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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of WebTrust assurance, issued by Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms, on web purchase behaviour and to examine such effects provided by different‐sized CPA firms.

In an experiment, several scenarios were manipulated to simulate a number of web purchase environments in which participants make decisions online.

The results indicate that the WebTrust assurance seal has a significant effect on consumers' web purchase willingness. An “ordering effect” was also found, in that, removing the seal has more impact than obtaining the seal, and an assurance seal issued by big firms has greater impact than one issued by smaller firms.

This study contributes to the existing literature by focusing on an important yet rarely addressed issue of brand assurance services. The paper helps to understand this phenomenon in a global sense. Compared to the student participants used in the previous literature, this experiment provides a practical addition to the prevalent framework of trust in e‐commerce studies. Finally the research went a further step to test whether the web assurance provided by different‐sized auditors affects web consumers' purchase decisions.

The hybrid convenience store, a convenient shopping as well as dining environment, is an innovative concept in both the convenience store sector and the food service industry in Taiwan. As Taiwan has taken the lead in the development of the convenience store sector, this phenomenon deserves further investigation so as to assist convenience store operators and restaurateurs in Taiwan in formulating strategies to cope with this trend. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the facilitators of the hybrid convenience store concept accepted by consumers within the framework of Rogers' diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory.

The data in the form of self‐completion survey are collected in MRT stations in Taipei. In total of 289 questionnaires are collected and used for data analysis.

It is found that the higher the levels of “compatibility”, “observability” and “trialability” are, the higher the likelihood that potential consumers will dine in hybrid convenience stores. It is also found that lower levels of “complexity” also increase the likelihood that potential consumers will dine in hybrid convenience stores. However, the findings do not support “relative advantage” as a facilitator.

The research findings reveal that consumers in urban areas of Taiwan have gradually accepted the innovative concept of dining in hybrid convenience stores. According to the findings, a number of strategies might be applied in order to facilitate the adoption of the dining concept in hybrid convenience stores by potential consumers in Taiwan. For example, the dining process of fast food restaurants can be possible to emulate; having meals on a trial basis can be applied; TV commercials and word of mouth marketing strategies can also be employed.

This paper extends/validates the DOI theory in the Taiwanese convenience store sector and as a consequence, this paper serves as a basic building block in the formulation of pertinent marketing strategies geared toward sustaining and/or increasing consumer patronage in hybrid convenience stores.

Despite the evident and dramatic increase in smartphone usage worldwide, some consumers continue to use traditional mobile phones. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the behavioral intentions of these laggard and non-smartphone users.

This current study examines the effects of consumer demographics, psychographics, and smartphone characteristics on the intentions of non-smartphone consumers to switch or resist the use of smartphones. Data were collected using a convenience sample of non-smartphone users in Taiwan. The proposed model is tested using the consistent partial least squares (PLSc) path modeling technique.

PLSc results indicate that consumer psychographics and smartphone characteristics play more important roles than consumer demographics. Specifically, price consciousness, nostalgia, and perceived ease of use are good predictors of intention to switch, whereas perceived usefulness and ease of use are strong predictors of the intention to resist smartphone adoption.

The results of this study have implications for mobile phone vendors and mobile manufacturers who target non-smartphone users or laggard adopters.

This study is among the few that focus on non-smartphone users’ perceptions of smartphones. Hence, this empirical study could contribute to the development and testing of theories related to the smartphone adoption process.

This study aims to identify the antecedent factors influencing consumer attitudes and patronage intentions toward an intelligent unmanned convenience store (IUCVS) in Taiwan. The IUCVS is a new smart service that offers customers a novel shopping experience, given that it avoids queues and physical contacts with cashiers. However, studies discussing IUCVS remain scant owing to its brief history.

This research develops a synergistic model combining original unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) constructs with perceived risk and value to test differences between unexperienced and experienced customers’ attitudes and patronage intentions toward IUCVSs. Data collected from 268 experienced and 156 unexperienced consumers were tested against the proposed research model using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis (PLS-MGA).

In line with expectations, three UTAUT variables (i.e. performance, effort expectancy and social influence) and perceived value significantly and positively influence consumer attitudes toward IUCVSs. This research confirms the significant and negative direct effect of perceived risk on consumers’ patronage intentions toward IUCVSs. Furthermore, the PLS-MGA results unveil that a significant difference exist in the effects of perceived convenience value on attitudes toward IUCVS between consumers who had experience of using self-service machines and those who have not.

This research successfully fills the research gap by offering a synergistic model for evaluating consumers’ attitudes and patronage intentions toward a new smart service. Several important theoretical and practical implications are provided to help retail managers develop service strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the influence of purchase intentions on repurchase decisions, and also to examine the moderating effects of reference groups and perceived risks.

The travelers on Taiwan tourist trains were surveyed. Convenience sampling was used to collect primary data. A total of 1,200 questionnaires were distributed and 1,155 effective samples were collected. The effective return rate was 96 percent. Regression analysis was used to test hypotheses.

The paper finds that; purchase intentions will have a positive effect on repurchase decisions: the higher the informational reference group influence, the greater the positively moderating effect between purchase intentions and repurchase decisions; the higher the value‐expressive reference group influence, the greater the positively moderating effect between purchase intentions and repurchase decisions; and the higher the psychological risk, the greater the negatively moderating effect between purchase intentions and repurchase decisions.

Limitations of the study are: the research targets the travelers on tourist trains. Consequently, it is less efficient in external validity due to the limited scope; the conceptual limitation needs to be elaborated more; and, since the research adopts the cross‐sectional research method without longitudinal section study it may be limited in the generalization. The moderating effects of reference groups and perceived risks have been examined on the inconsistency between purchase intentions and repurchase decisions in the study.

In tourism, reference group influence can provide the opportunity for individuals to communicate with group members in sharing the experiences of a destination and selection of a particular purchasing decision. The sole moderating effect of psychological risk has been verified among three dimensions. Therefore, the measurement and enhancement are critical for marketers to handle future business.

The extra value of the paper is to combine theory and practice together, and verify the moderating effects of reference groups and perceived risks between purchase intentions and repurchase decisions.

Innovation has attracted considerable interest in recent years in improving competitive advantage for both profit and nonprofit organizations. Service innovation offers the potential for substantially improving the performance, but performance gains are often obstructed by users' unwillingness to accept and use available systems. This research aims to use the concept of Reasoned Action Theory to further examine consumer attitudes toward service innovation and its antecedents.

By focus group discussion and literature review, a conceptual model with six postulated hypotheses is proposed. The Electronic Toll Collecting (ETC) system launched by the Taiwanese government is selected as the service innovation to test the model. A structured questionnaire is designed to collect field data. The structural equation model with LISREL VIII program is used to estimate the structural coefficients and to test the hypotheses.

The results show that perceived ease of use, perceived price fairness, risk averseness and satisfaction with existing service significantly influence consumer attitude, and then influence consumer's intention to adopt service innovation.

Before introducing a service innovation, the service provider must seriously consider the possible difficulties of usage and risk from the consumer's perspective.

Compared with product innovation, research focusing on service innovation is relatively scarce. Services have specific characteristics of intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability. Hence, the factors influencing the consumer adoption of service innovation may be different from those of product innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to segment Taiwanese consumers based on their trust in the food supply system and to demographically characterize each segment so as to aid the actors and institutions involved in the food supply system in formulating more effective communication strategies for different segments and to assist the consumers in increasing their trust in food safety.

A total of 592 useful responses were elicited as the data input for cluster analysis, repeated measures ANOVA tests, and chi‐square tests.

Cluster analysis reveals that the 592 respondents in Taiwan can be segmented into three clusters: consumers who are pessimistic, neutral, or optimistic about food safety. Moreover, the repeated measures ANOVA tests for each segment disclose that among the food supply system the foods imported from abroad are perceived by the three clusters to be the least, while the government responsible for food safety inspection and checking the most, trustworthy. The chi‐square test results reveal that the pessimistic consumers seem to be composed of a higher percentage of respondents whose level of education and amount of monthly income are below average.

For food safety a government agency, TFDA, has been set up to be in charge of the task of monitoring conscientiously all of the players in the food supply chain, including the importation system.

This is the first study to segment Taiwanese consumers based on their trust in the food supply system. Based on the findings, suggestions are provided to benefit the actors and institutions involved in the food supply system in Taiwan.

With advances in information technology, multi‐channel shopping (MCS) has become a prevailing purchasing pattern today. Although MCS provides more benefits than single‐channel shopping, there is a need to investigate consumer values in the MCS context. This study aims to develop a consumer value hierarchy that represents how consumers think and pursue when performing MCS.

The research framework was developed from a perspective of means‐end theory. Two studies were designed to elicit and evaluate a consumer value hierarchy of MCS. First, a qualitative study was conducted to explore means‐end elements of MCS. Then, a hierarchical value map of MCS was constructed with 314 usable responses from an empirical survey in Taiwan. The impacts of past shopping experience on consumers' value perceptions were also examined.

In the hierarchical value map (HVM) of MCS, the results indicate 18 means‐end chains from ten MCS attributes resulting in nine consequences derived from those attributes, and then to four MCS values. The results also show that both expert and novice shoppers emphasize the utilitarian value of MCS; however, shopping novices pay more attention to the hedonic value of MCS than experts do.

This paper provides several managerial implications for multi‐channel retailers. Multi‐channel retailers need to know more about the attributes and functions of each channel that they offer in order to create a superior shopping experience for their customers. Also, retailers need to understand different MCS patterns for successful multi‐channel customer relationship management. Finally, the consumer value hierarchy of MCS is a useful tool for retailers to develop effective promotion strategies to increase customers' engagement in MCS.

This paper is the first to apply means‐end theory to investigate consumer value in the MCS context. It advances the consumer value literature in explaining a novel type of consumer channel‐mixing behavior. The paper concludes with implications for multi‐channel retailers, and future directions for MCS research are also discussed.

The success of retail service innovations is contingent upon a thorough understanding of the antecedent factors that drive adoption intention. Using the example of a novel kiosk technology, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the antecedents of kiosk use intention and to find out how perceptions of antecedent factors vary among potential and early adopters.

Based on the “Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology” and the technology readiness (TR) concept, the proposed framework identifies several factors underlying adoption intention. The framework is tested on potential and early adopters of a kiosk system recently launched by Taiwan's largest convenience retailer.

Results show that while performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and social influence impact overall use intention, the perceptions of these antecedents vary significantly between potential versus early users. Further, individual TR does not intervene with technology perceptions.

Retail practitioners can use the findings to more effectively target these two important adopter segments and to prioritize their technology investments.

Most of extant technology adoption researches assume that factors driving adoption behaviour remain constant as diffusion progresses. This work joins a limited number of studies, which propose a dynamic nature of antecedent factors. The paper shows how perceptions of antecedent factors differ among potential and early users of a novel kiosk system. Overall, this paper emphasizes the need for a more segmented‐oriented approach in the promoting of innovative retail technologies.

The use of linear regression analysis is common in the social sciences. The purpose of this paper is to show the advantage of a qualitative research method, namely, structured qualitative analysis (SQA), over the linear regression method by using different characteristics of data.

Data were gathered from a study of online consumer behavior in Taiwan. The authors changed the content of the data to have different sets of data. These data sets were used to demonstrate how SQA and linear regression works individually, and to contrast the empirical analyses and empirical results from linear regression and SQA.

The linear regression method uses one equation to model different characteristics of data. When facing a data set containing a big and a small size of different characteristics, linear regression tends to provide an equation by modeling the characteristics of the big size data and subsuming those of the small size. When facing a data set containing similar sizes of data with different characteristics, linear regression tends to provide an equation by averaging these data. The major concern is that the one equation may not be able to reflect the data of various characteristics (different values of independent variables) that result in the same outcome (the same value of dependent variable). In contrast, SQA can identify various variable combinations (multiple relationships) leading to the same outcome. SQA provided multiple relationships to represent different sizes of data with different characteristics so it created consistent empirical results.

Two research methods work differently. The popular linear regression tends to use one equation to model different sizes and characteristics of data. The single equation may not be able to cover different behaviors but may lead to the same outcome. Instead, SQA provides multiple relationships for different sizes of data with different characteristics. The analyses are more consistent and the results are more appropriate. The academics may re-think the existing literature using linear regression. It would be interesting to see if there are new findings for similar problems by using SQA. The practitioners have a new method to model real world problems and to understand different possible combinations of variables leading to the same outcome. Even the relationship obtained from a small data set may be very valuable to practitioners.

This paper compared online consumer behavior by using two research methods to analyze different data sets. The paper offered the manipulation of real data sets to create different data sizes of different characteristics. The variations in empirical results from both methods due to the various data sets facilitate the comparison of both methods. Hence, this paper can serve as a complement to the existing literature, focusing on the justification of research methods and on limitations of linear regression.