Purpose Uncertain level discount (ULD) is a type of promotion combining regular discount (RD) with uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of ULD on consumers’ perceived quality compared with RD and to identify the relevant influencing mechanism and boundary for the effectiveness of ULD. Design/methodology/approach Three online experiments were conducted with 445 participants from China. First, experiment 1 compares the attractiveness of ULD and RD. Second, experiment 2 evaluates the impacts of ULD and RD on consumers’ perceived quality and clarifies the mechanism in this process. Finally, experiment 3 examines the moderating effect of product knowledge. Findings ULD has the same level of attractiveness as RD with equivalent expected discount value for consumers. Besides, consumers in ULD give higher ratings to product quality compared with those in RD, and the lower diagnosticity of price cues in ULD underlies the differential effects of ULD vs RD. Furthermore, product knowledge moderates the relationship between the two promotions and perceived quality. Practical implications The findings provide valuable guidance for managers to conduct promotional campaigns. ULD is an effective promotion to attract consumers to purchase with keeping consumers’ perceived quality high, and such effectiveness will rise for products that consumers are unfamiliar with. Managers can make rational use of ULD to achieve positive promotion results in both the short and long term. Originality/value Few studies pay attention to the long-term effects of the uncertain promotion. This research profoundly investigates the impact of ULD on perceived quality, which complements existing studies from a more integrated perspective that combines short- and long-term effects. Also, this research identifies the mechanism based on the cue diagnosticity theory and puts forward a new explanation for positive uncertainty in uncertain promotions. Finally, this research applies the impact of product knowledge on information process strategies into the uncertain promotion, which clarifies the utility boundary of ULD from a new perspective and offers a more comprehensive understanding for this promotion.

Users provide and share information with a broad audience on different forms of social media; however, information accuracy is questionable. Currently, the health information field is severely affected by misinformation. Thus, addressing health misinformation is integral for enhancing public health. This research can help relevant practitioners (i.e., government officials, medical and health service personnel, and educators) find the most effective correctional interventions for governing health misinformation. We constructed a theoretical model for credibility-oriented determinants refuting misinformation based on the elaboration likelihood model. We aggregated 415 pieces of valid data through a questionnaire survey. A partial least squares structural equation model evaluated this research model. The results indicated that both perceived information quality and perceived source credibility can enhance perceived information credibility. Under some circumstances, the influence of information quality on information credibility may be more important than that of the information source. However, the cognitive conflict and knowledge self-confidence of information receivers weaken the influence of information quality on information credibility. In contrast, cognitive conflict can strengthen the influence of source credibility on information credibility. Further, perceived information quality can be affected by information usefulness, understandability, and relevance, while perceived source reliability can be affected by source expertise and authority.

We compared individual and joint risk-based decision making using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task, with a focus on participants' (160 Chinese men) emotional experience during decision making and their Big Five personality traits as measured by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. We found that, compared with the individual decision-making process, making a joint decision led to reduced risk taking and increased earnings, and brought a greater sense of control, stronger feelings of achievement and happiness, and a reduced sense of regret for the participants. The Big Five personality traits of the participants were related to their risk-based decision making; participants tended to act differently according to their personality traits during individual and joint decision making. Our findings show that, compared with individual decision making, joint decision making has many advantages.

We used the Balloon Analogue Risk Task to study the changes and differences in risk preference between individuals and dyads in successive loss and gain contexts. Regardless of who was making the decision, the degree of risk taking after the first gain was significantly higher than that after the first loss, whereas the degree of risk taking after successive gains was significantly lower than that after successive losses. Further, risk preference increased after successive losses, and the increase was smaller for a dyad than for an individual, meaning the dyad’s decision making was more rational. Participants’ risk preference decreased after successive gains, and the extent of the decrease was larger for a dyad than that for an individual, meaning that individuals’ decision making was more rational. These findings indicate that the rational performance of both individuals and dyads in continuous risk decision making varies according to their gains or losses.

Zeolite W with the spindle morphology has been rapidly synthesized from alkali fusion activated K-feldspar via gel-like-solid phase method after supplementing a small amount of silica-aluminum xerogel. The effects of n(H 2 O)/n (SiO 2 ), m (activation product)/m (xerogel), and crystallization time on the synthesis of zeolite W were investigated. The optimal synthesis conditions were m (activation product)/m (xerogel) of 3.92, n(H 2 O)/n (SiO 2 ) of 25.8, and crystallization time of 12 h. The synthesized zeolite W was used to extract K + ion from the simulated seawater. The synthesized zeolite W with the fluffier spindle morphology exhibited a higher K + extraction capacity. The maximum exchange capacity of zeolite W for K + ion reached 49.57 mgÁg À1 . The zeolite W synthesized by the gel-like-solid phase method possessed a superior K + extraction capacity than that synthesized by the hydrothermal method when K-feldspar was used as the raw material and an approximate K + extraction capacity with that synthesized from chemical reagents. In addition, the recycling process of the mother liquor was designed. This work provides an effective way for the zeolite W synthesis and the resource utilization of K-feldspar with advantages of high raw material utilization, low water content in the synthesis system, short crystallization time, and recyclable mother liquor after synthesis of zeolite W.