Influencer advertising has emerged as an integral part of social media marketing. Within this realm, consumer engagement is a critical indicator for gauging the impact of influencer advertisements, as it encompasses the proactive involvement of consumers in spreading advertisements and creating value. Therefore, investigating the mechanisms behind consumer engagement holds significant relevance for formulating effective influencer advertising strategies. The current study, grounded in self-determination theory and employing a stimulus-organism-response framework, constructs a general model to assess the impact of influencer factors, advertisement information, and social factors on consumer engagement. Analyzing data from 522 samples using structural equation modeling, the findings reveal: (1) Social media influencers are effective at generating initial online traffic but have limited influence on deeper levels of consumer engagement, cautioning advertisers against overestimating their impact; (2) The essence of higher-level engagement lies in the ad information factor, affirming that in the new media era, content remains ‘king’; (3) Interpersonal factors should also be given importance, as influencing the surrounding social groups of consumers is one of the effective ways to enhance the impact of advertising. Theoretically, current research broadens the scope of both social media and advertising effectiveness studies, forming a bridge between influencer marketing and consumer engagement. Practically, the findings offer macro-level strategic insights for influencer marketing.

Introduction: In recent years, there have been numerous online privacy violation incidents caused by the leakage of personal information of social media users, yet there seems to be a tendency for users to burn out when it comes to privacy protection, which leads to more privacy invasions and forms a vicious circle. Few studies have examined the impact of social media users' privacy invasion experiences on their privacy protection intention. Protection motivation theory has often been applied to privacy protection research. However, it has been suggested that the theory could be improved by introducing individual emotional factors, and empirical research in this area is lacking.Methods: To fill these gaps, the current study constructs a moderated chain mediation model based on protection motivation theory and regulatory focus theory, and introduces privacy fatigue as an emotional variable.Results and discussion: An analysis of a sample of 4800 from China finds that: (1) Social media users' previous privacy invasion experiences can increase their privacy protection intention. This process is mediated by response costs and privacy fatigue. (2) Privacy fatigue plays a masking effect, i.e., increased privacy invasion experiences and response costs will raise individuals' privacy fatigue, and the feeling of privacy fatigue significantly reduces individuals' willingness to protect their privacy. (3) Promotion-focus individuals are less likely to experience privacy fatigue than those with prevention-focus. In summary, this trend of “lie flat” on social media users' privacy protection is caused by the key factor of “privacy fatigue”, and the psychological trait of regulatory focus can be used to interfere with the development of privacy fatigue. This study extends the scope of research on privacy protection and regulatory focus theory, refines the theory of protection motivation, and expands the empirical study of privacy fatigue; the findings also inform the practical governance of social network privacy.

Background: In the digital media era, the prevalence of algorithm-driven content push has intensified the health information echo chambers phenomenon, characterized by excessive homogenization and overload of information. This phenomenon may negatively impact the older adults, a “digitally vulnerable” group, by limiting their access to diverse health information and potentially inducing health information avoidance behaviors. However, the psychological mechanisms within this impact process remain unclear, and this study aims to explore them. Additionally, current study introduces trait mindfulness as a potential intervention tool in reducing health information avoidance behavior among the older adults.Methods: This study constructs an impact model based on the Stress-Coping Theory and the Stress–Strain-Outcome (SSO) framework. It identifies health information similarity, relevance, and overload as characteristics of the echo chamber, constituting the Stress part; information fatigue as the Strain; and health information avoidance as the Outcome, with trait mindfulness serving as a moderating factor between Strain and Outcome. A cross-sectional survey of 236 older adults individuals aged 60 and above was conducted, and the collected data were analyzed using SmartPLS and SPSS.Results: The study found that health information similarity and overload significantly increased health information fatigue among the older adults, thereby promoting avoidance behavior, but no significant correlation was found between relevance and fatigue. While there was no significant correlation between trait mindfulness and health information fatigue, it effectively moderated the avoidance behavior induced by fatigue.Conclusion: Current study reveals the impact of the health information echo chamber phenomenon on health information avoidance behavior among the older adults and the moderating role of trait mindfulness. It emphasizes the importance of breaking the health information echo chamber and promoting diverse information dissemination to improve the health information behavior of the older adults. Furthermore, the moderating role of trait mindfulness demonstrates positive intervention potential, providing the older adults with a psychological adjustment mechanism to accept and process health information with a more open attitude, thereby reducing unproductive avoidance behavior.

Current research on consumer behavior of green advertising mostly focuses on advertising attitude or consumer behavior, while few studies have extended the topic to explore the consumers’ behavior after green consumption. The “Licensing effect”, which is a paradoxical side effect of green advertising, has been verified to exist in the consumption context in many countries. This paradoxical effect between cognition and behavior refers to the circumstance that consumers show non-green behavior after green consumption, which is contrary to the original intention of green advertising. However, at present, few scholars have verified and deeply explored that effect in the context of China. This study explores the “licensing effect” of green advertising through two factors: environmental protection cognition and advertising appeal. Through a 2 × 3 experiment, we find that: 1. The licensing effect is applicable in the Chinese consumption context; 2. The licensing effect only exists in individuals with low environmental protection cognition; 3. The appeal mode of green advertising turns out to be an effective moderator, and rational appeal can effectively prevent the licensing effect. This research expands the research scope of green advertising and provides a new vision for the study of consumer behavior in green advertising. In addition, the moderation role of advertising appeal verified by our study has guiding significance for green advertising practice.

Background: The global aging population and rapid development of digital technology have made health management among older adults an urgent public health issue. The complexity of online health information often leads to psychological challenges, such as cyberchondria, exacerbating health information avoidance behaviors. These behaviors hinder effective health management; yet, little research examines their mechanisms or intervention strategies. Objective: This study investigates the mechanisms influencing health information avoidance among older adults, emphasizing the mediating role of cyberchondria. In addition, it evaluates the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation as an intervention strategy to mitigate these behaviors. Methods: A mixed methods approach was used, combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Substudy 1 developed a theoretical model based on self-determination theory to explore internal (positive metacognition and health self-efficacy) and external (subjective norms and health information similarity) factors influencing health information avoidance, with cyberchondria as a mediator. A cross-sectional survey (N=236) was conducted to test the proposed model. Substudy 2 involved a 4-week mindfulness meditation intervention (N=94) to assess its impact on reducing health information avoidance behaviors. Results: Study 1 showed that positive metacognition (β=.26, P=.002), health self-efficacy (β=.25, P<.001), and health information similarity (β=.29, P<.001) significantly predicted health information avoidance among older adults. Cyberchondria mediated these effects: positive metacognition (effect=0.106, 95% CI 0.035-0.189), health self-efficacy (effect=0.103, 95% CI 0.043-0.185), and health information similarity (effect=0.120, 95% CI 0.063-0.191). Subjective norms did not significantly predict health information avoidance (β=‒.11, P=.13), and cyberchondria did not mediate this relationship (effect=‒0.045, 95% CI ‒0.102 to 0.016). Study 2 found that after the 4-week mindfulness intervention, the intervention group (group 1: n=46) exhibited significantly higher mindfulness levels than the control group (group 2: n=48; Mgroup1=4.122, Mgroup2=3.606, P<.001) and higher levels compared with preintervention (Mt2=4.122, Mt1=3.502, P<.001, where t1=preintervention and t2=postintervention). However, cyberchondria levels did not change significantly (Mt1=2.848, Mt2=2.685, P=.18). Nevertheless, the results revealed a significant interaction effect between mindfulness and cyberchondria on health information avoidance (effect=‒0.357, P=.002, 95% CI ‒0.580 to ‒0.131), suggesting that mindfulness intervention effectively inhibited the transformation of cyberchondria into health information avoidance behavior. Conclusions: This study reveals the role of cyberchondria in health information avoidance and validates mindfulness meditation as an effective intervention for mitigating such behaviors. Findings offer practical recommendations for improving digital health information delivery and health management strategies for older adults.

Purpose: With the rapid development of AI-generated content (AIGC) in advertising, concerns over advertising transparency and authenticity have emerged. While prior studies have examined how AI versus human creators impact ad effectiveness, less is known about how disclosing AI as the ad creator influences consumers' advertising avoidance. This study investigates the matching effects between AI creator disclosure and advertising appeals (emotional vs. rational) on advertising avoidance intention. It further explores the psychological mechanisms and brand-related boundary conditions behind these effects. Design/methodology/approach: Three experiments were conducted using AI-generated advertisements across different product categories. A 2 (AI disclosure: disclosed vs. non-disclosure) × 2 (advertising appeal: emotional vs. rational) × 2 (brand personality: sincere vs. competent) design was adopted. Mechanistic meta-dehumanization was examined as a mediating variable, and brand personality as a moderator. Findings: AI disclosure significantly increases advertising avoidance, especially when combined with emotional appeals. Mechanistic meta-dehumanization mediates this effect: AI disclosure activates perceptions that brands treat consumers like data points, particularly with emotional appeals. Brand personality further moderates the effects—sincere brands suffer more from AI disclosure than competent brands. Originality/value: This paper examines the negative psychological consequences (e.g. mechanistic meta-dehumanization) of AI disclosure in advertising and proposes an integrated framework linking AI identity, advertising appeal and brand personality.