Understanding consumer online shopping behaviour from the perspective of transaction costs

 et al.
1999, Jarvenpaa
 et al.
2000, Limayem
 et al.
2000, 
Vijayasarathy and Jones 2000, Kimery and McCord 2002, Van der Heijden
 et al.
2003) 
revealed that risk perception has a significantly negative influence on the attitude towards 
online shopping. As attitude towards online shopping has been regarded as the precursor of 
shopping intention, risk perception was further confirmed to indirectly affect intention or 
usage through attitude (Lee 2009b). 
For the perception of specific risk, studies by Bhatnagar et al. (2000b), Dabholkar and Sheng 
(2012), Hong and Cha (2013) and Lee (2009a) summarized that risks associated with credit 
card problems (i.e., financial risk) could negatively affect online shopping intention. 
Researchers (Liang and Huang 1998, Jarvenpaa
 et al.
1999, Bhatnagar
 et al.
2000b, 
Featherman and Pavlou 2003, Joines
 et al.
2003, Pavlou 2003, Kolsaker
 et al.
2004, Park
 et 
al.
2004) provided empirical evidence that supports the negative relationship between product 
quality risk and online shopping adoption, suggesting that online purchase intention is 
negatively related to product quality risk. In addition, a large number of studies showed the 
negative effects of privacy risk (Ranganathan and Ganapathy 2002, Van Slyke
 et al.
2006, 
Wirtz
 et al.
2007, Lian and Lin 2008, Lee 2009a) and security risk (Liao and Cheung 2001, 
Burroughs and Sabherwal 2002, Ranganathan and Ganapathy 2002, Sin and Tse 2002, Lian 
and Lin 2008, Lee 2009a, Hong and Cha 2013) on online purchase intention.
For example, Lian and Lin (2008) reported that personal privacy concerns and perceived web 
security concerns play a negative role in predicting consumer acceptance of online shopping, 
but their influence varies according to product types. Lee (2009a) tested such effect in the 

---

56
online banking context and confirmed the negative relationship. In contrast to previous 
findings, the study conducted by Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001) demonstrated that privacy 
infringement, system security, and fraudulent behaviour of the merchants do not have 
significant influence on online purchase intention or actual purchase behaviour. The 
inconsistent results could be attributable to a narrow definition of the risk and, therefore, 
reserachers (Jarvenpaa
 et al.
2000, Miyazaki and Fernandez 2001) called for specific 
measures of individual risk dimensions. 
Given the fact that the distribution and impersonal nature of e-commerce leads to greater 
information asymmetry and higher uncertainties than the traditional shopping environment, 
previous studies have emphasized the important role of perceived uncertainty as a chief 
barrier to online adoption behaviour and examined the influence of uncertainty in different 
online environments. Pavlou et al. (2007) calimed that uncertainty has a greater impact on 
people’s purchasing intention in online bookstores than in online pharmacies. Ruiz-Mafé et al. 
(2009) indicated that poor performance and loss of privacy are perceived as the predominant 
risk dimensions in purchasing airline tickets online. As perceived uncertainty is an 
expectation of an ambiguous potential loss, it was also shown to influence attitudes toward a 
behaviour (Quintal
 et al.
2010). As an example, the higher the perceived uncertainty about 
the potential for financial loss associated with a purchase, the more negative attitudes will be 
toward the purchase. Higher levels of ambiguity about the outcomes of a decision are likely 
to lead to less favourable attitudes toward the online purchase decision (Quintal
 et al.
2010). 
Obviously, if buyers are worried about the outcome of online transactions due to numerous 
uncertainties, risks or possible loss, they are less likely to participate in online exchange 
relationships (Yeh
 et al.
2012b, Kim and Lennon 2013). 

---

57