Framework for Assessing Online Shopping Use Under the Digital Transformation of the Economy in a Post-Pandemic Era

Abstract

The sudden appearance of COVID-19 has positively ameliorated digital presence generally as well as B2C e-shopping transactions. This situation attracts researchers' interest to unravel the effect of COVID-19 vis-à-vis various e-commerce activities. Recent studies have already shown a direct impact of the pandemic on many businesses, especially B2C transactions. However, its moderation effect and its effect as a control variable were scarcely traced in the literature. Hence, the chapter explains and proposes a framework for assessing online shopping use under the digital transformation in a post-pandemic era, including both a moderating and a control effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on the TAM theoretical model, the proposed framework added risk factors and channel credibility as additional independent variables and the COVID-19 pandemic as both a moderating and a control variable, respectively. Using existing literature, the authors establish relationships among variables and conceptualise both the moderating and control effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively.