Online Shopping Behavior among Generation Z during COVID-19:

1.0 Introduction

In recent years, a new generation has slowly come into the limelight: Generation Z, including
those born from the mid-90s to the late 2000s. This generation of digital natives is growing up
in a digitalized and technologically saturated world. If we do not understand the background of
the growth, we cannot understand Generation Z. Then we can check their characteristics, their
behavior as consumers, and their behavior at work. With the pandemic continuing, the safety
of you and your family must be your top priority. You should always try to limit your outdoor
exposure to reduce the chance of contracting the virus. Since most people buy household items
online, companies are more likely to offer discounts online to attract more customers. Then you
can enjoy discounted merchandise, free shipping, volume discounts, and even occasional online
sales. When shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, you have to spend a lot of time looking for
product reviews and ratings on your phone to understand which brands are better. Through
online shopping, the product itself already displays the ratings of your customers, so you can
quickly see the top-ranked and highly recommended products.

2.0 Literature Review

Values are defined as a person's judgment on important things in life. Values tell people what is
good, useful, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, or appropriate. They answered the
question why do people do this. Values help people solve common human survival problems.
The definition of values was originally provided by Rokeach (1973), who described it as an
enduring belief that a particular behavior pattern or end state is personally or socially
preferable to the opposite or opposite behavior pattern or end-state of existence. Schwartz
(1992) believes that from a more abstract perspective, values are the guiding principles in a
person's life and affect a person's views on many issues. In terms of the theory of social
adaptation (Grant & Walker, 2015), values are a type of social cognition whose function is to
promote adaptation to the environment.

Consumer values refer to subjective beliefs about the ideal way to obtain personal value
through consumer goods. People realize personal values (or goals) through social interaction,
economic exchange, possession and consumption, and other behaviors or activities (Moore et
al., 2013). Sheth et al. (1991) conceptualized a model to help understand how consumers make
decisions in the market. Their model is based on the principle that the choices made by
consumers are based on their perceived value related to what the author calls "market
choices", and the perceived value makes a unique contribution to a particular choice. Because
your model checks which product values are attractive to consumers, it can be viewed as a way
to understand attitudes toward products, making it an active way to understand product
acceptance and adoption. Consumers have different values for products and product groups,
which will affect their purchase motivation. These values include functional value, social value,
emotional value, cognitive value, and conditional value.

All consumer values will affect consumers' buying behavior. People seek to use modern
property to satisfy their needs and desires and regard themselves as modern consumers
because different consumption values have been met. The decision may be influenced by any
or all of the five consumption values. Various disciplines (including branches of economics,
sociology, psychology, marketing, and consumer behavior) have contributed to theories and
research related to these values (Sheth, Newman, Gross, 1991).

Schwartz (1992) defines value as "an ideal transitional goal, with different importance, as the
guiding principle in the life of individuals or other social entities." In other words, values are the
basic orientation or guiding principle, as Organize the basis of personal beliefs and attitudes,
and guide personal behavior (Jagers & Matti, 2010; Schwartz, 2012).

People's concern for the natural environment reflects their values and has an impact on their
behavior (Soyez, 2012). Wang et al., (2013) mentioned that value is considered an important
part of relationship marketing. As mentioned by Plewa and Conduit (2016), the value to
customers is the basic foundation of all marketing activities, among which "marketing means
communication; communication depends on the value of customers, which is also the
fundamental basis of all marketing activities" (Wang et al. al.)

Shopping is a social experience, and social networks allow consumers to interact with it
(Pookulangara & Koesler, 2011). Today's consumers are increasingly using technology as an
effective tool for shopping on online platforms. Functional value has the strongest positive
correlation with customers' intention to use the internet as a retail platform. This is consistent
with the results of Huret al. (2012) and Engström et al. (2015) but contradicts the research of
Mohd Suki and Mohd Suki (2015). It is worth mentioning that the convenience and efficiency
provided by online shopping affect the factors of product consumers. The results of this study
show that social value has no effect on online purchase intentions. Hur et al.'s online purchase
intentions. (2012). Another study by Turrel et al. (2010) pointed out that social value will not
affect the overall value of hedonic digital artifacts. The reason is probably that social values
have created the impression of being accepted by others in society. However, this value does
not encourage Malaysian consumers to buy online, it is a fact. Perhaps this is because when
shopping online in Malay culture, acceptance of the product/service used by the society is not
important. When consumers buy products/services online, the perception of others is not an
important issue for Malaysian consumers. Online purchases are primarily the result of the
consumer's own intrinsic value, rather than external factors.

A survey by Project Tomorrow (tomorrow.org) found that Generation Z is digitally literate,

connected, experiential, social, and demanding of instant gratification. A 2017 Pew Research
Center report showed that 92% of American teens go online daily and 91% of them are
connected to the Internet through mobile devices. By age 20, these young adults will have
spent around 20,000 hours online exploring their place and identity in the world. Many
adolescents consider smartphones as integral parts of their lives and can hardly imagine living
without them (Roberts, Yala, & Manolis, 2014). Hence it is hypothesized that functional value
positively influences online shopping behavior among generation Z during COVID-19.

Friendships are important in Generation Z’s lives. Adolescence is marked by transformational

intrapersonal changes in identity and an increased need to belong to a peer group (Baumeister
& Leary, 1995). If digital immigrants (Generation Y) still prefer to make friends in person,
Generation Z (digital natives) is open to friendship with people from around the world, thanks
to their constant access to online social networks. Members of Generation Z flocked to social
networks such as Facebook and Twitter to continue their social interactions with people who
are already a part of their extended social network (Ellison, 2007). Hence it is hypothesized that
social value positively influences online shopping behavior among generation Z during COVID-
19.

Their greatest sources of anxiety, experienced by around half of Generation Z throughout the
world, were the age-old concerns of money and school. Despite the media’s focus on the issue,
the pressures of social media were only seen by 10% of young people as one of their main
sources of anxiety. There is some variation in the level of happiness depending on the culture.
The highest happiness levels tend to be in developing countries such as Indonesia (90%),
Nigeria (78%), and India (72%), and the lowest happiness levels are in advanced economies
such as France (57%), Australia (56%), and the United Kingdom (57%) (Broadbent et al., 2017).
Hence it is hypothesized that emotional value positively influences online shopping behavior
among generation Z COVID-19.

Members of Generation Z seek to make, collaborate, and co-create, as they want to control and
preference settings (Saettler, 2014). They apply their innate talent with new technologies and
social media to launch new businesses and participate in the creation of new products that
appeal to their peers and others. Online social networks function not only as socializing
channels but also as means to participate in co-creation processes. Generation Z wants to
collaborate, interact, create, and share their ideas on social media platforms. Hence it is
hypothesized that optimistic value positively influences online shopping behavior among
generation Z COVID-19.

Growing up in the midst of a recession makes Generation Z less likely to believe in the
availability and security of good jobs. Instead, they are more focused on creating opportunities
for themselves. They exhibit strongly innovative, entrepreneurial, and independent spirits, and
40% of Generation Z claim that they plan to invent something that will change the world
(Seemiller, 2016). Hence it is hypothesized that conditional value positively influences online
shopping behavior among generation Z COVID-19.
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