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These perceived characteristics of Internet retailers influenced consumers’ perception of relative advantage, enjoyment, and risk of shopping online and hence influenced consumers’ online shopping behavior.
The result of modeling testing supported the proposed research framework. The identified innovation characteristics and consumers’ Internet self-efficacy affect current online shopping behavior or future online shopping intention. The model of current shopping behavior and the model of future intention to continue shopping online are similar except for the paths from enjoyment to current shopping behavior and intention to continue shopping in future. The results of modeling consumers’ adoption of the Internet for current shopping separately from intention to continue shopping online provide insights into the dynamic feature of consumers’ adoption of the Internet as a shopping medium.
Relative advantage has a positive effect on online visiting and purchasing and a negative effect on cross-channel (search information online but purchase elsewhere) shopping behavior for both current online shopping behavior and future online shopping intention. These findings suggest that the greater the relative advantage that consumers perceive from shopping online, the more likely they are to visit the Internet, make purchase decisions, and purchase over the Internet and the less willing they are to cross-channel shop.
Not surprisingly, perceived risk has a negative impact on both current online purchasing and future online purchase intentions but has positive impact on cross-channel shopping behaviors, in that consumers leverage the Internet to make purchase decisions but purchase through other shopping methods when they perceive online purchasing risk. Enjoyment has a positive impact only on future online visiting intention but has a strong impact on online current purchasing. Therefore, enjoyment might play an important role in retaining current online purchasers and encouraging them to purchase online more frequently in the future. Consumers’ Internet self-efficacy has a positive impact on online visiting; however, it has a negative influence on online purchasing. This interesting paradoxical relationship between consumers’ Internet self-efficacy and their online purchasing behavior might indicate that the Internet retailers may be facing increasing challenges in using Internet marketing strategies, in that online consumers are becoming savvier over time and have higher expectations from online retailers. If online retailers’ performances do not meet consumers’ expectations, they will not purchase online even though they visit the Internet more frequently. Consequently, Internet retailers have to keep updating and upgrading their online marketing strategies in order for consumers to perceive their website as having greater relative advantage and enjoyment and less risk.
Participants were separated into heavy search product purchasers and heavy experience product purchasers for a multigroup invariance comparison to test moderating effect of product category. The results revealed no significant moderating effect of product category on consumers’ online shopping behavior.