Online shopping behaviour: moderating role of gender and product category

Shivraj Kanungo and Vikas Jain

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2012, vol. 10, issue 2, 197-221

Abstract: Various studies have investigated the effect of risk perception of consumers on their intention to purchase products online. However, it remains to be shown how the effect of risk perception on intention to purchase online differs across gender or across categories of products being purchased. More importantly, it is important to understand whether gender and product category, together, have a moderating role in influencing the relationship between perceived risk and intention to purchase. In this paper, the role of gender and product category, in moderating the impact of perceived risk on intention to purchase, is examined. Analysis from a survey of 183 respondents, based on their interaction with two specific websites, reveals that gender, by itself, does not directly impact the relationship between perceived risk and intention to purchase, indicating the levelling off of the online gender gap. However, the gender effect manifests itself when analysed in association with product category, indicating that males and females do differ in their risk perception based on the category of product being purchased. We provide the implications of this finding for theory and research on internet.

Keywords: online purchases; product risk; product categories; technology acceptance; gender differences; shopping behaviour; online shopping; shopping behaviour; moderating roles; virtual shopping; internet; world wide web; risk perception; consumer intentions; purchasing intentions; websites; gender gaps; gender effect; males; females; men; women; graduate students; MBA programmes; master's degrees; business administration; BestBuy; Dell; GE Appliances; Amazon; consumer electronics; domestic appliances; personal computers; universities; higher education; USA; United States; business information systems. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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