{"title":"Understanding consumer herding behavior in online purchases and its implications for online retailers and marketers","authors":"Dr. Mazhar Ali , Dr. Huma Amir","doi":"10.1016/j.elerap.2024.101356","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Herding behavior refers to the imitation of the behavior of the masses. The primary purpose of this study is to determine how herding affects digital purchases. It is an under-researched area in the marketing and consumer behavior context. First, one needs to understand the circumstances under which one is likely to herd. Second, it is yet to be understood how the effect of observing others' buying behavior transmits into herding. Third, there needs to be a better understanding of the role of price in one's tendency to herd. An online experiment with 541 participants was conducted using a 3 (consumer ratings/sales volume/control) × 2 (high involvement product/low involvement product) between-subjects design. LED TV was selected as a high-involvement product and ball pen pack was selected as a low-involvement product. This research study combined three theories to propose a holistic herding model. It used the social impact theory to capture its persuasive impact, the information adoption model to analyze the acceptance of herding information, and the cue utilization theory to assess the inference from herding information in consumer decision-making. Results indicated significant negative moderating effects of perceived price and product knowledge and the positive moderating effect of perceived uncertainty between the relationship of herding cues (star rating and the number of products sold) and herding behavior. In addition, the mediating results of perceived information usefulness and perceived quality were also significant. This herding model provides a holistic view of the herding process beyond limiting it to an attempt to follow others blindly. Therefore, this study has both theoretical as well as managerial implications.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50541,"journal":{"name":"Electronic Commerce Research and Applications","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 101356"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Electronic Commerce Research and Applications","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567422324000012","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Herding behavior refers to the imitation of the behavior of the masses. The primary purpose of this study is to determine how herding affects digital purchases. It is an under-researched area in the marketing and consumer behavior context. First, one needs to understand the circumstances under which one is likely to herd. Second, it is yet to be understood how the effect of observing others' buying behavior transmits into herding. Third, there needs to be a better understanding of the role of price in one's tendency to herd. An online experiment with 541 participants was conducted using a 3 (consumer ratings/sales volume/control) × 2 (high involvement product/low involvement product) between-subjects design. LED TV was selected as a high-involvement product and ball pen pack was selected as a low-involvement product. This research study combined three theories to propose a holistic herding model. It used the social impact theory to capture its persuasive impact, the information adoption model to analyze the acceptance of herding information, and the cue utilization theory to assess the inference from herding information in consumer decision-making. Results indicated significant negative moderating effects of perceived price and product knowledge and the positive moderating effect of perceived uncertainty between the relationship of herding cues (star rating and the number of products sold) and herding behavior. In addition, the mediating results of perceived information usefulness and perceived quality were also significant. This herding model provides a holistic view of the herding process beyond limiting it to an attempt to follow others blindly. Therefore, this study has both theoretical as well as managerial implications.
期刊介绍:
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications aims to create and disseminate enduring knowledge for the fast-changing e-commerce environment. A major dilemma in e-commerce research is how to achieve a balance between the currency and the life span of knowledge.
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications will contribute to the establishment of a research community to create the knowledge, technology, theory, and applications for the development of electronic commerce. This is targeted at the intersection of technological potential and business aims.