Fostering purchase intentions toward online retailer websites in an emerging market : an S-O-R perspective

Abstract

The study proposes a model for fostering customers’ purchase intentions from online retailer websites in an emerging market context through the application of the S-O-R framework. The research design is descriptive and cross-sectional. Through the purposive sampling technique, interviewer-administered questionnaires were fielded to respondents who completed a fictional buying task online. The results confirm the validity of the S-O-R framework to better understand how purchase intentions can be fostered through effective website design. The findings also prove the importance of visual appeal and perceived usability in affecting consumers’ purchase intentions via website trust and flow, as well as the importance of flow in affecting website trust and consumers’ purchase intentions. The study contributes to an understanding of S-O-R framework application in an online context in an emerging market and provides online retailers with a model to cultivate purchases from their websites through compelling online experiences and effective website design.