The Relationship between Students Characteristics and Attitude towards Online Shopping

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Internet has become a vital tool for people that living in the new technology era and younger generation is the first been affected by this technology. If given the opportunity to compare between generations in terms of adapting new technology, we could see that younger generation is the fastest generation that can adapt in any kind of new technology. Due to that factor, they are familiar and always been connected with the latest technology. Since that factor, the younger generation can accept the internet as one of medium to do their shopping. Online shopping becomes popular because there are a lot of medium those consumers can look out to find products for example in social network (Facebook, twitter, instagram and etc). This research is purposely to study on the characteristics of the university students characteristics that influence their attitude towards online shopping. Majority of university students are among the young generation whereby they are sensitive with the changes and can get used to the latest technology. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH This research is purposely to explore the university students characteristics that influence their attitude towards online shopping. The results between the relationship variable which is the level of online shopping attitude and the factors that influence attitude will be presented. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The research questions that guided the study are: 1) Is there any differences in consumer characteristics towards the students attitude towards online shopping a. By gender b. By internet connection c. By intention to buy online 2) What are the factors that could influence students attitude to adopting online shopping in UiTM Khazanah Alam, Pahang? 3) What is the level of students attitude towards online shopping?

HYPOTHESES H1: The attitude toward online shopping is significantly different based on various consumers demographic H2: The attitude toward online shopping is significantly different based on various consumer purchase preferences H3: The attitude toward online shopping is significantly different based on various consumers benefit perception H4: The attitude toward online shopping is significantly different based on various consumer lifestyles H5: The attitude toward online shopping is significantly different based on various online shopping rates As a further step, this paper encompasses the literature review regarding consumer demographics, consumer purchase preference, consumer benefit perception, consumer lifestyle and also the attitude of consumer towards online shopping.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW INTRODUCTION

1) CONSUMER DEMOGRAPHIC Several researchers have carried out studies in their effort to examine consumers online shopping behavior. For example Xu and Paulins (2005) and Acilar (2012), study various characteristics of students in terms of demographic toward online shopping. These authors concluded that some of demographic factors (such as gender, age, income, usage of the internet, employment status, while attending school and car access had important influences on the students attitudes). The outcome also stated that there is a positive correlation between income level and positive attitude toward online shopping whereby as the monthly family income increases, participants have more positive attitudes toward online shopping. The students that have more monthly income and have more internet self-efficacy have

positive attitude and intension to shop online. Meanwhile for Mubin (2012) the result shows that participants who have credit card have more familiarity and less anxiety concerning internet shopping. Consumer demographic is the external factors that are refer to variables such as age, gender, income, education and occupation. These variables will be using to determine the attitude of the shopper when shopping via online. One of the internet surveys indicate that online population is being using by younger generation, level of education is higher, higher level of income even though the gaps are gradually closing,(Bellman and colleaques, 1999). Also according to the Bellman previous attitude like earlier online purchases is the most important to determine online shopping. Li & Zhang (2002) has stated that demographic is not show as an important sign that affecting shopping attitude but demographic is appear to play important part in determining whether people use the internet.

Bhatnagar and colleagues (2000) identified that consumer demographic in term of gender men and women on internet buying attitude is not strong because both of this gender tend to buy different types of product or services via the internet. According to Forrester Research also indicate that demographic factor is not strong to show the impact towards the buying attitude on online shopping.

2) CONSUMER PURCHASE PREFERENCES

Consumers prefer to purchase through online due to a few reasons. According to Saprikis et al, (2010), the reasons consumer prefer purchase and buying product using online shopping because the main reason is the online shopping offer lower prices compared to traditional stores. Study by Jiang (2002) suggests that pricing is becoming a more important factor in online shoppers attitude. The reason been followed by the easement of online buying procedures and the wide variety of available products.

Smith and Rupp (2003) in their study stated that when the internet shoppers feel contented to surf internet for convenience, they are will make online shopping. Other than that, one study done by Lim (2003) also propose that online shopping do not have pressure compare with shopping in the shop and this way can give shoppers more time to make a purchase and also gives convenience to the shoppers.

3) CONSUMER BENEFIT PERCEPTION

Perceived benefits are advantageous results derive from attributes. The benefits can be physiological, psychological, sociological or material in nature (Gutman, 1982). Within the online shopping context, the perceptions of the consumer are the sum of online shopping advantages or satisfactions that meet their needs or wants (Shwu-Ing, 2003). Commonly, the advantages of online shopping do influence the consumers buying behavior. The customer felt that the internet provides them with the ability to shop abroad and purchase any time of the day . Additionally, it makes them easy to find real bargains or compare shopping across different websites or within a particular website as well. (Saprikis et al, 2010). Delafrooz

et al. (2009) revealed the result, that the consumers are looking for more convenience (which are time and money saving), looking for cheaper prices and wider selection when they buying online and these factors making them as the dominant factors that motivates online consumer in Malaysia to buy online. As for the consumer who value more to the convenience, prices and wider selections that been offered to them, they tend to purchase more online and more often as compared to those who do not perceived the benefits of online shopping.

4) CONSUMER LIFESTYLE

Consumer have different personalities which may influenced them in making perception and how their perceived the online shopping behavior. According to Delafrooz et al (2009), consumers personality tendency was shown to affect their attitude toward online shopping which means that the personalities of individual will give affect towards the perception towards online shopping.

According to Bellman and colleagues (1999) suggest that people living wired lifestyle patronize e-stores spontaneously. These consumers use the Internet as a routine tool to receive and send emails, to do their work, to read news, to search information or for recreational purposes. Their routine use of internet for other purposes leads them to naturally use it as a shopping channel as well. Nowadays student use internet to do all the thing mention above and also change their lifestyle in the way of purchasing products. A study done by Koyuncu and Lien (2003) show that the kind of people who tend to purchase online usually have had experience purchasing online before and are confident of performing online shopping. Their lifestyle show that they do not worry about risk, they are concerned only to meet their needs.

5) THE ATTITUDE TOWARD ONLINE SHOPPING Attitudes toward online shopping are defined as a consumers positive or negative feelings related to purchasing behavior on the internet (Chiu et al.,2005; Schlosser, 2003a,b). In order to investigate the attitude towards buying behavior, we need to determine which consumer characteristics that can influence them to buy through internet. Xu and Paulins, (2005), showed that the characteristics of good price, fit of products, convenience, secure credit card information, good quality and easy return policy were viewed by majority of the respondents as very important to their positive attitude to purchase of apparel products. Generally participants have positive attitudes toward online shopping (Acilar, 2012) and it also revealed that generally male students have more positive attitude toward online shopping than female counterparts. The other characteristic that influence the attitude towards buying online are the internet provides easy access to information about goods/services, comprehensive information, purchasing goods online (they can purchase goods at any time of the day, can access to variety of products). Acilar (2012) also revealed that the consumer believe they can get better price online and believe that online shopping saves walking from store to store (whereby they can stay home and shop. The result of multiple regression analysis for attitude toward online shopping and factors of online shopping orientation, perceived benefits from the research that conducted by Delafrooz et al (2009) showed there is a significant positive correlation for purchase convenience, price and wide selection and utilitarian orientation.

CONCLUSION Fishbein and Ajzen (Ajzen and Fisbein, 1980) model supports, there was a significant relationship between students attitudes and intentions toward online shopping for apparel

products. The more favorable of the customer attitudes towards online shopping it will be greater the intentions of the customers towards online shopping. (Xu and Paulins, 2005)

HYPOTHESES Demographics have no influence on attitudes toward online shopping University students attitudes toward shopping online based on their beliefs and evaluation of certain attributes of online shopping Consumer purchase preferences have no influence toward the attitude toward online shopping Consumer benefit perception have no influence toward the online shoppings attitude Consumer lifestyle have no influence toward the online shoppings attitude.

CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Consumer Demographic

INTERVENING VARIABLES

Consumer purchase preference

The attitude toward online shopping

Online shopping rate

Consumer benefit perception

Consumer lifestyle

This framework based on the literature review and previous study by Shwu-Ing Wu, The relationship between consumer characteristics and attitude toward online shopping (2003). This framework will describe the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. Independent variables consist of Consumer Demographic, Consumer Purchase Preference, Consumer Benefit Perception and Consumer lifestyle. Intervening variable in this framework is the attitude towards online shopping and online shopping rate as a dependent variable.

METHODOLOGY The study was taken place at Universiti Teknologi Mara, Bandar Jengka Pahang. This location is select because it is convenience and the accessibility is broad enough. The respondent for this study involve of 100 students from Faculty of Business Management. The questionnaires were distributed to students that taking Diploma in Business and Diploma in Banking.

The respondents were being selected using simple random sampling. The data for this study was collected using questionnaires that consist of five sections. These sections are consumer demographic, consumer purchase preference, consumer benefit perception, consumer lifestyle and the attitude towards online shopping. For the section A, consumer demographic is using nominal scale to assign certain subject to certain categories or groups. For the attitude toward online shopping using likert scale from 1 to 5 (1 is for strongly disagree until 5 strongly agree).

Variables Consumer demographic Consumer purchase preference Consumer benefit perception Consumer lifestyle Attitude towards online shopping

Number of Questions 8 9 16 6 15

Table 1: Research Instruments