Online prejudice and barriers to digital innovation: Empirical investigations of Chinese consumers

Abstract

China is widely considered a world leader in e‐commerce. In recent years, e‐commerce in China has made significant progress and gone through rounds after rounds of innovations. Technological advancements have enabled the integration of online and offline channels, allowing consumers to choose their preferred shopping channel. Thus, competition and cooperation between online and offline channels have become important issues. Drawing on confirmation bias theory and the unique cultural lens (low uncertainty avoidance and a high level of cynicism) that exists in China, we conceptualize online prejudice and propose a model to analyse how it affects channel selection. A scenario‐based survey, along with an explorative pre‐study, was conducted to test our hypotheses. The results showed that prejudice toward the online channel does exist in China. Further, this online prejudice mediates the relationship between perceived uncertainty and channel selection. That is, uncertainty can induce consumers' online prejudice, which in turn predicts their channel selection behaviour. Furthermore, the mediating effect of online prejudice is contingent upon product type (i.e., experience products vs. search products).

How online reviews with different influencing factors affect the diffusion of new products

“…This high‐risk and uncertain psychology is even more pronounced under the influence of Chinese cynicism culture. People generally believe that others' actions are deceptive; in particular, they have negative stereotypes and prejudices about online channels without a physical form (Bou Malham & Saucier, 2014; Che et al, 2022). When faced with many positive reviews, they are more likely to question sellers, suspecting that these glowing testimonials may not accurately reflect the genuine quality of the newly introduced product.…”

“…Although, these concerns also appear in Western countries with more developed societies and economies, they are amplified by the characteristics of Chinese culture (Chaouali et al, 2017). Once Chinese consumers perceive that others are acting primarily for their own benefit, they are less likely to value or engage in cooperation (Che et al, 2022). Therefore, when faced with a new product, consumers act with distrust or even boycott marketing promotion, which ultimately hinders the diffusion of the new product.…”

“…Chinese consumers perceive that others are acting primarily for their own benefit, they are less likely to value or engage in cooperation (Che et al, 2022). Therefore, when faced with a new product, consumers act with distrust or even boycott marketing promotion, which ultimately hinders the diffusion of the new product.…”

Contextualising digital innovation in today's China: Local practices and global contributions

“…The first article, by Che et al (2022) and titled 'Online prejudice and barriers to digital innovation: Empirical investigations of Chinese consumers', attempts to understand consumers' channel selection in an increasingly congested market featuring both competition and collaboration between online and offline channels. The authors draw on confirmation bias theory and note how two cultural cues of Chinese consumers, low uncertainty avoidance, and high cynicism, may make them more biased toward online shopping and make it easier to detect both online prejudice and its effect on channel selection.…”

The Role of Digital Innovation in Improving Financial Performance in MSMEs in Indonesia

“…This study tries to summarize the 10 latest research (2021) around digital innovations that have developed to have an impact on productivity. Its development started from an effort to make observations about the importance of digital transformation (Talafidaryani, Jalali, & Moro, 2021), an industry undergoing digital transformation, to drive change and create greater opportunities (Sraml Gonzalez & Gulbrandsen, 2021), the evolution of knowledge as a result of digital innovations carried out (Malhotra & Majchrzak, 2021), digital transformation that helps businesses stay competitive to be able to compete in the market (Kraus et al, 2021), the formation of risks and opportunities as a result of technological developments (Imran, Shahzad, Butt, & Kantola, 2021), the impact of digital transformation on the effectiveness of the planning carried out (Datta & Nwankpa, 2021), accelerate product development through digital transformation (Cooper, 2021), digital innovation in the field of e-commerce has made significant progress (Che, Peng, Lai, & Luo, 2021), and digital innovation gives birth to unprecedented opportunities (Bogers, Garud, Thomas, Tuertscher, & Yoo, 2021). Next, the author will briefly explain the development of the 7 latest research (2021) related to digital capability.…”