How Culture and Trustworthiness Interact in Different E-Commerce Contexts: A Comparative Analysis of Consumers' Intention to Purchase on Platforms of Different Origins

• Main Authors: Anna Tikhomirova, Juan Huang, Shuai Chuanmin, Muhammad Khayyam, Hussain Ali, Dmitry S. Khramchenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: consumer behavior; purchase intention; trustworthiness; culture; e-commerce; context
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.746467/full

The outgrowth of e-commerce has advanced the development of countries' economies. Today, online marketplaces are targeting not only their local customers but are also spreading their interests overseas, expanding cross-border e-commerce. The current study aims to analyze the interaction of customer's personal traits, such as national culture, disposition to trust, and perceived trustworthiness, and their effect on the purchase intention within different e-commerce contexts. The contexts are chosen based on the country-of-origin parameter and serve as the moderator in the research model. Both direct and indirect effects of cultural dimensions on trustworthiness and purchase intention are analyzed within the research framework. The data for the analysis are randomly collected among the Russian population and assessed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The analysis results prove the marketplace context moderates the interaction of customers' personal traits among each other and their effect on the purchase intention. The study shows that dimensions of national culture have a more substantial effect on perceived trustworthiness and purchase intention in the Chinese marketplace context. The current study contributes to the analysis of customer behavior patterns within context, expanding context-related research direction. It increases the specificity of the culture and trustworthiness research and deepens the understanding of country-of-origin moderating effect in e-commerce. Moreover, addressing a high-level uncertainty avoidance culture within the research framework, the study diversifies the existing set of analyzed cultures in the e-commerce environment. The current study is applicable both in domestic and in cross-border e-commerce practice, broadening the understanding of consumer behavior patterns. The research model is relevant for the analysis of trust-effected behavioral outcomes.