Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37942
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Item Factors that influence the consumer behaviour and the increase of online shopping in the South African market(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Tshabalala, Lilian Bertina; Rukudzo, PamachecheSouth Africa’s e-commerce industry grew by 66% (more than R30 billion) in 2020, compared to 2019, significantly due to online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explores the factors influencing growing intentions for online shopping in the South African market after hard lockdown restrictions were lifted. Drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model and the Need for Cognition theory, the study investigates the extent to which online shopping intention is explained by perceived effort expectancy, online shopping performance expectancy, delivery value expectancy, customer dissatisfaction / dissonance and social influence. The constructs are aligned with the understanding that purchasing online requires less effort than traditional retail store visits and that delivery time, customer service social e-communities affect acceptance and usage of online shopping. Using the survey method, a self administered questionnaire on a Google form was designed to collect geo-biographical information and responses related to each construct of the study. Quantitative data was collected from 81 participants residing in Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal and Western Cape who engaged in online shopping. After the internal structure and reliability of the constructs were determined, multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationships between the data was analysed using and structural equation modelling to determine the path relationships between online shopping intention and perceived effort expectancy, online shopping performance expectancy, delivery value expectancy, customer dissatisfaction / dissonance and social influence in SmartPLS v4. The findings show that delivery expectation has the strongest influence on online while effort expectancy and performance expectancy revealed moderate relationships with online shopping intention. As more retailers engage in ecommerce, findings imply that maximising the delivery component of online purchasing should improve online shopping behaviour. Inferring from the results, this study provides 7 insights for online retailers to prioritise their delivery times and cost to enhance online shopping intention. Additionally, optimising retailer websites calls for a strong digital presence to improve online customer experience with a long-term perspective that will better position retailers to compete in the e-commerce space. Researchers are encouraged to interrogate the lack of significance of customer dissonance and social influence in determining online shopping intention in future research