Consumers’ perceptions of a brand (e.g., competence or warmth) may directly affect their brand trust, purchase intention, and ability to achieving corporate goals of sustainability. However, gender acts as a moderator in the influence of brand perception on purchase intention. This study examined the main effects of brand perception on purchase intention, the moderating effect of gender, and the mediating effect of brand trust by conducting two experiments and a path analysis. Findings from experiment 1 show that perceived warmth and perceived competence exert significant positive effects on purchase intention with brand trust as a mediator. Findings from experiment 2 indicate that perceived warmth is influential only for female customers, not for male customers, that is, gender moderates the relationship between perceived warmth and purchase intention. However, gender does not moderate the influence of perceived competence on purchase intention. The results of the path analysis are consistent with the experimental results, indicating that the conclusions of the study are robust and reliable. Finally, theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

Purpose: This paper aims to improve knowledge regarding the complicated relationship among brand cultural symbolism, consumer cultural involvement, brand authenticity and consumer well-being. Although some literature has mentioned the relationship between the above concepts, these relationships have not been confirmed by empirical studies.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the self-determination theory and the authenticity theory, a causal model of brand cultural symbolism, consumers’ enduring cultural involvement, brand authenticity and consumer well-being is developed. The structural equation model and multiple regressions are used to test the hypothesis. The primary data are based on an online survey conducted in China (N= 533). A total of six brands from the USA, France and China were selected as study samples.Findings: The data reveal that brand cultural symbolism has a positive relationship with brand authenticity and consumer well-being; brand authenticity partially mediates the relationship between brand cultural symbolism and consumer well-being; and find a weakening effect of consumers’ enduring cultural involvement on the relationship between brand cultural symbolism and brand authenticity.Research limitations/implications: The weakening effect of consumers’ enduring cultural involvement on the relationship between brand cultural symbols and brand authenticity should be further verified through experiments and the model should be tested in different cultural backgrounds from a cross-cultural perspective.Practical implications: The present study offers novel insights for brand managers by highlighting brand authenticity as the fundamental principle that explains the effect of cultural symbolism of brands, consumers’ enduring cultural involvement, as well aseudaimonicand hedonic well-being.Originality/value: The findings suggest that cultural significance of a brand is closely related to brand authenticity and consumer well-being; however, on consumers with a highly enduring cultural involvement, the effect of brand culture symbolism and brand authenticity is weakened. This is an interesting finding because in this case, consumers may measure brand authenticity more based on the brand actual behavior (e.g. brand non-commercial tendency and brand social responsibility) rather than the symbolic image.

This study presents the interacting phenomenon of perceived tourism destination’s online content (TDOC) and tourists’ behavioral intentions with a mediating role of tourists’ satisfaction, which is yet under-explored in hospitality and tourism research. A model based on three main constructs namely TDOC (with sub-constructs of online information quality and user-friendly accessibility), satisfaction, and tourists’ behavioral intentions (with sub-constructs of intentions to visit tourism destination and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), is presented to determine the growth of tourism business with the internet. Data were collected with the questionnaire-based survey from 413 tourists staying at hotels in Lahore city in Pakistan. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to statistically analyze the gathered data. Findings indicate that tourists’ perceived TDOC directly influences their behavioral intentions while tourists’ satisfaction exerts a mediating influence between tourists’ perceived TDOC and their behavioral intentions. Taking advantage of an economical and widespread online environment, destination marketing organizations could attract more tourists with their confidence in TDOC and positive eWOM to remain competitive in the long run. Important theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The tourist experience is a core indicator of destination management for the comprehensive evaluation of destination value. Tourist experience and tourist inspiration are important concepts in the stream of research on destination marketing and management. However, these relationships remained under-explored in the extant literature. This study examined the impact of tourist experience on tourist inspiration under the moderating impact of destination familiarity. To achieve the objective of this study, data were collected online from 622 Chinese tourists. We employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to statistically analyze the gathered data. Findings show that four types of tourist experiences, namely education, esthetics, entertainment, and escapism, significantly and positively influenced the inspired-by state of tourist inspiration, which further influenced the inspired-to-state of tourist inspiration. Destination familiarity exerted a significantly negative moderating impact on the relationship between education experience and inspired-by state of tourist inspiration. Sensitivity analysis presents that education experience was the strongest predictor of the inspired-by state followed by aesthetics, escapism, and entertainment facets of the tourist experience. Findings contribute to the theory and practice of tourism management with a robust interpretation of tourist experience, tourist inspiration, and destination familiarity to solidify the effective management of tourist destinations. Limitations and future research directions are noted.