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A PLS-based SEM analysis of apparel online buying behavior: The importance of eWOM
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to propose and test a simple, yet rigorous model of apparel online buying behavior, capable of explaining and predicting consumers' behavioral intention. We drew on TRA (Theory of Reasoned Actions) framework which postulates that individuals' attitude toward a behavior is determined by their salient beliefs. In order to maintain the simplicity of the model, we have identified two salient beliefs capable of explaining the variance in consumers' attitude towards buying apparel using the Internet: perceived benefits and perceived risk. Both attitude and the social influence, represented in this paper by the influence of eWOM (e-Word-of-Mouth), will determine consumers' intention to buy apparel online. In order to test the causal relationships between variables, we have employed a two phase PLS-based SEM analysis.
... As a result, we are proposing the following hypotheses: • Hypothesis 1: The frequency of using online marketing techniques has a direct and positive effect on the frequency of using online marketing techniques. Online marketing techniques can be used to implement marketing strategies for the four marketing mix elements: price, product, place, and promotion [3]. Thus, we state that: • Hypothesis 2-5: The frequency of using online marketing techniques has a direct and positive effect on implementing product (H3-price, H4-place, H5-promotion) marketing strategies. ...
... The Expectation Confirmation Theory [12] places satisfaction as the main predictor of the behavioural continuity intention. This causal link between satisfaction and intention was validated for individual behaviour in the case of intention to continue shopping online [3], and will be adapted to the study of textile industry organizational behaviour: • Hypothesis 15: Satisfaction of using online marketing techniques has a direct and positive effect on textile industry organizations' intention to continue using online marketing techniques. However, decision-makers' satisfaction with their decision to use online marketing strategies and techniques is determined by certain factors. ...
Although Romania has an Internet penetration rate of 73.8%, over the world average, below the European Union average of 85.2%, Romanian Internet users ranked 28th in online shopping, the lowest position in EU, while the Romanian enterprises are the least digital in the EU ranking on the lowest positions in using social media and e-commerce. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of using online marketing tools in the development and implementation of marketing strategies and their impact on organizational performance in the textile industry. We propose an empirical model, rooted in an in-depth survey of over 897 Romanian organizations acting on the textile industry market (production, distribution or retail), which gives us a general overview of antecedents of online marketing success and its impact on organizational performance
... The challenge arises in online apparel stores, where the consumer is able to evaluate the apparel qualities only virtually. Online apparel stores provide consumers with various benefits, such as saving time and money, 24-hour availability, better service in general, a fast (and easy) process of shopping and a greater choice of products compared with brick-and-mortar shops (Monsuwe, Dellaert, & Ruyter, 2004;Loker, Ashdown, Cowie, & Schoenfelder, 2004;Orzan, Iconaru, Popescu, Orzan, & Macovei, 2013). However, it is well known that a high proportion of the returned apparel purchased in an online store is due to the inability to find the right size and/or due to the dissatisfaction with the fit of ready-to-wear apparel. ...
The main purpose of the study was to assess the opinion of online consumers about the possibility of making custom apparel using 3D body scanning technology in an online environment and to investigate the shopping experience of consumers who purchase in the online apparel market. In order to be able to propose solutions to improve the online shopping experience, we also investigated aspects influencing non-purchasing in an online environment.
An online questionnaire on shopping experience, influences on the purchase, and the process of online apparel shopping using advanced technology was prepared and distributed via several online channels to the consumers who purchase apparel online. The questionnaire was completed by 76 respondents from different European countries, the United States and Australia. In order to analyze individual aspects influencing non-purchasing in an online environment, an exploratory factor analysis was performed.
The factor analysis revealed that the two broad dimensions of reasons why consumers have never bought any ready-to-wear apparel online despite browsing are a misperception of product integrity and time-consuming searching. The results show that the proposed solutions to improve the online apparel experience, such as making custom apparel using advanced technologies, have a positive impact on the decision of the consumers to purchase on the online apparel market. It turned out that a high proportion of potential consumers are willing to share their body dimensions through 3D body scanning technology in order to improve the fit of the apparel.
According to the results, we expect that the advanced 3D body scanning technology would provide substantial progress regarding fit, visualization, and manufacturing of custom-made apparel when purchasing in online stores.
... New forms of market appear, such as the online one, which increases rapidly. For instance, at Romania level, it rose to approximately 50 million euro, representing 2.5-3% of the entire Romanian apparel market [4]. Each of us, at one point in the day, week, month or year becomes consumer of clothes and clothing provides a unique consumption experience for consumers [5]. ...
This study examined consumers' behavior and beliefs related to clothing label. In response to nature degradation concerns, perceptions about the ecological label and the factors that hinder the acquisition of ecological label clothing were investigated. The most frequently read information on the clothing label and the most important ones are size, fibre composition and price. Almost half of consumers believe that eco-labeled clothing has a lower negative impact on the environment and that by purchasing it they contribute to environment protection. The paper suggests that the market for greener products could be exploited more within consumer groups that have pro-environmental values.
... The foreign brands are so successful in Romania, as indicated in Business Magazin (07 Aug 2012), because they can deliver such a message based on an image built over decades in various parts of the world. This image is reinforced in Romania through the wide usage of the online tools, such as blogs and forums, and online social networks especially by the young consumers expressing and exchanging opinions about their fashion experiences [34]. These young consumers are also open to new experiences and excited to be concurrent with individuals form other parts of the world, as mentioned in the Telegraph (27 Oct 2013). ...
Generation Y, one of the four generational groups, prompts distinct traits with a significant influence on the buying and consumption behaviour already greatly impacting various markets. The fashion industry must tap into the minds of the Generation Y individuals as they will be the biggest spenders for many years to come but this huge opportunity comes together with challenges induced by the heterogeneity between the different age layers, each seeking distinct benefits in their purchases. This study, performed on 400 individuals from Bucharest between 20 and 24 years old with at least a high school education, sheds light on what the young Romanian consumers look for when buying apparel. It also clarifies aspects related to fashion buying decision criteria and how different variables correlate to explain dimensions of the consumption behaviour. This population segment prompts a rather rational purchasing behaviour for clothes with a significant consideration for the brand’s social value. Although the present research delivers significant insight it needs to be treated as a longitudinal study subsequent data being needed to determine the persistence of these behavioural dimensions and to unveil any new developments prompted by changes of hexogen and endogen nature.
Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has garnered substantial interest from academic and market practitioners due to its considerable influence on consumer behavior. In the virtual world, consumer interactions have strengthened owing to the high use of digital technology. Although extant literature is available in this area, the corpus of academic literature is expanding due to fragmented published studies, which increases the complexity of the current research. In this study, the author attempts to integrate findings on the meaning of eWOM; theories used to study the area and its impact on influencing consumer behavior to synthesize existing literature. Finally, the paper explicates the scope for future research as identified from previous literature.
Fashion marketing has become prevalent and it is broadly practiced in many countries. Despite the vast amount of fashion marketing related literature that has been published, broader trends in the prevalence and scope of fashion marketing research seem to remain underexplored. That being said, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to observe the fashion marketing research trend for the period of 1987-2018. The bibliometric approach incorporated the discovery of performance analysis and science mapping. This approach was adopted to evaluate both the quantity and the quality, followed by links of the correlations between selected keywords. Based on the Scopus database, a total of 671 articles were identified for analysis. In this analysis, approximately 56 countries were identified and separated into six world regions. As outcomes pointed out that the United States had immensely contributed to fashion marketing with the most independent and international institution collaborations. The involvement of 170 academic institutions and 160 journals reflected the emergence of this particular subject matter. Upon considering the distribution of 1548 author keywords, several keywords, such as sustainable fashion, digital fashion, fast fashion, and luxury fashion trends, garnered dramatically escalated attention. Finally, sustainable fashion emerged as the topic of interest through discussion of several sub-themes, namely eco-conscious, recycled/upcycled, collaboration, and slow fashion, which potentially signify the upcoming research trends.
This study targets consumers of a nonmetro city to assess their perceptions about online grocery shopping. Earlier grocery companies were targeting only selected metro cities. However, recent reports have indicated that nonmetro cities can also become a profitable market for online grocery retailers. This study is an attempt to provide an empirical analysis related to the beliefs and the attitude of target consumers about online grocery shopping. By applying belief–attitude–behavior approach, the study tests the relationships between convenience, security, and variety with attitude and social norms (SNs) and thereof the relationship between attitude and social norms with purchase intention of online grocery. The results of the study indicate that both attitude and SNs have a significant positive relation with online grocery purchase intention. Convenience is significantly related to attitude but not with SNs. Both security and variety significantly predict each of attitude and SNs.
During the recent years, obesity is increased in societies due to the reasons such as increasing stressful life, working long hours at desks and unhealthy nutrition. Therefore, number of plus-size clothing consumers is rapidly increased due to the increasing obesity. The enterprises, which want to attract plus-size consumers' attention, increase and enrich their plus-size clothing collections. Besides, the enterprises also take advantage of e-commerce, which has an increasing popularity, by selling their plus-size clothing collections via their own websites and/or e-commerce websites. This study aims to analyze the buying behavior of plus-size clothing consumers in e-commerce. In accordance with the aim of the research, a survey is conducted to plus-size consumers who buy clothing products via internet. Obtained research results are analyzed and suggestions are made.
In this paper there are presented the first results to develop some variants of agrotextile nets for various destinations in agriculture/horticulture fields. For this purpose, polyester and polyamide yarns were used to produce knitted nets on warp knitting machines. Warp knitting technology offers a wide range of possibilities for producing nets, which no other technology can match. Alongside weaving and weft knitting, warp knitting is widely used to produce textile substrates for a variety of applications. The obtained variants were tested in the accredited laboratories of the INCDTP. The characteristics of the knitted nets need to be correlated to their destination as well as the functional and design parameters.
Application of appropriate technological methods of production of certain products often causes the negative impact on the employees in the respective processes. The level of the negative impact of the application of certain technological processes on employees varies depending on where the industry is doing, and depending on the level of technological development for a company. In order to identify those negative impacts, it is necessary to perform a proper analysis of manufacturing jobs from the exposure to given influences. This study presents the results of the multi criteria ranking of sixteen different workplaces in textile factories producing and processing fibre in the area of the city of Leskovac in Republic of Serbia, based on six parameters that regularly measure and define the conditions of the working environment. There were analyzed the working environment conditions by measuring the parameters of the working environment: air temperature and comfort zone in winter (microclimate), by detemiining the presence of harmful chemical sources and hazards that occur while using working equipment, noise, the presence of vibration and the level of light at the workplace. When defining the criteria of a job difficulty it was taken into account the fact that all the parameters of the working environment are not of the equal significance, namely they all do not have the same impact on the health of the employees. The results indicate that this method can be successfully used to solve these problems in other industries, as well as data knowledge can be applied in order to improve working conditions, especially in jobs that are most exposed to the harmful effects of the working environment.
As is known, in order to reduce the ionic repulsion forces between cellulosic fibers having anionic charge in the dyebath and anionic dyestuffs (direct, reactive, etc.) used in dyeing, it is necessary to add a considerable amount of salt to the ; dyebath particularly during reactive dyeing. The high salinity in the wastewater is an environmental hazard. For this reason, in this study linen fabn'cs were subjected to cationization process in order to achieve salt free dyeing with direct and reactive dyes. In order to determine the optimum conditions of cationization process, linen fabrics were treated with polyaminochlorohydrin quaternary ammonium based cationization agent at different concentrations, pH values, times ; and temperatures. Then the cationized fabrics were dyed with direct and reactive dyes. Nitrogen content (N%), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were also realized to investigate the effects of cationization process on chemical and morphological structure of flax fibers. According to the experimental results, the optimum conditions for cationization of linen fabrics were found to be 9% cationization agent, pH 10 and 75°C for • 45 minutes. Furthermore, it was determined that the color efficiency was higher in case of cationized and salt free dyed linen fabrics compared to the un-treated and conventionally dyed samples.
On the fashion products market, the design and aesthetics elements are an important factor in the buyers' decision process. The present article highlights the influences of these elements on the fashion market from Romania. In this respect, a quantitative market research was conducted on a sample of 496 female subjects, having the identification of the design and aesthetics elements' role in choosing fashion attires as a target. Based on the results obtained, the favorite fashion styles, mixtures between the cut and the materials used or predominant colors, elements that define the specific of domestic clothing market were shown.
The CAD/CAM design system was used to create custom patterns for knee and elbow elastic bandages using a 3D Scan View 'Anthroscan Human Solution''. The OPTITEX program "Pressure Map" characteristic was used to simulate the elastic bandages pressures on the arm and leg. The characteristics of: force (N) by means of the IAMADA type apparatus/device, thickness (mm), mass (g/m) and elasticity (%) using the CETME apparatus/device were determined. The analysis of the values calculated by means of the SPSS software revealed for the significance threshold of 0.05, the correlation between: pressure and thickness, pressure and mass, mass and thickness, elasticity and thickness of the bandages. The identified values allow the correlation of the design parameters with the type of trauma of the persons with orthopedic disorders.
This paper analyzed the effects of granular activated carbon mesh size, absorption temperature and time, dye wastewater pH value and concentration, and structure of disperse dye on the decolorization rate of activated carbon in dye wastewater, which can be used to investigate the adsorption effect of granular activated carbon for the dye wastewater. The research results show that the decolorization rate of cocoanut activated carbon used to adsorb disperse dye increases at a quadratic function with the increase of the granular activated carbon mesh size and absorption temperature, and it also increases exponentially with the extension of absorption time. However, the decolorization rate of cocoanut activated carbon used to adsorb disperse dye decreases at a quadratic function with the increase of dye wastewater pH value, and it also decreases exponentially with the increase of dye wastewater concentration. Furthermore, the decolorization rate of cocoanut activated carbon is lower when the number of polar groups of disperse dye is larger.
Counterfeiting is one of the oldest phenomena that emerged with the market and people's desire to get rich. If an extended period counterfeiting has been regarded as not being a serious problem because the production supposed relatively small quantities and was realized in small and clandestine spaces, nowadays the extent of the phenomenon is worthy be taken into account. Currently, counterfeiting takes advantage of the latest achievements of science and ' technology, transforming itself into a multifaceted phenomenon. Lately, the producers of counterfeits have significantly expanded their area - from watches, textiles, clothing, electronics, mobile phones, cosmetics, medicinal products, to toys and food. Based on such elements and on the negative effects that counterfeiting has on companies, consumers and state, the authors of this article aim to highlight, by means of an empirical study (based on a survey), the main features of Romanian consumer behavior in the capital city and southern region of Romania, with the purpose of identifying a set of measures aiming at reducing this scourge. The findings of the conducted study unfortunately shows that, despite the negative effects of the counterfeiting, Romanians from the capital and from the south of the country deliberately purchase counterfeit products, for various reasons, which will be outlined in the sections of this paper.
The present research aims to offer a general presentation of the sales promotion concept, its complexity and importance. In addition, the article presents the objectives of sales promotion, promotional techniques, advertising as a form of communication and sales promotion. The article analyses the expansion potential of using sales promotional techniques through a study that highlights sales promotion techniques used primarily by firms operating in the garment industry in Romania, in the context of the global economic crisis. The paper underlines the need for knowledge and awareness of the advantages of using and expanding sales promotion techniques.
Although social networking sites such as Facebook are increasingly being regarded as an interesting source of information, there are no specific techniques that adequately address the specific nature of social media. In our opinion, social networking sites display intentions of consumers and therefore techniques specifically designed to deal with this aspect have to be introduced. We propose using the theory developed by Kenneth Burke (1897-1993), to incorporate this data into market research. In this paper we focus on Facebook groups, but the techniques described can be used to analyse any social networking site.
We discuss consumer engagement with a website, provide a systematic approach to examining the types of engagement produced by specific experiences, and show that engagement with the media context increases advertising effectiveness. Based on experiments using measurement scales involving eight different online experiences, we advance two types of engagement with online media — Personal and Social-Interactive Engagement. Our results show that both types are positively associated with advertising effectiveness. Moreover, Social-Interactive Engagement, which is more uniquely characteristic of the web as a medium, is shown to affect advertising after controlling for Personal Engagement. Our results offer online companies and advertisers new metrics and advertising strategies.
Engagement has emerged as an important concept for newsorganizations. Yet lack of agreement within the industry and the academy on the definition of engagement has left news companies vulnerable to the definitions dictated by advertisers, who focus on brand placement not news content. This paper relies on quantitative and qualitative methodologies to define online engagement as a collection ofexperiences, illustrates that there are actually two important types of engagement (personal and social-interactive engagement) for media companies, and demonstrates their predictive validity by showing bothare associated with readership.
This is a follow-up on two previous articles on WarpPLS and e-collaboration. The first discussed the five main steps through which a variance-based nonlinear structural equation modeling analysis could be conducted with the software WarpPLS (Kock, 2010b). The second covered specific features related to grouped descriptive statistics, viewing and changing analysis algorithm and resampling settings, and viewing and saving various results (Kock, 2011). This and the previous articles use data from the same e-collaboration study as a basis for the discussion of important WarpPLS features. Unlike the previous articles, the focus here is on a brief discussion of more advanced issues, such as: testing the significance of mediating effects, including control variables in an analysis, using second order latent variables, choosing the right warping algorithm, and using bootstrapping and jackknifing in combination.
This research investigates how knowledge workers are influenced to adopt the advice that they receive in mediated contexts. The research integrates the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis 1989) with dual-process models of informational influence (e.g., Petty and Cacioppo 1986, Chaiken and Eagly 1976) to build a theoretical model of information adoption. This model highlights the assessment of information usefulness as a mediator of the information adoption process. Importantly, the model draws on the dual-process models to make predictions about the antecedents of informational usefulness under different processing conditions.
The model is investigated qualitatively first, using interviews of a sample of 40 consultants, and then quantitatively on another sample of 63 consultants from the same international consulting organization. Data reflect participants' perceptions of actual e-mails they received from colleagues consisting of advice or recommendations. Results support the model, suggesting that the process models used to understand information adoption can be generalized to the field of knowledge management, and that usefulness serves a mediating role between influence processes and information adoption. Organizational knowledge work is becoming increasingly global. This research offers a model for understanding knowledge transfer using computer-mediated communication.
The sharp increase of Internet usage, as well as, the systematic progress of Information Technology have transformed the way goods are bought and sold, resulting to the exponential growth in the number of online shoppers. However, a lot of differences regarding online purchases have been revealed due to the various consumers’ characteristics and the types of provided products and services. Therefore, understanding who are the ones consuming and why they choose to use or avoid the Internet as a distribution channel, is a vital issue for both e-commerce managers and consumer theorists. The scope of this paper is to examine the perceptions of Greek university students’ adopters and non-adopters of online shopping in terms of demographic profile, expectations of online stores, advantages and problems related to online purchases. Moreover, the reasons for using or avoiding online shopping, as well as, the types of preferred products were studied. The research provides interesting insights on the online consumer behaviour, as the results show significant differences between the two groups of respondents.
Despite the collapse of the so-called digital economy, the Internet has developed into an established channel of distribution. Although Internet usage continues to grow at a significant pace, online retail sales of products and services lag behind considerably. This paper focuses on the underlying motivational factors that inhibit consumers from online purchasing, based on a review of current literature and the empirical findings of a survey among Internet users in Switzerland. Four distinct barriers to online shopping that exist between buying and non-buying Internet users were identified. Implications for the marketing management of online shopping channels are derived.
Purpose
In light of the growth of internet usage and its important role in the field of e‐commerce, electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) has been changing people's behavior and decisions. People count on other users' opinions and information; they sometimes even make offline decisions based on information acquired online. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise eWOM activity from an input‐process‐output (IPO) perspective; propose a classification framework based on the identified academic literature; analyze eWOM literature in terms of quantitative development and qualitative issues that are useful to both academics and researchers; and provide directions and guidelines for future research studies in eWOM.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors performed a systematic literature review of peer‐reviewed published journal articles and examined the current state of knowledge on eWOM literature based on a comprehensive search of several leading databases. In total, 94 articles were identified that comprised contributions from different strands of eWOM research. The scope of this investigation was limited to the timeframe of 2000‐2009.
Findings
The present study finds that research in eWOM is relatively new and has evolved only during the last ten years. This ten‐year study is deemed to be representative of the available eWOM literature. It is also shown that many scholars have incorporated established theories to explain eWOM communication phenomena. The current study not only fills the current gap in eWOM research but also provides a roadmap in analyzing eWOM communications.
Practical implications
This study serves as a consolidated database that may be used to guide future research. It provides a structured approach to analyzing the literature and identifying trends and gaps in order to map out an appropriate agenda for eWOM research. The proposed integrated classification framework can serve as a roadmap for academic research.
Originality/value
This paper systematically reviews the current state of eWOM research. To contribute to the development of a more comprehensive database for eWOM research, a classification framework of the eWOM literature is presented, building on the IPO model, by summarizing and organizing prior research into three areas covering antecedents, processes, and consequences of eWOM. The authors further summarize the theories and models that previous scholars have applied to their studies.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
The Internet provides an evolving channel for both business people and consumers to achieve their mutual aims. The rapid growth of Internet users in New Zealand provides a developing prospect for E-marketers. New Zealand has literate, educated, technology savvy “netizens” who are willing to spend time and money over the Internet. If E-marketers know the demographics of online New Zealand purchasers and the relationships between these demographics and online buyers' behavior, then they can further develop their marketing strategies to convert potential customers into active ones, while retaining the existent online customers. This paper provides an insight into the demographic profile of New Zealand's online purchasers. Some implications are also provided in this research.
Criteria for evaluating structural equation models with latent variables are defined, critiqued, and illustrated. An overall
program for model evaluation is proposed based upon an interpretation of converging and diverging evidence. Model assessment
is considered to be a complex process mixing statistical criteria with philosophical, historical, and theoretical elements.
Inevitably the process entails some attempt at a reconcilation between so-called objective and subjective norms.
In this study, we examine an important factor that affects consumers’ acceptance of business-to-commerce (B2C) electronic commerce—perceived risk. The objective of this paper is to examine the definition of perceived risk in the context of B2C electronic commerce. The paper highlights the importance of perceived risk and the interwoven relation between perceived risk and trust. It discusses the problem of defining perceived risk in prior B2C research. This study proposes a new classification of consumers’ perceived risk based on sources. It highlights the importance of identifying the sources of consumer’s risk perceptions in addition to the consequences dimensions. Two focus group discussion sessions were conducted to verify the proposed classification. Results indicate that Internet consumers perceive three sources of risk in B2C electronic commerce: technology, vendor, and product.
This experiment explored how consumers evaluate electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) messages about products. Each participant was exposed a 10-message set in a single board. Five groups were manipulated in terms of their ratios of positive and negative messages. The result showed significant differences across various sets of eWOM messages. Although more positive sets showed higher scores in many cases, this was not true in all situations, especially for the case of credibility. Involvement and prior knowledge partially moderated the relationship between the ratio of messages and the eWOM effect. The credibility of Web sites and eWOM messages can be damaged in the long run if all of the eWOM messages are positive.