Modeling Consumer Adoption of the Internet as a Shopping Medium: ...

Setting it apart from other innovation adoption research, this study defines adoption of the Internet for shopping as using the Internet to complete one or more steps of the consumer decision-making process and conceptualizes the adoption process with respect to two dimensions: (a) the steps of decision making completed through the Internet and (b) the shopper’s intention to continue completing these decision-making steps through the Internet in the future. This approach captures both the multidimensional nature and the dynamic feature of adoption of the Internet for shopping, leading to a better understanding of the extent to which consumers will adopt this shopping medium and whether online consumers are likely to continue to use the Internet as a shopping medium. This research addresses those issues that have often been neglected in past literature on Internet adoption, including the multidimensional nature of consumers’ adoption of the Internet as a shopping medium, the dynamic nature of their adoption, and the interactions that exist among medium, consumer, and product variables. The conceptual models developed in this research facilitate a better understanding of consumer adoption of the Internet as a shopping medium, making contributions to both innovation adoption and consumer behavior literature.

The contribution this research makes to the appropriate body is reflected by sound empirical results reached through the adoption of a rigorous quantitative approach. The proposed model is calibrated with national sample data, and the research constructs are measured by multi-item measures with high reliability, validity, and unidimensionality, resulting in a measurement model with good fit.