Journal of Consumer Behaviour最新文献

Addressing the persistent challenge of sluggish consumer demand for low-carbon products has long been a central concern for both businesses and scholars. In recent years, leveraging consumers' sense of awe has emerged as a promising marketing strategy to promote sustainable consumption. While prior studies have investigated the direct effects of awe emotions with different valences on green or low-carbon consumption preferences, little attention has been paid to whether these effects differ across consumer groups with distinct value orientations. To address this research gap, this study explores the interaction between consumers' environmental values and their sense of awe toward nature. Specifically, it examines how consumers with different value types (self-oriented vs. prosocial) differ in their purchase intentions for low-carbon products when exposed to different awe-evoking natural stimuli (threatening nature vs. grand and beautiful nature vs. control group) and further investigates the underlying psychological mechanisms that drive these effects. This study employed a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs across three experiments. The findings revealed that for self-oriented consumers, awe of threatening nature triggered a heightened sense of self-diminishment and enhanced their perception of the product's environmental value, thereby increasing their intention to purchase low-carbon products. In contrast, for prosocial consumers, awe of grand and beautiful nature enhanced their perception of both the vastness of nature and the product's environmental value, which in turn boosted their purchase intention. These insights not only offer a novel theoretical framework for understanding the interaction between emotions and values in sustainable consumption but also provide practical implications for developing value-tailored marketing strategies and brand positioning for low-carbon products.

Gender issues, such as gender diversity and equality, have recently been prominent in both media and workplace discussions. While prior research has investigated the consequences of gender composition in the workplace, its impact on consumer perceptions and responses remains underexplored. On the basis of the Stereotype Content Model, this research explores this question from a consumer behavior perspective. A series of studies demonstrates that consumers perceive a company employing more female employees as warmer and, in turn, show more favorable responses to the company (e.g., consumer attitudes, purchase intentions, click-through rates, and willingness to pay). The authors also establish boundary conditions and find that the proposed effect is attenuated when the typical user is male and when products are utilitarian. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, highlighting the importance of considering employee gender composition in shaping consumer behaviors and company strategies.

This study investigates the impact of eco-conscious preferences, emotional attributes, review score, and review polarity on overall sentiment in user reviews for the Thrive Market app, an e-commerce platform for organic and natural food products. Grounded in the theory of planned behavior (TPB), emotion-centric theories, and expectation-confirmation theory (ECT), the study identifies key predictors of sentiment. Data from 7012 valid reviews were preprocessed and analyzed using feature engineering techniques to extract eco-conscious preferences and emotional factors based on the NRC emotional lexicon. Sentiment analysis was conducted using the SentimentIntensityAnalyzer, and a multilayer perceptron (MLP) deep learning model was employed to predict sentiment. The MLP model achieved an accuracy of 92%, with particularly high performance in predicting positive sentiment. The results indicate that eco-conscious preferences, review score, polarity, and emotional attributes like joy, trust, and anticipation have a positive impact on sentiment. In contrast, emotional attributes such as sadness, anger, fear, and disgust are negatively associated with sentiment. The findings highlight the significant role of both emotional factors and eco-conscious preferences in shaping consumer sentiment, offering actionable insights for marketers in the organic food sector.

Emojis are increasingly becoming a significant part of brand communication and affecting how consumers interact with brands. Despite their growing popularity in digital marketing communication, the existing literature provides limited understanding of the extent to which emojis foster brand-consumer relationships. Prior research has systematically reviewed the existing literature on the role of emojis in computer-mediated communication from psychological, linguistic, and interpersonal communication perspectives. However, there is no comprehensive framework connecting these perspectives in the context of the brand-consumer relationship. The study bridges the above gap by conducting a scoping review followed by thematic analysis of 37 research papers to provide a comprehensive state of existing literature on the effectiveness of emojis in marketing communication and brand-consumer relationships. Drawing from the TCCM (Theory, Concepts, Contexts, and Methodology) framework, it maps the current emoji literature in the marketing discipline and identifies emerging themes and patterns. Our findings contribute to the existing literature by suggesting that emojis foster strong brand-consumer relationships by developing an emotional connection between them, strengthening brand attitudes, enhancing customer engagement, and promoting purchase intention. However, their effectiveness may depend on cultural contexts, consumer demographics, and communication platforms. The study classifies the scope for future research and research questions based on theoretical foundations, concepts, context, and methodological approach. It further provides guidelines to marketers on how brands can use emojis to enhance the effectiveness of their digital communication and build strong relationships with their consumers.

We investigate how belief in a higher power (BHP) leads to a supernatural interpretation of a coincidence between a firm's transgression and a subsequent unrelated loss suffered by the firm, and how this can reduce consumers' punishment intentions. We find that when a coincidence between a firm's transgression and an unrelated loss to the firm is presented, consumers' desire to punish the firm decreases as their BHP strengthens (Studies 1A and 1B). Next, we find that BHP influences consumers to see the coincidence as a meaningful signal that the firm's loss was a form of supernatural punishment, leading to the judgment that the firm has already paid for its wrongdoing (Study 2). Finally, we find support for our overall theoretical model, where (1) high (vs. low) coincidence leads to a heightened judgment that the firm has already paid its dues only for people with strong BHP and (2) that this judgment reduces punishment intentions toward the firm (Study 3). The results also show that other illusory beliefs, such as belief in superstition, do not explain the effect. This research enhances our understanding of consumer reactions to firms that cause harm and why some consumers may engage in more or less punitive behavior in response. Implications for both consumer welfare and marketplace justice are discussed.

Technological innovation is rapidly reshaping both private life and business practice. While scholarly interest in individual technologies such as digital voice assistants, augmented and virtual reality, the metaverse, and digital platforms is increasing, businesses continue to face uncertainty about which innovations to adopt, when to implement them, and for whom they offer the most value. Although strategic frameworks provide initial orientation, critical questions regarding the timing, context, and evaluation of specific tools remain insufficiently explored. This editorial introduces a special issue that addresses these challenges by offering insights into the assessment of technological innovations and their implications for consumer behavior. The contributions in this issue enhance academic understanding and provide practical guidance to support informed and strategic technology adoption. Furthermore, we outline directions for future research to promote more systematic and context-sensitive evaluations of emerging technologies.