2008 International Conference on Information Management, Innovation Management and Industrial Engineering
Research on consumer behavior influenced by ICT using
structural equation model
Zhang, Yang Zhi, Luping
Shanghai maritime university
yangzhang@sem.shmtu.edu.cn lpzhi@sem.shmtu.edu.cn
Abstract
The development and progress of ICT In recent 2
decades has brought great changes to the whole world.
Nowadays, ICT is being applied abroad, typically
applied on Internet. As for consumer’s behavior, e-
shopping is common. This research does an analysis in
the factors on traditional shopping (in-store shopping)
and e-shopping by SEM Models. Also, this research
analyses the causes of e-shopping behavior. This
research takes the case of Shanghai to conduct an
analysis of the impacts ICT has on consumers’
activities. After set up a Full Model of SEM, data are
input to Lisrel to justify the results of Model.The
conclusion is that ICT has an obvious influence to the
consumers’ shopping ways. The paper is a sum-up of
empirical research, including the choice of variables,
questionnaire, data processing and analysis of the
conclusion and so on. The research conduces to better
understand e-shopping and provide basis for making
related policies.
1. Introduction
The development and progress of ICT In recent 2
decades has brought great changes to the whole world.
Production and life style are being influenced and
changed by ICT so that huge changes happen in the
growth of world economy. Meanwhile, different
industry has to ponder and react to the influences ICT
does on the industry.
For example, people can acquire the information
about daily activities and travel decision vial Internet
so that they can make effective decisions or optimize
their daily activities.
The application of ICT influences consumers’
shopping behavior. This influence is part of the wide
social and economic influence ICT brings. For
example, on-line shopping changes the way people live.
People can buy all kinds of goods at home. Of course,
this is obvious. In the long run, the application of ICT
may change the residence, trip plan and time, even
more, it will come out new type of travel demand and
change the travel time and space distributions.
978-0-7695-3435-0/08 $25.00 © 2008 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICIII.2008.69
This research takes the case of Shanghai to conduct
an analysis of the impacts ICT has on consumers’
activities. Here, the application of ICT mainly refers to
the on-line shopping. The reasons of taking Shanghai
as the research target are as follows:
On one hand, Shanghai is a metropolis with a
population of 20 million. It has a complicate structure
of ways of consumers’ shopping.
On the other hand, Shanghai takes a leading position
in the development of economy in China. ICT applies
wider here in many fields than in other cities of China.
Based on the above factors and comparatively
speaking, ICT has an obvious influence to the
consumers’ shopping ways.
SEM is a effective tool for multi-factors analysis.
Among different software of SEM, Lisrel is more
popular. Full Model of SEM adapts to the analysis of
cause and effect in this research.
After set up a Full Model of SEM, data are input to
Lisrel to justify the results of Model.
The paper is a sum-up of empirical research,
including the choice of variables, questionnaire, data
processing and analysis of the conclusion and so on.
2. Variables chosen
First, the variable needs to be decided after the
frame and methods of the research is established.
Because the factors of consumers’ activities are
extremely intricate, variables need to be filtered. The
principles of the choice of variables include practical
factors, for example, the convenience of data acquiring,
quantization and degree-of-difficulty besides the
importance of variables.
According to the research models, the following 9
variables are the major factors involved in this research.
Totally, 9 variables correspond to 23 indexes. Likert
scale is the method of rating of most indexes in this
research. The rating of the indexes depends on actual
conditions.
Table 1: The variables and indexes
variable index degree
Using credit card when shopping (D1) 4
Shopping
attitude The chance of shopping when doing other 4
（D）
things (D2)
The attitude of in-store shopping (D3) 4
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 In-store Frequency of shopping trips (F1)
shopping
behavior（F）
Duration of shopping trip (F2)
Online Frequency of online shopping (G1)
shopping
Online shopping spending (G2)
behavior (G)
The interaction between online shopping
and in-store shopping (H1)
Frequency of online searching of product
Online
searching
information (H2)
The beneficial level for shopping from
behavior (H)
the information from Internet (H3)
Search frequency of online products
information (H4)
Frequency of Internet use at work (K1)
The character
Frequency of Internet use at home (K2)
of internet (K)
Years of Internet experience (K3)
The character Attitude towards new things (A1)
of consumer
Time pressure (A2)
(A)
The character Mode of commuting (B1)
of commute to
One way commute time (B2)
work (B)
Land use urbanization level (E1)
features (E) Shop accessibility (E2)
Personal Education (C1)
information Monthly income (C2)
(C) Monthly spending (C3)
Note：1 The symbols in the brackets are codes which will
be used in the following context.
2 The degree is chosen by the character of every index.
Further information can be found in References 6.
3. Research design and methodology
After the index rating system is established, the
sample capacity needs to be confirmed with three
major factors.
1. major difference which can be affirmed
2. expected accuracy
3. Confidence level of estimated value
The sample capacity and the minimum sample size
here is confirmed by Confidence interval method.
Where n——sample capacity；
z——standard error of confidence interal selected；
P——difference of population；
q——100-p；
e——acceptable error。
Results show that the minimum sample size here is
166. So 300 questionnaire are prepared to be send.
In principle, sample survey should embody the
principle of random, but it is hard to conduct genuine
sample survey. In view of the time and cost,
convenience sample and snowball sample will be used
in the research. Members of a group distribute
questionnaires to appropriate respondents and require
some of the respondents who might have more
resources pass on the questionnaires to extend the
scope of survey. In order to ensure the validity of the
data, respondents are limited strictly so as to get
feedbacks when outlier data appear.
4 The survey targets are the citizen above 18 years old.
4
In consideration of low effectiveness, high cost and
8 inferior data of on -spot survey, the survey is
5 conducted on line.
First, design and test the questionnaire,then set
3
down the contents after modification,
4 Next, send questionnaires to respondents. To ensure
the standardization of the survey as well as to simplify
4
the process of data, the questionnaires are coded so
8 that each code is unique and can be traced back.
Questionnaire is filled in the way of self-report. The
7 survey starts from March 2008 to April 2008.
7
4 according to the objective and actual demands of the
4 research, the questionnaire has three parts: basic
4 information；survey about on-line shopping；futher
7 questions.
4 The three parts of questions are mulitiple-choice.
Some of the questions adopt Likert scale to show the
2
4
consent of respondents’ attitude toward the questions.
5 As one of the methods of the data source and
5 research, the ultimate questionnaire is obtained
5 according to the following steps:
（1）Literature consolidation, to set up index system
of hidden factors affecting-shoppers
（2）Pre-survey, further modify the index system and
improve the way of questioning
（ 3 ） Official survey, to obtain sufficient data 317
questionnaires are distributed, 254 of which is taken
back, recovery rate is 80.2%
Valid sample questionnaire should meet the following
requirements.
（1）whole data
（2）the answers should be logical back and forth
（3）No conflicts among the answers
243 Valid questionnaires which meet the above
requirements,11 invalid questionnaires.Validity is
95.7%.
4. SEM Model results
According to related research achievements and
experts experience and times of analysis to the Lisrel
software, the model with 9 variables are set up.
Meanwhile, for the convenience of research, the model
is cut into four units.
Unit 1 Unit 3
C
F
B D H
K
G
A E
Unit 2 Unit 4
262
Note ： 1. Bigger circles indicates Core indicaters and Gij∈(0~0.2), variables are treated unrelated; when Gij
Little ones indicates normal indicaters; ∈(0.2~0.3), variables are slightly related; when Gij∈
2. See Table 1 for the meaning of the symbol characters .
(0.3~0.6), variables are more related; when Gij ∈
Figure 1 Full model
(0.6~1), variables are strongly related. If Gij<0, it
F (in-store shopping) and G(e-shopping) are the core
indicates that the model is unreasonable and it should
research targets and the important variables. Based on
be adjusted.
the model principles, arrows are used to show the
correlations. If Lij>0，it indicates that index can explain variable
Figure2~5 show the details of the four units of the in some degree. The bigger Lij value the better
full model . explanation. If Lij <0, it means that the model is
LA1(0.20) A1 TA1(0.96
unreasonable and it should be adjusted.
GDA(0.53)
A
LA2(0.39) A2 TA2(0.84 If 0<Tij<1 ， it indicates that error is in the
LD1(0.40)
GAB(0.13) acceptable domain. The smaller value the less
TD1(0.84) D1
LD2(0.37)
GAC(0.08) LB1(0.63) B1 TB1(0.61
unexplained parts in the model. If Tij <0, it means that
TD2(0.86) D2 D B

TD3(0.88) LD3(0.34)
GDB(0.37) LB2(0.46)
B2 TB2(0.79
the model is unreasonable and it should be adjusted.
D3
GBC(0.57)
LC1(0.16) C1 TC1(0.98 The relationships displayed by all variables, indexes
GDC(0.50)
C
LC2(0.81)
C2 TC2(0.19
in figure 2~5 are checked by the software Lisrel for
LC3(0.90)
C3 TC3(0.34
many times. All Gij>0. The minimum is GAC=0.08,
which indicates that the character of consumer and
Figure 2 The standard relations and values of
personal information are not related; the maximum is
parameter estimation in unit1
GDE=0.8, which means that the shopping attitude and
land use features are related in high degree. All Lij>0
TF1(0.83) F1 LF1(0.42) GFD(0.72)
LD1(0.42) D1 TD1(0.82)
indicates that index can explain variable in some
TF2(0.93) F2
F D
LD2(0.39)
D2 TD2(0.85) degree. All 0<Tij<1 means that error is in the
LF2(0.26) GGD (0.52)
LD3(0.30) D3 TD3(0.91) acceptable degree.
GGF (0.43) GDE (0.80) Some fitting indicators obtained from Lisrel can be
TG1 (0.52) G1
LG1(0.70) GFE (0.45) LE1(0.37) E1 TE1(0.86) used to check the reasonability of the model. The
TG2(0.56)
G
GEG(0.28)
E
E2 TE2(0.62)
results are shown in table 2.
G2
LG2(0.66) LE2(0.62)
Table 2 the fitting indicators of the four units
Figure 3 The standard relations and values of model
parameter estimation in unit2 Unit Index NCI(χ2/df) RMSEA RMR NNFI CFI IFI
unit1 fitting indicator 0.77 0.032 0.033 0.99 0.98 0.98
acceptable domain <3 < 0.05 <0.1 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9
TF1(0.44) F1 LF1(0.75) unit 2 fitting indicator 0.97 0.048 0.037 0.96 0.97 0.96
F acceptable domain <3 < 0.05 <0.1 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9
TF2(0.98) F2 L (0.15) H TH1(0.82)
unit 3 fitting indicator 1.37 0.039 0.035 0.97 0.98 0.98
F2
GFH(0.14) LH1 (0.42)
TH2(0.22) acceptable domain <3 < 0.05 <0.1 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9
LH2 (0.88) H
GGF(0.29) H unit 4 fitting indicator 1.28 0.031 0.036 0.98 0.98 0.99
LH3 (0.64)
H TH3(0.59) acceptable domain <3 < 0.05 <0.1 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9
GGH(0.59)
TG1(0.57) G1 LG1(0.65) LH4 (0.60) H TH4(0.64)
TG2(0.50) G2 L (0.70)
G From the table, we can see that all units model are
G2
in the acceptable domain, which means that the model
Figure 4 The standard relations and values of complexity can be accepted, the model has less setting
parameter estimation in unit3 possibility, the residual between the variance and
covariance of data and estimate is little, the model has
TH1(0.83 H LH1(0.41 good fitting value. So the theory model can explain the
LK1(0.58) K TK1(0.66)
TH2(0.14 H LH2(0.93) GHK(0.35 LK2(0.33) observed data in high level.
H K K TK2(0.89
TH3(0.61 H3 LH3(0.62 LK3(0.26)
LH4(0.57)
K TK3(0.93 5. Conclusion
TH4(0.68 H

According to above analysis, the main conclusion is

Figure 5 The standard relations and values of as follows
parameter estimation in unit4 1 、 Based on experiences and the meaning of
Circle indicates variable and rectangle indicates variables, Shopping attitude,in-store shopping
index in Figure 2~5; Gij indicates the correlation behavior,online shopping behavior,online searching
coefficient of variables, Lij indicates loading, Tij behavior are the four core variables. The basic
indicates error variance。 relations of them are as figure 6.
If Gij>0，it indicates that variables are related, and
the bigger the value the closer the relationship. When

263

In-store
shopping
behavior
Shopping online
attitude searching
behavior
Online
shopping
behavior
Figure 6 Relations of four core variables
2、The model is adjusted and analyzed for many
times by SEM software Lisrel. The results indicate the
relations the prediction of the core variables in the
model is consistent on the whole.
On one hand, the attitudes of the consumers will
affect the in-store shopping and e-shopping. The
impact is as the same on the whole.
When the consumers tend to convenient shopping
and would like to pay by credit card, more in-store
shopping and e-shopping will appear. The more often
the consumers go shopping in store, the more often the
consumers go shopping on line. The more the
consumer spends in store, the more the consumer
spend in e-shopping. When the consumers’ attitude is
traditional and the willing to use credit card is low, the
consumers’ in-store shopping and e-shopping is
relatively not very often and the money spent on in-
store and e-shopping is less.
On the other hand, information the consumers
search on line will affect the in-store shopping and e-
shopping of the consumers.
When consumers search information on line more
frequently, the more in-store shopping and e-shopping
activities will occur. In terms of in-store shopping,
consumers will spend more shopping time and expense
more. When consumers search less information on line,
the less in-store shopping and e-shopping will occur.
In terms of in-store shopping, consumers would no like
to spend long shopping time and expense less.
3 、 In the prediction of the initial model, the
research holds that there is negative correlations
between in-store shopping and e-shopping. But the
results show that there is positive correlations between
in-store shopping and e-shopping when the ICT acts.
Namely, when shopping activities increase with high
shopping frequency and shopping time, e-shopping
activities increase with high e-shopping frequency and
large sum of consumption. Vice vera.
This research holds that the root of the phenomenon
lies in the climbing demands from the application of
ICT which increase the information the consumers can
obtain and improve the convenience of the shopping so
that the total amount of consumption boosts. Therefore,
264
both e-shopping and in-store shopping increase, the
view of which is contrary to instinct views hold by
most people, that is, if in-store shopping decreases, e-
shopping will increase, vice versa. This conclusion
may be another example in e-economy.
4 、 The analysis model in this paper can help
companies to work out related policies in Consumer
Behavior Prediction. Using the model of consumer
behavior in shopping and entering into related index
variable, Company can predict the tendency of
consumers and judge whether the consumer will
choose e-shopping or in-store shopping so as to
establish relevant company policies.
6. Problems and prospect
A whole SEM model is not successfully
established because there are too many variables
involved in the model. In the respective of the results,
the relations between variables can be basically
explained and significant conclusion is being reached.
This research is conducted between consumer
behavior and ICT application and is under the
patronage of the Shanghai Education Commission
Fund (No.2006317) and the Core Course Program of
Shanghai Maritime University(No.XR0101). I would
like to express my gratitude to the above mentioned.
7. References
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2 Balepur P.N, Varma, K.V, Mokhtarian, P.L,
Transportation impacts of center-based telecommuting:
interim findings from the Neighborhood Telecenters
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3 Patricia L. Mokhtarian, Ilan Salomon, Sangho Choo,
Measuring the Measurable: Why Can't We Agree on
the Number of Telecommuters in the US? Quality and
Quantity 35, 2005：423~452
4 Zhang,Jing. Research on Shoping Behavior of
University Students.University of Science and
Technology of China,2005 (in Chinese)
5 Dai,Xianyuan. Research of Online-shoping.Beijing
Normal University 2005 (in Chinese)
6 Sendy Farag, Tim Schwanen, Martin Dijst, Jan
Faber . Shopping online and/or in-store? A structural
equation model of the relationships between e-
shopping and in-store shopping. Transportation
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7 Zhi,Luping Research on Consumer’s Shoping
Behavior Based on ICT. Shanghai Maritime University
2008 (in Chinese)