Usage habit in collective buying websites

a study in the ABC Paulista microregion

Abstract

This study aims to investigate factors influencing habit in the context of consumption via collective buying websites. Based on Technology Readiness Index [TRI] instrument (PARASURAMAN, 2000), previously validated for studies in Brazil (SOUZA; LUCE, 2005), its contributors for technology adoption, ‘Innovativeness’ and ‘Optimism’, were used in this study theoretical model in order to ascertain whether they affect ‘Habit’, a construct that, in the context of technology acceptance and usage, affects both behavioral intention and use behavior (VENKATESH; THONG; XU, 2012; NISHI, 2017). To achieve the proposed goals, a quantitative approach was used, with 65 questionnaires answered by Brazilian individuals aged over 18 and that lives on ABC Paulista [a microregion near São Paulo whose combined population is over 1.7 million inhabitants]. Of these questionnaires, 23 declared never having used collective buying sites and had their results discarded, reducing the sample to 43 valid respondents. Due to the lack of internal significance, ‘Innovativeness’ construct was removed from the final theoretical model, but it was possible to confirm one of the research hypothesis by identifying a moderate [0.445] and significant [0.003] correlation from ‘Optimism’ to ‘Habit’, accounting for 17.9% of the phenomenon variance, which is the main theoretical contribution of the study. The reduced sample hindered the analysis process and may have influenced towards excluding the ‘Innovativeness’ construct. Further studies can deepen the findings of this article by incorporating elements of other models related to technology acceptance and usage to better understand how habit works, its predictors and inhibitors in consumer relations.

Keywords: Collective buying. Habit. Consumer behavior.