Research On The Impact Of The Use Of Online Emoticons On Consumers'forgiveness In The Service Recovery Of Online Shopping

With the development of network technology,online shopping has become one of the indispensable shopping manners for contemporary people.Although various e-commerce platforms use the Internet to create a shopping scene closer to reality and create convenience for consumers,in a virtual online environment,service failures will inevitably occur and may lead to customer complaints and loss.Therefore,the importance of service recovery in the online shopping has become increasingly prominent,and how to communicate with consumers efficiently to obtain consumer forgiveness is also one of the key concerns of enterprises.In real life,communication between people is not just simple information transmission,situation language such as expressions and actions are also important.In the online environment,face-to-face communication between companies and consumers is impossible,so online emoticons replace situation language and become an efficient auxiliary tool.Therefore,when online shopping service failures occur,will the use of online emoticons lead to differences in consumer decision-making behavior patterns? What is the mechanism of this effect? Is the process restricted by other factors? These are questions that we want to explore.Starting from the above issues,this dissertation bases on the Stimulus-Organism-Response(S-O-R)theory,first sorts out the relevant theories in the existing literature such as online shopping service recovery,online emoticons,willingness to forgive,social perception evaluation,and customer relationship norms,we summarize the logical relationship between the variables and construct the theoretical model of this dissertation.Then,we employ two between-subjects design experiments among partial college students in Nanjing and analyze the experimental data,the following conclusions are drawn: first,the use of online emoticons has a significant impact on consumers' willingness to forgive.Specifically,compared to not using or using negative emoticons,the use of positive online emoticons has a significant positive impact on consumers' willingness to forgive;second,social perception evaluation mediates the process,and the mediation of its enthusiasm and ability dimensions have been verified;third,customer relationship norms play a moderating role in the impact of social perception evaluation on consumers' willingness to forgive.When the ability perception is higher,the consumer's willingness to forgive under the exchange-oriented relationship is stronger;when the enthusiasm perception is higher,the consumer's willingness to forgive under the communal-oriented relationship is stronger.On the basis of the conclusions,we elaborate theoretical contributions and management implications of the dissertation for the online companies.Finally,the limitations of this dissertation are summarized,and the future research directions are further clarified.In terms of theory,this dissertation is not only an extension of traditional service recovery,but also an extension of the application of certain sociological variables;In terms of practice,this dissertation captures the variables and contexts that affect consumers' willingness to forgive,guides companies to pay attention to the effects of emoticons,helps them respond to service failures in an effective way,improve marketing management and win in market competition.