Digital Distrust, Information Overload, and Consumer Apathy in Online Shopping: A Stimulus–Organism–Response Perspective from Liberia.

This paper explains why consumers in digitally fragile economies remain apathetic toward online shopping despite improving infrastructure. Integrating the Stimulus–Organism–Response paradigm with cognitive–affective theory, we hypothesise that (1) digital distrust and information overload directly increase consumer apathy and indirectly via heightened perceived risk, and (2) anticipated regret amplifies these effects. Survey data from 304 urban Liberians, an archetypal low-trust, low-digital-maturity market, were analyzed with moderated mediation (PROCESS). Results show significant direct effects of distrust (β = 0.321, p < 0.001) and overload (β = 0.230, p < 0.001) on apathy; perceived risk partially mediates both relationships (indirect effects: 0.252 and 0.297). Anticipated regret moderates the risk–apathy link (interaction β = 0.182, p < 0.001) and strengthens the indirect paths (index of moderated mediation = 0.086 and 0.101). The model explains 52–54% of the variance in apathy and is robust to PLS-SEM re-estimation. Findings reveal that disengagement is a systematic response to accumulated cognitive–emotional strain rather than technical barriers alone. We extend e-commerce literature by shifting focus from purchase intention to apathy, specifying perceived risk as the key cognitive mechanism, and demonstrating how forward-looking emotions condition disengagement. Managerially, platforms in emerging markets must simultaneously build trust, simplify information architectures, reduce perceived risk, and provide emotional reassurance to convert apathy into sustainable participation.