Does Identification Influence Continuous E-Commerce Consumption? The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivations

The motivation behind online consumption behavior is different from that of online social behavior, and research is lacking regarding the impact of identification on e-commerce consumption. The current research examines the influence of identification, which is perceived anonymity, and intrinsic motivation on the continuous purchasing behaviors on retailing e-commerce websites based on self-determination theory. The mediating role of intrinsic motivation was also empirically tested from a sample of 661 frequent consumers using the partial least squares approach. The findings were: (1) Identification negatively influences perceived anonymity, and its low, but significantly positive, influence on continuous e-commerce consumption were totally mediated by perceived competence, perceived autonomy, and perceived relatedness. (2) Perceived anonymity positively influences self-determination factors, which has partly mediating impact between perceived anonymity and continuous consumption. (3) The authenticity and concealment of identity are based on different mechanisms, but both of them are conducive to promoting continuous purchases. On retailing e-commerce websites, customers’ identity management should consider both identification in the background and anonymity perception in the service, and the contributions of the service to promote consumers’ perceived competence and perceived autonomy are important in continuous consumption.