NEXUS BETWEEN SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP TO TECHNOLOGY AND CONSUMERS' ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper examines the link between the social construction of the relationship to technology and consumers' online shopping behaviour in a developing country, namely Tunisia. A qualitative model with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach was chosen to conduct the research. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 Tunisian consumers. By exploring and interpreting the consumers' online shopping experiences, our results show that Tunisian consumers' online shopping behaviour is often conditioned by the set of representations they co-construct around technologies in a socio-cultural environment. Five themes emerged from the consumers' experiences (1) New relationship to technology, (2) New form of trust, (3) Culture, (4) Government action and (5) Consumer behaviour. This research is unique in that it moves away from behavioural psychological approaches and uses a socio-constructivist approach, while drawing on Giddens' structuration theory, to investigate the link between the social construction of the relationship to technology and consumers' online shopping behaviour.