IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jouret/v92y2016i2p226-235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Return Policy Leniency on Consumer Purchase and Return Decisions: A Meta-analytic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Janakiraman, Narayan
  • Syrdal, Holly A.
  • Freling, Ryan

Abstract

While most retail stores offer return policies, some offer more lenient return policies than others. The inherent belief is that lenient return policies are more likely to lead to purchases than to encourage returns. Examining prior research we find that return policy leniency has been characterized in terms of five different dimensions: time, money, effort, scope, and exchange. We conduct a meta-analysis of 21 papers examining the effect of leniency on purchase and return decisions, and demonstrate that overall, leniency increases purchase more than return. Further, we show the return policy factors that influence purchase (money and effort leniency increase purchase) are different from the return policy factors that influence returns (scope leniency increases returns while time and exchange leniency reduces returns).

Suggested Citation

  • Janakiraman, Narayan & Syrdal, Holly A. & Freling, Ryan, 2016. "The Effect of Return Policy Leniency on Consumer Purchase and Return Decisions: A Meta-analytic Review," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 226-235.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:92:y:2016:i:2:p:226-235
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2015.11.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435915000822
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretai.2015.11.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey D. Shulman & Anne T. Coughlan & R. Canan Savaskan, 2010. "Optimal Reverse Channel Structure for Consumer Product Returns," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1071-1085, 11-12.
    2. Bonifield, Carolyn & Cole, Catherine & Schultz, Randall L., 2010. "Product returns on the Internet: A case of mixed signals?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1058-1065, September.
    3. Davis, Scott & Hagerty, Michael & Gerstner, Eitan, 1998. "Return policies and the optimal level of "hassle"," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(5), pages 445-460, September.
    4. Janiszewski, Chris & Noel, Hayden & Sawyer, Alan G, 2003. "A Meta-analysis of the Spacing Effect in Verbal Learning: Implications for Research on Advertising Repetition and Consumer Memory," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(1), pages 138-149, June.
    5. Suwelack, Thomas & Hogreve, Jens & Hoyer, Wayne D., 2011. "Understanding Money-Back Guarantees: Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Outcomes," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 462-478.
    6. Van den Poel, Dirk & Leunis, Joseph, 1999. "Consumer Acceptance of the Internet as a Channel of Distribution," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 249-256, July.
    7. Kim, Junyong & Wansink, Brian, 2012. "How Retailers’ Recommendation and Return Policies Alter Product Evaluations," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 528-541.
    8. Bahn, Kenneth D. & Boyd, Eric, 2014. "Information and its impact on consumers׳ reactions to restrictive return policies," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 415-423.
    9. Thomas Suwelack & Manfred Krafft, 2012. "Effects of Money-Back and Low-Price Guarantees on Consumer Behavior," Springer Books, in: Adamantios Diamantopoulos & Wolfgang Fritz & Lutz Hildebrandt (ed.), Quantitative Marketing and Marketing Management, edition 127, chapter 6, pages 531-561, Springer.
    10. Pei, Zhi & Paswan, Audhesh & Yan, Ruiliang, 2014. "E-tailer׳s return policy, consumer׳s perception of return policy fairness and purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 249-257.
    11. Heiman, Amir & McWilliams, Bruce & Zilberman, David, 2001. "Demonstrations and money-back guarantees: market mechanisms to reduce uncertainty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 71-84, October.
    12. Brown, Steven P & Stayman, Douglas M, 1992. "Antecedents and Consequences of Attitude toward the Ad: A Meta-analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 19(1), pages 34-51, June.
    13. Greatorex, M. & Mitchell, V. W., 1994. "Modelling consumer risk reduction preferences from perceived loss data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 669-685, December.
    14. Wang Xianghong, 2009. "Retail Return Policy, Endowment Effect, and Consumption Propensity: An Experimental Study," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-29, September.
    15. Derbaix, C., 1983. "Perceived risk and risk relievers: An empirical investigation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 19-38.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rokonuzzaman, Md & Iyer, Pramod & Harun, Ahasan, 2021. "Return policy, No joke: An investigation into the impact of a retailer's return policy on consumers' decision making," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. Jeng, Shih-Ping, 2017. "Increasing customer purchase intention through product return policies: The pivotal impacts of retailer brand familiarity and product categories," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 182-189.
    3. Shao, Bingjia & Cheng, Zhendong & Wan, Lijuan & Yue, Jie, 2021. "The impact of cross border E-tailer's return policy on consumer's purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    4. Dailey, Lynn C. & Ülkü, M. Ali, 2018. "Retailers beware: On denied product returns and consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 202-209.
    5. Wenyan Zhou & Oliver Hinz, 2016. "Determining profit-optimizing return policies – a two-step approach on data from taobao.com," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 26(2), pages 103-114, May.
    6. Joon Yong Seo & Sukki Yoon & Milena Vangelova, 2016. "Shopping plans, buying motivations, and return policies: impacts on product returns and purchase likelihoods," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 645-659, December.
    7. Xu, Xun & Jackson, Jonathan E., 2019. "Investigating the influential factors of return channel loyalty in omni-channel retailing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 118-132.
    8. Gianfranco Walsh & Michael Möhring, 2017. "Effectiveness of product return-prevention instruments: Empirical evidence," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 27(4), pages 341-350, November.
    9. Ratchford, Brian & Soysal, Gonca & Zentner, Alejandro & Gauri, Dinesh K., 2022. "Online and offline retailing: What we know and directions for future research," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 152-177.
    10. Serravalle, Francesca & Vannucci, Virginia & Pantano, Eleonora, 2022. "“Take it or leave it?†: Evidence on cultural differences affecting return behaviour for Gen Z," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    11. Chen, Jing & Chen, Bintong & Li, Wei, 2018. "Who should be pricing leader in the presence of customer returns?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(2), pages 735-747.
    12. Zheyin (Jane) Gu & Giri K. Tayi, 2015. "Consumer mending and online retailer fit-uncertainty mitigating strategies," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 251-282, September.
    13. Kateryna Lysenko-Ryba & Dominik Zimon, 2021. "Customer Behavioral Reactions to Negative Experiences during the Product Return," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    14. Huseyn Abdulla & James D. Abbey & Michael Ketzenberg, 2022. "How consumers value retailer's return policy leniency levers: An empirical investigation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1719-1733, April.
    15. Li, Bo & Jiang, Yushan, 2019. "Impacts of returns policy under supplier encroachment with risk-averse retailer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 104-115.
    16. Bahn, Kenneth D. & Boyd, Eric, 2014. "Information and its impact on consumers׳ reactions to restrictive return policies," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 415-423.
    17. Yan, Ruiliang & Pei, Zhi, 2019. "Return policies and O2O coordination in the e-tailing age," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 314-321.
    18. Urvashi Tandon & Amit Mittal & Sridhar Manohar, 2021. "Examining the impact of intangible product features and e-commerce institutional mechanics on consumer trust and repurchase intention," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 31(4), pages 945-964, December.
    19. Jafar Heydari & Tsan-Ming Choi & Saghi Radkhah, 2017. "Pareto Improving Supply Chain Coordination Under a Money-Back Guarantee Service Program," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 91-105, June.
    20. Oghazi, Pejvak & Karlsson, Stefan & Hellström, Daniel & Hjort, Klas, 2018. "Online purchase return policy leniency and purchase decision: Mediating role of consumer trust," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 190-200.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:92:y:2016:i:2:p:226-235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.