The Influence of Website Features, Innovativeness and Perceived Risk on Online Customers Retention and Electronic Words of Mouth - An Emerging Pakistan’s Economy Perspective

Abstract

The potential is high for E-commerce to help the Pakistani economy grow. This study investigates the effects of different website attributes, how innovative they are and risk perceptions on online shopping, using electronic WOM and customer retention through online trust and commitment. While other research looked at website elements impacting trust and loyalty, this one investigates WOM and trust and how these affect purchase intention. Two analytical programs, SPSS and AMOS, were used to analyze data collected from 294 Pakistani youth and validity and reliability were confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis. Using Structural Equation Modeling, it was shown that website features, innovation and people’s perceptions of risk led directly to customer loyalty and electronic word of mouth, through trust and commitment. All the results give strong support to the hypotheses, bringing useful knowledge for e-retailers and academics. The research shows that careful website design, strong security and customization play a big role in doubling sales and that trust is key to motivating offline buyers to shop online. This research adds to e-commerce literature by including innovativeness and perceived risk, along with trust-based mediators and outlines methods for Pakistani online retailers to keep customers loyal and maintain growth in a tough market.