The influence of fashion blogger credibility, engagement and homophily on intentions to buy and e-WOM. Results of a binational study

Purpose – The study aims to contribute to the knowledge on the role of the fashion bloggers in the product adoption process in both advanced and emerging markets. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of credibility, engagement and homophily on intentions to buy fashion products recommended by the blogger. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research builds on an online survey with a sample of 402 consumers (189 Italian and 213 Taiwanese). The proposed model was tested through structural equationmodeling. Findings – Results showed that homophily and the fashion blogger credibility positively influenced the engagement within the blog. Moreover, perceived similarity with the other blog’s followers (homophily) and a higher engagement with the blog both translated in a stronger intention to buy the sponsored products and to spread a positive word-of-mouth about the fashion blogger. Practical implications – The study has practical implications since it identifies strategic suggestions for both companies that create partnerships with famous fashion bloggers and bloggers who have turned their diary-style websites into a business. Originality/value – The study contributes to a better understanding of the influence exerted by blog engagement on intentions to follow blogger’s recommendations. The study also examines credibility and homophily as antecedents of engagement, which have not been extensively researched in the past with respect to blogs

Effects of fashion blogger credibility, engagement and risk-taking behaviour on followers' shopping intentions. A study of Italian consumers

The present study investigates the impact of blogger credibility, homophily, engagement and risk-taking behaviour on readers’ shopping intentions. Despite the growing relevance of these issues, past studies have neglected the relevance of a joint analysis of such dimensions. To fill this gap, the study proposes and tests a model that explains blog followers’ intentions to buy products sponsored by the fashion blogger. Results from a survey on Italian consumers show that blogger credibility and homophily have a significant effect on blog engagement, which, in turn, positively affects both e-word-of-mouth and purchase intentions toward blogger’s sponsored products. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed

Product packaging and consumers’ emotional response. Does spatial representation influence product evaluation and choice?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of different spatial representations (foreground and background) of a product image on the package on the consumer emotional state and intention to buy the product, drawing upon the construal level theory (CLT). Design/methodology/approach – Two between-subjects experimental designs were conducted. A face-reading software was used to measure the emotional reactions of participants while watching the stimuli. Findings – Empirical results showed that the foreground representation of the product, triggered by a lower perceived psychological distance between the subject and the product, generates more positive emotional responses compared to the background representation. However, the purchase intention did not significantly differ between the foreground condition and the background condition. Research limitations/implications – The study enriches the literature on CLT and provides some guidance to manufacturers and product managers for the understanding of the role of packaging in influencing consumer behaviour. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the research on the presence of the product imagery on the package. The focus is shifted from the presence/absence of the picture to its position (proximal or distal). This aspect has been neglected in previous studies. Moreover, it is the first application of face reading to support CLT basic assumption and enrich extant marketing research on packaging

The Effect of Social EWOM on Consumers’ Behaviour Patterns in the Fashion Sector

The study described in this chapter aimed to enhance knowledge on the influence of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on consumer’s decision-making processes. eWOM emerged as a key driver in consumers’ decision-making processes given its greater impact on purchasing decisions compared to other communication channels. Specifically, the study focused on the reviews of fashion products on social networks (SNs) and built on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model in order to identify the determinants of social eWOM adoption and intention to buy the reviewed product. The survey method was used to gather data from 230 Italian consumers. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the model proposed. Results revealed that when consumers seek information on fashion products, the user-friendliness of SNs and social cues (homophily and normative social influence) positively impact social eWOM (opinion-seeking), which in turn influences the intention to purchase the reviewed products. The study contributes both theoretically and empirically to the understanding of the role of social eWOM in influencing consumer behaviour. At the theoretical level, it supports the adequacy of the S-O-R model for explaining the consumer decision-making process in the context of social eWOM. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlight the importance of taking into consideration both structural (accessibility) and social relationship variables while developing social media marketing strategies

The role of store brand love in online shopping behavior. An application of the S-O-R model to the online fashion retailing

The paper aims to enhance the knowledge on the phenomenon of brand love in the fashion online retailing context. It builds on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model in order to identify the determinants of store brand love and its impact on patronage intention and store loyalty. By including price, assortment, global service and communication as stimuli, the adopted theoretical framework may shed light on the mechanism underlying the formation process of love toward the store brand and its role in the consumer’s decision-making process. Data were collected through an online survey with a sample of 323 Italian consumers. Results showed that assortment, global service and price convenience act as stimuli for brand love, which in turn is capable of positively influence patronage intention and store loyalty. At the theoretical level, the study supports the adequacy of the S-O-R model for explaining the role of store brand love in the online consumer decision-making process. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlight the factors that practitioners can leverage to increase store brand love and, consequently, loyalty and purchase intention

Localization Theory in an Infinity Topos

We develop the theory of reflective subfibrations on an ∞-topos E. A reflective subfibration L on E is a pullback-compatible assignment of a reflective subcategory D_X ⊆ E/X with associated localization functor L_X, for every X in E. Reflective subfibrations abound in homotopy theory, albeit often disguised, e.g., as stable factorization systems. The added properties of a reflective subfibration L on E compared to a mere reflective subcategory of E are crucial for most of our results. For example, we can prove that L-local maps (i.e., those maps p in D_X for some X in E) admit a classifying map. The existence of such a classifying map is a powerful tool that we exploit to show that there is a reflective subfibration L\u27 whose local maps are exactly the L-separated maps, that is, those maps with L-local diagonal. We investigate some interactions between L and L\u27 and explain when the two reflective subfibrations coincide. Finally, we show the existence of reflective subfibrations associated to sets of maps in E and describe some of their properties

Absolute configuration sensing of chiral aryl-and aryloxy-propionic acids by biphenyl chiroptical probes

The absolute configuration of chiral 2-aryl and 2-aryloxy propionic acids, which are among the most common chiral environmental pollutants, has been readily and reliably established by either electronic circular dichroism spectroscopy or optical rotation measurements employing suitably designed 4,4′-disubstituted biphenyl probes. In fact, the 4,4′-biphenyl substitution gives rise to a red shift of the diagnostic electronic circular dichroism signal of the biphenyl A band employed for the configuration assignment, removing its overlap with other interfering dichroic bands and allowing its clear sign identification. The largest A band red shift, and thus the most reliable results, are obtained by employing as a probe the 4,4′-dinitro substituted biphenylazepine 3c. The method was applied to the absolute configuration assignment of 2-arylpropionic acids ibuprofen (1a), naproxen (1b), ketoprofen (1c) and flurbiprofen (1d), as well as to the 2-aryloxypropionic acids 2-phenoxypropionic acid (2a) and 2-naphthoxypropionic acid (2b). This approach, allowing us to reveal the sample’s absolute configuration by simple optical rotation measurements, is potentially applicable to online analyses of both the enantiomeric composition and absolute configuration of these chiral pollutants