Online virality has attracted the attention of academics and marketers who want to identify the characteristics of online content that promote sharing. This article adds to this body of research by examining the phenomenon of improvised marketing interventions (IMIs)—social media actions that are composed and executed in real time proximal to an external event. Using the concept of quick wit, and theorizing that the effect of IMIs is furthered by humor and timeliness or unanticipation, the authors find evidence of these effects on both virality and firm value across five multimethod studies, including quasiexperiments, experiments, and archival data analysis. These findings point to the potential of IMIs in social media and to the features that firms should proactively focus on managing in order to reap the observed online sharing and firm value benefits.

BackgroundNew mobile health (mHealth) software apps are emerging and are providing the foundation to radically transform the practice and reach of medical research and care. For this study we collaborated with Quit Genius, a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) based mHealth app that helps users quit smoking, to explore the effective design of a digital mHealth app; one that delivers important benefits to its users and helps them change their behaviors for a healthier lifestyle.ObjectiveThe specific aims of this study were to (1) explore the key role of CBT program progress, (2) examine the gamification design app elements that deliver significant benefits (ie, empowerment, well-being, inspiration) to users, (3) explore the effectiveness of these app elements to help users quit smoking or reduce the number of cigarettes smoked, and (4) identify and describe any potential drivers and hindrances arising from the app design elements.MethodsWe developed an online survey and sent an email invitation to 4144 individuals, who had previously or were at the time using the Quit Genius mHealth app, to encourage participation in the study. We matched the online survey data with objective app usage data of the study participants.ResultsA dataset of 190 completed responses was used. At the time of the survey, respondents had completed an average of 60% of the CBT program in the Quit Genius mHealth app. Of the respondents, 36.3% (69/190) noted to have quit smoking successfully after using the Quit Genius app. As for those who remained smokers after using the app (N=121), the number of cigarettes smoked per day was significantly reduced by 59.6%. The ability of the app to enhance users’ hedonic well-being and psychologically empower them in their daily lives was identified as being key in helping users quit smoking. Specifically, the results show that users whose well-being was enhanced through the app were 1.72 times more likely to quit smoking successfully. Moreover, a one-unit increase on a 7-point Likert scale in the app’s ability to empower smokers in their daily lives led to a reduction of cigarettes smoked per day of 53%. The app’s inspiration to users, however, was negatively associated with quitting success and the reduction in cigarette smoked per day.ConclusionsThe findings offer important insights for the effective design of digital mHealth apps. Specifically, we find that perceived psychological empowerment and enhanced hedonic well-being from the mobile solution may be a more impactful way to support the effectiveness of mobile cognitive behavioral therapy for smoking cessation than eliciting strong inspiration.

In order to solve increasingly serious environmental problems, sustainable entrepreneurship based on the concept of sustainable development has gradually attracted attention and discussion in the academic field. Moreover, it is of great significance to analyze the influence of personality on entrepreneurial orientation considering dark and bright personality traits. On the basis of existing research, we analyzed the relationships between the three elements of the dark triad (Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism), psychological resilience, and sustainable entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) through a questionnaire survey. Results involve data from 328 MBA students in Tianjin University of China. The results showed that Machiavellianism and psychopathy negatively affected SEO, and narcissism positively affected SEO; psychological resilience and SEO had a significant positive association; and psychological resilience had a moderating effect on the relationship between the three elements of the dark triad and SEO. Our research has reference value and its findings have important implications for entrepreneurship research and education.

New products can evoke anticipatory emotions such as hope and anxiety. On the one hand, consumers might hope that innovative offerings will produce goal-congruent outcomes; on the other hand, they might also be anxious about possible outcomes that are goal-incongruent. The authors demonstrate the provocative and counterintuitive finding that strong anxiety about potentially goal-incongruent outcomes from a new product actually enhances (vs. weakens) consequential adoption intentions (Study 1) and actual adoption (Studies 2 and 3) when hope is also strong. The authors test action planning (a form of elaboration) and perceived control over outcomes as serial mediators to explain this effect. They find that the proposed mechanism holds even after they consider alternative explanations, including pain/gain inferences, confidence in achieving goal-congruent outcomes, global elaboration, affective forecasts, and motivated reasoning. Managerially, the findings suggest that when bringing a new product to market, new product adoption may be greatest when hope and anxiety are both strong. The findings also point to ways in which marketers might enhance hope and/or anxiety, and they suggest that the use of potentially anxiety-inducing tactics such as disclaimers in ads and on packages might not deter adoption when hope is also strong.

The role of virtual salesperson (VS) and the importance of customer reviews in facilitating online purchase decisions and sales have recently received much attention from technology companies, marketing practice professionals, and academics. However, customers’ willingness to follow the purchase advice of the VS when there is a conflict between these recommendations and those of other online customers is less understood. This research theorizes and investigates the extent to which customers’ relationship satisfaction with, and trust in, the VS helps explain customer willingness to follow VS advice in the context of recommendation conflict. Using four studies, our research explores how and when the VS’s avatar design mitigates the negative influence of conflict. An important theoretical and managerial implication of this research is that VS avatar designs that are high in automated social presence (ASP) help reduce the negative impact of conflict. However, we find that ASP mitigates the negative effects of conflict only for avatars that score low (vs. high) on cuteness.

We conducted a bibliometric review on a small but promising body of literature on consumers’ willingness to pay for organic foods in China. Results found that consumers’ health consciousness, individual norms, consumer knowledge, food safety, environmental concerns, animal welfare, and purchasing power are major influencing factors for willingness to pay for organic foods in China. Notably, most research methods utilized are quantitative methods, leading us to call for the adoption of more qualitative, review, or mixed-methods. These findings increase our understanding of the knowledge structure of this emerging context-specific literature.

BackgroundMobile health (mHealth) apps can offer users numerous benefits, representing a feasible and acceptable means of administering health interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is commonly used in the treatment of mental health conditions, where it has a strong evidence base, suggesting that it represents an effective method to elicit health behavior change. More importantly, CBT has proved to be effective in smoking cessation, in the context of smoking-related costs to the National Health Service (NHS) having been estimated to be as high as £2.6bn in 2015. Although the evidence base for computerized CBT in mental health is strong, there is limited literature on its use in smoking cessation. This, combined with the cost-effectiveness of mHealth interventions, advocates a need for research into the effectiveness of CBT-based smoking cessation apps.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was, first, to explore participants’ perceptions of 2 mHealth apps, a CBT-based app, Quit Genius, and a non-CBT-based app, NHS Smokefree, over a variety of themes. Second, the study aimed to investigate the perceptions and health behavior of users of each app with respect to smoking cessation.MethodsA qualitative short-term longitudinal study was conducted, using a sample of 29 smokers allocated to one of the 2 apps, Quit Genius or Smokefree. Each user underwent 2 one-to-one semistructured interviews, 1 week apart. Thematic analysis was carried out, and important themes were identified. Descriptive statistics regarding participants’ perceptions and health behavior in relation to smoking cessation are also provided.ResultsThe thematic analysis resulted in five higher themes and several subthemes. Participants were generally more positive about Quit Genius’s features, as well as about its design and information engagement and quality. Quit Genius users reported increased motivation to quit smoking, as well as greater willingness to continue using their allocated app after 1 week. Moreover, these participants demonstrated preliminary changes in their smoking behavior, although this was in the context of our limited sample, not yet allowing for the finding to be generalizable.ConclusionsOur findings underscore the use of CBT in the context of mHealth apps as a feasible and potentially effective smoking cessation tool. mHealth apps must be well developed, preferably with an underlying behavioral change mechanism, to promote positive health behavior change. Digital CBT has the potential to become a powerful tool in overcoming current health care challenges. The present results should be replicated in a wider sample using the apps for a longer period so as to allow for generalizability. Further research is also needed to focus on the effect of greater personalization on behavioral change and on understanding the psychological barriers to the adoption of new mHealth solutions.

Blinds up or down? The influence of transparency, future orientation, and CSR on sustainable and responsible behavior Purpose: One of the critical goals of this research is to explore how and when a business' transparency leads to greater willingness to engage in sustainable and responsible consumption by consumers.Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected in two studies. Study 1 collected data from 219 consumers in a large shopping mall. Study 2 followed an experimental approach and employed data from 327 participants. Findings:The current research contributes to theory by hypothesizing and demonstrating when transparency is associated with higher willingness for sustainable and responsible consumption. Critically, the positive benefits of transparency vary according to a business' future orientation, corporate social responsibility, and levels of customer involvement. An important societal and practical implication of the current research is that business should not be expected to focus on transparency in isolation but rather also needs to consider levels of perceived future orientation, corporate social responsibility, and levels of customer involvement to strengthen sustainable and responsible behavior effectively.Originality/value: This research builds on and extends current knowledge by exploring the key role of business' transparency in influencing sustainable and responsible customer behavior and examines critical boundary conditions for the observed effects.