Webrooming or showrooming? The moderating effect of product attributes

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Guo ◽  
Min Zhang ◽  
Valerie Lynette Wang

PurposeThis study examines consumers' channel attitudes and choices leading to webrooming and showrooming, and how product attributes (informational vs experiential and perceived risk) moderate the effects of channel attitudes.Design/methodology/approachA research framework is built upon the heterogeneity of channel attitudes, the lack of intrachannel lock-in and interchannel synergy. A questionnaire-based survey yields 868 multi-channel consumer responses in China. Simultaneous equation modeling and STATA 12.0 are used to test the hypotheses.FindingsConsumers webroom when buying high-risk informational products (e.g. personal computers or mobile phones). They webroom as well as showroom for high-risk experiential products (e.g. clothing or cosmetics). Moreover, a single channel is preferred to webrooming or showrooming for purchasing low-risk informational (e.g. books or stationery) and low-risk experiential (e.g. snacks or toys) products. The results also show that webrooming is more frequently used than showrooming by consumers.Research limitations/implicationsThis study extends current understanding on multi-channel and omnichannel shopping behavior and highlights the role of product attributes in customer journey mapping.Practical implicationsThis study offers retailers and other downstream firms a fresh perspective on multi-channel customer experience management and channel design.Originality/valueThis study offers a clear explanation on the commonalities and differences between webrooming and showrooming.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Rahayu Hijrah Hati ◽  
Sigit Sulistiyo Wibowo ◽  
Anya Safira

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of product knowledge, perceived quality, perceived risk and perceived value on customers’ intention to invest in Islamic Banks. This study specifically examines an Islamic bank’s term deposits. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data collected from 217 customers of an Islamic bank in Indonesia using an online survey. Findings This study highlights the central and dual roles of perceived risk as both the independent and the intervening variable that mediates the relationship between product knowledge and Muslim customer intention to invest in an Islamic bank’s term deposits. Research limitations/implications This study only investigates term deposits as one type of investment in Islamic banks. This study contributes to the literature by examining the role of product knowledge, perceived quality, perceived risk and perceived value on Muslim customer intention to invest in Islamic term deposits. Practical implications The results of this study highlight the requirement for Islamic banks to educate customers to improve the depositors’ product knowledge because Muslim customers’ risk and value perception and intention are strongly influenced by product knowledge. Originality/value The investigation of perceived risk is particularly relevant for Islamic financial products because of the inherent nature of risk sharing in Islamic finance. This study investigates the role of product knowledge in influencing the Muslim customers’ perception of risk, quality, value and their intention to invest in Islamic bank term deposits. Ideally, the profit loss sharing concept (PLS) should be applied; however, in this context, revenue sharing is applied because of Indonesia’s central bank regulation.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Falkenreck ◽  
Ralf Wagner

Purpose Until today, scholars claim that the phenomenon of “co-creation” of value in an “interacted” economy and in the context of positive actor-to-actor relationships has not been adequately explored. This study aims to first to identify and separate the accessible values of internet of things (IoT)-based business models for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) customer groups. It quantifies the drivers to successfully implement disruptive business models. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from 292 customers in Western Europe. The conceptual framework was tested using partial least square structural equation modeling. Findings Managing disruptions in the digital age is closely related to the fact that the existing trust in buyer-seller relationships is not enough to accept IoT projects. A company’s digitalization capabilities, satisfaction with the existing relationship and trust in the IoT credibility of the manufacturer drives the perceived value of IoT-based business models in B2B settings. Contrastingly, in B2G settings, money is less important. Research limitations/implications Research refers to one business field, the data set is of European origin only. Findings indicate that the drivers to engage in IoT-related projects differ significantly between the customer groups and therefore require different marketing management strategies. Saving time today is more important to B2G buyers than saving money. Practical implications The disparate nature of B2B and B2G buyers indicates that market segmentation and targeted marketing must be considered before joint-venturing in IoT business models. To joint venture supply chain partners co-creating value in the context of IoT-related business models, relationship management should be focused with buyers on the same footing, as active players and co-developers of a personalized experience in digital service projects. Originality/value Diverging from established studies focusing on the relationship within a network of actors, this study defines disruptive business models and identifies its drivers in B2B and B2G relationships. This study proposes joint venturing with B2B and B2G customers to overcome the perceived risk of these IoT-related business models. Including customers in platforms and networks may lead to the co-creation of value in joint IoT projects.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan David Peláez-León ◽  
Gregorio Sánchez-Marín

PurposeThis study analyses whether human resource management (HRM), through the use of four sets of high-performance work policies (HPWPs) (i.e. selection, training, motivation and opportunity policies), mediates the relationship between socioemotional wealth (SEW)—defined as a unique set of nonfinancial family goals—and firm financial performance when family firms face a high-risk context.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were statistically tested using a structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology with a cross-sectional sample of 196 medium-sized and private family firms in a high-risk context in Spain.FindingsThe results indicate that the relationship between SEW and financial performance in family firms is fully mediated by the use of HPWPs, especially by training and motivation HR policies. The importance given to preserving SEW influences the use of four sets of HPWPs when family firms show clear evidence of being confronted by a financial decline (i.e. a high-risk context). However, to improve their financial results to avoid the firm's failure and thus the loss of their SEW, only those HR policies that focus on training and motivation made a significant and positive contribution to the firm financial performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on family firms and HRM by adopting an alternative theoretical framework to understand how the importance of nonfinancial family goals may affect employee structures and management policies, thereby improving financial performance in family firms.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ja Young (Jacey) Choe ◽  
Jinkyung Jenny Kim ◽  
Jinsoo Hwang

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore if five subdimensions of perceived risk (financial, time, privacy, performance and psychological risks) negatively affects image. In addition, this study aims to investigate if image has a positive effect on intentions to use. Lastly, the purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), before and after the outbreak, in the relationship between perceived risk and image. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 331 people before the COVID-19 outbreak and 343 people after the COVID-19 outbreak. To test hypotheses, this study used structural equation modeling. Findings Time, performance and psychological risks negatively affected image before the outbreak of COVID-19. Meanwhile, performance risks and psychological risks had a negative influence on image only after the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition, there was demonstrated to be a positive relationship between image and intentions to use, both before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Finally, the outbreak of COVID-19 positively moderates the relationship between performance risk and image. Practical implications The current study provides the following practical implications. First, industry practitioners need to develop a performance guarantee system which enhances the quality assurance of drone food delivery services (DFDS). Second, live streaming or creative activities would help to visualize DFDS in a way that stresses the stable operation of these services. Originality/value The importance of contactless services has been emphasized ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there has been very little research on the future of contactless services after COVID-19. This study investigated the perceived risk from DFDS as a form of contactless service which has not been conducted before. The findings of this study will improve the understanding of the changes that have occurred in consumers’ perception of risk from DFDS during the COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruoqing Zhang ◽  
Minjoon Jun ◽  
Sergio Palacios

PurposeThe present study seeks to identify the salient mobile shopping (m-shopping) service quality dimensions as perceived by mobile shoppers (m-shoppers) and examines the linkages between the derived m-shopping service quality dimensions, customer trust and customer loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe research instrument is developed based upon the mostly validated measures of prior studies. A pretest of the questionnaire is conducted to assess the content validity of the measurement scales. An online survey is used to collect the required data. We employ structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze data collected from 286 m-shoppers.FindingsWe identify five key m-shopping service quality dimensions: responsiveness, personalization, ease of use, aesthetics and perceived risk based on an extensive review of relevant literature. The SEM results show that all the five m-shopping service quality dimensions significantly impact, directly and/or indirectly, customer loyalty. Moreover, the results show that trust plays a partial mediating role in the effects of responsiveness and personalization on loyalty; a full mediating role in the effects of aesthetics and perceived risk on loyalty and no mediating role in the effect of ease of use on loyalty.Practical implicationsMobile retailers (m-retailers) can use the quality measurement tool developed in this study to detect service quality weaknesses and strengths. Based on their quality assessment, m-retailers can effectively allocate corporate resources to the important service quality attributes uncovered by this study, thereby improving their overall service quality performance and in turn expanding their loyal customer base.Originality/valuePrior studies have demonstrated that service quality and customer trust play a pivotal role in enhancing customer loyalty in both offline and online settings. Unfortunately, no research has empirically examined the relationships between service quality dimensions, trust and loyalty in the context of m-shopping. Therefore, a major contribution of this study is to address this research gap and add knowledge to the limited body of post-adoption m-shopping research.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Zeng

PurposePackaging links products to consumers by delivering messages to promote healthy food consumption and reduce wastage. However, studies point to a knowledge gap and skepticism among consumers regarding the impact of eco-design packaging on food wastage reduction. To demystify this skepticism and fill the knowledge gap, this study aims to examine consumers’ perceived risks in eco-design packaging and their impact on consumer food wastage.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted to identify consumer-perceived risks in eco-design packaging and explain whether, and why, some dimensions of perceived risk are more influential on consumer food wastage decisions.FindingsConsumers are prevented by financial, physical, functional, temporal and social factors from adopting eco-design packaging. Through structural equation modeling, we find consumer perceived risks in eco-design packaging influence their food wastage decisions through health consciousness and environmental awareness.Practical implicationsThis study provides practical suggestions for packaging manufacturers, the food industry and policymakers.Originality/valueDrawing on the perceived risk theory, this research highlights that the impacts of consumer-perceived risks differ, depending on the dimensions considered in their food wastage decision.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Riley ◽  
Richard Klein

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand consumers’ use of online retail channels. This study examines how tracking capabilities, delivery speed, trust, logistics carriers’ reputation, people important to the consumer and online reviews influence Millennials’ online purchasing attitudes and intentions. Design/methodology/approach A survey was administered to 321 Millennials. Subsequently, it was used to test both direct and indirect hypotheses using structural equation modeling techniques. Findings The study determined that tracking capabilities, trust, people important to the consumer and online reviews directly influence online purchase attitude and by extension intention formation. The results also revealed that logistics carrier reputation moderates the trust to online purchase attitude linkage. Research limitations/implications This work improves the explanatory power of the theory of reasoned action by linking logistics factors to online shopping behavior. Further, it provides insight into the moderating influence of logistics carriers’ reputation. Practical implications For retailers, the results provide information on how to better develop ecommerce service offerings. By providing information about logistics services and capabilities during the ecommerce transaction, retailers can improve the chance that consumers will complete online purchases. Originality/value This research fills a gap in the literature regarding how to influence millennial consumers. Moreover, findings strengthen the understanding of online-purchasing attitudes and intentions formation, important to retailers developing new online shopping platforms and technologies.


foresight ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunjan Sharma ◽  
Naval Bajpai ◽  
Kushagra Kulshreshtha ◽  
Vikas Tripathi ◽  
Prince Dubey

PurposeThe online shopping behavior is the outcome of the variety of attribution from product/ service offering to internet experience. The present study attempts to develop a complete product/service offering by exploring and examining the different combinations of online shopping attributes to provide the customized experience. Therefore, this study aims to fill the gap of customer desired experience and present scenario in online shopping behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe exploration of attributes pertaining to online shopping behavior was done by seeking theoretical support from different technology adoption theories/models and the Delphi technique, exercised with active participants of online and offline shopping. The theoretical and experience shared attributes were devised and social desirability scale (SDS) was used for eliminating the social desirability bias. Further, the questionnaire was administered online and offline during mall intercept. The Conjoint analysis was used to investigate the relative importance and utilities of the attributes and its levels individually and compositely at different levels.FindingsIn the context, brand loyalty, online reputation management and Web interactivity were found most relavant followed by e-WOM, perceived risk and price. The specific levels of attributes such as taking consumer advice, search engine optimization (SEO), perception-based interactivity, consumer message boards, product risk and discount pricing were the crucial in motivating the customers for online shopping. This research affords the avenue for the marketers to motivate and delight consumers to retribalize by the way of “e-tribalizing.”Research limitations/implicationsThe current study was conducted in confined geographical locations and limited in sample size; thus, the issue of generalization may prevail, but forthcoming researchers may exercise the techniques with better probabilistic sampling technique. The mass customization of the website features by comparing attribute orientation of customers around websites was recommended with the third-party certification to reduce the consumers’ perceived risk during online shopping. Finally, the different levels, such as Facebook fan page in ORM and Everyday Low Price (EDLP) in pricing may be considered for the future research work.Originality/valueThe research studies on online shopping behavior with Web interactivity, e-WOM, perceived risk, brand loyalty, ORM and price using a decompositional technique are scant. This study persuades the customers to go for online shopping by putting them in the almost real-time purchasing scenario. The study confirmed the need of people to retribalize through e-tribalization by the way of customization for the masses in the context of online shopping.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 1119-1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Zhou

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of information privacy concern on users' social shopping intention.Design/methodology/approachBased on the 340 valid responses collected from a survey, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the research model.FindingsThe results indicated that while disposition to privacy positively affects privacy concern, both reputation and laws negatively affect privacy concern, which in turn decreases social shopping intention. In addition, trust partially mediates the effect of privacy concern on social shopping intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe results imply that social commerce companies need to mitigate users' privacy concern in order to facilitate their shopping behavior.Originality/valueThis research disclosed that privacy concern receives a tripartite influence from users (disposition to privacy), platforms (reputation) and governments (laws). The results help us gain a complete understanding of information privacy concern mitigation in social shopping.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 472-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neharika Sobti

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of the behavioral intention and adoption of mobile payment services like m-wallets and m-banking by users in India. This is done by examining the diffusion of mobile payment technology within an extended framework of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. The study attempts to extend the UTAUT model further by introducing three more constructs, namely- perceived cost, perceived risk and demonetization effect and analyzes the impact of demonetization that happened in India from November 8, 2016 to December 30, 2016 on the mobile payment service adoption process. Demonetization event is a case in point to assess whether forced adoption breaks the normal diffusion process or lends support to the same in the long term.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted in order to gauge the intention behind the adoption of mobile payment modes by users in India. The questionnaire was administered online solely and 880 responses were received within a period of 20 days from February 3, 2017, to February 23, 2017, using Google Forms as a medium. Usable responses were 640. The study adopted partial least square based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to analyze the relation between latent variables: performance expectation, effort expectation, social influence, facilitating conditions, perceived cost, perceived risk, demonetization effect, behavioral intention and usage. For this purpose, SmartPLS3.0 software was used to create path diagrams and calculate estimate the significance of factor loadings using the bootstrap technique.FindingsThe key results indicates that behavioral intention, demonetization and facilitating conditions have a positive and significant impact on the adoption of mobile payment services in India. Overall, Model 3, which was extended UTAUT model, was observed to be a better model in explaining the antecedents of behavioral intention and usage. In addition to UTAUT antecedents, perceived cost and perceived risk proved to have additional explanatory power as antecedents of behavioral intention. Age acts as a moderating variable consistently across three models, implying that younger users give more importance to effortless interface of mobile payment services and get more influenced by peers and society that shapes their intention to use mobile payment services.Originality/valueIt is first of its kind attempt to assess the role of Demonetization in examining the antecedents of behavioral intention and adoption of mobile payment services by users in India under an extended UTAUT model. This study comprehensively examined the impact of forced adoption of mobile payment services by users in India in a natural setting provided by demonetization event that took place in India by conducting a primary survey right itself in the month of February, 2017 to get first hand response from the Indian users.


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