Impact of Social Media, Security Risks and Reputation of E-Retailer on Consumer Buying Intentions through Trust in Online Buying: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

E-commerce is a relatively new way of shopping in India. The prime focus of this paper is to explore the factors influencing customer buying intention through electronic commerce. The study encompasses the analysis of several factors such as privacy, trust, security and organisation’s reputation. The hypothesis was derived based on these factors in the context of e-commerce in India. The data is collected through questionnaires from 287 respondents from the region of Maharashtra, India using the random sampling method. The respondents were considered who are frequently buying goods and services through e-commerce websites. The analysis has been performed using the method of structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis. The outcome of the paper deliberates that the privacy, trust, security and organisation’s reputation significantly affects the online purchase intention of e-commerce consumers. It is recommended to provide attention to these factors to increase sales in the e-commerce business. The factor of trust is found as the most significant factor among all the factors which indicates that the respondents from the selected region lack trust toward online commerce. Hence, e-commerce organisations should develop websites that meet the expectations of prospective consumers. This paper delineated the significant factors affecting the buying intentions in the context of online business in Maharashtra. Moreover, it has established an integrated framework to realize the influences on purchase decisions of consumers in e-commerce business environment in India.

Keywords: E-commerce; Online Purchasing Intentions; Buying Behaviour; Structural Equations Modelling; Regression Analysis; Confirmatory Factor Analysis

JEL Classification: M3, D4, D8