The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0959-0552.htm
IJRDM
35,11
878
Received September 2006
Revised February 2007
Accepted March 2007
International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management
Vol. 35 No. 11, 2007
pp. 878-894
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0959-0552
DOI 10.1108/09590550710828218
Conceptualising consumer
behaviour in online shopping
environments
Catherine Demangeot and Amanda J. Broderick
Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This study seeks to adopt a holistic approach to consider how consumers perceive online
shopping environments. The conceptual model proposes that consumers perceive these environments
in terms of their sense-making and exploratory potential, and it considers the influence of these on user
involvement with the web site, shopping value and intention to revisit.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey was administered to 301 respondents after they had
shopped on a specific web site for eight minutes. Structural equation modelling was used to validate
the measures developed and test the hypothesised model.
Findings – Sense-making and exploratory potential are distinct constructs; exploratory potential
mediates the relationship between sense-making potential and involvement. Furthermore,
involvement is essential in producing shopping value and intention to revisit.
Research limitations/implications – The study highlights the importance of the exploratory
potential of web sites since sense-making is necessary but not sufficient to involve customers with the
content of a site. It reveals that, in spite of sensory limitations and consumers’ possibly more
instrumental orientation in online contexts, they are still very sensitive to the shopping experience for
its own sake.
Practical implications – The two concepts of sense-making and exploratory potential and their ten
dimensions provide marketers with their own consumer-focused language when discussing the aims
of their web site with information systems and design specialists.
Originality/value – This study suggests that the distinction between sense-making and exploratory
potential is a pertinent and parsimonious organising framework to understand holistically how online
shopping environments are perceived and impact on consumers when they shop online.
Keywords Internet shopping, Retailing, Consumer behaviour
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Growing numbers of consumers shop online, to purchase goods and services, gather
product information or even browse for enjoyment. Online shopping environments are
therefore playing an increasing role in the overall relationship between marketers and
their consumers. They are often the only source of cues which shoppers have, to form
impressions and make decisions about their future relationship with a retailer. The
impact of these online shopping environments on consumer response is critical to
understand for marketing planning.
Much is known about how shopping and service environments influence consumer
behaviour offline (Bitner, 1992; Turley and Milliman, 2000). However, online
environments are too different in nature (virtual vs real), size (small, flat vs large, 3608)
and sensory representation (two instead of four senses) from offline environments to Conceptualising
assume that offline concepts and theories are all relevant and sufficient. consumer
There is a growing body of literature on how people interact with and react to
computer interfaces (Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Li et al., 2002; Palmer and Griffith, behaviour
1998), but relatively few studies have specifically considered online shopping
environments and the kind of consumer responses they produce. These environments
are specific types of interfaces, which users visit for the specific purpose of shopping. 879
Shopping is a consumption activity approached with a specific set of possible
motivations (Tauber, 1972) which often go beyond the pure acquisition of products,
and may include information acquisition and the search for escapism, fantasy or fun
(Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982). When at their computers to visit retail web sites,
shoppers are consumers as well as computer users. Furthermore, even though they are
no more than a series of pixels on a computer screen, retail web sites may be perceived,
through telepresence, or “the experience of presence in an environment by means of a
communication medium” (Steuer, 1992, p. 76), like their offline counterparts, as
environments. This point is important because other types of online interfaces such as,
for instance, the online edition of a newspaper, may not be perceived as environments
at all, but rather as successions of pages, like their offline counterparts. Therefore,
although constructs from the information systems (Davis et al., 1989) and the
human-computer interaction (Draper et al., 1998; Huang, 2003) literatures capturing the
essence of the electronic interface may be useful starting points, the focus of consumer
research needs to remain on consumer perceptions of shopping environments, as
opposed to user perceptions or technical properties of a generic interface. For these
reasons, we use the term online shopping environments to describe the specific type of
interface which consumers interact with when they are navigating a retail web site.
A number of studies of online shopping environments have focused at the level of
the individual cue or attribute that influences behaviour (Dailey, 2004; Fortin and
Dholakia, 2005; Koufaris, 2002), but there have been few attempts at considering the
differential impact of holistic attributes of the environment on consumer response. Yet,
in view of the highly visual content of the interface (due to the usual presence of images
but also to the varying overall spatial organisation of content on the screen), it is likely
that a degree of right-brain, holistic processing is involved (Meyers-Levy, 1989), and
therefore it is important to try and understand how consumers categorise what they
see. The adoption of this macro approach to conceptualising online shopping
environments was motivated by three considerations. Firstly, for marketers to be able
to deploy and combine individual cues, they need to rely on an overall, parsimonious
framework. Secondly, the role of specific cues may be more difficult to isolate online
than offline, because there are no concrete, distinct objects appealing online – products
and environmental elements are all, in essence, but a series of pixels on a screen. For
instance, offline products are clearly different from point of sale posters or displays.
Online, products and point of sale material are often both “images” on a screen,
sometimes even blended together. Thirdly, just as several cues such as signposts,
paths and orderly arrangements can be used to convey the feeling that an urban
landscape is easy to understand, several online cues such as navigation bars, tabs,
forward/back navigation cues and content organisation and display can be used to
ease understanding of the environment, and it is the overall combination of these which
marketers must control to produce the desired effects.
IJRDM The aim of this paper therefore is to assess the relevance of a macro, environmental
35,11 psychology approach, to consider how consumers perceive and react to online
shopping environments.

Theoretical background
In our review of conceptual endeavours at categorising online shopping environments,
880 we identified three approaches, the first of which consists of mainly scale development
initiatives (Loiacono et al., 2002; Yoo and Donthu, 2001). The focus of this approach
was the identification of cues rather than the possible impact of these on consumer
responses. The second approach (Eroglu et al., 2003; Richard, 2005), based on
Mehrabian and Russell’s stimulus – organism – response model, evaluates the
applicability of the elaboration likelihood model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986) to online
shopping environments. The ELM posits that alternative central and peripheral routes
are used by consumers to process advertising, depending on their level of involvement.
According to Richard’s (2005) findings, involved consumers (information seekers) are
also sensitive to low task-relevant cues and low-involvement consumers (browsers)
display exploratory behaviour, implying a high level of cognitive elaboration. Eroglu
et al. (2003) found that Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) three dimensions of emotional
responses (i.e. pleasure, arousal and dominance) did not manage to capture the range of
organismic reactions to shopping environments in an online context. These results
seem to suggest that while affect appears to play a role, online shopping environments
are perceived in a more cognitive manner than offline environments. This could be the
case because of the higher cognitive effort necessary for a computer-mediated activity
which is less intuitive than the activity of offline shopping. In a third approach, Rosen
and Purinton (2004) adopted a cognitive perspective to environmental psychology,
and conceptualised online shopping environments as “cognitive landscapes”. Their
application of Kaplan and Kaplan’s (1982) preference framework, which distinguishes
between sense-making and exploratory attributes, and between the immediate and
future prospects these attributes suggest, yielded promising results. One of the four
expected dimension though, corresponding to the “future” or “three-dimensional”
expectation of exploration, did not materialise. It may indeed be difficult to conceive of
the distinction between two- and three-dimensional assessments online, since the
environment there is constantly two-dimensional, consumers being able to view only
one page at a time. Singh et al. (2005) also used Kaplan and Kaplan’s (1982) preference
framework, and found that liking for a home page and behavioral intention could be
explained by two higher-order constructs: the understanding of information and web
page involvement. The study was based solely on home pages though, and therefore it
did not encompass the full experience of shopping through a succession of web site
pages.
Two main conclusions arise from this review of the literature. Firstly, the literature
suggests that a cognitive approach to how consumers perceive online shopping
environment is justified and warranted by past results. This might be especially
appropriate since more than real environments (natural or urban), online shopping
environments are accessed with specific information gathering motivations. Shopping
supposes a quest for product information and the desire to consider products. Indeed,
all shoppers are seekers of information, whether they are engaged in a pre-purchase
information gathering process, or merely browsing and satisfying their interest in a
particular product category (Bloch et al., 1989). Secondly, the distinction between Conceptualising
sense-making and exploratory potential seems very apt for online shopping contexts. consumer
By nature, online shopping environments have a vast potential for exploration: they
can be interactive, vivid and host a large amount of information in both verbal and behaviour
sensory form. At any one point in time, they can only display one page, but can carry in
the form of hyperlinks, clickable images or search engines, the promise of thousands
more pages to explore. Yet, like any environment, and perhaps even more so since they 881
are computer-mediated and therefore less intuitive than real environments, they also
need to be made sense of. We define sense-making potential as the perceived ability of
a retail web site to facilitate the consumer’s orientation, navigation and task
accomplishment, and exploratory potential as the perceived ability of the site to
provide scope for further exploration over and beyond what is visible to consumers on
the page they are viewing.

Conceptual framework
Attributes of online shopping environments
Environmental psychologists Kaplan and Kaplan (1982) contend that man’s two essential
needs in an environment are the need to make sense and the need to explore. These two
needs exist concurrently, and can be satisfied by information conveyed by cues present in
the environment. This dichotomous categorisation resembles the distinction between
cognitive and experiential routes to gaining information (Bettman, 1979; Holbrook and
Hirschman, 1982) and also shares traits with other recent conceptualisations of electronic
interfaces. Indeed, ease of use and usefulness, the two main constructs of the technology
acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) which explains intention to use a technology in
organisational settings, ease of use and usefulness, are conceptually close to sense-making
and exploratory potential, respectively, even though they do not tap the more playful,
exploratory and emotion-eliciting aspects of shopping.
In this research, we posit that online shopping environments can be conceptualised
as entities, which are used by consumers to make sense of or further explore the site’s
content and products. For example, such cues as navigation buttons, the overall clarity
or clutter of screens, product information, transactions and shipping information
enable consumers to make sense of the environment, its products and the transactions
they are engaged in. On the other hand, cues such as the visual attractiveness of the
pages, icons and layouts which convey the feeling of shopping, hyperlinks to
additional product information, or user reviews, encourage consumers to further
explore the environment.
Further, it appears logical that exploration cannot be envisaged before some sense is
made of the environment. This seems especially pertinent in the online shopping
context, since the activity is still quite novel and far less intuitive than traditional
shopping. There are still few conventions and commonly-known standards, and the
constantly evolving technology causes the appearance of cues and what they can do,
to change often. We therefore expect that the sense-making potential of the
environment can facilitate or hinder perceptions of its exploratory potential, in the
same manner that several studies using the TAM have found perceived ease of use to
be an antecedent of perceived usefulness (Henderson and Divertt, 2003; Karahanna and
Straub, 1999). A consumer who feels ill at ease on the site will be less inclined to grasp
the variety of explorations possible from each page. Thus:
IJRDM H1. The more the perception of the sense-making potential of a retail web site
35,11 increases, the more consumers are able to perceive its exploratory potential.

Involvement
Involvement has received renewed attention in online contexts, because of the
immersive and interactive qualities of online interactions (Childers et al., 2001; Hoffman
882 and Novak, 1996; Richard, 2005). Yet little is known about the antecedents of
involvement (Fournier, 1998) in spite of its critical role in leading to commitment
(Beatty et al., 1988). We adopt Mitchell’s (1979) definition of involvement as “an
internal state variable that indicates the amount of arousal, interest or drive evoked by
a particular stimulus or situation” and consider it to be the state resulting from the
interaction between the user and the content of the site. Vivid and interactive interfaces
facilitate user involvement with content (Richard, 2005). As consumers perceive that a
web site is worth exploring, their interest and arousal are likely to increase. Thus:
H2. Consumers’ involvement with the content of a retail web site increases as their
perception of the site’s exploratory potential increases.

Shopping value
People may shop to satisfy a variety of needs, some of which are independent of the
acquisition of products (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Tauber, 1972). Shopping value
needs to encompass an appreciation of the whole shopping experience rather than just
the success of the shopping trip in terms of product acquisition. The outcome of a
shopping trip or navigation therefore may result in both utilitarian and hedonic
shopping value (Babin et al., 1994). Utilitarian value is defined as the value derived
from accomplishing one’s shopping goals, and hedonic value is defined as the value
derived from the enjoyment of shopping for its own sake. When consumers perceive
the web site to be easy to make sense of the web site, they are likely to find products
more easily, and therefore the navigation will likely be more productive. Thus:
H3. The sense-making potential of a retail web site provides the consumer with
utilitarian value.
The involvement resulting from the exploration of a web site’s content can provide
further product knowledge for its own sake, and be perceived as an intrinsically
enjoyable experience. The mere presence of involvement suggests that the experience
is hedonically rewarding (Bloch and Richins, 1983). Consumers may be able to enjoy a
lively interaction with the product without proceeding with a purchase, and this in
itself can produce hedonic value (MacInnis and Price, 1987). Thus:
H4. Involvement with the content of the retail web site is positively related to the
production of hedonic value.
Involvement is also known to increase information processing abilities and search for
more information (Beatty and Smith, 1987). Involved consumers pay more attention
(Celsi and Olson, 1988), which facilitates instrumental tasks (Hoffman and Novak,
1996). Further, exploration of the site and interest in looking at more products and
more information can lead the consumer to find more suitable products, thus making
the shopping trip more successful in utilitarian terms (Kroeber-Riel, 1979). We
therefore also hypothesise that:
 H5. Involvement with the content of the retail web site results in the production of Conceptualising
utilitarian value. consumer
Approach behaviours behaviour
The theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) suggests that behavioural intentions
can be reasonable predictors of behaviour. Intention to revisit a site is a particularly
important outcome for online marketers since cyberspace is far less signposted than 883
main streets and shopping malls, and the chances that online shoppers will return to a
web site impulsively are fewer than the chances that street shoppers will return to a
shop on a high street or in a mall which they visit regularly. Consequently, in the
absence of an intention to revisit, impulse revisits are likely to be limited, thus
eliminating the possibility for the marketer of obtaining more purchases from
a particular shopper. Because shopping value, whether hedonic or utilitarian, is a
positive outcome and increases shopper satisfaction (Babin et al., 1994), it is likely to
produce approach behaviours. Therefore, we surmise that:
H6. Shoppers who have obtained high levels of hedonic value from a retail web
site are more inclined to revisit that site.
H7. Shoppers who have obtained high levels of utilitarian value from a retail web
site are more inclined to revisit that site.

Methodology
Sample and procedure
To test the conceptual model, represented in Figure 1, data were collected from a
sample of 301 respondents recruited on a voluntary basis among the students and staff
of a British university. Respondents were asked, in a computer lab, at their workstation
or their home, to shop at an online bookstore (www2.uk.bol.com) for eight minutes
(they were instructed not to leave the site during that period), then answer a
questionnaire about that particular navigation experience. A few prizes, including two
iPod shuffles, were offered in a raffle as incentives to participate. We deliberately chose
a relatively unknown site (and only 7.3 per cent of the sample reported having visited it
once or occasionally; no-one was a regular user) to capture instant, “fresh” perceptions
untainted by any halo or memory effect. During the two-month data collection period,

Exploratory Hedonic
potential value

Involvement
Intention to
revisit the site

Sense-making Utilitarian Figure 1.

potential value Conceptual model
IJRDM the site did not undergo any design or functionality change, even though the particular
35,11 products highlighted on the home page changed regularly. We can therefore argue that
the stimulus was constant overall across all respondents, even though by choosing
specific hyperlinks and doing their own searches, respondents accessed different
content.
Several research design choices were made to maximise the “naturalness” of the
884 shopping exercise. First, the site was chosen in a product category which students and
university staff typically purchase; second, the setting for the navigation (computer
lab, desk or home) was in many cases the very setting used by the respondents when
they shop online; and thirdly, the instructions themselves asked the respondents to
shop “as [they] would normally shop online if [they] were at home, in an internet café or
at [their] desk”. Respondents were given “searching for a book [they had] in mind to
purchase” and “browsing” as examples of activities they might wish to pursue during
the navigation. These instructions clearly aimed to induce the sense of shopping, rather
than just aimless browsing.

Measures
Measures to tap sense-making and exploratory potential were developed and
validated, using items from a number of existing scales (Loiacono et al., 2002;
Mathwick et al., 2002; Park and Kim, 2003; Venkatesh and Davis, 1996) and developing
others from the literature and an extensive stage of qualitative exploration involving
the think-alouds (Ericsson and Simon, 1993) and depth interviews of 19 participants.
Based on the extant literature, and integrating the two identities of the online shopper
as both a consumer and a computer user, both constructs were operationalised as
second-order constructs. Sense-making potential was operationalised as reflecting four
dimensions, as follows:
(1) intuitiveness, defined as the ability of the web site to behave in the manner
anticipated by the user, by providing tools, cues which are easy to understand,
and by matching prevalent web conventions;
(2) screen clarity, defined as the perceived amount of material (visual or textual)
meeting the eyes of the consumer on a web page;
(3) content relevance, defined as the degree to which the content has practical value
for the consumer and fits within the context of the page or section on which it is
displayed; and
(4) links relevance, defined as the ability of the links to lead to the pages and
information the customer expects.

Exploratory potential was operationalised as reflecting six dimensions, as follows:

(1) visual impact, defined as the degree to which the site’s design grabs attention, is
attractive, and conveys a clear, unique image of the retail web site;
(2) context familiarity, defined as the ability of the site to produce an online
navigation similar in experience to that of the offline shopping activity;
(3) site-user understanding, defined as the degree to which the site “responds”
effectively to the consumers’ requests and provides the user with progressively
more relevant content;
 (4) marketer informativeness, defined as the extensiveness of marketer information Conceptualising
available on the site; consumer
(5) non-marketer informativeness, defined as the extensiveness of product behaviour
information originating from non-marketer sources; and
(6) suggestions offering, defined as the degree to which the site gives suggestions,
ideas and options to enable further examination of a specific product or to
trigger the inspection of further products.
885
Some dimensions such as visual impact or intuitiveness have already been considered
in the literature (Barnes and Vidgen, 2002; Loiacono et al., 2002; Wolfinbarger and
Gilly, 2003), while others more specifically tap the particular setting and motivations of
shopping, which supposes a quest for information and the desire to consider products.
This setting is reflected in dimensions such as marketer informativeness, suggestions
offering and non-marketer informativeness. Further, as discussed earlier, retail web
sites are perceived as environments, shopping environments, “in” which consumers
navigate through departments, dropping items they want to buy in a shopping cart,
before proceeding to the checkout (or abandoning the cart as they leave the shop). The
dimension of “context familiarity” taps this induced sense of similarity with offline
shopping environments. To measure involvement, we used Mishra et al.’s (1993)
four-item involvement with the choice task scale. To measure hedonic and utilitarian
value, we used Babin et al.’s (1994) scales of 11 and 4 items, respectively. The
involvement and the hedonic value scales (which had not been administered together
before) were reduced by 1 and 2 items, respectively, because their full forms lacked
discriminant validity. They nevertheless retained strong reliability with Cronbach’s a
of 0.832 and 0.877, respectively. To measure intention to revisit the site, we combined
items from existing scales (Agarwal and Karahanna, 2000; Coyle and Thorson, 2001)
with items developed from our qualitative exploration stage. As recommended
by Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998) to reduce the possibility of response bias,
items were ordered randomly and all scales contained both positively- and
negatively-worded items.
The measures were developed an validated following the procedures set out by
Churchill (1979) and Gerbing and Anderson (1988). Scale development (involving
exploratory factor analysis and analysis of item-total correlations and Cronbach’s a)
was carried out on half of the sample (n ¼ 150), and the other half (n ¼ 151) was used
to validate the scales, using confirmatory factor analysis via LISREL 8.2 (Joreskog and
Sorbom, 1993).
A confirmatory factor analysis model containing 56 items loading on 14 factors (the
ten dimensions of sense-making potential and exploratory potential, and involvement,
utilitarian value, hedonic value and intention to revisit the site), yielded good overall
goodness-of-fit indices: x 2 ¼ 2,247.75 (df ¼ 1,393) ; p ¼ 0.000; RMSEA ¼ 0.045;
CFI ¼ 0.98; n ¼ 301. All scales and subscales have a composite reliability index
superior to 0.6, which is generally considered as the lower acceptability limit (Bagozzi
and Yi, 1988). All loadings of the measure instruments are significant (all t-values are
greater than six) and exceed the 0.4 level.
The Appendix details the items retained to tap each measure, together with the
scales’ psychometric properties. Discriminant validities between all measures of the
model were assessed and supported by building a confidence interval of two standard
IJRDM errors on either side of the correlation coefficients – none of these included one. All
35,11 measures therefore displayed strong psychometric properties.

Results
Sense-making potential and exploratory potential – psychometric properties
To assess the reliability and validity of the two main constructs of interest, we
886 specified a second-order factor model where the ten dimensions were set to load on
either sense-making or exploratory potential. The results, obtained on the full sample
of 301 respondents, are shown in Table I. The fit indices (x 2 ¼ 930.45(df ¼ 549);
p ¼ 0.000; RMSEA ¼ 0.048; CFI ¼ 0.97; n ¼ 301) suggest that the model fits the data
well. The t-values of each of the g estimates indicate all loadings are highly significant.
The g estimates, ranging from 0.41 to 0.89, reveal strong relationships between the ten
dimensions and their corresponding higher-order factor.
To assess discriminant validity between sense-making and exploratory potential,
we tested a model where the correlation coefficient between the two factors was set to
one. The x 2 difference (28.02, Ddf ¼ 1) is highly significant, therefore discriminant
validity between the two constructs is established.

Hypothesis testing
To assess H1-H7, we specified a structural equation model. However, a suitable fit
between a hypothesised model and data does not suggest that it is the only model
which can fit the data (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988), and it is good practice to test rival
models to increase confidence in the existence of the relationships hypothesised. We
therefore developed another conceptually plausible model and tested it alongside the
hypothesised model. Since, sense-making and exploration are concurrent activities
(and for example, exploration into a new area of a web site may require some additional
sense-making), it could be argued that there is no antecedent-consequence relationship
between sense-making and exploratory potential. In the rival model, therefore,

Second-order factors
(italics)/first-order factors Compl. standard. g estimates between first- and
(plain) second-order factor

Exploratory potential
Visual impact 0.67a
Context familiarity 0.68 (t ¼ 7.61)
Site-user understanding 0.88 (t ¼ 8.85)
Marketer informativeness 0.89 (t ¼ 8.74)
Non-marketer informativeness 0.72 (t ¼ 7.34)
Suggestions offering 0.41 (t ¼ 5.46)
Sense making potential
Intuitiveness 0.88 (t ¼ 5.29)
Screen clarity 0.75a
Table I. Content relevance 0.78 (t ¼ 7.33)
Estimation of Links relevance 0.86 (t ¼ 7.21)
second-order factor model
(N ¼ 301) Note: aThe metric for each scale was established by fixing one of the construct indicators to 1.00
we removed the path between sense-making and exploratory potential. Instead the two Conceptualising
constructs could correlate freely. Also, perceived sense-making potential may render consumer
an online shopping environment more approachable, and therefore may in the
consumer’s mind hold the promise that it will reward investments in time and behaviour
processing resources. Therefore, it may induce involvement. A path was therefore
added between sense-making potential and involvement, instead of the direct path
between sense-making and utilitarian value. The results of the hypothesised model are 887
shown in Figure 2. The fit indices (x 2 ¼ 2,594.36(df ¼ 1,467); p ¼ 0.00; RMSEA ¼ 0.051;
CFI ¼ 0.98; n ¼ 301) reveal a good fit. These were compared with the fit indices of the
rival model (x 2 ¼ 2,655.17(df ¼ 1,468), so Dx 2 ¼ 60.81 for Ddf ¼ 1), reveal a lesser fit.
Furthermore, the path between sense-making potential and involvement is not
significant (t ¼ 2 0.91). We concluded therefore that the model hypothesised initially is
a better model, and now present further results of this one model.
All estimated paths are significant at the 0.01 level. As anticipated in H1,
sense-making potential strongly affects exploratory potential (0.91). H2 suggested that
perceived exploratory potential is a predictor of involvement, and it was supported
(0.85). As per H3, sense-making potential predicts utilitarian value (0.57). We had
hypothesised that involvement would produce both hedonic (H4) and utilitarian (H5)
value. These two hypotheses are supported (0.90 and 0.34, respectively). Finally, it was
expected that intention to revisit the site was predicted by both hedonic (H6) and
utilitarian (H7) value. These two hypotheses are again supported (0.48 and 0.41,
respectively). Therefore, the overall fit indices and the strength of the structural
relationships provide good empirical support to our conceptual model.

Conclusions
According to the empirical results of this study, the sense-making and the exploratory
potentials of online shopping environments affect consumer responses in different ways.
While sense-making potential produces utilitarian value, it does not produce involvement
directly. Rather, its impact on involvement is mediated by exploratory potential.

Exploratory Hedonic
potential value

H2 H4 H6
0.85 0.90
(t=13.53) 0.48 (t=7.11)
(t=10.18)
Involvement
H1 Intention to
0.91 (t=7.63) revisit the site
0.34 H5
(t=3.73) H7
0.41 (t=6.01)
Sense-making H3 Utilitarian
potential 0.57 (t=5.27) value Figure 2.
Lisrel coefficients of
hypothesised model
n = 301, c2 = 2,594.36 (df = 1467), p = 0.000, RMSEA = 0.051, CFI = 0.98
IJRDM Involvement produces not only hedonic value, but also, to a lesser extent, utilitarian value,
35,11 and in turn they both increase the intention to revisit the site.
There are several theoretical implications to these findings. Firstly, they suggest
that the distinction between the sense-making and the exploratory potential of online
shopping environments is a pertinent organising framework to understand how online
shopping environments are perceived and processed by consumers when they shop
888 online. While web sites are conceived and designed by marketers and designers out of
a multitude of cues, their ultimate success depends on marketers’ and designers’
understanding of how holistically, the cues which contribute to create the virtual
environment are perceived, processed and used by consumers. Secondly, we found that
exploratory potential plays a central role in mediating the relationship between
sense-making potential and involvement. Thus, sense-making potential is necessary
but not sufficient to involve consumers with the content of a site. This is consistent
with Kaplan and Kaplan’s (1982) argument that people are not satisfied with just
making sense of an environment. They quickly become bored and seek exploration as a
way to expand the boundaries of their world. The same appears to apply to online
shopping contexts.
Thirdly, involvement produces both hedonic and utilitarian value. This is an
important finding since in the traditional advertising literature involvement has
mostly been studied as a left-brain activity, and the primary concern was its impact on
further cognitive activities (Beatty and Smith, 1987; Chaiken, 1980). Here, however, the
results suggest, in line with flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi, 1988;
Hoffman and Novak, 1996) and the experiential literature (Babin et al., 1994; Bloch et al.,
1989), that the immersive state of involvement is also enjoyed for its intrinsic benefits.
In spite of the sensory limitations of online interfaces, and of the suggestion that
consumers may have more instrumental motivations when they shop online (Burke,
2002), they are very sensitive to the experience for its own sake. Fourthly, involvement
was also found to mediate a relationship between exploratory potential and utilitarian
value. This is interesting because it suggests that it is helpful for more utilitarian
shoppers to be able to perceive opportunities for involvement through the further
exploration of the site, since it may enable them to conclude their product acquisition
more successfully. We surmise that the ability to obtain more information on products
(visually or verbally), from more sources (past users, opinion formers, etc.), can
improve consumer confidence in making the right product acquisition decisions.
Finally, hedonic value and utilitarian value contribute to intention to revisit the site in
similar proportions. Even though caution must be exercised until these results are
further validated, we believe this is an important finding because although the
utilitarian benefits of online shopping are well known (e.g. opportunity to shop at all
hours from the comfort of one’s home or office, absence of crowding, access to more
information, access to a wider product range), and the limitations of virtual experiences
compared to direct ones have been considered (Grewal et al., 2004), online shoppers
nevertheless appear to place a high value on hedonic factors when deciding whether
they will revisit a retail web site. This further emphasises the central importance of the
exploratory potential of online shopping environments, in view of their high impact on
hedonic value, through the mediation of involvement.
These results provide marketers and managers with a framework to consider the
effectiveness of their current web site, or to conceive of new ways of enhancing
consumers’ online shopping experiences. It also provides them, in the two constructs of Conceptualising
sense-making potential and exploratory potential and their ten dimensions, with their consumer
own language, based on consumer perceptions, when discussing the aims of their web
site with information systems and interface design specialists. It is important that behaviour
technology and design be harnessed to meet the specific needs of consumers (and in the
process marketers) rather than be deployed to potentially irrelevant and costly IT or
design ends. Another managerial implication of this study is that it identifies 889
exploratory potential as an antecedent to involvement. This finding means that
marketers can use exploratory potential and the six dimensions we identified as
concrete “handles” to enhance consumer involvement with the site.
The study is subject to three main limitations, which highlight the need for further
research. Firstly, the use of a convenience sample limits its generalisability. Students
and university staff are probably more computer literate and more avid online
shoppers than the average consumer. In this respect, they may in fact be more
representative of tomorrow’s consumers, whom marketers need to consider when
designing future versions of their web sites. Secondly, due to their age and lighter time
pressures, students may also have more exploratory behaviour tendencies, and this
may have increased the observed levels of involvement and hedonic value. An
important research avenue would involve considering the possible moderating effect of
exploratory behaviour tendencies. Baumgartner and Steenkamp (1996) have found that
both exploratory information seeking tendencies and exploratory acquisition of
product tendencies affect actual exploratory consumer behaviours. It would be
appropriate to see whether these two constructs might moderate the relationship
between perceived sense-making and exploratory potential (consumers with high
levels of exploratory behaviour tendencies may seek and therefore be able to identify
exploratory cues more proficiently than others), or between perceived exploratory
potential and involvement. Thirdly, although the findings indicate that perceived
exploratory potential increases user involvement with the site’s content, the research
design only enabled us to obtain a snapshot measure of involvement, at the end of eight
minutes of navigation. Future research should aim to capture the level of involvement
throughout the course of the navigation. This may be possible with methods similar to
the experience sampling method used to measure flow (Csikszentmihalyi and
Csikszentmihalyi, 1988) or with eye-tracking methods measuring physiological
reactions to screen content, which are indicative of attention (Christianson et al., 1991),
which in itself may serve as an indicator of involvement levels.
Further research on the exploratory potential of online shopping environments holds
a great deal of promise, since we can only assume that the constantly evolving
technology will provide ever more opportunities and novel ways for marketers to
increase the potential for exploration on their web site. In fact, as internet speeds
increase and internet use becomes more widespread and more second-nature to
consumers (as the young “generation internet” comes of age and becomes the
consuming majority), the relative importance of sense-making and exploratory
potential is likely to irrevocably and permanently tilt towards exploratory attributes.
From this vantage point, this study, by showing how the exploratory potential of online
shopping environments increases behavioural intentions by producing both hedonic
and utilitarian value as a consequence of shopper involvement with site content,
contributes an important insight into online consumer behaviour.
IJRDM References
35,11 Agarwal, R. and Karahanna, E. (2000), “Time flies when you’re having fun: cognitive absorption
and beliefs about information technology usage”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 665-94.
Ajzen, I. (1991), “The theory of planned behavior”, Organ, Behavior and Human Decision
Processes, Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 179-211.
Anderson, J.C. and Gerbing, D.W. (1988), “Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and
890 recommended two-step approach”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 103, pp. 411-23.
Babin, B.J., Darden, W.R. and Griffin, M. (1994), “Work and or fun – measuring hedonic and
utilitarian shopping value”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 644-56.
Bagozzi, R.P. and Yi, Y.J. (1988), “On the evaluation of structural equation models”, Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 74-94.
Barnes, S.J. and Vidgen, R.T. (2002), “Webqual: an exploration of website quality”, paper
presented at the Eighth European Conference on Information Systems, Vienna, Austria.
Baumgartner, H. and Steenkamp, J-B. (1996), “Exploratory consumer buying behavior:
conceptualization and measurement”, International Journal of Research in Marketing,
Vol. 13, pp. 121-37.
Beatty, S.E. and Smith, S.M. (1987), “External search effort: an investigation across several
product categories”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14, pp. 83-95.
Beatty, S.E., Kahle, L.R. and Homer, P. (1988), “The involvement-commitment model: theory and
implications”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 149-67.
Bettman, J.R. (1979), An Information Processing Theory of Consumer Choice, Addison-Wesley,
Reading, MA.
Bitner, M.J. (1992), “Servicescapes – the impact of physical surroundings on customers and
employees”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56 No. 2, pp. 57-71.
Bloch, P. and Richins, M. (1983), “A theoretical model for the study of product importance
perceptions”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47, pp. 69-81.
Bloch, P.H., Ridgway, N.M. and Sherrell, D.L. (1989), “Extending the concept of shopping:
an investigation of browsing activity”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 13-21.
Burke, R.R. (2002), “Technology and the customer interface: what consumers want in the
physical and virtual store”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 30 No. 4,
p. 411.
Celsi, R.L. and Olson, J.C. (1988), “The role of involvement in attention and comprehension
process”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 15 No. 2, p. 210.
Chaiken, S. (1980), “Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source
versus message cues in persuasion”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 39,
pp. 752-6.
Childers, T.L., Carr, C.L., Peck, J. and Carson, S. (2001), “Hedonic and utilitarian motivations for
online retail shopping behavior”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 77 No. 4, pp. 511-35.
Christianson, S-A., Loftus, E.F., Hoffman, H. and Loftus, G.R. (1991), “Eye fixations and memory
for emotional events”, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, Vol. 17, pp. 693-701.
Churchill, G.A. Jr (1979), “A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs”,
Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 64-73.
Coyle, J.R. and Thorson, E. (2001), “The effects of progressive levels of interactivity and
vividness in web marketing sites”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 65-77.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Csikszentmihalyi, I.S. (1988), Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies Conceptualising
of Flow in Consciousness, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.
consumer
Dailey, L. (2004), “Navigational web atmospherics: explaining the influence of restrictive
navigation cues”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 57, pp. 795-803. behaviour
Davis, F.D. Jr (1989), “Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of
information technology”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 319-40.
Davis, F.D., Bagozzi, R.P. and Warshaw, P.R. (1989), “User acceptance of computer 891
technology: a comparison of two theoretical models”, Management Science, Vol. 5 No. 8,
pp. 982-1003.
Draper, J.V., Kaber, D.B. and Usher, J.M. (1998), “Telepresence”, Human Factors, Vol. 40 No. 3,
pp. 354-75.
Ericsson, K.A. and Simon, H.A. (1993), Protocol Analysis – Verbal Reports as Data, The MIT
Press, Cambridge, MA.
Eroglu, S.A., Machleit, K.A. and Davis, L.M. (2003), “Empirical testing of a model of online store
atmospherics and shopper responses”, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 2, p. 139.
Fortin, D.R. and Dholakia, R.R. (2005), “Interactivity and vividness effects on social presence and
involvement with a web-based advertisement”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58 No. 3,
pp. 387-96.
Fournier, S. (1998), “Consumers and their brands: developing relationship theory in consumer
research”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 343-73.
Gerbing, D.W. and Anderson, J.C. (1988), “An updated paradigm for scale development
incorporating unidimensionality and its assessment”, Journal of Marketing Research,
Vol. 25 No. 2, p. 186.
Grewal, D., Iyer, G.R. and Levy, M. (2004), “Internet retailing: enablers, limiters and market
consequences”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 57 No. 7, pp. 703-13.
Henderson, R. and Divertt, M. (2003), “Perceived usefulness, ease of use and electronic
supermarket use”, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Vol. 59 No. 3,
pp. 383-95.
Hoffman, D.L. and Novak, T.P. (1996), “Marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated
environments: conceptual foundations”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60 No. 3, pp. 50-68.
Holbrook, M.B. and Hirschman, E.C. (1982), “The experiential aspects of consumption –
consumer fantasies, feelings, and fun”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9 No. 2,
pp. 132-40.
Huang, M.H. (2003), “Designing website attributes to induce experiential encounters”, Computers
in Human Behavior, Vol. 19, pp. 425-42.
Joreskog, K.G. and Sorbom, D. (1993), Lisrel 8: Structural Equation Modeling with the Simplis
Command Language, Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.
Kaplan, S. and Kaplan, R. (1982), Cognition and Environment, Praeger Publishers,
New York, NY.
Karahanna, E. and Straub, D.W. (1999), “The psychological origins of perceived usefulness and
ease-of-use”, Information & Management, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 237-50.
Koufaris, M. (2002), “Applying the technology acceptance model and flow theory to online
consumer behavior”, Information Systems Research, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 205-23.
Kroeber-Riel, W. (1979), “Activation research: psychobiological approaches in consumer
research”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 5, pp. 240-50.
IJRDM Li, H., Daugherty, T. and Biocca, F. (2002), “Impact of 3-D advertising on product knowledge,
brand attitude, and purchase intention: the mediating role of presence”, Journal of
35,11 Advertising, Vol. 31 No. 3, p. 43.
Loiacono, E.T., Watson, R.T. and Goodhue, D.L. (2002), “Webqual: a measure of website quality”,
paper presented at the American Marketing Association Conference, Austin, TX.
MacInnis, D.J. and Price, L.L. (1987), “The role of imagery in information processing: review and
892 extensions”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 13, pp. 473-91.
Mathwick, C., Malhotra, N.K. and Rigdon, E. (2002), “The effect of dynamic retail experiences on
experiential perceptions of value: an internet and catalog comparison”, Journal of
Retailing, Vol. 78 No. 1, pp. 51-60.
Mehrabian, A. and Russell, J.A. (1974), An Approach to Environmental Psychology, The MIT
Press, Cambridge, MA.
Meyers-Levy, J. (1989), “Priming effects on product judgments: a hemispheric interpretation”,
Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16 No. 1, p. 76.
Mishra, S., Umesh, U.N. and Stem, D.E.J. (1993), “Antecedents of the attraction effect:
an information-processing approach”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 30 No. 3, p. 331.
Mitchell, A.A. (1979), “Involvement: a potentially important mediator of consumer behaviour”,
Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 6, pp. 191-6.
Palmer, J.W. and Griffith, D.A. (1998), “An emerging model of web site design for
marketing”, Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41
No. 3, p. 44.
Park, C-H. and Kim, Y-G. (2003), “Identifying key factors affecting behavior in an online
shopping context”, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 31
No. 1, pp. 16-29.
Petty, R.E. and Cacioppo, J.T. (1986), The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion, Academic
Press, New York, NY.
Richard, M-O. (2005), “Modeling the impact of internet atmospherics on surfer behavior”, Journal
of Business Research, Vol. 58 No. 12, pp. 1632-42.
Rosen, D.E. and Purinton, E. (2004), “Website design: viewing the web as a cognitive landscape”,
Journal of Business Research, Vol. 57 No. 7, pp. 787-94.
Singh, S.N., Dalal, N. and Spears, N. (2005), “Understanding web home page perception”,
European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 14, pp. 288-302.
Steenkamp, J-B. and Baumgartner, H. (1998), “Assessing measurement invariance in
cross-national consumer research”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 25 No. 1, p. 78.
Steuer, J. (1992), “Defining virtual reality: dimensions determining telepresence”, Journal of
Communication, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 73-93.
Tauber, E.M. (1972), “Why do people shop?”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 36, pp. 46-59.
Turley, L.W. and Milliman, R.E. (2000), “Atmospheric effects on shopping behavior: a review of
the experimental evidence”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 49 No. 2, pp. 193-211.
Venkatesh, V. and Davis, F.D. (1996), “A model of the antecedents of perceived ease of use:
development and test”, Decision Sciences, Vol. 27 No. 3, p. 451.
Wolfinbarger, M. and Gilly, M.C. (2003), “Etailq: dimensionalizing, measuring and predicting
etail quality”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 79 No. 3, pp. 183-98.
Yoo, B. and Donthu, N. (2001), “Developing a scale to measure the perceived quality of an
internet shopping site (sitequal)”, Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 2 No. 1,
pp. 31-46.
Appendix Conceptualising
consumer
Composite Compl. standard behaviour
Construct/item wording reliability loading (t)

Visual impact – four items 0.86

The graphics elements of this site were boring 0.73 (t ¼ 13.23) 893
The web site had a visually pleasing design 0.80a
This web site was dull visually 0.85 (t ¼ 15.68)
This site had no visual impact 0.71 (t ¼ 12.66)
Context familiarity – four items 0.80
This web site replicated the kind of experience I have when I shop 0.69 (t ¼ 10.55)
When I navigated this web site I felt I was shopping for real 0.69 (t ¼ 10.60)
This site felt more like reading a text than being in a shop 0.61 (t ¼ 9.49)
The experience of shopping was not there when I navigated on this site 0.74a
Site-user understanding – three items 0.82
Interacting with the web site gave me five answers to my questions 0.69 (t ¼ 11.26)
This web site did not understand what I’m interested in 0.74a
This web site did not understand my needs 0.84 (t ¼ 12.01)
Marketer informativeness – five items 0.82
This site had insufficient product information 0.71a
This web site provided complete product description 0.64 (t ¼ 10.14)
This web site adequately met my information needs 0.78 (t ¼ 12.33)
There was enough information on this web site to assess the products 0.58 (t ¼ 9.34)
I could learn a lot about the products 0.71 (t ¼ 11.24)
Non-marketer informativeness – three items 0.79
This web site only gave me its own product information, and not other
users’ impressions 0.81 (t ¼ 12.01)
This site had customer reviews of products 0.80a
From this site it was impossible to see what other users thought of the
products 0.70 (t ¼ 11.26)
Suggestions offering – three items 0.71
When I was looking at a particular product, the web site also provided
links to similar items 0.69a
This web site recommended relevant products to me which I had not
thought of or did not know 0.58 (t ¼ 7.88)
This site had links to other relevant products 0.68 (t ¼ 8.72)
Intuitiveness – three items 0.67
It would be hard for me to become skilful at using this web site 0.35a
I felt lost on this web site 0.77 (t ¼ 5.45)
During the navigation, I felt frustrated 0.67 (t ¼ 5.32)
Screen clarity – four items 0.81
The content on the web site was clear 0.81 (t ¼ 11.80)
The organisation of the information on the screen was confusing 0.71 (t ¼ 10.63)
The content on this site was well organised 0.65a
The web pages were easy to read 0.70 (t ¼ 9.89)
Content relevance – three items 0.74
The information was meaningful to me 0.64a
The information had nothing to do with me or my needs 0.68 (t ¼ 9.37)
The information on this web site was useful 0.81 (t ¼ 10.27) Table AI.
Links relevance – three items 0.66 Psychometric properties
I got the information I expected whenever I clicked on a link 0.62 (t ¼ 7.68) of first-order factor model
(continued) (N ¼ 301)
IJRDM Composite Compl. standard
35,11 Construct/item wording reliability loading (t)

When I visited categories on this web site I found things where

I expected to find them 0.59a
This web site gave me the results I anticipated when I clicked on things 0.63 (t ¼ 7.76)
Involvement – three items 0.84
894 The navigation was enjoyable 0.85a
The navigation was boring 0.76 (t ¼ 15.26)
The navigation was exciting 0.77 (t ¼ 15.59)
Hedonic value – nine items 0.88
The navigation on this web site was truly a joy 0.75a
Compared to other things I could have done, the time spent shopping
on this web site was truly enjoyable 0.82 (t ¼ 14.75)
I enjoyed being immersed in exciting new products 0.47 (t ¼ 8.10)
I enjoyed this navigation for its own sake, not just for the items I may
have purchased 0.66 (t ¼ 11.48)
I had a good time on this web site because I was able to act on “the spur
of the moment” 0.77 (t ¼ 13.67)
During the navigation I felt the excitement of the hunt 0.72 (t ¼ 12.70)
While shopping on the site I was able to forget my problems 0.47 (t ¼ 7.93)
While shopping on this site I felt a sense of adventure 0.70 (t ¼ 12.40)
This shopping navigation was not a very nice way to spend my time 0.63 (t ¼ 11.01)
Utilitarian value – four items 0.79
I accomplished just what I wanted to on this navigation 0.76a
I could not find what I really needed on this web site 0.79 (t ¼ 13.55)
While shopping I found just the item(s) I was looking for 0.71 (t ¼ 11.97)
I was disappointed because I would have to go to another site to
complete my shopping 0.51 (t ¼ 8.56)
Intention to revisit the site – five items 0.94
I intend to continue using this web site in the future 0.95a
I plan to use this web site in the future 0.91 (t ¼ 30.28)
I expect my use of this web site to continue in the future 0.91 (t ¼ 30.31)
I will visit this site first when I want to buy books 0.78 (t ¼ 19.38)
I am unlikely to use this web site again 0.78 (t ¼ 19.58)
Table AI. Note: aThe metric for each scale was established by fixing one of the construct indicators to 1.00

About the authors

Catherine Demangeot is a Doctoral Student in Marketing at Aston Business School. Her PhD
research concerns the impact of online shopping environments on behaviour – a choice of topic
influenced by her 15 years in the publishing industry. Catherine Demangeot is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: cathd@eim.ae
Amanda J. Broderick (BA; PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Aston Business School. Her
research expertise lies in international consumer psychology, with particular application to the
electronic marketplace and she has published over 50 articles in refereed journals, books and
conference proceedings in this area. She has won numerous research excellence prizes including the
Distinguished Paper Prize at the 1998 European Marketing Academy Conference and the CIM
Research Excellence Prize in both 2000 and 2002. The third edition of her Pearson-published
Integrated Marketing Communications text was launched in 2007. E-mail: a.j.broderick@aston.ac.uk

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints