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Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the framework of brand credibility effects is applicable to service categories and to examine if brand credibility's impact differs according to service type and involvement level.Design methodology approach - Using a self-administered survey (n=385), this study tests the proposed model, including six latent constructs: brand credibility, perceived quality, perceived risk, information costs saved, perceived value for money, and purchase intention.Findings - The results indicate that brand credibility exerts a strong effect on purchase intention by increasing perceived quality, perceived value for money, and information costs saved, and by decreasing perceived risk across multiple service categories. The results also indicate that the magnitude of brand credibility's impact on purchase intention varies under different conditions with regard to utilitarian and hedonic services.Research limitations implications - This study is based on student samples with a limited number of service categories. Future research is needed to examine the generalizability of the proposed model by using non-student samples with different service classifications.Practical implications - Establishing brand credibility seems to be especially effective in utilitarian services when marketing communication campaigns have the consistency of brand attributes that invoke either value for money or lower service brand-related information efforts.Originality value - This study offers an initial attempt to explain how brand credibility influences its key outcomes under different service classes. Perceived value for money could be considered a new mediator of a causal relationship between brand credibility and purchase intention in service sectors.

The authors examine how two negative emotions-guilt and shame-influence responses to environmental ad messages framed as gains or losses. In Study 1, participants primed with guilt express higher intention to conserve water after they view a gain-framed water conservation ad; participants primed with shame express higher conservation intention after they view a loss-framed ad. Study 2 replicates and supports the proposed matching hypothesis using nonstudent adults. In Study 3, participants react to a recycling ad as they did in Studies 1 and 2 when they expend high effort by transcribing the recycle pledge before they view the ad, but not when they expend low effort by reading the pledge first. The findings overall provide converging evidence for the interplay between negative emotions and message framing. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed for developing environmental advertising message strategies.

This study attempts to identify the potential determinants of advertising avoidance in the context of personalized advertising media, including unsolicited commercial e-mail, postal direct mail, telemarketing, and text messaging. Using a self-administered survey (n = 442), the proposed model is tested with structural equation modeling analysis. The findings indicate that while ad skepticism partially mediates the relationship between ad avoidance and its three determinants (perceived personalization, privacy concerns, and ad irritation), both privacy concerns and ad irritation have a direct positive effect on ad avoidance. However, increased perceived personalization leads directly to decreased ad avoidance.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore what kinds of social media content public libraries create to communicate with users online, and to examine the relationships between social media content types and corresponding levels of user engagement.Design/methodology/approachThe sample comprises 4,637 Facebook posts collected from 151 public libraries across the USA. The authors identified ten types of Facebook posts based on the open coding, and calculated the degrees of user engagement for each type of Facebook post, represented by the numbers of likes, shares and comments. Also, The authors examined the effects of the inclusions of images or video clips on user engagement.FindingsThe authors observed that the most frequent type of post was related to announcing upcoming events held in libraries. This study also found that posts about community news or emotionally inspiring messages elicited much engagement from users. Posts having an image or images tend to receive more user engagement.Practical implicationsBased on the findings of this study, the authors discussed practical strategies for public libraries to effectively use social media to better facilitate user engagement.Originality/valueThis study is one of a few attempts that examine the relationships between the types of social media content and the degrees of user engagement in public library environments. Also, the authors have proposed a coding scheme useful to analyze social media content in the context of public libraries.

PurposeThe authors aim to examine how emojis interact with assertiveness in social media posts to encourage social media engagement and cooperation in environmental campaigns.Design/methodology/approachTwo experiments were used to test three hypotheses.FindingsStudy 1 shows that when assertive Twitter messages include the smiley-face emoji, study participants indicate stronger social media engagement and behavioral intentions to recycle used jeans. In Study 2, participants indicate stronger social media engagement and behavioral intentions to sign a petition for reducing plastic pollution when (non) assertive Facebook messages (do not) include emojis.Originality/valueThe current research advances our understanding about how emojis interact with assertive and nonassertive message tonality in environmental social media campaigns. This research also provides new insights showing that positive emotion is the psychological mechanism underlying matching effects of emoji and message assertiveness.

In three experiments, the authors study charitable behaviors and demonstrate that consumers who feel socially excluded react more positively to altruistic, other appeals rather than egoistic, self-benefit appeals. In Study 1, a child poverty relief campaign with a message persuasiveness variable, consumers who feel socially excluded are more persuaded by other-benefit appeals, but other appeals and self-benefit appeals have equal effects on consumers who feel socially included. Study 2 replicates the findings in a cancer research campaign with an amount-to-donate variable: consumers who feel socially excluded allocate more dollars to the charity in response to other-benefit rather than self-benefit ads, but the effects are not observed among consumers who feel socially included. Study 3, a campaign for providing drinking water, further validates the findings with a donation intentions variable: other-benefit ads rather than self-benefit ads drive consumers who feel socially excluded to be more willing and likely to donate, but the effects are not observed among consumers who feel socially included and those in the baseline control condition.

In three studies, the authors show that Americans and South Koreans react differently to environmental advertising campaigns featuring assertive messages that threaten autonomous freedoms. The findings uphold their hypothesis that cultural differences determine whether consumers will show reactance to assertive advertising campaigns. Study 1 demonstrates that Americans are less receptive to an assertive recycling message using imperatives such as should, must, and ought and more receptive to a nonassertive message using could, might, and worth. South Koreans do not show the reactance response. Study 2, an energy-saving campaign, conceptually replicates the findings and further shows that perceived threat to freedom mediates the effects. Study 3 uses a realistic setting (i.e., online magazine) to further support the hypothesis that cultural differences affect attitudes toward assertive messages, but adds perceived politeness as an underlying second mediator.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate user perceptions of mobile app characteristics and interrelationships among identified mobile app characteristics, perceived benefits and post-adoption behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Using a self-administered online survey (n = 503) drawn from a consumer panel of US smartphone users, this study tests the proposed model that explains why stickiness and word of mouth (WOM) are enhanced during the post-adoption stage. Findings The results indicate that user perceptions of mobile app characteristics, perceived ubiquity, perceived informativeness and perceived personalization are positively associated with mobile app usefulness, thereby leading to increased stickiness and positive WOM intentions. Furthermore, perceived personalization is found to become the strongest predictor of usefulness and playful engagement with the mobile app. Research limitations/implications The findings are derived from a one-shot correlational study. There is no guarantee that the proposed model establishes causal directions among the latent constructs. Therefore, future research should test the conceptual model in an experimental setting by manipulating the degree and types of ubiquity, informativeness and personalization. Practical implications The findings of this research provide managerial guidelines for developing effective mobile app strategies involving utilitarian and hedonic benefits, thereby enhancing user stickiness and WOM intentions. Originality/value This paper is the first attempt to develop a conceptual framework that integrates user perceptions of mobile app characteristics into the underlying process of post-adoption behaviors. It empirically demonstrates the importance of ubiquity, informativeness and personalization in building and sustaining loyal relationships with mobile app users.

For isotropic material structure, the stress in the vicinity of crack tip is generally much higher than the stress far away from it. This phenomenon usually leads to stress concentration and fracture of structure. Previous researches and studies show that the stress intensity factor is one of most important parameter for crack growth and propagation. This paper provides a convenient numerical method, which is called hybrid photoelasticity method, to accurately determine the stress field distribution in the vicinity of crack tip and mixed-mode stress intensity factors. The model was simulated by finite element method and isochromatic data along straight lines far away from the crack tip were calculated. By using the isochromatic data obtained from finite element method and a conformal mapping procedure, stress components and photoelastic fringes in the hybrid region were calculated. To easily compare calculated photoelastic fringes with experiment results, the fringe patterns were reconstructed, doubled and sharpened. Good agreement shows that the method presented in this paper is reliable and convenient. This method can then directly be applied to obtain mixed mode stress intensity factors from the experimentally measured isochromatic data along the straight lines.

Purpose Prosocial advertisers widely use assertive messages to encourage prosocial attitudes and behaviors, but ironically, assertive messages may cause reactance. By applying cultural theories and the reciprocity principle, this study aims to observe whether consumers’ responses to assertive messages hold across culturally different audiences (Americans vs South Koreans) and different consumption situations (price discount vs no discount). Design/methodology/approach American and Korean participants take part in three experimental studies examining the interactions of nationality, price discounts and assertive messaging for influencing consumer responses, first to a prosocial ad encouraging recycling (Study 1), the second for a campaign requesting donations for disadvantaged children (Study 2) and the third to prosocial messages encouraging water conservation (Study 3). Findings The three experiments strongly support the moderating role of price discounts and cultural backgrounds in the persuasiveness of assertive prosocial messages. American consumers generally dislike assertive messages, but feel reciprocal obligations if marketers include price discounts, whereas South Korean consumers accept both assertive and nonassertive messages without resistance, and discounts have no effects on persuasion. Research limitations/implications The findings make two key contributions to the literature and to prosocial advertising practices. First, although many corporations have adopted philanthropic strategies, few researchers have examined how specific consumption contexts determine the effectiveness of prosocial persuasion. The findings show how price discounts and message framing potentially alter the effectiveness of prosocial messages across Eastern and Western cultures. Second, assertive language evokes reactance, but the findings suggest that reactive responses to prosocial advertising are culture-specific. Practical implications International nonprofit organizations and brands using philanthropic strategies might use the guidelines of this study for tailoring strategic, practical prosocial messages that will appeal to consumers from diverse cultural backgrounds. In particular, pro-environmental and charity campaigns targeting North American or Western European populations may consider bundling discounts into promotions to evoke reciprocity. Originality/value Findings provide novel implications for social marketers regarding on how to couple message assertiveness and price discounts to maximize the success of prosocial messages in different cultures.