The effect of the acculturation process on consumers’ acceptance of e-commerce platforms

Lacka, Ewelina (2014) The effect of the acculturation process on consumers’ acceptance of e-commerce platforms. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

The Internet has revolutionised the way in which business is conducted in the twenty-first century. It has changed the face and pace of business offering an indispensable opportunity to operate on digital platforms. Through those digital platforms, businesses find new sources of competitive advantage; thus, they are increasingly incorporating e-commerce, m-commerce and, more recently, social commerce platforms. But before businesses can benefit from the Internet and its global reach, they must understand the effect of culture on consumers’ acceptance of digital platforms, as cultural misunderstandings can cause business failure. Understanding consumers’ culture-specific behaviour, however, is increasingly complex nowadays. This is because of the phenomenon of acculturation, caused by globalisation and mass migration, which can change consumers’ culture-specific behaviour, as well as their attitudes, values and beliefs. Thus, the effect of the acculturation process on consumers’ acceptance of digital platforms should be investigated, and its consequences understood.
This is the first study that aims to assess the effect of the acculturation process on consumers’ acceptance of e-commerce platforms. In order to reach this objective, two-phase transformative sequential research is conducted on the sample of Polish immigrants residing in the UK. In this two-phase research, first on the basis of a quantitative study (n=305), consumers’ attitudes, values and beliefs towards e-commerce are compared and contrasted from the perspective of two cultures (Polish- native and British- non-native culture) to reveal the factors which initially, due to cultural determinants, seem to prevent consumers from accepting e-commerce, can be overcome once the culture is changed. Such a change is accounted for as an effect of the process of acculturation on consumers’ acceptance of an e-commerce platform. The explanation of the revealed effect along with factors facilitating it is sought through a qualitative investigation (n=25) and their impact is verified quantitatively (n=298). This not only advances knowledge of the effect of culture on e-commerce acceptance, but it also derives a number of practical implications, which may serve as a guideline for designing global e-commerce strategies.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
Depositing User:	Stacey Armes
Date Deposited:	03 Feb 2015 17:39
Last Modified:	03 Feb 2015 17:39
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/52170
DOI:

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