The paper presents a review of 128 studies on the behavior of older consumers published in the last 35 years (from 1980 to 2014) in 35 peer-reviewed journals. The purpose of the procedure is twofold: First, we aim to summarize results on agerelated changes in consumer research. Second, by doing so, we evaluate the relative importance of age-related factors (chronological, biological, psychological, and social age as wells as life events and life circumstances) in research on older consumers. Results of the review show that research on older consumers is still dominated by investigations using chronological age. Influences of other aspects of the aging process, although recommended by previous research reviews and providing valuable insights, are still playing a minor role in the investigation of consumer behavior. Research with alternative age measures is still in an early, exploratory stage and future studies should include specific aspects as well as multitheoretical models of aging.
Social media influencers are increasingly approached by marketers to advocate brands and products. This practice is commonly called ‘influencer marketing’. Influencers can take advantage of their reach and importance for consumers’ decision making by obtaining rewards from marketers. At the same time, consumers are increasingly aware of this practice. In this context, the perception of an influencers´ authenticity is key when it comes to his/her ability to persuade others. In this research, we shed light on the nature of the influencer authenticity construct, its boundaries as well as its relationships with brand-related variables responsible for consumers’ buying decisions. Using an experimental approach (n = 163), we demonstrate that especially influencers’ uniqueness and consistency increase their authenticity. Furthermore, our results show a strong impact of influencer authenticity on purchase intention, which is partially mediated via brand authenticity and brand attitude.
In the light of the growing popularity of Facebook brand fan pages as important channels for brand communication and consumer-brand interactions, understanding how consumers' perceptions of these pages impact customer-based brand equity is certainly a critical research point. The research described in this paper uses Keller and Lehmann's (2003) brand value chain as a theoretical foundation and adapts it to the social media context. This enables us to investigate the role of multiple brand fan page characteristics in triggering consumer engagement and in forming a favourable consumer-brand mindset. Specifically, we study the impact of perceived vividness, interactivity, information and entertainment value of brand posts' content, as well as the positive brand fans' comments on consumer engagement, brand awareness, image and attitude. Preliminary results show that consumeroriented brand fan pages can translate into positive brand outcomes such as loyalty and recommendation.
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