Will shoppers adopt online group buying? : understanding predictors of consumers' intention to adopt online group buying in a typical sub-Saharan African context

Globally, online group buying (OGB) enjoys wide acceptance within the ecosystem of electronic commerce. Despite its popularity, it is still nascent in Nigeria and most sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies. With increased internet and online shopping penetration in SSA, the low-price advantage of OGB, and price sensitivity exhibited by most SSA shoppers, we argue that the adoption of OGB is expected to be high among SSA shoppers. SSA countries have a diverse institutional and marketing environment, which makes it unlikely to explain consumer behaviour with the same factors used in another context. Therefore, understanding the potential predictors of OGB adoption would have far- reaching theory and practice implications. Accordingly, this study seeks to understand the predictors of shoppers' intention to adopt OGB in Nigeria, a typical SSA context. The theory of planned behaviour, social cognitive theory and empirical validations from the extant literature provide a theoretical framework for the study. Three hundred and twenty (320) members of the social media community were surveyed. Responses were analysed with regression analysis to test for the hypothesised relationships. The result underscores the importance of specific self-efficacy and previous experience as important predictors of group buying website adoption intention.