Firms frequently use message prompts to influence consumer decision-making and behavior. However, research on the boundary conditions and mechanisms driving the effects of these prompts remains limited. The present research investigates how perceived self-control and dialectical thinking influence the effectiveness of message sidedness (one-sided vs. two-sided messages) on sustainable behavioral intentions. Across the experiments, we found that two-sided message prompts were more effective for consumers with high self-control. The interaction between message sidedness and self-control was serially mediated by perceived trust towards the message prompts and the platform. Additionally, dialectical thinking enhanced consumers' perceived trust in two-sided message prompts, further boosting sustainable behavioral intentions. These findings contribute to a better understanding of prompt effectiveness and offer practical guidance for firms, platforms, and policymakers on promoting sustainable consumption more effectively.

Romantic experience is a positive emotional experience that significantly impacts people's lives and consumption behaviors. However, the extant research merely conceptualizes romantic experiences as intimate relationships between lovers, which limits the research on how romantic experiences influence consumers' choices. This study extends the concept beyond romantic love by addressing generalized romantic experiences in a broader sense. Four experiments show that romantic experiences (vs. neutral experiences)increase consumers' preference for self-improvement featured products, even in areas not related to the initial romantic stimuli(Study 1). This greater inclination for self-improvement products ismediated by a heightened sense of meaning in life(Studies 2 and 3). Happiness orientation plays a moderating role in the influence of romantic experience on the meaning in life and preference for self-improvement products(Study 4). Theoretically, this paper expands the concept of romantic experience and enriches the research on the influence of romantic experience on consumer choice and the research on the emotional antecedents of self-improvement products. In practice, this paper provides suggestions and guidance for romantic marketing and the promotion of self-improvement products.

Existing studies mainly focus on highlighting the positive impact of product transformation salience on low-touch products, and few studies explore how to alleviate and reverse the negative impact of product transformation salience on high-touch products. Based on evidence that product transformation salience leads consumers to aversion to high-touch products and ultimately reduce consumption intentions(Study 1), the article examines the moderating effects of consumption patterns and information representations through two experiments(Study2&3). There search results show that compared with the possession-based consumption model, the access-based consumption model can reduce the disgust caused byproduct transformation salience, thereby increasing the willingness to consume high-touch products(Study 2). In addition, compared with negative information representations, neutral information representations are beneficial to reduce the disgust caused byproduct transformation salience, thereby increasing the willingness to consume high-touch products(Study 3). The findings of this research have strong practical significance for companies producing high-touch products in terms of the scenarios in which they adopt product transformation salience strategy and how they can better articulate product transformation salience to convey the company's environmental responsibility, and thus enhance the marketing performance of their eco-friendly products.

Sociological research has found that personal names can trigger individuals'  stereotypes. For example, people often associate“Jianguo”with the 1950s. Do consumers project stereotypes about birth years onto brands containing these names?  Does perceived brand age further influence consumers' preferences for the corresponding brands? Therefore, this paper explores in detail the underlying mechanism of how brand age cues(popular personal names) affect consumers'  perception of brand age and brand preferences through five sub-studies. The results show that consumers are indeed influenced by stereotypes about the birth years of popular personal names when purchasing everyday goods. Consumers generally have more positive preferences for brands perceived to be older, and this effect diminishes when the objective age of the enterprise is known. Compared to modern products, traditional products named after older personal names bring consumers higher perceived competence and warmth. In addition, brands named after older personal names have positive influence on consumers with lower innovativeness, but this conclusion does not hold for consumers with higher innovativeness. The research findings can provide theoretical insights and practical reference for companies in making decisions on brand naming and brand extension. 

The development of digital technology has made virtual visual elements prevalent. This study aims to investigate the impact of virtual visual elements on consumers' creativity and their propensity to adopt new products and elucidate the underlying psychological mechanisms through three online experiments and a field experiment. Experiment 1 demonstrated a significant improvement in consumers' performance on a creativity task after exposure to virtual visual elements compared to real ones. Experiment 2 utilized a moderation-based approach to explore the psychological mechanism of this effect. It was found that real visual elements could also enhance consumers' creativity when a nontraditional mindset was activated. However, in the control group, only virtual visual elements positively impacted creativity. Experiment 3 extended the main effect of virtual visual elements on enhancing creativity to consumer decision-making. The results showed that virtual visual elements could significantly enhance consumers' willingness to adopt new products, and the mediating effect of a nontraditional mindset was directly measured and tested. Experiment 4 demonstrated the effect of virtual visual elements on new product adoption in a field setting and the results suggested that viewing virtual(vs. real)visual elements increased real choice of the new product. The present re- search provides important insights into visual design, creativity, and valuable marketing implications for enterprises promoting new products.

Although digital transformation is usually associated with technology, it is fundamentally a marketing concept. However, the role of marketing departments in enterprise digital transformation has been rarely studied. Based on the data of Chinese Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2020, this study examines the mechanisms underlying the impact of sales force investment on enterprise digital transformation. The empirical study indicates that: firstly, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between sales force investment and digital transformation; secondly, the process analysis of digital transformation indicates that the inverted U-shaped relationship between sales force investment and digital transformation will be weakened when the government digital attention is low, marketing absorptive capacity is high, financial flexibility is high; thirdly, the impact mechanism reveals that the relationship between sales force investment and digital transformation is partial mediated by corporate competition orientation and risk-taking level. This paper provides new insights for understanding the important role of marketing department in promoting the development of digital economy in the digital era. 

In recent years, the application of AI-based robot services in the hotel industry has been on the rise, attracting widespread attention. However, existing research on how robot services affect consumer satisfaction has presented conflicting conclusions, and the academic community has not yet deeply explored the relationship between robot services in dfferent scenarios and consumer satisfaction from the perspective of asymmetrical impacts. This study mined consumer review data from China's first fully automated robot service hotel from 2018 to 2022, exploring the asymmetrical impact ofhotel robot services on consumer satisfaction in different scenarios based on the three-factor theory and complexity theory. Through dummy variable regression analysis, this paper identified that robot services in the hotel's alternative service scenarios are the basic factors for consumer satisfaction, those in the enhancement service scenarios are performance factors, while those in the innovative service scenariosare motivational factors. Moreover, using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis(fsQCA), this study fur- ther revealed the configurations of robot services in different scenarios leading to high(low)levels of eonsumer satisfaction, further validating the research results of the dummy variable regresion analysis. The study's conclusions enrich the literature on service scenarios and service satisfaction in the field of robot services and provide practical guidance for the hotel industry to reasonably allocate robot services to enhance consumer satisfaction

This research investigates the effect of social crowdingon shape preference and the underlying mechanism thereof. Across five experiments, the research demonstrates that individuals who are socially crowded prefer circular shapes to angular shapes. Such effect is driven by consumers' needs for vitality, specifically, social crowding increases the needs for vitality, which subsequently makes consumers prefer circular shapes as they are related to vitality in consumers' minds. We also examine the moderating role of composition of the crowd, namely the effect of social erowding on shape preference will attenuate for a crowd composed of in-group(vs. out-group)members. This research enriches the literature on social crowding and shape preference in consumption, and provides managerial implications forbrands and products.

The globalization of time-honored brands is an important strategy to build a global brand and enhance China's cultural soft power. The unique cultural resources of time-honored brands are conductive to establishing differentiated market positioning and enhancing brand image in the international market. Based on the perspective of intercultural communication, this paper constructs a theoretical model of the globalization of time-honored brands that is evolving in stages. Thecase study based on Tongrentang shows that:(1)In different stages ofbrand globalization, implementing corresponding intercultural communication strategies based on brand cultural positioning is an effective path to gradually realize the globalization of time-honored brands. (2)According to different stages of brand globalization, time-honored brands should adjust the brand cultural positioning, which can be achieved by combining the target customer range, needs, and available cultural resources to upgrade the brand cultural positioning from the functional, experiential to meaningful. (3)The staged strategies for time-honored brands to implement intercultural communication include:amplifying the advantages ofproducts/services to gain brand product recognition in the building stage of brand globalization; bridging national and foreign cultures to establish brand likability in the expanding stage of brand globalization; extending the brand's additional social and cultural value for global consumers to achieve global brand cultural identity in the mature stage of brand globalization. Differentiated intercultural communication strategies at different stages are the key means to promote the phased upgrade of time-honored brands.

Power emotion is a kind of appeal strategy widely used in the context of medical donation, but the research in the academic field is still scarce. This paper explores the influence and mechanism of different types of power emotional appeals on donation intention through three studies. The research finds that both types ofpower appeals have the positive impact on donation intention, but self-power appeals mainly improve individual donation intention through anticipated guilt, while others- power appeals mainly improve individual donation intention through perceived self-help. Individuals with low power show the preference for self-power appeal, while individuals with high power show the preference for others-power appeal. This paper not only enriches the theoretical research on emotional appeals in the field of donation, but also provides medical fundraising websites with practical significance.

Customer concentration is an important factor that affects enterprise innovation. However, there is no consensus on whether customer concentration promotes or inhibits enterprise innovation. This study employs a meta-analysis method to quantitatively integrate the existing research and clarifies the impact of customer concentration on enterprise innovation by distinguishing between innovation inputs and innovation outputs. Meanwhile, based on resource  dependence theory (RDT) and organizational learning theory (OLT), this study examines the boundary conditions under which customer concentration exerts stronger (or weaker) impacts on enterprise innovation. By re-analyzing 38 empirical studies containing 72 observations of effect sizes, this study finds that customer concentration has negative impacts on both innovation inputs and innovation outputs. In addition, the negative effect of customer concentration on innovation inputs is strengthened in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and in financially sound enterprises. Moreover, the negative impact of customer concentration on innovation outputs is stronger in mature enterprises and enterprises with better prior financial performance. Finally, the results not only reconcile the debate of the existing literature, but also deepen the understanding of the mechanisms and pathways of how customer concentration affects enterprise innovation inputs and innovation outputs.

Ecological governance requires not only the joint efforts of the government and enterprises, but also the internal recognition and active participation of the public. It has attracted the attention of researchers that the emergence of online environmental gamification applications represented by“Ant Forest”which has made positive practical exploration to improve the publie's environmental literacy and to strengthen the consciousness of integration of knowledge and action. How to guide game users to change from online environmental protection game behavior to ofline pro-environmental behavior has become an important issue that needs to be further explored. Based on the theories of norm-activation and self-regulation, we construct a structure model to demonstrate the transformation mechanism from users' online game participation to ofline pro-environmental behavior and the moderating effect of hedonic experience. The research findings show that online environmental-protection games facilitate the transition from online to offline pro-environmental behaviors by initilly enhancing users' knowledge of environment(environmental threat perception), which subsequently activates their sense of moral responsibility(personal norms). However, hedonic experience weakens the positive effect of game participation on users' environmental threat perception and on the pro-environmental behavior. The research reveals and veriffies the potential negative effects of gamification on pro-environmental behavior, which provides a new theoretical research perspective for understanding and improving digital green behavior intervention, and offers useful practical enlightenment for enterprises to improve gamification platforms.

With the widespread adoption of social media platforms and the rise of independent media accounts, native advertising within social media holds significant commercial value for brand communication and targeted advertising. Inappropriate ad disclosures can trigger consumer concerns about deception and cognitive resistance, leading to negative brand atitudes. This study examines the impact of the recognizability of native ads and the type of publisher on consumer brand attitudes. Research conducted across three experiments demonstrates an interaction effect between ad recognizability and publisher type, with cognitive resistance mediating this interaction and the style of content information acting as a moderator. The findings of this study enrich the literature on native advertising disclosures and offer practical insights for businesses deploying native advertisements on social media platforms.

Increasing attention has been devoted to individual or household energy conservation in theprivate sector; however, there remains a gap in addressing the promotion of active energy conservation among energy users in group settings. To assess the effectiveness of information feedback strategies in motivating group users to save electricity, an 18-week field-controlled experiment was conducted. In view of the difference in energy-saving motivation, three experimental groups (economic feedback, abstract environmental feedback, and concrete environmental feedback) were established. A no-intervention control group was also included to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention strategies in promoting electricity conservation. Based on the real electricity consumption data collected from occupants via the power system, the PSM-DID method was employed to analyze the electricity-saving effects of the three intervention strategies. Results indicate that both the economic feedback and concrete environmental feedback groups significantly fostered active electricity conservation among group users. Among them, the economic feedback group exhibited the most substantial power-saving effect (14. 4%), followed by the concrete environmental feedback group (6. 2%), whereas the abstract environmental feedback group showed no significant deviation from the control group. Long-term effect testing of the intervention strategies further revealed sustained energy-saving effects in both the economic feedback and concrete environmental feedback groups even after cessation of the intervention. Notably, the concrete environmental feedback has better electricity-saving after the intervention stopped, which proves its long-term efficacy. Furthermore, the study identified that population heterogeneity influences the power-saving effects of different intervention strategies. 

Corporate hypocrisy has become a typical corporate crisis event, but there is litle research on how enterprises should take measures to reduce the negative impact ofcorporate hypocrisy. Through three successive experimental studies, this paper answers the question of whether stealing thunder(that is, enterprises disclose crisis information themselves)can reduce the negative impact of corporate hypocrisy, and reveals the influence mechanism and possible boundary conditions. In the first study, it is found that stealing thunder can significantly reduce consumer boycotts caused by corporate hypocrisy, and the type of corporate hypocrisy plays a moderating role. Specifically, under a moral hypocrisy crisis, stealing thunder has no significant effect, while under a behavioral hypocrisy crisis, stealing thunder has a significant effect. In the second study, it is found that psychological contract violation plays a mediating role in the interactive impact process between stealing thunder and corporate hypocrisy type on consumer boycotts. In the third study, it is found that the CSR history of enterprises serves as a boundary condition for the interactive impact process between stealing thunder and corporate hypocrisy type on consumer boycotts. For enterprises with a long CSR history in a certain field, regardless of the type of corporate hypocrisy crisis they face in this field, stealing thunder has a significant effect. For enterprises with a short CSR history, stealing thunder will only play a role in a behavioral hypocrisy crisis. This paper deepens and expands research in the field of corporate hypocrisy, and enriches the scope and conditions for the application of stealing thunder. At the same time, it also provides important management enlightenment for enterprises to properly deal with a crisis of corporate hypocrisy and correctly fulfll their social responsibilities.

Cause-related marketing as a form of corporate social responsibility has grown exponentially in the last 40 years. Existing research on cause-related marketing has mainly focused onits effectiveness by exploring the components and advertising factors that influence consumers participation intention, with less attention paid to the donation feedback. The development of digital technology has enabled more and more companies to conduct donation feedback to consumers. Based on social dentity theory and elaboration likelihood model, this article explored the interaction effect of cause-related marketing feedback framing and self-construal, internal mechanism and boundary conditions. With two experimental studies, we found that individual feedback(aggregate feedback)could induce independent (interdependent)consumers more positive attitude toward company. This is because the matching between feedback framing and self-construal could induce higher consumer-company dentification. However, this matching effect was only supported for high cause involvement, but not for low cause involvement. By focusing for the first time on the cause-related marketing's donation feedback, this study develops new research perspective of cause-related marketing and enriches feedback framing's research context and theoretical connotation. This research also offers practical insights to managers on how to design and execute donation feedback communication for cause-related marketing campaign.

Considering the differences of firms' digital capabilities, this paper studies how behavior-based pricing ( BBP ) affects pricing decisions, profits and strategy choices of both firms. We use Hotelling model to construct a two-period pricing model in a competitive market. By comparing prices and profits of both firms, the study reaches the following conclusions: (1) the equilibrium of the second period is jointly affected by the market share in the first period and digital capabilities gap, which leads to three possible equilibriums. Meanwhile, in the equilibrium of the second period, the price for current customers may be lower than that for new customers; (2) when the market share gap in the first period is large, BBP increases the profits of both firms in the second period. However, the profit of firm that shares a larger market in the first period is lower than the firm's competitor in the second period； (3) a pure strategy equilibrium exists, when the digital capability gap is large enough or small enough. Further, when the digital capability gap is large enough, the advantage firm can get new customers, which help it get rid of the prisoner's dilemma brought by BBP and achieve profit growth.