BUFT Journal of Business and Economics

Factors Affecting Bangladeshi Customers’ Intention to Adopt Social Shopping: A Partial Least Square (PLS) Approach

University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Email: akhayer@du.ac.bd

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to examine key factors affecting consumers’ intention toaccept social shopping in the context of Bangladesh.Methodology: Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to verify allconstructs' reliability and validity and test all hypotheses. An importanceperformance map analysis was also carried out for identifying the critical factors ofthe constructs having high importance but low performance. Data were collectedfrom 250 respondents through conducting an online survey.Findings: The results showed that perceived usefulness, e-WOM, website quality,perceived enjoyment, and trust have positive effects on social shopping acceptance.In contrast, perceived risk has a negative impact on social shopping purchaseintention. Moreover, IPMA results showed that managers should concentrate moreon perceived enjoyment, perceived website design, and innovativeness.Limitations: The study has only considered internet users for the survey; therefore,there is a possibility of biasness of self-selection in sampling. Also, the size of thesample is small in this study. The accurate perception of Bangladeshi consumerstoward social shopping requires analysis on a larger sample size.Practical Implications: The study provides a basis for researchers for furtherstudies on variables that influence social shopping- behavior. Practitioners caneasily understand the key factors essential to create design and implement thosedesigns related to various products and services to capture market demand.Originality: The study has developed a research model by integrating differentprominent theories, i.e., theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior,and technology acceptance model. Also, this study considers several contextualconstructs such as perceived risks, e-WOM, and innovativeness to examineconsumers’ behavioral intention. The proposed model helps to understand thedynamics of online markets and how the user will respond to social shopping