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Promises, Promises: How Consumers Respond to Warranties in Internet Retailing
Author(s) -
LWIN MAY O.,
WILLIAMS JEROME D.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.2006.00057.x
Subject(s) - warranty , reputation , business , advertising , product (mathematics) , quality (philosophy) , marketing , the internet , extant taxon , risk perception , psychology , world wide web , computer science , social science , philosophy , perception , geometry , mathematics , epistemology , evolutionary biology , neuroscience , sociology , political science , law , biology
Past studies have shown that perceived risk is a critical determinant of purchase intention in non–store retailing contexts, including Internet retailing. Extant literature in physical retailing suggests that warranties can be a significant variable in reducing consumers’ perceived risk. We examine the role of Web site warranties in risk reduction and how warranty information interacts with retailer reputation and brand name as two other risk relievers in an online shopping environment. Results suggest that warranties can make a positive difference for online retailers with strong reputations with respect to perceived risk, perceived product quality, and purchase intentions. However, consumers are less influenced by warranty information when dealing with online retailers with weak reputations. For the other extrinsic cue, however, we find that warranty information does not have an effect when dealing with brand names, suggesting that a brand name’s impact on online risk reduction remains regardless of the presence of warranty information.