With the rapid growth of online platforms, it has become exceedingly important for marketers to comprehend the reasons why customers continue to use and recommend these platforms even amidst changing circumstances. Prior studies have primarily discuss...
With the rapid growth of online platforms, it has become exceedingly important for marketers to comprehend the reasons why customers continue to use and recommend these platforms even amidst changing circumstances. Prior studies have primarily discussed the direct effects of value on loyalty; however, recent research has analyzed indirect pathways through relationship quality, as well as the moderating and mediating effects of perceived risk.
In this study, functional value, economic value, and emotional value were adopted as independent variables. Satisfaction and trust were selected as mediating variables, with distinctions made between them. Additionally, perceived risk was adopted as a moderating variable. Re-usage intention and recommendation intention were adopted as dependent variables. To verify this research model, an online survey was conducted targeting users of online platforms (shopping malls) nationwide, and SPSS 26 and Amos 24 were utilized for the analysis.
The results of this study are as follows.
First, functional value was confirmed to exert a positive influence on satisfaction, whereas it did not affect trust. Emotional value demonstrated a positive influence on trust but did not impact satisfaction. Economic value was found to positively influence both trust and satisfaction. Trust within relationship quality was observed to have a positive effect on satisfaction.
Second, satisfaction within relationship quality was found to positively influence both re-usage intention and recommendation intention. However, trust did not affect either re-usage intention or recommendation intention.
Third, when satisfaction influences the relationship between re-usage intention and recommendation intention, perceived risk exhibited no moderating effect in a positive direction. However, in the pathways where trust influences re-usage intention and recommendation intention, moderating effects were observed in all cases.
Fourth, in the pathways where functional value influences re-usage intention, indirect effects were present across all paths. Similarly, in the pathways where emotional value influences re-usage intention, indirect effects were evident in all paths. However, in the pathways where economic value influences re-usage intention, an indirect effect was only present through the path via satisfaction. In the pathways where functional value influences recommendation intention, no indirect effects were observed across all paths. In the pathways where emotional value influences recommendation intention, an indirect effect was only present through the path via trust. Finally, in the pathways where economic value influences recommendation intention, no indirect effects were observed across all paths.
The results indicate that functional and economic values strengthen customer loyalty through satisfaction, while emotional and economic values contribute to building trust. Given that perceived risk weakens trust-based customer loyalty, platform operators must enhance transparency and security measures. Theoretically, this extends the value-loyalty model; practically, it recommends prioritizing convenience and cost efficiency.