Website Quality, Perceived Usefulness, Trust and Social Influence as Predictors of Online Purchase Intention: A Correlational and Regression Analysis of E-Commerce Consumers in the NCR

Abstract

Electronic commerce has now emerged as a dominant channel of retail exchange in urban India, yet the behavioral factors that shape browsing into buying remain an active field of enquiry in research. This study attempts to explore the relationship between four predictor constructs website quality, perceived usefulness, trust and social influence (online reviews) and online purchase intention among online shoppers in urban Indian settings. A structured questionnaire based on validated five-point Likert scales was utilized to collect the data. Data were collected from 320 respondents residing in the national capital region. To peruse collected data, Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and multiple linear regression techniques were used as the primary statistical techniques. All four predictors were positively and significantly correlated with purchase intention (r ranging from 0.35 to 0.67, p<0.001) and the regression model explained approximately 46% of the variance in purchase intention, F (4, 315) = 67.01, p = <0.001, R² = 0.463. Perceived usefulness emerged as the strongest predictor (β = 0.59, p<0.001), followed by trust, website quality and social influence. Assumptions check indicated no serious violations of multicollinearity, independence, or homoscedasticity assumptions. The findings also provide the Technology Acceptance Model and trust-based e-commerce literature to an urban Indian context and present practical impact for online retailers seeking to bolster the purchase intention through website design, usefulness signalling, trust cues and review ecosystems.