Rural Consumers’ Online Shopping for Food and Fiber Products as a Form of Outshopping

Authors

Sharon J. Lennon, University of Delaware, NewarkFollow
Young Ha, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Kim K. P. Johnson, University of Minnesota, St. PaulFollow
Cynthia R. Jasper, University of Wisconsin, MadisonFollow
Mary Lynn Damhorst, Iowa State UniversityFollow
Nancy Lyons, South Dakota State UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

1-2009

Comments

Published in Clothing & Textiles Research Journal 27:1 (January 2009), pp. 3–30; doi: 10.1177/0887302X07313625 Copyright © 2009 International Textile & Apparel Association; published by Sage Publications. Used by permission. http://ctr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/1/3

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to longitudinally investigate rural consumers’ online shopping for food and fiber products as a function of satisfaction with local retailing and outshopping. Innovation diffusion theory was used to guide the research. Eight hundred seventy-nine rural consumers from 11 states completed surveys twice (in 2000 and 2003). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and analyses of variance. Dissatisfaction with local retailing in 2000 was a powerful driver of outshopping, beliefs about online shopping, and online shopping (both in 2000 and in 2003). Outshopping was positively related to online shopping at both points in time, suggesting that variables found to affect outshopping in the literature may affect online shopping in a similar way.