The connection and disconnection between e-commerce businesses and their customers: Exploring the role of engagement, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease-of-use

Prevention (promotion) focused individuals prefer utilitarian (hedonic) websites.Individuals have a more favorable attitude under regulatory fit conditions.Individuals have a higher purchase intention under regulatory fit conditions.Engagement serves as the mediating mechanism of the effect of regulatory fit.Perceived usefulness and ease of use also serve as important mediating mechanisms. Significant time, resources, and attention have been given over the past few decades to explore how businesses can attract more customers to their online stores, and yet problems remain. It is still difficult to convert a potential customer's initial online encounter into a buying relationship. Thus, this study aims to develop a deeper comprehension of the driving forces that not only attract visitors to a website, but also motivate them to make a purchase. Drawing from the e-commerce, regulatory focus, and regulatory fit theory literatures, this study crafts a series of predictions about visitors' attraction to and intention to purchase from a website. In studies conducted using three different technology-product websites (i.e., websites selling smartphones, smartwatches, and laptops) and two different samples (i.e., students and actual shoppers), we found supporting evidence that visitors' evaluation and purchase intentions are determined by the fit between the shopping experiences offered (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and visitors' regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention). Furthermore, we reveal that engagement, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use serve as the underlying mechanisms that mediate the effect of regulatory fit on visitors' attitudes and purchase intentions.

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