Influencing Factors and Switching Intention to Contact-free Shopping : Focusing on Push-Pull-Mooring Theory

1) Definition of Contact-free

Contact-free is a concept more commonly referred to in Korea as ‘Untact’. This term refers to minimizing contact with others when purchasing goods or services, and it is also used as an ‘untact marketing’ or ‘untact service’(Kim, Choi, Cho, & Yang, 2020). With the increase in contact-free consumption that resulted from ‘social distancing’ during the Covid-19 crisis, the service center shifted from an offline to an online setting(Kim et al., 2020). Thus, contactless consumption has become more prevalent in daily life, and it is expected that consumers' intentions and actions will convert to contactless methods as well. In prior studies, untact services were analyzed from the perspective of digital services, which focused on creating new customer values, such as convenience and efficiency, through technological innovation(Lee & Lee, 2020).

In contrast to Korea, where the word ‘untact’ is commonly used, papers published in international journals and media in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic used such terms as “Contact-free”(Hutt, 2020; Sneader & Singhal, 2020), “Contactless”(Cottrell, 2021; Payments Journal, 2020), and “Zero-Contact”(Bird, 2020; Park, An, Song, & Chung, 2022) instead of 'untact'. In light of this, this study intends to use the generally applicable term of ‘contact-free’.

2) Operational Definition of Contact-free Shopping

According to Jun & Kim(2020), the contact-free industry can be divided into ‘contactless service's that minimize face-to-face interactions, and ‘unmanned services' that replace human labor with digital technology. Contact shopping and contact-free shopping, which are the subject of this study, imply concepts that differ from the meaning of existing offline and online shopping. As a result of Covid-19, we were frequently exposed to words like contact and contact-free. The existing online shopping is defined as the act of purchasing by consumers who transact goods and services in online shopping malls using PCs and mobile networks. While such online shopping is also contact-free, it emphasizes the ‘using a PC or mobile network’ aspect. Nevertheless, contact shopping mentioned in this study does not only refer to offline shopping, but also encompasses a context where consumers must physically “interact face-to-face and contact” with store clerks and other consumers while shopping. Additionally, contact-free shopping does not just mean online shopping, but also includes the context in which shoppers do not need to physically “interact face-to-face and contact” with store clerks or other consumers while shopping.

As such, this study aims to conceptualize contact-free shopping more appropriately by understanding contact-free shopping from a technical point of view and expanding the concept to the context that consumers face. Therefore, contact-free shopping which has been used in various studies was used not in a methodological view of simple convenience such as online or mobile which consumers have been using, but with a definition as a contact-free view with unique circumstances such as Covid-19.

1) Concept of PPM

In the PPM theory, push factors refer to negative factors(push effect) that drive people from their old residences to new ones, whereas pull factors refer to positive factors(pull effect) that attract them to a new destination(Bansal & Taylor, 2002). As such, the PPM theory is based on the push-pull concept in the law of migration presented to explain the theories of migration(Ravenstein, 1885). However, there have been arguments that the interaction between the push and pull factors is not enough to explain human migration, which led to the addition of the mooring effect for additional explanation (Bansal, Taylor, & St. James, 2005; Hsieh, Hsieh, Chiu, & Feng, 2012). Explained as ‘intervening obstacles’ in earlier studies along with the push-pull concept, the mooring effect refers to situational factors of individuals that either facilitate or inhibit the migration decision. The mooring effect is a variable related to individual situations that include an individual’s lifestyle or psychological factors, and social situations including culture, environment, or social impacts, supplementing the push and pull factors in the PPM theory(Hsieh et al., 2012; Moon, 1995).

2) Previous Studies related to PPM

The PPM theory had been initially perceived as a useful theoretical framework that explains an individual’s switching behavior for service providers in marketing or business information. However, it is currently considered suitable for explaining the shift from an individual’s old habits and behaviors to new behaviors with a focus on the push, pull, and mooring factors, and thus used as a useful theoretical framework for explaining behavioral changes of consumers and organizational members such as career commitment, repurchase intention, and active user intention in marketing and organizational behavior(Choi & Yang, 2017).

As seen in <Table 1>, PPM theory has been actively researched as it is applied to various fields, and especially more research has been conducted in the field of the fashion industry.

Consumers' consciousness and behavior can be altered and decided according to the circumstances of the times, such as a changing society and natural environment(Chung, 2001). However, the factors utilized by most of the previous studies prior to the Covid-19 outbreak were not used based on the changes in consumers’ perception due to social and environmental risk situations such as Covid-19. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of specific factors on switching intention that determine changes in consumers experiencing the Covid-19 outbreak. Therefore, this study will apply the PPM theory to examine the switching intention of consumer behavior considering both the old and new technologies and services in accepting and adopting new ones. The operational definitions of the variables used in this study are shown in <Table 2>.

1) Push Effect: Negative factors in original place

A push factor causes consumers to gain switching intentions due to the occurrence of negative impressions of ‘previous’ services, and push factors in this study refer to the effect that drives consumers to switch to contact-free shopping. According to Bogue(1969) who applied the PPM theory, push factors are factors that negatively affect life in the current area of residence, such as depression of the regional economy, employment loss, political/economic/religious persecution and discrimination, loss of personal development opportunities, and disasters such as floods, fires, earthquakes, and wars. Bansal et al.(2005) presented dissatisfaction, low quality, loss of trust, and regret as push factors.

Push in this study was intended to explain the ‘push effect’ from the conventional shopping behavior of contact shopping to contact-free shopping, describing the process that keeps people from contact/face-to-face shopping. Consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction has been a salient research topic as an important variable in behavioral models, and dissatisfaction is used as a result variable of a purchase decision process (Baker & Crompton, 2000). The concept of dissatisfaction was presented as a push factor in many previous studies applying the PPM theory, showing a significant effect on consumers’ behavioral intention. Lee(2019) claimed that consumers who experienced service provided by a store and felt unsatisfied with the service tend to avoid shopping at the same store. Keaveney(1995) argued that inconvenience, service failure, response to the wrong service, involuntary switch, and ethical problems affect switching intention. Therefore, it is necessary to identify whether consumer dissatisfaction with contact shopping affects risk perception due to Covid-19 and examine whether this affects switching intention to contact-free shopping.

• H1-1: Dissatisfaction will have a positive effect on push factor.

Ajzen & Fishbein(1980) explained that consumers’ behavioral intention decreases when people around them have negative attitudes toward a certain behavior. Also, when choosing a certain behavior, if the surrounding people consider it important to give a positive impression of specific behavior, the positive motivation for the behavior increases, while the negative impression leads to decreased motivation(Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001). This could be taken as the social pressure that consumers feel in the Covid-19 situation with its national/social norms of social distancing and refraining from going out/gathering, etc. affecting consumers’ behavior to avoid contact shopping. Therefore, if people around them have negative attitudes toward their contact shopping behavior in the Covid-19 pandemic, they reduce the same behavior, thereby possibly resulting in their switching behavior.

• H1-2: Subjective norm will have a positive effect on push factor.

Lee, Lim, & Koo(2005) stated that consumers, if they recognize the uncertainty of the product they purchase, may bring unexpected negative consequences, perceive risks through anxiety over such consequences. Hypochondriasis, which is an excessive anxiety about future health, causes certain behaviors(Muse, McManus, Hackmann, Williams, & Williams, 2010), and social anxiety that happens due to social causes, not by personal traits, arises because of the social environment(Wilkinson, 2002). In particular, social anxiety is a reaction to various social current situations experienced directly/indirectly(Park & Song, 2005), and special social current situations such as sudden social changes and technological advancement, economic depression, war, and disease can be considered to make people that belong to the society anxious. The health, economy, and political issues mentioned by many articles about Covid-19, to which those consumers have been continuously exposed, have further amplified the consumers’ anxiety. Thus, this may lead to the expectation that anxiety over the risks created in Covid-19 may affect the level of risk perception.

• H1-3: Perceived anxiety will have a positive effect on push factor.

Risk perception of contact shopping may be assumed as a factor with a negative effect on the decision-making for contact shopping. Therefore, this study defined risk perception as a cognitive belief that individuals have about the risk of Covid-19, set as the perception of the severity of the risk of Covid-19, and how likely the risk will affect them. Noh(2000) claimed that consumers’ risk perception has the concept of loss, and thus higher risk perception of consumers induces more risk processing behavior and information-seeking behavior, thereby affecting product choice. This indicates that switching behavior may be induced by the risk perception about contact shopping by consumers willing to purchase fashion products. In particular, risk perception is a subjective concept in which differences occur individually, but has a lot of influence on individual decision making(Gronhaug & Stone, 1995). Moreover, the level of risk perception of oneself in the Covid-19 pandemic also affects behavior(Marinthe, Brown, Delouvée, & Jolley, 2020). Thus, risk perception about contact shopping in Covid-19 will make consumers switch to contact-free shopping.

• H2: Risk perception will have a positive effect on switching intention to contact-free shopping.

Accordingly, this study selected risk perception on Covid-19 as the push factor and dissatisfaction, subjective norm and perceived anxiety as the influencing factors.

2) Pull Effect: Positive factors draw people to destination

The pull effect is a factor that makes consumers have a switching intention through a positive perception on the ‘new’ service, pull factors in this study refer to positive factors that induce contact-free shopping. Pull factors in the PPM theory indicate positive elements that attract potential migrants from their original residences to the new destinations and can be defined as the attractive elements of a service or a product from the consumer’s perspective(Bansal & Taylor, 2002; Moon, 1995). Previous studies applying the PPM theory presented usefulness, availability, alternative attractiveness, and perceived value as pull factors. Since pull factors induce people to have a positive image(Dorigo & Tobler, 1983), consumers’ perceived value of contact-free shopping is selected as the pull factor, and social presence, usefulness and alternative attractiveness are examined as subfactors.

The pull effect in this study explains the process of promoting the contact-free shopping behavior of consumers. According to Kim(2020), social presence promotes consumers’ social interaction and relationship-building intention in a contact-free space. Li, Yin, Qiu, & Bai(2021) said that artificial intelligence contact-free services such as AI provides consumers with psychological stability and increases consumption value, and the increased consumption value eventually improves service quality. Also, the sense of social presence of consumers that use the multichannel effects self-efficacy(Kim, Kim, & Kim, 2018), and it is an important variable in inducing consumers' continuous visits and purchase(Choi, 2021). Therefore, it can be seen that the social presence that the consumer experiences during the contact-free shopping process is an important influencing factor in inducing positive emotions in consumers, and that it is important to make consumers aware of a sense of social presence in a contact-free digital shopping environment. Thus, the social presence experienced by consumers while shopping contact-free will induce positive emotions and make consumers highly rate the value of contact-free shopping.

• H3-1: Social presence will have a positive effect on pull factor.

Usefulness is the degree to which a new product is perceived as superior to an existing product. Roger(1995), and Davis(1989) claimed that the more the consumer considers a certain technology or service useful, the more favorable their attitude or intention to use it becomes. Park(2020) said that the effect on usefulness perception differs following the characteristics of consumers using omni-channel, and Chae(2017) stated that mobile shopping’s ease of use affects purchase intention through usefulness. Thus, higher perceived usefulness or convenience of contact-free shopping will affect the perceived value of consumers.

• H3-2: Usefulness will have a positive effect on pull factor.

Alternative attractiveness refers to the positive attitude perceived by consumers. The alternative attractiveness means if a new service is more satisfactory or reliable, consumers will switch to a better one, even if they have to deal with a bit of inconvenience or have to spend a set amount of money(Keaveney, 1995). According to Bansal et al.(2005), when there is an alternative that seems more attractive to consumers, they are likely to purchase from the service provider of that alternative. Because the alternative attractiveness of online stores affects the cross-channel freeriding showrooming intention(Kim et al., 2018), consumers will consider engaging in contact-free shopping as an alternative to contact shopping if they feel that it is safer, more reasonable, and attractive.

• H3-3: Alternative attractiveness will have a positive effect on pull factor.

Zeithaml(2000) claimed that consumers choose the purchase behavior that benefits them the most, considering the costs and benefits of purchasing a product or using a service. Perceived value is the gap between costs and benefits in this process. According to Homer & Kahle(1988), there is a causal relationship between value and attitude; here, value affects not only attitude but also behavior. In other words, consumers will have a favorable belief and attitude toward contact-free shopping if they perceive its positive value. Additionally, according to Lee(2021), unmanned stores classified as the contact-free method can be approached in more diverse dimensions than the existing general method of measuring the value of time or cost invested in an environment without clerk interaction. Therefore, when such is applied to contact-free shopping, the final behavior of purchasing through contact-free shopping is reached when personal emotions are introduced due to consumers realizing certain information in an environment such as Covid-19. Also, according to the research of Jang, Chi, Kang, & Han(2016), the perceived value of Omni-Channel significantly affects the channel switching intention. Therefore, the consumers’ perceived value for the contact-free method will also significantly affect the shopping switching intention.

• H4: Perceived value will have a positive effect on switching intention to contact-free shopping.

Accordingly, this study selected perceived value on contact-free shopping as the pull factor and social presence, usefulness and alternative attractiveness as the influencing factors.

3) Mooring Effect: Personal and social intervening factors

The mooring factor is a factor that delays the switching intention or behavior by mooring the push or pull effect, and mooring factors in this study refer to situational factors of individuals that either facilitate or inhibit contact-free shopping. Variables that serve as obstacles to migration include switching costs, switching experience, social influence, attitude toward switching, self-efficacy, and variety-seeking tendency(Anderson, Fornell, & Lehnmann, 1994; Bansal et al., 2005). Many studies focused on the negative effects of mooring factors that directly influence the switching intention or inhibit switching, but many also examined their role in moderating the relationship between push and pull factor(Homburg & Giering, 2001).

The mooring effect in this study explains the process in which consumers are hesitant to switch to contact-free shopping from offline shopping i.e., contact/face-to-face. Consumers’ choice of the channel depends on whether the product they are about to purchase has sensory or non-sensory attributes, with sensory products like fashion products being more suitable for the offline channel(Degeratu, Rangaswamy, & Wu, 2000; Levin, Laar, & Sidanius, 2003). Therefore, fashion products have sensory attributes, and consumers highly prefer contact shopping to personally check the fashion products or for actual behavior/experience. According to Park & Bae (2006), the enjoyable experience at a fashion store increases loyalty, which induces the behavior of continuously using offline stores. As such, fashion products are differentiated from other product categories because consumers have a strong desire to actually experience or check the product or store, which induces revisits. Thus, experiential value affects moderation of push and pull by making consumers hesitant about switching to contact-free shopping or maintaining contact shopping.

• H5-1: Experiential value will have a moderating effect on the relationship between push and switching intention to contact-free shopping.
• H5-2: Experiential value will have a moderating effect on the relationship between pull and switching intention to contact-free shopping.

In this study, switching cost refers to the cost of time and effort incurred when consumers do contact-free shopping compared to contact shopping. Switching costs can be defined as consumers’ risk perception when wanting to change service providers. The perceived risk here is a loss that includes all financial, performance, social, psychological, and temporal risks. Such switching cost is perceived as more in-service purchases than in-product purchases(Colgate & Lang, 2001). Therefore, it is expected that the switching or non-switching to contact-free shopping will be affected according to the level of consumers' awareness of the contact-free shopping switching cost.

• H6-1: Switching cost will have a moderating effect on the relationship between push and switching intention to contact-free shopping.
• H6-2: Switching cost will have a moderating effect on the relationship between pull and switching intention to contact-free shopping.

Consumer inertia refers to the consistent behavior of repurchasing the same brand or product every time consumers shop. According to Pitta, Franzak, & Fowler(2006), consumers' inertia causing them to put less effort induces habitual repurchase, which prevents them from making a new purchase decision or learning a new behavior, discouraging them from making a price comparison. Such characteristics of consumer inertia can be considered as factors that drive consumers to adhere to contact shopping. Additionally, inert consumers show repeated purchasing behavior through the same service despite their negative perception of an existing service(Lai, Liu, & Lin, 2011). This is a factor that makes consumers hesitate to change their behavior to contact-free shopping, even in risky settings.

• H7-1: Consumer inertia will have a moderating effect on the relationship between push and switching intention to contact-free shopping.
• H7-2: Consumer inertia will have a moderating effect on the relationship between pull and switching intention to contact-free shopping.

Variety seeking is the consumer's tendency to experience various brands or stores rather than specific ones to gain stimulation based on changes in their choices(Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1992). Such is the behavior of consumers switching to a different store from the ones before. Consumers wanting to experience various brands or stores are called variety seekers. Their variety-seeking desire is expressed in their attitude and behavior found in various fields, including a real-world purchase situation or store selection (Van Trijp, Hoyer, & Inman, 1996). Therefore, the consumers’ desire to shop in new ways will rise despite encountering unique circumstances such as Covid-19 and will affect their switching intentions to contact-free shopping. Additionally, the consumers display a switching behavior through variety seeking by testing new shopping methods as they grow tiresome of ways they already experienced(Assael, 2001).

• H8-1: Variety seeking will have a moderating effect on the relationship between push and switching intention to contact-free shopping.
• H8-2: Variety seeking will have a moderating effect on the relationship between pull and switching intention to contact-free shopping.

Accordingly, this study selected the experiential value of fashion stores, switching cost, consumer inertia and variety seeking as the mooring factor and set it as the moderator of the relationship between push-pull factors and switching intention.

4) Switching Intention and Switching Behavior

Switching intention is comprised of motivational factors that affect behavior and is an indication of effort before it is put into action. In general, higher intention increases the possibility of a certain behavior(Ajzen, 1991). According to Bae(2020), different types of shopping channels have varying effects on channel switching intention. Lattin & McAlister(1985) stated that when consumers are dissatisfied with products, services, or methods they are currently using, they not only switch to the ones that will satisfy their desires but also convert to products or services that will supplement their dissatisfaction. Thus, switching intention to contact-free shopping will affect switching behavior.

• H9: Switching intention will have a positive effect on Switching behavior to Contact-free Shopping.