Does Identification Influence Continuous E-Commerce Consumption? The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivations

Abstract

The motivation behind online consumption behavior is different from that of online social behavior, and research is lacking regarding the impact of identification on e-commerce consumption. The current research examines the influence of identification, which is perceived anonymity, and intrinsic motivation on the continuous purchasing behaviors on retailing e-commerce websites based on self-determination theory. The mediating role of intrinsic motivation was also empirically tested from a sample of 661 frequent consumers using the partial least squares approach. The findings were: (1) Identification negatively influences perceived anonymity, and its low, but significantly positive, influence on continuous e-commerce consumption were totally mediated by perceived competence, perceived autonomy, and perceived relatedness. (2) Perceived anonymity positively influences self-determination factors, which has partly mediating impact between perceived anonymity and continuous consumption. (3) The authenticity and concealment of identity are based on different mechanisms, but both of them are conducive to promoting continuous purchases. On retailing e-commerce websites, customers’ identity management should consider both identification in the background and anonymity perception in the service, and the contributions of the service to promote consumers’ perceived competence and perceived autonomy are important in continuous consumption.

Identifiability, Risk, and Information Credibility in Discussions on Moral/Ethical Violation Topics on Chinese Social Networking Sites

“…Identifiability and perceived anonymity of SNS user identity are not two sides of an organic whole but, rather, two different elements (Chen et al, 2019a). Identifiability reflects the amount of information available on the real identity of the behavioral subject that is identified (Marx, 1999).…”

“…perception of the nature of the subject. Previous research has confirmed that identity has a significantly negative impact on perceptual anonymity on various online social media platforms (Chen et al, 2016(Chen et al, , 2019a. The relationship between these two factors should be the same in monitoring and participating in discussions on moral/ethical violation topics on online social media.…”

“…In the 1990s, use of cyber-based communication technology facilitated an anonymous communication environment, but this positive outcome is no longer the case (Chen et al, 2016). This is because anonymity is now seen by some as dangerous due to the following factors: issues in the protection of business transaction security (Chen et al, 2019a); government oversight and control; concerns about intellectual property; national and international legal implications; and the use of identity management technology (Froomkin, 2015). In SNS, user identification takes complicated forms, with complex and diversified functions and methods of interpersonal interactions.…”

“…The ability to identify internet users refers to the process and the potential for identifying the true identity of users in cyberspace; this is not just a legal concept but also a technical means of identity detection with the help of publicly available methods (Krausová, 2009). In cyberspace, user identifiability is represented by the richness of information in terms of whether there are clues to determine a user's real identity (Chen et al, 2019a). Identifiability is objective, whereas perceptual anonymity is subjective and is the psychological…”

“…Anonymity in cyberspace is an important way of protecting private information (Brazier et al, 2004;Rainie et al, 2013) and is conducive to the construction of self-image (Lin and Utz, 2017). The emergence of new cyber applications has led to a heated debate over the advantages and disadvantages of anonymity in cyberspace (Chen et al, 2016(Chen et al, , 2019aChristopherson, 2007;Lapidot-Lefler and Barak, 2012;Scott and Orlikowski, 2014;Jardine, 2015;Levontin and Yom-Tov, 2017). A series of research studies have confirmed that the perception of anonymity has different impacts on behavior in different online environments (Jessup et al, 1990;Joinson, 2001;Reinig and Mejias, 2004;Lapidot-Lefler and Barak, 2012;Yoon and Rolland, 2012;Hsieh and Luarn, 2014).…”