Do the differences in gender effect the perception of internet security? An exploration on the potential impacts for females using e-commerce

The projects aim is to understand how gender may impact decision making within e-commerce. Current literature suggests that females are deterred from shopping online due to various security issues, such as; fraud (credit or debit card), virus attacks, abuse of sensitive information and trust. Investigating further the motivators and barriers women face whilst also challenging their preference for conventional shopping. Research into the literature revealed only quantitative studies that produce mixed and sometimes contrasting results. Adapting this research so it can be addressed from a qualitative perspective may provide a way of challenging the assumptions and conclusions held within the literature review. Semi-structured interviews were used on a strictly female sample, identified using non-probability, purposive sampling techniques. These exploratory results tentatively revealed that the interviewees contradicted key elements of the literature, credit cards were used to ensure safety and do not appear to deter these women. Future research is required to identify further motivators and barriers, this research did highlight issues around inconsistent clothing sizes whilst challenging quantitative motivational assumptions. The results seem to indicate that the interviewees do not prefer conventional shopping, as the literature suggest, they can equally enjoy both, calling for future research on a larger scale to explore these motivations further. This research is limited by time constraints, conducting and transcribing interviews, thematic analysis and the writing of the results may have benefitted from more time. An increase in time would also allow for a larger sample, providing access to larger amounts of useful data