RESEARCH PROPOSAL Business Research Methods Course TITLE AND ABSTRACT

TITLE AND ABSTRACT Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that information adoption, personalized service, perceived switching risk, and habitual behavior strongly influence the purchase intent

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Business Research Methods Course

Group 15 Instructor Dr Nguyen Hoang Dung

Ho Chi Minh City, 22th April 2022

LIST OF MEMBER

TABLE OF CONTENT

I TITLE AND ABSTRACT 4

II INTRODUCTION 4

Background and context 4

Objectives of a research proposal 5

Research gaps 5

Research questions 6

Theories and Model 6

Theoretical framework and hypotheses: 8

III METHODS 9

Variables to be measured 9

Study design 10

Sample size 10

Sampling procedure 10

Statistical methods 11

Analyze Data 11

Ethical considerations 12

IV OPERATIONAL PLANNING 12

Time schedule 12

Human resources 13

Questionnaire 14

V APPENDICES 16

I TITLE AND ABSTRACT

Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that information adoption, personalized service, perceived

switching risk, and habitual behavior strongly influence the purchase intention of the younger Chinese generation in the online shopping environment

Disciplines and Subdisciplines: Generational cohort theory

Hypothesis as question: How the information adoption, personalized service, perceived

switching risk, and habitual behavior actually affect younger Chinese generation’s attitudes towards online purchasing?

Paper title: An integrated model of the younger generation’s online shopping behavior

based on empirical evidence gathered from an emerging economy

This study aims to propose an integrated model that determines the effects of information adoption, personalized service, perceived switching risk, and habitual behavior of the online purchase intention of the post-90s Chinese generation Findings of this study contribute to the knowledge of current literature in which it extends the generalizability of generational cohort theory in emerging economy (i.e China) and in the fields of marketing and consumer behavior Furthermore, findings of this study also provide implications for business managers making better decisions that provide products and services for younger consumers in China market

To understand the shopping behavior of the younger Chinese generation, this study draws

on the theoretical foundation of generational cohort theory This study proposes an

integrated model that examines the effects of information adoption, personalized service, perceived switching risk, and habitual behavior on purchase intention in the online shopping environment Survey data have been collected from 407 Chinese people that belong to the post-90s generation Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data Empirical findings show that information adoption, personalized service, and perceived switching risk are the most important predictors of online purchase intention

Background and context

According to the China E-commerce Research Center, China's Internet users climbed from

731 million in 2016 to 772 million in 2017, accounting for more than 59 4% of the country's population Prior research on China's e-commerce business, on the other hand, has tended to approach Chinese consumers as an ethnically homogeneous group According to media reports, the younger Chinese population takes cell phones, tablets, wireless Internet, and digital media for granted, smoothly merging the online and offline worlds while socializing and shopping

Despite the generational differences in China, there is still a scarcity of social science study

on the younger Chinese population As a result, researchers and practitioners will benefit

online shopping habit Furthermore, earlier studies in the fields of organizational behavior and human resource management have tended to employ generational cohort theory Investigating the online shopping habits of China's younger generation would add to the field

of marketing and consumer behavior's generational cohort theory (i.e e-commerce) Furthermore, a scarcity of empirical facts on the consumer behavior of China's younger generation has left corporate managers in the dark when it comes to making decisions in the Chinese market The outcomes of this study will help to improve the quality of China's business policies for Internet commerce

As a result, this study uses the theoretical underpinning of generational cohort theory to analyze crucial aspects that influence post-90s Chinese internet shopping behavior Consumers gather a lot of information in the context of e-commerce to lessen product and buy ambiguity in their decision-making process Because information helps customers evaluate and comprehend items, services, and everything else relevant to their buying decisions, it can be considered a significant element in consumer purchase behavior In the online shopping environment, personalized service has been highlighted as a crucial component that drives consumer behavior

Consumers and businesses benefit from the convenience, time savings, and cheap transaction costs that come with online shopping Consumers have grown accustomed to online buying

as a result of these significant benefits This study provides an integrated approach to increase our understanding of the post-90s Chinese generation's online shopping behavior The impact

of information adoption, personalized service, perceived switching risk, and habitual behavior

on purchase intention of the generational cohort born after 1990 in China's online environment

is also investigated in this study

Objectives of a research proposal

A research proposal has 3 main objectives

➔ to propose an integrated model that determines the effects of information adoption, personalized service, perceived switching risk, and habitual behavior of the online purchase intention of the post-90s Chinese generation

➔ add to the body of knowledge in the field of marketing and consumer behavior by extending the generalizability of generational cohort theory in emerging economies (e.g., China)

➔ give business managers with implications for making better judgments about products and services for younger consumers in the Chinese market

Research gaps

Despite the fact that this study was properly conducted, there are a few shortcomings that should be addressed in future research Self-reports were used to collect data for the independent and dependent variables, which could have skewed our results due to the social desirability problem Future study should gather more objective and perhaps less

biased measures and employ more advanced approaches to deal with common method bias

in order to overcome common method bias

Research questions

➢ Do the findings of this study provide new and important implications for academic researchers and business managers on e-commerce?

➢ First, does this study use a look at the online shopping behavior of the Chinese generation after the 90s to extend the generational cohort theory?

➢ Second, does this study enrich our understanding of the effects of online information consumption? Do the findings explain the impact of informational factors on consumer decision making?

➢ Third, does the personalization service in the online shopping environment have any effect on online purchasing behavior?

➢ In addition, how is the new perspective on the impact of perceived conversion risk on online purchase intention in this study?

➢ Finally, does this study shed light on the role of habitual behavior in consumer decision-making in the online context?

Theories and Model

This study focuses on using three main models for analyzing the figure:

➔ Structural model: The structural equation model is used to test the hypotheses

Figure 2 The path coefficient of full model

Information

quality

Information

usefulness

Source

Credibility

Information adoption

Online purchase intention

Habitual behavior

Personalized service

Perceived switching risk

➔ Measurement model: Performing a confirmatory factor analysis to test whether the

data fit the hypothesized measurement model

Constructs /

model

χ2 /d.f

P-value

Thresholds

Hypothesize

d Model

➔ Technology acceptance model (TAM): that models how users come to accept and

use a technology The actual system use is the end-point where people use the

technology Behavioral intention is a factor that leads people to use the technology,

and is designed to measure the adoption of new technology based on customer

attitudes

There are certain theories that apply to analyze in this study:

Generational cohort theory posits that people can be classified into different groups or

generations based on the era they were born People who were born at the same time and

space tend to share similar values, beliefs, and life experiences These similarities influence

people’s attitudes, preferences, and behaviors Different generations have different

characteristics, expectations, and views due to their exposure to various social contexts

Thus, a generational cohort is defined as a group of people who were born at approximately

the same time and experienced similar social and life events that shaped their unique values,

attitudes, and behaviors

External

variables

Perceived usefulness

Perceived ease

of use

Attitude toward using

Behavioral Intention to use

Actual system use

Information adoption theory aims to explain the important factors that drive people to

adopt information or technology in an organizational context Information adoption theory

is rooted in the theory of reasoned action Information adoption theory has been applied

by several researchers to explain the adoption of new technology, such as software products, spreadsheets, voice mail, and information systems In this study, information adoption theory and TAM are applied to explain information factors (e.g source credibility, information quality, information usefulness, and information adoption) that affect the Chinese younger generation’s shopping behavior in an online environment

Behavioral learning theory, people often learn to perform behaviors that produce positive

outcomes and avoid those that yield negative results A high level of personalization implies that consumers can enjoy more values and positive rewards from online retailers

Protection motivation theory posits that threat appraisal and a coping appraisal are

cognitive processes aroused when an individual faces a threat, which motivates protective behavior to reduce or avoid the threat Threat appraisal is determined by perceived severity and perceived susceptibility to risks A coping appraisal is associated with self-efficacy and response efficacy Self-efficacy is the belief that individuals can successfully perform protective behavior Response efficacy believes in the effectiveness of the protection Protection motivation theory has been used to explain and understand protection behaviors online

In instrumental learning theory, consumers learn to associate positive rewards with

purchase behavior when shopping online Stimuli, such as customized information and recommendations, high-quality products, low prices, and a personalized web page, often act as rewards that induce consumer purchase behavior

Theoretical framework and hypotheses:

This study developed according to some hypotheses and these hypothese also contributed

to the solving process of the model:

H1 Source credibility is positively related to information usefulness

H2 Information quality is positively related to information usefulness

H3 Information usefulness is positively related to information adoption

H4 Information adoption is positively related to online purchase intention

H5 Personalized service is positively related to online purchase intention

H6 Personalized service is positively related to habitual behavior

H7 Personalized service is positively related to perceived switching risk

H8 Perceived switching risk is positively related to online purchase intention

H9 Habitual behavior is positively related to online purchase intention

Disciplines and Subdisciplines: Generational cohort theory

Hypothesis as question: How the information adoption, personalized service, perceived

switching risk, and habitual behavior actually affect the younger Chinese generation’s attitudes towards online purchasing?

This study proposes the following hypothesis (Fig 1 shows the research framework of this study)

Variables to be measured

This study has contained four control variables: gender, education, age, and online shopping frequency The participants of this study are all undergraduate students who have purchased from Taobao.com before

Descriptive statistics show the means, standard deviations, and Pearson correlations for all variables in this study

Source credibility

Information

usefulness

Information

quality

Information adoption

Online purchase intention

Habitual behavior

Personalized service

Perceived switching risk

Figure 1 Research framework

Demographic variables shows the demographic profile of the sample The respondents comprised 116 males (28.5%) and 291 females (71.5%) Approximately 84.8% of the respondents were freshmen, 9.6% respondents were sophomores, 3.7% respondents were juniors, and the remaining 2.0% respondents were seniors Approximately 71.0%

of the respondents were 20 years old or below, 26.5% were between 21 and 24 years old, and only 2.5% were between 24 and 28 years old About 96.6% of the respondents purchased online more than three times a month, and only 3.4% of the respondents purchased online less than three times a month

Measurement model: We perform a confirmatory factor analysis to test whether the data fit the hypothesized measurement model

Study design

This Survey data have been collected from 407 Chinese people that belong to the post-90s generation

Sample size

The data were collected from four large different universities in China We obtained approval from the Business School’s Ethical Committee of Shantou University to conduct the survey The researchers randomly invited college students to shop on Taobao.com and accomplish the survey The students were born after 1990, thus representing the post-90s Chinese generation These students voluntarily participated in the survey Our research team explained the purpose and content of the survey before the respondents completed the questionnaire The questionnaire was anonymous Therefore, respondents could provide their measures without privacy concerns The volunteer sampling technique was used because of the absence of a proper sampling frame in this study After 4 months, this study finally obtained 407 completed surveys for the data analysis

Sampling procedure

A preliminary version of the questionnaire was formulated using forward and backward translation from English to Chinese, and vice versa Two professional translators who are proficient in both English and Chinese were recruited to perform the forward and backward translation A pilot test was conducted with 26 students in the author’s university to check the appropriateness of the wording and meaning of items in the questionnaire