Differences in e-commerce behavior between neighboring countries

Abstract

It is often (implicitly) assumed that e-commerce behavior is similar in countries with a similar culture in terms of Hofstede's dimensions. Through a study of e-commerce behavior of 969 private consumers and company representatives on 50 products, this paper proves there are actually significant differences in e-commerce behavior (information finding, suppler selection, and purchase) between people from two neighboring, culturally similar countries: Belgium and France. Furthermore, contrary to what was found in various US studies, very few differences in e-commerce behavior were detected between men and women in these two countries. Furthermore, clear differences were detected between age groups for product information finding and supplier selection but not for product purchase. Finally, to a big extent differences in e-commerce behavior between private consumers of two countries also exist between company representatives of the two countries.