Research understanding how people decide to support animal species facing environmental threats has been lacking. This research investigated how perceived physical attractiveness of two common pollinators - Western honey bees and bald-faced hornets - along with fear, influenced participants' attitudes toward species protection. Two experiments involved showing photographs of both species to a representative sample from the U.S. The findings from the first study indicated that the honey bee, which was viewed as more physically attractive by humans, garnered greater support for protection compared to the less attractive bald-faced hornet. When considering fear, the honey bee evoked less fear than the bald-faced hornet in humans, which in turn positively impacted support for the species. The results of the second study suggested that physical attractiveness also influenced approach and avoidance behavior, further supporting the findings of the first study. These findings underscore a potential risk for species perceived as unattractive or fear-inducing (in humans), as their lack of support could lead to extinction, adversely affecting humans through consequences like rising costs of pollinator-dependent crops.

PURPOSE:Employing a hierarchical model of personality, prior research suggests that cardinal traits such as conscientiousness and agreeability predict central traits such as materialism and need for arousal that in turn impact surface traits such as onychophagia and compulsive buying. More research is needed to explore additional central traits and their effect on onychophagia and compulsive buying. Thus, the goal of the current research is to examine how another central trait-negative perfectionism-impacts onychophagia and compulsive buying.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH:A survey was administered both online and face-to-face resulting in a sample of 634 subjects of which 391 were individuals with onychophagia. Through a multi-group analysis, a causal model was tested to identify personality traits and their relationship with compulsive buying.RESULTS:Results showed that onychophagia was affected by other obsessive-compulsive disorders-particularly trichotillomania, and excoriation disorder, which significantly increased the likelihood that the participant was a compulsive buyer.

Companies may inform consumers about their pro-environmental actions by using either positively or negatively framed messages that, respectively, highlight the possible benefits deriving from such actions versus the drawbacks deriving from inaction. It is still unclear, however, how these two communication tactics influence consumers’ intentions and behaviors. Three studies demonstrate that negatively framed messages have a positive effect on company trustworthiness, which, in turn, exerts a favorable influence on message receivers’ intentions and behaviors. Such an effect holds only when receivers are concerned about environmental problems and perceive the company as potentially harmful to the environment. The results highlight the importance of using an appropriate framing to foster trust in environmentally responsible companies.

The circular format is a cluster of heterogeneous stores under the same brand within the city center through the store-outside-a-store strategy. The purpose is to demonstrate that the circular format has a positive impact on store image, self-congruity, retail brand experience, and store patronage. Shopping values were also considered as moderators. Three studies conducted in Italy reveal that: a. the consumers of the circular format have higher store patronage than those of the traditional format; b. such patronage is moderated by hedonic shopping value; and c. the relationship between the circular format and store patronage is mediated by self-congruity and retail brand experience through store image.

Attracting and retaining high-quality employees is becoming an unrelenting challenge for many employers. Therefore, employer branding is a key developmental area for companies, as it aims to attract potential employees and to engage the current staff. This paper investigates how current employees in tourism and hospitality perceive their employers regarding the level of creativity and innovation in the workplace. The study adopts the Employer Attractiveness scale, with a specific focus on the component capturing aspects of creativity and innovation. An online survey and in-depth interviews were conducted with employees working in different areas of the tourism and hospitality sector in Sweden. The results suggest that many employees perceive their jobs as creative, and further indicate that the possibility of being creative and innovative at work is an important driver for employees to stay with their current employer. This factor also influences their intention to recommend employment at the company to others. Moreover, the results of this study suggest that the economic value in terms of total compensation is important for employees in the tourism and hospitality sector, as it affects intention to stay as well as likelihood to recommend.

Companies may inform consumers about their pro-environmental actions by using either positively or negatively framed messages that, respectively, highlight the possible benefits deriving from such actions versus the drawbacks deriving from inaction. It is still unclear, however, how these two communication tactics influence consumers' intentions and behaviors. Three studies demonstrate that negatively framed messages have a positive effect on company trustworthiness, which, in turn, exerts a favorable influence on message receivers' intentions and behaviors. Such an effect holds only when receivers are concerned about environmental problems and perceive the company as potentially harmful to the environment. The results highlight the importance of using an appropriate framing to foster trust in environmentally responsible companies.

This study adopts a social comparison theory perspective to examine the drivers of social comparison frequency (SCF) on Facebook among international travel bloggers who utilize Facebook for their travel blogging activities. An online survey led to 99 usable responses covering travel bloggers from 33 countries. Results suggest that there is a strongly positive and significant relationship between SCF on Facebook and the Ability dimension of social comparison orientation (SCO), as well as between SCF and opinion leadership. While professional travel bloggers are more likely to be opinion leaders, non-professional travel bloggers tend to compare themselves with others on Facebook considerably more often. Overall, it seems that Facebook is deployed in a rather strategic way by travel bloggers who try to enhance the visibility of themselves and their blogs vis-`a-vis international competitors. Research contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

This research examines how touching (versus not touching) tactile-functional products—namely those that provide a tactile feedback related to their utilitarian characteristics—affects these products’ expected ease of use, as well as consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward them. Three experimental studies investigated these effects by focusing on consumer electronics. Study 1 shows that product touch positively affects consumer attitude toward tactile-functional products via an increase of said products’ expected ease of use. Study 2 reveals that such an effect is moderated by consumers’ instrumental need for touch, that is, their propensity to touch products for diagnostic reasons. Study 3 demonstrates that even the mere imagination of product touch (vicarious touch) can boost the expected ease of using tactile-functional products and consumers’ intentions toward them. Thus, traditional and online retailers should be aware of the importance of actual and imagined product touch when striving to effectively market such products.

The current research examined whether perceived physical attractiveness of a species impacted participants' attitudes toward supporting and protecting the species. A sample of undergraduate students attending a public university located in the northeast United States were surveyed. Results indicated that across and within species the physically attractive animal received more support for protection than did the physically unattractive animal. Results are discussed in terms of perceptual and cognitive fluency.

Given that innovation can be critical to the survival of international technology ventures (ITVs), this study investigates the relationships among organizational learning, international marketing dynamism (IMD), and innovation performance in ITVs based in Dubai (UAE). Based on a review of extant literature, a questionnaire was developed and administered among these ITVs. The resulting data were analyzed using SmartPLS version 3. Of the nine hypothesized direct and indirect relationships, seven receive support. The results indicate that three of four hypothesized relationships between organizational learning dimensions and IMD were supported. The relationship between IMD and new product performance (innovation performance) was supported. Moreover, IMD mediates the relationship between three of four organizational learning dimensions and innovation performance. The findings and implications of this research are discussed, and conclusions are stated.

The current research examined whether perceived physical attractiveness of a species impacted participants' attitudes toward supporting and protecting the species. A sample of undergraduate students attending a public university located in the northeast United States were surveyed. Results indicated that across and within species the physically attractive animal received more support for protection than did the physically unattractive animal. Results are discussed in terms of perceptual and cognitive fluency.

The authors explore the possibility of cognitive age coming into play in an activity falling at the intersection of age and leisure.Specifically, they study coffee shop customers in Kuwait to determine if people act based on their chronological age or their cognitive age.The authors analyze respondents in matched-groups, where groups with the same cognitive and chronological age are compared to groups where cognitive age differed from chronological age.Findings show that chronological age and cognitive age are highly correlated, but slightly different.Correlations reveal that one or both age indicators are related to most of the coffee variables in the study.However, only three out of fifty-one tests of differences revealed a significant test statistic necessary to support cognitive age.In other words, a vast majority of the tests support chronological age as more relevant than cognitive age, at least in the context of coffee shop customers in Kuwait.

This research investigated how the use of a prominent versus subtle branding strategy and status consumption affect consumers' intention to buy luxury products across emerging and mature markets. To this end, an experimental study with consumers in India (emerging market) and the United States (mature market) was conducted. The results suggest that Indian (but not U.S.) consumers with a higher status consumption tendency are more willing to purchase prominently branded luxury products than subtly branded ones. On the other hand, U.S. (but not Indian) consumers with a lower status consumption tendency are more willing to purchase subtly branded luxury products than prominently branded ones. The paper discusses these findings, highlights their contribution to luxury research, and illustrates their practical value for luxury companies interested in targeting mature and emerging markets.

Despite the fact that personality is thought to be one of the main factors that may explain unhappy consumers' behavior, very little is known about how it affects their attitudes and complaining strategies. This is particularly true in the case of Japanese consumers where scant research has been conducted on their complaining behaviors. Hence, the main objective of this study is to investigate the roles of three personality traits (i.e., self-confidence, aggressiveness, and altruism) of Japanese consumers in explaining their attitudes toward complaining, perceived likelihood of successful complaints (PLSCs), and complaining behaviors. On a sample of 263 respondents, a univariate general linear model (GLM) analysis is performed to assess the moderating roles of personality traits on complaint-related variables. The results show that, on the one hand, in contrast to self-confidence, the levels (i.e., high vs. low) of aggressiveness and altruism have significant impacts on attitudes toward complaining and PLSCs. However, the level of self-confidence appears to have the most significant impacts on public complaining behaviors. On the other hand, altruism is found to be the only personality trait that may explain consumers' private complaining behaviors. Additional analyses reveal interactive effects of the personality traits on complaining attitude and behaviors.

This research investigates whether print advertisements featuring faces (i.e., face advertisements) or facelike images (i.e., pareidolian advertisements) better capture consumer attention than advertisements that do not include such elements. In two studies, the researchers examined the effects of exposing consumers to print advertisements containing faces or pareidolian images for short time lapses-one-half, one, and three seconds. The results show that both advertisement types captured viewers' attention and more frequently were recognized than advertisements that did not feature faces or facelike objects. Both face advertisements and pareidolian advertisements increased brand recognition and advertisement preference. Theoretical and operational implications are discussed.

Service providers build relationship with their customers for mutual satisfaction and benefits. However, little is known about the relational antecedents and outcomes of relationship satisfaction among young adult consumers. The goals of this study are to evaluate the incremental effect of trust and commitment in determining relationship satisfaction, and the mediating effect of relationship satisfaction in the association of relationship trust and commitment with relationship outcomes (such as attitudinal loyalty, behavioral loyalty, and switching restraint). The model was tested and compared between samples of Malaysian and Australian young adult consumers of healthcare services. The findings reveal that relationship trust and relationship commitment have unequal and equal incremental effect in determining relationship satisfaction in Australia and Malaysia, respectively. Moreover, the mediating role of satisfaction in the association of relationship trust and commitment with attitudinal loyalty, behavioral loyalty, and switching restraint differ between Malaysia and Australia samples. Theoretical, contextual, and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

The goal of this research was to examine how money attitudes and global life satisfaction relate to and predict compulsive buying among young adults. Using a Prolific Academic sample, 265 adults between the ages 18 and 25 completed the Money Attitudes Scale, Money Ethics Scale, Spendthrift-Tightwad Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Richmond Compulsive-Buying Scale. As expected, motives toward saving and spending money as assessed by the Money Attitude Scale and pain of paying as assessed by the Spendthrift-Tightwad Scale were correlated and predicted compulsive buying. However, these findings are qualified by an interaction effect such that those who held negative attitudes toward saving money and experienced little pain of paying were compulsive buyers. Theoretical and practical implications for maladaptive purchasing behavior among young adults are discussed.

Customer satisfaction is a key concept in modern marketing thought and practice, which emphasizes delivering satisfaction to customers and obtaining profits in return. Given the rapid growth of the markets in Asia, it is increasingly important to examine the applicability of customer satisfaction models and theories in Asian countries that have different economic and cultural characteristics compared to Western countries. This special issue thus brings together researchers from various disciplines interested in advancing customer satisfaction research in Asia. Brief descriptions of each of the seven articles featured in this issue are furnished. Collectively, these articles provide useful insights for those who wish to understand key factors for successful customer satisfaction management in Asia.

Firms and their customers enter into a relationship for mutual satisfaction. However, there is much more to learn about long-term oriented marketing relationship dynamics in Asia that lead to customer satisfaction. The goal of this study is to examine the direct and indirect effects of relational dynamics on customer satisfaction in the Asian context. Specifically, the study proposes that long-term oriented relationship variables such as fairness, empathy, and trust have significant direct impact on customer satisfaction, and indirectly through overall relationship quality. Three studies were conducted in three service sectors viz. banking, healthcare, and hospitality with data collected from two regions of Malaysia, the Peninsular region and the Borneo region. A total of 1945 usable responses were received across the three sectors and analyzed: banking (653), healthcare (666), and hospitality (626). The model was compared among the three sectors. The results show that long-term oriented marketing relationship variables predict a significant amount of variance in customer satisfaction across the three service sectors. However, the predictive powers differ from industry to industry, wherein 72% unique variance was predicted in the banking sector, 66% in healthcare, and 68% in hospitality. Relationship quality fully mediates some of the relationships in some sectors and partially mediates in others. Since Malaysia is dubbed a potpourri of Asian cultures, there is a potential for generalizability of the research findings across other Asian contexts. Theoretical, contextual, and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

This study explores the most effective retailing strategies with which luxury retailers can achieve a competitive advantage. The central role of services in enhancing the consumption experience in the luxury segment has been analyzed considering the pleasure boating sector, with a focus on the role that the dealer may have, both in the integration of different services and in the development of a durable competitive advantage. A qualitative study has been carried out through semistructured, in-depth, one-to-one interviews with representatives of companies that deal with the pleasure boating sector. The results show that in the luxury pleasure boating sector, the introduction of a better-defined retail strategy focused on services and its integration within the entire distribution channel may be crucial but also difficult to achieve in contexts that lack a marketing orientation. The contribution to extant literature on service in the pleasure boating sector and in luxury retailing in general is outlined. The managerial implications for practitioners in the pleasure boating sector are also discussed.