Purchase Intention to Undertake e-Commerce Transactions in
Developing Countries
Application of Theory of Planned Behavior in Indonesia
Ainur Rofiq
School of Accounting, Economics and Finance
University of Southern Queensland
Toowoomba, Australia
Email: ainur.rofiq@usq.edu.au
Joseph M Mula and Albert Scott
School of Accounting, Economics and Finance
University of Southern Queensland
Toowoomba, Australia
Email: joseph.mula@usq.edu.au, albert.scott@usq.edu.au
Abstract— The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical
evidence of an examined model of purchase intentions on
business to consumer e-commerce transactions in developing
countries using Indonesia as a case study. Adopting the theory of
planned behavior, data from an Indonesia Internet discussion
group was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The
main finding is that purchase intention of business to consumer
e-commerce transactions in developing countries such as
Indonesia is able to be predicted by theory of planned behavior.
Limited numbers of previous studies accommodate some proof of
the theory of planned behavior and its application to explain
consumers’ purchase intentions in developing countries. This
empirical study has provided evidence that the model is
applicable in this context.
Keywords- planned behavior; purchase intentions; e-
commerce; developing country; Indonesia
I. INTRODUCTION
The number of Internet users has rapidly evolved around
the globe. It is reported that Internet world usage reached 361
million in 2000 and will hit 1.97 billion by 2010. The world-
wide Internet growth in the last decade has been 445%.
Indonesia as a developing country also has a high rate of
Internet usage. Internet users in this country attained two
million in 2000 and 30 million by 2010 [1].
Extensive uses of the Internet affect business models, such
as e-commerce. E-commerce is the use of the Internet for
buying, selling, transferring, or exchanging products, services,
and/or information [2]. It has increased in popularity and has
been adopted by businesses [3]. Businesses believe that using
e-commerce technology provides some advantages as business
operations can be undertaken faster, reduce inventory space
required as well as minimize advertising and delivery costs
[4]. Therefore, firms can save time and be more cost effective
[5]. As a result, e-commerce systems have a positive effect on
increasing a business operations’ effectiveness as well as
improving financial performance.
From a consumer perspective, e-commerce provides some
benefits in transactions including ease of comparing product
prices, time savings, and transactions can be performed
whenever and wherever. Previous studies have examined
consumers’ purchase intentions using e-commerce in
developed countries, but there are limited studies for
developing countries. Hence, this study intends to validate the
model of purchase intentions on business to consumer e-
commerce transactions in Indonesia by adopting the theory of
planned behavior.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPHOTHESES
Theory of planned behavior (TPB) is derived from the
theory of reasoned action (TRA) [6]. TPB stated that attitude,
subjective norm and perceived behavioral control influence
intention [7]. In this context, intention indicates people effort
to conduct an activity; attitude is the individual preference to
the object [5]; subjective norm reflects the degree of people
affection due to some significant referents’ perception [8]; and
perceived behavioral control reflects to the perception of
resource availabilities and behavior development
opportunities.
Associated with the intention to purchase using e-
commerce by adopting TPB, attitude has important role as a
predictor. Previous study undertaken in Spain found that
attitude positively affect intention to purchase using e-
commerce [8]. Other studies conducted in US reveal that
attitude is the most important factor to influence purchase
intention on the Internet [6, 9]. So, it is hypothesized that:
H1: Attitude has a positive impact on consumers’
intentions to purchase using Internet-based e-
commerce.
TPB has been adopted to predict online consumer
intentions in Sweden and Denmark. This study finds that
subjective norm positively affect intention to purchase using
e-commerce [10]. Similar results are also reported by other
studies in different countries [8, 9]. Therefore, it is
hypothesized that:
H2: Subjective norm has a positive impact on consumers’
intentions to purchase using Internet-based e-
commerce.
Regarding perceived behavioral control, one study found
that this predictor does not significantly influence purchase
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