Abstract
The concept of involvement underlying human behavior has been found to be a crucial construct in various disciplines. For example, a greater understanding of this construct has allowed marketing and consumer behavior researchers to develop insights into consumer search processes and strategies, audience involvement in advertising (Greenwald and Leavitt, 1984), temporal context of product involvement (Richins and Bloch, 1986), and advertising effectiveness (Petty, Cacioppo and Schumann, 1983). Similarly, a better understanding of the Internet involvement can allow researchers and business managers to develop better insights about consumer behavior in the context of electronic commerce. This study draws upon existing theories on involvement in multiple disciplines such as consumer behavior, information systems and economic psychology and adapts existing instruments (validated in past research), to develop a measure of internet involvement. The developed instrument is then used to investigate consumers’ distinct behaviors regarding electronic commerce. The study provides evidence that high and low involved consumers differ in terms of their behaviors regarding the Internet.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References (Abridged)
Barki H. and J. Hartwick, “Rethinking the Concept of User Involvement“, MIS Quarterly, March 1989, pp. 53–62
Beatty S.E. And Smith S.M. (1987) “External Search Effort: An Investigation Across Several Product Categories”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14, June, pp. 83–95
Bennett P.D. And Mandell R.M. (1969) “Prepurchase Information Seeking Behavior of New Car Purchasers—The Learning Hypothesis”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 6, November, pp. 430–433
Bentler M. EQS Structural Equations Program Manual, Multivariate Software Inc., 1995
Bloch P.H., Sherrell D.L. And Ridegway N.M. (1986) “Consumer Search: An Extended Framework”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 13, June, pp. 119–128
Celsi R. and J. Olson, “The Role of Involvement in Attention and Comprehension Processes”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 15, September 1985, pp. 210–224
Churchil G., “A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs”, Journal of Marketing Research Vol. 16, February 1979, pp. 64–73
Cortese A., “A Way Out of the Web Maze”, BusinessWeek, February 24, 1997, pp. 95–108
Dunn G., B. Everitt, and A. Pickles Modeling Covariances And Latent Variables Using EQS, Chapman and Hall: London, 1993
Greenwald A. and C. Leavitt, “Audience Involvement in Advertising: Four Levels”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 11, June 1984, pp. 581–592
Guthrie R. and L. Austin, “Competitive Implications of the Internet,” Information Systems Management, Summer 1996, pp. 90–92
Hagel III Jan A. Armstrong NetGain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities. HBS: Boston, MA. 1997
Hawkins S. and S. Hoch, “Low-Involvement Learning: Memory without Evaluation”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 19, September 1992, pp. 212–225
Higie R. and L. Feick, “Enduring Involvement: Conceptual and Measurement Issues”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 16, 1989, pp. 690–695
Jan K. and N. Srinivasan, “An Empirical Assessment of Multiple Operationalizations of Involvement”, Advance in Consumer Research, Vol. 17, 1990, pp. 594–602
Jensen T., L. Carlson and C. Tripp, “The Dimensionality of Involvement: An Empirical Test”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 16, 1989, pp. 680–689
Kalakota R. and A. Whinston Frontier of Electronic Commerce. Addison-Wesley: New York. 1996
Laurent G. and J. Kapferer, “Measuring Consumer Involvement Profiles”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 22, February 1985, pp. 41–53
Lynch D. “Cashflow”, Internet World, July 1996, pp. 75–80
Martin C. The Digital Estate. McGraw-Hill: New York. 1997
Martin J. Cybercorp: The New Business Revolution. AMACOM: New York. 1996
McQuarrie E. and J. Munson, “A Revised Product Involvement Inventory: Improved Usability and Validity”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 19, 1992, pp. 108–115
Middendrop C. “On the conceptualization of theoretical constructs”, Quality and Quantity, Vol.25, 1991, pp. 235–252
Midgley D. and G. Dowling, “Innovativeness: The Concept and Its Measurement”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 4, March 1978, pp. 229–242
Miniard P., S. Bhalta, K. Lord, P. Dickson and H. Unnava, “Picture-based Persuasion Processes and Moderating Role of Involvement”, Journal Consumer Research, Vol. 18, June 1991, pp. 92–107
Mitchell A. A. (1981) “The Dimensions of Advertising Involvement”, in Advances in Consumer Research, (Ed) K.B. Monroe, Vol. 8, Ann Arbor, MI, Association for Consumer Research, pp. 25–30
Mittal B. and M. Lee, “A Causal Model of Consumer Involvement“, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 10, 1989, pp. 363–389
Molenaar N., “Recent methodological studies on survey questioning“, Quality and Quantity, Vol.25, 1991, pp. 167–187
Noack D., “Planes, Trains and Cruise Lines“, Internet World, July 1996, pp. 82–86
Park J. and M. Hastak, “Memory-based Product Judgments: Effects of Involvement at Encoding and Retrieval“, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21, December 1994, pp. 534–547
Peterson R., “A Meta-Analysis Of Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21, September 1994, pp. 381–391
Petty R., J. Cacioppo and D. Schumann, “Central and Peripheral Routes to Advertising Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Involvement”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 10, September 1983, pp. 135–146
Quelch J. and L. Klein, “The Internet and International Marketing”, Sloan Management Review, Spring 1996, pp. 60–75
Robello K., L. Armstrong and A. Cortese, “Making Money on the Net?”, BusinessWeek, September 23, 1996, pp. 104–118
Rowley J. “Retailing and shopping on the Internet“, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, pp. 81–91
Salam A.F., “Three Essays on Electronic Commerce: WWW Information Content, Internet Involvement And Perceived Risk,” unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, SUNY at Buffalo, June 1998
Salam A.F., H.R. Rao and C.C. Pegesl, “Content of Corporate Web Pages as Advertising Media,” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41, No. 3, March 1998
Salam A.F., H.R. Rao, C.C. Pegels, “An Investigation of Consumer-Perceived Risk on Electronic Commerce Transactions: The Role of Institutional Trust and Economic Incentive In A Social Exchange Framework,” in Proceedings of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Americas Conference, (1998), 202–204
Ubois J., “Selling Delight“, Internet World, September 1996, pp. 86–94
Urbany J., Dickinson P. R. and Wilkie W.L., “Buyer Uncertainty & Information Search”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16, September 1989, pp. 208–215
Welz G., “The Ad Game”, Internet World, July 1996, pp. 50–57
Zaichkowsky J., “Measuring the Involvement Construct”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 12, December, 1985, pp. 341–352
Zaichkowsky J. (December 1994). “Research Notes: The Personal Involvement Inventory: Reduction, Revision, and Application to Advertising.“ Journal of Advertising 23(4): 58–70
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Salam, A.F., Rao, H.R., Pegels, C.C. (2000). Internet Involvement: Instrument Development, Measurement and Implications for Electronic Commerce. In: Shaw, M., Blanning, R., Strader, T., Whinston, A. (eds) Handbook on Electronic Commerce. International Handbooks on Information Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58327-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58327-8_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-67344-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-58327-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive