Free Essay on Online Shopping Intention

Intention refers to target approach behavior that is an action that someone drives to according to The international effects of atmospherics and perceptual curiosity on emotions and online shopping intention. It may be referred to as a predisposition of an individual to behave in a peculiar way that is often preferred due to the features and the benefits that are perceived of that particular behavior in some instances. This study thus defines online shopping intention as the tendency of the purchaser to use online shopping services at a future time.

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Research that has been done has shown that the predisposition to conduct online shopping has always been majorly influenced by some factors that including the degree of convenience, the pricing strategy, variety of products available and the amount of enjoyment derived from the online platform (Sun Qiang, 2007). Further, the attitude of shopping online and the internet experience can be influenced by online shopping if there is a value gain that is to be perceived from online shopping platform (He Qiguo and Lin Meihua, 2006).

Perceived benefits of online shopping

So much research has been done on the motivations of online shopping. Shopping as defined by Tauber (1972) is a series of behaviors involved in an acquisition of a product or the value that is derived from shopping process. His argument was that motivators of attracting online shopping behavior include among others the utilitarian benefits and hedonic benefits that arise in the process of shopping. Moreover, other researchers have pointed out that the fundamental key to success in the business to business markets is through the building of customer relationships with the argument that loyal customers are way more profitable that the once who are less loyal. Gaining loyalty of any customer thus requires the high level of trust in the process of relationship building with customers.

Utilitarian benefits

These are benefits that are fundamental, instrumental, rational useful and the question of whether these benefits reached customers is dependent on the significance and efficiency of the shopping mix activity. It can as well be said that the customer is likely to obtain a considerable amount of utilitarian benefit when there is a completion of the shopping activities in a more convenient and efficient manner (Chandon et al., 2000). Perceived benefit of online shopping according to the most recent of research done are the availability of adequate information, convenience, and variety of the available products for shopping (Singh, 2002). This is as a result of customers demanding a process that has conveniences and a variety of choices of products in the online shopping platform. The amount of information that is available in the business to consumer markets which is also constantly on the rise has in significant proportions impacted the process of customer satisfaction.

Hedonic Benefits

Hedonic value can be defined as an overall of tentative paybacks, expenses, and costs that are involved. According to Overby & Lee, (2006), shopping behavior in the online environment does no longer involve the acquisition of products; the customers thus relish more the emotional benefits that came as a result of the online platform.

Online privacy

According to research done by Bart and other researchers in 2005, it was recognized that the risk of information is related with privacy that is brought about by the invisibility of management of information and the people that are authorized to have access to the said information. According to Culnan, (2000), Privacy refers to the right of a person in selecting what personal information is harvested and utilized. Youn, (2009) defined consumer privacy as the ability to control personal information. Consumers normally get concerned with their privacy if there is a feeling of being uninformed on the extent to which their personal information should be used (Lin, 2007).

In the online environment, apart from personal information provided by the consumer, for example, name, address and credit card number, the companies may also gather a considerable amount of information through tracking of users via their online activities (Davis Jr et al., 2003). For instance, the online website can be used to track a person's search history and their recent social media activities to generate a list of the recommendation of their interest areas that can inform the purchase decision. This study thus defines online privacy as the control measures that the internet user of the information that is electronically generated in their activities undertaken online like the collection of their personal information and utilization of that information according to Mekovec & Hutinski, (2012).

To prove the level of information privacy, customers are currently more concerned about what they do online to help safeguard their privacy as compared to the level of safeguards to information privacy as in the traditional setup. The biggest concern for individuals who use websites according to an article by Harris poll on BusinessWeek argued that most customers regard e-commerce as an unfamiliar business environment, and there were so many attempts to govern this particular environment (Green, Yang, & Judge, 1998). It can, therefore, be noted that people have increased their level of concern on the risks that are associated with e-commerce. Nevertheless, the drama that emanates from the difference between the traditional retail and the online retail platform has made people feel that control of this new online shopping environment has been lost. The research that was done by Culnan (2000) revealed that people often provide untrue information online due to their privacy of information concern. The subsequent survey developed by IBM on consumer privacy, 80% of the respondents who are residents of United States believed that it is impossible for them to control how companies collect their information online and use them, 54% of the respondents declined to perform online shopping due to their worry about collection of their informations online during the transactions process. It is therefore of great concern as privacy related issues impact the willingness of the consumers to adopt the e-commerce platform to conduct their shopping activities.

Awareness

Matyas, (2009), described awareness as the predictor of the concerns that arise from privacy-related misfortunes. Awareness is usually based on the individual's insight and thought of physical or non-physical objects. Experience, as well as education level of an individual coupled with attitude and tendency of behavior, has helped to enhance the level of awareness. Engin & Cam, (2009) posited that privacy awareness imitates the perception of, the collector and tracker of personal information, which personal information has been collected, how to safely store personal information and how to process and use personal information.

Smith regarded privacy related concerns in his research as personal awareness of several privacy practices on the organizational information included information collection analytics of information, illegal use of ancillary data and inaccuracies in the private information. The user that is more informed about the collection of online information is more likely to forgo the use of the internet. In a similar way, Malhotra argued in his research that the commercial practices that include a collection of the information and their analytics and the fear of commercial practices of business persons have escalated the risk related to privacy in the e-commerce platform. He further points that collection of information and awareness of confidentiality practices forms the component of internet user's concern on information privacy. There are, therefore, four dimensions of privacy that include information collection awareness, information analytics awareness, and unauthorized use of secondary data awareness and errors of personal information awareness.

Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy according to study conducted by Bandura (1986), can be defined as people's judgment of their capabilities for organizing and execution of courses of action that are usually needed to assist in attaining designated types of performances. Apart from the skills and capabilities endowed to one, this self-efficacy refers to the measure of a persons awareness of their talent. Self-efficacy regulates what is to be done by a person about their previous knowledge and abilities that go a long way to impact on various tasks. Bandura goes ahead to mention that the self-efficacy of an individual plays a critical role in the analysis of tendency of a particular behavior in a given assignment. Additionally, he advanced the self-efficacy concept that has assisted to describe the connection that exists amid self-efficacy, outcome and behavior.

The expectation about efficacy and outcome of an individual normally affect their respective action when performing a given task, but there exist differentiations between the outcome and self-efficacy. The outcomes due to the result of a particular behavior and efficacy expectations result from the evaluation of the capability of successful performance of a particular behavior. Bandura further argues that the expected outcome is not so much as in leading behaviors. Self-efficacy influences outcome expectation, even though outcome expectations do not impact individuals self-efficacy. A person may have well-informed about a particular behavior can lead to a certain result, but this knowledge has few impact on his behavior if he doubts about his abilities in performing this action (Bandura, 1986).

RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESIS

This is going to lay emphasis on the elements that affect customers online purchasing intention. By drawing upon the perceived benefits of online shopping, self-efficacy of online privacy, and trust of e-commerce, some research models have been put forth as below.

Perceive benefits of online shopping

Information availability

Information is an important resource for consumers. The availability of information is one of the critical factors that affect customers purchase behavior in an electronic commerce environment (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2000). The internet offers the consumer an effective way to explore information about products, to compare alternatives, and to know pricing (Kolesar & Galbraith, 2000). Shopping on an electronic market can reduce the cost of obtaining information that relates to the product, as well as comparing information of alternatives (Bakos, 1991). Furthermore, online stores provide a wealth of product-related information to their customers, such as price comparisons, user perspectives, and instructions. Customers can get useful information directly without leaving the website same way; they can read those reviews before they make any purchasing decision (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2000). When there is more information available on online shopping websites, there will be increased customer shopping satisfaction and reduced the cost of purchasing (Peterson, Balasubramanian, & Bronnenberg, 1997).

Therefore, widespread information on the Internet provides useful data for purchasing decisions, which illustrates that online purchasing behavior is functional.

H1a: There will be a significant positive relationship between the information available online and the pleasures that customers gain from the online shopping experience.

Convenience

Convenience is another benefit that has been realized in online shopping activities. In comparison to the traditional shopping, convenience is unparalleled. The internet offers the flexibility of time and location for an online shopping experience. Re...