This research project is also dedicated to our parents who have supported and encouraged us in furthering our academics at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). We would also like to appreciate the respondents who spent their valuable time to help us complete the questionnaire in this research project. The topic for this research project is Consumer Attitude towards Traditional Trade and E-Commerce in Malaysia.
The research project is conducted to investigate the significant relationship between the factors influencing consumers' attitude towards traditional commerce and e-commerce in Malaysia. Therefore, this research project can help the entrepreneurs and marketers to assess the consumers' attitude towards different trading platforms and successfully enter the Malaysian market with the right trading platform.
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
- Introduction
- Research Background
- Problem Statement
- Research Objective
- Research Question
- Hypothesis of the Study
- Significance of Study
- Definition of Terms
- Chapter Layout
Three objectives are built in this research to study the differences between consumers' attitude towards traditional commerce and e-commerce. To study the differences between the effect of perceived marketing mix on consumer attitude towards traditional commerce and e-commerce. To study the differences between the effect of perceived risk on consumers' attitude towards traditional commerce and e-commerce.
To examine the differences between the effect of perceived transparency of information on consumer attitudes towards traditional business and e-business. Is there a difference between the effect of perceived transparency of information on consumer attitudes towards traditional and e-commerce.
Research Overview
Literature Review
Methodology
Data Analysis
Discussion, Conclusion, and Implication
Conclusion
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Introduction
- Review of the Literature
- Proposed Theoretical Framework
- Hypothesis Development
- Conclusion
Consumers' attitude towards e-commerce is an important aspect to be studied by researchers all over the world. Therefore, the perceived marketing mix allows companies to achieve higher sales as it provides positive consumer attitude towards traditional and e-commerce. Omar (2005) explained that consumers' attitude could be influenced by their perceived risk of the product or service.
Paul, Modi, and Patel (2016) defined that consumer attitudes are related to perceived risk towards the attitude object. Consumer attitudes when buying a product can be strongly influenced by perceived risk (Gupta, Su, & Walter, 2004). Therefore, it can be concluded that the perceived risk plays an important role in determining consumer attitudes towards e-commerce and traditional commerce.
A study was conducted on consumer attitudes toward grocery stores (Harris, Riley, Riley, & Hand, 2017). Therefore, consumers' attitudes towards traditional business and e-business are reflected in the perceived transparency of information (Zhu, 2005; Ryssel, Ritter and Gemunden, 2004; Wehmeier and Raaz, 2012). According to Kacene, Hess, and Chiang (2013), the perceived marketing mix has significant effects on consumer attitudes toward traditional business and e-commerce.
These researchers have supported the statement of the relationship between perceived marketing mix and consumer attitude towards traditional and electronic commerce. According to Ahn, Ryu and Han (2004), the availability of information will influence consumers' attitude towards traditional trade and e-commerce. Therefore, the perceived transparency of information can certainly influence the attitude of consumers towards traditional commerce and e-commerce.
METHODOLOGY
- Introduction
- Research Design
- Data Collection Methods
- Sampling Design
- Research Instrument
- Constructs Measurement
- Data Processing
- Data Analysis
- Conclusion
In this research study, quantitative research is used to provide numerical data to support the hypotheses formulated in the previous chapter. In this research, a survey questionnaire is used to collect primary data to analyze the latest consumer attitude towards traditional business and electronic business. Snowball sampling technique is used to distribute the survey questionnaire in this data collection research.
In this research study, 650 respondents are targeted as sample size to make the results more reliable and significant. The questionnaire is used in this research as the mechanism to collect the primary data for analyses. For this reason, the questionnaire in this study is distributed through the three main platforms mentioned in order to collect sufficient data.
The data collected from this section will be used to test the hypotheses formed in this research through analyses. In this research study, 15 respondents are selected to participate in the pre-test to test the comprehensibility of the survey questionnaire. In this research study, 635 sets of survey questionnaire are collected, and 22 sets are removed due to the incomplete response.
SPSS Version 25 is used in this research to generate the collected data into useful information. In this research study, descriptive analysis is used to summarize the data collected from section C of the questionnaire through the SPSS system. In this research study, SEM – CFA is used to analyze the data to check the fit of the model, convergent and discriminant validity and significance of the hypotheses.
DATA ANALYSIS
- Introduction
- Descriptive Analysis
- Reliability Test
- Inferential Analyses – Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
- Conclusion
From Tables 4.2 and Tables 4.3, it is clear that different types of products have different preference on both popular trading platforms. We will discuss the importance of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the inferential analysis later in this chapter. From Tables 4.4 and Tables 4.5, it is clear that both traditional trade and e-commerce activities are crucial in business as Malaysian society has started to incorporate these two popular shopping platforms into their daily lives.
On the other hand, the average scores of the consumers' attitude towards traditional trade ranged from 3.71 to 4.08 with Cronbach's alpha of 0.816; while consumers'. According to Hair, Babin, Anderson and Black (2013), factor loading should exceed 0.50 to explain the heavy loading of the measurements of the associated variable. As shown in the table above, the factor loading of the entire construct for this research study ranges from 0.618 to 0.851 which met the criteria of being associatively reliable.
As seen in Table 4.8, the discriminant validity of each variable is derived from the square root of the AVE. This analysis allows a comparison to be made between the attitude of consumers towards traditional trade and electronic trade. Researchers have investigated effects moderated by the demographic profile of the target population (Moghavvemi, Lee, & Lee, 2018; Hamzah, Lee, & Moghavvemi, 2017; Homburg & Giering, 2001).
Gender and race were chosen as the moderators because of the sufficient sample size with non-biased data. However, the gender moderator influenced the significance of the relationship between PR and EC. Based on the results analyzed in Table 4.13, H1 is accepted when considering race as a moderator due to the p-value being lower than 0.05.
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, AND IMPLICATIONS
Introduction
Summary of Statistical Analysis
Discussions of Major Findings
In conclusion, the 4 Ps concept of perceived marketing mix has no significant positive relationship with consumers' attitudes towards e-commerce. This also means that consumer attitudes towards traditional trading are not influenced by the perceived risks. Traditional trade offers tangible and intangible trust that guarantees the consumer when purchasing a product.
Perceived risks are extremely low in traditional business, where consumers have already overlooked the consideration of risks when forming an attitude towards traditional business. Thus, perceived risks have an insignificant influence on the attitude of consumers towards traditional business, since perceived risks are almost non-existent in traditional business. Consumer attitude towards e-commerce is best when consumers are not concerned about monetary risk, functional risk, social risk and psychological risk when purchasing a product.
However, perceived risks appear to be irrelevant with consumers. standing in the Chinese race group when considering race as a moderator. The result summarized in table 5.1 has shown that the perceived transparency of information has a significant positive relationship with the attitude of consumers towards e-commerce. Consumers' attitude towards e-commerce is better when they are able to get the accurate, relevant and up-to-date information they want to know about.
As discussed in subsection and 5.2.3, the differences between the determinants of consumer attitudes towards traditional commerce and e-commerce are clearly visible. The determinant of perceived risk shows no significant relationship with traditional trade, but has a major impact on e-commerce. Finally, the H3 was not supported, which explains the insignificant relationship between perceived information transparency and consumer attitudes; while H6 was supported where consumers'.
Managerial Implications
To reduce the perceived risks in e-commerce, managers should spot the threat of e-commerce. However, a manager whose products are mainly for Chinese consumers may ignore the perceived risk of consumer attitudes toward e-commerce because of the insignificant relationship between the two. From the perceived information transparency perspective, managers are able to use the analysis to decide how much information to disclose to consumers.
Managers may put little effort into information transparency in brick-and-mortar stores since consumer attitudes will not be influenced by perceived information transparency. Away from the traditional aspect of commerce, managers should focus more on information disclosure in e-commerce because of the supported hypothesis of H6. There is some information that a company may think is confidential, but consumers feel they need to know in e-commerce.
Therefore, managers in the e-commerce industry should focus on disclosing information that is accurate, attainable, and up-to-date to consumers in order to persuade consumers to have a positive attitude toward the product sold in e-commerce.
Limitations and Recommendations
Conclusion
The impact of the online and offline functions on the user acceptance of internet shopping centers. Influence of social norms, perceived playfulness and fear of online shopping on customer acceptance of online shopping. The impact of online shopping experience on risk perceptions and online purchase intentions: does the product category matter.
Research on the relationship between beliefs about an object and attitudes towards that object. The effect of offline brand trust and perceived internet trust on online purchase intention in an integrated multichannel context. Manipulation of perceived social presence through an online interface and its influence on attitudes toward online shopping.
Personal characteristics as moderators of the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty - an empirical analysis. Perceived risk of online shopping influenced consumer attitude and purchase intention in Hanoi, Vietnam. Mediators of the Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Loyalty: Evidence from the Banking Sector in Zimbabwe.
Online shopping behavior of consumers: the effect of internet marketing environment, product features, familiarity and trust, and promotional offer. Online distribution of pharmaceutical products: examining the relationship between consumer value perception, attitudes and behaviors when shopping online in an e-pharmacy context. Below are the statements regarding your perceived information transparency when selecting a channel to shop for a product.
