THE DARK SIDE OF ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This study uses the stimulus-organism-response approach to explore online consumer attitudes and behaviors that are detrimental to themselves and sellers. A causal framework capable of explaining these behaviors was developed using content analysis of memes. Furthermore, screenshots were circulated online to the Indonesian public to capture these dark attitudes and behaviors. The result showed that three attitudes influence consumer behavior, which also harms them, namely preference for endorsers, overconsumption, and distance sensitivity. Furthermore, consumer behavior detrimental to sellers has roots in six attitudes, namely skepticism, over expectation, unexpected demand, generation gap, spam awareness, and misperception. These findings suggest that both sellers and consumers need to modify their behavior to produce online transactions beneficial to both parties in a sustainable manner