Can Narrative Advertisement and eWOM Influence Generation Z Purchase Intentions?

Decoding Gen Z: AI's influence on brand trust and purchasing behavior

This study focuses on the role of AI in shaping Generation Z's consumer behaviors across fashion, technology, beauty, and education sectors. Analyzing responses from 224 participants, our findings reveal that AI exposure, attitude toward AI, and AI accuracy perception significantly enhance brand trust, which in turn positively impacts purchasing decisions. Notably, flow experience acts as a mediator between brand trust and purchasing decisions. These insights underscore the critical role of AI in developing brand trust and influencing purchasing choices among Generation Z, offering valuable implications for marketers in an increasingly digital landscape.

The impact of benevolent human resource management attributions on employees’ general work stress, with the mediating influence of gratitude

Workplace stress can cause serious physical and mental illness and result in billions of dollars in lost productivity every year. Researchers have called for the development of frameworks through which Human Resource Management (HRM) practices can reduce employee stress. Building on HRM attribution theory, this study builds a framework based on benevolent HRM attributions. Benevolent HRM attributions are employee beliefs that their management has enacted HRM practices to support their performance ( performance HRM attributions) and improve their well-being ( well-being HRM attributions). This study examined if both benevolent HRM attributions engender employee gratitude, which in turn may reduce their general job stress levels. Respondents of the study were chosen from the telecom sector of Pakistan as they operate in a high stress inducing environment. The theoretically based causal associations were examined by employing the structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The results confirmed the hypotheses and also showed that both benevolent HRM attributions reduce employees’ job stress with the mediating influence of gratitude. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed as well.

Investigating the Role of Ethical Self-Identity and Its Effect on Consumption Values and Intentions to Adopt Green Vehicles among Generation Z

Consumption values and consumer identities have been widely explored as needed in the literature on sustainability, but they are mainly treated as separate predictors of sustainable behavior. Researchers are calling for further analysis of these variables’ combined impacts to investigate sustainable behavior. This research integrates consumption values theory (functional, social, conditional, epistemic, and emotional) and ethical self-identity to explore the intention to adopt green vehicles among Generation Z. The data in this paper were collected from 319 respondents through a structured questionnaire in two universities in Islamabad, Pakistan. We used the PLS-SEM approach to analyze the results; we found that functional value (quality), social value, conditional value, and emotional value significantly influenced the intention to adopt green vehicles among Generation Z. The study further demonstrated that ethical self-identity significantly mediates the relationship between consumption values and the intention to adopt green vehicles among Generation Z. Our findings indicate that ethical self-identity inferences are favorable when promoting green vehicles among Generation Z. Therefore, the results of this study provide novel understandings for marketers and policymakers in Pakistan to emphasize the improvement of consumer values and ethical self-identity, which will eventually contribute to the adoption of green vehicles. In addition, automakers should promote green ideas, to encourage Generation Z to replace their existing vehicles with alternative green options in Pakistan.

Shadow of Your Former Self: Exploring Project Leaders’ Post-Failure Behaviors (Resilience, Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy) in High-Tech Startup Projects

Globally, demands for sustainable strategies in the ICT industry have attracted greater momentum as high-tech projects continue to fail in large numbers. Recent studies have underpinned project resilience as a major factor for overcoming these increasing project failures, delays, or termination. However, the complex behaviors of resilient project leaders, especially in post-failure conditions, have been largely overlooked. To address this critical research gap, the present study identifies the direct relationships between three potential behavioral traits of project leaders (i.e., resilience, self-esteem, and self-efficacy) and examines how they move forward beyond project failures. The present study also explored whether self-esteem mediates project leaders’ resilience and self-efficacy. Drawing on data from 232 project leaders in Pakistan’s high-tech start-ups, the new findings suggest that there are significant positive effects of project leaders’ resilience and self-esteem on their self-efficacy, and that project leaders’ resilience and self-efficacy is significantly mediated by their self-esteem. As the project resilience theory gains traction, the present study findings have pinpointed major steps for meeting project challenges ahead of time, allowing leaders and teams to learn from failures, and also for improving organisations’ ability to implement successful and sustainable high-tech projects especially in emerging economies.

Exploring the drivers and barriers to uptake for digital contact tracing

Digital contact tracing has been deployed as a public health intervention to help suppress the spread of Covid-19 in many jurisdictions. However, most governments have struggled with low uptake and participation rates, limiting the effectiveness of the tool. This paper characterises a number of systems developed around the world, comparing the uptake rates for systems with different technology, data architectures, and mandates. The paper then introduces the MAST framework (motivation, access, skills, and trust), adapted from the digital inclusion literature, to explore the drivers and barriers that influence people's decisions to participate or not in digital contact tracing systems. Finally, the paper discusses some suggestions for policymakers on how to influence those drivers and barriers in order to improve uptake rates. Examples from existing digital contact tracing systems are presented throughout, although more empirical experimentation is required to support more concrete conclusions on effective interventions.

Influence of Site Personalization and First Impression on Young Consumers’ Loyalty to Tourism Websites

This study analyzes the influence of site personalization, first impression, and design on young consumers’ loyalty to tourism websites. It is a new and necessary study, taking into account the multimedia profile and purchasing potential of the studied segment, the need for increasing online consumer loyalty, and the tourism websites’ relevance. Based on previous findings and using a sample of 609 young consumers, a causal model (PLS) is designed that is practical, novel, and significantly predicts online loyalty. The descriptive analysis results show young consumers’ positive attitudes toward e-commerce and their high online use and potential for making online purchases. The significant influence of site personalization on consumers’ first impression is also confirmed. In addition, first impression influence perceived website quality, and, in turn, this quality affects consumers’ online purchase intention and loyalty to the website. Finally, it is shown that online purchase intention has a direct and positive influence on website loyalty. Thus, this study provides tourism managers with the knowledge to encourage young consumers’ loyalty to their websites in a market orientation context. It can be achieved by acting on the site’s personalisation, the first impression, and the design of the site. The generational approach (Generation Z) also allows the conclusions and implications to be transferred to other regions and sectors.

Young Consumers’ Intention to Participate in the Sharing Economy: An Integrated Model

This paper aims to analyze the external and internal drivers of young consumers’ intention to participate in the sharing economy in tourism. From previous findings, a causal model (PLS) is designed to generate an integrated, practical, and novel structural model that significantly predicts the intention to participate. The model, consisting of nine dimensions, includes consumers’ external and internal variables. Separately, these variables have all been considered relevant in the literature, though they have not been studied jointly before. The descriptive results show the excellent attitude and predisposition of young people toward the tourism sharing economy, which facilitates their participation. Through the model, the importance of all internal and external consumer variables in the formation of intention are proven; however, attitude and social norm are most notable among them. Trust is also a critical variable that serves as the link between internal and external variables. The study provides managers of sharing economy platforms with knowledge to encourage young consumers’ participation in a communication and market orientation context. The generational approach (Generation Z) used also allows the conclusions and implications to be transferred to other regions and sectors.