Does luxury consumption bring enjoyment, as various media messages, especially advertisements, suggest? This research investigates the anticipated and experienced enjoyment associated with the use of luxury goods. We propose that anticipated and actual use of luxury goods have different effects on enjoyment, which we refer to as the paradox of enjoyment in luxury consumption. In the first study, the majority of women (74.8%) believed that using a luxury handbag (vs. an ordinary handbag) would contribute to a higher level of enjoyment/happiness. Our second study showed that imagined use of a luxury handbag led to greater enjoyment than imagined use of an ordinary handbag. Conversely, the results of the third study showed that the actual use of a luxury handbag reduced enjoyment, driven by an increase in feelings of inauthenticity. The results of the fourth study confirmed this mechanism using a different luxury brand. Furthermore, we found that the actual use of a luxury handbag increased enjoyment, but only among individuals with high levels of brand engagement in self-concept. Overall, the results show that young women's expected enjoyment of using a luxury product does not consistently match their actual emotional experience.

Alternative consumer networks (ACNs) have become increasingly important for promoting sustainable development. This study provides a conceptual clarification of ACNs and systematically reviews their impact on sustainable development. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we identified 218 peer-reviewed references that report on sustainability outcomes of ACNs at different levels, including determinants of motivation, contextual changes, behavioral changes, and social, ecological, and economic impacts. Our findings demonstrate that ACNs have a multifaceted influence on sustainability, highlighting the interconnected nature of various outcomes. This holistic approach captures the broad and significant role ACNs play in advancing sustainable practices across multiple dimensions of sustainability. We synthesized these results into a comprehensive logic model, which serves as a practical tool for systematically assessing the impact of ACNs. This model helps practitioners focusing on relevant outcomes and to develop and implement effective strategies tailored to their specific contexts. Additionally, it provides researchers with a structured framework for further study, facilitating a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationships between different sustainability outcomes.

Despite efforts to study counterfeit consumption, little is known about consequences of such behavior for social perception, particularly how consumers who purchase counterfeit products are perceived by others in terms of their morality. Across two experiments (N1 = 182, N2 = 337) employing different stimuli (brands and models), we tested the effect of counterfeit consumption on the perception of a consumer in terms of Machiavellianism trait. Additionally, we explored the boundary conditions and mechanisms underlying this effect. The findings reveal that the effect of counterfeit consumption on perceptions of consumer Machiavellianism is not universal. Specifically, we discovered that individuals with high (vs. low) levels of brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) tend to perceive individuals using counterfeit brands as more Machiavellian (Study 1). Furthermore, our findings suggest that this negative social perception is driven by an increase in the perception of consumers' inauthenticity, especially in observers with high levels of BESC (Study 2). This research contributes to the understanding of how users of counterfeit brands are perceived in terms of their morality, shedding light on the underlying factors that influence these perceptions.

Purpose This paper aims to use the cognitive appraisal theory to investigate the effects of brand engagement and materialism on the positive emotions of joy and excitement evoked by a product at different stages of the purchase process. Design/methodology/approach Two complementary studies were conducted to achieve the research objectives. Study 1 used a longitudinal design, examining the pre-purchase stage and a moment shortly after the purchase. Study 2 adopted a cross-sectional approach, focusing on the post-purchase stage. Relationships among variables were analyzed through hierarchical regression and moderation analyses. Findings The findings indicate that materialism is not significantly associated with consumers’ positive product-evoked emotions (joy and excitement) before and shortly after purchase. At these two stages, brand engagement predicts positive emotions. In the post-purchase stage, where materialism is weakly related to joy and excitement, a robust positive link exists between brand engagement and positive product-evoked emotions. Moreover, higher levels of materialism reduce the experience of joy and excitement among participants with high levels of brand engagement. Originality/value Experiencing joy and excitement is crucial in consumer behavior. However, little is known about the determinants of these emotions in the consumption context, especially concerning internal consumption-related factors and different stages of the purchase process. This paper contributes to the field by shedding light on the role of brand engagement and materialism in the experience of positive product-evoked emotions. The findings provide evidence that brand engagement significantly enhances consumers’ positive product-evoked emotions, highlighting its importance in consumer behavior research.

Purpose Sustainability labels play a crucial role in providing consumers with quick and easily accessible information to assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of products. This research examines how different sustainability labels influence consumer perceptions and assessments of alternative food networks (AFNs). Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted three cross-sectional studies to explore consumer perceptions of sustainability labels for AFNs. The authors tested labels representing the three sustainability dimensions, labels of different graphical quality and different awarding bodies. Findings Consumers did not differentiate between sustainability dimensions but assessed labels in a holistic manner. The overall rating of a label positively influenced perceived sustainability. Self-designed and professionally designed labels had a positive effect on the intention to buy from an AFN. Professionally designed labels also enhanced the perceived authenticity of the networks. Notably, the source of the label, whether self-awarded or awarded by an official body, did not significantly impact consumer perceptions. However, interaction effects revealed professionally designed labels had a stronger positive effect on purchase intention when they were self-awarded. Practical implications AFNs can derive benefits from using labels. Self-organized, non-profit AFNs are well advised to have labels professionally designed. Originality/value This research contributes to the understanding of the effects of sustainability labels for community-based AFNs, diverging from the traditional focus on individual products.

This study contributes to the growing literature related to demands for social responsibility in the public sector in a developing country context. We report on a qualitative and a quantitative study conducted in the public sector in Kosovo to investigate, first, whether public sector organizations strive for CSR engagement, and second, whether and how employees' perceptions of their employers' CSR engagement affect various employee outcomes. The results of the qualitative content analysis of the mission statements of 20 public sector organizations in terms of CSR-related information they contain show that the public sector organizations have included both internal and external CSR elements in their mission statements. The quantitative study uses survey data collected from 126 employees in public sector organizations in Kosovo. The findings support the serial mediation of organizational trust and job satisfaction on the negative relationship between employees' perceptions of internal and external CSR and intention to emigrate. From a practical perspective, the findings encourage public sector organizations to increase their CSR engagement to achieve positive employee outcomes, both in relation to their own organization and beyond.

Sustainable mindful consumption has positive impacts on the environment and on people's health and well-being. However, consumption circumstances and social contexts make it difficult for consumers to engage in sustainable mindful behavior. To explore the role of consumer networks in fostering mindful consumption, sustainable behavior, and health and well-being, interviews and focus groups with consumers, producers, and experts were conducted and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Specifically, this paper contributes in three ways. First, it broadens the focus from individual mindfulness to collective mindfulness in consumption behavior. Second, it explores consumer networks as a way to overcome existing barriers to sustainable consumption and promote mindful consumption. Third, it explores the long-term benefits of consumer-producer collaboration to bring about top-down and bottom-up approaches to sustainable consumption change, beyond short-term mindfulness interventions at the individual level.

In general, experiential purchases have been found to make people happier than material purchases. However, previous research has ignored a crucial issue-the importance of the brand and the consumer-brand relationship in this context. Since many purchases are associated with a brand and the brand is often the main motivation for the purchase, we argue that researchers should include the consumer-brand relationship in studies on the effects of material versus experiential consumption on happiness. Building on the social exchange theory, the current research examines the moderating role of consumers' tendency to include brands as part of the self in the relationship between purchase type and happiness. Across three studies, using different methods (a comparative survey: N1 = 422 individuals; two experiments: N2 = 206 and N3 = 177 individuals), we found that individuals with high levels of brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) derive similar levels of purchase-related happiness from experiential and material purchases, while individuals with low levels of BESC find more purchase-related happiness in experiential than in material purchases.

Recent literature describes “greenhushing” as the deliberate managerial undercommunicating of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts for fear of negative customer opinions and responses. Based on social psychological theory of tourism motivation and cognitive dissonance theory, this research tries to seek evidence that justifies such a practice from the customers’ perspective. In study 1, focus groups reveal that hotels’ CSR communication and awareness creation for environmental issues are desired by consumers. In study 2, an online experiment uncovers that one-way and particularly two-way CSR communication lead to more favorable attitudes toward hotels’ CSR communication and lower intentions to behave unethically, compared with greenhushing. Perceived consumer effectiveness mediates the relationship between type of CSR communication and attitudes toward hotels’ CSR communication as well as intentions to behave unethically. Pro-environmental identity moderates the relationship. Taken together, our research provides little justification for greenhushing in a hospitality context from the customers’ perspective.

This study contributes to the burgeoning research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the individual level of analysis, in a hitherto largely neglected developing country context. Using survey information collected from 297 employees in public and private enterprises in Kosovo, this study examines how and to what extent employees' perceptions of their employer's CSR activities are associated with their intention to emigrate. Applying a needs-based framework, this research provides evidence that employees' perceptions of CSR are positively related to the meaningfulness of their work and job satisfaction and negatively related to intention to emigrate. Additionally, results confirm that the association between CSR perceptions and emigration intention is mediated by the meaningfulness of work and job satisfaction. From a practical point of view, this research should encourage private and public enterprises in developing countries to enhance and extend their CSR engagement.

Purpose The study aims to shed light on cross-country comparisons of brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) among consumers from European countries and to link presumed differences with country-level economic growth and materialism. This study contributes to the literature on the customer–brand relationship and provides implications for international branding strategies. Design/methodology/approach This observation study explored levels of BESC in three European countries. Questionnaire data were collected from consumers of Austria (N = 302), Italy (N = 431) and Poland (N = 410) with the purpose to make cross-country comparisons of BESC among consumers. Findings The results provide evidence for partial scalar invariance of the BESC scale. Cross-country comparisons of latent means reveal that Polish consumers score higher on BESC than consumers from Austria and Italy. Moreover, Austrian consumers score higher on BESC than Italian consumers. Research limitations/implications Culture as a contextual factor of BESC should be studied further. The findings should be replicated with non-convenience samples in additional cultural contexts to improve the generalizability of data. Structural equation modeling could be used to investigate psychological drivers of BESC differences. Practical implications The findings coming from the cross-country comparisons of BESC are of practical relevance to marketing managers: they should tailor their branding and communication strategies accordingly. Originality/value So far, the understanding of cross-cultural and cross-country differences in consumer–brand relationships has remained limited. This study adopts a rigorous approach to cross-cultural research enriching the literature on BESC from a cross-country perspective.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between perceived corporate social responsibility (PCSR) and perceived organizational corruption (POC) in a developing country context. The research suggests mediating roles of perceived ethical leadership (PEL) and job satisfaction (JS) in the PCSR–POC relationship.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through survey questionnaires. The sample consisted of 434 employees working in private and public organizations in Kosovo. Regression analysis was conducted by using a serial mediation model.FindingsApplying a social learning framework, this study provides evidence that employees’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are positively related to perceived ethical leadership and job satisfaction and negatively related to perceived organizational corruption. Furthermore, results confirm that the relationship between CSR perception and organizational corruption perception is mediated by ethical leadership perception and job satisfaction.Practical implicationsArmed with the findings, organizations can adopt CSR practices to positively influence employee behaviors and attitudes. From these results, it is possible to better comprehend the role of CSR in dealing with relevant aspects such as corruption at the organizational level, especially in developing and emerging markets.Social implicationsThe findings of this research indicate that employees in socially responsible organizations perceive less organizational corruption. Adopting a more ethical and responsible management approach might represent a promising solution to fight the corruption phenomenon inside and even outside organizations. These results should serve as reflection for both managers and public authorities.Originality/valueWith regard to CSR, previous studies have investigated different employee outcomes but never considered the potential impact on corruption at the organizational level. Furthermore, this study extends the literature by conceptualizing perceived ethical leadership and job satisfaction as mediators between perceived CSR and organizational corruption perception, in a developing country context where the concept of CSR is still less investigated.

We explored the use of different advertising appeals in breast cancer detection messages. We analyzed the extent to which emotional appeals were applied in advertisements that promoted two forms of breast cancer detection behaviors: breast self-examination (BSE) and mammographic screening. Findings of a content analysis of 456 breast cancer-related advertisements gathered in February 2016 indicated that textual fear appeals, humor appeals and erotic appeals were more likely to be featured in BSE-promoting advertisements than in breast cancer-related advertisements with other message purposes. While shame-guilt appeals were more likely to be used in mammography-promoting messages, humor and erotic appeals were less likely to be applied. Regarding hybrid message appeals, combinations of humor appeals with erotic, fear and shame-guilt appeals, as well as combined erotic-fear appeals were found more in BSE-promotion messages. Mammography-promoting messages made less use of hybrid messages with a humorous touch as compared to breast cancer advertisements with other message purposes. The results are in contrast to research findings on the effectiveness of message appeals and thus allow to some extent the evaluation of whether scientific findings on the effectiveness of message appeals are reflected in the current advertising practice.

Whereas corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been an established concept in the world of business and academia for several decades, in the hotel industry, CSR has become a subject of more intensified research only recently. Consumer perceptions about CSR and the communication thereof as well as the inclusion of such matters in their hotel online reviews have not received deeper attention in literature so far, although it is of vital importance to gain this information as feedback on the success of hotels’ current CSR engagement. This paper reports on the results of four studies that investigated consumers’ perceptions of CSR measures in the hotel industry, online CSR communication of hotels, consumers’ references to CSR in online reviews and hotel responses to customer online reviews. To uncover consumers’ perceptions of CSR measures and their opinions towards including comments on a hotel’s CSR engagement in online reviews, we conducted three semi-structured focus groups. To study which CSR activities smaller hotels communicate to their stakeholders via their webpage, a website analysis was conducted, based on a sample of CSR-certified hotels. To investigate which aspects of hotel CSR engagement guests reference in online reviews, we analysed all customer reviews provided for these hotels on TripAdvisor® over a 1-year time period. Finally, to learn how hotels use their responses to online reviews to communicate their CSR engagement, we analysed the responses of the hotels to customer reviews of their hotel on TripAdvisor®. The focus groups revealed that CSR initiatives of hotels were unanimously considered positive. Generally, the view was held that hotels still do not engage themselves enough and much more CSR action should come from them. There is still great consumer unawareness regarding the potential to talk about CSR issues in online reviews. The review analysis uncovered that most guests that do address CSR activities reference food-related CSR measures, e.g. offering organic food. Hotels do not yet interact much with customers on online review platforms, particularly not regarding CSR activities, but rather communicate CSR via their websites. Implications for hotels are to include customer reviews as a vehicle for involving stakeholders in dialogue and also online review responses in the CSR communication strategy to make it more successful. Focus group participants specifically said more communication from hotels is necessary, also for customer education purposes. For hotels, listening to these stakeholder responses would be crucial for advancing to two-way stakeholder response or even involvement strategies.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication is generally regarded as good and necessary to inform stakeholders of a company’s CSR deeds. However, research has recently uncovered the practice of “greenhushing” within the context of the hospitality industry (Coles, Warren, Borden, & Dinan, 2017; Font, Elgammal, & Lamond, 2017). Greenhushing means that companies de-emphasize green credentials and CSR activities. Going on holidays is an indulgent act that might result from people feeling they have earned some luxury, including behaving lavishly in terms of resource consumption and responsible behavior. Thus, curtailing this indulgent, irresponsible guest behavior without compromising a guest’s holiday experience is a key challenge for hotels. This paper explores whether the assumption that customers do not want to hear about CSR communication while on holiday is true from the customers’ side and what type of communication achieves to curtail unethical behavioral intentions. Based on 594 usable responses from an online survey, we undertake a moderation analysis with a multi-categorical antecedent variable (different communication stimuli), pro-environmental identity as a moderator and behavioral intentions for “unethical” behavior as a dependent variable using PROCESS 3.0 for SPSS (Hayes, 2018). The results provide partial support for our theoretical predictions.

This paper examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR)-certified hotels communicate CSR on their websites, how guests comment on hotels' CSR engagement in online reviews and how hotels respond to online reviews. The CSR communication strategies of stakeholder information, response and involvement of Morsing and Schultz (2006) were used as conceptual framework. Three studies were conducted. Based on a sample of 47 Austrian CSR-certified hotels, the first study explored the extent to which hotels communicate CSR activities to stakeholders via their webpage. The second study analyzed 1383 customer online reviews of the same hotels on TripAdvisor(center dot) with regard to CSR references. The third study analyzed hotels' responses to online reviews. Results show that environmental issues and supplier relations receive highest attention from hotels and customer reviews. Employee relations are less frequently communicated and addressed in reviews. The three studies uncover opportunities for intensified stakeholder integration in CSR engagement and communication strategies.