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Compared to traditional (domestic) e-commerce consumers, cross-border electronic commerce (CBEC) consumers may face greater information asymmetry in the CBEC purchase process. Given this background, however, the literature has paid limited attention to the informational antecedents that influence consumers' perceptions of transaction costs and their CBEC purchase intentions. To fill this gap, this study integrates the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and transaction cost theory (TCT) to develop a model for exploring how product (website informativeness, product diagnosticity and website interactivity as the central route) and external (country brand, website policy and vendor reputation as the peripheral route) informational antecedents affect consumers’ evaluations of transaction costs in terms of uncertainty and asset specificity and their CBEC purchase intentions.

This study employs a survey approach to validate the model with 766 Generation Z CBEC consumers based on judgment sampling. The partial least squares (PLS) technique is adopted for data analysis.

The results show that all the proposed central and peripheral informational antecedents reduce consumers’ perceptions of uncertainty and asset specificity, which in turn negatively influences their CBEC purchase intentions.

Through this investigation, this study increases our understanding of how product and external informational antecedents affect consumers’ evaluations of transaction costs, which subsequently determine their CBEC purchase decisions. This study offers theoretical contributions to existing CBEC research and has practical implications for CBEC organizations and managers.

Using surveys of Amazon and Tmall Global users, this paper aims to empirically investigate the issue of platform technological selection. We explore the impact of switching costs on users’ intentions to use an app-enabled cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) platform based on an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). The results suggest that the higher the switching cost of a platform is, the greater the users’ satisfaction and intention to use this platform. Therefore, for the platform, a moderate switching cost will be beneficial for retaining users.

Based on the TAM, this paper takes the switching costs as the starting point and focuses on exploring the relationships among switching costs, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived reliability, satisfaction and intention to use. Online surveys of users of Amazon and Tmall Global are adopted as the main instruments of this research. We collected a total of 408 valid responses from Amazon users and 490 from Tmall Global users. For the data analysis, this study conducts frequency analysis, a test analysis of the reliability and validity of the measures, correlation analysis, and path analysis using a structural equation model.

The results show that switching costs positively affect the users’ satisfaction and intentions to use a CBEC platform through perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived reliability.

The questionnaire respondents were predominantly Chinese due to the constraints of the survey conditions. In fact, China has a high penetration rate in CBEC, and Chinese users have rich experience using the Amazon and Tmall Global platforms.

The development of CBEC has ups and downs, and users frequently switch platforms. Considering how platforms can stand out from the crowd and retain users, we believe that a moderate increase in the switching cost of the platform is helpful for companies to address these problems, and the implications of the results are particularly valid for decision-makers of CBEC platforms and companies.

Amazon and Tmall Global are the two largest CBEC platforms in the world. Using these two companies as examples for comparison can effectively identify the differences between the platforms and the conclusions are representative. We suggest that platforms can improve user satisfaction and willingness to use by establishing VIP communities, issuing coupons, providing shipping services as well as convenient after-sale complaint channels, and improving the platform’s easy-to-use interface, as ways to further enable the platform to retain more users and stand out in fierce competition.

This paper addresses an interesting and practical issue related to the effects of introducing switching costs in an extended TAM applied to CBEC platforms.

This study aims to integrate and extend leading contemporary underpinning frameworks such as the Stimulus Organism Response (S-O-R) model, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to assess the determinants of M-commerce usage during COVID-19 times. Besides direct effects, the study examines the mediating role of behavioral intention in affecting the relationship between a few external stimuli, internal states (of the organism) and M-commerce usage (the response). The study has also examined the moderating role of habitual behavior in the relationship between behavioral intention and M-commerce usage.

Data were gathered from 312 customers through an online survey using a structured questionnaire. PLS-based SEM, using Smart PLS 4.0, was employed to calibrate the measurement and structural models.

The study found that stimuli like social influence, perceived ease of use and perceived value substantially affected M-commerce usage. Behavioral intention has been found to mediate these cause-and-effect relationships partially or fully among the subject constructs. Additionally, a significant negative but weak moderating impact of habit (or habitual behavior) on the relationship between behavioral intentions and M-commerce usage has been corroborated.

Several studies have investigated the factors influencing the adoption and continued usage of M-commerce services while appealing to diverse theoretical frameworks. However, more research has yet to be expended to arrive at an integrated explanation grounded in these theoretical frameworks to examine the dynamics of M-commerce usage in tempestuous times like the COVID-19 outbreak. The most significant (counterintuitive) findings have been suppressing the effects of otherwise crucial elements like perceived security and habit in prompting M-commerce usage in the face of the socio-psychological pressures stemming from COVID-19 restrictions and consumers' lack of digital readiness. The study's outcomes offer several theoretical and practical implications for researchers, managers, practitioners, businesses and policymakers to develop effective strategies to mature M-commerce usage among the masses, especially during unusual times like COVID-19.

Privacy is a sensitive issue in business because it involves how a platform uses consumer personal data. In terms of consumer rights, personal information needs to be protected in the privacy policy (PP). This study describes several aspects of the PP that consumers need to pay attention to, especially points prone to misuse of personal information.

This research used a taxonomy of consumer privacy concerns in e-commerce to reveal general and specific privacy concerns. The privacy calculus theory was also applied to explore consumer rationalization using (1) consumer knowledge about PP, (2) subjective perception, and (3) proximity to the PP features. Furthermore, the netnographic approach was used to combine the interrelation between technology and social construction. A sample of 378 young consumers in several major cities in Indonesia participated online and offline. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to gain more in-depth comprehension.

The results showed that most young consumers have sufficient basic knowledge of the important points of PP. Furthermore, they tend not to read the PP because it is long and cumbersome, and therefore do not wish to expend much cognitive effort on it.

This study provides several results that can be utilized by policymakers or e-commerce companies to pay more attention to PPs for young groups. In addition, e-commerce companies can increase the knowledge of the privacy situation of Internet users in general.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0740

This research aimed to raise awareness about the need for safety measures and features of online food delivery applications (OFDAs) to build electronic trust (e-trust) with augmented purchase intention among customers. Moreover, this study explores the attributes of electronic commerce (e-commerce) and how e-trust influences the purchasing intention of consumers while ordering food through OFDAs including fear of contagious diseases. Determinants of e-commerce in the digital era profoundly impact the performance of enterprises.

Data from 493 food consumers collected from Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Pakistan, who were regular users of OFDAs. To scrutinize the dataset, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the construct validity in this research study. Structural equation modeling (SEM), which is facilitated by Smart-PLS, was employed to examine the direct, moderation and mediation effects of the proposed model.

Results revealed the positive and significant impact of the e-trust on the purchase intention. Additionally, e-trust acted as a mediating factor in the connection between electronic security (e-security), electronic privacy (e-privacy), usability, electronic payment (e-payment), electronic innovativeness (e-innovativeness) and the buyer's purchase intention. Furthermore, the fear of contagious viruses negatively moderated the e-trust and purchase intention that weakened buying behavior.

This research is primarily centered on enhancing the comprehension regarding safety orientation within the context of an evolving restaurant industry. The findings of this study hold substantial contributions for academics, web developers, application designers, OFDAs, restaurants and other businesses since they indicate the attractiveness of OFDAs in generating feelings of pleasure and boosting users' intentions to keep using the application.

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how legal strategies can be used to enhance the effectiveness of value-added tax (VAT) and how taxation laws can synergise with economic goals to strengthen the economy.

This study uses a comprehensive approach to explore various aspects of VAT, including its mechanics, collection process and global trends. It uses a comparative analysis of different types of taxes and their potential impact on economic growth. Additionally, it examines the role of the law in establishing tax systems, and how the law makes VAT more effective.

The research highlights the importance of legal frameworks in implementing VAT strategies and addressing associated challenges. It also identifies the advantages and disadvantages of VAT and discusses its role in diversifying economic income sources to ensure a sustainable national revenue stream.

This research contributes to the literature by offering insights into the interplay between law, taxation and economic development, particularly focusing on the effectiveness of VAT. It provides original perspectives on legal strategies to optimise VAT systems and enhance economic growth.

The implementation of the digital economy has had a considerable influence on the manufacturing industry, and this paper aims to address the important issues of how to capture the opportunities presented by digital innovation and promote the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, as well as the improvement of quality and efficiency.

Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces and cities between 2010 and 2021, this study establishes the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model and uses impulse response function analysis to evaluate the influence of the digital economy on the high-quality transformation and upgrading of China's small home appliance industry across five dimensions under the digital economy.

The development of digital infrastructure has not demonstrated a noteworthy capacity for advancing the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry. Furthermore, digital industrialization has exerted a minimal restraining influence on this process. Nevertheless, digital governance has consistently exhibited a substantial impact on facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry. While both industrial digitization and digital innovation hold significant potential for promoting the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry, their sustainability remains limited.

The organization should logically join independent innovation and open innovation, construct an industrial ecosystem for the profound convergence of the digital economy and compact household appliances, use digital-wise science and technology to empower the establishment of brand effects, strengthen the portrayal of the digital standard framework for the intelligent compact household appliance industry, advance the development of a public stage for computerized administrations in the compact household appliance industry and develop a strategy ecosystem for computerized assets in the compact household appliance industry.

This study offers systematic evidence of the relationship between the digital economy and the development of the small home appliance industry. The results of this research contribute to the literature on the impact of the digital economy on the manufacturing sector and provide a logical explanation for the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry within the context of the digital economy.

Gaining and maintaining trust in e-commerce is crucial for online purchases. Specifically, understanding trust formation and its consequences in a cross-market online shopping context is important, as cross-market studies are scarce. Therefore, this study examines antecedents and consequences of consumer trust in online shopping (TOS) by comparing advanced and emerging markets.

To test the formulated hypotheses, data including 397 responses from Austria and 205 from Moldova are analysed. Using partial least squares (PLS) path modelling, implications for theory and practice in cross-market e-commerce are obtained.

Empirical findings show that company reputation, perceived security and website quality positively influence consumer TOS. TOS corresponds directly positively with purchase intentions (PI). Our research confirms the negative relationship between trust and perceived risk (PR) as well as that between PR and PI. Furthermore, a significant difference between Austria and Moldova regarding the influence of experience and perceived website quality (PWQ) on TOS is observed.

Our study fills research gaps concerning TOS within the context of cross-market e-commerce. It contributes theoretically and practically and reveals the importance of customer trust and risk reduction for online retailers within advanced and emerging markets in order to provoke online PI.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the continuous intention to use blockchain and FinTech innovations, focusing on the direct impact of user trust and perceived risks. It seeks to test how information technology (IT) quality directly affects user-perceived risk and trust and to identify how IT quality can influence FinTech continuance intentions. By examining these relationships, the study provides insights into how improvements in IT quality can mitigate perceived risks and enhance user trust, ultimately fostering sustained use of FinTech and blockchain technologies.

To achieve the purpose of this study, the model and hypotheses were examined based on the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Results revealed that perceived risk is negatively impacted by system quality, while trust is positively impacted by information quality, and the most significant result in the study is continuous-use intention and uncertainty both are impacted by service quality. Also, the study used some control variables, and two of them (i.e. FinTech type and education) showed a positive significant relationship with continuance-use intention.

This study identifies several causal relationships between the continuance-use intention of blockchain and FinTech innovations and various factors, which can provide valuable insights for managers, enabling them to formulate appropriate strategies to foster sustainable growth in FinTech and blockchain. By leveraging these findings, managers can enhance IT quality, reduce perceived risks and build user trust, thereby promoting the ongoing adoption and success of blockchain and FinTech innovations.

The outcomes obtained will help both FinTech providers and researchers elucidate and understand the situation of users’ concerns about the unexpected risks/uncertainty in FinTech transactions can be mitigated through providing a high level of quality IT service and systems. Two main strategies can be merged to be used by FinTech providers/managers, first: trust building, second: risk-mitigating, both strategies can be used in the light of IT innovation and its aspects to meet the sustainable growth of FinTech.

This chapter examines mobile payments and digital banking services. The past decade has seen a rapid increase in the use of alternative payment systems, away from cash to electronic payments. The digitalization of payments includes business-to-business (B2B), customer-to-business (C2B), and government-to-business and consumers (G2B/C), whether the payments are by computer, wire transfers, and point of sale (POS) systems. POS systems have become a standard in many retail outlets. Mobile payments use a smart device for contactless pay. Consumers see the increasing prevalence of payment systems when they go to the retail checkout or service counter. Worldwide, mobile payments are approaching 50% of digital. Digitalized payment systems are becoming more secure, decreasing concerns over mistaken payments, fraud, and errors. Consumers' confidence in value and usage decreases with age. Most fraud is due to scams and not hacking. Greater access to improved infrastructure and affordable smart devices will expand the usage of digitalized payment systems worldwide.