Factors Affecting Online Consumer's Behavior: An Investigation Across Gender

Gender effects remain poorly understood in the E-commerce setting. Using social roles theory, this research further investigates gender differences in consumer Web-based purchase decisions. Specifically, gender differences in the effects of interactivity, vividness, diagnosticity, and perceived risk on subsequent consumer attitude and online purchase intentions are investigated and explained. An empirical survey-based research study in the e-commerce context found that gender differences exist in the relative influence of each antecedent. Specifically, interactivity and perceived risk influenced attitude formation more for males than females, while vividness and diagnosticity influenced attitude formation more for females than males. In addition, attitude toward online product presentation influenced purchase intention more strongly for males than females. For e-Commerce web-site designers and brand managers, our results highlight the importance of being gender aware when developing their web presence. While some sites may benefit from a gender-neutral design, others may benefit from a design based on results reported here.