Perceived Risk, Trust and Information Seeking Behavior as Antecedents of Online Apparel Buying Behavior in India: An Exploratory Study in Context of Rajasthan

Abstract

The growing use of social media is changing the consumer buying behavior across countries and regions. However, consumers in a developing region like Rajasthan are generally described as risk reluctant and hence the impact of social media on consumer online buying behavior is a pertinent topic of interest to marketers and researchers. Evidence of empirical research in this area is very limited. This research paper attempts to study the purchase behavior of consumers who buy apparels through the e commerce system of social media by examining a random sample of 404 consumers from Rajasthan. Factors driving consumers to purchase online apparels through e commerce in social media included   Information Seeking, Perceived Risk, and Trust. The empirical research findings through an SPSS 22 analysis suggest that there is a moderate to significant effect of social media on online apparel buying behavior in Rajasthan, with trust being the most significantly affected element followed by perceived risk and information seeking behavior.Keywords: Social Media Buying Behavior; Apparels Retail Market; Information Seeking; Perceived Risk; TrustJEL Classifications: M30; M31; M37