While products are typically displayed in visually balanced and stable positions, many retail and advertising contexts feature products in subtly unbalanced or unstable ways. Despite the prevalence of such displays, little is known about how product unbalance influences consumer behavior. Drawing on research on product display, compensatory consumption, and sustainability, this research proposes that displaying products in an unbalanced position reduces consumers' sense of comfort. Consequently, consumers engage in sustainable behaviors, such as choosing eco-friendly products or donating to pro-environmental causes, as a compensatory means to restore that comfort. Four experiments and one follow-up study (laboratory, field, and online) support this mechanism. The results also show that this effect occurs when the product is mass-market but not when it is luxury. Implications for marketing theory and practice are discussed along with possible avenues for future research.

Virtual influencers have recently emerged as a viable alternative to human influencers for engaging audiences on social media. However, little research has investigated how different elements of virtual influencers' posts shape engagement. Drawing on uses and gratifications theory, this research explores one such element: namely, the influencers' post background (virtual vs real). Although virtual influencers are usually depicted in real backgrounds, we show across four studies (N = 938) that construing the background as virtual (vs. real) actually leads to higher social media engagement (Study 1) because it generates greater feelings of reality detachment (Study 2) that, in turn, increase users' enjoyment (Study 3). Finally, more (vs. less) curious people are more (vs. less) likely to experience the feelings of reality detachment generated by the virtual background (Study 4). These findings shed light on how reality detachment drives user responses to virtual influencer content, which can aid virtual influencer creators and companies in more effectively designing social media content.

Overproduction and overconsumption represent key issues in the fight against resource waste and environmental degradation. Whereas the scientific debate has mainly focused on how to increase product durability by improving tangible aspects (e.g., technical characteristics, materials used, production processes), this article focuses on a consumer-based view of durability, examining how long consumers plan to use a product for, a construct labeled length of product usage (LPU). The core thesis is that LPU might depend not only on tangible product characteristics but also on intangible product characteristics, such as creativity, defined in terms of high novelty and adequate appropriateness. In advancing this creativity-based LPU account, the authors argue that higher product creativity leads to higher LPU by strengthening consumers’ emotional attachment to products. Seven preregistered studies, employing different products, populations, and creativity manipulations, empirically support the proposed framework. The results also show that the effect of creativity on LPU, via emotional attachment, is especially pronounced for nonowners versus owners and for mass-market versus luxury products. By emphasizing that creativity can be key to fostering sustainable consumption, this research advances the literature on the antecedents of LPU and product durability, offers implications for companies, and provides avenues for future research.

This paper proposes that luxury brands can highlight certain product characteristics to encourage consumers to use those products for longer, which can significantly contribute to sustainability and brand equity. Across four experiments and a field study applying automated text analysis to millions of social media user responses to luxury brands’ posts, this paper demonstrates that the length of product use is higher when brands highlight invisible (vs. visible) luxury product characteristics; this effect stems from the perceived authenticity of the luxury products. Furthermore, the positive effect of invisible (vs. visible) luxury characteristics on product perceived authenticity is attenuated for consumers with higher conspicuous consumption orientation. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings before highlighting the limitations and avenues for future studies.

Aesthetics is a core element of luxury products. While prior research has primarily examined how aesthetics contributes to luxury products’ appeal, the present research investigates how aesthetic design features may influence sustainable consumption. Specifically, we propose that symmetry—a key aesthetic characteristic—encourages consumers to use luxury products longer rather than discard them. Five experiments demonstrate that the symmetric (vs. asymmetric) design of luxury fashion products increases both intended and actual length of product usage, as symmetrical designs are perceived as more timeless. The results further reveal the moderating role of consumers’ fashion orientation. By linking visual design properties to consumers’ anticipated duration of product use, this research extends the product aesthetics literature and highlights how aesthetic cues can shape more sustainable consumption patterns. The findings also offer practical insights for luxury marketers seeking to leverage product design to promote more responsible luxury consumption.

Despite the growing popularity of firm-generated content (FGC), defined as product-oriented communication that an organization initiates on its official social media pages, there is persistent uncertainty about its effectiveness. Some posts elicit positive responses while others do not, which raises questions about what firms can do to improve social media user responses to FGC and achieve their business goals. This research demonstrates that the number of arguments (i.e., the product attributes listed in the promotional message) included in FGC tends to benefit utilitarian products more than hedonic ones, which has systematic effects on users' perceptions of and responses to the FGC. In the contexts of FGC, argument numerosity can be effective in mitigating the tension and uncertainty related to online shopping (due to psychological risk), but we argue this is only the case for utilitarian products and not for hedonic ones. To test our predictions, we present five studies that represent a mix of controlled experiments with fictitious Instagram posts and an automated text analysis, on Twitter, of thousands of real branded tweets. As predicted, the results demonstrate that argument numerosity reduces the perceived psychological risk (manifested in the uncertainty and tension associated with typical social commerce behaviors), which in turn enhances users' engagement with FGC and purchase intention-but only for utilitarian products. These findings have important implications for firms and managers looking for actionable insights on how to improve the effectiveness of their FGC.

Scholars and practitioners are increasingly interested in the organizational costs and benefits of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into hiring practices. Job seekers, meanwhile, have shown ambivalence toward companies' use of this new technology, but is this true for all types of organizations? Drawing on the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) framework and cognitive dissonance theory, we investigate how an organization's technological orientation shapes job seekers' perceptions of, and intentions toward, the use of AI in hiring. Across four controlled experiments, we find that job seekers are less willing to apply to low-tech (vs. high-tech) organizations that use AI-based (vs. human-based) selection processes (Study 1). This effect arises from job seekers' lower perceived fluency between the organization's technological orientation and the selection process (Study 2), which in turn induces cognitive dissonance and decreases their willingness to apply (Study 3a). Finally, the results indicate that these effects generalize across different organizational contexts (Study 3b). Our research contributes to the literature on AI acceptance in recruitment by integrating organizational-level and psychological explanations of job seekers' responses to AI, offering practical insights for human resources (HR) professionals seeking to effectively implement AI in hiring.

The efficiency of asynchronous video interviews (AVIs) - on-demand, fully digital job interviews - makes them increasingly appealing to hiring managers. However, little is known about the psychological drivers shaping important hiring outcomes, such as applicants' intentions to accept job offers and self-disclose with AVIs. Across one field study and three controlled experiments, this research demonstrates that job applicants report lower job acceptance intentions following asynchronous video interviews (AVIs) compared to face-to-face interviews. Moreover, job applicants exhibit a lower psychological comfort with AVIs, which, in turn, reduces their job acceptance intentions and willingness to self-disclose (Study 2a) even when controlling for perceived behavioural control, privacy concerns, and affective commitment (Study 2b). Finally, Study 3 demonstrates that these effects were stronger for job applicants with higher scores on interpersonal trust propensity (Study 3). Together, these results reveal the psychological mechanisms through which AVIs affect job acceptance intentions and self-disclosure, deepen our understanding of the individual differences moderating applicants' experience of AVIs, and provide actionable insights for integrating AVIs into hiring practices.

This study compares consumer reactions to product recommendations provided by AI versus expert human agents for search and experience products. Across three experimental studies, we propose that the effect of recommendation source and product type on intention to follow the recommendation is explained by recommendation source’s perceived transparency and credibility. We demonstrate that AI is perceived as more transparent and credible than a human expert when recommending search products, leading to a higher intention to follow the recommendation, while no difference emerges for experience products. However, when the human recommender is described as a Super Expert – highly experienced, reputable, and qualified – consumers show a preference for the human (vs. AI) source in the case of experience products, while the difference between the two recommendation sources became nonsignificant for search products. Furthermore, when recommendations come from a hybrid source combining a Super Expert and AI, this combination is evaluated less favorably than either source alone for search products, with no significant difference found for experience products. These results offer valuable insights for marketers on how to select, design and deploy effective touchpoints that enhance the willingness to follow recommendations, depending on the product type.

On many online platforms, professional human recommenders have largely been replaced by recommendation agents (RAs): algorithms that can-at lower cost and higher speed-incorporate users' explicit and tacit preferences into customized search results that help with the purchase decision process. RAs are often built around understanding users' past preferences to make accurate recommendations that generally reinforce said preferences. This approach offers several advantages but also limits consumers' ability to consider options outside of their past interests-the so-called specialization issue. The present research hypothesizes that a specialized RA (vs. a generalized preference-weighted RA) reduces users' willingness to accept the recommendation. This effect is sequentially mediated by users' perceived breadth of knowledge, perceived control over the choice process, and perceived reciprocity with the RA. To test these hypotheses, the authors programmed a functioning RA and implemented it in three experimental studies involving 705 online participants. Results confirm the hypotheses suggesting that users do sometimes want RAs to help them expand on, rather than merely reaffirm, their existing preferences, particularly when their product expertise is relatively low. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as avenues for future research are discussed.

Despite the growing application of artificial intelligence in hiring practices, job applicants still express general reservations about the use of this technology. What factors help to explain this low acceptance rate and are all job applicants equally affected? Across three controlled experiments, we demonstrate that job applicants perceive an AI evaluation agent (vs. a human) as less trustworthy, which reduced their job acceptance intentions (Study 1). This effect was stronger for job applicants who scored low on avoidant attachment style (Study 2). Using a serial mediation model, Study 3 tested one explanatory mechanism for how avoidant attachment style shapes trust, finding that perceptions of the AI agent’s ability to parse unique skills are an antecedent of job applicants' low trust toward the AI. These findings deepen our understanding of the factors that shape applicants’ job acceptance intentions regarding AI and provide actionable insights for integrating AI into hiring practices.

Influencer marketing is a popular strategy to connect with consumers. However, influencers’ use of overly high-arousal language in promoting products (e.g., “it's totally AMAZING!”) has raised questions about their true motivations. This article investigates how high-arousal language in micro- versus macro-influencers’ sponsored posts might shape engagement. A multimethod approach, combining automated text, image, video, and audio analyses of thousands of Instagram and TikTok posts with controlled experiments, demonstrates that high-arousal language increases engagement with micro-influencers, but it decreases engagement with macro-influencers, seemingly because it makes micro- (macro-) influencers appear more (less) trustworthy. Yet the negative effect of arousal for macro-influencers can be mitigated if their posts provide counterbalanced valence (both positive and negative assessments) or if they indicate an informative, rather than commercial, goal. These findings deepen understanding of how language arousal shapes consumer responses, reveal a psychological mechanism through which language arousal affects perceptions, and provide actionable insights for crafting more effective social media content.

In recent years, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for brands to create connections with their target audiences. Naturally, many companies have leaned on human influencers, but the increasing popularity of pet influencers (e.g., dogs and cats) represents a new avenue for brand promotion. This research asks the question: Why and when are pet influencers preferrable to their human counterparts in terms of boosting engagement and purchase intention? Across six experimental studies (N = 1166), we demonstrate that pet influencers lead to higher engagement with the promoted content and willingness to buy the advertised product (Study 1) because they are seen as more credible than human influencers (Study 2). Pet influencers are perceived as cuter, which in turn positively affects their credibility (Study 3). Specifically, whimsicality is the cuteness dimension that explains their greater credibility (Study 4). These effects are stronger when the promoted product is pet-related (Study 5) and apply regardless of whether people own a pet (Studies 3-5). Finally, a clear cuteness manipulation supports the causal relationship between cuteness and credibility (Study 6). These findings affirm that pet influencers shape individuals' responses to promotional social media posts, enhance the field's understanding of the mechanisms that underlie influencer marketing effectiveness, and clarify how to implement more influential social media campaigns.