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Follow Others: A Study of the Influence of Herd Behavior on Customer Experience in Group-Buying

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HCI International 2022 – Late Breaking Posters (HCII 2022)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1655))

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Abstract

Herd behavior refers to the consumer choosing to follow the others in one collective, in instance where consumer information is incomplete. This research aims to understand herd behavior in the context of group-buying and its influence on the customer experience (CX), ultimately a key precursor of consumer purchase decisions. Based on 17 semi-structured interviews with consumers who shopped from one leading Chinese e-commerce group-buying platform - Pinduoduo, this study identifies that group-buying employs multiple media types to encourage an increase in three-way interactions between the seller, the focal customer, and other consumers. Among these are co-ordering, co-reviewing, commenting, sharing, liking, and gifting. In addition, a relationship of circular causality exists in herd behavior, CX, and group-buying interaction. Specifically, herd behavior within a collective can influence the focal customers’ experience, which contributes to the focal customer’s interaction and intention. Last but not least, the author has adapted the existing measures by combining the research findings in order to assist future quantitative studies to examine the causal relationship between herd behavior, interaction, and CX.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Kaiyan Zhu

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  1. Kaiyan Zhu
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Correspondence to Kaiyan Zhu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

  2. Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Margherita Antona

  3. Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Stavroula Ntoa

  4. University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Gavriel Salvendy

Appendix

Appendix

CX [13].

Information obtained from group-buying is useful.

I learned a lot from using group-buying.

I think the information obtained from group-buying is helpful.

Shopping fashion products from group-buying: not fun/fun; not enjoyable/enjoyable; not at all entertaining/very entertaining.

There is a sense of human contact in group-buying.

There is a sense of human warmth in group-buying.

There is a sense of human sensitivity in group-buying.

The product presentation on group-buying is lively.

I can acquire product information on group-buying from different sensory channels (e.g., imagery, auditory).

Group-buying contains product information exciting to senses.

Herd Behavior [27].

It seems that group-buying is the dominant type of shopping; therefore, I would like to use it as well.

I follow others in accepting group-buying.

I would choose to accept group-buying because many other people are already using it.

If I were to use group-buying, I would not be making the decision based on my own research and information.

Media Richness [24].

Group-buying allows to tailor my messages to my own personal requirements (e.g., virtual gifts, emojis).

Group-buying can communicate a variety of different cues in the messages (such as emotional tone, attitude, or formality) compared to buying from a website.

Group-buying allows all participants to use rich and varied language within the shopping journey (e.g., multiple perspective, text + image; short videos; livestream videos; animated GIFs; catwalk videos; customer review videos; augmented reality product view; avatars; descriptive videos; haptic feedbacks).

Interactivity [25].

I have a lot of control over my experience while using group-buying.

While using group-buying, I can freely choose what I want to see.

Group-buying facilitates three-way communication among the sellers, other customers, and me.

Group-buying sellers give me the opportunity to provide real-time feedback.

Group-buying sellers respond to my questions very quickly.

I can get information from the group-buying sellers and other customers very rapidly.

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Zhu, K. (2022). Follow Others: A Study of the Influence of Herd Behavior on Customer Experience in Group-Buying. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M., Ntoa, S., Salvendy, G. (eds) HCI International 2022 – Late Breaking Posters. HCII 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1655. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19682-9_44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19682-9_44

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-19681-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-19682-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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