Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2005

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Human Ecology

Major Professor

Ann E. Fairhurst

Committee Members

Laura D. Jolly, Youn-Kyung Kim, Ernest Cadotte

Abstract

The research objective of this study was to examine the consumer pre-purchase deliberation process in an online marketplace. Especially, examining the role of extrinsic quality (website-related quality), intrinsic quality (business operation-related quality), reputation of the retailer (other consumers’ opinions), attitude toward the retailer, and intention to transact with the retailer in an online marketplace context was main purpose of this study.

To collect the data, extensive online survey was performed. The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling test.

Findings revealed that there are significant positive relationships among extrinsic quality, intrinsic quality, reputation of the retailer, attitude toward the retailer, and intention to transact with the retailer in an online marketplace. Especially, influence of extrinsic quality on intrinsic quality was considerably strong. However, influence of the reputation of the retailer showed weak influence on attitude toward the retailer unlike the suggestions of previous studies. In addition, the result of this study revealed that there is double-layered structure (extrinsic and intrinsic quality) in the quality of the retailer, which has not been conceptualized and empirically tested in the previous studies. Managerial and academic implications and future research directions based on the findings were offered.

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