Search Results (85)

This article examines two Caribbean texts which use 20th-century journeys on passenger ships as opportunities to investigate ways in which colonial anxieties of race and gender are worked out through nautical desires. Mayra Montero’s erotic novel La última noche que pasé contigo (1991) and Claude McKay’s Romance in Marseille (2020) both wrestle with the imagined and material consequences of pervasive anti-blackness. They also raise crucial questions about embodied practices of struggle for survival. My analysis seeks to answer the following questions. What happens when anti-blackness masquerades as desire? How do we read and represent an anti-blackness that seeks to consume parts of the Caribbean and then dispense as refuse with what it sees as superfluous? What reading practices might we adopt in order to make sense of Caribbean bodies dehumanized on their own shores, and what narrative solutions might Caribbean fiction propose that might begin to restore humanity and value to these bodies? Full article

The article aims to identify consumer types based on their attitudes and behaviors toward phygital tools and solutions. The analysis was based on the authors’ empirical research. The research was conducted on a sample of 2160 Polish consumers. The study employed an online survey technique. To determine the types of consumers, a 20-item scale was used, allowing the respondents to express their attitudes toward solutions and tools that improve shopping in the phygital space. The extraction of types was carried out in two steps. The first was cluster analysis, conducted using the hierarchical Ward method with the square of the Euclidean distance, and the second was non-hierarchical cluster analysis using the k-means method. As a result of the analyses, three relatively homogeneous types of consumers were distinguished: phygital integrators, digital frequenters, and physical reality anchors. The behaviours of consumers from each type were examined in the context of their impact on sustainable consumption and the sustainable development of the planet. The proposed typology contributes to developing consumer behavior theory in sustainable consumption environments. It provides practical implications for designing customer experiences that are more inclusive, resource-efficient, and aligned with responsible consumption patterns. Understanding how different consumer groups engage with phygital tools allows businesses and policymakers to tailor strategies that support equitable access to digital services and foster more sustainable, adaptive consumption journeys in an increasingly digitized marketplace. Full article

Gastrotourism is a significant revenue generator worldwide and relates to the deliberate seeking out of experiences related to eating and drinking during travel by tourists. Taking in the cultural, social, and personal dimensions related to gastrotourism, this dialogical, conversational autoethnography allows the personal stories of the two authors to emerge, contextualised in the body of theory surrounding this particular topic. Methodologically, the autoethnographic lens allows for the exploration of personal insights that would not necessarily be brought to the fore through more traditional research methods and follows the food-consumption experiences of two individual travellers seeking authenticity in their personal journeys. The lived encounters of the two researchers during trips across the European continent and beyond are detailed, and reveal such findings as the importance of authenticity, national identity and culinary heritage in gastrotourism. Thus, in connecting with this study, the reader can engage with a multi-faceted, polysemous, and emotionally stimulating autoethnographic explanation at the interface between consumer behaviour and gastrotourism. Full article

In an increasingly digitalized marketplace, understanding Generation Z’s (Gen Z) online consumer behavior has become a critical priority, particularly in relation to newly launched technological products. Although online consumer behavior has been widely studied, a gap remains in understanding how the location of the e-shop (domestic vs. international) moderates this behavior. Addressing this gap, the present study adopts a quantitative, cross-sectional design with data from 302 Gen Z participants, using a hybrid sampling method that combines convenience and systematic techniques. A structured questionnaire, grounded in 19 well-established behavioral theories, was employed to examine the influence of six key factors, behavioral and attitudinal traits, social and peer influences, marketing impact, online experience, brand perceptions, and Gen Z characteristics, across various stages of the consumer journey. Moderation analysis revealed that e-shop location significantly affects the strength of relationships between these factors and both purchase intention and post-purchase behavior. Notably, Gen Z’s values and marketing responsiveness were found to be more predictive in the context of international e-shops. These findings highlight the importance of marketing strategies that are both locally relevant and globally informed. For businesses, this research offers actionable insights into how digital engagement and brand messaging can be tailored to meet the unique expectations of Gen Z consumers across diverse e-commerce contexts, thereby enhancing consumer satisfaction, loyalty, and brand advocacy. Full article

Cosmetics companies are increasingly integrating augmented reality and artificial intelligence technologies into products and services referred to as beauty tech; consumer perceptions of these solutions, however, remain understudied. Data generated via an online survey are implemented in a stimulus–organism–response framework, deduced from the beauty tech literature. Thereupon, the study identifies how interactivity, informativeness, personalization, and service quality of digital and physical beauty tech solutions for home use affect utilitarian and hedonistic values and the perceived risk factors among consumers. Via customer satisfaction, the effect of the value perception on the purchase intention and loyalty is considered. Results hint at strong effects of characteristics of the services and applications on the utilitarian and the hedonistic dimension of customer experience, which in turn strongly influence customer satisfaction. Perceived risk factors play only a marginal role. Only regarding the tested physical product does higher service quality add to the customer experience. Customer satisfaction in turn results in positive brand perception across different stages of the customer journey and leads to a higher purchase intention, positive brand advocacy, and a higher re-purchase intention. Consequently, well-designed solutions can generate higher customer satisfaction and loyalty on multiple stages along the customer journey. Full article

As consumer behavior increasingly shifts toward hyperlocal, digitally mediated retail journeys, community unmanned stores have emerged as a transformative model that integrates smart technologies with community proximity services. These fully automated stores offer convenient, contactless shopping and hybrid digital–physical interactions, playing an increasingly important role within broader omnichannel digital retail ecosystems. However, there remains a lack of validated instruments to assess customer experience in such autonomous and locally embedded retail formats. This study develops and validates an ECUS-scale (an experience in community unmanned store scale), a multidimensional measurement tool grounded in qualitative research and refined through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The scale identifies nine key dimensions—convenient service, smooth transaction, preferential price, good quality, safe environment, secure payment, comfortable space, comfortable interaction, and friendly image—across 36 items. These dimensions reflect the technological, spatial, and emotional–social aspects of customer experience in unmanned retail settings. The findings demonstrate that the ECUS-scale offers a robust framework for evaluating consumer experience in low-staffed, tech-enabled community stores, with strong relevance to omnichannel digital retail strategies. Theoretically, it advances the literature on smart retail experience by capturing underexplored dimensions such as emotional engagement with technology and perceptions of safety in staff-free environments. Practically, it serves as a diagnostic tool for businesses to enhance experience design and optimize customer engagement across digital and physical touchpoints. Full article

This study aims to present an integrated approach to customer experience, which was developed considering the identification and application of essential factors from the product life cycle. The study was conducted in the automotive industry and may be transferable to other products with high complexity and medium–long in-service use. The main goal is to identify the determining factors and perform a regression analysis of the effect of attribute-level performance on overall customer satisfaction through the customer’s entire journey during the product development phase. This study is based on a generic example that is meant to capture trends influencing customer satisfaction in the launch of a new product vehicle, focusing on factors that influence each stage of the process, from planning–exploration, design and development, and manufacturing and validation to performance measurement and after-sales assistance. Based on multiple surveys that were used as the main instruments for measuring the level of customer satisfaction at defined touchpoints, the product life cycle was followed through several stages: prospecting survey, upstream survey, launch preparation survey, post-launch investigation, life cycle survey, and after-sales support. Three meta-factors were identified—design, price, and durability—for which the ordinal regression demonstrated that they are significant predictors of customer experience in general. The approach may be transferable to other sectors by identifying relevant attributes and adapting tools for measuring customer satisfaction, customer experience, and consumer concerns, which act as key vectors influencing the product life cycle and, by extension, business sustainability. Full article

With the ongoing journey of automation advancements and a trend towards miniaturization, the choice of actuator plays a crucial role. Over recent years, soft actuators have demonstrated their usefulness in various applications, especially where light weight and high strain are required. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are a class of soft actuators that provide high-strain actuation possibilities in applications like biomedicine, logistics, or consumer electronics. A variety of work featuring DEAs for actuation has been carried out in recent years, but a single work detailing the design conception, fabrication, modeling and experimental validation is lacking, especially in the context of achieving high strains with the integration of multiple electrodes and their interaction. This work discusses these issues with an equibiaxial DEA, enabling optimized equibiaxial strain patterns due to full use of the available actuation area. The developed DEA can achieve an equibiaxial strain of 12.75% for actuation at 60 V μm⁻¹ over an active area of 7 cm² which is an improvement of 1.3 times compared to traditional dot actuators. These properties position the device as a promising alternative for various applications like cell cultures or microassembly and provide an advantage of optimized use of passive regions within the actuator. Full article

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the multifaceted realm of customer experience (CX), aiming to enhance understanding of the historical, current, and future aspects of customer experience theory. The primary goals include organizing and summarizing CX research and shedding light on emerging trends and gaps in the customer experience literature. This article builds on recent literature in the marketing and management field that explores the concepts of customer experience and tries to close the existing gap in the literature by integrating diverse perspectives from marketing, psychology, and management. Furthermore, this paper delineates practical implications for public organizations seeking to optimize their CX strategies, emphasizing the importance of personalized interactions, seamless omnichannel experiences, and proactive engagement with customer feedback. Ultimately, this study contributes to advancing scholarly understanding and managerial practice in the domain of customer-centricity and service excellence. Full article

The development of a system to store and share key information about product
lifecycles offers a key opportunity to improve the textile and apparel industry. The
introduction of the digital product passport (DPP) serves as an inclusive tool that enables
industry stakeholders—companies, suppliers, stakeholders, government organizations,
public institutions, and consumers—to more accurately track the journey, characteristics,
components, and environmental impact of products. This study explores the implementation
and potential of the DPP, highlighting its transformative role as a bridge between
technological innovation and sustainability in the textile and apparel sector. By providing
unprecedented transparency and traceability, the DPP disrupts conventional industry
paradigms and facilitates sustainable practices. The findings highlight the DPP’s ability to
consolidate disparate data into a unified system that provides stakeholders with actionable
insights that were previously unavailable. In addition, the study identifies regulatory and
operational gaps and positions the DPP as a pioneering solution to these challenges. This is
significant progress toward operationalizing the principles of the circular economy and
fostering innovation along the entire value chain. In line with the European Commission’s
2020 Circular Economy Action Plan, the DPP complements initiatives such as the Ecodesign
for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and improves product traceability. By providing
stakeholders with reliable, comparable data, it supports informed decision making and
promotes transparency, decarbonization, and sustainability. This analysis underlines the
potential of the DPP to transform the sector into a better informed and environmentally
conscious industry. Full article

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought advanced technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), transforming consumer behavior in retailing and arousing the interest of scholars in studying customer responses to these technologies in retail settings. However, owing to variations in specific contextual factors, the results of related research have been mixed, which impedes retailers’ capacity to gain a systematic understanding of the formulation of well-informed marketing decisions in the context of AR and VR retailing. To address these gaps, this systematic review synthesizes extant empirical evidence with 1099 effect sizes from 111 published studies with 136 datasets and 547,415 sample sizes. This study is based on well-established theories, including the technology acceptance model, the customer journey theory, and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, which are extended to create a more comprehensive framework that is adapted for the customer journey in AR and VR retailing. Our findings reveal significant and positive correlations for all the proposed constructs, including the experience; intrinsic, extrinsic, hedonic, and utilitarian factors; and customer experience, attitude, intention, and loyalty, and verify the significant moderating effects for technology and product types. From a management perspective, our findings provide a systematic understanding of enhancing retailers’ integrated sustainable marketing strategies in the context of AR and VR retail and propose a forward-looking research agenda. Full article

This bibliographic analysis explores the evolving landscape of additive manufacturing (AM) in the context of Industry 4.0 and the emerging paradigms of Industry 5.0. This research critically examines the key literature and scholarly works to clarify the evolution, challenges, and opportunities presented by integrating AM technologies with digital transformation and advanced industrial practices. The exploration begins by tracing the foundational concepts of Industry 4.0, emphasizing the role of cyber–physical systems, data analytics, and automation in reshaping manufacturing ecosystems. It then moves to the developments of Industry 5.0, focusing on human-centric approaches, collaborative robotics, and sustainable manufacturing strategies that extend beyond automation. The impact of AM technologies across various sectors, from aerospace and automotive industries to healthcare and consumer goods, is central to this analysis. This article synthesizes empirical studies, case analyses, and theoretical frameworks to discern the synergies, challenges, and prospects of integrating AM into Industry 4.0 and the evolving Industry 5.0. Through this bibliographic journey, readers gain insights into the transformative potential of AM as a catalyst for innovation, agility, and sustainability in the digital age. The findings underscore the need for interdisciplinary collaborations, policy frameworks, and technological advancements to harness AM’s full potential within Industry 4.0 and 5.0. Full article

Currently, organizations are experiencing rapid growth in the digitization of their processes, which generates a high availability of data and metadata in information systems generated by the activities of operations and support areas. This is important for business because it allows them to analyze and understand the customer journey to provide a better experience to consumers and generate value in organizations. One way to analyze the customer journey is to use process discovery to obtain an optimal process model. There are several process discovery algorithms that allow for analyzing different business process models. In this paper, we focus on the customer experience because we have found that this is a trend in business that has rarely been addressed using process discovery by means of event logs. Thus, in this study, we conduct a literature review of primary articles about the use of process discovery algorithms using event logs from information systems to provide a better understanding on this topic. As a result, we have found that Heuristic Miner, Alpha Miner, and Inductive Miner are the most used algorithms for customer process discovery. Finally, we explain our findings about process discovery in the customer experience and why this is an emerging topic. Full article

Background: Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are devastating conditions which often cause multiple permanent physical impairments and psychosocial complications. Discharge from hospital is often delayed and precious health resources are consumed. In Hong Kong SAR, China, the government welfare system and the public hospital system have worked together to address these problems through partnership with non-governmental organizations. An SCI transitional care facility (the Jockey Club New Page Inn, JCNPI) run by a non-governmental organization (SAHK), was inaugurated in 2008. Objectives: Review the local experience of the implementation of SCI transitional care in Hong Kong SAR, China. Methods: A narrative review of the service model, facilitators and barriers, and future development. Service output and outcomes were evaluated with quantitative and qualitative means. Results: The SCI transitional care in Hong Kong provides person-centred transitional care and support, including a time-limited residential rehabilitation, a post-discharge community day rehabilitation programme, and a residential respite care. The current intervention strategy is based on the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). In the past 16 years, a total of 226 clients were discharged from the residential rehabilitation service. A total of 223 (98.6%) clients have successfully returned to community living. Positive feedback was received from the service users. Conclusions: The SCI transitional care has transformed care for SCI patients from the previous biomedical-oriented, hospital-based rehabilitation into a journey with an empowering and participatory approach addressing their biopsychosocial needs. The model has proven to be a key player in the continuum of care and sustainable community reintegration of individuals with SCI. Full article

Extant empirical studies investigate social commerce purchase intention from the perspective of swift guanxi dimensions while neglecting to explain how the purchase intention is influenced. This study proposed and tested a research model to unveil the relationship between swift guanxi dimensions (mutual understanding, reciprocity favor, and relationship harmony), trust in the seller and purchase intention while considering the mediation effect of trust in the seller in social commerce settings. Data from 421 social commerce youth consumers in Tanzania were used in PLS-SEM analysis to test the research model. Results revealed that except for reciprocity favor, swift guanxi dimensions positively influence purchase intention. The swift guanxi dimensions also positively influence trust in the seller. Further trust in the seller mediates the relationship between swift guanxi dimensions and purchase intention. This study recommends that social commerce micro, small, and medium traders embrace swift guanxi to drive consumer purchase intention. Swift guanxi dimensions foster a rapid and affirmative connection with the consumers, enhancing their trust in the seller. In turn, trust in the seller significantly enhances the likelihood of purchase intention, since the consumers feel safer and more confident in their buying journey. Therefore, by leveraging swift guanxi dimensions, social commerce sellers can effectively build business relationships based on a strong foundation, which not only drives immediate consumer purchases but also fosters enduring consumer devotion. Full article