Social Network Emotional Marketing Influence Model of Consumers’ Purchase Behavior
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
My review report contains the following recommendations for your proposal "Social Network Emotional Marketing Influence Model on Consumers' Purchase Behavior" sent to MDPI Journal:
Please address them one by one in order to improve the quality of your manuscript.
First of all, I recommend you to use a similarity check software to decrease the degree of similarity between your manuscript and some other articles already published. Try to revise the paragraphs with a high degree of similarity and rewrite them.
The Introduction chapter should be improved by including the definition and description of the following elements: the research gap, the research goal and the research question. Please clarify these aspects from the very beginning of the article by supporting them with results from the existing scientific literature.
I recommend you to describe the research hypotheses at the end of the "Related Works" chapter. At this moment, the description of the research hypotheses appears very late in the article in the chapter Materials and Methods.
The Related Works section must be improved by including the following relevant resources: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116676 (emotional attachment), https://doi.org/10.15611/aoe.2022.1.11 (peer communication on consumer behaviour), https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21661 (emotional marketing), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2021.102818 (crowd emotion). Using these recommended resources will help you to widen the general context of your research proposal.
In the section "3.1. Data collection and analysis" you say that "This paper chooses RED, a well-known social e-commerce social network in China, as the research object.". I agree with you, but you should include some arguments for choosing RED: the number of users, the impact of the followers, the average age of the users, etc., so that the readers understand the relevance of your research sample.
The same remark for "Therefore, this paper selects eye cream as the research object." Please justify why you chosed eye cream.
The "Figure 1. The framework of impact model" should also include the hypotheses on the arrows. Here I have some doubts, because within the figure there are 6 arrows, but under the figure you are defining no less than 19 hypotheses. Please try to synchronyze the arrows with descriptions of the research hypotheses.
Please specify the software(s) used to obtain the data from the tables.
In the "5. Discussions" section, please include a comparative discussion between your research results and the other results from the extant scientific literature. This way, you will highlight your own contribution to the field of knowledge.
Best Regards!
Author Response
Point 1: First of all, I recommend you to use a similarity check software to decrease the degree of similarity between your manuscript and some other articles already published. Try to revise the paragraphs with a high degree of similarity and rewrite them.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I had revised some paragraphs with a high degree of similarity and rewrite them.
Point 2: The Introduction chapter should be improved by including the definition and description of the following elements: the research gap, the research goal and the research question. Please clarify these aspects from the very beginning of the article by supporting them with results from the existing scientific literature.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment. I had improved Introduction chapter according to your suggestions.
Point 3: I recommend you to describe the research hypotheses at the end of the "Related Works" chapter. At this moment, the description of the research hypotheses appears very late in the article in the chapter Materials and Methods.
Response 3: Thanks for the comment. I added relevant concepts and literature are covered the hypotheses in Related works section. And I merged some similar hypotheses. Because the impact model of social network emotional marketing on consumers' purchase behavior is shown in Figure 1. I think if hypotheses appear after Figure 1, readers may better understand.
Point 4: The Related Works section must be improved by including the following relevant resources: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116676 (emotional attachment), https://doi.org/10.15611/aoe.2022.1.11 (peer communication on consumer behaviour), https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21661 (emotional marketing), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2021.102818 (crowd emotion). Using these recommended resources will help you to widen the general context of your research proposal.
Response 4: Thanks for the comment. I had added these references.
Point 5: In the section "3.1. Data collection and analysis" you say that "This paper chooses RED, a well-known social e-commerce social network in China, as the research object.". I agree with you, but you should include some arguments for choosing RED: the number of users, the impact of the followers, the average age of the users, etc., so that the readers understand the relevance of your research sample.
The same remark for "Therefore, this paper selects eye cream as the research object." Please justify why you chose eye cream.
Response 5: Thanks for the comment. I had added the content and some arguments for choosing RED. Because most of the users in RED are young women consumers, and experiential products can best reflect the emotional relationship between consumers and brands, eye cream has become a kind of product that is widely discussed and sold in RED Community. So we chose eye cream as the research object
Point 6: The "Figure 1. The framework of impact model" should also include the hypotheses on the arrows. Here I have some doubts, because within the figure there are 6 arrows, but under the figure you are defining no less than 19 hypotheses. Please try to synchronyze the arrows with descriptions of the research hypotheses.
Response 6: Thanks for the comment. Some hypotheses are similar with each other and they had been merged. Merged hypotheses are synchronyzed the arrows.
Point 7: Please specify the software(s) used to obtain the data from the tables.
Response 7: Thanks for the comment. I gave the software(s) used to obtain the data in the paper.
Point 8: In the "5. Discussions" section, please include a comparative discussion between your research results and the other results from the extant scientific literature. This way, you will highlight your own contribution to the field of knowledge.
Response 8: Thanks for the comment. I added a comparative discussion between my research results and the other results from the extant scientific literature.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear authors,
thank you for the opportunity to review your interesting work in the area of emotional marketing. While I find your work overall compellling, I have a few comments.
Introduction: Well written and easy to follow. However, page 2 until the aim and objective statement is completely without citation. I think this should be taken care of. In addition can the authors when referencing included, emphasize specifically, where their paper is grounded in the literature and how it adds value and merit
Aim and objective statement: Consider getting rid of the indication of methods you use given this is not a methodological paper. Otherwise the objectives clearly stated and fitting with the introduction
Related works/ Literature review: I like the general literature review that is presented. I provides additional context to the introduction. However as framework that should prepare for you 19 hypothesis- this needs work. Please double check that all relevant concepts are covered and merge the hypotheses with the respective paragraphes. In this way the reader could nicer follow along.
Material and methods: Prior the use of data analysis and delphi method were indicated. Can the authors please improve the paragraph on delphi. Which form has been used - which authors do you follow? Why is the delphi approach particular suitable for your work. Some critical reflection on Delphi is needed, as the approach is accepted but afterall flaws need to critically discussed
Can the authors elaborate information on the survey developed, also how this survey aligns with recent body of literature and survey participants
Can the authors add more information about the regression
Discussion: Again there is no reference to the literature
Conclusion: This is not a conclusion. This is a short summary. Please clearly indicate suggestions for future research and practical recommandations for marketers, consumers and other stakeholder. Please indicate limitation of your work.
Author Response
Point 1: Introduction: Well written and easy to follow. However, page 2 until the aim and objective statement is completely without citation. I think this should be taken care of. In addition can the authors when referencing included, emphasize specifically, where their paper is grounded in the literature and how it adds value and merit.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I added relevant references and gave value and merit of these references.
Point 2: Aim and objective statement: Consider getting rid of the indication of methods you use given this is not a methodological paper. Otherwise the objectives clearly stated and fitting with the introduction.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment. I get rid of the indication of methods.
Point 3: Related works/ Literature review: I like the general literature review that is presented. I provides additional context to the introduction. However as framework that should prepare for you 19 hypothesis- this needs work. Please double check that all relevant concepts are covered and merge the hypotheses with the respective paragraphes. In this way the reader could nicer follow along.
Response 3: Thanks for the comment. I added relevant references are covered the hypotheses, and improved Related works Section.
Point 4: Material and methods: Prior the use of data analysis and delphi method were indicated. Can the authors please improve the paragraph on delphi. Which form has been used - which authors do you follow? Why is the delphi approach particular suitable for your work. Some critical reflection on Delphi is needed, as the approach is accepted but afterall flaws need to critically discussed.
Response 4: Thanks for the comment. I improved the paragraph on Delphi according to your advice.
Point 5: Can the authors elaborate information on the survey developed, also how this survey aligns with recent body of literature and survey participants.
Response 5: Thanks for the comment. I elaborate information on the survey.
Point 6: Can the authors add more information about the regression.
Response 6: Thanks for the comment. I added more information about the regression.
Point 7: Discussion: Again there is no reference to the literature
Response 7: Thanks for the comment. I added relevant references in Discussion Section.
Point 8: Conclusion: This is not a conclusion. This is a short summary. Please clearly indicate suggestions for future research and practical recommendations for marketers, consumers and other stakeholder. Please indicate limitation of your work.
Response 8: Thanks for the comment. I had improved Conclusion Section.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper presents some important gaps that affect the quantitative analysis system itself:
- Emotional marketing: it is the central theme in the paper, but the relative literature is not analyzed sufficiently
- Sustainability marketing is mentioned only in the introduction and then disappears
- It is not explained why and how emotional marketing favors and represents the new way for sustainability marketing
- the author writes: "the influencing factors of social network emotional marketing are extracted as follows: emotional brand, emotional price, emotional communication and emotional service", but it is not at all clear how they were extracted and above all which elements characterize the connotation "emotional". Difficult to define it without the use of adequate methods of emotional analytics (face recognition, eye tracking, etc..)!
- the characteristics of the sample used for the distribution of the 5200 questionnaires are not described
Author Response
Point 1: Emotional marketing: it is the central theme in the paper, but the relative literature is not analyzed sufficiently.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I had added relative literature about emotional marketing.
Point 2: Sustainability marketing is mentioned only in the introduction and then disappears.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment. I added some content about sustainability marketing in hypothesis verification and hypothesis analysis.
Point 3: It is not explained why and how emotional marketing favors and represents the new way for sustainability marketing.
Response 3: Thanks for the comment. I added relevant content in Discussions section.
Point 4: The author writes: "the influencing factors of social network emotional marketing are extracted as follows: emotional brand, emotional price, emotional communication and emotional service", but it is not at all clear how they were extracted and above all which elements characterize the connotation "emotional". Difficult to define it without the use of adequate methods of emotional analytics (face recognition, eye tracking, etc..)!
Response 4: Thanks for the comment. Emotional marketing is based on the emotional needs of consumers, arousing the emotional needs of consumers, inducing the resonance of consumers' hearts, and integrating emotion into marketing. It takes the individual emotional differences and needs of consumers as the core of emotional marketing of the enterprise brand marketing strategy, and realizes the business objectives of the enterprise by means of emotional packaging, emotional promotion, emotional advertising, emotional word of mouth, emotional design and other strategies. What you said, like emotional analytics (face recognition, eye tracking, etc..), this is micro-expression recognition. It is not a research area of emotional marketing.
Point 5: The characteristics of the sample used for the distribution of the 5200 questionnaires are not described.
Response 5: Thanks for the comment. I added characteristics of the sample used for the distribution of the 5200 questionnaires.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
This article proposes many hypotheses that make it difficult to understand the text. It seems you are lost through lines. Some hypotheses are similar with each other and can be merged. From H12 to H15 the concept is not clear.
The results are not explicative, just it gives the phrase: the hypothesis is verified. The authors must explain the results and their effects.
As well in the discussions part are not included similar conclusions from different authors.
Author Response
Point 1: This article proposes many hypotheses that make it difficult to understand the text. It seems you are lost through lines. Some hypotheses are similar with each other and can be merged. From H12 to H15 the concept is not clear.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I merged some similar hypotheses. In H12 to H15 refers to consumer emotional attachment, which is a psychological link that connects the cognition, emotion and motivation of consumers and specific brands.
Point 2: The results are not explicative, just it gives the phrase: the hypothesis is verified. The authors must explain the results and their effects.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment. I added explanation on these hypotheses.
Point 3: As well in the discussions part are not included similar conclusions from different authors.
Response 3: Thanks for the comment. According to your suggestions, I improved the discussions Section.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
The new version of the manuscript was improved due to your effort.
Now I have some technical remarks which should be addressed.
There are still some paragraphs with a degree of similarity. For example:
- page 2, the paragraph starting with "The sustainable development of a product or brand cannot be separated...";
- page 4, the sequence starting with "Through the above analysis, it can be seen that..."
- page 6, the paragraph starting with "When consumers show trust and attachment to a specific product..."
- page 8, the paragraph starting with "The reasonable and effective design of the questionnaire..."
I recommend you again to decrease the level of similarity by revising these sections. You could use a similarity check tool to detect and revise all the paragraphs.
In the Conclusion section I recommend you to describe the managerial implications of your research results. You should also present the research limitations and the future research directions. The existing last 3-4 lines at the end of Conclusions are not enough to describe the limitations and the future directions. They must be improved.
Best regards!
Author Response
Point 1: There are still some paragraphs with a degree of similarity. For example:
- page 2, the paragraph starting with "The sustainable development of a product or brand cannot be separated...";
- page 4, the sequence starting with "Through the above analysis, it can be seen that..."
- page 6, the paragraph starting with "When consumers show trust and attachment to a specific product..."
- page 8, the paragraph starting with "The reasonable and effective design of the questionnaire..."
I recommend you again to decrease the level of similarity by revising these sections. You could use a similarity check tool to detect and revise all the paragraphs.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I had revised these paragraphs.
Point 2: In the Conclusion section I recommend you to describe the managerial implications of your research results. You should also present the research limitations and the future research directions. The existing last 3-4 lines at the end of Conclusions are not enough to describe the limitations and the future directions. They must be improved.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment. I had improved Conclusion section according to your suggestions.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
I would like to see improvement of the framework
Author Response
Point 1: I would like to see improvement of the framework.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I had improved the grammatical errors in this paper, and improved the Conclusion Section.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
I congratulate the author for the significant overall improvement of the paper. However, I would like to reiterate that "micro-expression recognition" is a method to more correctly identify emotional reactions! Not mentioning this issue may leave doubts about how consumers' reactions have been captured and their significance.Author Response
Point 1: I congratulate the author for the significant overall improvement of the paper. However, I would like to reiterate that "micro-expression recognition" is a method to more correctly identify emotional reactions! Not mentioning this issue may leave doubts about how consumers' reactions have been captured and their significance.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I very much agree on--"micro-expression recognition" is a method to more correctly identify emotional reactions. However, emotional marketing is based on the emotional needs of consumers. This paper studies the relationship between psychological emotional factors and consumers' purchase motivation and behaviour. We may discuss the relationship between micro-expression and consumers' psychology when shopping in another article.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
The authors must make the necessary corrections in the English Language.
They must correct all their grammatical errors
Author Response
Point 1: The authors must make the necessary corrections in the English Language.
They must correct all their grammatical errors.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment. I correct grammatical errors in this paper. And in the proofing stage, we will further modify these grammatical errors
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
