Consumer confusion refers to a kind of subjective consumption experience before decision-making, which is usually accompanied by psychological discomfort and behavioral uncertainty and exists widely in online tourism domain. Although previous studies have investigated the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction, the empirical results were inconsistent. Meanwhile, the existing research on online travel consumer confusion only focused on the direct effect between consumer confusion and the consumers'decision-making outcomes, these findings did not reveal the logic relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction. Researchers considered the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction might be moderated by other variables. However, such effect has not been fully studied. The motivated information processing theory provides a distinctive theoretical perspective to explore the moderating effects of need for cognition on the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction. As the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction depends on the information processing path adopted by individuals. Thus, we aimed to examine the moderating role of need for cognition on the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction based on two broad categories of their coping strategies(active coping or avoidance coping). This study conducted a survey on 368 online travel consumers from different provinces in China. We firstly used AMOS 24.0 to conduct confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and to check the issue of common method bias. Then, we employed descriptive statistics analysis to check the means, standard deviations and correlations of these five key variables and several control variables(gender, age, education). Finally, we conducted hierarchical regression to test the hypotheses. Empirical results supported our arguments that the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction was moderated by need for cognition, when online travel consumers have low need for cognition, consumer confusion negatively influenced satisfaction, while when they have high need for cognition, consumer confusion positively influenced satisfaction; There was a moderating effect of active coping strategies on the relationship between confusion and satisfaction, when they are taking avoidance coping strategy, consumer confusion has negative impact on satisfaction, while when they are taking active coping strategies, consumer confusion has positive influence on satisfaction. The research not only enriched the studies on need for cognition, consumer confusion and the relationships between confusion coping strategies and psychological reaction, but also provided some practical guidance for marketing practitioners from the perspective of confusion. First, we extended previous work on the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction by demonstrating that individuals with high level of need for cognition are more likely to choose constructive behaviors in response to the confusion situation. Second, our results supported the moderating role of active coping strategies in the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction, contributing to explore the boundary effect of the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction. Third, our findings suggested that active coping strategies partially mediate the moderating effects of need for cognition on the relationship between consumer confusion and satisfaction, revealing how the effect of need for cognition on psychological outcomes occurs.%基于动机性信息加工理论,考察在线旅游消费者的认知需要对困惑与满意度的调节机制,尤其是应对策略在这个过程中扮演的中介角色.通过对368份调查问卷的分析发现:认知需要对困惑与满意度的关系起着调节作用,当在线旅游者认知需要倾向较高时,困惑与满意度呈现出正向的关系,而当在线旅游者认知需要倾向较低时,困惑与满意度呈现出负向的关系;认知需要正向影响积极主动的应对策略,负向影响消极逃避的应对策略;在线旅游者积极主动的应对策略对困惑和满意度的关系具有调节作用,消费者困惑对满意度的负面影响的观点仅仅是当他们采取消极逃避策略时才成立,而当他们采用积极主动的应对策略时,困惑将会正向影响满意度.在线旅游消费者积极主动的应对策略中介了认知需要对困惑与满意度关系的调节效应.该研究不仅从理论上丰富和拓展了认知需要、消费者困惑及其应对策略与心理反应的关系研究,还从困惑的视角为营销实务工作者提供了实践指导.
展开▼
