International Postgraduate Research Conference (IPRC)
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Item A Model To Determine Factors Influencing the Decision-Making Process of Consumer Online Purchasing in Sri Lanka(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Wickramasinghe, D.M.; Peter, S.; Niwunhella, H.There are a wide range of products and services available online where the consumers can conveniently shop anytime from anywhere in the world. Despite the steady growth in e-commerce over the past few years, the rate of penetration of online shopping in Sri Lanka remains low. The available literature contains evidence that advocate that there is consumer reluctance, resistance and hesitation to engage in online shopping, due to diverse reasons. Inarguably, online and offline channels present different shopping experiences, even in instances where the same product is purchased. It is therefore, vital to investigate the consumer behaviour related to online shopping. According to well established literature, negative attitudes and motivation of the consumer, lack of trust and less propensity to take risks impedes the consumer-online vendor relationship. Consequently, a conceptual framework has been developed integrating perspectives from consumer behaviour, trust and risk propensity as a significant step towards a better understanding of the consumer. It has been developed primarily based on the theory of planned behaviour, Mayer’s trust model, and the risk propensity from Pablo and Sitkin Model. The conceptual model investigates the main antecedents which influences consumers to engage in online shopping through the identified predictors. A systematic set of hypotheses are formulated on the basis of the conceptual model and a methodology is developed for testing and analysing such behaviour. While the constructs from theory of planned behaviour and consumer trust have an impact on the purchasing behaviour, the risk propensity of the consumer has a moderating effecting on the antecedents. The conceptual model has been initially validated by expert opinion. The conceptual model will be tested subsequently, through an empirical study. The final model would be of use to the marketing practitioners, academic researchers and the industry.Item Model to Grab the Digital Natives’ Purchasing Behaviour(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Nadeesha, K.; Suren, P.; Niwunhella, H.Generation Z is considered to be the most puzzling consumers as they appear to behave as tech-savvy and educated users of technologies in the marketplace. These digital natives are predicted to account for around 40% of all consumer shopping by 2020. Ninety-three percent of parents of this generation agree that Generation Z offspring are going to be the significant influencer of household spend. Their cognitive power and social media networking have made them the market mavens who possess a wide range of information and consumer knowledge about many dimensions of markets. To be the leader in the market with so many options due to free trade economy, marketers have to escalate their knowhow about their customers if they want to capture the attention of this segment of the market. Though there are models to evaluate the consumer behaviour like Engel-Blackwell-Miniard model and Nicosia model of customer behaviour, the practicality in the application of them is vague due their mechanical overview of human behaviour. In order to catch the attention of the discerning Generation Z consumer, marketers have to venture the extra mile to develop a unique model that has the ability to factor the unique characteristics of this market segment. The paper proposes a conceptual model to determine the purchasing behaviour of Generation Z consumers as an extended model of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Theory of Planned behaviour is a prominent consumer behavioural model which distinctly elaborate the factors that affect consumer behavior. The model collaborates physical, psychological and sociological aspects without limiting to a single field. In TPB, attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control act as the main constructs to determine the purchasing behaviour. The proposed extended model of TPB incorporates the additional constructs of market mavenism, social identity and technology self-efficacy to capture the specific characteristics of Generation Z. Market mavenism captures the degree of influence from the consumer knowledge, social identity captures the influence of self-identity in social media and technology self-efficacy captures the efficacy in using computing technologies and the Internet by Generation Z, for product purchasing decision making. Expert opinion from selected personnel in academia and industry were used to validate the proposed model. Implications of this validated model can be utilized to assist in predicting potential consumer adoption behaviour and in designing favourable shopping environments that are compatible with these specific consumer traitsItem Attitudes on Mental Health and Intentions to Seek Psychological Help in the General Public of Sri Lanka(19th Conference on Postgraduate Research, International Postgraduate Research Conference 2018, Faculty of Graduate Studies,University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Wijesuriya, C.P.; Gunasekara, H.There is a gross reluctance in today’s society to avoid seeking help in mental health even when required. Many factors such as stigma and negative attitudes about mental health have accounted for the avoidance of seeking help in mental health. In a country with such a collectivistic culture, seeking professional mental help is selected as a last option when other options fail. This study evaluated the relationship between attitudes on mental health and intentions to seek mental help among the general public in Sri Lanka in two phases. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the first phase of the study involved the translation and content validation of four scales that measured the TPB constructs of: attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intentions to seek mental help. In the second phase of the research, an online survey-based quantitative study was conducted of the TPB constructs and demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, educational qualifications, previous mental help seeking history, previous mental health history and previous mental history of a close relative or friend. A sample of 200 English speaking participants were recruited via an online survey using stratified sampling method. All participants were above the age of 18 and were absent of a previous mental disorder. Results indicated that attitudes and perceived behavioural control had a significant relationship between intentions to seek mental help whereas there was no significant relationship between subjective norms and intentions to seek mental help. Furthermore, group differences between the demographic variables were further identified. It was discovered that while attitudes still have a strong relationship with intentions, the effect of subjective norms and behavioural control needs to be explored extensively to assess how it affects mental help seeking intentions. Necessary actions should be taken to reduce the overall stigma on mental health which will be one of the main factors in improving the attitudes of mental health in the general public. With considering the impact of educational status, it would be paramount to introduce the importance of mental health beginning from school level that will assist in reducing the stigma and attitudes on mental health for the future. Introducing positive mental health to the curriculum from a young age will assist in reducing the differences observed in gender, marital status and age from this study. Identifying the impact of the other variables will lead to better understanding of the stigma in the country and the path required to de-stigmatise mental health and increase literacy around the island