Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 18, No.

2, 2019 145

An empirical study on consumer attitude and

intention towards online shopping

Priya Sethuraman*
Department of MBA,
St. Joseph’s College of Engineering,
OMR, Chennai-600119, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: priasethuraman@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Jayanthi Thanigan
T.A. Pai Management Institute,
P.B. No. 9, Manipal-576104,
Karnataka, India
Email: jayanthi@tapmi.edu.in

Abstract: Keeping in step with global practices, the Indian subcontinent too is
witnessing a change in the shopping attitude of the consumers, reflecting a
steady shift from traditional brick-and-mortar stores towards online shopping.
Factors such as the deeper penetration of the internet and the easy accessibility
of Smartphones, supplemented by changing lifestyles, have all triggered a rise
in this trend. The study seeks to identify the factors that influence the perceived
quality of a website and also analyse the effect of these factors towards
consumers online purchase intention in the Indian continent. Further, it tries to
establish how factors such as perceived quality, trust, and attitude towards
online shopping influence a consumer’s online purchase intention. The findings
of the study reveal that perceived quality helps to win over the trust of the
consumers, which then motivates them to make an online purchase, thus
inducing a positive online purchase intention.

Keywords: consumer attitude; intention towards online purchase; purchase

intention; online shopping.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sethuraman, P. and

Thanigan, J. (2019) ‘An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention
towards online shopping’, Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 18,
No. 2, pp.145–166.

Biographical notes: Priya Sethuraman is currently working as an Associate

Professor in the Department of MBA at the St. Joseph’s College of
Engineering, Chennai, India. She received her PhD degree from the Anna
University, Chennai. Her research area includes consumer behaviour, service
marketing and brand management in marketing. The other areas of interest
include economics, and financial management. She completed her MA in
Economics and MBA in Marketing from the Avinashilingam Deemed
University, Coimbatore, TamilNadu.

Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

146 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

Jayanthi Thanigan is currently working as an Associate Professor in Marketing

at the T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal. Her research interests are in the
area of consumer behaviour, particularly consumer switching behaviour. At
TAPMI, she currently teaches courses in the marketing area, such as marketing
management, sales and distribution management and marketing strategy. At
TAPMI, she has held administrative positions such as an Associate Dean
(Academics), Area Chair (Marketing) and Team Leader for AACSB
Accreditation (successfully getting AACSB reaccreditation for the next five
years). In the past, she has taught courses such as retail management, CRM, etc.
She holds an Agricultural Engineering degree from the Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University, Coimbatore. She followed this up with Post Graduate
Diploma in Rural Management (PGDRM), from the IRMA, Anand. She
commenced her career with Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation
(GCMMF-AMUL). She obtained her PhD degree from the Anna University,
Chennai.

1 Introduction

The Indian subcontinent is witnessing a substantial change in consumer shopping

behaviour, with more and more people transitioning from traditional brick-and-mortar
stores to online shopping. Though online shopping had opened account in the country
during the last decade, it only picked up momentum in 2012 due to greater internet
penetration and accessibility to the Smartphones. Prior to this, online shopping was
mainly restricted to buying movie tickets online and other such sundry activities. The
year 2012 witnessed a dramatic growth of online shoppers, registering an increase of
128% in online shopping users compared to previous year. According to the International
Telecom Union (ITU), per capita mobile penetration in India was 86.95%, compared to
53.20%, 76.12% and 82.72% in China, the USA and Korea respectively in 2016. This can
be attributed to internet penetration in India through 3G and 4G network-enabled
Smartphones. American Express and Nielson Survey conducted studies on this subject
across several metropolitan cities in India during 2014 and found that internet users spend
more than five hours online for non-work related activities including online shopping. A
study conducted by Yahoo-Mindshare (2016) shows that 79% of consumers shopping in
India, in tune with technology advancements such as increased broadband speed and the
emergence of mobile wallets, both of which have simplified and facilitated online
shopping.
Historically, Indians have been conservative in their approach to shopping. They
prefer to shop in traditional stores as it provides them the opportunity to touch and feel
the products, and also bargain for a better deal. However, they have been forced to
change their outlook towards online purchase due to modernisation and persistent
advancement in the lifestyle (Singhi et al., 2017). The number of online consumers has
augmented sevenfold to 80 million to 90 million, in the past three years. This growth can
be attributed to rising adoption of e-retailers because of strong value proposition offered
by online vendors, proliferating payment platforms, strengthening delivery logistics,
Internet penetration and increase in Smartphones alone have not contributed to the
proliferation. The propagation of the online shopping phenomenon is also due to the ease
at which the information can be accessed online to make purchase decisions (Dann and
Dann, 2001). From the perspective of consumers, online shopping enables consumers to
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 147

purchase products and services anytime and anywhere, 365X24X7 days a year. Besides,
it also helps to save money, time and effort. Further, online shopping offers consumers
the opportunity to search, collect and compare information, and consequently make a
more informed decision. On the other hand, the risk perceptions of the consumers directly
affect online purchase. Product risk, financial risk, and non-delivery risks negatively
affect the attitude of online shoppers (Ariff et al., 2014). Chen and Barnes (2007) also
argued that consumers were not keen to purchase online due to fears relating to security
and privacy, reliability of the online seller companies and website technology. Along
with these factors, trust in the e-commerce websites is also a critical factor in determining
the success or failure of any e-commerce activity in the marketplace (Koufaris and
Hampton-Sosa, 2004). Kaur (2005) stated that customers were deterred to make an online
purchase due to factors such as delivery of substandard products, insecure payment
methods, loss of personal privacy, and fear of misuse of their personal information.
Within the parameters of the above scenario and with enablers and inhibitors
effecting online purchase, the study seeks to assess the effect of the trust in the website
factor on the online shopping intention of the consumers. It further seeks to substantiate
that trust is developed based on the perceived quality of the online firm. Brand equity of
the firm, website attractiveness, message conveyed by the website and opportunism are
some of the factors that play a role in developing perceived quality of a website, and
subsequently, the products and services it offers. Kayaman and Arasli (2007) proved that
brand equity had a positive effect on the perceived quality of a website. Douglas et al.
(2003) felt that an attractive website positively impacted a consumer’s online purchase
intention and vice versa. Several cases have come to light that suggest that some
e-retailers were not entirely transparent about their intentions or they had misused
consumers’ personal information, thus negatively impacting their online purchase
intentions. Besides, online service providers provide higher risk of opportunistic
behaviour, as consumers cannot view, touch or test the products and services (Lee and
Efraim, 2001). As a result, opportunism creates a negative effect towards the perceived
quality and this demotivates the intention to purchase online. Subsequently, it affects the
consumers’ trust towards the online service provider. Therefore, developing the trust
among the online consumers should be the main goal of the e-retailers, as it motivates
their intention to purchase online (Flavia’n and Guinalı’u, 2006).
Although several studies have been conducted on the subject of a consumer’s online
purchase intention in the Western and Asian context, much more research is required in
the Indian context. Factors such as impulse purchase orientation, brand orientation and
quality orientation, online trust and prior online purchase experience were studied by
Thamizhvanan and Xavier (2013), Kumar and Ojha (2016) studied convenience,
customer service, perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), social
networking, and website attributes influence on behavioural intention; consumer
innovativeness, perceived benefits, perceived risks, attitude and intention were researched
by SivaKumar and Gunasekaran (2017). But to best of our knowledge, no study has
focused on understanding the relationship between perceived quality (which includes
website brand equity, communication, website attractiveness and opportunism) trust,
attitude and purchase intention.
Moreover, there is much scope for further investigation in the Indian context as the
findings from one culture cannot be generalised to different cultures (Chen et al., 2004).
The Indian consumer’s values, behaviour and attitude differ from the consumers in
148 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

different countries across the globe. Certain types of values are regarded as more
important to consumers in one country’s market than to those in another’s because of the
differences in culture and socio-economic conditions. Therefore, this study seeks to
examine the role of consumers’ values, behaviour and attitude towards the online
purchase intention in the Indian context.

2 Literature review and hypothesis formation

Consumers behave rationally to identify the psychological determinants underlying

motivational behaviour (Ajzen, 1985; Dijksterhuis et al., 2007). An individual’s
motivation is reflected in his or her online purchase intention. Many empirical studies
have shown that convenience and ease of use of the internet are two motivational factors
that greatly impact consumers’ willingness to buy online. Another major motivation
factor in favour of online shopping is the fact that people can make a purchase
round-the-clock, that is, 24 hours a day, seven days a week (Hofacker, 2001; Wang et al.,
2013). Further, e-commerce provides access to all kinds of products from all over the
world. Thus, a study on the beliefs and motivations of the people can help to understand
their online purchase intention behaviour. Further, perceived quality and motivation can
be structured under the belief factor.
Zhu et al. (2011) identified trust in a website as an important variable that influenced
an online purchase intention. Most companies today supplement their brick-and-mortar
store sales by offering the online shopping option through their websites to reach
customers who cannot visit their stores. Online stores offer customers with a variety of
products and services. Besides, there is a number of comparison websites that serve as a
forum for people to compare prices of the same products listed in different websites (Lim
and Dubinsky, 2004). Therefore, customers tend to buy products or services from the
sellers after they gain trust in their websites (Chen and He, 2003). Online trust is one of
the most critical issues that affects the success or failure of an online purchase (Prasad
and Aryasri, 2009). Further, safe and secure transaction has emerged as another factor of
concern for online shoppers (Laudon and Traver, 2009) as many fear the misuse of their
personal information, especially credit card information (Comegys et al., 2009).

2.1 Proposed model

The study intends to analyse the factors (brand equity, website attractiveness,
opportunism, and communication) that influence perceived quality. Further, the proposed
model also attempts to examine the mediating effect of trust and attitude on the online
purchase intention. Figure 1 depicts a proposed conceptual framework of the behavioural
patterns of the online purchase intention among the Indian online shoppers.

2.2 Online purchase intention

Customer online purchase intention has attracted significant research interest (Musleh
et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2015; Al-Debei et al., 2014; Shim et al., 2001). Purchase intention
is one of the components of cognitive behaviour on how a consumer intends to buy a
specific brand. According to the theories of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975)
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 149

and planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1985) intention is an important precedent to the purchase
decision.
According to Day (1969), the intentional measures could be more effective than
behavioural measures to capture customers’ mind as they might have made purchases due
to constraints rather than real preferences. Therefore, customer online purchase intention
determines the strength of a consumer’s intention to carry out a specified purchasing
behaviour through the internet (Salisbury et al., 2001).
Pavlou (2003) defines online purchase intention as the situation where a customer is
willing and intended to become involved in an online transaction. According to him
online transactions are an activity in which the process of information retrieval,
information transfer, and product purchase are taking place. The process of information
retrieval is an important factor for consumers’ intentions to use a website for making an
online purchase. Therefore, it is crucial to analyse the concept of an online purchase
intention.

Figure 1 Conceptual framework of online purchase intention

2.3 Perceived quality

Perceived quality is a significant element for decision-making in the context of an online
purchase intention. According to the marketing researchers, perceived quality is the
consumers’ judgment about the organisation’s overall excellence or superiority in terms
of providing quality products and services (Lee et al., 2015; Al-Debei et al., 2014;
Zeithmal, 1988). Consumers often judge the quality of a product or service based on a
variety of informational cues that they associate with the product. The information cues
considered for the study are brand equity, website attractiveness, opportunism and
communication for online purchase. Therefore, this study intends to identify whether
brand equity, web attractiveness, opportunism, and communication influence the
perceived quality of online shoppers.
150 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

2.3.1 Brand equity

Ratih and Ike (2011) examined the effects of consumers’ brand consciousness on
consumers’ intention, to shop for fashion products online. Their results showed that brand
consciousness was significant in shaping their purchase decision. A study by
Mariné et al. (2012) examined and compared the impact of two of the most important risk
reducers for online apparel shopping – product brand image and online store image – on
the online purchase intention for apparel. Product brand image influenced consumers’
online purchase intentions, both directly and indirectly, by reducing various risk
perceptions. It was also found that brand orientation positively influences the customers’
online purchase intention (Choon et al., 2010) and a high level of trust in the brand is
associated with online purchasing (Croome et al., 2010).

2.3.2 Website attractiveness

Lee and Lin (2005) examined five dimensions of e-service quality: website design,
reliability, responsiveness, trust, and personalisation. Contrary to the authors’
expectations, website design did not have a significant effect on either the overall
e-service quality or on the customer satisfaction. A study by Joia and Barbosa de Oliveira
(2008) on electronic commerce of CDs found that ease of use, trust, pleasure, and
attractiveness were key issues for understanding customers’ attitude and purchasing
intention. A study on the internet users in China found that the website was a crucial
factor in influencing the decision of the consumers to make an online purchase (Clemes
et al., 2014).

2.3.3 Opportunism
Opportunism in the study means divulging of personal information without the
consumer’s consent. The personal information includes a buyer’s social security number,
credit card numbers, phone number, and address. Online consumers fear revealing this
information for making an online purchase since they are wary of opportunism by the
online retailers since they may misuse it to their benefit. New online brands have a
substantial barrier to the initiation of transactions by consumers because they are
relatively unknown in comparison to their established and known counterparts. Slyke
et al. (2006) noted that online consumers’ concerns for information privacy, and their
concerns about organisations using the information and the protection of their personal
information, impacted their willingness to engage in online transactions. Pei-Ling (2013)
also explored the existence, role, and hidden problems associated with customers’
perceived opportunism in e-return service encounters.
However, Gefen (2000) asserted that the presence of trust would increase the
consumers’ belief that the e-retailers would not engage in opportunistic behaviour.
Further, Pei-Ling (2013) confirmed that perceived opportunism mediates between
e-return service encounters and trust. Kang et al. (2012) investigated the consequences of
dissolution intention, such as increasing opportunism and decreasing cooperation and the
mediating effects of transaction-specific investments. Opportunism increases dissolution
intention and negatively affects cooperation.
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 151

2.3.4 Communication
Presence of virtuous information and conveying the same on the website has been one of
the attributes that the consumers use to judge the quality of an e-retailer (Collier and
Bienstock, 2006). A website that communicates its message in accordance with the
culture of its target group is more likely to resonate with its customers. Localised
messages about e-offers also translate into more online buyers (Guseva, 2013). Thus, the
study also aims to identify the influence of communication on an online purchase
intention.
The research identifies the factors influencing the perceived quality, namely: brand
equity, website attractiveness, opportunism and communication. The paper is motivated
to examine the relationship between perceived quality and online purchase intention.
Based on the previous studies, the hypothesis for the study is formulated as:
NH1 Brand equity, website attractiveness, opportunism and communication equally
influence perceived quality.
NH2 Perceived quality does not influence trust in website.
NH3 Perceived quality does not influence online purchase intention.

2.4 Online trust

Online shoppers find trust to be an important factor in influencing their online purchase
decision. Mayer et al. (1995) defined trust as “the willingness of a party to be vulnerable
to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other party will perform a
particular action important to the trust or, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control
that other party.” In other words, online trust is the confidence an online shopper has in
his/her online service provider. Ranaweera and Prabhu (2003) found that the absence of
trust may affect the confidence of the customers who may not have the intention to
purchase. Thus, it is imperative for the online service provider to build confidence and
trust among the internet shoppers in order to create intention to purchase. According to
Kun et al. (2007), online purchasing necessitates an online customer’s trust. For placing
an order online, sufficient trust is needed (Egger, 2006). This has been demonstrated in
extant literature and subsequent research has also drawn similar conclusions indicating
that an online shopper’s trust in a website positively influences his or her online purchase
intention (Musleh et al., 2015; Hsu et al., 2014; Renny and Siringoringo, 2013; Hsu et al.,
2013b; Verhagen et al., 2006; Verhagen et al., 2004; McKnight et al., 2002; Lim et al.,
2001).
Security, privacy and reliability are the three main dimensions of the online trust
factor (Camp, 2001). Security is the extent to which customers trust the online shopping
website to be secure enough to transmit sensitive information, such as credit card
numbers, phone numbers, and address for business transaction (Kim and Shim, 2002).
Security also plays a crucial role in determining the purchase intentions of the online
shoppers (Salisbury et al., 2001) because of the presence of the perceived risk in
transmitting sensitive information (Janda, 2008). Kim and Shim (2002) emphasised that
the personal awareness of security had a significant influence on consumers’ attitudes and
online purchase intentions. Chen and Barnes (2007) define privacy as the consumers’
trust in the performance of the other party in the environment during the market
152 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

transaction or consumption behaviour. Lee and Efraim (2001) argue that high-level of
security and privacy in the online shopping experience has a positive effect on
consumers’ trust. Moreover, company reliability can also influence the consumers’ online
trust and purchase intention. In the web-shopping environment, most consumers assume
that large companies there are in a better position to evoke trust in their websites
(Koufaris and Hampton-Sosa, 2004). It is also recommended that a company which can
build a strong reputation is better positioned to win over consumers’ trust (Doney and
Cannon, 1997; de Figueiredo, 2000). The following hypotheses was formed based on the
above literature:
NH4 Trust in website does not influence online purchase intention.
NH5 Trust in website does not influence attitude towards online purchase.

2.5 Attitude towards online shopping

Attitude is an enduring positive or negative feeling (or learned dispositions) about a
person, object, or issue (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993). In the current study, attitude towards
online shopping is viewed as a consumer’s level of affect (positive, negative, or neutral
learned predisposition), towards the idea of buying products online. Both theoretical and
empirical evidence in the previous literature supported the hypothesised impact of the
online purchase attitude on an online purchase intention.
The theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein and Ajzen,
1975) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985) were premised on the
postulation that attitude towards a behaviour was the key determinant of intention to
perform the behaviour. Empirically, a large number of studies in psychology, consumer
behaviour, and marketing confirmed the potency of attitude in explaining behavioural
intention (Hellier et al., 2003). In the realm of consumers’ online purchase behaviour,
several studies have also demonstrated a positive effect of attitude towards online
shopping on an online purchase intention (Musleh et al., 2015; Hsu et al., 2013b; George,
2002; Griffith et al., 2001; Monsuwe et al., 2004; Shim et al., 2001). The following
hypothesis is formulated based on the above evidence.
NH6 Attitude towards online purchase does not influence an online purchase
intention.

3 Methodology

3.1 Research design

SPSS AMOS was adopted to examine the relationship between perceived quality, trust
and attitude on an online purchase intention. The survey technique was used to
understand the behavioural patterns of online shoppers.
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 153

3.2 Questionnaire design

Earlier studies on the subject were considered in designing the questionnaire using
standard measurements. Table 1 depicts the construct’s sources. The questionnaire had
three different components;
a demographic characteristics of online shoppers
b consumers’ shopping habits
c variables influencing the online purchase intention.
All the constructs in the questionnaire were measured using multi-item scales adopted
from different sources of the existing literature. The respondents were required to
respond to the questionnaire indicating responses on a seven-point Likert scale from 1
(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). This part of the questionnaire contained the
instrument for testing the proposed research model.
Table 1 Development of the questionnaire

Content Source of survey items

Brand equity Wakefield et al. (2004)
Website trust
Opportunism
Communication
Trust in website Koufaris and Hampton-Sosa (2004)
Attitude towards online purchase Chiu et al. (2005)
Online purchase Slyke et al. (2002)

3.3 Sampling
The target population for the study consisted of customers who have involved in online
shopping. An empirical study tested the proposed model in Chennai, a city situated in
Southern India. The city was chosen because it is the capital of Tamil Nadu and the
fourth most populous metropolitan city in India after Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

3.4 Administration of survey

The self-administered survey method and the Snowball sampling technique was used to
collect data. Questionnaires were distributed to 250 respondents out of which 211 were
found to be valid and considered for data analysis. Therefore, the sample size for the
study was the 211 online shoppers who had provided valid information on their online
shopping experience.

3.5 Data analysis

The structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the proposed model. The central
point in analysing the structural model was the extent to which the hypothesised model
154 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

‘fit’ or adequately described the sample data (Hair et al., 2006; Schermelleh-Engel et al.,
2003). A model fit could be evaluated by examining several goodness of fit indices
encompassing of χ2, χ2/df, GFI, TLI, CFI, and root mean square error of approximation
(RMSEA), as recommended by Malhotra (2010), Hair et al. (2006), Sivo et al. (2006) and
Hoe (2008). Besides the fit statistics, of particular interest was the path significance
indicated by the standardised regression estimate (E) that assessed the effect of one
variable on another (Chinda and Mohamed, 2008; Hershberger (2003). The significance
level was set at p < 0.05.

4 Findings

4.1 Demographic profile of the respondents

A total of 211 samples were found to be valid respondents for the study. The
demographic profile of the respondents is shown in Table 2. 47% of the respondents were
in the age group of 21 to 30 years. 53% of them were male while 51% of the respondents
were married. 41% of the respondents’ monthly income was between Rs. 30,000 to
Rs. 60,000. 45% of them were IT professionals working in the educational field. 90% had
done online shopping at least one to six times per month. Around 70% of the consumers
had purchased with 1–3 online retailers like Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon, etc. in the past 12
months.

4.2 Construct validity and reliability

The composite reliability (CR) of all the constructs was 0.78, which had exceeded the
value 0.70. This depicted adequate levels of reliability estimating the extent to which a
set of latent construct indicators contributes towards the measurement of a construct
(Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the
construct validity of the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). The CFA
model also showed an acceptable fit.
Convergent validity examined both the significance of the t-values and the average
variance extracted (AVE). All the factor loadings and t-values were significant (t > 5.75;
p < 0.01) and all the standardised loadings were above 0.50. In addition, the AVE
exceeded 0.50, fulfilling the requirement of Fornell-Larcker criterion (Fornell and
Larcker, 1981). The analytical results demonstrated tolerable convergent validity for the
study. The data validated the discriminant validity by estimating the maximum squared
correlation value, which was below the minimum AVE (0.49). Table 3 depicts the AVE,
CR and correlations of the determinants.

4.3 Research findings

A chi-square test was conducted on the data collected on the observed variables to
identify the goodness of fit. An overall F2 (goodness-of-fit) test with a p-value exceeding
0.05 indicated that the model was correctly specified.
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 155

Table 2 Demographic profile of the respondents

Item Category Percentage

Age Less than 20 years 10.5
21–30 years 47.4
31–40 years 22.4
More than 41 years 19.7
Gender Male 52.6
Female 47.4
Marital status Married 51.3
Single 48.7
Monthly income Less than Rs. 30,000 18.4
30,001–60,000 40.8
60,001–80,000 6.6
More than 80,001 2.6
Occupation Not working 31.6
IT 21.1
Education 23.7
Manufacturing 7.9
Government 9.2
Others 6.6
Student 31.6
Online purchase 1–3 per month 50.0
frequency 4–6 per month 40.8
7–9 per month 3.9
More than 16 5.3

Table 3 Average variance extracted, composite reliabilities and the correlations

Attitude Online
Perceived Trust in
Variable AVE CR towards online purchase
quality website
purchase intention
Perceived quality 0.58 0.78 1 0.64 0.65 0.54
Trust in website 0.67 0.93 - 1 0.75 0.74
Attitude towards 0.54 0.87 - - 1 0.50
online purchase
Online purchase 0.65 0.71 - - - 1
intention

Table 4 depicts the results of the model and shows that the F2 value of 61.079 (d.f. = 59)
with p-value as 0.401, which is greater than 0.05, indicating the model to be a good fit.
The normed-fit-index (NFI) of 0.974 indicates that the model improves the fit by 97.4%.
156 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

Comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.999 represents that the model is good and acceptable fit
as its value is closer to 1. Incremental fit index (IFI) of 0.990 proved all measured
variable are uncorrelated as the value is closer to 1, indicating a good fit. Therefore, the
model demonstrates the most superior fit. Further, RMSEA, another indicator of the
model fit, equals 0.015. According to Browne and Cudeck (1993), a value of RMSEA
less than 0.05 is an indication of a close fit. Thus, the model which intends to examine the
causal relationship between perceived quality, trust in website and attitude towards online
purchase on intention to purchase online shows goodness of fit.
NH1 Brand equity, website attractiveness, opportunism and communication equally
influence perceived quality.
Table 4 Model goodness of fit

d.f. NFI CFI IFI RSMEA F2 / d.f. p

61.079 59 0.974 0.999 0.990 0.015 1.035 0.401

Table 5 Factors influencing perceived quality

Particulars Estimate S.E. C.R. P

Brand equity m Perceived quality 1.000
Website Attract m Perceived quality 1.085 0.061 17.741 ***
Opportunism m Perceived quality –0.479 0.040 11.912 ***
Communication m Perceived quality 0.332 0.040 8.328 ***
Note: ***p (probability value) < .05.
Table 5 and Figure 2 depict that brand equity, website attractiveness, opportunism and
communication influence perceived quality, as the p-value is significant, that is, less than
0.05 for these variables. Therefore, null hypothesis (NH1) is rejected and it can be said
that brand equity, website attractiveness, opportunism and communication unequally
influence perceived quality. Further, it is found that brand equity, website attractiveness,
and communication have a positive effect while opportunism has negative effect on the
perceived quality. Web attractiveness (E = 1.085) has greater influence on the perceived
quality, followed by brand equity (E = 1.000), opportunism (E = –0.479) and retailers’
communication to the consumers (E = 0.479).
NH 2 Perceived quality does not influence trust in the website.
NH 3 Perceived quality does not influence online purchase intention.
NH4 Trust in a website does not influence online purchase intention.
From Table 6 and Figure 3, it is clear that Trust 1 and Trust 2 are two observed variables
that lead to latent variable Trust in a website. It can be observed that the perceived quality
influences trust in website (E = 0.516) as the p-value is significant (p = .000 < 0.05), and,
it has a positive influence, that is, when perceived quality increases for the online service,
trust in a website is created, therefore, the NH2 is rejected and it can be concluded that
perceived quality influences trust in website.
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 157

Figure 2 Factors influencing perceived quality

Figure 3 Relationship between perceived quality, trust in website and online purchase intention

The study also tests the effect of perceived quality on online purchase intention and the
moderating effect of trust in a website. The latent variable, online purchase intention is
derived from the four observed variables, purint 1, purint 2, purint 3, and purint 4. All the
observed variables are found to be significant (p = 0.000 < 0.05).
Perceived quality does not influence online purchase intention, as the p-value is
insignificant (p = .856 > 0.05). The findings also show that trust in website does not
moderate between perceived quality and online purchase, as the p-value is insignificant
(p = 0.948 > 0.05). Hence, NH 3 and NH 4 are accepted. Therefore, it is understood that
perceived quality and trust in website do not influence the online purchase intention
directly.
158 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

NH5 Trust in website does not influence attitude towards online purchase.
NH6 Attitude towards online purchase does not influence online purchase intention.
Table 6 Relationship between perceived quality, trust in website and online purchase intention

Particulars Estimate S.E. C.R. p

Perceived quality o Trust in website 0.516 0.053 9.785 ***
Perceived quality o Online purchase 1.085 0.061 17.741 0.856
intention
Trust in website o Online purchase 0.479 0.040 11.912 0.948
intention
Trust 1 m Trust in website 1.000
Trust 2 m Trust in website 1.005 0.057 17.675 ***
Purint 1 m Online purchase intention 1.000
Purint 2 m Online purchase intention 0.944 0.066 14.419 ***
Purint 3 m Online purchase intention 1.033 0.094 11.007 ***
Purint 4 m Online purchase intention 0.964 0.101 9.508 ***
Note: ***p (probability value) < .05.
Table 7 Relationship between trust in website, attitude towards online purchase and online
purchase intention

Particulars Estimate S.E. C.R. p

ATT 1 m Attitude towards online purchase 1.000
ATT 2 m Attitude towards online purchase 1.049 0.095 11.013 ***
ATT 3 m Attitude towards online purchase 1.049 0.135 7.766 ***
ATT 4 m Attitude towards online purchase 0.799 0.134 5.985 ***
ATT 5 m Attitude towards online purchase 1.126 0.160 7.028 ***
ATT 6 m Attitude towards online purchase 1.166 0.176 6.614 ***
Trust in website o Attitude towards online 0.635 0.077 8.224 ***
purchase
Attitude towards o Online purchase 6.436 61.226 0.105 ***
intention online purchase
Note: ***p (probability value) < .05.
From Table 7 and Figure 4, it can be inferred that attitude towards online purchase is a
latent variable, which is obtained from the six observed variables: ATT 1, ATT 2, ATT 3,
ATT 4, ATT 5 and ATT 6. The latent variable attitude towards online purchase is found
to have significant relationship between the six observed variables as their p values are
significant and less than 0.05.
In this section, the effect of trust in website on attitude towards online purchase
intention was analysed and, further, the effect of attitude towards online purchase on
online purchase intention was examined. It is observed that trust in website positively
influenced attitude towards online purchase (E = 0.635) as the p-value was found to be
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 159

significant (p = 0.000 < 0.005). Similarly, attitude towards online purchase had a positive
influence on the online purchase intention (E = 6.436), as the p-value was found to be
significant (p = 0.000 < 0.005). Thus, both NH5 and NH6 are rejected. Therefore, it is
clear that trust in website creates attitude towards online purchase and attitude towards
online purchase mediates between trust in website and the online purchase intention.

Figure 4 Relationship between trust in website, attitude towards online purchase and online
purchase intention

Based on the research findings, the proposed model was modified, as given in Figure 5;
perceived quality influences trust in website, which in turn, influences attitude. As
depicted, online purchase intention is influenced by attitude towards online purchase
intention. The model illustrates that an attractive design, high brand equity, low
opportunism and good communication influence perceived quality of the website.
Consecutively, perceived quality creates trust in a website. High trust develops a positive
attitude towards online purchase, which in turn, motivates online shoppers to purchase
online.
160 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

Figure 5 The validated model of online purchase intention

5 Discussion

The purpose of this research was to study the various factors that affect the online
purchase intention of people and to develop a measurement model for the online purchase
intention. The findings reveal that perceived quality of the online shoppers is influenced
by a number of factors, such as brand equity, website attractiveness, opportunism, and
communication. The study also proves that website attractiveness is a highly influential
factor followed by brand equity. The interactive features of the website in terms of
appearance, content, functionality, and search engine optimisation are important factors
in enhancing the perceived quality, thereby increasing the intention to purchase online
(Fiore et al., 2005). Strong brand image of the website also benefits the online customer
to increase the perceived quality towards the service provider. The study proves that
when the online service provider offers all the popular brand alternatives of a product,
and creates awareness and familiarity with the brand, a positive influence is created for
the perceived quality (Keller, 2008).
The study also proves that opportunism has a significant negative influence on
perceived quality, thereby, influencing trust in a website, which corresponds with earlier
findings of researchers (Slyke et al., 2006; Pei-Ling, 2013; Kang et al., 2012)
The opportunistic behaviour depicted by the online service provider, for example,
altering facts to take advantage of the business, using customer information without their
permission, etc. would reduce level of trust (Lee and Efraim, 2001). Therefore, in the
online shopping environment, when shoppers believe opportunistic behaviour is possible,
there is negative impact on the perception towards the quality of the online service.
 An empirical study on consumer attitude and intention 161

Perceived quality is also positively influenced by communication. Communication

includes formal, meaningful and timely sharing of information on the website. It plays a
critical role in building trust. Customers expect a high quality of response, openness in
communications, feedback and speed of response from the online service provider. The
above said qualities in the website have a strong impact on customers who perceive
greater risk. Probably, information sharing helps customers overcome these fears and
form a more favourable opinion of using the website for online shopping (Chau et al.,
2000; Chen and Tseng, 2011; Bennett et al., 2005)
The model reveals that perceived quality has a positive influence on trust in website.
The results suggest that the relationship between perceived quality and attitude towards
online purchase intention is the strongest when customers develop trust towards the
e-retailers (Chang et al., 2014). Trust in website has a significant positive effect on the
attitude towards intention to purchase online (Chiu et al., 2012; Rahi et al., 2016).
Attitude towards online purchase depicts the customers positive or negative feelings
related to accomplishing the online purchasing behaviour (Chiu et al., 2005; Schlosser,
2003). This means that in an appropriate online shopping environment, trust in website
creates positive attitude towards shopping from the website and positive attitude creates a
positive online purchase intention.

6 Conclusions and implications for future research

This paper proposes a framework for enhancing our understanding of consumers’

attitudes toward online shopping. The findings suggest that positive perceived quality in
terms of website attractiveness, brand quality, communication and opportunism creates
strong trust in website. This, in turn, develops a positive attitude towards online shopping
and creates an intention to purchase online. The findings of this study provide certain
new insights to online retailers on how they can attract their potential buyers’. The
findings also contribute to the extant literature on the subject of online purchase
behaviour in the Indian context.
The results of this study provide several implications for marketing practitioners. This
study establishes that factors such as brand equity, website attractiveness and
communication contribute towards the perceived quality of a website, and in turn, the
buyers’ online purchase intention. The findings of the study will help online vendors to
better understand the online shopper’s attitude and accordingly design their marketing
and communication strategies. From the study it is clear that the vendors can convert
their website visitors into customers by optimising their website variables such as brand
equity, attractiveness, clear communication, and perceived risk. In terms of website
attractiveness, online vendors should ensure that their website is attractive, user-friendly,
has clear navigation and is pleasant to the eye. Further, the vendors should also focus on
building and strengthening their brand equity through effective marketing and
communication. They should also work on improving the visibility of the brand – a
higher visibility would translate into higher online purchase intention. It is equally
important for vendors to provide adequate product information, more so in the face of the
fact that Indian consumers traditionally like to see and feel their products. In an online
environment, since feeling of the product is not possible, this factor can be compensated
162 P. Sethuraman and J. Thanigan

by better and accurate product description, product attributes and complementing it with
product images.
However, the study has its limitations. Firstly, the data collected is restricted the
respondents residing in Chennai, which is in south India and cannot be generalised to the
entire population (in spite of Chennai being a metro with mix population belonging to
diverse background). Secondly, many more constructs could have been added to the
purchase intention measure. However, these limitations cannot be judged to impair the
overall reliability of the paper.
The findings of the study also provide fodder for further research on this subject, with
particular focus to broaden its circumference to include respondents from other parts of
the country. The model suggested in the study can be enhanced to include other
antecedents such as product varieties, price ranges, service, level of convenience, etc. The
current model can also be extended to include the online purchase behaviour and
post-purchase behaviour.

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