The use of AI has developed during the recent decades, and the application of it within different markets is continually growing. The application of it within marketing comes with different benefits that allow businesses to engage with the consumer and build a stronger relationship. The more AI is becoming applied in marketing, the more important it is to understand the consumers attitude towards its usage and effect of it on consumer purchase intention. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of consumer attitudes towards AI- generated content within email marketing on purchasing intention. Theory of planned behavior and diffusion of innovations theory are applied to formulate the hypotheses. The research was conducted using a quantitative method in an experimental context. An online survey divided into two parts was developed and distributed to participants in Sweden in ages from 18 and above. A total of 114 respondents were recorded in the first survey and of those, 71 respondents were recorded in the second survey. The data was then analyzed in SPSS. The results from the survey showed the element of compatibility within the theory of diffusion of innovation having a significant and positive effect on consumers attitude towards AI-usage in marketing. The relationship between the observability element and attitude was found to be non-significant. Additionally, no significant difference was found when comparing the experimental group and the control group. Lastly, attitude towards AI was found to have a significant and positive effect on purchasing intention in the experimental group.

This study investigates the impact of trustworthiness, perceived expertise, and parasocial relationships on Swedish consumers' purchase intentions on TikTok, focusing on influencer marketing. The problem addressed in this study is the lack of understanding of consumer behavior on TikTok in the context of influencer marketing. While TikTok has become a popular platform for influencer marketing due to its high engagement rates and entertaining marketing concept, limited research exists on the factors that influence consumer purchase intentions on the platform. The study aims to understand the factors that influence consumer behavior on TikTok and its impact on purchase intentions, using the theory of persuasion. The method used in this research is a quantitative study where the authors used a survey method to collect primary data from 138 Swedish consumers. STATA was used to analyze the data, and the findings reveal that the trustworthiness and parasocial relationships of influencers significantly impact purchase intentions, while perceived expertise has no significant impact on the platform TikTok. This study's results can guide marketing professionals and influencers to develop effective influencer marketing strategies on TikTok, which offers immense marketing opportunities for brands seeking to reach younger audiences with high engagement rates.

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Forskningsfråga: I vilken grad påverkar användargenererat innehåll konsumenters tre dimensioner av attityder till företag i restaurangbranschen? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur användargenererat innehåll påverkar konsumenters varumärkesattityder till företag inom restaurangbranschen. Resultatet av att analysera de tre dimensionerna av attityder; kognition, affektion och konation kan hjälpa företag att förstå i hur stor grad användargenererat innehåll påverkar konsumenters varumärkesattityder. Kunskapen är relevant för företagens utveckling av strategi och hantering av användargenererat innehåll.  Metod: Studien baseras på en kvantitativ forskningsmetod där primärdata har samlats in genom en enkätundersökning. Medverkade i undersökningen var 129 respondenter, vars svar analyserades i dataprogrammet IBM SPSS Statistics. Där genomfördes korrelations- och regressionsanalyser för att testa studiens tre hypoteser och den teoribaserade modellen.  Slutsats: Slutligen är det konstaterat att användargenererat innehåll påverkar varumärkesattityder till restauranger positivt, främst de konativa- och affektiva komponenterna. Därmed har konsumenterna makten att påverka varandras attityder och beteenden genom användargenererat innehåll. Företag bör komplettera detta innehåll med sin egen marknadsföring och uppmuntra till engagemang på digitala kanaler för att stärka relationer och varumärkesattityder. / Research question: To what degree does user-generated content affect the three dimensions of consumers' attitudes toward companies in the restaurant industry? Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate how user-generated content affects consumers' brand attitudes toward companies in the restaurant industry. The result of analyzing the three dimensions of attitudes; cognition, affect, and conation can help companies understand to which extent user-generated content affects consumers' brand attitudes. The knowledge is relevant for companies' development of strategy and management of user-generated content. Method: The study is based on a quantitative research method where primary data has been collected through a survey. 129 respondents participated and their answers were analyzed in the program IBM SPSS Statistics. Correlation and regression analyzes were executed to test the study's three hypotheses and the theory-based model. Conclusion: The study found that user-generated content positively affects brand attitudes towards restaurants, with the greatest impact on the conative and affective components. Consumers thus have the power to influence each other's attitudes and behaviors through user-generated content. Companies should supplement this content with their own marketing and encourage engagement on digital channels to strengthen relationships and brand attitudes.

Abstract  Background: Due to recent geopolitical issues, ethnocentrism has had a noticeable rise. However, the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on purchase intentions has received little prior research. An especially noticeable lack of previous research is within intangible products such as services. The ethnocentric consumer is assumed to be biased towards products and services from his or her own country and reluctant to consume products from abroad. An industry that is often disregarded in business research is the aviation industry. In 2022, Swedish and Finnish airports oversaw a total of approximately fifty-five million passengers, making it a large business with little attention directed towards it. The industry is fragile concerning economic cycles and especially brittle in external challenges such as the covid pandemic. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on purchase intentions towards home national airlines through shaping individual perceptions of home national airlines and how this effect is moderated by the status of frequent fliers and gender.  Method: This study uses a quantitative research method, based on an online survey with 132 respondents in Sweden and Finland. We test our research model with seven research hypotheses based on the survey data.  Findings & Contributions: Our findings indicate that individual ethnocentrism directly increases the purchase intention of Swedish and Finnish consumers towards home national airlines and indirectly enhances the purchase intention of Swedish and Finnish airline consumers by increasing consumers’ perceptions. Our study also reveals that the positive effect of individual ethnocentrism on consumer purchase intention towards home national airlines is weaker among frequent fliers. However, our study does not find differences in the effect of individual ethnocentrism between males and females. In terms of research contributions, our thesis gains a better understanding of the effect of individual ethnocentrism on consumers’ purchase intention by investigating the mediators and moderators and contributes to the research on consumer behaviours.

Empowered by the internet and eWOM, online consumption community members now have a greater impact while considering customers’ purchase intentions. This qualitative study intends to examine the factors that impact these community members’ purchase intentions, by addressing the research question: How do internal behavioral and value creation factors impact customers’ purchase intentions in an online consumption community? Moreover, this study proposes a research model of purchase intention in an online consumption community inspired by the theory of planned behavior. As this study considers investigating human behaviors in the online sphere, a netnographic research design is applied. Utilizing the CAQDAS software NVivo 14, the study highlights the nine most engaging factors that impact the community members’ purchase intentions differently. Based on the findings, this study finally offers a research model that can be used in a similar research context.

A new generation of conscious consumers have placed pressure on fashion retail businesses to implement sustainability into their respective business operations. Conscious consumerism is a driving force behind sustainable consumption as these consumers play a strong role when influencing business practices. Although many retailers have adapted responsible procedures by offering sustainable products to their consumers, there is a lack of research on identifying and understanding the conscious consumer holistically. The aim of the present research is to gain a better understanding of the conscious consumer in relation to the three pillars of sustainability (people, planet, profit). This study sets out to examine the Generation Z consumer market as they display traits of sustainable behaviour and also aims to unpack the main drivers of their sustainable purchase intentions within the South African fashion retail market. A self-administered online questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents between the ages of 18 and 24 years. From the self-administered questionnaires, 159 responses were completed and deemed usable. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) version 24. Firstly, descriptive statistics was used to provide an overview of the sample. Secondly, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to examine the relationship between the variables. This study found that the Health and Labelling and Peer Pressure dimensions of the Consumers' Sustainability Consciousness construct has a positive influence on Sustainable Purchase Intentions. In conclusion, the findings of this study have several important implications for academia, fashion retailers and government. The contribution of this study aims to enhance the existing literature on conscious consumption by showcasing the most reliable dimensions of Consumers' Sustainability Consciousness and Sustainable Purchase Intentions. The study offers significant insights for fashion retailers and government as the impact of eating healthy, the role of product labels and peer pressure were found to have a positive influence on Gen Z's intentions to purchase sustainably. Ultimately, the insights from this body of work will generate both important implications and opportunities for further research.

The use of e-mail communication between consumers has been growing and companies are seeking to increase their understanding of this type of private communication medium between consumers. The privacy and cost-effectiveness characteristics of e-mail make it an important communication medium for consumers. Consumers use e-mail to exchange a variety of information including electronic word of mouth (eWOM) about products, services and organisations. The travel industry, the context of this study, is increasingly being delivered online. Understanding what influences consumers and how consumers evaluate eWOM will increase the travel industry’s knowledge about its consumer base. This study aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the impact of eWOM on consumer purchase intention. Its focus is on an interpersonal context where eWOM is sent from the source to the receiver in an e-mail about holiday destination. The study, which was undertaken from a positivist perspective, used qualitative and quantitative research techniques to better understand the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature on word of mouth (WOM) and eWOM was initially examined to identify the major factors that have an influence on the receiver of eWOM. Consistent with previous studies, both perceived expertise and similarity were identified as source characteristics that have an influence on the receiver’s purchase intention. The literature also indicated that trustworthiness belief would have a key effect on the influence of eWOM on the attitude of the receiver. Consequently, this study examined each trustworthiness dimension – ability, benevolence, and integrity – with respect to its role in the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature review also revealed that certain receiver characteristics were important in the process of influence, especially consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. The relationships between the variables identified were further developed into the research model, which has its roots in the theory of reasoned-action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and the dual process theory of influence (Deutsch and Gerard, 1955). Methodologically, a scenario-building approach to developing authentic e-mail was used. The qualitative data gathered from eight focus group discussions were analysed using “framework analysis” (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994) to develop eight scenarios. This was then used to manipulate the moderating variables in the scenario. Three manipulations, each with two levels, were included: eWOM direction “positive and negative”; source characteristic of “expert/non-expert”; and source characteristic of “similar/non-similar”. These scenarios formed part of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of University of Bradford students. The final number of usable questionnaires was 477. Structural equation modelling was used to determine the validity of the conceptual model and test the hypotheses. In particular, multiple group analysis was used to assess both the measurement and structural models, and to identify the impact of the eWOM direction. The theoretical model that describes the relationships between the exogenous variables (source’s and receiver’s characteristics) and the endogenous variables (trustworthiness dimensions, interpersonal influence and purchase intention) was accepted. The research findings provided empirical evidence on the difference in the impact of positive and negative eWOM on purchase intention. The source’s and receiver’s characteristics and related trustworthiness beliefs, (i.e. ability, benevolence, and integrity) are influenced by the direction of eWOM. The findings show that positive and negative eWOM differ with respect to how they impact on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. For instance, consumers have more belief in the credibility of a source who provides negative eWOM. However, the overall influence of the source’s characteristics tends to be stronger with positive than with negative eWOM. The findings of this study provide insights for both academics and practitioners to understand the potential of eWOM. This might be tailored to help develop more private relationships with customers through e-mail marketing strategies that incorporate eWOM. Negative eWOM is more credible but less directly useful to marketers. Nevertheless, it is important for marketers to realise the significance of managing dissatisfaction and to harness the power of negative eWOM. Similarly, positive eWOM is effective especially when the source is both expert and similar. This might be translated into online marketing campaigns that use consumer-to-consumer discussions in addition to viral marketing. Future research might test the model in different contexts, (e.g. financial services), to provide a more comprehensive picture of the influence of eWOM on purchase intention.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact that personalization as a phenomenon has on consumer purchase intention. Therefore, examining personalization as a phenomenon was performed through three different variables on which personalization has a significant influence. These variables are previous purchase experience, privacy concerns, and attitudes towards personalization.  Method: The primary data collection was developed through a quantitative research approach. Moreover, the survey was used as an instrument to collect the  data from individuals that have made online purchases at least one time in  the past 12 months.  Conclusion: To conclude, our findings show that previous purchase experience  and attitudes towards personalization positively impact consumer purchase intention. On the other hand, our findings show that privacy concerns have no significant correlations with consumer purchase intention and attitudes towards personalization, which means that privacy concerns don't have any impact on purchase intention and attitudes towards personalization.

Research questions: How does the company's CSR communication affect consumers' purchase intention and brand attitude? Purpose: The study aims to examine the relationship between how companies' work with CSR (marketing) influences brand attitude and further purchase intention among consumers in the fashion industry. Method: The study was conducted using a quantitative method and a deductive research approach. A survey was carried out, and 149 responses were collected for data analysis. Conclusion: The results show that CSR is an effective marketing strategy for strengthening the brand, as the majority of respondents consider it important for clothing companies to take responsibility. However, it is not an easy task to effectively and credibly communicate these efforts. This study reveals that, in the case of H&M, few respondents were aware of what the company does regarding CSR and they were skeptical about the overall accuracy of H&M's claims. Thus, many respondents are still consumers with a positive brand attitude, likely due to reasons other than CSR. / Forskningsfråga: Hur påverkar företagets CSR-kommunikation konsumenternas köpintention och varumärkesattityd? Syfte: Studien ämnar undersöka sambandet mellan hur företags arbete med CSR (marketing) påverkar varumärkesattityden och vidare köpintentionen hos konsumenterna i klädbranschen Metod: Studien utfördes med en kvantitativ metod och en deduktiv forskningsansats. En enkätundersökning genomfördes där 149 svar samlades in för dataanalys.  Slutsats: Resultatet visar att CSR är en effektiv marknadsföringsstrategi för att stärka varumärket, då majoriteten av respondenterna anser det är viktigt att klädföretagen tar ansvar. Däremot är det inte en enkel uppgift att nå ut med kommunikationen på ett effektivt och trovärdigt sätt. Denna studie visar på att i H&Ms fall var det få som hade koll på vad företaget gör när det kommer till CSR, men respondenterna var ändå skeptiska till om det H&M säger att det gör generellt sett stämmer. Många av respondenterna är ändå konsumenter och har en positiv varumärkesattityd, men troligtvis av andra anledningar än CSR.