This study examines the motivations for imitation in retailersβ online channel entry. Extant literature suggests that legitimacy and efficiency are the primary motivators for firms to imitate. We develop hypotheses which center on the belief that not all firm types would use the same motivator for deciding to imitate and enter the online market;
legitimacy would be the driving force for some retailer types while efficiency would be the motivator for others. We test our hypotheses on a unique data collected from multiple sources. Our findings confirm that the motivators for imitation vary across retailer types.
Bhatnagar, Amit and Nikolaeva, Ralitza and Ghose, Sanjoy, Online Market Entry: The Motivations for Imitation Across Retailer Types (November 2014). Managerial and Decision Economics, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=252208
