In cryptocurrency markets, credibility may be created before it can be verified. Promotional signals from influencers, online communities, exchanges, and project actors can create an impression of legitimacy before consumers are able to independently assess the quality, risks, or underlying value of the asset. This systematic review examines how promotional activity contributes to this condition and how the literature connects it with ethical concerns, consumer consequences, and governance. Following PRISMA 2020, 54 empirical studies published between 2019 and 2025 were identified through Scopus and analyzed using thematic synthesis. The findings indicate that promotion is distributed across social media, influencers, communities, exchanges, and project actors, making the boundary between marketing, personal opinion, and financial advice difficult to maintain. Ethical problems arise not only from fraud, but also from selective information, hidden incentives, artificial attention, and market signals that give uncertain assets an appearance of legitimacy. Consumer vulnerability is similarly situational. Knowledge and experience may offer some protection, but trust, technological complexity, social influence, and speculative expectations continue to shape judgement. Regulatory and educational responses remain fragmented because responsibility is dispersed across actors and jurisdictions. The review connects these relationships through an ethical marketing cycle that conceptually organizes how ethical concerns may develop across communication, market activity, consumer interpretation, and governance. This perspective extends ethical marketing beyond the accuracy of individual claims and locates responsibility within the structures through which cryptocurrency credibility is produced. The review is limited by its reliance on Scopus and the absence of a formal risk-of-bias assessment of the included studies.
Yaning Zhang, Wei Shao, Mai Nguyen, Kun Zhang ¡ 5 authors
ABSTRACT Destinations are increasingly adopting NonâFungible Tokens (NFTs) as innovative tools for brand communication and visitor engagement in digital tourism contexts. Drawing on Construal Level Theory (CLT), we examine how the anthropomorphic (ANT) design of NFT characters influences tourists' impulsive travel intentions and whether customization strengthens this effect. In two online experiments, we tested a sequential mediation model linking ANT to impulsive travel intention through psychological distance (PD) and perceived playfulness. The results show that highly anthropomorphic NFT characters increase psychological proximity, which subsequently increases impulsive travel intentions. Moreover, customization significantly strengthens this indirect effect. This study extends research on digital destination marketing while offering practical guidance for designing effective NFTâbased tourism strategies.
This chapter explores how social media has become a transformative force in shaping modern startup ecosystems, particularly among digital-native entrepreneurs. Moving beyond traditional marketing, platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube now serve as full-fledged entrepreneurial infrastructuresâenabling ideation, brand building, fundraising, customer engagement and venture scaling. Through a critical examination of strategic platform use, influencer ecosystems, social commerce tools and ethical considerations, the chapter highlights the unique ways in which startups leverage digital culture to generate visibility and competitive advantage. Case studies across diverse geographies demonstrate how startups move from hashtag virality to unicorn valuation. It concludes by forecasting how AI, Web3 and immersive technologies will redefine future startupâsocial media synergies
Zheng Lin Chia, Hui Wei You, Sardar Muhammad Usman, Bee Wah Yap
Purpose Following the introduction of the European Crowdfunding Service Providers Regulation (ECSPR), crowdfunding has experienced rapid growth within the European alternative finance sector. However, the harmonisation of regulatory requirements has not fully eliminated concerns regarding information asymmetry among investors. This study aims to examines how financial disclosure (FINANCIALD) and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) function as disclosure-based signals that influence the success of equity and debt crowdfunding campaigns regulated under the ECSPR. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on signalling theory, this study examines campaign-level data from a single ECSPR-authorised crowdfunding platform: 154 Invesdor campaigns (123 equity crowdfunding and 31 debt crowdfunding campaigns) operating in Germany. Logistic regression is used as the primary estimation technique. The models account for a comprehensive set of campaign characteristics, including the number of project updates, fundraising-target disclosure, financing type and engagement-related features. Findings The results indicate that both FINANCIALD and SDG alignment have a positive and statistically significant relationship with crowdfunding success. Voluntary disclosure of accounting-related financial information and alignment with the SDGs are associated with a higher probability of achieving funding targets. In contrast, commonly studied campaign characteristics, such as media presence and the disclosure of founder background, do not show a strong influence on the success of equity and debt crowdfunding campaigns. Research limitations/implications The generalisability of the findings may be limited due to the studyâs focus on ECSPR-regulated campaigns in Germany. Future research could extend the analysis to cross-country comparisons, examine the quality of disclosures and investigate the impact of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI)-based auditing and blockchain-based reporting, on disclosure practices within crowdfunding markets. Practical implications The findings highlight the importance of transparent FINANCIALD and clearly communicated sustainability orientation for entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital through crowdfunding. For policymakers, the results highlight the complementary roles of regulation and voluntary disclosure in supporting trust and efficiency in financial technologies (FinTech)-enabled capital markets. The observed association with SDG alignment should not be interpreted as evidence of the credibility or actual sustainability performance of the disclosed commitments. Originality/value The research contributes to the evolving literature on FinTech regulation by providing a timely assessment of the ECSPRâs impact on investor behaviour. It identifies a critical shift in the crowdfunding landscape: while regulatory harmonisation provides a baseline, voluntary financial transparency remains a primary differentiator for campaign success. The findings offer unique value to policymakers by demonstrating how standardised European regulations interact with voluntary disclosures to enhance market efficiency.
R. Priyadharsini, Ravikanth Reddy Vadamala, R. Raajalakshmi, K. Raghav Prasad ¡ 5 authors
The rapid transformation of global business environments driven by digitalization, technological advancement, changing consumer expectations, and competitive market dynamics has significantly altered traditional marketing practices and strategic business operations. Organizations operating in highly dynamic economic ecosystems are increasingly recognizing that conventional marketing frameworks alone are insufficient to sustain long-term growth, customer engagement, and market relevance. In this context, innovation-driven marketing models have emerged as a critical strategic approach that integrates creativity, data intelligence, technological innovation, customer-centric design, and adaptive business strategies to enhance organizational competitiveness and sustainable value creation. This research examines the growing significance of innovation-driven marketing models and their influence on consumer behavior, brand positioning, digital engagement, operational efficiency, and business sustainability across modern industries. The study explores how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, blockchain, cloud computing, augmented reality, and social media ecosystems are transforming traditional marketing processes into highly personalized, predictive, and experience-oriented systems capable of responding to rapidly evolving market demands. The research further investigates how innovation-oriented marketing strategies support product differentiation, dynamic pricing, omnichannel communication, customer relationship management, and real-time market responsiveness in both online and offline commercial environments. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of innovation in enhancing customer engagement through interactive digital platforms, data-driven personalization, automated communication systems, influencer-based branding strategies, and experiential marketing campaigns. The study also evaluates how organizations leverage innovative business models to improve customer retention, market expansion, and strategic decision-making while simultaneously addressing challenges related to market uncertainty, consumer trust, technological adaptation, and ethical data utilization. A comparative assessment of traditional marketing approaches and innovation-driven marketing frameworks demonstrates that organizations adopting innovation-centric strategies experience stronger consumer loyalty, improved operational agility, enhanced brand visibility, and higher adaptability to changing economic conditions. Additionally, the research highlights the growing importance of sustainability-oriented marketing innovation, where businesses integrate environmental responsibility, social value creation, and ethical consumer engagement into their branding and communication practices. The findings indicate that innovation-driven marketing models not only contribute to commercial profitability but also strengthen organizational resilience and long-term strategic sustainability in highly competitive global markets. The study concludes that future business success increasingly depends on the ability of organizations to continuously innovate their marketing structures, technological capabilities, and customer engagement mechanisms in alignment with digital transformation and evolving consumer expectations. Therefore, innovation-driven marketing represents a transformative strategic paradigm capable of reshaping modern business ecosystems through intelligent, adaptive, and customer-focused value creation models.
Mingqian Li, Rong Du, Andrew BurtonâJones, Jianing Xie
Purpose Grounded in signaling theory, this study examines whether traceability information displaces or complements incumbent quality cues and contrasts the relative efficacy of blockchain-enabled traceability technologies with traditional systems. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes 18 months of product-level sales data from a global e-commerce platform using a staggered difference-in-differences design with robustness checks. We apply latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling to consumer reviews and use a synthetic difference-in-differences approach to examine shifts in consumer attention after traceability implementation. Findings Traceability information increases product sales, particularly for lower-reputation brands and diminishes the effect of electronic word-of-mouth, suggesting that diagnostic quality signals matter more than social information signals. Although blockchain-enabled traceability should enhance signal credibility, its observed impact falls short of expectations. Research limitations/implications The sample is limited to the automotive engine oil context in China. Future research should examine other categories and national contexts. Practical implications Platform managers and emerging brands can deploy low-cost traceability labels to boost demand. Blockchain solutions may require consumer education to justify higher implementation costs. Social implications Augmenting supply-chain transparency and product traceability curbs counterfeit and substandard goods, improves consumer welfare, and supports regulatory and sustainability objectives. Originality/value This study systematically assesses the substitutive and complementary roles of traceability signals in a multi-cue setting, tempers optimism about blockchain-enabled traceability and extends research on digital supply-chain transparency and signaling theory.
Cheuk Hang Au, Po-Hsu Shieh, Vladimir Nurbaev, Kris M. Y. Law ¡ 5 authors
Digital platforms face a fundamental paradox: while expanding service variety is a dominant competitive strategy, it risks inducing a âparadox of choiceâ that confuses and deters users. This tension manifests with extreme clarity in the nascent, high-complexity market of cryptocurrency exchanges, creating a pressing empirical puzzle. To resolve this, we adopt the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) perspective in a three-stage mixed-method study to investigate how platforms can strategically manage this trade-off. Our qualitative exploration (Study 1) established a capital flow schema called âinflow, roll, and goâ and identified key complexity-reduction mechanisms. A subsequent survey (n = 190, Study 2) validated that perceived innovativeness and scalability are critical stimuli for service variety, which in turn drives user continuance intention. A final survey (n = 140, Study 3) confirmed that users prioritise services that bridge to the traditional financial system, forming a minimal viable structure with a variety of functions. Our meta-inferences make several key contributions, including the resolution of the service variety paradox by introducing a theoretical distinction between value-adding âreal-varietyâ and confusing âpseudo-varietyâ and the development of a strategic roadmap that guides exchanges in navigating the tension between service expansion and user confusion, offering actionable insights for platform strategy in any high-velocity digital market.