To identify the types of risk perceived by Internet users when considering an online purchase and online patronage behaviors, we examined a data set from a survey by the Graphic, Visualization, and Usability (GVU) Center from Georgia Institute of Technology.
The 10th GVU survey collected information over the Web from October 10,1998 through December 15, 1998 (GVU’s 10th WWW.User Surveys, 1998).
Among the nine questionnaires in the 10th GVU WWW User Survey, two (General Demographics
and Finding Product Information and Purchasing) contained questions that can be used to address the research questions in this study.
There were over 5000 participants in the first questionnaire and 645 participants in the second
questionnaire.
The population of this study was Internet users who have access to the World Wide Web.
The two data sets were merged into one data file based on subject ID number.
ID numbers that could not be matched, or other discrepancies in responses for the two data sets, were excluded from the data analysis, resulting in 641 cases.
Regression analysis was run for the two shopper groups to examine the impact of type of risk perceived and demographics on selected online shopping behaviors.
We examined the relationship between consumer demographics (gender, age, income, and online experience), types of risk perceived by Internet users (shoppers and browsers) and selected online patronage behaviors (total amount spent, frequency of searching with intent to buy, and frequency of purchasing online).