The Determinants of Online Shopping Behavior

The Determinants of Online Shopping Behavior 

A.Social Cognitive Theory Reference [7] argued that social cognitive theory is a powerful theory for explaining human behavior. The core argument of social cognitive theory is that cognitive personal and environmental factors affect behavior [7, 16]. Reference [7] indicated that the primary statement in social cognitive theory is that there is a triadic mechanism among personal characteristics, such as cognitive states, psychical features, such as external environment factors, and behavior. Reference [7] shown that an individual’s perception can mold behavior. The way people think and feel is related to behavior. In other words, the cognitive state may influence individual’s behavior. Reference [7] expressed that the environment which individuals surround within is related to behavior. The environment which involves in social cognitive theory includes physical environment and social environment.

B.Perceived Website Complexity Reference [15] proposed the perceived website complexity which can be classified as perceived component complexity, perceived coordinative complexity, and perceived dynamic complexity. Perceived component complexity refers to the density and dissimilarity of information cues a user perceives in the task stimulus [15]. Perceived coordinative complexity refers to the interdependencies and range among different information groups a user perceives in the task stimulus [15]. Perceived dynamic complexity describes the ambiguity and uncertainty that individuals experience when executing a task [15].

C.Trust Various definitions of trust have been proposed. Trust can be defined as the trustor perceives that the trustee has the ability, integrity, and benevolence features to bring benefit to the trustor [14]. Trust is the tendency to believe in others [17]. Trust is the cognition toward the trustee[18]. Code Shoppy Reference [19] included propensity to trust, trust (willingness to be vulnerable to another), and perceptions of trustworthiness (cognitions). Reference [20] defined trust as a belief that the trustee will perform a particular action in a favorable manner. Reference [21] proposed that trust means the trustors are willing risk being hurt by the trustees. According to the Mayer model, trust occurs when the trustors perceive trustworthy features from the trustees [19].  

Reference [7] indicated that human behavior can be explained by social cognitive theory. Thus, this study adopts social cognitive theory proposed by [7] to be the theoretical framework to explore the antecedent of online shopping behavior. According to social cognitive theory, human behavior is influenced by cognitive personal and environmental factors [7, 16]. Previous study defined trust as a belief which is a cognitive concept [20]; website is online environment. Thus, we take trust as a cognitive variable, and regard the interface of website which is perceived website complexity as a physical environmental factor to explore the relationships among trust, perceived website complexity, and online shopping behavior. Information is asymmetrical between consumers and sellers in an online environment. This may cause consumers to concern that the online sellers may not adhere to the transactional obligations. Reference [13] indicated that trust is a key role in many transactions in which many undesirable opportunistic behaviors exist. Reference [20] indicated that trust refers to a trustor believes that trustee will perform a behavior in an expected way. In that situation, he or she would like to take risks [22], such as asymmetrical information between consumers and sellers in an online environment. That is, customers accept a certain degree of risk toward the loss that may happen during online transactions. Thus, participating in online transactions requires trust in sellers first, and then to pursue purchasing behavior [23]. Reference [24] also argued that trust positively affects buying behavior. Thus, this study proposes the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: Trust positively affects online shopping behavior. Previous studies indicated that store environment influence consumer behavior. Reference [6] explained that four store environmental factors, including music, light, employee, and layout influence buying behavior. Reference [25] proposed a conceptual framework for studying the effects of online store design including virtual layout, virtual atmospherics, virtual theatrics, and virtual social presence on consumer behavior. For online sellers, creating an environment in which customers can relax and be confident about the transactions is an important thing. In this study, we regard perceived website complexity as an environmental factor that may influence online shopping behavior. Perceived website complexity can be classified as perceived component complexity, perceived coordinative complexity, and perceived dynamic complexity [15]. Perceived component complexity refers to the density and dissimilarity of information cues a user perceives in the task stimulus [15]. A web page that has too many pictures and highly dense information causes users to perceive high component complexity. In this scenario, they may be unable to successfully purchase the product in an efficient way. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis: 

Hypothesis 2: Perceived website complexity affects online shopping behavior via trust. Perceived component complexity refers to the density and dissimilarity of information cues a user perceives in the task stimulus [15]. While a website with high perceived component complexity, customers may perceive that there are crowded web pages with many information and pictures on this website. In this case, customers may not easy to find out cues to judge that whether venders provide high quality products, make good trading standards, and keep their promises. Thus, it is hard for these customers to perceive the ability, integrity and benevolence features of online venders, and then keep them from purchasing behavior. Thus, the study proposes the following hypothesis:    

Hypothesis 2a: Perceived component complexity affects online shopping behavior via trust. Perceived coordinative complexity refers to the interdependencies and range among different information groups a user perceives in the task stimulus [15]. For example, while information regarding dress, pant, shirt, jacket, skirt, hat, tie, and belt is presented on a web page, customers may perceive high coordinative complexity on this website. In this case, customers may hard to understand if online venders will perform a transaction in an expected way, and then refuse to shop online. Thus, the study proposes the following hypothesis:  

Hypothesis 2b: Perceived coordinate complexity affects online shopping behavior via trust. Reference [15] defined perceived dynamic complexity as the ambiguity and uncertainty that individuals experience when executing a task. While shopping on a website with high perceived dynamic complexity, customers do not know where each click will lead and what features the online venders actually have. For example, customers may not figure out that whether the venders have enough professional knowledge to meet their needs. Besides, uncertain and ambiguous linkages provided by website may make customers believe that the venders don’t care about the customers at all. Thus, on a website with high perceived dynamic complexity, customers are hard to perceive trustworthy features from the online venders and then resist shopping online. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis:  View more