The effects of integrated information & service, institutional mechanism and need for cognition (NFC) on consumer omnichannel adoption behavior

• Published in: Asia Pacific journal of marketing and logistics Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 1386 - 1414
• Main Authors: Park, Joonyong, Kim, Renee Boyoung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Patrington Emerald Publishing Limited 28.06.2021; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Consumer behavior; Consumers; Electronic commerce; Motivation; Personality; Personality traits; Purchase intention; Retail stores; Shopping; Technology adoption; Retail management; Integrated information and service; Omnichannel institutional mechanisms; Service integration; Need for cognition; Omnichannel; Consumer behaviour; Information consistency
• ISSN: 1355-5855; 1758-4248
• DOI: 10.1108/APJML-06-2018-0209

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of consumers’ omnichannel (OC) adoption intention and explore how consumers’ personality trait affects their OC adoption behavior.Design/methodology/approachA total of 227 Korean consumers were invited to participate in a survey study, and partial least squares–structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the measurement and structural models.FindingsThe results show that three consumer groups by “Need for Cognition (NFC)” show different response to four identified OC attribute/benefits. Finally, the authors hypothesize and find that shed light on the possible ways to differentiate OC marketing for different target consumers and provide implications for practice and further research.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides empirical evidence that OC is an expanded retail format of e-commerce, which is predominantly affected by how information on the cross-channel marketing mix/retail strategies is delivered to consumers. From communication perspective, findings suggest that retail communication strategy need more careful attention in dealing with individual difference of consumers. In addition, the significant role of NFC on consumers’ OC adoption process validates the importance of customization and differentiation in retailers’ message to different consumer groups. In order to do so, comprehensive analysis on consumer database may be necessary to develop personalized OC service. In-depth analysis of consumer profile may enable more specific methods for marketing and managing consumers in the OC context. Although the study provides additional empirical findings for consumers’ perception on selected characteristics of OC (i.e. delivery approach of information and service in OC and institutional mechanism of OC), there may be additional extrinsic motivation factors which affect consumers’ OC adoption behavior. Extrinsic factors such as web design, convenience, assortment, moving saving which trigger positive perception of OC, may be important determinants to consider. Furthermore, situational factor such as social media (Huseyinoglu et al., 2018) and behavioral factors such as platform use habit (Chen, 2018) may also be significant in assessing consumers’ OC adoption behavior. Finally, this study has been conducted on a particular culture setting, and the generalizability of study findings, particularly about the role of NFC may need to be improved by cross-culture evaluation.Practical implicationsNFC-high and medium consumers are likely to use the four OC service options in future, while a larger proportion of the NFC-low consumers shows negative response to the OC service usage. This evidently shows that innovative features of OC service are not homogenously adopted by consumers, and subject to their experience and intrinsic difference, adoption rate was found to vary. This suggests that companies need to pay careful attention in implementing innovative OC service, and may approach communication of information strategically for different consumer groups. For high-NFC consumers with previous BOPIS experience, retailers may effectively engage them by enhancing and expanding the BOPIS service features, yet for low-NFC consumers, raising awareness and initiating interest among unexperienced consumers may be more imminent issue. Indirect communication using peripheral cues may be necessary to draw less motivated consumer group.Social implicationsThe OC retailers may need to set the scope and range of information into in-depth information and simplified/unified information, and address the different type of information to different consumer groups in order to facilitate consumers’ OC adoption. For consumers with medium and high NFC, it may be necessary to provide in-depth, detailed information relevant to product quality and promotional items consistently both in on/offline channels to gain their trust. Consumers with low NFC are found to prefer unified and simplified messages on information for price, delivery, inventory in on/offline channels.Originality/valueThis study addresses the perceived value of unique and fundamental features and specificity of OC service by consumers with different personality trait. The authors develop consumers’ OC adoption model based on the theory of reasoned action, which depicts relationship between four extrinsic motivation factors and consumers’ intention for the OC usage, which is further differentiated by an intrinsic factor. We segment consumers based on individual difference of “NFC” and investigate how different consumer groups value different aspect of the selected OC attributes and benefits. Findings validate the importance of customization and differentiation in retailers’ message to different consumer groups and in facilitating consumers’ OC adoption.