Abstract

Malaysian statistics show a trend of continued growth in the e-commerce industry, indicating the need for further enquiry into online purchasing behaviour. This study emphasizes the importance of catering to the needs and inclinations of youths regarding online purchasing intentions and habits. Specifically, the aim was to investigate the effects of family values and social networking sites (SNS) usage for commercial purposes on purchasing intention and subsequently purchasing habits of post-graduate university students. It contributes to the prevailing body of knowledge on customer online purchasing behaviour through the underlying framework of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). TPB postulates that intentions to implement certain behaviours may be predicted by attitudes towards the behaviour, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms. A quantitative research design using the survey method was followed, employing a questionnaire to gather data from students. Data were analysed through statistical analyses, mainly correlations and regression to guage relationships between the variables. The results showed that family values and SNS commercial use affect online purchasing intentions, subsequently affecting online purchasing behaviour. Furthermore, purchasing intention mediated the relationship between family values and online purchasing habit, while partially mediating that between SNS use for commercial purposes and online purchasing habits. Concluding remarks and implications were addressed accordingly.