This study proposes a framework to understand the impacts of both value-related and transaction cost-related factors on repurchase intention from online shoppers' perspective. In particular, this study defines the construct of cost as a three-component conceptualization (i.e., information searching cost, moral hazard cost, and specific asset investment). Based upon empirical evidence on a survey of 887 online shoppers, this study shows that consumers' perceived value and each cost component are positively related to repurchase intention. Importantly, information searching cost exerts the most significant influence on repurchase intentions among the four relational factors. The result suggests that providing sufficient cues to reduce consumers' information searching cost is the core element of repurchase intention formation. This article closes with theoretical and practical implications.
Over the past decade, companies reach customers across the web in many ways. Yet, they often face a basic challenge about how to acquire and retain customers, especially those focused on business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce (Bolton et al., 2000, Chen and Hitt, 2002, Jones et al., 2000, Keaveney and Parthasarathy, 2001 and Tsai and Huang, 2007).
In much of repurchase intention research, scholars often consider how transactional benefits (e.g., interface quality, effective web design, satisfaction, and lower price) affect repurchase intention (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003, Jones et al., 2000, Keaveney and Parthasarathy, 2001 and Ranganathan and Ganapathy, 2002). Although online stores try to provide lots of advantages to attract customers, most of them are losing money. The reason may be that superior product quality and reasonable prices may be not able to retain customers because competitors can easily imitate. Some satisfied customers still defect due to other psychological or social factors (Jones and Sasser, 1995, Neal, 1999 and Oliver, 1999). Those transactional benefit factors only partially explain the cause of repurchase intention, and others remain to be a large space to explore. Therefore, it is crucial to find out what constitutes consumers' repurchase evaluation As Bansal, Irving, and Taylor (2004) argue, there is a need to look beyond those transactional-type factors, and to include relationship factors in understanding consumers' repurchase intentions.
This study enhances the understanding about the relational factors that either drive or impede repurchase intention in online shopping contexts. This study addresses two research issues in online shopping. First is the relationship between one value-related construct and TCE-related cost constructs, and their implication on repurchase intention. Second is the relative importance of the three distinct costs on perceived value and repurchase intention. Based on the empirical evidence, this study finds that consumers' perceived value is positively related to repurchase intention. In addition, perceived costs arising from information asymmetry and specific investment affect the perceived value and behavioral intents. Importantly, each cost exhibits different effects on the perceived value and repurchase intentions, while the information searching cost has the greatest influence.
