Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) has become a salient emotion in consumer markets shaped by social media, scarcity appeals, and social display. Yet limited research has examined FoMO as a consumption-specific emotion associated with consumer dispositions, situational cues, and post-purchase intentions. Drawing on Social Comparison Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, this study examines the relationships among Materialism, Envy, Scarcity, FoMO, Impulsive Buying (IB), and Repurchase Intention (RI). Survey data from 518 Chinese consumers with prior Pop Mart purchasing experience were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results show that Materialism, Envy, and Scarcity were positively associated with FoMO, with Scarcity showing the strongest relationship. FoMO was positively associated with IB, and IB was positively associated with RI. The results also supported three serial mediation paths, indicating that FoMO and IB served as sequential mediators between Materialism, Envy, Scarcity, and RI. This study extends FoMO research to cultural and creative product consumption and provides insight into how consumption-related emotions are associated with sustained purchase tendencies.

This study examines user responses to an AI travel assistant in a cross-border tourism service system. Moving beyond adoption-centered technology acceptance research, it conceptualizes these responses as a staged appraisal process in which social and experiential cues shape performance expectancy and effort expectancy, which then influence attitude and two behavioral outcomes: users’ willingness to accept AI and objections to AI. Cosmopolitanism is introduced as an individual-level boundary condition. Survey data were collected from 499 Chinese tourists holding valid South Korean tourist visas after they evaluated Visit Seoul AI, an official AI-based travel-planning tool. The hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results show that social influence, hedonic motivation, and perceived anthropomorphism significantly affect performance expectancy and effort expectancy, which in turn shape attitude. Attitude increases usersf’ willingness to accept AI and reduces objections to AI, with a stronger effect on users’ willingness to accept AI. Cosmopolitanism strengthens the negative effect of hedonic motivation on effort expectancy. This study extends AIDUA to cross-border AI service systems and shows that users may both accept and object to AI travel assistants.