ABSTRACT Although customers often participate in cross-border e-commerce (CBEC), little is known about how customers obtain and process the knowledge they seek regarding cross-border e-commerce websites. This research explores cross-platform spillover effects of knowledge sharing in virtual communities on customers’ perceived website quality and customer service of independent cross-border e-commerce websites and their subsequent purchase intentions. By applying cue utilization theory and expectation-disconfirmation theory, we develop a model that captures how CBEC-related knowledge sharing in virtual communities influences customers’ purchase intentions on CBEC websites that are independent of these virtual communities. A quantitative survey of customers with CBEC purchase experience was conducted with three top virtual communities without associated CBEC websites, yielding 521 responses. The results suggest that CBEC-related knowledge sharing in virtual communities has significant positive effects on customers’ perceptions of website quality and customer service, and, thereafter, their purchase intentions. This research demonstrates that spillover effects from virtual communities to independent CBEC websites indeed exist and identifies the underlying mechanisms that explain how these spillover effects move from virtual communities to CBEC websites.
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