In the increasingly saturated social media landscape of the food services sector, understanding what drives consumer engagement with food advertisements is critical for marketers. Despite the ubiquity of food promotional content on Facebook, academic research has paid limited attention to understanding how food cues interact with other persuasive cues in shaping consumer response. Focusing on promotional content published by quick-service restaurants and delivery services, two studies (N = 22,475) show how textual and visual elements shape content-sharing behaviour. Using text processing and automated image analysis, the studies explored how warmth and competence cues moderate the persuasiveness of food cues. Across all studies, results consistently revealed that competence cues strengthen the association between food cues and shares, whereas warmth cues either reduced or nullified it. These findings challenge the conventional assumptions in food marketing and offer a multimodal, data-driven perspective on the relative importance of competence cues in Facebook advertisements.

In asynchronous influencer marketing, discrete emotions have proven crucial. In synchronous channels, however, influencers dynamically alter their emotional valence in real time, which may produce divergent engagement and sales outcomes. Using a unique dataset comprising 80,600 minute-level observations and 12,949 product pitches across 1,308 livestreams, the current research demonstrates that frequent shifts in emotional valence exert nonlinear effects, such that viewer engagement increases initially but then declines, while unit sales persistently decrease. Directional analyses reveal that positive-to-negative and negative-to-positive emotional transitions exert the most pronounced negative sales impacts. Minute-level analyses indicate that the immediate adverse effects of valence transitions on unit sales peak within minutes, before dissipating. Audience discussion also moderates these relationships, such that product-centric comments can buffer the detrimental consequences of emotional transitions. To leverage such insights, the authors present an emotional feedback app (emotionlivestream.com) that influencers can use to monitor on-screen emotional dynamics and optimize commercial outcomes.

This research examines how the disclosure of production cues interacts with corporate social responsibility cues to influence social media engagement in luxury fashion. Two complementary field studies analyse marketer-generated Facebook posts from luxury fashion brands, providing large-scale empirical evidence of a real-world impact on consumer engagement. The results show that handmade language cues, positioned as signals of artisanal craftsmanship, and CSR information interact to shape engagement. Study 1 employs a natural experiment to examine how handmade language cues in marketer-generated content on Facebook shape social media engagement, specifically during periods of heightened reputational risk caused by corporate social irresponsibility events. It demonstrates the value of combining validated linguistic dictionaries, LIWC-based text analysis with Google Trends indicators. Study 2 extends the analysis across multiple luxury brands, testing the interaction between handmade language cues and employee-focused CSR messaging. The findings highlight the context-sensitive power of brand language in shaping consumer responses. While handmade language cues buffer the negative impact of CSR scandals on social media engagement, they strengthen social media shares when paired with positive employee-focused CSR messaging. This dual effect highlights how luxury brands can strategically use handmade language cues to sustain engagement during CSR scandals, and to further enhance engagement with positive employee-related CSR messaging.

Drawing on team learning theory, this paper examines whether and how a telepresence robot impacts group conditions and student engagement among graduate students collaborating within a hybrid classroom. Hybrid classrooms face challenges, such as an asymmetry of presence, compromising collaborative learning between remote and on-site students. A field experiment was conducted with 17 hybrid classrooms across two Master of Science courses. In the eight experimental groups, one remote student joined via a telepresence robot, while any additional remote students in the same group participated via the smart screen. In the nine control groups, all remote students participated solely via the smart screen. Analysis of short-term longitudinal survey data from 156 students indicated that students in experimental groups with a telepresence robot reported higher levels of social cohesion, psychological safety and group potency, especially in the early course stages. These group conditions positively influenced student engagement. Interviews with ten on-site students reveal that the telepresence robot enhanced remote students' presence through physical embodiment and fostered empowerment via autonomous mobility. This reduced presence asymmetry facilitated more natural interactions, reinforcing group conditions: social cohesion through interpersonal connections, psychological safety through reduced participation barriers, and group potency through increased knowledge sharing. The telepresence robot also fostered inclusive behavior among on-site students, driven by their reciprocation of remote students' engagement and recognition of them as valuable contributors to collaborative learning. These findings advance understanding of team learning and the role of telepresence robots in hybrid classroom settings, promoting more effective virtual inclusion for remote students.

This study examines how leveraging the strengths of young adults with psychosocial disabilities can enhance the resilience of a retail service ecosystem to vulnerability. Drawing from a strength-based perspective, the research highlights the importance of empowering these employees in organizational decision-making to address emotional, social, and process-related challenges. Using participatory design and social-emotional learning to develop and deliver strength-based transformative service initiatives, helps to illuminate three key adaptive capacities within the framing of self-determination theory that promote autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These capacities are pivotal in responding to vulnerability and fostering resilience within a retail service ecosystem and can be used as stabilizing and destabilizing tactics to enable organizations to prepare for, respond to, and adapt to present and future vulnerabilities for employees and customers. This study advances the transformative service research literature by reframing marginalized employees as key change agents.

PurposeExisting studies confirm that larger-sized (versus smaller-sized) female consumers prefer online fashion shopping, yet the impact of this preference on attitudes and behaviours once online remains unclear. This study aims to examine the relationship between consumer body size, product attributes (e.g. garment colour) and psychological states (e.g. perceived weight stigma), and how these factors influence consumer gratitude, which ultimately affects seller ratings and sales.Design/methodology/approachThis research comprised three Prolific-administered studies and one field data analysis. Study 1 (n = 313) examined the effects of body size and garment colour on gratitude, while Study 2 (n = 180) focused on the perceived weight stigma moderation. Study 3 (n = 393) tested the link between gratitude and seller ratings, along with the earlier relationships. Lastly, Wish.com data (6,509,133 transactions) confirmed the seller ratings-sales association.FindingsThe findings suggest a link between larger-sized female consumers who choose black garments and/or perceive greater weight stigma, and the gratitude expressed towards online fashion retailers. These factors likely trigger a sense of psychological safety, which aligns with the benefits of online shopping for larger-sized female consumers. Lastly, this study found support that gratitude is associated with the proposed positive downstream effects for retailers.Research limitations/implicationsAmid debates on inclusive sizing versus cost in fashion retail, this research demonstrates that targeting larger-sized female consumers offers significant downstream benefits for online retailers. From a positive psychology perspective, inclusive online experiences can enhance consumers' well-being by fostering gratitude.Practical implicationsIn practical terms, online fashion retailers can increase their ratings by including larger-sized female consumers in their segmentation strategies, implementing tactics to reduce body-image threat and activating feelings of gratitude.Originality/valueThis study contributes valuable insights to the limited body of research in the marketing literature that regards consumer body size as the variable of interest. This is particularly significant, given that body sizes among consumers are consistently increasing.

Consumer engagement with social media posts is extensively examined in the marketing literature, yet the motivations behind engagement with high-risk financial and digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies, remain unclear. This research explores what drives consumers to engage with social media posts about crypto assets like Bitcoin. Utilizing regulatory mode theory, we demonstrate across four studies that assessment language (motivating thought) versus locomotion (motivating action) increases social media engagement with crypto assets. In two field studies analyzing social media (N = 194,098 posts), we find that assessment results in more Facebook likes on posts about crypto assets. Additionally, two online experiments (N = 1661) establish a causal, positive relationship between assessment language and consumer liking intentions, mediated by perceived investment volatility, cognitive engagement, and positive affect. Managers should use assessment words like "think" and "compare" when communicating about crypto on social media and can leverage our dictionary to identify crypto terms in large text data sets.

Purpose Sequel advertisements, although used often in practice, are not well studied in literature. This study aims to define sequel advertisements, investigate their effectiveness on customer attitudes towards ads/brands and identify key elements leading to their effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach The authors first conduct a field study using Facebook data to show that sequels are more effective than non-sequels and repeat ads. Study 2 experimentally tests recall and brand attitudes of sequels over new advertisements, Study 3 tests the effectiveness of different character retention and plot extension variations in sequels and Study 4 experimentally establishes the cognitive path that leads to greater effectiveness of sequel advertisements. Findings Sequel advertisements are more effective on consumer recall and brand attitudes as compared to new or repeat advertisements, with message format of the first advertisement moderating the effectiveness of the sequel. Consumers’ recognition of the prior-sequel connection mediates the effectiveness of the sequel advertisement. Plot extension with character retention is the most effective sequel advertising strategy. Research limitations/implications This research opens opportunities for research on the effectiveness of sequels across different media formats/product categories and sequential ads. Practical implications The findings suggest that managers can profitably adopt a strategy of narrative ad followed by a sequel that extends the plot while retaining the characters. Originality/value The authors define sequel advertisements, describe the process mechanisms leading to greater effectiveness of sequels and identify superior sequel advertising strategies.

This research investigates the effect of language on the marketing of circular luxury products. Circular economy principles are becoming important for luxury brands as consumers demand more circular and sustainable alternatives to traditional products. However, luxury literature is divergent on whether communicating circular economy principles with luxury products leads to positive or negative consumer outcomes. This is due to the perceived incompatibility of sustainability and luxury. This research investigates the influence of language used with circular luxury products in sales descriptions of second-hand circular luxury products (Study 1) and language effects of sustainability communication on social media (Study 2) to establish impact on consumer engagement. Our analysis of combined N = 921,939 observations demonstrates that product descriptions and social media posts communicating circular principles lead to decreased consumer engagement. This is a major problem for the marketing of circular luxury products. However, this effect can be overcome by using predominant locomotion, progress-focused language that creates a regulatory fit with circular luxury products, increasing consumer engagement. Theoretically this study shows the importance of predominant locomotion language in the marketing of circular luxury products. Luxury marketers can utilise predominant locomotion language in their brand communication to increase consumer engagement with these products.

E-commerce firms such as Amazon, eBay and JD.com extend large assortments across diverse geographical areas, operating under the assumption that online shopping behavior is unaffected by physical location. However, this assumption is increasingly questioned by two contrasting perspectives. One suggests that consumers in densely populated areas benefit less from large assortments, while another argues that large assortments help consumers regain a sense of control in densely populated environments, which can lead to more positive product evaluations. Analyzing a large-scale e-commerce dataset and conducting two follow-up experiments with incentive-compatible measures, we find strong support for the latter perspective. Consumers in densely (vs. sparsely) populated areas evaluate products chosen from large assortments more positively. These findings suggest that managers can tailor assortments to align with population density or use advertisements featuring densely populated areas to improve the evaluation of products chosen from a large assortment.

Purpose This paper aims to introduce a typology of service advocates to address a gap in existing literature regarding how transformative service mediators (TSMs) manage both access to resources and empowerment for consumers experiencing vulnerability. The typology focuses on the role of advocates within service ecosystems and provides the illustrative case of young adults with psychosocial disabilities seeking employment to demonstrate the application of the typology. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the Dialogue, Access, Risk Assessment and Transparency model, the paper expands existing classifications of TSMs. The research also uses an illustrative case to show how four types of service advocates - policymakers, gatekeepers, supporters and champions – work together to ameliorate vulnerability within a government-funded employment project for young adults with psychosocial disabilities. Findings The paper conceptualizes how the interplay between the roles and responsibilities of different service advocates influences empowerment and access to resources within a service ecosystem. The discussion focuses on how service advocates at different levels (macro, meso and micro) within a service ecosystem must collaborate to reduce consumer vulnerability. An illustrative case is used to show how effective service ecosystems build on the capabilities of different advocates to support consumers experiencing vulnerability, and how this outcome is sometimes undermined by conflicts and tensions embedded in the institutional logics of different service advocates. Originality/value This paper fills a critical gap in transformative service research by offering a more nuanced understanding of how service advocates manage empowerment and access to resources. A research agenda is provided to guide future research exploring opportunities for how the different types of service advocates can overcome obstacles to prevail in the fight against vulnerability.

Purpose This study investigates how actual donations towards social causes within fashion supply chains can be increased in the face of negative country-of-origin effects. Design/methodology/approach Literature reports a lack of sustained consumer support for social causes within fashion supply chains. Driven by perceived psychological distance between the manufacturer and the fashion consumer, negative country-of-origin effects have an impact on donation behaviour. Using two online experiments, this study shows that including a garment worker’s image in swing tags mitigates negative country-of-origin effects on actual donations. Findings Fashion consumers’ actual donations towards worker rights increased with the presence of a garment worker’s image. In the higher psychological distance condition, exposure to the image reduced negative country-of-origin effects, increasing actual donations. This increase in actual donations is driven by pleasure-seeking, thus indicating that consumer support for social causes within fashion supply chains is underlined by hedonism. Originality/value This study focuses on a visual cue-based mechanism of promoting actual donations towards social causes and the role of pleasure-seeking in this process – two previously under-explored areas in the fashion marketing literature. The use of an incentive-compatible measure that required participants to donate real money allows the demonstration of actual donation behaviour, providing robust evidence of the impact of visual cues and their potential to be applied in the real-world.

In this research, we examine how assessment regulatory mode and mixed emotions interact to influence consumers' willingness to try clean meat. In Study 1, we find that consumers with a high assessment orientation, who are naturally inclined to think, plan, and strategize, are more willing to try clean meat when exposed to a mixed emotional appeal. This type of appeal presents both positive and negative information that evokes both positive and negative emotions in consumers, making it more effective than a solely positive emotional appeal. Study 2, shows that this effect occurs because assessment-oriented consumers gain self-confidence when engaging with a mixed emotional appeal, as it allows them to carefully weigh the pros and cons of the message. This increased self-confidence, in turn, boosts their willingness to try clean meat. From a practical perspective, our findings suggest that clean meat producers, retailers, and policy makers should use a a balanced marketing strategy that presents both positive and negative information in messages when promoting clean meat as a sustainable and innovative food option.

ABSTRACTAdvancing technologies have led to structural change in production methods, influencing not only business practices but also significantly reshaping consumer mindsets. Businesses increasingly utilise production cues, such as ‘handmade’, to differentiate their products and foster consumer engagement. While prior studies demonstrate that production cues can affect consumer responses, it remains unclear how the impact of these cues (e.g., handmade vs. machine‐made) differs between consumer segments. Marketers remain uncertain about how to strategically leverage these effects across consumer profiles and product portfolios. Addressing this gap, this research applies regulatory mode theory, providing a nuanced understanding of production cues' impact on consumer engagement, with a focus on locomotion regulatory mode. Study 1, an online survey experiment, presents a moderated mediation analysis: while the effect of production cues on willingness to pay is mediated through love, this impact significantly varies with consumers' locomotion regulatory mode (low vs. high). Study 2 extends these findings through an automated text analysis of social media data (n = 9380), validating the moderating role of locomotion in a real‐world context by analysing the marketer‐generated content of Facebook posts. The findings of both studies confirm our predictions that production cues elicit distinct engagement responses depending on consumer segments: high‐locomotion consumers, who value efficiency, show diminished engagement with production cues. This research advances the theory of production cue effects by offering novel insights and provides marketers with actionable implications for segmentation and targeted communication.

Marketers and consumers are adopting chatbots widely. However, the benefits of this technology remain unclear due to a lack of understanding about individual differences in consumers' purchase decisions when interacting with chatbots. This research investigates the influence of individual differences in promotion focus on purchase likelihood for the products recommended by chatbots. Two experiments demonstrated that consumers generally report a lower purchase likelihood for products recommended by chatbots (vs humans). However, compared to consumers with a low promotion focus, consumers with a high promotion focus report a higher purchase likelihood for the products. The findings also suggest that the relationship between consumer individual differences in promotion focus and purchase likelihood is mediated by engagement. By applying both regulatory focus and regulatory fit theories, the present study provides insights into how promotion focus influences purchase likelihood for products recommended by chatbots. Marketers can utilise both chronic and situational promotion focus to improve consumers' reactions to chatbots using segmentation and promotion-focus-related words, respectively.

Drawing upon regulatory fit theory, the current work investigates how the interaction between regulatory mode and positive emotion influences consumer social media engagement with meat alternative advertisements. Social media data (N = 966) are employed to explore the interaction between regulatory mode (from the text) and positive emotion (expressed via emoji) on sharing (Study 1). Three experimental studies (N = 1,359) were subsequently conducted in the context of Facebook advertising to provide causal evidence. Each study employed different emotion manipulations (emoji in Study 2, emotion recall in Study 3, and image in Study 4). Click-through rates (in Studies 2 and 4), together with intentions to click (in Study 3), were examined as dependent variables. The findings establish that the fit effect between (a) locomotion messages and love and (b) assessment messages and awe enhance social media engagement. The mechanism driving the effect is the experience of "feeling right" arising from the fit between regulatory mode and positive emotion. The findings from this research offer valuable insights to managers involved in crafting effective social media advertising strategies with the goal of promoting meat alternatives.

Brand managers have to allocate limited resources between developing new brand extensions and supporting parent brands. We contribute by demonstrating how social media engagement can be optimised by creating a fit between social media language and extensions versus parent brands. This is important given that literature suggests that (a) extensions and parent brands should use the same social media strategy and (b) establishing fit between extensions and parent brands should be the focus of brand managers. This study contributes by analysing over 40,000 tweets made by 26 Google-branded twitter accounts (i.e. @google, @gmail). Results show for brand extension (vs. parent brand) and use of locomotion (vs. assessment) language produce regulatory fit and increase engagement. A 10% increase in locomotive language increased favouriting by 19% and retweeting by 11%. Alternatively, for parent brands, a 10% increase in assessment language increased favouriting by 9% and retweeting by 4%.

Service robot research recognizes that dyadic customer -service provider interactions do not occur in isolation, yet it has not comprehensively detailed human -robot interaction (HRI) in collective service settings. The current article analyzes 1107 online hotel reviews referring to service robots, identifying how customers appraise and cope with HRI during collective service experiences. From this, the authors propose a conceptual model of the impact of HRI on post -purchase outcomes. Tests of the model with field data from 310 customers who interacted with a restaurant robot reveal that challenge appraisals of HRI drive problem -focused, emotion -focused, and support -seeking coping strategies. In contrast, threat appraisals lead only to emotion -focused coping. Such coping efforts during collective service experiences produce shared realities of the robot across customers, reducing their switching intention and enhancing relational service well-being. Service providers should actively mitigate threat appraisals, promote challenge appraisals and support customers in coping with frontline service robots.

Employers increasingly commit to embracing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in their workplaces. A key strategy for communicating this commitment is the use of DEI statements in recruitment materials, including job advertisements. However, this practice is ad hoc and is mostly viewed as a matter of compliance or impression management. This paper presents a systematic literature review of 39 studies published between 1994 and 2023 to understand the wider outcomes of using DEI statements as a recruitment marketing strategy. In doing so, it considers both employer and job applicant perspectives to outline goals communicated through DEI statements and environmental influences that drive the adoption of DEI communication. The paper also presents an agenda for future research highlighting critical observations and gaps that contribute to the progress of DEI discussions within recruitment marketing.