Influencing factors to Vietnamese’s intention to use online shopping

Abstract:

Online shopping is a business that expands rapidly all over the world and gradually become the key alternative for the traditional brick and mortar shop. Since its first introduction in 1994, merely two decades passed and this service has served over a billion users all around the world. Vietnam has a population of 96.48 million which is ranked 15^th in term of population (General Statistic Office of Vietnam, 2019). A highly populated country like Vietnam is a prospective market for online shopping. Despite this fact, Vietnamese consumers are showing reluctant towards e-commerce (Ho and Chen, 2013) due to numerous reasons. Thus, this study specifically targets at factors concerning the intention to use online shopping of Vietnamese consumers. Six factors are measured in this study including subjective norm, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, system quality, information quality and service quality. The result reveals that all of these factors positively influence Vietnamese e-shoppers’ purchase intention. Among that, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are the most influential factors.

Keywords: Online shopping, subjective norm, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, system quality, information quality, service quality.

1. Introduction

In Vietnam, technology used to be immensely underdeveloped. Specifically, internet access is available to merely 0.3% of Vietnamese population in 2000 (Khanh and Gim, 2014). Later, Vietnam has paid more attention to technology development. As a result, internet coverage grows quicker year after year. In 2016, the total number of people who are able to use internet in Vietnam accumulates more than half of total population (Internet live stat, 2016) and keep increasing in the coming years. With the increase of internet population in Vietnam, there are more potential customers for e-commerce.

Online shopping has its own advantages. An obvious advantage of e-commerce over retail store is its availability. Despite its benefits, online shopping is still unpopular in Vietnam. Merely a third of internet users in Vietnam purchase online in 2013 (Khanh & Gim, 2014). This is well below the global digital buyer penetration in the same year which is 41.3 percent of global internet users (Statista, 2016). This is due to the fact that not everything about e-commerce is positive. The inability to physically check product (see, touch and smell it) before buying is a reason why consumers reject online shopping (Keh and Shieh; 2001). The inability to test product is especially serious in case of certain types of products such as clothes (Goldsmith and Flynn, 2005; Comegys et al., 2009) and computers (Federal Trade Commission, 2003). Cheah (2001) discovered consumers’ concern over the security and privacy aspects of online shopping system. Many consumers believe that the information provided on the websites is not persuasive enough for them to purchase online. They are afraid that the item they purchase online is not what they expect.

This research aims at studying the intention to purchase online of Vietnamese by examining the relationship between consumers purchase intention and possible factors contributing to it.

2. Theoretical background

E-commerce is defined by Kalakota and Whinston (1997) as a new form of business idea that supports business party and suppliers in providing customers with improved product quality at lower cost and quicker delivery. In other words, ‘e-commerce’ involves purchase and sale of product (goods and service) via the internet and other online platforms. Because of technology advancements, the conventional way to purchase is no longer sufficient for shoppers. They now want to be able to find and reach their desired products in quick and easier way instead of having to go to the shops. And the internet is what enable users and suppliers to achieve it with the born of e-commerce. Marketers can offer value and build relationship with clients easier via the use of internet and e-commerce (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006)

In order to clarify consumers’ motivation to purchase online, four theories including theory of reasoned action (TRA) & theory of planned behavior (TPB), technology acceptance model (TAM) and Information systems success model (ISS) are used as foundations to examine the relationship between possible determinants of online purchase intention and online purchase intention of Vietnamese people. It is also supported by other research in the field

Subjective norm

Subjective norm refers to the influence of people around (families, friends and peers) on an individual. According to Venkatesh, Morris and Ackerman (2000), subjective norm is individual viewpoint on the way he/she should perform a certain action in order to satisfy with the expectation of people close to her/him.

Theory of reasoned action (TRA) was introduced by Ajzen & Fishbein (1975) to interpret purchase intention and behavior of consumers. This model and its variants are considered extremely useful   when it comes to evaluating the intention to use online product. TRA model hypothesizes that a certain “behavior” is influenced by individual’s intention to perform that given behavior. Even though subjective norm does not influence consumers’ behavior directly, it is a variable used to predict the outcome of behavioral intention (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975). Jamil and Mat (2011); Laohapensang (2009) confirmed this by stating that referents (friends, family and the media) have minor impact on actual online buying but is one of the most influential factors on online purchase intention. Therefore, the hypothesis is as followed:

Hypothesis 1 (H1): Subjective norm positively affects customers’ intention to use online shopping service.

Perceived usefulness

Technology acceptance model (TAM) which was developed by Davis (1989) investigate the relationship between perceived usefulness of the product and/or service and behavioral intention to use that product and/or service. According to Davis (1989), when an individual believes that utilizing a particular product/service would improve his or her performance, that particular product/service will be considered useful. Conversely, if his/her performance retains or reduce after using the service, it implies that the product/service lacks usefulness. The TAM expresses a direct relationship between perceived usefulness and the intention to use the system. Similarly, Lin (2007) discover that consumers have favorable attitudes and are more likely to use online shopping if it proves to be useful in the eyes of consumers. Hence, we have a hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2 (H2): There is a positive relationship between perceived usefulness and consumers’ intention to use e-shopping.

Perceived ease of use

Perceived ease of use is explained as how user-friendly the website appears to consumers (Corritore et al., 2005), how difficult it is to navigate, search for products and information, and to understand the content appear on the website. According to the TAM model developed by Davis (1989), perceived ease of use (PEOU) is an influencing factor to the intention to use e-commerce. Perceived ease of use is explained as the effort users have to spend in order to utilize online shopping system (Davis, 1989). Therefore:

Hypothesis 3 (H3): Perceived ease of use positively affects customers’ intention to use online shopping service.

System quality, information quality & service quality

Delone & McLean (1992) started the Information systems success model (ISS) and furtherly improved it to the final form in 2003. According to the ISS model, the usage intention is affected by three factors including system quality, information quality and service quality. Among this, system quality concerns the stability of the system (Delone & Mclean, 2003). Accuracy, timeliness and usefulness is the major focuses of information quality. Lastly, responsiveness, trust, and empathy are three main measurements of service quality for the online system (Qutaishat, 2012). Hence, three hypotheses are concluded as followed:

Hypothesis 4 (H4): System quality has a positive influence on customers’ intention to use online shopping service.

Hypothesis 5 (H5): Information quality positively affects customers’ intention to use online shopping service.

Hypothesis 6 (H6): Service quality positively affects customers’ intention to use online shopping service.

3. Data collection and analysis

This research focuses on different factors that have impact on the intention to use online shopping service of users in Vietnam. The population of this research comprise of all Vietnamese residence who have used e-commerce service. This research considers the demographic and other various factors of respondents to best represent users of e-commerce service in Vietnam.

A quantitative inquiry was conducted in Vietnam between January 2019 to May 2019. A total of 419 respondents with online shopping experience has taken part in the survey. In terms of gender, since women are interested in shopping more than men, 60% of the interviewees are females. According to Choudhury & Dey (2015) young people, school and university students occupy 75% of internet users. Thus, in this research, 80% of participants are under 35 years old. For the same reason, this study includes mostly students (57 %) and white-collar worker (27%).

4. Findings

The correlation efficient scores of “intention to use” with other constructs varies between 0.337 and 0.568 indicates moderate positive relationships between intention to use and all other constructs. Still, there are constructs that pose stronger relationships than others. They are perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. These are the only two constructs that possess correlation scores larger than 0.5 (0.568 and 0.514 respectively). This points out the fact that the intention to use online shopping of Vietnamese shopper is largely and positively influenced by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. On the other hand, subjective norm and system quality has the least influence to e-commerce intention to use of respondents in the survey with low correlation scores of under 0.4.

Figure 1: Correlation Coefficient among constructs and the intention to use online shopping

	Subjective norm	Perceived usefulness	Perceived ease of use	System quality	Information quality	Service quality
Intention to use (overall)	0.335	0.568	0.514	0.337	0.443	0.485
Satisfaction	0.247	0.503	0.462	0.278	0.374	0.402
Continuous using	0.362	0.461	0.428	0.272	0.397	0.403
Recommendation to other	0.256	0.485	0.422	0.289	0.334	0.421

Moving on to specific variables of intention to use, the same pattern is presented. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use positively correlate the most with each variable of using intention’s construct while subjective norm and system quality are two of the least compatible constructs with consumers’ satisfaction, continuous using and recommendation to others. Despite this, the correlation coefficient between subjective norm and continuous using is much larger than the respective score for overall intention to use, satisfaction and recommendation to others.

Based on the result, all six constructs consisted of subjective norm, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, system quality, information quality, service quality positively correlated with Vietnamese shoppers’ intention to use online shopping.

Firstly, subjective norm positively influences online purchase intention of Vietnamese. However, it is the least impactful construct to intention to buy online with correlation score of 0.335. The implication of this is that in Vietnam, online shopping usage depends on consumers’ actual experience with the service rather than external factors such as others’ advice. Still, in comparison with its effect on overall purchase intention, consumers’ satisfaction and recommendation, subjective norm has a considerable influence to whether or not consumers are going to continue using online shopping service in the future.

Majority of respondents rated perceived usefulness highly and positively. Two most prominent features of online shopping usefulness are time efficiency and easy to use (agreed by more than 60 percent of interviewees while disagreed by merely less than 16 percent). Moreover, the correlation score between perceived usefulness and overall intention to use, satisfaction, continuous using and recommendation to others is highest in comparison with other constructs. These scores are ranged between 0.461 and 0.568 indicating a medium to high positive relationship with matter related to intention to use. This finding is consistent with the finding of Davis (1989).

The construct “perceived ease of use” is largely similar to perceived usefulness as it boasted a high level of consent from participants as well as a middle to high correlation score with purchase intention and its related factors. The number proves that perceived ease of has statistically significant positive impact on Vietnamese’ intention to purchase online. Meanwhile, it impacts positive and moderately to other sub-factors of purchase intention namely satisfaction, continuous using and recommendation to others. This finding is consistent with the finding of Davis (1989)

System quality has a comparable correlation score to subjective norm, implying it is one of the two least impactful towards online purchase of Vietnamese people within all six constructs. Still, it correlates positively with purchase intention of online shopping which is similar to the result demonstrated by Delone & McLean (1992). Among system quality’s variables, two weak areas are “stability” and “responsiveness”. Merely two-fifth of the respondents in this study satisfied with these system characteristics.   

The two last constructs are information quality and service quality. There is an area within information quality that need serious improvement. According to the interview result, among all variables in this study, information accuracy which belongs to information quality is the only variable that has higher proportion or disagreement than agreement. On the other hand, in term of service quality, online vendors delivered good package quality and made it easy for consumers to order and retain acceptable level of delivery quality and order canceling. This study found that both constructs positively affect online shopping intention in Vietnam at a moderate level. This is indicated by the fact that the correlation score of information quality and service quality with online purchase intention are 0.443 and 0.485

Upon analyzing the data, it is confirmed that all six hypotheses in the research are correct. This implies that improvement made to any of these six factors could raise the level of satisfaction, customers’ loyalty and more people will recommend the service to their family members, friends, relatives, and acquaintances. In addition, based on the results, three factors including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and service quality have stronger influence on the e-shopping intention of Vietnam people (much higher correlation coefficient compared to the rest). Consequently, the improvement of these factors (if necessary) should be prioritized over the others.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are two factors with the strongest relationship on e-shopping intention to use in Vietnam. Therefore, in order to raise the attention of Vietnamese online shopping users, the best method is to optimize online shopping system, especially the function of it. Doing this would raise the interest and intention to use e-shopping of consumers.

Service quality also plays a major role in affecting online purchase intention in Vietnam. However, based on the response of interviewees, there are cases where purchased product doesn’t come to the buyer within the promised time. Furthermore, canceling and revoking an order is rather difficult to a lot of users. Solving these problems would surely attract more people to use online shopping service in Vietnam.

Due to past incidents, a lot of users do not trust the accuracy of information from online shopping website. The lack of updated information is another downside of online shopping information quality. Despite not having a strong relationship with intention to use as other three factors, the strength of the connection between information quality and e-shopping intention is noticeable. Therefore, dispelling the mistrust of consumers on online shopping information will be beneficial in gaining consumers’ attention.

Subjective norm and service quality both possesses a low to middle level relationship with intention to use online shopping. Even though the impact of these two factors is negligible, improving them still help with increasing consumers’ attention toward online shopping service. In order to raise the presence of subjective norm, trying to engage friends and family members of users in the purchase process could be a good strategy since users really value online shopping experience from their family and friends. Also, consumers often have a problem with order canceling and delivery service. Simplifying the canceling process or implementing new policies which allow the consumer to return and exchange the unsatisfied product within a certain number of days with or without a fee could be a suitable method for this situation.

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CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN DỰ ĐỊNH MUA HÀNG TRÊN MẠNG CỦA NGƯỜI TIÊU DÙNG VIỆT NAM

TS. Nguyễn Thị Mai Anh

Trường Đại học Bách khoa Hà Nội

ThS. Nguyễn Tuấn Thành

Học viện Chính sách và Phát triển

Tóm tắt:

Mua sắm trên mạng đang tăng rất nhanh trên thế giới và dần trở thành phương thức mua sắm chính thay thế cho những hình thức mua sắm truyền thống trước đây. Đã gần 2 thập kỷ qua, kể từ ngày mua hàng trên mạng ra đời vào năm 1994, hình thức mua sắm này đã có hơn 1 tỉ người sử dụng trên toàn cầu. Việt Nam là quốc gia có 96,48 triệu dân, đứng thứ 15 trên thế giới về đông dân (Tổng cục Thống kê, 2019). Chính vì vậy, Việt Nam trở thành một thị trường tiềm năng cho hình thức mua sắm mới mẻ này. Tuy nhiên, trên thực tế, người tiêu dùng Việt Nam còn cảm thấy e ngại với hình thức này (Ho và Chen, 2013) do một số lý do. Nghiên cứu này sẽ tập trung vào các yếu tố ảnh hưởng dến dự định sử dụng hình thức mua sắm trên mạng của người Việt Nam. Sáu yếu tố đã được nghiên cứu bao gồm: chuẩn chủ quan, lợi ích cảm nhận, tính dễ sử dụng, chất lượng hệ thống, chất lượng thông tin và chất lượng dịch vụ. Kết quả cho thấy, tất cả các yếu tố trên đều có tác động tích cực đến dự định mua sắm trên mạng. Trong số đó, lợi ích cảm nhận và tính dễ sử dụng là các yếu tố có tác động mạnh nhất đến dự định mua sắm trên mạng của người Việt Nam.

Từ khóa: Mua sắm trên mạng, chuẩn chủ quan, lợi ích cảm nhận, tính dễ sử dụng, chất lượng hệ thống, chất lượng thông tin, chất lượng dịch vụ.