Consumer switching behavior to an augmented reality (AR) beauty product application: Push-pull mooring theory framework

Today, various factors cause people to use online purchasing techniques more frequently and gradually abandon traditional shopping, including the geographic distance between consumers and stores and the pandemic. Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the significant technological advancements used in modern online shopping. A cutting-edge technology, augmented reality places virtual objects (images, texts, and music) over the user’s actual surroundings (Kowalczuk, Siepmann, & Adler, 2021).

Using augmented reality to offer products through e-commerce channels can increase consumer value while also giving the buying experience a distinctive feel (Kowalczuk et al., 2021). Additionally, AR technology encourages customers to switch from offline to online commerce, and it is anticipated that many consumers will be willing to try and buy other types of experience products (such as food, cosmetics, or medicines) (Hsu & Chen, 2018). The MyGlamm app is one example of an application developed in the cosmetic industry. Using AR technology, this app enables users to select cosmetic products from various vendors. Through AR technology coupled with a cellphone camera, consumers can try various products, such as lipstick, mascara, and powder.

Offline purchasing methods frequently switch over to online options, which is neither avoided nor prevented. Numerous factors contribute to this displacement process, one of which is outlined by the push-pull-mooring theory (PPM theory). Understanding the elements influencing consumers’ migration decisions can be achieved with PPM theory, a paradigm frequently used in the study of human migration (Handarkho & Harjoseputro, 2019). The PPM framework is used to examine various factors that precede users’ switching intents, including push factors that drive users away from their existing services, pull elements that lure them to an alternative, and mooring factors that either help or hinder switching decisions (Sun et al., 2017).

Although PPM is frequently cited in research as being sufficient to alter consumer migration behavior when utilizing AR, there is one risk element that may impede the migration process. One of the problems worrying consumers is perceived performance risk, which is the risk incurred when a product or service does not perform as expected (Kumar & Bajaj, 2019). Perceived performance risk does not appear without reason; some customers are inexperienced with new AR technology and are still skeptical of AR replacing the human body’s senses in evaluating the product before purchasing. As a result, the consumer is less likely to engage in the purchase decision the greater the perceived performance risk (Brack & Benkenstein, 2014).

The issue of perceived performance risk is also driven by information asymmetry from the seller to the buyer. Buyers worried that not all information, such as product material safety, side effects, or product quality, can be thoroughly conveyed by sellers through AR, resulting in a lack of intention to buy. Prior studies have argued that information asymmetry is one of the antecedent factors increasing the risk of subpar performance and consumers’ misgivings about the risks of utilizing a product (Brack & Benkenstein, 2014; Nguyen, Yeh, & Huang, 2022; Pavlou, Liang, and Xue, 2015). Furthermore, Qin, Peak, and Prybutok (2021) argued that information asymmetry is a serious problem affecting consumers’ decisions to change their habits or try something new, in addition to being a precursor to perceived performance risk issues. For instance, the use of the virtual mobile AR market still has issues with information perception and how it influences consumers’ choices. Due to the importance of information asymmetry for perceived performance risk and consumers’ post-behavior, information asymmetry is a major issue to be discussed in this study.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of PPM factors on consumers’ AR technology performance risk, particularly in the process of consumers’ switching behaviors. This issue is crucial and pertinent to the current situation because consumers’ perceptions of the performance risk with new technology, such as augmented reality, associated with the information asymmetry issue, create a barrier that prevents PPM variables from having an impact on consumer switching behavior. As opposed to most studies, which discuss the influence of information asymmetry on just one variable, this study sees information asymmetry problems as having a two-way impact on perceived performance risk and switching behavior. As a result, the idea of information asymmetry will be explored as a mediator variable to see how it affects the relationship between perceived performance risk and switching behavior.

The primary contribution of this study is to close a research gap in how PPM is viewed not only as a ploy for addressing consumer switching behavior, as researchers have previously discussed but also as an opportunity to emphasize that PPM factors are linked to the perceived performance risk consumers may face. Additionally, this study concentrates on the application of AR from two angles. The first discusses the benefits of using augmented reality to influence consumers’ shifting purchasing behavior (from in-store to online purchases), as well as its drawbacks, such as the potential for an information gap.