Adoption of Internet shopping: the role of consumer innovativeness
| Pages | 294-300 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570010304806 |
| Date | 01 October 2000 |
| Published date | 01 October 2000 |
| Author | Alka Varma Citrin,David E. Sprott,Steven N. Silverman,Donald E. Stem |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Adoption of Internet shopping: the role of consumer
innovativeness
Alka Varma Citrin
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
David E. Sprott
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
Steven N. Silverman
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
Donald E. Stem, Jr
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
The Internet represents an extremely
efficient medium for accessing, organizing,
and communicating information (Peterson et
al., 1997). These characteristics, in part, have
led to ever greater use of this medium by
individuals and organizations (Quelch and
Klein, 1996). Although the emergence, for
example, of the World Wide Web (WWW) (an
Internet service that organizes information
using hypermedia) appears to have
significant potential for business and
marketing (Hoffman and Novak, 1996), it is
not clear if mere usage of the Internet and
WWW by consumers leads ± as many
organizations hope (Shi and Salesky, 1994) ±
to the commercial use of the Internet by these
same individuals.
The future commercial success of the
Internet depends, to some extent, on whether
current users of the Internet (e.g. those who
access information and/or communicate
electronically) also use this medium for
product purchase. The present research
examines the issue in more detail by
investigating why some consumers who are
users of the Internet are more likely to use
this new medium for shopping than other
users. Specifically, we view the Internet and
Internet shopping as an innovation (Mahajan
and Wind, 1989; Peterson et al., 1997) and
investigate the moderating role of
innovativeness in the relationship between
general Internet usage and Internet
shopping.
From Internet usage to Internet
shopping
Since the success or failure of the Internet as
a retail channel depends on whether the
consumers use it to purchase products/
services, it is important for marketers to
identify the conditions under which Internet
users also use this medium for shopping.
While it is clear that factors such as product
characteristics, Internet-marketing
techniques, and the costs and benefits of
Internet shopping itself may play an
important role in determining Internet
adoption for commerce, the scope of this
study is limited to understanding a specific
consumer characteristic that may influence
Internet shopping adoption.
In particular, we examine consumer
innovativeness ± a personal characteristic
found to be a good determinant of new-
product adoption (Robertson and Kennedy,
1968) such as adopting cellular phones or
satellite TV, and in our research context, the
Internet as a shopping medium ± and its role
in understanding the conditions when
general Internet use leads to purchases via
the Internet. The model in Figure 1 presents
the conceptualized relationship between
Internet usage, Internet shopping (in the
form of product purchases), and consumer
innovativeness.
Specifically, we propose that individuals
using the Internet for purposes other than
shopping will have a higher propensity to use
the Internet for purchases as well as
individuals with open-processing
innovativeness (general innovativeness
referring to a cognitive style open to new
experiences), and domain-specific
innovativeness (innovativeness specific to
the product domain). In addition, we propose
that consumer innovativeness moderates the
relationship between Internet usage and
Internet shopping in view of the fact that not
all users of the Internet use this medium for
commerce. In the following sections we
provide more details on these proposed
relationships.
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[ 294 ]
Industrial Management &
Data Systems
100/7 [2000] 294±300
#MCB University Press
[ISSN 0263-5577]
Keywords
Innovation, Consumer behaviour,
Internet, Shopping
Abstract
The projected sales potential for
Internet commerce indicates that
businesses must understand
those consumer characteristics
that will influence consumer
adoption of this medium for
shopping. An empirical study
conducted here (n= 403)
investigates the extent to which
open-processing (more general
innovativeness) and domain-
specific innovativeness explain
the conditions under which
consumers move from general
Internet usage to a product
purchase via the Internet. The
results of our study find that
generally higher amounts of
Internet use (for non-shopping
activities) are associated with an
increased amount of Internet
product purchases. Importantly,
however, this relationship is
moderated by domain-specific but
not general innovativeness.
Implications for business practice
and academic research are
provided.
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