Consumer Acceptance of E-Commerce in Korea and China: The Effects of National Culture

With e-commerce becoming international, understanding the effects of national culture in consumer acceptance of e-commerce is required. This study examines consumer e-commerce acceptance in Korea and China. The research model consisting of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust and perceived risk was proposed, and the hypotheses based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation, were established. The results of hypotheses testing show that perceived usefulness contributes less to consumer acceptance of e-commerce in China than it does in Korea. In addition, perceived ease of use contributes more to consumer acceptance of e-commerce in China. Trust contributes significantly to consumer acceptance of e-commerce in both countries, but perceived risk didn’t influence consumer acceptance of e-commerce in either country. This study represents a theoretical contribution to the e-commerce literature because it is one of the first attempts to explore the effects of national culture in e-commence, and has the practical contribution of providing strategic insights for cross-cultural e-commerce success between Korea and China.