Factors that influence online shopping among university students at School of Statistics and Planning, Makerere University
Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the factors that significantly influence the young consumer's participation in online shopping. This was to enable the researcher to determine what exactly influences the university students’ attitude among towards online shopping. A cross sectional study was adopted and primary data was collected from 100 students from the school of Statistics and Planning using questionnaire method. Univariate analysis, bivariate analysis and multivariate analysis (binary logic regression) was done using STATA 15.0.
In the univariate analysis, the mean age of students surveyed was 22.3%, 54 were females and 46 were males. 51were Anglicans, 53.0% were pursuing Bachelor of Science in Business statistics (BBS), 23.0% were in their third year, 35.0% were in their second year and 37.0% in first year. Results showed that 64.0% of the respondents were staying in hostels/halls. Using the questionnaire designed, 91% of the respondents had knowledge or had ever had about online shopping, 67% had ever participated in online shopping, 39% agreed that online shopping was not risky, 38% agreed that online shopping was less risky while 23% agreed that online shopping was high risky. Findings on the level of satisfaction revealed that; 35% of the respondents were satisfied,9% were strongly satisfied,39% were neutral, 12% were dissatisfied, 5% were dissatisfied.
In the bivariate stage of analysis, findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between participation in online shopping and independent factors (religion of the respondent, ownership of an electronic gadget, satisfaction with the respondent's experience, level of convenience, respondent's level of perceived risk associated with online shopping) at p<0.05.
In the multivariate stage of analysis, results indicated that; having heard about online shopping and its convenience were the significant influencing student s participation in online shopping.
Findings revealed the need to expose students to online shopping in order to improve their knowledge, attitude and perceptions towards online shopping. This will enable them to accept/ appreciate the fact that online shopping is convenient and less risky and it will also increase their overall knowledge about online shopping.