Online E-Communication Channels: The Impact of CSR and Reviews on Purchase Intent

The ever-growing online shopping environment provides an opportunity for companies of all sizes to reach expanding customer bases across borders. However, research on the factors influencing online purchase intent are limited, and even more from an international point of view given that geographical market-place barriers are less evident online. This paper explores the various antecedents of online purchase intent in terms of e-communication strategies (e.g. corporate social responsibility [CSR], peer reviews and expert opinion) for international consumers. To approach this as a global phenomenon, an international dataset of 804 international online consumers is analysed. The study finds complexity in the actors and pathways that inform purchase intent in the online retail context. Particularly, it finds that a company's CSR has no direct effect on purchase intent but is mediated by information received from online reviews by peers and experts as intermediary e-communications channels. This suggests that online retailers must consider other communication strategies, beyond the traditional buyer-seller dyad, to boost CSR perceptions and purchase intent. The study offers a first step to theorising the online retail context as an international phenomenon where traditional marketing concepts currently remain under-problematised.