Designing a Behavioral Model for Cyberspace Consumers: A Mixed Methods Study based on the Psychology of Human Behavior

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Social Communication Sciences, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Social Communication Sciences, East Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract
Objective: The main objective of the present study was to design a behavioral model for cyberspace consumers based on the psychology of human behavior.
Method: In this study, a mixed methods design was used. The statistical population included two groups: (a)10 experts in the field of media and communications sciences selected purposefully for the qualitative part; (b) 384 Digikala consumers selected based on the Morgan and Krejci table due to the uncertainty of the study population and on a cluster-sampling manner. The experts took part in semi-structured interviews while the 384 participants in the quantitative section completed a researcher-made questionnaire. In the qualitative section, three types of coding including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding were used via using the MAXQDA software while Smart PLS 3 software was used to examine the quantitative data due to the abnormality of the data, the exploratory nature of the research, the complexity of the model, and the purpose of the research, namely the design and test the proposed model.
Results: The results of the research showed that the factors affecting cyberspace consumer’s behavior include: 1) causal factors (trust, purchase incentives, support, etc.); 2) contextual factors (individual and psychological factors, family factors, etc.); 3) intervention factors (security concerns, negative attitudes, etc.); 4) strategies (strengthening security, personalizing services, interaction-oriented, and producing educational content); and 5) consequences (psychological, social and cultural, economic, technological, security, and legal consequences).
Conclusions: The results of the structural equation model showed that the model of cyberspace consumer behavior has a good fit, suggesting a practical model for assessing digital consumers’ behaviors.

Keywords

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