This study uses an experiment with 102 Singaporean working adults to examine the effects of salespersons’ retail service quality (SRSQ) and consumers’ mood on impulse buying (IB) and store-revisit intentions. The results show that consumers receiving good SRSQ exhibit greater IB and store-revisit intentions than do those receiving poor SRSQ, and consumers in a positive mood show greater IB than do those in a negative mood. Mood fully mediates the effect of SRSQ on IB in terms of purchase quantity and partially/complementarily mediates the effect of SRSQ on IB in terms of purchase intentions and store-revisit intentions. This research offers insights into the affective and cognitive mechanisms of IB and store-revisit intentions in a specific retail context. The findings help retailers facilitate purchase behavior and improve customer satisfaction in services. Ethical consumption policies and practices could also incorporate the IB mechanism reported in this study. Future research opportunities are discussed.

Previous studies show that the environmental quality is significantly influenced by corruption and the hidden economy separately. However, what is the impact of their interaction effect on environmental quality? Based on Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model, this study calculates the scale of hidden economy in Chinese provinces firstly. Then, we apply the method of spatial econometrics to analyze the interaction effect of corruption and the hidden economy on environmental pollution with China’s provincial panel data from 1998 to 2017. The results indicate that the interaction effect between corruption and hidden economy significantly increases pollutant discharge, suggesting that both anti-corruption and control of the hidden economy may improve environmental quality directly and indirectly.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of perceived product similarity and comparative ad claims on brand responses. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a two (similarity between the target product and the comparison product: relatively similar vs dissimilar) by three (product attributes of the target product: common to the comparison product, distinct from the comparison product, and a combination of common and distinct attributes) between-subjects factorial design with 300 Thai undergraduate students. Findings – It finds that when perceived similarity between the products is high, a combination of superiority (distinct) and parity (common) ad claims lead to the best brand responses. When perceived similarity is low, superiority claims bring about the best brand responses. Research limitations/implications – It extends comparative advertising and category-substitution research by addressing the research gaps in perceived similarity and claim type. Practical implications – Companies should emphasize a product’s superior attributes in general but a combination of common and superior attributes when the product is relatively similar to other products in comparative advertising. Originality/value – This study provides new evidence that perceived product similarity moderates the effect of comparative ad claims on brand responses.

Corporate digital transformation provides the endogenous motivation to stimulate corporate ESG performance by helping companies to optimize innovation resource allocation and reduce financing costs. This paper empirically examines the impact and mechanism of corporate digital transformation on corporate ESG performance using Shanghai, and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2011-2021 as the research sample. It is found that digital transformation significantly enhances the ESG performance of enterprises, among which the performance of artificial intelligence is more prominent. This finding still holds after a series of robustness tests and endogeneity treatments. Taking the social spillover effects of digital transformation as the starting point, this paper provides empirical evidence and research insights to broaden the development path of Chinese enterprises to improve ESG performance and implement the "double carbon" goal.