Predictors of Facebook Shopping Intentions among South African Generation Y Students

The purpose of this paper was to investigate predictors of Facebook shopping intentions. The sample of this study was students registered at two higher education institutions in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The author selected students because the majority of Facebook users are college students. This segment is also active in the marketplace and seeks value in their purchases. Participants were selected randomly and 300 questionnaires were distributed to the participants. Out of 300 questionnaires, 31 were discarded because of missing data resulting in a final sample of 269 participants. The findings of this study showed self-efficacy had a positive effect on both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness on Facebook shopping intentions. Perceived usefulness in turn influences intention. Contrary to the findings of previous research, perceived ease of use does not have an effect on intention to use Facebook as a shopping channel. The study has important implications to marketers, as it will help in developing marketing strategies of organisations. Customers who are confident about Facebook shopping and who believe that this medium will provide useful information and enable quicker shopping are likely to use the medium for purchasing a product or a service of their choice