Purpose This study aims to examine the influence of homophily in an online community and the effect of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) consensus on young consumers’ attitudes. Design/methodology/approach This study implemented an experimental research design using a two (low/high homophily) × two (low/high eWOM consensus) mixed factorial design. This study explores young consumers’ changes in brand attitude after encountering negative eWOM. Findings The results indicate that a high consensus of negative eWOM among online community members leads to significant changes in attitude, while a low consensus of negative eWOM does not produce such an effect. Negative eWOM from either high or low homophilous sources produces significant changes in attitude. There are significant attitude changes when a strong consensus of negative eWOM is received from a source with a high level of homophily. Research limitations/implications Service failures in offline service settings lead to the dissemination of negative eWOM on social media. To handle and prevent social media crises, researchers should understand online crises antecedents relating to information characteristics i.e. eWOM consensus and characteristics of online community members to evaluate the crises impact. Brands should monitor tone and dialogue of online community member on social media to remedy and diminish any damage done to their brand image from negative eWOM. Originality/value This study contributes to the application of social network theory by understanding the role of nodes on negative eWOM effect in social media.

PurposeThis study applies social network theory to examine the moderating effects of two online social media network characteristics, namely homophily and consensus, on the influence of negative electronic word of mouth (NeWOM) and of firm crisis response on consumer attitude toward a company.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were tested using a mixed-model experimental design of three between-subjects factors, including manipulations of homophily (high vs low), consensus (high vs low), and firm crisis response (accommodative vs defensive), and one repeated measure within-subjects factor of attitude toward the company at three different points in time (A0, A1, A2). Data were collected from 328 Thai participants who were randomly assigned to one of the eight experimental conditions.FindingsHigh homophily and high consensus online social media network conditions worsen the negative impact of NeWOM on consumer attitudes. However, high homophily and high consensus strengthen the positive influence of an accommodative response in regaining favorable attitude toward the company. Low homophily and low consensus negate the impact of the firm's defensive response, preventing any further deterioration of attitude toward the company.Practical implicationsMarketers need to understand the relational patterns among members of online social media networks in order to assess the extent to which consumers are influenced by others in the network. In doing so, the firm can better anticipate and manage the impact of NeWOM and can launch an appropriate response strategy that optimizes the recovery, or minimizes the deterioration, of lost company image and reputation.Originality/valueThis study provides a dynamic view of consumer attitudes and highlights the substantial impact that others in the online social media network have on consumers' evaluation of NeWOM and of firm recovery efforts.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between perceived customer unfriendliness, emotional exhaustion, emotional dissonance and turnover intent using the stress–strain–outcome model in the call center industry in the Philippines. In addition, this paper also investigates the mediating effects of leader–member exchange (LMX) and emotional exhaustion. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposed a theoretical model hypothesizing the linkages between the abovementioned variables. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses using a data set from a sample of 605 Filipino call service representatives. Findings The results indicate that perceived customer unfriendliness as a stressor is a positive predictor of emotional exhaustion and emotional dissonance as strains. In turn, emotional exhaustion and emotional dissonance positively influence turnover intent. The results also reveal that LMX mediates the impact of perceived customer unfriendliness on emotional exhaustion. Further, the exhaustion variable mediates the effect of emotional dissonance on turnover intent. Practical implications The results suggest that contact with unfriendly customers has negative emotional implications and highlight the need for training or intervention programs to help service agents develop coping mechanisms. The results also imply that leader-initiated high-quality LMX could help attenuate perceived customer unfriendliness's impact on emotional exhaustion. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge,this paper is the first to examine and confirm the causal relationships of the proposed model’s variables using the stress–strain–outcome model.

The drug delivery and targeting method of gold tourmaline composite atoms generated by optical tweezers in a micro-optical device system is proposed. Gold atoms can be trapped and mixed into the tourmaline content, from which the composite gold tourmaline atoms can be formed using the optical tweezers, which can be delivered close to the desired target cells for cells healing and enhancing applications. In simulation, the optical tweezers are formed by whispering gallery (leaky) modes of light can be generated within a modified add-drop filter, which is known as a Panda ring resonator. It is a nonlinear micro optical device, from which the optical probes called optical tweezers can be generated and used for atom trapping, removing and transportation. In this paper, the optical tweezers are designed for gold tourmaline composite atom trapping, in which the trapped gold tourmaline atoms can be deposited (removed) on (from) the surface for cosmetics and cells enhancing treatment usages. The advantage of the proposed scheme is that the applied (removed) atoms to (from) the surface treatments by the designed trapping and storage device, where the device controlled switching is the key function. In application, the composite trapped gold-tourmaline atoms can be stored with the storage device. In addition, the removal trapped gold-tourmaline atoms can be removed from the treatment surface, from which the used gold atoms can be possible extracted and reused. The cells enhancing and healing applications using the tourmaline properties such as magnetic and far infrared are also plausible.