Purchase intention in an electronic commerce environment

Purchasing in the digital age: A meta-analytical perspective on trust, risk, security, and e-WOM in e-commerce

This comprehensive meta-analysis investigates the significant factors influencing consumer decision-making in e-commerce. Predominantly focusing on the parameters of trust, perceived risk, perceived security, and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM), this study provides insightful revelations on their integral roles in shaping e-commerce purchasing decisions. The findings demonstrate that trust, perceived risk, perceived security, and e-WOM significantly influence consumers' e-commerce purchasing decisions. Perceived Risk plays a substantial moderating role in the relationship between Trust and e-commerce purchasing decisions, amplifying the importance of managing and minimizing risk in online transactions to cultivate consumer trust. Contrastingly, the roles of Perceived Security and e-WOM do not hold the same moderating effect on the trust-purchasing decision nexus, underscoring the direct yet unmoderated influence these factors have on e-commerce purchasing behaviors. Furthermore, The research reveals no significant size effect difference among respondents from high-income and low-income countries or between general internet users and online shoppers concerning the impact of trust on e-commerce purchasing decisions. This intriguing finding suggests the universal importance of trust in the digital purchasing landscape, irrespective of socio-economic status or the degree of e-commerce engagement. This study thus sheds new light on the complexities of e-commerce decision-making processes. It offers valuable insights for businesses aiming to enhance consumer trust and engagement in the expanding digital marketplace.

Consumer quality management for beverage food products: analyzing consumer’ perceptions toward repurchase intention

Purpose

The research on consumerism has been dramatically rising in recent decades. However, in the food industry, little research has been empirically conducted in the beverage industry. This research empirically tests the consequences of consumer perceptions: perceived price (PPR), perceived quality (PQ), perceived packaging (PPG) and perceived taste (PT) on repurchase intention (RI) particularly; it unveils the consumer attributes, e.g. gender, age and ethnicity between consumer perceptions and RI of the consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 403 consumers of the beverage industry (e.g. Nestle, Mitchell's Fruit Farms, Murree Brewery and OMORE) in Pakistan. The researchers used online survey questionnaires followed by a cross-sectional approach because data collection physically was not possible due to COVID-19.

Findings

Data were analyzed by Smart partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) 3.3.3, and the results supported the significant influence of consumer perceptions separately, e.g. PPR, PQ, PPG and PT on RI. Additionally, gender, age and ethnicity were found to have a moderating role between consumer perceptions and RI, so, the truth of having consumer attributes has been revealed.

Practical implications

The managers of beverage industries should provide ethical and operational strategies to tackle consumer's problems based on cultural norms. Furthermore, they should make sensible measures for the quality branding of the beverage products. In this way, the consumers will have a better experience of quality, price, taste and packaging, in turn, to RI.

Originality/value

This research targeted the beverage industry that needs facts and figures based on consumer attributes, e.g. age, gender and ethnicity. This research also disclosed the behaviors of consumers according to their gender, age and area of residence.

The impact of virtual interaction on consumers' pro-environmental behaviors: the mediating role of platform intimacy and love for nature

Purpose

Companies are increasingly designing pro-environmental games to motivate users to implement pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). However, how different types of virtual interactions affect PEBs in pro-environmental games is not clear. Thus, the authors propose that two types of virtual interaction, interactions with game objects and interactions with other users, can induce platform intimacy and love for nature and that platform intimacy has a direct effect on love for nature. Simultaneously, the authors examine the moderating effect of network externality on the relationship between the two types of virtual interaction and platform intimacy.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors, respectively, employed data from 92 students and 574 Chinese mobile users to empirically investigate the research framework.

Findings

The findings indicate that participants in interactions with game objects and interactions with other users reported stronger feelings regarding platform intimacy and love for nature, which, in turn, positively influences PEBs. Consumers with stronger perceptions of network externalities were more likely to be affected by the initiation effect of the interaction with game objects.

Originality/value

The authors introduce the notion of love for nature to the pro-environmental behaviors field and discuss the priming effect of two types of interactions on platform intimacy and love for nature. In addition, the authors focus on the important effect of network externality on users' emotions.

The YouTube Marketing Communication Effect on Cognitive, Affective and Behavioural Attitudes among Generation Z Consumers

YouTube (YT) is the largest online video digital channel with more than 2 billion users, and over a billion hours of YT videos are viewed every day, particularly among young consumers. YT has become a massive marketing communication platform, which serves as a medium to target the lucrative Generation Z cohort (first born in the late 1990s), and influence this generation’s infamously unpredictable purchase decision process. The main aim of this paper was to consider the effect of YouTube marketing communication (YMC) on the traditional and non-traditional attitudinal associations of response hierarchy models. A multi-stage sample technique was used and 3750 high school and college learners (aged 13–18 years old) were surveyed via self-administered questionnaires in South Africa. Structural equation modelling was utilised to consider the hypothesised attitudinal associations. The research determined that YMC had a positive influence on the hypothesised attitudinal associations, and young consumers who used YT for fewer years, logged on more frequently, spent shorter time periods on the platform, viewed higher numbers of commercials, aged 13–14 years old, and from the White population group exhibited the most positive attitudinal responses. Hence, organisations should review their strategies in order to develop more sustainable YMC owing to the heterogeneity evident among young African consumers.

Consumers' Decision-Making Process on Social Commerce Platforms: Online Trust, Perceived Risk, and Purchase Intentions

This study enhances the existing literature on the role of trust and online perceived risk in shaping consumer purchase decision-making in social commerce. The aim of this article is to investigate consumers' purchase decision-making process, the determinant components of social commerce purchase intentions and attitudes, the effect of perceived risk on intention to go shopping in online settings, and consumer trust and buying behavior on online retailing platforms. The insights obtained from our research extend current knowledge as regards determinants of consumer attitudes and intentions toward online purchases, consumers' perceived shopping risk and repurchase behavior when buying products online, and perceived consumer online trust and purchase decisions. Limited research has considered consumers' decision-making processes on social commerce platforms by investigating how their perceptual attitudes, behavioral intentions, and immediate gratifications affect the purchase of products and services online. Our study addresses this gap and extends prior research by focusing on the relationship between online consumer purchase intention, social commerce adoption behavior, and consumers' trust together with risk factors affecting online buying decisions, in light of the characteristics of source credibility. Our findings point toward important avenues of research on psychological determinants of consumer engagement in social media, decision mechanisms lying behind evaluation of prices, the types of perceived risk incurred, and online repurchasing behavior and intention on social commerce platforms. Subsequent directions should clarify whether adoption of mobile payment services may shape online consumers' impulsive buying behavior and decision-making, especially under the influence of online product reviews.