Factors influencing the behavior of online group-buying in Taiwan

This study presents three perspectives of sociology, economics, and psychology to investigate factors influencing the behavior of online group-buying. In Taiwan, group-buying is a unique online business model with great potential for influencing e-business. The study collects information on the demands of consumers to increase bargaining power and get volume discounts or better purchase conditions. In the past, most research focused on the viewpoint of pricing, however, this paper proposes an empirically validated comprehensive model. Data was collected from 327 buyers in an online group-buying marketplace in Taiwan. The results indicate that reciprocal and conformism of social perspective have the most significant impact on group-buying intentions, followed by the factor of trust from the psychological perspective, and finally the factor of price consciousness and demand externalities from the economic perspective. However, the consumersʹ actual behavior is not affected by their intentions.