THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE APPAREL SHOPPING INTENTION AND BRAND LOYALTY FOR ...

95 Pages·2008·0.38 MB·English

THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE APPAREL SHOPPING INTENTION AND BRAND
LOYALTY FOR MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILERS
by
CHRISTIE LYNN JONES
(Under the Direction of Soyoung Kim)
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect that a consumer’s attitude toward a
retail brand and attitude toward the brand’s website have on their online apparel shopping
intention and online brand loyalty. Six influencing factors including brand satisfaction, offline
brand patronage, brand trust, clothing involvement, attitude toward the Internet, and perceptions
of the apparel brand’s website were identified and tested. A total of 200 surveys were completed
by female students ages 18 to 25 who attend the University of Georgia. Factor analysis was used
to examine the multi-dimensionality of the scales, Pearson correlation analyses were used to test
the relationships among the variables, and regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.
Brand trust and the perceptions of an apparel brand’s website both had a significant relationship
with online apparel shopping intention, which in turn strongly influenced online brand loyalty.
INDEX WORDS: Brand Satisfaction, Offline Brand Patronage, Brand Trust, Fashion
Clothing Involvement, Attitude toward the Internet, Website Perceptions,
Online Apparel Shopping Intention, Online Brand Loyalty
THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE APPAREL SHOPPING INTENTION AND BRAND
LOYALTY FOR MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILERS
by
CHRISTIE LYNN JONES
B.A., The University of Florida, 2004
A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF SCIENCE
ATHENS, GEORGIA
2008
© 2008
Christie Lynn Jones
All Rights Reserved
THE INFLUENCE OF ONLINE APPAREL SHOPPING INTENTION AND BRAND
LOYALTY FOR MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILERS
by
CHRISTIE LYNN JONES
Major Professor: Soyoung Kim
Committee: Yoo-Kyoung Seock
Brenda Cude
Electronic Version Approved:
Maureen Grasso
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia
August 2008
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Soyoung Kim for all of her assistance,
guidance, and understanding throughout the process of preparing this thesis. I would also like to
thank my committee members, Dr. Yoo-Kyoung Seock and Dr. Brenda Cude, for their patience
and contributions.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................vii
LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................................viii
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1
The Online Environment...........................................................................................1
Purpose......................................................................................................................3
Objectives..................................................................................................................6
Retailers as Brands....................................................................................................6
Conceptual Definitions..............................................................................................7
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.................................................................................9
3 LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................17
Online Websites and Activity..................................................................................17
The E-Business Model............................................................................................18
Brand Loyalty..........................................................................................................19
Brand Satisfaction...................................................................................................22
Offline Brand Patronage..........................................................................................24
Brand Trust..............................................................................................................25
Clothing Involvement..............................................................................................27
v
Attitude toward the Internet....................................................................................28
Perception of the Apparel Brand’s Website............................................................31
Online Apparel Shopping Intention........................................................................33
4 METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................35
Sample.....................................................................................................................35
Description of Survey..............................................................................................35
Statistical Analyses..................................................................................................40
5 RESULTS....................................................................................................................41
Participant Demographics.......................................................................................41
Factor Analyses.......................................................................................................43
Pearson’s Correlation Analyses...............................................................................51
Hypotheses Testing.................................................................................................54
6 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS.....................................................................60
Further Study...........................................................................................................66
Limitations...............................................................................................................66
Summary.................................................................................................................67
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................69
APPENDICES
A Human Subjects Approval...........................................................................................74
B Consent Form...............................................................................................................76
C Apparel Multi-channel Shopping Survey....................................................................78
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LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Respondents.................................................................42
Table 2: Emerged Factors of Attitude toward the Internet............................................................44
Table 3: Factor Loadings across all Factors of Attitude toward the Internet.................................45
Table 4: Emerged Factors of Perception of the Apparel Brand’s Website....................................46
Table 5: Factor Loadings across all Factors of Perceptions of the Apparel Brand’s Website.......47
Table 6: Factor Analyses of Uni-Dimensional Constructs............................................................48
Table 7: Means and Standard Deviations for the Constructs.........................................................51
Table 8: Relationships among the Variables.................................................................................53
Table 9: Multiple Regression Analysis for Hypothesis 1a and Hypothesis 2................................54
Table 10: Regression Analysis for Hypothesis 1b.........................................................................54
Table 11.1: Multiple Regression Analysis for Hypothesis 4 and Hypothesis 5............................56
Table 11.2: Multiple Regression Analysis for Hypothesis 4 and Hypothesis 5............................56
Table 11.3: Multiple Regression Analysis for Hypothesis 4 and Hypothesis 5............................57
Table 12: Multiple Regression Analysis for Hypothesis 3 and Hypothesis 6...............................58
Table 13: Regression Analysis for Hypothesis 7...........................................................................59
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1: Antecedents to Trust in a Brand Model............................................................................9
Figure 2: Antecedents to Trust in a Brand Revised Model............................................................10
Figure 3: Formation of Brand Trust and Commitment on the Web..............................................11
Figure 4: Consumer Involvement Determinants of Brand Loyalty...............................................12
Figure 5: Antecedents of Customer Satisfaction for Cyber Shopping...........................................12
Figure 6: Determinants of Consumer Attitudes toward Internet Shopping...................................13
Figure 7: Loiacono’s WebQual™ Model......................................................................................14
Figure 8: Proposed Model..............................................................................................................15
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Chapter 1
Introduction
The rise of the Internet has created a new way of communicating and interacting with
other people. Since the early 1990s, the Internet has truly revolutionized many aspects of
modern life, including the way in which we conduct business. In order to capitalize on the
available consumer market, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have expanded their business
models to include online retailing.
The Online Environment
Most traditional brick-and-mortar retailers who have expanded their business online
participate in a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce model (Turban, King, Lee, &
Viehland, 2004). This means that the retailers are selling products directly to individual
shoppers online. The other major e-commerce model is business-to-business (B2B). This means
that businesses make online transactions with other businesses, particularly between retailers or
wholesalers and suppliers. There are several sub-categories of e-commerce business models
including business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), and
consumer-to-consumer (C2C), among others. The average online consumer participates in the
B2C model. Retailers are currently exploring ways to incorporate their B2C e-commerce model
into their existing business models. The result is multi-channel retailing.
Multi-channel retailing is a combination of brick-and-mortar stores, Internet storefront
websites, and catalog or mail-order operations. This mixed business model is designed to reach
a broader base of consumers. According to a Shop.org annual survey conducted by
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