The Mediating Effect of Perceived Service Risk on Perceived Value of Internet Apparel Shopping: From the Quality-Risk-Value Approach

Abstract

The significance of service quality of an Internet retailer and consumers’ risk perceptions in Internet shopping have received much investigation. However, little research effort has been paid to examine the dynamics of consumer behavior in Internet shopping from a value perception approach, which accounts for service quality, sacrifice, and risk as precursors. Groth (1995) asserts that perceived value and perceived risk are both pertinent factors in purchase and consumption decisions. Consumers evaluate risk involved in shopping activities as well as service quality and sacrifice to determine the overall value derived from shopping from the retailer (Groth 1995). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop insights into the interrelationships among perceived serve quality, perceived service sacrifices, perceived service risks of an Internet retailer, and perceived value of Internet shopping with the retailer.

A total of 532 female students were recruited from two large, Midwestern universities, and 361 U.S. female college students provided usable responses to this experiment study. As experiment stimuli, two mock Internet apparel retail web sites (higher vs. lower service quality), were created to closely mimic “real” apparel retailer sites using Microsoft® FrontPage® and Macromedia® Dreamweaver® using the elements identified from focus group interview results. Participants were first asked about their previous Internet shopping experience and the expenditure on the clothing items purchased via the Internet. The second part of the questionnaire contained measures of four research constructs. We used descriptive statistics, t-tests, and structural equation modeling to test research hypotheses and the proposed model. An initial pilot test was conducted with eight female college students to examine the clarity and appropriateness of wording of the questionnaire. The second pilot test of the experimental treatments of levels of service quality was conducted. This between-subject manipulation check revealed that the higher service quality site had a significantly higher mean score for perceived quality (6.46) than did the lower service quality site (4.33) on a 7-point Likert scale (t=4.38, p<.01).

Most participants were between 18 and 23 years old (96.7%) with a mean age of 20.8 years, and White or European American (84.8%). Majors varied; however, about three-quarters of the participants (75.9%) were majoring in merchandising and apparel related fields. About three-quarters of the participants were seniors or juniors (75.1%). Participants reported they had varied levels of previous Internet apparel shopping experience. T-test showed no significant differences between the two geographic groups in (1) participants’ demographic characteristics and previous Internet shopping experiences, and (2) their responses on research variables. Therefore, the entire sample was analyzed as a whole.

We assessed the dimensionality of the measurement scales of research constructs using factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis using principal components and varimax rotation was conducted to determine whether multiple indicators for each research variable comprised one factor dimension. A manipulation of the Internet retailer's service quality level had significant treatment effects on all research variables - perceived service quality of an Internet retailer, perceived service sacrifice of apparel shopping with the Internet retailer, perceived service risk of apparel shopping with the Internet retailer, and perceived value of apparel shopping with the Internet retailer -using a two-tailed test (p<.01).

For hypotheses testing, we employed structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses. SEM analyses revealed that both perceived service quality and perceived service sacrifice had significant impacts on consumer perception of service risk of shopping at an Internet retailer. In turn, perceived service risk negatively influenced consumer perception of Internet shopping value on an Internet retailer web site. All, except one, proposed hypotheses in the model were statistically supported in this study. Findings of decomposition of effects analyses showed the partial mediating effect of the perceived service risk of an Internet retailer for both treatment situations (higher vs. lower service quality provided by an Internet retailer).

The findings are limited to U.S. female consumers, who were recruited using convenience sampling; therefore, the demographics of the sample are not representative. Future studies may extend this study by adopting the random sampling method to increase the generalizability of the research findings. This paper offers an understanding of perceived service risk as an important mediator in the Internet retailing context. In addition, the present paper contributes to scholarship of Internet shopping by expanding knowledge of the quality-risk-value framework applied to Internet retailing to better understand consumer online purchasing behavior.

摘要

很多研究都对在线购物中网络零售商的服务质量和消费者风 险感知的重要性进行了探索。但是很少有研究是用价值感知方 法来测试消 费者在网络购物中的行为的动态变化，而这些是可 以解释服务质量，牺牲和风险。Groth (1995) 声称，感知价值 和感知风险是在购买和消费决策上的相关因素0 消费者评估的 风险包括购物活动和服务价值以及牺牲其他的选择来确定从零 售 商那里获得的整体价值(Groth， 1995)0 因此，本研究的 目 杯 是加深对感知的服务质量，感知的服务牺牲，对网络零售商的 感知服务风臉和对网络购物的感知价值之间 的关系 的理解。

两所中西部大学的532名女大学生参加了问卷调查，其中 361 名女大学生提供了 对此次实证性研究有用的回复0 实任研 究的测试物为 两个虛扭的网络服装零售 网站 (高vs低服务质 量) 0 我们通过使用Microsoft® FrontPage® and Macromedia® Dreamweaver®来创造 出逼真的服装零售 商 网站。参加者首先被 问他们之前的 网 络购物经历和他们在 网络购买服装类产 品的 支 出。第二部分的问卷包括四个研究构念的问项。我们使用描述 統i十，t检验和结构方程模型来测试研究假设和研究模型0 勒 始的预测试中，8位女大学生帮我们测试了问卷问题用词的准 石角度0 第二轮的測试是测试服务质量的等級。目标之间的控制 检金表明在李克特7分制(/=4.38; ᄍ<0.1)下，有较高服务质量的 网站的感知质量 (6.46) 的均值显著高于服务质量较低的网站 (4.33) 0

大部分的參加者的年龄在 18 岁到 23 岁之间 (96.7%) ᄋ 平 均年龄是20.8岁0 白种人或欧籍美国人占到84.8%0 参与者来 自不同的专业，但是四分之드的参与者 (75.9%) 来自与采购 以及和服装相关的专业。四分之드的参与者 (75.1%) 都是大 드、大四的学生。参与者们之前的网络服装购物的经历的水平 不同。T检骚发现两个地理小组之间没有显著的不同。 (1) 参 与者的人口统计特点和之前的网上购物经历。 (2) 他们对研 究变量的反应。 因此我们将整个样本作为整体进行分析。

我们利用 因子分析来划分測量问项的维度0 探索性因子分析 使用主成分法和最大方差旋转法来决定每个研究变量的多个指 标所包含的一个因子维度0 网络零售商服务质量水平的控制对 所有的研究变量-网络零售商的感知服务质量，网上服装购物的 感知服务牺牲，网络服装购物的感知服务风降和网络服装购物 的感知价值-都有显著影响，使用的是双尾测试 (/K.01)ᄋ

我们使用结构方程模型进行假说检骚。结构方程模型的结果 显示感知服务质 量和感知服务牺牲都对消 费者对 网 络零售 商的 服务风황的感知有 4著影响。反之，感知服务风险消极影响消 费者对网络零售商网址的网络购物价值感知。本研究中，除了 ᅳ个假说，其余的假说都是成立的0 影响分解分析的结果表 明，在两种对待模式下对网路零售商的服务风险感知都有部分 中介作用 (网络零售商的高服务质量vs低服务质量) 0

本研究的结果局限于美国的女性消 费者，因为我们的研究的 样本为美国女性消费者。 因此样本的人口统计特点不具有代表 性。 未来的研究可以采用随机样本的方法来提高研究结果的普 遍性。本文提供了 对在网络零售情境Tᅳ个重要的 中介变量-服 务感知风险-的理解。而且，本文有助于通过扩展服务-风險-价 值框架的知识并运用 到 网 络零售 中 来实现对消 费者 网 络购 买行 为的更好的理解。

Keywords:

• Perceived service quality
• Service risk
• Consumer value
• Internet retailing
• Fashion marketing

键히：:

• 感知服务质量
• 服务风险
• 消费者价值
• 网络零 售
• 时装营销