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Native advertising on social media continues to be a popular ad placement for marketers. With native ad-content relevance in need of further exploration regarding individual differences and social media public sentiment waning, this study set out to test the effects of ad-content relevance of native ads varying by users' pre-existing social networking site (SNS) attitude.

Two experiments were conducted with native ads relevant and irrelevant to the surrounding media content with SNS attitude as a measured moderator and perceived ad importance as the mediator.

Across Instagram and Twitter, SNS attitude moderated the effect of ad relevance on ad responses. Users that had lower SNS attitudes had significantly higher ad ratings that were relevant (vs. irrelevant) to the media content, while those that had higher SNS attitudes did not show differences. The lower SNS attitude individuals showed a greater appreciation for the relevant ads through the mediating effect of perceived importance.

Marketers need to look beyond traditional ad attitude models and craft ad content strategies that consider target audiences' SNS preferences. Layering targeting tactics on Instagram and Twitter such as “interests” and “life events” with demographic targeting could help increase the chances of ad-content relevance. SNSs should advance their ad placement tools and utilize image, speech, and text recognition algorithms to help achieve ad-content relevance for greater ad effectiveness.

This study adds to the literature by identifying SNS attitude as a qualifier of ad-content relevance effect for SNS native ads and uncovering perceived ad importance as the underlying psychological mechanism.

This study aims to examine how culture influences consumer attitudes toward the brands of products they own during a product-harm crisis. To this end, average consumers from two countries - the USA, representing a highly individualistic society and China, a less individualistic (i.e. collectivist) society – are compared.

The study conducts an invariance test of the measurement model for a more rigorous comparison of the two countries. Structural equation modeling is performed to identify how average consumers respond to a product-harm crisis (e.g. iPhone explosion) based on survey results of 188 American and 197 Chinese consumers.

These results reveal that in both countries, an individual’s susceptibility to a normative interpersonal influence determines their brand consciousness, which, in turn, enhances consumer attachment to well-known brands, resulting in favorable brand attitudes. During a brand crisis, an owned brand’s buffering effect is observed among consumers high in brand consciousness in collectivistic but not in individualistic societies. The moderating role of feelings of betrayal on the brand attachment-consumer attitude relationship is also reported.

Culture shapes consumer behavioral patterns. In today’s global market, a company’s decisions are no longer limited by borders and many companies experience product failures. Thus, findings that show consumers’ distinguishable psychological experiences between different cultures contribute to crisis management literature.

In keeping with recent body image social trends, consumer demand for the adoption of plus-size models is increasing, although the use of thin models remains prevalent. The current study explores how consumers process information about fashion products displayed on different sizes of models in advertisements, focusing on model and consumer body sizes and both genders. As an underlying mechanism explaining how the relationship between model and consumer body sizes shapes consumer purchase intention, this study explores the role of guilt, shame and mental imagery.

The current study uses a text analytics technique to identify female consumers' general opinions of thin models in advertising. Employing a 3 (consumer body size: normal, overweight, obese) × 2 (model body size: thin, plus-size) × 2 (gender: male, female) between-subjects online experiment (n = 718), the main study comparatively analyzes the influences of plus-size and thin models on consumer responses.

The results reveal that, despite body positivity movements, thin models still generate negative emotions among female consumers. For obese female consumers, advertisements featuring plus-size models produce fewer negative emotions but not more mental imagery than advertisements featuring thin models. Conversely, for obese male consumers, advertisements featuring plus-size models generate more mental imagery but not more negative emotions than advertisements featuring thin models. The results also reveal that the relationship between consumer body size and guilt is moderated by perceived model size, which is also moderated by gender in generating mental imagery. While guilt plays a mediating role in enhancing mental imagery, resulting in purchase intention, shame does not take on this role.

This study is the first to present an integrated model that elucidates how consumers with varying body sizes respond to different sizes of models in advertising and how these responses impact purchase intentions.

Our findings only apply to contexts where consumers purchase fashion clothing in response to advertisements featuring thin versus plus-size models.

Exposing normal-size consumers to plus-size models generates less mental imagery, and thus, practitioners should seek to match the body sizes of the models featured in advertising to the body sizes of their target audience or ad campaigns that include both plus-size and thin models may help improve message persuasiveness in fashion advertising. Moreover, guilt-appeal advertising campaigns using thin models would appeal more to thin consumers of both genders than shame-appeal advertising.

This study aims to empirically test and explain shoppers’ purchase behavior in a retail store by applying the strength model of self-control.

A pretest was used to identify shoppers’ purchase change behavior based on 500 average shoppers, followed by a main study based on another set of 166 average shoppers, to test the proposed hypotheses.

As shoppers stay shorter in a grocery store, they tend to change their purchase decisions more frequently. In addition, this study results reveal that three behavioral variables, namely, shoppers’ changed purchase decisions, shopping duration and walking distance, significantly predict their overall spending.

The findings from the current study are limited to a designated superstore conducted for this study only. From a managerial viewpoint, the author suggests that giving shoppers more choice options and encouraging them to spend more time and walk further in a grocery store, depleting their self-control resources, can be an effective strategy in increasing sales. Yet, excessive efforts for these ideas can also cause shoppers’ massive returns once they return to the normal state with sufficient self-control resources.

The current study empirically confirms the applicability of the strength model of self-control through field studies designed to increase the external validity of the findings. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this research is the first to apply and empirically test the strength model of self-control in the field to explain shopper behavior and highlight the importance of understanding shoppers’ changed purchase decisions.

Given that many consumers are skeptical about environmentally based advertising campaigns, the purpose of this study is to propose an optimized message strategy to facilitate consumer engagement with green messages in social media contexts.

Four empirical studies are conducted using self-report questionnaires to test proposed hypotheses with a focus on the interplay between claim specificity and benefit appeals in green advertising on social media.

The current study examines the interaction effects of claim specificity and benefit appeals on consumer engagement in social media. Specifically, the results reveal that when the message claim is abstract, using other-benefit appeals produces more positive consumer engagement than using self-benefit appeals. Moreover, the results illustrate that self-enhancement motivates consumers to engage with green product advertising messages when the advertising appeal is abstract and the advertising message is associated with benefits for others. Finally, it is found that consumers’ self-construal level moderates the interaction effect of claim specificity and benefit appeals type on consumer engagement on social media.

This paper has practical implications to both social media managers and advertisers in the green product industry: a match with advertising claim specificity and construal level (i.e. social distance: self-benefit vs other-benefit) should be ensured to increase consumer engagement on social media. In addition, self-enhancement and self-construal should be considered for a better message strategy in social media contexts.

The findings make important contributions to the literature in that we extend the applications of construal level theory to social media contexts as a valid theoretical tool to identify optimized green message strategies. As such, it provides future researchers and practitioners in the domain of green campaigns with useful guidelines to boost more consumption of green products.

Limited attention has been paid to the cultural influences on the formation of consumer attitudes toward luxury brands (LUX). The purpose of this paper is to investigate this relationship by developing a model that additionally employs the constructs of susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence (SNII) and brand consciousness (BCO).

Sample data were gathered through surveys administered to 383 college students in the UK and Taiwan. The model of cultural influences on attitudes toward luxury brands was empirically tested using multi-group structural equation modeling to evaluate its applicability across the two countries.

Results are presented in two parts: first, the exogenous construct part of the model establishing the reliability and validity of the cultural dimension constructs (horizontal individualism, vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism) that are antecedent to consumer SNII and 2) the endogenous part of the model in which consumer SNII affects LUX through the mediating role of BCO.

The findings in the current study are limited to a sample of college students in the UK and Taiwan, which, through representing western and Asian countries, each housing different cultures, do not span the greater number of cultures found across these countries, much less across the world. Furthermore it is assumed that there are a number of subcultures in both the UK and Taiwan that are not accounted for in this study.

An individual level of cultural orientation (e.g. horizontalism and verticalism) rather than traditionally adopted regionally defined or nationally based (Hofstede, 1980) cultural criteria should be investigated to identify more accurate market demand patterns in order to best target consumers in these markets (Sharma, 2010). In addition, appealing, vertical ad messages would be more effective in stimulating consumer motivations for consumption of luxury brands. Conversely, horizontal ad messages would be effective in demarketing approaches.

The current study is the first of its kind to explore the effect of cultural-orientation on the formation of LUX cross-nationally. As such it provides future cross-cultural researchers with valid and reliable culturally based constructs that can be used to predict consumer SNII in developing LUX. In addition, establishing the mediating role of BCO in the relationship between SNII and LUX helps marketers better understand the equity of their luxury brands, particularly in Asian countries.

The objective of this paper is to synthesise the published literature on consumer awareness and acceptance of Sustainable Fashion (SF) and highlight that sustainability decisions taken across procurement, designing, manufacturing and retailing must include the consumer perspective of SF.

Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on sustainable fashion combined with consumer behavior was conducted. The study approach involved descriptive analysis, content analysis and theoretical analysis in the first section. The later sections focus on sustainability practices across the apparel supply chain that can foster acceptance of sustainable fashion.

In this review paper, five solutions that are typically used for leveraging consumer awareness and acceptance towards sustainable fashion are identified from the latest research papers: (1) attention to micro-sensitive factors (2) shared responsibilities (3) repositioning sustainable fashion for larger audience (4) positioning conscious fashion and (5) unified approach. These solutions are proposed as most important for achieving success in sustainable production and sustainable consumption (SPSC) for the fashion industry. Further, suggestions for how to embed sustainability related business decisions across sourcing, designing, manufacturing, distribution and recollection and retailing are also provided.

Through this research, a clear view emerges of the progression of publication and where future research should be directed to popularise sustainable fashion among consumers. Research findings and proposed solutions will be valuable inputs for brand managers, marketers and retailers as they conceive new plans and make decisions about addressing sustainability challenges in textile and apparel manufacturing firms.

This is a first of its kind of study on sustainable fashion that highlights the importance of understanding consumer behaviour in influencing sustainability decisions required across sourcing, designing, manufacturing and retailing to achieve substantial economic advantages in the fashion industry. End-to-end supply chain processes (i.e. procurement, design, manufacturing, marketing and retailing) are considered to identify several factors that influence consumer behavior in favor of sustainable fashion throughout the supply chain.