Factors Affecting Online Shopping Behaviour

132 Pages·2009·0.78 MB·English

Factors Affecting Online Shopping Behaviour:
A Study of Thai Consumers
Siriporn Thananuraksakul
'BA (Ramkhamkaeng University, Thailand)
MS (Azusa Pacific University, USA)
International Graduate School of Business
Division of Business
University of South Australia
Submitted on this 28th of May in the year 2007
For the partial requirements of the degree of
Doctor of Business Administration
UHWEEZM OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
LAY
University of South Australia
Doctor of Business Administration
Dissertation Submission Form
Candidate name: UniSA Candidate ID number:
Siriporn Thananuraksakul 100033018
Dear Sir/Madam
To the best of my knowledge, the dissertation contains all of the candidate's own work
completed under my supervision, and is worthy of examination.
I have approved for submission the dissertation that is being submitted for examination.
Signed Date:May 28, 2007
Dr. Patricia Arttachariya. Supervisor
Signed- Date:
Dr. Margaret Patrickson, Panel Leader
Supported by:
eak-/0-7
Signed: Date:
Dr. Marguerite Kolar, Chair: IGSM Doctoral Board of Examiners
Declaration of Dissertation
I hereby declare that this dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the Doctor of Business
Administration degree is my own work and that all contributions from any other persons or
sources are properly and duly cited. I further declare that it does not constitute any previous
work whether published or otherwise. In making this declaration, I understand and
acknowledge any breaches of the declaration constitute academic misconduct which may
result in my expulsion from the program and/or exclusion from the award of the degree.
Signature of Candidate
Siriporn Thananuralcsakul
May 28, 2007
ENDORSEMENT
Signature of Principle Supervisor
f
Dr. Patricia Arttachariya
May 28, 2007
Acknowledgments
It has been quite a time since I started the program. I remember that all professors told
students that they needed to find the topic they liked because they will be with it for at least
two years. I now agree with them. After the proposal was approved, I have been
concentrating on online shopping ever since. The pathway of this research was long, tough
with memories of torture and panic, but filled with fun as well. I have learnt many things
during this journey. It has been a worthwhile experience. There are many people to whom I
would like to express my gratitude, without them I would never have completed my research.
The first person I am very grateful to is my beloved mother; Noodaeng Howanichwit,
my inspiration and strength. I would like to dedicate this research to her as she passed away
last year. My gratitude also goes to my family who have supported me throughout.
The two special persons to whom I owe a debt of gratitude are Dr Margaret Patrickson
who has been very supportive of my work, and Dr Patricia Arttachariya who is my third
supervisor. She has been an excellent guide and role model for me, without her I would not
be successful.
I have had three supervisors but at different times, my two previous supervisors were
Dr Brian Sheehan and Dr Baudouin Neirynck whom I would like to thank for their guidance
and suggestions.
Many thanks go to Dr Porpan Vachajitpan and his staff who assisted me on all
administrative matters through the program. Also, many thanks go to the Dr Helen Thorne,
the head of the DBA program and to UniSA DBA program staff who assisted me on all the
procedural matters.
During the journey, I made many friends whom I would also like to thank. Many
thanks go to Chanchai, Hugh, Piyathida and Pornsri. They have shared my anxiety, and
confusion. But it has all been worth the effort.
Many thanks go to my statistics teacher; ICreeta Buabai, who was very patient when I
needed his advice, his text books, and sometimes, his free dinners. Also, thanks to Dr.
Brianne Hastie who advised me on statistical treatment through the amendment period.
Last, but not least, many thanks go to all of my participants who voluntarily completed
the questionnaire and contributed their views on their online shopping perspectives. Without
them, there would no data to analyze and this research would not have been completed.
Siripom Thananuraksakul
May 28, 2007
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Abstract
Online shopping is a relatively new type of retail shopping. It has now been adopted
all over the world including Thailand. In Thailand, electronic shopping is still not as well
known or accepted as in many other countries, and though the knowledge of online shopping
in Thailand is now beginning to increase rapidly, the factors influencing online shopping
behaviour of Thai consumers have not been investigated. There are several articles written on
online shopping, which have studied the influencing factors, but these have not been
conducted in a Thai setting. The behaviour of Thai people is regarded as unique since they
are classified as being in a collectivist or dependent culture, while most studies of online
shopping are in countries where the culture is classified as individualistic, which is more
independent. In particular, Thai consumers' purchasing intention is focused on in this
research. The study measures the factors that lead the shoppers to purchase goods or services
before their final purchasing decision. This research is aimed at contributing to the
knowledge on the factors influencing Thai online shoppers' purchasing intention, particularly
by shoppers in Bangkok. Other parties, such as corporate management, marketing executives,
web developers, web designers, and government agencies, can also obtain benefits from the
findings of this research.
The Theory of Planned Behaviour is adapted as the theoretical foundation for the
conceptual model used in the research. Five constructs from the conceptual model are tested
to find out the important influencing factors for online shopping in Bangkok, Thailand.
Descriptive research and an anonymous questionnaire are designed as the data collection
methodology and are used in the survey fieldwork conducted at central shopping malls in
Bangkok during November and December, 2005 covering 384 sample respondents. The
target-sampling respondents are working adults aged 25 years old and older, with Internet
competency. The Frequency and Mean are used to describe the sampling respondents'
profiles. The One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and single Multiple Regression are
used as the statistical tools in order to get a valid significance level for each variable
influencing Thai online shoppers' purchasing intentions. The software tool used is SPSS
version 11.5 for analysis of the statistics.
Five factors are found to be the main findings of this study which influence Thai
online shoppers' purchasing intentions. Eight of them; convenience, time saving, reasonable
price, Perceived Behavioural Control, shoppers' education, shoppers' income, shoppers' age,
and shoppers' occupation, are not found to be important variables whereas they were
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significant in previous studies, especially those conducted in the western countries. The
following factors: trust in online shops, positive attitude toward online shopping, shoppers'
friends, shoppers' colleagues, the members of shoppers' family, online buying experience and
male shoppers are all factors relevant to and which influence Bangkok online shoppers'
purchasing intentions. The most important factor among these is the positive attitude toward
online shopping of the respondents. These shoppers tend to display an intention to purchase
goods or services through an online shop only when they have a positive attitude toward
online shopping. A positive attitude to online shopping causes the intention to buy online
while a negative attitude has the opposite effect. In addition to the positive attitude toward
online shopping, online buying experience and gender need to be emphasized. This is the key
profile of shoppers who are likely to be the majority of those who use online shopping.
In conclusion, the five factors affecting online shopping for this study as mentioned
above contribute to the findings on Thai online buying behaviour. Sellers need to take these
factors into consideration and put them into their business plans in order to boost online sales,
and to remain competitive in the online market.
Table of Contents
Page
Declaration of Dissertation i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iv
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables x
List of Figures xii
Chapter 1: Generalities of the Study
Introduction
1.1 Background of the research 1
1.2 The Importance of Electronic Commerce 3
1.3 Statement of the problem 5
1.3.1 Research Question 5
1.4 Objective of the study 6
1.5 Scope of the research 7
1.6 Justification of the research 7
1.6.1 Theoretical contributions 7
1.6.2 Practical contributions 8
1.7 Outline of this thesis 8
1.8 Definition of Terms 9
Chapter 2: Literature review
Literature review 11
2.1 Introduction 11
2.1.1 Types of stores 12
Traditional stores 12
Modern stores 13
Discount stores 13
Offline stores overall 13
Offline stores where traditional shoppers come and shop 13
2.1.2 Online stores 15
2.2 Importance of online stores 16
2.2.1 Types of products online 19
2.2.2 Types of consumers who purchase online 19
2.2.3 Buying behaviour 21
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2.3 Gap in the Literature 22
2.4 Theoretical Framework use for online shopping consumers'
purchase intention behavior in the literature 23
2.4.1 The Theory of Reasoned Action 23
2.4.2 The Technology Acceptance Model 23
2.4.3 The Theory of Planned Behavior 24
2.5 Factors influencing online shopping, Conceptual model and
Hypotheses 26
2.5.1 Fa&ors influencing online shopping in the literature 26
2.5.2 Conceptual model 27
2.5.3 Hypotheses 28
2.5.3.1 Consumer demographics 28
2.5.3.2 Desired consequences 30
Convenience 30
Time saving 32
Price 32
Trust 34
2.5.3.3 Attitude towards online shopping 37
2,5.3.4 Subjective Norm 37
2.5.3.5 Perceived behavioural control 38
2.6 Conclusions 40
Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology
3.1 Introduction 42
3.2 The purpose of the study 42
3.3 Research Design 42
3.4 Respondents and Sampling procedure 44
3.4.1 Target Population 44
3.4.2 Determine Sample Size 44
3.4.3 Sampling Procedure 45
3.4.4 Response Rate 46
3.5 Research Instrument/Structured Questionnaire 46
3.6 Validity 49
3.7 Pretest/Reliability of Questionnaire 49
3.8 Ethical issue 50
3.9 Statistical Treatment of Data 51
3.9.1 Descriptive Analysis 51
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3.9.2 Inferential Statistics 51
Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis
4.1 Introduction 53
4.2 Demographic profiles 53
4.2.1 Gender 53
4.2.2 Education 54
4.2.3 Income 54
4.2.4 Age 54
4.2.5 Occupation 55
4.2.6 Experience of purchasing online 55
4.3 Attitudes toward relevant factors 56
4.4 Hypothesis analysis 57
4.4.1 One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) Testing 57
4.4.1.1 Hypothesis 1 57
4.4.1.2 Hypothesis 2 58
4.4.1.3 Hypothesis 3 59
4.4.1.4 Hypothesis 4 60
4.4.1.5 Hypothesis 5 60
4.4.1.6 Hypothesis 6 61
4.4.2 Multiple Regression Testing 62
4.4.2.1 Hypothesis 7 64
4:4.2.2 Hypothesis 8 64
4.4.2.3 Hypothesis 9 65
4.4.2.4 Hypothesis 10 65
4.4.2.5 Hypothesis 11 65
4.4.2.6 Hypothesis 12 66
4.4.2.7 Hypothesis 13 66
4.5 Data analysis summary 67
4.5.1 Test of hypotheses 67
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations
5.1 Introduction 68
5.2 Conclusions'about the research findings 69
5.3 Conclusions about the research model 71
5.3.1 Consumers/Shoppers' demographics 71
5.3.2 Desired consequences 72
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