Consumer socialization through peer communication using social media websites has become an important marketing issue through the development and increasing popularity of social media. Guided by a socialization framework, this article investigates peer communication through social media websites; individual-level tie strength and group-level identification with the peer group as antecedents; and product attitudes and purchase decisions as outcomes. Survey data from 292 participants who engaged in peer communications about products through social media confirm that the two antecedents have positive influences on peer communication outcomes. Online consumer socialization through peer communication also affects purchasing decisions in two ways: directly (conformity with peers) and indirectly by reinforcing product involvement. In addition, consumer's need for uniqueness has a moderating effect on the influence of peer communication on product attitudes. These findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications.

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In this study Illumina MiSeq was performed to investigate microbial diversity in soil, leaves, grape, grape juice and wine. A total of 1,043,102 fungal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) reads and 2,422,188 high quality bacterial 16S rDNA sequences were used for taxonomic classification, revealed five fungal and eight bacterial phyla. At the genus level, the dominant fungi were Ascomycota, Sordariales, Tetracladium and Geomyces in soil, Aureobasidium and Pleosporaceae in grapes leaves, Aureobasidium in grape and grape juice. The dominant bacteria were Kaistobacter, Arthrobacter, Skermanella and Sphingomonas in soil, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and Kaistobacter in grape and grapes leaves, and Oenococcus in grape juice and wine. Principal coordinate analysis showed structural separation between the composition of fungi and bacteria in all samples. This is the first study to understand microbiome population in soil, grape, grapes leaves, grape juice and wine in Xinjiang through High-throughput Sequencing and identify microorganisms like Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Oenococcus spp. that may contribute to the quality and flavor of wine.

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PurposeThere is a growing interest in brand formation and brand valuation among global firms today, but global marketers typically ignore one of the key factors of brand building – corporation ability association (CAA). This paper aims to explore the structural relationship between CAA and consumer‐based brand equity variables and its product‐market outcomes.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing Aaker and Keller's theoretical framework of brand equity, this paper develops a brand equity model combining customer‐based brand equity with product‐market outcome approaches. A set of scales are developed and tested on a national sample of Chinese consumers.FindingsThe data provide support for ten of the 12 hypotheses. The results indicate that CAA is an important factor in building and preserving brand equity. CAA and brand awareness have impact on quality perception, which has positive impact on brand resonance, brand extensibility, and price flexibility. Brand resonance has positive influence on brand extensibility and the intention to repurchase.Practical implicationsFor global marketers operating in China, brand equity is a cultural market‐based asset and global companies must focus on building corporation ability association in China in order to enjoy the substantial competitive and economic advantages provided by brand equity. Theoretically, the proposed brand equity model is an extension of the model proposed by Keller.Originality/valueFor the first time, CAA is integrated into fhe brand equity model. This may provide a theoretical base for further research in the endorsement role of company ability in brand equity building.