Behaviour & Information Technology Vol. 28, No.

4, JulyAugust 2009, 335345

Understanding consumer intention in online shopping: a respecication and validation of the DeLone and McLean model
Chien-Wen David Chena and Chiang-Yu John Chengb*
a

Department of Management Business Administration, College of Business, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan; b Department of Information Management, College of Management, National Central University, Taiwan (Received April 2007; nal version received December 2007)

The increasing popularity of online shopping has led to the emergence of new economic activities. To succeed in the highly competitive e-commerce environment, it is vital to understand consumer intention. Understanding what motivates consumer intention is critical because such intention is key to survival in this fast-paced and hypercompetitive environment. Where prior research has attempted at most a limited adaptation of the information system success model, we propose a comprehensive, empirical model that separates the use construct into intention to use and actual use. This makes it possible to test the importance of user intentions in determining their online shopping behaviour. Our results suggest that the consumers intention to use is quite important, and accurately predicts the usage behaviour of consumers. In contrast, consumer satisfaction has a signicant impact on intention to use but no direct causal relation with actual use. Keywords: information system success; consumer satisfaction; behaviour intention; actual use; shopping website

1.

Introduction

Over the past few years, e-commerce has brought enormous benets to both vendors and consumers. Dened as the use of the Internet to sell products or services to individual consumers (Schneider 2007), e-commerce has profoundly changed the way in which people conduct their business activities. Indeed, it has become an important transaction channel in its own right. A recent survey of online shopping has predicted that the total amount of direct-to-client sales will exceed $240 billion by 2007 (eMarketer 2007). Major technological innovations in online shopping have altered transaction channels in the information age (March and Ngai 2006). With the growth of online shopping, it has become important to understand the factors inuencing a consumers intention to actually buy from a website rather than just browse. This emergent subject is of interest to both academics and practitioners. Much research has emphasised the relationship between a consumers psychological state and their intent to use an information system (IS). Within this eld, there are also several models predicting the likelihood of system use after an acceptance decision has been made by a user. An early IS success model of DeLone and McLean (1992), for example, proposed six major constructs: system quality, information quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact and

organisational impact. However, these six constructs describe only the characteristics of the IS; important aspects of human interaction were overlooked (Li 1997). To address this problem, DeLone and McLean (2003) later extended their model by adding a service quality factor. A users behaviour (system use) in this model is determined by their beliefs (perceived quality of the information, system and service) concerning the system and by their aective response (satisfaction) to using the system. Many studies have employed this model to explain the success of systems designed for knowledge management (Wu and Wang 2006), nance (Iivari 2005) and data warehousing (Shin 2003). Despite the fact that a great deal of sound research has contributed to the construction of a viable IS success model, modern studies often provide controversial results for the following reasons: (1) Relying on satisfaction to predict actual usage lacks explanatory power, as argued by the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) and technology acceptance model (Davis 1989). (2) IS success models are seldom discussed in the context of e-commerce, so an empirical study of their applicability is essential for further development and validation of the conceptual framework.

*Corresponding author. Email: mis.ccy@msa.hinet.net

ISSN 0144-929X print/ISSN 1362-3001 online 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/01449290701850111 http://www.informaworld.com

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C.-W.D. Chen and C.-Y.J. Cheng organisational impact. Obviously, behaviour and attitude are thus reciprocal constructs. In other words, this produces two possible interpretations: (1) whether or not a user performs an actual behaviour is determined by their previously perceived qualities and formed attitude towards the activity; (2) whether or not a user forms a positive or negative attitude towards the activity is in turn inuenced by their perceived qualities and actual behaviour (see Figure 1). The IS success model (earlier version, 1992) is not well accepted by the management IS community as it ignores the emergence of new economic activities. Because of the criticisms suered from other studies, DeLone and McLean proposed a latest updated version of IS success model in 2003 (see Figure 2). The purpose of this new model was to update the old one and evaluate its usefulness in light of dramatic change in information technology (IT) evolution, especially the emerging growth of e-commerce. Their primary changes to the model were the addition of a service quality construct and a partial division of the use construct into intention to use and actual use. They also combined the individual and organisational impacts of use into a single factor called net benets. Although the model has been updated, it clearly needs further validation before it can serve as a basis for the selection of appropriate IS measures (Wu and Wang 2006). The IS success model should also be extended further to account for the particular relationships between e-commerce systems and their environments in various organisational contexts (Mollar and

Unlike prior research, most of which has adopted only limited aspects of IS success models, we present a comprehensive empirical test that separates DeLone and McLeans equivocal construct of use into two distinct components. This also serves to reconcile inconsistent interpretations of the construct in previous work. As a matter of fact, e-commerce is often considered a subunit IS; however, there are essential dierences between the two: (1) Dierent usage purposes: online consumers are desire to purchase users who use e-commerce websites primarily for satisfying their shopping needs. However, organisational employees are work-oriented users who use ISs primarily for work purposes. (2) Constancy dierences: the characteristics of shopping website browsing are dierent from enterprise use of an IS in that shopping website browsers are, to some extent, unstable in their visits and may no longer return once they leave. (3) Contextual dierences: unlike modern enterprises that adopt customised, context-specic proprietary systems to support their business operations, most shopping websites attract and retain users by providing nearly identical products, services and interfaces. The rationale of these assertions is that e-commerce requires distinct theorisation from the traditional IS literature (Pavlou and Fygenson 2006) and we therefore validate our model by selecting users from shopping websites as our research subjects. The remaining sections are organised as follows. First, we review the relevant literature and discuss our research method, including data collection and measurement. We then present our results and draw conclusions from the data. Finally, we discuss some managerial implications of this work and suggest future directions for both academia and industry. 2. Theoretical background

Figure 1. The original IS success model (DeLone and McLean 1992).

2.1. The information system success model The original IS success model (DeLone and McLean 1992), an adaption of studies performed by Shannon and Weaver (1949) and Mason (1978), received wide attention from researchers. The model posits that an individuals attitude and subsequent behaviour are preceded by his or her beliefs about the quality of the information and system. Behaviour (i.e. actual use) is inuenced by attitude (e.g. satisfaction), and an individuals attitude is formed through actual use. Actual use of the system and users attitude produce an individual impact, which in turn produces an

Figure 2. The modied IS success model (DeLone and McLean 2003).

Behaviour & Information Technology Licker 2001). In this regard, the TRA seems to be implicit in this new version of the model; the following section elaborates on this argument in greater detail. 2.2. Theory of reasoned action Unlike IS success models, which focus on system performance, the TRA (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) was conceived to explain a wide range of individual behaviours (e.g. the use of ISs). It has been empirically tested, and has also contributed to the explanatory power of IS usage models (e.g. Taylor and Todd 1995). According to the TRA (see Figure 3), a users choice of behaviour is based on conscious decisions leading to the most desirable outcome. Figure 3 represents the idea that attitude and subjective norms are the principal determinants of behavioural intention, and that intent denes behaviour. From the perspective of the TRA, IS usage is a behaviour that reects the users expectation of benets (Wu and Wang 2006). Actual use is thus dependent on and mediated by the users behavioural intention, rather than their satisfaction. It is important to note that we do not consider subjective norm in our research. Originally, subjective norm reect ones perception of others relevant opinions on whether or not he or she should perform a particular action. However, the behaviour of website surng is usually voluntary in nature. It is hard to say the less voluntary the behaviour, the more ones attitude toward usage predicts website use. Hartwick and Barki (1994) found that the relative impacts of attitude and subjective norm in the TRA diered depending on whether usage was voluntary or mandatory. On the other hand, the importance of repeated use of a website, vis-a`-vis one-time use, is evident from the fact that acquiring newcomers may cost as much as ve times more than retaining existing ones (Bhattacherjee 2001). However, Karahanna et al. (1999) claimed that subjective norm dominated prediction of behaviour intention to adopt a new technology but did not have a strong relationship with intention to constantly using new technology. The relationship between subjective norm and behaviour intention will therefore be higher for new adopters than for experienced users of an IS. According to the above ndings, in this case user behaviour is still driven by behavioural intentions, but these intentions now depend on the users attitude toward the behaviour

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itself (as opposed to the IS success model, 1992). Further, as we mentioned earlier, one source of the controversy surrounding the IS success model is the equivocal role played by use. The TRA provides us with a strong theoretical foundation for introducing intention to use as a distinct and independent construct. 2.3. The relationships between attitude, intention, use and net value Does the equivocal construct of use really need to be divided into two distinct constructs? If so, is the user satisfaction construct sucient for predicting the actual use of a website? Such questions immediately result in confusion within the context of online shopping. IT applications such as online shopping websites are complex, and online consumers often harbour a latent resistance to mastering their use. With respect to the successful adoption of new technologies, consumers may form unfavourable attitudes and intentions after their initial eorts. The consumers attitudes and intentions may also be ill formed or lacking in conviction after their preliminary strivings, evolving only after signicant experience is gained in online shopping (Bagozzi et al. 1992). In other words, whether a consumers initial experiences could be conrmed clearly inuences his or her actual behaviour performing in e-commerce setting and thus actual use may not inuence consumer satisfaction (Baroudi et al. 1986, Igbaria and Tan 1997). This causal relationship is partially validated by the TRA that attitude toward behaviour has an indirect impact on actual behaviour via individuals intention. However, consumers often believe that use of a shopping website results in benets regardless of their level of satisfaction. This means that consumers may use the website even if they are not satised with it. In this study, we try to empirically test this equivocal relationship. Gradually, the role of net benets is either dependent or independent construct suggested by DeLone and McLean (2003). However, user satisfaction results from the feelings and attitudes from integrating all the benets that a user hopes to receive from interaction with IS (Ives et al. 1983). As a matter of fact, attitude cannot inuence system benets on the contrary, net benets can inuence user attitude. Therefore, net benets can cause user satisfaction rather than vice versa. 2.4. Information quality, system quality and service quality Online shopping has emerged as the weapon of choice among companies striving for a competitive

Figure 3.

The TRA (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975).

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C.-W.D. Chen and C.-Y.J. Cheng 2.4.2. System quality

advantage. What factors inuence a consumers intention to consistently choose one shopping website over another? What level of quality is acceptable in a website? Answering these questions is essential to a successful internet business, because consumers must actually use a website before they make a purchase decision. Without answering these critical questions, all the eort spent on developing a site will probably be in vain. Nowadays consumers have an abundant choice of websites, and can switch vendors easily and without cost. Providing the means for consumers to shop online is not enough to guarantee success. An online business depends not only on consumers visiting their website and buying their products or services, but on converting casual consumers to loyal consumers. Thus, the technical and human aspects of an eective IS must be integrated in an appropriate manner, as suggested by socio-technical theory (Bostrom and Heinen 1977). Moreover, Barnes and Vidgen (2001) have claimed that a websites quality can only be measured from the consumers point of view. The lefthand side of the DeLone and McLean (2003) IS success model (see Figure 2) conforms to this perspective by separating system quality, information quality and service quality. We therefore propose that from the consumers viewpoint, the quality of a website can be addressed in terms of these three fundamental factors. 2.4.1. Information quality Information quality has often been used as a success measure for traditional ISs (Wu and Wang 2006). In the context of online shopping, information can be regarded as any content produced by the web server that delivers information to the consumers (Bahatti et al. 2000). Thus, it can be said that the fundamental role of online shopping websites is to present information about products, services and events (Cao et al. 2005). The most commonly used variables for measuring information quality are accuracy, currency, relevance, completeness and understandability (DeLone and McLean 2003). Accuracy refers to the consumers perception that the information is correct, currency refers to the consumers perception that the information is new and frequently updated, relevance refers to whether a website is concerned with the interests of the consumer, completeness refers to whether a website provides all the necessary information, and understandability refers to the ease with which the consumer understands a websites content. Websites maximising these variables are likely to help consumers compare products, increase their shopping enjoyment and make better purchasing decisions (Ahn et al. 2004).

Traditionally, system quality has been regarded as a functional measurement that includes reliability, responsiveness and exibility (Ives et al. 1983). However, online consumers are very particular. They demand websites that are easy to use as well as easy to navigate, as suggested by DeLone and McLean (2003). This quality of usability should thus be an additional variable, but is not captured by traditional constructs. In the IS success model (DeLone and McLean 2003), system quality is broken down into several criteria. The usability of a website refers to the ease with which a consumer can achieve a particular goal (e.g. product searching or purchasing). Reliability refers to the dependability of website operations (whether a website acts eciently at the proper moments). Adaptability refers to systems that can adjust their content to the changing demands of the consumer. Finally, response time refers to how quickly the system responds to requests for information or action (e.g. download time). All these criteria are equally applicable to online shopping websites. 2.4.3. Service quality

In traditional rms, service quality is related to a number of independent programs. In online shopping, service quality is especially important because of the lack of face-to-face communication (Ahn et al. 2004). This construct is also essential to the success of e-commerce ISs (DeLone and McLean 2003). DeLone and McLean suggest ve variables to measure service quality: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. A tangible website has up-to-date equipment, software and supporting resources (e.g. a call centre) devoted to responding to its consumers. Reliability refers to websites that are capable of performing and maintaining their support services. Responsiveness refers to the eciency of the service sta, and assurance to the expertise of the service sta. Empathy indicates that a website is designed with the consumer in mind. Websites with high scores in these variables are likely to see frequent usage and support consumers in each stage of purchasing (Ahn et al. 2004). 3. Research model and hypotheses

Figure 4 shows a slightly modied version of the IS success model. It asserts that actual use is not just a function of the individuals intent, but also predicts the usage value of the website. Satisfaction plays an important role in determining a consumers intention to use as well as their actual use. It is important to note

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H2b. Consumers are more satised with shopping websites of higher perceived system quality. H3a. Consumers intend to use shopping websites of higher perceived service quality. H3b. Consumers are more satised with shopping websites of higher perceived service quality.

3.2. Changes to the DeLone and McLean IS success model

Figure 4. Research model adapted from the DeLone and McLean IS success models (1992 and 2003).

Four modications were made to the model of DeLone and McLean (2003): (1) DeLone and McLean argued that system use has a positive impact on user satisfaction. In the context of e-commerce, however, use of a website does not guarantee that the consumer is also satised but it is hard to deny the success of a system which users say they like (Wu and Wang 2006). Prior research has suggested that user satisfaction causes system use rather than vice versa (Baroudi et al. 1896). DeLone and McLeans assertion that system use causes user satisfaction would thus seem to indicate a temporal rather than causal relationship (Wu and Wang 2006). We therefore specify a causal relationship between satisfaction and use by linking these two constructs with a unidirectional path. (2) DeLone and McLean (2003) included both intention to use and actual use as predictors of net benets. Although human behaviour is sometimes dicult to measure, intention to use is a good measure of the likelihood that a user will employ the application (Wu and Wang 2006). It should thus be treated as a predictive variable for system use, as recommended by the TRA (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) and technology acceptance model (Davis 1989). Intention to use and actual use are therefore specied as distinct constructs in our research, and the relationship between them will be tested empirically. Accordingly, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H4. Higher levels of consumer satisfaction result in higher levels of intended use. H5. The extent of consumer satisfaction is positively associated with actual use. H6. Intention to use a shopping website positively inuences actual use.

that prior research sees satisfaction as a synonymous construct with attitude, since satisfaction and attitude all connote personal emotion (Yi 1990). However, other studies (e.g. Tse and Wilton 1988) view satisfaction as antonymous with attitude in that satisfaction is a temporal experience, while attitude is a relatively long-term emotion transcending all prior experiences. There is thus a strong indication that satisfaction can be used for cross-sectional study, whereas attitude can be fastidiously used for longitudinal design. Oliver (1980) also demonstrated that satisfaction temporally precedes repurchase attitude. Therefore, satisfaction will be applied as the surrogate for identifying intention to use as well as actual use that lead consumers to surf websites. Consequently, both intention to use and satisfaction are determined by the consumers perception of the websites quality (subdivided into information quality, system quality and service quality). The constructs of the model and its hypotheses are explained in the following sections. 3.1. Website quality (information quality, system quality and service quality) DeLone and McLean (2003) identied a positive relationship between website quality and satisfaction/ intention. As in traditional IS success models, the information quality, system quality and service quality of a shopping website are expected to be determinants of consumer satisfaction and intention to use. Accordingly, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H1a. Consumers intend to use shopping websites of higher perceived information quality. H1b. Consumers are more satised with shopping websites of higher perceived information quality. H2a. Consumers intend to use shopping websites of higher perceived system quality.

(3) Although it may be better to evaluate the net benets of a website in nancial terms (e.g. revenue, market share, return on investment,

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C.-W.D. Chen and C.-Y.J. Cheng expenditure), these evaluations are sometimes dicult to quantify. Intangible eects of the system and intervening environmental variables may inuence these numbers (McGill and Hobbs 2003). According to DeLone and McLean (2003), dierent actors (designer, sponsor, or user) may hold dierent views on what constitutes a benet. Any proposed study will thus have to dene clearly what the net benets construct focuses on. In this research net benets are measured from the perspective of online consumers, or those who use the website (Wu and Wang 2006). If a consumer believes that using a website has improved his or her performance by shopping online, they will assign a higher usage value to the website (Rai et al. 2002). Accordingly, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H7. Higher levels of actual use result in higher levels of usage value.

satisfaction. We therefore evaluate the inuence of usage value on consumer satisfaction. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H8. The extent of consumer perceived website usage value is positively associated with consumer satisfaction.

4. 4.1.

Research methodology Data collection

(4) In our knowledge, existing models of e-commerce success have rarely addressed the role of website usage value as an antecedent of consumer satisfaction. Some of them have only treated website qualities (e.g. information, system and service quality) as antecedents of consumer satisfaction (e.g. Rai et al. 2002, Wixom and Todd 2005, Wu and Wang 2006). However, numerous studies argue that consumer satisfaction is the outcome of a consumers perception of the value received in a transaction (Anderson and Mittal 2000, Heskett et al. 1997). This is because consumer perceived value is the ratio of benets received from service providers relative to all kinds of the costs sacriced by consumers (Yang and Peterson 2004). In this regard, consumer perceived value seems to be a relatively higher-order concept than consumer satisfaction. One possible explanation is that value is a superordinate goal whereas satisfaction is a subordinate goal, and thus the higher goal regulates the lower one (Sirdeshmukh et al. 2002). Unlike net benets proposed by DeLone and McLean (2003), consumer usage value here is considered a cognitive-based construct which deals any benet-sacrice discrepancy in much the same way as the DeLone and McLean IS model does for measuring system performance. Moreover, the TRA indicates that aect is signicantly inuenced by cognition (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975), suggesting that consumer value judgments aect perceptions of

The data for our study were collected through a webbased questionnaire. We set up an online survey website that was advertised on online forums with very heavy trac, such as the biggest portal (Yahoo! Kimo; www.yahoo.com.tw), the top shopping store (PChome; www.pchome.com.tw) and the largest BBS (www.ptt.cc/index.html). Tan and Teo (2000) have suggested that online surveys have some advantages over traditional paper-based surveys, including lower cost, rapid response and lack of geographical limitations. The primary units of analysis in this study are individual consumers with experience in online shopping. As an incentive, we oered prizes to respondents who answered all the questions. The survey yielded 331 usable responses. About 51.2% of the respondents were female, 48.8% were male, and at least 67.1% of them were students. Most of the respondents were in their twenties or thirties, and all the respondents were experienced users of shopping websites. Table 1 summarises the attributes of the respondents. According to the Market Intelligence Centre (MIC 2006), a well-known consulting rm under Taiwans Institute for Information Industry (III), about 56% of people between 20 and 30 years old are frequent online shoppers. Although most of our
Table 1. Measure Gender Age Prole of respondents. Items Male Female Below 18 1825 2635 3645 Junior school or less High school Bachelors degree Graduate degree Frequency Percentage 163 171 4 239 82 9 1 3 240 90 13 32 45 7 224 13 48.8 51.2 1.2 71.6 24.6 2.7 0.3 0.9 71.9 26.9 3.9 9.6 13.5 2.1 67.1 3.9

Education

Occupation Public service Commercial employee Information industry Self-employed Student Others

Behaviour & Information Technology respondents were students, keep in mind that this group will become a primary segment of the online consumer population in the near future (Hsu et al. 2006). 4.2. Measurement development 5.2. Estimation of the structural model

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The questionnaires were developed using test statements taken from the literature. Information quality and system quality were measured using four and ve items respectively; both categories were adapted from Wixom and Todd (2005). Service quality was measured using ve items adapted from Jayawardhena (2004). Satisfaction and intention to use were each measured by three items adapted from Wixom and Todd (2005). Actual use was measured by three items adapted from DeLone and McLean (2003). Usage value was measured by four items, which were adapted from Homan and Novak (1996), DeLone and McLean (2003), DAmbra and Rice (2001), Sengupta and Zhao (1998) and OCallaghan (1999). Respondents were asked to rate each item on a seven-point Likert scale, where 1 meant strongly disagree and 7 meant strongly agree. A pre-test and a pilot test were conducted to validate our instrument. The pre-test involved six participants (two MIS professors, two website engineers and two online shoppers) who were familiar with online shopping. They were asked to provide comments with an eye towards eliminating repetition and items not oriented towards the consumer. In the pilot test, we invited 65 respondents from the population of online shoppers to participate. 5. Data analysis and results

5.1. Measurement model To analyse the adequacy of the constructs, we rst performed a conrmatory factor analysis. This technique measures the reliability and validity of each construct (see Table 2). Hair et al. (2006) recommended an acceptance level of 0.7 for the composite reliability. All of the constructs in our model meet this criterion. In addition, note that for all constructs the extracted variance exceeds the expected variance (0.5) due to measurement errors alone. These results demonstrate the convergent validity of our measurement items. As a standard of discriminant validity, Hair et al. (2006) suggest that the average variance extracted for each construct should be greater than the squared correlation between itself and any other construct (see Table 3). The shared variance (correlation) between each pair of constructs was less than the average variances extracted (diagonal values).

The next step in our data analysis is to compare the two structural equation models depicted in Figure 4. Structural equation modelling was applied to conduct data analysis. It is a multivariate statistical technique used to conrm the causal relations among latent variables. Model 1 is similar to the system proposed by DeLone and McLean, in that satisfaction plays an important causal role on actual use (and thus indirectly on usage value). Model 2, on the other hand, limits the direct eect of satisfaction to the consumers intention to use. Model 1 does not provide an acceptable result, with a chi-square (287 degrees of freedom) of 865.92 (p 5 0.01), the corresponding non-normed t index (NNFI) is 0.84, and the condence t index (CFI) is 0.86. Both values are lower than the recommended level of 0.9 (see Table 4). Model 2 provides a much better description of the data, with the t indices w2 753.13 (288 d.o.f.), p 5 0.01, NNFI 0.94 and CFI 0.95. We also measure the statistical signicance of the dierence in chi-square between model 1 and model 2, obtaining p 5 0.01. This demonstrates that model 2 provides a signicantly better t to the data than model 1. Figure 5 illustrates the standardised path coecients between the constructs of our model. We nd that actual use of the website explains 60% of the variance in the usage value construct. Similarly, intention to use explains 59% of the variance in actual use. Moreover, information quality, system quality, service quality and satisfaction, taken together, explain 72% of the variance in intention to use. Finally, information quality, system quality, service quality and usage value taken together, explain 49% of the variance in satisfaction. Figure 5 also reports the strengths of the paths between constructs. We nd that intention to use is predicted by information quality (0.41), system quality (0.37), service quality (0.38) and satisfaction (0.65). Thus, hypotheses H1a, H2a, H3a and H4 are supported. Satisfaction is predicted by information quality (0.18), system quality (0.14), service quality (0.13) and usage value (0.57). Hypotheses H1b, H2b, H3b and H8 are thus also supported to a lesser extent. Finally, actual use is strongly predicted by intention to use (0.77), which in turn predicts usage value with a path coecient of 0.77. Thus, hypotheses H6 and H7 are supported. 6. Discussion and conclusion

Prior empirical research on the IS success model has only measured traditional systems. It was thus unclear whether the model presented by DeLone and McLean (2003) could be applied to online shopping

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Table 2. Construct Information quality (IQ) composite reliability 0.84 IQ1 IQ2 IQ3 IQ4 System quality (SQ) composite reliability 0.89 SQ1 SQ2 SQ3 SQ4 SQ5 Service quality (SEQ) composite reliability 0.87 SEQ1 SEQ2 SEQ3 SEQ4 SEQ5 Satisfaction (SAT) composite reliability 0.90 SAT1 SAT2 SAT3 Intention to use (ITU) composite reliability 0.86 ITU1 ITU2 ITU3 Actual use (AU) composite reliability 0.80 AU1 AU2 AU3 Usage value (UVA) composite reliability 0.74 UVA1 UVA2 UVA3 UVA4 Summary of measurement scales. Measure

C.-W.D. Chen and C.-Y.J. Cheng

Factor loading

The shopping website produces the most current information The shopping website provides me with all the information I need The information provided by the shopping website is accurate In general, the shopping website provides me with high-quality information

0.77 0.73 0.83 0.70

The shopping website enables me to get on to it quickly The shopping website performs reliably The shopping website can be adapted to meet a variety of needs In terms of system quality, I would rate the shopping website highly The shopping website makes it easy to get anywhere on the site

0.73 0.80 0.75 0.83 0.74

The shopping website is prompt in responding to my queries I can speak with a representative at the shopping website in case I have problems with my account When I access my account I feel secure, the shopping website instills condence The shopping website understand the needs of their customers The shopping website delivers the service exactly as promised

0.70 0.73 0.85 0.77 0.75

I am very satised with the information I receive from the shopping website I have a positive attitude toward shopping website surng My interaction with the shopping website is very satisfying

0.78 0.86 0.84

I intend to continue using the shopping website rather than discontinue its use I will regularly use the shopping website in the future I will continue using the shopping website in the future

0.81 0.80 0.85

On average, how many times a month do you visit the shopping website? How many times a month on average do you search for information through the website? How long does it take you, on average a month, to surf the website?

0.74 0.72 0.94

Compare to the time I spend, the website provides reasonable quality The website met my expectation The website helps me eectively search product/service information that I need Compare to the value you get, you pay a reasonable eort

0.81 0.72 0.74 0.70

Table 3. Construct IQ SQ SEQ SAT ITU AU UVA

The latent variable correlation matrix. IQ 0.571 0.455 0.364 0.378 0.361 0.018 0.242 SQ 0.629 0.394 0.417 0.379 0.019 0.234 SEQ SAT ITU AU UVA

0.575 0.343 0.290 0.013 0.292

0.754 0.577 0.675 0.016 0.024 0.579 0.237 0.270 0.019 0.551

Notes: IQ Information quality, SQ System quality, SEQ Service quality, SAT Satisfaction, ITU Intention to use, AU Actual use, UVA Usage value. Diagonal elements represent average variances extracted (AVE), while o-diagonal entries represent squared correlation coecients.

websites. The purpose of this research was to modify the IS success model by separating use into two distinct constructs: intention to use and actual use. Furthermore, we analyse the nature of the relationship between satisfaction and actual use. A survey of over 334 online shoppers was used to test the hypotheses of our modied model. The model successfully predicts the success of shopping websites (R2 0.60). However, our results contradict the ndings of prior research in that satisfaction does not motivate consumers to actually use a shopping website. The implication is that satisfaction alone does not warrant actual use. Consumers desire to

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Table 4. Models 1 2 Comparison of the two models. w
2

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Degree of freedom 287 288

Dw

NNFI 0.84 0.94

CFI 0.86 0.95

865.92 753.13

112.79*

Note: *Signicant dierence, p 5 0.01.

Figure 5.

Standardised path coecients of the hypotheses.

use a shopping website only if they are both satised with their initial experience and intend to do something with the website (e.g. searching or purchasing products). In other words, online shoppers usually have some specic reasons to go to a website. Consumers actually use online shopping websites, however, only if they believe that doing so will increase their performance. If this is the case, they also assign a higher usage value to the site. The equivocal construct of use should therefore be treated as two distinct constructs (intention to use and actual use), to model the fact that consumers must have a strong sense of purpose to use a shopping website. On the basis of the empirical results in this study, consumer perceived usage value is supposed to have an indirect impact on behavioural intention. Consumer satisfaction is considered as a mediating construct between perceived usage value and intention to use. This nding, again, conrms the assertion of the TRA that cognitive variable indeed inuences aective variable. We therefore conclude this phenomenon that satisfaction remains an essential predictor for behavioural intention. Consumer usage value is just a complement and not a substitute for consumer satisfaction. In sum, our study oers an improved theoretical explanation of shopping website success. 7. Implications

ways. First, shopping websites dier from traditional IT systems mainly in their purpose. Research on IT systems has only emphasised intention to use when actual system use is too dicult to measure (Wu and Wang 2006); indeed, numerous studies have dropped the construct altogether. In the context of e-commerce, however, the present research nds that intentions are a strong predictor of consumer behaviour, explaining 59% of the variance in the actual use construct. Second, we nd that satisfaction is not itself a good determinant of actual use in the context of shopping websites, the DeLone and McLean model provides a worse t to the data. Although several researchers have claimed that satisfaction can inuence actual use, in our model it has only an indirect impact (mediated by intention to use). Therefore, with regard to the TRA, it is quite important to separate the equivocal construct of use into the two distinct constructs intention to use and actual use. Third, most of the past studies of online consumer behaviour have focused on the links among website qualities, satisfaction, intention and loyalty. Consumer perceived usage value, despite its importance to satisfaction formation, has been largely ignored in previous research. Therefore, adding usage value construct into our proposed model provides a more rigorous framework for the relevant constructs and their causal relationships. Fourth, the antecedents between intention to use and satisfaction, information quality, system quality and service quality, taken together, emerged as more important determinants of consumer intention. However, this nding should not be viewed as denigrating their signicant impact on consumer satisfaction. 7.2. Implications for practitioners The ndings of this study signicantly demonstrate the ability of quality constructs to inuence consumer satisfaction, albeit to a lesser extent than the inuence on behavioural intention. In addition to the fact that the path coecients connected to the behavioural intention construct were found to be statistically signicant, satisfaction also plays an important mediating role between consumer behavioural intention and consumer perceived usage value. This indicates that consumers will feel satised or unsatised not only because of qualities they received, but also because they perceive any dierence between input (costs) and output (benets) when visiting the shopping website. Hence, online shopping providers are encouraged to seek ways in which they can increase perceived qualities as well as perceived usage value.

7.1. Implications for academic researchers This study was intended to make advancements to the current understanding of e-commerce success in four

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C.-W.D. Chen and C.-Y.J. Cheng References

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Moreover, satisfaction does not warrant actual use. As it is a necessary but insucient precondition of actual use, practitioners should not assign too much importance to the direct power of satisfaction but indirect power instead. Finally, perceived usage value is a signicant determinant of consumer satisfaction. Its consistent eect on satisfaction, which dominates the contribution of cognitive-based benets across the three qualities, highlights the advancement in understanding consumer satisfaction and consequent intentions. Perceived usage value should be therefore recognised as a fostering factor to satisfaction and intention. In sum, quality is just one side of the satisfaction formation; online shopping providers have to carefully monitor consumers sacrices, as it will be mirrored in consumers evaluation of perceived usage value. 8. Limitations and future research Although our study ndings have important implications for shopping websites, some limitations of the research must be acknowledged. First, although the results show that information quality, system quality and service quality all aect the users beliefs, it is important to realise that other exogenous variables may also play an important role. For example, there may be second-order latent variables that have an important eect on multiple rst-order latent variables. We thus encourage future researchers to identify additional salient variables in the context of e-commerce systems. Second, as this study is cross-sectional in nature, causality and temporal sequencing cannot be inferred from the data. Future research could conduct a longitudinal survey (e.g. pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase) to test the proposed model and hypotheses. Third, this research focuses specically on online shopping websites. A comparative analysis of the shopping website success model for other kinds of websites is needed. It may be that an additional factor has a dierent eect on consumer intentions in other contexts. The subjective norm, for example, may have great inuence on a bloggers intention to use his or her website. Finally, actual use does not mean that the consumer also buys a product; it may, however, mean that the consumer engages in getting information to reduce the uncertainty of product purchasing (Pavlou and Fygenson 2006). Future studies are recommended to empirically validate this causal relationship because the long-term viability of a shopping website and its eventual success depend on its revenue (consumer consumption) rather than just browsing.

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