Understanding Consumers’ Loyalty to an Online Outshopping Platform: The Role of Social Capital and Perceived Value

Yumei Luo,Qiongwei Ye

doi:10.3390/su11195371

Yumei Luo, Qiongwei Ye

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11195371

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Abstract

We draw upon the social capital theory in order to discuss how three dimensions of social capital affect consumer value and loyalty to online outshopping platforms. After considering the characteristics of consumers, we propose that the structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions of social capital promote consumers’ perceptions of utilitarian and idea shopping value, and that those perceived values increase loyalty to online outshopping platforms. The survey data of 291 Chinese consumers with online outshopping platform experience are used to test the model. The results show that different dimensions of consumers’ social capital influence their loyalty through different values. Utilitarian value mediates the effects of structural capital and cognitive capital on loyalty, whereas hedonic value (ideal shopping value) mediates the effects of structural and relational capital on loyalty.

Highlights

International online outshopping (IOO) refers to consumers buying products and services across borders over the Internet with the click of a button [1,2]
To validate the measurement model, we assessed the reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of all constructs assessed for the samples
The results show that structural capital and cognitive capital increase utilitarian value, whereas relational capital exerts no impact on it

Summary

Introduction

International online outshopping (IOO) refers to consumers buying products and services across borders over the Internet with the click of a button [1,2]. Young people tend to favor IOO for cross-border online shopping. According to iiMedia Research, 41 million Chinese were IOO shoppers in 2016, and their numbers were expected to reach 74 million by 2018. Realizing the opportunities in international e- and m-commerce, numerous online marketplace companies operate shopping platforms to provide opportunities for consumers to purchase foreign products from foreign websites (e.g., Xiaohongshu, VIP International, Amazon Global, Kaola.com, Ymatou, Tmall.HK, and JD.HK). Establishing and maintaining consumer loyalty determines whether IOO platforms in China will survive and develop sustainably. “Loyalty” refers to the affirmative recollections that prompt consumers to revisit an IOO platform or repurchase products or services online [3]. Few studies have examined loyalty to IOO platforms and, at that, have investigated, for the most part, domestic Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) [4], domestic Business-to-Consumer (B2C) [5,6], and offline IOO platforms [7,8]

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