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Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) interactions continue to grow in volume in the marketplace. Consumers interact on online platforms to socialise, exchange digital content and information, and trade. Yet, conceptualisations of engagement in marketing contexts are dominated by models based on consumer-brand or consumer-firm interactions, often conceptualised from the perspective of S-D Logic. Alternative frameworks are required to understand engagement in C2C contexts. This paper reports the results of a qualitative investigation of consumer engagement in one C2C context, the online C2C auction, reflecting an experiential view of the consumer. The research sought to conceptualise engagement in a C2C context, explore the relationship between consumer value and consumer engagement in this context, and the role that consumer engagement might play in encouraging ongoing participation in the consumption activity. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 users of online C2C auctions. Three contrasting approaches to analysis were applied to the qualitative dataset – phenomenological analysis of stories of consumption, thematic analysis of interview transcripts, and content analysis to identify words and phrases expressing engagement. A conceptualisation of consumer engagement as a motivational construct in C2C contexts is developed. A cycle of engagement is identified: consumer engagement is seen to arise from consumption experiences that provide value to the consumer; engagement prompts ongoing consumption activity; the cycle of engagement continues as long as value is derived from the consumption experiences. Applications of this conceptualisation of consumer engagement are explored.

Purpose Given the socialisation of men and women to their gender roles and expression of emotion, this study aims to investigate whether there are gender differences in the use of emotive language in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), specifically in online reviews. The authors propose that female reviewers will use strong emotive terms, such as love, more frequently in online reviews than do male reviewers. The authors further propose that the gender of the reviewer influences audience responses to the reviewer’s use of emotive terms in online reviews. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted secondary data analysis of restaurant reviews (Study 1) to provide evidence on whether the gender of the reviewer affects the frequency of use of emotive terms in an online review. In addition, three separate experiments (Studies 2–4) were conducted to test the theoretical arguments. Findings The results of the secondary data analysis indicated that female online reviewers used the term “love” much more frequently in their reviews than male reviewers, whereas there was no usage difference for the term “like”. The experimental studies further showed that an emotive review by a male reviewer containing the word “love” resulted in a higher evaluation of the restaurant being reviewed than a non-emotive review containing the word “like”. This difference was stronger when the overall rating was less salient and for consumers who believe (vs do not believe) that men and women use emotional language differently. Research limitations/implications First, the paper extends our understanding of gender differences in emotional expression within the domain of eWOM and online reviews as well as our understanding of consumer responses to these gender differences. Second, the authors identify a boundary condition for these gender effects, namely, the overall rating score. Third, the authors find that consumer beliefs regarding gender stereotypes in emotional expression provide an explanation for these effects. Practical implications The results of the research indicate that the electronic algorithms operating on review sites might be modified in terms of their criteria for selecting the reviews to display to consumers, as consumer decision-makers may find greater utility in reviews written by male reviewers that contain strongly positive emotive terms. Originality/value The research extends the knowledge on gender differences in emotional expression in online reviews by demonstrating the actual usage patterns and differing responses to the emotional expressions of each gender.

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