Yes / The aim of this research is to synthesise findings from previous studies by employing weight and meta-analysis to reconcile conflicting evidence and draw a “big picture” of eWOM factors influencing consumers’ intention to buy. By using the findings from 69 studies, this research identified best (e.g. argument quality, valence, eWOM usefulness, trust in message), promising (e.g. eWOM credibility, emotional trust, attitude towards website) and least effective (e.g. volume, existing eWOM, source credibility) predictors of intention to buy in eWOM research. Additionally, the effect size of each predictor was calculated by performing meta-analysis. For academics, understanding what influences consumers’ intention to buy will help set the agenda for future research directions; for practitioners, it will provide benefit in terms of practical guidance based on detailed analysis of specific factors influencing consumers’ intention to buy, which could enhance their marketing activities.

Yes / Purpose: This study investigates the role of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions towards foreign and local brands. Design/Methodology/Approach: The responses were collected on a structured questionnaire through a consumer survey. The data was then analysed through PLS-SEM. Findings: The results depict the positive influence of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumer attitudes towards foreign brands, which positively influences purchase intentions towards foreign brands and negatively influences the purchase intentions of local brands. Further, the mediating role of perceived quality was observed in explaining the consumer preference towards foreign and domestic brands. Practical Implications: Finally, the study concludes by providing implications for marketing scholars and managers of global and local brands. Originality Value: The paper examines the underlying mechanisms related to consumer cosmopolitanism and its role in influencing the foreign and local brand purchase.

Yes / With a long history and strong culinary heritage, time-honored restaurants are often associated with the phenomenon of nostalgia. However, research on nostalgia and nostalgic experiences in time-honored restaurants is largely absent. This study built a framework for nostalgic experiences to understand nostalgia triggers as antecedents and consumers’ revisit intention as the outcome. A survey of 366 residents in Beijing and Shanghai, China, revealed that nostalgia triggered by food and service staff significantly evoked consumers’ memories, and the food and restaurant environment stimulated the communitas component of nostalgic experiences. Memory had a positive effect on both communitas and positive emotions, while communitas had a positive effect on positive emotions. Finally, positive emotions resulted in significantly increased revisit intention.

Yes / While the importance of s-commerce is implicitly recognized, inconsistencies in extant empirical research pose significant challenges. Based on perspectives from trust, social presence, and socio-technical theories, this study develops an integrated model of the factors that influence intention and use behavior, with particular attention to the role of trust in s-commerce. The model is tested using meta-analytic structural equation modeling techniques on 201 observations from 83 s-commerce studies. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Plan recognition in cooperative or adversarial situations requires the ability to reason with beliefs. The problem is complicated in adversarial situations because an opponent may employ deception. In this case, an agent must also be able to reason about an opponent's beliefs (nested beliefs) as well as his own beliefs. A system has been developed that permits agents to reason with nested beliefs using possible worlds semantics; consistency maintenance is employed to allow agents to revise their beliefs when an inconsistency occurs. The advantages over prior systems are that belief revision occurs without user interaction and that beliefs are treated as objects having equal status with facts; this permits complex interaction between beliefs and actions. The theory includes treatment of many areas necessary to create a system of multiple autonomous reasoning agents. These agents are given the ability to deceive each other and to predict when they are being deceived. The system is shown to be practical by its implementation in a simulation. / Master of Science

This thesis investigates an intelligent system that can in real time infer the course of action of a human opponent in a competitive environment. Such an achievement would indicate the possibility that machines can not only interpret human behavior as it happens, but also predict the future course of action that a human might take. This thesis first examines several different application of intention recognition, describes the approach of Template Based Interpretation (TBI), and details the process of creating an efficient and accurate intention recognition system. The domain chosen is chess. The system's objective was to discern the opponent's strategy. It is able to use the board positions and other relevant data of the current state to gain an understanding of the movement patterns of the opposition.

Yes / This study explores the underdog brand biography dimensions that emerging-country consumers identify with (Study 1) and attempts to uncover the effects of these dimensions on brand affinity and purchase intention moderated by self-identity and brand trust (Study 2). Study 1, using data from 359 young Indians, reveals three underlying dimensions integral to underdog brand biography in emerging markets. Study 2 employs an experimental setup with a single-factorial design among 332 young Mexican consumers to investigate the direct effects of three identified underdog brand biography dimensions on purchase intention, mediated by brand affinity and moderated by consumer self-identity and brand trust. Study 1 reveals three dimensions underlying underdog brand biographies: unfavorable circumstances, striving in adversities and passion, and persistent will to succeed. Study 2 reveals that consumers with higher self-identity demonstrate greater purchase intentions for an underdog brand than a top dog one. This study delineates the link between different dimensions of underdog brand biographies with brand affinity and purchase intention in emerging countries and builds on the understanding of the moderating role played by self-identity and brand trust. The results indicate that marketers can successfully use underdog narratives to influence consumer decision-making, thereby increasing brand affinity and purchase intention.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans l'axe des travaux sur l'engagement. Son objectif est d'explorer le paradigme de la communication engageante. Il s'agit d'effectuer un rapprochement entre les théories de la Persuasion et celle de l'Engagement (Joule, Girandola & Bernard, 2007). L'intérêt de cette démarche est d'allier deux champs théoriques traditionnellement disjoints dans le processus lié au changement d'attitude et de comportement. Les théories de la Persuasion ont considérablement contribué à la compréhension des mécanismes du traitement de l'information, mais également à ceux touchant le changement d'attitude. Selon ces théories, il est nécessaire de peser sur les idées pour atteindre les comportements. A l'inverse, l'engagement préconise d'agir à partir du comportement pour atteindre l'activité cognitive. Cette activité entraîne à sa suite un changement d'attitude et ce jusqu'à la production de nouveaux comportements. Notre réflexion peut-être posée en ces termes : dans quelle(s) mesure(s) l'engagement dans un acte suivi de la lecture d'un message persuasif, influe-t-il sur l'aspect cognitif et sur l'intention comportementale des individus ? / This thesis falls within the works on the commitment. Its objective is to investigate paradigm of the binding communication. It is a question of making a link between the theories of the Persuasion and the Commitment (Joule, Girandola & Bernard, 2007).The interest of this approach is to combine two theoretical fields traditionally separated in the process connected to the attitude change and behavior. The theories of the Persuasion considerably contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms to the data processing, but also to those concerning the change of attitude. According to these theories, it is necessary to press on the ideas to reach the behavior. Conversely, the commitment recommends to act from the behavior to reach the cognitive activity. This activity leads behind an attitude change and it until the production of new behavior. Our reflection maybe put in these terms: in what measure the commitment in an act followed by the reading of a persuasive message, does it influence the cognitive aspect and the behavioral intention ?

Dans ce travail, l‟objet de notre étude a été la série de romans néo-policiers de l'écrivain Leonardo Padura - le plus grand représentant de ce type de textes à Cuba - dont les oeuvres, tout en conservant les traits qui permettent au lecteur de les reconnaître comme des romans policiers, révèlent une profonde transgression générique à tous les niveaux - modal, thématique et formel. Avec ces textes, Padura est parvenu à démanteler le canon du roman policier révolutionnaire, dont la pratique s‟est perpétuée à Cuba jusqu‟au milieu des années quatre-vingt, subventionnée par le régime révolutionnaire. Nous avons tenté de démontrer que la transformation générique entreprise par cet écrivain sur les modèles traditionnels du roman policier lui permet d'actualiser le genre et de l'utiliser comme instrument pour questionner l'ordre établi d‟un régime qui a prétendu uniformiser une société conçue comme multiple et hétérogène par l'auteur. En même temps, cette transformation lui permet d‟entrer dans la discussion sur la question générique, de revendiquer la nature systématiquement modificatrice des genres littéraires et de polémiquer sur le dogmatisme normatif qui se propose de classifier les genres en compartiments étanches et d‟enfermer le roman policier dans le cadre isolé de la « sous-littérature ». / The aim of our research is to study a series of neo-crime novels by the writer Leonardo Padura - the leading exponent of this genre on the island of Cuba-, whose works, while upholding the traits that enable them to be read as detective stories, feature a profound generic transgression at all levels - modal, thematic and formal. He sought to breathe new life into the genre Ŕwhich had been thoroughly exhausted on the island since the mid 1980sŔ and show that by relieving it of its entire political-ideological burden and treating it from a literary perspective, it could attain high artistic merit. In this way, and as we have set out to show, Padura has managed to revitalize the genre and use it as an instrument for questioning the order established by a regime that has sought to bring uniformity to a society that the author considers to be multiracial and heterogeneous. Furthermore, by transforming the formulas and the narrative structures of the crime novel in his own writings, which include and invert the genre‟s traditional models, Padura has managed to challenge the regulatory dogmatism that seeks to classify genres into watertight compartments and relegate the crime novel to the confines of “sub-literature”.

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