Product-harm crises usually lead to product recalls, which may cause consumers concern about the product quality and safety. This study systematically examines customers' immediate responses to the Volkswagen product recall crisis in China. Particular attention was given to customers' responses to the risk information influencing their behavioral intentions. By combining the protective action decision model and the heuristic-systematic model, we constructed a hypothetical model to explore this issue. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data involving 467 participants drawn from the customers of Volkswagen. We used structural equation modeling to explore the model. The results show that customers' product knowledge plays an important role in their responses to the crisis. Having more knowledge would make them perceive a lower risk, but they might need even more information, making them more likely to seek and process information, and subsequently increasing their positive behavioral intentions toward the firm (that is pro-firm behavioral intentions). Risk perception increased customers' information needs, information seeking, and information processing but decreased their pro-firm behavioral intentions. In addition to promoting information seeking, information needed to also facilitate customers' systematic processing and thus increase their behavioral intentions to take corrective action. Customers' behavioral intentions were also spurred by systematic processing, but failed to be predicted by information seeking. In summary, theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for further research are also discussed.

Droughts are among the most damaging environmental disasters that may have destructive damages on societal properties and lives. Generally, socio-economic drought occurs when water resources systems could not fulfil the water demand. Additionally, it is not to be overlooked the role of local reservoirs in modifying uneven distribution of water and coping with climatic extremes. This study examined the evolution characteristics of the socio-economic droughts via applying a Multivariate Standardized Reliability and Resilience Index (MSRRI). Furthermore, the influences of anomalous atmospheric circulation on the socio-economic droughts were explored through adopting the cross wavelet analysis to investigate the meteorological driving force behind the socio-economic droughts. Results mainly indicated that (1) the MSRRI has proven to be effective in evaluating socio-economic droughts for its integration of inflow-demand reliability and water storage resilience indexes; (2) the MSRRI series in Datong River Basin (DRB) has a non-significant increasing trend at annual scale with apparent periods (17 and 22 years) and (3) the comprehensive effects of ENSO, EASM and PNA contribute to the socio-economic drought variations, and the ENSO has strongest impacts than others. The findings in this study benefit local socioeconomic drought mitigation and water resources planning and management.

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In times of product-harm crises, the involved firms always employ some countermeasures, such as releasing messages relevant to their response actions. To evaluate the influence of these messages on the perceptions and behavioral responses of corporate customers relative to the recalls, we conducted a case study of the Volkswagen automobile recall in China in 2013. Guided by the protective action decision model, we developed a conceptual model to first study customers' responses to the recall crisis. Based on this model, we further examined the influence of two types of firm actions, namely technical and ceremonial, on the customer crisis-coping process. Results show that product experience, risk perception, and information seeking significantly influence customers' behavioral intentions during the product recall crisis. Customers in the technical action group exhibit a higher level of risk perception based on their product experience and have a higher likelihood of seeking information. However, information seeking fails to influence their behavioral intentions. Ceremonial actions overcome the disadvantages of technical actions, but customers' lack of solution information should be met. In this sense, crisis-involved firms are encouraged to employ a combination strategy including the implementation of the two types of firm actions and then promptly release the messages containing both actions.

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