Online customers’ journeys span several touchpoints, which typically do not involve any interpersonal interactions with online retailers—except at the moment of delivery (MoD). When retailers use third-party courier services to fulfill orders, they relinquish control over this critical, last-mile touchpoint, possibly to their detriment. An analysis of over 35,000 reviews shows that a negative MoD experience can trigger ripple effects through detrimental word of mouth (WOM). To regain control, retailers might adopt vertical integration or inoculation. Across four experimental studies, the current research examines how courier type (proprietary vs. third-party) affects consumers’ WOM in response to positive and negative MoD experiences and how inoculation messages can reduce customers’ susceptibility to adverse effects of negative MoD experiences. A single-paper meta-analysis affirms that third-party couriers buffer the detrimental effects of negative MoD experiences, but positive MoD experiences benefit only established retailers handling last-mile delivery themselves. Inoculation messages can also increase customer resilience to last-mile failures by mitigating the adverse effects of negative MoD experiences on WOM. This research highlights couriers’ crucial role as key actors in the MoD and clarifies the effects of MoD experiences for online retailers, emphasizing the need to consider both couriers and preemptive measures.

PurposeThe use of mobile devices, such as to access social media, is pervasive in both private and work settings. It can lead to problematic behaviors, including social networking site addiction (SNSA) and digital stress (DS). To provide evidence on how SNSA and DS relate to employees, this research tests their associations with downstream variables across two cultures.Design/methodology/approachMore than 700 German and Japanese employees completed an online survey. Multigroup structural equation modeling in AMOS tests the relationships between SNSA and digital stress and downstream variables.FindingsBoth SNSA and DS are linked to employee psychological strain, which is related to work performance and life satisfaction; work performance is also positively associated with life satisfaction. The negative relationship between strain and performance is more pronounced in Japan than in Germany. However, the other associations appear consistent across cultures, suggesting that SNSA and DS represent universal challenges for employees and organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThis study includes German and Japanese employees. Continued research might address other countries (e.g. less-developed economies) and take a more differentiated view of employee occupations (e.g. low-vs. high-tech jobs).Practical implicationsOrganizations must recognize the negative outcomes related to employees' excessive uses of social and digital media; develop ways to assess employees' SNSA and DS; and implement measures to conquer SNSA and DS.Originality/valueIn addition to reiterating the detrimental association of SNSA and DS with employees' perceived strain and two important downstream variables, this article adopts an explicitly cross-cultural approach to test these relationships.

Growing global mobile and social media use in private and work life increases users' proneness to digital stress, potentially undermining important behavioral outcomes. Past research efforts led to the development of a 24-item digital stress scale (DSS), developed among U.S. adolescents and young adults. Responding to calls for more replication studies and parsimonious measures in the field, our research objectives are threefold: (1) to develop an almost 60% shortened version of the original 24-item DSS; (2) to provide a cross-cultural validation of the long and short DSS using samples from three distinct countries, Germany, Italy, and Japan; (3) to assess the generalizability of the scale to a different population by applying the long and short DSS to samples of non-adolescents (i.e., employees). The validation procedures confirm the reliability, validity, and cross-national applicability of the 10-item DSS. Our application of the scale to employees also demonstrates the impact of perceived digital stress on work-related (i.e., burnout; intention to quit), family-related (i.e., family satisfaction), and domain unspecific (i.e., psychological strain) employee outcomes, thus emphasizing the relevance of digital stress to employee well-being. We offer theoretical and practical implications.

The continually soaring mobile and social media use worldwide, across private and work lives, causes users to feel digitally stressed, which might undermine important behavioral outcomes. Hall et al. (2021) have established a digital stress scale (DSS), developed among U.S. adolescents and young adults; the current study offers a cross-cultural test of the scale and proposes a shortened version, by almost 60%. Social media use tends to blur work and nonwork spheres, and psychometric scales need to be cross-culturally valid, so the present study tests perceived digital stress among employees from three countries. The well-established validation procedures and samples from Germany, Italy, and Japan affirm the reliability, validity, and cross-national applicability of a 10-item short DSS. The extended application also reveals the impact of perceived digital stress on three sets of employee outcomes. In turn, this research offers implications for both research and practice.