Examining the impact of operational simplicity on users’ attitude toward WhatsApp shopping and their repurchase intentions

The rapid growth of mobile commerce has reshaped consumers’ buying behavior, with mobile apps becoming an integral part of digital retailing. Particularly, WhatsApp, with over 3.3 billion active daily users, is emerging as an important mobile shopping channel. The current study examined the indirect and direct impacts of operational simplicity of using WhatsApp on users repurchase intentions. Using an online (WhatsApp) survey, data were collected from 287 Pakistani users. The results revealed that operational simplicity positively impacts user attitudes toward WhatsApp shopping, which in turn affect users repurchase intentions. In other words, user attitudes toward WhatsApp shopping mediated the relationship between operational simplicity of using WhatsApp and users repurchase intentions. This mediation was partial and supports that operational simplicity also directly impacts users repurchase intentions. These findings have implications for both messaging app operators and businesses that want to sell their products through mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp.