factors influencing consumer behavior when purchasing second hand products

NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY NEU BUSINESS S€HOOL NGUYEN KHANH CHI FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR WHEN PURCHASING SECOND-HAND PRODUCTS Bachelor of Business Administration in E

NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

NEU BUSINESS S€HOOL

NGUYEN KHANH CHI

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR WHEN PURCHASING SECOND-HAND PRODUCTS

Bachelor of Business Administration in English (E-BBA)

Thesis

HANOI, 2022

NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

NEU BUSINESS S€HOOL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, | am deeply grateful to the Business School, National Economics University (BSNEU) with all the members, lecturers and assistants for the

knowledge and experience that has been shared through many lectures, discussions and exams during EBBA program

Next, I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Le Thi Bich Ngoc, National Economics University She has always been very dedicated and supportive throughout my thesis work Moreover, she gave me many instructions which helped me a lot in doing this thesis

I also would like to thank all the participants in the survey Their

contributions play a vital role in the making of this thesis

Last but not least, I want to thank my family and friends, who have been with

me along the way They have always been the biggest source of spiritual

encouragement, creating the most favorable conditions for me in order to complete this thesis

Hanoi, 2022 Nguyen Khanh Chi

TABLE OF CONTENT

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5.2 Meaning and solutions for the consumers, marketers and providers 60

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LIST OF FIGUR

YFigure 4.1 Gender ratio of the respondents

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Figure 4.3 Average Iincome level of the respondenfs - sẻ 30

Figure 4.8 Considerable factors when buying second-hand products 36 Figure 4.9 Histogram of the normalized residuals 0 00ccccccecceeseeeeeesesetseeesseees 49

Figure 4.11 Scatter plot 0ccccccccccccccccccccescesscneeenseneecssessesseesseeseecneeeenseeeseeeneeeenes 31

LIST OF TABL

YTable 4.1 Sample descriptive statistics

33

Table 4.3 General assessment of the respondents about "Brand'” - 37 Table 4.4 General assessment of the respondents about ”Price” ‹ - 38 Table 4.5 General assessment of the respondents about "Risk” - s 39 Table 4.6 General assessment of the respondents about "Seller location” 40 Table 4.7 General assessment of the respondents about "Environmental awareness"

Table 4.9 Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the scaÌes -.c 22c 42

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Table 4.11 Factor loading analysis for the third time - 52 25222 ccc+csxs s2 44

Table 4.16 Multivariable regression - normalized Beta coefficlent - 54

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The retail trade of second-hand goods has had longstanding traditions and development Owning various goods additional with the limitations in the budget had resulted in the explosive development of trading pre-owned and used products The second-hand product market is considered to be a segment of the general commodity market which operates based on the value of every product given to the consumers whether it is first or second hand This has separated the second-hand market itself from the first-hand since the characteristic of the products are used or pre-owned at least once

In recent years, the second-hand market in Vietnam is getting more attention

As a result, Vietnam has become a potential market for second-hand products This can be explained by the characteristics of the country and the consumers there Vietnam is a developing country with a large population (over 97 million people) Besides that, the average income is at a medium level and the population is mostly young - people who have an open mind and are willing to accept new things Therefore, more and more youngsters are interested in learning about used products and using them

Based on the referenced research articles, the author has selected 5 factors that affect consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products, including: Brand; Price; Risk; Seller location; Environmental awareness

Through the process of conducting survey and analyzing data, the author came to the conclusion that: the factors affecting "Consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products" include 3 factors: Brand, Price and Risk Based

on the results of the regression analysis, 24.7% of the variation of consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products 1s influenced by the three factors mentioned above In which, The factor that has the greatest influence on Consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products is "Price"

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

The retail trade of second-hand goods has had longstanding traditions and development Owning various goods additional with the limitations in the budget had resulted in the explosive development of trading pre-owned and used products With the high demand of consumers, the activities continue to modem times Back in the X VIth century, in Europe, for example, the people there started activities of purchasing and selling their used garments due to poverty It is one of the milestones that marked the development of secondhand goods trading In Vietnam, the term “old products” or “used goods” first appeared in the XIXth century The circulation of used commodities, however, was not popular and mainly items such as antiques, ceramics, etc It was not until the year 2000 that the secondhand market began to grow and expand to other fields such as fashion, electronic devices, etc In recent years, with the appearance and development of technology, people can easily approach information about secondhand products through different channels Moreover, the current trend is to look for old products that are considered to be artistic and high-value, because of that, the demand for second-hand goods is increasing higher As a result, in 2016, the secondhand market was officially booming in Vietnam and this place has become a potential market for used products

According to Hristova (2019), the second-hand product market is considered

to be “a segment of the general commodity market which operates based on the value of every product given to the consumers whether it is first or second hand” This has separated the second-hand market itself from the newly manufactured since the characteristic of the products are used or pre-owned at least once Although the difference in the nature of products, the second-hand market is dependent on the first-hand one since the used products cannot exist without the appearance of new products The development of second-hand goods trade, as a result, is advancing rapidly alongside one of the first-hand products Moreover, the emergence of this parallel market brings many benefits to the retailers, consumers, and a whole society

as it will have significant environmental implications, as well as social and economic implications (Thomas, 2003) Since the second-hand trend 1s becoming

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more mainstream, more and more traditional brands participate in the market As to answer the new demand for a more sustainable offer, an increase in brands have emerged a diversity of models to include second-hand offer alternatives on top of their traditional offer A report published by ThredUP (based on GlobalData’s findings) shows that 60% of fashion retailers have offered or are open to offering second-hand to their customers Levi’s - an American clothing company, for instance, launched its second-hand website “Secondhand Levi” which aims to keep garments in circulation and out of landfills

With the simultaneous existence of both new and second-hand markets, the consumers will have to choose between buying new or used products Some people always buy secondhand goods, while others often buy new goods In some countries, the only available products are secondhand, which has resulted in the reluctance to purchase secondhand goods of the consumers In the beginning, as the secondhand market is a result of poverty, the price for this type of commodity is considered to be lower than other newly manufactured products This affected the perception of used goods and it started to be treated as products for the poor The truth is that alongside the cheap price and the prospect of profit from its sale, the consumers are also provided with a wide range of products and brands which are as adequate as their new counterparts Carousell Group, according to its report in 2021, the majority of Vietnamese people who have purchased secondhand items, accounting for 83% of the total number of respondents, cite their top reason for buying secondhand items as "value for money” On the contrary, 17% of them who have yet had experience buying secondhand items pointed that their motivation to buy secondhand could come from authentication or warranty on products In addition, secondhand products are adopted to increase the life cycle of the goods and also as a way to protect the environment At the present, depending on the needs and using purposes, consumers have completely different reasons to purchase pre-owned products Moreover, the target audience of this market is not only limited to low- income people but now also attracts consumers with high-income levels, for instance, people who have the ability to purchase high-valued second-hand goods (antiques, stamps, classic books, etc)

In fact, in the world, there have been studies about the demand of the second- hand market as well as the motivation of the consumers to purchase used goods However, in Vietnam, the number of researches on the factors affecting customer behavior when buying second-hand products 1s still limited Meanwhile, the second- hand market is growing, in this way understanding the consumers’ needs and buying behavior will be excessively helpful for managers and retailers to apply the knowledge into their business, and expand the second-hand market

- Analyze the influence of the factors found in the study

- Recommend the solutions for the marketers and providers in order to attract more second-hand consumers and help them to understand the consumers more 1.3 Research questions

1 What are the factors influencing consumer behavior on buying secondhand products?

2 The degree of impact of factors on consumer behavior when buying secondhand products?

3 What the providers, marketers can do to remove the negative perceptions about second-hand products and to attract more people to buy and used old goods

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022)

1 Secondary data: Brainstorm ideas and find topics through secondary data from information channels such as the internet, books, newspapers, then select and refer to documents that contribute to ideas and research topics

2 Literature review: Theories about the factors influencing consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products

3 Theoretical framework: Outlining the factors that influence consumer behavior when buying second-hand products through literature review and secondary data

4 Sociological investigations: The researcher built a scale and

questionnaire and conducted a survey via social networks

5 Analysis, evaluate the impact of the factors: Applying analytical methods

to show the correlation and prove the importance of factors through secondary data, and sociological investigations, the researcher analyzed the data, made an evaluation

on the impact of factors by using the SPSS platform

6 Recommendations: From data and assessment of factors, the researcher makes recommendations for managers and retailers

7 Completion: Concluding about the importance of each factor, providing solutions, and completing the research paper

- Secondary data collection: collecting documents from the articles, research projects and other relevant documents; analyzing the theoretical theories;

categorizing theoretical

1.4.3 Data analysis

In order to analyze the data, the researcher used the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and performed the following methods: Descriptive statistical analysis methods; Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient; Exploratory factor analysis EFA; PEARSON correlation; Regression analysis

1.5 Research scope

The research scope focuses on the young consumers in Hanoi, especially those who use and purchase second-hand goods The time for secondary data collection and writing research proposals was from October, 2021 to November,

2021 From November, 2021 to December, 2021, it was the time for building questionnaires and primary data collection Finally, from December, 2021 to January

2022, the author must process the collected primary data and write report

1.6 Thesis structure

The thesis consists of 5 chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Chapter 4: Research Results

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Second-hand products

According to Oxford (2019), second-hand buying 1s an acquisition of used items through different trading forms, both online and offline Roux, D and Guiot, D (2008) had pointed out that the commerce of second-hand products also results in giving the goods a second life since it helps extend the circulation of a product Second-hand products are referred to as objects that were previously in the possession of another person Even though compared to newly manufactured goods, the value of second-hand products may have been depreciated, however, it has full abilities to fulfill the needs of the consumers Furthermore, the activities of second- hand buying may result in fewer purchases of new merchandise by the consumers, which may lead to a decrease in the resources to be used and the amount of generated waste As a result of the parallel market with the new products, such as those for second-hand apparel, it had led to the emergence of many markets, for example, second-hand furniture, second-hand cars, second-hand books, machinery and electronics (Downes, 2013) It cannot be denied that purchasing, putting for sale, and consuming secondhand goods help bring income to sellers and cost-saving benefits for buyers, which may result in the upspring of the second-hand market in the future

In recent years, the second-hand market in Vietnam is getting more attention

As a result, Vietnam has become a potential market for second-hand products This can be explained by the characteristics of the country and the consumers there Vietnam is a developing country with a large population (over 97 million people) Besides that, the average income is at a medium level and the population is mostly young - people who have an open mind and are willing to accept new things Therefore, more and more youngsters are interested in learning about used products and using them

According to the survey on Cho Tot - one of the largest online shopping channels in Vietnam — in Vietnam second-hand market, 65% of the respondents answered that they have a tendency to buy electronics items, such as computers, mobile phones, tablets, cameras, and TVs Similarly, the item that has the most sellers are also pre-owned electronics, accounting for 69% of the total number of

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respondents In Vietnam, other item categories are in high demand for second-hand, including fashion, household appliances, furniture and plants, vehicles Especially in 2018-2019, fashion items place in the top 3 categories for second-hand products with the most active users, in compliance with the survey on Cho Tot By 2021, however, the household appliances, furniture, and plants category has replaced fashion's top position due to the increasing demand for tables, chairs, drawers, and household plants On the contrary, from 2018-2020, in terms of the most secondhand listings and the most demand for secondhand, the top position called the name of the vehicles category

2.2, Consumer buying behavior

Kotler and Keller (2011) had stated that consumer buying behavior refers to the study of customers and how they behave while buying goods, services, or experiences in order to satisfy their needs and wants In other words, it is a study of the actions of the consumers that drive them to buy and use certain products Alternatively, according to Kumar (2010, 218), consumer buying behavior “refers to the buying behavior of final consumers, both individuals, and households, who buy goods and services for personal consumption” Meanwhile, Solomon et al (1995) had described consumer buying behavior as “a process of choosing, purchasing, using, and disposing of products or services by the individuals and groups in order

to satisfy their needs and wants” Similarly, Schiffman and Kanuk (1978) also defined it as behavior that consumers show forth in searching for, purchasing, using, and evaluating products, services, and ideas which they expect will satisfy their needs Additionally, the definition of consumer buying behavior by Stallworth (2008) is about trading and using activities of goods and services which resulted from the necessity from customers’ emotion, mentalilty and their behavioral responses Furthermore, it is stated by Gabbot and Hogg (1998) that there are different activities and stages in the process It can be seen that the definitions for the buying behavior of consumers are various According to Blackwell et al (2006), since the concept of consumer buying behavior is complex and cannot be defined easily and commonly, different researchers have their own ways in defining it Despite their differences, they all come to an agreement that consumer buying behavior is a process of selecting, purchasing, and disposing of goods and services

based on the demands of the consumers This matter, however, will change over time as the continual change of customers’ purchase characteristics due to their physical and psychological needs

Based on the studies of consumer buying behavior, it can be advantageous for the sellers and marketers as they will understand the expectations of the consumers Kotler and Keller (2011) had highlighted the reasons behind consumers making purchases and specific factors impacting the patterns of their purchases can be extremely important for manufacturers as well as service providers They are provided with advantages over its competitors in several senses The knowledge obtained through studying consumer buying behavior, for example, can be used to set their strategies in order to offer the night products and services in line with the interest of the consumers Both parties can be beneficial from this as the customers will feel heard and can buy the items they want, meanwhile, the sellers’ businesses will be hugely beneficial for a long time On the contrary, Egen (2007) also provided

a valuable argument on the importance of understanding consumer behavior According to the author, better awareness of consumer buying behavior positively contributes to the country’s economic state In countries where buying behavior of consumers is well understood, subsequently, the quality of goods and products are exceptionally good This will increase the competitiveness of the products and services in the international market, which leads to the growth in the export potential

of the country Meanwhile, according to Blackwell et al (2006), high quality of domestic products and services lead to a sophisticated domestic customers’ base

2.2.1, Factors influencing consumer buying behavior

According to previous studies, there are five main factors that affect buying behavior of consumers: Personal factor, Psychological factor, Social factor, Cultural factor, and Economic factor

For the Personal factor, it is about different characteristics of the consumers, such as age & stage of the life cycle, occupation, personality, and lifestyle Since each person has their own traits and demands, their tasting of buying goods will also

be different The providers and marketers need to be aware of the personal factor as

it is usually applied in both the daily and specific products (Kotler & Keller, 2016; Kotler et al., 2017)

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Next is the Psychological factor, according to Ali & Ramya (2016), this factor is also considered as an internal factor There are four elements in this factor, including motivation, perception, learning, and memory (Kotler & Keller, 2016) In order to design the consumer’s preferences for a particular product and service, human psychology plays a crucial role (Megha M., 2016) Therefore, it influences the buying behavior of an individual to some extent

The third factor is the Social factor and also the most affected factor on the consumer buying behavior Humans are living in a complex social environment wherein several people with different buying behaviors surround them Moreover, considering that the man is a social animal, people always look for recognition and confirmation from others, try to imitate the behaviors that are socially approved, and seldom do things that go against the majority The social factors influencing consumer behavior are family, reference groups, roles, and status

The Cultural factor is the fourth factor that impacts consumer buying behavior Kotler (2017) observed that human behavior is the outcome of a learning process as an individual about a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and behavior patterns The learning process about the values begins at a very early stage of a person’s childhood The knowledge is mostly from the family and other key institutions which were around during the developing stage of a person Cultural factors consist of culture, sub-culture, and social class

Lastly, the fifth factor that has a significant influence on consumer buying behavior is the Economic factor The economic condition of a person will affect his/her purchase decisions and choices of products or services Economic factors include personal income, family income, income expectations, liquid assets of the consumer, consumer credit, and other economic factors (Ali & Ramya, 2016)

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subject to consumers’ intention with external factors It can be seen that purchase intention is a dependent variable that depends on several external and internal factors Additionally, purchase intention is an important construct widely used in marketing research and marketing practice in different areas, such as new product testing, forecasting, advertising research, and market segmentation

Fishbein and Ajzen (1975, 369) had pointed that "the single best predictor of

an individual's behavior will be a measure of his intention to perform that behavior.” Therefore, purchase intentions can be predictive of future behavior because they allow each individual to incorporate most of the possible factors that may contribute

to a purchase decision In the research by Sheppard et al (1988), the frequency- weighted average correlation for the relationship of intention and behavior was 0.53, which means that intentions are positively correlated to behavior for a wide range of behaviors Moreover, intentions are considered the key predictor of actual behavior (Montano and Kasprzyk, 2015) At the pre-purchase stage, consumers usually consider their purchase intention and it captures the motivational aspects that affect customer behavior (Armitage and Conner, 2001)

For the above reasons, the author proposed purchase intentions as the dependent factor to measure the influence of factors on consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products

2.3 Factors influencing the consumer behavior when purchasing second- hand products

2.3.1 Brand

According to the Business Dictionary, the brand is described as a “Unique design, sign, symbol, words or combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors Over time, this image becomes associated with a level of credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumer’s mind.” In other words, the brand provides customers with information about products and create associations that affect their mind in the purchase process The brand represents a certain value in the mind of the consumer It was the psychological linkage that make a product or a service distinguishable from each other In contrast, from the marketers’ perspective, branding is also the process of creating a connection between a company's product and the emotional perception of

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the customer with the purpose of sustainable competitive advantages and building brand loyalty among customers (Hislop, 2001)

A strong brand reputation helps to build a foundation of trust between marketers and consumers From this foundation, the purchasing behavior of consumers can be influenced Branding allows consumers to quickly recognize a product as one they are likely to their preference The customer can do that since the information of the products may be from experience with the brand, brand perceptions, or brand associations According to Winkielman et al (2000), the information about brands that consumers have stored is crucial in making the final purchase decision By the attraction and curiosity about the brand, the purchase intention of the consumers will be easily dominated by the marketers and providers

In the research of Chovanova et al (2015), the result shows that more than half the amount of respondents chooses their products or services by their brand The participants stated that quality is the role factor in their decision-making process of purchasing a brand Besides that, higher quality of products was also mentioned as the reason for purchasing the brand products Brand image is very important since it reflects the products and services that it provides Moreover, as reported by (Bian and Moutinho (2008), brand image is also one of the important elements that influence consumers purchasing behaviors Likewise, Djatmiko and Pradana (2015) concluded that the purchase decisions of the consumers are significantly impacted

by brand image Therefore, the author makes the following hypothesis:

1: Brand is positively related to consumer purchase intention when buying second-hand products

2.3.2 Price

Price is one of the most vital factors for identifying the value of products on the market According to Beneke et al (2015), consumers consider price as a real clue to make their purchasing decisions Through second-hand shopping, the price is one of the main reasons for the purchase since the consumers receive economic benefits, such as buying products with a lower price and the possibilities of savings (Yavas & Riecken, 1981; Williams & Windebank, 2000) The researches of Razzouk

& Gourley (1982) and Sherman et al (1985) all showed that the higher the price

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sensitivity of the consumer, the more is the willingness of consumers to buy second- hand products

When it comes to the benefits that the consumers can receive the products and services they pay for, they become very rational about it (Al-Mamun and Rahman, 2014) There are three dimensions of the price of products: fair price, fixed price, and relative price According to Kotler and Keller (2016), fair price refers to the price adjustment of a product to offer the customers a reasonable price for a combination of quality and appropriate services Next, a set price for all consumers

is called a fixed price (Kotler and Keller, 2016) Lastly, for the relative price, Kotler and Armstrong (2014) had stated it as the price corresponding with the quality and service provided by the seller In the research by Komaladewi and Indika (2017), most respondents take price into account when making their purchase intention, which is similar to the studies of Djatmiko and Pradana (2015) and

Termsnguanwong (2015)

Price consciousness referred to the amount of interest that consumers have in saving money and paying lower prices It has been broadly used to refer to consumer perception about price (Girard T et al, 2017) Other researchers, including Hazlett L

et al (1999), Halkkula A et al (2012), and Holbrook M.B (2012), presented the price awareness associated with the consumers’ priority to pay a low price, instead

of other aspects such as quality, design, style, etc The price that is set for a product

or service significantly affects how the consumer behaves Therefore, the author makes the following hypothesis:

H2: Price is positively related to consumer purchase intention when buying second-hand products

2.3.3 Risk

In order to purchase an item or product, the consumers have to make choices However, the consumers themselves cannot know the outcome of the choice until it happens - which can only be known in the future Because of that, they are forced to deal with the uncertainty or the risk of their choices Since risk is often perceived to

be painful in that it may produce anxiety, it makes the perception of risk to be one of the essential aspects of consumer behavior With the consumers, the importance of

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the negative consequences of a bad choice and the uncertainty of the decision outcomes Moreover, in a choice situation, risk can be interpreted in terms of possible loss The loss can be in psycho/social terms or functional/economic terms,

or some combination of both forms of loss

Risk perception is an important factor that affects how individuals evaluate risk, make decisions and behave It can be understood as the possibility of consumers’ subjective feelings of various losses in purchasing goods Bauer (1960) found that “all purchase behaviors were subject to certain risks and that there was uncertainty regarding the effect of risk perception on shopping results” Similarly, other researchers also define it as the uncertainty that consumers face when buying a product (Dowling, 1986; Schiffman et al., 2011) Those uncertainties can be about the quality, the authenticity of the products In addition, Cheema and Kaikati (2010) pointed that one of the most crucial marketing tool of the marketing process is word- of-mouth Whenever consumers make potential purchase decisions, they greatly rely

on advice from others as they find it more trustworthy and valuable And in the case

of online shopping, the level of risk is noticeable (Gershoff and Johar, 2006), accordingly, consumers will only make their buying decisions after consulting others’ reviews about the products that they want to buy In his study, Mitchell (1999) had listed many products, for instance, deodorants, coffee, toothbrushes, DVD players, and TVs These products are considered common consume products And these, of course, are far from being highly nsky Thus, based on the

characteristics of products, consumers will have different perceived risks about them From the above literature, the author develops the following hypothesis: H3: Risk is negatively related to consumer purchase intention when buying second-hand products

2.3.4 Seller location

According to Mercer (1996, p 29), a seller location is a place from where customers can collect or buy physical products or services The location can be a traditional store or an online store Compared to physical stores, shopping at online stores 1s perceived by the majority of consumers to have more risks It can be explained by the lack of physical proximity to the product (Bhatnagar et al., 2000, p.98) Even though the utility of the product is the same, whether the consumer

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bought it at a physical store or online store, the environment surrounding the location has a remarkable impact on the consumer buying behavior (Bhatnagar et al.,

2000, p.98-99) With the advancement of technology, nowadays, consumers can easily search for different products without going to the stores This type of shopping, however, is required to provide consumers with detailed information, the variety, and the uniqueness of the products since online shoppers may demand more than regular ones (Ganesh et al., 2010, p.106) The advantage is that it brings convenience to consumers, and helps them to save money and time On the contrary, physical stores are believed by consumers to be more secure and have less risk Compared to online shoppers, traditional consumers are more motivated for shopping for fun or recreation (Ganesh et al., 2010, p.106) Furthermore, according

to Turley LW, Milliman RE (2000), the environment of physical stores 1s an important factor for consumer purchase intention It attracts the attention of consumers and makes them rely more on physical stores From the above literature, the author derives the following hypothesis:

£4: Seller location is positively related to consumer purchase intention when buying second-hand products

2.3.5 Environmental awareness

Natural environmental conservation and protection is a field that attracts the interests of marketers, consumers, and society as a whole (Baker and Sinkula, 2005, Banerjee, Iyer and Kashyap, 2003, Gran-zin and Oslen, 1991, Menon and Menon

1997, in Grinstein and Nisan, 2009) With the consumers, their purchases have a significant influence on the environment, both the good and the bad side On the good side, it is believed that buying used goods reduces the number of natural resources being used, it also decreases the amount of used energy used and emitted pollution Buying used products help to not create a demand for new items Furthermore, when consumers buy used goods, the products will be kept in continuous use

In the theory of planets behavior, Ajzen (1991) had said that for the people, their attitude toward a behavior will inform their intention to fulfill that behavior Therefore, many theorists working in the environmental field have given their point

of view about the environmental concern stimulating the purchase intentions, which

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are beneficial to the environment (Hartmann & Apaolaza-Ibáñez, 2012; Hedlund, 2011; Koenig-Lewis et al., 2014) Although environmental concerns may not directly affect the consumers’ purchase intention, they could encourage people to learn about the outcome of their purchase choices With the knowledge about how beneficial what they do to the environment along with the sense of responsibility to live environmentally friendly, consumers will be motivated to make an

environmental purchase decision Indeed, according to McDonald and Oates (2006), consumers are willing to perform consumption activities to express their

environmental responsibility In the research about environmental purchase behaviors, Follows and Jobber’s (2000) suggested that environmental attitude should

be associated with concerns environmental issues, such as pollution and energy- wasting issues Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed:

5: Environmental awareness is positively related to consumer purchase intention when buying second-hand products

Figure 2.1 Proposed research model

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022) The author identified the 5 factors influencing consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products, including: Brand; Price; Risk; Seller location; Environmental awareness

Table 2.1, Summary of the referenced studies

Bian and Moutinho (2008) | The consumers’ purchasing behaviors are

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Beneke et al (2015) Consumers see price as a clue to make purchasing

decisions

Yavas & Riecken (1981)

Williams & Windebank

Risk

and there was uncertainty regarding the effect of risk perception on shopping results

Gershoff and Johar (2006) | The level of risk is noticeable in the case of online

shopping

be different levels of risk

Seller location

of the lack of physical proximity to the product

secure and have less risk

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responsibility

After synthesizing, the author decided to do research on 5 components corresponding to 22 observed variables: (1) Brand - 4 variables, (2) Price - 4 variables, (3) Risk - 6 variables, (4) Seller location - 4 variables, (5) Environmental awareness - 4 variables The contents of the observed variables are described below

2.5.1 Observed variable “Brand”

Brand is measured by 4 observed variables, coded from B1 to B4

Table 2.2 Observed variable "Brand"

products, I am usually attracted to | (2015)

Price is measured by 4 observed variables, coded from PI to P4

Table 2.3 Observed variable "Price"

when buying second-hand products | Yavas & Riecken (1981)

P2 I prefer to buy second-hand goods | Williams & Windebank since they are cheaper compared to | (2000)

new products

Al-Mamun and Rahman

main reason why I buy second-hand

products Kotler and Armstrong

products based on its current

Risk is measured by 6 observed variables, coded from R1 to R6

Table 2.4 Observed variable “Risk”

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second-hand products that the sellers Gershoff and

products without warranty

more risks

Seller location 1s measured by 4 observed variables, coded from SL1 to SL4

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022) 2.5.4 Observed variable “Seller location”

Table 2.5 Observed variable “Seller location”

over online Milliman RE

physical stores

I am desirable to test the products

Table 2.6 Observed variable “Environmental awareness”

environment

protect the environment

hand products will reduce the amount of waste

hand products will help to protect the natural resources

(2012)

McDonald and Oates (2006) Follows and Jobber’s (2000)

2.5.6 Observed variable “Purchase intention”

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022) Purchase intention is measured by 4 observed variables, coded from PII to

Table 2.7 Observed variable “Purchase intention”

]

CHAPTER 3 — RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Next, Chapter 3 will introduce the research methodology that has been used

in the thesis in order to establish and evaluate the scale for the research definitions This chapter will consist of different parts: the research process preliminary research and official research, presenting the measuring scales of research definitions, methods of processing research data

Primary data collection: After completing the measuring scale, the researcher used quantitative method to conducted survey with sample size of 180 participants

by online survey using Google forms In which, the research subjects are mainly students After inspecting the collected surveys based on requirements, their rationalities and removing the invalid surveys, the number of valid collected forms

is 156 forms

3.2 Scales, scales encoding and analytical methods

The author uses the convenience sampling method to collect the data for the thesis by posting the questionnaire on the social media The survey respondents are mainly in the younger group of people

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3.2.1 Scales and scales encoding

The factors influencing the consumer behavior when purchasing second-hand products used in the official research include 5 factors: (1) The importance of brand, (2) The importance of price, (3) The importance of risk, (4) The importance of location, (5) The importance of environmental awareness

All observed variables in the factors are used a 5-level Likert scale with

corresponding levels: level 1 is Strongly disagree, level 2 is Disagree, level 3 1s Neutral, level 4 is Agree, level 5 is Strongly agree

All the information about the gender, age, income level of the respondents are measured with an identifier scale In order to facilitate data analysis, the above demographic variables are re-coded in the following table:

Table 3.1, Encoding components

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Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022)

3.2.2, Analytical methods

In order to analyze the data, the researcher used the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and performed the following steps:

- Descriptive statistical analysis methods

- Examining the reliability of the scale by applying Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient

- Using the exploratory factor analysis EFA to evaluate the convergent and discriminant value of the scale

- Analyzing PEARSON correlation to statistically measure the correlation between two variables (independent variable with dependent variable or independent variable with independent variable)

- Examining the linear regression model to ensure that the regression model does not violate the hypothesis of the normal distribution of the residuals, the hypothesis of linear relationship; no multiline phenomenon, and the superlative autocorrelation

- Using multivariable regression analysis to evaluate the influence of independent variables on the dependent variable

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CHAPTER 4 —- RESEARCH RESULTS

4.1 Descriptive research results

4.1.1, Demographic characteristics

The researcher collected of total 156 questionnaires after distributing 180 forms (accounting for 86.67%) 24 questionnaires were eliminated during the vote counting process Here are the characteristics of the respondents gathered from the survey:

- Gender: The number of male respondents accounts for 36.54% of total number of questionnaires and the other 63.46% questionnaires are female

m= Male

m Female

Figure 4.1, Gender ratio of the respondents

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022)

- Age: With the research subjects that can be accessed are mainly young people who are studying or working, the age group is divided into four groups In which, the majority of people who participated in the survey in the age level of 21 —

25 (accounting for 54.49%), 26.28% of participants are under 20 years old, the other 17.95% respondents are the age level 26 — 30, the remaining 1.28% are over 30 years old

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Figure 4.2 Age range of the respondents

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022)

- Average income level: The average income levels are divided into four different levels In which, people with the income level of under 3 million VND accounts the highest percentage 46.79%, 33.33% of them earn about 3 to 6 million VND, the respondents who have income level of 6 to 10 million VND account for 13.46%, and the other 6.41% earn more 10 million VND

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Figure 4.3 Average income level of the respondents

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022)

- The research results show that the majority of respondents do their shopping both online and directly at physical stores (accounting for 58.97%) Meanwhile, only 11.54% of them usually go shopping at physical stores, and the remaining 29.49% of participants prefer to do their shopping online

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Figure 4.4, Preference location for shopping

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022)

- When the participants did the survey, they were asked about the frequency

of their doing online shopping The results show that the majority of them often and usually go shopping online (accounting for 53.21%), only a few of respondents have never do their shopping online (accounting for 1.28%), while 10.26% of them rarely and 35.26% of them sometimes go shopping online

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Figure 4.5, Frequency of online shopping

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022)

- Since the thesis focuses on the factors impacting on the consumers when purchasing second-hand products, the research results are filtered out so that the remaining are respondents who have bought or intend to buy second-hand products Whereabouts, 62.18% of the respondents have bought used goods and 37.82% of them intend to buy it

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Figure 4.6, Situation of purchasing second-hand products

Source: Self-prepared by the author (2022) Table 4.1 Sample descriptive statistics