Summary of the chapter

This chapter has reviewed how consumer behaviour theory has been applied to the study of the adoption of electronic commerce and its antecedent innovations. Bearing in mind that purchasing by e-commerce requires the use of computers and the Internet, this chapter provided an overview of research on e-commerce from an innovation interdependence point of view. The review showed that most of the research on e-commerce adoption has concentrated on the last stage of that process (i.e. purchasing over the Internet) with limited research investigating the adoption of computers and the Internet. Two reasons were advanced as potential causes for this lack of research. First, the pro-innovation bias pervading research on the adoption of e-commerce. Second, the most frequently used consumer behaviour models treat the variables that are not directly related to the main behaviour as external to the model. The review of the literature has also demonstrated that studies that attempted to relate the computer/Internet adoption to e-commerce adoption have done it only on a very limited basis, usually using the outputs of adoption (i.e.

computer/Internet), perceptions of skills or experience as surrogates of adoption.

The chapter then moved on to examine the previous research on the adoption of computer-based innovations (i.e. computers and the Internet) and e-commerce. Most of

the research on the adoption of computers and the Internet has been developed using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Similarly, the majority of research on the adoption of e-commerce was shown to have used TAM as the theoretical underpinning. The underlying assumption is that because e-commerce is heavily technology driven, the assumptions of TAM remain valid to the adoption of e-commerce.

Several researchers have studied the adoption of computers/the Internet and e-commerce from a Diffusion of Innovations (DAI) point of view. Two main areas of this model have been explored: innovativeness and the perceived innovation attributes. There are some similarities between TAM and DAI model, notably in terms of the beliefs that are postulated to influence adoption. However, TAM has a more restricted belief set than DAI and some researchers have pointed out that the latter may be more appropriate in the context of complex and voluntary innovations. Other models utilised to study the adoption of e-commerce include the comprehensive models of consumer behaviour (Howard and Sheth and Engel et al.) and the transaction cost models and TRA/TPB, although they have been used to a much less extend than TAM and DAI.

As shown in Chapter Three, TRA involves the use of an expectancy-value model of attitudes. Despite that TAM is based on TRA, in TAM the evaluation weights are not directly measured but estimated using linear regression. Thus, the attitude model underlying TAM studies can be regarded as a composite model. Given that TAM and DAI pervades research on the adoption of computers/Internet/e-commerce, the majority of research on attitudes towards these innovations resembles the composite model. The multicomponent model has also been adopted by several researchers for studying the adoption of computers and the Internet. However, no research on the adoption of e-commerce was found that had used the multicomponent model of attitudes. One important limitation of computer/Internet attitude research is a ‘bias’ towards other than leisure settings as most previous scales tend to be focused on business or educational uses.

This chapter has also reviewed the research on the perceived characteristics associated with using computer-based innovations and e-commerce. Several attributes which are likely to affect the use of innovations were described, notably relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, visibility, perceived risk and image. Research on affect associated with using computers/the Internet has been restricted to some negative feelings, such as anxiety and frustration, and the positive feelings of fun/enjoyment. With few exceptions, research on

the adoption of e-commerce has failed to incorporate feelings towards using e-commerce.

In addition, no studies have attempted to understand the consumer’s level of involvement with using either computers/Internet or e-commerce.

The literature review has also demonstrated that computer/Internet experience is associated with their adoption. It was suggested that experience can be divided into objective and subjective experience. Objective experience, in turn, is constituted by direct and indirect experience. Direct experience involves the individual’s previous and/or current usage of the innovation. Three measurable components of direct objective experience were described: amount of computer/Internet use, opportunity to use and diversity of experience.

Additional variables that have been posited as influencing adoption include demographics, psychographics and the payment for purchases. However, although research suggests that demographics (e.g. gender, age and education) are associated with adoption, there is a debate on the effects of demographics on the latter.

Bearing in mind the importance of the product category for the adoption of e-commerce, it was argued that the purchase patterns of the product-category need to be carefully addressed. Using e-commerce is a means to obtain products and consequently the behaviours associated with the product category under research are an important determinant of the adoption of e-commerce. Four specific determinants were suggested:

the extent to which the consumer performs the purchaser role, the frequency of purchasing the product category, the type of supplier used by the consumer use and the consumer’s shopping habits and preferences.

Despite travel being one of the most purchased products over the Internet, research on the adoption of e-commerce in the purchasing of leisure travel is limited in number and scope.

Similar to other fields of e-commerce adoption, most of the research has focused on Internet users and purchasers or on consumers of the product category. In addition, the majority of the studies attempt to understand the relationship between personal characteristics and e-commerce adoption, with very little research studying perceptual variables.

5. Methodology

5.1. Introduction

Conducting research in a new field is not a simple task. As the literature has shown, research on the adoption of electronic commerce is still in its infancy. The literature has also demonstrated that consumer behaviour models were not developed for studying the choice of purchasing channels. Rather, they were developed for the study of consumers’

choice of products and services. Yet, these are two fundamentally different (although inter-related) processes, as one can be seen as the end (obtaining a product/service) and the other as a means to that end (how the products and services are obtained). Consequently, one of the main methodological challenges facing this research was the adaptation of consumer behaviour models and concepts to the study of the adoption of electronic commerce.

The aim of this chapter is to describe the overall methodology of the research. Specifically, this chapter discusses the research process and the main methodological steps necessary to achieve the objectives of the study. The chapters starts by providing the conceptual framework used in this research, including the main concepts and the hypothesised links between them. Next, the chapter discusses the nature of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, notably the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of each, leading to the justification of the approach adopted. The section devoted to the research process describes the various steps involved in the research design, ranging from the formulation of the research topic to the framework of analysis. Finally, the limitation and issues of validity and reliability faced in this research, including the selection of the independent variables and the analysis of non-response, are examined.