Perception of the purchase budget (BGT) and purchase intention in smartphone selling industry: A cross-country analysis

The study explores the direct and mediated impacts of customers’ perception of purchase budget (BGT) on purchase intention (PIT) through perceived quality (PPQ), perceived price (PPR), and perceived benefit (PB) in a cross-country setting to understand BGT’s role in predicting customer purchase intention in smartphone selling through international online shopping platforms. An online survey was conducted in Kenya, France, and the United States to gather data from 429 consumers who had recently purchased one or more smartphones through international online shopping platforms. SmartPLS-4 was used to test the hypotheses. Results for the entire sample showed a significantly positive mediating role of PPR and PPQ between BGT and PIT. However, the mediating roles of PPQ and PB were not significant in the samples from Kenya, France, and the United States. The results also showed that PPR plays a significant and positive mediating role between BGT and PIT in samples from Kenya, France, the United States, and overall. However, the direct relationships between BGT and PPQ, PPR, and PB are shown to be negatively significant.