Purpose: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns have become increasingly popular among fashion apparel brands to reduce environmental impacts of their operations and position themselves as sustainable. In light of attribution theory, this paper aims to investigate how aspects of a CSR campaign affect consumers’ perceptions of brand authenticity, brand attitudes and CSR attitudes. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on a 2 (brand image: sustainable vs disposable brand) × 2 (message source: brand website vs news article) between-subjects experimental design with random assignment to conditions and manipulation checks. Findings: When exposed to messages about CSR campaigns, consumers have more favorable perceptions of brand authenticity, brand attitudes and CSR attitudes for a sustainable brand than for a disposable brand, particularly when consumers view information about a CSR campaign on the brand’s website. However, this is not true for disposable brands when CSR campaigns are promoted through a news source. Practical implications: Sustainable brands can derive benefits by strategically partnering with causes through CSR campaigns, particularly when their campaigns are promoted through their brand’s website (vs news source). However, brands that offer disposable products (e.g. fast fashion brands) should exercise caution when implementing these campaigns; CSR campaigns may confuse customers as they do not align with the everyday practices of disposable brands. Originality/value: As the apparel industry faces increased scrutiny for negative impacts on the environment, this study helps to understand whether customers perceive CSR campaigns as trustworthy and authentic, or as ploys aimed at creating more positive brand images.

Small retail businesses are particularly vulnerable to turbulence caused from the COVID‐19 pandemic. To consider what actions retailer owners/managers can take to maneuver during such trying times, this study investigated leadership qualities associated with managing during times of crisis. Through in‐depth interviews with 12 small retail leaders, thematic data analysis revealed an emergence of contingent leadership, including an internal focus on cash flow and employees and an external focus on preserving key stakeholder relationships. Retail leaders displayed a resilient mindset, showing passion, agility, innovation, and relationship development. A conceptual model is proposed to further illustrate findings from the study.

This study investigated how tourists’ emotions about their travel experiences were presented through TripAdvisor travel reviews targeting Gatlinburg, Tennessee due to its historical and geographical importance as a tourist destination. After selecting five Gatlinburg tourist attractions based on their review quantity, we conducted a polarity analysis of each tourist attraction and performed sentiment analyses based on the classical emotion criteria of psychology (i.e., six basic emotions – anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise). The findings revealed that visitors tended to have favorable emotional responses toward the five attractions, and the results of polarity and sentiment analyses of respective attractions corresponded to their TripAdvisor ratings.

Grounded on commodity theory, this study examines the effects of content ephemerality on the perceived feeling of exclusivity in luxury brands’ social media communication. This study also investigates the role of luxury brand followers’ social value orientation in the effectiveness of the ephemeral content strategy. Employing Instagram as a study context, we conducted two main experiments using a single factor (i.e., ephemeral versus archived content) between-subject design. The findings of this study demonstrate that ephemeral content generates a higher level of perceived exclusivity than archived content. However, this effect was significant only for those relatively low in social value orientation. Also, perceived exclusivity was found to mediate the moderated effects of presentation modes on attitude towards a luxury brand’s Instagram. A neglected area in the field of luxury brands’ social media communication is how to develop differentiated content strategies for distinct audiences. The findings of the two studies suggest that while luxury brands reach a wide range of consumers via brand online social networking, they should consider offering the feeling of exclusivity to enhance attitude towards social media content among those low in social value orientation. We recommend that luxury brands carefully utilize the ephemeral content strategy as a solution.