Does strategic return promote word-of-mouth recommendation? An empirical study based on consumption experience theory

In the online shopping scenario, strategic return is becoming more and more common. Thus, it is imperative to investigate the effects of strategic return on word-of-mouth. Based on the theory of consumption experience, this paper uses enterprise-provided secondary data and questionnaire data, employing logistic regression and stepwise regression to explore the impact, mechanism and boundary conditions of strategic return on consumers’ word-of-mouth recommendation. We find that the word-of-mouth recommendation of consumers with strategic return behavior is significantly higher than that of consumers without strategic return behavior. More specifically, this impact is achieved through improved consumer satisfaction. In addition, the positive effect of strategic return on word-of-mouth by increasing satisfaction is stronger among high-extroversion consumers than among low-extroversion consumers. The research conclusions provide theoretical guidance for enterprise operation managers to deal with return behavior, and enrich the theoretical achievements of return behavior in the field of online shopping.