The role of spatial presence in establishing customer engagement in the mobile retail applications a contingency perspective

ABSTRACT This study develops and investigates the mechanisms through which retail mobile-app cognitions—i.e., interactivity and vividness—are translated into spatial presence experience

Ho Xuan Huong Date: 02nd February 2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of those who have supported me in so many ways to make this thesis possible and make my Ph.D journey to be a unique experience that I will cherish forever

My most hearty gratitude is to my dear supervisors, Professor Dr Nguyen Dong Phong and Associate Professor Dr Le Nhat Hanh I am deeply grateful for the knowledge, skills, and every advice and opportunity they have been kindly sharing, which raise me up, walk me through so many difficulties and greatly inspire me to do academic research That journey will never come to an end

I also wish to especially thank Full Professor Julian Ming-Sung Cheng from National Central University, Distinguished Professor Ian Phau from Curtin University, and Distinguished Professor Joseph F Hair from the University of South Alabama for very valuable feedback on my thesis research model and methodology This thesis would not be completed without the huge support and cooperation from many UEH academic lecturers, especially from the School of International Business – Marketing and School of Management I also wish to acknowledge the great support from all of my QNU colleagues, especially from Associate Professor

Dr Do Ngoc My, and the Faculty of Finance-Banking and Business Administration staff

I am also grateful to all of my old colleagues from Nha Trang University and would like to share this greatest moment with all of my dear friends, who are always beside me during this long but absolutely worthy journey

And the deepest thank is to my beloved family for their unconditional love, encouragement, and non-stop support This is the best achievement for my parents, sister, brother, and myself

Ho Xuan Huong Date: 02nd February 2023

ABSTRACT

This study develops and investigates the mechanisms through which retail mobile-app cognitions—i.e., interactivity and vividness—are translated into spatial presence experience and subsequently result in customer engagement under the parasol of the hierarchy-of-effects model and the situated cognition theory The contingency roles of need for cognition and domain-specific interest as individual intrinsic tendencies and issue-specific motivations, respectively, are also scrutinized

A dataset obtained from a survey of 558 customers is employed to estimate the proposed research model The results indicate that interactivity and vividness significantly stimulate the spatial presence experience, i.e., feelings of “being there”

in the mobile-app environment; in turn, this drives customers to become more engaged and contribute to retailers that provide such experiences The moderating roles of the two motivations are also identified

The study makes crucial contributions to the field of retail marketing by developing and investigating a theory-driven dynamic and contingent model of customer engagement in the context of retail mobile apps Specifically, drawing on the hierarchy-of-effects model, we deepen the theoretical understanding of the sequential effects of mobile app cognitions on spatial presence experience, which in turn leads to customer engagement under the conditional impacts of need for cognition and domain-specific interest The situated cognition theory complements the hierarchy-of-effects model by disentangling the two categories of embodied and embedded cognitions (i.e., interactivity and vividness, respectively) to explain spatial presence experience As such, we advance the knowledge pertaining to enablers that generate a specific experience, that feeling of “being there”, in virtual environments

In general terms, we add to the development of foundation theories in the realms of SPE and engagement behaviours in virtual retailing environments In addition, by empirically validating the proposed dynamic model, we not only support the applicability of the two theories in the context of the specific study but also offer

practical knowledge for retailers to design mobile apps that foster consumers’ interactive and vividness cognitions, facilitate the feeling of a “real” shopping experience and ultimately encourage customers to actively engage and effectively contribute to participating retailers

Keywords: customer engagement, spatial presence experience, hierarchy-of-effects

model, situated cognition theory

RESEARCH OUTPUTS RELATED TO THE THESIS

1 Ho, X.H., Nguyen, D.P., Cheng, J.M.S., & Le, A.N.H (2022) Customer

engagement in the context of retail mobile apps: A contingency model integrating

spatial presence experience and its drivers Journal of Retailing and Consumer

Services, 66, 102950

2 Le, A.N.H., Ho, H.X, Nguyen, D.P., & Cheng, J.M.S (2022) Dataset for

cognition processes, motivations, spatial presence experience, and customer

engagement in retail mobile apps Data in Brief, 42, 108198

3 Le, A.N.H., & Ho, X.H (2020) The behavioral consequences of regret, anger,

and frustration in service settings Journal of Global Marketing, 33(2), 84-102

4 Ho, X.H., Le, A.N.H., & Cheng, J.M.S (2021) Engendering immersive

experiences: A review and integrated conceptual model In CBIM2021

International Conference: “Challenges and opportunities for increasingly turbulent times in business markets” (pp: 279-282), Georgia State University

(Atlanta, USA) 22-24 June 2021

5 Ho, H.X & Nguyen, D.P (2019) Virtual retailing environments: presence, value

experience, and decision-making evaluation In e-Proceedings of 2nd Connect-Us

Conference (CuC 2019) (pp: 76-80), University of Teknologi Malaysia

(Malaysia) 9-10 October 2019

6 Mai, A.T., Ho, H.X., & Le, A.N.H (2019) Value co-creation experiences and

customer satisfaction in e-retailing sectors: The mediating role of participation

behaviors In e-Proceedings of 2nd Connect-Us Conference (CuC 2019) (pp: 86-

89), University of Teknologi Malaysia (Malaysia) 9-10 October 2019

7 Hồ Xuân Hướng, Lê Nhật Hạnh & Lê Thị Hạnh Dung (2020) Vai trò của thực tế ảo trong quảng cáo du lịch: Một cách tiếp cận từ mô hình SOR Tạp chí Nghiên

cứu Kinh tế và Kinh doanh Châu Á, 31(1), 48-74

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

RESEARCH OUTPUTS RELATED TO THE THESIS v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xii

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Overview 1

1.2 Reasons for choosing the topic 1

1.3 Research questions 7

1.4 Research objectives 10

1.5 Overview of key concepts 11

1.6 Overview of key theories 12

1.6.1 Core theory 1 – The hierarchy of effects (HOE) model 12

1.6.2 Core theory 2 – Situated cognition theory 13

1.7 Defining the scope of research 13

1.7.1 Retail mobile apps context 13

1.7.2 Vietnam context 15

1.8 Research methods and design 15

1.9 Significance of the study 17

1.9.1 Theoretical aspect 17

1.9.2 Methodological aspect 17

1.9.3 Managerial aspect 18

1.10 Thesis outline 18

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW 21

2.1 Overview 21

2.3 Overview of studies in Vietnam about the topic 33

2.4 Spatial presence 33

2.4.1 Defining and measuring spatial presence in the emerging technologies 33

2.4.2 Overview study on spatial presence in virtual environments 35

2.5 Customer engagement 42

2.6 Functional mechanisms of retail mobile apps 47

2.6.1 Interactivity 47

2.6.2 Vividness 49

2.7 Users’ motivations 50

2.7.1 Need for cognition 50

2.7.2 Domain-specific interest 51

2.8 Research gaps 51

CHAPTER 3 - CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 61

3.1 Overview 61

3.2 Theoretical underpinnings 61

3.2.1 The hierarchy of effects model 61

3.2.2 Situated cognition theory 62

3.3 Hypothesis development 63

3.3.1 Effects of interactivity and vividness on spatial presence experience 63

3.3.2 Impact of spatial presence experience on customer engagement 66 3.3.3 Mediating effect of spatial presence experience 67

3.3.4 Need for cognition as a moderator on the formation of spatial presence experience 68

3.3.5 The moderating role of domain-specific interest on the relationship between spatial presence experience and customer engagement 70

CHAPTER 4 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 74

4.1 Overview 74

4.2 Research design 74

4.3 Scale operationalization 77

4.4 Questionnaire design, pretest and pilot-test 82

4.5 Environmental setting and data collection process 85

4.6 Data analysis methods 86

4.6.1 Measurement scale evaluation 87

4.6.2 Common method bias 88

4.6.3 Assessing the structural model and hypothesis testing 89

CHAPTER 5 - RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 90

5.1 Overview 90

5.2 Research sample descriptions 90

5.3 Scale accuracy analysis 93

5.3.1 Reflective scales/dimensions 93

5.3.2 Formative scale 102

5.4 Common method bias 102

5.5 Assessing the structural model 103

5.6 Hypothesis testing results 106

5.6.1 Direct effects 106

5.6.2 Mediating effects 108

5.6.3 Moderating effects testing 109

5.7 Findings and discussions 109

CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 113

6.1 Overview 113

6.2 Conclusion 113

6.3 Theoretical contributions 115

6.4 Practical implications 117

REFERENCES 121 APPENDICES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AVE Average variance extracted

CB-SEM Covariance-based structural equation modeling CMB Common method bias

CR Composite reliability

DSI Domain-specific interest

FIMIX-PLS Finite Mixture Partial Least Squares

HOE The hierarchy-of-effects model

HTMT Heterotrait-Monotrait

LM The linear regression model

MAE The mean absolute error

NFC Need for cognition

PLS-SEM Partial least square structural equation modeling RMSE The root mean square error

SPE Spatial presence experience

SRMR Standardized Root Mean Squared Residual

UTAUT Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology VAF Variance-Accounted-For

VIF Variance inflation factor

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2-1 Selected studies on branded and retail mobile applications 24

Table 2-2 Selected research on consumers’ sense of presence/telepresence/spatial presence in virtual environments 37

Table 2-3 Customer engagement conceptualization/operationalization 45

Table 2-4 Selected research on customer experience, customer engagement, mediation, and moderation in mobile apps 54

Table 4-1 Measurement scales 78

Table 5-1 Describing sample characteristics 92

Table 5-2 Cronbach’s α, CR, AVE, and factor loading for all reflective scales 94

Table 5-3 Assessing reliability and convergent validity 99

Table 5-4 Discriminant validity assessment: Fornell-Larker Criterion 100

Table 5-5 Discriminant validity assessment: Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT) ratios 101

Table 5-6 Accuracy analysis of formative construct of interactivity 102

Table 5-7 Assessment of direct, mediating, and moderating effects 105

Table 5-8 FIMIX-PLS results for the relative segment sizes and retention criteria 107

Table 5-9 Mediating testing results 108

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3-1 Research framework and hypotheses 72 Figure 4-1 Research method flow chart 75 Figure 5-1 Research framework and analysis results 104

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

This chapter provides a general overview of this thesis The chapter begins with the reasons for choosing the research topic Next, a breakdown of the research questions is critically identified The general research objectives and corresponding specific research objectives of the study are presented in the next section The overview of key concepts is then postulated, as are the key theoretical underpinnings Also, research methods, design, scope, and delimitations are then described Next, the theoretical, methodological, and managerial significance of the study is addressed Finally, the thesis outline is also introduced

1.2 Reasons for choosing the topic

Advanced technologies can generate a radically new specific experience, e.g., spatial presence experience, immersive experience, or flow experience, to consumers during their shopping journey (Hilken et al., 2017, Petit et al., 2019; Grewal et al., 2020; Wedel et al., 2020), thus providing marketing managers a set of business solutions that can blur the lines between the real and virtual world (Grewal et al., 2020; Kopalle et al., 2020; Nussipova et al., 2020), placing consumers into the context of situated online services (Hilken et al., 2017; de Ruyter et al., 2020), and then enhancing the value of their offerings (Hamilton et al., 2016; Grewal et al., 2020; Shankar et al., 2021) Since spatial presence, which is defined as the feeling of being there or realism (Lee, 2004), in computer-mediated environments are new property

in the digital era (Hilken et al., 2017, 2018; de Ruyter et al., 2020; Heller et al., 2021), understanding the nature of spatial presence experience and how to create spatial presence experience by using emerging digital technologies such as retail mobile apps, are critically important for both marketing managers and researchers

Shopping on mobile apps has grown exponentially because of the proliferation

of smart mobile devices that is symbiotic with the increasing tendency of on-the-go consumers requesting for “anytime, anywhere, and anything” services (Fang, 2017;

McLean et al., 2018, 2020; Yang et al., 2021) In addition to providing information, search, and communication services, retail mobile apps have been becoming the major distribution channel, enabling retailers to provide consumers with a variety of products and services than before (McLean et al., 2018) Retail mobile apps can provide users with not only functional value but also emotional value, such as entertainment, pleasure, and even satisfaction, leading to consumer brand engagement (Hur et al., 2018) Experience within such a virtual retail environment in general and a retail mobile app, in particular, may lead to acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers (van Heerde et al., 2019) According to Hilken et al (2017), in order to engage customers successfully, the experience within a virtual service channel (i.e., retail mobile app) should simulate “real” shopping (eMarketer, 2018) Spatial presence experience, therefore, should be an important factor that can explain consumers’ active engagement with retailers through mobile apps When a customer senses a spatial presence experience, he or she neglects the technology-mediated nature of the experience (Wirth et al., 2007), and his or her online shopping experience becomes as “authentic” and “real” as it is in physical stores (Hilken et al., 2017) Although previous studies have demonstrated the significant role of customer experience in both physical and online environments (Grewal et al., 2017a, b; Mohd- Ramly and Omar, 2017; Carlson et al., 2019), the literature has not specifically identified the essence of spatial presence experience in retail mobile apps, nor has it empirically examined how this experience enhances customer engagement

Recently, virtual shopping environments have become increasingly augmented by a number of emergent/smart technologies with immersive capabilities (Hollebeek et al., 2020; Arghashi and Yuksel, 2022); and, thus, a new mode of experience has spawned/emerged where consumers believe that they are spatially present within virtual environments (Yim et al., 2017; Pleyers and Poncin, 2020) However, the existing literature examining the mechanisms which formulate such experiences in virtual retailing contexts remains sparse (Hilken et al., 2017, 2018) A review of the literature on general online shopping environments suggests that two

major media attributes, namely interactivity and vividness, determine customer evaluation and experience with those environments (Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Jiang and Benbasat, 2007; Yim et al., 2017) Drawing upon the theory of situated cognition (Robbins and Aydede, 2009), interactivity and vividness can be argued as representatives for the respective embodied and embedded cognition of consumers within their online information processing (Carassa et al., 2005; Hilken et al., 2018) When consumers are embodied through the simulation of physical interaction (e.g., touching screens, rotating 360-degree products) and embedded in a sensory-rich environment (e.g., graphic images, background music) (Kim et al., 2013b; Yim et al., 2017), they become immersed in virtual shopping environments, experiencing something akin “real” physical stores Despite the noted driving roles of interactivity and vividness, to the best of our knowledge, research on the specific experience of the feeling of “being there” in the context of retail mobile apps with varying levels of these two attributes is still underexplored

As mentioned above, retail mobile apps clearly help retailers nurture enduring relationships with their customers, potentially reducing decision-making uncertainty and enhancing experience benefits, favorable attitude toward a brand, and customer engagement (Thakur, 2016; Kim and Baek, 2018) In a retailing context, a large proportion of marketing budgets has been allocated to mobile apps as a strategic way

to enhance the customer experience and to enable retailers to remain competitive (Dacko, 2017; van Heerde et al., 2019); as such, retail mobile apps are becoming a powerful, ubiquitous, and timely service delivery channel (Iyer et al., 2018; McLean

et al., 2020) However, given the easily installed/uninstalled nature of mobile apps, the extensive competitiveness in retailing markets and the limited phone internal storage that consumers are typically facing (Arora et al., 2017; Grewal et al., 2017a; McLean et al., 2018), getting customer stickiness to particular mobile apps that facilitate their engagement is regarded as the biggest challenge for contemporary retailers (Tarute et al., 2017; Molinillo et al., 2020) According to Perro (2018), nearly 71% of mobile-app users abandon/uninstall using a new app within 90 days and 25%

of installed mobile-app are never used Thus, an understanding of how retail mobile apps could enhance the online shopping experience of customers and then nurture customer engagement is of prime importance for such retailers

Customer engagement at the heart of this study refers to the level of customer value contributions to a firm/retailer (Kumar et al., 2019a) In this regard, the direct contributions are manifested as customers making purchases from the retailer, whereas non-purchase behaviors such as customer referrals, customer influences, and customer feedbacks/suggestions reflect indirect contributions from customers to the retailer (Kumar and Reinartz, 2016; Harmeling et al., 2017; Harman and Porter, 2021) As of late, the rapid advancement of mobile technologies such as smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices has enabled retailers to develop interactive and inclusive mobile apps that substantively enrich the online experience of customers (Wang et al., 2015; Dacko, 2017; Kim and Baek, 2018; Heller et al., 2019; Molinillo

et al., 2020) For instance, retailer’s mobile apps allow customers to leave reviews, star ratings, recommendations, or add photos/videos, and even interact and post follow-up questions directly to retailers and other customers throughout the pre- purchase, purchase, and post-purchase (Grewal et al., 2017a; Inman and Nikolova, 2017) Moreover, retailers have already applied scan-and-go technologies to set customers’ new expectations and enhance their online service experiences (Grewal

et al., 2017b) It is the most important process retailers need to deliver online to achieve competitive advantages (Pansari and Kumar, 2017) With the increasing competition between retail mobile apps and other types of virtual retail environments, enhancing customer engagement seems to be more effective and efficient (Iyer et al., 2018; McLean et al., 2018) In other words, nurturing and fostering customer engagement in retail mobile apps also is a significant topic to discover (McLean and Wilson, 2019; van Heerde et al., 2019) However, relatively little research has been devoted to examining consumer engagement in virtual retail environments, especially mobile apps

In line with Zhu et al (2019), it is arguable that the mechanism through which retail mobile-app cognitions—i.e., interactivity and vividness—are translated into a feeling of spatial presence leading to customer engagement is equivalent to the hierarchy of three sequential stages (i.e., cognition, affect, and conation); thus, the hierarchy-of-effects (HOE) model (Lavidge and Steiner, 1961) can serve as the theoretical foundation for the phenomenon at the heart of the current study The HOE model has been frequently applied to systematically explain consumers’ sequentially hierarchical responses in several contexts such as e-commerce platforms (Zhu et al., 2019), website aesthetics (Wang et al., 2011), and social media advertising (Johnston

et al., 2018) Moreover, several contingent factors such as consumers’ individual tendencies (e.g., personalities/personal traits, Laroche et al., 2003) and motivational orientations (e.g., platform involvement, Zhu et al., 2019) have been heralded as impacting such hierarchical response processes Additionally, according to van Heerde et al (2019), customer heterogeneity is an important boundary condition that can explain why the same environment or domain (i.e., retail mobile apps) may generate different cognitions/perceptions, affective experiences, and behavioral reactions This research, therefore, suggests that an individual’s intrinsic tendencies (e.g., need for cognition) (Cacioppo et al., 1996; Priluck and Till, 2004) and issue- specific motivations (e.g., domain-specific interest) (Liu and Shrum, 2009; Hofer et al., 2012) modulate customers’ cognitions as well as affective evaluations that are then followed by their actions Therefore, the contingency roles of these individual orientation variables on the linkage from mobile-app cognitions to spatial presence experience and then to customer engagement, which was not investigated in the previous research, will be explored

Against this backdrop, the present research primarily contributes to the emerging stream of research on retail marketing in serveral important ways This is the one of the first to empirically demonstrate a theory-driven dynamic and contingent model of customer engagement in the context of retail mobile apps, to the best of our knowledge Thereby, this study provides a comprehensive understanding

of the construct of spatial presence and customer engagement as well as responds to the call for further research on the concept of spatial presence (Hilken et al., 2017; de Ruyter et al., 2020; Heller et al., 2021) and the concept of customer engagement (Kumar and Pansari, 2016; Pansari and Kumar, 2017) in a virtual environment such

as retail mobile apps Moreover, drawing upon the hierarchy-of-effects model, this study extends the literature by offering novel insights into the sequential effects of mobile app cognitions on spatial presence experience, which in turn leads to customer engagement and the extent to which these effects vary customer’s intrinsic tendencies (e.g., need for cognition) and issue-specific motivations (e.g., domain-specific interest) We also offer novel insights into how the two categories of embodied and embedded cognitions explain crucially spatial presence experience and advance the knowledge pertaining to enablers that generate a specific experience, that feeling of

“being there”, in virtual environments by complementing the situated cognition theory with the hierarchy-of-effects model With this, the current study adds to the development of foundation theories in the realms of spatial presence experience and engagement behaviours in virtual retailing environments For managerial practice, the study’s findings indicate that retailers should facilitate the feeling of a “real” shopping experience if they want to encourage customers to actively engage and effectively contribute to participating retailers through retail mobile apps In adition, our results also suggest that managers should design mobile apps that foster consumers’ interactive cognitions via customers’ touching, zooming, and rotating and incorporate vividness features that are multisensory and congruent through the senses (e.g., visual, tactile, and auditory sensory) to increase the situated online experience of their customers Finally, we also explore two important boundary conditions associated with consumers’ intrinsic tendencies and issue-specific motivations These are important for managers to take into account when deciding to develop retail mobile application

et al., 2021) In-depth research about this specific experience is therefore required Moreover, in a retail mobile apps context, customers’ spatial presence experience may be different from that in the other advanced technologies, and therefore the research results may be more meaningful to firms/retailers or service providers in the context of online retailing service As such, this research provides a better understanding of the spatial presence experience in retail mobile apps

Previous studies suggest that attitudes and behaviors toward the virtual (mediated) environment can be driven by interactivity and vividness (Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Liu and Shrum, 2009; Kim et al., 2013b; Yim et al., 2017) According

to Fang (2017) and Kim and Baek (2018), interactivity is a significant characteristic

of branded apps, which can be actively controlled and synchronized to some extent with communication by users to enhance brand engagement Moreover, Kim et al (2013b) also indicated that vividness is also an important attribute of branded apps, presented through animation, graphic images, background sound, or human voice to engage customers Interactivity and vividness are multi-faceted phenomena (Liu and Shrum, 2009; Yim et al., 2017), depending on the simulation and technological advancement (Yim et al., 2017) Perceived interactivity and vividness are able to achieve when customers use and browse retail websites (Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Lee, 2018), social media platforms (Algharabat et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2019), or mobile apps (Fang, 2017; Kim et al., 2013b) Despite the enthusiasm of retailers and

the increasing scholarly attention (e.g., Fang, 2017), interactivity and vividness in the context of retailers’ mobile apps and their effects on experience benefits and customer responses are relatively less understood

Additionally, the situated cognition theory (Robbins and Aydede, 2009; Semin and Smith, 2013) posits that an individual’s information processing is based on their situated cognition which covers embodied and embedded cognition As noted earlier, interactivity and vividness can be argued to the representative of the respective embodied and embedded cognition of consumers during their online information processing (Carassa et al., 2005; Hilken et al., 2018) Therefore, based on the situated cognition theory and literature on the spatial presence (Wirth et al., 2007, 2012; Hilken et al., 2017), this research further explores how spatial presence experience is related to two functional mechanisms, i.e., interactivity and vividness, in the situated online services settings Thus, our theoretical proposed framework in the current research addresses the following research questions:

1 How, why, and to what extent do interactivity and vividness affect spatial presence experience in the context of retail mobile apps?

As mentioned above, customer engagement has an important role in establishing positive consequences for the firm/retailer Both direct and indirect contributions of customers can have tangible benefits (i.e., higher profits, revenue, or market share) and intangible benefits (i.e., permission marketing, privacy sharing, or ability to opt into the retailers’ marketing program) to the retailer (Pansari and Kumar, 2017) It is, therefore, necessary and important for retailers to understand the underlying drivers for customer engagement to enable retailers to improve their strategies by focusing on the complete process of engaging customers According to

a number of prior research (Kumar and Pansari, 2016; Prentice et al., 2019; Kuppelwieser and Klaus, 2021a), customers will make proactive contributions to a retailer as a kind of reciprocity if they receive a compelling experience In addition, empirical evidences have been found on the effects of particular aspects of customer experience such as customer satisfaction and/or customer emotions (Pansari and

Kumar, 2017; McLean et al., 2018; Manthiou et al., 2020) on customer engagement However, the literature has not specifically identified how spatial presence experience in mobile apps can enhance customer engagement Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether a greater sense of “real being” in the context of retail mobile apps will transfer to a strong customer engagement by establishing a theoretical linkage between two constructs and testing this relationship in a quantitative study Accordingly, this study has an overriding research question, as follows:

2 To what extent does spatial presence experience affect customer engagement in the context of retail mobile apps?

The hierarchy-of-effects model (Lavidge and Steiner, 1961) is used to explain the determinants of interactivity and vividness on customer engagement through the mediating role of spatial presence Moreover, situated cognition theory (Robbins and Aydede, 2009; Semin and Smith, 2013) also helps to explain consumers’ feelings of

“authentic” or “real” online shopping that is captured in the concept of spatial presence experience (Carassa et al., 2005; Hilken et at., 2017; Krishna and Schwarz, 2014), and Pansari and Kumar’s (2017) perspective regarding customer engagement supports to explain customers’ direct and indirect contributions, being holistic in nature which involving customer purchases, customer referrals, customer influence, and customer feedback/suggestions (Kumar et al., 2010, 2019; Kumar and Pansari, 2016; Prentice et al., 2019) with the inputs within customers’ compelling experiences Therefore, this research advances the application of these theories to explain the underlying reasons for customer engagement during the situated online service experience Moreover, the integration of the theories in the same conceptual framework provides a comprehensive understanding of the mediating role of spatial presence experience on the linkages between two functional mechanisms and customer engagement Specifically, the following research question is addressed:

3 How do the two functional mechanisms of retail mobile apps, i.e., interactivity and vividness, affect customer engagement through the mediating role of spatial presence?

Going beyond the direct effects in the research framework that are rooted in the hierarchy-of-effects model and situated cognition theory, and in response to a call for contributions to the emerging theory of customer engagement (Pansari and Kumar, 2017; Meire et al., 2019), contingency variables of personal consumer characteristics such as the need for cognition and domain-specific interest are also hypothesized Thus, the conceptual framework is proposed to address the following research questions:

4 How are the relationships between both functional mechanisms of retail mobile apps, spatial presence, and customer engagement moderated by individuals’ intrinsic and issue-specific motivations, i.e., need for cognition and domain-specific interests?

1.4 Research objectives

In the line with the research background and the research questions identified above, the overall objective of this research project is to comprehensively understand the nature and drivers of spatial presence experience in the world of virtual retailing,

as well as the dynamic and contingency mechanism forming this specific experience and subsequently result in customer engagement under the theoretical lens of the hierarchy-of-effects model and the situated cognition theory

To achieve the general research objective, a number of specific research objectives are proposed and listed below:

1 To explore how the specific experience of spatial presence is related to two functional mechanisms, i.e., interactivity and vividness, in the online services settings

2 To examine whether a greater sense of “real” being in the context of retail mobile apps will transfer to a strong customer engagement

3 To investigate the mediating role of spatial presence experience on the relationships between two functional mechanisms, i.e., interactivity and vividness, and customer engagement

4 a) To explore the moderating role of individual intrinsic tendency (i.e., need for cognition) on relationships between two functional mechanisms, namely, interactivity and vividness, and spatial presence experience

4 b) To explore the moderating role of issue-specific tendency (i.e., domain- specific interest) on relationships between spatial presence experience and customer engagement

1.5 Overview of key concepts

- Spatial presence is defined as the feeling of being there or realism (Lee., 2004; Hilken et al., 2017) In the current thesis, we define spatial presence experience—a specific type of customer experience in virtual environments—as feelings of “being there” in the virtual retail mobile app As such, when a customer specifically experiences a sense of spatial presence, he or she neglects the technology- mediated nature of the experience, and his or her online shopping experience becomes

as authentic and real as those in physical stores

- Customer engagement is defined as “the mechanics of a customer’s value additions to the firm, either through direct contributions (i.e., customer purchases) and/or indirect contributions (i.e., customer referrals, online influences, and feedbacks)” (Pansari and Kumar, 2017, p 295) Within our theoretical framework,

we view customer engagement as the level of customer value contributions to a firm/retailer In detail, customers directly contribute to the retailer value when they make purchases products/services from the retailer, whereas they indirectly contribute to the retailer value when they provide incentivized referrals, share their conservations about the retailer on social media, and provide their feedback/suggestions to improve the retailer’s products/services

- Interactivity is defined as “an outcome resulting from properties of the technology employed or from the technology’s ability to enable users to more easily

interact with and be involved with content” (Yim et al., 2017, p 91) In the current work, we define interactivity as the degree to which users can interact with virtual contents or/and objects and can modify the format or content of the mediated environment (Liu and Shrum, 2009; Fang, 2017)

- Vividness refers to the ability of technologies to produce a sensory-rich mediated environment (Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Yim et al., 2017) and represents the richness/realness of the manner in which information is presented and delivered

to media users (Klein, 2003; Zhang at al., 2018) In the context of reatail mobile-apps,

vividness is stimulus-driven by enriching breadth, which refers to the number of

sensory dimensions (e.g., visual, tactile, and auditory sensory) a retailer’s mobile-app

can provide to consumers/users; and sensory depth, which refers to the quality of the

represented graphic images, visual content, and background sound as perceived by consumers/users (Klein, 2003; Kim et al., 2017; McLean and Wilson, 2019)

- Need for cognition (NFC) reflects the personal tendency that an individual engages in and enjoys thinking (Cacioppo and Petty, 1982)

- Domain-specific interest (DSI) is a trait factor reflecting an individual’s voluntary allocation of his/her attention towards a specific domain (i.e., retailing mobile apps) (Wirth et al., 2007; Hartmann et al., 2016)

1.6 Overview of key theories

In the current research, there are two key theories, including the hierarchy-of- effects (HOE) model (Lavidge and Steiner, 1961) and situated cognition theory (Robbins and Aydede, 2009; Semin and Smith, 2013), that serve as the overarching theoretical backgrounds for the proposed conceptual framework This section will explain these in brief below, with further elaboration provided in the Theoretical framework chapter

1.6.1 Core theory 1 – The hierarchy of effects (HOE) model

The HOE model (Lavidge and Steiner, 1961) elucidates how customers’ cognition (thinking) contributes to the development of their affect (feeling) and then leads to their conation (acting) (Zhu et al., 2019) Since the mechanism through which

retail mobile-app cognitions—i.e., interactivity and vividness—are translated into a feeling of spatial presence leading to customer engagement is equivalent to the hierarchy of three sequential stages (i.e., cognition, affect, and conation); therefore, this study, drawing upon the hierarchy-of-effects model, integrates and scrutinizes how the linkages of interactivity/vividness–spatial presence experience–customer engagement vary across contingency variables of personal characteristics such as NFC and DSI in the context of retail mobile apps

1.6.2 Core theory 2 – Situated cognition theory

Situated cognition theory highlights that an individual’s information processing is based on their situated cognition which covers embodied and embedded cognition (Robbins and Aydede, 2009) Embodied cognition reflects how individuals process information about an object (i.e., a product or service in mobile apps) using their embodiment which is manifested through his or her dynamic interactions (i.e., click, zoom, rotate) with the object Meanwhile, embedded cognition psychology considers how individuals improve their cognitive abilities through the deployment

of sensory-enriched features (e.g., vivid graphics, background sounds) of their environment (e.g., mobile apps) (Robbins and Aydede, 2009; Semin and Smith, 2013) These two situated cognitive principles enable us to present two angles of the conceptual landscape of mobile app attributes, namely interactivity and vividness, to explain consumers’ information processing during their experience with mobile apps

1.7 Defining the scope of research

1.7.1 Retail mobile apps context

The global retail trade, especially in emerging markets (Gupta and Ramachandran, 2021), has changed rapidly over the past decades due to the development of e-commerce channels (Verhoef et al., 2015) Retailers have been adopting “smart retailing” technologies as one of the best ways to add value to themselves and their customers (Boyd et al., 2019; Shankar et al., 2021) Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have significantly changed the user experience in electronic commerce (Wang et al., 2015; Liu and Sese, 2021) The rapid

advancement of mobile technologies and innovation of mobile applications on the technology platforms has been helping consumers to use product/service delivery channels by accessing anytime and anywhere (i.e., omnipresence) (Shankar et al.,

2016, 2021) This has led to mobile commerce as an extension of electronic commerce, where business operations are conducted in a wireless environment using mobile devices (Ashraf et al., 2017, 2021) Not only accounts for 72.9 percent of global electronic commerce transactions in 2021 (Statista, 2020a), but mobile commerce also plays an important role in bringing the retail industry from selling on multichannel retailing, which is inherently very trending in the past decade, to a new and more effective form, namely omnichannel retailing, multi-point marketing and centralized management (Verhoef et al., 2015; Gauri et al., 2021)

Retail mobile apps emerged as one of the powerful, ubiquitous, convenient, and timeliness product and service delivery channels (Grewal et al., 2017a; McLean

et al., 2018) E-retailers are allocating most of their marketing budgets to enhance the value of customer experience through mobile apps (McLean et al., 2018; Japutra et al., 2021) This study explores the specific experience of spatial presence and customer engagement in a retail mobile apps context, meaning that the customer is the person who uses and experiences the retail mobile apps The retail mobile apps context was chosen because mobile apps are one of the most influential/powerful mobile shopping platforms around the globe (eMarketer, 2018) According to Tang

(2019, p 100885), mobile apps in e-commerce “have changed consumer behavior by

offering them platforms for entertainment, sharing opinions, obtaining information and making purchasing decisions.” Moreover, different retail mobile-app elements

(e.g., interactivity and vividness) can provide consumers with a more customized experience (McLean et al., 2020) as well as a distinctive experience such as the sensorial experiential state (Japutra et al., 2021), which result in proactive contributions to a retailer as a kind of reciprocity Therefore, the context of retail mobile apps is a suitable setting for the current study to explore how and why spatial presence experience is evoked as well as the consequences of this specific experience

1.7.2 Vietnam context

The field study was conducted in Vietnam According to Statista (2020b), about 97% of the adult population have a smartphone, and Vietnamese are among the most avid mobile shoppers globally More than four-fifths (85%) of internet users aged between 15 to 49 regularly browse the Internet and/or conduct online purchases through their smartphones (eMarketer, 2016) Additionally, Vietnam enjoys a high e- commerce growth rate (30% in 2018) (VECOM, 2019) and the majority (e.g., 53%

in 2018) of online transactions are conducted through smartphones (Appota, 2018) Within Vietnam, three major cities (i.e., Hanoi, Danang, and Ho-Chi-Minh) possess leading positions in the Vietnamese eBusiness index (VECOM, 2019), thus were deemed suitable for the investigation of the phenomenon of customer engagement with retail mobile apps

1.8 Research methods and design

This research is mainly quantitative in which a survey research method is used

In that sense, we firstly conducted a comprehensive literature review about retail mobile apps, spatial presence experience, and customer engagement Based on the comprehensive literature review, the research gaps and the research objectives were identified Then, the research constructs, the theoretical model, and hypothesized statements were proposed Having proposed the previously described model that includes four uni- and two multi-dimensional (second-ordered) constructs, plus five control variable constructs, we then adapted the measurement scales from prior validated research All items to measure the constructs in our study were available as

a part of prior research

Additionally, in-depth discussions with three marketing professors who have profound knowledge regarding mobile commerce were conducted These marketing scholars gave us suggestions on the research as well as the theoretical framework As these scholars typically deal with survey instrument design, we also consulted with them to ensure the way the scale items were phrased was appropriate for eliciting

proper responses for the measured constructs A back-translation technique then was used to ensure that all the Vietnamese version scale items accurately conveyed their corresponding meanings in English A pretest and pilot-test were employed to ensure the clarity and understating of measurement items as well as content validity and reliability of the measurement scales Based on the pretest and pilot-test results, the final questionnaire was refined and used for data collection in the main survey

The main survey was undertaken by using self-administered interviews in three cities dominating positions in the Vietnamese eBusiness index, namely, Hanoi, Danang and Ho-Chi-Minh A quota sampling technique was used to determine a sample in proportion to certain traits within the population Specifically, residential status and age quota were used to assure the adequate representation of the population characteristics in accordance with Appota’s (2018) Vietnam Mobile App Market Report figure A total of 580 questionnaires were distributed After the data cleaning process and removing those questionnaires that were not fully completed or obtained missing values, a final sample of 558 questionnaires was identified as useable

Partial least squares (PLS), in particular the software package of SmartPLS (Ringle et al., 2015), was employed to test both the measurement and structural models Following Hair et al (2020), we firstly conducted data analysis to evaluate the reliability as well as the convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement models As the measurement models included the reflective-reflective and reflective- formative types of second-order constructs, a disjointed two-stage approach (Sarstedt

et al., 2019) was deployed Then, the procedure to assess the structural model, as proposed by Hair et al (2020), was followed to check the collinearity issues and evaluate the quality of the structural model Finally, the hypothesis testings comprised

of direct effects, mediating effects, and moderating effects were conducted

1.9 Significance of the study

1.9.1 Theoretical aspect

The investigation of the linkage between spatial presence experience and customer engagement is of major significance to the literature As the comprehensive review of empirical research related to retail mobile apps and both of the key constructs will highlight the conceptual richness, interest in these issues is only now becoming more widespread; thereby, the issues are not fully understood very well yet Having a study to look at both of these important concepts simultaneously may build diverse and new areas of research The current study aims at contributing to the extant literature on spatial presence experience by examining the mechanism through which retail mobile app attributes, i.e., interactivity and vividness, are translated into customer engagement Specifically, drawing on the hierarchy-of-effects model, this thesis deepens the theoretical understanding of the sequential effects of mobile app cognitions on spatial presence experience, which in turn leads to customer engagement under the conditional impacts of need for cognition and domain-specific interest The situated cognition theory complements the hierarchy-of-effects model

by disentangling the two categories of embodied and embedded cognitions (i.e., interactivity and vividness, respectively) to explain spatial presence experience As such, the current study findings advance the knowledge pertaining to enablers that generate a specific experience, that feeling of “being there”, in virtual environments

In general terms, the thesis adds to the development of foundation theories in the realms of spatial presence experience and engagement behaviours in virtual retailing environments

1.9.2 Methodological aspect

The significant methodological contribution of this study is that we introduce

a comprehensive procedure to simultaneously examine the reflective-reflective and reflective-formative types of second-ordered constructs and uni-dimensional constructs in the measurement models and structural model by applying PLS-SEM

analyses Moreover, this study makes a significant methodological contribution by offering a showcase of how to analyze multiple mediation relationships and moderating impacts in the context of PLS-SEM The study also finds support for robustness checks in PLS-SEM, such as common method variance and unobserved heterogeneity analysis, which responds to the call for further research by Sarstedt et

al (2020)

1.9.3 Managerial aspect

In addition, by empirically validating the proposed dynamic model, this work not only supports the applicability of the two theories in the context of the specific study but also offers practical knowledge for retailers to design mobile apps that foster consumers’ interactive and vividness cognitions, facilitate the feeling of a

“real” shopping experience and ultimately encourage customers to actively engage and effectively contribute to participating retailers Specifically, this thesis supplies evidence to stimulate customer engagement activities through the provision of the experience of spatial presence during their shopping journey on retail mobile apps The study provides evidence of customers’ feelings of “really being there” and the important role of interactivity and vividness in shaping spatial presence experience Therefore, it provides suggestions for the retailers that need to focus on designing their mobile apps with interactivity and vivid features Moreover, based on the moderating results, the study provides evidence to guide decision-making processes when developing different types of apps in the same retailer brand tailored to different types of needs or customers as well as to guide persuading processes in various segments of consumer retail app interest to maximize the overall benefit from customer engagement

1.10 Thesis outline

This thesis was organized into six chapters detailed as follows:

Chapter 1 – Introduction This chapter provides a general overview of the

study, including the research background, research objectives, and research questions It also outlines the scope of the study as well as the definitions, theories, and hypotheses of the research The research approach and theoretical, methodological, and managerial significance are also established

Chapter 2 – Literature review A comprehensive review of related previous

studies in the context of mobile commerce and retail mobile apps to highlight the potential benefits and the research streams in mobile retailing services was conducted A literature review of conceptualization, dimensions, antecedents, and outcomes of spatial presence that informed and guided this research is also presented Additionally, literature on customer engagement, including its conceptualization, dimensionality, antecedents, and consequences that scholarly devotion has been made to provide the background of the research The literature relevant to other concepts in the proposed framework is also presented in this chapter This chapter ends by revealing the research gaps within the present literature

Chapter 3 – Theoretical framework Drawing on the hierarchy-of-effects

(HOE) model (Lavidge and Steiner, 1961) and situated cognition theory (Robbins and Aydede, 2009) the theoretical framework and hypotheses for the study were proposed

Chapter 4 – Research methodology This chapter describes and justifies the

research approach that was undertaken to encompass the research objectives First, the research paradigm is discussed to specify the research philosophy of this thesis Second, scale operationalization and questionnaire design were described in detail Third, the rounds of pretests to modify and refine the instrument were executed in this chapter Based on the pretest results, a pilot test was conducted, and the refinement of a measurement instrument for the research is justified Last, the research process in a phase of the main study is described in detail, including the environmental setting, the research sample, data collection, data collection, and the examination and analysis of data

Chapter 5 – Results and discussion This chapter presents the results from

the analyses that were estimated to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement models, assess the structural model, and then test the robustness checks This chapter ends by providing a general discussion of findings to advance the existing literature in the digital marketing area and potentially make a new avenue for future research

Chapter 6 – Conclusion and implications This chapter condenses the

conclusions drawn from the research results and answers to the research questions and objectives, based on the specific objectives mentioned in Chapter 1 This chapter also presents the contributions of the study and research limitations that guide directions for future research

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview

This chapter provides the literature review on spatial presence, customer engagement, two retail mobile app attributes (i.e., interactivity and vividness), and both individuals’ intrinsic tendencies (i.e., need for cognition) and issue-specific motivations (i.e., domain-specific interest) in the context of retail mobile apps This chapter is structured as follows Firstly, the overview of previous studies on mobile apps is reviewed Secondly, the previous studies related to the specific m-commerce apps of retailers are then discussed Thirdly, an explanation of spatial presence experience and studies related to antecedents, consequences, boundary conditions, and process variables related to consumers’ sense of presence/telepresence/spatial presence in virtual environments are postulated Fourthly, customer engagement conceptualization/operationalization and studies related to antecedents, consequences, and contingency variables are reviewed Fifthly, functional mechanisms of retail mobile apps (i.e., interactivity and vividness) are presented Sixthly, the literature on individuals’ intrinsic tendencies and issue-specific motivations is provided Finally, the chapter concludes with a summary of the research gaps

2.2 Retail mobile applications

With the growing significance of mobile technologies such as smartphones and tablets, there is a raising need for developing new applications that harness the use of advanced technologies while meeting the needs of various industries, particularly in the marketing and retailing domains (Grewal et al., 2017a; McLean et al., 2018, 2020) Technological innovations continue to impact digital marketing and retailing, and the most intriguing tools to enter the landscape in the last few years are mobile apps

According to Bellman et al (2011, p.191), mobile apps are defined as

“software that is downloadable to a mobile device, which prominently displays a

brand identity, often via the name of the app and the appearance of a brand logo or icon, throughout the customer experience.” Mobile apps are initially offered to meet functional needs, such as email, calendars, and weather information (McLean et al., 2020) Then, due to increasing user demand and additional advancements in mobile technologies, more utilitarian as well as hedonic functions for consumers are established, for example, mobile banking (e.g., Thusi and Maduku, 2020), mobile wallet (Kumar et al., 2019), mobile health (e.g., Alam et al., 2020), and mobile retailing (e.g., Ashraf et al., 2021) Therefore, mobile applications emerge as one of the powerful, ubiquitous, convenient, and timeliness product and service delivery channels (Grewal et al., 2017a; McLean et al., 2018, 2020) Part of what makes a mobile device an integral part of an individual’s day-to-day life is the capability of using mobile apps on-the-go (Wang et al., 2015; McLean et al., 2020) These have allowed marketers to harness the power of mobile apps to meet consumer needs over geographic constraints (Gupta and Ramachandran, 2021)

Global retailers have used mobile apps to offer multiple adequate touchpoints that lead to consumers’ perceptions and responses (Wagner et al., 2020) Marketers allocate most of their marketing budgets to enhance the value of customer experience through mobile apps (McLean et al., 2018) Mobile apps are considered a relatively new field of information technology because they have both characteristics based on mobile devices and web-based devices (Hur et al., 2018) Mobile apps, therefore, provide convenience, media vividness, rich interactive functions, and personalized messages/content, thereby enhancing customer experience and positive emotions, which in turn lead to customer brand engagement (Liu and Sese, 2021) Furthermore, mobile apps not only provide experience benefits such as cognitive, affective, and social experiences but also reduce decision-making uncertainty, leading to brand exposure and image enhancements (Hur et al., 2018)

Although marketers and retailers have improved mobile app technologies to enhance customers’ values, the installation and shopping through mobile app platforms are less enthusiastic than expected (Kim and Baek, 2017) Moreover,

mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, with their smaller screen size, send challenges to customers need to a high cognitive and physical load (Liu and Sese, 2021), which may restrict their cognitive ability during exploring, searching for the necessary information as well as evaluating virtual products One interesting question, underexplored by previous studies, is whether consumers experience in sensory ways within mobile apps and whether the specific experience leads to the purchase of products, references to others, or suggestions to the firms/retailers

Recent studies have provided some preliminary guidance (selected studies into retail mobile apps presents in Table 2.1) about customer experience and mobile app engagement Scholarship has focused on determinant drivers of the adoption of mobile applications (e.g., Chopdar et al., 2018; Thusi and Maduku, 2020), attitude towards mobile apps (e.g., McLean et al., 2020), perceived value (e.g., Fang, 2019; Japutra et al., 2021; Tran et al., 2021), mobile apps engagement/involvement (e.g., Tarute et al., 2017; Kim and Baek, 2018), and experience of positive emotions and satisfaction (McLean et al., 2018) Likewise, scholars have also demonstrated a number of design functions such as functionality, design solution, interaction, information quality, or customization (Tarute et al., 2017), and useful features such

as perceived ubiquity, contextual offering, visual attractiveness, app incentives (Chopdar and Balakrishnan, 2020; Japutra et al., 2021) as well as types of apps, for example, the entertainment and information mobile apps (van Noort and van Reijmersdal, 2019) that enhance user experience with those apps However, a comprehensive literature review indicated that there is very little academic research

in recent years investigating the specific experience of spatial presence and customer engagement in the context of retailers’ mobile e-commerce apps

Table 2-1 Selected studies on branded and retail mobile applications Research Research

background

Sample size and research methods

Foundation theory

Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcome Key findings

Theme 1: Retail mobile applications

and loyalty toward retailer application In turn, these two constructs increase loyalty toward the retailer

Android users vs

Privacy-oblivious Apple users)

Research Research

background

Sample size and research methods

Foundation theory

Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcome Key findings

Chopdar and

Balakrishnan

(2020)

Study on consumers response towards mobile commerce applications

420 regular mobile shoppers in India; cross- sectional design; SEM

The S-O-R theoretical approach

Perceived ubiquity, contextual offering, visual attractiveness, app incentives

Impulsiveness, perceived value

experience, repurchase intention

Perceived ubiquity and app incentives are the two strongest predictors of impulsiveness and perceived value, respectively Impulsiveness negatively affects

consumers repurchase intention but positively enhances the satisfying experience, whereas perceived value favourably affects both variables McLean et

al (2020)

Study on attitudes towards retailers’ m- commerce apps at initial adoption and during continuous use

474 consumers in the UK;

longitudinal survey Design; CB- SEM

usefulness, enjoyment, subjective norms, customisation

Attitude towards m-commerce app

Screen size Attitude

towards the brand, purchase frequency, loyalty towards the brand

The findings reveal significant differences between perceived value affecting consumer attitudes towards the m- commerce app, turn positively affect on purchase frequency, positive attitudes and loyalty towards the brand at the initial adoption phase compared to the usage phase The findings also demonstrate the moderating role of smartphone screen size on consumer attitudes and behaviours

Research Research

background

Sample size and research methods

Foundation theory

Antecedents Mediators Moderators Outcome Key findings

Thusi and

Maduku

(2020)

Study on South African

millennials’

acceptance and use of retail mobile banking apps

352 users in five South African retail banks; paper- based survey;

PLS-SEM

expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value, habit perceived risk, institution- based trust

Millennials’

intention to adopt mobile banking apps

mobile banking app behaviour

Performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, habit, perceived risk, and institution-based trust are significantly associated with millennials’ intention

to adopt mobile banking apps, and that facilitating conditions, perceived risk, and behavioural intention have a significant direct influence on millennials’ mobile banking app behaviour

van Heerde

et al (2019)

Study on the value of a retailer mobile app to engage the unengaged customer

629 customers over 77 weeks from a well- known US apparel retailer;

Hierarchical Bayesian estimation

assess

offline-only customer

Customer purchase

Customers who live far away from physical store locations and customers who have been offline-only shoppers are the most influenced segments by a retailer’s branded mobile app

Cao et al

(2018)

Study on the effects of mobile app additions

on retailers’

shareholder wealth

115 announcements relating to mobile app additions U.S retail firms

mobile app additions, purchase-related mobile app additions

category, customer segment

Retailer value The findings indicate that

stock market responses to search-related and purchase-related app additions are moderated by firm size, product category, and target customer age