Impact of perceived brand equity and website quality on U.S. consumer acceptance of apparel mobile commerce and intent to use

Quinn Nicole Sullivan

The recent development of a mobile commerce channel has provided new opportunities for apparel retailers. This ability to meet consumers seeking greater convenience and usability while shopping on-the-go with mobile devices is predicted to grow significantly in coming years. However, current data has indicated a slower than anticipated consumer adoption of the apparel mobile channel for retail purchases. This study therefore investigates the influence of emerging factors on apparel mobile commerce adoption among U.S. consumers, specifically how brand equity and mobile website quality affect U.S. consumer apparel mobile commerce use and consequent purchase intention. A review of current literature supports the addition of new constructs to existing theory and model, such as the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and technology acceptance model (TAM), to enhance the explanatory power for the variance of consumer mobile commerce adoption behavior. Inclusion of brand equity and mobile website quality variables in the proposed consumer apparel mobile commerce adoption model help to understand the formation of perceived use experience by consumers, which shape consumer attitude and eventually intention to purchase apparel via mobile device. Primary data was collected from an online survey via Amazon Mechanical Turk (https://www.mturk.com/mturk/) and a total of 421 eligible responses were received for statistical analysis. The psychometric properties of the proposed research model were examined and the multiple regression method was applied to test the hypotheses. All variables of brand equity (i.e., brand loyalty, brand association and brand quality) were shown to significantly and positively influence consumer perceived ease of use of an apparel mobile website. In addition, brand loyalty was shown to enhance consumer perceived usefulness of an apparel mobile website. Findings from website quality effect (i.e., website system quality, website information quality, and website service quality) also suggest that mobile website development positively and significantly influences consumer perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of an apparel mobile website. Both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use significantly influence overall consumer attitude toward use of apparel mobile websites. Finally, US consumers are more likely to use apparel m-commerce when they show positive attitude towards apparel m-commerce while are less influenced by opinions of other important figures in their lives.

Impact of perceived brand equity and website quality on U.S. consumer acceptance of apparel mobile commerce and intent to use

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