The evolving tourism industry and increasing number of travelers are not only raising environmental concerns about tourism sites, but also posing challenges for local communities. In this scenario, the notion and agenda for sustainable tourism are widely criticized due to their limited scope and emphasis on creating a balance between economic and adverse environmental and communal benefits. In response, the call for a necessary paradigm transformation has become intense. Consequently, a new approach—regenerative tourism—has been developed to create awareness about pro-environmental behavior to satisfy the primary needs of the community. Regenerative tourism supports the quality of life of local people. Therefore, there is a great need to promote eco-literacy through innovative and better audience experience-laden communication strategies, such as immersive journalism and metaverse-based promotional content. However, little is known about how these future technologies interplay with psychological and social mechanisms to enhance regenerative tourism intention. Drawing an analogy from pro-environmental theory and media richness theory, this research intends to identify whether virtual, augmented reality merger (i.e., immersive journalism), and metaverse-based environmental delineations may contribute to educating tourists and lead to regenerative tourism intention. This research was carried out using a cross-sectional online survey that collected data from 776 digital media users from Pakistan who plan to visit a destination or have done so previously. The results from the data, based on structural equation modeling, suggested that immersive journalism and metaverse-based regenerative tourism promotion are communication strategies that effectively enhance eco-literacy and lead to pro-environmental behavior. However, dispositional empathy has critical moderating implications; the greater the extent of the empathy concerns that individuals uphold, the stronger the eco-literacy and pro-environmental behavior. Finally, regenerative tourism intention can be predicted by these antecedents effectively. Therefore, these pioneer results confirmed that innovative technology-driven media content can augment awareness of regenerative tourism activities and transform travelers’ intention to adopt regenerative practices during destination visits. This research suggests strategic guidelines for organizations and governments to implement practical, innovative, and communicative tools that support adopting regenerative practices among prospective travelers.

Guarding against an anti-science camouflage within infodemics is paramount for sustaining the global vaccination drive. Vaccine hesitancy remains a growing concern and a significant threat to public health, especially in developing countries. Infodemics, conspiracy beliefs and religious fatalism primarily fuel vaccine hesitancy. In addition, anti-vaccine disinformation, lack of understanding, and erroneous religious beliefs also trigger vaccine hesitancy. Global behavioral strategies such as wearing face masks and long-term preventive measures (i.e., COVID-19 vaccination) have effectively limited the virus's spread. Despite the alarming rate of global deaths (i.e., over 99% being unvaccinated), a large proportion of the global population remains reluctant to vaccinate. New evidence validates the usefulness of technology-driven communication strategies (i.e., digital interventions) to address the complex socio-psychological influence of the pandemic. Hence, the present research explored the digital information processing model to assess the interface between informational support (through digital interventions) and antecedents of vaccine hesitancy. This research involved two separate studies: a focus group to operationalize the construct of infodemics, which remained ambiguous in previous literature (Study 1), followed by a cross-sectional survey (Study 2) to examine the conceptual model. Data were collected from 1906 respondents through a standard questionnaire administered online. The focus group's findings revealed a multi-dimensional nature of infodemics that was also validated in Study 2. The cross-sectional survey results substantiated infodemics, religious fatalism and conspiracy beliefs as significant predictors of vaccine hesitancy. Similarly, conspiracy beliefs negatively influence an individual's psychological well-being. Furthermore, information support (through digital intervention) affected infodemics and religious fatalism, whereas it inversely influenced the strength of their relationships with vaccine hesitancy. Information support (through digital intervention) also moderated the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and psychological well-being.

Metaverse promises new frontiers in mobility, collaboration, and connectedness in a digital universe poised to digitize our world of workplace and marketplace. The current study aims to explore the effect of consumer neuroticism, parasocial relationships, social media influencers' credibility, and openness to Metaverse experience on the intention to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Prominent theories, including elaboration likelihood model and personality traits notion, supported the development of a multi-path model for the intention to use Metaverse digital marketplace. Drawing on extensive data of social media active users (N=1861) and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM), the novel findings revealed that parasocial relationships and social media influencers' credibility positively trigger intentions to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Moreover, a higher tendency of openness to Metaverse experience intensifies the effect of parasocial relationships on the intentions to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Interestingly, openness to Metaverse experience is negatively associated with consumers' neuroticism. The study implications offer new insights into parasocial relationships and the credibility of social media influencers in determining followers' intention to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Transition to the digital marketplace can be accelerated if consumers (prone to neuroticism) are offered professional support to overcome negative emotions (e.g., fear and helplessness) toward emerging digital technologies such as the Metaverse.

Metaverse promises new frontiers in mobility, collaboration, and connectedness in a digital universe poised to digitize our world of workplace and marketplace. The current study aims to explore the effect of consumer neuroticism, parasocial relationships, social media influencers' credibility, and openness to Metaverse experience on the intention to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Prominent theories, including elaboration likelihood model and personality traits notion, supported the development of a multi-path model for the intention to use Metaverse digital marketplace. Drawing on extensive data of social media active users (N=1861) and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM), the novel findings revealed that parasocial relationships and social media influencers' credibility positively trigger intentions to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Moreover, a higher tendency of openness to Metaverse experience intensifies the effect of parasocial relationships on the intentions to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Interestingly, openness to Metaverse experience is negatively associated with consumers' neuroticism. The study implications offer new insights into parasocial relationships and the credibility of social media influencers in determining followers' intention to use the Metaverse digital marketplace. Transition to the digital marketplace can be accelerated if consumers (prone to neuroticism) are offered professional support to overcome negative emotions (e.g., fear and helplessness) toward emerging digital technologies such as the Metaverse.

Frontline employees’ emotional labor—regulating emotions to deliver “service with a smile”—plays a critical role in shaping customer experiences. While a lot of research has looked at how this affects employees' well-being, not much has examined the effect on customers. This paper addresses that gap by classifying and analyzing the effects of employee emotional labor and the function of human resource (HR) procedures using the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) framework as a theoretical lens. In order to demonstrate how AMO-aligned HR systems enhance the positive effects of deep acting and reduce the negative consequences of surface acting on customer outcomes, we propose a unique moderation model. In particular, we theorize that HR practices moderate these relationships through three domains: skill-enhancing, motivation-enhancing, and opportunity-enhancing practices, which help employees manage their emotional displays more effectively. The proposed framework offers new insights into how organizations can align HR practices to support emotional labor and make customer experiences better. Theoretical implications include the integration of emotional labor and HR management (HRM) literature, while managerial implications offer HR strategies in the service industries.