Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222

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Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Consumer perceptions on web advertisements and motivation factors to purchase

in the online shopping
Jong Uk Kim a,1, Woong Jin Kim b,2, Sang Cheol Park c,*
a
Sungkyunkwan University, #324, Business Building, 53 Myeongnyun-dong, 3-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-745, Republic of Korea
b
HyupSung University (HSU), Distribution Management Department, Business Management College, # 14 Sang-ri, BongDam-eup, HwaSung-City,
KyungKi-do 445-745, Republic of Korea
c
Sogang University, Service Systems Management & Engineering, Graduate School of Business, #1, Shinsu-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul 121-742, Republic of Korea

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

Article history: The principal objective of this study was to investigate the mediating and moderating effects of product
Available online 24 April 2010 involvement and trust toward websites in relation to the effects of the attributes of web advertisements
on customers’ purchase intentions. We collected data consisting of a total of 264 responses from individ-
Keywords: uals with previous experience with purchasing products from online shopping mall sites, and utilized the
Perceived informativeness PLS (partial least squares) method to analyze the collected data.
Perceived entertainment Our findings demonstrated that consumers with greater product involvement tended to shop in shop-
Trust
ping malls, where they could obtain more information on products, and that consumers with low product
Product involvement
Intention to purchase
involvement tended to be more willing to consider entertainment. Additionally, consumers with higher
levels of trust toward websites tended to be influenced by perceived entertainment and thus stay longer
at shopping sites; conversely, consumers with low levels of trust toward websites tended to be more will-
ing to consider perceived informativeness as minimizing environmental uncertainty.
On the basis of our results, online shopping malls must stress the intrinsic attributes of products to
attract highly-involved consumers and must present a benevolent corporate image for consumers con-
cerned with better service. Our results also demonstrated that, for less-involved consumers who wish
to search for products to present, it may be appropriate to mix entertainment components with product
information, and also to implement creative web interface designs for more effective browsing.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Most online shopping sites use web advertisements as one of
the communication channels by which they can interact with on-
line consumers for transactions. These sites have generally relied
on online consumers to purchase or consume their products and
services. From the perspective of the users, websites can be used
to meet one’s needs and requirements, such as the acquisition of
new product information (Li, Browne, & Wetherbe, 2006). On the
basis of such interaction, we cannot overemphasize the importance
of web advertisements in the relationship between online shop-
ping sites and online consumers.
In evaluating the efficacy of web advertisements, previous stud-
ies have generally focused on the structural features of web adver-
tisements, like the characteristics of the message (Chen, Clifford, &
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 705 4718; fax: +82 2 715 1589.
E-mail addresses: jukim@skku.ac.kr (J.U. Kim), profwjkim@hanmail.net (W. Kim),
sangch77@sogang.ac.kr, bail11@skku.edu (S.C. Park).
1 efficacy of advertisements. Whereas attitudes toward advertise-
Tel.: +82 2 760 0417; fax: +82 2 460 0440.
2
Tel.: +82 31 299 0852; fax: +82 31 299 0958.
Wells, 2002; Chen & Wells, 1999; Ducoffe, 1996). While these stud-
ies help immensely in our understanding of the effects of structural
features of web advertisements on the information processing abil-
ities of online users, they have not provided us with a great deal of
insight into the process via which online consumers perceive the
attributes of web advertisements.
According to previous studies (Ducoffe, 1996; Zhau & Bao,
2002), web advertisements may take advantage of addressable
media technology to select appropriate advertisements that are
congruent with consumers’ online behaviors, thereby making the
advertisements more relevant to consumers. Ultimately, whether
a type of advertisement is acceptable or not depends on online
consumers’ perceptions as to whether the advertisements can ful-
fill their objectives.
Until now, by reviewing the previous studies on web advertise-
ments, attitudes toward websites have been considered important
indicators in measuring the effectiveness of web advertisements
(Rodgers & Thorson, 2000). That is to say, attitudes toward adver-
tising may be considered a universal proxy (albeit indirect) for the
ment can be a means of measuring the effects of advertisements,

0747-5632/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.032
 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
attitudes toward a website, specifically one being advanced by web
advertisements, can be considered a rough proxy for the efficacy of
that website. After all, increasing positive attitude toward websites
is a critical issue in the management of online shopping sites.
Consequently, we have come to believe that consumers’ percep-
tions of the attributes of web advertisements will tend to influence
their intention to purchase from online shopping sites. More spe-
cifically, we have explored how different motivational factors to
make a purchase, such as product involvement and trust toward
websites, differently direct online consumers’ intentions to pur-
chase and perceptions of web advertisements.
Considering that one must have some prerequisite knowledge
and basic skills in order to use online shopping sites, we also at-
tempted to assess the manner in which the attributes of web
advertisements affect intentions to purchase. Additionally, we will
examine whether two different variables (product involvement
and trust toward websites) moderate and mediate the effects of
the attributes of web advertisements. Trust toward websites may
be reflective of the reliability and credibility of e-vendors (Gefen,
Karahanna, & Straub, 2003; Palvou, 2003), whereas the degree of
product involvement may reflect motivation to process informa-
tion (Elliot & Speck, 2005; Petty, Cacioppo, & Schmann, 1983).
Based on these factors, we present these constructs as mediating
and moderating variables for grasping specific factors in a con-
sumer’s purchase process in online environments.
This study makes some novel contributions to our current
understanding of online consumers’ behavior.
First, in applying several perspectives to the construction of our
research model, we have attempted to incorporate theories such as
the theory of reasoned action, the elaboration likelihood model,
and trust into the context of web advertisements; not all of these
have been utilized in previous studies of web advertisements. This
may be a significant theoretical improvement in explaining the fac-
tors of online consumers’ purchase intentions.
Second, we attempt to show that the attributes of web adver-
tisements, such as perceived informativeness and perceived enter-
tainment, can be affected differently, depending on the level of
online consumer’s product involvement and trust toward websites.
We also attempted to determine whether these attributes affected
online consumers’ intentions to purchase by verifying the mediat-
ing role of product involvement and trust toward websites. In par-
ticular, this study provides several combinations of successful
online shopping sites that perfectly suit all online consumers.
Our findings may prove useful to both online consumers and online
shopping sites in terms of defining expectations.
Finally, according to our results regarding the relationships be-
tween the attributes of web advertisement and product involve-
ment and trust toward websites, we determined that product
involvement and trust toward websites could operate as indicators
of the increment of intention to purchase. Our results show that
when online consumers are exposed to the attributes of web
advertisements, they tend to be more likely to make a purchase,
since their levels of product involvement and trust toward web-
sites are increased. Therefore, we attempt to consider motivation
factors to purchase as the key issues in describing online consum-
ers’ purchase intentions. On the basis of these attempts, we think
this study constitutes a unique contribution to the existing body
of knowledge.
In conducting this study, we first reviewed a great deal of liter-
ature to determine the factors that influence the consumer pur-
chase process, explore the factors relevant to online consumers,
and then determine the fundamental and theoretical implications.
Additionally, with regard to the practical implications, we will pro-
vide some guidelines for online shopping malls that plan to build
up their customer acquisition and retention strategies. The findings
of this study should help online shopping malls to develop more
1209
effective methods to increase revenues and then improve financial
performance in their overall internet business sectors.
2. Theoretical backgrounds and literature review
2.1. Theoretical backgrounds
In our construction of the research model, we first considered
the theory of reasoned action (TRA) as the overarching theory that
encompasses the key constructs employed in this study. The TRA,
which was proposed by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), assumed that
individuals are rational and thus make logical use of the informa-
tion accessible to them. The theory of reasoned action focuses on
the relationships between beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behav-
iors, under the assumption that users are capable of controlling
their own behavior. According to the TRA, an individual’s behavior
is determined by his or her behavioral intentions to perform a gi-
ven behavior. Furthermore, behavioral intentions are also deter-
mined by the individual’s attitude toward the behavior, as well
as relevant subjective norms (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). As this pro-
vides a framework by which informational and motivational influ-
ences on behavior can be explained, the TRA can be regarded as a
deliberative processing model for explaining our research, as it im-
plies that individuals can make behavioral decisions via careful
consideration of the available information. Therefore, we have at-
tempted to adopt the TRA to establish online consumers’ intentions
to purchase as the final dependent variable in this study.
Second, we considered the elaboration likelihood model as the
second theoretical framework for the construction of our research
model. ELM is a theory that explains multiple persuasion pro-
cesses – changes in attitudes, the variables that inform these
processes, and the strength of the judgments derived from these
processes (Petty, Rucker, Bizer, & Cacioppo, 2004). This theory
holds that a specific variable can affect attitudes in many different
ways. In other words, the same variable can function to either
increase or reduce persuasion, depending on its contextual role.
The principal point of the ELM is the continuum of elaboration
(Petty et al., 2004), which is based on an individual’s motivation.
Individuals are inclined to inspect carefully all relevant informa-
tion stemming from the source, message, context, and themselves
in an attempt to come to an accurate decision regarding the merits
of the issue if their motivation is high. In the ELM, this is referred
to as the central route to persuasion. On the other hand, when
individuals’ motivation or personal relevance is low, their attitude
can be altered by relatively low-effect processes, which are
referred to as the peripheral route to persuasion.
When attitudes change owing to relatively large quantities of
issue-relevant elaboration, people tend to follow the central route;
on the other hand, when attitudes change as the result of relatively
low quantities of issue-relevant elaboration, people are more likely
to follow the peripheral route. Whether persuasion occurs via the
central or peripheral route is determined by a person’s motivation
and ability to consider the available issue-relevant information. In
summary, the central route involves attitude changes requiring a
great deal of effort and thought to make a decision, whereas the
peripheral route involves attitude changes when elaboration is
low (Petty et al., 2004). Thus, the ELM specifies whether an individ-
ual’s attitude change is derived from the central or the peripheral
route, which has important implications with regard to the
strength of attitude formation (Petty et al., 1983).
By applying the ELM in our research context, highly-involved
consumers tend to seek essential information regarding a specific
product, because they are more interested in the essential nature
of a product. On the other hand, less-involved consumers tend to
react via the peripheral route, such as formats (e.g. color or size)
1210 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
of web advertisements, rather than the essential information
regarding product attributes. Therefore, we anticipate that online
consumers with high-product involvement tend to be affected by
product attribute information from web advertisements, while
consumers with lesser degrees of product involvement are more
likely to be affected by the emotional or entertainment-based attri-
butes of web advertisement rather than the essential product
information.
Finally, trust, in this study, has been defined in a variety of
ways. The definition of trust is based largely on sociology or psy-
chology. According to Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman (1995), trust
has been defined as ‘‘the willingness of a party to be vulnerable
to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the
other party will perform a particular action important to the
truster.” Their definition shows that trust is perceptual and is a
subjective interpretation or a belief by one party with regard to an-
other. Thus, trust is particularly identified as a critical component
in transactional relationships with environmental uncertainties
between sellers and buyers. In particular, trust in the online shop-
ping contexts can result in higher online intention to purchase
(Kuan & Bock, 2007). On the basis of these approaches, we have
identified trust toward websites as an important factor in the rela-
tionship between the attributes of web advertisements and pur-
chase intentions.
2.2. Theoretical perspective
We applied each theoretical framework to a combined research
model. We now add the elaboration likelihood model, trust, in the
TRA.
In this study, we attempt to determine whether the perceived
informativeness and perceived entertainment, which are the pri-
mary attributes of web advertisement, can affect product involve-
ment and trust toward websites as well as online consumers’
intentions to purchase. Furthermore, we examine the relationship
between the attributes of web advertisement and intention to pur-
chase in accordance with the levels of product involvement and
trust toward websites. Online consumers’ intentions to purchase
can be altered by their relevance or the importance of a specific
product they desire. Namely, online consumers tend to adopt infor-
mativeness or entertainment of web advertisements in accordance
with the level of their product involvement. Therefore, it is imper-
ative that we attempt to link the relationship between the attri-
butes of web advertisements and product involvement. On the
basis of this logical linkage, we can attempt to determine whether
the attributes of web advertisements can influence online consum-
ers’ intentions to purchase. Further, we anticipate that these attri-
butes can differently influence the intention to purchase in
accordance with the level of trust toward websites, as this has been
previously identified as a critical component in marketing and
e-commerce (Jarvenpaa, Tractinsky, & Vitale, 2000). Hereafter, we
attempt to evaluate the relationships between the attributes of
web advertisements and online consumers’ intentions to purchase
in accordance with the levels of product involvement and trust
toward online shopping sites.
2.3. The definition of web advertisement
According to the definition employed by Hawkins (1994), web
advertisements have been defined as advertisements that are
delivered to users of electronic information services. This phenom-
enon has previously been generally labeled ‘‘electronic advertis-
ing”. And, in general, various formats of web advertisements
exist: banner advertisements that are typically located at the top
of a web page with rectangular-shaped images, sponsorship adver-
tisements that may be associated with an advertisement to pay for
a particular web page or section of a page, or interstitial advertise-
ments that attempt to expose a consumer to advertisements by
interrupting the content of a page via the overlay of a full- or par-
tial-screen advertisement. In particular, Chandon, Chtourou, and
Fortin (2003) quoted the survey results of web advertisements
from the Internet Advertising Bureau (2000); banner advertise-
ments comprised 55% of total online spending, sponsorships accounted
for 30%, interstitials accounted for 5%, email for 1%, and other for 8%.
No matter which particular forms of web advertisement are
employed, the principal objectives of web advertisements are to
get the customers to visit online shopping mall sites, and to keep
them at the websites as long as possible, such that they stay over
the sites due to the generation of their ‘‘stickiness” to the website
(Dholakia & Fortin, 2001). After all, in order to attain these objec-
tives of web advertisement, we must consider the primary attri-
butes derived from web advertisements. Ducoffe (1996), in a
previous relevant study, determined that informativeness, enter-
tainment, and irritation – in terms of the attributes of web adver-
tisements – were the antecedents of users’ advertising value. In
particular, one of the most noteworthy findings was that users
did not consider web advertisements particularly irritating. On
the other hand, informativeness and entertainment exert signifi-
cant effects on users’ advertising values. Therefore, we have at-
tempted to consider perceived informativeness and perceived
entertainment, which were proposed by Ducoffe (1996) as the
principal attributes of web advertisements, since these attributes
are the primary benefits and costs derived by consumers from
advertisements. Therefore, we consider these factors to be the
principal attributes of web advertisements.
2.3.1. Perceived informativeness
Perceived informativeness was defined as the ability to provide
necessary information to target customers (Ducoffe, 1996). This
attribute was associated with consumer beliefs regarding eco-
nomic benefits (Andrews, 1989). Generally speaking, online con-
sumers make considerations and collect a great deal of product
information. Therefore, online consumers are willing to collect rich
and useful information regarding specific product information over
the web. Namely, the perceived informativeness of web advertise-
ments may facilitate a customer’s purchase decision process, as
customers cannot examine the products offered. Perceived infor-
mativeness can help online customers to make better decisions
and also to improve attitudes toward websites (Elliot & Speck,
2005). Ranganathan and Ganapathy (2002) also mentioned that
high levels of information quality could provide adequate informa-
tion regarding products/services at B2C web sites, allow for easy
access to information via search engines, and provide consumers
with help in evaluation processes. In several studies associated
with website quality, online users can evaluate alternatives from
those information aids when online web sites provide perfect
information to users and ready access to information (Aldwani &
Palvia, 2000; Bell & Tang, 1998; Liu & Arnett, 2000; Ranganathan
& Ganapathy, 2002). From these perspectives, we can adjudge per-
ceived informativeness to play a crucial role in facilitating product
involvement, trust toward websites, and purchase intentions.
2.3.2. Perceived entertainment
Perceived entertainment of web advertisements can be crucially
important in online shopping malls, as it may exert a significant
impact on attitudes and intentions towards online shopping
(Eighmey, 1997; Jarvenpaa & Todd, 1997). This can involve website
factors that promote enjoyment while using a site (Elliot & Speck,
2005). According to Hoffman and Novak (1996), it was explained
that enjoyment could provide expected benefits to users in
computer-mediated environments – in particular, it impulsively
occurs via specific stimuli provided in online environments. We
 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222 1211

can predict that these types of stimulus may have an impact on the versely, consumers with low levels of product involvement may
decision-making processes of a customer’s purchasing decision be affected by entertainment features while using a site, since
process. Moreover, Koufaris, Kambil, and Barbera (2001) insisted these consumers do not consider critical purchase decisions and
that the shopping enjoyment of online consumers should be an are only marginally involved in their purchase behavior.
important determinant of consumers’ intentions to return to the
websites. Therefore, perceived entertainment in this study reflects
2.5. Trust toward websites
whether a consumer feels pleasant or likable during online shop-
ping; additionally, it could facilitate the consumption of products
Trust was defined as the beliefs one has regarding a seller’s
and services and also can function as an important factor in con-
behavior based on the consumer’s perceptions of the seller’s abil-
sumer’s attitudes and intentions, on the grounds that enjoyment
ity, benevolence, and integrity (Mayer et al., 1995; McKnight &
performs a critical function in offline shopping.
Chervany, 2001; Palvou, 2003). In particular, a great deal of the lit-
erature shows that trust plays an important role in the relationship
2.4. Product involvement
with uncertainty, interdependence, and concerns of opportunism
(Gefen, 2000; Gefen et al., 2003; Li et al., 2006; Pavlou & Gefen,
Product involvement, one of the most important variables in
2004). Indeed, trust may play a decisive role in the transactional
consumer behavior research, performs a crucial function in con-
relationship with environmental uncertainties between sellers
sumers’ persuasive processes (Hoffman & Novak, 1996; Petty
and buyers.
et al., 1983; Zaichkowsky, 1985). It was defined as perceived per-
In the context of online shopping, a great number of studies
sonal importance and interest evoked by a specific stimulus in spe-
have insisted that a customer’s purchase intentions, satisfaction,
cific surroundings or degrees of perceived personal relevance
and loyalty are related closely to the building of consumer trust
toward an object (Zaichkowsky, 1985). According to this concept,
(Ba & Pavlou, 2002; Gefen et al., 2003; Li et al., 2006; Lim, Sia,
consumers are willing to pay more attention and interest under
Lee, & Benbasat, 2006). Reicheld and Schefer (2000) also explained
high involvement conditions when purchasing a particular prod-
the acquisition of trust in the core of loyalty circulation. Namely,
uct. As a consequence, they will search for more product informa-
once consumers have developed trust toward a specific firm, they
tion and treat information in a more considerate manner. The vast
will tend to be willing to provide the firm with their personal infor-
majority of the marketing literature illustrates that the consumer’s
mation, and then that firm can earn the chance to create a more
learning process relies on the degree of involvement. Therefore,
favorable relationship among customers. These situations may
each consumer could be suggested to bring about differences in
make it possible to provide more customized products and ser-
information searches and alternative evaluation processes that
vices. As a result, the circulation of consumer trust is the result
could be generated by involvement (Cho, Im, Fjermestad, & Hiltz,
of a high level of loyalty, and trust continually increases during
2003; Griffith, Krampf, & Palmer, 2001; Koufaris, 2002; Koufaris
the development of the circulation. Brynjolfsson and Smith
et al., 2001).
(2000) suggested that there exist implicit uncertainties and inher-
We suggest that consumers with high-product involvement will
ent risks around online surroundings, which are the spatial and
have a great deal of interest in the intrinsic attribute of products, so
temporal separations between online consumers and web retailers.
that they will search for more information related to a specific
These separations exist for the following reasons: first, there are
product. On the other hand, consumers with lower degrees of
monetary-loss relevant risks because online consumers must de-
product involvement will tend to have greater interest in periphe-
pend on electronic information, and thus consumers face exposure
ral components such as the website design and sounds provided in
to incomplete or distorted product information; second, there are
the web shopping mall rather than critical product information. In
risks associated with the release of personal information to online
reviewing previous studies of product involvement, it was men-
shopping malls and third parties. Therefore, consumers who have a
tioned repeatedly that consumers with high levels of product
high level of trust toward online shopping malls tend to be more
involvement are willing to be positively influenced in their shop-
inclined to pay price-premiums for the purchase of specific
ping experience due to their high level of interest in products/ser-
products.
vices (Cho et al., 2003; Koufaris, 2002; Novak, Hoffman, & Yung,
By reviewing several studies regarding trust in the context of
2000).
online shopping, we assume that a high level of trust toward web-
In particular, Novak et al. (2000) noted that consumer product
sites can reduce a customer’s perceived uncertainty, which is
involvement exerted significant impacts on consumer’s experi-
embedded in many risks. In this study, we evaluate the mediating
ences and behaviors in online shopping malls. Cho et al. (2003) also
role of trust toward websites on a customer’s purchase intentions,
evaluated the effects of product category (sensory product versus
and also assess the moderating effects of trust toward websites be-
non-sensory product) on customer dissatisfaction in cyberspace.
tween attributes of web advertisements and intention to purchase,
According to the results of their study, monetary and non-mone-
in an effort to explore the manner in which the attributes of web
tary efforts and the degree of involvement influenced online cus-
advertisements affect a customer’s purchase intentions, depending
tomer dissatisfaction. They also emphasized that the frequency of
on the level of trust toward websites.
consumers’ information searches in cyberspace was related to
the degree of involvement. Elliot and Speck (2005) determined that
product involvement and the online shopping experience moder- 3. Research model and hypotheses
ate the relationship between website factors (ease of use, product
information, entertainment, trust and currency) and attitude to- 3.1. Research model
ward a website.
From our review of the previous literature, we surmise that In this study, we explored whether the attributes of web
there exists a difference between high involvement and low advertisement, such as perceived informativeness and perceived
involvement in terms of the process of purchase decision-making. entertainment, affect online consumer’s purchase intentions by
In the case of high involvement, consumers tend to be more willing mediating product involvement and trust toward websites. Further-
to seek accurate product information that can maximize their ben- more, we attempted to determine the manner in which the impact of
efit from products and minimize their perceived risks due to the relationships between these attributes of web advertisements and
high degree of product relevance, importance, or interest. Con- purchase intentions, depending on the level of product involvement
1212 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
and trust toward websites. Based on our results, we believe this re-
search makes significant contributions to the current body of knowl-
edge in this regard.
First, we can deduce the major factors increasing the advertis-
ing value of web advertisements by evaluating the relationships
between the attributes of web advertisements and purchase inten-
tions in terms of their mediating role of product involvement and
trust toward websites.
Second, by evaluating the moderating role of product involve-
ment and trust toward websites, we can determine the manner
in which web advertisements can fulfill the needs of online con-
sumers. Finally, on the basis of our findings, managers of online
shopping sites can gain a better understanding of the valuable fac-
tors in web advertisements, with regard to influence on online con-
sumers’ purchase intentions.
As is shown in Fig. 1, a customer’s purchase intention will tend
to be affected by motivational factors, such as product involvement
and trust toward websites on the buyer’s side. From the perspec-
tive of online shopping sites, they may support web advertise-
ments as external stimuli from websites for customers who plan
to make purchases. Therefore, we made an attempt to integrate
the attributes of web advertisements from the website into prod-
uct involvement and trust toward websites in order to evaluate
customers’ purchase intentions.
3.2. Hypotheses
3.2.1. Perceived informativeness and product involvement
Consumers generally tend to collect relevant product informa-
tion in order to reduce transactional risks to fulfill their own needs.
In the online context, although consumers cannot observe the
product directly, it remains possible that they could experience
the products virtually. This quality of virtual experience can be
provided by the perceived informativeness of web advertisements
from online shopping sites. Therefore, the more the web advertise-
ments of online shopping sites provide product information to
facilitate consumer purchases, the more the level of product
involvement, which has also been referred to as the intensity of a
consumer’s purchasing needs (Kardes, 2002; Zaichkowsky, 1994)
will be increased. Additionally, Hawkins (1994) mentioned that
product information performs a crucial function in measuring the
value of a website, since it is possible for consumers to readily ac-
cess relevant product information. Therefore, if online shopping
sites can provide much richer product information, online consum-
ers can make much better purchase decisions by increasing the le-
vel of product involvement. In other words, when perceived
Fig. 1. Research model.
informativeness – one of the attributes of web advertisements –
is high, product involvement will be increased. Therefore, the per-
ceived informativeness of web advertisements in online shopping
sites can be a stimulus that changes a customer’s interests or the
personal relevance of a product, and facilitates a consumer’s pur-
chasing behavior (Cho et al., 2003). Thus, if an online shopping mall
provides web advertisements which emphasized product informa-
tiveness to customers, we could assume that product involvement
would be increased. Therefore, we hypothesize the following:
H1-a. Perceived informativeness is positively related to a cus-
tomer’s product involvement.
3.2.2. Perceived entertainment and product involvement
Perceived entertainment refers to the degree of enjoyment pro-
vided in an online shopping mall, and can attract consumer’s atten-
tions, especially in the case of online consumers with low levels of
involvement (Maignan & Lukas, 1995). If online consumers per-
ceive a product to be less relevant, their level of product involve-
ment may be affected by the entertainment characteristics of a
web advertisement, such as the color, size, or sounds of an online
shopping mall (Chen et al., 2002).
Therefore, we can anticipate that the perceived entertainment
of the attributes of web advertisements can influence less-involved
consumers, as they tend to prefer enjoyable or pleasant shopping,
rather than information that is relevant or critical in regard to
products (Ducoffe, 1996; Koufaris, 2002). Jarvenpaa and Todd
(1997) have also mentioned that perceived entertainment, such
as shopping enjoyment, may exert a significant impact on attitudes
and intentions towards the purchase of products. Therefore, the
perceived entertainment attributes of web advertisements can be
considered a critical determinant in the purchase intentions of
less-involved consumers. On the basis of these suppositions, we
can propose the following hypothesis:
H1-b. Perceived entertainment is negatively related to a cus-
tomer’s product involvement.
3.2.3. Perceived informativeness and trust toward websites
From the perspective of information quality – which entails the
output of information systems, perceived informativeness can be
utilized to represent information characteristics including accuracy,
precision, richness, etc. (Aldwani & Palvia, 2000; Liu & Arnett, 2000).
Additionally, information quality may be included in assessments of
the effects of web usage, particularly in product searches during
 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
online shopping (Shih, 2004). Therefore, perceived informativeness
may be similarly assessed using consumer perceptions of the infor-
mation quality of online shopping websites. Meanwhile, Lim et al.
(2006) mentioned that, in the context of internet shopping, trust
could be defined as an internet shopper’s beliefs, and the degree to
which a shopper is willing to become involved in an internet shop-
ping transaction, even given the possibility of loss based on the
expectation that online shopping sites will engage in commonly
appropriate practices, and will be capable of delivering the promised
products or services. Furthermore, Fung and Lee (1999) reported
that site information quality and a good interface design can en-
hance the formation of trust toward websites. Therefore, if online
shopping websites provide informativeness via web advertisements
to online customers by offering information regarding completion,
timeless, accuracy etc., the level of an online customer’s trust toward
online shopping websites can be enhanced. In light of this, we can
propose the following hypothesis:
H2-a. Perceived informativeness is positively related to a cus-
tomer’s trust toward websites.
3.2.4. Perceived entertainment and trust toward websites
With regard to website characteristics, perceived enjoyment
may represent a crucial important factor (Chakaraborty, Lala, &
Warren, 2003; Chen & Wells, 1999; Eighmey, 1997), In general,
the efficacy of a website depends on whether an online customer
finds the website fun, exciting, pleasurable, enjoyable, or entertain-
ing. The fundamental idea is that if customers perceive their web
experience as entertaining, they will be more likely to have a posi-
tive attitude toward a website (Chakaraborty et al., 2003). There-
fore, perceived entertainment can entail the ability to fulfill a
customer’s needs for diversion, aesthetic enjoyment, or emotional
release due to the use of flashy graphics or appealing site design –
these factors also contribute to the perception that a website expe-
rience is entertaining. In particular, several studies evaluating the
relationship between perceived entertainment and trust have also
suggested that the tone of the site, its mood, and its design were
the principal factors influencing the formulation of trust (Chang,
Waiman Cheung, & Lai, 2005; Dayal, Landberg, & Zeisser, 1999).
Based on the suggestions of previous studies, we can propose the
following hypothesis:
H2-b. Perceived entertainment is positively related to a cus-
tomer’s trust toward websites.
3.2.5. Perceived informativeness and intention to purchase
In general, the internet can enable consumers to access a variety
of product/service information as a distribution channel. In particu-
lar, informativeness may constitute an important function as a web
site value that can be assessed before the actual purchase of a prod-
uct (Ducoffe, 1996; Hawkins, 1994). Additionally, Ranganathan and
Ganapathy (2002) determined that a high level of information qual-
ity could provide adequate product/service information from B2C
web sites, allow ready access to information via search engines,
and provide consumers with help in evaluation processes. In several
studies associated with informatives, online users can evaluate
alternatives from those information aids when online web sites pro-
vide perfect information to users and ready access to information
(Aldwani & Palvia, 2000; Bell & Tang, 1998; Liu & Arnett, 2000;
Ranganathan & Ganapathy, 2002). Therefore, if consumers can
utilize a great deal of available information provided by an online
shopping mall, they can make informed decisions. Chakaraborty
et al. (2003) also asserted that consumers recognized the
importance of information when purchasing products. Therefore,
we hypothesize the following:
1213
H3-a. Perceived informativeness is positively related to a cus-
tomer’s intention to purchase.
3.2.6. Perceived entertainment and intention to purchase
Many previous studies have shown empirically that entertain-
ment – which is defined as a user’s fun, pleasure, or excitement
when visiting a web site – was a determining factor in consumers’
purchase intentions or satisfaction (Chen & Wells, 1999; Eighmey,
1997). Jarvenpaa and Todd (1997) also mentioned that entertain-
ment exerted a significant impact on attitude and intention in on-
line shopping. Koufaris et al. (2001) determined that the more
often customers returned to an online store, the more enjoyable
the shopping experience tended to be for those customers. Some
studies also mentioned that the entertainment provided by shop-
ping malls might facilitate the consumption of products and ser-
vices (Maignan & Lukas, 1995). According to these results, we
suggest that purchase intentions may be influenced significantly
by perceived entertainment in online shopping sites. Therefore,
we hypothesize that:
H3-b. Perceived entertainment is positively related to a cus-
tomer’s intention to purchase.
3.2.7. Product involvement and intention to purchase
Product involvement refers to personal arousal, interest, or rele-
vance in relation to a product (Zaichkowsky, 1985). In particular, it
can be the principal variable influencing behavior as a subjective
experience (Stafford & Stern, 2002). Generally speaking, involve-
ment has been linked with motivation, behavioral intention, and
decisions when attempting to explain cognition and emotion in
the selection of a specific product (Zaichkowsky, 1985). From this
perspective, we can predict that online customers’ product involve-
ment will be positively related to purchase intention. Therefore, we
can propose the following hypothesis:
H4. Product involvement is positively related to a customer’s
intention to purchase.
3.2.8. Trust toward websites and intention to purchase
Trust performs a role in both offline and online commercial trans-
actions (Gefen et al., 2003). Several IS studies regarding the function
of trust in e-commerce have been conducted in recent years (Gefen
et al., 2003; Jarvenpaa et al., 2000; Lee & Turban, 2001). In particular,
with the advent of online marketplaces on the Internet as a new busi-
ness paradigm, trust has been addressed as a critical enabling factor
in business-to-consumer relationships (Jarvenpaa et al., 2000) as
well as in the context of business-to-business marketplaces (Palvou,
2003). Besides, a number of previous studies have demonstrated
that trust exerts a significant impact on behavioral intentions in on-
line environments (Bhattacherjee, 2002; Gefen et al., 2003; Jar-
venpaa et al., 2000; Lee & Turban, 2001; Palvou, 2003). Gefen et al.
(2003) also argued that visiting online shopping malls was a behav-
ior based strongly on trust, and demonstrated that trust influenced
perceived usefulness and intention to use. On the basis of the results
of these previous studies, we suggest the following:
H5. Trust toward websites is positively related to a customer’s
intention to purchase.
3.2.9. Product involvement, attributes of web advertisements and
intention to purchase
Online consumer behavior was divided into two types of behav-
iors: goal-directed searches and exploratory searches (Hoffman &
Novak, 1996; Hong, Thong, & Tam, 2004). The former are searches
1214 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
in which consumers with a specific goal intentionally visit an on-
line shopping mall and search for product information in order to
make planned purchases. The latter are searches in which online
users with no pre-specified goals are likely to navigate online
shopping mall web pages using a variety of stimuli. Therefore, on-
line consumers wish to obtain experience with utilities through
exploratory information searches, finally coming to the purchasing
behavior stage (Hong et al., 2004). Meanwhile, as we previously
mentioned, perceived entertainment reflects whether a consumer
is perceived as pleasant or likable during online shopping. Eighmey
(1997) mentioned that entertainment was one of the most impor-
tant factors in web sites, since it enables online consumers to ob-
tain information regarding products and services and influences
purchase intentions. Moreover, it exerts significant impacts on atti-
tudes and intentions in online shopping (Jarvenpaa & Todd, 1997).
Therefore, we may conjecture that consumers’ perceived entertain-
ment during information searches in online shopping should exert
significant impacts on online consumers’ purchase intention.
Highly-involved consumers are likely to consider the intrinsic
attributes of products when making purchases. On the other hand,
less-involved consumers tend to change their attitudes by influ-
encing the entertainment factors of an online shopping mall, since
less-involved consumers tend to perceive the relevance of their
own purpose or value less profoundly than highly-involved con-
sumers (Elliot & Speck, 2005; Solomon, 2002). In particular, less-in-
volved consumers will be affected by the entertainment factor of
an online shopping site and then temporarily alter their attitudes
toward customers’ intentions to purchase. On the basis of previous
studies, therefore, we surmise that the impact on the perceived
entertainment of an online shopping mall will be greater with
less-involved consumers than with highly-involved consumers.
Therefore, we hypothesize the following:
H6-a. The impact of perceived informativeness on intention to
purchase will be greater with high-involved customers than with
low-involved customers.
H6-b. The impact of perceived entertainment on intention to pur-
chase will be greater with low-involved customers than with high-
involved customers.
3.2.10. Trust toward websites, attributes of web advertisements, and
intentions to purchase
Online consumers require the trust of firms in online transac-
tions involving environmental uncertainty and information asym-
metry (Gefen, 2000; Li et al., 2006; Lim et al., 2006; Palvou, 2003)
In particular, it has been viewed by confident expectation, enabling
the formation of favorable attitudes via TRA. Additionally, many
studies (Gefen et al., 2003; McKnight & Chervany, 2001; Pavlou &
Gefen, 2004) have uncovered evidence of a high correlation be-
tween trusting beliefs in a specific online vendor and intentions
to transact with the same vendors. Besides, trusting a specific on-
line shopping mall implied that online consumers could expect an
online shopping mall to minimize their perceived risks (Palvou,
2003). The minimizing of perceived risks also involves a variety
of risks, including delivery, the leakage of personal information,
financial problems, et cetera. These perceived risks are predicated
on consumers’ decisions with high-product involvement, since
these consumers tend to be more willing to make informed deci-
sions with regard to the minimization of the risks. Therefore, we
can infer that online consumers’ purchase decisions can be influ-
enced differently by the attributes of web advertisements, depend-
ing on the level of trust toward websites.
In this study, we surmise that an online consumer’s perceived
uncertainties or risks may be reduced because online consumers
are not especially concerned about financial transactions in the
high-trust toward a website. Therefore, they may tend to alter their
product involvement by influencing the entertainment factors of
an online shopping site. On the other hand, in cases of low trust,
online consumers may tend to find product information because
of a low level of trust toward websites. Namely, consumers with
lesser degrees of trust will be influenced by the perceived informa-
tiveness of web advertisements, and then temporarily alter their
product involvement toward customers’ purchase intentions. On
the basis of the above statements, we suggest the following
hypothesis:
H7-a. The impact of perceived informativeness on intention to
purchase will be greater with customers with low trust than
customers with high trust.
H7-b. The impact of perceived entertainment on intention to pur-
chase will be greater with customers with high trust than custom-
ers with low trust.
3.3. Instrument development
The questionnaire included the items used to measure variables
appearing in the previous studies for the following issues. Product
involvement was evaluated by three measurement items from Petty
et al. (1983) and Zaichkowsky (1985)’s scale. It refers to the per-
ceived individual relevance, interest, and value when a consumer
makes a purchase. The trust items were composed to reflect specific
consumer beliefs in an online shopping mall (Bhattacherjee, 2002;
Gefen, 2000; Gefen et al., 2003). Additionally, informativeness
items encompass the ability to provide accurate, abundant and
relevant information regarding a specific product (Ducoffe, 1996;
Ranganathan & Ganapathy, 2002). The entertainment items were
adopted from those of Ducoffe (1996) and Koufaris et al. (2001)’s
scales. These were applied previously to generate pleasures or
enjoyment on the web. Finally, examining purchase intentions is
consistent with the methods in the studies of Jarvenpaa and Todd
(1997), and Gefen et al. (2003).
4. Data analysis and results
4.1. Data collection and research methodology
In this study, the target sample group of this study included
consumers with previous experience in making purchases on
online shopping sites. We randomly distributed and collected
questionnaires to offline consumers with previous experiences
purchasing from online shopping sites. The questionnaires were
disseminated by hand and were in the form of hardcopies for
respondents in Korea. Furthermore, the survey participants were
provided with cyber-money via e-mail to reward the completion
of the survey, which was conducted between March 17 and August
5 of 2007. All survey items were measured on a seven-point Likert
scale, which ranged from ‘‘strongly disagree” (1) to ‘‘strongly
agree” (7) or from ‘‘neither agree” to ‘‘nor disagree” except for
the demographic characteristics. A total of 400 questionnaires
were distributed and 350 were collected, with a gross response
rate of 87.5%. A total of 350 responses were collected, among which
only 264 responses were deemed valid after removing the missing
values or replying to the following survey question: Do you have a
previous experience with making a purchase on online shopping
sites?” If a respondent chose ‘no’ as an answer, the survey was
stopped.
Finally, 264 responses were selected for our final database,
which was utilized to provide the analysis for our research model.
Additionally, in the research methodology for the empirical testing
 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222 1215

of the research hypotheses, we adopted the PLS (partial least Table 2

squares) method to analyze the data collected from survey respon- Principle component analysis.a

dents for two reasons: (1) it provides benefits for allowing the
simultaneous examination of all paths in the proposed model,
and (2) PLS can be used for supplementary analyses to assess the
discriminant and nomological validity of the individual items with-
in the theoretical model. For these reasons, PLS was deemed appro-
priate for the testing of our research model, given the 264 final
data we analyzed. For these reasons, our study utilized PLS-Graph
version 3.0 software to analyze the measurement, structural mod-
el, and moderation effects (Chin, Marcolin, & Newsted, 2003) and
SPSS 13.0 was used to test construct validity and reliability.

4.2. Sample characteristics

We collected a total of 264 responses; the demographic profile

of the respondents is provided in Table 1. Among the respondents,
136 (51.6%) were women and 128 (48.4%) were men, without some
missing values in the dataset. The majority of respondents were in
their early and late 20s (n = 239). They had made online purchases
a
an average of 1–3 times over the past one month. Additionally, TRS, trust toward websites; ENT, perceived entertainment; INF, perceived
they had spent an average of 4–5 h on shopping over the past informativeness; INT, intention to purchase; PRI, product involvement.

one week. The majority of purchased items were the following:

books (23.4%), CDs (11.7%), MP3 players (9.1%), clothes (7.5%),
and others, including electrics.
4.3. Measurement model
As is shown in Table 2, we initially evaluated the quality of each
scale to determine whether measurement scales could be accu-
rately explained. Therefore, we employed factor analysis using
Varimax rotation via principle component analysis, and extracted
the factors over an eigenvalue of 1. The eigenvalue criterion results
in five factors; the factor loadings are from .619 to .868, which ex-
ceed the acceptable level of .50 as shown in Table 3. The results
from factor analysis confirm the construct validity of all the scales
for variables included in the model. Additionally, the values of item
reliability also exceed the acceptable value of .7 (trust toward web-
sites: .860, perceived informativeness: .840, intention to purchase:
.782, perceived entertainment: .815, product involvement: .746)
via Cronbach’s alpha. Thus, the reliability for each scale was also
within the commonly accepted range (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, &
Black, 2006).
Then, we evaluated construct validity using convergent validity
and discriminant validity. Convergent validity was evaluated by
factor loadings and average variance extracted (AVE) (Furnell &
Larcker, 1981). An average variance extracted in excess of .50 also
indicated the acceptability of the convergent validity of the con-
struct (Furnell & Larcker, 1981). As is shown in Table 3, all factor
loadings for the items in the measurement model exceeded .70
and all average variances extracted were in excess of .50, thereby
demonstrating adequate convergent validity.
Discriminant validity can be evaluated via comparison of the
shared variances between constructs with the average variance ex-
tracted from the individual construct (Furnell & Larcker, 1981). As
is shown in Table 4, the square roots of all AVEs are substantially
larger than all other cross-correlations. The results provide support
for discriminant validity. Jointly, these findings are reflective of
appropriate convergent and discriminant validity for construct
validity.
4.4. Structural model (the mediation effect of product involvement and
trust toward websites)
With the satisfactory results in the measurement model, this
study subsequently evaluated the structural model to confirm
the relationships among constructs via the PLS (partial least
squares) method. In this study, the explanatory power of a struc-
tural model could be evaluated by assessing the R2 value (variance
accounted for) in the final dependent construct. The final depen-
dent construct (intention to purchase) had an R2 value of .344.
Additionally, other constructs also had R2 values for the following:
product involvement (R2 = .140), trust toward websites (R2 = .293).
After computing path estimates in the structural model using the
entire sample, PLS employed a jackknifing technique to acquire
the corresponding t-values. Support for each hypothesis could be

Table 1
Demographic profile of sample.

Items Category Frequency Ratio (%) Items Category Frequency Ratio (%)
Gender Male 128 48.4 Usage hours (weekly) 0–3 h 49 18.6
Female 136 51.6 4–5 h 77 29.1
Age 10–19 6 2.2 6–9 h 62 23.4
20–29 239 90.5 9–12 h 17 6.4
30–39 17 6.4 12–15 h 19 7.2
Over 40 2 0.9 Over 15 h 40 15.2
# of usage of online shopping None 3 1.1 Purchased items Books 62 23.4
1–3 222 78.7 CDs 31 11.7
4–6 36 12.8 MP3 players 24 9.1
6–8 8 2.8 Clothing 20 7.5
9–11 2 0.7 Electronics 16 6.1
Over 12 11 3.9 Bags 12 4.5
1216 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222

Table 3 subgroup analysis, a discussion of this subject is warranted. Some

Results of testing convergent validity. researchers have noted that the moderated multiple regression or
Constructs Items Factor Composite AVE other techniques such as LISREL or PLS (which are based on the
loadings reliability same basic principles) have greater capacity to detect moderation
Perceived informativeness INF1 0.854 0.904 0.758 effects (i.e., more statistical power) relative to the subgroup analy-
INF2 0.858 sis strategy (Cohen & Cohen, 1983). These researchers identified
INF3 0.899 two objections to subgroup analysis. First, when researchers artifi-
Perceived entertainment ENT1 0.857 0.858 0.728 cially dichotomize a continuous variable, they lose statistical
ENT2 0.880 power and richness of data. Second, the use of interaction terms
ENT3 0.823
is said to be superior when the context is one of form moderation
Product involvement PRI1 0.855 0.767 0.540 testing, rather than the strength of moderation testing (Sharma,
PRI2 0.569
PRI3 0.821
Durand, & Gur-Arie, 1984). Researchers have concluded that sub-
group analysis is an appropriate method for testing strength mod-
Trust toward websites TRS1 0.817 0.916 0.784
TRS2 0.927
eration in the case of nominal moderating variables.
TRS3 0.909 The approach we chose and the procedure we employed is con-
Intention to purchase INT1 0.796 0.870 0.691
sistent with recent research evaluating the influence of nominal
INT2 0.842 group membership on the nomological network of relationships
INT3 0.855 between IT-related constructs. For example, Keil et al. (2000) uti-
lized this approach to test for the effects of national culture on risk
taking and the willingness to continue a project. In order to test the
moderating effects of involvement and trust, we closely patterned
Table 4 our analysis after that of Keil et al. (2000). We estimated three
Discriminant validity using AVE.
separate models in PLS: the high-involvement subgroup, and the
low-involvement user subgroup, as well as the high-trust toward
websites and low-trust toward websites subgroups (see Tables 5
and 6). We then tested for differences across all models using the
test for differences as suggested by Chin et al. (2003) and imple-
mented by Keil et al. (2000).
In order to compare more rigorously the results across sub-
Note: Diagonal elements in the ‘‘correlation of constructs” matrix are the square groups, we calculated t-statistics to evaluate the differences in
roots of average variance extracted (AVE). The leftmost column is composite reli-
ability for each construct. For adequate discriminant validity, diagonal elements
path coefficients across models. Since we met the assumptions
should be greater than the corresponding off-diagonal elements. for the comparisons of gammas as suggested by Carte and Russell
(2003), we utilized the procedures described by Chin et al. (2003),
as follows:
determined by examining the positive sign and statistical signifi- p1  p2
cance of the t-value for its corresponding path (see Fig. 2). Fig. 2 tij ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
ffi
2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ðn1 1ÞSE1 þðn2 1ÞSE2 1
shows the results of the analysis. The results supported most of n1 þn2 2
 n1
þ n12
the hypotheses, with the exception of H1-b (perceived entertain-
ment ? product involvement). where, pi , path coefficient in structural model of involvement i or
trust i; nj , sample size of dataset for involvement i or trust i; SEi ,
4.5. Moderating effects standard error of path in structural model for involvement i or trust
i; tij, t-statistic with n1 + n2–2 degrees of freedom.
To test the moderating effects, we estimated a series of struc- As is shown in Table 7, comparing high involvement and low
tural models for each subgroup. Considering the debate over the involvement, the impact of perceived informativeness on purchase
relative merits of moderation testing using interaction terms and intentions under high involvement conditions (b = .351, p < .001)

0.315 Product
(4.541***) Involvement
Perceived 0.182
Informativeness 0.140 (2.449***)

0.393
0.053
(6.659***) 0.217
(0.64)
(2.934***) Intention
to Purchase
0.158
(2.332***) 0.344
Perceived
Entertainment 0.264
(3.271***)
0.119
(1.731*) Trust toward
Websites

0.293
*p<0.1, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01

Fig. 2. PLS results of the structural model.

 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222 1217

Table 5
Items loadings of each subgroup.

Constructs Items High-involvement Low involvement Constructs Items High trust Low trust
subgroup subgroup subgroup subgroup
Perceived informativeness INF1 0.821 0.857 Perceived informativeness INF1 0.844 0.823
INF2 0.840 0.851 INF2 0.891 0.816
INF3 0.894 0.894 INF3 0.858 0.890
Perceived entertainment ENT1 0.855 0.901 Perceived entertainment ENT1 0.856 0.881
ENT2 0.844 0.878 ENT2 0.835 0.920
ENT3 0.844 0.802 ENT3 0.873 0.701
Intention to purchase INP1 0.784 0.822 Intention to purchase INP1 0.786 0.790
INP2 0.759 0.875 INP2 0.782 0.865
INP3 0.812 0.862 INP3 0.869 0.803
Trust toward websites TRS1 0.664 0.868 Product involvement PRI1 0.854 0.785
TRS2 0.895 0.941 PRI2 0.622 0.556
TRS3 0.870 0.926 PRI3 0.778 0.902

Table 6 under low involvement conditions (b = .140, p < .001). Therefore,

Reliability and discriminant validity.
is greater than that under low product involvement intentions
(b = .084, p < .01). Therefore, H6-a was supported. On the other hand,
the impact of perceived entertainment on purchase intentions un-
der high involvement conditions (b = .234, p < .001) is greater than
H6-b was not supported. When comparing high trust and low trust,
the impact of perceived informativeness on purchase intentions in
the low-trust group (b = .400, p < .001) was greater than that in the
high-trust group (b = .105, p < .001). Therefore, H7-a was supported.
Additionally, the impact of perceived entertainment on purchase
intentions in the high-trust group (b = .352, p < .001) was greater
than that in the low-trust group (b = .078, p < .001), thus supporting
H7-b. Fig. 3 shows our statistical comparison of paths among each of
the groups.
On the basis of the results regarding the moderating effects of
product involvement, the impact of perceived informativeness on
intention to purchase in the high-involvement group is greater
than that in the low-involvement group, as anticipated. On the
other hand, the impact of perceived entertainment and purchase
intention is not greater in the low-involvement group than in the
high-product involvement group, counter to our proposed hypoth-
esis. On the basis of our results, we judge that it will be effective for
online consumers who wish to purchase products to provide per-
suasive presentations concerning product characteristics. More-
over, in addition to providing information regarding a specific
product, it can be appropriately applied to entertainment factors,
such as web advertising moods, music, etc.
As is shown in Fig. 4, we can predict that the approach to
improving a customer’s product involvement may enhance the
perceived informativeness of web advertisements in the high-trust
group. In particular, perceived entertainment was shown to di-
rectly influence a customer’s purchase intention rather than
increasing the level of product involvement. On the basis of this

Table 7
Statistical comparison of paths.

High involvement (n = 140) Low involvement (n = 124) Statistical comparisons of paths

Path Std error t-Value Path Std error t-Value
INF ? TRS 0.347*** 0.065 5.366 0.299*** 0.064 4.691 6.03***
ENT ? TRS 0.133*** 0.062 2.159 0.133* 0.073 1.817 0.00***
TRS ? INP 0.279*** 0.079 3.320 0.280*** 0.068 4.120 0.11***
INF ? INP 0.351*** 0.063 5.549 0.084 0.076 1.051 31.19***
ENT ? INP 0.234*** 0.084 3.069 0.140*** 0.060 2.330 10.34***
Low trust (n = 117) High trust (n = 147)
INF ? PRl 0.269*** 0.074 3.980 0.157* 0.099 1.704 10.18***
ENT ? PRI 0.064 0.095 0.660 0.072 0.125 0.581 0.57***
PRI ? INP 0.200*** 0.079 2.680 0.206*** 0.080 2.581 0.61***
INF ? INP 0.400*** 0.058 6.390 0.105 0.080 1.309 33.49***
ENT ? INP 0.078 0.070 1.090 0.352*** 0.073 4.849 30.85***

* p < 0.1.
** p < 0.05.
*** p < 0.01.
1218 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222

0.351 0.084
Perceived (5.55***) Perceived (1.05)

Informativeness Informativeness

0.347 0.299
(5.37***) 0.279 (4.69***) 0.280
Trust toward (3.32***) Intention Trust toward (4.12***) Intention
Websites to Purchase Websites to Purchase
0.133 0.133
(2.16***) (1.82*)
0.169 0.336 0.132 0.204
Perceived Perceived
Entertainment Entertainment
0.234 0.140
(3.07***) (2.33***)

Fig. 3. High involvement (left) and low involvement (right).

0.105 0.400
Perceived (1.309)
Perceived (6.39***)

Informativeness Informativeness

0.157 0.269
(1.704*) 0.206 (3.980***) 0.200
Product (2.581***) Intention Product (2.680***) Intention
Involvement to Purchase Involvement to Purchase
0.072 0.064
(0.581) (0.660)
0.038 0.232 0.083 0.273
Perceived Perceived
Entertainment Entertainment
0.352 0.078
(4.849***) (1.090)

Fig. 4. High trust (left) and low trust (right).

finding, we can suggest that perceived entertainment may be an
important factor when online customers find the website credible.
On the other hand, perceived entertainment did not affect product
involvement or purchase intentions in the low-trust group. There-
fore, perceived informativeness could be a factor influencing in-
creased levels of customers’ product involvement and purchase
intentions in the low-trust group.
5. Discussions
5.1. Key findings and contributions
On the basis of the empirical results of this study, we obtained
several key findings from our tests of the research hypotheses.
First, perceived informativeness affects a customer’s product
involvement, supporting H1-a. This result is consistent with the re-
sults of previous studies (Ducoffe, 1996; Ranganathan & Ganapathy,
2002) In general, online consumers tend to minimize the perceived
risks inherent to the purchase of products through the high level of
product information obtained from a specific online shopping mall.
Specifically, a high level of product information, which reduces the
perceived risks, exerts a direct and significant impact on consumer’s
product involvement – therefore, online shopping sites should pro-
vide sufficient product information to online consumers because
accurate and relevant product information can increase the level
of product involvement. However, the relationship between per-
ceived entertainment and product involvement was not supported
in this study. However, according to Elliot and Speck (2005), enter-
tainment can perform the crucial role of explaining the attitudes of
less-involved consumers to a retail website, since they are less shop-
ping goal-oriented. Although the results of this study did not
support this, perceived entertainment was still required for online
consumers to search products and conduct browsing activities in a
specific online shopping mall, in addition to providing product
information. Therefore, we can propose that it may be effective for
online consumers who wish to purchase products to provide per-
suasive presentations on product characteristics. Moreover, in addi-
tion to providing information regarding a specific product, it can be
appropriately applied to entertainment factors such as web adver-
tising moods, music, and so on.
Second, trust toward websites was affected by perceived infor-
mativeness and perceived entertainment respectively, supporting
H2a and H2b. Therefore, online shopping sites must provide prod-
uct information with completion, timeliness, and accuracy in order
to increase the level of trust toward them and to fulfill a customer’s
need for aesthetic enjoyment or emotional release by using flashy
graphics or appealing site design, which also contribute to the per-
ception of a website experience as entertaining. Online shopping
sites must make great efforts to enhance customers’ perceived
informativeness and entertainment, as customers may be more
likely to utilize the website if it possesses positive attributes.
Third, the relationship between the attributes of web advertise-
ments (perceived informativeness, perceived entertainment) and
purchase intentions were respectively significant, supporting H3a
and H3b. The attributes of web advertisements, including per-
ceived informativeness and entertainment, are the most important
factors of websites in the context of purchasing decisions. There-
fore, if online shopping sites can provide a great deal of informa-
tion and generate shopping enjoyment or emotional response,
online customers can make informed decisions. In summary, these
 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
attributes can be considered important factors in the acquisition of
existing customers and the attraction of new customers from the
perspectives of the practitioner.
Fourth, the previous study of involvement linked motivations,
behavioral intentions, and decisions, explaining the influences of
cognition and emotion on the selections of products, advertise-
ments, and purchase situations (Zaichkowsky, 1994). According
to our findings, those with higher levels of involvement had greater
intentions to purchase. Therefore, online shopping site managers
should seek creative methods to stimulate either affective involve-
ment – which can be related to low involvement, or cognitive
involvement – which can be associated with high involvement
with web sites.
Fifth, a higher level of trust toward an online shopping mall
will increase a consumer’s purchase intentions, supporting H5. It
is also consistent with the results of previous research studies
(Bhattacherjee, 2002; Gefen, 2000; Gefen et al., 2003; Jarvenpaa
et al., 2000; Lee & Turban, 2001; Palvou, 2003). In general, online
consumers must depend on trust toward online shopping malls
to reduce the uncertainty inherent to online environments
(McKnight & Chervany, 2001). This means that online shopping
malls confront critical issues as to whether trust can be secured,
and further must ultimately make efforts to build up trust in order
to achieve the loyalty of customers. Therefore, trust was a founda-
tion for the maintenance of a long-term relationship between
customers and companies.
In the case of moderation of product involvement as related to
the effects of the attributes of web advertisements on purchase
intentions, the impact of perceived informativeness on purchase
intentions can be stronger with highly-involved consumers than
with less-involved consumers, thereby supporting Hypothesis 6-
a. As suggested in the ELM, this may explain why more involved
consumers expend great efforts to search for product information,
since they tend to be more willing to become involved in a specific
product that they may wish to purchase. Therefore, online con-
sumers with high levels of product involvement wish to receive
accurate, sufficient, and relevant product information and also pre-
fer online shopping malls with the ability to provide higher levels
of informativeness. In the case of less-involved consumers, on the
other hand, they do not aggressively search for activities, and tend
to be interested in peripheral elements such as website design or
the moods of web advertisements, as opposed to relevant product
information. Therefore, we surmised that informativeness might
not prove helpful for less-involved consumers.
Counter to our expectations, the impact of perceived entertain-
ment on purchase intentions may be greater with less-involved
consumers than with highly-involved consumers – thus, H6b was
not supported. We can analogize that perceived entertainment,
as illustrated in previous studies, is an important factor influencing
a consumer’s attitude and purchase intentions, regardless of the
degree of product involvement. Considering that many online pur-
chasers may be goal-oriented toward purchasing a specific prod-
uct, perceived entertainment can help online consumers actively
search for product information.
Namely, online consumers tend to consider product informa-
tion relatively important; therefore, they may be more interested
in product information when online shopping sites provide prod-
uct information seasoned with perceived entertainment factors.
Therefore, we consider that this may be effective for online con-
sumers who wish to purchase products to provide persuasive pre-
sentations regarding product characteristics, as well as providing
information concerning a specific product; it can be appropriately
applied to entertainment factors such as web advertising mood,
music, et cetera.
In the case of moderation of trust toward websites on the rela-
tion between attributes of web advertisements on purchase inten-
1219
tions, H7a and H7b were supported. In this study, we determine
that an online consumer’s perceived uncertainties or risks can be
reduced, since online consumers tend not to be concerned about
financial transactions under conditions of high-trust toward a
website. Therefore, they may tend to change their level of product
involvement due to the influence of entertainment factors on an
online shopping site. On the other hand, under low trust condi-
tions, online consumers may tend to find product information be-
cause of their low level of trust toward websites. Specifically,
consumers with low levels of trust will be affected by the per-
ceived informativeness of web advertisements and then temporar-
ily change their product involvement toward a customers’
purchase intentions. Generally, consumers tend to purchase spe-
cific products from trustworthy online shopping malls in order to
reduce the perceived risks regarding the purchase of the product.
Trusting a specific online shopping mall implied that online con-
sumers could expect the online shopping mall to minimize their
perceived risks (Palvou, 2003). The minimization of perceived risks
presented a variety of risks, including delivery, the leakage of per-
sonal information, financial problems, and so forth. These per-
ceived risks are based on consumers’ decisions with a high
degree of product involvement, since they tend to be more willing
to make informed decisions regarding the minimization of risks.
This explains why online consumers with low levels of trust tend
to receive accurate, sufficient, and relevant product information
due to these economic risks. In the case of the high-trust group,
on the other hand, consumers tend to be more interested in enter-
tainment factors rather than product relevant information, as the
website is reliable.
In the low-trust group, consumers tend to collect product infor-
mation cautiously and compare products thoroughly in an effort to
minimize environmental uncertainty. Therefore, they may con-
sider perceived informativeness in online environments to be more
important than do consumers with high levels of trust. On the
other hand, consumers with a high level of trust toward websites
do not depend absolutely on relevant information in staying with
a reliable online shopping mall. Rather, they tend to be more will-
ing to buy products due to extraneous design elements such as ani-
mations, the mood of web advertising, music, and so on.
On the basis of our results, we believe that the perceived infor-
mativeness of web advertisements might be regarded as the key
factors in building and developing trust toward a website. This
finding provides guidelines to websites if they either do not yet
have a brand name, or have yet to establish a reputation. Addition-
ally, the perceived entertainment of web advertisements might be
considered the key factors for customer relationship management,
and a principal factor in increasing stickiness toward a website (Li
et al., 2006). Additionally, from a long-term perspective, online
shopping sites can enable transactions with customers, utilizing
the entertainment attributes of web advertisements.
5.2. Theoretical implications
After presenting the findings of our research model with regard
to online consumers’ purchase intentions and then assessing its
predictive power in association with the attributes of web adver-
tisements and product involvement and trust toward websites,
we can draw the following significant theoretical implications.
First, we attempt to incorporate relevant theories, such as the
theory of reasoned action and the elaboration likelihood model
of our study, from the contexts of web advertisements. On the ba-
sis of our attempts, we can understand more deeply online con-
sumers’ shopping behavior, and also find that the evaluation
criteria for web advertisements and websites vary on the basis
of the level of trust and involvement. Our efforts may involve
1220 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
theoretical improvements in explaining the factors of online con-
sumers’ purchase intentions.
Second, we systematically evaluated online consumers’ pur-
chase intentions by examining whether the attributes of web
advertisements could affect purchase intentions via the mediating
and moderating roles of product involvement and trust toward
websites. In particular, our findings provide several combinations
of successful online shopping sites that perfectly suit all online
consumers. Our findings can help both online consumers and on-
line shopping sites to achieve their objectives.
Finally, we can clarify the attributes of web advertisements into
perceived informativeness and perceived entertainment from the
perspective of providing product information to online consumers.
In particular, we determined that these attributes influence online
consumers’ purchase intentions by verifying the mediating role of
product involvement and trust toward websites. On the basis of
our findings, we can provide several combinations of successful
web advertisement of online shopping sites perfectly suit all online
consumers. Our findings can help both online consumers and on-
line shopping sites to determine what they desire.
5.3. Practical implications
This study has also several practical implications:
First, according to Hoffman and Novak (1996), Hong et al.
(2004), online activities were divided into search tasks and brows-
ing tasks, since every online consumer had different shopping-re-
lated goals. In searching tasks, consumers already had knowledge
regarding a specific brand or the attributes of a specific product.
This means that consumers search directly for specific product
numbers. On the other hand, consumers in browsing tasks have
only general interests regarding objectives. At this time, they
may shop by browsing product categories in online shopping mall
web sites. Therefore, online consumers evidence different shop-
ping behaviors due to differing levels of involvement with regard
to a specific product. This means that consumers also perceived
differently the importance of online shopping mall attributes.
Based on our findings regarding the role of product involve-
ment, it may be possible for online shopping malls to analyze on-
line consumers’ profiles and log files in order to recognize the
degree of consumers’ product involvement. For example, online
shopping malls can effectively assess consumers’ shopping objec-
tives or involvement via the tracking of customer information such
as keyword search terms or order history, as well as click stream
log files and so forth. Via these approaches, online shopping malls
must emphasize intrinsic attributes regarding products for highly-
involved consumers, and also continuously present a benevolent
corporate image for consumers in order to provide better service.
These approaches may also prove appropriate for consumers with
low levels of product involvement who wish to search product cat-
egories rather than specific products to present product informa-
tion, adding entertainment factors as well as web interface
designs for effective browsing tasks.
Second, as indicated by our results, consumer’s online purchas-
ing behaviors were generated by specific product information in
the case of high-product involvement, since these types of prod-
ucts are almost all high-priced products, and consumers are highly
conscious of the perceived risks inherent to those products. Thus,
we determined that the impact of perceived informativeness and
perceived entertainment on purchase intentions could differ
depending on the level of trust toward websites, which performed
an important function in reducing consumer’s perceived risks asso-
ciated with product purchases.
Therefore, online shopping malls must establish a suited pro-
motion strategy based on the level of product involvement and
trust toward websites. In an attempt to set up this strategy, online
shopping sites can appropriately fulfill the needs of the customer.
That is to say, online shopping sites need to provide much richer
product information to consumers with high-product involvement,
and make efforts to acquire their trust. On the other hand, in the
case of consumers with low levels of product involvement, online
shopping sites must sell their products by adding entertainment
factors to web advertisements.
Finally, the results of this study warrant an exploration of more
comprehensive perspectives by which a consumer’s product/ser-
vice purchase behavior can be evaluated. Therefore, our findings
may prove helpful to online shopping sites, providing initial in-
sights into the relative effects of product involvement and trust
on consumers’ behavior in the context of online shopping.
5.4. Limitations and future research directions
Otherwise, this study has several limitations and several possi-
ble areas for future research. It is crucial to evaluate the study’s re-
sults and contributions in light of its limitations; additionally,
additional studies will be necessary to overcome those limitations.
First, the results of representative respondents may limit the gen-
eralizability of our findings. Our results did not, however, explain a
large proportion of the entire population of respondents, as the
majority of respondents were in their early-to-late 20s. Therefore,
future research will be required to evaluate the generalizability of
the model by collecting from larger and more diverse samples.
Additionally, we did not propose a more comprehensive model be-
cause we were focused on the essential factors of a consumer’s
behavior in terms of online product purchases. Therefore, it may
be necessary to organize a broader extended research model with
these findings, by exploring other factors that influence a con-
sumer’s purchase intentions. These results will help us to refine
our understanding of online consumer behaviors toward making
purchases by verifying the application of other factors to our re-
search model.
6. Conclusions
The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the medi-
ating and moderating effects of product involvement and trust to-
ward websites, as well as the relationship between the attributes
of web advertisements on a customer’s purchase intentions. In this
study, we considered perceived informativeness and perceived
entertainment as the key attributes of web advertisements on on-
line shopping sites. These attributes could function as external
stimuli provided by online vendors. From the online consumers’
perspective, motivation factors to purchase a specific product
might exist on online shopping sites. Therefore, we logically linked
the attributes of web advertisements from the seller-side and on-
line consumers’ motivations to purchase, such as product involve-
ment and trust toward websites. By linking the seller-side and
buyer-side characteristics, we evaluated the mediating and moder-
ating roles of product involvement and trust toward websites in
the relationship between the seller-side and the buyer-side. Based
on the findings of this study, the effects of perceived informative-
ness and entertainment on a consumer’s purchase intentions,
depending on product involvement and trust toward websites.
Our results demonstrated that consumers with higher levels of
product involvement tend to shop in shopping malls that provide
more product information, and consumers with a lower level of
product involvement are more willing to consider the entertain-
ment factors in their decisions. Additionally, consumers with high-
er levels of trust toward websites tend to be influenced by
perceived entertainment to stay with shopping sites; on the other
hand, consumers with low levels of trust in websites tend to be
 J.U. Kim et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 26 (2010) 1208–1222
more willing to consider perceived informativeness to minimize
environmental uncertainty.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the KCC(Korea Communica-
tions Commission), Korea, under the CRPC(Communications Policy
Research Center) support program supervised by the IITA(Institute
for Information Technology Advancement), (IITA-2009-C1091-
0901-0002). The work of the third author has been partly sup-
ported by Sogang Business School’s World Class University Project
(R31-20002) funded by Korea Research Foundation.
Appendix A
Note: All items are anchored for ‘‘1” (strongly disagree)–‘‘7”
(strongly agree).
Perceived informativeness (Ducoffe, 1996; Ranganathan &
Ganapathy, 2002):
1. Web advertisement of this online shopping site provides rele-
vant product information.
2. Web advertisement of this online shopping site provides timely
product information.
3. Web advertisement of this online shopping site provides accu-
rate product information.
Perceived entertainment (Ducoffe, 1996; Koufaris et al., 2001):
1. Web advertisement of this online shopping site was exciting.
2. Web advertisement of this online shopping site was enjoyable.
3. Web advertisement of this online shopping site was pleasing.
Product involvement (Petty et al., 1983; Zaichkowsky, 1985):
1. It was important for me to buy a product.
2. My decision making for purchase was important.
3. I gave careful consideration to select a product.
Trust toward Websites (Bhattacherjee, 2002; Gefen, 2000;
Gefen et al., 2003):
1. This shopping site delivered a product in accurate and prompt.
2. This shopping site was reliable.
3. I was trustworthy in making purchases in this online shopping
site.
Intention to purchase (Gefen et al., 2003; Jarvenpaa & Todd,
1997):
1. Assuming I have access to the site, I intend to make a purchase.
2. Given that I have access to the site, I intend to invest my time
and effort to learn ordering process.
3. I intend to make a purchase after searching product information
in this site.
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