The internet has rapidly become a part of an every day experience for the consumer. The rapid expansion of information and communication technologies in daily business activities is the most important long-term trend in the business world. Quality is related to customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty in both the products and service settings and thus quality is expected to be a determinant of online retailer success as well. This study focused on the critical components of the business environment with regard to organizations retention of their customers and maintenance of their competitive advantage within an online environment. The main aim of this study was to determine the effects that customer satisfaction and service quality have on customer behaviour within an online environment. The population consisted of broadband users in the UK and the research instrument used was a questionnaire that was administered to a sample of four hundred consumers at four locations in the city centre of Victoria, London. The findings of this study are similar to previous studies conducted by researchers of service quality. The most important elements that surfaced were what customers require from an online shopping environment viz. reliability and efficiency of the website, correct product descriptions and advertising, accurate delivery times and correct orders. Best practices and recommendations with regard to organizations using past studies and models available as well as the use of strategic instruments to enhancement the organizations viability. It was recommended that organizational surveys be conducted as well as recommendations for empowering and equipping members of staff as well keeping service promises. Research is needed in the examination of inter-relationships among technology readiness, electronic service quality and electronic shopping behaviour of customers as well as research into actions on the Web site that most affect the identified key drivers of revisits or repurchase. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

In order for e-commerce businesses to attract customers and consequently increase revenue, it is essential to understand the behaviour of online consumers. This involves understanding how consumers react to website elements, and what could influence the adoption of online channels. Given the applied nature of this research area, a number of studies have been carried out by marketers and information systems experts in order to develop a better understanding of consumer behaviour and web elements impact on adoption of online services. However, as web services continue to expand, so does the need for further research concentrating on specific types of products or services. Many academic articles have been published to cater for specific web portals such as retailing, banking, governmental transactions, hotel booking, and many other areas. Whilst this is the case, there remains a lack of research examining customer behaviour when using airline websites. Given the specific nature of online consumers, and the amount of business surrounding e-ticketing, it is imperative that this gap in research is addressed. Multi-faceted limitations surrounding online consumer behaviour within the airlines industry emerge from the literature. For example, the majority of previous research has relied solely upon traditional theories and as such, other important perspectives related to travel warrant investigation. Additionally, apparent links between website qualities and website adoption remain under investigated in the context of the airline industry. Another gap in research relates to the investigation of the moderating role of travellers’ characteristics such as their demographics, internet experiences, and travel habits. Based on these limitations, this research aims to develop a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary (i.e. consumer behaviour, information systems, travel and tourism) theoretical model that is capable of examining the factors that influence travellers’ online satisfaction and intention to purchase air tickets from airline websites. In developing this model, this research adopts a positivist, deductive, and quantitative approach. Thus, based on the analysis and synthesis of literature, a conceptual model comprised of nine constructs is proposed. Inspired by the Information Systems Success Model, e-satisfaction is centralised in the model and suggested as the main predictor of intention to purchase airline tickets. Information web qualities and system web qualities are considered as antecedents of e-satisfaction. The two constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) are also integrated into the model. Other important factors such as e-trust, airline reputation, and price perception are also embedded. The suggested model has been validated using a measurement scale based on previously validated items. This research adopts an online survey that targets real travellers from Saudi Arabia who have used airline websites. Interviews, focus groups, and a pilot study were conducted to validate the survey items. Data collection procedures utilized the social media channels for the two operating airlines in Saudi Arabia as well as a snowball method. Data analysis techniques including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling were used to validate the relationships and to test overarching research hypotheses. Additionally, group comparison techniques including invariance analysis were used to explore the moderation effect of demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, education level, monthly income, occupation, and location), internet experience, and travel habits (i.e. origin of the airline used, actual tickets purchase, travel frequency, motivation for travel, type of travel, and type of funding). The results from this research suggest that the most influential factors motivating travellers to purchase online are e-satisfaction followed by website trust. Furthermore, travellers’ perceptions of website quality also played an important role in influencing e-satisfaction. Price was the next influential factor. Several other factors appeared to have direct and indirect associations with intention to purchase and e-satisfaction. Additionally, findings emanating from group analysis suggest that some demographic factors and travel habits have a moderating influence over the research hypotheses. As such, this research makes several contributions to the consumer behaviour and web quality literature within the travel and tourism context. The findings from this research can assist airlines in shaping their web development priorities and enable them to focus on the most influential factors. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the application of these findings, an evaluation of the studies undertaken, and suggestions for future research.

This research explores the online purchase decision-making behaviour of consumers by introducing a comprehensive approach that covers two different viewpoints: a) individual-level behaviour and b) market-level behaviour. Individual-level behaviour enhances our understanding of how purchase decision-making processes unfold and whether they differ for different individuals. Drawing from decision analysis and consumer behaviour literature, four segments of online consumers are introduced based on two individual factors: decision making style and knowledge of the product. Archetypal behaviour of each segment is identified addressing variations in the process and process outcome for different groups. In addition, market-level behaviour investigates the actual behaviour of consumers in relation with different retailers in the market; it is based on the aggregated behaviour of 60,000 individuals. Not only behaviour in a particular website but also cross-visiting behaviour of consumers comparing multiple retailers is examined. For this purpose, a multi-level mixed-method approach is designed. Video recording sessions, think-aloud method, interviews and questionnaires are used to capture the dynamic decision-making process, segment consumers and measure the outcome of the process at individual level. Business process modeling approach and an adaptation of path configuration method are selected for modelling the process. Data from an Internet panel data provider, comScore, is analyzed to explore the market-behaviour of consumers visiting multiple retailers. A set of measurement frameworks, that have been developed to fully exploit the research potential of Internet panel data, are designed for this research. Two sectors of banking and mobile network providers are selected; this research methodology enables a much more detailed evaluation of online behaviour and can be applied in other consumer markets.A conceptual model of online purchase decision making is proposed synthesizing theory from three disciplines: consumer behaviour, decision analysis and Information Systems. This model is able to explain the complexities and dynamic nature of real-life decision-making processes. The results of individual-level analysis show that the synthesized model has an enhanced descriptive power. Purchase decision-making processes in the two sectors appear to be highly complex with a large number of iterations, being more unstructured in banking sector. The process is found to be influenced by the both individual characteristics and each segment exhibits a certain typology of behaviour. Behaviour in terms of the way stages are performed is identical across the two sectors; whereas it differs in relation to intensity of decision-making cycles, duration of the process and the process outcome, being a function of product/ market characteristics.The findings of market-level analysis revealed that banking websites are preliminary visited for using online banking services; despite the high portion of visitors, the intensity of research in these websites is low. On the contrary, mobile network providers attract a higher portion of consumers with purchase intentions and enjoy more intensive research. Consumers have a small consideration set in both sectors; and consider certain banks/providers rather than using the accessibility of all alterative on the Internet. It is evident that comparison sites play an important role in both markets affecting the behaviour of online consumers. Finally, the research stresses the use of the Internet as a complementary channel offering specific benefits in each sector.

Introduction: E-commerce has shown a large increase in the last years and constitutes a great portion of the market. This has led to a digital shift and more people choose to e-shop. This has affected the retail business, since there are new, more comfortable ways to buy your groceries. Furthermore, the food e-commerce differentiates from the general e-commence, since customers feel comfortable being able to smell, touch and see the groceries they are buying. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to achieve a higher and deeper knowledge of how the e-service quality affects the customers purchasing behavior in a digital food commence. Furthermore, the purpose is to identify notable factors within e-service quality which affects the customers purchasing behavior. Method: This is a qualitative study which has had an abductive approach. It is a combination between an inductive and a deductive attempt. The empirical material has been collected through six semi-structured interviews with Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Malhotra (2002) e-service quality dimensions for basis. Thereafter the empirical results were analyzed with the different steps of the buying process. Conclusion: Through this study, we noticed no significant difference between the interviewees which probably is a result of a high "internet habit". Thanks to the study, we were able to conclude that there are a number of distinct factors within the e-service quality dimensions that affects the customers purchasing behavior. Seeing that this is a subject going through constant development in contemporary with the digital evolution we find it useful to study, because the old barriers are replaced with new ones. / Bakgrund: E-handel växer drastiskt och utgör idag en större del av marknaden. Detta har lett till ett digitalt skifte och fler väljer att e-handla. Det har sin påverkan på dagligvaruhandeln eftersom det finns nya och bekväma sätt att e-handla mat på. Vidare skiljer sig e-handel av livsmedel från den generella e-handeln, vilket kan förklaras genom att livsmedel blir problematiskt att uppfatta i onlinemiljö eftersom beröring, syn och lukt ofta krävs. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att få en ökad och djupare förståelse hur e-service quality påverkar kundernas köpbeteende inom digital mathandel. Vidare är syftet att identifiera märkbara faktorer inom e-service quality som påverkar kundens köpbeteende. Metod: Detta är en kvalitativ studie som har haft ett abduktivt angreppsätt, vilket är en kombination av en induktiv och deduktiv ansats. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer med Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Malhotra (2002) e-service quality dimensioner som grund. Därefter analyserades det empiriska resultatet med köpprocessens olika steg. Slutsats: Genom studien kan vi se att det inte fanns några markanta skillnader bland de intervjuade personerna vilket vi tror kan bero på hög internetvana. Tack vare studien så kan vise att det finns ett flertal tydliga faktorer inom e-service quality dimensionerna som påverkar kundens köpprocess. Eftersom detta är ett ämne som ständigt uppdateras i samtid med den digitaliserade utvecklingen så är det nyttigt att studera just för att de gamla barriärerna ersätts av nya.

Individualisation and digitalisation are increasing in importance which leads to a change in the society, affecting consumers’ behaviour and needs. This change results in consumers desiring an individualised consumption experience with additional services that fashion companies should consider in order to stay relevant. This development opens up for new opportunities regarding business models such as the business model of subscription services. The identified gap in the academic literature of subscription services lies in the application of this business model to the fashion industry. Non-academic articles about fashion subscription services were found but often from the industries’ point of view rather than from the consumers’ point of view. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the consumers’ perspective on fashion subscription services and what underlying reasons there might be for these perspectives. The study is of quantitative nature with theories regarding subscription services, consumer behaviour and fashion forming the research questions and thus the research. Data was collected by an online questionnaire to gain insight on respondents’ perspectives on fashion subscription services which was used as descriptive empiricism, tested for correlations and discussed in line with the theories. The study shows that there are correlations between the theories and the respondents’ interest in fashion subscription services, but the interest cannot be explained by each of the theories separately. However, by looking into different affecting factors, suggestions of underlying reasons are offered by this study.

No description available.

The study addresses the limited and fragmented approaches of consumer behaviour studies in the existing literature and a lack of comprehensive integrated theoretical models of online consumer behaviour. The aim of the study is to propose a conceptual integrated theoretical model for online consumer behaviour which suggests a deviation from the existing purchasing approaches to consumer behaviour - hence a move towards an understanding of consumer behaviour in terms of two new approaches, namely the web-based communication exposure and internal psychological behavioural processes approaches, is proposed. The study addresses two main research problems, namely that inadequate knowledge and information exist on online consumers’ behavioural processes, especially their internal psychological behavioural processes during their exposure to web-based communication messages and their progression through the complete web-based communication experience; and that there is no conceptual integrated theoretical model for online consumer behaviour in the literature. This study, firstly, allows for systematic theoretical exploration, description, interpretation and integration of existing literature and theory on offline and online consumer behaviour including the following: theoretical perspectives and approaches; determinants; decision making; consumer information processing and response; and theoretical foundations. This systematic theoretical exploration and description of consumer behaviour literature and theory commences with the contextualisation and proposal of a new definition, perspective and theoretical approaches to online consumer behaviour; the discussion and analysis of the theory of the determinants of consumer behaviour; the discussion and analysis of decision-making theory; the proposition of a new online information decision-making perspective and model; the discussion and analysis of consumer information-processing and response theory and models; the discussion and analysis of the theoretical foundations of consumer behaviour; and the identification of theoretical criteria for online consumer behaviour. Declaration – acknowledgements - abstract Secondly, the study develops a conceptual integrated theoretical model for online consumer behaviour, thereby theoretically grounding online consumer behavioural processes in the context of internal psychological behavioural processes and exposure to web-based communication messages. It is hence posited that the study provides a more precise understanding of online consumers’ complicated internal cognitive and psychological behavioural processes in their interactive search for and experience of online web-based communication and information, which can be seen as a major contribution to the field of study. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

The study addresses the limited and fragmented approaches of consumer behaviour studies in the existing literature and a lack of comprehensive integrated theoretical models of online consumer behaviour. The aim of the study is to propose a conceptual integrated theoretical model for online consumer behaviour which suggests a deviation from the existing purchasing approaches to consumer behaviour - hence a move towards an understanding of consumer behaviour in terms of two new approaches, namely the web-based communication exposure and internal psychological behavioural processes approaches, is proposed. The study addresses two main research problems, namely that inadequate knowledge and information exist on online consumers’ behavioural processes, especially their internal psychological behavioural processes during their exposure to web-based communication messages and their progression through the complete web-based communication experience; and that there is no conceptual integrated theoretical model for online consumer behaviour in the literature. This study, firstly, allows for systematic theoretical exploration, description, interpretation and integration of existing literature and theory on offline and online consumer behaviour including the following: theoretical perspectives and approaches; determinants; decision making; consumer information processing and response; and theoretical foundations. This systematic theoretical exploration and description of consumer behaviour literature and theory commences with the contextualisation and proposal of a new definition, perspective and theoretical approaches to online consumer behaviour; the discussion and analysis of the theory of the determinants of consumer behaviour; the discussion and analysis of decision-making theory; the proposition of a new online information decision-making perspective and model; the discussion and analysis of consumer information-processing and response theory and models; the discussion and analysis of the theoretical foundations of consumer behaviour; and the identification of theoretical criteria for online consumer behaviour. Declaration – acknowledgements - abstract Secondly, the study develops a conceptual integrated theoretical model for online consumer behaviour, thereby theoretically grounding online consumer behavioural processes in the context of internal psychological behavioural processes and exposure to web-based communication messages. It is hence posited that the study provides a more precise understanding of online consumers’ complicated internal cognitive and psychological behavioural processes in their interactive search for and experience of online web-based communication and information, which can be seen as a major contribution to the field of study. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)