The Mediating Effect of Consumers’ Purchase Intention: A Perspective of Online Shopping Behavior among Generation Y

Abstract

Young consumers spend most of their time online in comparison to the working adults due to their great potential of buying power as well finding that online shopping is more convenient. The objective of this study is to investigate factors determining online purchase intention among the university students whereby variables such as attitude, subjective norm, trust, purchase intention and behavior were tested. Total of 800 questionnaires were distributed and 662 questionnaires were usable. A quantitative research was undertaken through the distribution of survey questionnaires and the data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to test the relations among variables. The analyses have proven that purchase intention has functioned effectively as a mediator between the independent variables (attitude, subjective norm and trust) and dependent variables (online shopping behavior).The results of this study offer some new frontiers in supporting as well as enriching more studies in the scope of online shopping behaviors. This study contributes to the dynamics of the causative relations between examined variables and highlights the significance of attitude, subjective norm, trust and consumer behavior in ascertaining the purchase intention in the context of Malaysian online purchases.

Keywords: Purchase intention, Attitude, Subjective norm, Trust, Consumer behavior