Earticle

초록

영어

In e-commerce environments where consumers cannot physically examine products before purchasing, returns have become a central topic of post-purchase consumer behavior. To reduce psychological barriers to customer purchasing, many retailers have implemented highly lenient refund programs; however, such policies also lower the threshold for initiating returns. This study examined how the two dimensions of return policy leniency, monetary leniency and time leniency, influence consumers' purchase and return intentions, with anticipated return stress and product uncertainty proposed as mediating mechanisms. To test the proposed hypotheses, this study employed a 2 (monetary leniency: low vs. high) × 2 (time leniency: low vs. high) between-subjects experimental design. Monetary leniency was operationalized as whether the consumer or the retailer bears round-trip shipping costs and time leniency as the duration of the allowable return window (7 vs 30 days). To examine the proposed hypotheses, ANOVA and mediation tests with the PROCESS macro-model were applied. The results of the analyses indicated that monetary leniency significantly increased both purchase and return intentions, whereas time leniency had no significant effect on either outcome. The relationship between monetary leniency and purchase intention was serially mediated by anticipated return stress and product uncertainty. The effect of monetary leniency on return intention was mediated by anticipated return stress. Meanwhile, all corresponding mediation pathways for time leniency were non-significant, suggesting that the range of return window examined in this study does not meaningfully influence anticipated return stress or behavioral intention. The findings of this study provide theoretical insights and practical implications for the design of return policies in e-retailing.

목차

Abstract
Ⅰ. Introduction
Ⅱ. Literature Review
1. Return Policy and its Leniency Levers
2. Anticipated Return Stress
3. Product Uncertainty
4. Purchase and Return Intentions
Ⅲ. Methods
1. Measures
2. Research Design
3. Participants
Ⅳ. Results
1. Manipulation Check
2. Factor Analysis and Reliability Assessment
3. Hypothesis Testing
Ⅴ. Discussion
1. Theoretical Implications
2. Managerial Implications
3. Limitations and Directions for Future Studies
References

키워드

저자

• Sookeun Byun [ Professor, Division of Business Administration, Kwangwoon University ] First Author, Corresponding Author
• Sang-Eun Byun [ Associate Professor of Retailing, University of South Carolina ]

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  서비스마케팅저널 [Services Marketing Journal]

• 간기

  반년간

• pISSN

  2005-3207

• 수록기간

  2008~2026

• 등재여부

  KCI 등재

• 십진분류

  KDC 326 DDC 380