A Study of Online Purchasing Intention During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Lebanese Context

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of selected factors (website quality, website brand, trust, SNS usage through mobile application, eWOM, and mobile phone addiction) on online purchase intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also investigates the mediating impact of trust on the association between website quality, website brand, and online purchase intention. Data were collected from 226 Facebook users in Lebanon. The hierarchical regression analysis was used to evaluate the impact of these factors on online purchase intention. The results show that only website brand and mobile phone addiction were significantly related to online purchase intention. It was also found that trust does not have a mediation effect on the relationship between website brand and online purchase intention. However, trust can be considered as a partial mediator of the relationship between website quality and online purchase intention. Finally, practical implications are discussed. Then directions for future research are presented.