator of the influence of the motivational state elicited by the medium context on attitudes.

The economic crisis has redounded sharply upon marketing communications and media vehicles in Cyprus. In recession periods, communication and marketing budgets can contract while companies seek to obtain the best communication outcomes with more limited resources, both the size and the distribution of the communication mix can alter rapidly. This qualitative paper reveals that Cypriot advertising agencies now place greater emphasis upon marketing public relations (MPR) as it is perceived to be cost effective and efficient in achieving campaign objectives. The empirical data also indicates a shift towards the use of internet marketing and social media as more and more businesses are realizing the importance of consumer generated marketing and word-of-mouth/mouse marketing (WOMm).