An empirical investigation of pay‐on‐delivery mode of payment and social media constructs as predictors of online purchase intentions

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Urvashi Tandon, Sakshi
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2370

ACADEMIC PAPER

An empirical investigation of pay-on-delivery mode of payment

and social media constructs as predictors of online purchase

intentions

Urvashi Tandon

1

| Sakshi

2

1

Chitkara Business School, Chitkara University,

Rajpura, Punjab, India

2

Haryana School of Business, Guru

Jambheshwar University of Science and

Technology, Hisar, Haryana, India

Correspondence

Urvashi Tandon, Chitkara Business School,

Chitkara University, Rajpura, Punjab, India.

Email: urvashi.tandon@chitkara.edu.in

The present research study has examined social media constructs, pay-on-delivery

(POD) mode of payment, and its relationship with purchase intentions while making

online purchases. The data were collected through an online as well as an offline survey

from respondents in North Indian states. An online survey questionnaire link was shared

on different social media platforms and social networking sites. A total of 385 responses

were received, of which 354 responses were considered for the study. Results revealed

that ratings and reviews and recommendations and referrals are significant social media

constructs. Social media constructs had a positive association with trust. Furthermore,

the POD mode of payment also emerged as a strong and significant antecedent of trust

which in turn leads to an increase in purchase intentions. The present study contributes

to the literature by analyzing the impact of the POD mode of payment and social media

constructs on trust. There is sparse research on the impact of payment mechanisms in

generating trust toward online shopping a gap which the study has tried to fill up.

1|INTRODUCTION

There has been a tremendous increase in online shopping from the

past two decades. This increase in online shopping may be attributed

to internet penetration, rising traffic jams, and pay-on-delivery (POD)

mode of payment (ASSOCHAM, 2014; IBEF, 2019). The Indian

e-commerce market is predicted to grow exponentially to US$200

billion by 2026 (Report, 2019). Driven by escalating smartphone pene-

tration and due to the unveiling of 4G networks, the e-retail sales are

expected to grow by 31% to touch US$ 32.70 billion in India. There

were approximately 40 private equity and venture deals having value

US$1129 million in the first half of 2018 in India (Kantar IMRB ICUBE

Report, 2019). A number of initiatives like Make in India, Digital India,

and Skill India have been announced by the existing government to

support digitalization and e-commerce growth in India. A notable ini-

tiative, namely “Internet Saathi”to enhance internet penetration

among rural women by Google and Tata's trust, has motivated and

trained over 16 million women to use internet services. Due to these

initiatives, the internet user base has exceeded 500 million and is

likely to reach 627 million by the end of 2019 (Kantar IMRB ICUBE

Report, 2019) but at present only 147.8 million people are using

e-commerce indicating the increase in internet population has not

been converted into online shopping numbers. At the end of 2017,

online retail was 2% of Indian Retail Industry (Forrester Research,

2018). Therefore, it becomes necessary to understand the factors

which instigate people to purchase products and service online.

Social media platforms have resulted in a new format where compa-

niesandcustomerscaninteractwitheachotherandsharetheirviews

about products purchased (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016; Tandon &

Kiran, 2019). Social media, due to its gaining reputation, is attaining a

higher share of advertising budgets from the marketers. Hence, the signif-

icance of publicizing on social networking sites (SNS) like WhatsApp,

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc. is noticed by researchers, orga-

nizations, and managers (Ellison et al., 2011;Liang,Ho,Li,&

Turban, 2011; Saxena & Khanna, 2013). As a majority of internet users

consider one or more forms of online social media (Barenblatt, 2015), it

has become an indispensable part of day-to-day operations especially for

those who have adopted this online platform (Sheikh, Yezheng, Islam,

Ikram, & Khan, 2019; Tandon & Kiran, 2019;Singhetal.,2018). Although,

social media constructs do not sell the products directly but assist in

increasing the social presence, thereby generating stronger customer rela-

tionships (Da Silva & Friberg, 2017). Marketers increasingly hinge upon

Received: 30 May 2020 Revised: 10 July 2020 Accepted: 10 August 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2370

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2370. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of10

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2370