Predictors of Online Buying Behaviour

Introduction

The rise of e-commerce has led to a growing interest among marketing academics in the popularity of online purchasing. Unlike the old conventional retail model, the web-based online shopping model has been embraced by corporations as a marketing strategy to gain a larger portion of the market. The Internet has evolved as a distribution platform where individuals exchange information, seek amusement, and engage in online buying and selling (Li & Hong, 2013). Organizations utilize the Internet as a valuable platform for conducting sales, with notable examples including Walmart, Amazon, and eBay. The quantity of online clients is steadily growing. The prevalence of online shopping has increased due to its numerous benefits, including convenience, time efficiency, and the ability to compare various products available on the Internet (N’da et al., 2023). While conventional customers may still prefer to physically visit businesses before they make purchase decisions, the current tendency is to make purchases with a simple click of a mouse. Although it is evident that a significant proportion of global customers regularly utilize the Internet for shopping, the factors that motivate them to purchase online and the potential for further growth through the development of more appealing online stores remain uncertain. This brings up the matter of investigating the elements that influence customers to engage in online shopping. Hence, it is imperative to provide a framework that can organize the intricate network of influences from various factors and facilitate a comprehensive comprehension of customers' views towards buying things online and their intent to make purchases on the Internet (Pereay Monsuwé et al., 2004).

This study establishes a framework by drawing upon prior research on customer acceptance of new self-service technologies and Internet purchasing systems (Childers et al., 2001; Dabholkar & Bagozzi, 2002). According to this research, customers' attitude towards online purchasing is initially influenced by the direct impacts of relevant elements of online shopping (Davis, 1993). Consumers' evaluations of online purchasing characteristics can be categorized into two dimensions: functional and utilitarian, such as “ease of use” and “usefulness”, and emotional and hedonic, such as “enjoyment” (Childers et al., 2001). This study establishes a framework by drawing upon prior research on customer acceptance of new self-service equipped processes of shopping and Internet purchasing platforms. This chapter integrates components from both the data systems or innovations in technology literature and consumer behaviour research by incorporating utilitarian and hedonic dimensions. Furthermore, the framework takes into account exogenous elements that influence the interactions between the basic constructs, in addition to the important online purchasing aspects.

In the second section of this chapter, we provide a theoretical framework i.e. Technology Acceptance Theory (TAM) as provided by Davis in the year 1989 and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to understand factors determining technology users’ attitudes towards online buying. In section three, we have analysed factors and their interactive relationships to determine online buying behaviour, based on an extensive review of literature. This has led to the development of a conceptual model as shown in figure 4. We have analysed the importance and managerial implications of this study in section four. Our conclusive remarks can be found in section five.