Anti-consumption of global e-marketplaces: Integrating the attitude-intention-behavior hierarchy with identity-based contingency effects

Despite the growing market power of global e-marketplaces, little is known about consumers’ rejection of such dominant e-businesses. This study aims to offer a better understanding of antecedent, consequence, and moderating mechanisms behind consumer reluctance to buy from global e-marketplaces. By integrating identity theory into the attitude–intention–behavior hierarchy, we examine how different consumer identities act as boundary conditions that shape distinct stages of the decision-making process. Therefore, this study examines the contingent role of two consumer identities (political and sustainable) in the relationships between e-commerce attitude, reluctance to buy, and online purchase preferences. Based on survey data from 502 Spanish online consumers, the findings indicate that a favorable general attitude toward e-commerce may diminish consumers’ reluctance to buy from global e-marketplaces. Such anti-consumption intentions may, in turn, decrease consumer purchases from these global e-businesses to favor local e-commerce alternatives. Political and sustainable identities moderated some of these relationships, thus recognizing the importance of social and individual identity considerations for understanding anti-consumption decisions in the context of online retailing.