Understanding customers' repeat purchase intentions in B2C e-commerce: the roles of utilitarian value, hedonic value and perceived risk

Influencing mechanisms of live streaming influencer characteristics on purchase intention: The mediating role of emotional trust

Live streaming e-commerce emphasizes the role of live streaming influencers and the dynamic interactions between viewers and live streaming influencers. Utilizing data collected from 400 questionnaires, this study delves into the mechanisms through which characteristics of live streaming influencers influence consumer purchase intentions, with a focus on consumer emotional trust as a mediating variable as well as consumer education level, age, perceived risk, and live-stream engagement as moderating factors. The findings indicate that the traits of live streaming influencers have a positive effect on consumers' intent to purchase. Emotional trust mediates the influence of live streaming influencer characteristics on purchase intention. Consumers' educational level positively moderates the relationship between the professionalism and homogeneity of influencers and their purchase intentions, while it negatively moderates the relationship between influencers' attraction and interactivity with purchase intentions. Additionally, the age of consumers positively moderates the link between the professionalism of influencers and purchase intentions, but negatively moderates the links between homogeneity, attraction, and interactivity of influencers and purchase intentions. Furthermore, both consumers' educational level and age positively moderate the impact of emotional trust on purchase intentions. Lastly, perceived risk and live-stream engagement respectively exert negative and positive moderating effects on the influence of influencer professionalism and attraction on purchase intentions. The study contributes to influencer marketing theory by adopting an innovative approach to systematically investigate the collective influence of all four live streaming influencer characteristics (professionalism, homogeneity, attraction, and interactivity) within a comprehensive framework.

Shaping E-commerce Experiences: Unraveling the Impact of Service Quality on Youth Customer Behavior in a Developing Nation

Firms of all stripes recognize that retaining satisfied customers in the current e-commerce cutthroat and digital market relies on delivering exceptional customer service. This longitudinal study aims to examine the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavior in an online shopping environment, emphasizing the youth of Pakistan. A research model was developed and tested using two phases of customer data ( n = 331). The results show that in the online shopping environment, the dimension of service quality significantly enhances customer satisfaction, which leads to the development of customer loyalty. The mediating role of customer complaints has been identified in the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Furthermore, it was found that the significant connection between customer loyalty, repurchase intention, and recommendation intention was moderated by emotional intensity. The findings will help firms in Pakistan and other developing countries to establish long-term growth strategies by understanding the complex nexus between service quality that leads to customer satisfaction and boosts their repurchases and recommendations. This research also directs online platform marketers and practitioners to develop marketing and retailing strategies.

What drives repurchase retention in music training institutions? examining the roles of customer satisfaction, perceived value, and service quality

The rise of quality education has led to increased attention on music training as a vital means of enhancing personal qualities. However, with numerous music training institutions competing in the market, distinguishing oneself has become an urgent challenge. This study explores the key factors influencing customers' willingness to renew their enrollment at music training institutions through a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire addresses various aspects, including customer expectations, perceived value, customer satisfaction, repurchase intention, teacher expectations, peer influence, service quality, and brand image. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention, suggesting that enhancing customer satisfaction is crucial for promoting repurchase intention. Additionally, perceived value positively impacts both customer satisfaction and repurchase intention, indicating that customers are more inclined to repurchase when they believe the course's value justifies the investment. Customer expectations also play a vital role, positively affecting perceived value and overall customer satisfaction. Furthermore, service quality and brand image significantly influence both customer satisfaction and repurchase intention, emphasizing the importance of high-quality service and a positive brand image in customer decision-making. Although the direct impact of teacher expectations on customer satisfaction is relatively weak, improving interactions between teachers and students, along with providing personalized guidance, can indirectly enhance satisfaction. Lastly, the anticipated positive correlation between peer influence and perceived value was not supported, suggesting that the impact of classmates may be less direct compared to that of teacher expectations and service quality.

Drivers and Obstacles of Consumers' Continuous Participation Intention in Online Pre-Sales: Social Exchange Theory Perspective

This study focuses on the factors influencing consumers' continuous participation willingness in online pre-sale activities. Based on perceived value and social exchange theory, it analyzes how perceived benefits (including practical benefits, hedonic benefits, and social benefits) and perceived costs (including search costs, waiting costs, and adjustment costs) affect consumer satisfaction and their continuous participation intention in online pre-sales. A total of 527 valid questionnaires were collected, and structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The results indicate that perceived benefits are significantly positively correlated with consumer satisfaction and their willingness to continue participating, while perceived costs are significantly negatively correlated with both aspects. Additionally, the study found that product type moderates the effect of perceived benefits and perceived costs on consumer satisfaction. This research helps retailers understand consumers' willingness to continuously participate in online pre-sales and provides valuable insights for developing pre-sale strategies.

Unleashing the role of e-word of mouth on purchase intention in select Facebook fan pages of smart phone users

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to examine the impact of e-WOM on customer purchase intentions in Facebook fan pages using theories of trust, value co-creation and brand attitude. The present research has set out to explore this emerging domain of study and has thus developed & tested propositions which attempt to establish a relationship between e-WOM and customer's purchase intentions. A deeper understanding of this possible association is obtained by studying the mediating roles of Trust, Value Co-Creation, Brand Image and Brand Attitude.

METHODOLOGY

The context for exploring this phenomenon is chosen to be the fan pages of smartphone brands on Facebook. The study involved conducting a sample survey of 490 respondents, comprising of both male and female, who belong to 5 smartphone brands Facebook fan pages-Samsung, Moto G, Lenovo, MI and ASUS are considered for the study. Out of which sample of 100 each has been targeted individually.

FINDINGS

The findings suggested that e-WOM significantly predicts the purchase intentions of the customers of a specific product and considerable impacted on the purchase decision. The findings of the study also reveal that customer 's trust beliefs, perceived value co-creation, brand image and brand attitude partially mediate in between relationships of e-WOM and purchase intention.

CONCLUSION

The actual presence of different types of consumer electronics brands on the social media, more prominently, the smartphones, which undoubtedly are the most ubiquitous product of this segment. In fact, this indicates that presence on social media is a well- thought organizational strategy developed by companies to gain partial control over the customer 's decision- making process by establishing a close connect with the customers for a long period.

IMPLICATION

This consequence will significantly impact the decision-making process of marketers or practitioners in relation to their marketing tactics. This research also indicates that marketers could devise more effective methods for distributing marketing content through social networking sites, while corporations can cultivate favorable electronic word-of-mouth for their products or services. Through the implementation of social media marketing strategies, companies can increase their sales volume and generate higher revenue. The study examined the role of trust, virtual community participation, and desire to purchase as mediators on smartphone brand fan sites on Facebook. It was observed that these factors had a partial influence on customer purchase intention.

How to Encourage Continuous Use of Fitness Apps among Female Users?

The proportion of women engaging in insufficient physical activity is higher than that of men, and they may face greater barriers. Fitness apps, as effective tools for behavior change, can significantly promote active physical activity among women. Notably, women constitute over 60% of fitness app users. However, few studies have focused on the reasons behind the continuous use of fitness apps by female users. This study investigates the impact of different perceived values on the satisfaction and continuance intention of female fitness app users. A total of 395 female fitness app users from Guangzhou, China, participated in this study. The results indicate that hedonic value (β = 0.190, p < 0.001), utilitarian value (β = 0.171, p = 0.007), and health value (β = 0.440, p < 0.001) significantly and positively influence the satisfaction of female fitness app users. However, only utilitarian value (β = 0.135, p = 0.018) and health value (β = 0.436, p < 0.001) have a significant positive impact on the continuance intention, while hedonic value (β = 0.028, p = 0.547) does not. Additionally, satisfaction mediates the relationship between utilitarian and health values and continuance intention. Therefore, the design of fitness apps should prioritize helping female users achieve utilitarian and health values rather than overemphasizing hedonic-value-related content.

Is online shopping addiction still a depressive illness? -- the induced consumption and traffic trap in live E-commerce

While immersive shopping has injected new vitality into China's e-commerce, it has also resulted in consumers' over-reliance on online shopping. Psychological studies have linked online shopping addiction with depression, but business practices challenge this conclusion. This study, grounded in addiction theory, developed a theoretical model, and conducted an online survey with 214 live-streaming shoppers using structural equation modeling for validation. The primary focus was on determining whether consumers truly become addicted to online shopping in the four stages of the addiction model. The study unveils the process of consumers becoming addicted to online shopping. It explores the moderating role of perceived risk in the relationship between utilitarian and hedonic purchases and online shopping addiction. The findings suggest that through tactics such as traffic promotion, traffic trapping, anchor feature utilization, and incorporation of consumer aesthetics, merchants may induce utilitarian and hedonic purchases, leading to addiction to live-streaming shopping among consumers. Furthermore, perceived risk significantly and negatively moderates the relationship between utilitarian purchases and online shopping addiction. Our research indicates that merchants intentionally create external stimuli, enticing consumers to indulge in online shopping, suggesting that online shopping addiction is not merely a simple psychological state but may be influenced by external factors. This study provides novel insights into the phenomenon of online shopping addiction while offering valuable recommendations for consumers seeking to avoid succumbing to its allure.

Understanding consumers' continuous-use intention of crowdsourcing logistics services: Empirical evidence from China

Crowdsourcing logistics-based O2O (online to offline) has been increasingly implemented to help individuals or merchants tackle down the problem of intra city instant delivery in China. However, since insufficient control is imposed on free couriers, consumers are subjected to certain risks generated by the uneven service quality provided by free couriers, such that the continuous-use intention to adopt crowdsourcing logistics may be affected in an unexpected manner. A sampling survey was carried out in China's first- and second-tier cities, with 292 valid questionnaires collected. On that basis, the corresponding hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares (PLS) method. The findings of this study revealed that trust, perceived value, and satisfaction positively contributed to continuous-use intention, where trust contributed the most. Perceived risk exerted a significant negative effect on continuous use intention. Trust is capable of notably reducing perceived risk. Crowdsourcing logistics service quality is the critical driving variable of perceived value and satisfaction. Perceived risk has a negative moderating effect on satisfaction-continuous-use intention relationship, showing that the higher the perceived risk, the weaker the effect of satisfaction on continuous-use intention. Given perceived risk, a conceptual model was built by integrating e-CSI model (e-Customer Satisfaction Index Model) and PAM-ISC model (Post-acceptance Model of IS Continuance Model). From the integration, the findings of this study are expected to provide decision-making basis for crowdsourcing logistics platforms to help solve the "last mile" delivery problem.

The impact of characteristic factors of the direct-to-consumer marketing model on consumer loyalty in the digital intermediary era

In the era of digital intermediaries, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing model is gaining prominence in the retail and brand marketing domains. This model exhibits a distinct advantage over traditional models in cultivating loyalty. Consequently, this study employs a survey-based approach and utilizes the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory to construct a structural equation model and investigate the relationship between the DTC marketing model's characteristic factors and consumer loyalty. The results indicate that cost-effectiveness and social media marketing directly and positively influence consumer loyalty, while product features indirectly contribute to loyalty through perceived emotional value. Multi-channel integration indirectly influences loyalty through perceived functional value. Additionally, the varying degrees of influence highlight social media marketing as the most impactful factor and product features as the least influential. The research findings underscore the importance of strengthening social media marketing, optimizing product features, reducing information asymmetry, and integrating multiple channels to enhance consumer loyalty. This study enriches the understanding of the DTC theoretical framework in the field of marketing and provides new perspectives for formulating marketing strategies.

Strategy development to increase consumer intention of purchasing prescription drugs through e-pharmacy in Indonesia

BACKGROUND

The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to obtain health products and services from home. Similar to other e-commerce, medicines are bought online and delivered using a courier service.

OBJECTIVE

By being fully concerned to patient safety, this study aims to determine development strategies to increase intention in purchasing prescription drugs through e-pharmacy.

METHODS

Two stages of measurement are employed in this study, namely confirmatory factor analyis using PLS-SEM and pairwise comparison using AHP method. To discover consumer perception in using e-pharmacy, the basic model of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is employed with several extensions.

RESULTS

The results of PLS-SEM express that Trust has a major role as an intervening variable to enhance the indirect effect of Subjective Norms and Perceived Values on Purchase Intention. In general, PLS-SEM structural model is declared "fit" (GFI = 0.93 ≥ 0.90; RMSEA = 0.045 ≤ 0.08; SRMR = 0.033 ≤ 0.05). Measurement model test proves that all selected indicators are valid to represent their related constructs (Loading Factor ≥ 0.50), and all selected constructs are reliable to build the whole path model (CR ≥ 0.7; AVE ≥ 05). Meanwhile, the results of AHP indicate that strengthening government policies and regulations is prioritized to increase consumer intention of purchasing prescription drugs through e-pharmacy, followed by protection of user confidential data in the second place. Those two eigenvectors are 0.236 and 0.185 respectively.

CONCLUSION

Future research is suggested to add perceived risk as latent variable in the study of consumer behavior for any high-risk products.

The impact of context cues on college students' purchase behavior for low-carbon products in CBEC

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of online shopping context cues (price discount, carbon label, and social commentary) on college students' trust/perceived risk and cross-border purchase intention (CBPI) for low-carbon products and compare the study between South Korean and Chinese college students. The theoretical framework is established by integrating the S-O-R model and valence framework. The variable of stimuli (S) is the driving force in the purchase behavior that influences the individual organism (O) and its subsequent response (R). Based on this logic, this study draws on the valence framework to hypothesize the effects of online shopping context cues (price discount, carbon label, and social commentary) on college students' trust/perceived risk and cross-border purchase intention (CBPI) for low-carbon products.

Methods

This study conducted two online experiment-questionnaire studies and one between-subject lab experiment to test the hypotheses.

Results

We found that all three context cues have significant positive effects on trust and negative effects on perceived risk. College students' trust positively and perceived risk negatively impact college students' CBPI for low-carbon products. In addition, based on different cultures, languages, and education, this study investigates the moderating effect of college students' nationality on their significantly different cue processing modes for low-carbon products.

Discussion

The findings provide new insights into better understanding the factors affecting college students' low-carbon consumption behavior in a CBEC setting and have some practical implications.

Factors Influencing the Purchase Intention for Online Health Popular Science Information Based on the Health Belief Model

There is a growing demand for health popular science information from the public. Online paid health popular science information provides a new channel for the public to obtain health popular science information and can meet users' demands for high-quality health popular science information. In order to improve the popularity of online paid health popular science information, it is urgent to investigate the factors influencing users' intention to pay for online health popular science information. Paid online health popular science information can provide users with higher-quality health knowledge, while monetary compensation can incentivize publishers to create and promote the sustainability of social media platforms. Therefore, paid online health popular science information is important for readers, creators, and platforms. Therefore, this study investigates the factors influencing users' intentions to purchase online health popular science information based on the health belief model (HBM). Our research data were obtained by a questionnaire and empirically analyzed by SmartPLS structural equation modeling. The results of this study indicate that the greater the perceived susceptibility, severity, and irreplaceability of health problems, the greater the intention of users to purchase health information when they read the summary portion of paid online health popular science information. And the higher the perceived risk and the more unreasonable the price of the online health popular science information, the lower the intention to purchase. Moreover, both the perceived susceptibility and perceived severity significantly attenuated the negative impacts of perceived health popular science information risk and perceived price unreasonableness on users' intentions to purchase online health popular science information. This study not only enriches and extends the application of the health belief model, but also has important positive implications for the development of online paid health popular science information.

The role of online game usage in the relationship between initial daily negative moods and subsequent positive moods: The moderating role of hedonistic motivation

This study explores the relationship between initial daily negative mood, online game usage and subsequent positive mood; and examine the moderating roles of hedonistic motivation on the perspective of mood regulation theory. To gather data over five consecutive workdays, this study used the experience sampling method. We then obtained 800 valid daily data from 160 participants. The results of multilevel path analysis show that: (i) initial daily negative mood increases the usage of online games and further enhances subsequent positive mood; (ii) students with higher hedonic motivation will show a stronger positive correlation between initial daily negative mood and online game usage; (iii) students with higher hedonic motivation will show a stronger positive correlation between online game usage and subsequent positive mood. Theoretical and practical implications are also investigated in this study.

Research on the influence and mechanism of human-vehicle moral matching on trust in autonomous vehicles

Introduction

Autonomous vehicles can have social attributes and make ethical decisions during driving. In this study, we investigated the impact of human-vehicle moral matching on trust in autonomous vehicles and its mechanism.

Methods

A 2*2 experiment involving 200 participants was conducted.

Results

The results of the data analysis show that utilitarian moral individuals have greater trust than deontological moral individuals. Perceived value and perceived risk play a double-edged role in people's trust in autonomous vehicles. People's moral type has a positive impact on trust through perceived value and a negative impact through perceived risk. Vehicle moral type moderates the impact of human moral type on trust through perceived value and perceived risk.

Discussion

The conclusion shows that heterogeneous moral matching (people are utilitarian, vehicles are deontology) has a more positive effect on trust than homogenous moral matching (both people and vehicles are deontology or utilitarian), which is consistent with the assumption of selfish preferences of individuals. The results of this study provide theoretical expansion for the fields related to human-vehicle interaction and AI social attributes and provide exploratory suggestions for the functional design of autonomous vehicles.

Factors influencing the adoption intention of using mobile financial service during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of FinTech

Access to financial services is regarded as one of the most pressing issues confronting communities worldwide sequel to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, FinTech applications such as mobile financial service (MFS) play an essential role in building resilience during the pandemic. Hence, the aim of the study is to investigate the role of MFS platforms in economic resilience by empirically evaluating the determinants that influence the intention of Bangladeshi users toward adopting MFS platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, through an extension of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Using the core structures of the UTAUT, the theoretical model was constructed based on the consumption attributes of financial services such as perceived value, as well as additional situational factors from the extended valence framework, including risk and trust. To test the model, data was obtained from 227 potential MFS users in Bangladesh with the aid of a structured questionnaire survey. Subsequently, the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that social influence, perceived trust, and perceived value are strongly related to the intention of users to adopt MFS platforms, whereas, perceived risk, performance expectancy, and effort expectancy were observed to influence users' perceived value of the MFS platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, the study results indicated that the users' perceived risk did not influence their intention to adopt MFS platforms during the pandemic. Therefore, the suggested adoption of the MFS framework during and after the pandemic could contribute to the existing research on the adoption of information technology (IT) through the expansion of the UTAUT, in which the performance and effort expectancy of users influence their intention to indirectly adopt MFS through perceived value. Finally, the significant policy implications and future research directions are further addressed.

Travel shaming? Re-thinking travel decision making amid a global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the notion of "travel shaming" under the spotlight-tourists are concerned about being criticized for traveling during the pandemic. Yet the broader idea of travel-induced shaming, conceptualized as ethics-based evaluations in this paper, has not drawn much attention as consequence-based assessments in travel-related risk research. This paper presents two studies revealing a) how ethics- and consequence-based risk evaluations influence individuals' travel attitudes/intentions and b) how message framing about responsible travel affects travel shame and individuals' intentions to travel responsibly. Using structural equation modeling, Study 1 suggests that consequence- and ethics-based evaluations play key roles in predicting travelers' attitudes/intentions to travel. Moreover, social trust and self-efficacy significantly affect both types of risk evaluations. Study 2 adopts an experimental design and shows that, compared with loss-framed and controlled message conditions, gain-framed messaging can reduce travel shame and encourage tourists to travel responsibly. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Digital content marketing consumption motives in the age of social media: an investigation of relational and monetary outcomes

Purpose

Although digital content marketing (DCM) research and industry-wide expenditure is growing very rapidly owing to the positive outcomes associated with this new pull marketing strategy, research has not completely mapped how DCM activities can be optimized in the social media brand community context. This paper seeks to understand how social media DCM activities can be optimized to achieve greater relational and monetary outcomes for different products.

Design/methodology/approach

A structural equation modeling procedure was used to analyze 416 survey responses obtained from members of Facebook brand communities in South Africa.

Findings

The results reveal that social media DCM consumption motives exert significant differential effects on both relational and monetary marketing outcomes in search and experience product contexts while also demonstrating the mechanism through which social media DCM consumption motives lead to contributing social media engagement behaviors.

Practical implications

The study findings call for the need for firms to understand the motives that drive the consumption of DCM in social media brand communities. Specifically, marketers of search products should deploy more of hedonic contents such as images while simultaneously keeping highly textual DCM to a minimum in Facebook brand communities as this works better for experience products. Finally, more authentic SM-DCM activities that effectively address the authenticity SM-DCM consumption motive can result from the DCM activities of social media opinion leaders and genuine consumer–brand interactions in the context of Facebook brand communities.

Originality/value

This paper broke new grounds in three unique directions in terms of: (1) the relative salience of SM-DCM consumption motives in enhancing WTP and different aspects of SMBE; (2) the contextual influence of product type on SM-DCM activities optimization and (3) the mechanisms that underlie the effects of SM-DCM consumption motives on contributing SMBE in the Facebook brand community context.

Explaining consumers' continuous purchase intention toward subscriber-based knowledge payment platforms: findings from PLS-SEM and fsQCA

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influencing mechanism of consumers' continuous purchase intention toward the subscriber-based knowledge payment platforms (SBKPPs).

Design/methodology/approach

This study obtained 226 valid samples through questionnaire surveys and used partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods to elucidate the complex causal patterns of consumers' continuous purchase intention toward the SBKPPs.

Findings

The findings revealed that perceived utilitarian value, perceived hedonic value and perceived social value directly affected consumers' continuous purchase intention, while content quality and service quality indirectly affected consumers' continuous purchase intention. In addition, this study also demonstrated that all factors must be combined to play a role, and there exist four configurations resulting in consumers' continuous purchase intention toward the SBKPPs.

Research limitations/implications

The results can help researchers and practitioners better understand the causal patterns of consumers' continuous purchase intention toward the SBKPPs.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the knowledge payment literature by investigating consumers' continuous purchase intention toward the SBKPPs. This study also provides practical enlightenment for the SBKPPs' marketing.

Impact of perceived convenience, service quality and security on consumers' behavioural intention towards online food delivery services: the role of attitude as mediator

This study aims to examine the impact of perceived convenience, service quality and security on consumers' attitudes and behavioural intentions towards online food delivery services in Bangladesh. The paper proposes an extended theory of the technological acceptance model which includes' perceived convenience, service quality, and security along with their relationships to evaluate their impact on the mediator consumers' attitude and dependent variable consumers' behavioural intention towards online food delivery services. Data were collected from 306 participants. Smart-PLS was used for the data analysis. The results showed that convenience and service quality had significant effects on attitude and behavioural intention. However, no such relationship was found for security.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43546-023-00422-7.

How to promote the healthy development of continuous participation in smart medical and elderly care systems: The dual perspective of perceived value and risk

Objective

In an environment with an ageing population, elderly care has become a focus of social attention. The combination of smart medical care with elderly care and how to encourage the elderly to participate in the systems and enjoy a higher quality of life have become social priorities. We aimed to analyse the perceived risk and value associations of self-health management-conscious older adults regarding smart medical and elderly care systems (SMECS) and to explore the mechanisms of SMECS affecting them.

Methods

Using a Likert scale, we conducted a questionnaire-based survey and collected 387 valid responses. This was a cross-sectional study, and various key data were collected relating to the continued participation of older users in SMECS. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to explore the data.

Results

According to the data analysis, price, operability and personalisation all have significant correlations with perceived value and perceived risk. Perceptions of value and risk influence the continuous participation of the elderly, and this has a potentially positive effect on their mental and physical health.

Conclusions

Under the home-based care model, economic factors and technological accessibility were important factors affecting the elderly's continuous participation in SMECS. A personalised programme for the elderly warrants attention. In addition, the effect of perceived risk from the health-related systems was stronger than their perceived value. This research can help elderly users bridge the digital divide and enjoy smart health and medical care.

The path from customer experience to customer citizenship: new adventure is a touristic railway journey

Purpose

In this study, the author aimed to measure the effect of customer loyalty on customer citizenship behavior as well as the effect of experience value perceptions of tourist railway journey customers on customer loyalty within the scope of social exchange theory.

Design/methodology/approach

The author obtained data from 126 participants who had experienced the tourist railway adventure through random sampling. In the next stage, the author extracted the data obtained with the bootstrapping sample technique to 5,000 samples. The author analyzed these obtained data with the PLS-SEM model with the Smart PLS 3 software.

Findings

The results of the research show that the most important experience value dimension that creates loyalty in the touristic railway journey is the emotional value dimension; the second important dimension is the hedonic value dimension and other experience value dimensions did not have any effect on customer loyalty intention levels. In addition, an important result of the study is that loyal customers mostly intend to advise other customers, and relatively less of them intend to give feedback to the firm.

Research limitations/implications

The fact that the concepts of touristic railway journeys are different due to the nature of tourism is an important limitation of the study, which is only for individuals who have experienced the Touristic Eastern Express. The fact that the Touristic Eastern Express is a long journey and stops at many destinations on its arrival and departure route can affect customers' perceptions of the experience value.

Practical implications

The values that create customer loyalty in the touristic railway journey are mostly emotional and hedonic values. In addition, customers who are loyal as a result of this journey are more intent on advising other customers than giving feedback to the firm.

Originality/value

The study was carried out on the customers of the touristic eastern express, which started its activities in 2019. Ensuring customer loyalty for the sustainability of this trend has significant tourism potential; Afterwards, the transformation of customer loyalty into customer citizenship has a very important place. In addition, as far as we have examined the literature, the absence of similar studies in the tourism sector is an indicator of the study's originality. Considering these data, it is expected that the study will fill an important gap in terms of both sectoral and academic.

What Factors Determine the Online Consumer Behavior in This Digitalized World? A Systematic Literature

This review study envisioned to address the basic objective that is to investigate determinants of online consumer behavior. A conventional review strategy was used to address the objective raised above, i.e., systematic strategy, and also, the obtained data were analyzed via content analysis. In addition to the above, the study also employed descriptive research design to present the obtained result descriptively. According to the generated findings, purchase intention is the most studied area, which is followed by adoption, and conversely, continuance or repurchase stage of online consumer behavior is the most underresearched area. Perceived usefulness, perceived risk, attitude, perceived ease of use, trust, social influence, subjective norms, perceived enjoyment, security, perceived behavioral control, web design quality, privacy and security concerns, demographic factors (e.g., age, gender, occupation, education, and income), perceived value, service quality, perceived satisfaction, psychological factors (e.g., relative advantage), facilitating conditions, and consumers’ experience are the most influential factors significantly affecting online consumer behavior at large. Therefore, it is advised that industries those are experienced or newcomers in the market to work on the identified factors determining the online consumer behavior, to sustain and achieve success in this dynamic world.

Effect of introducing virtual community and community group buying on customer’s perceived value and loyalty behavior: A convenience store-based perspective

Customers’ declining receptivity to conventional marketing tools has been a challenge for convenience stores. To overcome this, retailers are turning to social media as a new, potent marketing tool for creating business prospects and encouraging direct customer interaction. However, it is still unknown how social media marketing affects the shifts in customer behavior. This paper expands on the relationship of “loyalty program (LP) + virtual community experience → perceived value → customer loyalty” in the traditional convenience store scenario, refining the variables of virtual community experience, perceived value, and customer loyalty. It also compares the effectiveness of different LP design structures (reward amounts × reward time limits) and explores the mediation impact of program loyalty and the moderation effect of alternative attractiveness. The results demonstrate the superior performance of LPs with an expiry policy and differential returns and highlight the importance of enhancing members’ virtual community experiences in fostering customer perceived value and loyalty. The results also show the minor negative moderation impact of community group buying and prove that emotional value significantly impacts customer loyalty. Still, the social value does not affect program loyalty. The recommendations are offered, such as designing growing-oriented and periodical zeroing LPs, as well as using new social media marketing tools (virtual community-based marketing) to empower traditional marketing techniques (LP-based relationship marketing) and constructing a “convenience store + community group buying” model. The findings have substantial theoretical and practical implications for traditional convenience stores in properly implementing loyalty and social media marketing tactics to maximize customer value and loyalty with a limited budget.

Exploring food waste prevention through advent food consumption: The role of perceived concern, consumer value, and impulse buying

Every year, about one-third of food intended for human consumption is wasted along the distribution chain, in which advent food contributes a significant portion. Advent food marketing and consumption are suggested as the primary channel to use advent food and reduce food waste. With the booming of the advent food market, it is necessary to explore factors attributed to advent food purchase and food waste reduction behaviors. This study explored what consumer concern and value might influence food waste reduction intention in the context of advent food consumption. Based on a survey of Chinese consumers (N = 509), this study develops a structural equation and tests the hypotheses with consistent Smart-pls software. Results show that, as expected, health concerns, utilitarian value, and impulse buying significantly affect food waste reduction intention. Price concern, utilitarian value, and hedonic value exert direct positive effects on impulse buying, which negatively influence food waste reduction intention. In the mediating effect analysis, impulse buying partially mediates the relationship between price concern and food waste reduction intention. Theoretical and managerial implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Does personality still matter in e-commerce? How perceived hubris influences the assessment of founders' trustworthiness using the example of reward-based crowdfunding

Reward-based crowdfunding broadens the scope of e-commerce transactions, as prototypical products are pre-sold under conditions of considerable uncertainty. To date, we know little about the mechanisms that underlie decisions to back reward-based crowdfunding campaigns. However, it is likely that startup founders' possibility of showcasing their personalities in video pitches signals their trustworthiness, particularly, as other features, such as quality seals and customer testimonials, are often unavailable. We use signaling theory to reinforce the move from a feature-oriented perspective to a signaling perspective, as signals can transmit information about startup founders' otherwise imperceptible qualities and abilities. Based on a survey (N = 108), we investigate how perceived hubris - proven to be particularly salient in startup contexts - influences the funding decision of potential backers. We find that abilities and legitimacy of a startup founder are rated positively when s/he is perceived as hubristic. These results have implications for crowdfunding campaigns and highlight the relevance of personality traits in electronic markets.

Effect of e-service quality on customer engagement behavior in community e-commerce

Customer engagement behavior is a critical success factor for community e-commerce. While many community e-commerce websites are currently improving service quality to enhance customer engagement behavior, little is known about how such e-services affect customer engagement behavior. Building upon the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model, this study developed a research model to explain how e-service quality of community e-commerce platform affects customer engagement behavior through customer trust and perceived risk. The research model was empirically evaluated by surveying 326 customers who have shopped through the community e-commerce platforms. The results indicate that e-service quality (system design, intelligent fulfillment, security assurance, and interactive service) positively affects customer engagement behavior. Besides, customer trust and perceived risk play a mediating role between e-service quality and customer engagement behavior. This study offers recommendations to managers on how to build an attractive community e-commerce platform to stimulate customer engagement behavior.

Factors affecting repurchase intentions in retail shopping: An empirical study

The present study investigates the factors affecting consumer repurchase intentions in retail stores. More specifically, it emphasizes on the concept of in-store customer shopping experience. In that direction, a new conceptual framework (research model) is developed and empirically tested, using primary data collected from retail store customers. The proposed model includes twelve research factors that are classified into three dimensions (groups): six independent factors (antecedents), five mediating factors and repurchase intention (dependent factor). In more detail, the study examines the antecedents of customer behavior, which constitute the in-store customer shopping experience (Physical environment, Interior shop environment & layout, Interaction with the staff, Interaction with other customers, Merchandise value/quality, Merchandise variety). It argues that the effect of the antecedents on repurchase intention is indirect, mediated through five other factors (mediators) (Customer experience, In-shop emotions, Perceived value, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty). Under that context, eleven research hypotheses were tested, using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. The final sample includes 618 retail store customers, who participated in a web-survey. Results offer support for the underling mechanism of the proposed research model, arguing that antecedents significantly affect the mediators, which, in turn, affect the repurchase intention of retail shoppers. Results indicate that in order to have more return customers, retailers should enhance their interior shop environment and layout and increase the value of their merchandise. The originality of the study lies in its three-dimensional approach. It offers an understanding about the mechanism that impacts repurchase intentions, an approach lacking in the relevant literature. Moreover, it focuses on all kinds of retail stores, offering wider generalizability of its empirical findings. Also, it examines in-store emotions and experience of customers inside a store, two factors which very seldomly have been investigated in the context of physical retail stores.

The impact of social welfare and COVID-19 stringency on the perceived utility of food apps: A hybrid MCDM approach

The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous challenges for society due to the various ways of impacting health. This paper focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's food consumption patterns in the online environment. We investigate food app reviews and examine whether countries with a high rate of success with COVID-19 control consume more unhealthy food through mobile apps. We also investigate whether the population of countries with low social welfare eat more unhealthy food during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to countries with high social welfare. We take a hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach to calculate indexes based on the technique for order of preference by similarity to an ideal solution, complex proportional assessment, and VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje. Results show that country social welfare and success in COVID-19 control negatively affect the perceived utility of the apps. Also, success in COVID-19 control and the perceived utility of food apps positively affect the proportion of unhealthy reviews, whereas social welfare has a negative impact. The results have important implications for public health policymakers, showing that the online food environment can be an important setting for interventions that seek to incentivize healthy eating.

Influence of Individual Cognition, Satisfaction, and the Theory of Planned Behavior on Tenant Loyalty

This study proposed a conceptual framework and explored the influence of personal-level variables such as cognition, affection, conation, and attitude, as well as the theory of planned behavior, on tenant loyalty using situational influence as a moderator variable. Structural equation modeling was employed for parameter estimation. A total of 315 questionnaires were administered to housing tenants residing in Kaohsiung City, of which 300 were recovered, a recovery rate of 95.2%. The results are as follows: Tenants' cognition, affection, and conation positively influenced their attitude toward their tenancy; tenants' attitude significantly and positively influenced their satisfaction and loyalty; tenant satisfaction significantly and positively influenced tenant loyalty; perceived behavioral control significantly and positively influenced tenant loyalty; and subjective norms significantly and positively influenced tenant loyalty. Regarding the influence of attitude on tenant loyalty, the inclusion of a situational influence-based moderator variable-i.e., whether a tenant has friends or relatives living nearby-revealed that the presence of this variable significantly diminishes the influence of attitude on loyalty. The findings indicate that landlords could improve the quality of their services by implementing sustainable management measures to strengthen tenant satisfaction and, consequently, tenant loyalty.

Service Delivery and Branding Management in Digital Platforms: Innovation through Brand Extension

Purpose. Resources and experiences may give platform owners an advantage to expand their business to new areas of possible growth. However, can the winner take it all? Or is the spandex rule—“just because you can, does not mean you should”—valid for platforms, as well? The present study is aimed at narrowing this research gap by focusing on the innovation through brand extension impact on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty in an ever-greater area of the service sector. Design/Methodology/Approach. The partial least-squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is applied to analyse the questionnaires and explore the relationships between the proposed research model’s constructs. Findings. The results reveal that service innovation through brand extension impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty favourably. Customer satisfaction mediates the relation between innovation through brand extension and brand loyalty. Parent brand reputation intensifies service innovation through the impact of brand extension on customer satisfaction and loyalty, while perceived risk deters its effects. Customer innovativeness enhances customer satisfaction. Finally, perceived category similarity (fit) augments customer satisfaction while impacting loyalty negatively. Practical Implications. The findings provide a deeper understanding of innovation and brand management in digital platforms and forge a promising path forward for marketing researchers investigating the platform economy. Originality/Value. Little remains acknowledged regarding the theoretical interface of innovation through brand extension in the digital platform sphere and its consequences on customer behaviour. Building on this lacuna, the authors adopt an underexplored object that focuses on digital platform innovation through brand extension, customer satisfaction, and brand loyalty.

Cashless preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic: investigating user intentions to continue UPI-based payment systems in India

Purpose

This study aims to examine the factors influencing user satisfaction with unified payment interface (UPI)-based payment systems during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The study also aimed to examine whether the user satisfaction with UPI-based payment systems during the COVID-19 pandemic will transform into their continuance intention post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was performed in three phases, i.e. pre-testing (for developing questionnaire), pilot study (using exploratory factor analysis to ensure unidimensionality) and the main study. The main study was based on the feedback from a sample of 369 internet users who first used the UPI-based payment system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data generated were analysed using the structural equation modelling approach.

Findings

The study findings suggest that the users who are satisfied with UPI-based transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to continue their use of this payment mode in future. Factors such as post-adoption perceived value, perceived usefulness and post-adoption perceived risk were observed to be key constructs in explaining user satisfaction and continued intention for UPI-based payment systems.

Originality/value

The study is one of the pioneering studies, in the sense that it investigated the continuance intention of UPI-based payment systems, which, surprisingly, did not gain much attention from past researchers.

An Exploratory Study of Consumers’ Perceptions of Product Types and Factors Affecting Purchase Intentions in the Subscription Economy: 99 Subscription Business Cases

This study examined changes in consumer perceptions of product types and purchase intentions when a subscription model is introduced for products normally sold on a one-time basis. It then proposed product types likely to affect consumers’ purchasing intentions in the subscription economy and product categories best suited for the subscription economy. To this end, an experimental study was conducted with experts and general consumers using 99 subscription business cases. It was found that a regular delivery of products on a subscription basis gradually changes consumer perceptions of the products from utilitarian to hedonic and from search to experience ones. It was also found that consumption motivation is an important predictor of consumer purchase intentions in the subscription economy. In addition, experience-utilitarian and search-utilitarian products were associated with the highest purchase intentions among experts and general consumers, respectively. This suggests that a company’s strategy should be adjusted in line with consumers’ understanding of the subscription model. Therefore, suppliers need to understand the full implications of the new model, such as changed consumer perceptions and purchasing intentions, and strive to design a subscription model that is suitable for the target segments and product selections.

Impact of Product Placement on Purchase Intention in the Context Of Product-harm Crisis

This study investigated whether and how product placement influences purchase intention in the context of product-harm crisis. We collected data from 373 Chinese adults who completed an online survey, and conducted a between-subjects experiment (with/without product placement). Structural equation modeling results show that product placement had a significant positive impact on purchase intention, with perceived risk and brand trust acting as mediators. The association between perceived risk and purchase intention was nonsignificant. The study also revealed that product placement had a negative impact on brand trust, which then suppressed purchase intention. This finding emphasizes the importance of brand trust in the relationship between product placement and purchase intention, and shows that influencing consumers' opinion is more difficult than changing their behaviors through product placement.

Evolution of modified TAM associated with e-banking services adoption: a systematic PRISMA review from 1975 to 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to review and highlight the gaps in the research streams of the technological acceptance model (TAM) associated with e-banking services. The introduction of TAM as a decision-making process from individual and organizational perspectives is the core purpose of this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on concept-centric reviews and synthesizing of previous research. Data are extracted from a systematic literature review published from 1975 to 2021 under the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analyses statement.

Findings

This review explored that theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior are the basic theories proceeding to TAM evolution. TAM has been extended to its three versions, which are designed and modified for different contexts and cultures. Previously, the risk-return approach, theory of trust and perceived value were the major constructs or modifications in TAM. Now, TAM has been designed for measuring customers’ perception of any technological advancement.

Research limitations/implications

This review is limited to major additive constructs in modified TAM concerning e-banking services, which can be expanded to different cultures and contexts. This study sketched TAM as a decision-making model associated with the factors influencing any technological advancement. So, the proposed conceptual framework is applicable for the behavioral analysis of technological adoption from individual and organizational perspectives in any field.

Originality/value

This review designed a bi-dimensional conceptual model of TAM as a decision-making process for e-services that has not been identified yet in any study from organizations’ and customers’ perspectives.

The effects of utilitarian value on omnichannel continuance intention: the moderating role of product involvement

Purpose

This study aims to examine the factors that motivate consumers’ omnichannel continuance intention from the utilitarian value perspective and to test the moderating role of product involvement.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the research model with data on 382 omnichannel consumers.

Findings

Three perceived utilitarian value dimensions – quality, monetary savings and convenience – positively influence consumers’ omnichannel continuance intention through their attitudes. Convenience is the main driver of consumers’ omnichannel shopping. Moreover, the effect of perceived quality on attitude is greater for consumers with low rather than high product involvement.

Research limitations/implications

This study refines the research on omnichannel consumer behavior, adds to the factors known to influence consumers’ omnichannel selection and identifies the critical role of product involvement in retaining consumers. However, it only investigates the basic dimensions of perceived utilitarian value and does not distinguish between types of omnichannel services. Future research can expand upon consumer intention by considering more utilitarian values and omnichannel services.

Practical implications

Omnichannel retailers should consider the significance of these findings in guiding consumer retention and channel integration. Specifically, they may suggest more convenient methods for shopping and measures of consumer product involvement to provide utilitarian value.

Originality/value

This study adds to the literature on omnichannel selection by investigating consumers’ continuance intention. Analyzing the effects of utilitarian value extends prior research on information systems, channel integration, supply chain management and consumer experience.

Effect of Serendipity in an Encounter on Purchase Intention of Unexpected Products

Previous studies on the follow-up effect of serendipity mostly focused on the positive effects and less on the negative effects. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate the negative effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products. To verify all hypotheses in this article, we used online and offline survey data in China. Three experimental results showed that serendipity contains a certain degree of uncertainty, which will cause consumers’ perceived risk and decrease the purchase intention of unexpected products. Perceived risk plays a mediating role in the effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products. Moreover, regulatory focus moderates the effect of serendipity on purchase intention of unexpected products. Specifically, for prevention-focused individuals, the negative effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products is strengthened. For promotion-focused individuals, the negative effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products is weakened. This article augments the understanding of the negative effects of serendipity and provides theoretical guidance and support for the management practice of marketers.

Research on the Structural Relationship of Online Persistent Purchase of Museum Cultural and Creative Products in the Context of Digitalization

With the development and support of modern technologies such as digital media and online live stream, it has become an effective way to promote the online transaction of museum cultural and creative products. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model combined with the Post-Acceptance Model of Information System Continuance and the theories on customer satisfaction index, this research introduces perceived interest (PI) and media richness (MR) as variables and constructs a model of the influencing factors of online consumers' persistent purchase (PP) of museum products. The research model and related hypotheses were verified through structural equation modeling (SEM). The research found that perceived value (PV) and satisfaction (SAT) are the key variables that have impact on the PP of consumers. Perceived quality, brand trust, MR, PI, and perceived usefulness have significant effects on PV and SAT. Involvement in purchasing decisions positively moderates the impact on SAT of PV. The conclusion can be referred to for operators and product developers.

Influence of COVID-19 Crisis on Motivation and Hiking Intention of Gen Z in China: Perceived Risk and Coping Appraisal as Moderators

People’s lives have drastically changed since the outbreak of COVID-19. One concern during the pandemic has been the level of inactivity among people. Compared to various generations (e.g., baby boomers, generation alpha), Generation Z (Gen Z) traditionally spends much less time in outdoor spaces. Due to the pandemic, their inactiveness is assumed to be even more severe. Hiking, an outdoor activity, has become a possible remedy for young people to exercise in a safer sport environment compared to traditional facility-based activities. Although various studies have supported the link between motivations and hiking intention, the relationship may be altered based on psychological influences unique to the pandemic situations—perceived risk and coping appraisals. The current study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Gen Z’s motivations and hiking intention and moderating roles of perceived risk and coping appraisals in a pandemic environment. Data were collected from Gen Z between 18 and 24 in China (N = 407). The validity and reliability of all the constructs were assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), average variance extracted (AVE), and composite reliability. For testing hypotheses, PROCESS Macro 4.0 was used. The findings proposed that the appraisals of the pandemic situation (i.e., perceived risk and coping ability) moderated the relationship between two of the motivations—intellectual and destination motivations—and hiking intention. As a result, organizers of outdoor sports programs can implement viable strategies and take valid measurements to minimize the fear and worries among people in the time of the crisis.

Moving Consumers from Free to Fee in Platform-Based Markets: An Empirical Study of Multiplayer Online Battle Area Games

Companies in platform-based business markets have widely embraced freemium business models, in which profit is primarily determined by a minority of paying customers. However, the key challenge of these models is transitioning participants from free users to paying consumers. To encourage paid consumption, companies often rely on product differentiation such as providing consumers who pay for products or services with enhanced features. Product differentiation can be broadly classified into two categories: taste differentiation and quality differentiation. The authors demonstrate that extending the magnitude of taste differentiation is an effective differentiation strategy. Quality differentiation, however, is a double-edged sword and should be used with care. Increasing product differentiation leads to greater perceived value of the service, but undermines fairness perceptions.