Consumer Behavior Research on Membership Subscription and Non-subscription in Online Shopping Platforms*

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption intention of membership subscription services provided by online shopping platforms. Specifically, it focuses on empirically analyzing the factors affecting adoption intention through attitude by examining the reasons for adoption and reasons against adoption. Research design, data, and methodology: To achieve this, a mixed methods approach was employed, integrating both [Study 1] and [Study 2]. In [Study 1], qualitative research methods were used to deeply explore the process of using membership subscription services by examining the perspectives of consumers who use and abandon these services. This involved identifying the characteristics of membership subscription services and deriving variables related to reasons for adoption and reasons against adoption. In [Study 2], quantitative research methods were utilized to empirically analyze the impact of reasons for adoption and reasons against adoption on adoption intention through attitude, based on a literature review on membership subscription services and the results from [Study 1]. Results and Conclusions: The analysis found that the reasons for adoption, namely convenience, price consciousness, and social influence, positively (+) affected attitude, whereas the reason against adoption, tradition barrier, negatively (–) affected attitude. Attitude positively (+) influenced adoption intention. Comparing the standardized coefficients, price consciousness, convenience, and social influence were found to have the highest impact, respectively. Reasons against adoption, such as environmental consciousness and information overload, did not have a significant effect on attitude. Through these research findings, practical service improvement strategies are provided for platform companies to determine which benefits to add, remove, maintain, or enhance in their membership subscription services. This is expected to contribute to the management of user retention and the prevention of churn for membership subscription services on platform companies.