Elucidating the determinants of purchase intention toward social shopping sites: A comparative study of Taiwan and Japan. Issue 4 (July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hsu, Chia-Lin; Chen, Mu-Chen; Kikuchi, Kazuo; Machida, Ippei
• Is Part Of: Telematics and informatics. Volume 34:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 326
• Page End: 338
• Publication Date: 2017-07
• Subjects: Social shopping -- Website quality -- Relationship quality -- Purchase intention; Telecommunication -- Periodicals; Computer networks -- Periodicals; Télécommunications -- Périodiques; Réseaux d'ordinateurs -- Périodiques; 384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2016.04.016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0736-5853

Abstract

Highlights: Examining the determinants of purchase intention from a cross-cultural perspective. Taiwan's consumers have higher perceived quality than Japan's consumers. Taiwan's consumers have higher purchase intention than Japan's consumers. The effects of website quality on purchase intention vary across Taiwan and Japan. Impacts of relationship quality on purchase intention vary across Taiwan and Japan. Abstract: As the market potential of social shopping is increased by social networking sites (SNSs), the social shopping research can be interesting and valuable for social shopping firms to clearly understand the determinants affecting consumers' purchase intention toward social shopping sites (SSSs). The objectives of this study are to examine consumers' purchase intention toward a target SSS in different countries and to understand these differences from a cross-cultural perspective. In order to explore the cross-cultural differences in consumers' purchase intention toward a target SSS, we propose an analytic framework that consists of website quality (i.e. system, information, and service quality) and relationship quality (i.e. satisfaction, commitment, and trust) that the SSS provides. To identify the determinants of purchase intention of SSS, large-scale online surveys were conducted in Taiwan and Japan simultaneously with the same questionnaire. Results show that perceptions of the two types of quality for a target SSS are significantly different between Taiwan and Japan, and effects of the quality types on the degree of purchase intention derived from the SSS also vary across the two countries. This paper ends with a discussion and limitations of the study results, as well as future research directions.