Understanding consumer online shopping behaviour from the perspective of transaction costs

5.9.2 Moderating Effect of Consumer’s Risk-bearing Propensity on Perceived TCs 

 
Customer Loyalty 
To test the moderating effect of consumer’s risk-bearing propensity on the relationship 
between perceived TCs and customer loyalty (H7b), the totally free (TF) structural model 
first estimated the identical structural model in both groups simultaneously. Next, a second 
model was tested constraining the path from perceived TCs
to customer loyalty to be equal 
in both groups. The multigroup SEM fit results for each model are shown in Table 5.26. 
Table 5.26 Multigroup SEM Results of Testing the Effect of Consumer’s Risk-bearing 
Propensity on Perceived TCs 

Consumer Loyalty 
Totally 
Free 
(TF) 
TCs

Customer Loyalty 
Is Equal 
∆χ
2
χ
2
489.632 
494.846 
5.214 
df 198 
199 
1 
GFI .952 
.951 
CFI .967 
.966 
RMSEA .039 
.040 
The GFI, CFI and RMSEA of the totally free (TF) model were better than those of the 
constrained model. The 
∆χ
2
= 5.214 with 1 
df
was significant (
∆χ
2
>3.841, p < .05). Given 
model fit statistics and the significant 
∆χ
2
value, the conclusion is that constraining the path 
of perceived TCs 

customer loyalty to be equal between the two risk-bearing propensity 

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groups produced a worse fit. Therefore, the totally free (TF) model in which the perceived 
TCs 

consumer loyalty relationship was freely estimated in both groups was supported. 
This result indicated that consumer’s risk-bearing propensity moderated the relationship 
between TCs and consumer loyalty. Thus, H7b was supported. 
Furthermore, by examining the unstandardized parameter estimates for the TF model results, 
it was found that the perceived TCs 

customer loyalty relationship was significant in both 
groups (p < .001). Specifically, the relationship was greater for the low risk-bearing group 
with a completely standardized estimate of -.53 as compared to a completely standardized 
estimate of -.47 for the high risk-bearing group.