WEBSITE SOCIABILITY AND FLEXIBILITY IN RELATION TO CUSTOMER ONLINE SATISFACTION: A RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

Sandrine Prom Tep, Ph.D. candidate HEC Montreal

sandrine.prom-tep@hec.ca

Manon Arcand, Marketing Professor, ESG-UQAM

arcand.manon@uqam.ca

Oct.1st, 2011 – Boston, MA.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Research context and objectives Literature review

Website quality and performance Web site flexibility and Feature fatigue Paradoxes of choice and technology Sociability and the social Web

Proposed conceptual model and hypotheses Contributions Future work as conclusive remarks References

RESEARCH CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES

This study stands at the intersection of online consumer behavior in marketing and human-computer interaction (HCI) Electronic tools are more and more omnipresent and loaded

with features (i.e. iPhone) The Web is now a market-driven space with a strong social

dimension, even more so in the mobile context (Bernoff & Li 2008; Kaplan & Haenlein 2010)

Ex. Ticket Master Facebook App

Research ObjectivesExtend the Thompson, Hamilton & Rust (2005) paper on

« Feature fatigue: When Product Capabilities Become Too much of a Good Thing » to online services

Introduce the moderating role of sociability between Web site flexibility and PEOU and its indirect impact on satisfaction

LITERATURE REVIEW: WEB SITE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE

A large body of research in last years focused on what make a Web site more effective Online service quality

Visual design, quality/quantity of information, personalization, interactivity, security/privacy (Yoo & Donthu, 2001; Barnes & Vidgen, 2003; Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2003; Bressolles 2006)

E-satisfaction as a key measure of performance (Szymanski & Hise2000; Hsu 2006; Evanschitzky et al. 2004)

Technology Acceptance Model The central role of usability/ease of use : positive influence on

attitude, satisfaction, intentions (Davis 1989; Aljukhadar & Sénécal 2009; Bressolles, Durieu & Giraud 2007)

LITERATURE REVIEW: WEB SITE FLEXIBILITY AND FEATURE FATIGUE

Flexibility in the online context All the alternatives offered by a Web site to serve one single

purpose / to complete a single task (Bastien & Scapin, 1993; Hearst et al. 2002)

e.g.; CNet.com (expert and consumer reviews, product description, pictures and video, price comparison, etc.)

Important criteria for Web site ergonomics (Bastien & Scapin, 1993; Shneiderman, 1998)

Flexibility brings Feature fatigue Too many features make the product overwhelming and difficult to

use (less usability), resulting in “feature fatigue” and less satisfaction in usage & refuting the saying “the more the better”

eTailers seducing consumers…

Consumers tend to choose products loaded with a large number of features, attracted by their capability (Thompson, Hamilton & Rust, 2005)

= Increasing Web site’s flexibility and augmenting site complexity

In the long term, marketers should seek to develop products with an “optimized level” of flexibility to maximize satisfaction and repurchase

LITERATURE REVIEW: PARADOXES OF TECHNOLOGY AND CHOICE

Feature fatigue is an illustration of the Paradox of technology Polar opposite conditions can simultaneously exist in

the same thing: competence/incompetence, freedom/enslavement (Mick & Fournier, 1998)

Related to feature fatigue (or “too much of a good thing effect”) is the “Paradox of Choice” CB literature: Where choosing from among a large

number of alternatives have negative effects (regret, decreased product and life satisfaction, lower self-control) (Murray & Haübl 2008; Schwartz 2005)

Web site flexibility brings choice complexity Mass-customization Web sites giving consumers too

many interactive features for customizing products lead to low behavioral intentions (Lee et al. 2011)

LITERATURE REVIEW: SOCIABILITY AND THE SOCIAL WEB The social Web and the contribution revolution (Cook 2008)

UGC features, eWOM, social shopping and peer recommendations (Senecal & Nantel 2004; Cova, Kozinets & Shankar, 2007; Hennig-Thurau et al. 2004; Lin 2008)

Moderating role of sociability While usability focuses on HCI, sociability encompasses

anything supporting social interaction in an online environment (human-human interaction) (Preece, 2000; Preece & Schneiderman 2010)

While flexibility affects usability negatively, sociability can compensate as it is addressing the need for social interaction through social presence and social validation

“Social cues induce perception of Web site socialness leading to increased pleasure and arousal, both of which positively influence flow, hedonic and utilitarian value and patronage intentions” (Wang et al. 2007)

“A combination of system characteristics (e.g. information and system quality) and social factors (e.g. trust and social usefulness) contribute to virtual community’s success” (Lin 2008)

The influence of sociability is established in driving attitude toward the company and service quality perceptions in online product communities (Nambisan & Watt 2011)

CONCEPTUAL MODEL: OUR PROPOSITION

Website flexibility

Perceived Ease of use (PEOU)

Satisfaction

BISociability(yes/no)

P1(-) P3a(+)

P3b(+)

P1: Website flexibility impacts negatively PEOUP2: Sociability interacts with flexibility to impact PEOU such as:

P2a/P2b: social functionality presence (absence) weakens (does not weaken) significantly the negative impact of

Website flexibility on PEOUP3a: PEOU impacts positively on satisfactionP3b: PEOU impacts positively on BIP4: Sociability impacts positively PEOU?? (Few literature found yet for theoretical support, but we could suspect an informative social influence at work)

P2P4?

CONTRIBUTIONS

Theoretical level Proposition of a research framework which

Highlights the interplay between flexibility and sociability attributes on Website consumers’ evaluations

Integrates the cognitive and social dimensions of Web sites into one single model

Sets the table for empirical testing

Managerial level Help managers carefully plan the introduction of

additional Web site features (functionalities), to balance flexibility and sociability for more perceived usability and satisfaction Being aware that « Too many features can encourage initial

purchase but damage satisfaction and reduce repurchase probability » if not properly balanced to address the functional and social needs of the online consumers

Pro

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socia

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and fl

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ilityFUTURE WORK FOR CONCLUSIVE REMARKS

We plan to test this conceptual model empirically with 2 types of online social context Open group vs closed group

Using a consumer review platform (like Buzzilions or CNet)

Using a collaborative work platform (like Zoho or Central Desktop) with proper manipulation checks for

Flexibility H/L installing more or less features (ex. calendar, task list, alerts, folder categories, etc.)

Sociability Y/N(ex. contact lists with online status, discussion threads, work groups/subgroups, etc.)

Controlling for key variables (ex. need for social interaction, Web site

experience, etc.)

Pro

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Arca

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socia

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and fl

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THANK YOU!

Suggestions? Questions?

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