Customer online shopping anxiety within the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use Technology (UTAUT) framework

Purpose - Few studies have investigated how anxiety operates within the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of anxiety on the customer adoption of online shopping based on the UTAUT. Design/methodology/approach - The UTAUT's framework was extended by proposing new casual pathways between anxiety and its existing constructs (e.g. effort expectancy (EE), performance expectancy (PE) and behavioural intentions (BI)) within the contingencies of age, gender and experience. The partial least squares technique was employed to evaluate the statistical significance of the proposed pathways by analysing 483 sets of self-administrated survey responses. Findings - The results indicate that anxiety simultaneously exerts negative direct influences on PE, EE and BI constructs. While the moderating effects of age, gender and experience on the anxiety-intention link were found to be significant, there was no evidence suggesting that they moderate anxiety-PE and anxiety-EE relationships. Research limitations/implications - The limitations of the current study are inherent in its design and methodology, providing some directions for future research. Originality/value - This study contributes to the theory by including anxiety in the UTAUT and applying it to the online shopping context. The evidence about the significance of anxiety, with contingencies regarding age, gender and experience, supplies practical implications for online marketing strategies.