IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/transj/v58y2019i2p101-125.html

Examining the Impact of Shipping Charge Fairness on Consumer Satisfaction and Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Angela L. Jones
  • Stanley E. Griffis
  • Matthew A. Schwieterman
  • Patricia J. Daugherty

Abstract

Firms are increasingly recognizing that consumers' perceptions of price fairness should be considered when making logistics decisions at the firm level. A key element of price fairness is the shipping charges that consumers pay. This is especially critical with respect to online retail shipping charges as they represent a substantial portion of consumers' total cost and are visible to consumers before they place an order. Perceptions of the fairness of these prices are believed to impact online shoppers' selection of a retailer as well as influence subsequent purchase behavior. While large retailers may be able to leverage scale economies in shipping to offer free shipping on many orders, smaller firms may not be able to offer this to consumers. Thus, the general expectations of consumers are an important competitive factor in the environment, especially for the small and medium enterprises that are employers of 70 percent of US workers. This study assesses the impact of shipping charge fairness upon consumer satisfaction, repurchase, and positive word‐of‐mouth outcomes for a focal firm. Additionally, the moderating influences of shipping charge magnitude and consumer experience are examined. Consumer perceptions of fairness are found to influence satisfaction as well as willingness to repurchase and make positive referrals.

Suggested Citation

  • Angela L. Jones & Stanley E. Griffis & Matthew A. Schwieterman & Patricia J. Daugherty, 2019. "Examining the Impact of Shipping Charge Fairness on Consumer Satisfaction and Behavior," Transportation Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(2), pages 101-125, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:transj:v:58:y:2019:i:2:p:101-125
    DOI: 10.5325/transportationj.58.2.0101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.5325/transportationj.58.2.0101
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5325/transportationj.58.2.0101?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James C. Anderson, 1987. "An Approach for Confirmatory Measurement and Structural Equation Modeling of Organizational Properties," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 525-541, April.
    2. Oliver, Richard L & Swan, John E, 1989. "Equity and Disconfirmation Perceptions as Influences on Merchant and Product Satisfaction," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(3), pages 372-383, December.
    3. Juliano Chacon & Keith J. Mason, 2011. "An Analysis of the Relationship between Passenger Loyalty and Consumer Buying Behavior for Network and Low‐Cost Carriers," Transportation Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(3), pages 271-290, July.
    4. Jodie Ferguson & Pam Ellen & William Bearden, 2014. "Procedural and Distributive Fairness: Determinants of Overall Price Fairness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 217-231, May.
    5. Xiaohuan Wang & Zhi-Ping Fan & Zheng Liu, 2016. "Optimal markdown policy of perishable food under the consumer price fairness perception," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(19), pages 5811-5828, October.
    6. Gregor Bischoff & Sven Maertens & Wolfgang Grimme, 2011. "Airline Pricing Strategies Versus Consumer Rights," Transportation Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(3), pages 232-250, July.
    7. Xia, Lan & Kukar-Kinney, Monika & Monroe, Kent B., 2010. "Effects of Consumers’ Efforts on Price and Promotion Fairness Perceptions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-10.
    8. Eden, Lorraine & Levitas, Edward & Martinez, Richard J, 1997. "The Production, Transfer and Spillover of Technology: Comparing Large and Small Multinationals as Technology Producers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 53-66, February.
    9. Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E M & Baumgartner, Hans, 1998. "Assessing Measurement Invariance in Cross-National Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 25(1), pages 78-90, June.
    10. Eugene W. Anderson & Mary W. Sullivan, 1993. "The Antecedents and Consequences of Customer Satisfaction for Firms," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 125-143.
    11. Michael Lewis & Vishal Singh & Scott Fay, 2006. "An Empirical Study of the Impact of Nonlinear Shipping and Handling Fees on Purchase Incidence and Expenditure Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 51-64, 01-02.
    12. Rusetski, Alexander, 2014. "Pricing by intuition: Managerial choices with limited information," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1733-1743.
    13. Oliver, Richard L, 1993. "Cognitive, Affective, and Attribute BAses of the Satisfaction Response," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(3), pages 418-430, December.
    14. Richins, Marsha L & Bloch, Peter H, 1986. "After the New Wears Off: The Temporal Context of Product Involvement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(2), pages 280-285, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John R. Macdonald & Tobin E. Porterfield & Stanley E. Griffis, 2021. "Managing Supply Chain Disruption Recovery: The Role of Organizational Justice," Transportation Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(4), pages 367-405, October.
    2. David Swanson & Yao “Henry” Jin, 2023. "The Noble Quest: Navigating Toward Sustainable Transportation," Transportation Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(3), pages 249-268, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fennell, Patrick B. & Coleman, Joshua T. & Kuo, Andrew, 2020. "The moderating role of donation quantifiers on price fairness judgments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 464-473.
    2. Frank, Björn & Herbas Torrico, Boris & Enkawa, Takao & Schvaneveldt, Shane J., 2014. "Affect versus Cognition in the Chain from Perceived Quality to Customer Loyalty: The Roles of Product Beliefs and Experience," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(4), pages 567-586.
    3. Hassan Jamil & Waheed Akhter, 2016. "Investigating the impact of Shari’ah perception on customer switching intentions: A study of Takāful and conventional insurance," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1261525-126, December.
    4. Bhardwaj, Pradeep & Chatterjee, Prabirendra & Demir, Kivilcim Dogerlioglu & Turut, Ozge, 2018. "When and how is corporate social responsibility profitable?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 206-219.
    5. Wasib B Latif & Md. Aminul Islam & Idris Bin Mohd Noor, 2014. "A Conceptual Framework to Build Brand Loyalty in the Modern Marketing Environment," Journal of Asian Scientific Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(10), pages 547-557, October.
    6. Yeung, Matthew C.H. & Ramasamy, Bala & Chen, Junsong & Paliwoda, Stan, 2013. "Customer satisfaction and consumer expenditure in selected European countries," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 406-416.
    7. Gaurav Khatwani & Gopal Das, 2016. "Evaluating combination of individual pre-purchase internet information channels using hybrid fuzzy MCDM technique: demographics as moderators," International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 28-49.
    8. Huang, Wen-Hsien & Shen, George C. & Liang, Che-Ling, 2019. "The effect of threshold free shipping policies on online shoppers' willingness to pay for shipping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 105-112.
    9. G. Tomas M. Hult & Forrest V. Morgeson III & Udit Sharma & Claes Fornell, 2022. "Customer satisfaction and international business: A multidisciplinary review and avenues for research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(8), pages 1695-1733, October.
    10. Babin, Barry J. & Griffin, Mitch, 1998. "The nature of satisfaction: An updated examination and analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 127-136, February.
    11. Houston, Lawrence & Grandey, Alicia A. & Sawyer, Katina, 2018. "Who cares if “service with a smile” is authentic? An expectancy-based model of customer race and differential service reactions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 85-96.
    12. Oznur Ozkan Tektas & Canan Eryigit & Ozge Tayfur Ekmekci, 2017. "Does Thinking Style Affect the Impacts of Satisfaction and Reputation on Repurchase Intention? A Cross-National Comparison," Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 2(6), pages 4-24.
    13. Gelbrich, Katja, 2011. "I Have Paid Less Than You! The Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of Advantaged Price Inequality," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 207-224.
    14. Gao, Tao (Tony) & Rohm, Andrew J. & Sultan, Fareena & Pagani, Margherita, 2013. "Consumers un-tethered: A three-market empirical study of consumers' mobile marketing acceptance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(12), pages 2536-2544.
    15. Ajay Kalra & Mengze Shi & Kannan Srinivasan, 2003. "Salesforce Compensation Scheme and Consumer Inferences," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(5), pages 655-672, May.
    16. Mazaheri, Ebrahim & Richard, Marie-Odile & Laroche, Michel, 2011. "Online consumer behavior: Comparing Canadian and Chinese website visitors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 958-965, September.
    17. Sultan, Fareena & Rohm, Andrew J. & Gao, Tao (Tony), 2009. "Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance of Mobile Marketing: A Two-Country Study of Youth Markets," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 308-320.
    18. Campo-Martínez, Sara & Garau-Vadell, Joan B. & Martínez-Ruiz, María Pilar, 2010. "Factors influencing repeat visits to a destination: The influence of group composition," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 862-870.
    19. Julia Troll & Ivo Blohm & Jan Marco Leimeister, 2019. "Why Incorporating a Platform-Intermediary can Increase Crowdsourcees’ Engagement," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(4), pages 433-450, August.
    20. Han, Heesup & Hyun, Sunghyup Sean, 2015. "Customer retention in the medical tourism industry: Impact of quality, satisfaction, trust, and price reasonableness," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 20-29.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:transj:v:58:y:2019:i:2:p:101-125. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.