Factors influencing consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of e-deals

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key antecedents of attitude towards electronic deals (e-deals) and factors influencing purchase intention of e-deals. Specifically, perceived value and price consciousness will be tested as antecedents of attitudes towards e-deals. Attitudes towards e-deals, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control are proposed to have strong influences upon purchase intention. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) provides the theoretical underpinning of the conceptual framework.

Data were collected through convenience sampling. Overall, 611 valid responses of 780 distributed surveys were collected. Only 426 e-deals users were analysed by using structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses.

It is found that perceived value is a strong predictor of attitudes towards e-deals. Another finding also indicates that attitudes towards e-deals and normative influence positively affect consumers’ purchase intention towards e-deals.

Practitioners are advised to integrate social media (e.g. Facebook or Twitter) and online communities to approach the “leader” to influence new potential consumers to purchase e-deals. It is also important to maintain the good value of e-deals and emphasise the huge benefits of using e-deals to persuade consumers to purchase it.

The originality of this study lies in extending the TPB as a robust measurement to investigate online shopping behaviour in the context of e-deals.