{"title":"Unraveling how poor logistics service quality of cross-border E-commerce influences customer complaints based on text mining and association analysis","authors":"Yu Zhang, Huimin Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104237","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104237","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Logistics issues in cross-border online shopping have become an important hotspot for customer complaints. However, limited research has explored how poor logistics service quality (LSQ) can trigger customer complaints. This study systematically discusses the complex causal relationship between poor LSQ and customer complaints based on the expectation-disconfirmation theory, through analyzing 200 typical cases collected from China's professional online consumer dispute mediation platforms. Six categories of poor LSQ contributing to customer complaints were identified through text mining: insecurity, uneconomic, unreliable, untimely, low information quality, and low contact quality using the grounded theory approach. In the second stage, five valid strong association rules were generated using association rule mining (ARM), demonstrating that the factors leading to customer complaints were interrelated rather than independent. Specifically, the \"delayed delivery\" indicator of untimely is associated with the \"outdated information\" indicator of low information quality; the \"long transport times\" and “delayed delivery” indicators of untimely are associated with the \"poor service attitude\" indicator of low contact quality; the \"damaged goods\" indicator of insecurity is associated with the \"unguaranteed goods claims\" indicator of unreliable, and the \"outdated information\" indicator of low information quality is associated with the \"poor service attitude\" indicator of low contact quality. These findings enable cross-border e-commerce practitioners and logistics service providers to implement targeted strategies to promote LSQ, minimizing customers' negative expectation disconfirmation and reducing customer complaints.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104237"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143170378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring sustainable consumer behaviour in retail: A teacher-student model framework for socio-economic insights","authors":"Sumit Tripathi , Roma Trigunait","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104227","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104227","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the socio-economic factors that shape consumer behaviour related to carbon footprint awareness within the retail and services sectors. Utilizing a structured, dual-model framework, we analyse the complex relationships between key socio-economic determinants, such as income, education, age, gender, and environmental consciousness, and sustainable behaviours, including recycling, green product searches, and engagement with eco-friendly practices. The methodology combines two machine learning models to achieve both detailed analysis and interpretability. The primary model, based on the Tabular Network Regressor (TabNet), captures nuanced, high-dimensional interactions across socio-economic variables, while the secondary, interpretive model, using the Categorical Boosting Regressor (catBoost), simplifies these insights without compromising accuracy, making findings accessible for policy-oriented applications. Our results reveal that income, education, and environmental consciousness are significant predictors of carbon footprint awareness. Moreover, consumers who regularly engage in sustainable actions, such as recycling or searching for eco-friendly products, exhibit heightened awareness of their environmental impact, underscoring the influence of habitual eco-conscious behaviours. Through a Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis, this study enhances the interpretability of results, providing a clear, data-driven understanding of how specific socio-economic factors contribute to sustainable consumer actions. This research advances knowledge on socio-economic influences in sustainability by offering actionable insights for policymakers, including targeted strategies that address diverse demographic characteristics and promote inclusive, effective policies for sustainable consumer behaviour in the retail and services industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104227"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From familiarity to acceptance: The impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on consumer adoption of retail chatbots","authors":"Marta Arce-Urriza , Raquel Chocarro , Mónica Cortiñas , Gustavo Marcos-Matás","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104234","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104234","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the influence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) on consumer adoption of retail chatbots, focusing on how GenAI impacts key adoption determinants, the role of familiarity and assessing its effects across different stages of the customer journey. We conducted two waves of surveys, one pre- and one post-GenAI integration, to compare consumer perceptions across three customer service tasks. Using the Service Robot Acceptance Model (SRAM) as a framework, we found that GenAI enhances consumer perceptions of chatbot usefulness, human-likeness, and familiarity, thereby increasing adoption intentions. However, trust remains largely unchanged, and privacy concerns have risen post-GenAI. Additionally, the relationships remain stable across customer journey stages, with familiarity playing a key role. Our findings extend SRAM to the retail context with GenAI, offering new insights into the temporal stability of chatbot adoption factors. It underscores familiarity's dual role (direct and indirect) in fostering adoption, while highlighting that GenAI impacts specific aspects of consumer interaction. These findings provide insights for retailers to leverage GenAI-powered chatbots to enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104234"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143170376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revitalizing retail: The roles of functionality and recreation in shaping mall experiences in a changing retail era","authors":"Shaked Gilboa , Iris Vilnai-Yavetz , Vince Mitchell","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104232","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104232","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the relative importance of mall experiences (MEs) in the changing retail era (post-pandemic) and shows which ME types continue to be relevant. Using prospect theory as a theoretical basis for hypothesis development, we assess the perceived importance of four ME types during the pandemic lockdown (when MEs were absent) and afterward and examine their impact on shopper well-being and mall loyalty. A total of 198 respondents completed questionnaires during and after the lockdown, providing within-subject data that were analyzed by repeated-measures ANOVA, structural equation modeling (SEM), and importance–performance analysis (IPA). The findings reveal that while the functional ME was dominant both during and after the lockdown, the recreational ME, although less important than the functional ME, remained influential in maintaining mall loyalty and enhancing well-being. By contrast, the seductive and social MEs were less important than the other two ME types both during and after the lockdown. Theoretically, the study enhances our understanding of consumer behavior in the changing retail era and offers a nuanced view of how different ME types impact key outcomes. Practically, the results provide actionable guidance for mall management by indicating where investments should be prioritized to optimize shopper satisfaction and loyalty in the changing retail environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104232"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143170377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Service ads in the era of generative AI: Disclosures, trust, and intangibility","authors":"Jamie L. Grigsby , Meg Michelsen , César Zamudio","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104231","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104231","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Generative AI (GenAI) is a new tool allowing marketers to quickly and cost-effectively develop advertisements. However, concerns about deception and misinformation voiced by consumers, ad agencies, and governments have led to mandates to disclose AI-generated content. Given the importance of visual advertising for service tangibilization, whether services marketers should use GenAI to advertise services, and how, is a pressing question that this paper investigates. We apply a source credibility framework to explore factors in GenAI service ad design that influence trust toward the service provider and ad attitudes. Three experiments uncover that AI disclosures result in lower trust and less positive ad attitudes. Ads designed to focus on intangible attributes (e.g., a dentist's image) are less effective relative to ads focusing on tangible attributes (e.g., a dentist's equipment) when an AI disclosure is present. However, trust and ad attitudes can be restored when AI is selectively used to generate an ad's tangible attributes, but not the intangible (e.g., a real dentist at an AI-generated office). Our findings thus provide concrete guidance on how services marketers can use AI to enjoy the cost and speed benefits of AI ad development while preserving trust and ad attitudes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104231"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Providing social support in technology-based service encounters: Activating intrinsic motivations to create better outcomes","authors":"Marjan Aslan , Byron W. Keating","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104229","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104229","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how customers’ attitudes and preferences influence their interactions with virtual agents and human support across varying task complexities. Customers with a Positive Attitude towards Technology (PAT) demonstrate a clear preference for virtual agents that prioritize efficiency and minimal intrusion, aligning with their technological affinity and expectations for streamlined service. Conversely, individuals with a high Need for Human Interaction (NHI) derive significant benefits from social support, particularly in the context of simple tasks. Interestingly, for such straightforward interactions, the source of support—whether human or virtual—is less critical to satisfaction, provided the interaction meets the social needs of the customer. However, the dynamic shifts when tasks become more complex. In these scenarios, human support becomes indispensable for NHI customers, as virtual agents frequently fall short of delivering the interactional depth and nuanced understanding required for more challenging service exchanges. These findings highlight the importance of tailoring support systems to the affective and interactional preferences of customers. Businesses and designers of support systems should consider these distinctions when implementing virtual agent solutions, ensuring that such systems can accommodate the diverse needs of their users. By doing so, organizations can enhance user satisfaction, optimize support effectiveness, and foster stronger relationships with their customers. This research contributes to the broader understanding of human-technology interaction, offering practical insights for improving customer support strategies in an increasingly digital world.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104229"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Integrating game theory and data-driven optimization models for online retailers with reusable packaging adoption","authors":"Xianhao Xu, Ruiting Yue, Bingnan Yang, Zhiwen Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104222","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104222","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid growth of e-commerce leads to a boom in packaging waste. To address this challenge, online retailers are partnering with reusable packaging service platforms to use reusable packaging. Most of the previous studies on reusable packaging adoption and operations ignore the pattern of online retailers hybridizing disposable and reusable packaging and the critical role of real demand data in optimizing inventory management. This paper investigates the online retailers’ hybrid packaging ordering strategy and the reusable packaging service platform’s pricing strategy by analyzing a comprehensive dataset of 456,548 transaction records over 145 weeks. Two decision support models (the separated and integrated models) are proposed by integrated data-driven and game-theoretical methods for optimizing the ordering and pricing decisions of reusable packaging. The results illustrate that the integrated model always performs superior to the separated model in terms of promoting reusable packaging adoption, and the profits of the online retailer and the service platform. Furthermore, government subsidies can enhance the adoption of reusable packaging by online retailers, but excessive subsidies may lead to over-ordering especially when the use cost of reusable packaging is low. Plastic taxes can also incentivize online retailers to embrace reusable packaging, but the incentive effect diminishes as the taxes increase.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104222"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unpacking when and how business analytics affect firm performance and customer satisfaction: A longitudinal examination","authors":"Mutasim Alfadhel","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104219","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104219","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Business analytics facilitate the development of new digital services and are frequently linked to enhanced performance. Nonetheless, companies engaging in business analytics frequently do not get those benefits. Marketing researchers require novel theoretical frameworks and empirical instruments to address the enquiries regarding the timing and efficacy of business analytics in the digitised landscape. Based on the dynamic capabilities theory, we developed a model that explains the link between business analytics capabilities, firm performance, and customer satisfaction under different environmental settings. We collected longitudinal data from 2019 to 2023 to test the proposed model. Our study revealed that business analytics capability has a significant impact on business performance and customer satisfaction. The impact of business analytics was more pronounced for market-focused performance metrics (i.e., “Tobin's Q″) than for accounting-focused measures (i.e., “ROA”). Moreover, the impact of business analytics on firm performance is greater in more dynamic, and complex environments. Our exploration offers meaningful implications for theory and practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104219"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yue Chen , Yong Wang , Jing Zheng , Yimin Song , Yue Wen
{"title":"Self-reliance vs. Dependence: Optimal live streaming strategies selection for E-retailers at different developmental stages","authors":"Yue Chen , Yong Wang , Jing Zheng , Yimin Song , Yue Wen","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Numerous e-retailers have launched their own brand self-built live streaming room (BLSR) to tap into the thriving market of live streaming e-commerce. Concurrently, key opinion leader-based live streaming room (KLSR) has also emerged as a favored strategy among e-retailers due to their immediate and significant impact on sales. Our research identifies the e-retailer solely operating BLSR for self-promotion as <em>Self-reliance</em> strategy and introducing KLSR into their live sales promotion alongside BLSR as <em>Dependence</em> strategy, with a primary focus on examining how e-retailers with varying levels of live streaming ability effectively utilize these two strategies for live sales promotion. Interestingly, we find that: 1) during the initial stage of the e-retailer's foray into the live streaming e-commerce market, it is highly recommended for them to adopt full <em>Dependence</em> on ordinary key opinion leader (KOL) streamers; 2) as the e-retailer's live streaming ability improves into the growth stage, they should gradually transition towards employing <em>Self-reliance</em> on themselves; 3) at the mature stage, the e-retailer tend to gradually revert back to adopting partial <em>Dependence</em> on ordinary KOL streamers as their live streaming ability enhances; 4) at any stage, it is advisable for e-retailers to adopting <em>Dependence</em> on top KOL streamers if they can afford slotting fees.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104225"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Delight my brain and my eyes: Credibility and aesthetic judgments of endorsers","authors":"Sara Alida Volkmer, Martin Meißner","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104217","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104217","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Attractive individuals are often seen as persuasive sources of information. However, comprehensive comparative studies investigating the pathways underlying persuasion are currently lacking. Given the significance of persuasion success in influencer marketing, we examine two prominent mechanisms through which influencer attractiveness may affect persuasion outcomes: electronic word-of-mouth and product attractiveness. The first pathway includes perceived expertise and credibility, whereas the second pathway involves aesthetic appeal. In two studies, we examine the effects of influencer attractiveness in three distinct product categories: health, beauty, and technology. The results reveal three main findings: (a) the impact of an influencer's attractiveness on perceived credibility depends on the product category; (b) higher perceived attractiveness consistently enhances perceptions of influencer expertise across all product categories; and (c) in addition to source credibility, aesthetic appeal plays a critical role in linking attractiveness to persuasion success. The results suggest that influencer attractiveness drives persuasion through both a source credibility (expertise and credibility) mechanism and an aesthetic appeal mechanism. Our findings offer researchers a nuanced understanding of attractiveness effects in endorser marketing and provide practitioners with actionable guidance for selecting endorsers tailored to specific product categories.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104217"},"PeriodicalIF":11.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}