H4b
Phase II: Post- Purchase IOO Model (U.K. E-tailer)
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Testing the Effect of Trust in E-tailer on Surprise (H4 a & b)
The first hypothesis in Phase II proposed a positive relationship between trust in e-tailer and consumers’ anticipated emotion of surprise at both Chinese (H4a) and U.K.
(H4b) e-tailers. The path coefficient revealed a statistically significant estimate, but in the opposite direction of the hypothesis in both the groups assigned to the Chinese e-tailer setting (γChina = -0.28, p < .001) as well as the group assigned to the U.K. e-tailer setting (γUK = -0.28, p < .001). This finding indicates that trust in in e-tailer negatively influences the level of surprise felt by consumers. Therefore, H4 (a & b) was not supported in the direction hypothesized.
Testing the Effect of Transaction Utility on Surprise (H5 a & b)
The next hypothesis in Phase II relates to a positive relationship between transaction utility and surprise at both Chinese (H5a) and U.K. (H5b) e-tailers. This relationship was not supported in either the group assigned to the Chinese e-tailer settings (γChina = 0.11, p > .05) or the group assigned to the U.K. e-tailer settings (γUK = 0.11, p >
.05). This means that, transaction utility has no significant positive or negative relationship with surprise. Therefore, H5 (a & b) was not supported.
Testing the Effect of Product Uniqueness on Surprise (H6 a & b)
Hypothesis H6 predicted that the level of product uniqueness will have a positive influence on consumers’ anticipated degree of surprise at both Chinese (H6a) and U.K.
(H6b) e-tailers. However, the path coefficient did not reveal a significant relationship between product uniqueness and surprise in both the group assigned to the Chinese
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tailer setting (γChina = 0.09, p > .05) and the group assigned to the U.K. e-tailer setting (γUK = 0.09, p > .05). Therefore, H6 (a & b) was not supported, i.e., product uniqueness had no influence on the level of surprise at both Chinese and U.K. e-tailers.
Testing the Effects in the Model of Customer Delight (H7 a & b through H11 a & b) The next five hypothesized paths (H7 – H11) in Phase II related to the paths in the model of customer delight, namely, surprise arousal, surprise delight, arousal positive affect, arousal delight and positive affect delight. First, H7 hypothesized a positive relationship between surprise and arousal at both Chinese (H7a) and U.K. (H7b) e-tailers. This path was significant at both country e-tailer groups (γChina = 0.42, p < .001;
γUK = 0.42, p < .001). Therefore, H7 (a & b) was supported implying that the degree of surprise positively influenced arousal at both Chinese and U.K. e-tailers. Second, H8 predicted a positive relationship between surprise and delight at both Chinese (H8a) and U.K. (H8b) tailers. This path was also significant in groups assigned to both country e-tailers (γChina = 0.41, p < .001; γUK = 0.41, p < .001). Therefore, H8 (a & b) was
supported, i.e., surprise positively influenced delight at both Chinese and U.K. e-tailers.
Third, H9 proposed that arousal will positively influence consumers’ level of positive affect at both Chinese (H9a) and U.K. (H9b) e-tailers. The analysis revealed strongly significant path coefficients in both the group assigned to the Chinese e-tailer settings (γChina = 0.77, p < .001) and the group assigned to the U.K. e-tailer settings (γUK = 0.77, p
< .001). The significance lent support to the hypothesis that positive affect was positively influenced by level of arousal. Therefore, H9 (a & b) was supported. Fourth, the
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hypothesis relating to H10 predicted that consumers’ level of arousal will positively influence the degree of delight at both Chinese (H10a) and U.K. (H10b) e-tailers. This path was also found to be statistically significant in both the Chinese e-tailer group (γChina
= 0.77, p < .001) as well as the U.K. e-tailer group (γUK = 0.77, p < .001), thereby supporting H10’s prediction that arousal positively influences delight. Lastly, H11 hypothesized a positive relationship between positive affect and the level of delight. The path coefficients indicated that the hypothesis was statistically significant in both Chinese (γChina = 0.34, p < .001) and U.K. (γUK = 0.34, p < .001) e-tailer groups, thereby
supporting H11 (a & b). Therefore, all hypotheses in the model of customer delight were supported as they related to Chinese and U.K. e-tailer settings.
Supplementary Analyses
In addition to the findings of the structural model and hypothesis testing in Phase I and II, supplementary analyses were conducted to reveal additional findings. The data in Phase I were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the data in Phase II were analyzed by separating the data into two groups, namely those who did not have experience shopping at foreign websites and those who had experience shopping at foreign websites at least once in the past, and performing the multiple group SEM on each of these two groups.
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Testing Main Effects
First, in Phase I, an ANOVA was conducted in order to confirm the main effects observed in the main analysis (using SEM), and to reveal any underlying interaction effects among the three independent variables (namely trust, transaction utility and
product uniqueness) on the dependent variable (i.e., initial IOO intention). This procedure was performed twice, once in the group assigned to the Chinese e-tailer setting and once in the group assigned to the U.K. e-tailer setting. Overall, the results of the main effects supported the findings of the structural equation modelling in the main analysis. That is, trust in e-tailer significantly influenced initial IOO intention at both Chinese [F (1, 267) = 48.65, p < .001] and U.K. [F (1, 256) = 57.14, p < .001] e-tailer settings. Transaction utility did not significantly influence initial IOO intention in the Chinese e-tailer setting [F (1, 267) = .66, p > .05], however it significantly influenced initial IOO intention in the U.K. e-tailer setting [F (1, 256) = 4.81, p < .05]. Product uniqueness had no significant influence on initial IOO intention at both Chinese [F (1, 267) = 2.51, p > .05] and U.K.
[F (1, 256) = 038, p < .05] e-tailer setting. It is to be noted that the significant main effects cannot be interpreted without consideration of possible significant interactions associated with that main effect.
Testing Interaction Effects
The results of the interaction effects in the Chinese e-tailer group showed no two-way interaction effect between trust*transaction utility [F (1, 267) = .56, p > .05] or
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trust*product uniqueness [F (1, 267) = .84, p > .05] on Initial IOO intention. However, there was a significant two-way interaction effect between transaction utility*product uniqueness [F (1, 267) = 5.66, p < .05] on initial IOO intention. In addition, there was no three-way interaction effect between trust*transaction utility*product uniqueness on Initial IOO intention [F (1, 267) = 1.80, p < .05].
The results of the interaction effects in the U.K. e-tailer group revealed no two-way interaction effect between trust*transaction utility [F (1, 256) = .07, p > .05], trust*product uniqueness [F (1, 256) = 3.54, p > .05] or transaction utility*product uniqueness [F (1, 256) = .00, p < .05] on Initial IOO intention. Lastly, there was no three-way interaction effect between trust*transaction utility*product uniqueness [F (1, 256) = 08, p < .05] on initial IOO intention. Table 16 reports the result of the 3-way ANOVA test of main effects and interaction effects in both Chinese and U.K. e-tailer groups.
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Table 16. Results of ANOVA Test on both Chinese and U.K. E-tailer Groups in Phase I
Country Variable df F Significance
China Trust 1 48.65 0.00***
Note: Dependent variable = Initial IOO intention; TU = Transaction utility; PU = Product uniqueness