Abstract
Purpose - Transparency, seller reputation, and website security are considered to be important factors that influence online customer purchasing decisions in China. This paper empirically examines the relative influence of Taobao.com on customers' online purchasing decisions. Research design, data, and methodology - We perform structural equation analysis, with a sample of 306 observations. The data comes from consumers' real transaction experiences from a specific website. This gives the results of our study more generalizability than studies using subjects who are not asked to engage in real transactions. Results - The results of this study reveal that perceived security and perceived reputation are critical factors affecting consumer trust and perceived transparency is most closely associated with purchase intention. Conclusions - The findings suggest that perceived transparency plays a significant role in increasing online consumer's purchase intention. The knowledge of the relative impacts of these factors and their roles in the customer transaction experience will be useful in developing customized sales strategies. The results of this study reveal that perceived transparency exerts a stronger effect than perceived reputation on consumer purchase intentions.