ASSESSING THE PURCHASE INTENTION OF MALAYSIAN GENERATION Y IN MOBILE SHOPPING

Generation Y is known as Millennials and also acknowledged as sophisticated and technology wise for which the internet became their forte. With the advancements of Internet technology especially the usage of smartphone to shop online, mobile shopping in this generation is significant and critical for exploration. While a large number of mobile phone consumers are connected to the Internet, it is also variety of online promotion appears aggressively to attract the customers’. As such research on what drives consumers to purchase online has typically been fragmented. In Malaysia setting, it is reported that- mobile phone users were dominated by generation Y users. As the reports indicate, users fully embrace the concept of getting connected everywhere at any time. With pattern showing increasing consumer subscriptions for mobile data usage, it thus indicates the importance of the purchase intentions of online users among Gen Y. The aim of this paper is to model the effect of the Gen Y consumers’ usefulness, ease of use and enjoyment of their online behaviours on mobile purchase intention. This research is to propose that when Gen Y consumers shop online through mobile applications, their behaviour such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment are the important factor to influence the consumer’s intention. To test this proposition, one hundred and sixty usable responses were collected using non-probability sampling. The conceptual model was tested using correlation and regression analysis. The findings show that the effect of a consumer’s perception on the usefulness, ease of use and enjoyment of mobile shopping towards purchase intentions were significant. We conclude that Gen Y has a strong influence on mobile purchase intentions. Research implications, limitations and suggestions for future researches were also discussed.

Keywords: Gen Y, usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment and mobile purchase intention.