Search results

1 – 10 of over 39000
Article
Publication date: 24 April 2009

Delia Vazquez and Xingang Xu

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the online consumer behaviour constructs of attitude, motivations and information search in order to develop an…

11075

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the online consumer behaviour constructs of attitude, motivations and information search in order to develop an online consumer behaviour framework.

Design/methodology/approach

An email survey collected data from 577 UK respondents and canonical correlations are applied to examine the relationships.

Findings

The results provide empirical support that attitude is an antecedent variable, and that motivation variables have a significant causal relationship with information search variables.

Research limitations/implications

Two limitations are identified. Firstly, the data collected focussed on UK respondents, consequently the generalisability of these results is in question and further research is required. Secondly, the attitude measure could include more items to further aid reliability.

Originality/value

This research advances the development of the Online Consumer Behaviour literature by adding knowledge on the nature of the relationships between online behaviour constructs.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 37 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 July 2024

Ezgi Akar

This research delves into consumer online shopping behaviour during the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, utilising the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Behavioural…

Abstract

Purpose

This research delves into consumer online shopping behaviour during the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, utilising the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Behavioural Inhibition System.

Design/methodology/approach

A unique and comprehensive repeated cross-sectional methodology was meticulously employed, capturing the nuances of consumer online shopping behaviour across three distinct phases of the pandemic: the initial phase following the outbreak of COVID-19, the transition phase marked by the relaxation of restrictions, and the adaptation phase as society moved towards a new normal. The study involved a sample of 1,155 participants. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the effects of behavioural attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and the moderating role of pandemic-induced consumer anxiety on online purchase intention.

Findings

The impact of behavioural attitudes on online purchase intentions increased continuously from the initial phase to the adaptation phase. In contrast, the influence of subjective norms on online shopping intentions gradually declined over the same period. During the early stages of the pandemic, consumer anxiety amplified the influence of personal attitudes towards online shopping while diminishing the impact of social pressures on the same behaviour.

Originality/value

This study’s originality lies in its nuanced analysis of how online purchase intentions evolved across different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, integrating insights from both the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Behavioural Inhibition System. The study offers a comprehensive understanding of the shifts in consumer behaviour over time. It enables more strategic and proactive marketing tactics in a changing environment.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 126 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2024

Ainsworth Anthony Bailey and Mohamed Slim Ben Mimoun

Despite the continued focus on online sharing through social media, little consumer research has looked at this behavior as an independent construct or tried to determine how it…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the continued focus on online sharing through social media, little consumer research has looked at this behavior as an independent construct or tried to determine how it relates to other consumer behaviors. Consequently, this study aims to explore the concept of social media sharing disposition (SMSD), proposes a measure of the construct, and, in five studies, assesses its reliability and validity and its relationship to other online and offline consumer behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

Five studies using surveys were carried out to assess the SMSD construct. The studies gathered data to assess the properties and validities of SMSD, as well as its ability to assess offline and online sharing behavior.

Findings

The results indicate that SMSD is a useful construct that helps to explain people’s social media and offline sharing behavior, although its focus is primarily on social media sharing. It also displays convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. These results indicate that SMSD can be used to predict the likelihood of consumers sharing online information. They also confirm that SMSD works effectively in different cultural contexts. SMSD can also be used to assess consumer offline sharing behavior.

Research limitations/implications

There was neither an investigation of actual differences in behaviors among consumers in the number of posts or online reviews they undertook, based on SMSD, nor a study of whether individuals are more likely to incorporate brand information into their posts. Future research could explore these behaviors to determine whether they can be explained by SMSD. There was also no focus on a rationale for engaging in social media sharing; that is, there are no proposed antecedents of SMSD. Additional studies could assess antecedents of this construct.

Practical implications

Marketers interested in engaging consumers as participants in the dissemination of online (electronic) information can segment and target consumers on the basis of SMSD. Therefore, it can be used to determine who should be targeted with information to disperse to other consumers. It is likely that there is a relationship between SMSD and social media influencer (SMI) activity, so it could also be used to identify SMIs among consumer bases. It can also be adapted and applied to understanding offline sharing behavior.

Originality/value

The paper reports on SMSD and establishes that it is an additional construct that can help explain consumer information sharing. The construct relates to a social media context, where it may be increasingly difficult to identify consumers who engage in differential sharing of digital information.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 February 2024

Halil Erdem Akoglu and Oğuz Özbek

The aim of this research is to measure the impact of eWOM (electronic word of mouth) and brand celebrity use on the purchasing behavior of sports consumers.

1192

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this research is to measure the impact of eWOM (electronic word of mouth) and brand celebrity use on the purchasing behavior of sports consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the model hypotheses, sports consumers who use social media and have purchased at least one online sports product were selected as the research group. Online survey method was used, and 836 participants were reached. The model was tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) through smart PLS software.

Findings

As a result, the quality, credibility and usefulness of the information consumers encounter on online platforms cause them to adopt information about products or services, and then exhibit online purchase behavior. While the attractiveness and trustworthiness of celebrities are seen as important factors affecting consumers' online purchase of sports products, the effect of celebrity expertise was found to be ineffective in this study.

Practical implications

Marketers can develop more effective eWOM strategies by considering consumers' expectations. Businesses that want to implement an effective marketing strategy may prefer celebrities in product promotions or advertisements of their brands.

Originality/value

This research revealed the effect of eWOM and celebrity endorsement on the online purchase behavior of sports consumers in terms of the sports industry. Unlike previous studies, this study examined these variables together on sports consumers and contributed to the development of models.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 December 2022

Zeya He, Laurie Wu and Xiang (Robert) Li

Photos are powerful tools to attract individuals’ attention and convey service experiences. Yet exactly how visual cues in a photo contribute to the perceptions of the staged…

Abstract

Purpose

Photos are powerful tools to attract individuals’ attention and convey service experiences. Yet exactly how visual cues in a photo contribute to the perceptions of the staged servicescape, and how these perceptions inspire online booking/reservation behaviors, remains underexplored. Addressing the gap, this study aims to uncover (1) how perceptual information mediated by an online photo contributes to the formation of consumers' holistic perceptions of the service environment and (2) how such consumers' holistic perceptions further influence customers' online purchasing behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

This research adopts an innovative crowdsourcing approach and refers to field data on consumers' online hotel booking behaviors to examine relationships among inferred servicescape dimensions, consumers' holistic perceptions of the mediated servicescape and their actual online booking/reservation behaviors (e.g. page-view and meta-click behaviors).

Findings

Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis indicated that five mediated servicescape dimensions (i.e. color, lighting, furnishings, layout and style) contribute significantly to consumers' perceptions of the mediated servicescape (CPMS) and exert different impacts on CPMS. Connecting the crowdsourced rating and consumer behavioral data, CPMS is found to influence consumers' aggregated page-view and meta-click behavior, especially in the US market.

Originality/value

Building upon servicescape theory, the medium theory and the online booking literature, this research proposes a novel conceptual framework of CPMS to theorize the process by which visual cues in online photos contribute to CPMS and subsequent online purchase behaviors. Findings from this research extend Bitner's servicescape framework to mediated service contexts and provide practical implications for promoting service businesses.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 May 2022

Yuan Sun, Yating Zhong and Qi Li

As an increasingly popular tool for product exploration, online communities have an important impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. The purpose of this study is to gain a…

Abstract

Purpose

As an increasingly popular tool for product exploration, online communities have an important impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how visiting behaviors in online communities affect consumers’ offline purchasing behavior. The moderating role of two dimensions of consumer visiting behaviors (visiting depth and visiting breadth) also receives attention. Moreover, the impact of consumer visiting behaviors on offline sales for different types of online communities is also the focus of this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the empirical model, the authors collected data on consumers’ visits to an online real estate platform with local housing sales data. In addition to the baseline regression analysis of the data with the help of Stata 17.0, the study also analyzes the robustness of the results through several methods.

Findings

The authors focus on an online community for newly-built housing and find that consumer visits to the focal online community have a positive impact on offline sales. Visiting breadth has a negative moderating effect on this relationship, and no statistically significant moderating effect is found for visiting depth. Further, our empirical exploration finds that consumer visits to competitive online communities have a positive impact on offline focal product sales, but visits to complementary online communities have no statistically significant effect on offline sales.

Originality/value

Our findings contribute to the understanding of consumers’ cross-channel purchasing behavior and provide new insights into how visiting behaviors in online communities affect consumers’ purchasing decisions.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 122 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 June 2018

Sourabh Arora and Sangeeta Sahney

The purpose of this study is to propose an integrated framework utilizing the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and technology acceptance model (TAM) to augment the understanding…

3374

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to propose an integrated framework utilizing the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and technology acceptance model (TAM) to augment the understanding on consumers’ showrooming behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

Selective sampling was used for data collection. The integrated TAM-TPB framework led to 12 propositions, which were tested using partial least squares-structural equation modelling.

Findings

Both perceived relative search benefits offline and relative purchase benefits online significantly determined the consumers’ showrooming behaviour along with perceived ease purchasing online and the overall usefulness of the showrooming sequence. Results of the study revealed that the showrooming sequence helped consumers avoid the regret of making suboptimal product choices and paying a higher price for the same product. Online trust was found to partially mediate the relationship between consumers’ intention to showrooming and the actual showrooming behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

Notwithstanding the fact that further research is required to arrive at definitive conclusions, this study is an initial move towards understanding the consumers’ showrooming behaviour, and the research provides meaningful insights.

Practical implications

As showrooming substantially erodes profits, devising strategies to defend showrooming customers becomes crucial. The findings of the study provide the basis for formulating strategies to counter showrooming customers.

Originality/value

The paper is amongst the first studies which helps enhance the understanding of consumers’ showrooming behaviour, which is an emerging area in the present multi-channel retailing environment.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 35 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 April 2022

Razia Sultana Sumi and Mahjabeen Ahmed

The purpose of this study is to explore the changing buying behavior of young Bangladeshi consumers in this pandemic situation toward online orientation. The major determinants of…

14552

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the changing buying behavior of young Bangladeshi consumers in this pandemic situation toward online orientation. The major determinants of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and consumer value theory are used to explore their impact on buying attitudes toward behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a model has been conceptualized to examine the influence of hedonic and utilitarian motivational values along with perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on actual buying behavior under pandemic conditions. A structured questionnaire has been prepared for an online survey, and data have been collected from 395 online shoppers. The structural equation modeling technique has been applied to analyze the data using SPSS and SmartPLS 3 software.

Findings

The results of this study support that perceived enjoyment and utilitarian attributes (price, convenience and health aspects) positively affect online buying attitudes along with perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Finally, online buying behavior is significantly influenced by the positive attitude of consumers.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this study may contribute to developing marketing strategies that may attract buyers toward a new business orientation with prosperous supreme features in the future. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the existing behavioral patterns of consumers and opened a new opportunity for marketers.

Practical implications

Young consumers are a larger section, and deep knowledge about youngsters may direct marketers toward appropriate use of marketing tools and strategies in the future.

Originality/value

This study integrated the TAM with hedonic and utilitarian motivational predictors to measure their impact on consumers' online buying behavior.

Details

IIM Ranchi journal of management studies, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-0138

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 October 2018

Sourabh Arora and Sangeeta Sahney

Recent statistics concerning webrooming shoppers is indicative of the trending webrooming phenomenon, and points toward the dire need for the addressal of the issue. The purpose…

2326

Abstract

Purpose

Recent statistics concerning webrooming shoppers is indicative of the trending webrooming phenomenon, and points toward the dire need for the addressal of the issue. The purpose of this paper is to reason the consumer’s intentional visit to an online store prior to making purchases offline by linking it with perceived channel benefits and uncertainty reduction approach through an application of the theory of planned behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey instrument was administered online, and a total of 374 responses were obtained. Respondents were queried with respect to the webrooming sequence, if at all they were into webrooming. The PLS-SEM was used to test the formulated hypotheses.

Findings

The factor “Access to reviews online” emerged as the prime perceived search benefit which drives consumers’ to first visit an online store, while factors like “access to touch and feel the product,” “better post-purchase services offline” and “immediate possession of product” induced customers to later purchase offline. Factors like “E-distrust” and “perceived risks related to purchasing online” notably determined consumer’s movement to the physical store for purchasing the product in the second phase of the webrooming sequence.

Research limitations/implications

A small sample size limits the authors from drawing definitive generalizations. Due to the lack of studies, individually examining webrooming conduct, a prior qualitative exploration can be conducted to draw more insights.

Practical implications

The findings of the study can be utilized by the online retailers for devising strategies to push the webroomers to make purchases online.

Social implications

The study creates awareness as to what motivates consumers to webroom, which has been realized as one of the serious issues being faced by the online retailers today.

Originality/value

This study addresses a key concern “webrooming phenomenon,” which has emerged as a critical challenge in the present retailing dynamics.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 November 2021

Maria Kanwal, Umar Burki, Raza Ali and Robert Dahlstrom

This study aims to systematically examine gender specific behavioral differences and similarities in online shopping consumers, underlying theories for such differences and…

5132

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to systematically examine gender specific behavioral differences and similarities in online shopping consumers, underlying theories for such differences and similarities and moderating and mediating roles of gender in studying the effects of online marketing strategies. This synthesis explores gender differences and similarities from a wide range of online settings, including readiness for adoption of new technology, willingness to make online payments, trust in online vendors, perception and behavior toward online business websites and perceived online service quality.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic approach was adopted to derive and then analyze the existing literature. The authors accessed relevant literature from three electronic databases. After a thorough screening process and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, the study shortlisted 61 academic articles from an initial pool of 187 papers.

Findings

The findings reveal more differences than similarities between men and women as online consumers. Men generally have more favorable attitudes toward e-tailers (electronic retailing), online purchase/re-purchase and e-payments than women do. Social influences positively affect the online purchase intentions of men and women, but they have a more substantial effect on women. Privacy concerns negatively affect the online trust of men and women, but they also manifest a more significant influence on women.

Practical implications

Findings of review guide practitioners in formulating effective positioning and communication strategies that enable them to appeal to gender-specific consumer segments in multiple products and business contexts. It offers guidelines to online businesses for developing e-business platforms (websites) that persuade the target audience across gender groups, based on consumer browsing and web navigation preferences.

Originality/value

This review fulfills the need for a systematic synthesis of empirical research vis-à-vis online consumer behavior studies to find gender-specific perceptions, attitudes and behaviors.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 39 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 39000