The moderating role of perceived trust and perceived value on online shopping behavioral intention of Palestinian millennials during COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose The paper aims to examine the moderating role of both the perceived value and perceived trust in the relationship between the ease of use, perceived risk, perceived usefulness and quality of website and the Palestinian millennials’ behavioral intention toward online shopping. Design/methodology/approach A survey questionnaire was carried out targeting 357 Palestinian millennials. In total, 311 valid responses were processed and analyzed using PLS-SEM model fitting approach. Findings The findings demonstrate that the impact of ease of use, perceived usefulness and website quality on online shopping behavioral intention are reinforced by perceived value and perceived trust, while the effect of perceived risk is weakened. This implies that improving convenience and lowering non-monetary costs such as time and effort will enhance the customers’ perceived value and, as a result, their shopping behavioral intention. In addition, one of the most significant barriers to online shopping is a lack of trust. Therefore, once trust is established, shopping willingness rises, and vice versa. Research limitations/implications As this study focused on consumers from a developing country, it neglected the cross-cultural issue; thus, future studies may have to make a comparison of other samples from various nations to gain a deeper understanding. Furthermore, this research focused on the ease of use, perceived risk, perceived usefulness and perceived quality of the website to predict the customer’s behavioral intention toward online shopping, which shows significant results, indicating that more research is needed to look at these independent variables as predictors of customers purchasing decision. Practical implications Online shopping is a critical topic that has significant impact on the business world. Investigating the moderating role of perceived trust and perceived value on Palestinian millennials’ online shopping behavioral intention during COVID-19 might give useful information for organizations developing policies and strategies to create direct sales using social media platforms. Furthermore, the findings might also be valuable for management studies and academics to better understand consumers’ intentions when it comes to commercial internet buying. Originality/value The empirical nature of this paper gives a thorough explanation of the phenomena of online shopping from a developing country. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that examines the moderating effect of perceived trust and perceived value on Palestinian millennials’ online shopping behavioral intention during COVID-19.