Scale Development for Measuring Consumer Skepticism towards Online Shopping
Keywords:
Consumer skepticism, online shopping decisions, social risk, accord, entrustment, impulsive buying BehaviourAbstract
The purpose of the paper is to develop a scale to measure consumer skepticism towards online shopping decisions (CSTOSD). Shoppers today have strong knowledge and mistrust towards online environment. Consumer skepticism is a complex process because it impacts behavior and decisions. The current study aims to develop a reliable and valid instrument on an ever growing concern for marketers in the form of consumer skepticism. The construct development followed a rigorous and iterative process. The CSTOSD measurement is a 5 dimensional and 20 item scale representing: social risk, suspicion, accord, entrustment and impulsive buying behavior. The results address the gap for non-acceptability, rather than compliance, yielding unique insights into factors of consumer’s skeptical behavior. The scale is helpful to e-commerce marketers by providing them with new foresight into overcoming problems of online shopping decisions.
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