An Empirical Study on the Impact of the Risk Perception on German Consumer’s Online Buying Intention

Abstract

An online purchase decision confronts consumers with some challenges. Internet offers consumers access to a vast amount of information but the sources of information mostly are not reliable. Literature suggests that perception of risk acts as barrier to online shopping. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of perception of risk on consumers’ online buying intention in  Germany. Moreover, in order to get indications of consumers’ online shopping behavior, the effect of perceived behavioral control and e-WOM credibility has also been investigated. In this research different analysis including descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis have been used. The hypotheses of the research have been partially supported. The results indicate that perceived behavioral control has influence on consumers’ perception of risk and online buying intention. However, e-Wom credibility didn’t have any effect on consumers’ perception of risk and online buying intention. Moreover findings of current study do not support any significant relationship between consumers’ perception of risk and their online buying intention in Germany.