Purpose This research attempts to examine the relationship between B2C interaction and customer loyalty in Business-to-Customer (B2C) context from a new perspective of the interactive tool. Design/methodology/approach The scale for B2C interactive tools is of seven dimensions: efficiency, security, fulfillment, mobility, community, cultivation, and customization. A model reflecting the influences of these attributes on customer loyalty is developed and empirically examined based on data collected from 265 B2C customers. Findings Results reveal that the fulfillment, mobility, community, and customization of B2C interactive tools can enhance customer loyalty directly and significantly. Efficiency and security, serving as the premise for possible purchase behavior, facilitate fulfillment. In addition, cultivation promotes the formation of customization, which directly strengthens customer loyalty. Research limitations Models considering individual-level indicators and combined with classic loyalty mechanisms in B2C context may lead to a deeper understanding of the tested effects of interaction on customer loyalty. Practical implications To strengthen B2C interaction and further cultivate loyal customers, making interactive tools more fundamental, flexible, and personalized is critical for B2C enterprises. Originality/value This study proposes a new perspective from interactive tools when measuring the relationship between B2C interaction and customer loyalty, and offers a useful theoretical lens and reasonable explanations for investigating customer loyalty in B2C e-commerce context.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of social media affordances, specifically social engagement and social endorsement, on knowledge contribution in online Q&A communities. Building on self-determination theory, this research seeks to tackle the issue of under-provision of knowledge in these communities.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a sample collected from a popular social Q&A community in China and uses linear panel data models along with multiple robustness checks to test the research model.FindingsThe findings reveal that both social engagement and social endorsement have a positive effect on users' knowledge contribution to the online Q&A community. However, the impact of social engagement is mitigated by social endorsement.Originality/valueThis paper makes a valuable contribution to the field by filling the research gap on the role of social engagement behaviors and their interaction with social endorsement in online Q&A communities. The results provide insights into how social media affordances can be leveraged to enhance knowledge contribution in these communities.

Introduction. Considering the overwhelming amount of scientific information available on academic social networking sites, the purpose of this paper is to explore how users perceive and judge the information quality. Method. Drawing upon the dual-process model, we theorised that the results of perception depend on the influence of both content cues and context-related cues. Analysis. We conducted two controlled experiments to verify our hypotheses. Results. Our findings indicated that, (1) higher levels of information quality can be perceived with high content value than with low content value, and there was an interaction effect between content value and question type (Experiment 1); (2) three kinds of context-related cues (authority cues, peer cues, and recommendation cues) demonstrated the significant main effect on perceived information quality, and there was an interaction effect among these three cues (Experiment 2). Conclusions. This study contributes by addressing both central and peripheral cues based on a dual-process model, different from previous research which has mainly been confined to examining the external cues' effects. Our findings not only can deepen the comprehension about how users perceive and judge the information quality in academic social networking sites, but also can inform platform developers about the design of the interface and the information system.

PurposeThe purpose of this review is to provide a conceptual framework of consumer engagement behavior in the value co-creation process of healthcare services, and further understand the current knowledge maps and advances.Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, the scoping review methodology is used to synthesize the extant findings. The authors first develop the inclusion/exclusion criteria to evaluate the source material for the review; then, the authors further conduct the literature refinement to select the final data sample. As such, the authors extract and analyze the information derived from these articles.FindingsThe authors found most related studies focus on exploring patients' engagement behavior in the value co-creation process, especially those with chronic disease; the findings also reveal that consumers are most likely to engage in the value co-creation process of healthcare services by seeking or sharing health information; also, consumers engagement behavior is mainly driven by individual, interactive, and technological factors; moreover, consumer engagement in the value co-creation of healthcare services are more likely to achieve positive health and behavioral outcomes.Originality/valueThe role of consumers has gradually shifted from that of passive recipients to that of active participants in the healthcare value co-creation process. Consumer engagement behavior is the key premise for the realization of healthcare value co-creation, and it has received increasing attention both academically and practically. By unearthing the conceptual framework of consumer engagement behavior in the value co-creation process of healthcare services, this study provides a systematic understanding and serves as a useful resource for future research and practice.