Big data initiatives in retail environments: Linking service process perceptions to shopping outcomes

Given the enormous amount of data created through customers’ transactions in retail stores, it comes as no surprise that retailers are actively seeking initiatives to leverage big data and offer their customers superior services that provide mutual, previously unattainable benefits. Nonetheless, fulfilment of such a strategic aim requires customers to adopt and embrace emerging technology-driven services. Exploring customers’ perceptions of such big data initiatives in retail environments, we develop a model examining the effects of technology enablers and privacy concerns on critical shopping outcomes including repatronage intentions, store image, and intention to use medium in the context of recently identified service configurations. We conduct an exploratory study to understand customers’ reactions toward emerging shopping scenarios and to enhance our survey instrument and then conduct an online survey (n = 442) to test our model. We found that customers’ usefulness perceptions of emerging services positively affected their intentions to use medium, and that their privacy concerns about the amounts of personal information, being collected through emerging services, negatively affected their repatronage intentions and store image. We discuss the implications of our work for research and practice.