Trait affect and online shopping cart abandonment: A mediated model
(A2023-112443)

AUTHORS

Cristela Bairrada, University of Coimbra, CeBER, Faculty of Economics; Nuno Fortes, Polytechnic of Coimbra, ESTGOH; Pedro Silva, University of Coimbra, CeBER, Faculty of Economics; Filipe Coelho, University of Coimbra, CeBER, Faculty of Economics

ABSTRACT

The abandonment of products on online shopping carts has become a major concern for firms. Previous studies have looked at certain characteristics of consumers, of the situation, and of the online decision process as antecedents of online shopping cart abandonment (OSCA). However, such studies have failed in looking at stable individual differences as drivers of OSCA. This study contributes to overcome this gap by relating trait affect with OSCA. Moreover, following the hierarchical model for the effects of psychological traits on human behavior, we predict that trait affect should also have an indirect effect on OSCA. To test the research model, we relied on a sample of 311 online purchasers obtained through MTURK (and obtained a second assessment of OSCA four months later to address common method variance concerns). The results conform to most of the predictions, indicating that positive affect relates directly to OSCA and negative affect indirectly.