Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to model the mediating effect of gender (offline and online) on shopping attitudes and purchase intentions. In 2009, 550 consumers responded face-to-face to a questionnaire yielding 515 usable responses. The conceptual model was tested with confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) across 5 product categories with separate models for males, females and both genders together. All models had adequate fit. We found that the relationship between online retail shopping attitudes, online gender, and purchase intention is significant for males but not for females. Conversely, offline gender appears to moderate the relationship between online retail shopping attitudes and purchase intention for females. In sum: online shopping is oriented towards males, whereas females prefer offline shopping. Research implications are discussed.