Understanding Consumer Interaction on Instagram: The Role of Satisfaction, Hedonism, and Content Characteristics

The increasing relevance of Instagram and its growing adoption among top brands suggest an effort to better understand consumers'' behaviors within this context. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of perceived hedonism and satisfaction in determining consumers'' intentions to interact and their actual interaction behaviors (the number of likes, by tapping a heart icon, and comments) in a brand''s official Instagram account. Also, we investigate the effect of consumer perceptions about the characteristics of the content generated in the account (perceived originality, quantity, and quality) on their perceived hedonism and satisfaction. Data were collected in two stages from 808 members of a fashion brand''s official Instagram account. First, participants answered an online questionnaire to evaluate their perceptions, satisfaction, and interaction intentions. Second, 1 month later, we measure the number of likes and comments done by each participant in the brand''s official Instagram account during that month. Using partial least squares to analyze the data, perceived hedonism is found to affect both satisfaction and the intention to interact in Instagram, which in turn influences actual behavior. Besides, perceived originality is the most relevant content characteristic to develop perceived hedonism. These findings offer managers a general vision of consumers'' behaviors on Instagram, highlighting the importance of hedonism to create a satisfactory experience

Building influencers'' credibility on Instagram: Effects on followers’ attitudes and behavioral responses toward the influencer

Collaborations between influencers and brands have become increasingly popular in recent years. Previous research has mainly focused on influencer marketing as a commercial action designed to enhance followers'' perceptions and reactions toward promoted brands, ignoring the consequences of these promotional actions on influencers'' credibility and their relationships with their followers. This research sheds light on the topic by exploring how influencers'' promotional actions affect their credibility, and followers'' attitudes and behavioral responses toward the influencer (i.e., to continue following, imitate, and recommend them to other users). A study addressed to the followers of a popular influencer was carried out to test the research model. The results showed that perceived influencer-product congruence positively affects followers'' perceptions of the credibility of, and attitude toward, influencers, and negatively affects perceptions of paid communication. Followers'' perceptions that influencers have been paid to take part in promotional activities harms their credibility; however, credibility is essential for generating positive attitudes toward the influencer. Finally, both perceived credibility and attitude foster positive behavioral responses toward the influencer; influencers must enhance these factors to retain their influencing capacity. This research provides managerial implications for influencers and brands that can help enhance followers’ experiences when exposed to promotions on social media

Understanding influencer marketing: The role of congruence between influencers, products and consumers

Influencers increasingly provide sources of information and innovation to followers. Grounded in balance, cognitive dissonance, and congruity theories, the current article highlights how a congruence psychological mechanism, leveraged in influencer marketing campaigns, can contribute to the success of this novel form of persuasive communication. To understand consumers’ behavioral intentions when they encounter product recommendations from fashion influencers on Instagram, this study addresses the congruence among the three inherent contributors to any influencer marketing campaign: the influencer, the consumer (or follower), and the sponsored brand. The study involves 372 followers of a famous fashion influencer. Results confirm that when influencer–consumer congruence is fixed and high, high (low) influencer–product congruence prompts high (low) consumer–product congruence. Strong congruence between the consumer and product then generates more favorable attitudes toward the product, as well as higher purchase and recommendation intentions, ensuring optimal returns on influencer marketing campaigns. © 2021 Elsevier Inc

Lifshitz transition in titanium carbide driven by a graphene overlayer

Two-dimensional (2D) Dirac materials are electronically and structurally very sensitive to proximity effects. We demonstrate, however, the opposite effect: that the deposition of a monolayer 2D material could exercise a substantial influence on the substrate electronic structure. Here we investigate TiC(111) and show that a graphene overlayer produces a proximity effect, changing the Fermi surface topology of the TiC from six electron pockets to one hole pocket on the depth of several atomic layers inside the substrate. In addition, the graphene electronic structure undergoes an extreme modification as well. While the Dirac cone remains gapless, it experiences an energy shift of 1.0 eV beyond what was recently achieved for the Lifshitz transition of overdoped graphene. Due to this shift, the antibonding π∗ band at the M¯ point becomes occupied and observable by photoemission

Quantum Dynamics in Non-equilibrium Strongly Correlated Environments

We consider a quantum point contact between two Luttinger liquids coupled to a mechanical system (oscillator). For non-vanishing bias, we find an effective oscillator temperature that depends on the Luttinger parameter. A generalized fluctuation-dissipation relation connects the decoherence and dissipation of the oscillator to the current-voltage characteristics of the device. Via a spectral representation, this result is generalized to arbitrary leads in a weak tunneling regime.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Revisión sistemática de las terapias con luz en el tratamiento de la hidradenitis supurativa

La terapia con luz es una alternativa en el tratamiento de la hidradenitis supurativa. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la eficacia, la efectividad y la seguridad de las distintas modalidades de terapia con luz en la hidradenitis supurativa mediante una revisión sistemática que actualiza la realizada en 2015 procedente de la Cochrane Library. Se identificaron los estudios mediante una búsqueda electrónica en las bases de datos: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination database de la Universidad de York, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Skin Group Specialised Skin Register, Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology de la Universidad de Nottingham y TESEO; finalmente se incluyeron 6 series de casos, 3 revisiones sistemáticas y 2 ensayos clínicos de pacientes tratados con terapia fotodinámica convencional o intralesional, láser Nd:YAG, CO2 o diodo y luz intensa pulsada, con un total de 248 pacientes tratados. Treatment options for hidradenitis suppurativa include light-based therapy. This systematic review aimed to update our understanding of the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of these treatments for hidradenitis suppurativa by evaluating the literature published since the 2015 Cochrane review on this topic. We conducted an electronic search of the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination database, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Skin Group Specialised Skin Register, University of Nottingham''s Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology database, and TESEO. The systematic review included 6 case series, 3 systematic reviews, and 2 clinical trials on the use of conventional and intralesional photodynamic therapy, intense pulsed light therapy, and Nd:YAG, carbon dioxide, and diode laser therapy for hidradenitis suppurative in 248 patients

Barriers to ecological restoration in Europe: expert perspectives

Ecological restoration is key to counteracting anthropogenic degradation of biodiversity and to reducing disaster risk. However, there is limited knowledge of barriers hindering the wider implementation of restoration practices, despite high-level political priority to halt the loss of biodiversity. In Europe, progress on ecological restoration has been slow and insufficient to meet international agreements and comply with European Union Nature Directives. We assessed European restoration experts' perceptions on barriers to restoration in Europe, and their relative importance, through a multiple expert consultation using a Delphi process. We found that experts share a common multi-dimensional concept of ecological restoration. Experts identified a large number of barriers (33) to the advancement of ecological restoration in Europe. Major barriers pertained to the socio-economic, not the environmental, domain. The three most important being insufficient funding, conflicting interests among different stakeholders, and low political priority given to restoration. Our results emphasize the need to increase political commitment at all levels, comply with existing nature laws, and optimize the use of financial resources by increasing funds for ecological restoration and eradicate environmentally harmful subsidies. The experts also call for the integration of ecological restoration into land-use planning and facilitating stakeholders' collaboration. Our study identifies key barriers, discusses ways to overcome the main barriers to ER in Europe, and contributes knowledge to support the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and the EU 2030 Restoration Plan in particular. © 2021 The Authors. Restoration Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of Society for Ecological Restoration.We are particularly thankful to experts participating in the Delphi process for their generosity in sharing their time and knowledge, and the European Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SERE), Réseau d'Échanges et de Valorisation en Écologie de la Restauration (REVER), Finnish Board on Ecological Restoration (FBER), Working Group on Ecological Restoration of the Spanish Association for Terrestrial Ecology (ER-AEET), Dutch Knowledge Network for Restoration and Management of Nature (OBN), German Restoration Network (GRN), UK Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), Portuguese Network of Ecological Restoration (RPRE), Iberian Center for River Restoration (CIREF), and European Federation of Soil Bioengineering (EFIB) for suggesting candidates to the consulting process. We appreciate the support given by BiodivERsA (project funded under the EU Horizon 2020 ERA-NET COFUND scheme), and the EKLIPSE project (European Union Horizon 2020 grant agreement 690474), and particularly by Juliette C. Young. JCS research is financially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Education and Universities and European Regional Development Funds (FEDER; project COSTERA, RTI2018-095954-B-I00). PMRG research is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through FCT Investigator Program grant number IF/00059/2015, and Centro de Estudos Florestais is supported by FCT grants UID/AGR/00239/2019 and UIDB/00239/2020

Quasiparticle dynamics in ferromagnetic compounds of the Co-Fe and Ni-Fe systems

We report a theoretical study of the quasiparticle lifetime and the quasiparticle mean free path caused by inelastic electron-electron scattering in ferromagnetic compounds of the Co-Fe and Ni-Fe systems. The study is based on spin-polarized calculations, which are performed within the $GW$ approximation for equiatomic and Co- and Ni-rich compounds, as well as for their constituents. We mainly focus on the spin asymmetry of the quasiparticle properties, which leads to the spin-filtering effect experimentally observed in spin-dependent transport of hot electrons and holes in the systems under study. By comparing with available experimental data on the attenuation length, we estimate the contribution of the inelastic mean free path to the latter.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure