Perception of money changes online and offline, how consumer behaviour increases online

Abstract

In this study, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology or UTAUT2 model (Venkatesh, 2012) was used to understand and justify e-commerce attractiveness to consumers using its seven key constructs. Afterwards, user profiles were discussed as a tool of the digital environment to understand how their use of the excess data generated online can incentivise spending. Furthermore, a feature of e-commerce, namely micro-transactions, was also reviewed to extrapolate how small purchases, specifically in relation to virtual currency, are advantageous in separating the consumer’s perception of the monetary value of money, resulting in a reduced propensity to save; inversely, increasing propensity to consume. In collaboration with the above, psychological theories were mentioned to correlate the linkage between a person’s cognitive function, particularly their ability to consume, with similar attributes and variables to the mentioned examples. Such theories included: the relationship between a consumer and the psychological ownership of a product when using contactless payment, the effect of hygiene in terms of both data presented and structured online, the Money illusion which strives to differentiate between perceived and monetary value of the same product but with a foreign currency, together with the credit card effect that makes use of the famous conditioning and weapon effect theories; all within the context of consumer behaviour increasing online. Additionally, the sector of iGaming was used as a real-world example to understand how effective the culture surrounding online consumerism is. Finalizing this dissertation is a quantitative study, in which two studies were carried out to test the research question using data gathered from participants who are currently studying within academia. The general findings suggest that there is an increased marginal propensity to consume (MPC) online and a reduced marginal propensity to save (MPS) when handling virtual currencies. Specific findings showcase that no variables can be attributed to predicting whether MPC increases (y1), but how opaque the relationship (x8) is between money and virtual currencies is shown to have a low prediction for whether MPS reduces (y2). Proving the primary hypothesis and inversely rejecting the null hypothesis, yet with difficulty in pinning down the appropriate e-commerce feature and theory that causes such an effect. Suggesting a difficulty in categorizing participant opinions within e-commerce and implicating that different research methods must be taken in future research.