Research On The Effects Of Country Of Origin And Institutional Mechanisms Of The Platform On Cross-border Purchase Intention

With the fast growth of the global economy,cross-border e-commerce is expanding rapidly.The emergence of cross-border e-commerce makes it possible for consumers to buy products which are unavailable in domestic online markets cross various countries online.However,compared with the domestic online market,the more complicated transaction processes in the context of cross-border e-commerce create more risk and uncertainty for buyers.Hence,it is harder to engender purchase intention for buyers in cross border e-commerce.A comprehensive and in-depth study on how to facilitate the purchase intention of consumers is very important and necessary.This paper puts attention to the distinct characteristics of cross-border products and platforms in B2 C context,namely the product-level country of origin image(COI)and the platform-level institutional mechanisms and explore their effects on purchase intention.By reviewing the relevant literature,this paper proposes the model based on signaling theory.The country of origin image,perceived effectiveness of buyer protection and perceived effectiveness of cross-border delivery are taken as independent variables.Purchase intention is taken as the dependent variable.And product image and buyer trust are selected as intermediate variables.In addition,this paper adds the subjective knowledge and experience as moderators to the model to examine their moderating effects in the process of product image perception and trust formation.This paper chooses the survey method to test the proposed model and collects from a sample of respondents with purchasing experience on cross-border platforms(eg,Tmall Global,Net Ease Kaola).Subsequently,405 complete and valid responses were obtained for quantitative data analysis.The research model is evaluated via SPSS and Smart PLS3.0.This study extends the understanding of the role of information indices and signals in cross border context by examining the positive effects of COI and perceived effectiveness of institutional mechanisms on product image,buyer trust and purchase intention.In addition,the effect of affective country of origin image on product image will weaken with the increase of subjective knowledge level,but the effect of cognitive part on product image remains significant.As previous experience increases,consumers become less dependent on cross-border delivery mechanisms,but pay more attention to the buyer protection mechanisms.Collectively,these findings illustrate the important role of COI and cross-border e-commerce institutional mechanisms and set a starting point for future research to further explore the determinants of purchase intention in cross border context.Finally,this study discusses the main innovation and limitations of the research and puts forward some suggestions for the future research.