Hedonic Tendencies and the Online Consumer: An Investigation of the Online Shopping Process

Over the past 10 years, online shopping among U.S. consumers has been on the rise. While researchers have begun to understand how and why consumers shop online, much information, including trait- and state-based antecedents to purchasing, is still needed. Thus, this study proposed and tested the effect of hedonic shopping motivation on consumer online shopping behavior. Findings indicate that hedonic shopping motivation is a robust predictor of exploratory information seeking and impulse buying. Data further demonstrate that online shopping behaviors affected by hedonic shopping motivation affect pre-purchase browsing time and that the pre-purchase browsing time has a positive relationship with online buying frequency. Finally, the study also shows the positive relationship between perceived credibility of product information and pre-purchase online communication, and the positive relationship between perceived credibility of product information and online buying frequency.