Executive Summary
Consumers with impairments, such as visual or hearing disabilities, engage in e-commerce, but they often experience constraints that limit their access to online retail Web sites. Current legislation (the Americans with Disabilities Act [42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.]) attempts to maximize accessibility to physical places versus the online marketplace. Recent legal decisions consider whether a retail Web site is a public space that requires accommodation, depending on whether Web sites are integrated with in-store retail operations. Interviews with visually impaired consumers regarding elements of technology acceptance (usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment) reveal that cyber marketspaces affect shopping independence and individuality while creating a sense of “being in the marketplace.” Shopping online enables consumers with visual impairments to feel like “normal” consumers and act as if they belong in the online environment, to carry out their own preferences, to control what they do and how they shop, and to experience feelings of success and empowerment.
However, the results of the current research also reveal that people with visual impairments are often forced to abandon their intended online purchase plans because of poor Web site design that fails to interface with assistive devices. Ambiguous product descriptions, technology-constrained checkout procedures, and overuse of graphics and animation are among the technical problems and interface elements that render these consumers powerless and vulnerable and thrust them “out of the marketplace.” Addressing obstacles to online shopping can translate into increased perceptions of self-determination over personal goals, resulting in feelings of empowerment associated with enhanced self-efficacy and competence. Empowered people with disabilities are more likely to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to support their independence and enhanced self-confidence to engage in online shopping. Possessing a sense of control also enables people with disabilities to reduce their perceived dependency, to be more assertive, and to increase their decision-making confidence through gaining access to more complete information.
The authors suggest that public policy makers view Web sites public as marketplaces, and thus public accommodations Web sites should fall under the jurisdiction of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Policy makers are encouraged to mandate and enforce accessibility standards for online commercial marketspaces because current voluntary initiatives often result in discrimination against people with disabilities through diminished access to features such as Web-only specials and product offers. Online retailers are encouraged to be proactive in conducting voluntary tests of their Web sites to ensure accessibility and compatibility with assistive devices, implement disability-oriented software development training, engage consumers with impairments in Web site cocreation, and develop industry certification programs that benchmark retail category best-practice Web site designs.
Biography
Carol Kaufman-Scarborough is Professor of Marketing, School of Business, Rutgers University–Camden. She is also Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies. She has been a member of the Rutgers faculty since 1983. Carol’s research has focused on three main themes: the perception and use of time in relation to consumer behavior and retail shopping, the experiences of consumers with disabilities, and the shopping habits of subcultural consumers. She and her coauthors developed the polychronic attitude index, or PAI, a scale measuring a person’s attitudes toward combining multiple activities at the same time. Over the years, Carol, her colleagues, and her students have examined whether people feel time pressure as consumers and whether that affects how they shop, what they buy, and how they arrange their homes and workspaces. In a more recent area of research, Carol has examined the experiences and feelings of consumers with disabilities as they interact with the marketplace. Her work includes formal empirical studies regarding mobility-disabled shoppers, people with color vision problems, and people with learning disabilities, such as attention deficit disorder. Her more recent research has examined the online experiences of shoppers with various disabilities. Finally, she has examined the food shopping behaviors of Hispanic consumers in relation to their use of discount coupons. She is currently examining the grocery shopping behaviors of immigrant Turkish consumers. Her publications have appeared in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Consumer Policy, and Journal of Macromarketing.
Terry L. Childers is Gatton Endowed Chair in Marketing at the University of Kentucky and teaches courses in Measurement and Marketing Research. He was previously on the faculty at the University of Minnesota and has a PhD in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He serves on the editorial review boards of Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology. Professor Childers is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for Consumer Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He has published research in several journals, including Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Research. His research interests include the role of sensory factors, including visual and tactile, on consumer behavior from a neurobiological perspective. His current projects examine the behavior of consumers with impairments, including visual and auditory, effects of literacy, and the interaction of emotions with obesity.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Volume 28, Number 1, Spring 2009
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