Revealing the effect of acculturation process on e-commerce acceptance: The case of intra-European acculturation

The popularity of e-commerce has increased significantly over recent years. However, this growth is not shared by all European Union states. One reason for this discrepancy is culture which impacts on e-commerce acceptance. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the effect of acculturation process on e-commerce acceptance.

Structural equation modelling is employed to test three research models: technology acceptance model, theory of planned behaviour model and motivational model.

The findings show that attitudes towards e-commerce change in relation to the perception of control and the influence of subjective norms, which impact intentions to use e-commerce before movement to a host country’s culture. However, its effect diminishes after the exposure to the influence of a host culture.

This is the first study to demonstrate the existence of the effect of acculturation process on mingling and migrating consumers and their changing attitudes towards e-commerce acceptance.