Advances in technology have led to a spurt in tech-savvy consumers displaying increasingly complex behavior. In the past, consumers concluded their search and purchases at a single physical store. Nowadays, however, they possess a number of digital devices (desktops and/or mobiles) through which they can switch channels seamlessly to search for information and make a purchase. There are very few studies that investigate desktop and mobile channels separately; this is perhaps the first study that examines the effect of chronotypes (evening- and morning-type individuals) on a sample of Chinese university students using online and mobile channels in the omnichannel process. The results from a sample of 311 digital shoppers (desktops and/or mobiles) confirm that the mobile channel offers greater task-technology fit to evening-type respondents and desktop channels present better task-technology fit to morning-type respondents to engage in the omnichannel process. Furthermore, this study discussed contributions and insights for managers to develop an effective omnichannel strategy.
Chronotypes’ Task-Technology Fit for Search and Purchase in Omnichannel Context