Effect of Instant Messenger Use on Purchase Decision of Consumers: The Role of Communication Quality and Content

摘要

The uncertainty brought by the separation of information flow and product flow has become an important obstacle to the development of e-commerce. An increasing number of e-commerce websites have chosen to adopt an instant messenger (e.g., Wangwang) in the website as a communication tool between buyers and sellers to reduce this uncertainty. Based on uncertainty reduction theory, the relationship between the use of an instant messenger and the purchase decision of consumers is explored. Logit regression models were used to analyze the secondary data collected from a seller on Taobao.com, and the following findings are determined: (1) Customers who use Wangwang tend to purchase, and the effect of Wangwang use on purchase decisions is stronger for consumers who are indirect visitors. (2) The more quickly and more frequently sellers reply to questions, the more likely customers are to make purchase decisions. (3) Communicating about contents related to product quality in the conversation is positively associated with the consumer's purchase decision. (4) The negative effect of product fit-related contents to purchase decision will be mitigated if it is not the first conversation between consumers and sellers.