The moderating effect of culture on the construct factor of perceived risk towards online shopping behaviour

Abstract

Recently, advances in Internet communication have changed the performance of business and interactions between producers and consumers. Various endeavours have been made by Malaysian Government to equip the society with electronic gadgets to facilitate Internet commerce or e-marketing. Paying attention to the factors affecting online shopping attitude is of paramount importance for marketers to develop their marketing strategies and improve sales. This research examines the factors affecting students’ online shopping attitude in universities around Klang Valley area in Malaysia. The study has shown that collectivism/individualism to be at individual level. Past research revealed that the most widely utilized approach in cultural consumer behaviour seems to be the individualism/collectivism. This study examines the moderating effect of collectivism/individualism as a dimension of culture on the relationship between attitude and other factors such as; perceived risk, privacy, security and subjective norms. These results revealed that significant moderation effects with regards to the association of subjective norm and attitude, perceived risk and other factor were significantly correlated with the attitude towards online shopping while perceived risk was observed to be negatively significant on attitude. Accordingly, the findings of the study suggested that online retailers are required to consider the online shopping to enhance their success in retailing business via Internet.

Keywords

• perceived risk
• privacy
• security
• subjective norm
• consumer behaviour
• online shopping