Thus far the existing literature regarding customer experience has not examined the concept considering the influence of different online environments. However, this research gap has been addressed from all quarters. Given the ongoing shift from online environments enabled by stationary desktop devices to mobile online environments, it is important to gain understanding about the dynamics between the customer experience and these aforementioned online environments, that are selected under examination in this study.
The aim of the study is to strengthen understanding of customer experience in the context of online environments. This study enhances extant knowledge from consumers viewpoint in an international setting by concerning the core components of online customer experience based on the conceptualization of Trevinal & Stenger (2014).
This Master’s thesis carries out a study particularly focusing on the target group of young women. Following the principles of exploratory qualitative research, the empirical data was collected in semi-structured interviews with seventeen Finnish and Russian citizens, who on a frequent basis utilise the environments under examination. Data analysis was conducted by means of template analysis.
This study makes a general remark that consumers continuously strive for optimising their experience online. The findings outline that the most optimal customer experience online develops in a situational manner, where the attributes of online environments and the components that form the experience, in addition to the cultural influences, have a significant effect on the ultimate customer experience online. As for culture influencing the experience, the results outline that values such as trust and privacy have a great impact on the experience when comparing different nationalities.
Managers responsible for designing the winning online customer experience should be aware of the influence of different online environments in addition to culture. The results of this study offer useful information about consumer behaviour and explain why consumers choose certain environments to accomplish their tasks online.
This study contributes the literature by providing empirical evidence regarding the key components of customer experience online along with outlining the influence of different online environments. For future research, there is a need for continuing the exploration as consumers adopt more and more recent technologies to enhance their experiences online.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:oulo.fi/oai:oulu.fi:nbnfioulu-201806062491 |
| Date | 07 June 2018 |
| Creators | Mäkinen, H. (Heidi) |
| Publisher | University of Oulu |
| Source Sets | University of Oulu |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, © Heidi Mäkinen, 2018 |
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