ONLINE SHOPPING ENGAGEMENT OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN

SELECTED PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN BACOLOD CITY

Trinity Christian School

Presented to:

Teacher Lynn Tanjusay

Proponents:

Lia Katherine Y. Arceo

Hussanjit K. Gill

Gwyn Maricon B. Lopez

Rofe Blaise Uy

Karylle T. Young

October 2019
Background of the Study

It is an indisputable fact that most people nowadays, whether young or old, are engaged in

the internet. It is a common activity for both adults and children to spend time, and even money,

in the various online activities one can access and do. One such activity that has been an

ongoing trend for the past years is online shopping. Online shopping has been around for years

and in effect, has been intricately integrated in the modern society. It has been widely accepted

by people, most especially by teenagers or young adults, influenced mainly by the popularity of

social media. There has been a steady rise in consumers and businesses who engage in

e-commerce and online shopping mainly because of the convenience of doing so when

compared to conventional shopping. According to Jain (2018), shopping online provides more

convenience to people for many reasons, such as the lack of long waiting lines to check out

items, the ability to track a purchase, the variety in the choices provided, and even better deals

and prices. With the increase of e-commerce opportunities, mobile technologists created mobile

shopping applications that promote easy transactions, door to door deliveries, cash backs and

convenience. Mobile shopping applications are not the only ones that promote online buying but

as well as the presence of social media applications. These applications serve as additional

platforms for online businesses to sell their items. Altogether, as the technological industry

develops and different shopping platforms emerge, it gives all people a wide variety of online

shopping platforms to choose from that leads them to varying buying behaviors regarding online

purchase intention.

A previous study in China focused on the adoption by Chinese consumers and students of

online shopping attitudes and gender differences in the influence of online communication on

e-commerce purchase decision strategies (Dube, Aseido and Phiri, 2018). It is concluded in this
study that online shopping is influenced by different behaviors such as social, cultural,

psychological and personal factors. Based on the study, consumer demands are also based on

trust which most of the sellers earn from students who have bought from experience.

Southeast Asia is one of the leading digital economy to hit an inflection point (Lacy, 2018).

In Malaysia, 99% of the students are involved in online purchasing and most computer,

electronic and mobile products are purchased online. According to the study, internet usage and

online shopping are the most common in schools and universities, age 18-30 years old. “Even

though the students don’t have sufficient funds, but are top listed in using internet and has a

great intention towards online shopping” (Farah, Ahmad, Muqurrab, Turi, Bashir 2018). Based

on the study, factors affecting consumer behavior is driven by demographic variable, computer,

internet knowledge and psychological variable.

In the Philippines, online shopping is rapidly becoming a booming industry. According to

Manglinong (2018), “there are at least 37.7 million e-commerce users in the country in 2018

from the 30.2 million estimated in 2016. The number is expected to rise to 53.8 million by

2022.” Torres (2015), also mentioned in his article for PhilStar Global that “nearly nine out of

ten Filipino consumers do their shopping online, based on a study commissioned by Visa

International. The Visa eCommerce Consumer Monitor 2014 also reveals that the top reasons

for online shopping are convenience (58 percent), price (47 percent), and deals (46 percent).” As

previously mentioned, millenials spend most of their time living a life online which means they

are no stranger to the concept of online shopping or e-commerce. Abadilla (2018) stated that

“more millennials shopped online and used cashless payments for their holiday purchases in the

last two months of 2017 due to sale events and promos of digital retailers, according to Voyager

Innovations data. The number of unique PayMaya account holders–most of them millennials –
who transacted online jumped almost threefold in November to December 2017 from the same

period in 2016.” With this rapid increase in millenials who tend to engage in this online activity,

it is important to determine the factors behind this engagement and its implications on important

social institutions like family and education.

An article written by Carter (2018), stated that “a CreditCards.com poll of more than 1,000

U.S. adults aged 18 or older finds that almost half, or 44 percent, made an impulse buy on the

Internet in the past three months. For younger people, the numbers go up even more: 21 percent

of 28-to-37-year-olds say they made a spontaneous online buy in the previous week.” These

alarming rates of impulsive buying decisions over the internet by young people or millenials are

cause for investigation and study since this could lead to unhealthy habits and even

psychological disorders if left unchecked such as spending excessive amounts of money on

items that are unnecessary, or compulsive hoarding.

This study aims to determine the factors involved in influencing student engagement with

online shopping and the ways to effectively control this engagement for the benefit of the

student by suggesting ways to improve his or her financial management and decision-making

skills in relation to online shopping. At the same time, once online businesses identify these

factors, they will be able to utilize this knowledge for their own gain and continue to contribute

in the e-commerce industry in the country. Additionally, the study also aims to further improve,

support, and strengthen previous research studies related to this topic and address gaps that

weren’t previously covered by other researchers. Although these factors were researched before,

they were not able to cover all contexts related to this topic. Thus, this study aims to explore the

online shopping behaviors of senior high school students in the country in the Philippine’s

online shopping context.

This study aims to measure the engagement of senior high school students in selected

private schools in Bacolod City to online shopping.

Specifically, this study will answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents based on the following variables?

a. Sex

b. Grade Level

c. School of Origin

2. What is the level of engagement of senior high school students to online shopping when

measured according to the following areas?

a. Use of Online Shopping Platforms

b. Utilization of Personal Finances Online

c. Online Shopping Habits

3. What is the level of engagement of senior high school students to online shopping when

measured according to the aforementioned areas and grouped according to the

aforementioned variables?

4. Is there a significant difference in the level of student engagement in online shopping

when the participants are grouped according to the variables mentioned above?

a. Sex
 b. Grade Level

c. School of Origin

Significance of the Study

This study will be conducted to determine how engaged are Senior High School students

currently with the online shopping trends and how well are they managing this engagement.

Benefiting the study are the various sectors as follows:

The Parents

The results of this study will directly affect the parents or guardians of students since they

are the ones that provides funds and allowances of students. The parents will have knowledge

about why their child/ren are prone to spending money online.

The Students

This study will promote better awareness of marketing strategies and development of

financial management skills of students which is essential in attaining financial goals.

Online Business Institutions or Entities

The research would be of great help to online business institutions as it will serve as a guide

on how they could improve their marketing strategies. This study will also direct financial

institutions on how they could reach the Senior High School students of selected private schools

in Bacolod City to market their products.

Introduction

This section of the paper presents and discusses the theories and the concepts supporting the

study. This section also provides relevant information regarding the participants who were

involved and the processes to determine these participants. Here, the researchers justify the

appropriateness of the research methods employed in the study as well as the research design,

the research instrument used, and how the data was collected and analyzed. Finally, outlined in

this section of the paper are the expected outcomes of the research and how these findings will

contribute to its related field or academe.

Review of Related Literature

a. Theoretical Framework

The emergence of online shopping and e-commerce paved the way for an evolution of

consumer behavior. In-store shopping or the traditional method of shopping and online shopping

have minor differences in terms of consumer decision-making processes. What does differ

though are the shopping environment in which the consumer is exposed to and marketing

communication involved (Wang, 2011). Some of the factors or motivators mentioned by

previous studies were convenience, cost and time efficiency, and the variety of products and

services. Factors that impede consumers from shopping online were also mentioned such as

security, intangibility of the online product, lack of social contact, and dissatisfaction with

online shopping experience (Wang, 2011).

The increasing amount of spending in today’s society has created a new lifestyle that has

been integrated and accepted among consumers. Owning items has become an expression of

self-identity for a lot of consumers which has helped the perception of increased shopping as a

lifestyle (Dittamar, Beattie & Friese, 1996). Online shopping has been a part of the lives of

students especially in urban areas wherein strong internet and technological improvements are

rampant (Chiang, Dholakia, Whestin 2017). Over the years, the internet has become an integral

part in the daily lives of people both in the workplace and at home. The rapid growth in

information technology has evidently influenced the landscape of consumer behaviour in the

Philippines despite infrastructure constraints (Legaspi, Galgana & Hormachuelos, 2016). As

online shopping thrives, e-commerce follows suit in order to reach a wider scale of customers

(Chiang, Dholakia, Whestin 2017). This further induces an increased level of online shopping

engagement among consumers as more variety of goods become available in the market.

Use of Online Shopping Applications

According to Frisby (2018), We’re now living in an age where the Baby Boomer (born

1946-1965) is waking up to the convenience of shopping online and the Millenial has grown up

with it. This means ecommerce spending is only set to keep growing in years to come.

According to Saleh (2019), nearly one in four online shoppers purchase online at least once a

week. 30% of the male and 18% of the female population of online shoppers shop at least once

per week. 35% of the people at the age of 18-29 shop at least once per week. According to

Fromberg (2019), youngsters nowadays spend approximately 35 hours a week online. Also,

fewer people are visiting websites and are prone to spending more time browsing on social
media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, allowing these platforms to develop

at a much higher speed than regular websites, making websites less attractive to go to.

Utilization of Personal Finances Online

“The scarcity principle is an economic theory that examines the relationship between supply

and demand. When applied to the field of psychology, the scarcity principle basically states that

the less available something is, the more desired it becomes.” (Bond, 2019). Online shops use

this trick often, usually by portraying some items as a “limited-time offer” deal or stating that

there are “only two left at this price”. This creates a sense of urgency for the consumers to buy a

product because he/she will be afraid that he/she will miss out (Bond, 2019). Aside from this,

the emergence and the undeniable popularity of social media platforms among the youth impacts

spending habits majorly. According to Blake (2018), “digital platforms influence the spending

of 88 per cent of students. Almost half (43 per cent) of students surveyed noted that the seamless,

in-platform shopping experience of Instagram and Facebook are a major trigger for how much

they spend through social media, with over a third (39 per cent) citing FOMO [fear of missing

out] and peer pressure as driving factors.” Since social media is infamous for promoting what

people call the “picture-perfect” lifestyle, it comes as no surprise that the youth are more prone

to spend money online to keep up with trends, thus verifying that spending is correlated with

increasing engagement with online shopping.

Online Shopping Habits

According to Armstrong and Kotler (2000), a person's buying choices are further

influenced by four major psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning and beliefs and

attitude. This is central to a buyer's purchase behavior process. According to Wells and Prensky
(1996), these are the tools people use to recognize their feelings, gather and analyze information,

formulate thoughts and opinions and take action. This means that, through motivation,

perception and learning, attitudes are formed and consumers make decisions. Thus, attitudes

directly influence decision making. These attitudes are evident in people that are shopping

online. Their buying patterns are circulating around the idea of the purchase behavior process.

Additionally consumer intention influences the level of engagement consumers have to

online shopping. According to Li and Zhang (2002), consumers’ intention to shop online refers

to their willingness to make purchases in an Internet store. Commonly, this factor is measured

by consumers’ willingness to buy and to return for additional purchases. The latter also

contributes to customer loyalty. This means that, when this intention of customers to shop online

becomes a reoccurring situation, it will turn into a habit, thus increasing the consumers’

engagement in using online shopping platforms in buying their necessities and wants. In

addition, this habit will also affect their attitude towards shopping online since they will be more

willing to search right away what they want to buy online.

b. Conceptual Framework

The independent variables identified by the researchers in the study are the respondents’ use

of various online shopping platforms, their utilization of personal finances in shopping online,

and their personal online shopping habits. Firstly, students or consumers think that shopping

online can save time. According to Gamer (2017), the customers can simply log into the website

from their gadgets to start shopping and can even shop from multiple stores online. Second, it

doesn’t have transportation expenses for the buyer and customers can simply order what they

want from their homes. Searching for products online also costs lower than the actual

environment in the traditional market. Next, products are mostly cheaper and sales are usually
given to the customers to entice them to buy more products. Consumers can save a great amount

of money, considering the discounts and sales. These factors influence their use of online

shopping platforms because these conveniences are what motivates consumers to shop more

online, thus it greatly affects online shopping engagement.

When customers have a positive experience during online shopping, they are prone to buy

more online over time. On the other hand, when consumers encounter negative experiences

when shopping online, they are most likely not to purchase again from an online shop or refrain

from engaging in online shopping altogether. This influences how much consumers actually

spend online and how willing are they to make repeat purchases. Additionally, when purchasing

online, consumers are prone to changing their usual behaviour. The behavioural change is

difficult and often requires incentives such as explicit monetary savings or increased

convenience (Chiang et al., 2017).

Overall, the independent variables are correlated to the dependent variable, which is

online shopping engagement because the independent variables directly affect how often

consumers browse or shop online and how much they spend online.

Research Design

A research design is defined as “a framework of methods and techniques chosen by a

researcher to combine various components of research in a reasonably logical manner so that the

research problem is efficiently handled.” (Bhat, n.d.). To achieve the purposes of the study, the

researchers used research designs that are quantitative in nature. It was decided by the

researchers to use two (2) types of research design: the descriptive design and the comparative

design. A descriptive approach in research involves the observation of a subject and describing
its behavior in its natural setting (Shuttleworth, n.d.). The comparative research design on the

other hand, “compares two groups in an attempt to draw a conclusion about them” (Richardson,

2018). In this case, the researchers are aiming to determine the difference in the level of student

engagement in online shopping when grouped into different variables.

Setting of the Study

The study will be conducted on different school campuses in Bacolod City. Specifically,

the setting of the study will take place in the classrooms of the following educational institutions:

St. Scholatica’s Academy, De La Salle University, and Colegio San Agustin. The surveys will

be conducted inside classrooms on a schedule set by the researchers and approved by the

administration of the different schools.

Participants

The participants of the study will be comprised of senior high school students in different

schools in Bacolod City. The researchers will select ten (10) students from a specific strand from

the schools from each grade level. The academic tracks STEM, ABM, and HUMMS were

chosen for this study. In total, the study will have one hundred eighty (180) respondents which

will all be selected through a random sampling process.

Sampling Techniques

The researchers applied the probability or random sampling method. This sampling

technique uses randomization to make sure that every element of the population gets an equal

chance to be part of the selected sample (Singh, 2018). Simple random sampling is the

technique used to give every sample equal chances and avoid biases to achieve the study’s

objectives.
Research Instrument

The data required for this study were gathered using a questionnaire. The questions were

formulated by the researchers to achieve the objectives they aim to achieve. A research adviser

from inside the school campus validated the research instrument and a reliability test was

applied to ensure the consistency of the questions. The type of reliability testing the researchers

applied was the Cronbach’s Alpha, which measures internal consistency.

Before answering the survey, the respondents are tasked to fill up their demographic

profile which asks the sex, grade level, and current school of the respondents. To respect the

respondent’s privacy, the researchers do not require the names of the participants to be included

in their demographic profile.

The survey instrument has three different sections according to the objectives of the

researchers. The sections are classified as the following accordingly: Use of Online Shopping

Platforms, Utilization of Personal Finances Online, and Online Shopping Habits.

To answer the questions, the five-point Likert Scale will be used. The Likert scale is a

rating system used in questionnaires that are designed to measure people's attitudes, opinions, or

perceptions (Jaimeson, 2017). This method ensures that the researchers will find answers to their

specific objectives efficiently and accurately.

Rating Interpretation

5 Strongly Agree

4 Agree

3 Neutral

2 Disagree

1 Strongly Disagree

Section A pertains to the respondents’ use of online shopping platforms. It determines how often

senior high school students open and use online shopping platforms.

Section B is about the students’ utilization of personal finances online. The questions under this

section will identify how the students make purchases online and it provides a self-evaluation of

how much of their personal allowances are spent on shopping online.

Section C, lastly, is the online shopping habits exhibited by the students, which discerns the

habits of students when shopping online and how these habits are related to their level of

engagement.

Data Analysis

The researchers analyzed the data using a statistical tool called SPSS. This study mainly

uses two research designs namely, descriptive and comparative. The descriptive-analysis is a
measure that summarizes figures in a data set, while the comparative-analysis is a measure the

significant difference of different variables.

The descriptive-analytical scheme applied for objectives 1 and objective 2.

Objective 1 determined the respondents’ profiles when grouped according to the

following variables:

a. Sex

b. Grade Level

c. School of Origin

Objective 2 determined the level of engagement of the senior high school students by

using three areas as criteria or measures:

a. Use of Online Shopping Platforms

b. Utilization of Personal Finances Online\

c. Online Shopping Habits

Objective 3 determined the students’ online shopping engagement when grouped

according to the aforementioned variables.

a. Sex

b. Grade Level

c. School of Origin

The treatment of the remaining objective were comparative analysis.

shopping engagement of the senior high school students.

Procedures

The first step in creating the study was formulating the main topic or the central focus of

the study. After the researchers conceptualized the topic, they proceeded to create the title of the

study and formulated the objectives and as well as the problems the study will address. These

were all validated by their research adviser who guided the researchers throughout the whole

conceptualization process. Once the research topic, its objectives, and its problems to address

were validated, the researchers also gave time to consider the participants who will be involved

in the study. They decided to use a simple random sampling to acquire their sample population.

Once this was done and approved, the research process started wherein the researchers reviewed

related literature concerning their chosen topic and created the background of the study. It is in

this time that the researchers continued to support and justify the study and determined the gap

in the existing literature that their study aims to address. The researchers also mentioned the

relevant theories and concepts involved in their study. The researchers also formulated the items

in the research instrument by this time. They sought approval from the research adviser to

further refine their questionnaire. After this step, the researchers conducted the surveys in the

different schools they chose and gathered the data of their study. The researchers then subjected

the data to different methods and tests to acquire the results of the study, which were then

interpreted and organized into tables. Once this was done, the researchers formed the conclusion

of the study, addressed the problem they presented previously, and formulated implications the

study had. They also created recommendations to help future researchers further refine the

study.
Ethical Considerations

The researchers provided a letter of approval and informed consent to the school

administrators of the institution they wished to conduct the survey in. All respondents in the

study have the right to withdraw or choose not to participate in the study if they personally feel

uncomfortable during any part of the survey. Any deception or exaggeration about the aims

and objectives of the research will be avoided; it will be provided on the consent letter given and

will be clearly stated before the interview begins. The researchers also ensured that the data

gathered from the respondents are treated with confidentiality and respect. The researchers will

also treat the institutions they will be visiting for surveys with respect and will ensure that they

will comply with the rules and regulations of the said institutions. In no way is the study meant

to exploit, insult, nor bring harm in any form to any persons or individuals and is purely for the

practice of research and educational instruction.

Expected Outcomes

As mentioned previously, this study aims to measure the level of engagement of senior

high school students in Bacolod City with regards to online shopping. The researchers expect to

acquire information and quantifiable data regarding the topic and convert these data into

actionable outputs to further contribute to the relationship of consumers and businesses in an

online context. This study aims to help not only the students to be aware of their engagement to

online shopping and decisions related to this engagement, but also online businesses as well who

wish to improve their performance.

Armstrong, G. and Kotler. P. (2000), Marketing, 5th ed., Prentice-Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

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Missing: Jain

Dube

Lacy

Farrah

Manglinong

Ttorres

Abadilla

Carter

Bond

Blake

Garner