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Purpose This study aims to develop and test a new research model of consumer response to celebrity transgression. It examines the effects of celebrity past transgression and philanthropic histories in influencing consumer acceptance (i.e. forgiveness and blame) of a single celebrity transgression behavior and the subsequent endorsement potential of the transgressed celebrity. It also examines consumer acceptance of celebrity transgressions from the gender perspective. Design/methodology/approach By using real celebrities, this study conducted a 2 (transgression history: high vs low) × 2 (philanthropic history: high vs low) × 2 (celebrity gender: male vs female) between-subject online experiment with 823 US young adults. Findings Results showed that forgiving (blaming) the transgressed celebrity was positively (negatively) associated with the celebrity’s endorsement potential. Transgression history had a significantly negative indirect effect on endorsement potential via its negative effect on forgiveness and positive effect on blame. Philanthropic history mitigated the negative indirect effect of transgression history on endorsement potential only for male celebrities, not female celebrities. Originality/value This study contributes to the current human brand and celebrity transgression literature and fills the research gap by using real male and female celebrities to incorporate the real history of celebrities as determinants of consumer judgment of celebrity transgression. This study also makes its unique contributions by focusing on the celebrity-related outcomes and demonstrating the moderating roles of past philanthropic behaviors and celebrity gender for their potential to mitigate the negative effects of transgression history on consumer responses to a single transgression.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the kinds of ad appeals and brand types that contribute to perceived ad–media congruence on Instagram and how such congruence influences consumers’ engagement intentions via the interaction of self-related congruence constructs. Additionally, ad intrusiveness was studied as a mediator of the relationship between ad–media congruence and consumers’ behavioral engagement intention.Design/methodology/approachAn online 2 (Ad appeal: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (Brand type: hedonic vs utilitarian) between-subject experiment was conducted with four versions of mock-up Instagram in-feed native ads.FindingsResults showed that hedonic advertising appeals contributed to ad–media congruence on Instagram, which yielded a lower level of ad intrusiveness and further resulted in higher consumer behavioral engagement intentions. The brand type did not significantly influence participants’ perceptions of ad–media congruence. Moreover, the findings indicate individuals’ brand-self congruence and ad-self congruence were significant moderators in interactions with ad–media congruence in influencing consumers’ behavioral engagement intentions.Practical implicationsBoth brand managers and social media providers can leverage this study’s findings to improve ad effectiveness and consumer experiences in their respective social media landscapes. Specifically, knowing what kind of ad is more congruent and less intrusive, as well as how to better tailor targeting strategies in digital media spaces by building higher ad self- and brand self-congruence, can help them achieve persuasive effects when complying with the Federal Trade Commission disclosure guideline.Originality/valueThe current study advances extant literature on native advertising by examining the core characteristic of ad–media congruence and its relation to the key metric of social media marketing success – consumer engagement intentions. The findings also extend the congruence theory by examining the interaction effect of media- and self-related congruence constructs.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses displayed signs to promote preventive behaviors, such as wearing masks in public, but the effectiveness of this practice largely remains unknown. This ...

Attaching AIE-active L1 ([1,1':2',1'':4'',1'''-quaterphenyl]-2-yldiphenylphosphane) to AuCl, shortened the distances of P-C bonds to promote electron cloud overlap between Au I and L1 , affords 1 ( L1 AuCl) with aggregation-induced phosphorescence enhancement (AIPE) activity by 3 LMCT transitions. Then substituting the coplanar L2 (9-ethynylanthracene) for the Cl - in 1 providing 2 , switches the luminescence to aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) activity. Furthermore, we restore the performance from ACQ to AIPE by metathesis reactions to transfer 2 into 1 . It is versatile synthetic strategy of reversible transformation between 1 and 2 that switches the luminescence of organogold(I) between AIPE and ACQ through balancing auxiliary ligands around the given metal.

WeChat Official Accounts, subscription-based accounts that broadcast information to followers, have become a popular venue for native advertising in China. This study investigated the effects of in...

Native advertising has become a growing trend in news outlets to break through the clutter of advertisements to reach consumers. This exploratory study investigates consumers' cognitive processing ...

As Internet usage has proliferated in recent years so have online security threats. Internet users are increasingly susceptible to online security threats. Using a qualitative approach, this study conducted 18 focus groups to examine how three different generations perceive online safety, use coping strategies, and protect themselves online: Silent and GI generation (SGI) (born 1945 or earlier), older Baby Boomers (1946–1954), and Millennials (1977–1992). Results show that although each generation shares a variety of online safety concerns, SGIs and Boomers are more suspicious about online security, have less confidence in their abilities, are uncertain about the effectiveness of protection resources, perform fewer protection behaviors, and are more likely to rely on others’ assistance compared to the Millennial group. Our findings indicate online safety training is needed for all three generations, but especially for older adults. Tailored approaches are suggested to reach different generations.

Internet users experience a variety of online security threats that require them to enact safety precautions. Protection motivation theory (PMT) provides a theoretical framework for understanding Internet users' security protection that has informed past research. Ongoing research on online safety recommends new motivational factors that are integrated here in a PMT framework for the first time. Using PMT, a cross-sectional survey (N?=?988) of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) users was conducted to examine how classical and new PMT factors predicted security intentions. Coping appraisal variables were the strongest predictors of online safety intentions, especially habit strength, response efficacy, and personal responsibility. Threat severity was also a significant predictor. Incorporating additional factors (i.e., prior experiences, subjective norms, habit strength, perceived security support, and personal responsibility) into the conventional PMT model increased the model's explanatory power by 15%. Findings are discussed in relation to advancing PMT within the context of online security for home computer users.

Purpose The study examines how two types of trust – institutional and system trust – predict online banking intentions (OBI) as a function of generational cohort membership. Methodology/approach The study uses a cross-sectional survey of 559 U.S. Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) members using quota sampling from three generational groups: SGI (born before 1946), older boomer (born 1946–1954), and millennial (born 1977–1992). Findings Results showed generational cohort differences in system and institutional trust as well as OBI. Serial mediation model results showed the model where institutional trust precedes system trust best explains the relationship between generational cohort membership and OBI. Research limitations While diverse, the sample comprised of MTurk workers and relied on self-report measures of behavioral intentions, thus limiting the generalizability of our findings. Implications This study introduces two levels of e-trust into the technology acceptance literature and provides a guideline for financial institutions and system designers to understand the role of trust in driving online service adoption and use for different generations. Originality/value This study explores generational differences in technology use with special focus on older adults, which is yet to be fully explored in the literature. This study differentiates between two levels of e-trust and explores the order in which both trust types mediate the relationship between generational cohort membership and OBI.

The Bacillus surface display system is a heat-stable platform for heterologous protein expression that preserves biological activity in an adverse environment. In the present study, a new cell surface display system that enables heterologous proteins to be displayed consecutively on the surface of Bacillus thuringiensis vegetative cells and spores in vivo and in vitro is reported. Using the N-terminal domain (Mbgn) of a peptidoglycan hydrolase (Mbg) as anchor, the green fluorescence protein (GFP) and a bacterial laccase (WlacD) can be targeted onto the surface of vegetative cells and spores in vivo in an active form. This was confirmed by GFP fluorescence intensity quantification, enzymatic activity measurement, immunofluorescence microscopy examination, and flow cytometry assay. Immobilization of externally added Mbgn-mediated fusion proteins in vitro to obtain actively displaying GFP and/or WlacD was subsequently achieved in B. thuringiensis, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus, demonstrating the versatility of the proposed system. Therefore, Mbgn-mediated in vivo and in vitro immobilization of foreign proteins represents an improved method of microbial display for extended biotechnological applications.

A putative laccase gene was cloned from Shigella dysenteriae W202 and expressed in Escherichia coli as a soluble fusion protein with high yield. The purified product ( Wlac ) was characterized as the CueO-like laccase from E. coli , a monomer of molecular mass 55 kDa, with a maximum activity of 24.4 U/mg ( K m = 0.086) and a pH optimum of 2.5, in a standard assay using ABTS (2,2′-azino-di(3-ethyl-benzthiazoline-6-sulfonate) as the substrate. Activity was stable at 0–25 °C but inhibited above 40 °C. Purified Wlac was completely inhibited by 200 mM EDTA and partially by 32 mM SDS, 50 mM NaN 3 and 60 mM thioglycolic acid. Activity was stimulated by Cu 2+ ; other metal ions had only slight or negative effects. Two mutated variants, WlacS and WlacD , were obtained by substituting Glu 106 with Phe 106, and adding a deletion of an α-helix domain (from Leu 351 to Gly 378). WlacS had a 2.2-fold (52.9 U/mg) and WlacD a 3.5-fold (85.1 U/mg) higher enzyme activity than the wild-type laccase and WlacD showed greater thermostability at higher temperatures. Sce VMA intein-associated fusion proteins maintained ∼80% of total enzyme activity. Thus, deletion and site-directed mutagenesis of laccases are capable of promoting both enzymatic activity and thermostability.

A celebrity spokesperson is typically defined as a recognizable person who uses this recognition to promote a consumer good through an advertisement. Celebrity endorsers are widely used to engage consumers. Past research has shown that almost 25% of all television commercials contain celebrity endorsers (Erdogan et al., 2001). As of 2010, it was estimated that $35 billion was spent on celebrity endorsements in traditional media (Crutchfield, 2012) and another $35 billion on digital endorsements (Shayon, 2011). Celebrities have their own brand and equity, and each celebrity’s brand is important to marketers as they seek to transfer the celebrity’s image to the endorsed product (McCraken, 1989).

An improved surface-immobilisation system was engineered to target heterologous proteins onto vegetative cells and spores of Bacillus thuringiensis plasmid-free recipient strain BMB171. The sporulation-dependent spore cortex-lytic enzyme from B. thuringiensis YBT-1520, SceA, was expressed in vegetative cells and used as the surface anchoring motif. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a Bacillus endo-β-1,3-1,4-glucanase (BglS) were used as the fusion partners to test the binding efficiency and the functional activities of immobilised surface proteins. The surface localisation of the SceA-GFP fusion protein on vegetative cells and spores was confirmed by Western blot, immunofluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. The GFP fluorescence intensity from both vegetative cells and spores was measured and compared to a previously characterised surface display system using a peptidoglycan hydrolase anchor (Mbg). Results demonstrated comparable efficiency of SceA- and Mbg-mediated immobilisation on vegetative cells but a more efficient immobilisation on spores using the SceA anchor, suggesting SceA has greater potential for spore-based applications. The SceA protein was then applied to target BglS onto vegetative cells and spores, and the surface immobilisation was verified by the substantial whole-cell enzymatic activity and enhanced whole-spore enzymatic activity compared to vegetative cells. A dually active B. thuringiensis vegetative cell and spore display system could prove especially valuable for the development of regenerable and heat-stable biocatalysts that function under adverse environmental conditions, for example, an effective feed additive for improved digestion and nutrient absorption by livestock.