How sunk costs ‘sink’ mobile website purchasing in an online-mobile concurrent channel context
(A2023-114151)

AUTHORS

Jacques Nel, University of the Free State; Christo Boshoff, stellenbosch University

ABSTRACT

Despite the ubiquity benefit of using a retailer’s mobile website on a mobile phone to purchase products (mobile website purchasing), customers continue to prefer to use the retailer’s desktop website on a computer to purchase products (desktop purchasing). A potential explanation for this trend is desktop purchasing sunk costs. With this as background, this study investigates sunk costs as a moderator of desktop website purchasers’ resistance toward mobile website purchasing in a concurrent channel context. Data was collected from 466 customers conducting only desktop purchasing using an online questionnaire. The results showed that sunk costs negatively moderate the positive influence of ubiquity on mobile website purchasing relative advantage perceptions. The indirect negative effects of ubiquity on mobile website purchasing resistance, through relative advantage perceptions and in serial with alternative attractiveness perceptions, decrease as sunk costs increase.