International Journal of Business and Economy (IJBEC) eISSN: 2682-8359 [Vol. 4 No. 2 June 2022]
Journal website: http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijbec
BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE ON SHOPPING MODE IN COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Raja Nurul Aini Raja Aziz1*
1 Faculty of Accountancy and Management, University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Selangor, MALAYSIA
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Article Information:
Article history:
Received date : 14 May 2022 Revised date : 27 May 2022 Accepted date : 6 June 2022 Published date : 15 June 2022
To cite this document:
Raja Aziz, R. N. A. (2022).
BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE ON SHOPPING MODE IN COVID-19 PANDEMIC. International Journal of Business and Economy, 4(2), 30-41.
Abstract: In this era of globalization, many consumers had started to switch their behaviour on shopping mode especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The customers may not choose to go to such brick-and- mortar stores due to health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the behavioural change on shopping mode in covid-19 pandemic and the determinants such as trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality.
Convenience sampling was used and total 200 respondents were interviewed who had purchased products or goods from online or physical store during the Covid-19 pandemic. Descriptive analysis and reliability measurement using Cronbach’s alpha. The associations between independent variables and dependent variable are analyzed using Pearson Correlation Analysis and multiple regression analysis.
The results identify that trustworthiness, customer satisfaction and service quality are statistically significant to the behavioural change on shopping mode in covid-19 pandemic. Based on the results, it is suggested that to upgrade the service quality and propose suitable plans to strengthen it. Furthermore, the marketer should not oversee this as a chance to learn what the consumers need and expect so that customers can draw more attention to their trustworthiness and service quality for their shops in order to attract more customers. Moreover, the importance of online shopping protection should not be forgotten. The government must take precautions to protect the privacy of users. In order to achieve the flawless security of the networks, online transaction suppliers, policymakers and banking institutions play essential roles.
1. Introduction
At the beginning of January 2020, COVID-19 was the first outbreak in Wuhan. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shopping habit of consumers had shifted in China (Hallsworth & Coca‐Stefaniak, 2020). According to Chang & Meyerhoefer (2020), the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the demand for Taiwan’s online food buying facilities which the sales had increase by 5.7% and the number of customers by 4.9%. During the pandemic, the range of goods available on the E-commerce website also grew. Thus, COVID-19 pandemic had given the retailer or distributor an opportunity to enhance and add their business model through online since most of the consumer willing to shop online during this pandemic period.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the choice of a place to buy the products or services for the consumer is limited due to the lockdown and social distancing. Thus, this culminated in a restriction on position and a loss of location since working, education and shopping have all been moved and localized at home which gives greater time flexibility for the consumer since they may not follow the timetables scheduled before (Sheth, 2020). There are two forms of shopping method which are physical shopping and online shopping which both of them respectively have advantages and disadvantages (Adjaino, Isibor & Ogbomo, 2018). When the customers were unable to buy their favourite product at their preferred store, they will change their buying behaviour which tried a new brand or shopped at another retailer. As a result, more than 75% of customers had access to try a new shopping method in the US and China during the COVID-19 pandemic (Arora, et al., 2020). Unfortunately, consumers that have a negative impression of online retailers and less confidence, which makes them reluctant to shop online (Saxena, 2019). The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the association between the behavioural change on shopping mode in covid-19 pandemic and the determinants such as trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality.
2. Literature Review
The researcher found that consumers are willing to buy their product online from a trustworthy website during the Covid-19 pandemic (Gopinath, 2020). In addition, researcher shows that consumer trust has a significant effect on consumer shopping behaviour (Salim, et al., 2019).
Moreover, According to Alam (2020), a buyer’s trust in the seller is a big factor that affects purchasing behaviour since trust has a strong and substantial impact on consumer behaviour.
During the pandemic, trust becomes very valuable since it promotes the translation of accessible passive knowledge into information that consumers used to make the decision to purchase. At the simplest level, the customer must determine if he trusts the certain online or vendor stores before an order can take place since it is important for the customer to acknowledge the risk involved with or implicit throughout the transaction (McCole, Ramsey
& Williams, 2010). Therefore, the credibility and reputation of the store are important which will potentially benefit the store and let the consumer trust and make a continued purchase. The prior analysis has shown that assessing consumer satisfaction with the store’s previous success contributes to more favourable assessments of the store and has a positive impact on the consumer buying behaviour and loyalty (Ofir & Simonson, 2007). In general, the consumer is satisfied when their expectation is met, disappointed when the real retail experience fails to Keywords: shopping mode, regression, covid 19, pandemic, trustworthiness, service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value.
deliver and highly satisfied when their expectations are exceeded. Customer satisfaction is essential for the promotion of service and an increase in the intention to re-purchase service since the services or goods delivered is important. According to Mason, Narcum & Mason (2020), the result indicates that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed consumer good desires, shopping habits, spending activity and post-purchase satisfaction level. Since the advent of the pandemic, consumers have reduced mass purchases of goods and increase their virtual retail and internet shopping behaviour which may make marketers find it much more difficult to achieve customer loyalty as the level of satisfaction of customers has declined. Based on the research, perceived value is the perception of shoppers using the internet to buy is thought to have an effect on the various benefit that consumers will expect and those benefits have not been adequately mirrored in their experience of traditional purchasing. In addition, Pham, Do Thi & Ha Le (2020), perceived value influencing consumer behavior on online shopping especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Al-Khayyala, et al. (2020) states that the significance of studying the phenomenon of electronic service quality has been increased especially as a large number of consumers are moving to an online transaction, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. The service quality that exceeds the customer expectation may encourage customer trust and satisfaction which is a key point in developing long-term relationships with customers during the Covid-19 pandemic (Alika & Riyanto, 2020).
2.1 Problem Statement
In this era of globalization, many consumers had started to switch their behaviour on shopping mode especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The customers may not choose to go to such brick-and-mortar stores due to health issues during the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper investigates the determinants towards the behavioural change on shopping mode in covid-19 pandemic. The relationship between the behavioural change on shopping mode and the determinants such as trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality as depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for the Relationship between Behavioural Change on Shopping Mode in Covid-19 Pandemic and the Determinants
Behavioural Change on
Shopping Mode Trustworthiness
Customer
Satisfaction Perceived value
Service Quality
3. Method
Non probability technique is selected for this paper where the target sample are chosen based on their own convenience and the probability of the targeted sample is unknown. One of the non probability techiques was applied which called as convenience sampling technique as the targeted sample typically know the reason, they do so in order to provide valuable information to support for this paper.
3.1 Materials
Survey questionnaires were distributed to the targeted sample from various platforms.
3.1.1 Samples
Respondents who had purchased products or goods from online or physical store during the Covid-19 pandemic.
3.1.2 Site
Primary data collection was used to gather information from the targeted sample from various platforms.
3.1.3 Procedures
Data were collected firstly by distributing the survey questionnaire to 200 respondents through various social media platforms. Reliability of the feedbacks is more precise as it investigated individually.
Causal research was applied since it involved investigation on whether the independent variables have impact on the dependent variable.
The targeted sample for this paper consumers aged 18 years old and above. The questionnaire consists of 2 sections. Section A focuses on the general information about the respondents which consists of 6 questions regarding respondents’ gender, age, monthly allowance, preferred shopping mode in Covid-19, shopping frequency and reason of using the preferred mode. Section B is the construct measurement which relates to the trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality. 21 questions relate to both variables in this paper were constructed. Respondents were required to provide their opinions based on the questions. Five-point Likert scale (1-Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree, 5=Strongly Agree) was used in this part to evaluate the degree of agreement of the respondents on the variables.
The main hypotheses for this paper are as below:
H1: There is a significant relationship between trustworthiness and behavioural change on shopping mode in Covid-19 pandemic.
H2: There is a significant relationship between customer satisfaction and behavioural change on shopping mode in Covid-19 pandemic.
H3: There is a significant relationship between perceived value and behavioural change on shopping mode in Covid-19 pandemic.
H4: There is a significant relationship between service quality and behavioural change on shopping mode in Covid-19 pandemic.
For this paper the independent variables such as trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality are determined whether they would be influential determinants that affect the dependent variable which is behavioural change on shopping mode.
Ideal sample size measurement of 25 to 200 for behavioural research. Therefore, a sample size of 200 was picked to answer the questionnaires since this research was focused on analysing the change in consumer behaviour.
3.2 Measurement
3.2.1 Descriptive Analysis
The descriptive description of the mean, middle, mode, range, standard deviation as well as the coefficient of fluctuation and form proportion (skewness). After gathering all the data, it displays the percentage and the statistics of the mode of the shopping mode. It also illustrates all the variables. The findings show the highest mean importance for behavioural consumer in particular variables.
3.3 Data Analysis
3.3.1 Pearson Correlation Analysis
The Pearson relation coefficient (r) stresses all the factors that are or are not null hypotheses.
The coefficient at ranges over +1.0 would be expressed as an impeccable positive relationship, though not precisely 1.0 would be expressed as an impeccable pessimistic relationship.
3.3.2 Multiple Regression Analysis
Multiple linear regression is a data technology that uses the variables to predict the outcome of reaction variables. The dependent variable forecasts the variables on the reason for behavioural change on shopping mode. The outcome of this analysis was noted. The general equation as below,
𝐶𝐵̂= b0 + b1TW + b2CS + b3PV + b4SQ where;
CB = Behavioural Consumer TW = Trustworthiness
CS = Customer Satisfaction PV = Perceived Value SQ = Service Quality
3.3.3 Validity and Reliability
Dependability tests proposed exploring the internal uniformity of the calculation, regardless of whether or not it is efficiently connected to ensure anything in each factor. The relationship of autonomous variables is completely resolved. In this exploration, it uses durability checks for the size of stuff. In order to generate results, the analysis is used to establish the scale standard for the reliability test. The dependability coefficient adjusts from 0 to 1. The ideal value of
Cronbach Alpha value is greater than 0.60, the durability of internal stability for variables is called high and conversely.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1 General Information of the Respondent
Total of 200 responses are collected from consumer. Table 1 shows that 56.5% is female and the balance 43.5% is male. While in Table 2 shows that 42.5% of the respondents is from 19 to 21 years old and the least 15.5% is from the range of below 18 years old and above 24 years old. The highest percent of monthly allowance is 41% from the range of RM501 to RM1000 and the lowest percent is 16% from the range of RM1501 and above as shown in Table 3. The most preferred shopping mode by the respondents is online shopping which is 72% as shown in Table 4. In addition, Table 5 shows that most respondents’ frequent shop is between 4 to 6 times in a month which is 42.5%.
Table 1: Distribution of Gender
Table 2: Distribution of Age Group
Table 3: Distribution of Monthly Allowance
Table 4: Distribution of Shopping Mode
Table 5: Distribution of Shopping Frequency
Table 6: Distribution of Reason for Using the Preferred Mode
Last but not least according to Table 6, for the reason consumer chose the preferred shopping mode the highest percent is 39.5% it is convenience and followed by the lowest percent is 17.5% which follows the trend.
4.2 Internal Reliability Test
Cronbach Alpha is one of the most well-known testing methods used to measure reliability in all 21 questionnaires in the 5 variables as well as their internal reliability.
Table 7: Reliability Test
Based on Table 7 it shows that all variables surpass 0.6 by the alpha coefficient result. It indicates all variables are very good reliability and consistent in determining behavioural change on shopping mode.
4.3 Inferential Statistics
Analysis on identifying significant variables and correlation between independent variables and dependent variable were conducted. The analysis shown in tables below.
Table 8: Pearson Correlation Analysis
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Table 8 show that the strongest correlation coefficient is 0.955 for service quality, followed by 0.954 for trustworthiness, 0.953 for perceived value and 0.95 for customer satisfaction. The values indicate that there is strong relationship between them and behavioural change on shopping mode.
Table 9: Model Summary
The R Square is considered to be 0.934 for in Table 9. The four independent variables affected 93.4% of the variance in behavioural change (trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality). The model explains 93.4% of the fitted data in the regression model.
Table 10: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
In view of results (Table 10), the p-value is 0.000 which is lesser than 5% significant level. It shows that the whole regression model with for predictors of trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality fall in the rejection region at 5% significant level and it leads to significant towards behavioural change on shopping mode.
Table 11: Coefficient Analysis
The estimated regression model:
𝐶𝐵̂= – 0.114 + 0.377TW + 0.382CS + 0.033PV + 0.223SQ
Table 11 shows that the p-values of TW and CS are 0.00 and SQ shows 0.037 which indicates lower than 5% significant level and trustworthiness, customer satisfaction and service quality are significant towards behavioural change on shopping mode. Unfortunately, the p-value of PV is 0.773 which is higher than 5% significant level. It concluded that perceived value influences insignificantly to behavioural change.
5. Conclusion
This paper has presented the analysis to identify the determinants such as trustworthiness, customer satisfaction, perceived value and service quality statistically significant to the behavioural change on shopping mode in covid-19 pandemic. Based on the results, it is suggested that to upgrade the service quality and develop trust for the product or seller for long term and repeated purchase hence propose suitable plans to strengthen it. Furthermore, the marketer should not oversee this as a chance to learn what the consumers need and expect so that customers can draw more attention to their trustworthiness and service quality for their shops in order to attract more customers. Moreover, the importance of online shopping protection should not be forgotten. The government must take precautions to protect the privacy of users. In order to achieve the flawless security of the networks, online transaction suppliers, policymakers and banking institutions play essential roles.
6. Acknowledgement
Thank you to Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) for the opportunity to allow us to write paper for academic purposes. It gives a lot of experiences and obstacles that had to face within the limited time frame.
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