Title: The influence of online retail/service brand equity and effect of country of origin on e-marketplace patronage intention

Authors: Kwanrudee Prachaseree; Norzieiriani Ahmad; Normalisa Md Isa

Addresses: School of Business Management, College of Business, University Utara, Malaysia ' School of Business Management, College of Business, University Utara, Malaysia ' School of Business Management, College of Business, University Utara, Malaysia

Abstract: E-marketplaces are estimated as the primary online shopping channel in Thailand; however, the local e-marketplaces cannot compete with foreign competitors. Besides, Thai online shoppers prefer to shop from cross-border websites. Brand equity can strengthen traditional retailers' patronage intention. However, the brand equity concept, which is particular for online retailers, may be more suitable for strengthening the e-marketplaces of the country. Also, studies on the effect of country of origin (COO) on online retailers in terms of foreignness are limited. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the e-marketplace patronage intention of Thai online shoppers by utilising the extended theory of reasoned action (TRA), with online retail/service (ORS) brand equity as an independent variable and the effect of COO as a moderator variable. The findings reveal that all of the independent variables are positively significant with e-marketplace patronage intention except the effect of COO. The relationship between attitude towards behaviour and the e-marketplace patronage intention is negatively moderated by the effect of COO.

Keywords: e-marketplace; electronic marketplace; patronage intention; theory of reasoned action; TRA; online retail/service; ORS; brand equity; country of origin; COO; attitude towards behaviour; subjective norm.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2023.127524

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2023 Vol.18 No.1, pp.1 - 29

Received: 13 Apr 2021
Accepted: 01 Dec 2021
Published online: 07 Dec 2022 *