Recipient Organization
UNIV OF HAWAII
3190 MAILE WAY
HONOLULU,HI 96822
Performing Department
Family & Consumer Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Mass customization contributes to the eventual combination of custom-made and mass-produced products. As one of the mass customization options, co-design/co-creation, allows customers to create an individualized product from a variety of options using Computer Aided Design technology. With the co-design trend, many startups have recently launched in specific verticals like dress shirts, chocolate bars, cars, and jewelries. More and more companies would take advantage of the increasing demand for more interactive online shopping experiences that utilize customers' own creativity. However, apparel e-retailers in Hawaii do not yet implement one of the mass customization options, co-design/co-creation, on their websites for Hawaiian fashion products. To effectively implement co-design options, apparel e-retailers for Hawaiian fashion products need to know e-customers' response to co-design options. Overall objectives of this project is to examine (1) whether e-customer interface design elements for co-design options (i.e., customization, contact interactivity, content, community, character) are related to their commitment to service provider and channel and e-store patronage intentions, (2) whether e-customer commitment to the service provider and e-channel is related to e-store patronage intentions, and (3) whether e-customers' fashion opinion leadership and performance risk moderate the link between commitment to service provider and channel and e-store patronage intentions. An online survey will be used. The data will be comprised of responses from male and female 1,000 volunteers drawn from a pre-recruited online panel of apparel online shoppers. Structural Equation Modeling via AMOS will be used to analyze the measurement and structural relationships among variables.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
40%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
Mass customization is defined as "the mass production of individually customized goods and services" (Pine, 1993, p. 48). Driven by an emphasis on niche markets within the global economy and by consumer demands for a sense of individuality in product options, mass customization makes a contribution to the eventual combination of "custom-made" and "mass-produced" products (Apeagyei & Otieno, 2007). Clothing products were indicated as being the most appropriate product category for mass customization (Goldsmith & Freiden, 2004). Mass customization is quickly becoming a crucial business principle of the twenty-first century's competitive market (Apeagyei & Otieno, 2007). As one of the mass customization options, co-design allows customers to create an individualized product from a variety of options using computer aided design technology (Fiore, 2008). Co-design is defined as the process that a customer follows to choose an individualized combination of product style, fabric, (Kamali & Loker, 2002, p. 9). Merging consumers in the design process enables firms to respond to the increased individualization of demand (Franke & Piller 2003). By implementing co-design options, it allows firms to produce the items their consumers want; it also offers cost advantages to firms due to the lower inventory levels needed, minimized material waste, flexible production, and ultimately, customer satisfaction (Pollard, Chuo, & Lee, 2008). Some e-commerce leaders (e.g., Nike, Dell.com, Blue Nile) have begun combining customer co-creation/co-design with social media tools in order to let customers share what they have created across social networks (Sloan, 2010). More recently, NikeiD, the e-custom design app, brought in more than $100 million in sales for the first time and in 2010 they increased sales 25% over the previous year (Sloan, 2010). In addition, co-design/co-creation marketplaces like Zazzle, CafePress, and Spreadshirt allow consumers to design and sell their own creations. These sites include built-in design tools for custom creation as well as a Facebook, Twitter, and email icon to encourage social sharing. With the co-design trend, many startups have recently launched in specific verticals like dress shirts, chocolate bars, cars, and jewelry. However, apparel e-retailers in Hawaii do not yet implement one of the mass customization options, co-design/co-creation, on their websites for Hawaiian fashion products. More and more apparel companies would take advantage of the increasing demand for more interactive online shopping experiences that utilize customers' own creativity. To effectively implement one of the mass customization options, co-design, apparel e-retailers for Hawaiian fashion products need to know e-customers' response to co-design options for Hawaiian fashion products. In addition, to develop co-design websites, apparel e-retailers in Hawaii need to understand design elements of the e-customer interface for a co-design website because customer interface design elements emphasize the specific role of interface elements as a communication channel between retailers and their customers. With respect to web-based store, "customer interface" represents the store's theme, easy to navigate, and pleasing to the store's customers (Rayport & Jaworski, 2001). "Customer interface" focuses on the components equipped on web storefronts by e-commerce retailers in order to assist customer navigation, information acquisition, and ultimately purchasing. This project will examine how e-customer interface design elements (i.e., customization, contact interactivity, content, community, and character) for co-design options would affect e-customer commitment and e-store patronage intentions toward co-design options. The overall objectives of this project are to examine (1) whether e-customer interface design elements for co-design options (i.e., customization, contact interactivity, content, community, character) are related to e-customer commitment to the service provider and e-channel and e-store patronage intentions, (2) whether e-customer commitment to the service provider and e-channel is related to e-store patronage intentions, and (3) whether e-customers' fashion opinion leadership and performance risk moderate the link between commitment and e-store patronage intentions (see Figure 3). In this project, e-customer interface design elements for co-design options include the following: (1) Customization, which refers to the capability of an e-retailer to tailor products, services, and the transactional environment to individual customers, and the website's capability of being tailored by each customer's personalization (Srinivasan et al., 2002). (2) Contact interactivity, which refers to the integrated and interactive engagement that happens between an e-retailer and its customers through its website (e.g., an engaging website, a search tool that enables customers to locate products, a tool that makes product comparisons easy, and a very dynamic presence) (Srinivasan et al., 2002). (3) Content, which focuses on what a website delivers (e.g., customer support, pictures of products, etc.). (4) Community, which concerns the interaction between users (i.e., user-to-user communication), including a feeling of membership and a sense of involvement. A virtual community is an online social entity consisted of existing and potential e-customers that is maintained by an e-retailer in order to intensify the exchange of opinions and information about offered products and services (Srinivasan et al., 2002). (5) Character, which refers to an overall image or personality that the e-retailer conveys to customers through the use of inputs such as text, style, graphics, a buyer's enduring desire to continue a relationship with a seller accompanied by his willingness to make efforts at maintaining it" (Odekerken-Schröder, 1999, p.64). Without commitment, the business relationships and successive transactions are tenuous. Accordingly, continuing commitment is a rudimentary requisite for successful supply chain implementation. Previous researchers demonstrated that commitment has been found to be one of the key factors of intentions to buy (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, & Gremler, 2002). Thus, this project will examine e-customer commitment to the service provider and e-channel as a mediator. In this project, online apparel shoppers in the U.S. (n = 1,000) will be asked about (1) e-customer interface design elements for co-design options, (2) e-customer commitment to the service provider and e-channel, and (3) e-store patronage intentions via an online survey (a detailed description of the method is presented in the "IX. PROCEDURES" section). The findings of this project can be used to create useful e-strategies as well as to make investment decisions about co-design options for Hawaiian fashion products. Based on the empirical data of this project, apparel e-retailers in Hawaii could efficiently implement co-design options on their websites, develop successful e-strategies, and ultimately maximize profitability.
Project Methods
Sampling The data will be comprised of responses from male and female 1,000 volunteers drawn from a pre-recruited online panel of apparel online shoppers. The sample will be a purposive nonprobablity sample. Thus, male and female apparel online shoppers (n = 1,000) who have experience with apparel e-shopping will participate in the online survey. Data Collection A sample of respondents, drawn from E-Rewards company's online panel, will be qualified as respondents and will be invited to participate in the research by e-mail. E-Rewards is a U.S. marketing research firm specializing in consumer survey methodology and has partnered with numerous sponsors that have large emailable databases of customers to create their consumer panels. E-Rewards will be contracted to recruit participants. An online survey will be used. A voluntary informed consent form including information, comprehension, and voluntariness will be provided on the first page of the online survey. Before this online survey, respondents will watch YouTube video explaining the concept of co-design options and browse a website focusing on co-design for Hawaiian fashion products (see Figure 4 and 5). Respondents will complete a self-administered questionnaire online. It will take 7-10 minutes for respondents to complete this survey. The e-Rewards company will provide a "virtual currency" incentive to participants who complete the survey. Measurement Scales used in data collection will be based primarily on existing reliable measures. Interface design elements (customization, contact interactivity, content, community, character). The scale will be taken from Shrinivasan et al. (2002). This scale is composed of total 24 items. Participants will respond to items using 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Sample items include "The co-design website makes me feel that I am a unique consumer." and "The co-design website enables me to view the merchandise from different angles." Commitment. The scale will be taken from Shemwell et al. (1994). This scale is composed of five items. Participants will respond to items using 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Sample items include "I feel loyal to the co-design service provider" and "Co-design has a great deal of personal meaning for me." E-store patronage intentions. The scale will be taken from Shim, Kotsiopulos, and Knoll (1991). This scale is composed of two items. Participants will respond to items using 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. A sample item includes "I am willing to buy apparel using a co-design website as a matter of preference." Performance risk. The scale will be taken from Stone and Gronhaug (1993). This scale is composed of three items. Participants will respond to items using 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Sample items include "As I consider using co-design transactions, I worry about whether the service will really perform as well as it is supposed to." and "If I were to use co-design transactions, I would become concerned that the service would not provide the level of benefit I would expect." Fashion opinion leadership. The scale will be taken from Workman and Johnson (1993). This scale is composed of three items. Participants will respond to items using 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Sample items include "My friends and neighbors regard me as a good source of advice on fashion." and "Others often turn to me for advice on fashion." Data Analysis Description, percent and frequencies will be used to examine demographic information. A confirmatory factor analysis will be conducted to assess composite reliability and construct validity (i.e., convergent and discriminant validity). Structural Equation Modeling via AMOS 16.0 will be used to analyze the measurement and structural relationships among variables. According to a 95% (p < .05) significance rate, the hypotheses will be supported or rejected. Convergent validity will be supported by the following: (1) all loadings are significant (p < .001), (2) the composite reliability for each construct exceeds the recommended level of .70, and (3) the average variance extracted (AVE) for each construct fulfills the recommended benchmark of .50 (Hair et al., 1998). As evidence of discriminant validity of the scales, none of the confidence intervals of the phi estimates will include 1.00. Multiple SEM group analysis will be used to examine moderating effects of performance risk and fashion opinion leadership. Further, the Sobel (1982) test will be used to calculate for mediation in the structural model and assess whether mediator variables (i.e., commitment) significantly carried the effect of independent variables to the dependent variable (i.e., e-store patronage intentions).