The importance of packaging in purchase and usage behaviour

This study's primary objective is to analyse how consumers evaluate product packaging in two distinct phases of the consumer decision‐making process: at the moment of acquisition and post‐consumption. The packaging's technical, functional and informative attributes, as well as its influence on satisfaction and loyalty, were evaluated. An empirical study was conducted with a product of immediate consumption, milk, using four versions of packaging and a total sample of 265 family units. The model was evaluated using partial least squares (PLS), and differences were compared using variance analysis. The results demonstrate the most and least valued attributes, the primary differences between the four types of packaging, and the perception generated at each moment. The research provides interesting theoretical and empirical perspectives and has business implications for marketing directors and product managers.     

The effect of web interface features on consumer online purchase intentions

Corporations spend millions of dollars a year creating and maintaining corporate websites, yet many of these sites fail to reach the organization's goals [Freemantle D. The psychology of crm. Int J Cust Relatsh Manag 2002; http://www.superboss.co.uk/articles2main.htm]. Recent research suggests that these failures reflect poor website design, yet this research lacks the specificity necessary to provide practical recommendations for improving site performance [Rosen EE, Purinton E. Website design: viewing the web as a cognitive landscape. J Bus Res 2004; 57:787-94]. This study fills that gap by providing specific recommendations regarding website design elements that generate positive managerial outcomes. First, the study tests a wide range of design elements to determine those that provide human elements and computer elements. Next, these elements are linked through intermediaries using the uses and gratifications theory, technology acceptance model, and the concept of flow to explain purchase intentions and intentions to revisit the site.     

The influence of college students' shopping orientations and gender differences on online information searches and purchase behaviours

Using the data collected from a survey of 1277 US college students, this study investigated college students' shopping orientations, and examined the relationships between their shopping orientations and searches for information about and purchases of apparel products online and the differences between male and female students in their shopping orientations, online information searches and purchase experiences. Seven shopping orientation constructs were identified: shopping enjoyment, brand/fashion consciousness, price consciousness, shopping confidence, convenience/time consciousness, in‐home shopping tendency and brand/store loyalty. Results showed that participants' shopping orientations were significantly related to their searches for information about and purchases of apparel items online. In addition, male and female participants showed significant differences in their shopping orientations, online information searches and purchase experiences. This study provided suggestions for apparel e‐tailors to develop effective marketing strategies to reach their target market, for consumer educators and for educators in the retail merchandizing area to prepare their students for future careers.     

Culture, product type, and price influences on consumer purchase intention to buy personalized products online

With personalization, consumers can choose from various product attributes and a customized product is assembled based on their preferences. Marketers often offer personalization on websites. This paper investigates consumer purchase intentions toward personalized products in an online selling situation.The research builds and tests three hypotheses: (1) intention to purchase personalized products will be affected by individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity dimensions of a national culture; (2) consumers will be more likely to buy personalized search products than experience products; and (3) intention to buy a personalized product will not be influenced by price premiums up to some level. Results indicate that individualism is the only culture dimension to have a significant effect on purchase intention. Product type and individualism by price interaction also have a significant effect, whereas price does not. Major findings and implications are discussed.     

Need-for-touch and online purchase propensity: A comparative study of Portuguese and Chinese consumers

This study analyses the impact of Need-for-Touch (NFT) on online purchase propensity by evaluating the influence of the consumer's country of origin. Although NFT has been a major topic of research over the past years, the link between NFT and purchase propensity has rarely been empirically proven. For assessing the relationship an online questionnaire was made available in Portugal and China. A total of 295 complete responses were obtained and the data studied through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, namely multivariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling using AMOS. The results indicate that the consumer's country of origin seems to affect the relevance of the sense of touch for apparel. Consumers with high levels of NFT are more likely to engage in additional brand touchpoints and consequently having stronger brand experiences. The impact of perceived information credibility and brand experience on the perceived product quality influences the propensity to search and to purchase online. Consumer NFT was shown having no direct influence on online purchase propensity but instead is mediated by other variables such as brand experience and the online research propensity. This study is innovative by comparing the NFT between two very different cultures and by providing insights on the relationships between cultural differences and NFT, which could be of great interest for Portuguese companies planning on investing in the Chinese market and vice versa.     

Examining the effect of flow experience on online purchase: A novel approach to the flow theory based on hedonic and utilitarian value

The literature indicate that when flow is approached as unidimensional, its effects on online purchase intention are always positively significant, however the results of the studies where the flow is approached as a multidimensional level, is far from indicating a general tendency. The inconsistent results appeared in the literature are regarded as a result of overlooking both the utilitarian and hedonic significance of research context and the hedonic and utilitarian characteristics of the flow's sub-dimensions. In this direction, the effects of flow on online purchase intention are examined upon consideration of those two factors. Research's data were gathered via e-mail survey from an online shopping website's database. A total of 490 samples obtained in this study were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results indicates that the flow's most valuable antecedent is feedback in the context of online purchase. The dimensions of “enjoyment”, “perceived control” and “merging of action and awareness” has positive and time distortion has negative significant effects on online purchase intention. However, no significant effects of the concentration and curiosity on online purchase intention were determined.     

Internet service providers' service quality and its effect on customer loyalty of different usage patterns

This study attempts to investigate the dimensions of an ISP's service quality, and their effects on customer loyalty in high-tech services. Data was obtained from 1231 internet users. The analyses include segmenting ISPs' customers on the basis of their usage pattern and evaluating their perceptions of Internet service quality dimensions. Through the use of structural equation modelling and bias correct bootstrapping techniques, the study confirms that service quality dimensions can influence both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. These effects, however, are different across different groups of ISP customers. The contribution of the present paper stems from the modelling of mediation effects and the incorporation of Internet usage that can help better explain the impact of service quality dimensions on customers' loyalty in high-tech service settings.     

Opportunities for active stock-out management in online stores: The impact of the stock-out policy on online stock-out reactions

This paper investigates the impact of an online retailer's stock-out policy on consumers’ category purchase and choice decisions. We investigate three different policies: (1) stock-outs are immediately visible and there are no replacement suggestions, (2) stock-outs are only visible after purchase attempts and (3) stock-outs are immediately visible but a replacement item is suggested. Results from an online grocery shopping experiment reveal that the adopted stock-out policy has a significant impact on both decisions. Making stock-outs not immediately visible creates confusion and intensifies the consumer's loss experience, thereby reducing the tendency to buy in the category. Suggesting a replacement item, in contrast, facilitates the substitution decision and slightly reduces the purchase cancellation rate. It also substantially increases the suggested item's choice probability. Yet, this effect disappears when higher-priced - suspicious - items are suggested. Overall, these results indicate that online grocery retailers have an interest in pursuing open and convenience-oriented stock-out policies.     

The influence of culture,emotions, intangibility,and atmospheric cues on online behavior

This paper examines how emotions and website atmospheric cues influence service tangibility and consumer attitudes. The proposed model was compared across three cultures: North America (Canada and U.S.), China, and the Middle East. The findings support the overall model and demonstrate several non-invariant paths across the groups. Particularly, the results suggest how the influences of two emotional dimensions (pleasure and dominance) on consumer perceptions of site atmospherics vary across cultures. Moreover, the effects of service tangibility dimensions (physical tangibility, specificity, and mental tangibility) on consumers' attitudes toward the website and service vary significantly across the three cultures. Mental tangibility has the greatest influence on North American customers' attitudes, while physical tangibility and specificity have the greatest impact on Chinese and Middle Eastern customers' attitudes, respectively.     

Multi-channel store image and the effects on purchase intention

Consumer practices of purchasing goods and services through multiple channels versus a single channel have become common and reflect a change in purchase behaviours. This study identifies six dimensions of the multi-channel store image and proposes that they have positive effects on purchase intention and consumer characteristics moderate the relationship. A survey questionnaire was developed and administered to shoppers of two bookstores in Taiwan. A structural model tested the direct effects of the multi-channel store image on purchase intention, and that the moderating effects of consumer characteristics. The results suggest that four of the six dimensions – financial concern, psychosocial concern, time and convenience, and usefulness influence purchase intention. Consumer characteristics (age, gender, education, occupation) did not moderate the relationship.     

广告新闻化的历史文化探究

广告新闻化所衍生出的系列问题已经引起普遍关注，但已有研究多集中于社会转型、操守缺失与技术视角之下，本文无意于对这一问题所引起的道德法律问题予以辩护，目的在于打开一个历史文化的视角来明晰广告新闻化的更多表征，文章分别从广告与新闻共有的商业起源、政党报刊的劝服用意、印刷技术的影响与后现代文化流变等方面对此问题予以开掘。     

The effects of online shopping attributes on satisfaction–purchase intention link: a longitudinal study

Attributes of online satisfaction are dynamic. Specifically, it remains to be examined how online shopping attributes empirically affect changes in satisfaction that leads to repurchase behaviours over time and why. The present study develops a theoretical framework for conceptualizing satisfaction with temporal effects and empirically tests it using longitudinal data from 219 online customers. The results indicate that the relationship between attribute‐level evaluations and satisfaction, which has only been examined in terms of predictors of satisfaction in prior literature, is dynamic and changes over time. Changed attributes (particularly convenience and site design) might signal an opportunity to capture the dynamics of attribute‐level evaluations over time. Furthermore, the findings reveal significant temporal effects of satisfaction and purchase intention at time point T on satisfaction and purchase intention at time point T + 1. The results suggest that temporal effects occur as a diagnostic function of a previous attribute rating of a subsequent satisfaction evaluation and the consumer's level of subjective knowledge.     

The effect of the Internet on international trade

We find that the Internet stimulates trade. Evidence from time-series and cross-section regressions shows a significant effect of the Internet on trade in recent years. Our results suggest that a 10 percentage point increase in the growth of web hosts in a country leads to about a 0.2 percentage point increase in export growth. For the average country in our sample, the Internet contributed to about a 1 percentage point increase in annual export growth from 1997 to 1999. We also find evidence of proximity-biased trade growth, i.e. that trade growth is lower for more distant countries, but we do not find evidence that the Internet has directly affected this bias. The evidence is consistent with a model in which the Internet reduces market-specific fixed costs of trade. In particular, we show that an Internet-related reduction in fixed costs is likely to enhance export growth. The model also shows that the Internet does not directly affect the relationship between distance and trade; however, to the extent that competition is enhanced as a result of its development, the Internet will increase the overall effect of distance on trade.     

Comparing the generalizability of online and mail surveys in cross-national service quality research

To compare the generalizability of online and mail surveys in a cross-national service quality study, the authors use G-theory and find a comparable level of generalizability, though online surveys benefited from considerably lower costs. This article contributes to the current comparison of the response quality between online and mail surveys. Furthermore, the authors illustrate how G-theory can be used to compare online and mail surveys and take data collection costs into account. Important implications include the process and results of comparing two survey modes and the effects for service research. Martin Wetzels now also works at Maastricht University     

The impact of online celebrity in livestreaming E-commerce on purchase intention from the perspective of emotional contagion

The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) if online celebrities can directly emotionally influence consumers, and (2) if the other audiences of the same livestream can indirectly emotionally influence consumers to increase their willingness to buy the products recommended by the online celebrities. Therefore, to understand the reasons for the successes of livestreaming e-commerce. Two studies have been conducted: in Study 1, a questionnaire-based survey has been used for data collection and AMOS version 17.0 software was used to analyze the data of the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM); in Study 2, a web data crawler for data collection was developed using python software, and the collected data were processed by ICTCLAS text splitting tool and analyzed by Stata/MP 13.0 software for the econometric model constructed in this paper. This study found that the performance of online celebrities can stimulate consumers' emotions, and thus enhance consumers' purchase intention regarding the products recommended. This study also found that pleasure, arousal, admiration, and emotional trust can influence purchase behavior for cosmetics and clothing. For food products, only pleasure emotion, arousal emotion and admiration emotion can increase the willingness to purchase such products. For other audiences who watch the same Online celebrity for food products, the pleasure, arousal, and admiration emotions can increase searches for, and purchases of the products recommended. This study identified that online celebrities' performances can emotionally influence consumers' willingness to purchase products recommended by online celebrities directly. In addition, the emotions of audiences watching the online celebrities can indirectly influence consumers' willingness to purchase products recommended by the online celebrities.     

The influence of seller strategy on the winning price in online auctions: A moderated mediation model

This paper examines the impact of seller strategy on winning prices in online auctions. In our conceptual model, three strategic choices made by the seller - minimum opening price, auction length, and use of a hidden reserve price - are mediated by the number of bids placed during the auction and moderated by product type. Our tests analyze eBay auction data for four consumer products through two matched studies (two products per study). In particular, we compare products for which value is easily determined with those for which value is less clear. Overall, we find strong evidence of the effects of minimum opening price and hidden reserve prices on final winning prices. The impact of auction length on winning price is less clear. In general, our tests support the idea that potential buyers rely more on signals such as opening price and reserve price for products for which reference prices are less available.     

Influences of perceived product innovation upon usage behavior for MMORPG: Product capability,technology capability,and user centered design

Recent advances in online game technology have set the pace for tremendous growth in the development of new entertainment applications. The authors study relationships among product capability, technology capability, perceived product innovation, user-centered design, attitude, and intention to play online games. They find that product capability, technology capability, and user-centered design influence perceived product innovation. Gamers want to interact with functional products designed with a deep understanding of customer needs. Moreover, user-centered design influences perceived product innovation, attitude toward playing, and behavioral intention to play. The study includes the user-centered design variable to reflect a unique characteristic of online games.     

The impact of blockchain technology on the online purchase behavior of green agricultural products

The purpose of this study is to identify and investigate the types of trust and their impact mechanisms in the application of blockchain technology for green agricultural products. A mixed research approach was used in this study. First, qualitative in-depth interviews with consumers were conducted to identify the technological path (blockchain technology), and the information disclosure path (environmental information of green agricultural products) that affect consumer trust. Two types of consumer trust were also identified, namely, cognitive trust in blockchain technology (digital trust), and instantaneous trust in blockchain technology disclosure information (swift trust), both of which play a role in influencing consumers’ immediate purchase. Then, based on the interview results, a theoretical model for this study was developed by combining signal theory and trust transfer theory. Through a quantitative survey, 474 valid data were collected to empirically examine the role of consumer blockchain technology experience and environmental information transparency perceived on digital trust and swift trust, and the role of both types of trust on impulse buying. The results show that consumer blockchain technology experience can significantly and positively affect the environmental information transparency perceived. And both have a positive effect on digital trust and swift trust. Also both trusts have a significant effect on impulse buying. Further mediating effects confirm the environmental information transparency perceived as an important intrinsic mechanism by which the blockchain technology experience influences consumer trust. The results of this study add an empirical basis for the role of blockchain technology. It also provides a reference for technology adoption by related companies.     

The effect of negative online customer reviews on brand equity and purchase intention of consumer electronics in South Africa

This study investigated the effect that negative online customer reviews have on brand equity and purchase intention. This research examined the influence of negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on brand equity, as influenced by customer review quality, product involvement and source credibility. A 3 (high quality review versus low quality review versus no review) × 2 (high product involvement versus low product involvement) factorial experiment with 236 respondents was conducted. The results revealed that the presence of negative eWOM has a significant detrimental effect on brand equity and purchase intention. Furthermore, the effect of negative online customer reviews is more detrimental to the brand equity of a high involvement product than a low involvement product. The results also revealed that high quality reviews are more influential than low quality reviews with respect to brand equity, and the difference between the levels of eWOM source credibility has no significant effect on brand equity.     

Self-identity and internal environmental locus of control: Comparing their influences on green purchase intentions in high-context versus low-context cultures

This study empirically examines the combined effect of two crucial internal consumer predispositions, self-identity (SI) and internal environmental locus of control (INELOC), among consumers in a collectivistic culture and an individualistic culture. The study validated the extended theory of planned behaviour to predict consumers' green purchase intentions. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse primary data collected from 365 American and 408 Indian respondents. Analysis revealed differences between the two cultures. Green self-identity influenced attitude more than perceived behavioural control among American consumers, while the reverse was true for Indian consumers. Conversely, INELOC positively and significantly affected only Indian consumers’ perceived behavioural control, not that of American consumers.