Applying Flow Theory to Omnichannel Consumer Behaviour: A Systematic Literature Review

The impact of technological advances and continued digitalisation and notably the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in consumer behaviour, market development and interactions between businesses and consumers has led to a formulation of multiple integrated channels (Asmare and Zewdie, 2022). Nonetheless, it is obvious that there is a scarcity of research into omnichannel consumer behaviour in retailing from the perspective of customers. The present study is expected to provide literature-based evidence on omnichannel consumer behaviour literature by applying flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1977), namely the conceptualisation of omnichannel shopping challenge and skill as the antecedents of flow. This study aims to systematically review the extant literatures regarding omnichannel consumer behaviour and flow experience (flow state) in the research context of online and offline shopping environments. The selected articles were reviewed and analysed to extract important information after a screening. The result shows that there is a strong need for a theory-driven research and qualitative approach into determining omnichannel shopping challenge and skill, and the flow state that customers experience during their shopping trip in an omnichannel retail environment.