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Refereed article received 25 September 2007 Approved for publication 21 April 2008

Inuence of online shopping information dependency and innovativeness on internet shopping adoption
Enrique Bigne-Alcaniz, Carla Ruiz-Mafe, Joaqun Aldas-Manzano and Silvia Sanz-Blas
` ` Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Abstract
Purpose The papers purpose is to analyse the inuence of online shopping information dependency and innovativeness on the acceptance of internet shopping. Design/methodology/approach The impact of online shopping information dependency, domain-specic innovativeness and technology acceptance model (TAM) variables on future shopping intention has been tested through structural equation modelling techniques. The sample consisted of 465 Spanish consumers who had never purchased online. Findings Data analysis shows that consumer innovativeness and online shopping information dependency have a direct and positive inuence on future online shopping intention and that the basic TAM hypotheses are fullled. Online shopping information dependency can be increased with interfaces that are easier to use, but only if perceived usefulness remains high. Consumer innovativeness positively inuences internet exposure and the ease-of-use perception of the shopping medium, referred to throughout this paper as shopping channel. Practical implications This research enables companies to know which aspects of their communication strategies to highlight in order to get non-purchasing web users to participate in e-shopping. Perceived ease of use and online shopping information dependency has a signicant inuence on shoppers willingness to purchase online. This shows that web content and design are key tools in the increase of future online purchasing. It is also recommended that managers target some of their advertising campaigns to the more innovative users. Originality/value There are still too few studies that analyse the effects of innovativeness and online shopping information dependency on non-purchasing web users behaviour. This work aims to combine the inuence of online shopping information dependency, innovativeness and the traditional TAM in order to construct an improved model for internet shopping acceptance. It will use an integrated model to do so. Keywords Innovation, Online operations, Shopping, Consumer behaviour, Electronic commerce, Spain Paper type Research paper

Online Information Review Vol. 32 No. 5, 2008 pp. 648-667 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1468-4527 DOI 10.1108/14684520810914025

Introduction E-commerce adoption depends on the prole of potential consumers as not all consumers accept an innovation at the same time (Rogers, 1962). The literature review shows that, among other factors, the relationship with the internet and the degree of
Joaqun Aldas-Manzano acknowledges the nancial support of the research project of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science FEDER (SEJ2005-02776).

receptiveness to innovation are factors which determine how quickly an internet user becomes an online shopper (Citrin et al., 2000; Vrechopoulos et al., 2001). In Spain, as in other countries, growing internet use has not been accompanied by a similar growth in the number of online shoppers. Despite the fact that 40.8 per cent of internet users based their purchase decisions in brick-and-mortar establishments on information they had obtained from the internet, only 13.6 per cent of the Spanish population and 27.3 per cent of internet users shopped online in 2006 (Red.es Observatorio, 2007). Information on the users of the system is therefore important, as in the nal instance they are the ones who will guarantee the success or failure of this new shopping channel. Individual attitudes towards new shopping channel adoption are based on classical consumer behaviour models (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Howard and Sheth, 1969; Nicosia, 1966). The innovation dissemination process (Gatignon and Robertson, 1985) and information systems acceptance (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989) have been used as the explanatory framework for consumer behaviour analysis in relation to many different products and markets. In the last 20 years, different lines of research have focused on identifying certain factors inuencing the acceptance of information systems and have provided models and theoretical proposals. In particular, the technology acceptance model (TAM) introduced by Davis (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989) has received considerable attention from the scientic community (Ahn et al., 2004; Deng et al., 2005; Lee et al., 2003; McKechnie et al., 2006; Sanchez-Franco and Roldan, 2005; Venkatesh and Davis, 2000) and has been used to study any type of technological innovation. This model explains attitudes towards information systems and predicts use intentions and adoption and is the most widely used theoretical system in this eld. However, although the TAM has provided understanding of information systems acceptance, more in-depth understanding is needed of the factors that contribute to the acceptance of the internet as a shopping channel. More in-depth studies are still needed on the inuence of attitudes towards innovation on the non-purchasing web users behaviour (Vrechopoulos et al., 2001). It is also crucial to understand information use patterns in order to develop effective strategies for attracting non-purchasing web users (Klein, 1998; Shim et al., 2001). In addition, the group of internet users interested in future online shopping can act as opinion leaders for other consumers (Modahl, 2000; Vrechopoulos et al., 2001). In view of the above, this work aims to combine in an integrated model (Consumer Personal Characteristics Extended TAM (CPCETAM)) the inuence of innovativeness, online shopping information dependency and the traditional TAM in order to construct an improved model for internet shopping acceptance. The study is divided into three parts. In the rst section the conceptual model is presented focusing on the rationale for the constructs used to expand the TAM and deriving testable hypotheses. In the second or methodology section, design, sampling and measures are described and validated. In the third, the results, based on a sample of 465 Spanish internet users, are presented and managerial implications are discussed. Theoretical framework Purchase intention refers to a mental state that reects the consumers decision to acquire a product or service in the immediate future (Howard, 1989). In the context of

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virtual shopping, this would be the decision to use the internet as a new shopping channel. The proposed model for integrating the inuence of innovativeness, online information use patterns and attitudinal TAM variables on internet shopping intention is presented below. Technology acceptance model The TAM was developed by Davis (1989) and by Davis et al. (1989) to explain the acceptance of information technology for different tasks and may be used to predict internet shopping intention (McKechnie et al., 2006; OCass and Fenech, 2003). This model establishes that the intention to use a technology is determined by the individuals attitude towards using that technology. That attitude is, in turn, determined by the technologys perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Davis et al. (1989) identied perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as the basic determining factors in information system acceptance. These authors dened perceived usefulness as the degree to which a consumer believes that the use of a system will increase his or her performance. Specically, it refers to effectiveness at work, productivity (understood as time savings) and the relative importance of the system for the individuals work. Perceived ease of use refers to the degree to which a consumer believes that no effort will be required to use the system, with effort being understood to include both physical and mental effort, and how easy it is to learn to use the system (Davis et al., 1989). Both the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use inuence an individuals attitude towards a technology. Attitude and perceived usefulness in turn predict the individuals behaviour intention. In addition, perceived ease of use inuences perceived usefulness. We therefore posit the following hypotheses in relation to the TAM: H1. Perceived ease of use of the internet as a shopping channel has a positive inuence on the perceived usefulness of the internet as a shopping channel. H2. Perceived ease of use of the internet as a shopping channel has a positive inuence on attitudes towards the internet as a shopping channel. H3. Perceived usefulness of the internet as a shopping channel has a positive inuence on attitudes towards the internet as a shopping channel. H4. Perceived usefulness of the internet as a shopping channel has a positive inuence on future online shopping intention. H5. The attitude towards the internet as a shopping channel has a positive inuence on future online shopping intention. Innovativeness and online shopping A literature review of new product adoption revealed several works that propose methods for distinguishing between categories of adopters (Bass, 1969; Rogers, 1962) and that try to characterise the behaviour of the individuals in the different categories (Brown, 1982; Donthu and Garcia, 1999; Eastlick and Lotz, 1999; Vrechopoulos et al., 2001). Innovativeness is a concept linked to the new product adoption process that has received considerable attention from researchers (Hirschman, 1980; Midgley and Dowling, 1978; Robertson, 1971). This construct of the personality of individuals

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reects their degree of adoption of products and ideas that are new in their individual experience. Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) considered that innovativeness is the degree to which an individual adopts an innovation before other members of his or her social system. Midgley and Dowling (1978) dened innate innovativeness as the degree to which an individual is receptive to new ideas and makes innovative decisions independently of the experiences related by other individuals, and maintained that rst adopters are those with the greatest innate innovativeness. In contrast, Hirschman (1980) considered that innovativeness is inuenced more by the social system than by the individuals personality, and that an individuals desire to seek new stimuli is a segmentation variable which provides three groups of consumers with different degrees of innovativeness adopters (individuals who adopt a product), vicarious consumers (individuals who seek information on new products and services) and users (individuals who apply new uses to existing products). Although many researchers have used different techniques to measure innovativeness, two main approaches to the concept can be distinguished general innovativeness and innovativeness applied to a specic domain. Joseph and Vyas (1984) focused on a cognitive perspective, considering that innovativeness incorporates the individuals intellectual, perceptual and attitudinal characteristics. General innovativeness reects openness and an individuals search for new experiences and it is a signicant predictor of shopping intention (Craig and Ginter, 1975; Joseph and Vyas, 1984). A limitation of the previous denition is its degree of abstraction and its generalist character as innovativeness can be associated with a specic product or service rather than with a generic characteristic of an individuals personality. Owing to this limitation, Goldsmith and Hofacker (1991) developed a measurement scale for innovativeness in a specic domain. Domain specic innovativeness is the individuals tendency to try innovations in products, services or processes in his or her area of interest (Goldsmith and Hofacker, 1991). Domain specic measures are more predictive of the purchase of new items than global innovativeness (Goldsmith et al., 1995; Goldsmith and Hofacker, 1991). Later research (Blake et al., 2003; Citrin et al., 2000; Goldsmith, 2000, 2001) has applied the domain specic innovativeness scale to online shopping and has shown a direct and positive inuence of this variable both in the search for pre-online purchase information and the decision to purchase through the internet. A set of studies relates consumer innovativeness and intention to shop. Eastlick and Lotz (1999) showed that innovators are heavy users of interactive electronic-shopping media and that the strongest predictors of potential innovator group membership were the perceived advantage of interactive shopping innovation over traditional shopping channels and its compatibility with lifestyles. The study by Limayem et al. (2000) found that innovativeness inuences internet shopping behaviour both directly and indirectly through consumers attitudes and intentions. Goldsmith (2000) also found evidence that the frequency of online buying and intent to buy online in the future were predicted by general innovativeness, an innovative predisposition towards buying online and involvement with the internet. Citrin et al. (2000) supported this conclusion with their ndings that domain-specic innovativeness along with internet usage directly inuences consumers adoption behaviour of internet shopping.

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To complement the contributions of the above studies, we propose the following hypothesis: H6. Innovativeness towards online shopping has a favourable inuence on the future online shopping intention.

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Indirect effects of innovativeness towards future online shopping intention, mediated by TAM variables, can also be expected. According to innovation diffusion theory, earlier adopters, given their knowledge, experience, technical competence and high aspiration (Moore, 1991; Rogers, 1962), should consider the same technology to be easier to use and less challenging than later adopters. Therefore, highly innovative individuals may perceive online shopping as easier to use than less innovative consumers. Previous research has found that individuals innovativeness enhances perceived ease of use. Research by Yi et al. (2006) across two innovations (online buying and PDA) showed that individual innovativeness is one signicant antecedent, among others, of ease of use. Lewis et al. (2003) also found that innovativeness had a signicant positive effect on ease of use in the context of the adoption and use of internet technologies by faculty and instructors in their teaching activities. Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) demonstrated that personal innovativeness indirectly inuences behavioural intention via its effect on cognitive absorption, which is in turn a signicant determinant of ease of use. Jashapara and Tai (2006) showed that personal innovativeness with information technology inuences positively the perceived ease of use of a virtual learning environment. Therefore, we hypothesise that: H7. Innovativeness towards online shopping has a favourable inuence on perceived ease of use of the internet as a shopping channel. Hirschman (1980) clearly stated that novelty seeking is an inherent characteristic of innovators and that novelty seeking would seem to represent an innate search for information. She argued that a possible explanation for this linkage is that the consumer who has sought and stored more information is likely to be better equipped for novel problem circumstances and can improve his or her performance to adopt new products. The acquisition of novel information may be achieved through many different sources. When Hirschman (1980, p. 285) wrote her paper in 1980 the internet was not a feasible medium from which to acquire information, but we believe that the reasons she provided to explain why innovators would be more likely to read magazines can be applied directly to the internet:
[. . .] every issue [web page] contains novel information and a magazine subscription [exposure time to internet] represents a commitment by the consumer to acquire novel data. An information-rich medium, such as a magazine [the internet], allows the individual to absorb the accumulated experiences of others in an accessible and low-risk form.

Recent research has provided evidence that Hirschmans ideas are applicable to the internet. Rangaswamy and Gupta (1999) reported than innovative buyers spent more time per week on the internet than did other groups of buyers. Goldsmith (2001) showed that internet innovativeness is positively correlated with use of the internet. Thus, we are able to hypothesise that:

H8. Innovativeness towards online shopping has a favourable inuence on individual internet exposure levels. Internet users modify their surng and shopping behaviour as they gain experience in new environments (Dahlen, 2002). Thus, expert users surf more quickly, have shorter sessions and visit a smaller number of web sites. In addition, as their exposure and knowledge of the medium increases, they enjoy their surng experience more (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997; Ellis et al., 1994; Novak et al., 2000) and develop more positive attitudes towards using the system for shopping (Park and Kim, 2003; Yoon et al., 2002). Although previous studies relate internet exposure to purchase decision, the TAM postulates that the impact of external variables is mediated by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. In view of the above, we posit the following research hypothesis: H9. Individual internet exposure levels have a positive inuence on perceived ease of use of the internet as a shopping channel. Online shopping information dependency and internet shopping intention According to the individual medium dependency theory (Grant et al., 1991; Loges, 1994) individuals achieve some of their personal and collective objectives by having to access information resources that are controlled by the mass media such as the internet and television. In this sense, individual media dependency is dened as a relation where the individuals capacity to reach his or her objectives, depends to a certain extent on the information resources in the medium (Ball-Rokeach et al., 1984, p. 3). Individual medium dependency has three dimensions or categories understanding, orientation and play (Ball-Rokeach, 1985, 1989; Ball-Rokeach et al., 1984; Deeur and Ball-Rokeach, 1989; Grant, 1996; Grant et al., 1991; Loges, 1994; Loges and Ball-Rokeach, 1993; Skumanich and Kintsfather, 1998). Understanding focuses on the individuals need to have a basic understanding of themselves and to nd sense in the world that surrounds them. Orientation refers to the need to obtain a guide in order to behave correctly with other people. Play is also an important way to learn social roles, norms and values, and it also provides escape mechanisms and release from tension (Grant et al., 1991). Dependency on the mediums information resources may cause cognitive, affective and behavioural changes in people who are regularly exposed to them (Ball-Rokeach, 1989; Ball-Rokeach et al., 1984; Grant, 1996; Grant et al., 1991). For example, in terms of behavioural effects, the purchase of products and services may be intensied when individual medium dependency is high (Ball-Rokeach, 1985; Deeur and Ball-Rokeach, 1989). Previous studies that focused on the television medium (Grant et al., 1991; Skumanich and Kintsfather, 1998) have shown that individual dependency on that medium is a signicant predictor of teleshopping behaviour. Other studies have found a direct, positive relationship between internet user dependency levels and present and future online purchase decisions (Patwardhan and Yang, 2003; Ruiz and Sanz, 2006). Stigler (1961) found that consumers analyse the costs and benets of the information search and abandon it when they perceive that the marginal costs (waste of time, money, transport, etc.) are greater than the benets (duration of the search, variety of information sources, etc.) that they obtain. Other studies have also shown that the nature of the information sources may inuence purchase behaviour,

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for example, where consumers have to search prepurchase information through a single channel, as this reduces the effort involved (Engel et al., 1995). Klein (1998) developed an interactive behaviour model where the information search processes are predictors of purchase behaviour, with the advantages of the internet being useful in the case of search goods due to the low-perceived costs of obtaining information. Internet users perceive that the utility of the internet to support the prepurchase information process is one of its most outstanding characteristics (Maignan and Lukas, 1997; Rowley, 2000) as it is the most appropriate channel for comparing different purchase options (Dickson, 2000). The internet allows consumers to identify their most useful options easily owing to web tools such as portals and search engines that make it possible to nd relevant information for the purchase decision, reducing information search costs (Haubl and Trifts, 2000; Hoffman and Novak, 1996; Widing and Talarzyk, 1993). Several authors suggest that interactivity increases consumers skills in exploring and analysing the available information (Ariely, 2000; Hoffman and Novak, 1996). It is to be expected, therefore, that consumers will increasingly use virtual environments to consider different purchase options. In addition, the increasing amount of online information which is personalised in accordance with the consumers previous searches or purchases helps them to make better purchase decisions and consequently develop a more favourable attitude to sellers web sites. It is also worth noting that according to Petty and Cacioppo (1986), consumers attitudes are favourable when they process relevant information for making their purchase decisions. As more information is available on the internet, consumers tend to make a greater effort to process it and therefore a positive change in their attitude is to be expected. Bearing in mind the results in the literature, we test a similar effect with the following hypothesis: H10. As online shopping information dependency increases, so does the future online shopping intention. But online information dependency is at the same time determined by several TAM variables. As we have stated, media system dependency theory sees individuals as having personal goals. People will develop dependency relations with the media as a means of attaining those objectives (Grant et al., 1991), as we believe, only if the media allow the individual to attain the goal, that is, if it is a useful instrument in that task. We agree with Ball-Rokeach (1985, p. 495) when she states that media dependency will change as perceptions of the utility of media resources change. If consumers believe that the internet as a shopping channel enables them to accomplish shopping tasks more quickly, to make better purchase decisions or to save money, the perception of the utility of the medium will increase, as will internet dependency according to Ball-Rokeachs (1985) hypothesis. Therefore, we hypothesise that: H11. As the perceived usefulness of the internet as a shopping channel increases, so does the online shopping information dependency of the consumer. Greater perceived ease of use may activate internet dependency, since consumers can become aware of the internet as a tool that not only allows them to full their

objectives, but also with less effort than other channels. In other words, if consumers can attain the same objective through two different distribution channels (of the same usefulness) it seems rational to rely on the channel that is easier to use and to become more dependent on it with time. Several studies report that the growing dependency on the internet to search for information is due to several benets, one of which is that it is an easy-to-use way of accessing price and product information (Bei et al., 2004; Porter, 2001). Riffe et al. (2007) posit that easy use of the internet for detailed, in-depth information about specialised topics increases individuals internet dependency more than general and non-specic exposure does. This relation is sometimes so strong that it may become counterproductive. For instance, MacDonald and Dunkelberger (1998) reported that the growing dependency of undergraduate students on full-text databases due to their ease of use is biasing their research and assignments as they exclude all other information sources. Independent of the positive or negative consequences of dependency, this study also expects to observe a positive relationship between perceived ease of use of the internet and dependency on this medium: H12. As the perceived ease of use of the internet as a shopping channel increases, so does the online shopping information dependency of the consumer. Figure 1 shows the extended TAM examined here (CPCETAM). The model below shows the inuence of innovativeness, online shopping information dependency and TAM variables on future online shopping intention. Method Sample and data collection The sample consisted of 465 internet users over the age of 18. The eldwork was developed in Spain from April to May 2006 and the sample consisted of consumers who had never purchased online. A questionnaire with closed-end questions was used for this study. Sampling was by gender and age quotas based on internet user characteristics periodically examined by the Spanish Association of Electronic Commerce Firms in its study of business-to-consumer e-commerce in Spain 2005 (AECEM, 2006), which is the most important directory of internet users in Spain. Table I displays demographic variables associated with the sample. Of the total sample, 51.4 per cent were men and 48.6 per cent were women. A large percentage of the interviewees belonged to the age segment between 25 and 49 (58 per cent), were medium-educated (51.2 per cent) and had an above average level of income (42.1 per cent). Measures As illustrated in Table II, the constructs used in our study were adapted from previous studies and were measured by multiple item ve-point Likert-type scales, with the exception of internet exposure (one item) and future shopping intention (one item). The scale items for perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were adapted from the measurement dened by Davis (1989) and Ahn et al. (2004). Attitude to e-commerce was measured using the personal involvement inventory scale (Zaichkowsky, 1994) with modications to suit the environment of internet shopping. Innovativeness was measured using a four-item scale based on the domain specic scale developed by

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Figure 1. Consumer personal characteristics extended TAM (CPCETAM)

Characteristics Gender Male Female Education No formal education Primary Secondary University Age 24 or under 25-34 35-49 50-64 65 Income a (monthly) No income (family dependent) Below average Around average Above average Well above average Note: aMonthly income average e900

Percentage (N 465) 51.4 48.6 0.4 11.2 51.2 37.2 27.4 28.0 30.0 12.0 2.6 20.2 17.4 20.4 34.5 7.6

Table I. Sample demographics

Construct Likert 5 ATTI1 ATTI2

Scale type Item descriptions Source

Item coding

Attitude to online shopping

Perceived usefulness USEFUL2 USEFUL3 USEFUL4 USEFUL5 USEFUL6 Likert 5 EASE2 EASE3 EASE1

Likert 5

ATTI3 ATTI4 ATTI5 ATTI6 ATTI7 ATTI8 ATTI9 ATTI10 USEFUL1

Perceived ease of use

Using the internet for shopping is enjoyable Adapted from Zaichkowsky (1994), Using the internet for shopping is convenient Goldsmith (2002) and OCass and Fenech (2003) Using the internet for shopping is absorbing Using the internet for shopping is attractive Using the internet for shopping is interesting Using the internet for shopping is worth it Using the internet for shopping is pleasant Using the internet for shopping is secure Using the internet for shopping is necessary Using the internet for shopping is a good idea Using the internet for shopping enables me to Adapted from Davis (1989) and Ahn et al. accomplish shopping tasks more quickly (2004) Using the internet for shopping helps me to make better purchase decisions Using the internet for shopping improves the performance of my shopping tasks Using the internet for shopping saves me money Using the internet for shopping improves the quality of my shopping tasks Using the internet for shopping increases the productivity of my shopping tasks I think that I would nd it easy to learn how Adapted from Davis (1989) and Ahn et al. to shop online (2004) I think that it would be possible for me to shop online without the help of an expert I think that I would have no problems interacting with the internet when shopping (continued)

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Table II. Measurement scales

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Construct EASE4 EASE5 EASE6 Likert 5 INN2 INN3 INN4 Likert 5 DEP2 DEP3 1 item EXP DEP1 INN1

Innovativeness

Online shopping information dependency

Internet exposure

Future shopping intention

Table II. Scale type Item descriptions Source Item coding Adapted from Goldsmith and Hofacker (1991) Adapted from Grant (1996) Goldsmith (2002) and Ruiz and Sanz (2006) 1 item INT I think that I could become skilful at online shopping I think that shopping online does not require a lot of mental effort I think that it is easy to use the internet to nd products that I want to buy I think I would be the rst in my circle of friends to know the sites where I can shop online I think I would be the rst in my circle of friends to shop online I think I know more about shopping online than my circle of friends I think I would shop online even if I did not know anyone who had done it before INTERNET helps you to decide where to buy certain products or services INTERNET helps you to decide what to buy INTERNET helps you to plan weekend trips/excursions How often do you access the internet? 6 Several times a day; 5 once a day; 4 several times a week; 3 once a week; 2 once every 15 days; 1 less than once a month Would you buy a product/service online in the next year? 5 Yes, denitely; 4 probably yes; 3 indifferent; 2 probably not; 1 no, denitely not Goldsmith (2002)

Goldsmith and Hofacker (1991). Online shopping information dependency was derived from the individual action orientation dimension of the scale provided by Grant (1996). The two items used to measure internet exposure and future purchase intention were taken from Ruiz and Sanz (2006) and Goldsmith (2002). Table II describes how the variables used in this research were measured. Validation of the measurement model A conrmatory factor analysis was developed to validate the measurement model (Table AI in the Appendix). To guarantee convergent validity, items with factor loadings which were not signicant or below 0.6 (Bagozzi and Baumgartner, 1994; Bagozzi and Yi, 1988) and those for which the Lagrange multiplier test suggested signicant relations over a different factor to the one they were indicators for (Hatcher, 1994) were eliminated. The nal measurement model is also reliable as all Cronbachs (1951) as are above the recommended value of 0.7 (Churchill, 1979) and composite reliability indexes are also higher than 0.7 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). No evidence of a lack of discriminant validity is found, either applying the condence interval criterion (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988) or the average variance extracted criterion (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), as can be seen in Table AII in the Appendix. Nomological validity is assured as the difference between the measurement model and the theoretical model (structural model) x 2s is not signicant (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988; Hatcher, 1994). Results After evaluating the psychometric properties of the measurement instrument, the structural model shown in Figure 1, which synthesises the hypotheses posited, was estimated. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation models. Steenkamp and Baumgartner (2000) highlighted two main advantages of this technique. First, structural equation models allow measurement error to be explicitly incorporated into models and its inuence on the degree of t to be analysed. Second, unlike multiple regressions, relations between model variables can be studied simultaneously as several dependent variables can be considered in the same model and the same variable can be at the same time an endogenous and exogenous variable regarding the other variables in the model. Raw data screening showed evidence of non-normal distribution (Mardias coefcient normalised estimate 16.5). Although other estimation methods have been developed for use when the normality assumption does not hold, the recommendation of Chou et al. (1991) and Hu et al. (1992) of correcting the statistics rather than using a different estimation model has been followed. So, robust statistics (Satorra and Bentler, 1988) will be provided. The empirical estimates for the main-effects model are shown in Table III. The results indicate that the data t our conceptual model acceptably (S-Bx 2 295.03, df 124, p 0.00; RMSEA 0.055; NFI 0.90; NNFI 0.92; CFI 0.94). Modication indices do not provide any indication of mist of the structural model, suggesting that there is no need to include any new path between constructs in the model. The results obtained show that the perceived ease of use of the internet as a shopping channel has a signicant positive inuence on the set of variables which act as mediators in future shopping intention the perceived usefulness of the internet as

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Model block Original TAM

Hypotheses

Standardised loading 0.613 * * 0.133 * * 0.569 * * 0.188 * * 0.213 * * 0.304 * * 0.284 * * 0.248 * * 0.216 * * 0.192 * * 0.642 * * 0.237 * 0.94; IFI 0.94;

Robust t-value 10.15 1.99 7.52 2.32 3.52 6.40 4.08 4.53 3.62 2.75 6.67 2.37

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Table III. Hypotheses testing

H1. Perceived ease of use ! Perceived usefulness H2. Perceived ease of use ! Attitude to online shopping H3. Perceived usefulness ! Attitude to online shopping H4. Perceived usefulness ! Online shopping intention H5. Attitude to online shopping ! Online shopping intention Innovativeness H6. Innovativeness ! Online shopping intention role H7. Innovativeness ! Perceived ease of use H8. Innovativeness ! Internet exposure H9. Internet exposure ! Perceived ease of use Online H10. Online shopping information information dependency ! Online shopping intention dependency role H11. Perceived usefulness ! Online shopping information dependency H12. Perceived ease of use ! Online shopping information dependency S-B x 2 (124 df ) 295.03 ( p , 0.01); NFI 0.90; NNFI 0.92; CFI RMSEA 0.055 Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01

a shopping channel (l 0.613; p , 0.01; H1), attitude towards online shopping (l 0.133; p , 0.05; H2) and dependency on the internet to obtain information for the purchase process (l 0.237; p , 0.0; H12). The results also show how the perceived ease of use of the technology is highly conditioned by internet user experience measured by exposure to the medium (l 0.216; p , 0.01; H9), that is, users who access the internet more frequently perceive less difculty associated with its use. Consequently, while perceived ease of use does not directly inuence purchase intention, it does activate the other variables that directly inuence the intention to become an electronic shopper. As Table III shows, perceived usefulness of online shopping inuences future shopping intention both directly (l 0.188; p , 0.05; H4) and through its inuence on online shopping attitude (l 0.569; p , 0.01; H3), which also has a positive effect on online shopping intention (l 0.213; p , 0.01; H5). These results conrm that TAM is a valid model to explain online shopping intention. The question is whether consumer personal characteristics can signicantly improve it or not. Focusing on one of these personal characteristics of the consumers, dependency on the internet to obtain information in the shopping process has a positive and signicant impact on future online shopping intention (l 0.192; p , 0.01; H10). As expected, dependency is heavily conditioned by how useful consumers perceive the internet to be as a shopping channel (l 0.642; p , 0.01; H11).

The role of the second personal characteristic of the consumers, their degree of innovativeness, also reveals as crucial to improve the explanatory power of TAM. Innovativeness not only directly and positively inuences consumers future intention to acquire products or services using the internet (l 0.304; p , 0.01; H6), but it also inuences the perceived ease of use of the channel both directly (l 0.284; p , 0.01; H7) and by making them spend more time connected to the web (l 0.248; p , 0.01; H8). Discussion and conclusions The main contribution of this research lies in proposing and empirically verifying a model that integrates the inuence of innovativeness, online shopping information dependency and the traditional TAM on future online shopping intention. The indirect inuence of perceived ease of use on future shopping intention through attitudes highlights the central role of the perceived ease of use of the internet for shopping in the adoption of this shopping channel. This result has important managerial implications. If an e-commerce company wishes to increase the number of customers, in addition to service level and quality considerations, it must also take great care to design a user-friendly web site and include elements which facilitate purchase. Furthermore, this study emphasises the importance of general internet use in the population as the preceding step to growth in electronic commerce (Yoon et al., 2002; Park and Kim, 2003), given the central role of user experience (exposure) as an antecedent to perceived ease of use. The direct and positive inuence of innovativeness towards online shopping on future internet shopping intention conrms similar results obtained in prior studies which showed that a positive attitude to electronic channels is a signicant predictor of adoption (Chau and Lung, 1998; Eastlick and Lotz, 1999; Goldsmith, 2000; Limayem et al., 2000; OCass and Fenech, 2003). This result also highlights that marketing managers need to be able to do more than just identify innovators. They should target some of their advertising campaigns towards the more innovative users. As Moore (1991) suggests, innovators provide companies with great feedback early in the design cycle and may become a supporter who will inuence buyers. If the bulk of non-shopper internet users need word-of-mouth promotion before they will adopt online shopping, innovators can initiate this dialogue. Targeting innovators has an additional attraction for managers. We know that these individuals are usually early adopters of many products and therefore they are well able to bear price-skimming strategies, that is, charging a relatively high price for a short time where a new, innovative or much-improved product is launched onto a market to skim off customers who are willing to pay more to have the product sooner. Prices are lowered later when demand from the early adopters falls. This strategy is probably the most protable in terms of margin for the manufacturer. Finally, we have shown the direct, positive inuence of prepurchase online information dependency on future online shopping intention. This result is consistent with earlier studies in different cultural contexts to ours which showed that internet users who use online information to support their purchase decisions develop a greater online shopping intention (Citrin et al., 2003; Shim et al., 2001), and that online dependency has a direct positive inuence on online shopping intention (Patwardhan and Yang, 2003; Ruiz and Sanz, 2006). But it should not be forgotten that this dependency

Online shopping information

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is highly conditioned by how useful and easy to use consumers perceive the internet channel to be. That means that dependency should be carefully built by adding value to the medium. Overloading of unstructured information, privacy concerns or poorly designed storefronts, among others, can reduce internet usefulness and ease of use as a shopping channel and subsequently online information dependency. Therefore, we can conclude that consumers develop complex shopping strategies in which achievement of the nal objective (purchase intention) is preceded by securing a set of prior objectives (prepurchase information). This result may also have important implications in terms of e-commerce web site design. While information is always important for decision making, in e-commerce it appears to be even more so. Differentiation in the amount and quality of information on the product or service being offered thus becomes a signicant competitive instrument. These conclusions have some limitations and open new lines for future research. A possible limitation is that the study has focused on measuring attitudes (future shopping intention), which do not always become behaviours. Thus, possible future research could contrast the proposed model with a sample of internet shoppers to see if the results obtained remain valid. Another limitation is that there has been no consideration of the inuence of the characteristics of goods and services on shopping behaviour. Prior studies show that the greater the perceived risk for consumers, the greater the prepurchase information search effort (Dowling, 1986; Mitchell and Boustani, 1994). We therefore propose as a future line of research to apply the model to the purchase of search and credence goods. Given that the perceived risk in the internet is greater than in traditional environments, another future line of research would be to analyse the inuence of perceived purchase risk on the different variables analysed.
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Appendix

Online shopping information

Indicator Factor loading 0.740 * * 0.780 * * 0.760 * * 0.732 * * 0.758 * * 0.750 * * 0.600 * * 0.646 * * 0.629 * * 0.701 * * 0.920 * * 0.743 * * 0.873 * * 0.678 * * 0.840 * * 0.685 * * Robust t-value CA 0.87 CR 0.87 AVE 0.57

Variable Perceived usefulness

19.03 USEFUL2 USEFUL3 20.86 USEFUL4 19.59 USEFUL5 18.01 USEFUL6 19.51 Perceived ease of use EASE1 16.99 EASE3 12.04 EASE4 14.01 EASE6 12.88 Innovativeness INN1 8.81 INN2 10.67 Attitude to online shopping ATTI4 16.82 ATTI5 20.29 ATTI7 14.03 Information dependency DEP1 18.27 DEP3 13.24 S-B x 2 (94 df) 252.31 ( p , 0.01); NFI 0.90; NNFI 0.92; CFI 0.94; IFI RMSEA 0.06

667
0.74 0.75 0.43

0.78 0.81 0.73

0.80 0.81 0.74

0.67 0.59 0.59 Table AI. Validation of the nal measurement model reliability and convergent validity

0.94;

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01. CA Cronbachs a; CR composite reliability; AVE average variance extracted

1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Perceived usefulness Perceived ease of use Innovativeness Attitude to online shopping Online information dependency 0.75 [0.51;0.69] [0.09;0.32] [0.59;0.71] [0.53;0.72]

2 0.60 * * 0.66 [0.19;0.46] [0.36;0.58] [0.43;0.67]

3 0.20 * * 0.33 * * 0.82 [0.05;0.29] [-0.04;0.21]

4 0.65 * * 0.47 * * 0.17 * * 0.77 [0.33;0.55]

5 0.62 * * 0.55 * * 0.08 0.44 * * 0.77

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01. Diagonal represents the square root of the average variance extracted; while above the diagonal the shared variance (squared correlations) are represented. Below the diagonal the 95 per cent condence interval for the estimated factors correlations is provided

Table AII. Validation of the nal measurement model discriminant validity

Corresponding author Carla Ruiz-Mafe can be contacted at: carla.ruiz@uv.es

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