Consequences of consumer regret with online shopping

Negative online reviews can significantly hurt future sales. After impulsive decisions, consumers may feel regret and write negative online reviews. Two studies are conducted to understand the origin and consequences of negative reviews according to the review content and the responsibility for the mistake in the decision. The first study analyses the influence on the review creation of regret with the process and the outcome through structural equation modelling. For the second study, a 2 × 2 experimental design was conducted. This study analyses how different content in the review (regret with the process vs. regret with the outcome) and guilt of the error (the consumer vs. the seller) affects the perceived persuasiveness, usefulness and credibility of the information, and the intention to follow the advice. The results show that for generating negative reviews, it is the regret with the process coupled with the presence of regret with the outcome which ultimately leads to the intention to write negative reviews. However, the results of the second study show that reviews that criticize the outcome are more damaging than those that criticize the process. Furthermore, reviews that show regret in which the buyer is responsible affect readers more through the greater persuasion they generate

The invisible hand of touch: testing a tactile sensation-choice satisfaction model in online shopping

This study tests a model of the relationship between online store sensory environments and consumer responses using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) paradigm. The aim is to a) examine the ability of three online product presentation formats (OPPFs) to induce tactile sensations; b) identify the effect of tactile sensations upon choice satisfaction and c) examine the mediating role of cognitive effort and affective experience. Videos are found to induce the greatest tactile sensations followed by zoom image while static image is found to induce the least. Furthermore, the more tactile sensations consumers experience while shopping online, the higher their emotional experience, resulting in lower cognitive effort and higher consumer choice satisfaction. Affective experience is found to mediate the tactile sensations and choice satisfaction relationship. The original contribution of the research is a newly validated model of OPPFs, tactile sensations, customer experience and choice satisfaction that extends theoretical understanding of variables previously untested. Practical Applications: The study offers practical results from which small to medium sized, or new start-up, online clothing retailers can benefit. The study shows the advantages of using OPPFs such as videos and zoom images on retail websites in order to assist shoppers by enhancing the sensory buying experience. Such online retailers may not be able to afford the investment in more complex and costly advanced technologies such as the use of augmented reality in virtual mirroring. The study shows that when online retailers provide videos and/or zoom images on their websites, they allow shoppers to experience greater tactile sensations while evaluating and selecting a product compared to only being able to view it as a static image. Online clothing retailers can continue to rely on these technologies to compensate shoppers for the lack of touch in the online shopping context which is so important when purchasing clothing

Three dimensional product presentation quality antecedents and their consequences for online retailers: The moderating role of virtual product experience

YesThis study investigates the impact of three-dimensional (3D) product presentation quality (3D-Q) on attitude toward presented product and attitude toward website, which in turn affect users’ satisfaction. Therefore, this research developed a hypothetical online retailer website, which presents a variety of 3D laptops that allows users to control the content and form of the 3D flashes. We measured 3D-quality based on a multi-dimensional construct. In other words, we define and operationalize 3D-quality based on information quality, system quality, authenticity, and enjoyment (second-order). We employed a non-student sample (n=410) to collect the data. We find that 3D-quality determines perceptions of attitude toward presented product and attitude toward website, which in turn influence users’ satisfaction. Furthermore, we find that virtual product experience moderates the relationships between attitude toward presented product, attitude toward website and users’ satisfaction. Our study provides important implications for e-tailers

Gender differences and online shopping decisions of consumers in South Africa

Online shopping has emerged as one of the most convenient ways of shopping in both emerging and advanced economies. In South Africa, it has received much attention due to its unique way of satisfying both the rural and urban populations. Online shopping is growing and carries great potential of contributing to a country and/or local areas’ economy and development. The primary aim of the study was to analyse the differences of online shopping between males and females in South Africa. The main objective of this study is to determine if there are significant differences between male and female online shoppers in South Africa. The study is motivated by the literature gap that exists on the online shopping discourse, in that there are few published studies on the online shopping differences between males and females in South Africa. Therefore, there is a lack of information on the importance of online shopping activities on promoting convenience for shoppers in these busy times that people live in. A quantitative approach was used to analyse the data that were collected using a questionnaire. Data was collected from a sample of 377 people who are online shoppers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Simple random sampling was utilised for this study. The results showed that there is a significant difference between males and females online shopping patterns as determined by specific variables mentioned in this study. Their study had findings on research hypothesis of attitude towards online shopping, the difference in the usefulness of media on online websites, perceived ease of use of online websites, intrinsic enjoyment, perceived risk and trust towards online shopping. The implications of this study unpack and provides discussion on empirical evidence drawn from the study’s statistical results. The implications are presented in a way which explains how the results of this study affect theoretical dimensions of the studied phenomenon, online shoppers and the retail industry. There is a need for more research in this environment and this research study will stimulate further studies in the online shopping environment. Future research may focus on the development of a customer satisfaction scale that uses service quality items in the retail industry, to gather data about what satisfies customers in the retail context

The role of anticipated emotions and the value of information in determining sequential search incentives

We define a novel information acquisition model that accounts explicitly for the influence of positive and negative anticipated emotions in the evaluation and selection incentives of decision makers (DMs). The model focuses on the value assigned by the DMs to the information being acquired and its capacity to prevent regrettable decisions within a forward-looking sequential environment. We introduce a novel definition of value of information accounting for the two main uses that DMs can derive from it, namely, verifying the optimality or suboptimality of a potential decision and preventing the regret that may arise from a suboptimal decision. In particular, DMs would regret a decision whenever rejecting [accepting] an alternative that should have actually been accepted [rejected]. Our formal information acquisition model allows to account for the subjective relative importance assigned by the DMs to the verification and regret value of information. Moreover, we illustrate how the incentives defining the sequential information retrieval process of DMs are determined by the relative width of the domains on which the different characteristics describing the alternatives are defined

Information System Quality Judgment for Continued E-Government Use: Theorizing the Role of Positive and Negative Affect

Affect and emotions play an important role in how individuals form judgments. Yet, the literature on technological judgments has primarily relied on the cognitive belief perspective. By segregating emotions into positive and negative affect, we incorporate affect in addition to cognitions to understand what drives perceptions about IS quality and, specifically, e-government website quality. Grounding our discussion in the affect infusion model (AIM) and prospect theory, we examine the mechanisms through which positive and negative affect infuse into IS quality judgments. We also theorize that both positive and negative affect have a moderating role in the relationships between cognitions and IS quality perceptions. We tested the model via surveying e-government website users and found that affect had a significant direct role in how they judged IS quality. While negative affect significantly moderated the relationship between experienced usefulness and how individuals perceived the three IS quality measures (i.e., information quality, system quality, and service quality), positive affect did not moderate this relationship. Finally, we theorize about the differential role that affect has on how individuals perceive the three IS quality measures depending on their affect infusion potential. We conclude by discussing our study’s theoretical and practical implications

Why do I have fifty pairs of shoes? : characterizing and explaining acquisitive buying behavior

Why do some of us have the fourteenth black shoe? Fifty pens? Thirty fishing rods? While some motivations relate to compulsive, impulsive or excessive buying, others relate to collecting, hoarding, fixated buying and stockpiling. However, there is a set of consumers who purchase recurrently, have an inventory far greater than that of a typical consumer and yet do not share the negative characteristics of the extreme buyers mentioned earlier. This set of consumers is termed ‘acquisitive buyers’ and little research exist to understand them. This dissertation establishes the significance of acquisitive buying as a new buying type in terms of defining, characterizing, and explaining the phenomenon. Three essays have been developed. The first essay reveals emergent themes regarding this phenomenon based on sixty two in-depth interviews of students and non-students. Additionally, concept mapping helped validate the results. The second essay differentiates acquisitive buying from all other types of extreme as well as mainstream buying. Citations used in extant literature and those from in-depth interviews with acquisitive and mainstream buyers provide insights. Besides, a typology of extreme buying helps position acquisitive buying amongst the other buying types. Essay three is a quantitative reflection of the distinguishing aspects of acquisitive and mainstream buyers. T-tests help understand the distinctions. Besides, an attempt was made to distinguish the two buying types based on a combination of constructs using logistic regression and discriminant analysis. Finally, this essay tries to understand the relationship between some of the distinguishing constructs using regression analysis. Results establish the existence of acquisitive buying as a distinct buying type. Acquisitive buyers have inherent needs, refined preferences and an elaborate knowledge that helps them to stay prepared for anticipated future events. Self-control, lack of financial problems and low post-purchase regret distinguish these buyers from others with negative consequences. The extreme buying typology based on self-control as the underlying factor positions acquisitive buying in the same platform as mainstream buying. However, fourteen out of eighteen constructs demonstrated differences between the two buying types. Results were consistent across three product categories suggesting that this phenomenon transcends product boundaries and is more trait-based

Fear of missing out on social media: implications for private and professional lives

The “dark side” of social media use is a topic of vivid discourse in academia and mass media. Within this discourse, various negative effects, such as social media fatigue, addictive or compulsive use, and social media use-related sleep problems have garnered attention. The Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is a particular dark side of social media phenomenon that has significant implications for diverse segments of social media users. In the past decade, since the operationalization of FoMO, scholars, especially those researching social media, have made continuing progress in understanding FoMO’s conceptual foundations as well as the capacities in which FoMO can influence the well-being of social media users. Despite the growing scholarly interest, research on FoMO is fragmented and features significant knowledge gaps, such as a limited understanding of its consequences and a lack of focus in prior studies beyond young adults and teenagers as a respondent group. These gaps need to be addressed as myriad mass media reports and academic studies have linked social media users’ experience of FoMO with indicators of diminished well-being, which in turn has implications for these users’ personal and professional lives. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how FoMO, as a context-specific psychological trigger, predicates users’ experience of phenomena associated with the dark side of social media such as social media fatigue, compulsive social media use, and social media stalking. It further investigates the influence of such FoMOdriven experiences on individual users’ professional and personal lives. This dissertation examines FoMO within the social media environment and investigates theoretically grounded frameworks that illustrate the pathways through which FoMO may lead to negative consequences. The dissertation comprises five articles: one systematic literature review (Article I) and four quantitative studies (Articles II–V) developed based on the review findings. Following a systematic review of 58 empirical publications on FoMO, Article I provides foundational knowledge on FoMO’s known antecedents and consequences, indirect influencers (moderators and mediators), study contexts, conceptualization, and operationalization. The results are used to present an overarching framework and five key propositions for advancing research on FoMO. The findings of Articles II and III provide new insights into FoMO’s influence on the personal well-being of social media users. Discerning significant links between FoMO and the compulsive use of social media, online social comparison, social media stalking, and disruptions in sleep hygiene (i.e., sleep-related habits and routines), these articles argue that FoMO could culminate in social media users’ experiences of problematic sleep and social media fatigue. The findings also show that FoMO may have an amplification effect on the users’ dark side of social media experiences on these platforms, albeit through different manifestations among young adults and working professionals. Articles IV and V focus on FoMO-driven social media use in the workplace and the subsequent consequences. In doing so, this research empirically investigates employees, who are a relatively less-studied demographic in the FoMO research compared to young adults. The findings show that FoMO has the capacity to predict diminished work performance, work procrastination, phubbing (the problematic use of smartphones during social or workplace interactions), workplace exhaustion, and work incivility. Further, these articles show that individual characteristics, such as regulatory focus and social media envy, play an important role in users’ experiences of negative consequences. Collectively, the findings of this dissertation provide novel insights into the mechanisms through which FoMO can trigger the problematic use of technological platforms, such as social media and smartphones, and users’ engagement in activities that are intrinsically linked with the dark side of social media. The dissertation suggests that FoMO and the dark side of social media phenomena may indeed have a cyclical relationship wherein one may trigger another, causing a vicious loop. In addition to advancing the understanding of ways in which FoMO can negatively influence an individual’s life, the findings hint at its potential to indirectly, but positively, benefit individual performance in the workplace. In doing so, the dissertation creates new knowledge on the dual effects of FoMO. Cumulatively, the findings of this dissertation, particularly Article I, provide several avenues that scholars can pursue to further advance the frontier of knowledge on FoMO in particular and the dark side of social media in general. KEYWORDS: Fear of missing out, dark side of social media, compulsive use, phubbing, problematic sleep, work performanceSosiaalisen median ei-toivotut vaikutukset (sosiaalisen median pimeä puoli) palvelujen käyttäjille ovat viime vuosina olleet vilkkaan julkisen keskustelun ja akateemisen tutkimuksen kohteena. Aihepiirin tutkimus on tarkastellut mm. käyttäjien väsymystä sosiaalisen mediaan, riippuvuutta sosiaalista mediaa kohtaan, sosiaalisen median pakonomaista käyttöä, sekä sosiaalisen median käytön vaikutusta uneen. Paitsi jäämisen pelko (Fear of Missing Out, FoMO) on ilmiö sosiaalisen median pimeiden puolin kentässä, jolla on havaittu merkittäviä, tyypillisesti kielteisiä vaikutuksia palvelujen käyttäjiin. Lisääntyneestä tutkimuksesta huolimatta ymmärrys FoMO:sta on pirstaloitunutta. Tutkimuskirjallisuus on korostanut erityisesti tarvetta FoMo:n käsitteellis-teoreettisen taustan ymmärryksen vahvistamiselle ja tarvetta ymmärtää FoMO:n vaikutuksia sosiaalisen median palvelujen käyttäjien hyvinvoinnille. Tämän väitöstutkimuksen tavoitteena on osaltaan täyttää em. aukkoja aiemmassa tutkimuksessa tutkimalla FoMO:a kontekstisidonnaisena psykologisena laukaisevana tekijänä, jolla on vaikutuksia sosiaalisen median käyttäjiin niin yksityis- kuin työelämässäkin. Väitöskirja koostuu viidestä artikkelista: yhdestä systemaattisesta kirjallisuuskatsauksesta (Artikkeli I) ja neljästä kvantitatiivisesta kyselytutkimuksesta (Artikkelit II–V), jotka on kehitetty kirjallisuuskatsauksen tulosten perusteella. Artikkeli I perustuu 58 empiiriseen julkaisuun FoMO:sta ja tarjoaa perustiedot FoMO:on vaikuttavista tekijöistä ja seurauksista, epäsuorista vaikuttajista (moderaattorit ja välittävät muuttujat), tutkimuskonteksteista, käsitteellistämisestä ja operationalisoinnista. Tuloksia käytetään esittämään tutkimuksellinen viitekehys ja viisi keskeistä suuntaa FoMO:n tutkimuksen edistämiseksi. Artikkelien II ja III tulokset tarjoavat uusia näkökulmia FoMO:n vaikutukseen sosiaalisen median käyttäjien henkilökohtaiseen hyvinvointiin. Artikkeleissa havaitaan merkittäviä yhteyksiä FoMO:n ja sosiaalisen median pakonomaisen käytön, verkossa tapahtuvan sosiaalisen vertailun, sosiaalisessa mediassa tapahtuvan vainoamisen (stalking) ja unihygienian häiriöiden (eli unen laatuun vaikuttavien tapojen ja rutiinien) välillä. Artikkelit osoittavat, että FoMO voi johtaa sosiaalisen median käyttäjien kokemaan ongelmalliseen uneen ja väsymykseen sosiaalista mediaa kohtaan. Artikkelit IV ja V keskittyvät FoMO:n ajamaan sosiaalisen median käyttöön työpaikalla ja siihen liittyviin seurauksiin. Tulokset osoittavat, että FoMO voi ennustaa heikentynyttä työsuoritusta, työn viivyttelyä, puhelinten liiallista käyttöä sosiaalisissa tilanteissa tai työympäristössä (phubbing), työuupumusta ja epäkohteliasta käyttäytymistä työpaikalla. Lisäksi nämä artikkelit osoittivat yksilön ominaisuuksien tärkeän roolin käyttäjien kokemuksissa näistä negatiivisista seurauksista. Kokonaisuutena väitöstutkimukseen sisällytettyjen artikkeleiden tulokset tarjoavat uutta tietoa FoMO: on vaikuttavista tekijöitä ja sen seurauksista niin ihmisten yksityiselämässä kuin työkontekstissakin. Tulokset tarjoavat viitteitä FoMO:n ja sosiaalisen median pimeän puolen välisestä toisiaan vahvistavasta syklisestä suhteesta. Tulokset tarjoavat myös, osin yllättävästi, viitteitä, että paremmin tunnettujen kielteisten vaikutustensa lisäksi FoMO:lla voi olla myös positiivisia vaikutuksia yksilön suorituskykyyn työpaikalla. Väitöstutkimus tarjoaa kattavan viitekehyksen, jota erityisesti FoMO:n ja yleisemmin sosiaalisen median pimeän puolen tutkimuksessa. ASIASANAT: Paitsi jäämisen pelko, sosiaalisen median pimeä puoli, pakonomainen käyttö, phubbing, uniongelmat, suorituskyky töiss

The end of stigma? Understanding the dynamics of legitimisation in the context of TV series consumption

This research contributes to prior work on stigmatisation by looking at stigmatisation and legitimisation as social processes in the context of TV series consumption. Using in-depth interviews, we show that the dynamics of legitimisation are complex and accompanied by the reproduction of existing stigmas and creation of new stigmas