Factors affecting post graduate students' attitude and behavioral intention toward online shopping

Abstract

The increasing use of the internet in Malaysia provides a developing prospect for e- marketers. Such marketers’ awareness of the factors affecting Malaysian’s shopping attitudes and intentions is crucial to further develop their marketing strategies in converting potential customers into active ones, while maintaining the existing online customers. Attitude is an important determinant of online shopping behaviour and represents the best estimates of future behavior available to market researchers. Among all the theories, the decomposed theory of planned behavior model determines particular salient beliefs that might influence information technology usage and will predict the behavioral intention more reliable. This study sets out to examine the factors influencing students’ online shopping attitudes and intentions at University Technology Malaysia through a five-point likert scale questionnaire. Also present study examined the mediating role of attitude between independent variables and behavioral intention. In this research the non- probability and simple random sampling were chosen and the data were collected from 375postgraduate students in university. Data were analyzed by structural equation modelling using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. During the analysis, several methods were used such as, reliability and validity analysis and t-test. The results of the study showed that perceived usefulness and compatibility were significantly and positively correlated with the attitude of students towards online shopping and also trust as an extent factor indicated to have positive influence on mediator, while perceived ease of use did not provide the significant relationship on attitude. Moreover, it was found that attitude fully mediate the relationship between trust and behavioural intention and also perceived usefulness and behavioral intention, whereas, attitude partially mediates the relation between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention and also compatibility and behavioural intention. This study provides e-retailers with an assessment of attitude and intention of students segment market to enhance their existing marketing strategies and identify the new emergence of opportunity.