| Business-to-consumer electronic commerce has expanded rapidly, but it is still far from reaching its potential. The success of electronic commerce is dependent on an effective electronic payment system to facilitate the purchase of products and services between customers and merchants. The lack of consumer confidence has negatively influenced electronic commerce, the adoption of its payment systems, and its long-term profitability. The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to examine the relationship and test the predictive strength between five predictors and one criterion variable. Consumers' propensity to trust, perceived privacy, perceived security, subjective norms, and recognition of third party existence were the predictor variables, while consumer intention to adopt an electronic payment system was the criterion variable. The theory of reasoned action (TRA) was the framework used for a deeper understanding of consumer behavior, attitudes, and intention towards the adoption of electronic commerce technology. Participants included a random sample of 197 online consumers, 18 years of age or older, residing in the United States. Pearson's correlation and linear regression analysis were used to examine the relationship and test the predictive strength of the variables. The results of this study indicated the five predictor variables showed a significant and positive relationship towards the criterion variable. Likewise, the findings also indicated the same five variables were significant predictors in consumer intention. The strongest relationship among the predictors and criterion variable existed between consumers' propensity to trust ( r = .626), perceived security (r = .597), and subjective norms (r = .579), followed by the recognition of third party existence (r = .482) and perceived privacy (r = .342, p < .001). The information obtained from this study may provide online merchants with an understanding of consumer confidence concerns. Online merchants may find opportunities to remove barriers and improve their strategies to possibly change the attitudes of potential consumers and increase their intention to adopt an electronic payment system. Recommendations for future research include conducting a longitudinal study to examine consumer behavior over time, examining prepurchase and postpurchase consumer experience, replicating the study using specific demographic criteria, and employing a qualitative methodology. |
