Customers on the web are not all created equal: the moderating role of internet shopping experience

Abstract

Consumers' previous shopping experience has been found to be an important influence on future shopping intentions. Prior internet shopping experience, however, has been largely overlooked as a moderator of attitudes and online-retail outcomes. Specifically, key influences on online retail buying behavior such as site reputation, advertising likeability, site security and hedonic and utilitarian shopping values can be expected to have differential effects on intentions to repatronize an e-commerce website based on the level of internet shopping experience by prospective buyers. This study proposes and tests an integrated model in which level of prior internet shopping experience is treated as a moderator of relationships among attitudinal variables and repatronage intentions with the variable attitude toward the site as a mediator of buying intentions. Findings are consistent with the proposed model with an interesting exception. Perceptions of site security were in the opposite direction of the model prediction. Managerial and theoretical implications are provided for consideration.