Pub Date : 2026-01-05DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104719
Xuan Nie , Li Zhou
With the advancement of digital avatar technology, avatars are increasingly being used in online consultations to enhance medical service efficiency. While previous studies have extensively explored the positive effects of an avatar's form realism, it remains unclear whether a high degree of realism can promote patients' intention to disclose privacy, particularly in sensitive medical contexts. Drawing on media richness theory and evaluation apprehension theory, this study investigates the double-edged effect of a doctor avatar's form realism on a patient's intention to disclose privacy. Through a pretest and three experiments, our results indicate that while high form realism enhances a patient's disclosure intention via improved communication quality, it also simultaneously weakens this intention by heightening evaluation apprehension. Furthermore, we find that this dual effect is moderated by the consultation stage (pre-consultation vs. formal consultation) and the avatar's controlling entity (AI vs. human). This study deepens the understanding of avatar realism's complex impact and offers practical insights for the design and deployment of digital avatar technology in online healthcare platforms.
{"title":"The effect of the form realism of avatars on users’ intention to disclose privacy in online consultation context","authors":"Xuan Nie , Li Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104719","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104719","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the advancement of digital avatar technology, avatars are increasingly being used in online consultations to enhance medical service efficiency. While previous studies have extensively explored the positive effects of an avatar's form realism, it remains unclear whether a high degree of realism can promote patients' intention to disclose privacy, particularly in sensitive medical contexts. Drawing on media richness theory and evaluation apprehension theory, this study investigates the double-edged effect of a doctor avatar's form realism on a patient's intention to disclose privacy. Through a pretest and three experiments, our results indicate that while high form realism enhances a patient's disclosure intention via improved communication quality, it also simultaneously weakens this intention by heightening evaluation apprehension. Furthermore, we find that this dual effect is moderated by the consultation stage (pre-consultation vs. formal consultation) and the avatar's controlling entity (AI vs. human). This study deepens the understanding of avatar realism's complex impact and offers practical insights for the design and deployment of digital avatar technology in online healthcare platforms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104719"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145925662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-03DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104712
Xiao Sun, Jing-peng Li
Brands increasingly leverage podcast hosts to drive consumer advocacy, yet the process by which parasocial relationships (PSRs) influence brand advocacy remains underexplored. This study proposes a moderated mediation model where parasocial relationship strength enhances emotional investment in a host's recommendation, which in turn promotes brand advocacy. Through four online experiments, we manipulated relational closeness and found that stronger PSRs consistently increased intentions to recommend, defend, and promote the endorsed brand. Emotional investment fully mediated this effect, while five alternative cognitive pathways were non-significant. Additionally, two moderators emerged: the effect was amplified for listeners with high social connection needs and was stronger for high-involvement products. These findings reveal the emotional mechanism that drives parasocial influence and offer insights for marketers on crafting intimate host interactions and aligning with high-involvement products to maximize advocacy.
{"title":"Parasocial bonds drive brand connection: How listener-host parasocial relationships enhance brand advocacy through emotional investment","authors":"Xiao Sun, Jing-peng Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104712","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104712","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Brands increasingly leverage podcast hosts to drive consumer advocacy, yet the process by which parasocial relationships (PSRs) influence brand advocacy remains underexplored. This study proposes a moderated mediation model where parasocial relationship strength enhances emotional investment in a host's recommendation, which in turn promotes brand advocacy. Through four online experiments, we manipulated relational closeness and found that stronger PSRs consistently increased intentions to recommend, defend, and promote the endorsed brand. Emotional investment fully mediated this effect, while five alternative cognitive pathways were non-significant. Additionally, two moderators emerged: the effect was amplified for listeners with high social connection needs and was stronger for high-involvement products. These findings reveal the emotional mechanism that drives parasocial influence and offer insights for marketers on crafting intimate host interactions and aligning with high-involvement products to maximize advocacy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104712"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145925587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-03DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104711
Vivek Pant, Rajan Yadav, Mohit Beniwal
Augmented reality (AR) applications for cosmetics will likely change women's lives more than any other technology. While AR is being rapidly adopted, current studies on AR are almost exclusively cross-sectional, focusing on traditional variables of technology acceptance that do not adequately address the extent to which experiential and contextual factors contribute to sustaining engagement. This longitudinal study fills the gap in trait research data by integrating the S-O-R framework with the Technology Acceptance Model and incorporating two new constructs: perceived haptic realism and environmental anchoring, to assess their effects on and influence on consumer behavior over time. The study tracked 342 participants at Wave 1 (March 1 - May 26) and 310 participants at Wave 2 (June 10 – July 30) over a period of five months, employing the "cross-lagged panel" method to analyze the longitudinal data. The study observed that perceived ease of use, environmental anchoring, and perceived haptic realism have significant, positive lagged effects on spatial presence. Spatial presence temporally associated with immersion. Immersion and decision-making quality were temporally associated with purchase intention. From a theoretical perspective, the results provide longitudinal evidence for the applicability of S-O-R to AR adoption and expand TAM in establishing the temporal value of experiential cues. From a practical perspective, cosmetic brands should focus on usability, as well as realistic haptic cues and context-anchoring features, to transform immersive engagement into persistent purchase behavior. However, sample attrition and a two-wave, five-month design limit the generalizability and accuracy of temporal effects. Future studies may involve multi-wave studies, including cross-cultural diversity and age, as well as AR-frequency as moderators.
{"title":"Unveiling the longitudinal influence of augmented reality cosmetic applications on female buying behavior: A cross-lagged panel model analysis","authors":"Vivek Pant, Rajan Yadav, Mohit Beniwal","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104711","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104711","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Augmented reality (AR) applications for cosmetics will likely change women's lives more than any other technology. While AR is being rapidly adopted, current studies on AR are almost exclusively cross-sectional, focusing on traditional variables of technology acceptance that do not adequately address the extent to which experiential and contextual factors contribute to sustaining engagement. This longitudinal study fills the gap in trait research data by integrating the S-O-R framework with the Technology Acceptance Model and incorporating two new constructs: perceived haptic realism and environmental anchoring, to assess their effects on and influence on consumer behavior over time. The study tracked 342 participants at Wave 1 (March 1 - May 26) and 310 participants at Wave 2 (June 10 – July 30) over a period of five months, employing the \"cross-lagged panel\" method to analyze the longitudinal data. The study observed that perceived ease of use, environmental anchoring, and perceived haptic realism have significant, positive lagged effects on spatial presence. Spatial presence temporally associated with immersion. Immersion and decision-making quality were temporally associated with purchase intention. From a theoretical perspective, the results provide longitudinal evidence for the applicability of S-O-R to AR adoption and expand TAM in establishing the temporal value of experiential cues. From a practical perspective, cosmetic brands should focus on usability, as well as realistic haptic cues and context-anchoring features, to transform immersive engagement into persistent purchase behavior. However, sample attrition and a two-wave, five-month design limit the generalizability and accuracy of temporal effects. Future studies may involve multi-wave studies, including cross-cultural diversity and age, as well as AR-frequency as moderators.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104711"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145925588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-02DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104710
Eda Telli , Samet Aydin
This study examines the integration of blockchain-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) into loyalty programs and their impact on consumer behaviour. Employing an exploratory mixed-methods approach, this study utilised a survey of 400 participants for hypothesis testing, conducted a conjoint analysis to evaluate consumer preference structures, and carried out in-depth interviews with industry experts to develop an empirically grounded framework for NFT-based loyalty programs. The results showed that consumers perceive NFTs as more than simple digital rewards and value them for their symbolic meaning and ability to foster a sense of social belonging. Moreover, consumer motivations, specifically the need for uniqueness, innovativeness, and displayability of NFTs, emerged as key drivers of their interest. Conjoint analysis further demonstrates that consumers are more drawn to abstract benefits, such as personalisation and artistic value, than to traditional monetary rewards. Overall, this study provides multi-layered empirical evidence that NFTs create emotional, social, and identity-driven value within loyalty programs, offering a novel framework for understanding and designing NFT-based reward systems.
{"title":"NFT in loyalty programs: customer motivation for reward pursuit","authors":"Eda Telli , Samet Aydin","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104710","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104710","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the integration of blockchain-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) into loyalty programs and their impact on consumer behaviour. Employing an exploratory mixed-methods approach, this study utilised a survey of 400 participants for hypothesis testing, conducted a conjoint analysis to evaluate consumer preference structures, and carried out in-depth interviews with industry experts to develop an empirically grounded framework for NFT-based loyalty programs. The results showed that consumers perceive NFTs as more than simple digital rewards and value them for their symbolic meaning and ability to foster a sense of social belonging. Moreover, consumer motivations, specifically the need for uniqueness, innovativeness, and displayability of NFTs, emerged as key drivers of their interest. Conjoint analysis further demonstrates that consumers are more drawn to abstract benefits, such as personalisation and artistic value, than to traditional monetary rewards. Overall, this study provides multi-layered empirical evidence that NFTs create emotional, social, and identity-driven value within loyalty programs, offering a novel framework for understanding and designing NFT-based reward systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104710"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104718
Chi-Yao Peng, Muhammad Dliya'ul Haq
The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into consumer co-creation initiatives is transforming how individuals engage with brands and perceive the value of their collaborative experiences. While prior research has highlighted AI's potential to enhance efficiency and novelty, little is known about how human–AI versus human-only collaboration, when communicated through social media co-creation posts, shapes consumer perceptions and how these perceptions evolve into role identities. Drawing on self-determination theory, service-dominant logic, and role identity perspectives, this study uses a 2 × 2 online experiment (N = 411) in which participants viewed social media-based posts from a fictional sneaker brand that highlighted the co-creation agent cue (Human vs. Human + AI) and interaction orientation (Transactional vs. Relational). We examine how the highlighted co-creation agent cue and interaction orientation in these posts shape perceived digital empowerment and creativity, and how these perceptions translate into willingness to co-create and co-creation role identity. Results from multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) reveal that posts highlighting Human + AI collaboration enhance empowerment and creativity relative to Human-only, with relational framing further amplifying this effect. The results further show that perceived creativity is a stronger driver of willingness to co-create than empowerment. That willingness, in turn, serves as a central mechanism linking these perceptions to a co-creator role identity. Collectively, these findings advance understanding of AI-augmented co-creation by uncovering dual psychological mechanisms and identity pathways, and offer insights for firms on how to design engagement strategies that highlight AI-augmented co-creation to generate participation and strengthen consumer–brand relationships.
{"title":"AI-augmented Co-creation via social media posts and consumer identity formation: The interplay of interaction orientation, empowerment, creativity, and willingness","authors":"Chi-Yao Peng, Muhammad Dliya'ul Haq","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104718","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104718","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into consumer co-creation initiatives is transforming how individuals engage with brands and perceive the value of their collaborative experiences. While prior research has highlighted AI's potential to enhance efficiency and novelty, little is known about how human–AI versus human-only collaboration, when communicated through social media co-creation posts, shapes consumer perceptions and how these perceptions evolve into role identities. Drawing on self-determination theory, service-dominant logic, and role identity perspectives, this study uses a 2 × 2 online experiment (N = 411) in which participants viewed social media-based posts from a fictional sneaker brand that highlighted the co-creation agent cue (Human vs. Human + AI) and interaction orientation (Transactional vs. Relational). We examine how the highlighted co-creation agent cue and interaction orientation in these posts shape perceived digital empowerment and creativity, and how these perceptions translate into willingness to co-create and co-creation role identity. Results from multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) reveal that posts highlighting Human + AI collaboration enhance empowerment and creativity relative to Human-only, with relational framing further amplifying this effect. The results further show that perceived creativity is a stronger driver of willingness to co-create than empowerment. That willingness, in turn, serves as a central mechanism linking these perceptions to a co-creator role identity. Collectively, these findings advance understanding of AI-augmented co-creation by uncovering dual psychological mechanisms and identity pathways, and offer insights for firms on how to design engagement strategies that highlight AI-augmented co-creation to generate participation and strengthen consumer–brand relationships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104718"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 104774"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146211214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104717
Xinran Wang , Huanzhang Wang
Existing research has primarily focused on artificial intelligence (AI) endorsers' attributes such as attractiveness, expertise, and credibility and compared them to human endorsers. However, the current understanding of the AI endorser type is limited. This research investigates how brand-created and public AI endorsers influence consumers’ self-brand connection and brand attitude. Five studies demonstrate that brand-created AI endorsers generate a stronger self-brand connection compared to public AI endorsers through the chain-mediating role of perceived endorser-brand match and parasocial interaction. Consistent with this mechanism, the premium associated with brand-created AI endorsers diminishes when consumers have a high need to belong or the brand assumes a friend-like role due to the reduced disparity in parasocial interaction. Furthermore, we investigate the downstream consequences of brand attitude. These findings enrich the theoretical understanding of AI endorsers and offer practical guidance for marketers in effectively selecting AI endorsers.
{"title":"Brands cannot own a human celebrity but can own an AI endorser: AI endorsers’ role in shaping consumer self-brand connection","authors":"Xinran Wang , Huanzhang Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104717","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104717","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Existing research has primarily focused on artificial intelligence (AI) endorsers' attributes such as attractiveness, expertise, and credibility and compared them to human endorsers. However, the current understanding of the AI endorser type is limited. This research investigates how brand-created and public AI endorsers influence consumers’ self-brand connection and brand attitude. Five studies demonstrate that brand-created AI endorsers generate a stronger self-brand connection compared to public AI endorsers through the chain-mediating role of perceived endorser-brand match and parasocial interaction. Consistent with this mechanism, the premium associated with brand-created AI endorsers diminishes when consumers have a high need to belong or the brand assumes a friend-like role due to the reduced disparity in parasocial interaction. Furthermore, we investigate the downstream consequences of brand attitude. These findings enrich the theoretical understanding of AI endorsers and offer practical guidance for marketers in effectively selecting AI endorsers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104717"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 104752"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146211213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-31DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104715
Zhongpeng Cao, Liben Zhao, Tong Su
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into the service industry. However, AI service failures remain inevitable. Limited attention has been paid to how device ownership influences customers' emotional responses to AI service failures. This study is grounded in attribution theory and social impact theory, examining the impact of device ownership (customer-owned vs. merchant-owned) on customer dissatisfaction in AI service failures, along with its underlying mechanism and boundary conditions. Across four scenario-based experiments, the results demonstrate that customers experience lower dissatisfaction when service failures occur on their own devices rather than merchant-owned ones. This effect is mediated by responsibility attribution, such that using one's own device induces a greater internal attribution of failure. Nevertheless, this attributional process is significantly weakened when the AI is highly anthropomorphized or the service environment is crowded. These findings extend the literature on AI service failure by identifying device ownership as a crucial determinant of customer dissatisfaction, offering practical implications for mitigating negative responses.
{"title":"Does it matter who owns the AI device? Impact of device ownership on customer dissatisfaction in AI service failure","authors":"Zhongpeng Cao, Liben Zhao, Tong Su","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104715","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104715","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into the service industry. However, AI service failures remain inevitable. Limited attention has been paid to how device ownership influences customers' emotional responses to AI service failures. This study is grounded in attribution theory and social impact theory, examining the impact of device ownership (customer-owned vs. merchant-owned) on customer dissatisfaction in AI service failures, along with its underlying mechanism and boundary conditions. Across four scenario-based experiments, the results demonstrate that customers experience lower dissatisfaction when service failures occur on their own devices rather than merchant-owned ones. This effect is mediated by responsibility attribution, such that using one's own device induces a greater internal attribution of failure. Nevertheless, this attributional process is significantly weakened when the AI is highly anthropomorphized or the service environment is crowded. These findings extend the literature on AI service failure by identifying device ownership as a crucial determinant of customer dissatisfaction, offering practical implications for mitigating negative responses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104715"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-30DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104695
Muhammad Naeem
This study examines how consumers co-create luxury brand identity through symbolic interactions on Instagram and how these impact consumer perceptions and brand love. The study addresses a gap in understanding around how e-semiotic processes could be involved in brand co-creation in digital contexts. To achieve this, the study applies a pragmatist philosophy and a mixed-methods approach with four sequential stages. Data collection included in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 participants, 24 participants from six focus groups, content analysis of luxury brands’ Instagram posts, and quantitative testing with a sample of 342 survey respondents. The results highlight that textual and visual utterances on Instagram become antecedents of engagement, prompting e-semiotic interpretations of meanings attached to the luxury brand. These include craft, elegance, sustainability and art. These perceptions, classified as Monarchic Identity, Sophisticated Aura and Prestige Continuum arise from these meanings, and in turn enhance cocreated brand identity and strengthen brand love. The research takes semiotic theory into the digital realm, incorporating co-creation and emotional engagement in the conceptualization of brand identity creation. The qualitative data stemming from interviews, focus groups and a content analysis informed the quantitative construct that was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) for both theoretical soundness and empirical strength. Managerially, it provides takeaways that will enable luxury brands to apply the symbolic affordances of Instagram to create genuine engagement and build stronger consumer-brand ties.
{"title":"Fashion retailing and consumers in the digital age: E-semiotics and the Co-creation of luxury brand narratives on instagram","authors":"Muhammad Naeem","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104695","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104695","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how consumers co-create luxury brand identity through symbolic interactions on Instagram and how these impact consumer perceptions and brand love. The study addresses a gap in understanding around how e-semiotic processes could be involved in brand co-creation in digital contexts. To achieve this, the study applies a pragmatist philosophy and a mixed-methods approach with four sequential stages. Data collection included in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 participants, 24 participants from six focus groups, content analysis of luxury brands’ Instagram posts, and quantitative testing with a sample of 342 survey respondents. The results highlight that textual and visual utterances on Instagram become antecedents of engagement, prompting e-semiotic interpretations of meanings attached to the luxury brand. These include craft, elegance, sustainability and art. These perceptions, classified as Monarchic Identity, Sophisticated Aura and Prestige Continuum arise from these meanings, and in turn enhance cocreated brand identity and strengthen brand love. The research takes semiotic theory into the digital realm, incorporating co-creation and emotional engagement in the conceptualization of brand identity creation. The qualitative data stemming from interviews, focus groups and a content analysis informed the quantitative construct that was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) for both theoretical soundness and empirical strength. Managerially, it provides takeaways that will enable luxury brands to apply the symbolic affordances of Instagram to create genuine engagement and build stronger consumer-brand ties.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 104695"},"PeriodicalIF":13.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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