Product and channel-related risk and involvement in online contexts

Activities aimed at reducing risk perception, strengthening consumer involvement and winning consumer loyalty are perhaps more difficult in an online context than in an off-line context due to the peculiar characteristics of online purchasing. This paper sets out to model the effect that certain consumer profile characteristics and three types of risk – social risk, channel risk and transaction risk – have on determining the buyer involvement toward the channel and toward the products or services, as well as their effects on purchase intention. Our results confirm that risk dimensions are interrelated, as are involvement dimensions, that social risk is closely related to involvement, and that frequency of purchase and buyer profiles affect involvement toward the online channel. They also give rise to a set of recommendations on the promotion of Internet commerce.