Antecedents of online shopping intent in Malta

Abstract

Despite the several benefits and motivational factors related to the Internet there are various concerns among users related to online shopping that deter customers from making purchases online. This paper examines factors that affect online purchasing intent in Malta. A study on ICT Usage in Maltese Households conducted by the National Statistics Office in 2002 revealed that only 3.8 % of the total population used the Internet to make purchases at the time. The current paper therefore researches online shopping concerns and perceptions amongst Maltese Internet users and investigates why the majority of users do not engage in online, purchase transactions An extensive amount of literature was reviewed to construct a measuring instrument in the form of a questionnaire for the purposes of this study. An analysis of data collected from two samples of lnternet users, 98 online shoppers and 99 non-shoppers respectively, reveals that the intent of Maltese users to purchase on the Internet may be affected mainly by Trust Factors and the Corporate Reputation of an online company. Conclusions from this study therefore may allow prospective online businesses to understand the position of e-commerce in Malta which could potentially be cultivated by removing lack of Trust and enhancing Corporate Reputation.