Evolutionary acceptance stages of Internet adopters: A decision-making approach (the case on the World Wide Web)

The exorable growth of Internet businesses has been widely witnessed. Despite the spawning of this new form of business, it is reported that most Internet users employ the Internet only as their source of information, rendering an amount of online transaction that is lower than expectations from businesses. The relatively low amount of online transactions indicated that the full potential of Internet store has not yet been reached.; This study attempts to provide a better understanding in a development of consumer behaviors in the WWW environment. It endeavors to demonstrate that there are two major consumer behaviors in online environment, including Online Information Seeking and Online Purchasing. These two behaviors are hypothesized to have a sequential relationship, where Online Information Seeking Behavior precedes Online Purchasing Behavior. Such a sequential relationship explains an evolutionary development process of online consumer behaviors.; This study additionally proposes that Online Purchasing Behavior is an outcome of preferential choices. Consumers make comparisons between Internet and conventional stores before deciding to make an online transaction. Store's attributes that could be used for consumer comparisons between the two sales channels are investigated.; To test the above propositions, a research model is developed. The research model is built by integrating decision-making theories, intention theories, and preferential choice knowledge in a systematic manner. Survey is the underlying methodology of this study. Structural Equation Modeling is employed to test this study's hypotheses.; A sample of 435 respondents was used for data analysis. The results demonstrate that the data in this study achieved an acceptably high level of measurement reliabilities and validities. Measurement and structural models of this study show good fit indices. The data supported eighteen of nineteen proposed hypotheses. The findings show that existing intention theories could be enhanced by integrating them to preferential choice knowledge. Factors that influence development process of online consumer behaviors are explored. Attributes that consumers use to compare Internet and conventional stores are investigated in this study. Business implications and directions for future research are also provided.