Creating the National e-Commerce Consumer Through Complementors: A Cross-Cultural Study

The place of culture in e-commerce markets is an area of considerable research interest and debate. This qualitative study, conducted by semi-structured interviews with e-commerce users in France, Czechia, and Ukraine, aims to uncover how consumer practices within e-commerce vary cross-culturally. Findings suggest that cultural differences in consumer practices are produced by the specific national e-commerce setting rather than being expressed within it. Specifically, local complementors, such as payment and delivery systems, shape consumer agency and expectations in online transactions through a mechanism described as market agencing in preceding literature, which subsequently results in distinct national consumer norms. The description of the unique characteristics of the French, Czech, and Ukrainian national e-commerce markets resulting from the distinct usage of local complements is provided based on the empirical findings. The findings of this research challenge the classical cultural studies approach, which locates the origin of cultural specifics outside the market. The study also proposes testable hypotheses for further cross-cultural research of online consumption.