To Be, or Not to Be

Abstract

This paper studies online shopping behavior in transitioning markets in a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce setting. A framework was adopted in which the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was extended with trust and instrumental factor (need for touch). The mediation effect of trust between the predictor variables perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and need-for-touch, and intention to shop online was tested. The analysis of the quantitative data revealed that both independent variables perceived usefulness and usability strongly affect consumer trust, and trust partially mediates between the predictors and intention to shop online. This lack of touch-and-feel in the e-commerce setting is mentioned frequently by respondents as one of the main reasons which keep customers away from buying goods online. Thus, it was also presumed that the need-for-touch is negatively related to intention to shop online. There is an opportunity for future research to focus on testing the touch-and-feel effect using specific products in the online setting.