Changes in online shopping activities of
Generation Z students
- A qualitative study on online purchase intent and impulsivity during Covid-19
Aspitman Avesta
Karacsonyi Beata Valeria Uthman Dalia
School of Business, Society & Engineering
Course: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration Tutor: Johnstone, Leanne
Course code: FOA243 Date: 02.06.2021 15 cr
Abstract
Date: 02.06.2021
Level: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr
Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Avesta Aspitman Beata Valeria Karacsonyi Dalia Uthman
(94/05/24) (95/08/01) (97/01/07) Title: Changes in online shopping activities of Generation Z students
- A qualitative study on online purchase intent and impulsivity during Covid-19
Tutor: Leanne Johnstone
Keywords: Online purchase intent, Covid-19, Generation Z, Students, Impulsive shopping
Research question: How has Covid-19 impacted the online purchase intent of students at Mälardalen region of Sweden?
Purpose: To examine how the impact of Covid-19 has affected the online purchase intent of students of Mälardalen region in Sweden.
Method: This study has an inductive approach with a qualitative data collection. Semi-structured interviews were held with nine students within the Mälardalen region and were conducted online through the communication tool ZOOM. A thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the collected primary data and with assistance of the literature review, four dimensions of the topic could be identified: financial, performance, time and psychological.
Conclusion: Online purchasing during Covid-19 has increased and thus, affected the online purchasing intent of students in the same way. This is mainly due to restrictions and due to the pandemic and the consumer’s perception of the online retailers’ adaptation to it. Increased
impulsivity due to Covid-19 cannot be concluded in this study and thus contradicts existing and recent literature that suggests impulsive
shopping increases in crises. Instead, Generation Z students are more inclined to save their money and make strategic choices to purchase online.
Acknowledgement:
We would like to express our gratitude firstly towards our supervisor Leanne Johnstone, who continuously encouraged and guided us with input and feedback. Secondly, we would like to thank our fellow students who helped us with valuable input in the process of writing the thesis. Completing this thesis would not have been accomplished without all participants who took the time to contribute with valuable information. We would also like to thank our friends and families for the support during the process of producing this thesis. And lastly, we want to thank each other for the hard work and determination. This task could not have been achieved without the continuous support and encouragement given to each other.
Abstract 2 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Problem Discussion 5 1.3 Purpose 5 1.4 Research question 6 2. Literature review 7
2.1 Digitalization within e-commerce 7
2.1.1 Distribution channels in the online retail context 8
2.1.2 Payment methods in the retail context 9
2.2 Antecedents of online shopping 9
2.2.1 Trust 10
2.2.2 Perceived risk 12
2.2.3 Security and privacy issues 13
2.2.4 Price orientation 14
2.2.5 Time consciousness 15
2.3 Online purchase intent 15
2.3.1 Characteristics of consumers 15 2.3.2 Impulsive shopping 19 2.4 Dimensions 19 2.5 Conceptual framework 20 3. Methodology 23 3.1 Research approach 23 3.2 Research design 24 3.3 Choice of interviewees 25 3.4 Operationalization 26 3.5 Data collection 28 3.5.1 Primary data 29 3.5.2 Data analysis 31 3.6 Quality criteria 32 3.7 Research ethics 32 3.8 Method limitations 33 4. Empirical findings 34
4.1 Presentation of each participant 34
4.3 Identified dimensions 37 4.3.1 Financial 37 4.3.2 Performance 39 4.3.3 Time 41 4.3.4 Psychological 43 5. Analysis 46 5.1 Digitalization 46 5.1.1 Payment methods 46 5.1.2 Distribution channels 47 5.2 Antecedents 48 5.2.1 Trust 48 5.2.2 Perceived Risk 50
5.2.3 Security and privacy issues 52
5.2.4 Price orientation 53
5.2.5 Time consciousness 54
5.3 Possible outcome 55
6. Conclusion 57
6.1 Limitation and future research 57
References 59
Appendices 65
Appendix A: Interview questions 65
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Different emergencies, development, and various diseases make the world vulnerable, and an example is the ease of transportation locally and internationally, making it easy for multiple diseases to spread (Nadeak et al., 2020). An outbreak of Covid-19, also known as coronavirus, which started in China and spread to many other countries, has affected the world in many different ways. On January the 30th, 2020 the Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency and announced that SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) had spread globally and was a growing case both in China and in international locations (Velavan & Meyer, 2020). Covid-19 has contributed to uncertain forecasts, including different messages from authorities, shortage of resources, and growing economic losses (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). The pandemic has forced people to conduct most of their everyday activities online to avoid the risk of spreading the deadly virus further. For example, people are recommended not to have large or public gatherings of more than eight persons in Sweden. Schools and universities campus-based learning has stopped and moved education to virtual learning (Adnan, 2020).
The long-term effects of the pandemic are not yet determined. However, it is possible to see many different adaptations and various changes in society all over the world. Roggeveen and Sethuraman (2020) explains that the demand for home delivery of food, groceries, and healthcare has increased. At the same time, problems with inventory and supply chain management have increased for the retailers. The authors state that retailers of shoes and clothing struggle with sales and to be able to survive, they are emerging new ideas to engage and reach customers. They further argue that the battle for the retailers is how to encourage and
maintain impulse purchases, which is more common to do in physical stores than online. Consumers will have no other choice than to adapt to new ways of purchasing and old behaviors will change to new (Roggeveen & Sethuraman, 2020). The authors continue to argue that job losses will make consumers' purchase intent decrease and as a result; spend less money on luxuries and non-essential products and turn to discounts and essential goods and services. Value-adding in stores and restaurants will be viewed differently, priorities such as fun and entertainment will be shifted to how the customers see the stores and restaurants responsible for having rules for social distance and how clean they are (Roggeveen & Sethuraman, 2020).
Roggeveen and Sethuraman (2020) claim that the most common form of payment historically is to pay in cash rather than e-payment. However, as online shopping has increased due to the pandemic, so has the use of credit cards and various types of e-payments. Simultaneously, selling fake products and stealing identities online has increased. Moreover, the study shows that customers who care if a product meets the ethical requirements tend to pay more if the price increases, are more loyal, and question the product's price discount. In contrast customers who are not involved in such matters will be positive about the discount. Nonetheless, there are not just positive effects of going online during the pandemic when searching through recent literature. A downside to online purchases and home delivery has been studied in Australia where, through a survey that was conducted, it was measured the alcohol consumption of Australian consumers in May 2020 (Colbert et al., 2020). The result showed that 36 percent would stop drinking if the home delivery service stopped and the easy access of goods had positive effects on time and energy efficiency, but clearly shows a negative impact in other areas.
Sheth (2020) highlights whether online consumers will go back to how it used to be before the pandemic or if the consumer's behavior regarding shopping has changed forever. He argues that consumers' choice is bounded by time and location. Mobility is limited in several places in the world, and time flexibility has increased. He continues by addressing characteristic consumer behavior in terms of the Covid-19 pandemic; stockpiling products that are considered essential, improvisation to make it work regardless, postpone products that are considered unnecessary, embracing different digital solutions, and the convenient way of purchasing everything from home. These habits that have changed to be more affordable, convenient, and accessible will most likely be changed forever (Sheth, 2020). More than 60 percent of all global consumers have changed their shopping behavior by trying different online retailers when the preferred product is challenging to purchase and simultaneously, e-commerce has increased (Arora et al., 2020).
Li et al. (2020) argue that people tend to have impulsive consumption behavior in emergencies. When the news about Covid-19 came out in the UK, people bought fresh food in large amounts, resulting in food waste. They further explain that in Australia, the stores were out of toilet paper since people rushed to supermarkets to purchase necessary supplies to stock up. Even purchases of guns increased in the United States and the researchers further explained that this behavior is not unusual (Li et al., 2020). Furthermore, they argue, similarities in impulsive consumption can be observed during both the SARS and the nuclear power leakage in Fukushima. Consumers make short amounts of consideration when purchasing impulsively, usually driven by time limitations and the external environment, and this type of behavior is characterized by immediate ownership and quick decision-making (Li et al., 2020). In contrast to some of Sheth’s (2020) assumptions above which suggest prioritizing and economizing purchases during the pandemic, studies show that consumers overspend and over-consume during hard
times (Li et al., 2020). Furthermore, Li et al. (2020) report how the severity of public emergencies positively affects consumers' impulsive consumption. People are more likely to make impulsive consumption the more severe the pandemic. More specifically, an increase in impulsiveness can be seen due to the pandemic (Eger et al., 2021).
Given the uncertainty over how the pandemic affects consumers purchasing behavior outlined above, this study will investigate the current effects of the pandemic on students' online purchase intent. The research on students' purchase intent during the Covid-19 pandemic is limited since the phenomenon is relatively new and continuing. However, literature on how different generations' buying behavior has changed caused by the pandemic has been investigated.
Zwanka and Buff (2021, p.4) discuss how the Generation Y and Generation Z found the idea of stockpiling different groceries is “old fashion” because food groceries will always be available; however, the pandemic has caused and made it clear that pantry-stocking and online purchases of food have increased for all generations. They further explain that historically stressful life events have led to consumers handling the situation by purchasing more intensely and changing their consumption habits. Eger et al. (2021) consider that purchase patterns and shopping behavior are influenced by the experience of a particular generation. They believe that people born between 1989-2000 prefer online shopping because of all the benefits that come with it, such as easy delivery and low prices. Furthermore, what characterizes this generation is also the high level of debt and earning less money than the average. What is most common for all generations is that all value payment security. In their study on adults (18+) in the Czech Republic, they concluded that the bigger the fear of the pandemic, the more significant was the change in consumers' shopping behavior. The fear of losing jobs was 53
percent. Another study, by Barber and Kim (2021), showed that during the Covid-19 younger people (between 18-35) worried less compared to older people (between 65-81).
1.2 Problem Discussion
The pandemic’s long-term effects are yet to be revealed; however, it is obvious that the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to change (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). Scott (2000) states that rational decisions are based on the information about the goals and their outcomes. The early scholar Weick’s (1988) study about crisis revealed that people act by what they think about the situation and the more people understand a crisis and the more information they have, the more they will act rationally.
If this is true, then people who experienced the pandemic and saw the immediate effect that it had on their financial situations, should be acting rationally in their spending. That is, they should spend less. However, the study made by Li et al. (2020) showed that consumers purchased more than they needed in crises (specifically Covid-19).
The world has experienced a crisis yet again, however, it is the first time that a crisis of this size has affected the entire world during a time where technology, digitalization and capitalism have been as developed as they are. Could it be that easy access through technology and digitalization, as well as price variations due to the international competitive market, are the reason for the irrational shopping behaviour? For this study, irrational shopping behaviour is defined as impulsive shopping, which is presented in the literature review chapter.
1.3 Purpose
The many challenges that have been brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic has undeniably brought on changes in the world as known today. However, at the point of time when this thesis
was written, the pandemic was still ongoing which also brought the possibility of continuous changes occurring. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how the impact of the pandemic has affected the online purchase intent of the students of Mälardalen region in Sweden, in order to contribute to future research by giving researchers an idea and context as to how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the purchase intent of students in the online retail environment. The idea was to document data to help researchers understand how the changes were viewed whilst the crisis was still ongoing.
1.4 Research question
RQ: How has Covid-19 impacted the online purchase intent of students in the Mälardalen
region of Sweden?
The students within the Mälardalen region are an empirical context to explore how the pandemic affects online purchase intent. The choice of students within Mälardalen was due to the matter of accessing, reaching, and gathering the amount of empirical research during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, the research is limited to students within the Mälardalen region because the authors live and study in the area and those students constitute members of the Generation Z age cohorts which hold certain assumptions or characteristics in terms of their buying behavior in the literature as previously overviewed.
2. Literature review
The following chapter will be highlighting the literature framing this research and providing understanding of the theory context relating to the research question and purpose. The chapter has been divided into three sections, where the first section focuses on concepts relating to the online purchasing environment, the second section focuses on the concepts relating to the factors that motivates the consumer to buy or not. The third section highlights the consumer profile used for this study, a combination between the first and second section in context to the consumer profile. A summary and conceptual model derived from the literature is presented at the end of this chapter.
2.1 Digitalization within e-commerce
Lehdonvirta states that earlier authors viewed online shopping as a way of purchasing planned necessary things compared to the “ordinary” way, which was explained as more experiential and fun (Lehdonvirta, 2010, as cited in Lehdonvirta, 2012, p.19). Furthermore, he suggests that some authors even meant that online shopping dehumanizes the world; no real-life interaction is needed. Anderson (2006) argues that we as humans are obsessed with being trendy and popular, and the digitized world we live in helps us be that. Consumers can express their preferences with a wide range of products (Anderson, 2006). As Gray and Rumpe (2015) explain, many other parts of society can benefit from digitalization as well. Historical documents and artworks could be stored online forever, for example. Scientists can easily repeat and digitize their experiments that allow more and further analysis for example through big data that can be stored online, which one might have as the first impression of digitalization. Those authors believe that what makes this data valuable is how it is analyzed and used.
From a company-side, Parida et al. (2019) also argues that companies need to be innovative and build business models around digital technologies and digital platforms to keep up and provide value to customers. Nevertheless, over the years, researchers have had a difficult time trying to define digitalization because of the various applications and technologies associated
with it (Parida et al., 2019). As such, Parida et al. define digitalization as the "use of digital technologies to innovate a business model and provide new revenue streams and value-producing opportunities in industrial ecosystems" (2019, p.6). Bloomberg (2018) agrees on the difficulties of defining the term digitalization. He claims that some authors define digitalization as a way of interacting with other people, which can get more and more dependent on because society expects nothing else. Weijo et al. (2018) talk about how digitalization for consumers means an increased sense of self-control, how like-minded consumers can find each other when sharing a common interest, and with different activities and actions, such as comments and rating, they can impact the output of a product or service. This contributes to an additional sense of belonging and collectivism (Weijo et al., 2018). Digitalization has also increased the possibility of consumers taking an active role in the production process and are more exposed to online shopping sites since it is always available (Lehdonvirta et al., 2012). Previously the consumer's choice was limited by the available product being located nearby (Benner & Waldfogel, 2020). However, digitalization has made it possible for easy access, an increase in quality, and the availability of various products (Waldfogel, 2017).
2.1.1 Distribution channels in the online retail context
Waldfogel (2017) explains that promoting different products on digital platforms enriches information exchanges through online reviews between the producers and consumers, as well as between consumers. He argues, for instance, a traditional publication of books offers 50 000 reviews per year compared to Goodreads' largest customer rating platform, which can offer 10 million users’ reviews. Consumers are now awash in products they desire because of the easily accessible and increased diverse forms of access to these products (Waldfogel, 2017). A study conducted by Miklosik et al. (2020) explains that fewer people watch less television nowadays and, instead, use social media and spend more time online. By using search engines, consumers
save time and locate what they specifically search after. Furthermore, when watching television, consumers tend to switch channels or ignore advertisements.
2.1.2 Payment methods in the retail context
Retailers started to build for online shopping in the middle of the 1990s—one of the first signs was payment with credit cards (Lehdonvirta, 2012). A study conveyed by See-To et al. (2014) reveals that not all shopping intentions of consumers lead to sales because consumers tend to use online shopping carts as a wish list for future purchases. One of the reasons for the fulfillment is the payment type. The authors further explain that by entering different private and risky information, people often hesitate. The security and privacy of the customer should be protected (Parida et al., 2019).
Consumers' characteristics can depend on how accepting someone is to the payment method, and the buyer's expectation can impact what type of payment to use (Foscht et al., 2010). Customers prefer that digitized platforms have to be functional and easy to use, and additional payments for digitization functionality are not preferable by customers (Parida et al., 2019). Lehdonvirta (2012) believes that nowadays, for some services and products, direct consumer payment has shifted to advertising-funded payment. An example is newspapers that are advertising-funded and therefore freely distributed. He believes that consumers instead pay with their time and attention.
2.2 Antecedents of online shopping
Online consumer behavior is a complex conundrum with several aspects to take into account (Hwang & Jeong, 2016), such as the characteristics of consumers, sales channels, merchants, social media, websites and products (Akar & Nasir, 2015). The emergence of advanced technology and the Internet has strongly affected the values and lifestyles of consumers and
thus, changed their behavior and intentions as well (Díaz et al., 2017). Shopping online provides several benefits to consumers, not the least convenience and available information (Dennis et al., 2009; Hwang & Jeong, 2016). Nevertheless, there are also several challenges in online settings and from a consumer’s perspective it is, among others, the trust and perceived risk; a pair which play a crucial role in a consumer’s online purchase intentions (Akar & Nasir, 2015).
In an extensive literature review conducted by Chang et al. (2005), a variety of antecedents to online shopping were identified and explored, including perceived risk and trust. They argue that these two concepts need further research due to their complexity of interpretation among researchers; the concepts are never interpreted solely. D’Alessandro et al. (2012) suggest that several antecedents of online purchasing can be addressed in order to reduce the perceived risk of the consumer, which subsequently should increase trust. Their study concluded that concerns of privacy and security in regard to online shopping, increased the perceived risk of consumers. In this sense, trust and perceived risk are arguably interrelated and correspondingly, other antecedents, such as privacy and security, also hold weight. Price and time are additional elements that are fundamental to any consumer, and thus, will also be explored in this literature review.
2.2.1 Trust
Trust has often been interpreted conjointly with other antecedents to online shopping and therefore has an inconclusive definition, but one common standpoint about the concept has been its ability to decrease a consumer’s uncertainty in online settings (Chang et al., 2005). To make a transaction online include risks between the buyer and the seller, as they become dependent on each other in the online exchange. Thus, it is essential that both the buyer and the seller trust each other to fulfill their commitments towards one another, in spite of the
vulnerability that it brings along (Gefen et al., 2003). Arguably, this is not only true between a buyer and a seller, but also between consumers and online vendors, as well as intermediaries such as influencers. That is, trust in the online retail context is more complex with emerging pathways where it is not only between the consumer and online retailer or e-vendor, but trust in a retailer or product is indirectly created through, for example, social media influencers for millennials (e.g., Johnstone & Lindh, 2018) or reviewer websites. For such premises, Bhattacherjee (2002, p.212) emphasizes trust as crucial in these “online exchange relationships
characterized by uncertainty, anonymity, lack of control, and potential opportunism”.
McKnight et al. (2002) define trust as a concept built on compounds which happens before, during or after an online transaction. They study consumer trust in online settings and correspondingly, define trust in an online vendor as a construct of two interrelated elements: trusting beliefs and trusting intentions. They explain that trusting beliefs relate to the consumer’s perceived ability, altruism and integrity of an online vendor; for example, believing that the online vendor will not purposely deceive the consumer. As for trusting intentions, McKnight et al. (2002) explain it as the consumer’s willingness to rely on the online vendor; for example, going through with the transaction and putting any feelings of concern aside.
McKnight et al. (2002) further claim that reputation, website quality and first impression of the web environment are additional elements that influence trust and therefore, an online consumer’s decision to transact with unfamiliar sellers online is heavily influenced by trust. This implies the importance of the online settings and the effect it has on consumers. Similarly, Gefen (2000) also claims that familiarity and trust complement each other and thus, affect the purchase intention of online consumers. His definition of familiarity within e-commerce is broad, however, simplified it can be referred to as a consumer’s former acquaintance with the
online shop and its processes. If online settings, in addition to trust, have an impact on the consumer’s purchase intent, then arguably, so do the distribution channels and payment methods offered by the online vendor, since both are essential parts of the online sales environment.
Vieira et al. (2020) argue that a strong online presence increases consumers’ trust towards retailers. Some examples of creative and engaging ways to exist online are brand- and user-generated content through social media (Djafarova & Bowes, 2021). Chen et al. (2015) claims that brand related social media posts can engage consumers and provoke positive feelings towards the online retailer, which also forms the attitude towards purchase decisions. Even influencers, who serve as intermediators between brand and product, have been found to increase consumers’ trust when promoting products on social media (Johnstone & Lindh, 2018).
2.2.2 Perceived risk
The perceived risk is an aspect that affects online purchase intent of consumers since it directly impacts attitude and online shopping behavior (Ariffin et al., 2018; Ko et al., 2004). Nowadays, and with easier access to internet-connected devices, online transactions have become more common. A certain degree of risk can be expected whenever shopping online, however, the higher the perceived risk for the consumer to make an online purchase, the more discouraged the consumer will feel (Ariffin et al., 2018). There are several elements to take into account when referring to risks and online shopping, such as payment process, delivery and privacy. Consumers that have made purchases online before and are more familiar with the process show a significantly higher willingness to take the risk than for example, consumers who rarely shop online (Lee & Tan, 2003).
The definition of perceived risk is ambiguous, and some attempts describe it as the expectation of losses or unfavorable outcome of a purchased product (Ariffin et al., 2018). Ko et al. (2004) identified four common dimensions of risk that have a significant impact on purchase decisions: performance, financial, time and psychological. They relate these dimension as followed: performance risk involves the expected product quality; financial risk concerns losing money, the need to pay more money to ensure the product performance, and loss of sensitive information provided in the online transaction; time risk includes the inconvenience in regards to the amount of time spent on acquire the product, replace it or repair it; and psychological risks relates to the inner peace of the consumer being disrupted by circumstances caused by the other risk factors.
2.2.3 Security and privacy issues
Security and privacy are elements which concern online consumers and have been presented as critical aspects in e-commerce (Kim et al., 2016). As online consumption becomes more common in line with increased digital solutions, Hassan et al. (2020) claim that credit cards, debit cards and mobile payment are particularly popular payment methods for online purchases, and consequently, suggest that there is a need for improvements of security and privacy in online payment methods. They explain that the online transaction method of choice involves a potential risk for the consumer, for example, the consumer might become a victim of credit card fraud or identity theft.
Both security and privacy have been correlated with consumers’ trust in the online settings of an e-vendor (Chen & Dibb, 2010; Kimery & McCord, 2002; Yoon, 2002). As proposed by Kimery and McCord (2002), online consumers may feel more confident if they find a type of technology assurance provided by the e-vendor, for example, a collaboration with a trusted third party. In a Swedish context, this could, for example, be Klarna and Qliro (Swedish fintech
companies). Kimery and McCord (2002) further argue that such assurance may not only increase consumers' trust that their sensitive information will be handled ethically, but also let new potential customers predict the reliability of the e-vendor. Other ways to increase trust and to assure an online consumer of their privacy and security while online shopping may include providing safe ways to administer online transactions and be transparent of the way the collected, sensitive information is being handled (Chen & Dibb, 2010). A recent study conducted by Bandara et al. (2020) investigating consumers’ attitudes on privacy and security in online settings, offered several conclusions on the matter: not all consumers consider sharing sensitive information as relinquishing privacy; some feel helplessness towards how to protect their privacy; others are cognitively separate towards privacy issues.
2.2.4 Price orientation
Price is another important factor that can influence consumer behavior both positively and negatively in the sense that consumers will reflect over the quality of the product they are purchasing in relation to the price that they are paying (Lichtenstein et al., 1993). Surely price affects both online and offline consumers in one way or another. A study conducted by Lee et al. (2016) found that online consumers had a more complex reaction to price changes in e-commerce than consumers do in offline settings. For example, they found that a first-time price drop in a product online provoked mostly negative reactions in online consumers whereas the second time that price dropped, consumers were slightly more positive towards the change. In comparison, they found that price drops in offline settings generally impact the consumer positively. Thus, drawing the conclusion that online consumers have a more complicated relation to price than offline consumers. Experiential online consumers with a desire for stimulation have a tendency to purchase impulsively and when they do, they usually focus on prices to find the better deal (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001). For example, they may refine their searches and filter easily to compare the same products and its offered prices at different online
vendors. Simultaneously, because of lower production costs, digitization has made it easier for lower-cost product alternatives, and the market can deliver substantially improved products every time a new product launch (Waldfogel, 2017). Accordingly, consumers have more access to conveniently find products of preference at a lower cost.
2.2.5 Time consciousness
Time is arguably one of the resources that consumers spend the most, regardless of whether it is in online or offline settings. Punj (2012) argues that there is a trade-off between saving money and saving time when consumers shop online. The result of his study implies that consumers with high income are attracted by the latter one, whereas consumers with lower income are more focused on saving money. Literature also suggests that in regard to time, convenience shoppers that are experienced with online shopping are prone to look for effortlessness in their online shopping process in order to save time (Nirmala & Dewi, 2011).
2.3 Online purchase intent
Triandis (1980) explains intentions as a phenomenon where an individual hands themself a set of directions which will cause him or her to act and behave in an explicit and definite way. That is, intentions are directly related to the decision-making process of an individual. In this study, intentions have been situated in an online purchasing context. As defined by Pavlou (2003), online purchase intent is the degree of willingness a consumer has to make a purchase online, meaning that the key aspects that are most relevant are the factors motivating the actual purchasing act (see also, Peña-García et al., 2020), which is also the definition for this study.
2.3.1 Characteristics of consumers
Previous research has proclaimed that different age groups have different approaches towards online shopping (Richa, 2012) and it is expected that Generation Z are soon to be the
predominant consumer segment (Vieira et al., 2020). Kahawandala et al. (2020) suggest that Generation Z are strongly influenced by the surroundings which they grew up in, and in their report, they found that Generation Z respondents were generally more educated, conscious and responsible with money, information seeking and highly tech-savvy. Fundamentally, Generation Z is the first generation of individuals born into the digital age as it is known today and can be considered significant since it means that they have been exposed to larger amounts of data and technology (Kahawandala et al., 2020). That is, Generation Z did not need to adapt to the new era of digitalization, unlike earlier generations, and are more confident in navigating online.
According to the Swedish Central Bureau of Statistics (SCB), approximately 30 percent of all students accepted to higher education in Sweden were around the age of 19, and approximately 19 percent of all students accepted were between the ages 20-27 (SCB, 2020). These numbers show that the average age of 50 percent of the students in higher education in Sweden is around the age of 23. This is also supported by a study that was conducted by the Swedish Higher Education Authority in 2018, which concluded that the average age of a student in Sweden was around 24 years old (UKÄ, 2018). Adopting the assumption that the average student is approximately 24 years old in the year 2021, then presumably, the characteristics of the average student belong to Generation Z. Although the year of birth for the Generation Z cohort varies depending on the researcher, for this study it is defined as people born from the year 1995 to 2010 (Patel, 2017).
A study conducted by Delafrooz et al. (2010) investigates Malaysian students' online shopping behavior and highlights a specific aspect regarding the perceived benefits of online shopping. The empirical data of the study indicates that students are inclined to convenience when online shopping, such as saving time and money, and a wider range of options. This demonstrates that students have specific requirements, demands and preferences when purchasing online, and reasonably, this can be true for students belonging to the Generation Z cohort as well.
It has been shown that Generation Z are highly cognizant when they make purchases online and that their online purchase intent is influenced by “factors like perceived ease of use,
perceived usefulness, and risks related to online transactions and privacy, availability of products online, prices and discounts or offers related to the products, customer satisfaction, and vendor’s reputation” and also trust, which was emphasized as the most significant factor
above the others (Tiwari & Joshi, 2020, p.184).
Price has also been found to be a key factor as support in the decision-making process of making a purchase online for Generation Z, however, in the same study, convenience was found less important (Vieira et al., 2020). Additional elements that impact online purchase intent in consumers are demographic characteristics, for example: gender, marital status, family size and income (Suki, 2011). In relation to this, the Swedish Board of Student Finance (CSN) reports numbers showing that, in higher educations, 37 percent of students taking student loans believes the loan covers all their expenses each month, however, an increasing number of students are also taking on part-time jobs to finance their living and adding another source of income during their studies (CSN, 2020).
One way of distributing the advertisement nowadays is via influence marketing. Throughout trusted sources, in the eyes of the consumers, social media has made it possible to target the right customer (Kim & Kim, 2020). Additionally, as Lehdonvirta (2012) explains, more power has been given to the consumers since social media has become a way of online service. Through various channels, such as blogs and social networks, consumers are the ones that drive the production to what they specifically require. Unethical business and misinformation are much easier to spread on social media by word of mouth, and at the same time, fashion and trends can be spread at the same speed (Lehdonvirta, 2012). Generation Z were told to rank social media in a study conducted by McGorry (2017). The study showed that Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat were on top in terms of their use of preferred distribution channels.
Nur and Panggabean (2021) argue that Generation Z (born after 1995) grew up with smartphones as toys, therefore sometimes called iGeneration. Their study of 100 participants from Jakarta, Indonesia, and nearby Jakarta showed that Generation Z has a positive attitude to mobile payment services that can ease the transaction of online purchases. These generations can easily review and find what they are searching for online. The study also showed that the more easily used the mobile payment is, the more likely is it for Generation Z to purchase from online shops, and Generation Z works as a benchmark for determining different online transaction criteria, such as postponing the payment. The reliability, trust, and safety of an online transaction positively impact Generation Z's usage of the service (Nur & Panggabean, 2021). A study conducted by Priporas et al. (2017) found that Generation Z is worrying about the security issues regarding online transactions, specifically credit card fraud.
2.3.2 Impulsive shopping
Impulsive shopping can be defined as a spontaneous and immediate decision to purchase a product without considering the actual need for it (Chen et al., 2019). Consumers with a tendency to impulse buy might find it hard to control their decision of purchasing a product, which is often characterized as unplanned and unreflective (Wu et al., 2020). Chih et al (2012) found a correlation between higher impulsiveness and a positive emotional state. That is, if a consumer has positive feelings when shopping, it is more likely for them to buy on impulse as they are more acceptant to higher risks at the time. Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2001) found that experiential motivations for online shopping often included impulsive shopping, whereas utilitarian shoppers tended to be more impulsive in offline settings. In other words, online consumers who shop for fun, typically, made more online purchases in an impulsive manner than those consumers who went online with a task-oriented manner. Djafarova and Bowes (2021) argue that impulsive shopping behavior indeed can be triggered in people belonging to the Generation Z cohort and the result of their study concluded that females were more likely to make impulse online purchases than males, when exposed to encouraging and creative online advertisement. They explained that online marketing stimuli can induce positive feelings in the consumer, which then trigger consumers to make impulse purchases.
2.4 Dimensions
In order to categorize the empirical data, the authors identified four dimensions derived from the literature, with inspiration from the article written by Ko et al. (2004). The identified dimensions are financial, performance, time and psychological.
Ko et al. (2004, p.21) defines the factors as risks, where the financial aspect is defined as “the
properly”. For this study the financial aspects touch all factors relating to the financial keys
that affect purchase intent, such as payment method and price orientation.
In the previous study, performance is defined as a risk that “the perception that a product
purchased may fail to function as originally expected” (Ko et al., 2004, p.21). In this study the
performance aspect relates to all factors relating to the performance of the product and online environment, such as perceived risk, trust and distribution channels.
The authors further define time risk as “the perception that time, convenience, or effort may be
wasted when a product purchased is repaired or replaced” (Ko et al., 2004, p.22). For this
study the dimension relates to the time spent on looking and purchasing a product. In other words; time consciousness.
The psychological risk is defined as “the perception that a negative effect on a consumer's
peace of mind may be caused by a defective product” (Ko et al., 2004, p.22). For this study the
definition of the psychological dimension relates to perceived risk and trust between the consumer and the online retailer, as well as security and privacy issues where for example “the
potential loss of control over personal information, such as invasion of privacy” (Ko et al.,
2004, p.22) can be a perceived risk.
2.5 Conceptual framework
The pandemic has brought new economic realities and consequently, consumer behavior has changed. This is the first time our world experiences a global crisis at the same time that technology and digitalization are precedent in businesses all over the world. Retailers face new challenges as online consumption is becoming increasingly prevalent during Covid-19 due to
the special circumstances. There has already been some research conducted on the changes in online consumer behavior and impulsivity as an effect of the pandemic, however, not enough studies have exceptionally focused on students as the consumer group in the phenomenon. This study focuses on exploring the effects that the pandemic has had on students - assuming that those students belong to the Generation Z age cohort as outlined above - specifically, and how their online purchase intent towards online retailing has changed accordingly.
The literature review of this study is therefore concentrated on three different areas: digitalization, antecedents of online shopping, and online purchase intent in Generation Z students. Digitalization can be considered an external force for a consumer’s online consumption. Accordingly, it explores the concepts of distribution channels and payment methods commonly offered at online retailers and how it has improved throughout the years. These concepts are the foundations of the online existence of retailers visible to consumers.
Antecedents to online purchase intent directly affects the consumer. Literature has emphasized trust and perceived risk to be predominant in online consumers’ decision-making process of purchasing online. The concepts are of a complex nature and researchers have adopted different interpretations. Nevertheless, trust and perceived risk are critical, interrelated factors. Intervened with trust and perceived risk, antecedents such as security, privacy, price and time have been examined. All the concepts of antecedents explored can assist to get a better and coherent understanding of the decision-making process an online consumer goes through before making a purchase.
The consumer group’s characteristics and shopping orientation is defined and examined. Generation Z is the first generation that was born into the digital world and are generally used
to technology. However, the students of this generation have limited income and often work part-time aside from their studies. The research on online purchase intent presented in this literature review has shown that the consumers’ willingness to spend their money essentially depends on 1) what, where and how the product is available and 2) who and where the individual consumer is. These aspects affect each other and can be categorized into financial, performance, time and psychological as main dimensions. Therefore, the consumer group, Generation Z students, is of focus in this study and the changes in their online purchase intent pre and during the pandemic will be explored through the independent concepts and the other factors known to be crucial and motivating factors for online purchase intent in consumers, see Figure 1.
Figure 1:
3. Methodology
This chapter describes the methodology of this study and it begins by defining its research approach and design. Subsequently, it motivates the choice of interviewees relevant to this study and presents the operationalization of the interviews conducted. Moreover, it presents data collection, data analysis and assesses the research quality, research ethics, and limitations.
3.1 Research approach
This study was based on an inductive approach, with a qualitative data collection. For this study both quantitative, qualitative and a concurrent mixed method were considered, however after contemplating them all, the qualitative research approach was identified as most relevant, as it would best achieve the purpose and aim of the study since in-depth understanding of primary data was necessary to reach the purpose of the research. Participants were selected to conduct in-depth interviews to gain a broader perspective and understand the meaning of the chosen research topic (Saunders et al., 2012), which was the data collection technique chosen and most fit for this study. For this study, in-depth interviews are particularly practical to understand, analyze and further investigate the problem area.
Since this study aimed to better understand how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the online purchase intent of Generation Z students from Mälardalen region through the role of digitalization and the antecedents (trust, perceived risk, online security, price orientation and time consciousness), the most relevant approach was the inductive approach as the purpose of this study was to help inform about the current impact for future researchers to build further upon.
3.2 Research design
An interview study is used to explore the phenomenon of the new context the pandemic has created. Exploratory research has been used to gain knowledge on “what”, “why”, and “how” the pandemic has impacted the students' online purchase intent. This kind of study is characterized by how it is conducted, that is, a search of the literature and interviewing the relevant people in the field (Saunders et al., 2019). The literature review of this thesis brought the essential concepts of understanding online purchase intent, and by interviewing the students, this thesis gained insight and understanding of the phenomena, which brought the research to the subsequent stage. To get an idea of “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, and “how”, an accurate profile of the students is given. This study used a description-explanatory which is explained by Saunders et al. (2019) as a descriptive research design that could be seen as an extension of exploratory research.
Since the idea was to explore different results, a qualitative semi-structured interview was conducted. This method emerges unexpected, naturalistic, and interactive with the interviewee (Saunders et al., 2019). Questions were formed and designed to allow the participants to answer from their point of view. Both open and structured questions were asked. The structured questions were asked to get an overview of the student and guide the student to the investigated topic.
For other researchers to translate and evaluate the study, the research design needed to be detailed and bring the research process with complete evidence (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The current pandemic is global, and the transferability of this research may be valid but less applicable to other consumers and other crisis situations.
3.3 Choice of interviewees
An interview study of student online purchase intent during this era of the pandemic is relatively new, and participants who could answer more in-depth questions about the research topic and who could paint an overall picture of the situation were needed for this interview. The age of the interviewees was between 23-26 years old and are all students within the Mälardalen region in Sweden. The sample was a mixture of different grades; first-year students, seniors, and some were in between. The reason for the selected participants was that the authors' main occupation is to study. By choosing students makes the contact network wider compared to work and other occupations. The choice of interviewees was natural, and due to Covid-19, access to participants was difficult.
The interview study involved nine students, independent of each other - which means the participants' answers are not affected by each other nor do most of them know each other. The participants of this study have a personal relationship with one of the authors of this study. The relationship is in the form of friends, classmates, siblings, sister-in-law, and cousins to the authors. Each interview was conducted individually with two authors present. One author had a relation to the participant, which made the interview a comfortable and trustful conversation for the participant, and the second author had a detached and impartial perspective on the interview, which gave a distant and fair perspective to the study. The author who did not know the participant asked the question, while the second author noted and observed the interview. As Saunders et al. (2019) suggest, one should distance oneself to avoid influencing the finding for neutral research. They also suggest having more than one interviewer to add different perspectives, which will improve the reliability of the data collection. The author who knew the participant from before worked as an element to make the participant comfortable by being
present. The interview was recorded in order to transcribe the conversation afterward by the third detached author.
Keeping in mind that the time to conduct the research was limited, so would the sample of data also be. The authors had difficulties in finding students in other geographic areas in Sweden other than the Mälardalen region and therefore they used their network of other students in the Mälardalen region to find suitable participants for the interviews. The only requirements to participate in the study was being a student before and during the pandemic and living in the Mälardalen region.
3.4 Operationalization
The literature review conducted provides critical aspects of online purchase intent in consumers, which can be investigated in order to discover changes due to Covid-19. The model presented in Figure 1 in the conceptual model assists the reader to understand both the external and internal driving forces for online purchase intent in Generation Z students as the consumer group. Four dimensions could be identified which were relevant to this study: financial, performance, time and psychological. These dimensions covered all presented concepts and guided the interview questions to be properly formatted and relevant in regard to purpose of this study. Seventeen structured questions were formed (see appendix A) and a fill-out form (see appendix B) was sent out to each participant before the interview. The fill-out form helped the interviewers to gain insight about the participants’ current situation as a student during Covid-19. A table will be presented below this section to further illustrate the relevance of the questions (see Table 1). However, questions 1, 11, 16 and 17 formed general questions and served to provide background and support connection between the questions that were
identified in the dimensions. As those questions were much dependent upon the participants’ answer, a semi-structured interview where follow up questions could be asked was the optimal way to conduct the interviews. The general questions also helped the participants to elaborate upon their online purchase intent both pre- and during Covid-19 and additionally, aided the
interviewers to make a comprehensive evaluation of the participants’ impulsiveness as a result of the pandemic.
Table 1:
Operationalization. Created by authors, 2021
3.5 Data collection
The data collection process started by researching the topic of consumer behavior and reading various previous articles and research to gain an understanding of the area. Once enough knowledge had been collected, it also became clear that there was not a lot of research that had
been conducted on consumer behavior in students during Covid-19, which subsequently shaped the scope of the research, problem area and purpose. For this reason, it was deemed relevant to create and use primary data in order to collect the relevant information to answer the research question and achieve the purpose of the research.
3.5.1 Primary data
The primary data needed for this research was collected through conducting nine semi-structured, in-depth interviews. It would have been preferred to conduct the interviews in real life to be able to see and analyze the body language of the interviewee and other small details that can be lost in digital mediums (Saunders et al., 2019), but due to the on-going pandemic measures were taken to ensure the safety of the authors and interviewees. The interviews were therefore carried out online via the communication tool ‘ZOOM’. In order to minimize any chances of missing important data, the interviewees were asked to set up the camera at a distance where their upper bodies and hand gestures were visible. They were also asked to sit in a room alone to eliminate the possibilities of disruption or influence by others. This was a way for the authors to mimic the face-to-face interview experience, in a digital format. Saunders et al. (2019) explain that in order for an interview to go well and the result to be reliable, trust between the interviewer and the participants must be established. It was therefore deemed necessary to explain the layout of the interview beforehand, how the information was going to be used and if the participant had any questions. The communication medium ‘ZOOM’ was a tool which all students that participated were familiar with and had used since the beginning of the pandemic when all school activities devolved to digital learning activities, which was also another tactic to create trust between the interviewer and the participant.
Preparations for the data collection were done by collecting information regarding the research area and background of the interviewees, in order to prove credibility and gain confidence from
the interviewees (Saunders et al., 2019). The authors were students themselves, which was a factor that was taken advantage of to corroborate that the participants felt comfortable, as well as asking questions that the participants could relate to and understand easily.
The planned structure and nature of the interview was standardized with open-ended questions. Seventeen relevant open-ended questions were formed (see appendix A) to ask all participants. Each question was related to a specified dimension (see table 1, in operationalization), in order to achieve in answering the research question and again; understanding how the purchase intent of students in the Mälardalen region has changed during Covid-19. As time and resources were limited, it was not possible to conduct more than nine semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The interview was approached by a formal and standardized process to simplify the preparation process of the interview. However, it must also be stated that in practice there are no perfectly standardized procedures to conduct interviews. Questions and procedures may change in order to provide the interview with more interactive and natural results (Saunders et al., 2012). Once the participant was comfortable, the interviewer started asking open-ended questions and listened carefully for the response to then ask open follow up questions if it was necessary for the participant to elaborate their answer. All interviews were provided with the same standardized open-ended questions; however, they varied a bit when participants were asked to elaborate their answers.
All participants were also asked to fill out a form prior to the interview (see appendix B), the reasoning behind this was to establish a student-profile for each participant and to later present it in the empirical findings. In this form the participants were also asked which language they were comfortable conducting the interview with and also if they wanted to remain anonymous. The reason for letting the participant choose the circumstances such as language and identity
(public or anonymous) is to give them the opportunity to express themselves freely and elaborate according to how they understand the subject. As an attachment to the form, the pre-set questions were also sent to the students to give the students the time and a moment to understand and prepare for the interview (see appendix A) (Saunders et al., 2019).1 The
interviews with participants 5 and 6 were conducted in Swedish and has been directly translated to English in Google Translate, with minor changes when the translation device failed to translate correctly.
3.5.2 Data analysis
For data analysis techniques, many different methods were contemplated. However, as Alhojailan (2012) explains, the thematic data analysis technique is commonly applied in qualitative research where large amounts of content is collected, such as research that is conducted by the use of in-depth interviews. The thematic analysis was also deemed fit for this study as it teases out themes and patterns that are derived from the collected data. He further explained that “Thematic Analysis is considered the most appropriate for any study that seeks
to discover using interpretations” (Alhojailan, 2012, p.40). Since the data collection process
was pre-set, it was expected that the amount of data that was collected would have to be divided into different themes or categories in order to acquire a logical structure that would provide an in-depth perspective regarding the topic of interest (Saunders et al., 2019). Since there is no exact rule on how the empirical data should be categorized, the authors decided to use the themes of the questions related to the literature to identify as category/dimension. In other words, the chosen concepts were related to a specific dimension, as explained in the operationalization table (Table 1). In order to investigate and examine the findings accordingly, the authors decided to analyze the data by inserting the independent concepts (e.g., price
1Appendix A = Prepared questions for the interview
orientation, payment method, etc.) in each dimension and then compare, examine and investigate the data towards the theoretical background. The analysis of the collected data started by transcribing the interviews, taking notes throughout the transcribing process and reading it multiple times in order to be familiar with the information and create each student's profile which provided background to the empirical findings. Once the data was familiar, the authors started categorizing, coding and disassembling the information in relation to the literature background.
3.6 Quality criteria
This qualitative study can be measured by criteria, such as credibility, dependability, reliability, and transferability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The validity of the relationship in an interview is based on openness, trust, and low power differences between the researcher and the participant (Steinke, 2004). The relationship between the interviewer and the participants is presented in section 3.3. Reliability means the replication and consistency of the study (Saunders et al., 2019). Steinke (2004) states that qualitative research can impossibly be identical replicated compared to quantitative research. The author further explains that the requirement for appropriate qualitative research is an understandable research process. A thorough research design and operationalization are found in sections 3.2. and 3.4. The data collection is sufficient, reliable to the research, and contributes to the development of the research area (Saunders et al., 2019). Which is further explained in section 3.5.
3.7 Research ethics
As this research has been based on information gathered from interviews and real people, it has been of importance to act ethically and responsibly with the information. Firstly, all participants have been asked to volunteer their time to participate in the research; it has been completely
and entirely up to them to decide if they want to participate or not. Upon receiving a request to participate, each participant was also informed regarding the set-up of the interview, as well as the fact that the interview will be recorded and once it had been transcribed, it would then be deleted. Furthermore, each participant was also asked if they wanted to remain anonymous and what it would mean if their names were written explicitly in the study. For the safety of the participants who wanted to remain anonymous, it was also discussed what type of information that was relevant to include in the thesis and what would be considered personal, to which it would be easy to piece the information together in order to locate the participant and expose its identity.
3.8 Method limitations
This study has a smaller sample size of nine interviewees and consequently, the generalizability may be affected. Moreover, this study cannot guarantee that the participants are free of bias towards themselves. In other words, it cannot be excluded that the participants have modified their answers on purpose. To some extent, the validity of the answers given by the participants may be affected as well since the participants might not be aware of changes in their online purchasing intent, and whether or not it correlates to Covid-19 or simply just overlap with other circumstances in their lives.
4. Empirical findings
In the following section the empirical findings will be presented. Initially, an introduction of each participant will be presented to show the background of each participant. Then, the data will be presented thematically, where each question belongs to the specified dimension/category.
4.1 Presentation of each participant
4.2 General background information
When asked, eight of nine participants answered that they had been financially affected by the pandemic. The pandemic had not affected participant 6 at all. Participants 2, 3, and 4 either lost their jobs or had difficulties getting a job because of the pandemic.
Participant 9 had been indirectly affected by the pandemic. The participant neither takes any loan nor has a job, and all the financial support comes from the parents. The indirect effect comes from the participant's dad, who lost his job due to the pandemic. Participant 9 elaborated by saying:
"So, it's kind of like... a domino effect, even though it doesn't affect you directly, you still bear
the financial consequences of it."
The pandemic has affected participants 1, 2, 5, 7, and 8 spending activities. Participants 1, 2, 5, and 8 have been positively affected by the pandemic, as in buying less. Due to restrictions and minimizing the risk of spreading the virus, their purchasing activities in physical stores, restaurants, transportation costs, and going on vacations have decreased. However, participant 7 has been negatively affected by the pandemic, spending more on particular "enjoyable" purchases and "going with intuition" as participant 7 expressed.
One participant had found a way of not ending up in her financial fear. She explained, “Oh,
and I also make it a point not to follow influencers or companies on social media, I have noticed that I sometimes can be easily influenced by what I see other people buying and posting, so instead I only look up influencers for coupon codes if I have already decided on purchasing something”.
Five out of nine participants answered that their online purchases are planned according to their needs. Two out of nine added that their online purchasing activities had increased since the pandemic while explaining that they have more time on their hands, even though they do not necessarily go through with the purchase, “window-shopping” on webpages and social media has increased. Participant 3 said “I shop a lot online but that's because I rarely do it in store. I
also think it's fun to look around on different websites regularly”. Participant 2 stated that the
purchases were planned, where it was further elaborated that the online purchasing activities only occurred when the need was established “I online look for products that I know I need, for
example if I need a hoodie, I go online and buy a hoodie. If I need to buy food I plan it according to my budget and try to stick to it as much as I can”.
Participant 1 said that online shopping is more common than in-store shopping, stating “I know
I am easily influenced by nice photos and pretty esthetics so in general I wouldn’t say that I am an online shopaholic, but I also wouldn’t say that I am far from it”. Also continuing saying
that looking at websites often when bored.
Each and every participant recognized times where they had made an irrational online purchase. Although four out of nine participants could not provide a specific example, they seemed sure to have done it at some point. When asked to reflect upon it, participant 6 said “I probably
bought it because I thought I would need it in the future or felt good to buy it because the price was reduced, and I thought I did a good deal or something” and some other participants
provided similar reasoning. Three participants that could remember specific purchases were asked to reflect upon the driving force behind the impulse purchase they made: “ [...] I did it
just because it looked fun” (participant 4); “It was during a time when everyone had air pods which I also wanted, but I was a student, I didn’t have a lot of money to spend [...]” (participant,
8). Participant 7 had once impulsively bought a vacation trip in the middle of the semester and reflected that “there was no way we could just take a holiday somewhere and escape the stress,
even if we wanted to”.
All the participants were asked to evaluate if their online purchasing activities today are similar to the way they were two years ago and to reflect on what has changed. Participant 1 said “I
don’t think I have ever purchased as many things online as I have done this year”. Five
participants in total expressed that they feel like their online purchases have increased, and therefore would not describe their online purchasing activities the same as two years ago. Three participants believed that their activities are more or less the same as two years ago. One participant believed that her online purchases have decreased compared to two years ago and added: “I think about my finances more than I did before. I have started saving money instead
of wasting it on things I may not need” (participant 3).
4.3 Identified dimensions
4.3.1 Financial
Price affects all the participants. The most common answers were that it depends on what they buy. If a product is too expensive and exceeds the budget, it is not worth buying and they rather wait for a sale. Participants 3, 4, 5, and 8 would buy an expensive product. Participant 3 states, “I don’t buy expensive products, unless I really need it and it can’t wait”. While participant 4 put it differently: “If I find something that I really want or wanted, the price often does not
matter. But if I find something that is similar to what I intend to buy and is cheaper, I could imagine buying it instead”.
