Difference in the adoption of internet open markets between transition and established market economies

Abstract

Open market is defined as a market or place where prices are determined by supply and demand. The study proposes and tests an integrated model of consumers' purchase intentions toward open markets and investigates the differences in the adoption of open markets between Korea and China. Based on an extended technology acceptance model, we examined the effects of perceived website quality (PWSQ), perceived usefulness, third-party recognition, satisfaction, and trust on purchase intentions. We selected Korea as an established market economy and China as a transition economy. We obtained 147 usable responses in Korea and 113 usable responses in China. We analyzed the empirical data by using structural equation modeling. The results for empirical data from Korea provide support for all hypotheses except for the effect of perceived website quality on satisfaction. By contrast, the results for empirical data from China provide support for all hypotheses except for the effect of trust on satisfaction and that of PWSQ on trust. That is, perceived usefulness and PWSQ had significant effects on satisfaction, and third-party recognition had a significant effect on trust. We examined the differences between China and Korea through a t test to demonstrate cultural differences in the adoption of open markets. The relationships between perceived usefulness and satisfaction and between satisfaction and purchase intention were stronger in Korea than in China. The study contributes by proposing an integrated framework for open markets composed of the antecedents of satisfaction, trust, and purchase intentions and by measuring PWSQ and third-party recognition to consider diverse aspects of transactions in open markets.