How inaccessible retail websites affect blind and low vision consumers: their perceptions and responses

Abstract

PurposeThis research seeks to fill a gap in the service and retailing marketplace experience literature as well as retailing practice by extending Attribution and Expectancy Disconfirmation Theories to the large and growing market of consumers with vision disabilities. It reveals how accessibility-related service failures with a retailer's website can lead to anti-firm reactions from blind and low vision consumers, including social media sharing, negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) and avoidance of the retailer's other sales channels even if they are accessible.Design/methodology/approachBlind respondents were recruited from national blindness organizations to participate in this study using a within-subjects design to test reactions to accessibility-related propositions in two different scenarios involving varying degrees of effort.FindingsIn both high- and low-effort conditions, an accessibility-related service failure leads to the anti-firm consequences of NWOM, social media sharing and avoidance of the retailer's sales channels. Additionally, blind and low vision consumers who also feel inaccessible websites are discriminatory develop stronger anti-firm attitudes toward the offending retailers. Further, we aver that the retailer's entire website including all its features, not just the homepage, should be made accessible to the growing market of vision-impaired consumers and thereby obtain substantial competitive advantages.Originality/valueThis research pertains to the service failure and recovery nomological network. It extends the existing paradigm to include accessibility-related service failures experienced by consumers with disabilities into the specialized category of discrimination-based service failures in instances where service recovery is not easily achieved. Empirical investigations of these experiences have been rare, despite the frequency with which they occur.

Fostering Inclusion in Digital Marketplace: Vistas into the Online Shopping Experiences of Consumers with Visual Impairment in India

“…The major accessibility-related obstacles faced by CWV while shopping online are inaccessible images, lack of description, and challenges in returning the product or claiming a refund. The problem of inaccessibility of images was also reported in the studies by Cohen et al (2020Cohen et al ( , 2023 and Inan et al (2016). This study brought out the challenges faced by CWV while returning or claiming refunds from online platforms, which was not reported in the existing literature.…”

“…Accessibility issues were encountered while availing banking and financial services due to limited digital solutions for CWV (Goundar & Sathye, 2023). Accessibility-related service failure and anger lead to negative word of mouth and avoidance of the retailer (Cohen et al, 2023).…”

Navigating services for consumers with disabilities: a comprehensive review and conceptual framework

“…Next, education for CwD (6%) has focused on facilities’ access to CwD (Amin et al , 2019; Soorenian, 2014) and the role of an inclusive campus environment (Gillies and Pedlar, 2003; Soorenian, 2014). Use of ICT for addressing CwD (9%) covered barriers to online services for CwD (Childers and Kaufman-Scarborough, 2009; Cohen et al , 2023; Goundar and Sathye, 2023; Okonji and Ogwezzy, 2018); accessible ICT-enabled services (Cassia et al , 2020; Chiscano and Darcy, 2022); ability of robots to create and destroy value (Kipnis et al , 2022) and identifying needs and designing effective technology (Hanson et al , 2007; Kyazze et al , 2019). Two papers take multiple contexts.…”

“…The studies covering this area use theories that focus on the solution and the technological experiences of PwDs. For example, Cohen et al (2023) used expectancy disconfirmation and attribution theory to illustrate how the inaccessibility of the retailers’ websites and the perceived discriminatory behavior of these websites towards PwD may cause adverse consumer reactions. Hilligoss et al (2021) applied user-centered design principles to lay down the factors that make health services usable for PwD and their caretakers.…”

“…Thus, CwDs’ unfavorable market responses result from service inaccessibility and design. These responses include complaining about a service failure (Chang and Chen, 2012; Cohen et al , 2023; Major and Hubbard, 2019), switching to another service provider (Beudaert et al , 2017), abandoning the product (Ravneberg, 2009); generating positive/negative word-of-mouth (Cohen, 2023; Özogul and Baran, 2016); displaying lack of trust (Emira and Thompson, 2011); and expressing frustration (Yu et al , 2015). These responses emphasize the importance of service accessibility.…”