Philippine E-Journals

Chinese and French Consumer Perceived Risk in Online Shopping: The Role of Uncertainty Avoidance

Lili Zheng | Michel Plaisent | Pascal Pecquet | Prosper Bernard Jr.

Discipline: Business, Management

 

Abstract:

The perceived risks associated with online shopping have a critical effect on consumer decision making. Cultural values provide a good theoretical basis for understanding perceived risk. With such an increasing online consumer spending in China and France and significant cultural differences, better understanding of online shopping risk as perceived by e-shoppers in these two countries becomes particularly relevant. However, the research in the Chinese and French context is limited. Given this reality, the purpose of this study is to investigate non-personal and personal perceived risk differences in Chinese and French online consumers and to provide an explanation in cross-cultural perspectives. Both the Chinese and French respondents perceive low levels of non-personal and personal risk regarding their online clothing purchases. But it is interesting to note that the Chinese respondents perceive higher non-personal risk and personal risk than the French respondents, which is contrary to the expected results. This might be explained by the change of Chinese culture.