Introduction
Digital technologies have attracted the attention of international marketing scholars with research focusing on the digitalization, and digital capabilities of businesses in international markets (e.g., Katsikeas et al., 2020; Wang, 2020). On the contrary, research which focuses on digital technologies uptake and usage from the international consumer perspective is rather scarce. For instance, according to Papadopoulos and Cleveland (2023), the role of consumer culture in digital-focused research remains unclear as “’the wired consumer’ from cultural and cross-cultural perspectives is still in its infancy” (p.2). This is quite surprising, given the popularity of digital technologies in everyday consumer lives; for instance, mobile apps have reached 257 billion downloads in 2023, while expected to generate over $600 billion in revenue in 2025 (Statista, 2024).
Importantly, the role of culture is significant in digital technologies’ (e.g., social media/mobile apps/AI) usage and engagement (Suseno and Nguyen, 2023). Specific cultural characteristics (either at an individual or at a national level) could potentially drive certain variations in how these technologies are promoted internationally to enhance engagement and/or stickiness. For example, recent research published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science highlights the need for future research on mobile apps to consider the role of culture in understanding how it shapes the apps’ journey, and to examine cross-cultural differences in their uptake (Stocchi et al., 2022). Different experiential aspects in mobile appscapes, maybe more relevant in indulgent countries relative to other nations classed as less indulgent.
With regards to social media, the extant literature focuses mostly on developed countries, lacking examination of cross-cultural variations (Papadopoulos and Cleveland, 2023). There is also limited evidence on the impact of some cultural dimensions/ factors (e.g., uncertainty avoidance, cultural distance) on social media engagement (Wang and Liu, 2019), internet shopping (Kim et al., 2004) and purchase intentions in social commerce (Hu and Zhu, 2022). Social media can also reinforce consumer acculturation (e.g., Kizkin et al., 2020), highlighting the need to examine how such technologies can shape consumer attitudes towards foreign cultures and their products. Additionally, research on how different digital platforms/technologies are used by consumers across different cultures/nations and how they affect consumer behaviour and wellbeing is scarce. Finally, AI is gaining importance in marketing practice (Huang and Rust, 2021; Kopalle et al., 2022), with increasing concerns over the ethical use of this tool (Hermann, 2022; Vlačić et al., 2021). Scholarly research could benefit from a deeper understanding of how ethical factors shape consumers’ use and adoption of AI across different cultures/nations.
This special issue aims to advance research on international consumer perspectives in digital technologies. We are looking for conceptual and empirical submissions (both qualitative and quantitative methods) that offer original and novel insights and include, but are not limited to, the following themes:
List of topic areas
- Theme 1: Consumers’ engagement in digital technologies
- The role of culture in digital technology engagement (e.g., social media, AI, VR, AR)
- Cross-cultural/national differences in consumers’ emotions and wellbeing when using digital technologies (e.g., social media, AI, VR, AR)
- Cross-cultural differences in privacy and wellbeing concerns in digital technology usage (e.g., social media, AI, VR, AR).
- The role of ‘Cultural Capital’ in digital contexts/technologies
- Theme 2: Mobile apps: adoption, use, experience, engagement, consequences
- Drivers of mobile apps use and experience across cultures (e.g., psychological drivers, emotions etc.)
- The role of culture in adoption and continued usage of different types of mobile apps (e.g., health, game, education, business, travel etc.)
- Mobile app engagement and abandonment in cross-national and cross-cultural contexts
- Cross-cultural/national differences in consumers’ wellbeing as a result of mobile app adoption/use
- Cross-cultural and cross-national differences in mobile app usage (pre-adoption and post-adoption) and their impact on marketing outcomes
- Theme 3: Consumer dispositions, attitudes to other cultures, consumer culture in digital contexts
- The role of digital technologies (e.g., AI, VR, AR) in shaping consumer dispositions and attitudes towards other cultures and their products
- The role of digital technologies (e.g., AI, VR, AR) in embracing consumer cosmopolitanism
- Cultural sensitivity of chatbots and consumer attitudes
- Digital technologies and acculturation
- Digital technologies and attitudes towards foreign cultures and their products
- The role of digital technologies in promoting global consumer cultures
References
Kizgin, H. et al. (2020), “The impact of social media on consumer acculturation: Current challenges, opportunities, and an agenda for research and practice”, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 51, pp 1-15.
Feedback opportunity prior to submission
Special session at the 2025 Global Marketing Conference, Hong Kong, July 24-27, 2025 (https://2025gmc.imweb.me/20). Further details to follow shortly.
Please note that participation in the special conference session is not required for submitting a paper to the special issue. We offer the event to support prospective authors in developing their work before entering the peer-review process
Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to".
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key deadlines
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 31st July, 2025
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31st October, 2025