THE DETERMINANTS OF INTENTION TO

<p>While the penetration of the Internet in consumers’ daily lives still continue with an increasing</p> <p>momentum, this new medium has experienced a radical transformation from being a communication</p> <p>tool to be an economic platform where consumers do not only communicate but also transact. In this</p> <p>perspective, online consumer behavior became an important area for both academics and</p> <p>professionals, which needs to be investigated and explored. As the Internet is a new technological</p> <p>channel for shopping, consumers need first to decide to use this new channel for shopping and then</p> <p>make their online retailer preference. Thus, online consumer behavior involves a two-step process</p> <p>composed of intention to shop online and selection of e-store. The purpose of this study is to develop</p> <p>and test a two steps online consumer behavior model which explains the dynamics of the intention and</p> <p>selection processes. A two staged research design has been implemented in the study. At the first</p> <p>stage, parallel to the existing literature, the effects of risk perceptions, technology acceptance factors,</p> <p>and benefit perceptions on the intention to shop online has been measured. The effect of retailer brand</p> <p>equity on e-store selection process has been measured on the second stage. The research hypotheses</p> <p>have been developed based on both the existing theoretical ground and current findings in the</p> <p>literature. The results of the study confirmed that risk perceptions, technology acceptance factors and</p> <p>benefit perceptions regarding online shopping play a decisive role in the intention of consumers to</p> <p>shop online. A second important finding of the study is that once consumers’ involve into online</p> <p>shopping activity, the strength of retailers’ brand equity directly affects the consumers’ store</p> <p>preference.