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Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Digital Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 98861

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Umair Akram

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Guest Editor

Department of Marketing, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Interests: online consumer buying behavior; branding; social and mobile commerce; retailing; consumer well-being
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Pantea Foroudi

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Guest Editor

The Business School, Middlesex University, London NW4 4BT, UK
Interests: consumer behavior; retailing; hospitality marketing; consumer perception; branding
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Dr. Jiayin Qi

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Guest Editor

School of Management, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (SUIBE), Shanghai 201620, China
Interests: artificial intelligence; social media marketing; change management; online consumer behavior; CRM
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Internet has revamped the marketing world for businesses and consumers. Courtesy of social media, i.e., Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms, consumers have an opportunity to share, contribute, and access information with simple clicks. Empowered with information, consumers shape the market trends and invite unprecedented competition. Consequently, for a sustainable business, improvised marketing methods are inevitable.

Recently, corporates' aggressive marketing for a share sometimes flirts with the sensitive and grey areas of consumer sovereignty and wellbeing. Digitally intertwined global culture has invited confusion and complications at the psychological level, e.g., consumer response is agitated by national and international brands' assertive marketing campaigns. Technology (e.g., the internet and smart devices), a double-edged sword, has put consumers at risk, i.e., mental fitness, anxiety, aggression, and depression. Where technology is making everyday life easy, it is also leading to reduced sleep and exaggerated laziness. This scenario demands a scholarly discussion from the perspective of consumer wellbeing in this digital business world.

Possible research questions/topics for this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

To what extent does digitalization impact the core marketing theory?
What is the impact of digitalization on the life cycle of the buyer–seller relationships?
How have the buyer–seller network dynamics have evolved due to digitalization?
What repercussions (i.e., anxiety, depression, aggression, and compulsive buying) do consumers face due to excess digitalization?
How is this digitalization shaping consumer ill/wellbeing?
How do business breaches invite new challenges, i.e., consumer alienation, and value the co-destruction posed by the consumers?
How does social media marketing influence consumer’s mental health?
Application of consumer behavior theories with digitalization;
Meta-analysis on consumer ill/well-being studies.

Dr. Pantea Foroudi
Dr. Umair Akram
Dr. Jiayin Qi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

social media
ethical marketing
consumer ill/well-being
consumer mental health
mobile commerce
online purchase intention
technology acceptance model
fear of missing out
stress
impulsive and compulsive buying
anxiety
depression
happiness

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 911 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mobile Shopping during COVID-19: The Effect of Hedonic Experience on Brand Conspicuousness, Brand Identity and Associated Behavior

by Wanjing Jiang and Yao Song

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(8), 4894; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084894 - 18 Apr 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3242

Abstract

COVID-19 has impacted economic and social conditions around the globe. In a post-pandemic world, the labor models have been shifting in favor of working from home and shopping toward online purchasing through mobile devices. The pandemic has, in addition to disrupting the world economy, triggered changes in consumer behavior that require a rethinking of marketing efforts from the consumer’s perspective and a fundamental shift in branding strategies and managerial thinking. This paper expanded the understanding of the mobile consumer behavior of Generation Z consumers in China by examining the changes in their behavior in response to the pandemic. We used a structural equation model (SEM) to show that, in mobile shopping, the hedonic experience has played an essential role in signaling brand conspicuousness and product aesthetics, in turn promoting brand identity and associated behavioral reactions. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these changes for branding identity and brand management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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26 pages, 1220 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“In Flow”! Why Do Users Share Fake News about Environmentally Friendly Brands on Social Media?

by Daniel-Rareș Obadă and Dan-Cristian Dabija

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(8), 4861; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084861 - 16 Apr 2022

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 7174

Abstract

Social media has triggered an increase in fake news spread about different aspects of modern lives, society, politics, societal changes, etc., and has also affected companies’ reputation and brands’ trust. Therefore, this paper is aimed at investigating why social media users share fake news about environmentally friendly brands. To examine social media users’ behavior towards environmentally friendly brands, a theoretical research model proposed and analyzed using structural equations modeling in SmartPLS on a convenience sample consisting of 922 questionnaires. Data was collected by means of a quantitative-based approach via a survey conducted among social media users from an emerging market. The results show that social media flow has a mediated impact on sharing fake news about environmentally friendly brands on social media. Considering the critical consequences of fake news, the paper argues that understanding the dissemination process of this type of bogus content on social media platforms has important theoretical and managerial implications. Understanding the psychological mechanisms that influence people’s behavior in sharing fake news about environmentally friendly brands on social networking sites (SNS) could help in better understanding the factors and the effects of this phenomenon. The originality of this research consists of proposing flow theory from positive psychology to be used as a theoretical framework to explain users’ behavior of sharing fake news about environmentally friendly brands on social media. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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13 pages, 538 KiB

Open AccessArticle

When Big Data Backfires: The Impact of a Perceived Privacy Breach by Pharmaceutical E-Retailers on Customer Boycott Intention in China

by Rong Liu, Jiawei Yang and Jifei Wu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(8), 4831; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084831 - 15 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2550

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the impact of a perceived privacy breach by pharmaceutical e-retailers on customer boycott intention, especially the mediating role of emotional violation and the moderating effect of customer previous trust. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey of 335 customers of pharmaceutical e-retailers from China. Our research results showed that a perceived privacy breach by a pharmaceutical e-retailer had no direct effect on customer boycott intention; a perceived privacy breach positively affected emotional violation; emotional violation led to customer boycott intention; emotional violation played a mediating role in the relationship between a perceived privacy breach and customer boycott intention; and customer previous trust positively moderated the mediating effect of emotional violation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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17 pages, 1044 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Understanding Consumer Online Impulse Buying in Live Streaming E-Commerce: A Stimulus-Organism-Response Framework

by Mingwei Li, Qingjin Wang and Ying Cao

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(7), 4378; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074378 - 6 Apr 2022

Cited by 51 | Viewed by 22820

Abstract

With the proliferation of live streaming, there is evidence that online impulse buying is becoming an emerging phenomenon. Although many studies have investigated impulse buying in the context of offline shopping and business-to-consumer e-commerce, online impulse buying in live streaming has attracted little attention. In this study, we aim to explore the effect of social presence in live streaming on customer impulse buying based on the stimulus–organism–response framework. The research model presented here identifies pleasure and arousal as the mediation of impulse buying in live streaming. We use the AMOST and IBM SPSS PROCESS software to estimate our model based on data at the minute level from 189 customers, who watched live streaming in the past three months. The results suggest that the social presence of the broadcaster and the social presence of the live streamer positively affect impulse buying directly and indirectly via pleasure and arousal, promoting consumer online impulse buying in live streaming, but the social presence of the viewers has no significant effect on pleasure and arousal. For practice, our results can help policymakers and operators of the live streaming platform alleviate impulse buying in the digital world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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22 pages, 2895 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Online Public Rumor Engagement Model and Intervention Strategy in Major Public Health Emergencies: From the Perspective of Social Psychological Stress

by Jiaqi Liu and Jiayin Qi

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(4), 1988; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19041988 - 10 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2633

Abstract

During major public health emergencies, a series of coupling problems of rumors getting out of control and public psychological imbalance always emerge in social media, which bring great interference for crisis disposal. From the perspective of social psychological stress, it is important to depict the interactive infection law among distinct types of rumor engagers (i.e., advocates, supporters, and amplifiers) under different social psychological stress states, and explore the effectiveness of rumor intervention strategies (i.e., hindering and persuasion) from multiple dimensions, to scientifically predict the situation of public opinion field and guide the public to restore psychological stability. Therefore, this paper constructs an interactive infection model of multiple rumor engagers under different intervention situations based on a unique user-aggregated dataset collected from a Chinese leading online microblogging platform (“Sina Weibo”) during the COVID-19 in 2020. The simulation result shows that (1) in the period of social psychological alarm reaction, the strong level of hindering intervention on the rumor engagers leads to more serious negative consequences; (2) in the period of social psychological resistance, the persuasion and hindering strategies can both produce good outcomes, which can effectively reduce the overall scale of rumor supporters and amplifiers and shorten their survival time in social media; (3) in the period of social psychological exhaustion, rumor intervention strategies are not able to have a significant impact; (4) the greater the intensity of intervention, the more obvious the outcome. Experimental findings provide a solid research basis for enhancing social psychological stress outcomes and offer decision-making references to formulate the rumor combating scheme. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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19 pages, 1650 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Continued Use of Social Commerce Platforms and Psychological Anxiety—The Roles of Influencers, Informational Incentives and FoMO

by Jinjie Li, Jiayin Qi, Lianren Wu, Nan Shi, Xu Li, Yuxin Zhang and Yinyin Zheng

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(22), 12254; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182212254 - 22 Nov 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7212

Abstract

Why does the continued use of social commerce platforms fail to promote consumer wellbeing? This study explores the roles of influencers, informational incentives and fear of missing out (FoMO) in the relationships between social commerce platform use and consumer mental health. Data were obtained through questionnaires, as well as constructing a research model. Statistical analysis and path analysis of the structural equation model were performed by the software IBM SPSS and AMOS, and the following results were obtained. (1) Influencer expertise and interactivity, informational incentives and FoMO have a significant impact on consumers’ continued use of social commerce platforms. (2) Materialism has no significant effect on consumer social commerce platform use. (3) FoMO mediates the relationships between informational incentives and continued use of social commerce platforms. (4) Consumers’ continuous use of social commerce platforms has a strong relationship with mental health. (5) Continued use of social commerce platforms can lead to intense social engagement, as well as more severe outcomes such as psychological anxiety and compulsive buying. The findings of the paper have important implications for the development of social business theory and management practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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28 pages, 3882 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Financial Inclusion Paradigm Shift in the Postpandemic Period. Digital-Divide and Gender Gap

by Valentina Vasile, Mirela Panait and Simona-Andreea Apostu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(20), 10938; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010938 - 18 Oct 2021

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 6423

Abstract

Financial inclusion is strongly differentiated by age groups and countries and the pandemic has highlighted the increased gaps and inequalities but also the weaknesses of the system, in terms of flexibility, access and facilities of the customer-bank relationship and also from the perspective of the financial education of young generations and vulnerable people, active in the labor market. Based on the available data provided by the Global Findex database, and some findings after more than one year of COVID-19 crisis we outlined the main aspects of financial digitization, by categories of people and countries. At the same time, we identified the challenges and problems during the pandemic that significantly adjusted the consumption pattern of citizens and increased the need for on-line access for financial transactions. Starting from the analysis of the inequality of access to financial instruments in the last years, from the informational asymmetry in financial education and the challenges of the pandemic period, we underlined the main coordinates of changing the model of sustainable financial inclusion—based on five pillars—access, education, support tools, CSR and resilience. The research results highlight the need for convergence in providing opportunities to consider financial inclusion as a public good and an active tool to increase consumers’ satisfaction and the quality of life of individuals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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21 pages, 612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Digitalization on Customers’ Well-Being in the Pandemic Period: Challenges and Opportunities for the Retail Industry

by Umair Akram, Melinda Timea Fülöp, Adriana Tiron-Tudor, Dan Ioan Topor and Sorinel Căpușneanu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(14), 7533; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147533 - 15 Jul 2021

Cited by 92 | Viewed by 23881

Abstract

Order increases, supply chain disruptions, changing customer behavior, store closures, and more that have been caused by the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) will undoubtedly affect the online commerce forms of business. The coronavirus pandemic has a significant impact on digitalization and customer experience and well-being in mobile commerce. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, online sales and the number of online shoppers using wireless internet-enabled devices have increased tremendously. The article develops, an experimental study that captures COVID-19 and digital commerce’s impact in terms of customers’ experience and well-being during the pandemic period. The study explores the synergy between technology evolution and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on customers’ behavior based on survey data collection and the technology acceptance model (TAM). The results reveal that, for millennials, digital commerce seems to be the typical way of shopping and paying in the pandemic period since the oldest generations adopted in a smaller proportion the use of mobile devices for shopping and payments. Besides, retailers are confronted with great challenges raised by millennials’ expectations. The result confirms four of the six hypotheses based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). As a result, it shows that the easiness of use, trust, mobility, and customer involvement influences the behavioral intention of the customer to use mobile commerce, and that usefulness and customization does not influence the behavioral intention. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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17 pages, 4434 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Perceiving Social-Emotional Volatility and Triggered Causes of COVID-19

by Si Jiang, Hongwei Zhang, Jiayin Qi, Binxing Fang and Tingliang Xu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(9), 4591; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094591 - 26 Apr 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3705

Abstract

Health support has been sought by the public from online social media after the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to the physical symptoms caused by the virus, there are adverse impacts on psychological responses. Therefore, precisely capturing the public emotions becomes crucial to providing adequate support. By constructing a domain-specific COVID-19 public health emergency discrete emotion lexicon, we utilized one million COVID-19 theme texts from the Chinese online social platform Weibo to analyze social-emotional volatility. Based on computed emotional valence, we proposed a public emotional perception model that achieves: (1) targeting of public emotion abrupt time points using an LSTM-based attention encoder-decoder (LAED) mechanism for emotional time-series, and (2) backtracking of specific triggered causes of abnormal volatility in a cognitive emotional arousal path. Experimental results prove that our model provides a solid research basis for enhancing social-emotional security outcomes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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28 pages, 1292 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Determinants of Panic Buying during COVID-19

by Grace Chua, Kum Fai Yuen, Xueqin Wang and Yiik Diew Wong

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(6), 3247; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063247 - 21 Mar 2021

Cited by 98 | Viewed by 15061

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an unmatched level of panic buying globally, a type of herd behavior whereby consumers buy an uncommonly huge amount of products because of a perception of scarcity. Drawing on the health belief model, perceived scarcity, and anticipated regret theories, this paper formulated a theoretical model that linked the determinants of panic buying and analyzed their interrelationships. Subsequently, data were collated from 508 consumers through an online survey questionnaire in Singapore that was conducted during the early stage of the pandemic, before the onset of the circuit breaker in April 2020. Next, an analysis of the results was done through structural equation modeling. It showed that the effect of the health belief model dimensions (i.e., perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, outcome expectation, cues to action, and self-efficacy) on panic buying is partially mediated by the consumers’ perceived scarcity of products. Furthermore, the effect of perceived scarcity on panic buying is partially mediated by consumers’ anticipation of regret. This paper expands on the current theoretical understanding of panic buying behavior, giving insights into the possible measures and solutions that policymakers and relevant stakeholders can uptake to manage panic buying in future a pandemic or health crisis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Consumer Wellbeing and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities)

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