Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services最新文献

{"title":"Enhancing acceptance of reusable express packaging: A mixed-method study to reveal the net effects and configurational effects of consumers’ perceptions","authors":"Jiahui Yang ,&nbsp;Li Cai ,&nbsp;Xinyan Gong ,&nbsp;Xiaona Li ,&nbsp;Menghua Yang ,&nbsp;Ruyin Long","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104438","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104438","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The advancement of e-commerce has significantly contributed to the swift expansion of online retail, but it has also resulted in the accumulation of express packaging and environmental challenges. Consequently, the scale promotion of reusable express packaging emerges as an effective alternative. In order to investigate the adoption intention, this study integrates stakeholder theory with an expanded technology acceptance model to construct a comprehensive framework. Based on a dataset of 1102 cross-sectional data from Shanghai, this study applies the partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to examine the net and configuration effects of variables. The findings indicate that perceived government support acts indirectly on adoption intention through product involvement. Additionally, perceived enterprise efforts, perceived information utility, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived normality all exert both direct and indirect effects on adoption intention. Further, it has identified six antecedent configuration paths associated with high adoption intention. These paths can be categorized into three kinds of configurations based on core conditions: namely, a government support-centered and superior product configuration, a government support-centered configuration, and a product-centered configuration. This study reflects driving factors of consumers adoption intention while identifying their net and interconnection effects, providing valuable theoretical insights for governments, enterprises, and media in formulating targeted management policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104438"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144711017","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":"The impact of relationship strategy on customer engagement in paid membership programs","authors":"Xiangming Ren ,&nbsp;Xiaorong Fu ,&nbsp;Rui Luan ,&nbsp;Lifei Bai","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104440","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104440","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the types of customer relationships in paid memberships and their behavioral manifestations in terms of customer engagement. It further analyzes and compares the effects of reward-based and experience-based tactics on customer engagement, as well as the moderating role of relationship duration. Employing an exploratory analytical approach of grounded theory, we confirmed that paid memberships are characterized by a strong transactional and weak communal relationship form. Correspondingly, customer engagement can be classified into transactional and non-transactional dimensions. By collecting member-customer data from both single and multiple paid membership platforms in China, we find that both reward-based and experience-based tactics positively influence both dimensions of engagement. However, reward-based tactics are more effective in fostering transactional engagement, while experience-based tactics are more effective in promoting non-transactional engagement. Moreover, relationship duration positively moderates the relationship between reward-based tactics and non-transactional engagement. This study thus provides theoretical and practical insights for the effective operation of paid membership program within Chinese e-commerce platforms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104440"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144711019","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":"Do you feel empowered by AI service robot? An exploration of consumer's social power perception in human-AI interaction","authors":"Yong Wang,&nbsp;Xiaoxin Sun,&nbsp;Xiaochen Zhang,&nbsp;Haijiao Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104434","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104434","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nowadays, anthropomorphic AI robots have been widely applied in various service scenarios. Interactions with these human-like AI robots impart a genuine sense of social presence to consumers, endowing the AI robots with distinct social identities and a palpable perception of social power, which in turn dramatically influence consumers' service experiences. Grounded in the theories of automated social presence, processing fluency, and the CAB model of consumer attitudes, this study explores the impact of AI service robots' appearance and communication styles on consumers' social power perception; and further examines how social power perception shape subsequent consumers' psychology and behavior. Results from four scenario-based experiments demonstrate that the high anthropomorphism and servant communication can elicit consumers' higher social power perception. These perceptions subsequently shape consumers' cognition, affect and affective expression towards the AI service robots. Consumers’ stereotypes towards AI robots significantly moderate the impact of social power perception on their cognitive evaluations of these robots. Additionally, this study also reveals that the impact of social power perception in human-AI interaction varies across different scenarios (functional vs. hedonic). This study offers valuable insights for the literature on service robots and provides practical suggestions for optimizing the utilization of AI robots.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104434"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144703995","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":"When help backfires: Exploring the unexpected consequences of helpful reviews on word-of-mouth","authors":"Jonghwan Kim,&nbsp;Shijin Yoo","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104422","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104422","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While helpful reviews are generally seen as catalysts for consumer engagement, their unexpected consequences on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) remain underexplored. This paper examined the potential negative impacts of helpful reviews. Although there is a prevailing view that review helpfulness positively influences consumer engagement, the authors addressed that helpful initial reviews may hamper the volume of review. They formulated and tested hypotheses on the potential negative effects of helpful initial reviews, contributing to a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics of online consumer behavior in eWOM. Drawing on product review data from two distinct e-commerce platforms (Amazon and Yelp), two studies investigated the influence of the perceived helpfulness of existing reviews on subsequent review writing. Further, the results demonstrated that the negative effect of helpful reviews was significantly moderated by product type, review length, and reviewer reputation. Overall, this study showed that an increase in review helpfulness may not always result in beneficial outcomes, which has key implications for online merchants, e-commerce platform providers, and consumers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104422"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144678792","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":"Impact of dual routes of information cues on consumers' willingness to pay a premium in cross-border e-commerce: The role of product involvement and nutrition safety awareness","authors":"Bei Zhang ,&nbsp;Jichan Zhu ,&nbsp;Ruqiu Ma ,&nbsp;Yuanzhen Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104428","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104428","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although information cues are crucial to consumers' willingness to pay a premium, the mechanism remains unclear. Addressing this gap, we take cross-border e-commerce food consumption as a context to investigate how information cues affect consumers' willingness to pay a premium by the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), and examine the mediating role of product involvement and the moderating role of nutrition safety awareness. Data from 535 consumers in China are analyzed through a combined method with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN). Results show that the central and peripheral routes of information cues exert dual positive influences on product involvement, which in turn positively affects the willingness to pay a premium. We also find that nutrition safety awareness reinforces the effect of product involvement on willingness to pay a premium. Additionally, multigroup analysis suggests gender heterogeneity in the above mechanisms among consumer groups. These conclusions provide practical references for cross-border e-commerce food retailers to optimize their food lead strategies, differentiate their marketing for different genders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104428"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144678879","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":"Consumer welfare in the platform Economy: The role of desirable product quality","authors":"Xiaohua Yang,&nbsp;Chaoqing Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104432","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104432","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Digital technologies have driven the growth of the platform economy, reshaping consumer behavior and significantly impacting consumer welfare. This paper constructs a nonlinear programming model with inequality constraints, aiming to maximize consumer welfare while considering the constraint imposed by consumer budgets. Notably, quality—an important factor for consumers—is incorporated into the utility function to explore its role in enhancing consumer welfare within the platform economy. The results indicate that as product quality variety increases, consumers can access products of more desirable quality, thereby improving consumer welfare. We further analyze consumers’ optimal purchasing strategies across different income levels. Our results reveal a counterintuitive phenomenon, when the income elastic demand, an income increase prompts consumers to favor a strategy characterized by increasing quantity while reducing quality. Lower but desirable quality may contribute more to consumer welfare than the highest quality as income levels increase, which challenges the prevailing assumption that higher income invariably leads to the purchase of higher-quality products. Finally, an empirical study using a panel dataset of actual transaction observations of wash products — a subcategory under Beauty &amp; Personal Care — on Amazon over the past two years, with 32,000 transactions, employing linear regression analysis, confirms that the significant role of desirable quality in enhancing consumer welfare. These findings not only yield valuable insights for policymakers in advancing the diversification of product quality within the digital economy but also serve as a critical reference for consumers in making informed purchasing decisions to improve their welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104432"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144678877","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":"Digital marketing and brand competitiveness: The mediating role of marketing capability and operational capability","authors":"Xingping Jia","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104429","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104429","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>From the lens of dynamic capabilities, this research explored how marketing capability and operational capability serve as intermediaries in the association between digital marketing (DM) and brand competitiveness (BC). Examining data from Chinese-listed companies spanning 2012 to 2022, the research presents robust evidence that DM influences BC via its impact on both marketing and operational capability. In particular, the study reveals a U-shaped association between DM and marketing capability, while exerting a favorable effect on operational capability directly. Both marketing and operational capability have been proven to significantly enhance BC. Additionally, the finding indicate that the impact of DM on BC differs based on the types of ownership and the strategic emphasis of the companies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104429"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144678878","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":"How to ensure streamers tell the Truth? Compensation design for E-commerce streamers","authors":"Lu Xiao ,&nbsp;Xinyue Yang ,&nbsp;Jun Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104433","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104433","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To address the moral hazard stemming from exaggerated product claims by streamers in live e-commerce, this study proposes a rational compensation mechanism aimed at incentivizing and guiding streamer behavior. The analytical framework integrates product return volume as a key parameter and employs mathematical modeling to systematically explore the dynamic interactions between two principal market participants: the company (as the employer) and the streamer. The model evaluates consumer purchasing decisions, company profitability, and streamer utility under two contrasting scenarios—exaggerated versus truthful product descriptions—and identifies the conditions under which streamers promoting low-quality products are incentivized to report product quality truthfully. Satisfying these conditions encourages streamers to prioritize honest communication. The findings demonstrate that for both experience goods and credence goods, a commission structure linked to product return volume can enhance sales effort—particularly when such effort effectively reduces return volume. Both sales-based and return-based commission schemes significantly influence streamer behavior during live streaming. Crucially, when the ratio of return-based to sales-based commissions falls below a certain threshold, streamers working with low-quality firms are more likely to provide truthful product information. These results offer theoretical guidance for firms to refine their streamer compensation strategies, promoting greater transparency and more sustainable practices in the live e-commerce ecosystem.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104433"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144678880","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":"Unpacking the link between parasocial relationships and gifting in live streaming: A mediation and moderation perspective","authors":"Lin Liu ,&nbsp;Qi Dong ,&nbsp;Xiaoya Wang ,&nbsp;Chunke Su ,&nbsp;Mengxiao Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104436","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104436","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In live streaming, gifting entails viewers sending virtual gifts to streamers, constituting a significant revenue source for both live-streaming platforms and streamers. The social dynamics of gifting suggest that parasocial relationships, one-sided connections formed by viewers toward streamers, may be a key driver of this behavior. However, the mechanisms through which parasocial relationships influence gifting remain largely underexplored. This study employs social exchange theory to develop a research framework investigating how perceived benefits of gifting act as mediating factors linking parasocial relationship and gifting intention, with streamer popularity serving as a moderator. To test this model, we conducted structural equation modeling using survey data collected from 490 live-streaming viewers. Our findings reveal that perceived benefits of gifting, specifically in relationship development and image building, significantly mediate the positive effect of parasocial relationship on gifting intention. Additionally, streamer popularity strengthens the influence of parasocial relationship on these perceived benefits of gifting. This work sheds light on the influence of parasocial relationships on gifting behaviors in live streaming and offers practical insights for leveraging such relationships to encourage viewer gifting activities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104436"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144678876","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":"Do social media self-care influencers promote unsustainable consumption? A mixed methods study","authors":"Aishwarya Soni,&nbsp;Ramulu Bhukya","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104430","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104430","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social media influencers have emerged as powerful forces shaping consumer behavior, often driving individuals to replicate their actions and preferences. However, the impact of these influencers on unsustainable consumption behavior (USCB) remains underexplored. This exploratory sequential mixed-method study, grounded with the theories namely social influence theory, parasocial theory and source credibility model, investigates the relationships between exposure to social media influencers (ESCI), perceived authenticity (PA), parasocial relationships (PR), desire to mimic (DTM), and USCB. Combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys, this study analyzes data from 366 exclusively female participants to uncover the psychological mechanisms underlying these influences applying partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4. The findings reveal that ESCI has both direct and indirect effects on DTM and USCB. Directly, ESCI influences PA, PR and DTM, fostering emotional connections and the desire to imitate influencers. Indirectly, ESCI affects USCB through mediating factors, such as PA and DTM. Exposure to social media influencers enhances perceived authenticity and parasocial relationships, which in turn promotes the desire to mimic and, ultimately, lead to unsustainable consumption behaviors. Although ESCI directly influences USCB, parasocial relationships do not have a direct effect on USCB, suggesting that emotional connections alone do not necessarily lead to unsustainable consumption. Additionally, generational differences were observed, with Generation Z showing a stronger inclination to mimic influencers compared to Millennials, who placed more importance on authenticity. These insights are valuable for marketers seeking to understand the psychological drivers of consumer behavior and emphasize the importance of balancing influence with ethical consumption practices. The authors contribute to the literature on unsustainable consumption behavior and self-care social media influencers along with expansion of theories with novel context of influencer driven consumption. This study contributes to the growing body of research on influencer marketing, consumer psychology and sustainability, offering actionable insights for promoting responsible consumption in the digital age.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 104430"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144670458","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}