In recent years, consumers have been confronted with the proliferation of package bundling (i.e., marketing multiple products or services together in a single package at a discounted price) in the tourism industry. This paper aims to investigate how different discount framing strategies affect consumers’ purchase intention of a vacation package. Through four experimental studies, this paper reveals that the perceived heterogeneity of a component influences the effectiveness of different discount framing strategies. In particular, consumers prefer the vacation package in which the high-heterogeneity component is not discounted, while the low-heterogeneity component is discounted. The effect of perceived heterogeneity on purchase intention can be explained by the perceived quality of the component. Therefore, the effect is mitigated when quality assurance cues are present.

Background: The rise of digital health services, particularly digital doctor consultations, has created a new paradigm in health care choice. While patients traditionally rely on digital reviews or referrals to select health care providers, the digital context often lacks such information, leading to reliance on visual cues such as profile pictures. Previous research has explored the impact of physical attractiveness in general service settings but is scant in the context of digital health care. Objective: This study aims to fill the research gap by investigating how a health care provider’s physical attractiveness influences patient preferences in a digital consultation setting. We also examine the moderating effects of disease severity and the availability of information on health care providers’ qualifications. The study uses signal theory and the sexual attribution bias framework to understand these dynamics. Methods: Three experimental studies were conducted to examine the influence of health care providers’ physical attractiveness and gender on patient preferences in digital consultations. Study 1 (n=282) used a 2×2 between-subjects factorial design, manipulating doctor attractiveness and gender. Study 2 (n=158) focused on women doctors and manipulated disease severity and participant gender. Study 3 (n=150) replicated study 2 but added information about the providers’ abilities. Results: This research found that patients tend to choose attractive doctors of the opposite gender but are less likely to choose attractive doctors of the same gender. In addition, our studies revealed that such an effect is more prominent when the disease severity is high. Furthermore, the influence of gender stereotypes is mitigated in both the high and low disease severity conditions when service providers’ qualification information is present. Conclusions: This research contributes to the literature on medical information systems research and sheds light on what information should be displayed on digital doctor consultation platforms. To counteract stereotype-based attractiveness biases, health care platforms should consider providing comprehensive qualification information alongside profile pictures.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually been applied to food production. Many companies now face a choice between adopting AI technology and adhering to the traditional methods of food production. Existing studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding consumer perceptions of AI-produced food, yet little research has examined how consumers form motive inferences on businesses that transition from traditional practices to adopting AI in new food development. Based on motivation inference theory, this paper investigates the impact of food production methods on consumer inferences and purchase intention. Through three experiments, we find that AI-produced food evokes more negative motive inference in trust building and lowers purchase intention than traditionally produced food. Furthermore, such effect is driven by a serial mediating effect through cost-cutting attribution and perceived ulterior motive. Additionally, it is attenuated when the food company has a high corporate reputation. This research advances research on AI application in food from a consumer motive inference perspective, providing suggestions on firms’ adoption of AI-based practices in food production.

Purpose: In social media, the cultivation of personal brands often relies on serial content sharing practices, among which material and experiential content constitute two primary categories. This study aims to examine how serial sharing of material versus experiential content influences consumers’ perception of para-social interaction and personal brand evaluation. Design/methodology/approach: Three studies were conducted. Study 1 employed a scenario experiment to manipulate serial sharing of material versus experiential content. Study 2 and Study 3 adopt a between-subjects experimental design to examine the moderating roles of theme consistency and identity relevance, respectively. Findings: The results indicate that sharing serial experiential content leads to higher personal brand evaluation than sharing serial material content. Besides, para-social interaction plays a mediating role in the above relationship (Study 1–2). Moreover, low theme consistency among serial posts dampens the superiority effect of serial experiential content (Study 2), as the disjointed content impedes para-social interaction. In addition, strong identity relevance undermines the relative advantage of serial experiential content (Study 3), since it aligns material content with self-concept to drive greater para-social interaction. Originality/value: First, this study reconciles inconsistent findings on experiential versus material content efficacy by demonstrating that experiential content dominates in serial content contexts, a scenario overlooked in prior research focusing on single-piece content exposure. Second, it extends para-social interaction theory to explain how serial content sharing shapes personal brand evaluation, whereas prior research relied primarily on identity signal to account for such effects in nonsequential setttings. Moreover, this study identifies theme consistency and identity relevance as two critical boundary conditions to show the variation effects for the above relationship. Finally, it offers actionable insights for information sharing and personal branding.

Purpose: This study aims to explore when and how knowledge hiding can prompt employees to engage in curiosity-driven knowledge seeking that ultimately supports knowledge creation. It examines the cognitive and motivational mechanisms that shape this positive pathway. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 327 employees nested in 62 teams across knowledge-intensive organizations using a multisource survey design. Established multi-item Likert-scale instruments were used to measure knowledge hiding perceptions, curiosity, knowledge seeking, political skills and knowledge creation. Data were gathered in two waves to reduce common-method bias. The data set was analyzed using structural equation modeling with team-level clustering, complemented by reliability, validity and moderation tests. Findings: The results show that knowledge hiding can stimulate curiosity-based knowledge seeking when employees perceive the hidden knowledge as valuable, which in turn enhances knowledge creation. Political skills strengthen the positive relationship between knowledge seeking and knowledge creation. Practical implications: Rather than viewing knowledge hiding only as harmful, organizations can foster environments that channel curiosity and constructive knowledge-seeking responses. Developing employees’ social and political skills can help transform knowledge hiding incidents into opportunities for learning and innovation. Originality/value: This study advances a seeker-centered perspective by identifying cognitive appraisal and curiosity-driven motivation as mechanisms through which knowledge hiding may yield beneficial outcomes for knowledge creation.