No abstract

First, we appreciate the helpful comments and suggestions by the anonymous reviewers. We also would like to thank all the comments and suggestions when we presented the conceptual part of this study as a poster in PACIS 2014.

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis continues to worsen globally, there exists a widespread enthusiasm for buying utilitarian products in the retail market, irrespective of culture or nationality. However, the questions of whether and why being involved in a public health emergency like the COVID-19 crisis could modify consumer behaviors have been underexplored by previous literature. Drawing on the theory of awe that highlights the important role in influencing human behaviors when they are facing unexpected events that transcends the frame of existing references, the present research aims to clarify the relationship between COVID-19 involvement and consumer preference for utilitarian versus hedonic products. We collected data from 512 Chinese participants (319 women; average age 29.11 years; SD = 11.89) during the outbreak of COVID-19. The results of structural equation modeling showed that COVID-19 involvement was positively related to the preference for utilitarian products (vs. hedonic products). More importantly, this relationship could be explained via the mediated effects of awe, problemfocused coping, and social norm compliance. The present research emphasizes the non-negligible role of public health emergencies in modifying consumer behavior and the role of awe in explaining the psychological influence of public health emergencies.

More and more social Q&A platforms are launching a new business model to monetize online knowledge. This monetizing process introduces a more complicated cost and benefit tradeoff to users, especially for askers' concerns. Much of the previous research was conducted in the context of free‐based Q&A platform, which hardly explains the triggers that motivate askers' pay intention. Based on the theories of social exchange and social capital, this study aims to identify and examine the antecedents of askers' pay intention from the perspective of benefit and cost. We empirically test our predictions based on survey data collected from 322 actual askers in a well‐known trilateral payment‐based social Q&A platform in China. The results by partial least squares (PLS) analysis indicate that besides noneconomic benefits including self‐enhancement, social support, and entertainment, financial factors such as cost and benefit have significant influences on the perceived value of using trilateral payment‐based Q&A platforms. More important, we further identify that the effect of financial benefit is moderated by perceived reciprocity belief, and the effect of perceived value is moderated by perceived trust in answerers. Our findings contribute to the previous literature by proposing a theoretical model that explains askers' behavioral intention, and the practical implications for payment‐based Q&A service providers and participants.

Understanding the factors and mechanism that affect the users’ abandon behaviors is necessary for the sustained use of Social Networking Sites (SNSs). This study focuses on a special SNS discontinuance phenomenon—user exodus. Compared to individual discontinuance behavior studied in prior research, the SNS user exodus possesses its own characteristics: a huge magnitude of users abandon a given SNS product in a very short time. Given the fatal blow of exodus to SNS providers, this exploratory research seeks to unravel why and how the SNS user exodus occurs. Specifically, we conducted a mixed‐method research combining laddering interview and network analysis. Drawing on the means‐end chain theory, laddering interviews were first used to collect data from discontinuers of a Chinese SNS, Kaixin001, which has experienced a severe user dropout. Then we identified various factors triggering user exodus by content analysis. Last, network analysis was employed to establish the connections between various attributes, consequences, and values. The results showed that user exodus in SNS is strongly related to three types of value: functional, affective, and social value. More important, we also emphasized the dynamics process of exodus by highlighting the role of lurking. Possible contributions and implications of our findings are discussed.