Consumer acceptance of virtual stores: A theoretical model and critical success factors for virtual stores

The last few years have witnessed phenomenal growth in the business activities on the Internet. One of the most significant phenomena is the emergence of a new form of business---the virtual store. By taking advantage of the unique characteristics of the Internet, virtual stores provide great efficiency in the retail value chain and their existence has tremendously paved the way for the diffusion of the electronic commerce concept into the general public. However, little systematic research has been conducted to study this new form of business and its critical success factors (CSFs). Moreover, only a paucity of the literature has attempted to contribute insightful theories or research models to this area. To partially fill this void, this research intends to investigate the virtual stores phenomenon to a great extent. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which is based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, Technology Task Fit (TTF) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) are extended for studying the acceptance and use of virtual stores by consumers. The extension will explain a large portion of the factors that lead to a user's behavioral intention to use and actual use of a virtual store. These factors will serve as the CSFs for virtual stores to remain competitive.; This research is conducted using survey as the primary methodology. The results from an online survey of 253 online consumers indicate that the proposed theoretical model is able to explain and predict consumer acceptance of virtual stores substantially well. In addition to providing new theoretical grounds for studying the virtual store phenomena, this dissertation also supplies virtual stores with a number of operative CSFs to remain competitive in the volatile electronic marketplace. These CSFs, namely, product offerings, information richness, usability of storefront, perceived trust and perceived service quality, are discussed in detail, and recommendations for virtual stores to achieve these CSFs are also discussed. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications of this work to both researchers and practitioners.