This study aimed to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry. We examined the interplay between consumers’ fear and uncertainty of COVID-19, their trust in green hotel brands, and their behavioral intentions in relation to staying at green hotels. Analysis of 613 completed responses to a survey instrument revealed that fear and uncertainty of COVID-19 have increased consumers’ environmental concerns and green hotel brand trust, which in turn have promoted their willingness to pay more and willingness to make sacrifices to stay at green hotels. The paper contributes to research on green consumption behavior in the hotel industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Editorial: Understanding social and psychological effects of social media on contemporary digital consumers

Purpose: This research aims to develop and test a new theoretical framework for ethnocentric consumption, highlighting the influence of political narratives in the age of deglobalization. Design/methodology/approach: Building on narrative transportation theory and master narrative engagement research, this research advances an integrated framework to delineate the distinct pathways through which two pervasive political narratives—patriotic and nationalistic—influence ethnocentric consumption. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was employed to analyze online survey data from a diverse sample of Chinese consumers (n = 800) representing 24 provinces and autonomous regions and capturing different demographic characteristics (in terms of gender, age, income, and education). Findings: The findings reveal that Chinese consumers’ transportation into political narratives strengthens belief in patriotic (nationalistic) narratives, which in turn fosters adoption of supportive (competitive) ideology. Adoption of supportive (competitive) ideology subsequently leads to secure (defensive) national identity, which promotes ethnocentric evaluation (protection) tendency, resulting in ethnocentric consumption characterized by an increased preference and willingness to pay a price premium for domestic (over foreign) brands. Originality/value: By conceptualizing political narratives as a driver of consumer ethnocentric tendency, this research introduces a novel perspective for understanding how geopolitics impacts consumer behavior. It enriches consumer ethnocentrism and global branding literature, and offers actionable insights for global marketers to design proper branding and advertising strategies amid rising geopolitical risks in the age of deglobalization.

Purpose: Emotion-expressing AI in customer service can produce mixed, context-dependent outcomes. This study investigates the joint effect of AI emotional expression and consumer brand relationship norms on consumer satisfaction and continuance intention and tests expectation confirmation as the mediating mechanism and AI mind perception as the boundary condition. Design/methodology/approach: This research adopts a multi-experiment design comprising three between-subjects experiments with a combined total sample of 677 participants. Findings: The interaction between AI emotional expression and brand relationship norms significantly affects consumer satisfaction and continuance intention. For communal consumers, high (vs low) AI emotional expression elevates satisfaction and continuance intention, whereas this effect is non-significant for exchange consumers. This interaction is mediated by expectation confirmation. Moreover, consumers' mind perception of AI moderates the strength of this effect: the positive impact of high AI emotional expression on communal consumers emerges only under high AI mind perception. Practical implications: Organizations can calibrate (rather than standardize) AI emotional expression based on consumers' brand relationship norms. For communal relationships, stronger emotional expressiveness is beneficial. Managers can also increase customers' mind perception of AI's experiential capacity through interaction design and user education to amplify the benefits of emotional AI. Originality/value: This research contributes by integrating brand relationship norms into the AI service literature to explain divergent effects of AI emotional expression. It elucidates the mechanism via expectation confirmation theory and introduces AI mind perception as a critical boundary condition, offering a more comprehensive understanding of human–AI interaction dynamics in service settings.