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Understanding continuance intention to use online to offline (O2O) apps

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Abstract

O2O commerce is a new business model combining online shopping and offline transactions. While many reports indicate the large potential size of the O2O market, little is known about users’ continuance intention to use. This study applies an expectation confirmation model (ECM) that incorporates perceived hedonic benefits, product information intensity and transaction costs as belief-related constructs to predict users’ continuance intention to use O2O apps. The proposed model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 333 users concerning their perceptions of O2O apps. The results indicated that confirmation of O2O app usage experience was positively related to both perceived benefits such as utilitarian and hedonic benefits and satisfaction. Perceived benefits, satisfaction and transaction costs were found to have a direct impact on continuance intention. Specifically, there was a significant difference between task-oriented O2O apps users and entertainment-oriented O2O apps users. The results may provide further insights into O2O app marketing strategies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Management, National Taipei University of Business, No.321, Sec. 1, Jinan Rd., Zhongzheng District, Taipei, 100, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Chin-Lung Hsu

  2. Department of Computer Science and Information Management, Soochow University, 56 Kueiyang Street, Section 1, Taipei, 100, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Judy Chuan-Chuan Lin

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  1. Chin-Lung Hsu
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Correspondence to Judy Chuan-Chuan Lin.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1

List of items by construct

Product information intensity (PI)

  1. 1.

    Product descriptions*

  2. 2.

    Customer review*

  3. 3.

    Price information*

  4. 4.

    Discount information

  5. 5.

    Business hours*

  6. 6.

    GPS navigation

  7. 7.

    Order processing information*

  8. 8.

    Payment methods*

Searching cost (SC)

  1. 1.

    I spend a lot of time looking for information.*

  2. 2.

    I spend a lot of effort getting information.*

  3. 3.

    I usually find myself pressed for time.*

  4. 4.

    I wish I had more time to look for information

Monitoring cost (MC)

  1. 1.

    I spend a lot of time contacting online stores.*

  2. 2.

    I spend a lot of effort contacting online stores.*

  3. 3.

    I spend a lot of time monitoring whether products I ordered are being processed.*

  4. 4.

    I spend a lot of effort monitoring whether products I ordered are being processed.

Adapting cost (AC)

  1. 1.

    Making changes to online orders.*

  2. 2.

    Arranging alternative delivery times.

  3. 3.

    Dealing with unexpected changes.*

Perceived utilitarian benefits (PU)

  1. 1.

    O2O apps enable me to increase my work or shopping performance.*

  2. 2.

    O2O apps enable me to work or shop more productively.*

  3. 3.

    O2O apps enable me to work or shop more effectively.*

  4. 4.

    Overall, O2O apps are useful to me.

Perceived hedonic benefits (PH)

  1. 1.

    Using O2O apps make me feel relaxed.*

  2. 2.

    The use of O2O apps make me want to use them again.

  3. 3.

    Using O2O apps makes me feel good.*

  4. 4.

    Using O2O apps gives me pleasure.*

Confirmation (CO)

  1. 1.

    My experience with using O2O apps was better than I expected.*

  2. 2.

    The service level or function provided by O2O apps was better than I expected.*

  3. 3.

    Overall, most of my expectations from using O2O apps were confirmed.*

Satisfaction (SA)

  1. 1.

    Using O2O apps makes me feel very satisfied.*

  2. 2.

    Using O2O apps makes me feel very contented.

  3. 3.

    Using O2O apps makes me feel very delighted.*

Continuance intention (CI)

  1. 1.

    I intend to continue using O2O apps.*

  2. 2.

    I find using O2O apps to be worthwhile.

  3. 3.

    I will frequently reuse O2O apps in the future.*

*Denotes items retained for data analysis.

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Hsu, CL., Lin, J.CC. Understanding continuance intention to use online to offline (O2O) apps. Electron Markets 30, 883–897 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-019-00354-x

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