Adoption of Internet shopping: the role of consumer innovativeness

The projected sales potential for Internet commerce indicates that businesses must understand those consumer characteristics that will influence consumer adoption of this medium for shopping. An empirical study conducted here (n = 403) investigates the extent to which open‐processing (more general innovativeness) and domain‐specific innovativeness explain the conditions under which consumers move from general Internet usage to a product purchase via the Internet. The results of our study find that generally higher amounts of Internet use (for non‐shopping activities) are associated with an increased amount of Internet product purchases. Importantly, however, this relationship is moderated by domain‐specific but not general innovativeness. Implications for business practice and academic research are provided.