Mobile shopping cart abandonment: The roles of conflicts, ambivalence, and hesitation

Though several industry reports have suggested that the rate of shopping cart abandonment is high in the mobile channel, the reasons for such abandonment remain relatively unexplored. Drawing on the cognition-affect-behavior (CAB) paradigm, this study aims to provide a conceptual framework explaining why consumers hesitate to use mobile channels for shopping and thus abandon their mobile shopping carts. Results from two studies show that mobile shopping cart abandonment is positively influenced by emotional ambivalence, a result of consumers' conflicting thoughts. More specifically, emotional ambivalence amplifies consumers' hesitation at the checkout stage, leading to cart abandonment. However, if hesitant consumers are satisfied with the choice process during shopping, they are less likely to give up their mobile shopping carts. Based on the findings, this mobile channel study provides practical and theoretical implications for marketers and e-cart abandonment researchers, respectively.