Date of Graduation

5-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Human Environmental Science (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

General Human Environmental Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Cho, Eunjoo

Committee Member

Smith, Kathleen R.

Second Committee Member

Moon, Zola K.

Keywords

Communication and the arts; Apparel shopping; Fashion products; Millenials; Social commerce

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine factors affecting millennials’ attitudes and intentions to purchase fashion products through Social commerce. The current study adopted the technology acceptance model (TAM; Davis, 1989) to develop a theoretical framework. A total of 531 college students completed an online survey at a university. The sample was appropriate because millennials are a highly educated generation (Goodman, 2015) and most college students are Social media users (eMarketer, 2015). The sample was predominantly female Caucasian American students (71%) who are daily visiting Social media networking sites over four times.

Results of exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation confirmed one factor for each variable. Reliability was supported for all variables based on Cronbach’s α values (>.83). Sufficient correlation coefficient range (.60-.79) confirmed discriminant validity of all constructs. Results of confirmatory factor analysis confirmed convergent validity of all constructs based on significant confirmatory factor loadings (>.85) and the average variance extracted of each construct (>.50). Both measurement and structural models were found to fit to the data well. The proposed paths in the SEM model were positive and statistically significant (p ≤ .001), except for the path between perceived ease of use and attitudes. Further structural model analysis uncovered that usefulness impacted on enjoyment.

The results confirmed that perceived ease of use, usefulness, and enjoyment of Social commerce had a positive impact on millennials’ attitudes and intentions to use Social commerce in apparel shopping. These findings imply that utilitarian and hedonic benefits are important to augment young consumers’ attitudes and intentions to purchase apparel on Social media. While both perceived ease of use and usefulness positively influenced enjoyment, usefulness had a stronger impact than ease of use. Compared to usefulness, enjoyment had much stronger impact on attitudes. These findings suggest that utilitarian benefits from an efficient, time-saving experience may engender positive feelings (e.g., enjoyable, fun, and exciting), which are crucial to increase millennial shoppers’ apparel purchasing on Social media.

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