How social ties influence customers’ involvement and online purchase intentions

Abstract

A major challenge confronting online retailers is that of stimulating consumer online purchase intention. Many studies have explored the factors that affect consumer purchase behavior; however, few have described the underlying mechanism that links the online shopping experience to social ties and the effect of their strength on purchase intentions. This study adapted the stimuli–organism–response (S–O–R) model to analyze the effects of the online shopping experience on customer involvement and online purchase intention under conditions of weak and strong social ties. Two quasi-experiments were conducted to test the research model and hypotheses. The results showed that online shopping experience had a positive effect on customer involvement, and this involvement in turn had a positive effect on online purchase intention in the strong-tie group and the weak-tie group. Cognitive and affective involvement played partial mediating roles between the online shopping experience and online purchase intention in the weak-ties group and full mediating roles in the strong-ties group. The effects of online shopping experience on customer involvement and online purchase intention differed between the two tie strength groups. The implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.