Factors influencing elderly consumers' behavioural intention to use mobile grocery shopping services

Abstract

While mobile device utilisation is at an all-time high, its use for mobile shopping is essentially low. Therefore, mobile shopping services provide optimistic predictions for the future of retail. Given the widespread adoption of technology and the high rates of population ageing, the study of technology acceptance by elderly consumers has emerged as an important area of research. Although older adults are a growing market segment for all Internet-based services, few studies have examined elderly shoppers as mobile consumers to date. Hence, little is known about the factors influencing elderly shoppers’ intention to adopt mobile grocery shopping services. This study examines the factors influencing elderly shoppers’ behavioural intention to use mobile shopping services.

The conceptual model used in the study is based on the UTAUT2 and risk perceptions. The factors in predicting technology acceptance behaviour in UTAUT2 are performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value, and habit. Facilitation conditions were excluded from the conceptual model as access to a smartphone was a screening question. Furthermore, the proposed moderators in the UTAUT2 were excluded as the respondents were non-users of mobile shopping services, and the range of the age variable and adequate gender representation in the sample could not be anticipated at the beginning of the study due to the defined population of the study.

The field study followed an ontological assumption, a positivism approach, and a cross-sectional time horizon. The theory development followed a deductive theory approach. A quantitative research method was followed using a simple random sampling technique to collect data from 247 elderly consumers residing in retirement homes in South Africa. The managers of the identified retirement homes disseminate the self-completion questionnaires to the residents. The self-completion questionnaire consisted of four sections. The first two sections contained screening and background questions. In the third section, statements were presented to test each of the hypotheses using a seven-point Likert scale. The last section contained a lucky draw for respondents who volunteered to enter. Data analysis was done to test the hypotheses using the statistical software package SmartPLS version.

The results of the hypothesis testing showed that hedonic motivation, price value, subjective norm, and effort expectancy perceptions enhance elderly customers' behavioural intention to use mobile grocery shopping services. On the other hand, risk perceptions reduce elderly shoppers’ intention to use mobile shopping services to purchase groceries. The perception of performance expectancy and the habit of doing mobile shopping did not influence the intention of elderly shoppers to use mobile grocery shopping services.

This study’s findings will be useful to managers, organisations, and manufacturers in the mobile shopping app environment. Furthermore, the study identified five recommendations that could be used to encourage older shoppers to use mobile grocery shopping services. Lastly, this study discussed several limitations that should be considered in future research.