Feedback mechanisms and consumer satisfaction,trust and repurchase intention in online retail

We introduce a key construct, perceived effectiveness of feedback mechanisms (PEFMs), to analyze moderating effects of PEFMs on the relationship between consumers’ satisfaction, trust, and repurchase intention. We find that (1) PEFMs negatively moderate the satisfaction–trust relationship; (2) PEFMs positively moderate the trust–repurchase intention relationship; (3) provider recommendations and customer reviews are complementary with customers’ trust but can substitute for prior experience with products.     

Understanding online repurchase intention: social exchange theory and shopping habit

Customer retention plays a key role in online shopping success. However, little attention has been paid to how online customers’ shopping habit moderates the relationship between their evaluation of online services and repurchase intention. To fill this gap, this study draws on both social exchange theory and IS use theory to propose a model. The social exchange theory is characterized as emotional evaluation (i.e., satisfaction with outcome quality, satisfaction with process quality) and rational evaluation (i.e., trust, learning). We view online repurchase as post-adoption phenomena of IS use that entail users’ beliefs, perception, and intention. The proposed model and hypotheses are supported by the empirical data from 469 online customers. Our findings show that shopping habit increases the influence of emotional evaluation on continuance, while habit weakens the impact of rational evaluation on continuance intention. The integration of social exchange theory and IS use (continuance) distinguishes our study from others who have primarily considered these theories disparately.     

Factors affecting online group buying intention and satisfaction: A social exchange theory perspective

This study investigates factors that affect consumer continuous use intention toward online group buying and the degree that reciprocity and reputation of social exchange, trust, and vendor creativity affect consumer satisfaction and intention toward online purchasing. Data from 215 valid samples was obtained using an online survey. The research model is assessed using partial least squares (PLS) analysis. The results show that the intention to engage in online group buying is predicted collectively by consumer satisfaction, trust, and seller creativity. Consumer satisfaction with online group buying is predicted primarily by trust, followed by consumer reciprocity. The proposed research model explains 67.7% of variance for satisfaction and 39.7% of variance for intention to engage in online group buying. The results suggest that reciprocity, trust, satisfaction, and seller creativity provide considerable explanatory power for intention to engage in online group buying behavior.     

The role of aesthetic,cultural, utilitarian and branding factors in young Chinese consumers' repurchase intention of smartphone brands

Despite the exponential growth of smartphone consumption, to date, very few studies have investigated the factors that influence consumers' repurchase intention of smartphone brands. China has become the world's largest consumer markets for smartphones, therefore understanding young Chinese consumers' repurchase intention in the smartphone market is of crucial importance to smartphone companies. A preliminary qualitative study based on 30 face-to-face interviews has led to the development of a new conceptual framework including aesthetic (design appeal), functional (perceived quality), brand value (brand popularity), social (subjective norm) and cultural influences (mianzi). The newly developed framework has been tested through partial least squares structural equation modeling with a sample of 321 young Chinese smartphone users. The results show that young Chinese customer's smartphone repurchase intention is mainly determined by mianzi, perceived quality, brand popularity, and design appeal. Furthermore, findings also highlight that subjective norm, perceived quality and design appeal affect Chinese people's mianzi.     

Combined artificial bee colony algorithm and machine learning techniques for prediction of online consumer repurchase intention

Transactions through the web are now a progressive mechanism to access an ever-increasing range of services over more and more diverse environments. The internet provides many opportunities for companies to provide personalized online services to their customers, but the quality and novelty of some web services may adversely affect the appeal and user gratification. In the future, prediction of the consumer intention needs to be a main focus for selecting the web services for an application. The aim of this study is to predict online consumer repurchase intentions; to accomplish this objective a hybrid approach is chosen with a combination of machine learning techniques and artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm being used. The study starts with identification of consumer characteristics for repurchase intention, followed by determining the feature selection of consumer characteristics and shopping mall attributes (with >0.1 threshold value) for the prediction model using ABC. Finally, validation using k-fold cross has been employed to measure the best classification model robustness. The classification models, viz. decision trees (C5.0), AdaBoost, random forest, support vector machine and neural network, are utilized to predict consumer purchase intention. Performance evaluation of identified models on training–testing partitions (70–30%) of the data set shows that the AdaBoost method outperforms other classification models, with sensitivity and accuracy of 0.95 and 97.58%, respectively, on testing the data set. Examining the consumer repurchase intentions by considering both shopping mall and consumer characteristics makes this study unique.

     

Predicting emotions in online social networks: challenges and opportunities

Online social networking has become a popular means of information exchange and social interactions. Users of these platforms generate massive amounts of data about their relationships, behaviors, interests, opinions, locations visited, items purchased, and subjective experiences of various aspects of life. Moreover, these platforms enable people from wide-ranging social and cultural backgrounds to synergize and interact. One interesting area of research is the emotional dimensions contained in this user-generated content, specifically, emotion detection and prediction, which involve the extraction and analysis of emotions in social network data. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive overview and better understanding of the current state of research regarding emotion detection in online social networks by performing a systematic literature review (SLR). SLRs help identify the gaps, challenges, and opportunities in a field of study through a careful examination of current research to understand the methods and results, ultimately highlighting methodological concerns that can be used to improve future work in the field. Hence, we collected and analyzed studies that focused on emotion in social network posts and discussed various topics published in digital databases between 2010 and December 2020. Over 239 articles were initially included in the collection, and after the selection process and application of our quality criteria, 104 articles were examined, and the results showed a robust extant body of literature on the text-based emotion analysis model, while the image-based requires more attention as well as the multiple modality emotion analysis.

     

Determinants of repurchase intention in online group-buying: The perspectives of DeLone & McLean IS success model and trust

The purpose of this study is to propose a theoretical model to examine the antecedents of repurchase intention in online group-buying by integrating the perspective of DeLone & McLean IS success model and the literature of trust. The model was tested using the data collected from 253 customers of a group-buying website in Taiwan. The results show that satisfaction with website, satisfaction with sellers, and perceived quality of website have positive influences on repurchase intention, while perceived quality of website and perceived quality of sellers have significant impacts on satisfaction with website and satisfaction with sellers, respectively. The results also show that trust in website has positive influences on perceived quality of website and satisfaction with website, whereas trust in sellers influence perceived quality of sellers and satisfaction with sellers significantly. Finally, the results show that perceived size of website has positive influence on trust in website, while reputation of website and reputation of sellers significantly affect trust in website and trust in sellers, respectively. The implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Social interaction and continuance intention in online auctions: A social capital perspective

This study explores how interaction within an online auction community affects online auction actor intention to continue trading with others. Adopting a social perspective drawing on social capital theory and IS literature, this study investigates how interactions among actors contribute to the creation and advancement of social capital. The analytical results demonstrate that the influence of user interaction on continuance intention in online auctions is mediated by the creation of various dimensions of social capital at the community level. Finally, the implications of the study findings are discussed.     

具有企业社会责任的闭环供应链回收及定价决策

研究具有企业社会责任的闭环供应链回收渠道选择及定价决策问题.在3种不同回收渠道结构下,探讨主导制造商的企业社会责任行为对新产品定价及废旧产品回收的影响.研究表明,无论在何种回收渠道结构下,制造商的企业社会责任行为均有利于扩大新产品市场需求、提高废旧产品回收率.制造商的企业社会责任行为虽然会导致自身纯利润的减少,但有利于增加其他成员企业及系统整体的利润,实现社会福利最大化.当制造商承担较少企业社会责任时,其利润较之其他成员总是最大的;反之,零售商的利润可能会超过制造商.从扩大新产品市场需求及提高废旧产品回收率的角度,制造商在零售商负责回收时实施企业社会责任的效果最好.     

A consumption system model integrating quality,satisfaction and behavioral intentions in online shopping

A consumption system has two constitutive dimensions: the structural elements and the transaction process. Little attention has been paid to the effect of the consumption system on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions during online shopping. This paper develops and tests a consumption system model for online shopping that incorporates both product and e-service elements, and the online and offline stages of the transaction process. Applying the transaction process of online shopping, this paper dichotomizes perceived product quality into online perceived product quality (OnPPQ) and offline perceived product quality (OffPPQ), and proposes four dimensions of e-service quality integral to the transaction process. An integrative model is proposed to link OnPPQ, OffPPQ, e-service quality, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The research was based on empirical data from over 260 university students with experience purchasing apparel from online shops. Structural equation modelling was used to test the model and the hypotheses. The results show that perceived e-service quality, OnPPQ and OffPPQ significantly affect customer satisfaction. However, only customer satisfaction and OffPPQ have a direct effect on behavioral intention. A consumption system model successfully theorizes the dimensions of perceived product quality and e-service quality. The model considers the simultaneous effects of the two structural elements, product and e-service, as well as the temporal effect of the online shopping transaction process. Different structural elements in separate transaction processes have distinct effects on satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The research and its results are especially valuable for online shopping for physical goods.     

Predicting social cues during online discussions: Effects of evaluations and knowledge content

This study examined whether evaluations (agreements, disagreements), knowledge content (new ideas, justifications), or social cues (SCs) in recent messages affected a current message’s positive or negative SC during asynchronous, online discussions. Using statistical discourse analysis, we modeled 894 messages by 183 participants on 60 high school mathematics topics (typically eight people posted per topic) on a mathematics problem solving website not connected to any class or school. Results showed that recent agreements increased the likelihood of positive SC, whereas justifications reduced it. Disagreements increased the likelihood of negative SC, whereas new ideas reduced it. Meanwhile, recent positive or negative SCs did not affect the likelihood of a subsequent SC. Together, these results suggest that judicious use of positive SCs rather than negative SCs during disagreements can help students both construct knowledge and maintain social relationships.     

Interplay between trust,information privacy concerns and behavioural intention of users on online social networks

Trust and privacy features of websites have evolved as an important concern for any businesses or interactions, particularly in online networks. The study investigates the relationship between trust, privacy concerns and behavioural intention of users on the social network. The behavioural intention of users on the online social network (OSN) is captured by intention to disclose information and intention to interact with others in OSN. The study was conducted on a sample of 457 active users from one of the major social networking website, Facebook. Partial least squares based structural equation modelling was used for analysing the results. The findings of the study reveal that intention to disclose information mediates the relationship between trust in the website and the intention to interact with others. Another important finding of the study indicates that prior positive experience with the website significantly impacts the trust in website, and the trust in website also plays a crucial role while determining the information privacy concerns in the OSN.     

Disentangling utilitarian and hedonic consumption behavior in online shopping: An expectation disconfirmation perspective

Increasingly, researchers have come to acknowledge that consumption activities entail both utilitarian and hedonic components. Whereas utilitarian consumption accentuates the achievement of predetermined outcomes typical of cognitive consumer behavior, its hedonic counterpart relates to affective consumer behavior in dealing with the emotive and multisensory aspects of the shopping experience. Consequently, while utilitarian consumption activities appeal to the rationality of customers in inducing their intellectual buy-in of the shopping experience, customers’ corresponding emotional buy-in can only be attained through the presence of hedonic consumption activities. The same can be said for online shopping. Because the online shopping environment is characterized by the existence of an IT-enabled web interface that acts as the focal point of contact between customers and vendors, its design should embed utilitarian and hedonic elements to create a holistic shopping experience. Building on Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT), this study advances a research model that not only delineates between customers’ utilitarian and hedonic expectations for online shopping but also highlights how these expectations can be best served through functional and esthetic performance, respectively. Furthermore, we introduce online shopping experience (i.e., transactional frequency) as a moderator affecting not only how customers form utilitarian and hedonic expectations but also how they evaluate the functional and esthetic performances of e-commerce sites. The model is then empirically validated via an online survey questionnaire administered on a sample of 303 respondents. Theoretical contributions and pragmatic implications to be gleaned from our research model and its subsequent empirical validation are discussed.     

The relationships among service quality,perceived value,customer satisfaction,and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services

The purposes of this study are to construct an instrument to evaluate service quality of mobile value-added services and have a further discussion of the relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention. Structural equation modeling and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data collected from college and graduate students of 15 major universities in Taiwan. The main findings are as follows: (1) service quality positively influences both perceived value and customer satisfaction; (2) perceived value positively influences on both customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention; (3) customer satisfaction positively influences post-purchase intention; (4) service quality has an indirect positive influence on post-purchase intention through customer satisfaction or perceived value; (5) among the dimensions of service quality, “customer service and system reliability” is most influential on perceived value and customer satisfaction, and the influence of “content quality” ranks second; (6) the proposed model is proven with the effectiveness in explaining the relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention in mobile added-value services.     

Motivational beliefs and perceptions of instructional quality: predicting satisfaction with online training*

Abstract Many would agree that learning on the Web – a highly autonomous learning environment – may be difficult for individuals who lack motivation and self‐regulated learning skills. Using a social cognitive view of academic motivation and self‐regulation, the objective of the present study was to investigate the relations between students' motivational beliefs, their perceptions of the learning environment and their satisfaction with a self‐paced, online course. Service academy undergraduates (n = 646) completed a questionnaire following online training. Pearson correlations indicate that task value, self‐efficacy and perceived instructional quality were significantly positively related to each other and to students' overall satisfaction with the self‐paced, online course. Additionally, results from a three‐step hierarchical regression reveal that task value, self‐efficacy and instructional quality were significant positive predictors of students' satisfaction; the final regression model accounted for approximately 54% of the variance in the outcome measure. These findings support and extend prior research in traditional classrooms and online education in university settings, indicating that military students' motivational beliefs about a learning task and their perceptions of instructional quality are related, in important ways, to their overall satisfaction with online instruction. Educational implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Social interaction in online support groups: Preference for online social interaction over offline social interaction

The purpose of the current study was to identify potential factors leading to preference for social interaction in online support groups (OSGs) over offline interaction. By identifying such factors, the current study advances understanding of the way patients use the Internet as a supportive resource and integrate support from offline and online relationships. An online survey was conducted with current users of health-related OSGs (N = 158). Findings show that those who were dissatisfied with the support they received from their current offline contacts were more likely to prefer social interaction in OSGs. Such a preference was prominent among those who built deeper social relationships in OSGs. Results suggest that some people develop a preference for social interaction in OSGs over offline interaction and use computer-mediated relationships as a possible alternative to offline support networks. Healthcare professionals and users as well as designers of OSGs must acknowledge the limits of online support and caution against the possibility of developing excessive reliance on online support resources.     

The influences of system usability and user satisfaction on continued Internet banking services usage intention: empirical evidence from Taiwan

This study proposes an extended technology acceptance model to investigate the effects of system usability and satisfaction on users’ intention to continue using Internet banking services. Based on a survey data from 304 respondents, structural equation modeling technique was employed to validate the model. The empirical results found that users’ continuance usage intention is jointly determined by perceived usefulness, perceived compatibility and satisfaction level. The hypothesized model explains 48.2 % of the variance in continuous usage intention. Results of multi-group analysis reveal that there are different concerns and priorities between skilled and less skilled users. Given that the sample of this study is collected from a particular industry in Taiwan, the generalizability of the findings may be limited. However, the comprehensiveness and representativeness of the research sample is a major strength of this study.     

Science,technology and values: promoting ethics and social responsibility

The paper discusses the limitations of engineering ethics as implemented in practice, with a focus on the fact that engineering and other activities are carried out without any consideration of whether the activities are themselves ethical, and on the gap between legality and ethics. This leads to the following three central ideas of the paper. The first is the need for engineers to both be aware of and critique their own values and be able to widen their perspective to that of the ‘other’, i.e., marginalised and minority groups and the environment. This understanding of the ‘other’ and values is also applied to the discussion of ethical issues relating to minority world (‘developed’) country engineers working in majority world (‘developing’) countries. The second central idea is the fact that structural and contextual factors in the form of barriers and enablers affect ethical values and practices. Individuals are not necessarily unethical in themselves, but the context and organisational ethos may present barriers to ethical behaviour and encourage the development of unethical values. These barriers and enablers are investigated through a pilot survey. The third central idea is the relationship between individual and collective responsibility and the need for support to enable engineers to think and behave ethically.     

The impact of website quality on customer satisfaction and purchase intention: perceived playfulness and perceived flow as mediators

The purposes of this study are to examine whether perceived playfulness and perceived flow would mediate the relationships among website quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intention, as well as to assess the degree of reciprocity between perceived playfulness and perceived flow in an online travel agency context. This study suggested a research framework for testing the relationships among the constructs based on the stimulus-organism-response framework. In addition, this study developed a non-recursive model. After validating the measurement scales, empirical analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling. The findings confirm that website quality affects customers’ perceived playfulness and perceived flow, and in turn, would influence their satisfaction and purchase intention. Notably, this study finds that the service quality is more important than information and system quality in influencing customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Furthermore, the study reveals that the relationship between perceived playfulness and perceived flow is reciprocal. Based on the findings, the implications are discussed in the paper and directions for future research are also highlighted.