EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS …€¦ · Key words: Online Shopping, Online Apparel Shopping, Personality Traits, E-Commerce Cite this Article: Amit Sharma, Raj Bahadur

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 129 [email protected]

International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 11, Issue 7, July 2020, pp. 129-140, Article ID: IJM_11_07_013

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=7

ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510

DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.7.2020.013

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY

TRAITS UNDERLYING MOTIVES OF ONLINE

BUYING BEHAVIOR

Amit Sharma

Assistant Professor, Government Engineering College, Ajmer, India

Raj Bahadur Sharma*

Assistant Professor, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University,

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Jitendra Charan

Researcher, Rajasthan Technical University Kota, India

* Corresponding Author E-mail:[email protected]

ABSTRACT

The research paper focuses on biggest online industry of India which estimates

approx US $75.6 billions in year 2014, and is expected grow to level of US $156

billions in next 2 years. The organized apparel market is much lower than un-

organised market but growing at faster rate comparatively in past 5 years. The growth

of industry is fostered by both online and offline models of apparel retailing in India.

Because of Internet penetration across the country, tier II and tier III cities are

significantly contributing for its climbing the preference of consumers in e-commerce

market in India. Due to lack of availability and limited choices growth rate for online

apparel orders are coming from Tier II and Tier III cities comparing it with metros

and cosmopolitan cities in India. Online apparel industry is expected to grow at a

CAGR of approx 13% in next 10-year period.

Factors which are responsible for low growth of online apparel industry in India,

lie outside the control e-commerce retailers. The researchers had observed the factors

responsible to influence the consumers to adopt online channel for buying apparel,

include consumer characteristics, technology, government influence and the economy.

The research paper focuses to explore the impact of personality traits on motives of

buying apparel from online model in India. Online consumers were surveyed with the

help of structured questionnaire to get the Big Five Personality Index (BFI score) and

being analyzed with AMOS factor reduction modeling. The results show that

consumers buying apparel from online channel possesses extraversion as dominating

characteristics and are motivated by Perceived Usefulness, Enjoyment, Information

Availability, Privacy and Trust factors for adopting online channel.

Exploring the Impact of Personality Traits underlying Motives of Online Buying Behavior


Key words: Online Shopping, Online Apparel Shopping, Personality Traits, E-

Commerce

Cite this Article: Amit Sharma, Raj Bahadur Sharma and Jitendra Charan, Exploring

the Impact of Personality Traits underlying Motives of Online Buying Behavior,

International Journal of Management, 11(7), 2020, pp. 129-140.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=7

1. INTRODUCTION

E-commerce has revolutionized the Indian shopping market and the way people buy products

and services. Great opportunities for digital exclusive retails brands are coming up in the

online apparel market and are also getting consumer attention and preference. In the last 5

years, over 10 million consumers from India got the exposure to Indian online shopping

market either for electronics, apparel, groceries, etc.

The apparel industry in India is gradually and surely making its existence in the e-

commerce industry. However, with a low penetration level of 0.1%, it is expected to grow

exponentially by 140 times and reach US $156 billion in 2021. Majorly online shoppers

belong to Generation Z which is boosting the demand of the online apparel industry in India.

With a higher level of acceptance and adoption of online shopping in India considerable shift

in buying behavior of shoppers are being identified in the past few years. Which has

ultimately redefined the market dynamics of online business models of India.

Apparel e-tailing has gained tremendous growth in India due to changing lifestyles,

convenience in demand, ordering ease, home delivery, credit facility, and return policy of e-

commerce retailers. The development pace of e-commerce was fostered with the increased

communicating devices penetration especially smart-phones, tablets, and laptops.

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

According to Raymond A. Bauer (1967), perceived risk is a critical factor of consumer

behavior. He suggested that consumers anticipating pe rceived risk in any action which

consequently with uncertainty will lead to unpleasant behavior. Wise a versa certainty of

actions leads to individuals‟ pleasant state of mind. That means consumers' behavior is

predicting the future course of actions based on their certainty.

Bagozzi (1974) has also confirmed this in his study of E-shopping behavior which he

explained as a complicated decision process. He found that consumers like to minimize the

transaction cost to fulfill the needs of their families with a limited budget. It was also revealed

from the study that e-shopping is a social influence process where consumers wish to follow

the social norms.

Furthermore in 1999 Goodwin found in his research that security and privacy are the

critical barriers in adopting the e-commerce. Security and privacy in the initial era of e-

commerce were given utmost concern as the online shopping environment was immature and

online platform developers were trying to upgrade the infrastructure. In the general adoption

of online shopping, the platform has experienced the low growth and acceptance due to the

threat of losing privacy and personal data.

Information plays a vital role in the buying process, Vrechopolous et al. in the year 2000

found that the product description, availability of a product, information related to discount,

promotion, delivery date, are some of the characteristics which motivate to adopt online

channel for buying product and services. The study also suggests altering the virtual

environment as per the convenience of consumers and it was also suggested to get a higher

acceptance level of an online channel by integrating the payment options, discounts, and

Amit Sharma, Raj Bahadur Sharma and Jitendra Charan


promotions. Goldsmith has found that individuals having innovativeness as a personal

character tend to buy more products online.

Wu in 2003 has observed the positive relationship between attitude towards online

shopping and consumer characteristics. Consumer demographics, purchase preference,

perception and lifestyle were found to be characteristics that significantly influence the

attitude towards online shopping.

Kim et al (2003) suggest while publishing their result of the study the intention of buying

clothes from an online channel is derived from attitude and behavioral subjective norms. The

results of this study suggest that although behavioral intentions effected by attitude and

subjective norms then too they are not equivalent in their effects, although they are important

predictors of consumers‟ online shopping behavior for clothing.

The renowned models as Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Innovative Adoption Model

(IAT), and others which had identified the relationship with buying intention and technology

adoption was revivified by Yoh et. al. in 2003. He explored that buyer that possesses positive

attitudes toward the internet had greater intention to purchase apparel through the internet.

According to Ha & Stoel, (2004) observed that buyers, browsers, and information

searchers have different perception towards online shopping. It was concluded that the

innovativeness of the internet affects the apparel shopping behavior of consumers.

The study of Goldsmith and Flynn (2004) suggested that online clothing purchase is

inspired by Web innovativeness than by the creativity of apparel. Predictors like enthusiasm

and adventure are better in general and history marked by purchasing garments from catalogs.

Fashion innovativeness has a slight relation with online buying but fashion involvement has

not. It creates the impression that being a Web trailblazer and an accomplished catalogue

customer are more prescient of online apparel shopping than an enthusiasm for fashion. Three

major implications of the study were; first, a shopper with catalog shopping history is a more

prominent shopper in online apparel context. Second, innovativeness has some role to play.

Online Apparel shopping will pace momentum as Online shopping overall grows. Third, if

shoppers involve more in a particular category does not assure more shopping in that category

irrespective of online apparel shopping is a new medium.

Williams, Bertsch, Wiele, Iwaarden & Dale et.al in 2006 found that although consumers

keep buying products from traditional stores but they feel very convenient to buy them from

an online channel, as they need not to personally visit the stores. It could be derived that

online shopping saves time as well as the energy of consumers while meeting their shopping

needs. In case of online shopping, buying decisions can be easily made according to the

consumers' convenience while comparing products with available choices, deals & supplies.

Kim, J., & Forsythe, S. (2007) described the technology adoption. The result has shown

that virtual try-on is rather than mandatory an entertainment and enjoyable feature for online

shoppers. The adoption of virtual try-on is not gender specific. The anxiety and

innovativeness has a significant role over virtual try-on technology.

It has been observed from the literature review that the Internet has changed the way

customers buy products and services. Due to the increased benefits, a lot of customers would

nowadays prefer purchasing products online. In online shopping, customers find a variety of

products that they can choose. When it comes to online shopping, convenience is the major

factor that influences the adoption of the channel. With online shopping models, customers

can buy anything, anytime with superior shopping experiences. The research article aims at

finding the impact of personal factors of consumers as personality traits on motives of buying

apparel from the online channel.



3. OBJECTIVES

Analyzing the personality traits of online shoppers.

Ascertaining the motives of buying apparel from online channel.

Analyzing the impact of personality trait on motives of buying apparel from online

channel.

4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A questionnaire is considered to be the most effective method for collecting primary data.

Both online and offline questionnaires were being developed to collect data from respondents.

The sample of 182 respondents was considered to analyze and generalize the results.

Respondents were contacted through mailers and direct interaction. The questionnaire had

structured questions of two sets, i.e. Personality trait of buyers using online channel for

apparels (set 1) and Motives of buying apparels from the online channel (set 2). After

applying the reliability test 182 responses were found to be suitable for further analysis. The

Big Five traits of the participants were measured by the 50-item of Big Five Inventory (BFI)

instrument. Participants were asked to use a five-point Likert-type scale (from strongly

disagree "1" to strongly agree "5") to describe their personality. BFI score is calculated by

adding the answers to a series of structured questions and taking the average. Participants

were also asked to use a five-point Ranking Scale to provide their view on what motivates

them to use online channels from the highest "1" to lowest "5". Collected data verified by the

reliability test and analyzed on paired t-test to derive the results.

4.1. Statistical Tools & Techniques

Data collected from the 182 respondents, was validated and reliability tests were applied to

derive the result for further analysis of the research study. The 182 responses were found to be

suitable for further analysis and to interpret results by using paired path t-test of the motives

to adopt an online channel for buying apparel in India.

5. HYPOTHESES (USE OF INTERNET FOR APPAREL BUYING)

H0a1: There is no relationship between individuals using internet for shopping and apparel

buying through online channel.

Observations: Respondents were instructed to rate the use of Internet on 5 point likert scale

and rate how often they use online channel for buying apparel. Preferences of respondents

were analyzed using Chi-Square test as mentioned below.

Table 1 Use of Internet for Apparel Buying

Chi-Square Tests

Value df Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 25.547a 16 .061

Likelihood Ratio 25.476 16 .062

Linear-by-Linear Association 10.368 1 .001

N of Valid Cases 182

a. 38 cells (76.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .139.



Table 2 Symmetric Measure of Using Internet for Apparel Buying

Symmetric Measures

Value Approximate Significance

Nominal by

Nominal

Phi .530 .061

Cramer's V .265 .061

N of Valid Cases 182

Results show that the Pearson chi-square value 0.061 is less than α =0.080, which

ultimately rejects the null hypothesis. Hence a positive relationship exists between individuals

using the internet for shopping and online apparel buying.

5.1. Hypotheses (Personality Trait)

Personality trait of buyers using online channel for buying apparel in India.

H0b1: Individuals using online channel for buying apparels does not have openness to

experience as dominant personality character.

H0b2: Individuals using online channel for buying apparels does not have Conscientiousness

as dominant personality character.

H0b3: Individuals using online channel for buying apparels does not have Extraversion as

dominant personality character.

H0b4: Individuals using online channel for buying apparels does not have Agreeableness as


H0b5: Individuals using online channel for buying apparels does not have Neuroticism as


Table 3 Personality traits of respondents using Online channel for buying apparels

Personality Trait of

Participants

Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Percentage

Openness 0 0.00 0.00

Conscientiousness 20 10.99 10.99

Extraversion 116 63.74 74.73

Agreeableness 44 24.18 98.90

Neuroticism 2 1.10 100.00

Total 182 100.00

After analyzing the frequencies of 182 respondents, it was observed that 116 respondents

were having a higher BFI Index of Extraversion as mentioned in Table 1. It was also revealed

that individuals buying online apparel possess similar personality traits of extraversion,

overall 63.74% of respondents were having extraversion as a dominating trait.



Table 4 Status of Hypotheses

Hypotheses Standardized β T statistics Significance Status of

Hypotheses

H0b1: Individuals using online

channel for buying apparels does

not have openness to experience

as dominant personality

character

0.02 1.05 Sig<0.05 Accepted



not have Conscientiousness as





not have Extraversion as


0.16 1.94 Sig<0.05 Rejected



not have Agreeableness as





not have Neuroticism as



Further analysis shows that results of data collected from respondents using the online

channel for buying apparel, it could be ascertained that hypotheses as mentioned in Table 3,

H0b3 was rejected, having higher β coefficients and T values at 95% significance level. It

could be stated that individuals buying apparel products from the online channel possesses

extraversion as dominating personality traits.

5.2. Hypotheses (Motives of individuals having Extraversion as dominant

characteristics of Personality Trait)

Individuals having Extraversion as dominating personality traits are predicted as Energetic,

Assertiveness, Sociability, and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others, and

talkativeness. Attention seeking and dominating personality are presumed from individuals

possessing high extraversion whereas individuals having low extraversion a reserved,

reflective personality, which can be perceived as aloof or self-absorbed. Extroverted people

may appear more dominant in social settings, as opposed to introverted people in his setting.

The study focuses to identify the relationship between individuals having dominant

personality trait Extraversion and motives of buying apparel products from the online channel.

H0c1: Individuals having Extraversion as dominating personality traits are not motivated by

Usefulness of online channel.


Ease to use of online channel.


Convenience of online channel.




Perceived Control of online channel.


Privacy of online channel.

Table 5 Motives of buying apparel from online channel

Motives KMO Sampling

Measure (> 0.5)

Extraction Sums of Squared

Loadings (>60%)

Significance

Perceived Usefulness .794 65.065 Relevant

Perceived Ease of Use

/Convenience .753 49.742

Irrelevant

Enjoyment / Adventure / Fun .721 70.922 Relevant

Information Availability .812 63.180 Relevant

Price / Charge / Cost Savings .697 59.960 Irrelevant

Privacy / Security .622 71.513 Relevant

Control / Authority .665 58.581 Irrelevant

Trust .696 68.830 Relevant

Data collected from 182 respondents for the motive of buying online apparel were

analyzed with KMO sampling measure having eligibility rule of 0.5 and acceptance rule of

extraction loading measure to be more than 60%. The factors motioned in table 5 Perceived

Usefulness, Enjoyment, Information Availability, Privacy, and Trust were found relevant as

having KMO sampling measure value >0.5 and extraction loading >60%.

5.2.1. Perceived Usefulness

Fred Davis defined Perceived Usefulness as "the degree to which a person believes that using

a particular system would enhance his or her job performance". It means someone perceives

that technology to be useful for them depends on what they want to do with it. Individuals

using online channels for buying apparel were asked to rate the 10 statements on 5 point

Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Table 6 Component Matrixa

Component

1 2

Ordering .851

Description .822

Searching .755

Variety .743

Comparability .735 -.500

Time .731

Choice .708

Availabitlity .705

Promotion .635

Easiness .563 .592

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

a. 2 components extracted.



The usefulness of an online channel to meet the apparel desire was reduced by applying

factor analysis and was reduced to ease of ordering and easiness to use as mentioned in table

6.

5.2.2. Enjoyment

Happiness is conceptualized as an enduring state of mind that consists of the capacity to

experience a pleasure. According to the researchers, happiness is not something that happens

by itself, it does not depend on external events but rather on how we experience them within,

where we place our attention, which is something we can nourish and develop. Therefore,

after analyzing the data collected from 182 respondents for their level of enjoyment while

shopping apparels from the online channel, it was confirmed with factor analysis that

respondents feel comfortable and enjoy browsing the apparels online.

Table 7 Rotated Component Matrix

Rotated Component Matrixa

Component

1 2

Comfortable .854

Demonstration .749

Repayment .692

Enjoyment .576 .531

Check .920

Deal .879


Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 3 iterations.

Consumers state of enjoyment while shopping apparel from online channel were reduced

by applying factor analysis and rotated components identified were comfortability and

feelling of joy while shopping mentioned in table 6.

5.2.3. Information Availability

Every decision is based on information that the decision-makers trust. The reliability of

information and the purpose of utilizing it may lead to multiple options. One of the most

obvious information-related problems occurs when the information is either incorrect or

incomplete. Trusting information that is faulty leads to many wrong deductions and

conclusions. The ambiguous statements of information, although the decision-maker is aware

of facts, uncertainty is introduced, and any decision based on that partial information proves

to be misguided. Decisions are certainly based on information sufficiency. As information

plays a vital role in the process of consumers' buying behavior, whereas in an online

environment it becomes critical. The respondents were asked to rate the 8 statements on 5

point Likert scale to analyze the relevance of information available on motives of using the

online channel for buying apparel.



Table 8

Component Matrixa

Component

1 2

Choice .864

Refining .826

Availability .813

Search .662

Information .638 .547

Orientation .610

Verification .582

Preciseness .618 .640



It was revealed from a principal component analysis that the choice of retrieving in-depth

information for product and preciseness of information influence the motivation level to buy

apparels from the online channel. Components extracted analysis rates choice of information

at 0.864 and preciseness at 0.547.

5.2.4. Privacy

Smith et al. (1996) outlined four dimensions of consumer privacy as publicizing the personal

information, unauthorized access, and use of personal information. The impact of privacy on

online consumers was reduced to analyze the influencing factors for adopting an online

channel for buying apparel.

Table 9

Component Matrixa

Component

1 2

Personal Detail .812

Unsecure .784 -.523

Browsing .741

Transaction .506

Confidence .566 .639



It was revealed from a principal component analysis that the privacy of keeping the

personal information of consumers secure with online retailers ultimately proves to be an

influential factor for adopting online channels. The sub-factor personal details that consumers

share with retailers prove to be influencing factors that ultimately develop a confidence in

relying on the e-retailer. The components were identified with 0.812 as personal details and

0.639 as confidence after reducing the factors with component analysis.

5.2.5. Trust

Online trust is the willingness of a consumer to allow the actions of an online store, based on

the expectation that online stores will perform a particular action important for the consumer,

irrespective of their ability to monitor or control the online store. The online buyers of apparel



were asked to state their trust factor on online stores. 116 respondents had given their concern

on a five-point scale for 5 statements related to the delivery of products, faulty products,

wrong product, home delivery service, and return policy.

Table 10

Component Matrixa

Component

1 2

Delivery .745 -.445

Wrong Product .850 -.283

Defected Product .757 -.052

Carrying .592 .427

Return Policy .488 .734



Factor reduction method was applied to analyze the responses, it was observed that online

apparel buyers develop their trust factor when the web store is not delivering the wrong

product and provide return facility. The factors were confirmed by principal component

analysis with values as Wrong Product 0.850 and Return Policy as 0.735.

6. PROPOSED MODEL

The rapid development of the Internet and its effect on daily life has introduced a new

consumer profile which is referred to as the 'online consumer'. Such consumers are influenced

by various factors and they have different purchasing habits concerning traditional consumers.

After analyzing the results of the reliability test, 8 out of 10 motivating factors were identified

as relevant for further analysis of model fit.

Table: 11 Motivating Factors

Motivating Factors

Category Motives Status

Usefulness of Online Platform Easiness of Using online platform Accepted

Online ordering ease Accepted

Enjoyment while using online

platform

Comfortable to use Rejected

Sense of enjoyment Accepted

Information Availability over

online platform

Choice of retrieving information Accepted

Preciseness of information Rejected

Privacy maintained at online

platform

Personal Details Accepted

Confidence on maintaining privacy Accepted

Trust Wrong Product will not delivered Accepted

Return policy Accepted

The factors influencing consumers' online apparel purchase motives which have been

examined, were tested to be uninfluenced with the personality traits of consumers for

selecting the online channel. Motivating factors were tested on confirmatory factor analysis

and results had predicted that consumers adopting online channels for buying apparel

products are having strong influence from a sense of enjoyment and choice to retrieve the

information about the product. The CMIN/DF value for proposed model 2.212 that is near to



3.0 (standard), hence it has been also validated by the goodness of fit with CFI value 0.910

(accepted approx 1.0).

Figure 1 Proposed model for analyzing the impact of personality traits on motives of adopting online

shopping

Table 12 CMIN : Confirming the Model Fit

Model NPAR CMIN DF P CMIN/DF

Default model 29 79.644 36 .000 2.212

Saturated model 65 .000 0

Independence model 10 128.928 55 .000 2.344

Table 13 Baseline Comparisons: Best Fit of Proposed Model

Model NFI

Delta1

RFI

rho1

IFI

Delta2

TLI

rho2

CFI

Default model .382 .056 .530 .098 .910

Saturated model 1.000 1.000 1.000

Independence model .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

The results of study reveal that motives of adopting online channels for buying apparel are

influenced by personality traits. This can be attributed to the fact that this is a recently

emerged research area. The originality of our paper stems from highlighting a future research

agenda for consumers' online purchase behavior.

7. CONCLUSION

Hence it could be concluded from a study of analyzing the impact of personality traits on

adopting online channels for buying apparel, that individuals using online channels have

dominating personality characteristics as extraversion. It was also being revealed that

individuals score high on extraversion are motivated by Easiness of Using an online platform,

ordering ease, comfortability, feeling the sense of enjoyment, choice of retrieving

information, preciseness of information, the privacy of personal details, confidence on

maintaining privacy, the trust of not getting wrong Product, and Return policy of online



channel. Finally, it could be ascertained from research that the personality traits of consumers

influence the motives of adopting an online channel for buying apparel products.

8. DIRECTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The study focused on analyzing the impact of personality traits on motives of adopting an

online channel for buying apparel products. The researcher proposes to carry similar research

in a future study with other demographic variables – Age, Gender, Occupation, Income,

Education, etc. Moreover, it is proposed to conduct this study at various locations to

generalize the conclusion.

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Documents

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS …€¦ · Key words: Online Shopping, Online Apparel Shopping, Personality Traits, E-Commerce Cite this Article: Amit Sharma, Raj Bahadur