• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1318-1329
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• 2012

In-store atmospherics involve quantified physical and social aspects; however, the social quality of a web-based retailing context has largely been under-examined. This study addressed some antecedents and consequences of social ambience in virtual shopping (or e-social ambience) within a web-based U.S. retailing fashion context. This study explored the role of social cues as a viable antecedent to e-social ambience and emotions as its consequence. A conceptual framework was built postulating the effect of social cue for web content, on e-social ambience, emotions, and e-shopping enjoyment. The experimental results (n=488) on a fictitious retail T-shirt website confirmed the positive correlation among the variables; in addition, the level of social cues included within the web content significantly increased the level of customer-perceived e-social ambience of the website and subsequent positive on-site emotions. On-site emotions positively influence purchase intentions. The results expand the current understanding of e-store management by providing novel insight relevant to fashion companies that wish to provide customers with a quality website shopping experience.