The impact of transaction costs on consumer behaviour in online business: empirical findings from China
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: A wealth of literature exists on the analysis of transaction costs in the field of economics, which has emerged as a dominant theoretical foundation for institutional and organisational economics.Despite its prominence, the role of transaction costs in understanding consumer behaviour in online business remains underexplored.This paper addresses this gap by examining how perceived transaction cost efficiency and perceived value directly influence online purchase intention among Chinese cosmetics consumers.A structured questionnaire survey was conducted among 455 online consumers in China, and data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling.The findings indicate that perceived transaction cost efficiency has a statistically significant positive effect on online purchase intention, whereas perceived value exhibits a negative but non-significant relationship with online purchase intention.These results suggest that perceived transaction cost efficiency is a more salient driver of online purchase decisions than perceived value in China's cosmetics e-commerce market.
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7171531601