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Top1. Introduction
Since the 1990s, organizations have developed and implemented business models and processes to foster the benefits of e-commerce. Initially, organizations invested in e-commerce to a) operate more efficiently by not carrying unnecessary inventory, b) eliminate the need for often-expensive retail facilities, c) foster greater transparency through well-documented records of transactions, d) avoid higher insurance premiums typically incurred with physical retail locations, and e) remain competitive and relevant to consumers (e.g., Wu & Chang, 2016; Synup, 2019). However, as e-commerce evolved, so did the consumer expectations of the e-purchasing process. While e-purchasing was novel just two decades ago, tremendous efficiencies and intense competition have led to shifting consumer expectations (Vakulenko, Hellström, & Hjort, 2018). For instance, online shoppers expect nominal delivery costs, doorstep delivery, traceability solutions, and convenient reverse logistics (Abdul-Muhmin, 2010; Aziz & Wahid, 2018).
However, e-commerce operations may not be able to meet these expectations everywhere. Differing consumer contexts may explain why e-commerce is more successful in some countries. For instance, in the United States, online sales increased from 128.1 billion USD in 2007 (Rose, Hair, & Clark, 2011) to 365.2 billion USD by 2019 and are projected to reach 600 billion USD by 2024. Meanwhile, the e-commerce market of the entire African continent will reach just 22 billion USD by 2022 (Clement, 2020). This represents just a small portion of the rapidly expanding e-commerce market expected to reach $18.89 trillion globally by 2027 (Flow, 2020). If the entire African continent can only reach a fraction of the online sales in the United States, perhaps the e-commerce strategies applied in developing economies are mismatched to their unique needs. These different economic contexts may help explain why some empirical research – in this widely studies area – continues to reveal inconsistent findings (e.g., Lim, Sia, Lee, & Benbasat, 2006; Kim, Ferrin, & Rao, 2009; Wells, Valacich, & Hess, 2011; Benlian, Titah, & Hess, 2012; Thatcher, Carter, Li, & Rong, 2012; Verhagen & Bloemers, 2017). In response, this study aims to 1) consolidate the factors studied in prior literature to reveal the most impactful factors, and 2) examine the potential moderating effects of economic condition between developed (higher economic condition) and developing countries (lower economic condition).
Next, we present a background discussion on e-purchase intention. Following this, we explain how we used a meta-analysis of the consolidated effects of the factors to derive our results. Moreover, we explain why economic conditions are a likely potential moderator between e-purchase intention and many of its antecedents. Finally, we provide a discussion of our findings along with implications for theory and practice.