Adopting dissonance -solving approach to investigate luxury social media advertising: Role of gaps in self, projective self, influencer and brand image [Abstract]

The massive usage of social media and soaring power of online influencers have created huge challenge to marketing, psychology, and other technological disciplines to adopt a synthetic framework to understand why consumers are (or aren’t) engaged with online communication and subsequent behaviours. The luxury fashion marketing, in particular, needs to address this challenge as the mismatch of the luxury brand, brand ambassador and consumer self-construal has led to fatal negligence. Though it is documented that consumer cognitive processes have impacted their luxury brand buying, the underlying mechanisms of how the discrepancies of brand, endorser, and their self-identity collectively determine the consequent engagement and actions remain unclear before being put into practice. This research adopts a map-mapping approach which is derived from the self-construal theory, to highlight six critical “gaps” with relevant to strategic marketing, brand management, communication, self-construal, demonstration, virtual agent pilgrimage, and social recognition. ...

Examining the effectiveness of fashion marketing on social media: An experiment on influencer’s reputation, post type, and online eWOM valence

This paper investigates the three key determinants of digital marketing and consumer behaviour associated with fashion marketing on social media. The aim of the research is to explore the aspects of Instagram via the R.E.A.N. framework and the purchase intention in fashion consumption. The conceptual model & hypothesis were tested using structural equation modelling. A non-probability sampling with 280 millennials Instagram’s users participated. The empirical results indicate that the account reputation was found to be a significant predictor of REAN engagement. It also concluded that all engagement levels on REAN model have significant relationships toward customer buying intention among eight cases. This study proposes a new conceptual model which can be defined as a stepping stone or future research in the field of fashion. The model is validated in other social networking sites and industries. The findings provide valuable information that can be used in a social media marketing strategy in the contemporary business world

Experiments on the effectiveness of marketing communications tactics to support ‘unappealing’ animals

This study was designed for investigating how effective different marketing communications tactics are at influencing donations to animal conservation campaigns featuring ‘unappealing’ (non-flagship) species. Experiments were executed to evaluate the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements, anthropomorphism, message framing, and personal incentives in fictitious animal conservation adverts. Results showed that urgent message tone was not successful at gaining support for non-flagship campaigns but combining anthropomorphism with positive message did increase support for nonflagship causes. Celebrity endorsements were shown to be successful at influencing willingness to donate, provided that the celebrity is highly credible in the world of animal conservation. Offering personal incentives to influence donations achieved its purpose when used in campaigns featuring ‘popular’ animals, but it was not a successful marketing tactic when used to promote ‘undesirable’ animals. Interestingly, the results revealed that participants were strongly influenced to donate to a non-flagship campaign when they believed that it would result in wider environmental benefits that would also be beneficial to humans. Overall, a participant’s prior knowledge or preference for a specific species had a great influence over donation choice. However, this study has revealed that through effective marketing participants can be swayed to support ‘undesirable’ animals instead of typically ‘preferred’ specie

Information acquisition, persuasion, and group conformity of online tribalism: does user activeness matter?

Though empirically some research suggests the linkage of better communication effect with active users' presence, no existing clues are found on the user activeness at the micro level to contribute to the virtual community's aggregate-level health and vitality. This paper models the interpersonal communication process via a multi-agent, self-reasoning model. It considers each agent’s information value and conformity value, two key constructs adopted in this paper. This paper adopts simulated experiments to identify active users based on individuals’ behavioural characteristics, screen out typical users of different activeness levels, and reveal causalities among the outcomes. The findings show that users' activeness determines the information vitality and influence of information dissemination and substantially impacts the dynamics of user-groups. The author concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and methodological contributions and pinpoints these findings for marketers to improve online customer relationship management

Sustainability: a framework of typology based on efficiency and effectiveness

Marketing performs a profound socioeconomic function in matching offerings with customer needs and preferences in an efficient and effective way. The micro-macro divide is widened by an array of commercial conducts that surround narrowly defined efficiency oriented objectives. Sustainability is therefore rarely linked to the marketing thoughts and practices. Sustainability is not associated with efficiency and effectiveness, which are sometimes considered to be self-exclusive variables, nor does it allow top-down and bottom-up interactions. The framework of sustainability raised in this article adopts a systemic approach to marketing that integrates the three major aspects of performances, inclusive of efficiency, long-term effectiveness, and distributive effectiveness. An example from the historic evolution of the pharmacy marketing system in China indicates that a narrow focus on the business-level operational efficiency and marketing success may be short-sighted and will not bring in an ideal consequence at the societal level. Implications from this case for generating sustainable outcomes with ecological and distributive effectiveness are discussed

How far can the message go through online communication: simulation outcomes of information stickiness

The phenomenon of information stickiness is widely seen by a declined information vitality and is hypothesised with multiple causes, but research on it is scant. Therefore, it is necessary to unmask the myth and concretise the concept. This research adopts an agent-based simulation model incorporating information accumulation, attitudinal proposition, interest, and preference for searching and matching information to determine how identified antecedents affect four defined symptoms of information stickiness in a simulated virtual community. This paper demystifies these symptoms, which are embedded in various personal, relational, and environmental settings. Some aggregate-level outcomes of consumer message-triggered responses emerge as an endogenous outcome of information stickiness. Analysis of data is visualised and quantified for its longitudinal changes in information acquisition, group affiliation, information growth, and the system’s vitality.</p

The more we know, the more likely we may agree?

Extreme voices are frequently spotted to have a significant effect on public opinions on online forums or social media, but very little is known about when, what, and how to tone it towards softened and how to manage them. To deal with the large volume of extreme opinions, companies, and PR authorities spent heavily on soothing the tension and sheltering customer word-of-mouth from devasting reviews by feeding public overloaded information, dominating public attention and grabbing new headlines, yet very few studies rationalize this assumption. This paper develops simulation experiments to unmask the aforementioned relations, in particular, how information environment (i.e., information preference and noise), individual factors (i.e., acceptance threshold, halo effect), and institutional efforts (i.e., promotion) affect the customer review’s evolution at the aggregate level. The findings suggest that the evolution of opinion in divergence can occur in any preference-held audience whereas the information noise can substantially moderate the information valence and cause the polarized voices to get mild dramatically. In addition, a halo effect on the information source can stir the voice to be amplified by the influencer. The experimental results indicate the significance of understanding information valence and group conformity in conversational contexts and find a few clues of improving communication effects. This research bears high originality in explaining how public opinions evolve in a belief-neutral environment via audience-sensitive, context-bound, objective-manipulated techniques. The findings suggest valuable meanings to review monitor and control in information management

Rethinking preemptive consumption: building mechanisms of reciprocity, contextuality, and risk hedging across scenarios

Confronted with fragmentation and retardation in understanding preemption, the authors aim to reassemble the current understanding of preemptive behaviors. Hence, we re-examine multiple mechanisms with three aspects of drive: expectancy, situational, and temporal factors, rooted in consumer psychology and cognition of social crises. Preemptive consumption occurs via three pathways. First, in the explanation of drives, objective-bound motivation, moderated by the opportunism of the outcome, can intensify the intention to behave preemptively, which echoes and extends expectation theory into self-other dual polarity. Second, from the perspective of the behavioral sequence, a defensive or aggressive strategy, tuned by the level of the behavioral barrier, can strengthen the inclination to act preemptively. Finally, an individual's concern about scarcity and the risk of farsightedness, altered by their capacity to handle inequality and threats, impacts preemptive behavior. This study has significant implications for leveraging individual motivations, ethics, and consumer-targeted communication tools.</p

Dialogues with cultural heritage via museum digitalisation: developing a model of visitors’ cognitive identity, technological agent, cultural symbolism, and public engagement

The digitalisation of museums is critical for preserving cultural artefacts and for public education. However, what digitally attracts younger generations to cultural heritage displays while boosting value perception among visitors and initiating conversations with history remains conceptually unclear. This study investigates conversations and connections among historical legacies, digital technologies, and younger generations. Using a structural equation model, the authors examine the role of existing digital tools used to engage millennial museum visitors, connect with history, and enhance social recognition of culture. Furthermore, they developed an integrated explanatory Cognitive Identity-Agent-Symbolism-Engagement (CIASE) model to identify the associations between variables. The findings recommend a technology-driven pathway for integrating user experience, digital technology, and cultural heritage to design better visitor experiences, explore their sense of cultural identity, and establish a stable connection between culture and individuals.</p

Rethinking preemptive consumption: building mechanisms of reciprocity, contextuality, and risk hedging across scenarios

Confronted with fragmentation and retardation in understanding preemption, the authors aim to reassemble the current understanding of preemptive behaviors. Hence, we re-examine multiple mechanisms with three aspects of drive: expectancy, situational, and temporal factors, rooted in consumer psychology and cognition of social crises. Preemptive consumption occurs via three pathways. First, in the explanation of drives, objective-bound motivation, moderated by the opportunism of the outcome, can intensify the intention to behave preemptively, which echoes and extends expectation theory into self-other dual polarity. Second, from the perspective of the behavioral sequence, a defensive or aggressive strategy, tuned by the level of the behavioral barrier, can strengthen the inclination to act preemptively. Finally, an individual's concern about scarcity and the risk of farsightedness, altered by their capacity to handle inequality and threats, impacts preemptive behavior. This study has significant implications for leveraging individual motivations, ethics, and consumer-targeted communication tools.</p