Will you spend more money and time on internet shopping when the product and situation are right?

Different from past online shopping research which focuses on exploring the cognitive and attitudinal aspects of online consumption behaviors, this study focuses on examining how online shopping motivation and product type affect the searching and spending behavior in an online website. In particular, the interactive effect between online shopping motivation and product type are explored in the study. A 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial experiment with two shopping motivations (i.e., goal-oriented and experiential) and two product types (i.e., hedonic and utilitarian product) was conducted. In addition to the main effects of online shopping motivation and product type, the results show that there is an interactive effect between online shopping motivation and product type on budget control. Participants conducted the loosest budget control when purchasing hedonic products in a goal-oriented online shopping trip because the shopping motivation provides a good justification for online shoppers to purchase hedonic goods without guilt or regret.