The Drivers of Showrooming Behavior: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Showrooming behavior refers to consumer behavior where consumers first physically evaluate products in offline channels and then compare the potential purchases in online channels. Although the drivers of showrooming behavior have gained interest from many quantitative researchers and resulted in multiple conflicting results, there is no established framework for these drivers. Therefore, we made a meta-analysis of the drivers of showrooming behavior. To analyze prior results, we conducted a systematic literature review resulting in 24 independent study samples that fit our criteria. Of these samples, 18 drivers were meta-analytically analyzed, resulting in 13 drivers being found to have a statistically significant association and five drivers being found to have no statistically significant association with showrooming behavior. As a theoretical contribution, we provide an established framework and solve prior conflicting findings. As a managerial contribution, we provide advice to decrease customers' competitive showrooming behavior according to the identified main drivers.