Figure 6.3 Consumer Attitude with Purchase Life Cycle in COLS model
And then, after the influences from the external factors consumer attitude is ready to make relationships with purchase life cycle processes in online luxury shopping (intention, actual purchase, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty). However, Gensler et al. (2012) state that attitudes do not perfectly predict behaviour. Channel use is suggested as an alternative approach to better reflecting reality, which is different to our findings that attitude is better predictor of behaviour which leads to customer purchase in an online luxury shopping context. The analysis of the data collected in this study reveals that consumer attitude has a significant and positive impact on intention, actual purchase, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty, to differing degrees. The following subsections will discuss the relationship between consumer attitudes and (pre/post) purchase variables in the COLS model. All relationships had significantly positive impacts from attitude in all types of analysis. Intention was found to be the most strongly impacted, followed by e-satisfaction, e-loyalty, and actual purchase, respectively.
First, it is expected that positive attitudes will lead to higher intentions to perform the behaviour. Accordingly, intention and e-satisfaction are shown to be the most important variables affecting the chances of buying online luxury shopping. This study is in line with others that confirm a relationship between consumer attitude and intention, which impacts on the buying process (Bian & Forsythe 2012). This study expands previous research by examining the formation of purchase intentions for online luxury brands and how the consumer attitude has been affected by external factors, which has a dominant and powerful influence on consumers' purchase as it plays a mediating role between the external factors and intention. For instance, satisfaction with previous online purchase (Kim et al., 2006), and consumer shopping orientations (Jensen, 2012), may explain intentions to purchase – for example, in an online travel context (Amaro & Duarte 2015). The findings suggest that
positive attitude can influence intention to purchase online luxury shopping and also to e- satisfaction. As such, this research can conclude that if the attitude is evaluated as being sufficient understanding from the external factors in the COLS model, then intention to purchase online luxury shopping will result, which cause in the future the actual buying and then the e-satisfaction as a result. Along with the impact of consumer attitude with actual purchase, theoretical development is also hypothesised and discussed in RQ2.
Second, customers with positive attitudes towards online luxury shopping are more satisfied with the online purchase, especially those who had good e-service quality as external factors.
This is in line with Mazaheri et al (2011)’s findings. This suggests that for those who are buying online luxury goods regularly, e-satisfaction provides the acceptance of the brand and what the brand is all about and what comes with it, starting with the image and ending with the products (Megehee & Spake, 2012). The result of this study has confirmed the relationship between attitude and e-satisfaction in an online context and collaborates with Chen-Ying Lee, Chih-Hsuan Tsao, and Wan-Chuan Chang (2015), where they suggest further research to approve this relationship within the technology acceptance model. As a result, consumer satisfaction from online luxury shopping ended up with a positive predictor of a favourable attitude toward luxury brands, and it agreed with Eroglu et al. (2003), thus answering the second research question of this study.
Third, it is argued that the impact of consumer attitude with e-loyalty has been acknowledged, yet little has been done to understand this relationship with the effectiveness on buying, and every consumer has different brand loyalty behaviour (Mattison Thompson et al. 2014). The findings of this investigation from online luxury consumers supported the research hypothesis predicating that customers with positive attitudes are in positive e-loyalty relationships with online luxury shopping, thus answering the second research question of this study. It is worth noting that the effect of e-loyalty on consumer attitude was not significantly different across the two selected countries, gender, or internet experience level.
Fourth, and lastly, the positive and significant relationship between consumer attitudes and actual purchase is in line with research by George (2004). Generally, when consumers embark on an online luxury goods purchase, all types of experiences from external factors will come up in the mind, and the discussion will proceed when the actual purchase has been done. Then, after the actual purchase process, consumers will consider their experience and will know which type of external factors had an influence on their purchase. It is important
that consumer attitude acts positively towards online luxury shopping, which shows that the buying process is fully accepting the influence from any external factors or even all factors together, because they can make the purchase with fully understanding and considering every risk that may occur. However, this study has been dealing with consumers with experience in online luxury shopping for at least six months, and mostly they are mature customers with high incomes. Thus, actual purchase is considered as a source of purchase life cycle that confirms the suggestion that the more positive the attitude towards performing behaviour, the more likely an individual is to perform that behaviour (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).
It is believed that consumer attitude plays a central role in online luxury shopping. It drives consumers to act after accepting several influences from external factors that make the process of buying more interesting. The purchase life cycle for this study included and started from intention (Choi & Totten, 2012), followed by actual purchase (Pentecost & Andrews, 2010), e-satisfaction (Oliver, 1997), and finally e-loyalty (Mouakket & Al-Hawari, 2012), and it is all about pre and post purchase. By providing marketers with information about how consumers purchase online luxury shopping, starting from the external factors that impact their attitude to purchase and followed by the purchase life cycle, it gives them a wider vision of how they can consider all significant factors that make a difference in consumer attitude.
Thus, answering the second research question of this study.