This paper attempts to clarify the underlying mechanism behind purchase decision on B2C e-commerce web sites. Research question of the study is to investigate the interaction between brand equity, perceived value and purchase intention in B2C ecommerce context by specifically questioning the direct and indirect effects within the process. Firstly, the hypotheses in the conceptual model were tested. Secondly, post-hoc analyses were conducted to clarify the mediator roles of perceived value and brand loyalty. Sub dimensions of brand equity are namely brand awareness, brand association and brand loyalty. As a result of post-hoc analyses, partial mediator roles of perceived value and brand loyalty have been proved for each variable. But the most prominent finding of this study is the disappearing of the relations between brand associations and brand loyalty and between perceived value and purchase intention after including all the variables into the global research model. This result, particularly, supported the joint mediator roles of perceived value and brand loyalty.

Purpose The Internet revolution has radically changed the means of conducting business all over the world in the past few decades. The digital medium enables consumers worldwide to shop online through B2C e-commerce websites in a convenient manner. Online websites compete to provide a compelling and seamless brand experience to retain their customers. In order to achieve this, fostering a state of flow may help the brands increase customer experience, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In this study, the aforementioned phenomenon is tested against Turkish university students. Methodology The study was conducted against 538 valid respondents. The results of the survey were interpreted with the structural equation modeling method. Quantitative data were obtained using a five-point Likert scale. Initially, confirmatory factor analyses and reliability analysis were performed, respectively in order to determine the validity and reliability of the scale. Findings As a result of the analyses, it has been empirically proven that an online flow state, which is a momentary phenomenon, helps online e-commerce websites build customer satisfaction and customer loyalty indirectly through customer experience. These results are partly parallel with those in the extant literature. Originality This study is significant in the literature in that, as opposed to the extant literature, online flow state is found to influence customer satisfaction and customer loyalty rather indirectly via moderating effect of customer experience. Additionally, it is the first to incorporate customer satisfaction along with customer loyalty as a new construct affected by online flow state and customer experience. The results also have important managerial implications.

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Background: Smartphones have become an indispensable part of the daily lives of adolescents in the 21st century, which is characterized by a highly digitized modern world. Besides their many advantages, smartphones might pave the way to compulsive usage and addictive experiences. To remedy this problem, this study proposes an authentic approach which integrates consumer behavior theories and techniques such as unhook and gamification. An education program has been designed based on these approaches to decrease the problematic smartphone use. Method: The participants of the education program consisted of 305 students (48.2% girls and 51.8% boys) with a mean age of 14.57 (SD = 0.74). The Demographic Form and Smartphone Addiction Scale for Adolescents (SASA) were conducted before the education program and three weeks after the education. Results: The results of the paired sample t-test analysis before and after the education program revealed that the SASA total scores decreased significantly (p < 0.01). There are significant differences in terms of gender, mothers' education and class levels. Conclusion: This research emphasizes the role of an interdisciplinary approach to the addiction problem. The content used in the education program includes strategies that originally aimed at increasing consumption. The effectiveness of the program can be enhanced further in the future along with self-regulatory additions.

Background: Smartphones have become an indispensable part of the daily lives of adolescents in the 21st century, which is characterized by a highly digitized modern world. Besides their many advantages, smartphones might pave the way to compulsive usage and addictive experiences. To remedy this problem, this study proposes an authentic approach which integrates consumer behavior theories and techniques such as unhook and gamification. An education program has been designed based on these approaches to decrease the problematic smartphone use. Method: The participants of the education program consisted of 305 students (48.2% girls and 51.8% boys) with a mean age of 14.57 (SD = 0.74). The Demographic Form and Smartphone Addiction Scale for Adolescents (SASA) were conducted before the education program and three weeks after the education. Results: The results of the paired sample t-test analysis before and after the education program revealed that the SASA total scores decreased significantly (p &lt; 0.01). There are significant differences in terms of gender, mothers&rsquo; education and class levels. Conclusion: This research emphasizes the role of an interdisciplinary approach to the addiction problem. The content used in the education program includes strategies that originally aimed at increasing consumption. The effectiveness of the program can be enhanced further in the future along with self-regulatory additions.

With the advent of Internet that enables always connected consumers and readily available rich information about all types of products, consumer's purchase decision process has been radically altered that accompanies more information seeking activity prior to going to the store shelf. First moment of truth (FMoT) and Zero Moment of Truth (ZMoT) are the concepts coined by practitioners studying important moments in the consumer purchase decision process. First moment of truth emphasizes the critical importance of the in-store experience and the first few seconds when the consumer encounters with the brands on the shelve. The Zero moment of truth highlights the consumer's online research phase that occurs prior to the buying decision. It includes using electronic Word of Mouth (e-WoM) to make more informed decisions. The concept goes back to impulsive purchasing behavior studied in the academic research. This paper lays down the theoretical background of Zero Moment of Truth concept and links it to the existing academic literature. Furthermore, it uses a prior similar research conducted in US market to discover how zero moment of truth effects Turkish consumers' actual buying behavior. The research analyzes the results across different demographic segments. Finally, the results are compared with the prior research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about serious consequences in business world practices. Among these, flexible working policies have increased to a great extent. This has resulted in serious problems in the work-life balance. In this context, conditions such as having children and marital status have been important factors that can affect work engagement among flexible workers in the post pandemic era. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship of marital status, job experience and having children with work engagement among white-collar workers who work in flexible hours. Data is collected through surveys from 199 flexible working employees. ANOVA and T-tests were employed to analyze the data. The results indicate that only one of the sub-dimensions of work engagement–namely absorption- changes according to their marital status, and yet, the work engagement is not related to having children. In addition, it is seen that there is a significant relationship between job experience and work engagement.

New generation consumers have a tendency to rely more on digital media in their consumption process. This research aims to explain the purchasing behavior of Generation Y consumers. Effects of the peer to peer interactions of Generation Y consumers on brand awareness and brand trust form the conceptual model of this research. In the introduction part of the research, previous work on WoM, eWoM, brand awareness and brand trust in the literature are evaluated. In the remainder of the research, a conceptual model is tested with a survey collected from overall Turkey. The sample consists of Generation Y individuals. More than 400 distributed, 305 valid questionnaires were gathered. In order to measure Brand Awareness and Brand Trust, the scales adopted by Han et al. from prior studies were used (Han, Nguyen, & Lee, 2015). In order to measure the eWOM, the scale developed by Goyette et al. was used (Goyette, Ricard, Bergeron, & Marticotte, 2010). These results of the tests indicate a positive and significant relationship between WOM Content and Brand Awareness, between WOM Intensity and Brand Awareness and between Brand Awareness and Brand Trust.