The Precursors Affecting the Online Spending Behaviour of Malaysians during Covid-19

Ong, Jie Si (2022) The Precursors Affecting the Online Spending Behaviour of Malaysians during Covid-19. Final Year Project (Masters), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the precursors affecting the online spending behaviour of Malaysians during Covid-19. Furthermore, since the pandemic of Covid-19 has hit Malaysia, the buying behaviour of Malaysians has been shifted in terms of adopting electronic commerce for shopping. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been widely used and applied in behaviour of buyers. Nevertheless, there is lack of studies regarding trust in determining the behaviour of consumers. Therefore, to address this gap, this research provides an understanding on how trust can affect Malaysians in the relationship between attitude towards online spending and the online spending behaviour. A survey which involves 340 respondents from Malaysia who have experience in online purchasing is being conducted. Data obtained are being analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Partial Least Squared–Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings of this research revealed that privacy concern, perceived risk, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived behavioural control are found to be the predictors in the online spending behaviour of Malaysians. However, the findings also shown that the attitude towards online spending do not contribute significant mediating effect between privacy concern and online spending behaviour of Malaysians. Moreover, trust also do not contribute significant moderating effect on the main relationship. Additionally, the findings of this research shall be able to provide some insights to online vendors on the development of effectively serving buyers in a market place. Hence, online vendors will be able to find new opportunities in increasing sales as well as gain competitive advantages during the difficult period like the pandemic of Covid-19. The implications of research, limitations and future research directions are discussed as well.