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The purpose of this research study is to develop and test a model to better understand the factors that are most important in predicting consumers’ behavioral intention to purchase over the Internet. This research expands the original Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by incorporating additional constructs such as trust, inertia, loyalty, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty. Companies spend millions of dollars annually on their Websites to provide their customers with additional functionality and a more integrated marketing stream with the hopes of enticing consumers to purchase goods online. With such an investment by companies in e-commerce, it seems logical to study the acceptance by consumers of these efforts. Consumers also increasingly use the mobile devices not only to research products but to purchase goods and services. This research study describes the development of a model showing acceptance of online purchasing by individual consumers. Businesses must adapt to the technological changes in the business world, especially fast-paced mobile applications. More companies are selling online than ever before, even if they also have physical stores. Companies must be able to meet customers’ needs, not just in bricks-and-mortar stores, but also through online shopping sites. This model and the results can help businesses better understand how to meet the needs of their online customers.
This study provides managers with a framework for which areas they need to focus upon when launching new online products, such as shaping and/or changing their consumers’ attitude toward using the online stores, gaining and retaining customers’ trust, and attaining e-satisfaction and loyalty. This paper is not the first attempt at creating a model to explain or predict user acceptance of information systems. Much of the background research in this paper comes from the existing Technology Acceptance Model literature. This model has been tested repetitively though many different studies, providing support that TAM “consistently explains a substantial proportion of variance in usage intentions and behavior, among a variety of technologies” (Amoroso & Ogawa, 2013). The model used in this study extends previous online shopping research, taking into account other factors such as inertia, loyalty, and satisfaction, and the influence of institution-based trust and structural assurances-based trust playing an important role in influencing consumers’ attitudes toward purchasing. This research specifically focused on the affect of three trust-related constructs (disposition to trust, institution-based trust and structural assurances-based trust) on consumer loyalty, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. The main research question that we want to answer with this research is: Does the type of trust have strong impacts on online shopping behavior?