The Effects of Use of Instant Messenger on Purchase Intention: The Context of Chinese C2C E-Commerce

In recent years, C2C e-commerce has become more and more popular in China. Chinese C2C buyers use an instant messaging more commonly during transactions compared to other countries, which seems to be an interesting phenomenon. Based on the Chinese market, this study aims to examine the role of instant messenger in the C2C e-commerce context and to find how it impacts buyers’ purchase intentions. In addition to use of instant messenger, we brought in two antecedents of purchase intention-trust for vendor and customer satisfaction-to establish a theoretical research model. Through an online questionnaire survey, we tested and analyzed the research model and its related hypotheses. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data, and the results indicated that use of instant messenger did not directly influence purchase intention but had positive effects both on trust for vendor and customer satisfaction, which in turn influenced purchase intention. In conclusion, we discussed the research findings and suggested some implications for researchers and practitioners.