As digital commerce evolves beyond basic functionality into immersive and emotionally engaging experiences, gestural interaction technologies offer promising avenues for transforming online customer journeys. Yet, their concrete impact on customer experience remains underexplored, particularly in ecologically valid commercial environments. This study examines how a gesture-controlled digital catalog, closely replicating a real e-commerce interface, influences cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses compared to a traditional mouse-based interface.Using a within-subject experimental design, we combine self-reported questionnaires with electroencephalographic (EEG) data and machine learning analysis to capture both subjective impressions and objective neural responses. Our results show that gestural interaction significantly enhances playfulness, immersion, and emotional arousal, while also increasing cognitive load and memorization effort. However, it reduces perceived control, particularly among older users, highlighting the need for adaptive onboarding strategies. By demonstrating the experiential benefits of gesture-controlled interfaces, this study contributes to the ongoing digital transformation of e-commerce, where intuitive and embodied interactions redefine the customer journey. Our findings contribute to the e-commerce literature by demonstrating how next-generation interaction technologies can reshape the customer experience. We also illustrate the added value of AI-driven neuroanalytics for uncovering hidden patterns in customer experience data. For practitioners, we provide actionable insights for designing intuitive, inclusive, and emotionally engaging customer journeys using next-generation interaction technologies.

Crowdsourcing has become an increasingly popular way for marketers to conceive of and design new products. Promoting these with "designed by consumers" claims has proven highly effective in boosting innovation appeal and market success. However, beyond the appeal of the perceived similarity between co-contributors and customers (Dahl et al., 2015), little is known about the effectiveness of different communication strategies for crowdsourced products. Central to the current investigation is the crucial creative strategy decision about whether to show the co-contributor in the advertisements and the persuasive role of the co-contributor's level of physical attractiveness. The use of attractive sources is highly prevalent in standard advertisements and is known to have reliable positive effects in persuading consumers (Mello et al., 2020). In contrast, our research suggests that showing attractive co-contributors in advertisements for crowdsourced products undermines their unique appeal and can even backfire. Through a series of qualitative and experimental studies, we found that this effect results from two mechanisms: (1) negative persuasion knowledge, where consumers question whether the attractive source is the genuine co-contributor, and (2) disruption of the similarity appeal that typically makes crowdsourced products well-received. These findings not only advance our understanding of the effectiveness of "designed by consumers" claims but also contribute significantly to the broader communication and persuasion literature. Importantly, our findings provide managers with actionable strategies for maximizing the commercial success of crowdsourced products.

Recent breakthroughs in affective computing have enabled the shift from mechanical to empathic chatbots, now capable of detecting, decoding, and mimicking customers’ thoughts and feelings to respond appropriately. While artificial empathy is believed to potentially bridge the human-artificial intelligence gap in customer experience, recent studies offer mixed support for its effectiveness in improving customer outcomes, leaving managers perplexed about the added value of empathic chatbots. Building on social presence theory, this paper investigates whether, how, and when empathic chatbot-led services enhance customer experience. Results from three experiments show that empathic chatbots trigger perceptions of social presence and information quality, which positively influence customer satisfaction. The findings further reveal that empathic chatbots can harm customer experience under certain conditions, particularly when customers feel time pressure. This paper provides insights into how and when to implement empathy in chatbots to enhance customer experience and boost customer satisfaction.

Although many methods currently exist to evaluate a user interface, they have been mainly developed and applied for graphical and vocal user interfaces, leaving aside other modalities such as gesture interaction. As a consequence, the evaluation of the global quality of a gesture user interface most often resorts to these methods, which take little or no explicit and specific account of the gesture modality or which adapt existing methods in a way that jeopardizes their validity. To remedy this situation, this paper introduces, defines, and justifies a method for evaluating explicitly and specifically a gesture user interface based on a conceptual model that consists of: (1) six quantitative measures covering user and system aspects, such as gesture thinking time and recognition rate; (2) three new qualitative scales, i.e., discoverability, learnability, and social acceptability, combined with seven scales in a gesture evaluation scheme, which is formally based on four measures, i.e., subscale score, subscale importance, scale mean score and scale mean importance; (3) a debriefing interview to cross-analyze the results of the quantitative measures and qualitative scales. This method also includes the use of multiple sessions to take into account short and long-term memory, as well as discoverability, and integrates tests specific to each gesture, as well as concrete use cases. For validation and illustration purposes, this method is applied to a gesture user interface serving as a case study. The results are then analyzed, starting with classic methods and gradually adding the particularities of our method to highlight its added value. Based on this experiment, we suggest some implications for evaluating gesture interfaces and for incorporating these scales into UEQ+, a modular user interface evaluation method.

Purpose This research paper aims to investigate the effects of internal audit’s (IA) use of data analytics and the performance of consulting activities on perceived IA quality. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment among upper and middle managers where the use of data analytics and the performance of consulting activities by internal auditors are manipulated. Findings Results highlight the importance of internal auditor use of data analytics and performance of consulting activities to improve perceived IA quality. First, managers perceive internal auditors as more competent when the auditors use data analytics. Second, managers perceive internal auditors’ recommendations as more relevant when the auditors perform consulting activities. Finally, managers perceive an improvement in the quality of relationships with internal auditors when auditors perform consulting activities, which is strengthened when internal auditors combine the use of data analytics and the performance of consulting activities. Research limitations/implications From a theoretical perspective, this research builds on the IA quality framework by considering digitalization as a contextual factor. This research focused on the perceptions of one major stakeholder of the IA function: senior management. Future research should investigate the perceptions of other stakeholders and other contextual factors. Practical implications This research suggests that internal auditors should prioritize the development of the consulting role in their function and develop their digital expertise, especially expertise in data analytics, to improve perceived IA quality. Originality/value This research tests the impacts of the use of data analytics and the performance of consulting activities on perceived IA quality holistically, by testing Trotman and Duncan’s (2018) framework using an experiment.

Though digital platforms (e.g., social media) are often used to promote unhealthy, calorie-dense foods, the dynamics characterizing consumers' engagement with healthy nutrition-based content (e.g., as stimulated trough gamification) on these platforms remains tenuous, warranting further exploration. Addressing this gap, we deploy a qualitative field study and two experiments to show that challenge, a gamification mechanic that relies on rewarding incremental behavioral (e.g., food choice) improvements, shapes consumers' enjoyment of, and engagement with, digital healthy food-based content. Study 1 (n = 95) shows that challenge induces consumer enjoyment, boosting their engagement with healthy food-related digital content. Study 2 (n = 94) corroborates these findings by revealing a serial mediation effect of gamification-based challenge on consumers' enjoyment of, and engagement with, healthy food-based content. Extending Study 1, we also identify engagement's positive effect on consumers' app reuse intent. Moreover, we identify a moderating role of consumers' stage of change-based action (i.e., readiness to act on their health), which strengthens the association of gamification-based challenge/enjoyment. Overall, the findings substantiate gamification's role in boosting consumers' engagement with digital healthy food-based content. We conclude by deriving pertinent implications from our analyses.

Nowadays, creating a positive experience is a key source of competitive advantage (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). A good experience makes a person five times more likely to recommend a company and more likely to purchase in the future (Yohn, 2019). Besides, gesture interaction technology appears as a promising way to provide individuals a global richer experience than with classical user interfaces (Daugherty et al., 2015). However, we currently ignore the concrete impact of this type of interaction on the consumer experience, whereas it is necessary for an efficient adoption of such interfaces. In this work, we try to get a better understanding of the role of the gestural interaction on the consumer experience, through qualitative and quantitative approaches. In-depth interviews were conducted with consumers to collect data in natural settings (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In order to triangulate the methods, we combined these interviews with two observation phases. The first took place with the same interview participants once the interview was over. The second observation took place in another study carried out a posteriori with different participants. As part of the latter, we built an interface based on the IKEA website and functioning by interacting with mid-air hand gestures, via the LeapMotion controller. During this second session, the participants also answered a questionnaire, allowing us to carry out a first quantitative exploratory study. In terms of main results, we were first able to observe a link between immersion and impulse buying, for example via a participant declaring to regularly scroll for hours to buy things that she does not need. We have also seen a connection between these purchases and the intuitive and natural aspect of gesture interaction. The latter can be explained through the presence (Ning et al., 2012; Vonkeman et al., 2017) which would be increased within the framework of this gestural interaction, but also via the perceived ownership, which increases the perceived valuation of an object by touching it virtually (Peck & Shu, 2009; Peck et al., 2013; Brasel & Gips, 2014). From a theoretical point of view, this work highlights the importance of affective consumer responses in the understanding of the gestural interaction experience. We also shed light to specific dimensions such as the intuitiveness, perceived control and immersion, and we propose a model explaining their influences. From a practical point of view, we show the crucial role of gestural interaction experience in particular touchpoints of the customer journey and consequently on the consumer experience.

On crowdfunding platforms, the success of campaigns relies on the ability of projects to attract backers. While backers’ motivations have been examined, the dynamics existing among the distinct profiles of backers remain underexplored. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this research offers a typology of backers’ profiles and shows how these profiles contribute to the success of a crowdfunding campaign. Informed by the sociological theory of cooperation, these results explain how backers with different profiles influence each other’s decisions to support crowdfunding campaigns. We provide guidelines to project leaders and platforms to attract backers with the best profiles at the best moment to optimise the campaign’s success strategy. We also help crowdfunding platform managers build their crowd of backers and optimise their number of funded projects.

Personalisation enables companies to learn from their customers' online data and to adapt their content accordingly. However, although customers may value personalisation, they may also have negative perceptions of it. The literature identifies these contradictory but interrelated perceptions as a paradox. This qualitative research investigates the process underlying the triggering and management of the paradoxical tensions of personalisation. In light of paradox theory, our contributions are threefold. First, we identify the different paradoxes that personalisation triggers and their triggering mechanism. Second, we emphasise how customers manage these tensions by adopting resolution and acceptance strategies. Third, we identify the levers that companies can use to mitigate these paradoxical tensions.

Companies increasingly personalize their website content to offer an optimal online experience to their customers. Personalization enables them to automatically adapt their content based on customers' data. Although customers may value personalization, they may also have negative responses to it, such as privacy concerns. In this context, companies expect that information transparency about data collection and use will help mitigate negative responses to personalization (Kim et al. 2018). Prior studies investigating the role of information transparency in the personalization process were mainly conducted in the advertising context. While some prior research found that information transparency may improve click-through rates of personalized ads (Aguirre et al. 2015) a recent research found that it may also decrease behavioral intentions depending on the type of data being collected to personalize content (Kim et al. 2018). We still have limited knowledge about how information transparency influences the effect of personalization on online customer experience. In addition, we still have limited knowledge about the influence of customer characteristics in the processing of transparency message. This research aims at investigating the backfire effects of personalization on online customer experience. It also aims at examining the role of information transparency and need for cognition in this process. Need for cognition has been identified as an important personality trait in the processing of messages (Cacioppo and Petty 1982; Sicilia and Ruiz 2010). The results of two experiments show that perceived control is lower on personalized websites and that this perceived loss of control triggers privacy concerns. However, the presence of information transparency can reduce these backfire effects depending on customer need for cognition. This research contributes to prior research on personalization and customer experience by further investigating the backfire effects of personalization and by providing a better understanding of the role of information and need for cognition in this process.

Since the seminal work of Holbrook and Hirschman (1982), building experience has been a major issue in marketing. Everything that surrounds us is accompanied by an experience and is therefore part of what makes us human (Gustafsson and Kristensson, 2020). The literature has demonstrated the numerous positive impacts of a successful experience on key efficiency variables such as satisfaction, loyalty or, more recently, consumer engagement. Identified as an important research topic since Fisk et al. (1993), it is still remarkable that the study of experiences continues to generate so much interest almost 30 years later and is even reinvigorated by recent crises and ever-increasing technological developments. To examine customer experience, several streams of research coexist today in the literature and this pool of knowledge continues to grow. In 2013, RAM devoted a special issue to the shopping experience (Antéblian et al., 2013; Badot and Lemoine, 2013). However, almost 10 years later, despite a growing number of studies, scientific research remains fragmented and contradictory. The proliferation of articles addressing customer experience, in different research fields, has lead to theoretical fragmentation and confusion (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). These ambiguities and the lack of a unified vision have reduced the effectiveness of research and management of the literature on experience (Law and Van Schaik, 2010), making it particularly complex to connect different literatures and perspectives. In addition, the collaboration and communication of marketing research with other research fields that address experience is now even more crucial to the scholarly community and practitioners (De Keyser et al., 2020). Several seminal articles (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; De Keyser et al., 2020; Lemon and Verhoef, Advocacy for expanding research on technologies, experiences, services, and beyond!

Companies increasingly use personalization to offer a better experience to their customers. Online personalization enables them to learn from customers’ data and adapt their website content accordingly. Although customers may value personalization, it may also trigger privacy concerns. In this context, both regulators and firms need a better understanding of the process underlying the effect of personalization on privacy concerns, as well as the role of information transparency in this process. Drawing on signaling theory, the authors propose how perceived control may mediate the negative impact of personalization on privacy concerns and hypothesize that the interaction effect of personalization and information transparency depends on customer need for cognition. Findings from two experimental studies show that perceived control is lower on personalized websites than on nonpersonalized websites, which leads to privacy concerns. However, the presence of a transparency message can mitigate the negative effect of website personalization for customers who are in low need for cognition.

Retailers develop personalized websites with the aim of improving customer experience. However, we still have limited knowledge about the effect of personalization on customer experience and the underlying processes. With a lab experiment, this research specifically examines the effect of actual personalization and perceived personalization on playful customer experience using both subjective and objective measures, with the support of eye-tracking techniques. We show that personalization, regardless of whether it is perceived or not, enhance the playful customer experience of a retailing website. In addition, we highlight the presence of two concomitant processes. Content needs to be perceived as personalized to influence the subjective playful customer experience, but actual personalization does influence objective playful customer experience. Although customers spend the same time on the website, they focus more of their attention on their favorite products when content is personalized. Such focused attention leads them to select their favorite products for purchase.

pour développer la recherche sur les technologies, les expériences et les services Pr.Ingrid

Rethinking the workplace experience as a means for enhancing the well-being of frontline employees (FLEs) represents a key priority for services. The well-being of frontline employees leads to improved performance and better customer service, such that it enhances the firm’s overall competitive advantage and revenue. Therefore, engagement-facilitating technologies that can increase FLEs’ well-being, such as gamified work, hold promise in terms of their effects on job satisfaction and engagement. Using a mixed-method design, including in-depth interviews with FLEs and their managers, and two large field experiments, this research considers two key sectors in which FLEs are critical: retailing and telemarketing. The results highlight the negative impacts of gamified work on employee engagement and well-being, although the willingness of employees to participate in such gamified work moderates these negative impacts. By revealing how gamification affects FLEs’ well-being, job engagement, and job satisfaction, this research provides actionable insights for managers.

Purpose Digital service innovations have enabled service market access, transforming Africa. This paper aims to investigate individual and contextual drivers of experience value of mobile money transfer (MMT) service during post-adoption given impacts of individual/cultural characteristics in Senegal. Design/methodology/approach Mixed methods. Study 1 qualitatively investigates the effects of individual-contextual drivers on the experience value of MMT and behavioral intentions. Study 2 quantitatively tests the main causal effects between drivers and MMT. Findings Conceptual models of experience value including ethical and social dimensions proposed in MMT are positively related to behavioral intentions. Need for social interaction (NSI), self-efficacy (SEFF) and social pressure (SP) – sources of experience value creation/destruction – must be integrated into business practices. Results show the indirect positive influence of NSI on behavioral intentions through MMTs experience value. Moreover, traditional cultural orientation (TCO) is a source of value creation/destruction. Managers should build ethical relations with users, integrate social functions in MMT and understand users’ cultural and individual characteristics for better customer relationship management policy. Originality/value Few studies examine how MMT experience creates/destroys value in a Sub-Saharan African context, specifically in Senegal. The authors show that SP might destroy value and reveal how individual variables such as SEFF, NSI and TCO affect experience value creation/destruction. Surprisingly, NSI creates value, revealing MMT as hybrid self-service technology.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how the internal audit function (IAF) modifies its activities and practices in relation to the digitalisation the organisation. This paper specifically examines the use of data analytics and the performance of consulting activities by internal auditors. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a survey conducted with 82 chief audit executives based in the USA and members of the institute of internal auditors. Findings Results indicate a positive relation between the organisation’s level of digitalisation and the use of data analytics by internal auditors during their missions. Results also indicate that the organisation’s level of digitalisation has an indirect effect on the proportion of the internal audit planning dedicated to consulting activities. Specifically, the use of data analytics mediates the relationship between the organisation’s level of digitalisation and the proportion of the internal audit planning dedicated to consulting activities. Research limitations/implications This research was conducted amongst internal auditors based in the US Future research could investigate the insights of other internal audit stakeholders and investigate different legal contexts. Practical implications Results show that digitalisation increases the use of data analytics by internal auditors and the performance of consulting activities. The results, therefore, highlight the importance of these two aspects for the IAF to continue to bring value to organisations. Originality/value This research provides more insights on internal audit working practices. The digitalisation of the organisation leads the IAF to use more data analytics and perform more consulting activities.