Journal of Internet Commerce, 9:83103, 2010 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1533-2861 print=1553-287X online

DOI: 10.1080/15332861.2010.503848

Sustaining Online Shopping: Moderating Role of Online Shopping Motives

CHUANLAN LIU
School of Human Ecology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, and National Public Livelihood Economy Research Center, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

SANDRA FORSYTHE
Department of Consumer Affairs, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA

This research tests the effects of Technology Acceptance Model factors (usefulness, enjoyment, and ease of use) on the use of the online channel for information search and online purchase in the post-adoption context. By applying the Prospect Theory and introducing the concept of motivational approachavoidance conflict, this research also examines the moderating role of the simultaneous online shopping motives of pursuing benefits and avoiding risks in online shopping behaviors. Multi-group comparisons across shoppers with high=low motivational conflict (benefit perceivers vs. risk perceivers) show that online shopping motives limit the predicting power of the Technology Acceptance Model in the post-adoption context. Theoretical and practical implications are provided. KEYWORDS e-tailing, online shopping, post-adoption, Prospect Theory moderating effects, shopping motivations

INTRODUCTION
The success of the online shopping channel depends more on post-adoption use of the channel for purchasing an increasingly wide range of products than on initial adoption. However, there is a lack of research exploring post-adoption online shopping behavior (Shih and Venkatesh 2004). This research examines whether the drivers behind initial acceptance of the
Address correspondence to Chuanlan Liu, School of Human Ecology, Louisiana State University, 330 Human Ecology Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA. E-mail: clliu@lsu.edu 83

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online shopping channel can explain and predict post-adoption usage in an attempt to answer the following questions. Do online shopping motives inherited from traditional consumer studies affect post-adoption online shopping behavior? Why is it that consumers who perceive a high level of risk associated with online shopping may still choose to shop online? Recent studies examine direct or mediated effects of utilitarian and hedonic shopping motives on online shopping behavior (e.g., Close and Kukar-Kinney, forthcoming; To, Liao, and Lin 2007); but how consumers motives for pursuing benefits and avoiding risks simultaneously shape their use of the online channel has not yet been fully examined. A better understanding of how such motives work together to impact consumers online shopping behavior is necessary to develop an efficient approach to keep consumers shopping online. This research represents the first attempt to integrate two dominant theoriesthe Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Prospect Theoryto gain a more in-depth understanding of why consumers, even those who perceive considerable risk in shopping online, choose to continue shopping online. It is conducted in response to a call for both theory and corresponding models to be developed in the context of post-adoption (Limayem, Hirt, and Cheung 2007). Based on this theoretical framework and empirical findings, it is clear that, in addition to promoting the benefits of the Web site to retain current online shoppers and encourage more online purchases, e-tailers may find it effective to develop marketing strategies that will create a sense of loss among shoppers who fail to purchase online. The TAM (Davis 1989) represents a dominant theoretical framework for studying the adoption of technologies, including the Internet (Venkatesh et al. 2003). The TAM has been extended from the workplace to individual acceptance of technology-based innovations (e.g., Bruner and Kumar 2005) and extensively adopted for explaining and predicting online shopping behavior. Yet, the degree to which the TAM factors affect post-adoption usage has not been fully examined (Kollman 2004), and those factors inherited from the TAM need to be re-examined in the context of post-adoption use of the online shopping channel to better understand the diffusion of the online channel (Zhou, Dai, and Zhang 2007). Some extant research explores post-adoption usage, but it focuses on adoption within the workplace, which may differ from voluntary adoption, since external pressure in the workplace impacts the adopters acceptance behavior. However, a consumers acceptance of the online channel is voluntary. Thus, instead of being pushed by external pressure, the consumers use decisions are driven by perceived utility derived from the decision or action. Perceived utility is a trade-off between gains and losses from a decision or action. Thus, the motives of pursuing benefits and avoiding risks simultaneously affect the way consumers weigh gains and losses in the decision-making process. Consumers will respond differently to the perceived benefits and risks associated with shopping online, depending on

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whether their dominant motives for shopping are pursuing benefits or avoiding risks, suggesting that motives for using the online channel may put some boundary conditions on the explanatory power of the TAM. In fact, it has been proposed that shopping motives shape consumers attitudes toward stores and their store choice behavior (Morschett, Swoboda, and Foscht 2005). As such, it is useful to investigate the moderating effects of online shopping motives on continuing usage of the online channel in a post-adoption context. To this end, this research tests the effects of TAM factors (usefulness, enjoyment, and ease of use) on post-adoption use of the online channel for information search and online purchase and the moderating effects of online shopping motives (i.e., among benefit seekers and risk avoiders) on post-adoption use of the online channel. A conceptual model of postadoption use of the online channel is developed through combining aspects of the TAM (Davis 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw 1992) and the Prospect Theory (Kahneman and Tversky 1979) within the consumer decision-making process. Based on the conceptual model, a set of research hypotheses consistent with the research objectives are proposed, and the research methodology, results, and discussion are presented.

CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Figure 1 depicts the proposed conceptual model, specifying the online information search and online purchase as two types of online channel usage. Usefulness and enjoyment are the two factors directly driving the use of the online channel, instead of being mediated by attitude and ease of use and indirectly influencing post-adoption usage by increasing perceptions

FIGURE 1 Research model and hypotheses. Note. Dashed lines denote moderating effects.

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of usefulness and enjoyment of using the channel. Online shopping motives are proposed as moderating variables.

Post-Adoption Usage of the Internet for Shopping

The Internet can facilitate consumer decision-making at each step of the process (Liu 2007). Use of the Internet for shopping is not a one-time decision, nor need it include all steps of the decision process. Online consumers make use of the Internet because of its power as an information search vehicle, even though an online search may not result in an online purchase. Research has categorized the use of the online channel into partial versus full usage based on the number of decision-making steps completed through the channel and has suggested that consumers adoption often moves from partial adoption to full adoption (Liu). It has been argued that online pre-purchase activities (such as information search) and online purchase are distinct and should be treated separately, since different antecedents may influence each use pattern (Moe and Fader 2004; Close and Kukar-Kinney, forthcoming). Intention to use the Internet to search for information is the strongest predictor of Internet purchase intention and mediates relationships between purchase intention and other predictors (i.e., attitude toward Internet shopping, perceived behavioral control, and previous Internet purchase experiences; Zhou et al. 2007; Shim et al. 2001). Furthermore, use of the Internet for information search predicts immediate or future purchase. For instance, Moe and Fader (2004) empirically tested how different types of pre-purchase visits influence purchase intentions using page-to-page click stream data from a given online store. Their empirical findings confirmed that different types of pre-purchase visits contribute to immediate or future purchase.
H1: More use of the online channel for information search leads to more online purchasing.

Usefulness, Enjoyment, Ease of Use, and Online Channel Shopping

Usefulness affects online shopping intention both directly and indirectly through the shoppers attitude. As a measure of expectation, usefulness affects IT users satisfaction and, consequently, continued use intention (Xiaoni and Prybutok 2003; Schaupp 2010). Consumers seek value through the shopping process; thus, usefulness is a significant criterion for consumers to continue using the shopping channel, since such beliefs reflect shopping value from an online channel that may not be available from alternative shopping channels. The online channel has strong usefulness over other channels in terms of obtaining product information and alternative product comparisons (Bhatnagar and Ghose 2004). Purchasing online may also

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provide value not available from other channels such as convenience, less physical effort, broad product selection, and availability.
H2a and H2b: Usefulness of the online channel for shopping leads to more (a) online information search and (b) online purchasing.

Enjoyment influences the adoption of technology-based innovation (Davis et al. 1992), attitudes toward the Internet shopping channel (Childers et al. 2001), and the use of technology-based self-service (Dabholkar and Bagozzi 2002). Both usefulness and enjoyment influence consumer adoption of Internet devices, with enjoyment contributing more to consumer adoption than usefulness (Bruner and Kumar 2005), as consumers pursue both utilitarian and hedonic value through shopping. For instance, online apparel retailers may provide virtual models for trying on products or options for customizing a customers order, creating a cognitively and aesthetically rich shopping environment not readily imitable in the traditional shopping world. Hedonic, fun, relaxing feelings evoked by a Web site impact the shopping experience of the customer (Childers et al.; Huang, Lurie, and Mitra 2009). Users who exhibit a high degree of pleasure while shopping spend more time visiting a retailer and tend to choose the retailer for purchasing (Kim, Fiore, and Lee 2007).
H3a and H3b: Enjoyment from using the online channel leads to more (a) online information search and (b) online purchasing.

The original TAM posited and found that ease of use affects the usefulness of a system. Studies on technology acceptance in the consumer domain have also tested this relationship, finding that as consumers believe systems are easier to use, they perceive these systems to be more useful (Bruner and Kumar 2005; Kee-Sook, Jeen-Su, and Heinrichs 2008). Online shoppers enjoy using a channel that is easy to use and have fun performing a given task on a system that is easier to use than on a system that requires more effort to figure out how to make it work. As the online channel becomes easier to use for information search and online purchase, it provides shoppers with a greater sense of online shopping enjoyment.
H4a and H4b: Ease of use indirectly affects post adoption usage through its impact on (a) usefulness and (b) enjoyment.

Moderating Role of Online Shopping Motives

Motives refer to the processes initiated by aroused needs that lead to behaviors to achieve benefits or avoid undesired outcomes (Solomon 2009). Motives have been classified as utilitarian and hedonic (Hirschman and Holbrook

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1982). Sheth (1983) defined shopping motives as a customers needs and wants related to the choice of outlets at which to shop for a specific product or service class (p. 15) and postulated that consumers match their shopping motives against retailer attributes when establishing their shopping preferences for retail outlets. Consequently, shopping motives have been widely studied to understand consumer patronage behavior and outcomes. Some shopping motives are more utilitarian, while others are more hedonic. The magnitude of utilitarian and hedonic shopping motives varies across retail channels chosen (Maher, Marks, and Grimm 1997; Eastlick and Feinberg 1999; Close and Kukar-Kinney, forthcoming). e-Commerce literature documents that both hedonic and utilitarian motives drive visits to online stores; however, utilitarian motives, including convenience, product selection, product information, prices, and promotion, have a more salient effect on online buying than hedonic motives such as new experiences, freedom, and control (Bridges and Florsheim 2008; Wolfinbarger and Gilly 2001; Zhou et al. 2007). Research on shopping motivation and patronage outcomes focuses on how consumers are motivated to approach desired outcomes. However, shopping motives have valence, which means that they can be positive or negative (Forsythe, Petee, and Kim 2003; Solomon 2009), and consumers may be motivated to avoid a negative outcome. For instance, while an online shopping channel serves consumers needs for convenience, broad product selections, and excellent product information, it also activates negative motives for avoiding financial, privacy, time, and product risks (Forsythe et al. 2006; Bhatnagar and Ghose 2004). Much research has been devoted to perceived risks associated with online patronage behavior and outcomes and strategies to reduce perceived risk (Cho and Lee 2006). When consumers make a choice to shop online, both positive motives for pursuing benefits and negative motives for avoiding risks impact their choice simultaneously, which means an approach (benefits)avoidance (risks) conflict exists during the channel choice-making process. However, no published research has examined how the motivational conflict of approachavoidance affects consumers use of the online channel for shopping. The utility that motivates consumer shopping behavior has traditionally been interpreted as the trade-off between what is given up and what is received in return (Dodds and Monroe 1985; Yadav and Monroe 1993), that is, the perceived net gain or benefit versus the perceived net loss or risk. Consumers strive to maximize the perceived utility of their shopping experience by assessing the tradeoffs between the expected benefits and the perceived risks associated with shopping online. When online consumers perceive significantly greater benefits over risks associated with the online channel, they experience less approachavoidance conflict. When consumers perceive benefits but also high risks associated with shopping online, they experience a high approachavoidance conflict. Overall, motives of

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pursuing benefits and avoiding risks working together lead online consumers to experience different degrees of motivational conflict. Consumers select retail channels that meet their expectations on dominant shopping motives (Gehrt and Shim 1998; Bhatnagar and Ghose 2004). Furthermore, shopping motives shape consumers perceptions of and attitudes toward stores and their store choice behavior (e.g., Morschett et al. 2005). When consumers perceive high benefits and low risk, they experience a low approachavoidance conflict, and the dominant shopping motives are often to pursue benefits. These shoppers tend to have a high expectation of benefits and choose a channel to meet their expectations of achieving the desired benefits. The effects of perceived online shopping benefits on the decision to shop online may be weakened by consumers high expectations of obtaining benefits from shopping online. When consumers perceive both high risks and high benefits, they experience a relatively high approachavoidance conflict. Thus, risk avoidance may be the dominant motive shaping their channel choice, because consumers are more sensitive to losses than to gains when decisions are framed in terms of potential gains. However, sure gains (i.e., benefits) encourage consumers to overcome anticipated losses because of online shopping risks. Consequently, the power of perceived benefits of shopping online to impact channel choice may be greater among those who have a high motivational conflict than among those who have a low motivational conflict (but high expectations of online shopping benefits). In addition, decision-making in a high motivational conflict condition requires much cognitive effort, reinforcing the importance of easy and effective information search and choice to facilitate the online shopping process (Smith and Sivakumar 2004). An enjoyable shopping process may increase the likelihood of online purchase among shoppers with a low motivational conflict; however, it does not ease the anxiety caused by a high motivational conflict. Thus, enjoyment may have stronger influence upon online information search and purchase for shoppers with a low motivational conflict than for those with a high motivational conflict. Furthermore, time and effort spent online getting information to make a purchase decisiona relatively risk-free useleads to reduced uncertainty about the outcome. Consequently, for those online shoppers who experience a high motivational conflict, using the online channel for information search reduces their perceived risk and the degree of conflict experienced, increasing the probability of online purchase. Hence, the impact of online information search on online purchase behavior may differ for shoppers experiencing different degrees of motivational conflict. Thus, motivational conflict between pursuing online shopping benefits and avoiding online shopping risks may moderate several of the hypothesized relationships.

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H5a: Online information search is more strongly related to online purchase for shoppers with more motivational conflict than for those with less motivational conflict. H5b and H5c: Usefulness is more strongly related to (b) online information search and (c) online purchase for shoppers with a higher motivational conflict than those with less motivational conflict. H5d and H5e: Enjoyment is more strongly related to (d) online information search and (e) online purchase for shoppers with a low motivational conflict than those with a high motivational conflict.

METHOD Data Collection

Data were collected through a commercial online survey service provider because of its large panel size, low service price, and incentives for participants. The selected provider awarded every participant the same number of e-points to be used to claim online gift cards from e-tailers. Stratified sampling (Trost 1986; Lohr 2009), based on U.S. online population demographics including gender, age, and income, was used to obtain a representative national sample of online shoppers. Fifteen hundred people were identified from the stratified sampling and were sent invitations by way of e-mail. A total of 789 responses were received, indicating that 53 percent of the sample population responded. Duplicate responses were identified through IP addresses and time stamps for answering the survey. After eliminating all duplicate and incomplete responses, 598 valid responses were obtained (39.9 percent).

Measures
Research constructs were measured using 7-point multi-item scales (1 strongly disagree; 7 strongly agree). The measures of usefulness and ease of use were adopted from Moore and Benbasat (1991). The measure for enjoyment was adapted from Childers and colleagues (2001) by changing the term technology-assisted shopping to online shopping. Measures of online shopping motives were adopted from Forsythe and colleagues (2006), with 16 items measuring online shopping benefits and 12 items measuring online shopping risks. Sustained online shopping was assessed by asking the frequency of (1) searching for product information and (2) online purchases in the past six months, as well as the intention to conduct these two shopping activities online in the next six months. In this way, the

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measure represents the degree of sustained usage of the online channel by examining the current and intended frequency of each activity in a single construct. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to examine the basic structure of the measures of variables in the proposed research model. Using a principal axis extraction method, the measures of usefulness, enjoyment, ease of use, and the two sustained online shopping behaviors (information search and purchase) were analyzed with a varimix rotation (Anderson and Gerbing 1988). The final factor analysis solution, with 13 items measuring 5 factors, accounted for approximately 71.3 percent of the total variance. Communalities were between 0.58 and 0.91 (see table 1). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for the research constructs of usefulness, enjoyment, ease of

TABLE 1 Scale=Item Measurement Properties Constructs=items Usefulness Using the Internet to shop improves the quality of my shopping Using the Internet to shop helps me to accomplish shopping tasks more quickly Using the Internet to shop enhances my effectiveness in shopping Using the Internet to shop makes it easier to do my shopping Enjoyment Internet shopping is exciting Internet shopping is boringa Internet shopping is enjoyable Internet shopping makes me feel good Ease of use Internet shopping doesnt require a lot of mental effort Internet shopping is easy to do Internet shopping is clear and understandable Information search Frequencies of product information search during last six months Intended frequencies with which product information would be sought in next six months Online purchase Frequencies of online purchase during last six months Intended frequencies of online purchase in next six months
a b

Cronbachs EFA item CFA item Scale=item alpha loading loading mean 0.84 0.70 0.73 0.71 0.77 0.83 0.85 0.70 0.73 0.66 0.69 0.92 0.54 0.58 nab 0.81 0.78 nab 0.91 0.88 0.87 0.96 2.43 2.45 0.89 0.89 3.76 3.62 0.97 0.41 0.76 4.18 5.62 5.05 0.71 0.66 0.82 0.77 4.97 2.68 5.18 4.71 0.67 0.70 0.72 0.81 4.66 5.29 5.06 5.53

Item was reversed when conducting all statistical analyses. Not available.

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use, online information search, and online purchase resulted in an acceptable measurement model (goodness of fit index [GFI] 0.955, comparative fit index [CFI] 0.965, v2 181.09, root mean square error of 55 approximation [RMSEA] 0.06). The 28 online shopping motive items were then subjected to factor analysis separately from those constructs included in the proposed research model (Dabholkar and Bagozzi 2002), resulting in three dimensions of positive motives (convenience, product information, and shopping experience) and two dimensions of negative motives (channel risks and product risks). The final factor analysis solution, with 23 items measuring 5 factors, accounted for approximately 63.3 percent of the total variance. Communalities were between 0.50 and 0.74 (see table 2). CFA with the five dimensions of shopping motives also resulted in an acceptable measurement model (GFI 0.89, CFI 0.90, v2 820.28, df 217, RMSEA 0.068). Table 3 shows correlations between research constructs and extracted variance for each construct.

TABLE 2 Scale=Item Measurement Properties of Online Shopping Motives Constructs=items Convenience I dont have to leave home Can save the effort of visiting stores Dont have to wait to be served Can shop in privacy of home Access to many brands and retailers Can shop whenever I want Product Information Broader selection of products Items from everywhere are available Can get good product information online Hedonic experience To try new experience Exciting to receive a package Not embarrassed if you dont buy Channel risk Cant trust the online company Too complicated to place order Pictures take too long to come up Difficult to find appropriate Web site May purchase something by accident My credit card number may not be secure My personal information may not be kept Product risk Cant try on clothing online Size may be problem with clothes Cant examine the actual product Inability to touch and feel the item Cronbachs EFA item CFA item Scale=item alpha loading loading mean 0.88 0.83 0.81 0.77 0.71 0.70 0.66 0.78 0.83 0.74 0.53 0.68 0.79 0.72 0.69 0.85 0.76 0.73 0.70 0.69 0.68 0.66 0.63 0.84 0.85 0.79 0.77 0.75 0.64 0.72 0.81 0.80 5.82 5.40 5.14 5.18 0.73 0.71 0.58 0.66 0.69 0.65 0.62 3.82 3.03 3.73 3.39 3.07 4.28 4.51 0.70 0.62 0.63 4.46 5.15 5.20 0.68 0.79 0.73 5.34 5.56 5.61 0.74 0.75 0.72 0.77 0.79 0.70 5.93 5.66 5.77 5.97 5.86 6.19

Sustaining Online Shopping TABLE 3 Construct Correlations Usefulness Usefulness Enjoyment Ease of use Information search Online purchase
a b

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Enjoyment 0.76 0.69 0.30 0.38

Ease of use

Information search

Online purchase

0.71a 0.77b 0.77 0.34 0.42

0.44 0.23 0.25

0.87 0.51

0.78

Numbers in diagonal cells (in bold) are variance extracted for construct. All correlations are significant at level of .001.

Characteristics of the Respondents

Respondents were middle-to-upper income adults, with 70 percent younger than 45 years old (table 4). Women were slightly over-represented, consistent with the proportion of female online shoppers in the United States. Approximately, 15 percent of the respondents had been using Internet for shopping for 2 years or less, 34 percent for 2 to 4 years, 28 percent for 4 to 6 years, and 24 percent for more than 6 years. Almost two-thirds of the respondents reported having made an online purchase once a month or more during the past six months, and half spent ten or more hours on the Internet at home every week. Most respondents (94 percent) used the Internet for shopping at

TABLE 4 Demographic Profile of the Respondents Characteristic Age 19 or under 2024 2534 3544 4554 5564 65 or over Gender Male Female Household annual income Under $30,000 $30,000$34,999 $35,000$49,000 $50,000$74,999 $75,000$99,999 $100,000$124,999 $125,000$149,999 $150,000 or more Percent 1.5 13.5 28.9 25.8 22.4 7.0 0.8 33.1 66.9 16.5 13.4 21.7 23.8 14.4 4.6 1.3 2.5 Characteristic Education Less than high school High school graduate or equivalent Some college=vocational school College graduate Some postgraduate study Graduate degree Employment status Full time Part time Self-employed Unemployed Homemaker Student Retired Ethnic group African-American Asian Hispanic White Other Percent 0.8 16.4 39.1 28.8 4.2 10.7 47.9 11.8 8.3 4.1 13.1 9.9 4.9 3.0 5.5 3.0 84.3 4.2

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home, which provides additional evidence that Internet shopping has become a regular part of everyday life for Americans.

RESULTS Testing Direct Effects

Structural equation modeling, conducted to test the proposed model (GFI 0.930, CFI 0.944, v2 330.767, RMSEA 0.070), demonstrated a 83 good fit; therefore, the research model was accepted. Significant path coefficients supported H1, H2a, H2b, H3a, H4a, and H4b, but not H3b (see table 5). Therefore, usefulnessbut not enjoymentdirectly affects online purchase. Enjoyment impacts online information searcha strong predictor of online purchase; therefore, enjoyment affects online purchase only indirectly. Ease of use affects usefulness and enjoyment. The path between information search and online search is greater than the path from usefulness to online purchase. To test whether the difference is statistically significant, a constrained model was used by making the two path coefficients (b1 vs. b2b) equal. A Chi-Square difference between these two models (v2 0.203, 1 p > .05) indicated that the effects of using of the online channel for information search is stronger that the beliefs in usefulness on driving post-adoption use of the channel for online purchases.

Testing Moderating Effects

Three indicators of positive motives (benefits) and two indicators of negative motives (risks) of online shopping were created by averaging factor items for each dimension of benefits and risks (see table 2). The five indicators were then subjected to K-mean cluster analysis. Two groups emerged and were
TABLE 5 Summary of Hypotheses Testing Results Relationship within proposed research model Online purchase Information search Online purchase Information search Online purchase Usefulness Enjoyment Mode fit indices Information search Usefulness Usefulness Enjoyment Enjoyment Ease of use Ease of use Path coefficient H5 Testing results

0.42 H1 (b1) Accepted 0.20 H2a (b2a) Accepted 0.21 H2b (b2b) Accepted H3a (b3a) Accepted 0.12 ns H3b (b2b) Not accepted 0.85 H4a (b4a) Accepted 0.78 H4b (b4b) Accepted v2 330.767, GFI 0.930, 83 CFI 0.944, RMSEA 0.070

Note. ns not statistically significant. p < .01; p < .05.

Sustaining Online Shopping TABLE 6 Shopper Groups by Online Shopping Benefits and Risks Online shopper groups Clustering variables Benefits Convenience Information Hedonic experience Risks Channel risk Product risk Online shopping usage Information searchb Online purchaseb Number of observations Percentage of observations Low conflict (benefit perceivers) 6.37 6.13 5.43 2.96 5.13 4.07 2.76 276 47.2% High conflict (risk perceivers) 5.51 4.87 4.51 4.24 5.62 3.50 2.14 322 53.8% Overall sample 5.90 (0.84)b 5.44 (1.10) 4.93 (1.10) 3.64 (1.10) 5.39 (1.03) 3.76 (1.3) 2.43 (1.2) 598 F valuea 208.15 353.56 124.04 300.20 35.59 29.70 37.90

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Pairwise contrasts A>B A>B A>B A<B A<B A>B A>B

Note. A benefit perceivers; B risk perceivers. a df 1. b Means (and standard deviations) of the frequencies of online shopping activities, information search, and purchasing online during the last six months.

labeled as benefit perceivers and risk perceivers. Table 6 profiles the two shopping groups. Both groups perceive benefits (convenience, product information, and online hedonic experience) and risks (product risk and channel risk). The benefit perceivers perceive high benefits and low risks of online shopping and, consequently, experience a low motivational approachavoidance conflict. Benefit perceivers are the online shoppers who have dominant motives of pursuing benefits from shopping online, even though they also perceive some risk of shopping online. The other groupthe risk perceivers has high risk perceptions, even though they also perceive benefits from shopping online. Hence, this group experiences a high motivational approach avoidance conflict. Overall, benefit perceivers use the online channel for information search and purchase more than do risk perceivers. To investigate the moderating effects of online shopping motives, a multi-group analysis was conducted using the two shopper groups with a low=high motivational approachavoidance conflict obtained from the cluster analysis (Hair et al. 2006). The proposed model was then tested across the two groups to determine the presence of differences in structural weights (i.e., the moderating effects of shopping motives). As a first step, a constrained multi-group model (Model 1; base modelno moderating effects) was estimated, where each structural weight was constrained to be equal across the two groups. Then, an unconstrained multi-group model (Model 2moderating effects) was estimated in which the structural weights were estimated for each group (benefit perceivers vs. risk perceivers). Both

TABLE 7 Structural Equations Results for Moderating Effects Model 2

Relationship within proposed research model

Path to

Path from

Model 1 Base model

Low conflict (benefit perceivers)

High conflict (risk perceivers)

H5

Path comparison Dv2 0.05 1 H5a H5b H5c H5d H5e

Testing results

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Online purchase Information search Online purchase Information search Online purchase Mode fit indices

Information search Usefulness Usefulness Enjoyment Enjoyment

0.42 0.16 0.23 ns ns v2 659.669, 207 RMSEA 0.061, CFI 0.875, GFI 0.873

0.39 0.41 Ns 0.34 0.20 0.25 ns 0.33 Ns ns v2 625.087, 200 RMSEA 0.060, CFI 0.881, GFI 0.880

Not accepted Accepted Dv2 4.11 Accepted 1 Not accepted Accepted Dv2 34.581, Ddf 7, p 0.000

Note. ns not statistically significant. Significant at level .001; significant at level .05.

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models exhibited acceptable levels of model fit (see table 7) and allow for specific model comparisons. The presence of significant differences between Model 1 and Model 2 (Dv2 34.581, Ddf 7, p .000) indicated that the set of relationships in the model do differ significantly across the groups representing online consumers with differing dominant shopping motivations. The fit of the constrained model (Model 1) was significantly poorer than the free model (Model 2). The next step was to examine each hypothesized relationship to assess whether a path difference could be found across the high and low motivational approachavoidance conflict groups. The fully constrained multigroup model, which represented the absence of any moderated relationships (i.e., the base model with all relationships equal across the groups), was compared with an identical multi-group model, where the constraint of equality for the hypothesized relationship being examined was relaxed. The Chi-Square difference between the two multi-group models was tested to see whether the tested path was significantly different across the two groups. A significant Chi-Square difference (e.g., p < .05) indicated variance for that relationship and, thus, moderating effects, because of different dominant shopping motivations of pursuing benefits or avoiding risks. The results showed some moderating effects as three of the seven tested paths were significantly different across the two groups, confirming different effects for the TAM factors on online shopping for high versus low conflict groups (table 7). As hypothesized, usefulness has more salient effects on information search and online purchase for the risk perceivers than for the benefit perceivers. Enjoyment affects online information search, but not online purchase, among benefit perceivers; therefore, H5d but not H5e is accepted. Information search consistently affects online purchase for both groups.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The success of the online channel depends largely on use diffusion among the consumers who have adopted the online channel for information search and=or purchase (Shih and Venkatesh 2004). Thus, research to identify factors that will enhance the likelihood of continued engagement among current online shoppers is necessary. Even though the TAM has been widely applied to understand initial acceptance of information systems in both the workplace and in individual adoption contexts, the predicting power of the TAM in a post-adoption context has not been confirmed. Based on empirical testing, the factors predicting initial acceptance may not have the same predicting power in the context of post-adoption usage. Furthermore, factors predicting initial acceptance are not equally effective in predicting online search versus purchase behavior. Usefulness is the only factor predicting both types of post-adoption usageconsistent with

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findings from research on initial adoption of the online channel (Bhattacherjee and Premkumar 2004; e.g., Kee-Sook et al. 2008) that usefulness=relative advantage predicts both initial and continued adoption. Enjoyment marginally affects use of the channel for information search among benefit perceivers but has no effect on search or purchase behaviors of risk perceivers. This finding is consistent with the prediction that enjoyment is not sufficient to ease the anxiety caused by high motivational conflict when purchasing online and with findings (e.g., Kee-Sook et al.) that enjoyment does not directly influence online retail Web site usage. The results show that online shoppers primarily perceive utilitarian, but not hedonic, benefits as sure gains from using the channel, which is consistent with findings by Overby and Lee (2006) that utilitarian value is more strongly related to preference toward shopping online stores than is hedonic value. Given that beliefs about usefulness are directly associated with both online information search and purchase behavior, it is important that functional features of Web sites effectively facilitate the online decision-making process. Making online shopping easy and efficient would appear to be more important than enhancing the enjoyment of shopping the online channel, as ease of use consistently affects both usefulness and enjoyment. Shoppers (benefits perceivers and risks perceivers) exhibit different degrees of motivational approachavoidance conflict when using the online channel, and the factors driving post-adoption use of the channel are not the same across shoppers with different degrees of motivational conflict. Although perceived usefulness impacts channel usage among both benefit perceivers and risk perceivers, the risk perceivers (with a high motivational conflict) are often more influenced by the usefulness of the online channel than are the benefit perceivers (low motivational conflict), as the path between usefulness and online purchase is more salient for risk perceivers than for benefit perceivers (see table 5). The Prospect Theory better explains this phenomenon, because the decision of whether or not to purchase a product online may differ, depending on whether it is framed in terms of gains or losses. According to the Prospect Theory (Kahneman and Tversky 1979), sure gains encourage individuals to overcome risk aversion. Perceived usefulness (sure gains) encourages risk perceivers to overcome their perceived risks. However, the online search process can turn into a loss of time and effort spent searching if the consumer fails to complete the purchase online because of perceived risks. In this case, the tendency to avoid time and effort losses will encourage consumers to overcome their risk perceptions and purchase online (Kahneman and Tversky). Therefore, even though risk perceivers do perceive high levels of risk, it does not mean they will not continue shopping online. These findings reinforce the importance of enhancing perceived benefits by emphasizing the usefulness of the Web site and provide empirical evidence to support the Prospect Theory as an effective perspective to examine online decision-making.

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Consumers who perceive greater risks from online shopping tend to use it less than those who are less sensitive to online shopping risks, consistent with a basic tenant of the Prospect Theory that people tend to respond more sensitively to losses than to gains. The finding that usefulness has more salient effects on the use of the channel for the risk perceivers than for the benefit perceivers also supports the idea that sure gains motivate people to overcome perceived loss. Furthermore, the finding that risk perceivers also shop online when the decision is framed in terms of the potential loss (of time and effort spent searching) reinforces the effectiveness of the Prospect Theory in explaining online shopping behaviors. This research represents the first attempt to integrate two dominant theories (the TAM and the Prospect Theory) to gain more in-depth understanding of online consumer behavior. This research shows that the Prospect Theory can be used to explain the online decision-making process and may inspire more research exploring the application of the Prospect Theory to understand the online decision-making process. For instance, consumers can easily make decisions to use the online channel for the pre-purchase decision-making steps to enjoy channel benefits as an information search vehicle without taking risks. However, the decision to purchase online after the pre-purchase search is completed may be framed in terms of losses or gains, depending on the reference point the consumer chooses to use. If the consumer uses another retail channel as a reference point, the decision will be more likely framed in terms of gains, and the consumer must perceive enough gains from buying online over buying from other channels to complete the on-line purchase. However, if the consumer considers the time and effort expended to search and make a choice as the decision reference point, then not completing the online transaction means a loss to the consumer. Once the decision-making process is framed in terms of losses, one shows a greater tendency to take risks (to avoid loss of time and effort) and will be more likely to purchase online (Kahneman and Tversky 1979). Future research may use experimental designs to determine what reference point consumers use at each step of the decision-making process. The findings show that benefit perceivers come to expect even more benefits from online shopping with respect to both functional and hedonic value as they gain more online shopping experience. Hence, it may be increasingly challenging for e-tailers to meet this groups expectations. In addition to promoting the benefits of the Web site to retain current online shoppers and encourage more online purchases, e-tailers may find it effective to develop marketing strategies that will create a sense of loss among shoppers who fail to purchase online. The current research applied the TAM to the post-adoption context showing that the TAM may have relatively less power in predicting post-adoption usage than in predicting initial adoption. Researchers have called for both theory and corresponding models to be developed in the

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context of post-adoption (Limayem et al. 2007) to better understand consumer innovation diffusion. Individual characteristics and online shopping motives put boundary conditions on the TAM in predicting individual usage, as evidenced by the significant moderating effects of shopping motives on the proposed relationships in the TAM. The current study has some limitations that suggest interesting opportunities for future research. First, there are limitations with respect to data collection. An online survey was used to collect data from a national sample of Internet users for this empirical study. However, the survey suffered from the problems of self-selection and self-reporting normally associated with a panel sample. In addition, cross-sectional data were collected to study continued usage. A longitudinal study with several waves of representative cross-sectional data or responses from a research panel across time will generate more in-depth results. The current research only includes beliefs as predicting variables. Future research may include Internet usage behaviors. Post-adoption use of the online channel is dynamic and multi-dimensional (Shih and Venkatesh 2004; Liu and Forsythe 2010); however, this research only includes two dimensions of usageonline information search and purchase. In fact, online search behavior itself is complex (Moe and Fader 2004), and future research may specifically focus on understanding search behavior in the post-adoption context. Here, information search and online purchase are treated separately since they are two separate decisions and may use different reference points to frame decisions in terms of gains or losses. As mentioned above, this research does not include information to decide what reference points consumers are using when they make the choice to use the online channel to search information and purchase online. Future studies may use the Prospect Theory to examine whether effort and time spent online for information search may cause consumers online purchase decision to be framed in terms of losses (vs. gains).

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