Browsing by Author "Mohan, Bijuna C."

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Logistics Service Quality (Lsq) and Customer Satisfaction in Social Commerce :
(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal., 2024) Dhaigude, Soma Amol; Mohan, Bijuna C.
The introduction of social commerce (SC) has completely changed how companies interact with customers in the dynamic world of e-commerce. SC leverages social networks to increase sales and improve consumer engagement by fusing social media platforms with traditional online retail. Friend-to-friend (Fr2Fr) SC has caught the interest of e-tailers and consumers in recent times. Fr2Fr SC offers the convenience of online shopping and the real-time trust-based shopping experience with the seller. Logistics service quality (LSQ) is critical for Fr2Fr SC sellers to meet customer expectations and satisfaction. More precisely, in Fr2Fr SC, there will be a strong 'relational' aspect of LSQ along with the 'operational' aspect that was absent in the earlier version of online commerce and SC. Fr2Fr SC is rapidly growing due to increased penetration of the internet and smart mobile phones, high adoption of social networking sites (SNS), ultra-high shopping convenience, improved information technology, infrastructure for logistics and better e-fulfilment services. In developing countries like India, Fr2Fr SC has established a significant presence in the overall online retail market, and it is ready to expand even further. Fr2Fr SC offer a high level of real-time peer-to peer interaction, making online shopping lively and fun. Furthermore, typical e-commerce features like easy returns and replacement policies, free and rapid order fulfilments and flash discount sales to acquire the customers are also observed in Fr2Fr SC. This study examines Fr2Fr SC’s essential part, i.e., logistics service quality (LSQ). It explores the critical LSQ aspects, operational and relational LSQ and their impact on customer satisfaction. Further, this study proposed a framework to determine the relationships between the LSQ dimensions, Operational (availability, timeliness, condition), Relational (Assurance, vi responsiveness and empathy) and customer experience, trust and customer satisfaction in the Fr2Fr SC context and validates it empirically. The relationship between LSQ and Fr2Fr SC is significant and multi-faceted, with LSQ playing a crucial role in shaping customer satisfaction and loyalty in the Fr2Fr SC context. LSQ, encompassing both OLSQ and RLSQ, directly influences how customers perceive the reliability and effectiveness of logistics services, which is essential in a socially-driven commerce environment. In Fr2Fr SC, where consumers rely on their social networks for shopping decisions, the timeliness, product availability, and condition of the product—key components of OLSQ—are critical for providing good customer experience and ensuring repeat purchases. Any delay or inconsistency can quickly erode the experience, which is amplified in a network where personal recommendations and social proof are significant drivers of purchasing behavior. RLSQ, which includes responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, further enhances customer satisfaction by addressing the relational aspects of service interactions. Responsiveness ensures that customer inquiries and issues are addressed promptly, assurance builds confidence in the service provider's competence, and empathy demonstrates that the service provider values and understands customer needs. In Fr2Fr SC, where personal relationships are leveraged for commerce, these relational qualities help foster a sense of reliability and personalized service, enhancing overall customer satisfaction and loyalty. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study investigates the impact of operational LSQ and relational LSQ on customer experience, trust and satisfaction. This study conducted a survey to collect data from Fr2Fr SC users and analyzed the data using SPSS and AMOS software. The results show that operational LSQ (condition, timeliness and availability) and relational LSQ (assurance, responsiveness and empathy) positively relate to customer vii experience, trust respectively and ultimately influencing customer satisfaction in Fr2Fr SC. Finally, this study also explored the moderating role of critical variables, namely, gender, product type and return/replacement experience discovered in the literature to enhance the prediction power of the proposed model. This study may help SC firms and their logistics service providers to focus on designing customer centric e-fulfilment architecture. The study's findings may enable SC firms to differentiate themselves well in a highly competitive online shopping market by excelling on one or more e fulfilment dimensions. This research also contributes to academic writing in the Fr2Fr SC context by merging service operations and LSQ. The inclusion of relational aspects and their impact on customer satisfaction will advance the e-fulfilment literature. Furthermore, exploring the catalytic role of trust, customer experience, gender, product type and return/replacement experience will enrich the Fr2Fr SC e-fulfilment literature.
Outcome based education: Towards a Pedagogic Shift
(2016) Pannikot, Dhishna; Mohan, Bijuna C.
A Study on Consumer Acceptance of Branded Fortified Foods & Beverages in India
(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2019) S, Shamala; Mohan, Bijuna C.
Consumer acceptance of food products is a complex human behaviour influenced by many interrelating factors such as lifestyle and cultural determinants. The study has considered the underlying tenets of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a theoretical base for the research inquiry. It was identified that a clear dearth of research studies on health consciousness and consumer knowledge aspects in predicting consumer acceptance. Hence, it was required to probe its influence on consumer acceptance towards Fortified Foods and Beverages (FFBs). Research studies have revealed that the major part of food marketing strategies are made to unhealthy foods and there is a clear deficiency of investigations on the consumer acceptance of health foods in Indian context. Since, India is a multicultural country, it is expected that the behavioural pattern of Indian consumer will be different. Accordingly, the study is focused to provide better insight towards consumer acceptance of FFBs among people from different cultural and lifestyle background. The prime objective of the study was to explore the impact of different factors on the consumer acceptance of branded FFBs. Indian consumers are becoming more health conscious and the study aims to investigate the role of health consciousness on accepting branded FFBs. Consumer knowledge plays an integral part in health food consumption. The study examines the influence of consumer knowledge on consumer acceptance of branded FFBs. The research design for the study is descriptive in nature. The study has followed consumer intercept survey as the research strategy. Multi stage sampling techniques were used to identify and collect data. Primary data has been collected from 820 Indian consumers spread across Tier I metro cities, namely, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad. Quantitative research methods were used for data analysis and interpreted accordingly. The study results revealed that consumer attitude is the key factor which leads to the consumer acceptance of branded FFBs. Further it was identified that more the consumer concern about their health, they may have more positive attitude towards accepting FFBs. The study bridges gap in the literature regarding consumer acceptance of FFBs. Consequently the study has proposed an integrated FFBs acceptance model for the Indian health food market. The model can act as a guideline to the marketers. Moreover, the study will also help the health policymakers to form and execute the required policies to augment the public health.
A Study on Factors Influencing the Role of Children in Parental Purchase Intention
(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2021) P, Anitha.; Mohan, Bijuna C.
Children are an indispensible part of any household decision making. Often ignored as a significant consumer group, children have slowly emerged as an important driver of purchases worldwide. There is a strong need to study the purchase intentions of parents under the influence of various behaviors displayed by the children for purchasing the products that they desire. The present study focuses to identify the purchase intention from a parental point of view, under the influence of various factors which generates child influence strategies namely bargaining, emotional, persuasion and request strategies. The study adopts descriptive approach for answering the research problem. The study uses quantitative methods of research enquiry. The hypotheses are formulated and the variables were measured using questionnaires. Samples were chosen from metros namely Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai based on probability and non-probability sampling. The study used structural equation modeling to determine the measurement model, structural model and to test the hypotheses. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze data. Qualitative study was conducted limited to the context of understanding the select variable of child influence strategies by using observational method. The factors considered for the study are namely advertisement exposure, packaging, peer group and family communication patterns (Socio-oriented and Concept-oriented families) in generating child influence strategies. Socio-oriented family communication patterns and peer group have emerged as the most significant predictor of child influence strategies leading to parental purchase intention followed by packaging and advertisement exposure. Contrary to the popular belief, the study reveals that rather than child directed marketing efforts such as advertisements and packaging, children are more influenced by factors such are peer groups and family communication patterns. The study bridges the gap in the literature regarding parental purchase intention under the influence of child influence strategies. The study has proposed an integrated model on parental purchase intention. The proposed model can act as a guideline to create suitable marketing strategies by aiming at giving more information about the products to peer group and parental units.