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A servicescape can be viewed as the frozen potential of a consumptionscape, which is unleashed when consumers “twist” the resources of its built environment for their own purposes. In this paper we explore how young, urban Chinese consumers transform the iconic global brand Starbucks into a consumptionscape through their enactment of personally meaningful experiences, roles, and identities in the setting. We employ the qualitative research methodology of photo-elicitation by having consumers record their experience in a Starbucks in Beijing through photography and later using these images as probes in a depth interview. The implications for new global servicescapes in local markets are discussed. Journal of International Business Studies (2008) 39, 1010–1026. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400353

Our knowledge of the relationship between opinion leaders and adopters is based on discontinuous innovations. This paper argues that the relationship is different for continuous innovations. Previous research suggests that besides opinion leaders and adopters, communicative adopters—consumers who are both opinion leaders and adopters‐play important yet different roles in the diffusion of continuous innovations. Based on a study of 317 moviegoers, this paper shows that communicative adopters can be characterized as ‘Change agents,’ opinion leaders as ‘Interpersonal communicators,’ and adopters as ‘Nonpersonal influencers’.

This paper examines the relationship between product class involvement and the ability to handle purchase risk. Adopting the enduring‐instrumental model of involvement, this paper examines its relationship with dimensions of risk such as uncertainty, importance, and innovation proneness. It proposes that enduringly involved consumers have a greater ability to handle risk as compared to instrumentally involved consumers. The findings, based on purchase behavior for the personal computer, food processor, and video cassette recorder, generally support the hypothesized relationships between involvement and risk for each of these three products. The implications of these findings for different facets of information seeking and purchase behavior are discussed.