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In the past, consumers used to go to brick-and-mortar stores to gather information and often concluded their shopping there, with the physical store probably being one of their few sources of product information. Nowadays, with the arrival of digital devices, the number of sources of information has grown. Consumers tend to combine these with brick-and-mortar establishments both to search and buy, leading to the emergence of omnichannel behavior. In this context, there is a lack of research which considers online and mobile devices separately. The aim of the present study is to analyze how two individual traits –impulsiveness and need for touch– influence the use of each device in the omnichannel decision-making process. Results from a sample of 284 real digital (online and/or mobile) shoppers of clothes confirm that personal traits influence omnichannel consumer behavior. Results show that impulsive shoppers make greater use of mobile devices whereas individuals with high need for touch are more predisposed to use online devices in their omnichannel process. Besides, the effect of individual demographics is taken into account. Finally, we discuss the paper's contributions and outline the actions which managers can engage in so as to succeed in omnichannel retail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to present a proposal for the Hierarchy of Effects — a model that has been widely applied in the study of persuasion in traditional communications media — to evaluate Website effectiveness. In particular, this contribution seeks to consider a more complete model in order to evaluate the responses of the individuals to the Websites, incorporating new variables to the traditional sequence; and to study the moderating effect of the specific characteristics if the audience — the individual user's motivations in terms of Internet access in the basic structure of this model. Design/methodology/approach — The multi-equations methodology is used to test the sequence of responses that produce the visit to an experimental Website: the perceived informative value and the perceived entertainment value of a Website, the attitude toward the Website, the attitude toward the brand and the intention to buy the brand for two different individual groups: the "information seekers" and "entertainment seekers". Findings — The results reveal two well differentiated positive models of behavior in the online context. Practical implications — In their Website strategies, the organizations should not neglect those aspects which may arouse emotional reactions in the Internet users, but they should pay more attention to generated informative value to obtain more favorable users' responses. Originality/value — Previous studies had not tested empirically the moderating effects of the users' motivations in terms of Internet access (search for information versus entertainment) over this original and more complete structure of individuals' responses to the Website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Nowadays some consumers consider themselves as "omnichannels" – they combine both physical and digital channels expecting a seamless shopping experience – since they view their shopping process from a multiple-channel viewpoint. Giving that situation, the aim of this paper is to test the role of consumers' omnichannel tendency (omni-tendency) in the information processing in the digital channel. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), emotions as well as utilitarian and hedonic experiences are proposed to understand consumer attitude towards the digital store. Through a survey, data were collected from 284 digital shoppers. PLS path modelling and PLS-MGA were used to test the research hypotheses. Findings: The results confirm that emotions positively affect the evaluation of the experiences, which in turn improves the attitude towards the digital store. Focusing on the differences among consumers, the findings show that for consumers with low omni-tendency the emotions are key to improve the evaluation of their experiences. Moreover, regarding the attitude, consumers with more omni-tendency follow the central route to process the information; and consumers with less omni-tendency follow the peripheral route. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature in three ways. First, this research includes the study of omni-tendency, as a consumer trait, in the information processing developed in the digital channel, ignored in the literature. Second, this work contributes to information processing theories in digital context confirming, specifically the applicability of ELM into the omnichannel context. This offers support to the application of traditional theories to explain new phenomena. Third, and in line with the previous contribution, this work goes a step further in understanding ELM theory by including other constructs –the omni-tendency and emotions– to explain the information processing in the digital context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:Purchasing orientation (greater efficiency, use of information and communication technologies; ICT) is becoming an underlying part of company strategy in an increasing number of business organizations. Transformational leadership by purchasing managers is also emerging as a tool to generate more intense and effective use of ICT and as a means of enhancing performance. The present research pursues 2 goals: firstly to explore how the strategic nature of the purchasing function and transformational leadership of purchasing managers impacts ICT use intensity and purchase efficiency, and secondly to pinpoint how the use of ICT affects purchase performance. Methodology/approach:The empirical work is based on an analysis of the information provided by a sample of 130 Spanish firms. Empirical verification of the proposed model was carried out through partial least squares analysis. Findings:Findings show that the strategic importance which management attaches to the purchasing function impacts the intensive use of ICT. However, the transformational leadership exercised by purchasing managers proves relevant in achieving greater cost efficiency and coordination with suppliers. Research implications:This work has sought to merge as determinants of efficiency both strategic aspects of the purchasing function in the firm as well as managerial aspects of said function (manager’s transformational leadership and the use of ICT). This research breaks new ground by empirically comparing the relationship between the strategic nature of the purchasing function in a firm and intensity of ICT use, a relation which has been the subject of very little inquiry and for which the mediating role of ICT in the link between strategic orientation and purchase performance is brought to light. Originality/value/contribution:The study makes a twofold contribution. Firstly, the present research seeks to bring together strategic aspects of the purchasing function in the firm as well as other management factors involved in said function (managers’ transformational leadership and use of ICT) as drivers of efficiency. In this sense, the findings point to the important role played by the purchasing manager vis-à-vis the strategic vision of the purchasing function in achieving cost efficiency and coordination with suppliers. Secondly, this research breaks new ground by empirically verifying the link between the strategic nature of the purchasing function in a firm and intensity of ICT use, a link which has been the focus of scant attention and for which we underpin the mediating role of ICT in the relationship between strategic orientation and purchase performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]