Antecendents of Online Group Buying Behavior: from Price Leverage and Crowd effect Perspectives

Online group buying, as a new form of e-commerce, has offered customers a great deal of promotion and convenience in shopping. Meanwhile, there are an increasing number of OGB vendors struggling in the fierce competition and extremely turbulent business environment. During 2010 and 2011, more than 2000 OGB vendors in China have been out of business or facing with bankruptcy. Therefore, study of search and purchase behavior of potential customers in online group buying is meaningful to OGB vendors. This stream of study can offer information in relating how to maintain and improve competitiveness in the market. Present study aims to conduct an empirical research on the impact on customers’ search and purchase intention in online group buying. Since little prior research has investigated the searching and purchase behavior in the context of online group buying, this research tends to fill this void by examine multiple antecedents, including products measures, vendor-related factors and individual characteristics. This paper also provides informative knowledge and contributions to both academic researchers and business practitioners.