Shubin Yu

Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) 26 Doi: https://doi.org/10.2196/46551

Background: The rise of digital health services, particularly digital doctor consultations, has created a new paradigm in health care choice. While patients traditionally rely on digital reviews or referrals to select health care providers, the digital context often lacks such information, leading to reliance on visual cues such as profile pictures. Previous research has explored the impact of physical attractiveness in general service settings but is scant in the context of digital health care. Objective: This study aims to fill the research gap by investigating how a health care provider’s physical attractiveness influences patient preferences in a digital consultation setting. We also examine the moderating effects of disease severity and the availability of information on health care providers’ qualifications. The study uses signal theory and the sexual attribution bias framework to understand these dynamics. Methods: Three experimental studies were conducted to examine the influence of health care providers’ physical attractiveness and gender on patient preferences in digital consultations. Study 1 (n=282) used a 2×2 between-subjects factorial design, manipulating doctor attractiveness and gender. Study 2 (n=158) focused on women doctors and manipulated disease severity and participant gender. Study 3 (n=150) replicated study 2 but added information about the providers’ abilities. Results: This research found that patients tend to choose attractive doctors of the opposite gender but are less likely to choose attractive doctors of the same gender. In addition, our studies revealed that such an effect is more prominent when the disease severity is high. Furthermore, the influence of gender stereotypes is mitigated in both the high and low disease severity conditions when service providers’ qualification information is present. Conclusions: This research contributes to the literature on medical information systems research and sheds light on what information should be displayed on digital doctor consultation platforms. To counteract stereotype-based attractiveness biases, health care platforms should consider providing comprehensive qualification information alongside profile pictures.

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research 19(4) p. 3214-3228 Doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer19040156

Social media platforms fostering a closer and more intimate bond between celebrities and their fan bases has opened up diverse avenues for product placement. In light of this, this study endeavors to explore the profound influence of parasocial interaction (PSI) and product placement on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement within the social media landscape. The results derived from an online experiment unveil the positive impact of parasocial interaction on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intention. Notably, the potency of PSI is enhanced when product placement is prominent. The results also uncover the crucial role of brand recall as a mediator in the relationship between parasocial interaction and endorsement outcomes. These findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms governing the influence of parasocial interaction and social media celebrity types in the realm of social media endorsement while also providing valuable insights into the moderating role of product placement. From a practical standpoint, the results underscore the critical importance of carefully selecting celebrity endorsers and strategically positioning products. Armed with this knowledge, marketers and advertisers can better explore the complex landscape of social media endorsement with greater efficacy and precision.

Public Relations Review 50(2) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102449

A spillover crisis arises when an external organization’s events create worry, ambiguity, or unfavorable perceptions for another organization. The study shows that organizational response strategies for spillover crises are influenced by an anchoring effect, where competitors’ level of accommodation in their crisis response serves as an anchor point. The difference between accommodative and advocative crisis responses becomes more pronounced when the anchor response has a lower level of accommodation. Additionally, stakeholders’ confidence in an organization’s ability to manage crises can predict its reputation during spillover crises. If an organization chooses to respond with advocacy, it may experience a decline in reputation compared to adopting a competitor's accommodative anchor response due to decreased stakeholder confidence. Conversely, using an accommodative response can result in a higher organizational reputation than following a competitor’s advocative anchor response since it boosts stakeholder confidence. The study highlights the importance of considering situational factors such as competitor responses in the contingency theory of accommodation. Additionally, this study provides evidence that a continuum of public response confidence could be another valuable tool for understanding how crises impact reputation.

International Journal of Information Management 80 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2024.102835

Imagine a world where chatbots are the first responders to crises, efficiently addressing concerns and providing crucial information. ChatGPT has demonstrated the capability of GenAI (Generative Artificial Intelligence)-powered chatbots when deployed to answer crisis-related questions in a timely and cost-efficient manner, thus replacing humans in crisis communication. However, public reactions to such messages remain unknown. To address this problem, this study recruited participants (N1 = 399, N2 = 189, and N3 = 121) and conducted two online vignette experiments and a qualitative survey. The results suggest that, when organizations fail to handle crisis-related requests, stakeholders exhibit higher satisfaction and lower responsibility attribution to chatbots providing instructing (vs. adjusting) information, as they are perceived to be more competent. However, when organizations satisfy requests, chatbots that provide adjusting (vs. instructing information) lead to higher satisfaction and lower responsibility attribution due to higher perceived competence. The second experiment involving a public emergency crisis scenario reveals that, regardless of the information provided (instructing or adjusting), stakeholders exhibit greater satisfaction and positive attitudes toward high-competence (vs. low-competence) chatbots. The qualitative study further confirms the experimental findings and offers insights to improve crisis chatbots. These findings contribute to the literature by extending situational crisis communication theory to nonhuman touchpoints and providing a deeper understanding of using chatbots in crisis communication through the lens of machine heuristics. The study also offers practical guidance for organizations to strategically integrate chatbots and human agents in crisis management based on context.

International Journal of Research in Marketing Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.01.002

With the emergence and popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the luxury brand industry has experienced an increase in their use of NFTs. This study employs multiple-case studies, thematic analysis method, and grounded theory to analyze 40 luxury NFT campaigns from 2021 and 2022. The analysis applies a sociotechnical perspective, integrating the technical factors of NFTs and the social factors of luxury value. The study identifies the values, attributes, and strategies of NFT-based virtual luxury. Based on the findings, this study introduces the concept and definition of virtual luxury to understand and advance luxury brands in the Metaverse. This study theoretically contributes to the luxury industry by envisioning a virtual transformation of luxury brands.

Journal of Travel Research 64(3) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231222263

In recent years, consumers have been confronted with the proliferation of package bundling (i.e., marketing multiple products or services together in a single package at a discounted price) in the tourism industry. This paper aims to investigate how different discount framing strategies affect consumers’ purchase intention of a vacation package. Through four experimental studies, this paper reveals that the perceived heterogeneity of a component influences the effectiveness of different discount framing strategies. In particular, consumers prefer the vacation package in which the high-heterogeneity component is not discounted, while the low-heterogeneity component is discounted. The effect of perceived heterogeneity on purchase intention can be explained by the perceived quality of the component. Therefore, the effect is mitigated when quality assurance cues are present.

Sage Open 13(4) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231216285

International Journal of Mobile Communications 22(3) p. 278-295 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMC.2023.133100

Telematics and informatics 86 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2023.102071

The prevalence of chatbots in human–computer communication has significantly increased. Emojis, as a form of emotional disclosure, have gained significant attention for their potential to boost chatbot service satisfaction. However, how and when emoji usage can increase satisfaction toward chatbots is not fully examined. This paper aims to fill this gap and contribute to the rapidly evolving field of human-chatbot communication research. Through three experiments, this paper investigates and explores the role of emojis in enhancing chatbot interactions. The results reveal that emojis heighten chatbot's perceived warmth but do not necessarily augment their competence. This warmth promoting effect leads to boosted service satisfaction and is more apparent when chatbots serve hedonic purposes and are pre-programmed rather than highly autonomous. However, the warmth upshot of emojis is not as potent for chatbots as it is for humans. While this study unravels the intricate pathway of how emojis augment service satisfaction, it also extends the dialogue of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and propels the new wave of the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm. Thus, this research lays down pathways for further studies in understanding the role of emotionally simulated interactions in automated technologies.

Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) 24(12) Doi: https://doi.org/10.2196/39573

Health care chatbots, which are being widely adopted by providers, offer many benefits to users [1]. However, the limited communication capabilities of chatbots hinder their interactions with humans [2]. Therefore, text-based (ie, verbal emotional expression, eg, saying “I am so sorry to hear that”) and icon-based (ie, nonverbal emotional expression, eg, using emojis, emoticons, or stickers) approaches are adopted to communicate emotion in chatbot messages. Previous studies have suggested that both emotion design approaches are effective in improving the evaluation of health care chatbots [3,4]. However, the two approaches differ greatly from each other in their presentation, mechanism, and effectiveness. Understanding such differences could help system developers to optimize their health care chatbots. Nevertheless, research comparing these two approaches of emotion designs, to our knowledge, is nonexistent. This study aims to understand the mechanism and the interaction effect of these two approaches to see if the effect of one approach depends on the other one. In general, we proposed the following hypothesis: both text-based and icon-based emotional clues for health care chatbots can increase perceived emotional intensity (H1). To test the interaction effect of the two approaches, we hypothesized that the addition of an icon-based clue would not significantly affect emotional intensity when a text-based clue is already present (H2). Furthermore, emotional intensity will reduce psychological distance and increase behavioral intention (H3). Please refer to Multimedia Appendix 1 for the theoretical framework and hypothesis development.

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 66 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102899

This study is to verify whether and how a “China-made” label can influence online consumers' product evaluation as adding labels to highlight products' attributes has become an acquainted measure online by e-tailers/firms to attract online consumers' attentions. For this purpose, we conduct a 2 (label of “China-made” vs. no label) x 3 (patriotism priming vs. nationalism priming vs. no priming) between-subject factorial design to verify hypotheses. The results reveal that when consumers' nationalism is primed, the label significantly enhances the product evaluation by increasing the perceived social value of the product. Priming consumers’ patriotism, on the other hand, does not play a moderating role for this effect. A follow-up study confirms such effects for both low involvement and high involvement products. Therefore, e-tailers/firms that own China-made brands/products are advised to signal the “Chinese identity” of their products to online consumers under the current circumstance when nationalism and domestic brands are rising in China. The results also indicate that although products produced in a developing country are marked with a negative country of origin effect, marketers can turn it into a strength in marketing in certain conditions.

Journal of Consumer Psychology Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1330

This research investigates consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of robot service agents compared with human service agents when service requests are rejected. Six studies were conducted. The results show that when consumers receive a rejection of their service request, they evaluate the service less negatively if the service is handled by a chatbot agent versus a human agent. The reason is that consumers have lower expectations that robots will be able to provide flexible services to them. Consequently, their dissatisfaction with the request rejection is lower when the service is handled by robots. However, the aforementioned effect is not observed (1) when consumers have not experienced the service yet, (2) when their service request has been accepted, or (3) when the service agent conveys emotions to apologize for request rejection.

Frontiers in Psychology 13 Doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.887744

To combat the spread of the coronavirus, many village leaders in China and mayors in Italy used multiple media channels to communicate the importance of social distancing and remind citizens to stay at home. TikTok has become an emerging social media platform to communicate public health messages (Basch et al., 2020). For example, Chinese village leaders’ TikTok micro-videos and Italian mayors’ Facebook Live video clips about enforcing coronavirus quarantine rules became global viral hits. Some won unexpected celebrity status after furiously shouting at and scolding people who flouted quarantine laws in an aggressively humorous manner. Leaders revealed the most absurd stories and justifications used by citizens to explain their breaches of the rules, like playing ping-pong at the beach, pretending to go for a run, or calling hairdressers to their homes to have their hair done. For instance, a video about the mayor of Reggio Calabria told a virus-lockdown dodger that he is not a Will Smith character: “I saw a fellow citizen amiably jog up and down the street accompanied by a dog that was visibly worn out. I stopped and told him, look this is not a movie. You are not Will Smith in I Am Legend. Go home!” The mayor of Lucera raged at citizens calling hairdressers to their homes: “What is the damn point? Do you understand that coffins are closed? Who will see all these beautiful hairstyles in the coffins?”

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 26(5) Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-10-2020-0235

Purpose Many instruments have been developed to measure the perceived luxuriousness of brands, but one of the most frequently used scales is the “brand luxury index” (BLI) from Vigneron and Johnson (2004) that distinguishes between high- and low-luxury brands. Despite its popularity and widespread use in academic research, the scale's psychometric properties and equivalence across cultures have been questioned. Recently, modified versions of the scale have been developed to strengthen the quality of the measurement. However, the performance and the measurement invariance of the modified version have not yet been investigated. The current paper aims to test the model fit of the modified BLI scale and the measurement invariance across gender, age and country groups using nine datasets from a total of three different countries. Design/methodology/approach This paper conducts a multi-group CFA to examine the measurement invariance of the BLI scale. Nine datasets were used in this study. The data were collected across three countries, the United States (5 datasets), China (2 datasets) and India (2 datasets) from 2016 to 2018. Findings The results of this analysis suggest that the modified BLI scale has an acceptable model fit and can be interpreted equivalently across gender and age groups. Metric invariance was found among the US, China and India. However, scalar measurement invariance was established only across two countries: the US and India. A follow-up analysis shows that partial scalar invariance can be established across the US, China and India when removing constraints on the parameters of three items: exclusive, precious and sophisticated. Originality/value This study is the first study to test the model fit of the modified BLI scale. The findings of this paper contribute to both the academia and industry. The authors recommend scholars and marketers to use a modified 19-item BLI scale to measure the perceived luxuriousness of brands in future research. First, the modified BLI scale tested in the current study offers very good performance with model fit values of a quality that has rarely been seen in prior research. The original scale of Vigneron and Johnson (2004) has been criticized for its poor model fit (Christodoulides et al., 2009). The modified scale of Doss and Robinson (2013) also has problems with the fit value. Second, the modified 19-item scale also shows adequate measurement invariance across different gender, age and countries. For scholars and marketers, the establishment of the metric invariance of the modified 19-item BLI scale implies that the scale can be used across gender, age and countries (the US, China and India) if the purpose of the study is to understand the relationship between some variables and perceived luxuriousness of a brand.

Journal of Strategic Marketing Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2021.1967428

Advances in Consumer Research 49 p. 340-341

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2020.1841404

Marketing Intelligence & Planning Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-05-2019-0277

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.102010

Telematics and informatics 54 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2020.101473

Advances in Consumer Research 12 p. 15-16

Advances in Consumer Research 47 p. 926-927

Journal of Electronic Commerce Research 19(1) p. 16-35

Journal of Business Research 85 p. 105-116 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.12.035

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 21(2) p. 187-205 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-07-2016-0058

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