How buyers are influenced by
return
policies
and
online reviews
:
the effect of return policy leniency and expertise of a reviewer on buyers’
regret after an online purchase decision.
CONTENT
PROBLEM
STATEMENT
METHODOLOGY
DISCUSSION &
LIMITATIONS
THEORY
PROBLEM STATEMENT
- 82% of consumers feel regret after making a purchase decision (Skelton & Allwood, 2017) - 30% of online purchases is being returned (ING, 2013)
- Substantial financial and environmental costs involved for businesses
àbuyers’ regret needs to be minimized
- Cognitive dissonance: opposing cognitions (Festinger, 1957)
- ‘Post-purchase anxiety’ or ‘post-decision anxiety’ (Hunt, 1970; Cummings & Venkatesan, 1976) - Expectations not being met or opinions from others
PROBLEM STATEMENT
THEORY
- Reduce regret by hearing about experiences of others
- Consumers trust online recommendations (Goldsmith & Horowitz, 2006)
- OCRs have become one of the most important resources when making a purchase decision (Zhu & Zhang, 2010)
- Negative opinions from others result in cognitive dissonance (regret)
- More attention to negative information (Herr et al., 1991; Laczniak et al., 2001)
eWOM
THEORY
- Regret results in the need to change the decision (Zeelenberg & Pieters, 2007)
- Lenient return policies reduce the costs of reversing a bad decision (Ketzenberg & Zuiderwijk, 2009) and protect consumers (Wang, 2009) - Leniency is defined in several dimensions: monetary, exchange, time, effort and scope (Janakiraman et al., 2016)
- Expert reviews and peer reviews are potential sources when looking at information (Friberg & Grönqvis, 2012) - Substantial decision-making prefers expert reviews (Ashenfelter & Jones; 2013 ; Keh & Sun, 2018)
THEORY
- Highly involved buyers will put more effort and time in making the right purchase decision (Block et al., 1986) - Negative link between purchase decision involvement and dissonance (Korgaonkar & Moschis, 1982)
- Larger focus on paying a low price (Alford & Biwswas, 2002) - Missed opportunities (Schwartz, 2004)
PURCHASE DECISION INVOLVEMENT
PRICE CONSCIOUSNESS
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
METHODOLOGY
2
4
1
3
- Online survey in Dutch
- Fictional buying situation (laptop)
- Randomly assigned to 6 different conditions: o Return policy (highly-lenient,
medium-lenient & not-lenient) o Negative review (expert vs. peer) - Pre-test return policy leniency
- Factor analysis - Reliability analysis - ANOVA - Linear regression o Dummy coding o Seven models - Multicollinearity - Mean-centering - Median split - Manipulation of return policy leniency
No interaction effect between return policy leniency and expertise (H3 disconfirmed)
2
No interaction effect between moderating variables and experimental variables (H1b, H2b, H2d disconfirmed)
3
Direct effect between moderating variables and dependent variable (H1a, H2a,H2cconfirmed)
4
Return policy leniency has an effect on buyers’ regret (H1 confirmed)
Expertise has no effect on buyers’ regret (H2 disconfirmed)
1
No interaction effect between return policy leniency and expertise (H3 disconfirmed)
2)
No interaction effect between moderating variables and experimental variables (H1b, H2b, H2d disconfirmed)
3)
Direct effect between moderating variables and dependent variable (H1a, H2a,H2cconfirmed)
4)
Return policy leniency has an effect on buyers’ regret (H1confirmed)
Expertise has no effect on buyers’ regret (H2 disconfirmed)
1)
Fictional situation
2
3
4
Medium-lenient return policy & pre-test
1
DISCUSSION
”How does return policy leniency and the level of
expertise of the reviewer impact buyers’ regret when
a buyer reads a negative review, written by either an
expert of a peer, after choosing for a certain
product?”
No effect of online reviews on buyers’ regret
Interaction effect
2
Investigate the cost of lenient return policies
3
Create online environments which will stimulate purchase decision involvement
4
Fictional situation
