Purpose: Employees’ emotional competencies (EEC) are skills, based on emotional intelligence, used to perceive, understand and regulate customer emotions during a service encounter. In the context of service recovery, these skills are especially important and allow employees to influence consumers’ attitude and behaviours. The purpose of this study is to assess the direct and indirect impacts of EEC in post-recovery satisfaction, trust, word-of-mouth and repurchase intention, considering the moderating role of service (level of employee-customer contact) types. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 355 customers who experienced a service failure and subsequent recovery were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. EEC was specified as a formative construct, determined by its perceiving, understanding and regulating dimensions. To measure EEC and its impact on selected outcomes, PLS-SEM was used. A multi-group analysis was performed to analyse the moderating role of service type. Findings: Results confirm EEC as a formative construct, with a positive direct impact on post-recovery satisfaction, particularly in high-contact customized services. Findings also reveal the mediating role of satisfaction on selected outcomes, and the significant direct impact of EEC on trust, even when controlling for satisfaction. Originality/value: EEC remains unexplored in the service recovery literature, and most research fails to understand how EEC role may vary given contextual differences. This study adopts a consumer perspective of EEC in the emotionally charged situation of service recovery, considering the moderating role of service type. The authors further contribute to both literature streams while examining the impact of EEC on post-recovery evaluations. Companies should consider these findings in the recruitment and training of front-line employees to develop better service recovery strategies.

In the context of sustainable consumption, this study aims to understand the determinants of the intention to purchase secondhand products, exploring the direct and indirect effect of each in the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). To the traditional variables of TPB, Attitude, subjective norm and perception of behavioural control, were added the price, the need for exclusivity, frugality, environmental concern and environmental knowledge. Quantitative approaches were used, data were collected through a questionnaire and 805 responses were analyzed through PLS-SEM. The results revalidated the TPB variables, frugality, price and environmental concern, as determinants of the intention to purchase secondhand products. Price and environmental concern were the greatest influence on purchase intention. The results also reveal differences between younger and older people in relation to secondhand purchasing and sustainable consumption. Environmental concern is only significant in the purchase intention of younger people, because in older people the price prevails as more influential. This study expands TPB, introducing secondhand and sustainability determinants and analyzing the direct and indirect effects of behavioural constructs applied to purchase intention of secondhand products. Firms and brands need to change from linearity to circular production and follow the intentions of consumers to buy secondhand products, especially young consumers.

This paper aims to understand the effect of content and digital influencer characteristics on their persuasiveness ability and Generation Y's resulting brand attitudes and purchase intentions (Millennials). Based on a sample of 201 individuals and quantitative analysis, data was analysed using Smart PLS. The results show that the quality of the content is the characteristic with the highest impact on the influencer's persuasive power. In terms of influencer characteristics, trust is a critical determinant. The influencer's persuasiveness is essential for developing a positive attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. Our findings update previous studies, focusing on Generation Y and including trust as a variable while simultaneously revealing a fundamental determinant of influence power. For brands, this study confirms the importance of having digital influencers in their strategies. For influencers, it suggests that when targeting Generation Y, they should invest in the quality of their publications and increase trust, as this is strongly linked to their persuasiveness and, consequently, to the purchase intention of their followers

The purpose of this paper is to design and validate a new measurement scale to comprehend the influence of perceived risk involved on mobile shopping cart abandonment. We got a sample of 369 respondents with experience in mobile shopping. The risks related to the transaction and to the object of consumption have a significant influence on mobile shopping cart abandonment. In turn, the risks inherent to the consumer, and the risks associated to the device or technology used, do not influence the abandonment. This study contributes to the literature and proposes a new mobile shopping perceived risks measurement scale. Our study contributes too, to mobile shopping management, reinforcing the importance of information quality and the increase of consumer trust. Moreover, the paper shows managers the factors that lead consumers to abandon their shopping cart in order to promote actions and strategies to avoid financial and customer losses associated to the shopping cart abandonment.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the behaviour of Portuguese users and non-users of self-service technologies (SSTs) in banking services. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical study is conducted by means of a survey questionnaire. Data are collected from a sample of 300 respondents chosen to represent the Portuguese adult population in terms of age, gender, and geographical place of residence. Findings – The results show that Portuguese users of SST banking services are likely to be young to middle-aged individuals, with medium to high levels of education. They have a greater propensity to complain and are more price-sensitive than non-users of such services. Research limitations/implications – Only six dimensions of consumer behaviour were investigated: price sensitivity, satisfaction, word-of-mouth, repurchase intention, propensity to change banks, complaint behaviour. Only three forms of SST contact were examined (ATMs, telephone banking, and internet banking). Other behaviours and SSTs could be examined in future research. Practical implications – Banks investing in SST can expect: more sales (consumers with higher intention to repurchase); more opportunities for service recovery (consumers with higher propensity to complain); and more price competitiveness (more price-sensitive consumer behaviour). Originality/value – This is the first study to examine consumer behaviour among Portuguese customers of SST banking services. The study shows that SST does not ensure consumer satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth; moreover, it is not a barrier to changing banks.

The main objective of this investigation is to understand how the posts in form of stories published by brands associated with the COVID-19 pandemic affected engagement with their consumers. Regarding the stories, plot, characters and verisimilitude have been evaluated. With regard to consumer engagement (CE), affective, emotional and cognitive involvement have been assessed. This study uses a qualitative methodology with a netnographic approach that takes into account the comments of the advertisements published on two social networks, Facebook and Instagram, by nine Portuguese brands. The results of this research reveal that in order for the stories associated with COVID-19 to have a greater level of influence on the customer, they must use their elements as a whole, to encourage positive consumer engagement.