Herd Behavior In Global Online Shopping Carnival

We have witnessed the magnificent power of herd behavior exhibited by the frantic crowd during the Alibaba’s global online shopping carnival (OSC) which has made 9 Ginness world’s records within 24 hours. This study explores the cognitive herding process and the critical factors facilitating herd behavior in OSC. Meanwhile, applying the theory of carnival, this study identifies three OSC behaviors which spread through the OSC herd. Using 473 samples from OSC participants, the hypotheses are supported by the empirical results. Information incentive (e.g. promotion motivation and review information) and social influence (e.g. peer mimicry and endorsement influence) are two crucial preconditions for herd behavior; participation, interaction and playfulness capture the essence of OSC behavior. The results provide insights to: (1). the cognitive process of herd behavior; (2). the critical factors facilitating herd behavior in OSC; (3) the important OSC behavior imitated during the herding process

Determinants of Online Purchase Intention Toward Life Insurance in Malaysia: Moderating Role of Trust

This article focuses on examining the impact of web skills, perceived usefulness, subjective norms, perceived web security, and perceived ease of use on online purchase intention. It was also designed to verify the moderating effect of trust among them. Required data was gathered from customers of insurance companies in Malaysia via an online questionnaire. SmartPLS was used to conduct statistical analyses and verify research hypotheses. The findings showed that subjective norms, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived web security are positively associated with online purchase intention. However, the effect of web skills on online purchase intention was not supported. In other words, customers tend to purchase an online life insurance if they believe the process will be easy, safe, and convenient for them. The results also showed that trust moderates the association among subjective norms and intent to buy life insurance online

The Investigation of Hedonic Consumption, Impulsive Consumption and Social Sharing in E-commerce Live-streaming Videos

The use of online live-streaming videos to promote brands and products in e-commerce is “exploding” in China. Whereas, little is known about the mechanism underlying viewers/ audience participating behavior in the rapidly growing online live-streaming videos for commerce phenomenon. Based on the stimulus–organism–response paradigm, this study endeavors to investigate the effects of content and social features (information quality, broadcaster attractiveness and para-social interaction) of on customers cognitive and emotional state (cognitive assimilation and emotional energy) and the subsequently their responses (hedonic consumption, impulsive consumption, and social sharing). 200 valid respondents were collected via cross-sectional online survey websites. The research results provide empirical evidences to support most of our hypotheses, indicating that hedonic consumption and social sharing behavior are determined by emotional energy and cognitive assimilation. These cognitive and emotional states, are influenced by information quality, broadcaster attractiveness, and para-social interaction. Impulsive consumption is only determined by emotional energy

Dismantling the Black Box: Understanding Consumers\u27 Motivations for the Usage of Live Streaming Shopping Platform

Capturing consumers’ motivations for using the live streaming shopping platform (LSSP) can help guide the optimization of the platform and enhance shopping experience of consumers while watching live videos. Previous studies on user motivation typically explored technical and psychological antecedents of usage by considering the platform holistically. However, this black-box like treatment to the platform blurs the finer-grained details of consumer usage. This study takes a micro-level approach, disassembling the LSSP into 13 representative design features, and refines nine user motivations based on the uses and gratifications theory. Through collecting 237 questionnaires and employing regression analysis, we reveal the nuanced relationship between platform design features and consumer motivations. Our findings show that different design features are driven by distinct motivations, diverging from overall LSSP usage motivations. This research broadens the scope of LSSP studies, improves platform functionality, and offers practical insights for service providers

Nonmonetary incentives in online purchase decisions : An exploratory research on Finnish consumers’ purchase behavior in the 2020s

The popularity of B2C e-commerce among Finns has continuously increased as consumers have gained access to a vast network of web shops globally. The proliferation of web shops has resulted in a more competitive market which has also attracted the attention of multinational online marketplaces. As a result, smaller e-tailers have been forced to counteract the unrivaled pricing and business model of large multinational corporations to regain a lucrative and sustainable foothold on the market. This thesis investigates potential countermeasures by exploring nonmonetary incentives that influence the purchase decisions of Finnish consumers shopping online. Sub-questions are concerned with the motivation of selecting a web shop for purchasing, the role of nonmonetary incentives in purchase decisions and how Finns give value to them and why. The theoretical framework is based on findings in prior research regarding consumer perceptions in online shopping, the utilitarian and hedonic purchase behavior, herd behavior and impulse purchasing. The selected qualitative research approach studies Finnish e-shoppers of the most active age category through a semi-structured pilot interview and focus group interview. The collected nonmonetary incentives form eight main categories in the research data, comparable with six factors identified in the theoretical background. Both categorizations acknowledge and exclude an additional group related to monetary incentives which are not the focus of this thesis. The results present a multifold of nonmonetary incentives that emphasize the importance of swift and extensive customer service, the scope and quality of product selection and information, along with a streamlined purchase process and a personalized shopping experience. In addition, ambiguous or suspicious communication of the web shop operations cause uncertainty and mistrust which may deter potential customers. A cumbersome or incomprehensible web shop structure may result in a similar outcome. The findings provide a notable foundation for future research which may focus on specific incentives to describe them in greater detail, or to verify their relative influence on purchase decisions in Finland or other contexts. A larger sampling may also generate further information on the prevalence of utilitarian and hedonic characteristics among respondents.Kuluttajaverkkokaupan suosio suomalaisten keskuudessa on kasvanut jatkuvasti ja kuluttajien käytettävissä onkin jo globaali valikoima verkkokauppoja. Kauppojen lisääntyminen on johtanut yhä kiristyvään kilpailuun, johon myös monikansallisten markkinapaikkojen on ollut helppo liittyä. Samalla pienemmät verkkokaupat ovat joutuneet uudistamaan strategiaansa menestyäkseen suurten yritysten ylivoimaisen hinnoittelun ja liiketoimintamallin rinnalla. Tämä tutkielma perehtyy mahdollisiin kilpailukeinoihin ei-rahallisissa kannustimissa, jotka vaikuttavat suomalaisten kuluttajien ostopäätöksiin verkossa. Tutkimuksen alakysymyksinä tutustutaan motivaatiotekijöihin verkkokauppavalinnoissa, ei-rahallisten kannustimien vaikutuksiin ostopäätöksissä sekä suomalaisten arvonmääritykseen ostotilanteissa. Teoria käsittelee aikaisempia tutkimuksia kuluttajien kokemuksista sekä utilitarista ja hedonistista ostokäyttäytymistä, laumakäyttäytymistä ja impulssiostamista. Tässä kvalitatiivisessa tutkimuksessa paneudutaan aktiivisimpaan verkko-ostajien ikäryhmään Suomessa puolistrukturoidun pilottihaastattelun ja ryhmähaastattelun keinoin. Tutkimuksessa muodostetaan kahdeksan ei-rahallisiin kannustimiin pohjautuvaa pääkategoriaa, jotka vastaavat kuutta teoreettisesta viitekehyksestä havaittua tekijää. Lisäksi molemmat ryhmittelyt tunnistavat ja tarkoituksellisesti erottelevat yksittäiset rahallisiin kannustimiin keskittyneet ryhmät, jotka eivät ole tutkimuksen päätavoitteita. Tuloksissa esitellään monipuolinen kokoelma ei-rahallisia kannustimia, jotka korostavat nopeaa ja laajaa asiakaspalvelun tasoa, tuotevalikoiman ja tiedon kattavuutta sekä johdonmukaista ostoprosessia, jossa on huomioitu henkilökohtainen kokemuksellisuus. Lisäksi verkkokaupan monitulkintaisen tai epäilyttävän viestinnän koetaan lisäävän epävarmuutta ja horjuttavan kaupan uskottavuutta, mikä saattaa karkottaa potentiaalisia asiakkaita. Kömpelöllä ja hankalasti ymmärrettävällä verkkokaupparakenteella havaitaan samankaltaisia seurauksia. Tutkimuksen havainnot koostavat merkittävän pohjan tulevaisuuden tutkimukselle, joka voi keskittyä valittujen kannustimien tarkempaan kuvailuun tai niiden suhteellisen merkityksen varmentamiseen kuluttajien ostopäätöksissä Suomessa ja muissa yhteyksissä. Laajemmalla otannalla voidaan myös paremmin kuvata utilitaristisen ja hedonistisen ostokäyttäytymisen esiintyvyyttä ja vaikuttavuutta vastaajien keskuudessa

Understanding guests' intention to visit green hotels

The purpose of this study was to expand existing knowledge of hotel consumers' green behaviours by merging value-belief-norm theory and the theory of planned behaviour into one theoretical framework to understand comprehensively consumers' decision-making processes with respect to their intentions to visit a green hotel. Data collected from 757 respondents were analysed. The results indicate that our integrated framework demonstrates a favorable level of prediction power for guests' behavior, which verified the superiority of the suggested framework. Furthermore, its findings from fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) indicate that: (1) attitude toward green hotels, perceived behavioural control, sense of obligation, and corporate image are key drivers of guests' intentions to visit green hotels; (2) three distinct configurations of guests' intention drivers are likely to result in a high degree of intentions among customers to visit green hotels. The three solutions all contain the conditions of high attitude, corporate image, biospheric value, and green activities, which means that these conditions are vital components of a high intention among customers to visit green hotels. This study contributes to the growing literature on sustainability in marketing and practice by providing useful insights about the determinants of guests' behaviour to use green hotels in the Egyptian hospitality context. It is one of the first empirical studies examining factors affecting guests' behavior to use green hotels in the Egyptian hospitality context

The impact of influencers' visual content in social media on consumers' purchase intention: the case of SMEs restaurants in Saudi Arabia

The impact of information on consumers' purchase intentions has been known for quite some time. Ever since the idea of consulting family members and friends regarding their purchase, and with the evolution of the Tv and the Internet, consumers have reached a new level of access to products' related content. So they can be informed and evaluate purchases and share their experiences not only with people close to them but also with an endless number of current and potential consumers. Moreover, such a way of content sharing between people had primarily been formed in the verbal and textual form, more precisely verbally in face-to-face interaction and textually through the Internet, all to serve the purpose of informing other consumers about brands. Researchers have long acknowledged and investigated such a way of content exchanging under the well-known topics of word of mouth (WOM) and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and their influence on consumers' purchase intentions. With the constant evolution of the Internet, a new communication channel has emerged known as social media platforms. A way of connecting with people worldwide so that they can reach each other all the time, regardless of any barriers. An area of interest that academics have found fascinating in investigating eWOM and its impact on consumers' choices. Such an exchange of words over social media applications can reshape consumers' intentions regarding their potential purchases. However, as we live in a world where technology evolution never stops, these social media applications have reached different and more exciting features, as users not only can interact verbally but now have the ability to interact visually via different online platforms. So the entire idea of eWOM has changed to a more advanced level, known as visual eWOM. Moreover, users of such applications can share brand-related content visually in the form of pictures and videos. A feature that makes platforms developers race against time to develop the best way to introduce new applications that make the best use of such a modern technological feature. So nowadays, we can see an endless number of social media applications that enable people to communicate visually. Nevertheless, there are few applications which have been tremendously popular. Instagram and Snapchat are two relatively recent platforms that can be mainly viewed to serve the visual exchange of content. Their popularity has reached almost most social media users worldwide. From such a perspective, the idea of exploring and investigating such visual content and how it influences consumers have become highly crucial. Not only due to how such content impacts consumers but also to how this content on social media applications can be spread among millions of people, as well as how brands can take advantage of such an excellent way of communication with current and potential consumers. An area of interest that this thesis aims to investigate. To do so, this research is built into two main phases; the first phase aims to explore the usage of social media among Saudi consumers and gather as much information as possible on their usage behaviour and the impact of social media influencers on their purchase behaviour. Through a survey of 512 Saudi consumers. The results show that Saudi consumers use social media at a very high rate, more precisely Instagram and Snapchat, and they follow and view social media influencers' content at a tremendously high percentage. However, when it comes to the impact of such content on consumers, the results indicate a low influence on consumers' purchase intentions regarding their restaurants' choices. The second phase of this thesis is to analyse content on social media applications. In detail, it examines the content, the source of the content (social media influencers), and consumers' behaviour toward the content. In order to reach such, a theoretical model was developed based on the integration of the Information Acceptance Model (IACM). The results highlighted that visual content quality, source credibility, source experience, content quantity, adoption of content, attitude toward content and subjective norms are the primary factors for visual eWOM in social media (Instagram and Snapchat) that influence consumers' purchase intentions. This thesis contributes to theoretical implications through its validated model and introduced vital findings. Moreover, the research model highlights a new approach to information adoption by expanding the IACM and introducing new insights to researchers. Future studies can consider the research model to investigate the visual content in social media and its influence on consumers' purchase intentions. Moreover, this study's results can help researchers consider other factors in studying the impact of such technology, such as employing the results to examine other social media applications that serve the visual feature, such as TikTok. Also, since this research was only conducted through a quantitative method, employing qualitative or mixed methods can be beneficial in providing a complete picture of visual eWOM influence. A further benefit of this study is how it considers the cultural character of Saudi consumers. Yet, other studies might find it worth considering other cultural factors or employing such findings in different countries. The same goes with considering different categories besides SMEs restaurants

Chokepoints : internet intermediaries and the private regulation of counterfeit goods on the internet

This dissertation examines non-state regulation on the Internet, specifically the capacity of corporate actors to create private regulatory arrangements and the degree to which those efforts may rely upon the state. It critically traces the interactions and inter-dependencies between corporate actors and the state through the lens of corporate online anti-counterfeiting enforcement efforts. Between 2010 and 2013, small groups of multinational corporations and government officials from the United States, United Kingdom and the European Commission created a global private regulatory regime to control websites selling counterfeit goods. In this regime, for the first time, major U.S.-based Internet firms, like Google and PayPal, adopted so-called "voluntary best practices" agreements that guide their regulation of these websites on behalf of rights holders. This project examines eight of these agreements that pertain to five Internet sectors: advertising, domain name, marketplace, payment, and search services. In this particular case of private regulation, the state plays a strong, even central role. "Voluntary agreements" are a deliberate misnomer as government actors, acting in concert with rights holders, employed varying degrees of coercion to pressure major Internet firms and payment providers to adopt industry-derived best practices. Despite these coercive elements, however, there are common financial and reputational interests between rights holders and Internet firms. More importantly, these agreements serve strategic economic and national security interests, particularly those of the United States. The U.S. government, the principal architect of the regime, has interests in the protection of intellectual property because of its large stable of successful rights holders. In addition, it has national security interests in tapping into the vast troves of personal and commercial data that firms, such as Google and Yahoo, collect from their users. Corporate agreements to regulate the online distribution of counterfeit goods speak to private regulation on the Internet more generally. This dissertation contends that large corporate actors-both rights holders and Internet firms-can act as arbiters on the legality of technologies, services and applications on the Internet. In doing so, they can have significant influence in determining what types of new technologies and services prosper and which fail. Corporate anti-counterfeiting efforts demonstrate not only the considerable regulatory capacity of these Internet firms but also state and corporate interests in working with these firms to set rules and standards that govern Internet services