Translated Abstract
As a dominant institutional mechanism on e-commerce platforms, online transaction credit system plays a key role in facilitating online retail market development. Its benefit on motivating online consumer purchase intention has been widely proved. Even in the online cross-border market, the online transacation credit system is taken as a very important part of a cross-border e-commerce website design. However, previous researches were relatively limit in terms of defining the effectiveness of an online transaction credit system, as well as explaining the varied influence of online transaction credit on consumer behavior. Most of them just discussed whether there was a significant relationship between a certain form of online transaction credits and consumer behavior. When facing a case that the influence of online transaction credit eliminated, they usually just gave a simple deduction based on the specific phenomenon. It is indeed a barrier for market makers to improve the online transaction system when without a united analytic framework to measure the effectiveness of online transaction credit system and explain its different impact. In order to solve this problem by finding a reasonable analytic framework, this study developed following research:
Based on Signaling Theory, the signal attribute of online transaction credit was discussed firstly. After analyzing the signalers, signal contents and signal using, the study further explored the preconditions of e-retail market’s separating equilibria in online transaction credits’signaling games. Then,three dimensions reflecting the effectiveness of signals of online transaction credits,which include signaling cost, signal observability and signal fit were proposed. Based on these there dimensions,Consumer Behavior Theory, Attribute Thoery and Expectation Confirmation Theory were applied to help to propose this study’s hypotheses in chapter four.Taked as e-commerce websites’quality siganls, e-vendors’quality signals and products’quality siganls, the effects of online transaction credits on online consumers’ e-commerce website use intention, products purchase intention and repurchase intention were discussed, and related research model were built. In order to confirm these three research models, chapter five to chapter seven took cross-border e-commerce as a case respectively, using structural equation model and multi-groups analysis, to test all of the hypotheses and found that these three dimensions were indeed able to explain the varied impact of online transaction credit on consumer behavior decision-making.
Three innovative conclusions are developed in this study. Firstly, this study systematically explores the effectiveness of online transaction credit from signal perspective, and then proves that signaling cost, signal observability and signal fit can effective reflect the online transaction credit effectiveness. Taken as quality signals, third-party assurance seals,escrow service and website warranty policy reflecting website quality, e-vendor reputation feedback, consumer warranty mechanism and e-vendor’s identity authentication refering to e-vendor’s quality signals, as well as product rating feedback directly mirroring product quality, their degree of signaling cost, signal observability and signal fit directly determine the result of quality information signaling and consumers’(who plays a role as signal receiver) usage intention. Secondly, the moderating effect of these three dimensions refering to signal effectiveness of online transaction credit are confirmed, and be creatively used to explain the variational impact of online transaction credit on consumers’ website purchasing intention as well as on consumers’ online product purchasing intention, particularly on the cross-border e-commerce platforms. As the degree of signaling cost, signal observability and signal fit being enhanced, the effect from website quality signals(i.e.third-party assurance seals,escrow service and website warranty policy) on consumers’ website purchasing intention, the influence of product rating feedback on product purchasing intention, as well as the impact of e-vendor’s quality signals(i.e. e-vendor reputation feedback, consumer warranty mechanism and e-vendor’s identity authentication) on trust in e-vendor, will experience a significant increase, consistently. Finally, this study replaces perceived effectiveness of online transaction credit to these three dimensions(signaling cost, signal observability and signal fit),and cofirms these three dimensions can positive moderate the relation between satisfaction and trust in e-vendor,as well as playing a negative moderating effect on the relation between trust in e-vendor and consurmer repurchase intention.
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