Cognitive appraisal of incident handling, affects, and post-adoption behaviors: A test of affective events theory

Understanding the psychology of e-consumers provides information on why some Web sites succeed and others fail. One stream of online customer behavior research has focused on systems quality in determining systems success, whereas another stream of research has focused on the effects of online incidents, including online waiting interruptions and service failures, on consumer behaviors. This study attempts to bridge the two streams of research and to explain e-service customer post-adoption behaviors in a unified model from the perspective of the Affective Events Theory (AET). Previous research examining this phenomenon has been guided by the Expectancy Confirmation Theory (ECT). The current study advances these theories to explain customer retention behaviors using the Affective Events Theory. With the AET, the current study proposes that e-service customer behaviors are determined by three major constructs: perceived site quality, affective reactions, and cognitive appraisal of incident-handling. Three surveys were conducted and the findings support the proposed model, positing that e-service customer retention behaviors are determined by perceived site quality and cognitive appraisal of incidents-handling. Post-adoption behaviors investigated in the study include continuance intention, complaint intention (negative word-of-mouth), and recommendation intention (positive word-of-mouth). Practical implications are also suggested.