Consumer Ethnocentrism in Digital Commerce: The Interactive Roles of Trust, Perceived Risk, and Social Influence in Online Purchase Intention

Abstract

Purpose: Online retail is growing rapidly globally, but has yet to be widely taken up in small and culturally diverse emerging markets, where there is limited research. Based on service-convenience theory, consumer-value theory, and the literature on consumer ethnocentrism, this study proposes and tests a theoretical model of online purchase intention in a small, collectivist emerging economy where the Internet penetration rate has reached a high level, but online retail only constitutes a small part of total consumption. This model includes a multidimensional construct of perceived online shopping convenience (access, search, evaluation and possession convenience) as a second, under-researched determinant, and perceived value as a mediating mechanism between the two determinants of purchase intention, while trust, perceived risk and social influence are moderators and age and gender are controls. Design/Methodology/Approach: Data was gathered using a structured questionnaire back-translated and administered to 410 consumers who use the Internet in a large urban area of the study economy. Findings: The relationships between perceived convenience, perceived value, and online purchase intention are positive, whereas the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and purchase intention is negative, and trust, perceived risk, and social influence moderate each of these relationships in the hypothesized directions. Implications/Originality/Value: The paper adds a rare dimensional combination of shopping convenience and consumer ethnocentrism in a small, non-western, high-context market, and provides lessons for international and domestic e-retailers for competing with customers in these types of markets.