Customer Knowledge Management and E-commerce: The role of customer perceived risk

The present research is designed to gain a deeper understanding of Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) tools inside the e-commerce context. The relationship between the CKM literature and the e-commerce literature is evaluated through several user characteristics such as risk preference, Internet preference and Internet knowledge and their impact on customers’ online perceived risk and purchase intentions depending on the presence of certain CKM tools on the web site. The empirical study is based on a survey of 276 customers with previous online experience. By using multidimensional analysis, this study shows that the customers’ perceived risk associated with different CKM tools plays an important role in explaining certain customer online behaviour. Therefore, the implications of CKM tools for e-commerce activity are demonstrated and the managerial implications are highlighted. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.