Browsing by Author "Swiegers, Liezel"

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    Perceived risk barriers to online shopping : experiences of technologically enabled generation y consumers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Swiegers, Liezel; Pentz, Chris; Du Preez, Ronel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business Management.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Online shopping is progressively becoming popular worldwide however, in South Africa it continues to experience slower growth rates. This is contrary to the expected uptake of online shopping by a generation who grew up with Internet and have access to Internet technologies on a daily basis. The current study aims to contribute to the understanding of firstly, online consumer behaviour, secondly, the slow growth of online shopping in South Africa and thirdly, the risk perception of a significant market segment in South Africa. The focus of the study was therefore, to investigate the online purchasing behaviour of technologically enabled South African Generation Y consumers, with the primary objective of identifying perceived risk barriers towards online shopping. As a secondary objective, the study also investigated the technology usage profile of Generation Y respondents to identify how, when and why younger consumers in South Africa access the Internet, as well as their online shopping behaviour. Because previous research highlighted the importance of product type when shopping online, perceived risk was measured for the context of high involvement products (clothing), as well as low involvement products (books). Consideration was also given to experienced and inexperienced online consumers and therefore, online purchase and repurchase intent. The study draws from theories such as the Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Perceived Risk and used Structural equation modelling (SEM) to test relationships between the dimensions of perceived risk and online purchase and repurchase intent. It was found that perceived psychological and perceived social risk have a significant effect on the repurchase intent of experienced online consumers, for the clothing and books. In addition, perceived financial and perceived social risk were found to significantly affect online purchase intent of inexperienced online consumers, for the context of clothing and books. From the findings, managerial implications were formulated and suggestions were made for online retailers and marketers to enhance their business strategies. As a result of limitations that exist in the current study, suggestions for future research are also proposed.
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    To bu(Y) or not to bu(Y) : perceived risk barriers to online shopping among South African generation Y consumers
    (Cogent OA, 2020) Pentz, Christian Donald; Du Preez, Ronel; Swiegers, Liezel
    In South Africa the adoption and growth of online shopping is relatively slow. The primary objective of this study was to investigate possible perceived risk barriers that might influence the online shopping behaviour of technologically enabled Generation Y South African consumers. Perceived risk was investigated by means of an online questionnaire in the context of high-involvement products (clothing), and low-involvement products (books). Consideration was also given to experienced and inexperienced online consumers. Results indicate that, for experienced online shoppers, the dimensions of perceived risk that showed significant relationships with their online repurchase intention were psychological risk and social risk (both retailer reputation and social influences), for clothing and books. Time risk was furthermore significant for experienced consumers in terms of books. For inexperienced online shoppers, results showed that financial risk and social risk (retailer reputation), had a significant relationship with online purchase intention for clothing and books. In addition, an equal size multi group analysis between the experienced and inexperienced online consumers for books, indicated no significant differences in the relationship between all the perceived risk dimensions and purchase/repurchase intent. For clothing significant differences were found for the relationships between financial risk and psychological risk and purchase/repurchase intent. The insights gained from the findings can be used by South African online retailers to improve their understanding of technologically enabled consumers and develop more focused and effective marketing strategies to grow online shopping.