Turning Visitors into Customers: A Usability-Centric Perspective on Purchase Behavior in Electronic Channels

Viswanath Venkatesh () and Ritu Agarwal ()
Additional contact information
Viswanath Venkatesh: Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, Business Building, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
Ritu Agarwal: Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, Van Munching Hall, College Park, Maryland 20742-1815

Management Science, 2006, vol. 52, issue 3, 367-382

Abstract: We develop a theoretical model for predicting purchase behavior in electronic channels. The model suggests that website use (i.e., technology use), a key indicator of the degree to which a site is "sticky," is a significant antecedent of purchase behavior. Furthermore, we relate the usability of a website to use behavior and purchase behavior. Specifically, individual characteristics and product type are argued to differentially influence the weights that customers place on five different categories of usability. The weighted ratings of the five categories together determine use behavior and purchase behavior, after controlling for purchase need, experience with similar sites, and previous purchase on the specific sites. The model was tested in a longitudinal field study among 757 customers who provided usability assessments for multiple websites from four different industries--i.e., airlines, online bookstores, automobile manufacturers, and car rental agencies. Six months later, 370 of these individuals provided responses to help understand the transition from visitor to customer, i.e., whether they actually transacted with a specific website. Results provided strong support for the model and yield important theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: usability; online consumer behavior; website use; online purchase (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (39)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1050.0442 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:52:y:2006:i:3:p:367-382

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().