A valued agent: How ECAs affect website customers' satisfaction and behaviors

Building on literature related to selling and embodied conversational agents (ECA), this research seeks to determine how the use of an ECA might improve users’ perceptions of shopping value (hedonic and utilitarian) and the consequences for their purchase intentions and satisfaction with the website. This analysis focuses specifically on three ECA usage consequences: playfulness, decision quality, and social presence. Hedonic value mediates the effects of playfulness and social presence on satisfaction and behavioral intentions; utilitarian shopping value mediates the effects of decision quality. The results highlight the importance of accounting for both utilitarian and hedonic features to understand ECA outputs in e-commerce sites.     

Shopping Benefits of Multichannel Assortment Integration and the Moderating Role of Retailer Type

To what extent should multichannel retailers integrate assortments across channels? Previous literature controversially discusses the question of which integration strategy is most successful but arguments are only conceptual, and no empirical assessment exists. This article presents a framework that (a) shows how customers’ perceived shopping benefits of variety, convenience, and reduced risk mediate the impact of multichannel assortment integration (full, asymmetrical, no) on patronage intentions and (b) differentiates the impact for retailer types based on substitutive, complementary, and independent assortment relations. Two large-scale experimental studies empirically investigate whether a dominant integration strategy exists in the context of full and simultaneous information (Study 1) and more uncertain and subsequent information accessibility (Study 2). We consistently find that full integration dominates no integration across assortment relations, but asymmetrical integration—the strategy that is most often realized by multichannel retailers—can have a detrimental impact for substitutive relations compared with no integration. Asymmetrical integration can be more beneficial than full integration for independent relations, while customer outcomes differ less for complementary relations. Researchers and managers can use our findings to understand how shopping benefits of variety, convenience, and reduced risk explain the different customer outcomes of multichannel assortment integration, depending on retailer type.     

Shopping orientation segments: exploring differences in store patronage and attitudes toward retail store environments among female apparel consumers

The purpose of this study was to identify shopping orientation segments for US female consumers. The sample included 151 women, aged 18 years and over. This research examined differences in the segments relative to store patronage preferences (i.e. department, discount, specialty), attitude toward the environment of the store selected as first choice when shopping for a specific apparel item (i.e. a dress), and demographic characteristics. Cluster analysis revealed that four shopping segments described the female consumers. The segments were named Decisive Apparel Shopper, Confident Apparel Shopper, Highly Involved Apparel Shopper, and Extremely Involved Apparel Shopper, based on several shopping factors. Differences were found among the shopping orientation segments for store of first choice, attitude and household income. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Switching up the delivery game: Understanding switching intention to retail drone delivery services

Drone delivery services have been gaining momentum in retail due to the surge in digital commerce, and retail giants are seen making significant progress in delivering parcels with minimal human intervention. However, the wider diffusion of drone delivery services requires an in-depth understanding of consumers' switching intention from traditional delivery services to drone delivery services. To address this gap, the present study aims to propose and validate an asymmetric model encompassing innovation barriers, shopping motivations, and individual differences (i.e., inertia and affinity for technology interaction) in understanding consumers’ switching intention. An online survey was conducted. The data was analyzed using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results revealed five configurations with different combinations of causal antecedents.     

审计收费、审计师变更与意见购买

实证研究表明,虽然变更审计师增加了上市公司年报被出具非标准审计意见和审计意见恶化的可能性,但是审计师变更更为显著地提高了审计意见改善的可能性;审计收费异常增加与被出具非标准审计意见和审计意见恶化的可能性负相关.公司管理层在一定程度上可以成功实现审计意见购买的动机.此外,异常审计收费、审计收费异常增加和异常降低与审计师变更之间不存在显著的交互效应.     

The shopping list in goal-directed shopping: scale development and validation

This paper aims to develop and validate a shopping list scale in a goal-directed shopping context based on three complementary study phases (and literature review): shopper interviews (exploratory stage to identify the items and dimensions), a pilot study with 162 respondents for scale purification, and a refined questionnaire administered to 213 respondents (to establish reliability, convergent, discriminant and nomological validity). An exploratory factor analysis shows that the items load onto four factors: memory aid, money controller, shopping controller, and deviation controller. We performed confirmatory factor analysis to test the model and check for reliability and validity of the anticipated scale. The model fit and reliability levels are acceptable, as are the convergent and discriminant validities of the scale. The scale is a second-order factor, thus satisfying nomological validity. The shopping list scale should be of interest to researchers and retail managers in exploring factors and outcomes of goal-directed shopper behaviour.     

The effects of mall renovation on shopping values,satisfaction and spending behaviour

Managers renovate malls to keep up with newer shopping centres and retail formats that erode traffic. This paper investigates shoppers׳ psychological processes that trigger changes in spending behaviour in the renovated mall. Renovation has a direct impact on the perception of the mall atmosphere and an indirect one on shoppers׳ hedonic and utilitarian values, satisfaction, and spending. Renovation affects shoppers׳ spending through the perception of utilitarian shopping benefits.This study is the first of its kind to explore the effects of mall renovation on shoppers׳ spending. It focuses on the effect of renovations on shoppers׳ holistic perception of the mall atmosphere. The hedonic benefit contributes more to shoppers׳ satisfaction than does the utilitarian value. However, the utilitarian value affects shoppers׳ spending while the hedonic value does not.     

A comparison of online and offline gender and goal directed shopping online

The aim of this paper is to model the effect of the consumers’ perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour on online utilitarian shopping motivation and purchase intentions. We hypothesise that when consumers shop online, their behaviour is mediated by two gendered behaviours, namely offline and online. To test this hypothesis, 515 usable responses were collected in face-to-face interviews. The conceptual model was tested with confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) across five product categories. Our findings show that the effect of a consumer's perception of their gendered behaviour offline vs. online on online utilitarian shopping motivation and purchase intentions is significantly different. In particular we found that utilitarian shopping motivation online has a significant effect on purchase intentions online mediated by gender (online) overall: strongly for females but not for males. Conversely, utilitarian shopping motivation online has a significant effect on purchase intentions online mediated by gender (offline) for males but not overall and for females.     

Generic drugs in times of economic crisis: Are there changes in consumer purchase intention?

This research aims to investigate the moderating role of an economic crisis in the consumer purchase intention toward generic drugs (GDs), and it uses a quantitative questionnaire survey to collect data through face-to-face interviews and robust statistical analyses. The results reinforce the idea that price is a fundamental element in building pharmaceutical product value. In situations of limited resources, the cost savings from generic drugs represent a strong appeal to consumers' experience of GDs and closes the perceived quality gap between the brand name and the generic products. This research highlights two main contributions, and its findings provides managerial and political implications.     

Tourists' shopping experiences at street markets: Cross-country research

Considering shopping as one of the most important motivations for travel, this study focuses on tourists' shopping attitudes towards street markets while on a vacation. Specifically, this study proposes and tests a conceptual model that assesses how price consciousness and perceived utility, as critical drivers of attitudes in street markets, may influence tourist satisfaction and future intentions. As opposed to the structure of previous research, this study is also based on a cross-national comparative study conducted among foreign tourists visiting Algarve, Portugal and Bodrum, Turkey, in the summer of 2011. Study findings confirm that price and utility perceptions are the most important marketplace cues and higher level of satisfaction moderates tourists' willingness to return or recommend street markets in both destinations.