Towards Understanding the Initial Adoption of Online Retail Stores in a Low Internet Penetration Context: An Exploratory Work in Ghana

Abdul Bashiru Jibril, Michael Adu Kwarteng, Michal Pilik, Elsamari Botha and Christian Nedu Osakwe
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Abdul Bashiru Jibril: Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Mostni 5139, 76001 Zlin, Czech Republic
Michael Adu Kwarteng: Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Mostni 5139, 76001 Zlin, Czech Republic
Michal Pilik: Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Mostni 5139, 76001 Zlin, Czech Republic
Elsamari Botha: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Stellenbosch Business School, Carl Cronjé Drive, Bellville Park Campus, Bellville 7530, Cape Town, South Africa
Christian Nedu Osakwe: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Stellenbosch Business School, Carl Cronjé Drive, Bellville Park Campus, Bellville 7530, Cape Town, South Africa

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Online shopping has become increasingly popular in the past two decades. Yet, despite its popularity, the use of online stores on the African continent pales in comparison to other parts of the world. Moreover, in many economic contexts in Africa and including Ghana, there has been very limited research on the subject of online adoption and in particular, the fundamental factors that can influence its initial adoption, especially among young and relatively educated consumers who constitute the largest demographic group there. We, therefore, make a determined effort to fill this growing knowledge gap by exploring some fundamental factors associated to shop online by young and educated consumers. This exploratory research draws on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework and focuses on five variables of interest namely perceived ease of use, government support infrastructure, and economic considerations about pricing, perceived convenience and use intentions of online retail stores. Evidence collected from 294 research participants provides support for our research propositions Finally, our research contributions and future study directions are considered in the concluding part of the paper.

Keywords: online retail store; stimulus-organism-response; ease of use; e-shoppers; convenience; Ghana (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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