An Empirical Investigation of Consumer
Search Behavior for Services.
By
Marktplaats.nl @ your service
An Empirical Investigation of Consumer
Search Behavior for Services.
Groningen, June 4
th2008
Author:
Anne Thiemann
Address:
Celebesstraat 20
9715 JG Groningen
Telephone:
06-47767790
Email: A.Thiemann@student.rug.nl
Student number: s1345508
State University of Groningen
Faculty of Economics and Business
Master Thesis MScBA Marketing
Faculty Supervisor:
dr. Wander Jager
Co-assessor:
dr. Erjen van Nierop
MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
This study examines consumer search behavior for services in order to help Marktplaats.nl services category become a success. Marktplaats.nl is an online auction site that has proved to be very successful in the Netherlands. Its core business considers the trading and selling of products online. Marktplaats.nl also exploits a relatively new category that entails the “selling” of services instead of products. In order to make this category just as successful as the product categories, an inquiry into consumer search behavior for services is necessary. Marktplaats.nl conducted a buyer survey which indicated that consumers have little intention to consult Marktplaats.nl for services. Main reasons for this are the relatively low abundance and the perceived untrustworthiness of services at Marktplaats.nl. This raises many questions on how and why people search in a particular manner and how Marktplaats.nl can adapt to it. Hence, the research question in this study is the following:
Which search methods does the majority of consumers use when searching for a service?
In order to answer this, three sources of information are combined, namely: information already collected by Marktplaats.nl, previously conducted research on this subject (literature) and information directly gathered from consumers by in-depth interviews and a small test. This resulted in the following variables determining the consumer’s effort invested in their search for services: Service characteristics (complexity and involvement), Consumer characteristics (experience, need for cognition, awareness and access), Seller’s reputation, Perceived risk, Required information on seller and service, Ease of search of a channel and the Abundance of a channel.
should therefore be made more convenient by adding more search options and portraying more information in the first results page. Another option would be to offer a system of comparisonat Marktplaats.nl. Finally, consumers associate high amounts of perceived risk with the act of buying/procuring services at Marktplaats.nl, being even higher than the perceived risk associated with the procurement of goods. Trustworthiness should be increased by stimulating sellers to post relevant, informative and complete advertisements. Especially adding contact details and a picture to the advertisement increases trustworthiness.
Respondents indicated that the type of service influences the type of picture people wish to see. Advertisements of personal services like babysitting should contain a picture of the person who delivers the service. Advertisements of impersonal services should contain a picture of for example previously delivered work. Respondents also noted that mentioning a website in the advertisement increases the likeliness of contacting. The impact of adding a picture to an advertisement was subject of further investigation by performing a small experiment. Online advertisements on Marktplaats.nl were compared on the number of views. The advertisements differed on the type of service that was offered and the type of picture that it contained. The number of views confirmed what was indicated by the respondents during the interviews. Unfortunately, the data did not allow for quantitative measures or formal tests to be performed. Although these insights are valuable and rich, complete solid theoretical conclusions cannot be drawn because of the qualitative search method that was used. Therefore, it would be very interesting to perform quantitative measures on these variables to determine their absolute and relative impacts. The PowerPoint presentation of this study that was presented at Marktplaats.nl can be found in Appendix III.
Key words: Services, Low- and High involvement, Effort, Abundance and Trustworthiness.
PREFACE
Throughout my studying period at the State University of Groningen I came to develop a special interest in a certain aspect of Marketing, namely Consumer Behavior. So when the opportunity occurred to conduct a research for Marktplaats.nl which entailed the inquiry into people’s minds to understand their behavior and subsequently adapt marketing efforts to it, my interest was strongly peaked. The process of examining and trying to understand consumer’s search behavior for services could therefore best be described as an exiting journey.
I want to thank Marktplaats.nl for this wonderful opportunity by which I was given freedom, responsibility and the sense of being valued. My special thanks go out to the services team of Marktplaats.nl and in particular Victor Croes. I want to thank him for his guidance and his willingness to help out at all times. The internship at Marktplaats.nl was a great first lesson on how marketing theory is put into practice.
Next to this, my special thanks go out to my Faculty Supervisor Wander Jager. I am grateful to him for the enormous support, valuable input and encouragement he gave throughout the entire research process. Having Wander Jager guiding the process helped me through the critical moments of the research.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ... 7
§1.1 Finding a plumber ... 7
§1.2 Categorizing services ... 8
§1.3 Differences between the procurement of services and products ... 9
§1.4 The value of different attributes in the decision making process ... 10
§1.5 Search for Services and Marktplaats.nl ... 11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ... 14
§2.1 Search Effort ... 14
§2.2 Perceived Risk and Trust ... 16
§2.3 Amount and Nature of Information on Seller and Service Required ... 16
§2.4 Sellers’s Reputation ... 17
§2.5 Customer Characteristics ... 17
§2.5.1 Prior Experience ... 17
§2.5.2 Need for Cognition ... 18
§2.5.3 Awareness of Sources and Access to Sources ... 18
§2.5.4 Habit ... 19
§2.6 Service Characteristics ... 19
§2.6.1 Complexity ... 19
§2.6.2 Involvement ... 19
§2.6.3 Nature ... 20
§2.7 Abundance of a Particular Channel ... 20
§2.8 Ease of Search of a Particular Channel ... 21
§2.9 Conceptual Model ... 22
CHAPTER 3: METHOD & RESULTS IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWING ... 26
§3.1 Method In-depth Interviewing ... 26
§3.1.1 Sample ... 26
§3.1.2 Questioning ... 27
§3.2 Results In-depth Interviewing ... 30
§3.2.1 Hypothesis 1: ... 30
§3.2.2 Hypothesis 2A: ... 31
§3.2.3 Hypothesis 2B: ... 33
§3.2.4 Hypothesis 3: ... 34
§3.2.5 Hypothesis 4: ... 36
§3.2.6 Hypothesis 5: ... 41
§3.2.7 Hypothesis 6: ... 42
§3.2.8 Hypothesis 7: ... 44
§3.3 Variables to Perform Further Research on ... 46
CHAPTER 4: METHOD AND RESULTS EXPERIMENT ... 47
§4.1 Method Experiment ... 47
§4.1.1 Sample ... 47
§4.1.2 Design of the Advertisements ... 47
§4.2 Results Experiment ... 50
§4.2.1 Hypothesis 8: ... 50
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ... 53
§5.1 Choosing a Search Channel ... 53
§5.1.1 Practical Implications ... 54
§5.2 The Presentation of Results ... 55
§5.2.1 Practical Implications ... 56
§5.3 The Selection of a Supplier ... 56
CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTIONFor marketing managers, understanding search is “crucial for designing effective marketing communication campaigns” because it represent the first stage at which marketing can provide information and, therefore, influence consumers’ decisions (Schmidt and Spreng, 1996).
§1.1 Finding a plumber
Imagine sitting at home on a quiet afternoon when suddenly you see water dripping from the ceiling. This cannot be good, a pipe must be broken. The only solution to this is to find a plumber to fix the problem as soon as possible. But where to find a plumber who will come immediately to your rescue and fix the broken water-pipe, but will not charge outrageous prices? You could ask your neighbor, consult the telephone directory or maybe look one up on the internet. The easiest thing to do might be to call the plumber who performed the job two years ago, although he was quite expensive. Let’s see whether the internet can offer aid in our challenge in keeping our heads dry. Google; “plumbers in Groningen”, 284.000 results in 0,29 seconds. There are so many results that the information overload makes your head hurt. Maybe you should rather take a look at the Yellow Pages. Again you enter the same search task and this time the results are presented in a more synoptic matter. Only the advertisements are so concise that there is no information on price, speed of deliverance, nor a website where this information can be found. This would take too much effort, just to find someone to take care of a plumbing problem. Let’s see whether Marktplaats.nl has any advertisements of plumbers in Groningen. Unfortunately there are only eight plumbers at Marktplaats.nl and all too expensive or did not add a telephone number to the advertisement. Finally you decide to ask your neighbor since he has a friend who always does his plumbing work.
§1.2 Categorizing services
Research in services marketing should encompass multiple settings and/or industries in order to understand how constructs differ across service settings. One form of categorizing service settings is by the framework developed by Lovelock (1983). This framework distinguishes services directed at “people”, in which the recipient needs to be physically present, from those directed at “things” in which presence isn’t required. Some examples of “people directed” services are haircuts, movies and exercise clubs. Services oriented towards things are for example life insurance, auto repair and house painters. This distinction could for instance be relevant considering the importance of the service provider’s location. When the presence of the consumer is necessary to perform the service, convenience of location is often thought to be a determining factor in consumer decisions (Carmen and Langeard, 1980). Interesting to see is that a previously conducted online buyer survey at Marktplaats.nl (Insides, 2006) also indicates the existence of this categorization. People were questioned on what kind of services they would expect to find on the website. Fairly simple services directed at things, like for example car repairing or maintenance in and around the house, were most expected to be found. More “people directed” services, like hairdressers, were less often expected to be offered on Marktplaats.nl.
increases, the sources used and effort invested increase as well. Therefore, it is interesting to identify the degree of involvement for particular services and segments of customers. The need for services-related research is considerable because services are thought to have unique characteristics to which techniques for the marketing of goods may not be directly applied (Berry, 1980; Uhl and Upah, 1983; Zeithalm et al., 1985). Given these findings it is understandable that offering services requires a different marketing approach than offering goods.
§1.3 Differences between the procurement of services and products
§1.4 The value of different attributes in the decision making process
Various researchers have been developing a number of classification schemes or typologies to attain a better understanding of the differences among service providers. Such classification taxonomies offer both practitioners and researchers the means for organizing services into clusters that may share certain marketing-relevant characteristics (Ettenson and Turner, 1997). Understanding the way consumers perceive and integrate information about services and the types of benefits they desire, will increase by grouping services through taxonomies (Lovelock, 1983). This, in turn, will enable service marketers to cross-fertilize concepts from other services industries and to plan and implement more effective marketing strategies (Bowen, 1990).
For effectively marketing services, it is crucial to understand how different attributes and/or cues of the service offering are valued in the decision making process of current and potential customers. Even though customers often consider multiple criteria when evaluating an offer, they typically combine separate evaluations into a single overall assessment (Dyer and Forman, 1991; Johnson and Russo, 1984). These attributes/cues are the variables that determine whether a service provider is chosen, contacted or even considered. Ettenson and Turner (1997) selected six attributes which were to be evaluated based on pilot studies. Groups of consumers were asked to generate a list of attributes and levels they considered when evaluating and selecting doctors, photo finishers and dry cleaners. The six attributes are location, appearance of the office/outlet, years in practice/business, price, method of payment and source of information. Results of the research revealed an interaction between service type and attribute importance, indicating that the decision strategy employed by participants was dependent on the service being evaluated. Consumers were found to use different decision strategies when evaluating services of the same service types. One service showed that price and location had the most impact on consumer decisions, followed by source of information. The other service showed that consumers focused on location and source of information, with price playing a secondary role. These results indicate that each of the three services elicited a rather unique decision strategy on the part of consumers. As such, they provide empirical evidence that, when viewed from the consumer’s perspective, services are not a homogeneous group of market offerings (Ettenson and Turner, 1997). Therefore it is important to understand that marketers should adapt the promotional messaging to the service category being offered.
reports, and advertisements (Hoch and Deighton, 1989) or through word-of-mouth communication. By controlling the promotional messages that describe a service category and its benefits, marketers can influence customers’ knowledge about a service category (Dorsch J.M. et al., 2000).
§1.5 Search for Services and Marktplaats.nl
Search can be defined as both external (obtaining information from various outside sources) and internal (retrieving information from memory) (McColl-Kennedy and Fetter Jr, 1999). The evoked set of alternatives is retrieved from memory when a consumer identifies available alternatives from memory, chooses a set of acceptable brands and will only make purchases from these acceptable brands (Turley, L.W. and LeBlanc, R.P., 1993). Although both dimensions play a role when searching for a service, this study focuses only on the external aspect of consumer’s search for services.
An overview of different channels used when searching a service is given below. These results are derived from the online buyer survey conducted by Marktplaats.nl (Insides, 2006).
eBay Inc. - Confidential 7
Search engines (Google) most
considered
Q9 - Imagine you would be looking for a service, which of the following would you consider? Multiple answers
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Ilocal.nl Information line (e.g. 18, 0900 8008) Other channels Speurders.nl Marktplaats.nl Specialised websites Startpagina.nl Gouden Gids (paper version) Regional/free local paper Telephone/company directory (paper version) Gouden Gids (internet version) Telephone/company directory (internet version) Friends and family Search engines (e.g. Google, Ilse)
I do not know it I know it, but would never use to search for services I would consider it to search for services
General
Figure 1 reveals some remarkable information about the search methods of today. Search engines like Google are employed most frequently to search for services and therefore top the list. Friends and family take second place, followed by the telephone directory and the Yellow Pages, both Internet versions. The before mentioned are then accordingly followed by their paper-versions. This proves that over time, there were multiple shifts in the use of search methods for services. In the early days, only paper versions like the telephone directory, Yellow Pages and local free papers were available. The introduction of Internet with all the newly offered possibilities had a major impact on people’s search methods for services, since the Internet versions outcompeted their paper versions. Some of the critical factors considering the search methods are being presented in figure 2.
eBay Inc. - Confidential 10
Speed, user friendly and local
search main reasons
Abundance User Friendly Quickly find Search engines 35% 45% 56% User Friendly Local distant Quickly find
Tel Dir online
30% 35% 45% Habit Local distant Always at hand
Tel Dir paper
38% 39% 43% Habit Local Distant Always at hand
Gouden Gids paper
38% 39% 43% User Friendly Local Distant Quickly find
Gouden Gids internet
25% 36% 37% User Friendly Quickly find Local Distant Marktplaats 30% 37% 41%
Q Why using … channel - Top 3 reasons Multiple answers
General
Figure 2: Reasons for using search channels
time, from which they have to choose one or multiple. The survey revealed that people prefer certain channels although they may also use others. Some channels people are aware of, but they have never used them when searching for a service. Thereby, these results differ for different services. The survey did not reveal any conclusive indications as to why people use particular channels for particular services. It seems that many factors, for example the information needed in an ad, the abundance and ease of search of a channel, influence the decision making.
Nowadays, there are a variety of ways to find a service. These means to find a service range from the well known search engines, to family and friends, to directories, to classified marketplaces and to specialized websites. Each channel of search exhibits its own characteristics which brings both advantages and disadvantages in terms of customer’s needs. Characteristics that are often being considered as advantages are user friendliness, quick finding experience, abundance and local distance (Insides, 2006). Since customer needs (in terms of information provided by the seller) differ per service, people use different search methods for different services. This again is confirmed by Ettenson and Turner’s (1997) theory which states that the decision strategy employed by consumers is dependent on the service being evaluated. Each service elicits a rather unique decision strategy on the part of consumers. For example domestic help is mainly searched for by consulting family and friends. On the other hand, language courses are mainly searched for by use of search engines and the Yellow Pages (Internet version).
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The following chapter provides an overview and review of previously conducted research on consumer’s search behavior for services. Variables that influence the search behavior are examined and discussed. The chapter ends by a presentation of the conceptual model, research questions and objectives.
§2.1 Search Effort
A number of studies have assessed external search by measuring consumers’ external search effort. Some of the more common measures of search effort are number of stores visited, number of brands examined, and time spent in the overall shopping experience (Newman and Lockeman, 1975). Beatty and Smith (1987) defined external search effort as “the degree of attention, perception, and effort directed towards obtaining environmental data or information related to the specific purchase under consideration.”
Unfortunately, these measures stem from the literature on physical goods, which cannot be generalized to the context of services marketing. In the services context, effort is aimed at capturing to what extent one is willing to go, or how hard one is willing to work, to obtain external information (McColl-Kennedy and Fetter Jr., 1999). Hence, effort is being defined as:
the amount of time and energy spent, the number and kind of search channels used, the number of alternatives considered and the number of alternatives contacted, when searching a service. In
the case of Marktplaats.nl, they strive to minimize the amount of effort consumers need to invest, to find and select the right service provider.
become more automatic. This contradiction suggests the existence of a curvilinear relation between knowledge and search effort of the following form.
Search effort
Knowledge of a service category
Figure 3: How knowledge and effort are related
Another interesting finding comes from Jaillet (2002) who found that in the absence of specific product knowledge, consumers will rely on readily available data in the form of that provided by search engine lists, general portals and general vendors, whereas experts will seek insights from more specialized site types in the form of niche portals and niche vendors and, to some extent, manufactures’ review sites. Although these findings stem from the product literature, it does suggest that consumers searching for services with little prior knowledge tend to rely on search engines.
Sundaram and Taylor (1998) found that time pressure reduces search effort. In case of time pressure, consumers may tend to rely on existing knowledge and experience, rather than collecting information from external sources. Second, consumers may limit the search only to a few sources, possibly to the ones that are easily accessible.
A last relevant finding is that both awareness of sources and access to sources were found to have a significant positive impact on search effort (Sundaram and Taylor, 1998). This means that as the awareness and access increase, the effort put into the search increases as well.
The next section will encompass an explanation of the variables that influence the effort consumers put in their search for services and how they influence their search behavior.
§2.2 Perceived Risk and Trust
Perceived risk is multidimensional, and is composed of several types of risk including financial risk, physical risk, quality or performance risk, psychological risk, social risk, and time-loss risk (Turley,L.W. and LeBlanc, R.P., 1993). In this study, the perceived risk concerns the risk of hiring a service provider instead of performing the “operations” yourself. When there is uncertainty, interdependence, incomplete information and fears of opportunism, trust is generally a crucial enabling factor (Bhattacherjee, 2002; Hoffman, Novak and Peralta, 1999; Mayer, Davis and Schoorman, 1995; McKnight and Chervany, 2002). Trust can help mitigating perceived risk, especially in markets that involve high uncertainty and lack of legal protection (Luo, 2002), as in the case with Marktplaats.nl. Marketplaces such as eBay facilitate transaction by making use of reputation mechanisms that inspire trust, such as feedback mechanisms, third-party escrow services (e.g. Paypal.com and Escrow.com), and credit card guarantees (Pavlou and Gefen, 2004). These mechanisms are not applicable to Marktplaats.nl since eBay is only used by registered users, and Marktplaats.nl has no registered users at all. This is not likely to change, given that Marktplaats.nl’s strength lies in the fact that it is available for everyone, without the need for registration. Without registered users, these risk-reducing mechanisms cannot be applied because they would not be completely reliable and solid. The question is: how can Marktplaats.nl increase the trustworthiness of her listers? To be able to increase the trustworthiness, it is crucial to understand which trust-generating elements customers wish to see in the advertisements. Every channel of search has its own characteristics when it comes to the nature and amount of information that is available on sellers and services. Therefore, the perceived risk and importance of trust influences consumer’ effort invested in their search for services. Higher perceived risk increases the effort invested in the search.
§2.3 Amount and Nature of Information on Seller and Service Required
channel which leads to a specific information need per service. This can range from information on the address, email address, level of experience, availability and quality of pictures, detail of description of the service, arrangement for payment, Chamber of Commerce number and interactions with the seller. All these aspects could be of influence on the perceived trustworthiness (Broekhuizen et al., 2008) and search method used. When uncertainty is high and the need for information increases, consumers tend to invest more effort in their search for services. As is the case with experience goods, where product quality cannot easily be assessed prior to purchase, service quality is also difficult to assess in advance. Therefore it is hypothesized that the detail of description in the advertisement plays a crucial role in assessing the service quality. A detailed, informative and credible description of what is delivered and when and how it is delivered, is likely to increase the chance that the service will be selected.
§2.4 Sellers’s Reputation
An important determinant for the perceived risk and trustworthiness is the reputation of the seller. First time sellers or very irregular sellers still need to prove their trustworthiness (Broekhuizen et al., 2008). For example, sellers that have been offering their services at Marktplaats.nl for a long period of time are more reliable than those who have not. Sellers whom are deemed not reliable by Markplaats.nl, are removed from the website. Sellers whom are allowed to offer services for a considerable amount of time implicate trustworthiness. Potential buyers need other indicators and/or additional information to estimate the trustworthiness of irregular and first time sellers (Broekhuizen et al., 2008). Hence, a better reputation leads to a lower perceived risk.
§2.5 Customer Characteristics
§2.5.1 Prior Experience
experiences with Marktplaats.nl are more likely to have intentions to search for services through this channel, than non-users. It is also likely that non-users might not be aware of the possibility of finding services at Marktplaats.nl. Thereby, not using Marktplaats.nl to find services could be a well-considered choice. These possibilities were revealed by the survey conducted by Marktplaats.nl. Another effect of prior experience is that experienced online buyers rely less on third-party evaluations in determining their trust (Einwiller, 2003). Compared to experienced buyers, inexperienced buyers are more likely to depend on extrinsic cues (e.g., seller’s reputation) when intrinsic cues are absent (Ariely and Simonson, 2003; Zeithaml, 1988). As noted before, prior experience and knowledge are related to the effort invested in the search, but not in a linear manner. It is interesting to find out what the underlying motivations of customers are, to get a better understanding of their search behavior.
§2.5.2 Need for Cognition
Cacioppo and Petty (1982) proposed that the need for cognition was a stable individual difference in people's tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity. Low need for cognition is defined as the relative absence of motivation for effortful cognitive activities that characterize the high need for cognition. In the marketing literature, individuals with a high need for cognition have been shown to process and evaluate advertising information more thoroughly than those with a low need for cognition. They tend to be influenced by message-relevant thoughts rather than peripheral cues such as endorser attractiveness (Haugtvedtand Petty, 1992), spokesperson credibility (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986), humor (Zhang, 1996) or the number of arguments presented (Cacioppo et al., 1983). In an extensive literature review of the subject, Cacioppo et al. (1996) found that individuals with a high need for cognition tended to process information more thoroughly and tended to engage in more extensive information search than those with a low need for cognition. This suggests that individuals with a high need for cognition might use a wide range of information sources. On the other hand, individuals with a low need for cognition are less motivated to perform extensive information search (Mourali et al., 2005). A high need for cognition will stimulate the effort invested in the search for services.
§2.5.3 Awareness of Sources and Access to Sources
consult more sources in the search, it is likely that the effort that is put into the search increases (Sundaram and Taylor, 1998)
§2.5.4 Habit
The search method used by a customer could be a habit instead of a well considered choice. Take for instance the search for a taxi; one could easily consult the Yellow Pages without considering other directories or search methods. Habits therefore reduce the effort invested in the search for services. In the case of a search method being a habit, it is rather difficult to change people’s behavior. People are used to searching certain services by use of certain channels, or even have a fixed provider. Hence, marketers might endlessly try to improve their offering, when it is actually about breaking the habit.
§2.6 Service Characteristics
§2.6.1 Complexity
Several studies have proved differences in search for services compared to goods. Among other findings of these studies, complexity seems to play an important role in influencing consumer’s use of reputation mechanisms. Complexity is mainly determined by the degree of standardization and level of uncertainty (Iacobucci, 1992). In contrast to search goods, experience goods are less amenable to be sold through the Internet, as the product quality cannot easily be assessed prior to purchase (Alba et al., 1997; Girard et al., 2003). This is also the case with the search and selection of services and increases consumer’s perceptions of risk. Again, the degree of complexity of a service requires specific amounts and natures of information. As services come with higher complexity, consumers tend to invest more effort in their search process.
§2.6.2 Involvement
antecedent of risk, since services that are accompanied with high involvement lead to higher risks. Take for example the organization of a funeral, where in terms of costs and in terms of consequences customers are highly involved, which leads to a high perceived risk. Involvement is customer-specific since the degree of importance differs per customer, but it is dependent on the service. In sum, higher involvement increases the effort invested in the search.
§2.6.3 Nature
Not only the level of uncertainty determines the nature and amount of information needed. Also the nature of the service requires specific information. Take for example a florist and an accountant. The service a florist performs is a visible one that creates a tangible product. The accountant performs a service with no real tangible output. Although the availability of a photo will increase the trustworthiness of an accountant, it is likely that the availability of a photo is of much greater importance in the case of the florist versus the accountant.
§2.7 Abundance of a Particular Channel
for finding the right service. The following figure provides an overview of the main search channels, the abundance and effort required.
Abundance Search Effort
Search engines High High
Friends and Family Low Low
Yellow Pages High Medium
Marktplaats.nl Low Medium
Figure 4: Abundance and needed search effort of search channels
§2.8 Ease of Search of a Particular Channel
§2.9 Conceptual Model
The following conceptual model is derived from previous literature review and discussion. The nature of the relation is indicated by a plus (+) or a minus (-), which respectively represent a positive or a negative relationship. The first seven hypotheses are marked by the numbers in the conceptual model. Hypotheses 8 and 9 cannot be portrayed in the model.
2
Service characteristics:
• complexity (+) • involvement (+)
Consumer’s Effort
Invested in Search for
Services
• nature (+/-)Seller’s
reputation
(-)
5Consumer characteristics:
1 • prior experience (+/-) • need for cognition (+) • awareness & access(+)Amount and nature
of information on
seller and service
§2.10 Research Questions and Objectives
Objective
Understanding consumer search behavior for services.
Research Question
Which search methods does the majority of consumers use when searching for a service?
Subquestions and Hypotheses
Subquestion 1;
How does the prior experience of a consumer influence the effort invested in the search process?
Hypothesis 1
Positive prior experience with a search channel stimulates repeated use of this channel and therefore reduces the effort invested in the search process. It also discourages consulting other channels in the search.
Subquestion 2;
How does the service type influence the effort invested in the search process?
Hypothesis 2A
The relationship between the amount of knowledge of a service category related to the effort invested in the search process is one of curvilinear nature.
Hypothesis 2B
The amount of complexity and involvement a consumer experiences with a service increases the amount of perceived risk and the amount of effort invested.
Subquestion 3;
How does perceived risk influence the effort invested in the search process?
Hypothesis 3
Subquestion 4;
Which elements reduce the perceived risk when searching a service?
Hypothesis 4
Perceived risk can be reduced by providing trustworthy information on sellers and the service they offer. Elements of trust can be information on the address, email address, level of experience, availability and quality of pictures, detail of description of the service, arrangement for payment and interactions with the seller.
Subquestion 5;
How does the seller’s reputation influence the perceived risk?
Hypothesis 5
As a seller’s reputation increases, the perceived risk decreases.
Subquestion 6;
What role does the abundance of a channel play considering search methods used?
Hypothesis 6
Consumers tend to use search channels that offer a high abundance since they feel it reduces the effort needed to invest to ensure the right service is offered.
Subquestion 7;
How does ease of search within particular channels influence the search methods used?
Hypothesis 7
Consumers tend to use search channels that are convenient for searching, since they feel it reduces the effort needed to invest.
Subquestion 8;
How does the nature of the picture added to the advertisement influence the number of times an advertisement is viewed?
Hypothesis 8
In the case of personal services, one would like to see a picture of the person who delivers the service. The number of views will be higher when a picture of this nature is added to the advertisement. In the case of impersonal services, the number of views will be higher when a picture of previously delivered work or a working place / an office is added to the advertisement.
Subquestion 9;
What impact does the mentioning of a website in the advertisement have on the judgment on advertisements for high- and low involvement services?
Hypothesis 9
CHAPTER 3: METHOD & RESULTS IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWING
The measuring of effort invested in the search process for services is one of subjective matter. Although the channels used for searching services are objectively measurable, the underlying motivations and reasons are of subjective matter. This study aims to examine both the underlying motivations and reasons for the use of certain search methods, as well as their relevancy and degree of importance in the search process. As will be made clear further on, the search process for services is determined by many variables. Quantitative examination of all these variables and their antecedents would result in the need for a new research, i.e. falls beyond the scope of this study. Therefore, a few interesting elements derived from the interviews are picked out to perform further measures on. Hence, this study consists of two stages. The first stage focuses on determining how the different variables mentioned in the conceptual model influence each other and the effort invested in searching for services. Furthermore, in this examination an investigation will take place as to what the most important antecedents of the determinants are. To gather this type of information, qualitative measures are needed. Therefore the most appropriate method in the first stage of this study is structured in-depth interviewing. The second stage involves a small online experiment which is developed based on the results of the in-depth interviews.
§3.1 Method In-depth Interviewing
§3.1.1 Sample
Previous discussion has revealed that it is likely that prior experience is of influence on the effort invested in the search process for services. Therefore, the sample is segmented by prior experience, considering both the usage of Marktplaats.nl and experience with online buying. Important with in-depth interviewing is that the data is extensive enough to conduct a proper analysis, but also small enough to remain analyzable. Therefore, the total sample consists of 20 respondents (n = 20) of which the same amount (n = 10) consists of Marktplaats.nl-users and non Marktplaats.nl-users. The sample also consists of same amount (n = 10) of experienced online buyers and inexperienced online buyers. This results in the following sample:
(n = 20) MP- user Non MP- user
Experienced online buyer 5 5
Inexperienced online buyer 5 5
To determine whether a person is an experienced online buyer, some “check questions” should be posed. The following questions are to be answered on a five-point scale, ranging from never to very often. Based on these answers, a person can be quantified as either an experienced or inexperienced online buyer:
• Did you book a flight or a holiday on the Internet during the past two years? • Did you buy a book or a cd on the Internet during the past two years?
• Did you search classified marketplaces like eBay, Speurders.nl or Marktplaats.nl during the past two years for products and/or services?
• Did you buy or sell products or services on the Internet with the use of classified marketplaces like eBay, Speurders.nl or Marktplaats.nl during the past two years?
Determining whether a person is a Marktplaats.nl user is can be done easily by asking whether a person bought items on Marktplaats.nl, or searched Marktplaats.nl for items, on a regular basis during the past two years. When this question can be answered with “yes”, the person can be qualified as a Marktplaats.nl user.
It is important that the sample is a realistic reflection of society, since it is Marktplaats.nl’s strength to be able to be used by everyone. Hence, the respondents exhibit varying characteristics ranging in age, gender, experiences, place of residence etc.
§3.1.2 Questioning
The next part of the interview involves a small experiment with manipulated advertisements to examine the likeliness of contacting a service provider and the reasons for contacting or not contacting. The respondents are also questioned on how they perceive the trustworthiness of the sellers. Four different advertisements are developed for four different services, varying on the amount and nature of information on seller and service provided in the advertisement. The services differ on the degree of involvement, degree of complexity and vary in nature of the service. The four services that are objects of questioning are:
Figure 7: Services that are object of questioning
Low involvement High involvement
Low complexity Bicycle repairing Courier service
High complexity Computer help Construction contractor
Four types of advertisements are developed which are modified for each particular service. They contain the following information and/or elements:
- Photo 1 - Substantive info on seller and service - Info on price
- Telephone number - Website
- Chamber of Commerce number - One year listed at MP
- Photo 2 - No substantive info on seller and
service - Info on price
- No telephone number - Website
- Chamber of Commerce number - One year listed at MP
- No photo 3 - No substantive info on seller and
service
- No info on price - No telephone number - No website
- No Chamber of Commerce number - Recently listed at MP
- No photo 4 - Substantive info on seller and service - No info on price
- Telephone number - No website
- No Chamber of Commerce number - Recently listed at MP
Advertisement 1 contains the most information and elements and is therefore considered the optimal option. Advertisement 3 contains a minimal amount of information and elements, hence is considered the least attractive. The other two advertisements are perceived equally on the level of attractiveness but contain different types of information.
The following part of the interview focuses on one particular service since it is expected that search methods differ for particular services. General questions on searching services are therefore not possible. Each segment in the sample of respondents consists of five persons and there are four services which are to be evaluated. Therefore each service is evaluated by at least one person in each segment.
The questioning considers the following subjects for each particular service.
• Awareness of possible channels for search and access to them per service. • Present knowledge of the particular service categories.
• Perceived risk in terms of consequences per service.
• How people search for a particular service, i.e. which channels they use. • Whether the channels of search are well considered choices or habits and why. • Which channels people would not use and the reasons for these choices. • The advantages and disadvantages of particular search methods used.
• Which information on the service and seller are important for selecting the right seller and why.
• What information increases the trustworthiness of a seller and the importance of trustworthiness.
• The importance of abundance. • The importance of ease of search.
• How time pressure influences the search methods used.
§3.2 Results In-depth Interviewing
The results of the interviews provide interesting, surprising and confirming insights. Although the interviews provide information on all the hypotheses, it is difficult to accept or reject some of the hypotheses with full certainty since quantitative analysis can not be performed on this type of data. Twenty people with different backgrounds and different online buying experiences were interviewed on their search methods for services. Their age ranges from 19 years old to 58 years old and the same amount of women and men were interviewed. The respondents’ places of residence are located in both urban and suburban areas, but they mainly live in the northern part of the Netherlands. The following parts will encompass interview-insights on the previously stated hypotheses. Each hypothesis is treated separately by presenting a brief overview on the content of the respondent’s answers during the interviews, followed by an explanation and interpretation of the interview results.
§3.2.1 Hypothesis 1:
Positive prior experience with a search channel stimulates repeated use of this channel and therefore reduces the effort invested in the search process. It also discourages consulting other channels in the search.
The following is a brief overview on the content of the respondent’s answers during the interviews, concerning hypothesis 1:
• Respondents have positive experiences with buying or selling products at Marktplaats.nl but have little intention on using it for services.
• They do not expect to find services at Marktplaats.nl.
• Marktplaats.nl is perceived as a “bargain” site, not very trustworthy.
• Positive prior experience with a particular search channel tends to automate the use of a channel since it minimizes effort. Consulting other channels increases effort when results are uncertain.
Marktplaats.nl users have positive experiences with buying or selling products, they have little intention to use Marktplaats.nl for services. This can be explained by Marktplaats.nl’s image of being a ‘bargain’ site where everyone is able to place advertisement to sell or buy products. Due to this image one does not expect to find services at Marktplaats.nl nor considers it trustworthy. Interesting to note is that in the services category at Marktplaats.nl, multiple advertisers mention the word ‘trustworthy or reliable’ in the opening line. This indicates that people seem to question the trustworthiness of service suppliers at Marktplaats.nl.
In the case of other search channels like the Yellow Pages, the telephone directory, family/friends or search engines, positive experience stimulates repeated use of the channel. It also reduces the search effort since the use of a channel tends to become automated. When one has positive prior experience with a particular channel, other channels are often not taken into consideration. Sometimes people are even discouraged to use other channels since they feel it takes more effort, when the results are the same or less satisfying.
§3.2.2 Hypothesis 2A:
The relationship between the amount of knowledge of a service category related to the effort invested in the search process is one of curvilinear nature.
The following is a brief overview on the content of the respondent’s answers during the interviews, concerning hypothesis 2A:
• Having little knowledge makes people uncertain on where to start of with the search and makes them want to acquire as much information as possible. The search often starts with consulting Google and family/friends.
• When one has a great amount of knowledge of a service category, the search is much more focused by consulting specialized sources, i.e. Google is less often used since it produces a lot of irrelevant information. Sometimes even the choice on which supplier to pick becomes automated due to prior positive experiences.
people tend to consult multiple channels of which search engines (Google) and family/friends play an important role. Google generates an incredibly great amount of search results in less than a few seconds. This in combination with reliable tips from family/friends forms a rich source of information. But since Google generates overwhelmingly much information, it takes a lot of effort to filter the relevant results and selecting the right supplier. People also invest great amounts of effort in consulting other channels like the Yellow Pages and multiple suppliers to gain complete information.
In the case of searching for a service which one is very familiar with, less effort is invested. Since knowledge on what to look for is present, the search is much more focused and other channels are consulted. Take for instance the collector of car occasions who wants to have the bodywork of a car painted. He notes that he is well aware of what qualities a car painter should have and therefore he will not use Google to search on “painter bodywork car”. He knows specifically what information is required and Google generates a lot of irrelevant information. The search will be much more specific by consulting specialized websites, advertisements in magazines about the subject and people with knowledge of painting car bodywork. Still multiple channels and suppliers are consulted since the person knows exactly what to look for, and wants to make sure he ends up with the best deal. But the channels are not as extensively searched as when the person lacks knowledge of the service. In some cases, people noted that when they have a great amount of knowledge on a service category, choices become automatic because of previous experiences with particular suppliers.
Of course there are also a number of services that the majority of people have at least a little knowledge of, like for example bicycle repairment or a hairdresser. In this case, search effort can be best described as medium.
These findings suggest a relationship that is not of curvilinear nature as was stated in the hypothesis. Instead it appears to be of linear nature:
Search effort
Knowledge of a service category
The amount of knowledge of a service proved to influence the effort invested in the search. But since the findings derived from the interviews are partly conflicting with the literature, the form of the relationship can be discussed. Therefore it is plausible that the effort invested is mainly determined by other factors than the amount of knowledge on a service, for example the type of service that is being searched.
Thereby, the sample of respondents consists of a design that makes a distinction between Marktplaats.nl users versus non-users and experienced online buyers versus inexperienced online buyers. The nature of the respondents’ answers proves to be consistent with what was found previously in the literature. Inexperienced online buyers tend to consult family/friends next to consulting the paper versions of the telephone directory and Yellow Pages. The opinion of third parties seems to be important and consulting the Internet is accompanied by high amounts of perceived risk. Even when suggested by the interviewer, this type of respondent still indicated to have little intention to consult for example Marktplaats.nl to find services. Moreover, experienced online buyers often indicate that they prefer internet versions in their means to find a service. Whether someone is a Marktplaats.nl user also seems to influence the decision process of which channels to consult. Although most Marktplaats.nl users are not aware of the possibility to find services at Marktplaats.nl, they prove to be willing to take Marktplaats.nl into consideration the next time they are in need of a service. Non-users have less intention to consult Marktplaats.nl due to the existing ‘unreliable’ image of the website
§3.2.3 Hypothesis 2B:
The amount of complexity and involvement a consumer experiences with a service increases the amount of perceived risk and the amount of effort invested.
The following is a brief overview on the content of the respondent’s answers during the interviews, concerning hypothesis 2B:
• Respondents indicate that services that are low on complexity and involvement go with little perceived risk. In this case, respondents would like to see clear, short advertisements that contain information on what is delivered for what price and the speed of deliverance. Too much information is perceived as superfluous and sometimes even decreases the perceived reliability.
This hypothesis is confirmed by the answers of the respondents. People were questioned on searching services of different degrees of complexity and involvement. As the amount of complexity and involvement increases, the perceived risk increases as well. As was noted before, complexity is mainly determined by the degree of standardization and level of uncertainty on what will be provided. Involvement is determined by the expensiveness of the service and the importance of the decision (in terms of consequences). As in the case of bicycle repairment, involvement and complexity are low. Therefore the perceived risk of hiring a service provider instead of performing the “operations” yourself is low. The service that is provided by a bicycle repairman is quite standardized (fixing lights or fixing flat tires) and the costs are relatively low. This leads to little financial risk, little physical risk, little quality/performance risk, little psychological and social risk and little time-loss risk. This also influences people’s wishes relating to the form and richness of information in the advertisements. Services of low complexity and low involvement require rather short, clear advertisement that state what is delivered, for what price it is delivered and the speed of deliverance. Great amounts of distinctive information are perceived superfluous. In some cases people even noted that too much information in the advertisements decreases the perceived reliability of the supplier. One of the respondents quotes: “I don’t care who fixes my bike. I’m not interested in his history, experiences or what he looks like. I just want my bike to be fixed fast and cheap”.
When a person searches for a service that involves high complexity and high involvement, the perceived risk is much higher. In the case of a construction contractor, the service comes with high costs and it is rather likely that somewhere in the process quality/performance standards are not met. Very often people experience great amounts of stress during the construction of their house. Therefore the physiological and social risks are also quite high. The service of constructing a house is very specific for every customer and uncertainty on what is delivered is high. These characteristics of the service result in people experiencing a great amount of perceived risk.
As was stated in the hypothesis, perceived risk increases the effort invested in the search for a service. How these elements are related will be explained in the next section.
§3.2.4 Hypothesis 3:
The amount of perceived risk increases the effort invested in the search process.
• High perceived risk results in people consulting multiple sources to gather information. They indicate that they attach more value to the quality of the service that is to be delivered, which is accompanied by a decreased importance of where the service supplier is located.
• The respondents also indicate that when experiencing high risk, the search includes the consultation of multiple channels and in most cases at least the use of Google. Opinions of friends and family are also valued highly.
• People undertake little research for simple services. They often only consult one channel like the Yellow Pages or Telephone directory, since they provide short and clear information on the service. Especially when it services are concerned in which speed of deliverance is important. Browsing great amounts of information is not preferred.
The amount of perceived risk clearly proves to influence which channels are consulted, how many channels are consulted and in which order they are consulted. It also determines how much time and energy is invested in the search.
When faced with increasing perceived risk, consumers tend to use more sources of information. High involvement and complex services are accompanied with an increased need for quality. In many cases the location of the supplier tends to become less important, although this is partly determined by the need of being physically present for the service to be delivered. Therefore, people search by use of multiple channels and often broaden the search area from local to national. Remarkable is the fact that in almost every search process, Google is consulted at a certain point in time. Some searches start off on a broad basis by the use of Google and are then narrowed down by using and extrapolating specific results. Comparative information on specialized websites plays an important role for selecting the right supplier. Opinions of third parties like family and friends are also valued in the search for high involvement services. In some cases (for example the search for an accountant) third parties are consulted first, followed by googling the given suggestions.
repairman. Therefore the telephone directory or the Yellow Pages are consulted more often in the search for low perceived risk services. When one is in high need for a particular service, for example a courier, one is not in the position to invest a lot of time in the search. Again, the telephone directory and the Yellow Pages are often consulted.
Next to the finding that the effort invested depends on the type of service that is searched for, it is also determined by people’s personal cognitive need. How much effort one is willing to invest is partly determined by one’s character. Individuals with a high need for cognition tend to process advertising information more thoroughly and tend to engage in more extensive information searching than those with a low need for cognition.
These insights on how people search for services prove that as the perceived risk increases, people invest more effort in their search in order to increase their trust in selecting the right supplier. Thereby, the effort invested is also partly determined by an individual’s need for cognition.
§3.2.5 Hypothesis 4:
Perceived risk can be reduced by providing trustworthy information on sellers and the service they offer. Elements of trust can be information on the address, email address, level of experience, availability and quality of pictures, detail of description of the service, arrangement for payment and interactions with the seller.
The following is a brief overview on the content of the respondent’s answers during the interviews, concerning hypothesis 4:
• Respondents indicate that the lack of contact data reduces trustworthiness. • People always like to see a telephone number in the advertisement.
• The presence of a telephone number in the service advertisement is of greater importance in comparison to advertisements for products, and of greater importance when the service is needed immediately.
• The presence of a website in the advertisement generates trust.
• In the case of services that are low on involvement and complexity, a website is appreciated since it radiates a sense of professionalism, but it is not a determining factor. • In the case of services that are high on involvement and complexity, the mentioning of a
• When the website is missing in an advertisement of a high involvement service, some people continue the search by the use of Google.
• In the case of rather simple, low involvement services, great amounts of information in the advertisement are sometimes experienced as superfluous. According to the respondents, too much and/or irrelevant information reduces trustworthiness. The opposite is true for high involvement services.
• A photo added to the advertisement creates a ‘trustworthy feeling’.
• When one searches a ‘personal’ service, a photo of the person who delivers the service is preferred. When it concerns an ‘impersonal’ service, one would like to see a photo of previously delivered work or a working place / an office. The photo should at least suggest professionalism.
• A Chamber of Commerce number is of little importance in the case of low involvement services. Respondents indicate that it does not have to be a registered entrepreneurship, as long as the service is performed properly at a low cost. In the case of high involvement services, one does not intentionally look for the number, but it does create trustworthiness.
• In the case of high involvement services, references play an important role since people feel they reduce the risk involved. When references are not available directly, people search for references themselves. When searching for simple, low involvement services, references are seldom taken into account since it requires effort to read and compare them.
This hypothesis was partly tested by confronting the respondents with manipulated advertisements and partly tested by open-ended questions on what elements in service advertisements generate trustworthiness. What is interesting to see is that the importance of different elements differs depending on the type of service. Some elements may also seem to compensate each other in the generation of trustworthiness.
noted before, the presence of a telephone number is of greater importance when it involves a service of high need. The agreement then has to be arranged in a short period of time. The presence of a telephone number in the advertisement is also of greater importance when it involves services rather than products. This can be explained by the type of information that is required. As in the case of services, quality cannot be easily assessed prior to delivery. One prefers to speak to the supplier in advance to gather information on the service. When products are involved, quality can be assessed more easily by objective information.
The presence of a website in an advertisement is certainly an element of trust, but the importance differs depending on the level of involvement and complexity of the service. The availability of a website does generate trust when it concerns low involvement and rather simple services, but it is not a determining factor. People feel that it is not a requirement to have a website when you are for example a shoes repairman, but it does create a certain professional image. As the involvement and the complexity of the service increase, the importance of a website increases as well. The majority of the respondents indicated that in the case of high involvement services of which the advertisements contain little information, the mentioning of a website is crucial for contacting the supplier. Advertisements in a telephone directory or the Yellow Pages contain little information on the supplier and the service that is to be delivered. At Marktplaats.nl, people allowed to create and design their advertisements based on their own preferences, which sometimes leads to very concise advertisements. This in combination with lacking a website address results in people not contacting the supplier. Instead, some people will continue their search on certain suppliers by use of Google. Unfortunately for these companies, Google is also the one to receive the credits, since Google is the website people remember to have found the right supplier. An interesting insight is that the importance of mentioning a website in the advertisement is partly depending on the detail of description given in the advertisement. As in the case of Marktplaats.nl, the detail of description varies greatly between the advertisements. When a website is mentioned, people settle for a less detailed description since the relevant information can be found elsewhere. The mentioning of a website is also of greater importance when it concerns services that are rather customer-specific, since more specific information is required. The two elements of mentioning a website in the advertisement and the detail of description seem to compensate each other. This finding is particularly relevant for Markplaats.nl since people have the possibility to design their own advertisements, i.e. determine the detail of description, mentioning a website etc.
type of service that is being searched for. When it concerns rather simple, low involvement services, a highly detailed description could have the opposite effect of generating trustworthiness. That is because this great amount of information is sometimes experienced as superfluous. As in the case of a plumber, it is sufficient to have information on speed, price and what is delivered present in the advertisement. A great amount of irrelevant information could cause the supplier to be perceived as untrustworthy. The opposite is true when it concerns complex, high involvement services. Highly detailed descriptions are valued since acquiring more information in advance reduces many forms of risk. When hiring for example a construction contractor or a lawyer, an extended, informative and credible advertisement that contains information on possibilities, prices, conditions etc. is highly relevant in the generation of trustworthiness.
Adding a photo or a picture to the advertisement proves to inspire trust. At Marktplaats.nl a first selection is made based on the results presented in the overview page after ordering a search task. The overview page is a presentation of the following form:
Lacking a photo in the advertisement is a major disadvantage compared to the advertisements that do contain a photo. As can be seen in the example, the number of times an advertisement is viewed is much higher when a photo is present. This is especially true in the case of high involvement services. As the involvement of a service increases, the importance of a photo being present tends to increase as well. People were also asked what information they derive from a photo, i.e. why it generates trustworthiness. None of the respondents could give a clear answer to this question. They indicated that it is more of an overall “trustworthy feeling” that a photo generates. The nature of the photo that people wish to see seems to differs depending on the type of service. A distinction can be made between personal and impersonal services. Personal services are considered to be services in which the person who delivers the service is of substantial importance to how the service is experienced. Like in the case of hiring a wedding planner, masseur or a babysitter, one is anxious to know in advance who deliveres the service. Therefore, an advertisement that contains a photo of the person who delivers the service is appreciated. Impersonal services often involve services with tangible outputs, for example bicycle repairment or painting. Here one would like to see a photo of delivered work or an office. The person who delivers the service is less important. This categorization is actually consistent with what was found previously in the literature. As was mentioned in the introduction, services can be distinguished by those directed at “people”, in which the recipient needs to be physically present, from those directed at “things” in which presence isn’t required (Lovelock, 1983). In general, the respondents indicated that the photo should suggest some form of professionalism.
reliability, i.e. chances of facing a fraud. Further information on the image of Marktplaats.nl is encompassed by other sections.
According to the respondents, perceived risk can be reduced by the availability of references. When an advertisement lacks references, people tend to gather their own references by asking third parties for opinions or searching the Internet for references. Since high involvement services are accompanied by higher perceived risk, people attach more value to available references compared to the references of low involvement services. When one needs for example an electrician or someone to perform cleaning service, references are not being searched for. People indicated that references are not taken into account when searching such simple services, even though they might readily be available. Some people might take a brief look at the references to gain an overall view, but they are not considered to be a determining factor in selecting the right supplier. This behavior is not surprising since it takes more effort to read, compare and evaluate references before selecting one or more suppliers. As the involvement and complexity increase, the effort people are willing to invest increases as well. Therefore, the availability of references is highly appreciated when high involvement and complex services are concerned. Presenting references with the advertisements is not possible within every search channel. Marktplaats.nl’s method of enabling people to design their own advertisements does facilitate the option of adding references to the advertisement. This is a great advantage considering the creation of trust. Unfortunately it also comes with a downside. Complete assurance of solid and reliable references is impossible since Marktplaats.nl’s users are not registered.
Overall, offering the option of adding references to an advertisement leads to a great advantage since references radiate a sense of trustworthiness.
§3.2.6 Hypothesis 5:
As a seller’s reputation increases, the perceived risk decreases.
The following is a brief overview on the content of the respondent’s answers during the interviews, concerning hypothesis 5:
• People tend to pay little to no attention to the period a seller’s advertisement is listed. • In the case of product advertisements, people do pay attention to the listing period and
