The attitude – behaviour gap in eWOM: the paradoxical Generation Z

This paper exploits bigdata to explore to what extent Generation Z customers engage in discussing sustainability practices carried out by their service providers when posting a review online. The study identifies the attention Gen Z pays to the environmental and social domains of sustainability, including trend over time and their association with ratings (i.e. customer satisfaction). Text analytics with a specific dictionary developed for the study of sustainability are applied on a dataset of 500.000 hotel reviews, covering six European cities and 10 years. Results reveal how, despite Gen Z is portrayed as the most socially and environmentally conscious generation, often bringing sustainability into their consumption practices, the story is rather different with regards to their discourse online. Gen Z tend to discuss fewer on sustainable practices comparing to other generational cohorts, while the social and environmental dimensions are differently associated with their ratings

The how and why of consumers' co-creation: evidence from the Fiat 500 case study

In the current business environment firms need to continuously renew their products to keep up with their competitive advantage. Increasingly, customers' needs are atomized and they change at an unprecedented pace. Thus, some companies have started to tap consumer knowledge over the internet. These companies are using the web and social media to build virtual spaces to connect with actual and potential customers in order to engage them at different stages of the new product development process. In such virtual spaces, consumers spontaneously decide to contribute with their knowledge, ideas and activities to company's cocreation initiatives. In marketing research, there is a dearth of studies on how companies are involving ordinary consumers in their innovation processes through internet applications. Moreover, few studies have investigated the implications of cocreation activities on innovation outputs and brand image. Thus, this study has adopted a single case study approach and has explored the how and why of cocreation in the Fiat 500 open innovation project (‘500 wants you'), and the results achieved in terms of innovation generated and impact on the corporate brand image

Pictures of a crisis. Destination marketing organizations’ Instagram communication before and during a global health crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic enhanced social media communications at a time individuals were unable to leave their homes due to the lockdown measures. A lack of research has been identified on how destination marketing organizations use social media during global health crises. Addressing this gap, the present research uses a mixed-method approach to examine the use of Instagram by Milan and Paris’ Destination Marketing Organi- zations before and during COVID-19 and user engagement with it. Via a quantitative content analysis, Study 1 reveals communication differences between destinations and a change in promotion focus during the pandemic. Both DMOs focus on posts portraying “Culture, History and Art”, which signifies stability and eternity as opposed to uncertain times. Using a thematic analysis, Study 2 reveals that both organizations promoted pro-social behavior also by employing influencers. Overall, research results document tourism organizations’ pro-social use of social media during a global health crisis

Instagram and body image: Motivation to conform to the “Instabod” and consequences on young male wellbeing

The current paper explores how male Instagram users' (MIU) perceptions of body image and behavior are affected by the exposure to fitness hashtags, and the consequences on their wellbeing. For this purpose, in‐depth interviews were conducted with #fitfam MIU with different levels of engagement. Low‐engagement MIU with low body‐esteem long for the “instabod” and engage in body transformation efforts to follow the fitness trend popularized by Instagram, to emulate peers and Instagram celebrities, to gain popularity and to appear successful. Instagram community members use positive and negative reinforcements to strengthen body internalization. The body transformation effort motivates low‐engagement MIU to engage more, which has various effects on wellbeing: on one side, they feel anxious and in competition with other peers which often leads to muscle dysmorphia symptoms; on the other side, they feel more masculine with higher self‐confidence, they have higher motivation to stay fit and to eat healthily

The role of cultural values in consumers’ evaluation of online review helpfulness: a big data approach

Purpose Online consumer reviews are increasingly used by third-party e-commerce organizations to shed light on the positive and negative sides of the brands they sell. However, the large number of consumer reviews requires these organizations to shortlist the most helpful ones to cope with information overload. A growing number of scholars have been investigating the determinants of review helpfulness; however, little is known about the influence of cultural factors in consumer's evaluation of review helpfulness. Design/methodology/approach This study has adopted Hofstede's cultural values framework to assess the influence of cultural factors on review helpfulness. We used a sample of 570,669 reviews of 851 hotels published by reviewers from 81 countries on Booking.com. Findings Findings reveal that reviewers from cultural contexts that score high on power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and indulgence are more likely to write helpful reviews. Originality/value This is one of the first cross-cultural studies in marketing using a big data approach in examining how users of reviews from different countries evaluate the helpfulness of online reviews

Leveraging online selling through social media influencers

Shuqair, S., Filieri, R., Viglia, G., Mattila, A. S., & Pinto, D. C. (2024). Leveraging online selling through social media influencers. Journal of Business Research, 171(January), 1-10. [114391]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114391While prior research suggests that facial expression influences consumer behavior, it remains unclear under which conditions specific emotional expressions on social media drive sales performance and customer engagement. Drawing on the facial feedback hypothesis and the emotional congruence framework, two pre-registered experimental studies (N = 995) demonstrate that the fit between facial expressions (broad vs. slight smile) and endorsement type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) influence engagement and consumers’ purchase intents. Findings indicate that broad (vs. slight) smiles are more likely to enhance consumer responses when paired with hedonic endorsements driven by emotional contagion. Conversely, slight smiles are equally suited for both types of endorsements and do not foster emotional contagion. The findings offer actionable insights for maximizing consumer engagement and purchase intents within social media marketing efforts.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

An empirical examination of brand hate influence on negative consumer behaviors through NeWOM intensity. Does consumer personality matter?

Limited research has investigated the consequences of brand hate, particularly the pathways and contingent factors. This study addresses a critical gap by investigating the mediation of negative electronic word-of-mouth (NeWOM) intensity between brand hate and the two different forms of consumers’ coping behaviors: boycott (instrumental aggression) and brand sabotage (hostile aggression). It also demonstrates the moderating role of the Big Five personality traits in these pathways. An empirical survey with 391 participants recruited through Prolific reveals that brand hate directly affects NeWOM intensity, consumer boycott, and brand sabotage. These effects are more substantial for those who score high in neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness. On the other hand, the effects of brand hate on NeWOM intensity and boycott are more profound when agreeableness is low. In contrast, only brand hate-to-boycott relationship strengthens when openness is low. Interestingly, NeWOM intensity mediates the relationships between brand hate and the two consumer behaviors, i.e., consumer boycott and brand sabotage. These findings enrich the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships and provide managers assistance in developing effective strategies for de-escalating consumers’ use of aggressive behaviors in response to brand hate

Flying to Quality: Cultural Influences on Online Reviews

Customers increasingly consult opinions expressed online before making their final decisions. However, inherent factors such as culture may moderate the criteria and the weights individuals use to form their expectations and evaluations. Therefore, not all opinions expressed online match customers’ personal preferences, neither can firms use this information to deduce general conclusions. Our study explores this issue in the context of airline services using Hofstede’s framework as a theoretical anchor. We gauge the effect of each dimension as well as that of cultural distance between the passenger and the airline on the overall satisfaction with the flight as well as specific service factors. Using topic modeling, we also capture the effect of culture on review text and identify factors that are not captured by conventional rating scales. Our results provide significant insights for airline managers about service factors that affect more passengers from specific cultures leading to higher satisfaction/dissatisfaction