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Consumer lifestyles and online shopping
continuance intention
Norzieiriani Ahmad, Azizah Omar and T. Ramayah
Introduction
Online shopping, also known as internet shopping, electronic shopping, online purchasing
or internet buying, can be defined as the process of purchasing goods and services over the
internet (Mastercard Worldwide Insights, 2008). Kim (2004) defined online shopping as
examining, searching for, browsing for or looking at a product to get more information with
the possible intention of purchasing on the internet. Alternatively, according to Chiu et al.
(2009), online shopping can be considered as an exchange of time, effort and money for
receiving products or services. In recent years, shopping online has become the norm and
all over the world consumers prefer to shop online as it has many advantages. On the
consumer’s side, online shopping has eliminated such traditional shopping inconveniences
of battling crowds, standing in long checkout lines and fighting for parking spaces at a busy
mall. This has been supported by Rowley (1996), who states that customers are able to
compare the available products and their prices from a variety of different outlets through the
internet, without spending a lot of time searching. These comparison shopping sites may
save customers’ time and money because they can see which retailer has the best price
without visiting many web sites. In addition, it allows consumers to browse online shopping
web sites in the privacy of their home. On the business’s side, the internet is significantly
changing the way retailers present, advertise, sell and communicate with consumers.
Furthermore, it offers retailers a global marketplace that extends well beyond the traditional
geographic markets serviced by their physical stores.
A Nielsen Global Online Survey on internet shopping habits (Nielsen, 2008) provides
relevant descriptive statistics on the growth and potential of online shopping. This survey
reported that more than 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the internet to
make a purchase, thus increasing the market for online shopping by 40 percent in the past
two years. Furthermore, according to the same survey, in Malaysia, seven in ten consumers
claimed to have made a purchase over the internet before. Despite the remarkable growth
and optimistic outlook in online shopping, there is evidence to suggest that there are many
consumers shopping with intent to buy at retail web sites but for some reason they do not
complete the transaction and in the worst case scenario, they do not return to the same site
even after they have made a purchase from that site. Cho (2004) indicates that although
almost 95 percent of internet users visit online retail sites, most of them do so without the
intention of actually making a transaction. More importantly, even the most established web
sites are struggling with increasing their goal of building a large pool of repeat customers; on
average, it is estimated that 98.7 percent of those who visit sites do not return, even if they
make a purchase (Maravilla, 2001). Moreover, Lewell (1999), states that according to a
research conducted by Engage Technologies and UK Internet consultancy NVision, four out
of five web users never return to a site. Furthermore, Pastore (1999) asserts that according to
a survey by BizRate.com, many internet users are motivated to start an internet purchase
transaction, but 75 percent discontinue (cancel) the transaction (termed abandoning their
shopping cart). Also, a Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)
DOI 10.1108/17515631011063767 VOL. 11 NO. 4 2010, pp. 227-243, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1751-5637
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PAGE 227
Norzieiriani Ahmad is a
lecturer specializing in
marketing at the College of
Business, Universiti Utara
Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia.
Azizah Omar is a senior
lecturer specializing in
marketing and wellness
management and
T. Ramayah is an associate
professor, both in the
School of Management,
Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Minden, Penang, Malaysia.
survey revealed that although there were 11 million internet users in 2005, only 9.3 percent of
them had purchased products or services through the internet (Economist Intelligence Unit,
2006). This implies that internet users are discovering attractive shopping opportunities on
the web, but there are barriers and other concerns preventing them purchasing continuously
via the internet.
Undeniably, even though online shopping facilitates customer purchase through unlimited
information, instantaneous price comparison and 24/7 service, it also raises concern to
online retailers, particularly in retaining online customers. Furthermore, a lot of e-commerce
companies, online retailers in particular, have started to realize that since their competitors
are just a click away, retaining the company’s customer base, in addition to attracting new
customers, is critical for sustaining revenue base, profitability and market share
(Bhattacherjee, 2001a). Attracting and retaining customers in any businesses is
important, not only because repeat customers buy more, and in the process generate
more revenue, but also it costs less to retain them. In this vein, investigating online shopping
continuance intention is deemed important because in an ever-changing electronic market
environment, acquiring new customers may incur higher costs compared to generating
repeat businesses from existing customers. A study conducted by Parthasarathy and
Bhattacherjee (1998) among 214 continuing adopters and 229 discontinuers of online
service subscribers reveals that on average, the cost of acquiring a new customer is five to
ten times greater than the cost of retaining a current one. In addition, a study by Gartner
Group in 1999 reveals that many online businesses are spending around one million dollars
to set up shop on the web (CNET News, 1999). One of the companies represented in the
same study, eBags.com, reveals that the company spent in the ‘‘million-dollar’’ range to set
up its web site and plans to spend more than ten times with the aim of establishing eBags as
a national brand and placing eBags advertisements all over the web. Furthermore,
according to the same study, some companies are spending or planning to spend several
times more on marketing their sites than they spent on setting them up. In fact, several
studies (e.g. Hong et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2007) also mention that infrequent and ineffective
use of IT after initial adoption may incur undesirable costs or result in a waste of effort in
developing the IT. Thus, it is now firmly believed that the acceleration of heavy investment in
venturing into online businesses is a waste of effort if consumers discontinue purchasing
online. Hence, in order to make sure that all heavy investments to develop web-based
applications are not a waste of effort, identifying factors that could motivate internet users to
repurchase particularly through online shopping is very crucial.
In the online shopping environment, consumers are free to shop at different web sites and
they are able to switch from one web site to another in just a click. The ease of switching and
the ability to quickly gather almost complete information have empowered online customers
with a new set of power tools in their decision making. Provided with the latest information on
every aspect of products being sold online from numerous choices of web sites, there is little
to inhibit customers from switching suppliers or from changing where they would shop
(Reibstein, 2002). The switching behavior of online consumers occurs when the quality of the
customer’s experience falls below a certain threshold either relative to the competition or
relative to their own expectations (Kon, 2004). As noted by Michman et al. (2003, p. 67), ‘‘the
product or brand switching behavior of customers occurs not just because they are
dissatisfied with a present brand of products or services, instead a change in consumer
lifestyles is another likely reason for a change in consumer preference’’. In addition,
Kucukemiroglu (1999) also pointed out that lifestyles describe the behavior of individuals
and groups of interactive people in defining potential consumers. Based on the idea ‘‘the
more you know and understand about consumers, the more effectively you can
communicate and market to them’’ (Plummer, 1974, p. 33), the study of people’s values
and lifestyles has become a standard tool for both social scientists and marketers around
the world (Chu and Lee, 2007). Bellman et al. (1999) point out that the most important
information for predicting shopping behaviors (online and offline) are measures of consumer
lifestyles, not demographics. In other word, to run a shopping web site effectively, online
retailers should be acquainted with consumers’ lifestyles and characters (Chu and Lee,
2007). To address this need, this paper therefore focuses on examining the extent of online
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shopping continuance in Malaysia and identifying the lifestyle factors that influence
consumers’ intention to repurchase online.
Online shopping continuance intention
Understanding the adoption of technology-based products or services has long been
considered an important research topic for information systems (IS) and marketing
researchers. However, Yu (2007) mentioned that adoption was not equivalent to continuous
use. In the initial stage of technology introduction (e.g. online shopping adoption), users are
making acceptance decisions to use a product or service, which were different from the
continuance decisions since continuous use was a post-adoption behavior (Yu, 2007). The
term continuance has been defined as the intention to continue purchasing items after
customers have purchased products or services (Atchariyachanvanich et al., 2008) thus,
congruent with repeat purchase decisions (Kang et al., 2009). Continuance intention or
repurchase intention refers to an individual’s judgment of repurchasing a specified product
or services from the same business, taking into account his or her current situation and likely
circumstances (Hellier et al., 2003). In the online business context, both the presence and
operation of online shopping was heavily dependent on information technology (IT) and they
were often regarded as the type of IS (Chen et al., 2002). Furthermore, Limayem et al. (2007)
suggested that IS continuance, IS continuance behavior or IS continuous usage described
behavioral patterns reflecting continued use of a particular IS. Moreover, Hong and Lee
(2005) asserted that continued usage was a matter of continuous decision making among
alternatives in the competitive alternative systems.
Over the years, a myriad of determinants have been proposed in connection with
continuance intention in IS (e.g. Bhattacherjee 2001a, b; Limayem et al., 2003; Hsu et al.,
2004; Lin et al., 2005; Hong et al., 2006) and marketing field (e.g. Khalifa et al., 2001; Ju and
Hsu, 2004; Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2005; Hsu et al., 2006; Khalifa and Liu, 2007). Given that
attracting and retaining online consumers are the keys to the success of e-commerce, many
scholars have studied continuance intention from a number of perspectives. Using the
technology acceptance model (TAM), some scholars have predicted continuance intention
based on perceived usefulness (Bhattacherjee, 2001a; b; Limayem et al., 2003; Hong et al.,
2006; Roca and Gagne
´, 2008; Premkumar and Bhattacherjee, 2008; Wu and Kuo, 2008;
Wangpipatwong et al., 2008) and perception of utility (Hong et al., 2006; Premkumar and
Bhattacherjee, 2008; Wu and Kuo, 2008).
Another research approach is based on the premise that trust plays an important role in
transactions between online retailers and consumers (Grabner-Kraeuter, 2002).
Recognizing the importance of retaining customers’ trust in online business, numerous
studies have investigated the role of trust in retaining repeat customers and have found it to
be absolutely crucial for online business (Tsai et al., 2006; Liao et al., 2006; Min, 2007;
Vatanasombut et al., 2008). Several researchers have suggested that habit affects attitudes
about shopping online (Limayem et al., 2000). Some empirical studies have found the
influence of intention on IS continuance varies depending on the strength of one’s habit
(Limayem et al., 2003, 2007). Table I presents a summary of continuance intention studies
conducted by previous researchers, particularly in the online shopping context.
In Malaysia, most of past studies on internet technology adoption focused on internet
banking (Ndubisi and Sinti, 2006; Amin, 2007; Poon, 2008; Nor and Pearson, 2008; Haque
et al., 2009), internet stock trading (Gopi and Ramayah, 2007; Ramayah et al., 2009),
e-learning (Mahmod et al., 2005; Hsbollah and Idris, 2009), e-recruitment (Tong, 2009),
online services adoption (Sulaiman et al., 2006; Ahmad and Juhdi, 2008; Tan et al., 2009)
and internet shopping (Sulaiman et al., 2005; Suki, 2006; Haque and Khatibi, 2006; Haque
et al., 2006; Ghazali and Mutum, 2006; Suki et al., 2008; Delafrooz et al., 2009). A short
summary of related articles is presented in Table II. Nevertheless, there are few studies that
examine consumers’ purchase intention especially in the online shopping environment. For
instance, Suki et al. (2008) carried out a study to investigate the effect of several factors
namely, perceived ease of use, cognitive absorption, perceived usefulness and fashion
involvement on intention to shop online. The study found that cognitive absorption and
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Table I Review of the literature in online shopping continuance intention studies
Researcher Independent variable Dependent variable Key findings
Khalifa et al. (2001) Satisfaction (product
satisfaction, sales
process satisfaction,
after-sales service
satisfaction)
Moderator: Online
shopping habit
Stickiness/repurchase Provide strong support for the importance of
satisfaction in explaining repurchase and for the
moderating effect of online shopping habit on the
relationship between satisfaction and repurchase
Ju and Hsu (2004) Disconfirmation,
interpersonal influence,
external influence,
perceived behavioral
control
Mediator: satisfaction,
attitude
Website continuance
intention
Demonstrated the importance of disconfirmation and
satisfaction with prior use in applying TPB to study
the motivational factors in an individual’s website
continuance. Thus, disconfirmation and satisfaction
with prior use might also be an important
consideration in the design of websites
Jiang and Rosenbloom
(2005)
Customer price
perception
Customer satisfaction at
check-out
Customer satisfaction
after delivery
Customer intention to
return
Customer overall
satisfaction
Indicated that after-delivery satisfaction has a much
stronger influence on both overall customer
satisfaction and intention to return than at-checkout
satisfaction, and that price perception, when
measured on a comparative basis, has a direct and
positive effect on customer overall satisfaction and
intention to return
Hsu et al. (2006) Disconfirmation, attitude
Mediator: satisfaction,
perceived behavioral
control, internal
influence, external
influence
Continuance intention The large effect size of disconfirmation suggests that
users view realizing their expectation as being critical
in forming affect and intention to continue using
online shopping
Atchariyachanvanich
et al. (2006)
Confirmation, customer
loyalty, perceived
incentive
Mediator: satisfaction,
perceived usefulness
Repurchase The results pointed out that not only basic factors of
confirmation, satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and
perceived incentives, but also a new factor, i.e.
customer loyalty, are factors significantly influencing
online customers’ intention to repeat purchase
through the internet. This study sheds light on the
development of online incentive technology and the
means of enhancing customer loyalty to promote
online repurchasing
Tsai et al. (2006) Antecedents: expected
value sharing, perceived
switching costs,
community building,
perceived service
quality, perceived trust
Drivers: switching
barriers, overall
satisfaction
Moderator: relational
orientation
Consequence:
repurchase intention
Perceived switching costs and community building
exert the greatest impact on repurchase intentions
through switching barriers and overall satisfaction.
Furthermore, relational orientations significantly
moderate the link between switching barriers and
repurchase intentions
Min (2007) Disconfirmation,
perceived usefulness,
perceived risk, trust,
shopping enjoyment
Mediator: satisfaction
Intention to continue
transaction
Trust and shopping enjoyment also are identified as
two motivators of behavioral intention towards
continuous use of online shopping. The effect of
shopping enjoyment is much lower than both trust
and satisfaction. To some extent, when consumers
accept online shopping, they pay more attention to
the products themselves. Perceived risk is identified
to have a direct effect on the consumer’s satisfaction
and its effect on satisfaction is greater than perceived
usefulness. Different from EDM, continued use of
online shopping in e-commerce may not have one
motivator of satisfaction to measure
(Continued)
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fashion involvement do not influence consumers’ intention to conduct online shopping. In
addition, Suki (2006) mentioned that the internet pull factors such as user friendliness and
reliability of the products or services offered through the internet attracted Malaysian internet
users to conduct online shopping. In investigating the factors that might affect the behavior
of Malaysian consumers toward online shopping, Haque and Khatibi (2006) revealed that
online products’ price and consumers’ trust toward internet stores and educational levels
significantly influenced the frequency level of online shopping activities. They also found that
online consumers in Malaysia still lack confidence and trust in using the internet as a
shopping channel.
The importance of lifestyle
Although the significant role of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust and habit
are crucial in online shopping context, Mahmood et al. (2004) suggested that demographics
and lifestyle characteristics also play an important role in customer buying behavior.
According to Bellman et al. (1999), online buyers typically have a ‘‘wired’’ lifestyle, meaning
that they have been on the internet for years. The study also found that people who have a
more wired lifestyle and who are more time-constrained tend to buy online more frequently.
Bellman et al. (1999) also proposed that people living a wired lifestyle patronize e-stores
spontaneously. These consumers use the internet as a routine tool to receive and send
e-mails, to do their work, to read news, to search information, or for recreational purposes.
Their routine use of the internet for other purposes leads them to naturally use it as a
shopping channel as well. Similarly, Kim et al. (2000) in their study, for example, found that
customer lifestyles directly and indirectly affect the customers’ purchasing behavior on the
internet.
Table I
Researcher Independent variable Dependent variable Key findings
Tsai and Huang (2007) Community building,
overall satisfaction,
switching barriers,
customization
Repurchase intentions Customers are motivated to remain with a particular
e-retailer due to constraint-based, desire-based,
customization-based, and community-based
attachments. Community-based attachment
dominated the other factors. Switching barriers in
online settings were positively related to repurchase
intentions. When customers perceived an e-retailer
as unique or considered that the switching costs
associated with changing was too high, they locked
into the relationship and buffered themselves from
information about alternative providers.
Customization had no direct effect on repurchase
intentions but had a significant indirect effect.
Customized offerings in online settings may attract
customer attention, but they may not directly and
effectively enhance customer loyalty
Khalifa and Liu (2007) Perceived usefulness
Mediator: online
shopping satisfaction
Moderator: online
shopping habit, online
shopping experience
Online repurchase
intention
Findings demonstrated that such models (IS
continuance model) may not be fully sufficient for
explaining online shopping and that a contingency
theory was needed (i.e. moderating factors of the link
between satisfaction and repurchase intention should
be included). Confirmed the argument for the
development of a contingency theory to account for
the novelty of the online channel. Verified the
conceptual distinction of the habit and experience
constructs, reinforcing the argument of previous
studies that experience is necessary but not
sufficient for the formation of habit. Demonstrates that
habitual customers are worth similar attention despite
they may not have a long history of online shopping
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Table II Review of the literature on different internet technology adoption studies in Malaysia
Researcher Independent variable Dependent variable Key findings
Ndubisi and Sinti (2006) Attitude (importance to
banking needs,
compatability,
complexity, trialability
and risk) internet banking
features (utilitarian
orientation and hedonic
orientation)
Internet banking
adoption
The results reveal that the attitudinal factors play a
significant role in internet banking adoption. The
findings show that attitudinal disposition and
webpage features can predict internet banking
adoption. Four attitudinal factors have strong
influences on adoption namely importance to
banking needs, compatibility, complexity, and
trialability, whereas risks have a weak influence.
Utilitarian orientation of the website rather than
hedonic orientation has significant influence on
adoption
Gopi and Ramayah
(2007)
Attitude, subjective norm
and perceived
behavioral control
Behavioral intention Findings show that attitude, subjective norm and
perceived behavioral control have a direct positive
relationship towards behavioral intention to use
internet stock trading. This study suggests that the
theory of planned behavior can be used to explain
variation in behavioral intention and actual usage
Amin (2007) Perceived usefulness
(PU), perceived ease of
use (PEOU), perceived
credibility (PC) and
computer self-efficacy
Behavioral intention The results suggest that PU, PEOU and PC had a
significant relationship with behavioral intention.
Further, these measures are good determinants for
undergraduate acceptance for internet banking.
Results also suggest that PU and PEOU had a
significant relationship with CSE. On the contrary,
CSE did not associate with PC. Also, PEOU had a
significant relationship with PU and PC that indicate
these scales are related to PEOU in explaining
undergraduate preference
Suki et al. (2008) Perceived ease of use
(PEOU), perceived
usefulness PU), cognitive
absorption (CA) and
fashion involvement (FI)
Online buying intention The survey showed that PU, product search, search
process, CA, FI, and online experience have a
significant impact on online shopping, while the other
two variables (i.e. CA and FI) do not have an impact
on online shopping
Amin (2008) Perceived usefulness
(PU), perceived ease of
use (PEOU), perceived
credibility (PC), the
amount of information
about mobile credit
cards (AIMC), and
perceived
expressiveness (PE)
Usage intentions Results suggest that TAM constructs are sufficient to
explain the newly emerging context of mobile credit
in Malaysia but additional features should be added
to better reflect this system. The results indicate that
PU, PEOU, PC and the amount of information
contained on mobile phone credit cards are
important determinants to predicting the intentions of
Malaysian customers to use mobile phone credit
cards. However, PE is not an important determinant in
predicting the intentions of Malaysian customers to
use mobile phone credit cards
Poon (2008) Convenience of usage,
accessibility, features
availability, band
management and image,
security, privacy, design,
content, speed, and fees
and charges
E-banking adoption Results indicate that all elements for ten identified
factors are significant with respect to the users’
adoption of e-banking services. Privacy and security
are the major sources of dissatisfaction, which have
momentously impacted users’ satisfaction.
Accessibility, convenience, design and content are
sources of satisfaction. Besides, the speed, product
features availability, and reasonable service fees and
charges, as well as the bank’s operations
management factor are critical to the success of the
e-banks. WAP, GPRS and 3G features from mobile
devices are of no significance or influence in the
adoption of e-banking services in this study. Results
also reveal that privacy, security and convenience
factors play an important role in determining the
users’ acceptance of e-banking services with respect
to different segmentation of age group, education
level and income level
(Continued)
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From an economic perspective, lifestyle denotes the way individuals allocate their income,
both in terms of relative allocations to different products and services and specific choices
within this group (Zablocki and Kanter, 1976). Along the same line, Mitchell (cited in Lin,
2003) indicates that lifestyles are specific patterns of individuals’ behaviors, and those
behaviors result from those individuals’ inner values. Furthermore, lifestyle could be
identified as distinctive characteristics or an individual’s typical way of life (Horley et al.,
1988). One’s lifestyle is a function of inherent individual characteristics that have been
Table II
Researcher Independent variable Dependent variable Key findings
Ramayah et al. (2009) Attitude (perceived
usefulness and
perceived ease of use)
Subjective norm
(injunctive norm and
descriptive norm)
Behavioral intention Findings show that attitude and subjective norm have
a direct positive relationship towards behavioral
intention to use internet stock trading. Attitude was
significantly influenced by perceived ease of use and
perceived usefulness whereas subjective norm was
significantly influenced by injunctive norm and
descriptive norm, which were proposed as
antecedents
Rouibah et al. (2009) Perceived ease of use,
perceived usefulness,
attitude, subjective
norms and perceived
behavioral control
Behavioral intention Findings reveal that perceived ease of use,
perceived usefulness, attitude, subjective norms and
perceived behavioral control have a direct positive
effect on behavioral intention to use. However,
attitude toward behavior has the highest effect,
followed by perceived usefulness, and subjective
norm, while perceived behavioral control exerts the
weakest effect. Findings also found TPB model has
the best explanatory power, followed by TRA and
TAM models
Tan et al. (2009) Internet-based ICT
adoption
The results suggest that internet-based ICT adoption
provides a low cost yet effective communication tool
for customers. However, security continues to be a
major barrier. Finding on cost as a barrier is mixed.
The inferential statistics reveal that relative
advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability,
and security are significant factors influencing
internet-based ICT adoption
Hsbollah and Idris (2009) Perceived attributes of
innovation (relative
advantage, compatibility,
complexity, trialability,
observability)
Demographical
Information (gender, age,
academic specialization,
number of years in the
organization)
E-learning adoption This study indicates that the adoption decision as a
dependent variable is well predicted by relative
advantages and trialability. The research model
showed a reasonably good fit with the data and
empirical results confirm that only relative
advantages, trialability and academic specialization
positively influence the adoption decision. The
findings have provided evidence of the importance of
relative advantages, trialability and academic
specialization in understanding the adoption
decision before introducing new online technology
and instructional delivery in education. The findings
also indicated that there is no significant relationship
between gender, age, and numbers of years in UUM
with the adoption decision
Tong (2009) Perceived usefulness,
perceived ease of use,
perceived privacy risk,
performance
expectancy, application
specific self-efficacy,
perceived stress
Behavioral intention to
use
This paper has identified few key indicators to
e-recruitment adoption, thus contributing to the
existing knowledge in the human resources literature,
particularly in recruitment. The PEOU construct
indicates that the employed jobseekers could
comprehend and become familiar with the operation
of e-recruitment technology quickly over time.
Employed jobseekers perceived usefulness (PU) in
e-recruitment technology is more important and it
indicates that detail job information would lead them
to better decisions
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shaped and formed through social interaction as one evolves through the life cycle (Hawkins
et al., 2001). In short, consumer lifestyle is how they live. It includes the products they
purchase, how they consume, what they think, and how they feel toward them.
Understanding and predicting consumer behavior is a vital aspect in marketing and is a
necessary requirement to organizations being marketing orientated thus profitable because
it underpins all marketing activities pursued by them. Over the past few decades, a number
of constructs, for instance, demographics, social class and psychological characteristics
have been found to be useful to better understand the behavior of the consumers (Plummer,
1974). Wells (1975) however, emphasizes that demographic profiles, essential though they
maybe, have not been deemed adequate to influence consumer behavior because
demographics lack richness. Moreover, a study by Plummer (1974) stated that demographic
constructs are insufficient and need to be supplemented with other data. Although social
class and psychological characteristics add more strength to demographics, but it, too,
needs to be complemented regularly in order to get important insights into consumers
(Plummer, 1974). In this vein, Plummer (1974) indicates that lifestyle is one of the most
popular concepts in marketing, used to explain consumer behaviors when demographic
characteristics are not sufficient. In addition, lifestyle is useful to distinguish one group of
people from another when demographic characteristics are not enough to make distinctions
(Demby, 1994; cited in Lee, 2005). This has been supported by Donthu and Garcia (1999):
‘‘Many factors are helping the development of the Internet market, some related to
technological advances, some related to the way the corporate world has changed its
perceptions, and some related to changing lifestyles of consumers’’ (p. 52).
Lifestyle and online shopping
In recent years, there have been some profound changes in consumer lifestyles. A growing
number of people are time constrained by obligations to work and family (Schor, 1991). This
is because people nowadays are living in an era of quite hectic and busy working lifestyles,
and thus it has become very difficult for most people to go shopping outside their homes.
Moreover, based on a survey of over 5,000 internet users, Assael (2005) suggests that heavy
users of the internet are somewhat younger, growing up in the age of technology and taking
advantage of it, and more likely to be workaholics and working more than 50 hours a week.
Additionally, in the same study, Assael (2005) also indicates that heavy internet users are a
multitasking group that tends to do more jobs or activities and seeks to do more than they
currently have on their plate. They may be ‘‘time starved’’ and constantly exploring ways to
reduce the time taken to complete various tasks to manage their busy schedules
(Vijayasarathy, 2004). Apparently, the time-deprived, multitasking orientations of heavy
internet users have led to a profound change in shopping activities.
With regard to their busy working lifestyles, consumers nowadays are heavily reliant on
online shopping and progressively attached to it. This transformation has created a drastic
change in the lifestyles and purchasing habits of consumers. In such a dynamic
environment, knowledge of consumer lifestyle helps marketers to understand how
consumers think and select from alternatives to better serve them more effectively.
Furthermore, the purchase behavior of the consumers differs with their lifestyle patterns. As
Krishnan and Murugan (2007) noted, the importance they attach to the products, the
sources of information, the influencers, the buying patterns and brand choices are all
affected by the lifestyle. According to the research report ‘‘Searching for the global
consumer: a European study of changing lifestyles and shopping behavior’’ by Cap Gemini
Ernst & Young (2002), consumers nowadays no longer fit neatly into marketing segments,
but are rather ‘‘instaviduals’’ who jump between many segments during the week, and even
during the course of the day. This new environment makes traditional marketing obsolete,
and many marketers today are struggling to understand the new lifestyle needs of
consumers in order to remain relevant in the marketplace. The knowledge of consumers’
lifestyle, attitudes and usage patterns therefore enables the marketer in many situations to
explain why certain consumers purchase or do not purchase a particular product or service
online.
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Psychographics and lifestyle
Psychographics is one of the terminologies used most frequently to explain consumer
behavior. Psychographics and lifestyle are often used interchangeably, but psychographics
is actually the way that lifestyle is made operationally useful to marketing managers.
Psychographics appraises a consumer’s activities, interests, opinions, and values and
correlates them with a consumer’s demographics. Psychographics allow for a more
complete picture of an individual, making it easier to understand how to market products to
them. In his review of 24 articles on psychographics, Wells (1975) denotes that there is no
single definition of psychographics that is commonly accepted. Nevertheless, the definitions
of psychographic research can be recapitulated as quantitative research intended to place
consumers on psychological dimensions (Wells, 1975). Briefly, lifestyle is an important
psychographic category composed of a combination of factors such as activities, interests,
and opinions.
Activities, interests, and opinions (AIOs)
Basically, lifestyles are patterns of behaviors, and these patterns of behaviors are
represented by consumers’ AIOs. Lifestyle measures can be macro and reflect how
individuals live in general or micro and describe their attitudes and behaviors with respect to
a specific product category or activity (Hawkins et al., 2001). According to Mowen and Minor
(1998) there are no hard-and-fast rules for developing AIO items since their measurement
can deal with varying degrees of specificity. At one extreme are very general measurements
dealing with general ways of living. More commonly, Hawkins et al. (2001) mentioned that
measurements are product or activity specific such as the study of outdoor activities.
Lifestyle analysis involves indentifying consumers’ AIOs. According to Michman et al.
(2003), activities are classified as sports, work, entertainment, and hobbies. Interests
include house, job, family, fashion and food. Opinions are classified as to social issues,
politics, education, business, and outlook about the future. AIO research elucidates the
difference between heavy users of a given product and light or non-users on the basis of
their lifestyle and activities (Berkman and Gilson, 1974). What people do in their spare time,
their interests and priorities, and their opinions of themselves and the world around them
(Plummer, 1974), what they consider important about their immediate surroundings and
what their demographic profiles say about them (Berkman and Gilson, 1974) are the main
concerns in measuring lifestyle characteristics. Activities represent the behavioral portion of
lifestyle. It is a concept relating to the use made of time available by any individual (Gonzalez
and Bello, 2002). They may be part of a job, obligatory or necessary actions in the
individual’s day-to-day life, work in the home, or leisure (Feldman and Hornik, 1981). Thus,
the term ‘‘activities’’ refers to the way in which individuals spend their time and money.
Interests, on the other hand, have been defined by consumer psychologists as the degree of
excitement and arousal that comes from anticipated or continuing participation in some
endeavor. Interests are comprised of a wide range of priorities including family, home, and
community. Opinions are formed when consumer evaluate the importance of things they
believe to be factually correct.
Initially, lifestyles were explored using substantial sets of AIO items (Vyncke, 2002).
However, the most popular and widely used approach to lifestyle measurements has been
AIO rating statements developed by Wells and Tigert (1971). Wells and Tigert (1971)
conducted a self-administrating questionnaire with 300 AIO statements, which included four
dimensions (Table III) that covered various topics including daily activities – interests in
media, the arts, clothes, cosmetics, and homemaking activities; and opinions on many
matters of general interest (Lee, 2005).
In this vein, AIO statements have been applied in many other research studies (see Table IV),
particularly to profile male innovators (Darden and Reynolds, 1974), to measure the
relationships between time orientation and lifestyle patterns (Settle et al., 1978), to
understand women’s food shopping behavior (Roberts and Wortzel, 1979), to understand
general consumption pattern (Hoch, 1988), to investigate psychographic and lifestyle
antecedents of service quality expectations (Thompson and Kaminski, 1993), to explore the
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Table IV Review of the literature in lifestyle studies
Researcher Lifestyle instruments Findings related to lifestyle factors
Thompson and Kaminski (1993) 40 AIO statements Perceived need
Innovativeness
Physician loyalty
Health care socialization
Kucukemiroglu (1999) 56 AIO statements Fashion consciousness
Leadership
Family concern
Health consciousness
Carefree
Community consciousness
Cost consciousness
Practicality
Kaynak and Kara (2001) 56 AIO statements Fashion-conscious
Independent
Family-oriented
Homemaker
Community-oriented
Price-conscious
Adventurer
Dependent
Social
Perfectionist
Opinion leader
Nightlife
Optimism
Kucukemiroglu et al. (2006) 56 AIO statements Family orientation
Self-consciousness
Fashion consciousness
Explorer/open minded/visionary/adventurous
Community oriented
Practical
Homebody
Health orientation
Cost conscientious
Conservatism
Spillan et al. (2007) 56 AIO statements Self-reliance and leadership
Nurturing and family orientation
Health and optimism
Household oriented and industrious
Competitive and adventurous
Lee et al. (2009) 18 AIO statements Fashion consciousness
Leisure orientation
Internet involvement
E-shopping preference
Table III Lifestyle dimensions
Activities Interests Opinion Demographics
Work Family Themselves Age
Hobbies Home Social issues Education
Social events Job Politics Income
Vacation Community Business Occupation
Entertainment Recreation Economics Family size
Club membership Fashion Education Dwelling
Community Food Products Geography
Shopping Media Future City size
Sports Achievements Culture Stage in life cycle
Source: Lifestyle dimensions from Plummer (1974)
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relationship between travel behavior and healthy-living (Hallab, 1999), to investigate the use
of new media technology consumption (Leung, 1998), to study the effects of lifestyle
dimensions and ethnocentrism on buying decision (Kucukemiroglu, 1999; Kaynak and Kara,
2001; Kucukemiroglu et al., 2006; Spillan et al., 2007), to study the behavior of tourist
consumers (Gonzalez and Bello, 2002) and identify relevant lifestyle factors that affect
consumer adoption of technology products (Lee et al., 2009). Tao (2006) conducted a
cross-cultural study that compared lifestyle characteristics of Taiwanese and US consumers,
and AIOs were used as the measurement of lifestyles.
Conclusion
The main objective of this paper is twofold; to examine the extent of online shopping
continuance in Malaysia and to identify the lifestyle factors that influence consumers’
intention to repurchase online. This study intends to fill the gap in the body of literature
concerning the effects of consumer lifestyle factors on online shopping continuance
intention. From A practical point of view, the findings from this study may benefit IS
practitioners, especially electronic commerce providers (e.g. online retailers, online banks,
online brokerages) whose business models and revenue streams are based on long-term
usage of IT products and services. The results of this study will provide some ideas and
practical suggestions which can be implemented particularly in online shopping in order to
improve its continuance (i.e. customer retention strategies) as effective means of
maintaining the subscriber base, market share and overall revenue of online businesses.
By identifying lifestyle factors and the relationship between lifestyle factors and online
shopping continuance, the online businesses will be able to predict prospective online
shoppers’ intention to repurchase more easily. In doing so, they will be able to develop or
improve future e-commerce sites which will be sensitive to the shoppers’ lifestyle. Also, they
will be able to develop more precise or targeted marketing plans, programs and strategies
according to the lifestyle and continuous intention of their target groups. In order better
penetrate the target markets.
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Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 27-35.
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technology acceptance evaluations and continuance intention’’, Advances in Information Systems,
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Further reading
MCMC (2008), ‘‘Communication and multimedia: selected facts and figures’’, available at: www.skmm.
gov.my/facts_figures/stats/pdf/SKMM_Q4.pdf (accessed April 7, 2009).
About the authors
Norzieiriani Ahmad is a Lecturer specializing in marketing at the College of Business,
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). She is currently a PhD student at the School of
Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, under the supervision of Dr Azizah Omar and
Associate Professor T. Ramayah. Norzieiriani Ahmad received her MBA from Universiti Putra
Malaysia in 2001. Her main research interests lie in the area of consumer behavior,
particularly in understanding the concept of consumer lifestyles. She has published an
article in International Review of Business Research Papers and has also presented her work
in proceedings and at conferences in Malaysia. Norzieiriani Ahmad is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: norzie@uum.edu.my
Azizah Omar is presently a Senior Lecturer specializing in marketing and wellness
management at the School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). She teaches
and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate (MBA, MA, PhD and DBA) students,
especially in the areas of marketing, web-based marketing and wellness management. She
has published several articles in international journals such as South African Journal of
Clinical Nutrition,Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare,Asian Academy of Management
Journal,i-manager’s Journal on Management, and Medical Information Science Reference.
She has also presented her works in proceedings and conferences in various countries such
as Malaysia, Canada, the UK, Africa, India, and the USA. She is also involved in various
research at university and community levels. Dr Omar has been invited to conduct various
training workshops in the private and government sectors, in particular among the SMEs.
Currently, she is a Deputy Dean, Industrial and Community Linkages, School of Management
and also holds several positions at school and university levels (President Alumni School of
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Management, Consultant for USAINS – Strategic Management and Business
Communication). She obtained her PhD from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, a
Master of Business Administration from Universiti Sains Malaysia, and a Bachelor of Health
Sciences from Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
T. Ramayah has an MBA from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Currently he is an
Associate Professor at the School of Management, USM. He mainly teaches courses in
research methodology and business statistics and has also conducted training courses for
local government (Research methods for candidates departing overseas for higher degree,
Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam). Apart from teaching, he is an avid researcher, especially in
the areas of technology management and adoption in business and education. Thus far, he
has published in several journals such as Information Development,Direct Marketing,
WSEAS Transactions on Information Science & Applications,International Journal of
Learning,The International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management,Asian
Journal of Information Technology,International Journal of Services and Technology
Management,International Journal of Business Information Systems,Journal of Project
Management,Management Research News,International Journal of Information and
Operations Management Education,International Journal of Services and Operations
Management,Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management and North
American Journal of Psychology. Having his contributions in research acknowledged, he
is constantly invited to serve on the editorial boards and program committees of several
international journals and conferences of repute. In addition, T. Ramayah has collaborated
with noted companies from various disciplines of business through multiple consultancy
projects. To date, his consulting experience includes research conducted for companies
such as Tesco, World Fish Center, MIMOS, etc. As well as to consultancy projects,
T. Ramayah is also actively involved in short-term research grants. He has completed two
research grants, one in the area of organizational behavior and the other in the validation of a
new methodology, and has another ongoing research grant concerning the preservation of
batik among Malaysians.
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