Shopping Online or Not? Cognition and Personality Matters

E-commerce has brought both opportunities and challenges to Internet marketers. One challenge facing the marketers is to “convert” Internet users who are reluctant to buy things online to real online shoppers. To enlarge online customer base, it is necessary for researchers and practitioners to understand cognitive and psychological factors involved in a potential online buyer’s decision-making process. Drawing upon consumer innovativeness and technology acceptance research, we developed a conceptual model about how cognition and personality would affect an individual’s attitude toward online shopping and hence his or her purchasing intention. Our findings show that what an individual thinks and feels about online shopping do influence his or her purchasing intention. The individuals who were more risk-taking, open to new experience, and had higher level of self-efficacy appeared to be more prone to buying online. These findings call for further research on consumer psychology in the context of online shopping.