A Study on Factors Affecting Online Shopping Intent of BA Freshmen

This research proposal investigates the factors influencing the online shopping behavior of Banking Academy freshmen in Vietnam. The study aims to understand the impact of e-commerce development, technological advancements, and consumer preferences on online purchasing decisions. The research explores the rationale behind online shopping, focusing on convenience and changing consumer behavior. It addresses research questions such as factors influencing online shopping decisions, student opinions on benefits, and preferred item categories. The objectives include evaluating existing data, identifying factors affecting shopping decisions, and providing insights for online retailers. The methodology involves a quantitative survey with freshmen, using a questionnaire to gather data on their online shopping habits and preferences. The proposal also includes a preliminary literature review referencing key studies on e-commerce adoption and consumer behavior. The study's findings are expected to provide valuable insights into the online shopping landscape and help businesses target their online customers effectively. References include studies from 2006-2020.

Factors affecting online shopping intent of BA freshmen
Research Proposal
A study on factors affecting online shopping behavior of Banking Academy freshmen
1. Introduction
With the rapid development of the internet, information technology and e-commerce
applications in Vietnam, the form of online shopping has become a habit in the daily life of
each person. The term “online shopping” is not only close to all people but also is considered
as an indispensable trend in this twenty-first century. Customers choose to shop online as the
first option for its convenience (as cited in Beauchamp & Ponder, 2010; Colwell et al., 2008;
Degeratu et al., 2000; Easterbrook, 1995; Lohse & Spiller, 1998; Moeller et al., 2009;
Morganosky & Cude, 2000; Reimers & Clulow, 2009; Tanskanen et al., 2002). Especially,
for shopaholics, they do not have to go to distinct physical stores to choose from the items
available there, but instead, they will stay at home and enjoy the comfort with internet-
connected devices to order the items they love. Besides, it also contributes to changing the
rules of worldwide business and consumer behavior. To maintain and develop business
through e-commerce, businesses will face several such challenging tasks as how to attract
new users, ways to make customers believe in their products or services and how to make
customers know their website. Those questions above motivated businesses to need research
on online purchasing behavior to help them seek out appropriate and useful business models
right in the early stages of operation.
2. Problem statement
2.1. Rationale
Vietnam is gradually transforming itself into an industrialized and modernized country in the
context of the fourth industrial revolution which has been booming, so the development of
online shopping platforms is supposed necessary to meet consumer demand. In 2015,
Vietnam’s media network economy grew by 38%, Google’s Southeast Asia economic report
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Factors affecting online shopping intent of BA freshmen
said it would be valued at 12 billion dollars in the next four years and is predicted to increase
to 43 billion dollars by 2025. University students, who have easy access to the internet to
purchase things they want since they are old enough to be self-assertive and self-
responsibility for themselves. They are curious, quick-witted and understand thoroughly
about technology, and also open their mind to new worldwide ideas to adapt to the state-of-
the-art environment. Therefore, several online retail models have promoted and expended
their business forms in both domestic and international markets to meet the rising demand
and, businesses need a system that provides solid information and data to find out the
application and eye-catching items were impressed them.
2.2. Scope
This study will focus on analyzing factors influencing online buying intention and
concentrate on the main target is the freshmen in Banking Academy because these group of
people are relatively free in terms of spending, highly qualified and has a quick grasp of
technology knowledge. The sources of information and reference will be taken from 2006 to
2020.
2.3. Research Questions
“What are common factors that influence student’s decision of shopping online?"
“What are student’s opinion towards the benefits of online shopping?
“Which categories of items do students buy the most?”.
3. Objectives
After answering those questions above, readers can understand the long-term goal of this
research:
1. To provide a comprehensive evaluation of sources and data were previously published
2. Which factors, directly and indirectly, influence the online shopping decisions of Banking
Academy freshmen.
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Factors affecting online shopping intent of BA freshmen
3. To help online retailers to direct and reach their online customers, and the results of this
research can be selected as reference material for future research projects on the same topic.
4. Preliminary Literature Review
Based on the information related to the topic, despite the shortage of money, students
between 18-30 years old still claim the first position in network usage and has high intention
in purchasing online (Edmunds es al, 2015). Accordingly, businesses have focused on
understanding their online shopping intention and since then the research has given 3 major
factors affecting their shopping intent, including awareness of benefits of e-commerce, web
design that clearly demonstrates product content and ease of access, interest in discovery
(Pavlou & Fygenson, 2006). Thanks to the criteria above, businesses can orient the products
will be traded and the business models. To sum up, although this research still lacks
information and data about the online shopping intention of Banking Academy freshmen, it is
expected to help readers to understand their behavior and the applications they will choose to
buy and sell the items. The reason why Banking Academy freshmen are the prime target in
this study is that Banking Academy is located on Chua Boc street which is a bustling street
with the shopping demands of students surrounding here are huge.
5. Methodology
The major method in this study is quantitative research which will be surveyed with the
freshman students at the Banking Academy. A questionnaire was designed which consisted
of 12 questions, including eight multiple-choice questions and four ranking questions. After
that, 150 first-year students in both inside and outside the International School of Business
(ISB) were selected and each of them was given five minutes to fill in his/her answer
corresponding to the question anonymously. Originally, the first three questions will aim to
know more about the answerer, and then the subsequent questions will be divided into sub-
questions to extract the information about the allure of products and remarkable elements
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Factors affecting online shopping intent of BA freshmen
affecting their final decision when shopping online. This approach is hoped to properly
analyze and bring the most satisfactory and accurate results about the shopping demands of
students in here.
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Factors affecting online shopping intent of BA freshmen
References
Al-Alawi, A. I., & Al-Ali, F. M. (2015). Factors affecting e-commerce adoption in SMEs in
the GCC: An empirical study of Kuwait. Research Journal of Information Technology,
7(1), 121. doi:10.3923/rjit.2015.1.21
Beauchamp, M.B. & Ponder, N. (2010), “Perceptions of retail convenience for in-store and
online shoppers”, The Marketing Management Journal, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 49-65
Colwell, S.R., Aung, M., Kanetkar, V. & Holden, A.L. (2008), “Toward a measure of service
convenience: multiple-item scale development and empirical test”, Journal of Services
Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 160-169
Degeratu, A.M., Rangaswamy, A. & Wu, J.N. (2000), “Consumer choice behavior in online
and traditional supermarkets: the effects of brand name, price, and other search
attributes”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 17, pp. 55-78.
Easterbrook, G. (1995), A Moment on the Earth: The Coming of Age of Environmental
Optimism, Viking Press, New York, NY
Edmunds, R., Thorpe, M., & Conole, G. (2010). Student attitudes towards and use of ICT in
course study, work and social activity: A technology acceptance model approach,
British Journal of Educational Technology. 43(1), 71-84.
Lohse, G.L. & Spiller, P. (1998), “Electronic shopping”, Communications of the ACM, Vol.
41 No. 7, pp. 81-87.
Moeller, S., Fassnacht, M. & Ettinger, A. (2009), “Retaining customers with shopping
convenience”, Journal of Relationship Marketing, Vol. 8, pp. 313-329.
Morganosky, M.A. & Cude, B.J. (2000), “Consumer response to online grocery shopping”,
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 17-26.
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Factors affecting online shopping intent of BA freshmen
Pavlou, P. A., & Fygenson, M. (2006). Understanding and predicting electronic commerce
adoption: An extension of the theory of planned behavior. MIS Quarterly, 30(1), 115–
143.
Reimers, V. & Clulow, V. (2009), “Retail centres: it’s time to make them convenient”,
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 37 No. 7, pp. 541-562.
Tanskanen, K., Yrjola, H. & Holmstro, J. (2002), “The way to profitable internet grocery
retailing – six lessons learned”, International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 169-178.
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