Does Online Ratings Matter? An Integrated Framework to Explain Gratifications Needed for Continuance Shopping Intention in Pakistan

Due to the phenomenal growth of e-commerce, online shopping has recently become a worldwide trend. This fosters many online shopping platforms to enter into Asian emerging markets, which evolves a need to understand online decision-making processes in this particular context. Addressing this gap, our study initialized an integrated framework based on Uses and Gratification theory and the Cognitive-Affect-Behavior paradigm to examine the impact of gratification elements on customer satisfaction and convenience enforcing continuance shopping intention. Moreover, we also conceptualize the moderating role of online ratings in our study. In total, 317 valid questionnaires from Pakistani online shoppers were incorporated to statistically test our model using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach in Amos. Besides, the results confirm the positive impact of layout and functionality on customer satisfaction and convenience, while the impact of PEEIM has been found insignificant. Furthermore, customer satisfaction and convenience are found to be the imperative predictors of continuance shopping intention. Our findings exhibit that a high level of online rating strengthens the direct effect of satisfaction and convenience on continuance intention. Theoretical and practical implications for future scholars and e-commerce shopping platforms are discussed.