Extending the Technology Acceptance Model for Adoption of E-Shopping by Consumers in Turkey

ABSTRACT The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is a very important modelling approach in information technology research. In this study, an attempt is made to explain consumer acceptance of e-shopping by means of an extended model based on TAM. Perceived trust, perceived enjoyment, perceived information quality, perceived system quality and perceived service quality factors are added to the classical TAM to produce an extended research model. This extended research model is tested against data obtained from 606 internet users in Turkey, and a structural equation model is used to analyse these data. The results support the previous findings related to classical TAM; however, the recently included external factors are also effective in explaining the acceptance of e-shopping. Keywords: E-commerce, Online Shopping, TAM, Structural Equation Models 1. Introduction In the last few centuries, mankind has gone through industrial and electronic revolutions. In the 21st century, the network revolution has been added to its predecessors. The Internet, in particular e-commerce, is the driving force of this revolution. In the new electronic age, commercial transactions and functions have become sustainable in the electronic domain. The Internet and e-commerce are rapidly spreading new and very effective means of conducting commercial transactions. Along with the liberalisation of commerce on a global scale, e-commerce is a product of the recent technological developments witnessed in the last decade, which make information communication ever easier [Turban and King, 2003; Celik, 2009]. Fast spreading of the internet has made the e-commerce an indispensable and effective tool to realize the commercial transactions. The first examples of the e-commerce have been about the money transfer as electronic [Kalakota ve Whinston, 1997]. And later, the transfer transactions among the financial institutions have followed it effectively and safely. E-commerce is described like to make production, presentation, selling, insurance, distribution and payment transactions of the goods and services in the electronic domain. The developments in the information technology which are the effective ways to provide the new arrangements for the relations between firms and clients, called forth the new jobs and commercial tools [Goldsmith and Bridges, 2000; Crespo and del Bosque, 2008]. Zwass (1996), described the e-commerce as to share the commercial information's by preserving commercial transactions and relations conducted with telecommunication networks. Kalakota and Whinston (1997), stated to be defined it as the distribution of products and services via computer networks. Treese and Stewart (1998), referred the e-commerce as the usage of the universal internet for buying and selling of the goods and services. The simplest meaning of the e-commerce is described as buying and selling of the goods via internet [Shih, 2004; Bidgoli, 2002]. The development of e-commerce in Turkey gained impetus in 1998. Until 2003, computer ownership and internet access rates in Turkey were very low compared to those in developed countries, which posed an obstacle to obtaining the desired volume in e-commerce. As these rates increase, significant improvement is seen in the number of e-commerce transactions [SPO, 2006]. According to the results of the ICT (Information and communication Technologies) Usage in Households Research conducted in April 2008, 24.5% of households had internet access. Of the households which had no internet access, 29.6% stated that they did not need the internet. In the period of January-March 2008, 7.2% of the internet user households ordered or purchased goods or services for personal use over the internet. The percentage of households that had never purchased or ordered goods and services over internet was 88.4%. In the 12 month period between April 2007 and March 2008, 30.4% of the household members who ordered or purchased goods or services over internet bought electronic devices, followed by household goods (25. …