Understanding Customers’ Intention in Using Omnichannel: Assessing the Moderating Effect of Gender
摘要
The current study has attempted to examine the customers’ intention in an omnichannel environment in food retailing in Sri Lanka. The study tries to extend the Technology Acceptance Model by observing the mediating effect of perceived usefulness and the moderating role of gender. The existing knowledge investigating the ways to deliver a superior and seamless shopping value to customers in an omnichannel landscape with perceived usefulness taken as the mediator and gender as a moderator is limited. Hence, the study was carried out in the Sri Lankan context to fill the identified gap. Primary data has been collected from 250 subjects in an uncontrived setting to assess the conceptual framework empirically. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM-AMOS) was the analytical tool employed to test hypotheses. The outcome of the analysis reports that perceived usefulness shows a strong and significant effect on consumers’ intention to use the omnichannel approach, followed by perceived compatibility and perceived ease of use, whereas cost and risk showed no significant influence on the intention to use the omnichannel approach. Also, findings revealed that perceived compatibility and perceived ease of use have significantly influenced perceived usefulness. Furthermore, it was found that perceived usefulness partially mediated the association between perceived ease of use and intention to use the omnichannel approach. Notably, it has been discovered that gender is a significant moderator variable in the association between perceived usefulness and intention to use the omnichannel approach. This study provides expedient insights for both academic research domain and business domains by unveiling a new phenomenon of omnichannel food retailing. Moreover, the results demand more attention from the marketers/retailers to define their omnichannel strategies based on various disruptive technologies, which can improve perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and compatibility to provide customers with a unique and seamless shopping experience. Further, marketers/retailers should have deep diagnostic knowledge about the gender of customers who are willing to use omnichannel approaches.