This study deals with airlines’ handling of customer complaints pre- and post-Covid 19. Authors extracted airlines’ responses regarding redress, timeliness, apology, credibility, facilitation, and attentiveness and analyzed them pre- and post-pandemic. The results indicate the differential impacts of organizational responses on recovery satisfaction pre- and post-pandemic. Attentiveness (timeliness) had a significant role only pre- (post-) pandemic. Redress, credibility and facilitation remained crucial in both scenarios. Further, pre-pandemic results showed that the impact of organizational responses (credibility, timeliness, and facilitation) on recovery satisfaction was greater for failures associated with core rather than augmented elements of airline service. In the post-pandemic scenario, the impact of organizational responses on consumers’ recovery satisfaction was the same for both categories of service failures. Thus, post-pandemic, airlines may emphasize redress, credibility, timeliness, and facilitation responses in their social media posts for both service failure types.

Purpose: The main purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of promotional inputs presented to salespeople, such as continuing medical education (CME) sponsorship and drug samples, on adaptive selling and sales performance. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a mixed-methods approach. First, depth interviews were done and this was followed by a survey on 247 pharmaceutical executives in India. Data analysis was done using AMOS, Process Macro and floodlight analysis. Findings: Results showed that CME sponsorship and drug samples drove adaptive selling and sales performance positively. Additionally, results reveal that CME program sponsorship negatively moderated the adaptive selling–sales performance relationship; free drug samples too negatively moderated this relationship. Practical implications: Firms may hire salespersons with high customer orientation and adaptive selling and train them hone these further. The present research also crucially suggests that pharma firms may allocate CME sponsorship and drug samples to salespeople low on adaptive selling. Originality/value: This could be the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that uses promotional inputs (such as CME sponsorship and drug samples) as an antecedent to adaptive selling and sales performance. Moreover, this is the only research that has tested CME sponsorships and drug samples as moderators to customer orientation–adaptive selling and adaptive selling–sales performance.

This article presents a systematic review of the nostalgia literature (205 articles) using PRISMA protocols. It dwells on three questions: What do we know about nostalgia? What do we need to know about nostalgia? and Where should we be heading? The article examines the evolution of nostalgia, analyzes the definitions of nostalgia (past–memory–yearning–ambivalent emotion), and extends the nostalgia typology of Havlena and Holak (1996). The article also delineates the nostalgic advertising literature; identifies antecedents, moderators, and consequences of nostalgic advertising; and highlights research gaps. Finally, this work offers propositions on nostalgic ad appeals (those that emphasize the attractiveness of and yearning for the past in a bittersweet way) based on four themes: self-restoration, continuity, social relationships, and culture. Specifically, the propositions offer new moderators, such as ads’ emotional flow, gender identity, purchase and consumption situation, perceived interactivity, and culture type, that could make some types of nostalgic appeals more effective than others. Our work contributes by being more comprehensive and broad based, extending the typology framework and delineating propositions that lay out a research roadmap for nostalgic advertising.

Purpose: This paper aims to develop a conceptual model to understand how different gamification designs (hedonic and utilitarian) evoke different emotions and impact subsequent patronage intentions for online consumers in different mindsets. Design/methodology/approach: The authors first conducted a content analysis study and then tested the model with two online experiments [both 2 × 2 factorial designs – gamification (hedonic/utilitarian) and mindset (implemental/deliberative), with different utilitarian and hedonic products]. Findings: Gamification with hedonic benefits influences website patronage intentions by evoking promotion emotions, while gamification with utilitarian benefits does so by evoking prevention emotions. Gamification with hedonic benefits has a stronger impact on consumers shopping with deliberative mindsets, while gamification with utilitarian benefits works better for those with implemental mindsets. Research limitations/implications: Future research may extend the present work by considering other types of gamification. Practical implications: Managerially, e-tailers may use gamification with hedonic aspects for consumers in deliberative mindsets and utilitarian aspects for those in implemental mindsets. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to draw a link between mindsets and gamification. This research is also the first to operationalize gamification as hedonic and utilitarian based on their design characteristics and to establish emotional consequences as an important link between gamification and user behaviors.

This paper presents a literature review of public service announcements (PSAs). Using the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, we uncover 119 articles on PSAs in the domains of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the environment, health, finance, safety, and security. The literature review reveals that PSA makers may elicit empathy during their appeal and also juxtapose PSAs with narratives. Further, they may consider using fear, humour, and nurturance appeals. We cull the key takeaways from each domain and identify commonalities and differences across the domains. In addition, we offer strategies to make PSAs effective. PSA makers may run more PSAs, use targeted appeals, and use fewer celebrity appeals. The paper also identifies gaps in the literature and outlines future research directions.

This research tests a nomological model predicting organic food attitudes and purchase intentions in USA and India. Data were collected from India (n = 687) and USA (n = 632) using Amazon M Turk and were analyzed using structural equation modelling and multi-group moderation technique. Results revealed that over and above attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, response efficacy and self-expressive benefits significantly affect consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of organic food among American and Indian consumers. Findings reveal that response efficacy and attitude matter more in the USA while subjective norms and self-expressive benefits exert a greater influence in India. Therefore, marketers may reinforce belief related elements while selling organic food products in the USA and societal related elements while selling in India. Theoretically, this work adds to the Theory of Planned Behavior by adding self-expressive benefits and develops a common model on organic food across samples in USA and India.