Emoción y razónel efecto moderador del género en el comportamiento de compra online

Abstract

Despite the existing evidence regarding the differences between women and men in decision-making processes, as well as in the adoption of technology, the research carried out to date has not been conclusive. The objective of this paper is to study the behavioral intentions of consumers in B2C commercial exchanges based on their gender. In this sense, the proposal is to identify how the functional value (representing consumer's reasoning), the symbolic value (representing the emotional motivation), and the feeling of trust act as antecedents of the purchase intention in the online channel. Based on the results derived from an empirical research on 262 Colombian online consumers, and through a structured questionnaire for the evaluation of the variables under study, the existence of differences in the formation of consumers' purchase intentions according to their gender is supported. Results indicate that the symbolic value has a significant effect on women's purchase intention, while the functional value and trust have a greater effect on men. Such results contribute to increasing knowledge on the moderating role of gender in consumers' behavioral intentions in B2C commercial exchanges within the online context of an emerging economy, allowing companies to better understand how to direct their efforts in terms of marketing. This work is a contribution to the literature on perceived value, trust and behavioral intention for the adoption of electronic commerce. Implications for management are also discussed in the document.