Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel

As online markets grow and become increasingly competitive, customization is becoming recognized as an important tool to satisfy and retain e-commerce customers. By adopting customization, the apparel industry may have a greater potential than ever before of being successful in e-commerce. While pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Cho, Hira (authoraut)
Format: Others
Language:English
English
Published: Florida State University
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-3793
id ndltd-fsu.edu-oai-fsu.digital.flvc.org-fsu_182039
record_format oai_dc
collection NDLTD
language English
English
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Marketing
Merchandising
spellingShingle Marketing
Merchandising
Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel
description As online markets grow and become increasingly competitive, customization is becoming recognized as an important tool to satisfy and retain e-commerce customers. By adopting customization, the apparel industry may have a greater potential than ever before of being successful in e-commerce. While previous studies have presented different observations about consumer responses toward online customization, no studies have clearly identified the key determinants and the path to build consumers' positive responses and future intentions toward online customization system for apparel. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explain consumers' acceptance of online customization for apparel by identifying factors that influence the future intention of using a customizing system and to investigate the relationships between the factors. The specific objectives of this study were 1) to determine whether two major determinants of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) are valid to explain consumer acceptance of online customization, 2) to investigate the role of trust in the acceptance of online customization for apparel, and 3) to investigate how complexity levels of apparel customization impact consumer perceptions of websites. A research model was constructed based on TAM and on the multi-dimensional trust model from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques. The model hypothesized the relationships between eight latent variables with a total of 37 indicators. An online survey was used to collect data based on respondents' experiences for customizing jeans in different complexity levels (high, medium, and low) of the shopping procedure. Three types of surveys were developed to present one shopping simulation in each survey. Samples were 300 female adults (100 for each survey) secured by random (nationwide) and quota sampling methods. A pilot test was conducted prior to performing the main study. The hypothesis was tested by AMOS 7.0 and the assumptions for SEM and descriptive statistics were analyzed by SPSS 15.0. Compared with the demographic characteristics of the nationwide population reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, the characteristics of the samples were younger and had a higher education and a slightly higher income. Little difference existed between the groups reported from the U.S. Census Bureau and this study in terms of the race and area distributions. Two latent variables were combined as one and seven indicators were dropped by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Thus, overall model fit tests were based on seven latent variables and a total of 30 indicators. The initial model was not acceptable and was revised by adding a path from Perceived Ease of Use to Perceived Safety at first, and then by adding a path from Perceived Usefulness to Perceived Safety. Interestingly, the accepted model presented a negative relationship between Perceived Ease of Use and Intention, which is not consistent with previous studies. Additionally, the final model showed the importance of Perceived Safety which mediated the relationships between either Perceived Usefulness or Perceived Ease of Use and Trust. The older age group (over 40) indicated that the usefulness of a website with a low level of complexity is not significantly different from that of a website with a high level of complexity. The results suggested that TAM might be useful in identifying factors that influence consumer acceptance of online customization, but the interpretation needs to be different. This study also supported the need for extending variables for the TAM to explain consumer acceptance of online customization for apparel. Finally, this study provided a revised insight for antecedents of trust in initial relationships. Implications were suggested to marketers, followed by limitations and future research. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Textiles and Consumer Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester, 2007. === March 28, 2007. === E-retailing, Customization, Apparel === Includes bibliographical references. === Susan S. Fiorito, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles F. Hofacker, Outside Committee Member; Rinn Cloud, Committee Member; Pauline Sullivan, Committee Member.
author2 Cho, Hira (authoraut)
author_facet Cho, Hira (authoraut)
title Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel
title_short Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel
title_full Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel
title_fullStr Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel
title_full_unstemmed Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel
title_sort consumer acceptance of online customization for apparel
publisher Florida State University
url http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-3793
_version_ 1719318670994309120
spelling ndltd-fsu.edu-oai-fsu.digital.flvc.org-fsu_1820392020-06-10T03:08:37Z Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel Cho, Hira (authoraut) Fiorito, Susan S. (professor directing dissertation) Hofacker, Charles F. (outside committee member) Cloud, Rinn (committee member) Sullivan, Pauline (committee member) Department of Retail Merchandising and Product Development (degree granting department) Florida State University (degree granting institution) Text text Florida State University Florida State University English eng 1 online resource computer application/pdf As online markets grow and become increasingly competitive, customization is becoming recognized as an important tool to satisfy and retain e-commerce customers. By adopting customization, the apparel industry may have a greater potential than ever before of being successful in e-commerce. While previous studies have presented different observations about consumer responses toward online customization, no studies have clearly identified the key determinants and the path to build consumers' positive responses and future intentions toward online customization system for apparel. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explain consumers' acceptance of online customization for apparel by identifying factors that influence the future intention of using a customizing system and to investigate the relationships between the factors. The specific objectives of this study were 1) to determine whether two major determinants of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) are valid to explain consumer acceptance of online customization, 2) to investigate the role of trust in the acceptance of online customization for apparel, and 3) to investigate how complexity levels of apparel customization impact consumer perceptions of websites. A research model was constructed based on TAM and on the multi-dimensional trust model from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques. The model hypothesized the relationships between eight latent variables with a total of 37 indicators. An online survey was used to collect data based on respondents' experiences for customizing jeans in different complexity levels (high, medium, and low) of the shopping procedure. Three types of surveys were developed to present one shopping simulation in each survey. Samples were 300 female adults (100 for each survey) secured by random (nationwide) and quota sampling methods. A pilot test was conducted prior to performing the main study. The hypothesis was tested by AMOS 7.0 and the assumptions for SEM and descriptive statistics were analyzed by SPSS 15.0. Compared with the demographic characteristics of the nationwide population reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, the characteristics of the samples were younger and had a higher education and a slightly higher income. Little difference existed between the groups reported from the U.S. Census Bureau and this study in terms of the race and area distributions. Two latent variables were combined as one and seven indicators were dropped by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Thus, overall model fit tests were based on seven latent variables and a total of 30 indicators. The initial model was not acceptable and was revised by adding a path from Perceived Ease of Use to Perceived Safety at first, and then by adding a path from Perceived Usefulness to Perceived Safety. Interestingly, the accepted model presented a negative relationship between Perceived Ease of Use and Intention, which is not consistent with previous studies. Additionally, the final model showed the importance of Perceived Safety which mediated the relationships between either Perceived Usefulness or Perceived Ease of Use and Trust. The older age group (over 40) indicated that the usefulness of a website with a low level of complexity is not significantly different from that of a website with a high level of complexity. The results suggested that TAM might be useful in identifying factors that influence consumer acceptance of online customization, but the interpretation needs to be different. This study also supported the need for extending variables for the TAM to explain consumer acceptance of online customization for apparel. Finally, this study provided a revised insight for antecedents of trust in initial relationships. Implications were suggested to marketers, followed by limitations and future research. A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Textiles and Consumer Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Spring Semester, 2007. March 28, 2007. E-retailing, Customization, Apparel Includes bibliographical references. Susan S. Fiorito, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles F. Hofacker, Outside Committee Member; Rinn Cloud, Committee Member; Pauline Sullivan, Committee Member. Marketing Merchandising FSU_migr_etd-3793 http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-3793 This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A182039/datastream/TN/view/Consumer%20Acceptance%20of%20Online%20Customization%20for%20Apparel.jpg