International Journal of Consumer Studies最新文献

Scholarly research on virtual reality (VR) is characterized by a dynamic tension between VR's potential and the challenges impeding its adoption. Grounded in a mixed-methods systematic review, this research examines the drivers influencing consumer VR adoption by rigorously combining qualitative and quantitative analyses of 158 scholarly articles ranging from 1996 to 2023. Based on an extensive analysis of VR adoption literature, we introduce the Virtual Reality Integrated Adoption Framework (VRIAF), which is the first mixed-methods systematic review focusing exclusively on VR adoption. This empirically substantiated model integrates key determinants of VR adoption such as consumer attitudes, perceived enjoyment, ease of use, social influences, and previous user experiences. The research identifies four pivotal themes through qualitative exploration, further elucidated by quantitative meta-analyses and weight analyses. These themes encompass the user experience in VR environments, the role of VR in construction and design, the immersive attributes of VR technologies, and the ongoing technological advancements influencing adoption patterns. This research contributes significantly to the theoretical understanding of VR adoption and provides practical insights for VR professionals. By delineating future research directions, the study bridges the gap between theoretical exploration and practical application, offering a valuable resource for both scholars and practitioners in the field of VR.

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly using social media as a communication platform to promote their charitable marketing efforts. The purpose of our research is to investigate how NPOs can enhance message effectiveness by utilizing a social media influencer and different product benefit appeals (utilitarian vs. hedonic) in their social media posts to enhance attitudes toward the donation campaign and word-of-mouth (WOM) intention, leading to higher donation behavior. Across two experimental studies, we show that an NPO's donation post (i.e., social media post promoting a donation campaign) is evaluated more favorably when paired with a hedonic benefit appeal, while an influencer's donation post is more favorable when paired with a utilitarian benefit appeal. Further, we find that the effects of source and product benefit appeal types on donation behavior are serially mediated by attitude toward the donation campaign and WOM intention. As the use of influencers is becoming increasingly popular to support fundraising and charitable causes, our findings provide timely implications for researchers and practitioners who are interested in optimizing NPO communication strategies in the digital landscape.

Though social media is considered to enhance environmentally conscious behaviour, there has not been sufficient investigation on the effects of specific affordances pertaining to green social networks (GSN). Also, the mechanism by which these affordances affect pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) has not been explored in depth. Addressing these research gaps, this study first introduces three context-specific GSN affordances, such as green self-identification, green broadcasting, and green social endorsement. Further, drawing inspiration from social influence theory and the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, the study put forth a novel framework that explains the varying effects of the conceptualized GSN affordances on PEB through the mediating mechanism of collective intention. The framework also indicates perceived informational and emotional values as moderators that accentuate the indirect influence of GSN affordances on PEB. Adopting a time-lagged multi-wave online survey design, 314 valid responses were obtained. The results of the moderated mediation analysis reveal that: (1) collective intention partially mediates the relationships between green broadcasting and PEB, and between green social endorsement and PEB; (2) collective intention fully mediates the relationship between green self-identification and PEB. Further, the indirect effect of green self-identification on PEB is positively moderated by emotional values and not moderated by informational values. Interestingly, the indirect effects of green broadcasting and green social endorsement on PEB are positively moderated by both informational and emotional values. These findings offer significant implications for researchers and practitioners who look out for online communities to promote actual PEB.

Literature reviews summarize existing literature, uncover research gaps, and offer future research directions, thus aiding in theoretical and methodological development. Informetric research including bibliometric, scientometric, webometric, cybermetric, patentometric, and altmetric methods are becoming increasingly prevalent in conducting literature review studies. Looking at the common informetric literature review methods—citation, co-citation, co-author, bibliographic coupling, and content co-occurrence analyses, this study aims to serve as a guide in using content co-occurrence also known as co-word analysis to conduct literature reviews. This study outlines a variety of informetric research methods and how they are utilized to conduct review and evidence-based conceptual studies. In addition to the analyses, the study highlights different informetric software packages like Bibliometrix, Biblioshiny, Leximancer, NVivo, and CiteSpace including their comparison. The study further discusses contributions of algorithm-based content analyses including offering taxonomies, definitions, classifications, typologies, comparisons, and theoretical development to constitute integrative literature reviews. Finally, this study offers step-by-step guidelines for conducting a review study using VOSviewer content co-occurrence analysis while providing a systems view of informetric research in social science. The study also notes the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) like Open AI's ChatGPT, Google's Bard, Elicit, Scite, Research Rabbit, and ChatPDF among others, and its potential in contributing to the literature review methods and, as such, being an interesting direction for future research.

Sustainable fashion is becoming increasingly integrated in today's society. However, the use of the term “eco” in fashion branding may evoke negative consumer perceptions, especially in terms of the perceived fashionability of clothing items. Hence, this study investigates consumer responses to environmental versus social sustainability cues used by an online fashion shop. In particular, the moderating influence of basic versus modern fashion style is examined, considering the idea that fashion style is central to consumers' brand evaluations. Using a 2 (environmental vs. social sustainability cue) × 2 (timeless basic vs. modern fashion style) between-subjects factorial design, this study explored the effectiveness of sustainability cues on fashion brand value perceptions (emotional, social, and functional value) and brand attitudes. Among the 358 respondents, the results indicate more positive brand attitudes when fashion items are presented with an environmental (vs. social) sustainability cue. In particular, this effect is stronger for the timeless basic (vs. modern trend-based) fashion style. Yet, a cue referring to environmental sustainability increases social brand values for the modern fashion style. This study offers valuable contributions to the sustainable fashion literature and recommendations for online fashion retailers.

The experiences, habits, and practices that occur post-purchase within the clothing use phase have an impact on clothing's longevity, a linchpin in sustainable clothing consumption. Though it represents one of the most carbon-intensive and polluting phases of consumption, a clear definition of sustainable clothing use practice and how it functionally contributes to sustainable consumption is currently underdeveloped. Consumer behavior researchers have most significantly illuminated sustainable clothing purchase and disposal behaviors, leaving an understanding of post-purchase habits that emerge in everyday clothing use incomplete and fragmented. Through a systematic literature review of 77 articles published from 1991 to January 2022, this study provides a holistic view of this domain of sustainable clothing use that highlights three dimensions (wear, care, repair) alongside the associated habits of mind and domestic management that constitute a system of use practice. The themes that emerged within the review are utilized to develop a framework and an agenda for future research in this important domain of consumer behavior.

Feedback mechanisms, such as customer reviews and ratings, are essential for making informed decisions on online platforms, particularly in the presence of asymmetric information. However, the practice of reward-based reviews is on the rise in online platforms, where sellers incentivise buyers to give biased feedback (e.g., 5-star ratings) regardless of the quality of the products. This study intends to determine whether financial incentives motivate people to award dishonest ratings and explore the moral heuristics underlying this motivation. Using a hypothetical purchase scenario, responses were elicited from 411 participants and the Philosophical Moral Framework Measure (PMFM) was used to identify the moral frameworks that underlie the reported self-interested behaviour. The findings reveal that the likelihood of giving fake reviews increases with an increase in financial incentives. The dominant moral framework of those who accepted the cashback offer is utilitarianism and egoism, whereas those who declined the offer primarily have deontology and virtue theory as dominant frameworks. The results also indicate that men and young individuals are more likely to give dishonest feedback. These findings not only advance the understanding of the interplay between financial incentives and self-interested behaviour but also aid in identifying the moral frameworks underlying self-interested behaviour.

Across two experimental studies, this research puts forward the concept of avatars' self-representation and regulatory message framing to discover psychological involvement and masstige value in retail and tourism platforms, demonstrating how avatar self-representation and message framing can potentially indicate Metaverse psychological involvement in the Metaverse. The proteus effect was applied to study avatar falsity. The promotion/prevention regulatory focus theory was employed to examine the effect of message framing in hypothetical retail and tourism platforms in Study 1 (n = 846). Further determinants of masstige value were captured using the masstige theory. In parallel with Study 1, Study 2 (n = 817) adopted real-world examples of the Metaverse—Gucci Vault Plaza (Retail) and Baidu Xi Rang (Tourism) to equally examine the effect of users' psychological involvement on Metaverse involvement via masstige value. Respondents were allocated to either a self-promotion or self-verification avatar condition. The results demonstrated significant downstream effects of these specific self-promotion and self-verification categories, thereby contributing to an important conceptual subdimension in the measurement and understanding of online self-perception within the context of avatars. When participants imagined using a self-verification avatar in the prevention-focused message condition, significant effects were observed. Further, a Metaverse platform is a critical factor that affects masstige. Exploring the masstige value at the Metaverse demonstrates the relationship between self-enhancement and masstige desire for luxury that underscores Metaverse involvement. The research presented a critical insight into the carryover effects of self-representation of avatars that can establish a new form of meta-interaction. This research provides insights into technology in virtual retail and tourism Metaverse applications to provide users with more psychologically authentic solutions within the Metaverse.

Creating shared value (CSV) literature has heralded enterprises generating economic benefit while simultaneously adding value to society. Existing research predominantly employs the case study method to show that enterprises adopting CSV strategies have achieved commercial success. However, empirical investigations are still rarely undertaken to examine the effect of CSV on consumers. This study argues that a shared value proposition generates consumer engagement (CE) and fosters in customers a sense of brand community. To this end, a moderated mediation model is constructed to delineate the relationship between shared value proposition, sense of brand community, and brand engagement. The empirical results show that a shared value proposition has a positive impact on brand engagement, which is fully mediated by consumers' sense of brand community. The study also discovered that consumers' self-construal does not moderate the relationship between shared value proposition and sense of brand community. We hope our study and the evidence it provides help to shed more lights on the understanding and impact of CSV and to support the application of CSV strategy in enterprise.

The quality and choices of food contribute significantly to human well-being and support the development of healthy communities worldwide. Despite being the world's largest vegetarian nation, India predominantly follows lacto-vegetarianism, allowing dairy consumption and creating a distinct dietary landscape shaped by influences from religious, social, and cultural beliefs. This complexity, where dairy and cultural-religious factors play pivotal roles, makes India a compelling and unique case for understanding the intricacies of adopting vegan dietary preferences. In the present study, an integrated model derived from the health belief model (HBM), the value attitude behavior (VAB) model, and social stigma was adopted as the theoretical framework. The study analyses the interactive effect of perceived benefits, barriers, environmental beliefs, health beliefs, and anti-speciesism values, with the novel inclusion of social stigma as an independent variable affecting attitudes and intentions toward adopting a vegan diet. To achieve its objective, the study employed a quantitative methodology, recording consumers' responses through a structured questionnaire. The analysis encompassed 504 valid responses from Indian consumers from diverse backgrounds and varied locations. The result unveiled several noteworthy and unique trends. It was found that perceived benefits had a positive impact, while perceived barriers had a negative impact on the health beliefs associated with a vegan diet. Environmental beliefs, health beliefs, and anti-speciesism values exhibited a positive influence on individuals' attitudes toward adopting a vegan diet. Conversely, social stigma had a negative impact on attitudes toward a vegan diet. Attitude emerged as a pivotal mediator, connecting the social stigma to the vegan diet adoption behavior. The findings of the study offer valuable insights for policymakers, manufacturers, and marketers seeking to encourage the adoption of vegan diets in countries with predominantly vegetarian populations. Additionally, the study puts forth actionable strategies, outlined as implications to promote the widespread adoption of the vegan diet.