Effects of the risk sources and user involvement on e-commerce adoption: application to tourist services

Past research has focused on the dimensions (consequences) of perceived risk and the effect of global risk on e-commerce adoption by consumers. This paper uses a new approach to examine the influence of perceived risk on e-commerce adoption and, on the basis of the Theory of Planned behaviour (TPB), develops an integrative model that includes the effect of three risk sources (i.e. technology, vendor and product) on the attitude towards the website use and online purchasing intention of users. In addition, this study examines how involvement, one of the main determinants of consumer behaviour, affects the role of these sources of perceived risk in e-commerce adoption. The results obtained in a sample of 1083 users of tourist services suggest that technology risk is the main determinant of online purchasing intention, which is also influenced by the variables from the TPB model. For its part, the technology risk and vendor risk have a negative influence on attitude towards the website use. In addition, both types of risk have a higher negative effect on attitude in the case of high-involvement users, supporting the moderating influence of involvement on e-commerce adoption. From a practical point of view, the findings of this research help managers to implement actions aimed at reinforcing the users’ trust in their websites and, consequently, at fostering the online purchase.