Impact of product description and involvement on purchase intention in cross-border e-commerce
| Published date | 19 December 2019 |
| Date | 19 December 2019 |
| Pages | 567-586 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-05-2019-0280 |
| Author | Jian Mou,Wenlong Zhu,Morad Benyoucef |
Impact of product description
and involvement on purchase
intention in cross-border
e-commerce
Jian Mou
School of Business, Pusan National University, Busan, The Republic of Korea
Wenlong Zhu
Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, China, and
Morad Benyoucef
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of product description and involvement on
purchase intention in a cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) setting from a psychological perspective.
Design/methodology/approach –This study proposes a research model of purchase intention in CBEC
based on the involvement theory and commitment-involvement theory. The research model was tested using
the covariance-based structural equation modeling technique. Data were collected from consumers on a
popular CBEC platform in China.
Findings –A high-quality product description has no significantpositive effect on purchase intention, but it has
significant positive effects on product cognitive involvement, product affective involvement, platform enduring
involvement and platform situational involvement. In addition, product affective invo lvement,p latform enduring
involvement and platform situational involvement all have significant positive effect on purchase intention, but
this effect is not significant in the relationship between product cognitive involvement and purchase intention.
Practical implications –This study calls for sellers to optimize product descriptions on CBEC platforms in
order to attract more buyers and generate more profits.
Originality/value –This study integrates two theories of involvement into the research model in the CBEC
context. Based on this model, the authors analyzed how product description affects purchase intention under
the joint influence of two involvement factors.
Keywords Purchase intention, Commitment-involvement theory, Cross-border e-commerce (CBEC),
Involvement theory, Product description
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) refersto the process of selling goods to a consumer located
in a foreign country by means of online channels, either directly through a proprietary
website (i.e. business-to-consumer (B2C)) or through a digital intermediary such as an online
retailer or a marketplace (i.e. business-to-business-to-consumerB2B2C)) (Giuffrida et al., 2017).
Nowadays,CBEC has become an important channel for promotinginternational trade (Mou et
al., 2017) as it providesopportunities for both developingand developed countries to reap the
benefits of global transactions (Cui et al., 2019; Mou et al., 2019). In 2018, global CBEC
consumers accounted for 51.2 percent of online consumers (iResearch, 2019). In 2018, global
B2C CBEC transactions reached US$676bn, which increased by 27.5 percent over the
previousyear. It is estimated that this number willexceed US$800bn in 2019 (iResearch,2019). Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 120 No. 3, 2020
pp. 567-586
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-05-2019-0280
Received 18 May 2019
Revised 23 September 2019
25 November 2019
Accepted 6 December 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm
This study was partially supported by the Shandong Social Science Planning Program (Grant No.
16DGLJ04), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 2018-05241) and
QUT Undergraduate Teaching Construction and Reform Fund Program (Grant No. F2018-088).
567
Purchase
intention in
cross-border
e-commerce
In China, the number of CBEC consumers exceeded 100min 2018. In the same year, thetotal
amount of CBEC transactions reached 9.1tn yuan and was expected to reach 10.8tn yuan in
2019 (iResearch, 2019). In the first half of 2019, NetEase Kaola, Tmall Global and JD
Worldwide ranked as the top three Chinese CBEC platforms with 27.7, 25.1 and 13.3 percent
market share, respectively (Ebrun, 2019).
Since CBEC platforms are booming all over the world, it is important to understand the
factors that may motivate consumer purchase on such CBEC platforms. Product description is
a key step in product cognition. If consumers have no cognition of a product, they will not show
any interest in it or desire toward it; hence no further activities will take place (Zhu et al., 2019;
Mou et al., 2019). In CBEC, buyers and sellers are often from different countries, and they are
not necessarily familiar with each other, so product description, which serves as a bridge
between buyers and sellers, will have an important impact on the transaction (Giuffrida et al.,
2017; Mou et al., 2020). Generally, when customers search for a product online, a short
description of the product in question is displayed. Such description is an important cue to help
the consumer make further decisions (Resatsch et al., 2008). Therefore, how to efficiently
describe their products should be the focus of seller s on CBEC platforms. Efficient product
description will have the following consequences. First, it will be easier for customers to find
reasonably priced products using their own languages and know-how (Ng et al., 2000), and it
can helpcustomers better understand products and theirfunctions. Second, CBEC transactions
give rise tomore barriers and distances between buyers andsellers, such as language, culture,
history, trade agreements and so forth (Kim et al .,2017; Westl and,2019). Ther efore,ap propriate
product descriptions can remove barriers and shorten the distance between the two parties,
which is more likely to generate positive outcomes. Although there are certain similarities
between CBEC and traditional e-commerce, differences exist in aspects related to buyers and
sellers, trading platforms, marketing mode, logistics customs, etc. Although some existing
literature discussed the effect of product description in the context of traditional e-commerce,
such literature does not necessarily apply to CBEC. To address the above-mentioned concerns,
we examined the impact of product description on consumer purchase behavior in CBEC.
So far, academic research dedicated CBEC focuses on delivery issues (Kim et al., 2017;
Kawa, 2017), dispute resolution issues (Ong and The, 2016;Omoola and Oseni, 2016; Clifford
and Van Der Sype, 2016), as well as law and regulation issues (Chen and Yang, 2017; Bieron
and Ahmed, 2012). Little research has addressed product description in the context of CBEC.
In traditional e-commerce, optimized product description is a comprehensive process
involving marketing, consumer psychology, keyword principles and specific product
characteristics. Product information influences the purchase behavior of potential customers
(Benlian et al., 2012). Considering the influence of product description in traditional
e-commerce,we believe that it may also have aneffect on consumers in CBEC. In light of that,
this study takes a psychology perspective to propose a research model of purchase intention
in CBEC based onthe involvement theory and commitment-involvementtheory. The aim is to
analyze whether product description in CBEC affects the purchase intention of consumers.
The potential contribution of this study is that we integrate the two theories about
involvement in the research model and explore whether product description influences
consumers’purchase intention in the context of CBEC. First, we analyze the direct influence
of product description on purchase intention in CBEC. Second, based on the involvement
theory, in terms of product description on CBEC platforms, we explore the involvement in
products from both cognitive and affective aspects. Thereafter, we analyze the impact of
such involvement on purchase intentions. Third, based on the commitment-involvement
theory, in terms of product description on CBEC platforms, we examine the involvement of
consumers on CBEC platforms from both enduring and situational aspects, as well as the
impact of the above-mentioned involvement on purchase intentions. Indeed, this model
enables us to analyze whether product description affects consumer purchase intentions.
568
IMDS
120,3
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