Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services最新文献_第2页

From incident to impact: Examining consumer resistance to electric vehicles using event systems theory and risk amplification 从事件到影响：使用事件系统理论和风险放大来检验消费者对电动汽车的抵制

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-12-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104654

Zhenya Tang , Xueyan Dong , Yuxin Tian , Jianliang Hao , Yang Zhou

Consumer resistance remains a persistent barrier to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). This study uses the recent high-profile Xiaomi SU7 fatal crash in China as a contextual catalyst to examine how public incidents shape resistance through risk perception. Integrating event system theory and social risk amplification theory, we investigate how the characteristics of EV-related events, specifically event novelty, disruption, and criticality, affect perceived safety and financial risks. These risks, in turn, contribute to consumer resistance. We find that events perceived as novel, disruptive, or critical significantly heighten both types of perceived risk, ultimately increasing resistance to EV adoption. These findings offer theoretical insights into how external events are associated with psychological barriers and challenge assumptions of stable pro-innovation attitudes. Practically, the study highlights the need for proactive risk communication and reputation management strategies among policymakers, manufacturers, and stakeholders in the sustainable mobility ecosystem.

消费者的抵制仍然是电动汽车广泛采用的持续障碍。本研究以中国最近备受瞩目的b小米SU7致命车祸为背景催化剂，研究公共事件如何通过风险认知塑造阻力。本文结合事件系统理论和社会风险放大理论，探讨了电动汽车相关事件的特征，特别是事件新颖性、破坏性和临界性如何影响感知安全和金融风险。这些风险反过来又助长了消费者的抵触情绪。我们发现，被认为是新颖的、破坏性的或关键的事件显著增加了这两种感知风险，最终增加了对电动汽车采用的抵制。这些发现为外部事件如何与心理障碍相关联提供了理论见解，并挑战了稳定的支持创新态度的假设。实际上，该研究强调了在可持续移动生态系统中，决策者、制造商和利益相关者之间需要积极主动的风险沟通和声誉管理策略。

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引用次数: 0

The positive effects of warning labels: Evidence from healthy food consumption 警告标签的积极作用：来自健康食品消费的证据

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-12-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104614

Hanxi Li , Sha Zhang , Xia Liu , Hong Zhao

Warning labels have traditionally been associated with unhealthy products such as tobacco or alcohol. However, warning labels have also begun to appear on healthy foods, which featured a message prompting consumers to “buy it only when you really, really need it.” To date, few studies have examined the impact of warning labels on healthy foods. Through five experiments, this study unexpectedly reveals that such labels can increase the consumption of healthy foods, as they enhance the epistemic trust and decrease the advertising avoidance of the brand. Specifically, injunctive warning labels exert a stronger positive impact on purchase intentions than descriptive warning labels, and both outperform the absence of any warning label. Notably, when consumers exhibit high levels of health anxiety, the positive effect of warning labels on purchase intentions is weakened or even disappears. This study enriches the marketing label literature by revealing the counterintuitive effect of warning labels in enhancing trust in the information source and consumer response in the context of healthy foods, offering important implications for businesses.

传统上，警告标签与烟草或酒精等不健康产品联系在一起。然而，警告标签也开始出现在健康食品上，它的特点是提示消费者“只有在你真的、真的需要的时候才买”。迄今为止，很少有研究调查健康食品上警告标签的影响。通过五个实验，本研究意外地发现，这样的标签可以增加健康食品的消费，因为它增强了认知信任，减少了品牌的广告回避。具体来说，禁止性警告标签比描述性警告标签对购买意愿的积极影响更大，两者都比没有任何警告标签的效果好。值得注意的是，当消费者表现出高度的健康焦虑时，警告标签对购买意愿的积极作用减弱甚至消失。本研究通过揭示警告标签在健康食品背景下增强对信息源的信任和消费者反应的反直觉效应，丰富了营销标签文献，为企业提供了重要的启示。

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引用次数: 0

Time tells all: The impact of long-term brand activism on brand loyalty and hypocrisy perceptions 时间证明一切：长期品牌行动主义对品牌忠诚度和伪善认知的影响

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-12-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104659

Xia Jiang , Hanzhang Chen , Xinghong Qin , Xi Lei

As consumers increasingly expect brands to take public stances on sociopolitical issues, brand activism has emerged as a key marketing strategy. However, it is a double-edged sword: while it can improve consumer attitudes, it may also provoke skepticism when brand motives are perceived as inauthentic. This study investigates how the duration of brand activism (long-term vs. short-term) influences brand loyalty. Across four experimental studies conducted in two distinct markets, China and the United States, we find that long-term activism significantly enhances brand loyalty compared to short-term efforts. This effect is mediated by a reduction in perceived brand hypocrite; consumers view sustained commitment as less hypocritical, which in turn fosters loyalty. This core relationship proves robust across different cultural contexts and levels of issue controversy. Finally, this research identifies brand reputation as a key boundary condition: the positive effect of sustained activism on loyalty is significantly more pronounced for low-reputation brands. This study offers meaningful contributions to theory and practice, providing valuable guidance for retailers and brand managers seeking to develop authentic, long-term strategies to build lasting consumer loyalty.

随着消费者越来越期望品牌在社会政治问题上采取公开立场，品牌行动主义已成为一种关键的营销策略。然而，这是一把双刃剑：虽然它可以改善消费者的态度，但当品牌动机被认为是不真实的时候，它也可能引发怀疑。本研究探讨品牌行动主义持续时间（长期与短期）对品牌忠诚度的影响。在中国和美国这两个不同的市场进行的四项实验研究中，我们发现，与短期努力相比，长期行动主义显著提高了品牌忠诚度。这种效应是通过减少感知品牌伪君子来中介的；消费者认为持续的承诺不那么虚伪，这反过来又培养了忠诚度。事实证明，这种核心关系在不同的文化背景和不同程度的问题争议中都很牢固。最后，本研究确定品牌声誉是一个关键的边界条件：持续行动主义对忠诚度的积极影响在低声誉品牌中更为明显。本研究对理论和实践都有重要的贡献，为零售商和品牌管理者寻求制定真实的、长期的战略来建立持久的消费者忠诚度提供了有价值的指导。

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引用次数: 0

Emojis as catalysts: How AI agents leverage emojis to enhance customer engagement across the pre-core and core service stages 作为催化剂的表情符号：人工智能代理如何利用表情符号在前核心和核心服务阶段提高客户参与度

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-12-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104635

Lijuan Luo , Kang Wang , Yujie Zheng

Emojis, crucial nonverbal emotional cues, have gained scholarly attention in AI service marketing. However, existing research lacks a holistic investigation into the impact of emoji usage by AI from cross-stage perspectives. This study employs Emotions as Social Information (EASI) theory as the theoretical framework. We conducted three online experiments set in an OTA (Online Travel Agency) context. Study 1 (n = 264) adopted a 2 (Emoji usage by AI: yes vs. no) × 2 (Service stage: pre-core vs. core) between-subjects design. The results revealed that the use of emojis by AI service agents attracted customers' interest during the pre-core stage and enhanced customers' continuous usage intention in the core stage. Study 2A (n = 133) and Study 2B (n = 136) separate the pre-core stage and core stage to validate the mediating pathways of emoji effects. The results revealed that emoji usage by AI primarily functions through the affective pathway in the pre-core stage (i.e., evoking customers' pleasure emotions). In contrast, in the core stage, it primarily functions through the inferential process (i.e., triggering customers' social presence inferences about AI). These insights advance research on the benefits of emojis in AI services, offering implications for optimizing human-AI interaction experiences during the customer journey.

表情符号是一种重要的非语言情感线索，在人工智能服务营销中引起了学术界的关注。然而，现有的研究缺乏从跨阶段的角度对人工智能使用表情符号的影响进行全面调查。本研究以情绪作为社会信息（EASI）理论为理论框架。我们在OTA（在线旅行社）环境下进行了三个在线实验。研究1 （n = 264）采用了2（人工智能使用表情符号：是vs否）x2（服务阶段：前核心vs核心）的受试者间设计。结果表明，人工智能服务座席使用表情符号在预核心阶段吸引了客户的兴趣，并增强了客户在核心阶段的持续使用意愿。研究2A （n = 133）和研究2B （n = 136）将前核心阶段和核心阶段分开，验证表情符号效应的中介途径。结果表明，人工智能使用表情符号主要通过前核心阶段的情感途径（即唤起客户的愉悦情绪）发挥作用。相比之下，在核心阶段，它主要通过推理过程（即触发客户对AI的社会存在推理）发挥作用。这些见解推动了对表情符号在人工智能服务中的好处的研究，为优化客户旅程中人类与人工智能的交互体验提供了启示。

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引用次数: 0

Outsourcing choice: AI voice assistants as shopping surrogates 外包选择：人工智能语音助手作为购物代理

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-11-30 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104657

Linlin Mo , Sean Sands , Civilai Leckie

AI voice assistants have become central to consumer shopping experiences, particularly within the growing field of voice commerce. As these technologies evolve, they have increasingly assumed the role of surrogate shoppers, sometimes even replacing human intermediaries. Yet our understanding of how an AI voice assistant functions in this surrogate capacity remains limited. This study investigates the role of AI voice assistants as surrogate shoppers, using uses and gratifications theory to examine how two key attributes, namely value provision and time efficiency, shape consumer satisfaction and reuse intentions through perceived benefits. Purchase involvement is proposed as a critical boundary condition that influences how these attributes affect consumers’ perceptions. Using survey data from 395 US consumers with experience using AI voice assistants for shopping, the findings reveal that utilitarian benefits mediate the effects of value provision and time efficiency on satisfaction and reuse intentions, while social benefits mediate only the link between value provision and satisfaction. The impact of time efficiency on utilitarian benefits is stronger for high-involvement purchases, whereas the effect of value provision on utilitarian benefits is stronger for low-involvement purchases. This research extends the uses and gratifications theory, surrogate shopping theory, resource scarcity theory, and involvement theory by demonstrating their relevance to AI-enabled shopping contexts and offers practical guidance for designing more effective voice shopping interfaces and solutions.

人工智能语音助手已经成为消费者购物体验的核心，尤其是在不断发展的语音商务领域。随着这些技术的发展，它们越来越多地扮演了代理购物者的角色，有时甚至取代了人类中介。然而，我们对人工智能语音助手如何在这种替代能力中发挥作用的理解仍然有限。本研究调查了人工智能语音助手作为替代购物者的作用，使用使用和满足理论来研究两个关键属性，即价值提供和时间效率，如何通过感知利益塑造消费者满意度和重用意图。购买参与被认为是影响这些属性如何影响消费者感知的关键边界条件。通过对395名有使用人工智能语音助手购物经验的美国消费者的调查数据，研究结果显示，功利效益调节了价值提供和时间效率对满意度和重用意图的影响，而社会效益仅调节了价值提供和满意度之间的联系。时间效率对功利效益的影响在高介入购买中更强，而价值提供对功利效益的影响在低介入购买中更强。本研究扩展了使用和满足理论、替代购物理论、资源稀缺理论和参与理论，展示了它们与人工智能支持的购物环境的相关性，并为设计更有效的语音购物界面和解决方案提供了实践指导。

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引用次数: 0

Who decides: The consumer or the retailer? An LLM-assisted Bayesian framework for modeling purchase decisions with retailer influence 谁来决定：消费者还是零售商？考虑零售商影响的购买决策建模的Bayesian框架

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-11-29 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104645

Xiexin Liu , Xinwei Chen

Retailers face growing pressure to personalize promotions, manage assortments, and improve returns on marketing investments while coping with heterogeneous and dynamic consumer behavior. This study develops a hierarchical Bayesian mixture model that uncovers household shopping segments from large-scale transaction data and enhances interpretability by incorporating product-level covariates (price, discounts, and popularity). To bridge the gap between statistical rigor and managerial usability, we complement model outputs with large language model–based summaries, enabling segments to be translated into intuitive shopper profiles. We evaluate the framework on the Dunnhumby Complete Journey dataset and validate results through predictive performance, robustness checks, semantic coherence, and causal inference using propensity score matching. Causal validation shows that these profiles differ systematically in price sensitivity, with wellness-oriented households responding less to discounts than staple-driven shoppers. Benchmarking against baseline recommenders further demonstrates the trade-off between predictive precision and personalization diversity. The study contributes to research on consumer segmentation, retail analytics, and recommender systems, and offers actionable insights for managers navigating competitive, data-rich environments.

零售商面临着越来越大的压力，他们需要个性化促销、管理分类、提高营销投资回报，同时还要应对异质性和动态的消费者行为。本研究开发了一个层次贝叶斯混合模型，从大规模交易数据中揭示家庭购物细分，并通过纳入产品层面的协变量（价格、折扣和受欢迎程度）来增强可解释性。为了弥合统计严谨性和管理可用性之间的差距，我们用基于大型语言模型的摘要来补充模型输出，使片段能够转换为直观的购物者概况。我们在Dunnhumby Complete Journey数据集上评估了框架，并通过预测性能、鲁棒性检查、语义一致性和使用倾向评分匹配的因果推理来验证结果。因果验证表明，这些特征在价格敏感性方面存在系统性差异，以健康为导向的家庭对折扣的反应低于以主食为导向的购物者。对基线推荐进行基准测试进一步证明了预测精度和个性化多样性之间的权衡。该研究为消费者细分、零售分析和推荐系统的研究做出了贡献，并为管理人员在竞争激烈、数据丰富的环境中导航提供了可操作的见解。

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引用次数: 0

Return fees in online retailing - Psychological mechanisms across fee designs and product categories 在线零售中的退货费——跨费用设计和产品类别的心理机制

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-11-29 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104652

Kathrin Mayr , Sarah Amsl , Teresa Schwendtner , Herbert Kotzab , Christoph Teller

Product returns, particularly in the fashion industry, are rising rapidly, costing billions annually. While research highlights the role of return fees in managing returns, it lacks guidance on setting fee types and levels aligned with psychological mechanisms, product categories, and effective communication strategies. To address these gaps, we examine the effects of return fees on unfairness perceptions, purchase likelihood, and return behaviour, incorporating theories of justice sensitivity, regret aversion, loss aversion, and mental accounting. Using a mixed-method approach with 1,083 western European customers and scenario-based experiments involving 812 participants, our findings reveal direct links between return fees, purchase and return likelihood, mediated by unfairness perceptions. We also identify variations in fee impacts across fast and luxury fashion products, influenced by retailers’ sustainability perceptions. Our study advances retailing research in the industry by suggesting strategic managerial implications for tailoring optimized return policies.

产品退货，特别是在时尚行业，正在迅速上升，每年花费数十亿美元。虽然研究强调了退货费在管理退货中的作用，但缺乏与心理机制、产品类别和有效沟通策略相一致的收费类型和水平的指导。为了解决这些差距，我们结合公正敏感性、后悔厌恶、损失厌恶和心理会计理论，研究了退货费对不公平感知、购买可能性和退货行为的影响。通过对1083名西欧客户的混合方法和涉及812名参与者的基于场景的实验，我们的研究结果揭示了退货费用、购买和退货可能性之间的直接联系，这是由不公平观念介导的。我们还确定了受零售商可持续性观念影响的快速时尚和奢侈时尚产品的费用影响差异。我们的研究通过提出定制优化退货政策的战略管理含义，推动了零售业的研究。

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引用次数: 0

When the future feels long: How future time perspective shapes upgrade intentions through the lens of self-improvement 当未来感觉漫长：未来时间视角如何通过自我提升的视角塑造升级意图

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-11-29 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104653

Xuan Gong , Amar Razzaq

Prior research has largely focused on product features in explaining upgrade decisions. Shifting to a consumer-centric lens, this study investigates how future time perspective (FTP), the subjective perception of one's future as expansive or limited, shapes upgrade intentions in real-world retail contexts (e.g., smartphone trade-ins, tablet PC subscriptions, and automotive upgrades). Across five studies (total N = 1578; Chinese adults), including one experiment-based survey (Study 1) and four online experiments (Studies 2–5), we find that, in general, consumers with an expansive FTP exhibit higher upgrade intention than those with a limited FTP (

η^{2}

= 0.04–0.06, all p < 0.001). This effect is mediated by self-improvement focus: expansive FTP leads consumers to view upgrades as symbolic steps toward their future selves. Crucially, the effect is moderated by implicit self-theory, emerging only among individuals with an incremental (vs. entity) view of the self. Theoretically, this study advances consumer upgrade theory by reframing upgrades through self-extension, extending socioemotional selectivity theory to consumption, and integrating implicit self-theory as a cognitive boundary condition. Practically, we propose a “temporal retailing” framework, enabling firms to ethically enhance upgrade adoption without relying on price discounts or hardware overhauls.

先前的研究主要集中在解释升级决策的产品特性上。本研究转向以消费者为中心的视角，研究了未来时间视角（FTP），即个人对未来的主观感知是广阔的还是有限的，如何在现实零售环境中塑造升级意图（例如，智能手机换旧换新、平板电脑订阅和汽车升级）。通过五项研究（共1578名中国成年人），包括一项基于实验的调查（研究1）和四项在线实验（研究2-5），我们发现，总体而言，具有扩展FTP的消费者比具有限制FTP的消费者表现出更高的升级意愿（η2 = 0.04-0.06，均p <； 0.001）。这种效应是由自我完善的焦点所调节的：膨胀的FTP使消费者将升级视为迈向未来自我的象征性步骤。至关重要的是，内隐自我理论缓和了这种效应，它只出现在具有增量自我观（相对于实体自我观）的个体中。在理论层面，本研究通过自我延伸重构升级理论，将社会情绪选择理论扩展到消费，并将内隐自我理论作为认知边界条件，进一步推进消费者升级理论。实际上，我们提出了一个“临时零售”框架，使企业能够在不依赖价格折扣或硬件大修的情况下合乎道德地提高升级采用。

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引用次数: 0

Designing the fitverse: How vividness, interactivity, and presence drive metaverse fitness engagement 设计虚拟世界：生动性、互动性和存在感如何推动虚拟世界健身参与

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-11-29 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104656

Aparnita Saha , Dharun Kasilingam , Daniel Inbaraj Jublee

This paper examines how immersive design and social features in metaverse fitness services enhance user engagement, intention to use, and sustained participation. We combine Norman's System Design Theory, the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework, and Flow Theory, to examine how the immersive design and social architecture of metaverse fitness applications shape user experiences. A sequential mixed-methods approach comprising 42 interviews with fitness-oriented users followed by a large U.S. survey (N = 819) analyzed with PLS-SEM and full reliability/validity checks produces consistent findings. We find that rich sensory design enhances focused absorption and task engagement with metaverse fitness services. Community-focused features strongly boost emotion and persistence, with these effects depending on users' fitness involvement, showing when to prioritize immersion versus social connection. We integrate design, presence, and flow to explain behavior in immersive services beyond entertainment, and extend metaverse research into health-focused retail. The results advise managers to enhance sensory features to sharpen focus, add social elements to sustain motivation, and adjust the mix based on user involvement. Applying these design principles can boost user retention, maintain engagement, and increase lifetime value, turning metaverse fitness into an effective health-promoting experience.

本文探讨了虚拟健身服务中的沉浸式设计和社交功能如何增强用户参与度、使用意图和持续参与。我们将诺曼的系统设计理论、刺激-有机体-反应框架和心流理论结合起来，研究虚拟健身应用的沉浸式设计和社交架构如何塑造用户体验。连续混合方法方法包括42个以健身为导向的用户访谈，随后是一项大型美国调查（N = 819），使用PLS-SEM和完整的信度/效度检查进行分析，得出一致的结果。我们发现丰富的感官设计增强了虚拟健身服务的注意力吸收和任务参与。以社区为中心的功能强烈地提升了用户的情感和持久性，这些效果取决于用户的健身参与程度，表明何时优先考虑沉浸感和社交联系。我们将设计、存在感和流程整合在一起，以解释娱乐之外的沉浸式服务中的行为，并将虚拟世界研究扩展到以健康为重点的零售领域。研究结果建议管理者增强感官特征以提高注意力，增加社交元素以维持动机，并根据用户参与调整组合。应用这些设计原则可以提高用户留存率，保持用户粘性，增加终身价值，将虚拟健身转变为有效的健康促进体验。

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引用次数: 0

Demystifying how emotional and cognitive resonance to AI-driven content consistency sparks customer engagement and impulse buying in short-video E-commerce 揭示人工智能驱动的内容一致性的情感和认知共鸣如何在短视频电子商务中激发客户参与度和冲动购买

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2025-11-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104646

Thuy Do Xuan Nguyen , Khoi Minh Nguyen

This study is the first to integrate the association of three dimensions of AI-based content recommendation's consistency (information, image and presence) and customer engagement including learning, sharing, socializing, advocacy and co-developing in short-video platforms. Drawing on Cue Consistency Theory, Resonance Theory, and SOR model, the study investigates how these consistency factors influence customer engagement and impulse buying through emotional and cognitive resonance, with the focus on the moderating roles of perceived serendipity and platform stickiness. A total of 679 responses were collected in Vietnam, and the data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results reveal that presence consistency positively influences emotional resonance, while information and image consistency positively impact cognitive resonance. Moreover, cognitive resonance is positively associated with impulse buying, and platform stickiness moderates the relationship between emotional resonance and customer engagement. Theoretically, this study extends cue consistency theory to AI-based recommendation contexts by incorporating emotional and cognitive resonance into a unified model. Managerially, the findings offer actionable insights for platform developers, marketers, content creators, and e-commerce sellers to fine-tune recommendation algorithm, improve their content strategies and ultimately foster stronger user experience and enhance conversion rate in an increasingly competitive digital market.

本研究首次整合了短视频平台中基于人工智能的内容推荐一致性（信息、形象、存在）三个维度与客户参与度的关联，包括学习、分享、社交、倡导、共同发展。利用线索一致性理论、共鸣理论和SOR模型，本研究探讨了这些一致性因素如何通过情感和认知共鸣影响客户参与和冲动购买，重点研究了感知意外发现和平台粘性的调节作用。在越南共收集了679份回复，并使用PLS-SEM对数据进行了分析。结果表明，存在一致性正向影响情感共鸣，而信息一致性和形象一致性正向影响认知共鸣。此外，认知共鸣与冲动购买呈正相关，平台粘性调节情感共鸣与客户参与的关系。理论上，本研究将线索一致性理论扩展到基于人工智能的推荐情境中，将情感和认知共振整合到一个统一的模型中。在管理方面，这些发现为平台开发者、营销人员、内容创作者和电子商务卖家提供了可操作的见解，以微调推荐算法，改进他们的内容策略，最终在竞争日益激烈的数字市场中培养更强的用户体验，提高转化率。

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引用次数: 0