Factors Influencing the Intention to Use Affiliate Marketing: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

Internet and technology advances enable all business organizations to engage in the e-commerce market. The use of multichannel strategies is costly. Affiliate marketing has emerged as one of the wildest growing online marketing and e-commerce strategies to increase sales. Perfections in online activities via affiliate marketing have a significant effect on the organization’s product visibility, advertising cost, and return on investment (ROI). These are critical components that an organization need to secure in order to gain the ability to create brand positions in the e-commerce market. Understanding the factors that contribute to the engagement of affiliate marketing in an organization is crucial because it helps to identify success factors that influence the intention to use affiliate marketing. From this understanding, refreshing changes or alternatives to current online marketing practices, organization strategies, and advertising techniques can be easily transformed to reduce the advertising costs. This study only focused on three dominant factors which influence the behavioral intention to use specific technology (i.e. affiliate marketing) which are relative advantage, compatibility, and observability. Relative advantage is defined as the level at which the current practice is perceived to be lower than innovation and is associated with a diversity of facilities, satisfaction, social, and economic diversity. Compatibility refers to the level at which the innovation is perceived consistent with previous ideas, socio-cultural values or perceived innovation is necessary. On the other hand, observability is the stage where other users or other parties, but not the business owner can see the positive results of using the technology. Thus, through the understanding of these factors, the researcher aims to show a better understanding of the affiliate marketing concept and the factors that influence the intention to use affiliate marketing.