From price image to online retailer loyalty: The role of trust and consumer sugrophobia

This study introduces and explores sugrophobia, which is the fear of being deceived or exploited in transactions, as a key but underexplored concept influencing online shopping behavior.Sugrophobia reflects emotional discomfort stemming from self-blame and suspicion, motivating self-protective behavior.Data is collected from 600 consumers.The research hypotheses were analyzed by K-Means Cluster Analysis and SEM.As a result it was found that high sugrophobes display greater scepticism but also exhibit stronger loyalty once trust is established.Conversely, low sugrophobes are less sceptical and more responsive to price promotions.The findings reveal that trust is the primary driver of loyalty for high sugrophobes, whereas price image and trust jointly influence loyalty among low sugrophobes.