EXPLORING WHY BUYERS DO NOT RETURN UNWANTED PRODUCTS

Cesar M. Maloles, III, California State University, East Bay, U.S.A.
Thomas Foscht, University of Graz, Austria, U.S.A.
William D. Reisel, St. John's University, NY, U.S.A.
Swee-lim Chia, La Salle University, PA, U.S.A.
Published in

 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Volume 19, Issue 2, p39-44, December 2019

ABSTRACT

In the post purchase stage of the consumer buying process, the exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect reactions to dissatisfaction with a product purchase tend to dominate. Perhaps it is because the focus is on the organization rather than on the totality of consumer behaviors related to dissatisfaction such as product returns. While there is literature on product returns, much of the focus is on the reverse logistics design and management but little about buyer motives. Even more sparse is research on the factors that affect buyer motivation NOT to return an unwanted product. This paper looks at the barriers that may be a disincentive for a buyer to return the product to the seller. A diagram shows these barriers. Twelve hypotheses are proposed: three (3) pertain to the seller, nine (9) relate to the buyer. Of the nine (9) buyer hypotheses, two refer to the buyer's personal characteristics. A future study is planned to test the hypotheses.

Keywords

Return behavior, retailing, barriers to return


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