THE EFFECT OF E-COMMERCE WEB SITE SECURITY ON PURCHASE INTENTION

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of website security, as a key dimension of e-service quality, on purchase intention, perceived value and brand loyalty in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce context. Hypotheses were developed based on previous literature. Afterwards, an empirical research was conducted with the data collected from 464 e-commerce customer to verify the hypotheses. Structured equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Having analyzed the results, it is found out that website security in e-commerce affects customer purchase intention directly. Furthermore, website security indirectly affects purchase intention through brand loyalty and perceived value. The study has important managerial implications stressing the importance of customer perception regarding security level of B2C e-commerce web sites.