Understanding Consumer Loyalty in the Mobile Application Context: A Value-in-Use Perspective

• Main Authors: Wang, Hsiu-Yu, 王秀育
• Other Authors: Liao, Chechen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75244110470495833485

博士 === 國立中正大學 === 資訊管理學系暨研究所 === 101 === Mobile applications (apps) have undergone explosive growth and are changing people's everyday life and the ecology of the mobile industry. Apps have been commonly regarded as a significant and irreversible phenomenon in the mobile sector and received a great deal of attention among the IS research community recently. The innovation and proliferation of apps has made it imperative for researchers to explore the factors of how they affect consumers' decision-making. This study aims to investigate determinants of satisfaction and loyalty decisions in the use of mobile applications. A research model was designed to identify the multi-dimensions of perceived value with switching costs, and investigate their influences on satisfaction and loyalty. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypotheses. In the research model, utilitarian value and hedonic values are proposed as reflective second-order constructs formed by the value dimensions of the theory of consumption values. Data collected from 556 mobile app users provides strong support for the research model. The results indicate that both context value (conditional value) and in-use value (utilitarian and hedonic value) have significant influences on consumer satisfaction, and, then, on loyalty. Also the results show interrelationship between context value and in-use value. Moreover, attitudinal loyalty mediates the satisfaction effect on behavioral loyalty. Switching costs play a moderator role to significantly change the relationship between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, and increase the effect of satisfaction on behavioral loyalty. The research model can provide a richer understanding of consumers' cognition, affection, behavioral intention or behavior in mobile app use and contribute to both research and practice.