Existing research demonstrates that industry competitiveness influences the effectiveness of marketing actions. However, limited scholarly attention has been paid to how service companies should communicate on social media under different levels of industry competitiveness. The current research seeks to address this gap in the literature by analyzing social media communication, brand impression, and financial data from two large samples of service companies and by employing state-of-the-art methods of machine learning. Study 1 demonstrates that industry competitiveness positively (negatively) moderates the impact of persuasive tone (volume) of social media communications on company value. We argue that these effects stem from investors’ expectations about the impact of these communication styles in facilitating differentiation and improving brand impressions in a congested competitive environment. Consistent with this mechanism, Study 2 reveals that as an industry becomes more cluttered, persuasive tone (volume) becomes more (less) effective in impacting consumers’ brand impressions. The findings provide important insights for service companies that operate under different levels of industry competitiveness. [Formula: see text]

This research examines consumers' compliance with behaviors that focus on preventing the spread of COVID‐19. Drawing on Protection Motivation Theory and research on efficacy, we find that, during a pandemic, consumers who have higher perceptions of response efficacy are less likely to engage in risky consumption behaviors (Study 1) and more likely to engage in protective consumption behaviors (Study 2). This effect is moderated by risk aversion, such that as risk aversion increases, COVID‐compliant behaviors increase even when consumers do not believe in their ability to effectuate change. Further, the relationship between response efficacy and COVID‐compliant behaviors is mediated by anticipated guilt. Importantly, these constructs are relevant beyond the COVID‐19 pandemic. As situations like drought, rising sea levels, and infectious diseases persist, consumers will continually be asked to sacrifice for their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. Thus, we discuss implications for policymakers.

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