Information Seeking, Perception of Risk, and Behavior of Buying Goods online during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The objectives are to study consumers’ information seeking, perception of risk and behavior of buying goods online and to study the relationship between their information seeking and risk perception and their online goods buying behavior. This is a survey research. The population consists of 300 consumers, 18-60 years old, who have bought goods online during the COVID-19 pandemic, selected through volunteer sampling. Data were collected through questionnaire posted on online media during 1-30 June 2021 and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The finding shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic the samples conduct search for information online mostly through directed purchase-specific search, followed by non-directed purchase-specific search, directed ongoing search, and passive acquisition of information. In addition, the samples have a high perception of risk in buying goods online, with the highest score found in psychological risk, followed by opportunity risk, safety risk, and social risk, respectively. On average, they buy goods online six times per month, with the highest sale receipt of about 1,650 Baht per purchase. Hypothesis testing reveals that the information seeking has no significant relationship with the frequency of buying goods online and that such search in the form of passive acquisition of information has a significantly positive relationship with the highest value of the goods purchased online. In addition, the perception of social risk in buying goods online has a significantly positive relationship with the frequency of buying goods online, while the perception of opportunity risk in buying goods online has a significantly negative relationship with the highest value of goods purchased online.