Online Buying Behavior in Saudi Arabia and New Zealand

116 Pages·2013·1.59 MB·English

Online Buying Behavior in Saudi Arabia and New Zealand:
A Comparative Case Study

Mohammed Alsuwat
B.Ed.(Taif University), PGDip.CIS. (AUT)

A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
Degree of Master of Computing and Information Sciences (MCIS)
School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences

Auckland, New Zealand
2013
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Declaration

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by
another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the
qualification of any other degree or diploma of a University or other institution of
higher learning, except where due acknowledgement is made in the
acknowledgements.

...........................
Signature
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Acknowledgements

This research was completed at the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences,
AUT University, Auckland.

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Almighty God, my provider for
His unlimited love and superb guidance during the conducting of this research.

I would like to show my gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Brian Cusack whose
encouragement, beneficial guidance, critical comments and creative suggestions have
greatly contributed to this research.

I would like to express many thanks to Dr Wasl Alah Alsuwat , who assisted me in
getting the approval to conduct the interviews at Taif University. And also Catrion
Carruthers for proof reading.

I am grateful to everyone who has set aside their time and shared their expertise with
me.
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Abstract

The internet has become an indispensable part of daily life, and businesses realize
that the internet can be another channel for e-commerce that reaches local and global
consumers.
This research is an examination of three hypotheses that demonstrate the
significance of the user-interface, the online payment system and consumers
relationships within their social environments as elements that may impact on an
individuals’ decision to buy online.
H1. There is a positive relationship between the quality of online shopping
websites and customers’ decision to purchase online in Saudi Arabia and
New Zealand.
H2. Relationships and the experience of others is an important factor that has
an impact on the customer behavior and decision making to buy online.
H3. There is a positive relationship between the existence of good online
payment systems and the tendency of the consumers to shop online.
This study is an exploration of the factors that influence e-shoppers’ purchases using
a comparative case study with interviews that explore the post-experience
perceptions of a sample set of online shoppers. The researcher takes the view that
consumers from different cultures recognize different factors affecting their
consumer attitudes. This research is a comparison of online buying behavior in Saudi
Arabia and New Zealand. Due to the underdeveloped state of online shopping in
Saudi Arabia despite it being one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the research
was motivated by a desire to identify the factors that may give rise to this situation.
It was deemed impractical to study all factors, so the researcher focused on
factors that affect consumers’ attitudes. The selection process was based on the belief
that consumers are the most important agents in the e-commerce process. An
exploratory, qualitative research method is adopted to gain an in-depth understanding
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of the factors that affect consumers’ behavior in purchasing online. A semi-structured
interview was designed and 12 participants were interviewed (four participant from
New Zealand, four participants from Saudi Arabia and the last four are from Saudis
living in New Zealand). A content analysis was undertaken with the assistance of the
qualitative software NVIVO 9.2 to answer the questions designed for this thesis
project.
The key findings of this research are that the elements tested in the hypotheses
were not as important to the selected participants (sample selected for the study).
The evidence showed that privacy and security issues, late delivery service and
credit cards fees were the most important factors for the New Zealand case study,
whereas the key factors in the Saudi case study were the failure of the postal system,
digital illiteracy (ignorance of this service) and a lack of motivation to purchase
online. Future studies using a large quantitative sample are recommended to build on
these exploratory findings. It is hoped that this research will provide a guideline to
improve the state of online shopping in Saudi Arabia by taking advantage of the
information provided by this research.
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 
1.1 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF RESEARCH ........................................................... 1 
1.2 RESEARCH MOTIVATION AND PURPOSE ...................................................................... 2 
1.3 THESIS STRUCTURE .......................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................ 6 
2.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 6 
2.2 GENERAL CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR ................................................................. 6 
2.2.1 Five – Stage Decision Making Process in Purchase ............................................................ 7 
2.2.2 The Delivery Gap ........................................................................................................ 9 
2.2.3 Service Quality ...........................................................................................................11 
2.3 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR ONLINE .................................................................. 13 
2.4 E-COMMERCE BUSINESS MODELS .............................................................................. 14 
2.5 REVIEW OF THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT ONLINE SHOPPING .............................. 16 
2.5.1 Payment Systems ....................................................................................................... 17 
2.5.2 Service Delivery ........................................................................................................ 17 
2.5.3 Website - User Interface ............................................................................................ 18 
2.6 ADAVANTAGES AND DISADVATAGES OF E-SHOPPING ........................................... 19 
2.7 ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN NEW ZEALAND ................................................ 21 
2.7.1 Examples of Popular Shopping Websites in New Zealand ............................................... 34 
2.7.1.1 Trade Me ................................................................................................................ 34 
2.7.1.2 1-Day website ......................................................................................................... 35 
2.8 ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN SAUDI ARABIA ................................................ 36 
2.8.1 Examples of Popular Shopping Websites in SAUDI ARABIA ......................................... 36 
2.8.1.1 Souq.com ................................................................................................................ 37 
2.8.1.2 Sukar.com ............................................................................................................... 38 
2.9 ISSUES AND PROBLEMS REVEALED FROM THE RESEARCH ................................ 38 
2.10 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 40

Chapter 3: Research Methodology .............................................................................. 41 
3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 41 
3.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH .................................................................................. 41 
3.3 REVIEW OF SIMILAR STUDIES’ METHODOLOGIES ................................................. 43 
3.3.1 Case Study One – Site Quality (New Zealand) ......................................................... 43 
3.3.2 Case Study Two – Individual consumers’ perception (New Zealand) ....................... 44 
3.3.3 Case Study Three - Current Website Interfaces (New Zealand) ................................ 45 
3.3.4 Case Study Four – Online Payment Systems (Saudi Arabia) .................................... 45 
3.3.5 Case Study five – Issues influencing Saudi customer’ decision to purchase from
online retailers in the Saudi Arabia .................................................................................... 46 
3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................................................................................... 47
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3.5 HYPOTHETIC DEDUCTIVE APPROACH ....................................................................... 49 
3.6. SAMPLING PROCEDURES ............................................................................................. 49
3.7 DATA COLLECTION METHOD ........................................................................................ 49
3.8 DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................ 52 
3.8.1 Content Analysis ..................................................................................................... 533 
3.8.2 Qualitative Research ............................................................................................... 544 
3.8.2.1 Qualitative research methods ............................................................................... 555 
3.8.2.2 Comparison between quantitative and qualitative research.................................. 555 
3.9 THEMATIC ANALYSIS (Theme as Unit of Analysis)........................................................ 57 
3.10 ETHICS .............................................................................................................................. 57 
3.11 TRUST ............................................................................................................................... 58 
3.12 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................... 59

Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings ...................................................................... 60 
4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 60 
4.2 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES ............................................................................................ 61 
4.3 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CUSTOMER’S DECISION TO PURCHASE ONLINE
IN NEW ZEALAND ......................................................................................................... 62 
4.3.1 Web-Based Environment - User Interface ................................................................. 63 
4.3.2 Information Environment: Tendency to Influence Others ......................................... 64 
4.3.3 Features of Electronic Commerce (Advantages) ....................................................... 64 
4.4 ONLINE SHOPPING IN NEW ZEW ZEALAND .............................................................. 65 
4.4.1 Status Quo of Online Shopping in New Zealand ...................................................... 65 
4.4.2 Future of Online Shopping in New Zealand .............................................................. 66 
4.4.3 Example: Summary of Participant’s Positive and Negative Online Shopping
Experience in New Zealand ............................................................................................... 67 
4.4.3.1 Positive experiences ............................................................................................... 67 
4.4.3.2 Negative experiences .............................................................................................. 68 
4.5 FACTORS THAT INFLUNCE CUSTOMERS’ DECISION TO PURCHASE ONLINE
IN SAUDI ARABIA .......................................................................................................... 68 
4.5.1 Web-based environment - User Interface .................................................................. 69 
4.5.2 Information Environment-Tendency to be Influenced and Influence Others in
Saudi Arabia ....................................................................................................................... 69 
4.5.2.1 Information environment - tendency to be influenced by others ............................ 70 
4.5.2.2 Information environment - tendency to influence others ....................................... 70 
4.5.3 Features of Electronic Commerce (Advantages): ...................................................... 70 
4.6 ONLINE SHOPPING IN SAUDI ARABIA ........................................................................ 71 
4.6.1 Status Quo of Online Shopping in Saudi Arabia ....................................................... 71 
4.6.2 The Future of Online Shopping in Saudi Arabia ....................................................... 73 
4.6.3 Example: Summary of Participants’ Positive and Negative Online Shopping
Experiences in Saudi Arabia .............................................................................................. 74 
4.6.3.1 Positive experiences ............................................................................................... 74 
4.6.3.2 Negative experiences .............................................................................................. 74 
4.7 COMPARISON BETWEEN ONLINE SHOPPING IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI
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ARABIA AND NEW ZEALAND ..................................................................................... 75 
4.7.1 Comparison of the Information Environment ........................................................... 79 
4.8 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 81

Chapter 5: Discussion and Analysis ............................................................................. 82 
5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 82 
5.2 HYPOTHESIS TESTING .................................................................................................... 83 
5.2.1 First Hypothesis: User Interface ................................................................................ 83 
5.2.2 Second Hypothesis: Experiences and Relationships ................................................. 85 
5.2.3. Third Hypothesis: Payment System ......................................................................... 86 
5.3 THE TOP FACTORS AFFECTING THE DECISION TO BUY ONLINE IN NEW
ZEALAND ......................................................................................................................... 87 
5.4 THE TOP FACTORS AFFECTING ONLINE DECISION TO BUY ONLINE IN
SAUDI ARABIA ............................................................................................................... 88 
5.5 EXPERIENCE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? ......................................................................... 90 
5.6 A COMPARISON OF ONLINE SHOPPING IN BOTH COUNTRIES .............................. 91 
5.7 RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THE ONLINE SHOPPING MARKET IN
SAUDI ARABIA ............................................................................................................... 92 
5.7.1 Postal Service ............................................................................................................ 93 
5.7.2 Digital Illiteracy as a Result of Limited IT Knowledge ............................................ 94 
5.7.3 Lack of Promotions and Offers ................................................................................. 94 
5.8 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 96

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations .......................................................... 97 
6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 97 
6.2 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH FINDINGS ................................................................. 97 
6.3 LIMITATION OF RESEARCH ........................................................................................... 98 
6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ....................................................... 99 
6.5 RECOMMENDED PRACTICES TO IMPROVE ONLINE SHOPPING IN SAUDI
ARABIA .......................................................................................................................... 100 
6.6 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................... 101

References .................................................................................................................... 103

Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 114
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List of Figures

Figure 2.1: The stages of decision making process regarding any purchase..... 9
Figure 2.2: Statistics from New Zealand Online Shopping............................... 33
Figure 2.3: Snapshot of Trade Me...................................................................... 35
Figure 2.4: Snapshot of 1-day…………………................................................ 36
Figure 2.5: Snapshot of Souq.com...................................................................... 37
Figure 2.6: Snapshot of Sukar.com…………………………………..……… 38
Figure 3.1: Research Data Map.......................................................................... 48
Figure 4 1: Factors Influencing Online Shopping in New Zealand.................. 63
Figure 4.2: Factors Influencing Online Shopping n the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia………………………………………………………………………... 69
Figure 5.1: Steps Followed to Answer Research Questions............................. 83
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List of Tables

Table 2.1: Business Models…............................................................................ 15
Table 2.2: Web-Based Business Models............................................................. 16
Table 4.1: Data Sources for the Interviews….………..……………………… 61
Table 4.2: Challenges of Online Shopping in New Zealand.............................. 66
Table 5.3: Comparison between online shopping in Saudi Arabia and online
shopping in New Zealand…………………………………………………..... 76
Table 4.4: Challenges of Online shopping in two Countries …………............... 77