Background The availability and use of mobile apps in health and nutrition management are increasing. Ease of access and user friendliness make diet-tracking apps an important ally in their users’ efforts to lose and manage weight. To foster motivation for long-term use and to achieve goals, it is necessary to better understand users’ opinions and needs for dietary self-monitoring. Objective The aim of this study was to identify the key topics and issues that users highlight in their reviews of diet-tracking apps on Google Play Store. Identifying the topics that users frequently mention in their reviews of these apps, along with the user ratings for each of these apps, allowed us to identify areas where further improvement of the apps could facilitate app use, and support users’ weight loss and intake management efforts. Methods We collected 72,084 user reviews from Google Play Store for 15 diet-tracking apps that allow users to track and count calories. After a series of text processing operations, two text-mining techniques (topic modeling and topical n-grams) were applied to the corpus of user reviews of diet-tracking apps. Results Using the topic modeling technique, 11 separate topics were extracted from the pool of user reviews. Most of the users providing feedback were generally satisfied with the apps they use (average rating of 4.4 out of 5 for the 15 apps). Most topics referred to the positive evaluation of the apps and their functions. Negatively rated topics mostly referred to app charges and technical difficulties encountered. We identified the positive and negative topic trigrams (3-word combinations) among the most frequently mentioned topics. Usability and functionality (tracking options) of apps were rated positively on average. Negative ratings were associated with trigrams related to adding new foods, technical issues, and app charges. Conclusions Motivating users to use an app over time could help them better achieve their nutrition goals. Although user reviews generally showed positive opinions and ratings of the apps, developers should pay more attention to users’ technical problems and inform users about expected payments, along with their refund and cancellation policies, to increase user loyalty.

PurposeLongitudinal studies have shown that consumer satisfaction has increased over the last 15 years, whereas trust and loyalty have decreased during the same period. This finding contradicts the trust–value–loyalty model (TVLM), which posits that higher satisfaction increases consumers' trust, value and loyalty levels. To explain this counterintuitive trend, this study draws on models of trust formation to integrate the stereotype content model and the TVLM. It argues that consumers' occupational and industry stereotypes influence their trust, value and loyalty judgments through their trusting beliefs regarding frontline employees and management practices/policies.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted among 476 consumers who were randomly assigned to one of five service industries (apparel retail, airlines, hotels, health insurance or telecommunications services) and asked to rate their current service provider from that industry.FindingsThe results suggest that both occupational and industry stereotypes influence consumers' trusting beliefs and trust judgments, although only the effects of industry stereotypes are transferred to consumers' loyalty judgments.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of the study indicate that industry stereotypes have become increasingly negative over the last decades, which has a dampening effect on the positive effects of satisfaction.Practical implicationsThis study provides guidelines for practitioners regarding the management of frontline employees and the development of consumer trust, value and loyalty.Originality/valueThis is the first study to propose and test an explanation for the counterintuitive trend concerning customer satisfaction, trust and loyalty. It is also the first to examine the roles of multiple stereotypes in the relationship between consumers and service providers.

Although the importance of various brand-related stereotypes held by consumers has been acknowledged in the marketing literature, their interplay has not yet been considered. We derive four alternative theoretical models of the relationships between brand, brand origin and brand user stereotypes and their effects on consumers' value perceptions. The four models are subsequently tested on two nationally representative samples in Germany and Serbia, respectively. The best-performing model in both studies predicts that brand origin and brand user stereotypes act as complementary drivers of the brand stereotype. In turn, value perceptions mediate the positive impact of the brand stereotype on purchase intent. This investigation is the first to: (a) juxtapose and empirically assess alternative theoretical perspectives on the interplay of brand-related stereotypes; (b) reveal the combined influence of multiple stereotypes on consumers' value perceptions and through them, on intentions to buy the brand; (c) determine the relative influence of distinct stereotype content dimensions (i.e. warmth vs. competence) on consumers' perceptions of value; and (d) highlight the extent to which the interplay among different stereotypes in influencing consumer outcomes is stable across different market settings. Implications of the findings are considered and future research directions identified.

This paper aims to improve the understanding of outcomes of service recovery in a post-transition context by examining the relationships between four dimensions of perceived justice and service recovery satisfaction (SRS), positive word of mouth (PWOM) and repurchase intentions. Results from a survey of 217 Slovenian telecommunications customers with actual recovery experiences reveal that distributive, informational and interpersonal (but not procedural) justice are positively related to SRS, which acts as a mediator between these three justice dimensions and repurchase intentions and PWOM. Further analysis indicates that duration of customer-firm relationship negatively moderates the link between interpersonal justice and SRS. These findings provide a theoretical explanation of inconsistent findings in previous studies regarding the importance of interactional justice. For managers, our findings indicate that service providers should always pay attention to providing fair compensation, truthful information and fair interpersonal treatment to complainants, while the interpersonal treatment during service recovery matters even more to customers whose relationships with the provider are in the development phase.

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