Advertising and Promotion Management Commons^™

When Going Alone Feels Right: The Effect Of Solo Cues On Interest In Attending Cultural Events, Inyoung Lee, Sang-Hoon Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

With the rise of solo consumers, cultural event marketers face a challenge: how can events appeal to solo consumers without marginalizing group consumers? To address this question, the impact of solo cues in marketing communication is examined through the lens of role and script theory. Two experiments demonstrate that solo cues, which signal the inclusion of solo consumers among attendees, increase solo consumers' attendance interest but do not affect group consumers. For solo consumers, the impact of solo cues is driven by anticipated enjoyment and is particularly pronounced for events entailing a high (vs. low) level of social interaction, where …

Bridging The Intention-Behavior Gap In Adopting Zero-Waste Grocery Retail Store, Elizabeth Jacob, Salil Sahadevan

Asia Marketing Journal

Growing interest in sustainability within marketing has renewed attention to zero-waste retail, yet it remains largely niche. This study investigates the challenges limiting zero-waste retail adoption and explores consumer expectations through key stakeholder interviews and a large-scale consumer survey in India. Building on earlier work that focused primarily on individual barriers, it incorporates structural factors and the interconnected nature of these obstacles. Adoption of zero-waste shopping practices is constrained by emotional labor, cognitive overload, and systemic friction. Cultural norms favoring convenience and hygiene reinforce disposability, and the lack of conventional packaging creates logistical hurdles. In this connection, the study identifies …

Risk, Benefit, And Trust In Emotionally Intense Services: A Moderated Mediation Model Of Home-Based Palliative Care Adoption In China, Cong Zhuang, Wenfeng Wei, Kyung-Min Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

As aging populations expand across Asia, home-based palliative care remains underutilized despite its potential to preserve dignity and emotional well-being. This study examines adoption decisions under emotionally intense uncertainty by testing a moderated mediation model in which perceived risk reduces adoption intention through diminished perceived benefit, and trust conditions the risk–benefit appraisal link. A scenario-based experiment with 400 Chinese participants was analyzed using PROCESS Models 4 and 7 with bias-corrected bootstrapping. Results show that perceived benefit fully mediates the effect of perceived risk on adoption intention. Trust shows evidence of conditioning the association between perceived risk and perceived benefit; however, …

Bright Shadows, Fresh Appeal: How Shadow Brightness Shapes Perceptions Of Fresh Products, Jonghee Kum, Hyewon Cho, Hyejin Lee

Asia Marketing Journal

This study examines how shadow brightness (light vs. dark) influences consumer responses to fresh products across four studies. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrate that consumers evaluate fresh products with light shadows more favorably compared to those with dark shadows. Study 2 identifies the underlying mechanism, showing that light shadows increase perceived wholesomeness, which positively affects consumer responses. Study 3 tests a boundary condition, revealing that the positive impact of light (vs. dark) shadows is pronounced for uncooked products but reduced for cooked products. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the influential role of visual elements in shaping consumer …

Smart Tourism Technology And Sustainable Tourism: Creating Vivid Memories To Drive Tourists' Behavioural Intention, Hatane Semuel, Regina Jokom, Trixie Nova Bella Tandijaya, Sienny Thio

Asia Marketing Journal

This study examines the impact of smart tourism technology and sustainable tourism on tourists' behavioural intention, with vivid memory as a mediating variable. Earlier studies have investigated smart tourism technology and sustainability separately, but there is a lack of understanding of how these two perspectives interact with memory theory to influence tourist behaviour. To address this gap, a survey was conducted involving 742 tourists across four major Indonesian cities, and the data were analysed using path analysis with SmartPLS. The findings show that sustainable tourism directly and indirectly shapes behavioural intention, while smart tourism technology influences it only indirectly through …

The Afterlife Of Luxury: Triggers, Intentions, And Channel Preference In China's Resale Boom, Junfeng Shi, Dehua Xia

Asia Marketing Journal

This study examines the factors shaping Chinese consumers' intention to resell used luxury products and their preferences for resale channels, drawing on the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Data were collected from 381 consumers via an online survey and analyzed using structural equation modelling with confirmatory factor analysis and regression. Results indicate that the primary motivation for reselling is the lack of need when items are no longer useful or suitable. Consumers' resale intentions are driven mainly by internal factors: attitudes, sense of duty, perceived benefits, and behavioral control, while external factors, such as subjective norms, have minimal impact. …

Ensouling Progressive Partnership Synergy In Marketing To Revive The Indonesian Furniture Industry, Ahmad Ikhwan Setiawan, Fatimah Fatimah, Cheryl Marlitta Stefia

Asia Marketing Journal

This study develops a partnership marketing model to improve collaboration between suppliers and resellers in Indonesia's furniture industry by introducing Progressive Partnership Synergy (PPS), which links partnership dynamics to sales growth. A quantitative survey of 240 small and medium furniture manufacturers in Central Java tested the model using AMOS and Hayes's PROCESS Macro to examine mediation by synergy and competitive-advantage transformation. Results show PPS significantly affects sales growth while mediating the influence of competitive-advantage transformation. Market adjustment flexibility and partner orientation strengthen supplier–retailer ties. Some hypotheses were rejected, indicating additional factors are needed to optimize partnerships. Limitations include treating contextual …

The Impact Of Fear Of Aging On Luxury Consumption Among Middle-Aged Women, Jiyeon Lee, Xiaofei Wu, Dongwoo Ko

Asia Marketing Journal

This study investigates the relationship between fear of aging and luxury consumption behaviors among middle-aged women, focusing on the psychological and social dimensions of aging anxiety. Utilizing frameworks such as Objectification Theory and the Double Standard of Aging, the research explores how aging anxiety impacts attitudes toward luxury goods, mediated by fear of negative evaluation and body esteem. A survey of 288 women aged 41 to 60 was conducted, revealing that fear of aging significantly influences luxury attitudes and purchasing intentions. Findings indicate that luxury goods are seen not only as tools for status maintenance but also as avenues for …

Social Exclusion Cues And Collective Action Motivation In Environmental Campaigns: The Buffering Role Of Social Support, Hwan-Ho Noh, Warren B. Chik

Asia Marketing Journal

This study examines the influence of social exclusion cues on public engagement with environmental campaigns on social media, focusing on how such cues affect advertising attitudes and collective action motivation. Across two experimental studies, we investigated whether low engagement metrics, such as a small number of likes, function as symbolic exclusion cues that reduce perceived public support. The results indicate that social exclusion cues negatively affect advertising attitudes and collective action motivation, ultimately decreasing the intention to engage with the campaign. However, the presence of social support cues, which signal sustained public interest and social endorsement, effectively mitigated these negative …

The Price Of Expectation: How Luxury Consumers React To Quality Crises, Jeong Ah Yoo, Daye Hong, Yoon Hi Sung

Asia Marketing Journal

This study investigated the mechanisms underlying consumer responses to quality crises in luxury brands and examined how these responses differ depending on consumers' prior luxury brand purchase experience. The findings indicated that stronger price-quality inferences led to elevated product quality expectations. Further, when consumers encountered information regarding quality controversies, their heightened expectations produced greater perceived discrepancies, which subsequently had a negative impact on brand attitudes. Additionally, this study found that the negative impacts of perceived discrepancies on brand attitudes, purchase intentions for other products of the brand, and forgiveness intentions were more pronounced among luxury than among non-luxury consumers. Finally, …

Uncovering App Activity Patterns Behind E-Commerce App Usage: An Explainable Ai Framework, Myounggu Lee, Hye-Jin Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

In today's competitive mobile ecosystem, understanding how general app activity influences e-commerce app usage is crucial for marketers. This study introduces an explainable AI (XAI) framework using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) to identify non-e-commerce apps associated with e-commerce app usage. Drawing on mobile app launch data from 1,000 Android users in South Korea, we train a machine learning model to predict usage and apply SHAP to quantify the marginal contribution of each app. Results show that apps such as YouTube, Naver, and KakaoTalk are strongly linked to e-commerce activity at the user level. By visualizing user–app associations and clustering users …

Can Ai-Generated Ads With Future Predictions Drive Higher Donations Than Human-Created Ads?, Chaewon Song, Sujin Song

Asia Marketing Journal

The use of AI in generating ads offers benefits for NPOs, such as enhanced cost efficiency and personalized content. However, consumers often exhibit algorithm aversion when AI performs subjective tasks, like ad creation. According to mind perception theory, AI is seen as high in agency but low in experience. Given this, we hypothesized that including future predictions in AI-generated ads would mitigate this aversion. Across four studies, we found that AI-generated donation ads were generally perceived as less credible and elicited lower donation intentions than human-created ones. Crucially, when future predictions were included, the credibility and donation gap between AI …

From Emotions To Impulse: A Serial Mediation Approach In Tiktok Live Commerce, Amrul Asraf Mohd-Any, Moniruzzaman Sarker, Shaoxuan Lu

Asia Marketing Journal

Based on social exchange theory, this study investigates how interactions between influencers and followers during live streaming impact impulse buying behaviour. It explores how perceived influencer traits, namely authenticity, expertise, attractiveness, and homophily, influence trust, emotional attachment, and para-social interaction, which in turn drive impulsive purchases. Using PLS-SEM technique, a survey of 303 Chinese TikTok users reveals that emotional factors, particularly para-social interaction and attachment, have a stronger effect on impulse buying than trust. Authenticity and homophily emerge as essential in fostering emotional engagement, emphasising the importance of relatability over authority. The findings suggest that successful influencer marketing in live …

Price Endings Of Online And Offline Retailers: Round And Just-Below Pricing, Kwanho Suk, Gaeun Kim, Dongwon Lee, Xuanting Jin

Asia Marketing Journal

This study investigates and compares price-ending strategies employed by online and offline retailers. Analyzing 210,456 prices from retailers in US, South Korea, and China reveals significant differences in price-ending between online and offline retail formats. Online retailers exhibit a lower propensity to utilize round prices (e.g., ending in 0) and just-below prices (e.g., ending in 9) than offline retailers. This research discusses potential explanations for these observed discrepancies, focusing on the distinct price-setting environments and consumer purchasing behaviors of online and offline retail.

Exploring The Relationship Between Esg Activities And Firm Performance: The Carrot And Stick Approach, Jeongbin Whang, Jong-Ho Lee, Jaeho Lee

Asia Marketing Journal

This study uses stakeholder theory to investigate the impact of firms' ESG activities on performance, paying particular attention to the moderating roles of executive ESG compensation (the ``carrot'') and external ESG audits (the ``stick''). Utilizing Thomson Reuters ESG data from 1,523 US firms over six years (2017–2022) and applying fixed-effects models, the analysis reveals that environmental and social activities are positively associated with firm performance. In contrast, governance activities are negatively related to financial performance but positively related to non-financial outcomes. Furthermore, executive ESG compensation and external audits positively moderate the relationship between ESG activities and firm performance. Executive compensation …

Internal Public Relations Influence On Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: Integrating Social Identity Perspectives In Organizational Contexts, Daewook Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

This study examined how internal public relations encourages employees to participate in organizational citizenship behaviors. Using a national survey of employees (N = 339), we tested a conceptual model that proposed linkages among dialogic internal communication, organizational social capital, communal relationships, and organizational citizenship behaviors. The results suggest dialogic internal communication can enhance organizational social capital and encourage internal publics to participate in organizational citizenship behaviors. Additionally, organizational social capital mediated the effects of dialogic internal communication on communal relationships and organizational citizenship behaviors. The findings highlight a critical connection between public relations and social identity perspectives within organizational …

Temporal Dynamics Of Online Shopping: A Multidimensional Clustering Approach For Optimizing Time-Specific Advertising Strategies, Hye Ra Oh, Yunjae Cheong

Asia Marketing Journal

This study clusters consumers according to their hourly online shopping consumption patterns and develops optimized advertising strategies that can be practically applied by companies. Specifically, we considered multidimensional variables related to consumers, including demographic characteristics, shopping frequency, information search and content consumption characteristics, and lifestyle traits. We explored consumer types by comparing various clustering algorithms and applying the optimal clustering method for each time period. The analysis results show significant differences in payment amounts according to payment time periods. Regarding consumer types, consumption tendencies are distinctly differentiated by payment time periods, with each cluster showing different characteristics. This study is …

Does Ai-Driven Empathy Work In Healthcare Marketing? The Impact Of Cognitive And Affective Empathy In Chatbots And The Moderating Role Of Illness Type, Jee Won Kim, Yeonsoo Kim, Jino Chung

Asia Marketing Journal

Recognizing the growing potential of AI-generated chatbots in healthcare and healthcare marketing, this study investigates how different types of chatbot-expressed empathy influence user responses in stigmatized versus non-stigmatized health contexts. Perceived authenticity is introduced as a key mediator. Drawing on Mind Perception Theory, a 3 (empathy: none, cognitive, affective) × 2 (illness type: stigmatized, non-stigmatized) online experiment was conducted. The findings show that affective empathy reduced perceived authenticity, which subsequently decreased user satisfaction, perceived understanding, reuse intention, and follow intention. These indirect effects varied by illness type: in stigmatized contexts, non-empathetic communication was viewed most favorably, whereas in non-stigmatized contexts, …

Unpacking Virtual Influencer Persuasiveness: Effects Of Social Attributes, Self-Congruence, And Attachment On Brand Attitude And Purchase Intention, You Jin Song, Sejung Marina Choi

Asia Marketing Journal

As virtual influencers (VIs) increasingly function as prominent intermediaries in brand–consumer interactions, there is a critical need for systematic investigation into their impact on consumer behavior. This study empirically explores how specific attributes of VIs—competence, warmth, and eeriness—shape consumer perceptions, attachment, and brand engagement. Results indicate that competence and warmth significantly enhance VI attractiveness, whereas eeriness diminishes attractiveness and weakens consumer responses. Furthermore, attractiveness emerges as a primary determinant of consumer attachment to VIs, with actual self-congruence acting as a moderator that reduces this attachment. Notably, stronger consumer attachment fosters more positive brand attitudes, which subsequently elevate purchase intention. These …

Are You Ready To Embrace Ai-Generated Art? Exploring The Differential Effects Of Ai Versus Human Agents On Consumer Response, Seojin Stacey Lee, Yaeri Kim, Kiwan Park

Asia Marketing Journal

With a growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into creative domains, understanding its impact on consumer responses remains a critical area of inquiry. This research examines how agent type (AI vs. human) and art type (fine art vs. art-infused product) influences consumer purchase intention, along with the underlying psychological mechanism. Across three empirical studies, we find that consumers report higher purchase intention for art-infused products compared to fine art when created by AI. In contrast, this difference in purchase intention is diminished when the products are created by human artists. Perceived incompatibility functions as a moderated mediator in this process. …

Strategic Distribution, Digital Marketing, And Open Innovation: Toward Integrated Capability Development For Sme Performance, Johannes Baptista Halik, Maria Yessica Halik, Septin Basongan, Jhoel Mapau

Asia Marketing Journal

This study examines the impact of Distribution Strategy on SME performance, with Digital Marketing and Open Innovation as mediating variables. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data were analyzed from 250 SMEs in Makassar, Indonesia. The results show that Distribution Strategy positively affects performance, both directly and indirectly through Open Innovation. However, Digital Marketing does not serve as a significant mediator, indicating that its use among SMEs may still be limited to tactical functions. Open Innovation emerges as the strongest contributor, highlighting its role in converting distribution capabilities into performance gains. The study enriches Resource Advantage (R-A) Theory …

Mitigating Appearance Threats: The Differential Effects Of Compensatory Consumption On Self-Control, Yi-Seo Jo, Eunice Eun-Sil Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

Appearance threats, arising from gaps between one’s appearance and societal beauty standards, weaken self-control the capacity to favor long-term goals over immediate impulses. This research explores how compensatory consumption mitigates these effects, focusing on type (within-domain vs. across-domain) and timing (near-future vs. distant-future) across two studies. Rooted in symbolic self-completion and construal level theories, Study 1 examines how compensation type affects self-control under appearance threats, with rumination as a mediator. Findings show across-domain compensation sustains self-control by diverting focus from appearance concerns, unlike within-domain compensation, which heightens rumination and impairs self-regulation. Study 2 investigates how compensation timing moderates these outcomes, …

When And Why Managerial Responseswork: A Dual-Process Model Of Linguistic Cues, Review Rating, And Usefulness, Jungwon Lee, Cheol Park

Asia Marketing Journal

This research develops and empirically tests a contingency model explaining how specific linguistic characteristics of a firm's response to an online review influence the review's usefulness. We argue that the diagnostic value of different linguistic cues is contingent upon the reader's information processing mode-systematic versus heuristic-which is triggered by the valence of the original review's rating. An econometric analysis of 41,704 review-response dyads from TripAdvisor reveals that a conceptual cue (personalization, operationalized as topical relevance) and a perceptual cue (readability) both significantly increase review usefulness. In contrast, another perceptual cue (Linguistic Style Matching) decreases usefulness, a finding we interpret as …

“It’S A Dupe, Not A Counterfeit!” An Exploration Of Motives For Dupe Consumption Motives, Jungyong Ahn

Asia Marketing Journal

This study was designed to explore consumer motives for dupe consumption and to measure the influence of these identified motives on consumer satisfaction with dupe products and intention to sharing dupe products. Through a literature review and in-depth interviews, five key consumer motives were anticipated: (1) self-protection, (2) saving money, (3) anti-materialism, (4) mimicry, and (5) enjoyment. Corresponding measurement items were developed to assess these motives. A factor analysis conducted on survey data collected from 300 respondents successfully confirmed the extraction of these five motives as expected. Moreover, regression analysis further demonstrated the statistically significant positive impact of these motives …

How Does A Consumer’S Anticipated Happiness Influence Participation In Value Co-Creation? : Focusing On Definition Of Happiness, Minsik Cho, Suna La

Asia Marketing Journal

Value co-creation (VCC) is essential for a new product development, transforming ideas into collaboratively created value-in-use, particularly under Service-Dominant Logic (S-D Logic). Recognizing that consumers engage in VCC with the goal of achieving happiness, this study investigates how anticipated happiness—arising from affective forecasting of VCC experiences—encourages customers’ participation in high-technology VCC initiatives. It also examines how individuals’ definitions of happiness—calmness vs. excitement—influence this process in VCC, using a validated temporal focus manipulation to induce these differing happiness orientations. Results indicate that future-focused individuals tend to define their happiness as excitement, while present-focused individuals associate it with calmness. Then, definitions of …

The Impact Of Sense Of Power On Consumer Click-Through Intention Under Ai Personalized Recommendation, Li Li, Dhakir Abbas Ali

Asia Marketing Journal

This study investigates how consumers' sense of power influences their click-through intentions in AI-driven personalized recommendation systems. While prior research has explored personalized marketings impact on consumer behavior, the role of perceived power remains understudied. Through scenario-based experiments, we find that a heightened sense of power enhances engagement with AI recommendations, with self-efficacy as a key mediator. However, this effect weakens when privacy concerns are high, highlighting privacy as a critical moderating factor. Specifically, empowered consumers are more likely to interact with AI recommendations, but only when privacy risks are minimal. These findings deepen our understanding of consumer-AI interactions, emphasizing …

The Effect Of Customer Perception Of Service Failure And Recovery On Relationship Dissolution Behavior: Evidence In Airline Services, Jihyo Moon, Sang-Lin Han, Jong Won Lee

Asia Marketing Journal

Many previous studies have been conducted on service failure and recovery, but the existing preceding studies are mainly focused on positive behavioral intentions such as loyalty, word of mouth intention and recommendation intention. Therefore, there is relatively little interest in customers’ negative behavioral intentions.

In today’s society where SNS is very developed, customers’ complaints or retaliatory actions can be spread to other customers without time and space limitations, which can have a great negative impact on the company’s image. In this respect, it is a very important task for service companies to examine the impact of service failure and recovery …

The Effect Of National Brand Failure On Micro-National Image And Attitudes Toward Other Brands: The Moderating Role Of Ethnocentrism, Lingge Jia, Seong Do Cho

Asia Marketing Journal

This study examines the effect of failures by prominent Korean brands on Korea’s micro-level national image and other Korean brands among Chinese consumers, focusing on technological capability and design dimensions, and the moderating role of consumer ethnocentrism. Data was collected through surveys that presented scenarios of varying degrees of brand failures and analyzed using AMOS and Hayes Process Macro. Results reveal that typical brand failures negatively affect perceptions of Korea’s micro-national image, particularly in terms of technology capability and design. Additionally, higher levels of ethnocentrism amplify the negative effect of brand failures on the design dimensions of Korea’s image. However, …

Giving Locally Or Globally? How The Destination Of Corporate Charitable Donations Shapes Consumer Brand Preferences, Ohjin Kwon, Young Jee Han, Hakkyun Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

We investigate how the geographic destination of charitable corporate donations influences brand preferences. We predict and find that consumers demonstrate a stronger preference for brands that engage in domestic donations as opposed to those that contribute to foreign causes. Additionally, we find that the preference for domestic donations is more pronounced among consumers exhibiting higher levels of nationalism and lower levels of residential mobility. Our research findings offer managerial implications for tailoring CSR strategies to resonate with specific consumer segments. We provide insights for companies aiming to optimize the impact of their philanthropic endeavors.

Saving Face While Earning Rewards: Reward-Both Referral Programs More Effectively Elicit Referrals For Experiential Purchases Than Reward-Me Programs, Hyunkyu Jang, Raj Raghunathan

Asia Marketing Journal

Companies offer rewards when an existing customer invites a new customer to try their product, but the recipient of the reward varies depending on the type of referral program. In Reward-Me programs, only the recommending customer is rewarded, while in Reward-Both programs, both the recommender and the recipient who acts on the recommendation are rewarded. We examined whether purchase type (material vs. experiential) moderates the impact of a reward program on referral likelihood. The results reveal that purchase type does moderate referral likelihood across the two types of reward programs: for material purchases, referral likelihood does not differ between the …