Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reasoned-action Theories (TRA, TPB, IBM) for Explaining Low E-commerce Adoption in a Developing Country: A Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach AI trends in digital humanities research

Abstract

This paper explains the process of e-commerce adoption through reasoned action theories (theory of reasoned action (TRA), theory of planned behavior (TPB), and integrated behavioral model (IBM)) in a developing country. Owing to a lack of precedent in the study settings, the study first validated empirical scales for measuring psychosocial drivers of behavior using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Subsequently, the study validated the aforementioned models using structural equation modeling, and also integrated sociodemographic characteristics as precursor variables in the model with the greatest predictive power. Results depicted that while TRA and TPB explain behavior well, it is IBM that is the most effective in explaining online consumer behavior, and underlined the importance of using volitional, sociodemographic, and individual-level factors (knowledge of e-commerce and environmental constraints to use e-commerce) to explain online consumer behavior. The study has numerous implications for e-commerce vendors operating in developing countries as the validated scales and models can be used to assess individual perceptions regarding e-commerce and to design effective communication strategies, respectively.