Impact of Need for Control on Multichannel Consumers' Convenience Expectations of Online Order/In-store Pickup Service

“Online order/in-store pickup (OOIP)” service allows customers to self-collect their online orders from the retailers’ physical store at their convenience. This service provided by many multichannel retailers brings unprecedented control to customers in the order fulfillment process. This paper examines how need for control, a fundamental psychological trait impacts multichannel consumers’ expectation of the level of service convenience that OOIP provides. Data was collected from 351 Chinese consumers to assess the effect of need for control on decision convenience, access convenience, transaction convenience, and post-benefit convenience. Findings suggest that consumers’ need for control positively affect their expectations on all four types of service convenience. We provide theoretical and managerial implications arising from the findings.

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