Self-consciousness in online shopping behavior

Self-consciousness can be considered as the internal disposition to direct attention to oneself. This dispositional tendency can be focused on private aspects of the self, but also on public characteristics of the individual. We examine self-consciousness in online consumer behavior. This concept has been poorly investigated in consumer research. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of the dimensions of self-consciousness in consumer adoption of online shopping. This study is based on a sample of 725 Spanish undergraduates. Findings indicated that public self-consciousness is a significant predictor of the adoption of online shopping, and inversely affects perceived ease of use and usefulness. These results may have important implications in the segmentation of users of self-service technologies.