Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyze the emerging crowd-funding phenomenon, that is a collective effort by consumers who network and pool their money together, usually via the internet, in order to invest in and support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Successful service businesses that organize crowd-funding and act as intermediaries are emerging, attesting to the viability of this means of attracting investment. Design/methodology/approach -The research employs a "grounded theory" approach, performing an in-depth qualitative analysis of three cases involving crowd-funding initiatives: SellaBand in the music business, Trampoline in financial services, and Kapipal in non-profit services. These cases were selected to represent a diverse set of crowd-funding operations that vary in terms of risk/return for the investor and the type of payoff associated to the investment. Findings -The research addresses two research questions: how and why do consumers turn into crowd-funding participants? and how and why do service providers set up a crowd-funding initiative? Concerning the first research question, the authors' findings reveal purposes, characteristics, roles and tasks, and investment size of crowd-funding activity from the consumer's point of view. Regarding the second research question, the authors' analysis reveals purposes, service roles, and network effects of crowd-funding activity investigated from the point of view of the service organization that set up the initiative. Practical implications -The findings also have implications for service managers interested in launching and/or managing crowd-funding initiatives. Originality/value -The paper addresses an emerging phenomenon and contributes to service theory in terms of extending the consumer's role from co-production and co-creation to investment.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of visual communications on Instagram users’ propensity to engage with image-based content through online behaviors such as liking, sharing, commenting and following, and their intention to purchase the product depicted in the visual communications. Design/methodology/approach An experimental design was used to measure the effect of branded Instagram images on a sample of active Instagram users. Two features of Instagram images (subject’s gaze: direct vs indirect; product salience: low vs high) were manipulated and their interactive effect tested on online behaviors. Findings The paper offers empirical evidence that direct gaze and high product salience positively affect digital visual engagement. Moreover, digital visual engagement influences intention to purchase. Research limitations/implications The hypotheses were tested on a single product category and on only two image-based features. Further studies might replicate the experiment on different product categories and include different image-based features. Practical implications This empirical study can offer communication managers important information on the image-based features that are most effective in increasing digital visual engagement and positively influencing purchase intentions in visual communications. Originality/value The study empirically demonstrates that the choice of specific image-based features in visual communication matters for increasing digital visual engagement among Instagram users.

Greenwashing extensively deals with scandals at the supply chain; despite this, however, research on this subject remains in the early stages, while much more is needed to advance our understanding of stakeholder's reactions to greenwashing. We propose a new typology of greenwashing based on the locus of discrepancy, i.e., the point along the supply chain where the discrepancy between the responsible words and the irresponsible walks happens. With three experiments, we tested how the types affect investor reactions from ethical (blame attribution) and business (intention to invest) perspectives. We developed our hypotheses building on attribution theory, which explains how observers construct perceptions about events. We expected that the more the discrepancy is internal, controllable, and intentional, the higher the blame attributed to a company and the lower the investment intentions. We found that, when greenwashing occurs at a company level (direct greenwashing), it increases the blame while decreasing investment intentions. Indirect greenwashing refers to Firms Talk, Suppliers Walk 2 misbehavior perpetrated by a supplier that claims to be sustainable and results to be less negative for a company. We also propose a third and original type: vicarious greenwashing, which happens when the behavior of a supplier is in breach of a company's sustainability claim. Although stakeholders attribute less blame on a company when vicariously involved in greenwashing, this type of greenwashing is detrimental for investments. The findings here advance the understanding of how greenwashing shapes stakeholder reactions and call attention to the need of a careful management of the supply chain.

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