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JTAER
Special Issues
Interactive Marketing in Digital Commerce: Consumer Behavior, Engagement and Decision-Making
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Interactive Marketing in Digital Commerce: Consumer Behavior, Engagement and Decision-Making

A special issue of Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research (ISSN 0718-1876). This special issue belongs to the section "Digital Marketing and the Evolving Consumer Experience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 3106

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Joonheui Bae

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Interests: consumer behavior; consumer decision-making; AI interface; omnichannel; digital platforms
Dr. Min Jung Cho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Interests: human–AI interaction; consumer behavior; retail and fashion strategy; marketing communications; luxury marketing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to advance theory-driven and methodologically rigorous research on online consumer behavior in highly interactive, algorithmically mediated digital commerce environments, thereby bridging interactive marketing practice with electronic commerce theory.

Interactive marketing—the two-way, data-rich process of value co-creation—has transformed electronic commerce through personalization, social and live commerce, shoppable media, gamification, immersive technologies (e.g., AR/VR), and conversational interfaces. However, theoretical understanding of how these interactive mechanisms shape consumer attention, affect, trust, and decision-making often lags behind practice.

This Special Issue of the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research welcomes rigorous empirical, computational, and conceptual research that explains and predicts consumer responses across the digital customer journey. We encourage diverse methodologies, including experiments, field and platform data analyses, computational modeling, and design science research, with an emphasis on causal inference, robustness, and transparency.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, personalization and algorithmic mediation, privacy and transparency, digital well-being and dark patterns, cross-cultural differences, omnichannel contexts, and links between micro-level mechanisms and firm-level outcomes such as customer equity and advertising effectiveness. Integrative reviews and meta-analyses are also welcome.

Dr. Joonheui Bae
Dr. Min Jung Cho
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • interactive marketing
  • digital commerce
  • online consumer behavior
  • algorithmic personalization
  • consumer decision-making
  • engagement and trust
  • social and live commerce
  • omnichannel retailing

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 713 KB  
Article
Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being Orientations as Drivers of Symbolic Gift Preferences in Online Gift Choice
by Nikola Draskovic, Tomislav Kristof and Romana Sabljic
J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2026, 21(5), 144; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer21050144 - 7 May 2026
Viewed by 380
Abstract
This study investigates whether consumers’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being orientations predict symbolic gift preferences in an online gift-choice setting. Building on evidence that hedonic and eudaimonic motives are distinct yet can co-occur, the framework predicts that congruent orientation–gift links will be stronger than [...] Read more.
This study investigates whether consumers’ hedonic and eudaimonic well-being orientations predict symbolic gift preferences in an online gift-choice setting. Building on evidence that hedonic and eudaimonic motives are distinct yet can co-occur, the framework predicts that congruent orientation–gift links will be stronger than cross-domain spillovers when both orientations are modeled simultaneously. Data were collected via a cross-sectional online survey with an embedded simulated online store task in which participants evaluated ten pretested gift options (five relatively hedonic; five relatively eudaimonic) as potential gifts for a close other (n = 574). Stimuli were calibrated in a pilot pretest (n = 100) to ensure separation on a hedonic–eudaimonic continuum. Hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM with reflective measures for orientations and composite/formative outcomes for gift preferences, using nonparametric bootstrapping (5000 resamples) for inference. Results support congruent effects: eudaimonic orientation predicts eudaimonic gift preference and hedonic orientation predicts hedonic gift preference, whereas cross-domain paths are weak. Comparative tests indicate a robust hedonic congruence advantage, whereas the eudaimonic congruence advantage is directionally consistent but not statistically stable under bootstrap resampling. Gender shows a strong main effect on hedonic gift preference, while income exhibits a small positive association with hedonic gift preference. Implications for digital gift discovery and recommendation interfaces are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interactive Marketing in Digital Commerce: Consumer Behavior, Engagement and Decision-Making)
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20 pages, 606 KB  
Article
Building Brand Trust Through Influencers: The Mediating Role of Consumer Engagement
by Nada Sarkis, Nada Jabbour Al Maalouf, Ella Abou Jaoude and Tarek Azzi
J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2026, 21(4), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer21040114 - 8 Apr 2026
Viewed by 2166
Abstract
Interactive digital commerce environments increasingly rely on influencers as algorithmically amplified intermediaries between brands and consumers. However, the process through which influencer attributes translate into brand trust remains theoretically underdeveloped. Drawing on Social Influence Theory and Source Credibility Theory, this study develops a [...] Read more.
Interactive digital commerce environments increasingly rely on influencers as algorithmically amplified intermediaries between brands and consumers. However, the process through which influencer attributes translate into brand trust remains theoretically underdeveloped. Drawing on Social Influence Theory and Source Credibility Theory, this study develops a process-based model in which consumer engagement operates as a psychological mechanism linking influencer characteristics, namely credibility, brand alignment, interactivity, and authenticity, to brand trust. Using survey data from 400 active social media users in Lebanon and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the findings reveal that all four influencer attributes significantly enhance consumer engagement, which in turn strongly predicts brand trust. Influencer–brand alignment emerges as the strongest driver of engagement, suggesting that value congruence functions as a heuristic cue in interactive digital commerce contexts. By conceptualizing engagement as a trust-internalization mechanism within platform-mediated environments, this study advances electronic commerce theory and provides context-sensitive insight into digital trust formation in emerging markets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interactive Marketing in Digital Commerce: Consumer Behavior, Engagement and Decision-Making)
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