Obstacles to Online Shopping: Impact of Gender and Internet Security Issues

Abstract

In the latest technology era, the widespread usage of internet enabled individuals to interact continuously and led to altered buying behavior patterns. Literature focuses on the critical effects in the field. Among many antecedents to online shopping, previous studies point out two important obstacles: (i) acceptance and tendency to use technology in accordance with gender perceptions and (ii) internet security problems. This study analyzes the impact of these two prominent factors on e-commerce utilization by studying the effects of these factors through primary and secondary data; a survey designed specifically for this analysis and the cross-country data from Eurostat. The findings show that while internet security problems significantly impact online shopping behavior, the evidence is mixed for the impact of gender. The results of this paper provide insights for a successful e-commerce transaction and identify important obstacles to be avoided for an efficient e-commerce system.