Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 964–971

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Research

Customer behavior in electronic commerce: The moderating effect of

e-purchasing experience
Blanca Hernández ⁎, Julio Jiménez, M. José Martín
University of Zaragoza, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study analyzes the perceptions which induce customers to purchase over the Internet, testing the
Received 1 May 2008 moderating effect of e-purchasing experience. We distinguish between two groups: (1) potential e-customers,
Received in revised form 1 July 2008 who are considering making their first e-purchase, and (2) experienced e-customers, who have made at least
Accepted 1 January 2009
one e-purchase and are thinking about continuing to do so. The perceptions that induce individuals to purchase
online for the first time may not be the same as those that produce repurchasing behavior. Our
Keywords:
E-commerce
findings demonstrate that customer behavior does not remain stable because the experience acquired from
E-purchasing experience past e-purchases means that perceptions evolve. The relationships between perceptions of e-commerce change
Adoption with purchasing experience, whilst the influence of Internet experience is stable for all users. The implications are
Repurchasing especially interesting for e-commerce providers whose business models depend on e-customer behavior.
E-purchasing behavior © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction customer behavior has evolved. As in other types of purchase situations

The analysis of consumer behavior is a key aspect for the success of
an e-business. However, the behavior of consumers in the Internet
market changes as they acquire e-purchasing experience (Gefen et al.,
2003; Yu et al., 2005). The perceptions which induce them to make an
initial e-purchase may have different effects on their subsequent
decisions or repurchasing behavior because the use of the information
technology (IT) may modify certain perceptions and attitudes (Thompson
et al., 1994; Taylor and Todd, 1995; Gefen et al., 2003). Despite these
differences, very little research carried out in the e-commerce field
has conducted a separate analysis of the perceptions related to the
adoption and to the “post-adoption” decisions (Karahanna et al., 1999;
Vijayasarathy, 2004). Moreover, hardly any researchers have analyzed
the behavior of e-customers as they gain experience (as Taylor and
Todd, 1995; Vijayasarathy, 2004 state). Most studies have considered
that the low level of development of this new channel meant that the
differences between the two decisions were not yet significant, and their
principal objective was, therefore, to determine the perceptions which
led consumers to adopt the Internet as an alternative shopping channel
to the offline market (Chen et al., 2002; Verhagen et al., 2006).
Nevertheless, the growth of e-commerce has made it clear that
⁎ Corresponding author. Marketing & Business Department, University of Zaragoza,
Gran Vía 2, 50005, Zaragoza, Spain. Tel.: +34 976762718; fax: +34 976761767.
E-mail addresses: bhernand@unizar.es (B. Hernández), jjimenez@unizar.es
(J. Jiménez), mjhoyos@unizar.es (M.J. Martín).
(Sheth, 1968; Heilman et al., 2000), customer behavior does not
necessarily remain stable over time since the experience acquired from
past purchases means that perceptions change (Taylor and Todd, 1995;
Yu et al., 2005). When customers repeat their behavior several times,
they feel more and more in control and form favorable intentions about
purchasing (Liao et al., 2006). Likewise, e-purchases allow the
customers to become more familiar with the Internet as a shopping
channel, to value some aspects of the shopping process more highly and
to ignore certain characteristics that may have been important in the
early stages.
The principal objective of this paper is to analyze the perceptions
which lead customers to purchase over the Internet, testing the
moderating effect of e-purchasing experience. We distinguish
between two types of behavior: the adoption of e-commerce (initial
behavior or first purchase) and repurchase or subsequent behavior.
We carried out this analysis in Spain and distinguished two groups in
the sample; (1) potential e-customers, who are considering making
their first e-purchase, and (2) experienced e-customers, who have
made at least one e-purchase and are thinking about continuing to
purchase through this channel. As Yu et al. (2005) affirm, potential
users of an IT are different from experienced users, since they show
different determinants for acceptance, intentions and usage.
Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989;
Davis et al., 1989), we try to test whether the perceptions of this
model – ease of use and usefulness – and other variables, such as
Internet experience, self-efficacy and attitude, influence the two
behaviors mentioned above in the same way.

0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.01.019
 B. Hernández et al. / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 964–971
2. Theoretical background and hypotheses
2.1. Extension of the TAM
The TAM is one of the most successful theories for examining
technology acceptance (Lee et al., 2003; Sun and Zhang, 2006). It
analyzes user behavior by establishing two key variables: perceived
ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU). Recently, some
studies have extended the TAM by including other concepts which
permit more precise explanations of individuals' behavior. Most of
this research introduces perceptions which act either in a similar way
to PEOU and PU (Childers et al., 2001; Ha and Stoel, 2009) or as
intermediaries between them and the dependent variable (Van
DerHeijden and Verhagen, 2004; Roca et al., 2006). There is a third
research line which concentrates on “previous external variables”
(Davis et al., 1989) which precede PEOU and PU. Our study is in line
with the latter approach. It employs other earlier theories of behavior
and includes factors related to Internet experience (Liaw and Huang,
2003; O'Cass and Fenech, 2003) and intrinsic motivations, such as
self-efficacy (Chen et al., 2002; Bruner and Kumar, 2005).
The inclusion of previous technological experience has its origins
in, among other theories, the Task-Technology Fit Model (Goodhue,
1988; Teo et al., 1999). This model considers that technological
experience facilitates the direct acquisition of information, which
increases individuals' knowledge, alters their initial perceptions (Min
and Galle, 2003) and encourages the adoption of different IT
(Thompson et al., 1994; Teo et al., 1999). This kind of experience
reflects automatic behavior tendencies accumulated by the user (Liao
et al., 2006).
We consider that extensive experience in the general use of the
Internet may condition specific applications of this IT, such as e-
commerce. To measure Internet experience, we have followed the
studies of Liao and Cheung (2001), Goldsmith and Goldsmith (2002)
and Blake et al. (2003) and we employ three factors: acceptance of the
Internet, frequency of use and satisfaction (included on the basis of
the Expectation–Confirmation Theory of Oliver, 1980). They measure
the same concept from different perspectives so they are probably
inter-linked (Shih, 2004). Moreover, they allow us to identify some
requirements that an individual must fulfill to carry out an e-
purchase. It seems logical to think that a greater acceptance leads to
greater frequency of use and, as a result, greater satisfaction. However,
not all studies find these results. In some cases, there is a negative
relation between these variables (Ganzach, 1993). This is because
different variables to measure IT experience may be not always
equivalent. As Straub et al. (1995) state, the link between these
variables depends on each individual and the precision of his/her
perceptions about use. Furthermore, although some studies have
theoretically proposed the relationships between these variables,
little research has tested them empirically in the e-commerce arena.
Therefore, we will test the following hypotheses:
H1a. The acceptance of the Internet by its users positively influences
their frequency of use.
H1b. The acceptance of the Internet by its users positively influences
their satisfaction.
According to Montoya-Weiss et al. (2003), Internet experience
creates a greater sense of comfort with the online channel, thereby
reducing its perceived uncertainty and increasing consumer decision-
making ability (Rodgers et al., 2005). So, our TAM model includes
Internet experience as an antecedent of self-efficacy and, consequent-
ly, of customers' final behavior.
Some of the earliest models of behavior, the Social Cognitive
Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and the Theory of Planned Behavior
(Schiffer and Ajzen, 1985), had already included a variable called
“perceived self-efficacy” (SEF), defined as “people's judgment of their
965
capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to
attain designated types of performances” (Bandura, 1986). Subse-
quently, Taylor and Todd (1995) formulated the Decomposed Theory
of Planned Behavior (DTPB) specifically to analyze technological
behavior and also included this variable.
According to Bandura (1986), direct experience is the strongest
generator of SEF, since the skills obtained through Internet use
determine this perception (Compeau and Higgins, 1995; Koufaris,
2002). Frequent Internet users may be more self-confident and,
therefore, more inclined to favor e-purchasing (Yoon et al., 2002). We
could assume that users with more experience in navigating, who
access the Internet more frequently and, in addition, are satisfied
with it, have a greater SEF (Goldsmith, 2002; Yoon et al., 2002).
Consequently, we have included self-efficacy as a mediating variable
between experience with the Internet and perceptions of e-commerce.
H2a. Acceptance of the Internet positively influences SEF.
H2b. Frequency of Internet use positively influences SEF.
H2c. Satisfaction with previous Internet experience positively influences
SEF.
According to the SCT, self-efficacy influences (1) decisions about
what behavior to undertake, (2) the effort necessary for this behavior
and (3) the individual's performance. Many researchers have consid-
ered the importance of its direct effect on final behavior (Dabhokar and
Sheng, 2009). Our model contributes an approach that is not habitual in
the literature (Yi et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2007). We propose that SEF acts
as an antecedent, exerts a direct effect on the other perceptions of the e-
customer, and indirectly conditions e-purchasing behavior.
H3a. Perceived self-efficacy positively influences the PEOU of e-
commerce.
H3b. Perceived self-efficacy positively influences the PU of e-
commerce.
Finally, we have also included the concept of attitude and tested
the relationship proposed by the extended version of the TAM (Davis
et al., 1989; Childers et al., 2001). PEOU is the perception that the
employment of an IT does not require additional effort, and PU is the
degree to which users consider that the employment of an IT
improves their results (Davis, 1989; Chen et al., 2002). Both
perceptions affect individuals' attitude towards using IT (Chen and
Tan, 2004; Shin, 2008).
H4. PEOU positively influences individuals' attitude towards e-
commerce.
H5. PU positively influences individuals' attitude towards e-
commerce.
Attitude has become one of the key variables of IT acceptance,
especially in e-commerce (Chen and Tan, 2004; Richard, 2005).
Following Castañeda et al. (2007), we consider that the more positive
the attitude to e-purchasing, the greater will be the willingness to
begin and continue buying on the Internet.
H6. Individuals' attitude towards e-commerce positively influences
their intentions to make an e-purchase.
Fig. 1 illustrates all these relationships.
2.2. The moderating effect of e-purchasing experience
Researchers in several fields, such as price formation (Yadav and
Seiders, 1998), brand preferences (Sheth, 1968; Heilman et al., 2000),
the launching of new products (Szymanski and Henard, 2001), and
general perceived risk (Michell and Prince, 1993), have evaluated the
role of experience in traditional purchase situations (Holloway et al.,
966 B. Hernández et al. / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 964–971
Fig. 1. Hypotheses and standardized solution for potential and experienced e-customers∘.
2005). They conclude that consumers update their expectations and
perceptions over time and continuously blend prior beliefs with new
information (Boulding et al., 1993). Consumers' experience consider-
ably conditions their decision-making process (Hutchinson, 1983),
since it influences their perceptions, attitude and behavior (Sheth and
Parvatiyar, 1995; Montoya-Weiss et al., 2003). Therefore, purchasing
experience in traditional markets generates differences between first-
time and repeat customers that researchers and managers must take
into account in order to develop effective marketing and management
strategies (Ganesan, 1994; Doney and Cannon, 1997).
Internet retailing is a relatively new shopping channel with a
continuous entry of first-time shoppers (Holloway et al., 2005) and in
which cumulative experience generates different subgroups of
customers. Even so, research has hardly considered the differences
generated by customers' e-purchasing experiences on their behavior
because it does not usually differentiate between initial and continued
purchasing intentions (Kuan et al., 2008). Consequently, after testing
the proposed model for the two groups of e-customers (Fig. 1), our
second objective is to analyze which of the relationships included in
the model vary after the first e-purchase. These differences may come
from the moderating effect of e-purchasing experience (Igbaria et al.,
1995; Sun and Zhang, 2006) and suggest alternative ways to
effectively manage the development of e-commerce.
Our study defines adoption as the first purchase carried out by a
potential customer from a website, and repurchasing behavior as the
return to the channel for shopping purposes (Davis, 1989; Kuan et al.,
2008). The two types of behavior are fundamentally different since
consumers with greater e-purchasing experience will use less and a
different kind of information than inexperienced ones (Michell and
Prince, 1993). Finalized e-transactions lead to a better understanding
of the consequences and benefits of e-commerce. Thus, the beliefs and
attitude displayed in the pre-adoption stage may differ from the
underlying perceptions in the post-adoption stage (Karahanna et al.,
1999; Gefen et al., 2003; Yu et al., 2005).
Previous experience of the Internet is a prerequisite for the
adoption of e-commerce. Given that we are studying frequent
Internet users, we consider that the influence of Internet experience
on e-purchasing intentions does not change after having completed
an online transaction (Gefen et al., 2003).
H7a. Having made an e-purchase does not modify the effect of prior
acceptance of the Internet.
H7b. Having made an e-purchase does not modify the effect of
frequency of Internet use.
H7c. Having made an e-purchase does not modify the effect of
previous satisfaction with the Internet.
By contrast, the effect of the SEF of e-commerce does increase once
individuals have acquired greater experience of online shopping
(Venkatesh et al., 2003). We consider that self-efficacy is more
important for experienced e-customers because they must feel
confident of their capacity to make frequent e-purchases and not
just one. If users feel comfortable navigating the website on their first
purchase, they will progressively gain confidence in the channel
(McKnight et al., 2002). In this line, Taylor and Todd (1995) consider
that the perception of control is greater for experienced users because
acquired experience strengthens it. Therefore, the effect of SEF on ease
of use and usefulness increases once individuals have obtained more
experience of e-shopping:
H8a. The effect of SEF upon PEOU is greater for experienced e-
customers than for potential e-customers.
H8b. The effect of SEF upon PU is greater for experienced e-customers
than for potential e-customers.
PEOU of e-commerce has a significant and similar weight for all
frequent Internet users, independently of whether they are experi-
enced e-customers (Gefen et al., 2003; Yu et al., 2005). Likewise, when
the principal reason for using the Internet is to purchase a product,
individuals are already familiar with the channel and they do not
perceive difficulties. Therefore, there are presumably no significant
differences in PEOU between potential and experienced e-customers.
H9. The effect of PEOU upon attitude does not change as the e-
customer acquires purchasing experience.
The literature offers distinct opinions about the influence of PU,
depending on the previous experience of individuals. Some authors
find no significant differences between the behavior of potential and
experienced users (Thompson et al., 1994; Bhattacherjee and
Prekumar, 2004). Other researchers argue that PU acquires greater
weight as individuals gain knowledge of an IT (Karahanna et al., 1999)
and/or become experienced e-customers (Gefen et al., 2003). A third
group maintains that this relationship is stronger for inexperienced
users (Taylor and Todd, 1995; Yu et al., 2005). Following a review of
the literature, our study considers that PU correlates more strongly
with attitude for people who have experience (Fazio and Zanna,
1981). For the case of e-commerce, the fact that consumers make
 B. Hernández et al. / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 964–971 967

repeated e-purchases means that the effect of usefulness upon Portugal, Greece and France in Europe, and Mexico and Chile in Latin
attitude becomes more important as they gain shopping experience. America (Hofstede, 2001).

H10. The effect of PU upon attitude is greater for experienced e-

customers than for potential e-customers. 3.2. Methodology

The existing literature indicates that experience moderates the

The research tool applied was a CATI survey. The necessary
influence of attitude on final behavior (Petty et al., 1983). Initial
condition to answer it is that the individual must be a frequent user of
attitude consists principally of indirect experience and suppositions
the Internet. Non-frequent users lack the knowledge necessary to e-
about the IT, which are susceptible to change. When e-customers
purchase. Therefore, we introduced a filter question which allowed us
obtain their own purchasing experience, this attitude is less
to select only the users that had used the Internet for various reasons
“accessible in memory” and, thus, has ultimately less effect upon
during the previous month (Bellman et al., 1999; Park and Jun, 2003).
repeat purchasing behavior (Gefen et al. 2003). Based on Karahanna
We performed a pre-test in order to correct possible defects and
et al. (1999), we consider that the effect of attitude upon the intention
doubts.
to purchase online decreases as customers acquire more products on
In order to guarantee the representativeness of the population, we
the Internet. This is because more experienced e-customers base their
employed a random quota sampling, according to geographic, age and
behavior more on their direct experiences than on attitude.
gender criteria, using the national Spanish telephone directory. This
H11. The effect of attitude upon the intention to purchase is weaker telephone directory, elaborated by Telefónica, contains the users'
for experienced e-customers than for potential e-customers. names and fixed-line telephone numbers ordered by geographical
area. At the time of the study, Telefónica, owned and rented, both to
final clients and to wholesalers, more than 95% of the existing fixed
3. Data analysis lines. In order to take into account the 5% of users who had cable
telephone, we also searched in the online QDQ directory (http://
3.1. The influence of Spanish culture www.qdq.com).
We made a total of 2615 telephone interviews, of which 1260
Most research on e-commerce adoption has focused on countries corresponded to habitual Internet users. Following the filtering
with a high economic and technological development and a greater process, 805 were valid interviews, of which 580 (72%) corresponded
predisposition towards the Internet (e.g. USA, Canada and Scandina- to potential e-customers and 225 (28%) to experienced e-customers.
vian countries). Nevertheless, the worldwide growth of e-commerce We have also analyzed the main features of Internet use by the
has shown the need to extend this research to other, understudied individuals in our samples. Both types of customer have similar
countries, with great potential for growth but different cultures. profiles (Table 1).
When analyzing the behavior of the e-consumer, it is important to In all cases, 7-point Likert scales, in which 1 indicates “completely
bear in mind the characteristics of the country under study, both from disagree” and 7 “completely agree”, measured the analyzed variables.
the economic and social perspective. Previous research has already tested all the items included in the
Spain is one of the ten largest economies (World Economic survey (see Table 2).
Outlook, IMF, 2008), but only 14% of Spaniards have chosen the
Internet as a shopping channel whereas in one of the European
leaders, Sweden, 39% use it (European Commission, 2006). Despite
this difference, at present, the absolute number of shoppers is higher
in Spain (6.6 million and 3.78 in Sweden; Eurostat, 2007), showing Table 1
that it is an interesting market for e-commerce. In Spain, 80.2% of Internet use of the samples.
Internet users began to use the channel more than three years ago, Total sample Potential Experienced
73.6% connect to the Internet several times a day and 72% spend more e-customers (%) e-customers (%)
than 10 h a week online. The most frequent applications used are the Place of access
WWW (94.6%), e-mail (96.3%), chat (50.3%), P2P file sharing (42.6%) Home 74.41 67.93 91.11
and FTP (29.1%). Workplace 40.00 34.48 54.22
From a social perspective, cultural differences may affect consumer Place of study 39.50 36.90 46.22
Cybercenter 36.77 35.86 39.11
behavior and the relationships between perceptions and attitude Cybercafe 23.98 21.03 31.56
(Moon et al., 2008). Based on Hofstede (2001), we are going to explain
two cultural characteristics which may influence Spanish behavior in Equipment employed
the e-commerce arena: power distance and uncertainty avoidance. PC 96.89 96.72 97.33
Laptop 25.47 22.59 32.89
The first characteristic reflects a tendency to accept conservatism
Cellphone 15.53 13.97 19.56
and induces individuals to accept “the status quo” of the existing IT PDA 2.73 1.55 5.78
(Moon et al., 2008). Spanish culture has a high power distance so the Digital TV 1.49 1.38 1.78
coefficient of innovation is significantly lower than in other countries.
This characteristic led us to extend the TAM to include the effect of Types of communication used
E-mail 78.76 73.28 92.89
users' Internet experience in our model. The second characteristic Chat 31.80 30.00 36.44
reflects the tendency of individuals to avoid changes and situations Forums 11.18 8.45 18.22
that they cannot control. Spain has a high uncertainty avoidance, so we Messenger 1.74 1.03 3.56
considered it interesting to include the variable self-efficacy as a IP phone 0.75 0.34 1.78
Blog 0.62 0.52 0.89
measure of the control perceived by the user with respect to the
uncertainty involved in e-commerce. Search engines employed?
These two characteristics of its technological culture make Spain a Yes 91.93 90.34 96.00
very different case study from the countries more frequently
analyzed. Future research could extend these considerations to E-government practiced?
Yes 41.99 35.69 58.22
other countries which are similar in both characteristics, such as
968 B. Hernández et al. / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 964–971

Table 2
Measurement scales.

Scale Research Indicators

Acceptance of the Internet
Internet use frequency
Satisfaction with the Internet
Perceived self-efficacy
Perceived ease of use
Perceived usefulness
Attitude
Future purchase intention
ACCEP Davis (1989), Davis et al. (1989) My general opinion of the Internet is positive
Using the Internet is easy for me
The Internet seems useful to me
FREQ Novak and Hoffman (1997) How often do you use the Internet?
SATIS Bhattacherjee (2001), Shih (2004) The experience I have had with the Internet has been satisfactory
In general, I am satisfied with the service provided by the Internet
SEF Compeau and Higgins (1995), I feel capable of using the Internet for purchasing products
Limayem et al. (2000) I feel capable of locating shopping sites on the Internet
I feel comfortable searching for information about a product on
the Internet
PEOU Davis (1989), Taylor and Todd (1995), Learning to use the Internet for shopping was easy for me
Karahanna et al. (1999), Yu et al. (2005) The Internet would be easy to use to make my purchases
Using the Internet to purchase a product does not require a lot of
mental effort
PU Davis (1989), Taylor and Todd (1995), Using the Internet to acquire a product would permit me to
Karahanna et al. (1999) purchase more efficiently
Using the Internet to acquire a product would permit me to purchase
more quickly
Using the Internet to acquire a product would be useful to make my purchases
ATT Taylor and Todd (1995), Karahanna et al. (1999), Using the Internet to make my purchases is a good idea
Vijayasarathy (2004), Yu et al. (2005) My general opinion of e-commerce is positive
Using the Internet to purchase a product seems an intelligent idea to me
INT Taylor and Todd (1995), Limayem et al., (2000), I am likely to purchase a product over the Internet (in the near future)
Gefen et al. (2003) It is likely that the Internet will be the medium I use to make my purchases in
the future
I intend to use the Internet to purchase a product in the near future

4. Results experienced e-customers (see Table 4), especially in relationships

4.1. Measurement model results
We conducted initial reliability analyses in order to refine the
employed scales: item-total correlation, unidimensionality and
Cronbach's alpha. Moreover, in order to guarantee measurement
reliability and validity, we carried out a confirmatory factor analysis
for each sample, applying structural equation modeling (Bentler,
1995; Hair et al., 1999) (see Table 3).
4.2. Structural model results
The next step was to analyze the causal relationships postulated in
the hypotheses for both samples (Fig. 1).
In the case of potential e-customers, nine relationships held. One
of the most interesting results is that PU has a greater effect on
attitude than PEOU (0.806 vs 0.086). The overall effect upon intention
to make the first purchase is 0.413 for self-efficacy and 0.540 for PU.
In the case of experienced e-customers, seven relationships held.
Acceptance of the Internet does not influence their frequency of use,
probably because the experience acquired in the shopping process
means that users take this influence for granted (H1a is rejected).
Furthermore, PEOU loses its significance (H4 is rejected). The overall
effect upon repurchasing intentions is 0.456 for self-efficacy and 0.573
for PU.
In both samples, the lack of significance of satisfaction on self-
efficacy (H2c) is probably due to the fact that the satisfaction
experienced is exclusively associated with the Internet and not with
derived applications, such as e-commerce, which require a more
sophisticated use than simple navigation.
4.3. Results of the moderating effect
The differences between the two samples (H7a–H11) were tested
by means of a multisample analysis and the Lagrange Multiplier
test. Significant differences exist in the behavior of potential and
between perceptions of e-commerce.
Previous experience with the Internet is important to explain
purchasing behavior and this effect remains stable for all frequent
users, even if they have carried out an e-purchase. H7a, H7b and H7c
hold.
The relationships between perceptions of e-commerce show the
greatest differences between the two groups of users. The effect of
self-efficacy upon usefulness increases after the first e-purchase.
Consequently, experience with e-commerce also influences the effect
of usefulness on customer attitude. H8b and H10 hold. The effect of
self-efficacy on PEOU does not show significant differences. Moreover,
the effect of PEOU on attitude is similar for all e-customers. H8a is
rejected and H9 holds. Finally, attitude to e-commerce has less effect
upon intention when individuals have acquired e-purchasing expe-
rience, although the value of this variation is not significant. H11 is
rejected.
5. Discussion
The results demonstrate that previous experience with the
Internet is of significant importance for both initial and repeated
purchases as it permits users to feel more confident during their
interactions in the e-market. Nevertheless, its effect does not increase
significantly once individuals acquire more e-purchasing experience.
This result is probably due to the fact that our sample consists of only
frequent Internet users, so all of them have sufficient experience
online to engage in e-purchasing.
The results obtained for satisfaction with the Internet are
surprising because it did not exert any significant effect on self-
efficacy in either of the two samples. Having had satisfactory
experience with the Internet, like searching for information, does
not mean that the individual considers that he/she has full control
over the tool and feels capable of carrying out an e-purchase. These
results would probably have been different for the sample of
experienced e-customers if satisfaction had referred to satisfaction
with e-commerce (Oliver, 1980). Furthermore, this variable does not
 B. Hernández et al. / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 964–971 969

Table 3
Measurement model results.

CRC Cronbach's α Factors Interval Factors Interval

Potential e-customers
ACCEP 0.819 0.67 ACCEP–SATIS 0.714–0.950 SEF–PU 0.62–0.768
ACCEP–SEF 0.5033–0.719 SEF–ATT 0.503–0.671
SATIS 0.775 0.70 ACCEP–PEOU 0.403–0.611 SEF–INT 0.415–0.583
ACCEP–PU 0.309–0.497 SEF–FREQ 0.148–0.352
SEF 0.756 0.67 ACCEP–ATT 0.286–0.474 PEOU–PU 0.401–0.573
ACCEP–INT 0.121–0.313 PEOU–ATT 0.368–0.548
PEOU 0.917 0.88 ACCEP–FREQ 0.188–0.342 PEOU–INT 0.319–0.479
SATIS–SEF 0.190–0.446 PEOU–FREQ 0.094–0.274
PU 0.862 0.83 SATIS–PEOU 0.197–0.437 PU–ATT 0.776–0.892
SATIS–PU 0.171–0.399 PU–INT 0.565–0.693
ATT 0.887 0.84 SATIS–ATT 0.277–0.477 PU–FREQ 0.009–0.205
SATIS–INT −0.001–0.211 ATT–INT 0.576–0.704
INT 0.828 0.80 SATIS–FREQ −0.023–0.189 ATT–FREQ − 0.071–0.121
SEF–PEOU 0.540–0.740 INT–FREQ 0.078–0.258
Absolute fit Incremental fit Parsimony fit
GFI = 0.924; RMSR = 0.056; RMSEA = 0.060 NNFI= 0.927; IFI = 0.941; CFI robust= 0.951 Normed χ2 = 3.071

Experienced e-customers
ACCEP 0.692 0.64 ACCEP–SATIS 0.62–0.93 SEF–PU 0.61–0.84
ACCEP–SEF 0.68–0.98 SEF–ATT 0.59–0.81
SATIS 0.787 0.72 ACCEP–PEOU 0.27–0.62 SEF–INT 0.33–0.62
ACCEP–PU 0.48–0.83 SEF–FREQ 0.11–0.45
SEF 0.765 0.71 ACCEP–ATT 0.45–0.79 PEOU–PU 0.33–0.60
ACCEP–INT 0.13–0.51 PEOU–ATT 0.39–0.64
PEOU 0.889 0.76 ACCEP–FREQ 0.01–0.38 PEOU–INT 0.22–0.50
SATIS–SEF 0.36–0.68 PEOU–FREQ 0.14–0.46
PU 0.854 0.84 SATIS–PEOU 0.17–0.54 PU–ATT 0.88–0.98
SATIS–PU 0.13–0.56 PU–INT 0.52–0.74
ATT 0.906 0.87 SATIS–ATT 0.18–0.59 PU–FREQ 0.00–0.31
SATIS–INT 0.17–0.49 ATT–INT 0.52–0.75
INT 0.860 0.84 SATIS–FREQ − 0.17–0.14 ATT–FREQ −0.09–0.20
SEF–PEOU 0.58–0.82 INT–FREQ 0.08–0.38
Absolute fit Incremental fit Parsimony fit
GFI = 0.890; RMSR = 0.059; RMSEA = 0.067 NNFI= 0.912; IFI = 0.937; CFI robust= 0.960 Normed χ2 = 2.004

change between the different users because the subjectivity involved
in its measurement means that the individual is unable to determine
whether it grows as he/she carries out an increasing number of e-
purchases.
Regarding self-efficacy, the findings suggest that users who
consider that they have more competence and capacity also have
better perceptions about e-commerce and, as a consequence, carry
out more online purchases. As in Wu et al. (2007), self-efficacy acts as
an antecedent and has an indirect influence on final behavior. These
results are similar to those obtained by the DTPB (Taylor and Todd,
1995) and the SCT (Bandura, 1986). Moreover, self-efficacy becomes
progressively more important after the adoption of e-commerce. E-
purchasing experience strengthens this perception since, as e-
customers acquire a greater number of products through the Internet,
they feel more comfortable and capable. Nevertheless, we must
remember that the interest in studying self-efficacy may change in
cultures with lower levels of uncertainty avoidance.
PEOU has only a very weak effect upon potential e-customers and
is finally rejected by experienced e-customers. We must emphasize
the stability of this factor in both samples. The importance of the PEOU
of e-commerce is very weak when users are familiar with the Internet
Although superficial features of the interface may affect e-
customers' behavior in the early stages, once they have overcome
the initial difficulties of Internet use, PU has the strongest direct effect
on their attitude (Guo et al., 2009). Therefore, we can affirm that
utilitarian motivations such as convenience, the wide range of
products on offer, or its 24 h opening times, principally determine
the intention to e-purchase. These results are in line with most TAM
studies, which consider that usefulness may reflect the “rational
benefits” of an IT and the expected positive outcomes obtained.
The effect of PU is stronger for experienced e-customers. This is
because, during the adoption stage, potential e-customers base their
perception on suppositions and their relatively superficial acquain-
tance with e-commerce features, which may easily change. By
contrast, in the post-adoption stage, users base their PU on past
experiences (Zanna and Rempel, 1988; Gefen et al., 2003). It therefore
Table 4
Differences between potential and experienced e-customers.
Relationship Hypothesis Chi-square Probability Resultsa

(Townsend et al., 2001; Hausman and Siekpe, 2009), since the H7a: ACCEP–SEF Potential = experienced 0.169 0.681 Satisfied
experience acquired allows them to reduce its inherent complexity. H7b: FREQ–SEF Potential = experienced 0.265 0.607 Satisfied
H7c: SATIS–SEF Potential = experienced 1.213 0.271 Satisfied
These results are also coherent with the initial formulation of the
H8a: SEF–PEOU Experienced > potential 1.143 0.285 Rejected
TAM, which analyzed a sample of “unfamiliar users with the systems H8b: SEF–PU Experienced > potential 3.552 0.059 Satisfied
used in the study” (Davis, 1989). His study showed that PEOU lost its H9: PEOU–ATT Potential = experienced 1.856 0.173 Satisfied
significance after users had employed the IT for 14 weeks. Therefore, H10: PU–ATT Experienced > potential 4.233 0.040 Satisfied
our results are probably due to the Internet experience of the two H11: ATT–INT Potential = experienced 2.320 0.128 Rejected

samples analyzed. a
Relationship existing between groups.
970 B. Hernández et al. / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 964–971
becomes a lasting and realistic perception (Fazio and Zanna, 1981),
capable of predicting behavior more precisely than variables based on
assumptions prior to adoption (Otim and Grover, 2006). As users
acquire experience and come to accept e-commerce, PU increasingly
affects attitude and, therefore, it strengthens the intention to perform
a greater number of transactions. These results differ from those
obtained by Taylor and Todd (1995), who consider that PU is more
important for inexperienced users. However, they recognize that their
results contradicted their initial expectations, i.e. that experienced
users would be more appreciative of the usefulness of an IT.
Finally, attitude strongly affects intention for both groups and
there are no significant differences between them. Our results confirm
those of pioneer studies which demonstrate that the attitude of
experienced and potential users of a technology is similar (Cale and
Erikse, 1994). Moreover, these results are similar to those obtained by
attitude-formation theories such as the elaboration-likelihood model
(Petty et al., 1983) and the heuristic–systematic processing model
(Chaiken, 1980), which suggested that consumer experience is a key
variable that determines the formation of attitude.
6. Conclusions and implications
The conclusions obtained have important implications for the
business sector and for academic research, derived principally from
the analysis of two types of e-customers. This research has important
contributions for e-commerce providers whose business models and
revenue streams depend on e-customer behavior. However, it is
important to remember that Spanish culture may have influenced the
results.
Regarding the academic implications, our results contribute to the
study of technological acceptance and, more specifically, to the field of
e-commerce. This is one of the few studies which includes purchasing
experience as a variable moderating e-customer behavior and
formulates ad hoc hypotheses to test it. Purchasing experience
influences the evolution of e-customers' perceptions, attitude and
behavior. Consequently, research on e-commerce must distinguish
between customers who have no previous experience of e-shopping
and those who base their perceptions on their experiences, establish-
ing behavior patterns for each sample.
Companies that wish to compete in the e-market must understand
the type of customers they are addressing and develop their strategy
according to whether they want to capture new e-customers or retain
their existing ones. Policies aimed at encouraging e-shopping must be
tailor-made for the needs of each type of e-customer, affecting
different perceptions depending on the target clients.
E-commerce providers cannot control the level of experience of e-
customers but they can develop sites that include options for their
customization and, then, guide e-customers through a shopping
experience that is confidence-building. E-business must provide
information about the properties, advantages and convenience of e-
commerce, to potential e-customers (Otim and Grover, 2006). Thus,
the initial stages of customer capture must concentrate on making
individuals feel efficient and capable of correctly performing all types
of e-transactions (self-efficacy and control). This sensation of self-
efficacy will increase PU and, finally, the rate of adoption. After
adoption, behavior does not remain static; purchasing experience
verifies or refutes initial perceptions, so they undergo changes. So,
having captured a new customer, companies should focus even more
on aspects of self-efficacy and usefulness, as these factors will increase
intentions to make further purchases.
For experienced e-customers, interaction with a complex website
will probably not cause them to abandon the purchasing process,
since they are fully acquainted with the medium employed. PEOU is a
factor which does not condition the success of e-commerce because
experienced e-customers take it for granted. This conclusion implies
that companies must concentrate on the PU of their commercial
websites by offering an effectiveness which sets them apart from their
competitors. E-customers will obtain added value if they find valuable
information as well as services which are not available in any other
channel. From a user retention perspective, this will cause greater
satisfaction for experienced e-customers and lead to their retention in
the e-market and, even, on a particular website.
With respect to limitations and future lines of research, our study
analyzes purchasing behavior without specifying the type of product
exchanged (tangible or intangible) (Peterson et al., 1997). One
weakness of the Internet is that it can only reproduce two of our
five senses realistically (sight and sound). This limitation hinders the
sale of some products on this channel and makes the Internet well
suited to certain types of intangible or service-related goods (Phau
and Poon, 2000; Brown et al., 2003).
We consider that the experience acquired by a customer from the
e-purchase of certain products, may not affect the purchase of other,
more tangible ones. In this case, e-shopping experience might not
exert a moderating effect on behavior because the shopper may not
consider the products previously acquired and the new acquisitions to
be similar. This limitation argues for the need to introduce, in future
research, the effect exerted by the type of product upon e-purchasing
behavior.
Finally, we think that the employment of a range of tools
(described in Table 1) may affect users' perceptions and behavior
because they provide different aspects of knowledge about the
Internet. Therefore, we would also like to test the influence of the
different tools available on the Internet and employed by the users. In
future work, we will include a new factor that captures this variety
and that will act as an antecedent of self-efficacy.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their gratitude for the financial support
received from the Spanish Government CICYT (ECO 2008-04704), the
Aragón Regional Government (Generés S-09; DGA 138/08) and
Catedra Telefonica of the University of Zaragoza (267-184).
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