Predictors of E-commerce Use of the Internet: A Multinational Comparative Study —the U.S., the Netherlands, and S. Korea

Abstract

With a focus on online consumer behavior in highly-wired countries

(the United States, the Netherlands, and South Korea), this study

attempted to identify and compare predictors of e-commerce activities in

three areas — finance, product, and entertainment. The cross-national

comparison revealed that users in each country did not have a

compatible pattern of predictors in e-commerce activities. Although an

age, web experiences, and a motivation of having less pressure were

common predictors, there existed different social and cultural impacts

on online consumer behaviors in each country. The main implication of

this exploratory crossnational comparative study for e-commerce is that

there are both global and local determinants of online consumer

behavior. Therefore, researchers and practitioners should consider both culture-general and culture-specific components in multinational online

commerce services and marketing.