Purpose
This paper aims to examine the effect of social cynicism on consumer cynicism. The negative inferred motive is tested as a mediator between social cynicism and consumer cynicism; whereas, ...negative affectivity is tested as a moderator between social cynicism and negative inferred motive.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was carried out in India using a mixed-method approach. In the first stage, a survey was conducted to test the moderated mediation model, followed by in-depth interviews in the second stage. The survey was analysed using structural equation modelling, while themes were generated from the data collected through interviews.
Findings
The study established the effect of social cynicism on consumer cynicism. Negative inferred motive mediated the relationship between social cynicism and consumer cynicism. Negative affectivity moderated the influence of social cynicism on negative inferred motive.
Research limitations/implications
With rising anti-consumption behaviours, it is imperative to understand why consumers turn cynical towards marketers. The study indicates that consumer cynicism is influenced by previous experiences of the consumer with the society and is not merely a reaction to arm-twisting by firms. As social cynicism cannot be changed drastically, understanding how it impacts consumer cynicism would help a firm handle its marketing efforts better.
Originality/value
The study empirically validates the relationship between social cynicism and consumer cynicism. The mediating effect of negative inferred motive on consumer cynicism was also validated. The study is also the first to point out the moderating role of negative affectivity on the relationship between social cynicism and negative inferred motive.
Purpose
This study aims to gain insights into the rise of virtual social media influencers and identify the significant theories governing virtual influencers’ (VIs) interaction with followers on ...social media platforms. Studies on VI being scarce in marketing literature, the authors attempt to propose a theoretical model to understand the acceptance of VIs by social media users (SMUs).
Design/methodology/approach
Using a structured literature review and a case study approach, a conceptual model is developed and propositions are offered.
Findings
Parasocial interaction (PSI) between the SMU and VIs builds up source credibility, thereby leading to the acceptance of VIs. Thus, the authors establish that PSI and source credibility theory combine to explain the acceptance of VIs by SMUs. Furthermore, similarity with the VI is another added dimension of source credibility, as suggested by this study. A comparative analysis of the growth of five major VIs elucidates that the fashion, electronic, tourism and health-care industries can use them for promotions and as influencers, especially for luxury products.
Research limitations/implications
VIs are a potent tool to achieve improved brand awareness and to target young consumers (especially Gen Y and Gen Z – millennials).
Originality/value
The emergence of VIs being recent; little is comprehended about their interaction with SMUs. Hence, it becomes important to delineate the foundations of VI–SMU interaction. Thus, this study addresses the gap in identifying the theoretical background and proposes a conceptual model elucidating VI acceptance by SMUs.
The study seeks to investigate the Internet usage habits among the online population in India. It intends to confirm if respondents differed on the basis of demographic variables such as age, gender, ...occupation and city/town tier. Based on primary research, the present study examines the differential effects of demographic variables on various online activities, their usage frequency and duration. The study proposes a possible segmentation of Internet users and a classification of Internet activities. K-mean cluster analysis and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) have been used to capture the same.
The results suggest that activity-wise usage and duration of Internet usage vary with age, occupation and city/town tier of the respondents, but not much with gender. The factor analysis suggested grouping the dependent usage and activity variables into five major factors. The article would be helpful for the Internet service providers in segmenting the Internet users and enhancing the scholars’ understanding of effect of given demographic variables on Internet usage.
Over time, consumers have become increasingly distrustful of the businesses and the marketplace. Many researchers have focused on various negative attitudes a consumer develops towards a firm or the ...marketplace to study this trend. Consumer cynicism (CC) that a consumer might harbour for the marketplace actors is one of the emerging areas of study in this domain. Here, Indibara and Varshney propose that an individual's habitus, which evolves continually due to various life experiences, will determine the type of inter-field movement a person resorts to when moving between the social and consumption fields.
Consumer cynicism (CC) is conceptualized as a negative attitude that a consumer develops toward a firm or the whole marketplace due to the attribution of some hidden motives behind its actions. Due ...to the severity of the consequences of a cynical consumer's behavioral outcomes, it becomes imperative to understand the concept of CC, its driving factors, and its resulting behaviors. Here, Indibara and Varshney examine CC in an integrated subject-object approach.
Abstract The wall of differentiation between genuine recommendations by social media influencers and brand‐sponsored promotions has become thinner since brands are increasingly sponsoring influencers ...to promote their products and services. This study has followed a qualitative research method using the grounded theory approach to conduct in‐depth, one‐to‐one, semi‐structured interviews with 25 social media users to delve into influencers' brand paid promotions and sponsorship disclosure, which marks a grey area in influencer marketing. The results delineate the grey characteristics of influencers through three main themes: (1) Disclosure of paid promotions/ non‐promotions (i.e., content factors), (2) Consumer conviction conundrum (i.e., context factors), and (3) Social media users' avoidance behaviour (i.e., consequences). This study also defines ‘Sinfluencer’ (i.e., commercially motivated influencers who hide their paid partnerships) and elucidates ‘ evaluation ’ as a critical step, thereby extending the discussion on the social media engagement cycle.
Social media is the latest buzzword in the world of marketing and communication. Billions of people are using different social media sites on a daily basis. A significant proportion of consumers ...refer to reviews of products and services posted on social media before making their purchase decisions. In the process, the word of mouth or WOM messages posted by fellow users on social media sites play an important role. In this research article, we study how social media WOM influences the decision making of the recipient consumer. Based on study of the extant literature and consequent analysis, we present a set of research propositions and a conceptual model. The main relationships that we study are the impact of social media WOM on consumer purchase intention and brand attitude. We also study the role of key correlates in the context namely perceived risk, source credibility, social media website, perceived product knowledge and involvement level. The primary contributions of this research article are distinguishing the roles of positive and negative WOM, bringing WOM to the context of social media and studying the roles of key correlates.
Abstract
Over the years, consumers have been questioning the intentions and actions of firms, resulting in a cynical attitude and behaviour. Due to the severity of the outcomes that cynical consumers ...may display, reputed journals and prolific researchers have addressed the core issue in their own unique ways. However, no single study offers a uniform, comprehensive, and contemporary review of consumer cynicism literature. Thus, we use an interdisciplinary approach to study the literature spanning 47 years (1976–2022) on cynicism in consumer research, psychology, and organizational domains through a hybrid review involving bibliometric and systematic literature reviews. Following the SPAR‐4‐SLR protocol, this review shows the most cited and co‐cited articles, researchers, and keywords in cynicism research. We infer that the consumer cynicism construct draws heavily from the organizational behaviour area, possessing the potential to be correlated with, and extended to interdisciplinary research. Also, we offer an all‐inclusive model of the predictors and predictands of consumer cynicism based on the ADO‐TCM framework. We close this study with its academic contributions, practical implications, and future research directions using the ADO‐TCM framework.
Social media brand pages act as excellent means for engaging consumers. While most sport clubs use social media such as Facebook to enhance fan engagement, extant research has given limited ...attention. This study aims to understand the impact of content type and vividness of Facebook content shared by sport clubs, on fan engagement. The findings are based on a netnography study on the Facebook platform among six cricket clubs of a major league – the Indian Premier League, covering approximately 4000 club-generated posts and recording more than 76 million impressions on the six sport clubs’ official fan pages over a span of 3 years (2015–2017). The volume of likes, comments, shares, and the valence of comments, on the Facebook fan pages, are used to measure fan engagement. We found that the social content garnered maximum contribution, while the remuneration-related content resulted in the least contribution. Photos, representing low vividness content, garnered the maximum number of likes and comments, while high vividness content (i.e., videos) were shared most often. Furthermore, the moderating impact of team performance and seasonality on the relationship between content type and fan engagement are explicated. This study contributes to the emerging research on social media in consumer engagement and sport marketing literature and provides practical prescriptions for sport clubs to enhance their ability to engage their fan base online.
Display omitted
•Contribute to emerging research on the nature of social media engagement by fans.•Investigates the effect of sport club shared content on fan engagement.•Explicates the moderating impact of team performance and seasonality.•Social content received maximum volume and valence measures of fan engagement.•Photos, representing low vividness, received maximum Facebook likes and comments.
Activation and radioactive waste analysis has been carried out for an X-ray crystal survey spectrometer (XRCS) sight tube, which will be installed in equatorial port No. 11 assigned for the ITER ...diagnostics. The neutron transport calculations are performed using the Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP). The base C-Lite neutronics ITER model is grossly modified to include all required details of the port plug, diagnostic apertures, and diagnostic system. The transport results provide neutron flux at desired positions. The sight tube is supposed to be placed in the interspace, after the closure plate, to channel X-rays to the spectrometer. Complete radioactive inventory calculations along with contact doses and nuclear activity levels are obtained for two different kinds of sight tube material. FISPACT-2007, an inventory code, is used for this purpose. The analysis for this particular sight tube can be used to obtain a material preference based on a radiation point of view. Further, the dependence of neutron spectrum and irradiation time on activity levels, contact dose rate, and production of dominant dose contributing radionuclides has been studied. Dominant radionuclides that contribute up to 95% of the total dose are identified, and their pathways are generated to back trace their sources as an effort to reduce the dose rate. The effect of reducing the cobalt content in SS316L(N)-IG on the contact dose rate is evaluated separately for the sight tube of the XRCS system. Many of the FISPACT calculations are repeated with ACTYS, a locally developed activation solver.
