• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.29-52
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• 2012

Consumers differ in the way they make a purchase. An audio mania would willingly make a bold, yet serious, decision to buy a top-of-the-line home theater system, while he is not interested in replacing his two-decade-old shabby car. On the contrary, an automobile enthusiast wouldn't mind spending forty thousand dollars to buy a new Jaguar convertible, yet cares little about his junky component system. It is product involvement that helps us explain such differences among individuals in the purchase style. Product involvement refers to the extent to which a product is perceived to be important to a consumer (Zaichkowsky, 2001). Product involvement is an important factor that strongly influences consumer's purchase decision-making process, and thus has been of prime interest to consumer behavior researchers. Furthermore, researchers found that involvement is closely related to perceived risk (Dholakia, 2001). While abundant research exists addressing how product involvement relates to overall perceived risk, little attention has been paid to the relationship between involvement and different types of perceived risk in an electronic commerce setting. Given that perceived risk can be a substantial barrier to the online purchase (Jarvenpaa, 2000), research addressing such an issue will offer useful implications on what specific types of perceived risk an online firm should focus on mitigating if it is to increase sales to a fullest potential. Meanwhile, past research has focused on such consumer responses as information search and dissemination as a consequence of involvement, neglecting other behavioral responses like online merchant selection. For one example, will a consumer seriously considering the purchase of a pricey Guzzi bag perceive a great degree of risk associated with online buying and therefore choose to buy it from a digital storefront rather than from an online marketplace to mitigate risk? Will a consumer require greater trust on the part of the online merchant when the perceived risk of online buying is rather high? We intend to find answers to these research questions through an empirical study. This paper explores the impact of enduring product involvement and perceived risks on required trust level, and further on online merchant choice. For the purpose of the research, five types or components of perceived risk are taken into consideration, including financial, performance, delivery, psychological, and social risks. A research model has been built around the constructs under consideration, and 12 hypotheses have been developed based on the research model to examine the relationships between enduring involvement and five components of perceived risk, between five components of perceived risk and required trust level, between enduring involvement and required trust level, and finally between required trust level and preference toward an e-tailer. To attain our research objectives, we conducted an empirical analysis consisting of two phases of data collection: a pilot test and main survey. The pilot test was conducted using 25 college students to ensure that the questionnaire items are clear and straightforward. Then the main survey was conducted using 295 college students at a major university for nine days between December 13, 2010 and December 21, 2010. The measures employed to test the model included eight constructs: (1) enduring involvement, (2) financial risk, (3) performance risk, (4) delivery risk, (5) psychological risk, (6) social risk, (7) required trust level, (8) preference toward an e-tailer. The statistical package, SPSS 17.0, was used to test the internal consistency among the items within the individual measures. Based on the Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficients of the individual measure, the reliability of all the variables is supported. Meanwhile, the Amos 18.0 package was employed to perform a confirmatory factor analysis designed to assess the unidimensionality of the measures. The goodness of fit for the measurement model was satisfied. Unidimensionality was tested using convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. The statistical evidences proved that the three types of validity were all satisfied. Now the structured equation modeling technique was used to analyze the individual paths along the relationships among the research constructs. The results indicated that enduring involvement has significant positive relationships with all the five components of perceived risk, while only performance risk is significantly related to trust level required by consumers for purchase. It can be inferred from the findings that product performance problems are mostly likely to occur when a merchant behaves in an opportunistic manner. Positive relationships were also found between involvement and required trust level and between required trust level and online merchant choice. Enduring involvement is concerned with the pleasure a consumer derives from a product class and/or with the desire for knowledge for the product class, and thus is likely to motivate the consumer to look for ways of mitigating perceived risk by requiring a higher level of trust on the part of the online merchant. Likewise, a consumer requiring a high level of trust on the merchant will choose a digital storefront rather than an e-marketplace, since a digital storefront is believed to be trustworthier than an e-marketplace, as it fulfills orders by itself rather than acting as an intermediary. The findings of the present research provide both academic and practical implications. The first academic implication is that enduring product involvement is a strong motivator of consumer responses, especially the selection of a merchant, in the context of electronic shopping. Secondly, academicians are advised to pay attention to the finding that an individual component or type of perceived risk can be used as an important research construct, since it would allow one to pinpoint the specific types of risk that are influenced by antecedents or that influence consequents. Meanwhile, our research provides implications useful for online merchants (both online storefronts and e-marketplaces). Merchants may develop strategies to attract consumers by managing perceived performance risk involved in purchase decisions, since it was found to have significant positive relationship with the level of trust required by a consumer on the part of the merchant. One way to manage performance risk would be to thoroughly examine the product before shipping to ensure that it has no deficiencies or flaws. Secondly, digital storefronts are advised to focus on symbolic goods (e.g., cars, cell phones, fashion outfits, and handbags) in which consumers are relatively more involved than others, whereas e- marketplaces should put their emphasis on non-symbolic goods (e.g., drinks, books, MP3 players, and bike accessories).

• 한국유통학회지:유통연구
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.71-110
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• 2010

본 연구에서는 항공권 예약 발권 웹사이트의 서비스 품질을 측정 뿐만 아니라 서비스 회복도 측정하고자 하였다. 또한 서비스 품질과 서비스 회복이 고객만족 및 충성의도에 미치는 영향관계를 실증하고자 하였다. 온라인 서비스 품질과 온라인 서비스 회복의 측정을 위해 Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Malhotra(2005)가 개발한 E-S-QUAL과 E-RecS-QUAL을 사용했으며, 했다. E-S-QUAL은 온라인 서비스 품질을 측정하는 도구로써, 효율성, 시스템 이용가능성, 이행성, 프라이버시의 4개 차원 22개 항목으로 구성된다. E-RecS-QUAL은 온라인 서비스 회복을 측정하는 도구로써, 반응, 보상, 접촉의 3개 차원 11개 항목으로 구성된다. 실증분석을 위한 설문조사는 항공사나 여행사의 웹사이트를 통해 국내 외 항공권을 구입해 본 경험이 있는 소비자를 대상으로 실시하였는데, 총 400부가 회수되었고, 이 중 342부를 최종분석에 사용하였다. 실증분석을 위해 AMOS 7.0과 SPSS 15.0을 사용하였다. 먼저, SPSS 15.0을 사용하여, 요인점수를 이용한 회귀분석으로 가설검증을 한 결과, <가설 I-1, 2, 3, 4, II-1, 2, 3, III-1, IV-1>이 전부 채택되었다. 온라인 서비스 품질과 온라인 서비스 회복의 각 차원은 모두 전반적인 서비스 품질에 유의한 영향을 보였고, 전반적인 서비스 품질은 고객만족에 유의한 영향을 미쳤다. 마지막으로 고객만족 역시 충성의도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 한편 AMOS 7.0을 사용하여 모형 분석을 하였는데, 모형의 적합도는 가설검증을 하기에 합당한 수치가 나왔다. 이를 토대로 가설검증을 한 결과, <가설 I-1, 3, II-1, 3, III-1, IV-1>은 채택되었고, <가설 I-2, 4, II-2>는 기각되었다. 이 결과는 Parasuraman et al.(2005)이 주장한 것처럼 E-S-QUAL을 나타내는 데는 요인점수를 이용한 회귀분석이 더 적합하다는 것을 보여주는 것이라고 판단된다. 이를 토대로 본 연구의 시사점을 정리하였다.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.127-156
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• 2012

본 연구에서는 가족 내 높은 의사결정권을 가진 베이비부머세대 중년여성을 연구대상으로 선정하여 이 소비자에 대한 이해를 높이기 위해 이들이 삶에서 추구하는 가치를 질적연구방법을 통해 알아보았다. 그 결과, 시간, 관계, 젊음과 건강, 자아실현, 의식의 총 5개의 핵심가치를 도출했다. 상위범주들의 맥락적 관계를 구축하여 모형을 도출한 결과, 베이비부머세대 중년여성은 시간적 여유의 증가와 이전/이후세대와는 다른 의식을 인과적 조건으로 하여 자아실현과 타인과의 관계맺기 현상을 나타내며 이 과정에서 스트레스를 받고 있었다. 이들은 이와 같은 현상을 대처하기 위해 건강과 젊음을 위해 다양한 노력을 취하고 있었으며, 이를 통해 최종적으로 시간적 여유가 있고 경제적으로 크게 고통 받지 않는 현재의 삶에 감사하고 있다는 결론을 도출하였다. 모형을 보다 추상적인 중심현상으로 축약화하여 베이비부머세대 중년여성의 삶에 대한 이야기를 구성하였으며, 이를 통해 베이비부머 중년여성이 여러 가지 활동과 노력을 통해 추구하고자 하는 것은 '건강하고 젊고 행복한 삶'이라는 결론을 내렸다. 본 연구를 통해 도출된 실무적 시사점은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 베이비부머세대 중년여성의 삶에 가장 큰 영향을 미치는 시간을 잘 활용하도록 도와주는 상품, 서비스가 필요하다. 둘째, 자아실현 욕구가 높은 베이비부머세대 중년여성이 자아효능감을 느낄 수 있도록 이들의 감각, 능력, 인맥을 활용할 수 있는 기회를 제공해야 한다. 셋째, 이들의 집안과 외모 가꾸기는 자아실현의 방법이므로 이 시장에 대한 세분화가 필요하다. 질적인 방법으로 진행된 본 연구의 한계점을 보완하기 위해서는 다양한 지역과 소득계층을 포함하는 후속연구가 진행되어야 한다. 그리고 이상의 결과를 확인하고 보완하는 차원의 양적연구가 후속으로 진행되어야할 것이며, 이들 삶의 한 부분을 집중적으로 조명하여 더욱 깊이 있는 결과를 도출하는 후속연구가 필요하다.