Title: Exploring the impact of interactivity on loyalty toward online-to-offline services: a case of mobile taxi hailing application

Authors: Sae Bom Lee; Sung-Byung Yang; Yung-Ho Suh

Addresses: Bigdata Research Center, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea ' School of Management, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea ' School of Management, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea

Abstract: Online to offline (O2O) is an emerging type of e-commerce strategy that draws customers from online channels to complete purchases in offline stores. It is based on mobile services and interactions between users and merchants through information communications technology. O2O services are convenient to use as they are available anytime and anywhere and allow businesses to communicate in real-time to attract customers. Based on the S-O-R framework, this study is to empirically examine how interactivity leads to loyalty to a certain O2O service (i.e., mobile taxi hailing app). More specifically, relationships among interactivity-related stimuli (control, communication, and responsiveness), organismic states (engagement and satisfaction), and favourable response (loyalty toward an O2O service) are postulated in the research model. In order to verify the proposed model, this study employed a partial least squares (PLS) method and analysed with 257 survey samples collected from one of the most popular O2O services in South Korea (i.e., Kakao Taxi). As a result, all hypotheses except one are supported. Communication had a significantly positive effect on engagement, while its effect on satisfaction was not significant. Loyalty toward an O2O service occurs in the active interaction of users with mobile O2O platforms. In order for users to be engaged and satisfied with an O2O service, it is confirmed that the three elements of interactivity should be considered major factors.

Keywords: O2O service; S-O-R framework; interactivity; engagement; satisfaction; loyalty; mobile taxi hailing app.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2021.117389

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2021 Vol.19 No.5, pp.564 - 588

Accepted: 27 May 2020
Published online: 03 Sep 2021 *

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