Perceived Sustainability and Customer Engagement in the Online Shopping Environment: The Rational and Emotional Perspectives

Xiao Chen, Xiaojing Sun, Dongwei Yan and Decheng Wen
Additional contact information
Xiao Chen: School of Management, Shandong University, No. 27, Shanda South Road, Jinan 250100, China
Xiaojing Sun: School of Management, Shandong University, No. 27, Shanda South Road, Jinan 250100, China
Dongwei Yan: School of Management, Shandong University, No. 27, Shanda South Road, Jinan 250100, China
Decheng Wen: School of Management, Shandong University, No. 27, Shanda South Road, Jinan 250100, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: As increasing numbers of customers pay attention to product and service sustainability when shopping online, more and more firms in the online market engage in promoting perceived sustainability to establish close customer relationships. Prior studies implied the effects of perceived sustainability on transactional customer relationships, however, the role of perceived sustainability in influencing nontransactional customer relationships has received little attention. Drawing on existing conceptual models, this study aimed at exploring the effects of perceived sustainability on rational and emotional customer engagement (CE) in the online shopping environment. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey in China. Using the partial least squares (PLS) approach-based structural equation modeling (SEM) method, the authors found that perceived sustainability positively affects the two CE orientations through influencing short- and long-term transactional attitudes (satisfaction and commitment). A strong interrelationship between rational and emotional CE was also found. This is the first study presenting empirical evidence of the effects of perceived sustainability on nontransactional customer relationships from the rational and emotional perspectives. It also provides critical implications for online sellers in designing engagement programs.

Keywords: perceived sustainability; customer engagement; online shopping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2674/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2674/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2674-:d:338300

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().