research proposal the factors affecting the decisions to choose an e commerce platform for gen z consumers

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYNEU BUSINESS SCHOOLRESEARCH PROPOSALThe factors affecting the decisions to choose an e-commerce platform for GenZ consumersStudent’s name:Phạm Thị Huyền Tran

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

NEU BUSINESS SCHOOL

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

TOPICS:

The factors affecting the decisions to choose an e-commerce platform for Gen

Z consumers

Student’s name: Phạm Thị Huyền Trang Student ID: 11226486

Võ Thị Huyền Trang Student ID: 11226545 Phạm Phương Chi Student ID: 11221049

Vương Thu Quyên Student ID: 11225494

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Rationale 3

2 Research objectives: 3

3 Research Question 4

4 Scope of study 4

5 Literature review 4

6 Theoretical framework and research hypotheses 6

7 Research methodology 8

1 Overview 8

2 Survey design 8

3 Measure 9

4 Control Variables 10

5 Data collection 10

6 Data processing 12

8 Timetable 13

9 Research report structure 14

10.Reference 14

1.Rationale

With the development of the Internet nowadays, there are many revolutions in social fields are happening in the whole world (Quyet, 2019), including Vietnam According to (Vnetwork,2021), the number of Internet users in Vietnam was 68.72 million people accounting for 70.3% of the population

In Vietnam, Generation Z accounts for approximately 1/7 of the total population, which is equivalent to over 14.4 million people (VNETWORK, 2020) Growing up in the age of information technology, mobile phones (45%) and the Internet (21%) are considered indispensable aspects of the lives of Generation Z As social media platforms have become an essential part of their lives, they use these tools for various purposes, such as connecting with friends and family (93%) and staying updated on current events (73%) Moreover, they also utilize social media channels to express their opinions and beliefs (55%) and document their daily activities (42%) (VECOM, 2021) Therefore Vietnam

is a potential country to develop online fields, especially online shopping The e-commerce market in Vietnam is considered potential and growing strongly In the period from 2016 to 2019, the average growth rate (CAGR) of this market reached about 30% This demonstrates that Vietnamese businesses have been dynamic, adaptive, and increasingly interested in online business Additionally, the online consumer community is growing rapidly So, it is predicted that CAGR in the period 2020-2025 will reach 29%, with an expected scale of 52 billion USD in 2025 (according to the e-commerce white paper of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, 2020)

Based on the current situation and practical needs, within the capabilities of the group, we have chosen the topic "The factors affecting the decisions to choose

an e-commerce platform for Gen Z consumers" with the aim of understanding and evaluating the factors that influence the decision-making process of Gen Z consumers when choosing an e-commerce platform for their shopping needs 2.Research objectives

There are two main objectives for this research, which are to determine the factors affecting the decisions to choose e-commerce for Gen Z consumers and the influence of the factors affecting the decisions to choose e-commerce for Gen Z consumers

Stated differently, this study seeks to address two major questions: What elements influence the buyer's intention to buy? What stands in the way of customers making purchases? The purpose of this study is to determine the variables influencing Generation Z's inclination to make an online purchase in Hanoi, Vietnam From there, companies can create customer research models based on hypotheses and findings from data analysis Assist companies and

websites that sell online in a timely way to comprehend and modify company policies in order to facilitate transactions for an increasing number of customers

A portion of the data collected for this study project will be added to worldwide scientific studies concerning the elements that influence consumers' decisions to purchase products through e-commerce platforms In this research, the author wants to find suitable solutions for online businesses so that businesses can apply them to achieve high efficiency Additionally, the goal of this research is

to offer suggestions on how business owners can modify their operations to better suit e-commerce platforms and increase client satisfaction

3.Research Question

This research is designed to answer the following questions:

1 What factors influence generation Z's decision to choose an e-commerce platform?

2 How do these factors affect generation Z's decision to choose an e-commerce platform?

3 What do e-commerce platforms should do to attract customers (especially generation Z) and increase competitiveness?

4.Scope of study

In view of this situation, the study aims to determine the factors affecting the decision to choose an e-commerce platform for Gen Z consumers in Hanoi The study will be focused on 4 main factors: the usefulness of e-commerce, ensuring the safety and the rights of clients, convenience and ease of use, and other subjective factors The study will involve both a qualitative and quantitative research method The scope of the study is limited to recruiting 250- 300 volunteers between the ages of under 18 and 26 who will be contacted using their university email accounts This recruitment period will last for a maximum

of 2 months and will end when either 250 - 300 volunteers have been recruited

or 2 months have passed Each volunteer in the study will be asked to complete

a short questionnaire in order to evaluate

5.Literature review

● Model 1: Model of Factors Affecting Consumers’ purchasing Decision through E-Commerc(Teklehaimanot Tadele Kidane , R.R.K.Sharma 2016) Teklehaimanot Tadele Kidane and R.R.K.Sharma built a model with 6 factors that affecting Consumers’ purchasing decision through

E-Commerc: Trust, Return policy, Cash on delivery , after sale service, cash back warranty, firm reputation This study has shown tha trust, Return policy, Cash on delivery , after sale service, cash back warranty, firm reputation affecting Consumers’ purchasing decision through E-Commerc

● Model 2: Research model proposing factors that influence consumers' decisions to choose an e-commerce platform: The difference between generations Y and Z (Nguyen H Quan, Ly T T Trang HCMCOUJS-Economics and Business Administration, 18(3), 64-80)

The authors have built a model with 7 factors that influence the decision to choose an e-commerce platform including: Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease

of use, Trust, Subjective norms, Website Design, Perceived Risk and Attitude with the control variable being age In particular, the factors Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use, Trust, Subjective norms, Website design and Attitude positively affect the decision to choose an e-commerce platform When these variables increase, the decision to choose an e-commerce platform also increases Opposite Perceived risk variable affects consumer behavior when choosing an e-commerce platform because online shopping often entails a higher level of uncertainty than in-store shopping (Chiu et al., 2009) Dachyar and Banjarnahor

(2017) and Teo and Liu (2007) also demonstrated this negative effect

After consulting previously conducted studies, we selected 4 factors to include

in the preliminary research model including usefulness, ease of use, ensuring safety and customer benefits and subjective standards

6.Theoretical framework and research hypotheses

We hypothesize that the Decision to choose an e-commerce platform is affected

by its usefulness, ensuring safety, the rights of clients, ease of use, and subjective factors These relationships are moderated by age The following diagram represents the theoretical framework:

H1: The usefulness is positively associated with the “Decision to choose an e-commerce platform”.

The usefulness is the degree to which people believe that using a system will likely enhance their job performance (Davis, 1989) Once consumers realize that using an e-commerce platform brings them many benefits and values, they will tend to simply use it as a shopping tool

H2: The ensuring safety and the rights of clients is positively associated with

“Decision to choose an e-commerce platform”.

Ensuring safety and customer rights will bring a sense of certainty to what e-commerce trading floors have committed to them (Dachyar & Banjarnahor, 2017) According to research by Kim, Ferrin, and Rao (2008), consumers will not want to participate in e-commerce shopping activities when they lack confidence in safety Online purchasing behavior will increase when customers have trust in an e-commerce site (Kim et al., 2008) Research by Ngah et al (2021); Pham (2021); Nguyen and colleagues (2021) also demonstrated this relationship

H3: The convenience and ease of use are positively associated with “Decision

to choose an e-commerce platform”

The ease of use is the degree to which a person considers it easy to use a particular device without effort (Davis, 1989) An easy-to-use online shopping platform will help users learn, control, and interact flexibly (Sin, Khalil, & Ameen, 2012) Ease of use is also assessed at the level of not being difficult to become proficient at (Hoang, 2010) Some studies support the positive impact

of ease of use such as Tran (2019); and Nguyen and Nguyen (2020)

H4: Subjective factors are positively associated with “Decision to choose an e-commerce platform”.

According to Venkatesh and Davis (2000), the subjective norm is the degree to which a person perceives that people important to them think they should or should not perform a certain behavior Subjective norm is a factor that has a positive impact on customers' purchasing intentions (Hoang, 2010; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2020; Sin et al., 2012)

7.Research methodology

7.1 Overview

We will conduct survey research on factors affecting the decision to choose an e-commerce platform by age in the HaNoi area The questionnaire for the survey will be developed based on the literature After adjustment, the questionnaire will be sent to the target generation Z - people who mainly use e-commerce platforms The sample of the survey will be Gen Z, randomly selected from different locations in Hanoi It is expected that I will receive at least 250-300 answer sheet questions after the analysis process Collected data will be analyzed using SPSS software We will use an online survey to collect data from a random sample of Gen Z We will also conduct some personal interviews with some Gen Z members to get more insight into the influencing factors

7.2 Survey design

We will divide into two research phases: Preliminary and formal

Preliminary research: using qualitative methods to find models and hypotheses based on theoretical models that have been tested in practice at home and abroad, adjusted accordingly

Formal research through quantitative research method with questionnaire survey technique with a 5-level Likert scale: 1- Completely disagree; 2- Disagree; 3-Neutral; 4- Agree; 5- Completely agree Collected data was analyzed through

SPSS Stats 25 with steps such as descriptive statistics, reliability assessment, exploratory factor analysis, process recovery correlation analysis, and discrepant analysis

7.3 Measurement

In the theoretical model of this study, the decision to choose an e-commerce platform is influenced by usefulness, safety features, ease of use, and key factors such as age Most measurements of these variables were adapted from previous studies Below is a description of how these variables work

- The usefulness

In this section, we will delve into what consumers consider to be the most useful aspect of an e-commerce platform We shall concentrate on six causes, according to Davis (1989), Sin, and coworkers (2012)[8] [9] : Handy (can buy anywhere and at any time), Competitive pricing, time savings, and the ability to purchase any goods It is simple to compare various products and obtain several discounts The response format was a multiple choice question

- Ensure the safety and the rights of clients

For ensuring the safety and the rights of clients, we shall inquire as to why most consumers choose to believe in e-commerce platforms As Ngah and colleagues (2021) investigated,[10] these questions will address the following topics: Trust that these platforms are reliable Trust that these providers will keep their

commitments Trust the information and judgment of the prior consumer, and trust that these products will resolve the product issue 4 questions, using a 5-point scale format will be used to measure this variable

- Convenience and ease of use

According to Nguyen and co-workers (2021)[11] , we will inquire about the website's design and how it affects the consumer's choice the most They will be asked to select three factors from the following: A clean and user-friendly interface; a logical and accessible method of organizing information; a fast-paced browser; easy control of product information; and transaction speed

- Subjective factors

For other subjective factors, the respondent will be asked how much they listen

to or are convinced by which reason Based on Ajzen (1991)[12] , this will be a 5-point scale question; they will rate the following options: Social media marketing, The usage of celebrities or famous people, and the recommendation

of people around them (friends, family, colleagues, etc.)

- Age

Following Nguyen and Ly (2023)[13] , we will collect data on the respondent's gender, education, age, current job and salary, as well as the amount of time they spend on the Internet every day

7.4 Control Variables

We will control for some variables: age (gen Z), geographical location ( HN ), gender, education level and income which seem to influence the decision to choose an e-commerce platform

7.5 Data collection

Primary data:

We will collect primary data by using interview transcripts (qualitative method) and experiment results (quantitative method)

Interview transcripts

We will conduct intensive interviews, or in-depth interviews, to gain a deep understanding of each Gen Z volunteer about e-commerce For this study, data are obtained via three parts of the interview guides: Factors affecting the decision to choose an e-commerce platform for Gen Z consumers guides; Demographic questionnaire; and Post-Interview Summary form