Factors Affecting Online Purchasing Behavior of Young Generation; Special Reference to Undergraduates of State Universities in Colombo District

Abstract

E-commerce has been acknowledged as a major source of all business transactions performed by consumers who prefer to use the Internet. There is a new trend among the young generation than the old generation to use E-commerce for their purchasing activities. However, the usage of the internet to do purchasing activities is still in the initial stage among the young generation. Hence, identifying the factors that affect online purchasing behavior with special reference to the young generation is vital to a better understanding. This study was followed by a deductive research approach with a quantitative research design and a simple random sampling method. The population of this study was the young generation, and data were collected from a sample of undergraduates of state universities in the Colombo district. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire was developed, 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 210 completed responses were returned. The research model of this study was developed by including five dimensions. Drawing on the prior studies, this study has selected three dimensions namely website design, security, and time-saving. And Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as the theoretical background, two dimensions of this model were also included. The results of the regression analysis indicated that website design/features, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use have significantly influenced the online purchasing behavior of undergraduates. The other two variables of time-saving, and security have not been significantly supported. Results also confirmed the final model consists of five independent variables that represent 60.4% of the variance in the online purchasing behavior of undergraduates. These findings would greatly encourage online retailers to influence the power of young generation activities by focusing on displaying more details on their websites and making websites in a more convenient and useful manner.