Consumer purchase intention toward POI-retailers in cross-border E-commerce: An integration of technology acceptance model and commitment-trust theory

Abstract

Consumer purchase intention in cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) has received significant attention in international marketing. However, little research has investigated consumer purchase intention toward smaller resource-constrained retailers who develop country-specific websites, also labeled as partial online internationalization (POI) retailers in CBEC. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Commitment-Trust Theory (CTT) are the most influential theories explaining online purchase intention, yet few studies have integrated them. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to integrate the TAM and CTT to shed light on consumer purchase intention toward POI-retailers in CBEC. Based on 364 respondents visiting a real-life POI-retailer’s country-specific website and answering a questionnaire, findings reveal that perceived usefulness, ease of use, and trust do not significantly impact purchase intention. Instead, perceived usefulness and ease of use need to be mediated by both trust and commitment, while trust needs to be mediated by commitment to affect purchase intention. This suggests that the path to consumer purchase intention toward POI-retailers differs from the findings of previous studies based on TAM and CTT.