The effect of perceived security on consumer purchase intensions in electronic commerce

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explicate a comprehensive model explaining the impact of perceived security on consumer purchase intentions and how it contributes to trust and satisfaction towards an e-retailer in an online shopping context. Through an extensive literate review, it was found that two attributes of website personality, i.e., transaction security and payment system are constituents of perceived security. Thus, the study attempted to explore the relationships between transaction security, payment system and perceived security, trust, satisfaction and purchase intentions. The paper additionally provides valuable information to online retailers so as to maximise customer satisfaction and trust and generate positive intentions to buy online with perceived security attributes. In all, 500 Indian consumers' online shoppers were surveyed to conduct the above research agenda by structural equation modelling. A structural equation modelling approach was employed to explore the relationships between exogenous variables (transaction security, payment system and perceived security) and mediating variables (trust and satisfaction), with purchase intensions as a dependent variable. The finding of the study indicated that perceived security had positive effect on satisfaction. Perceived security has a positive impact on trust. Both trust and satisfaction had a positive mediating effect on consumer purchase intentions.