Factors Affecting Women Shoppers Essay Example for Free

Factors Affecting Women Shoppers Essay Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development 3. 3 2013 Budget Presentation Speech by Malaysia Prime Minister. 3. 4 The Household Use of Internet Survey,2005 by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commisions. | | | | | CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1Background of the Study The usage of Internet has grown rapidly over the past years and it has become a common means for delivering and trading information, services and goods. Nowadays, internet is not only a networking media, but it is also used as a means of transaction for consumers at global market. Women contribute the large number of Malaysia’s population. Major contribution of women to the nation always been recognized. With the increasing number of career women in Malaysia contribute further enhance of the purchasing power among women buyers. The existence of telecommunications equipment such as smart phones and tablets are not limiting time and place for them to be online. The roles of a shopper’s personal attitudes have been widely acknowledged in consumer decision-making and behavioral intentions (Wu, 2003). In particular, attitude serves as the bridge between consumers’ characteristics and the consumption that satisfies their needs (Armstrong amp; Kotler, 2003). Moreover, consumers’ characteristics, such as personality, as well as demographic and perception on online shopping benefits, have also been found to influence their online shopping behavior (Cheung amp; Lee, 2003). Thus, identifying the relative importance of each determinant of choice towards a given action could be a useful step in understanding such behavior occurs. The main aim of this study is to investigate purchasing intention of women shopper at Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), with a particular emphasis on understanding and evaluating the factors which directly or indirectly influence their purchasing intentions by measuring the attitude towards online shopping. 1. 2Problem Statement Online shopping in Malaysia is a new technology breakthrough since it has just begun to assault the Malaysia retailing sector with the online shopping services (Haque et al. 2006). In order to increase online shopping in Malaysia, understanding consumer online shopping behavior and factors affecting this behavior when shopping online should be given priority. With the expansion of career women in Malaysia, women shoppers become one of the important market segments or two reasons; first, this group has money and shopping interest. According to Statistics on Women, Family and Community 2011, shows that number of female employed increased from 2000 until 2010. It shows that women in Malaysia have purchasing power (See Appendix 3. ). Second, this segment of the population has the potential of earning a greater income than other segments of the population. It will be great significance to find out the factors which influence women shoppers’ intention to shop online if we want to expand group of online buyers and the volume of e-commerce. According to to Statistics on Women, Family and Community 2011, Number of female enrollment in University is higher than ma le and the number keep increasing. In 2001, number of male enrollment student in University is 103,747 and female 142,242. In 2010, Number of male enrollment in University is 184,457 and female 278,323 (See Appendix 3. 2). The differences of student become bigger each year. The higher of education background can contribute to higher income in the future. Third, growth of online business keeps increasing. Recently, during the 2013 budget presentation by our Prime Minister has stated that; the Malaysia Government aware women not only important in a family, but also contribute to the development to the national economy. The government allocated 50 million to support women’s role. One of them is, Get Malaysia Business Online Program (GMBO) introduced to help 50 thousand small entrepreneurs, especially women to increase their online sales. Grants of thousand Ringgit Malaysia through the provision of 50 million Ringgit Malaysia by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) (See Appendix 3. 3). A mid-2005 survey by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Corporation (MCMC), only 9. 3% of Internet users had purchased products or services through the Internet during the preceding three months. Among those who did so, airline tickets were the most popular items (43. %) followed by books (15. 6%) and music (6. 8%). Amounts spent on these items were small, however, with 57. 7% of transactions worth less than M$500. Moreover, it is expected Malaysian online sales will increase every year at a high growth (See Appendix 3. 4). Opportunities of online shopping can be restricted by internal and external constraints on behavior. It is important in expl aining human behavior since an individual who has the intention of accomplishing a certain action may be unable to do so because her environment prevents the act from being performed. Moreover, there are some barriers which have contributed to the unwillingness of Malaysians to shop online because they afraid their personal information will be stole or misused by others. Despite the high potential of online shopping in Malaysia, there is still lack of understanding concerning the online shopping and its impact on marketing. Consequently a framework is needed to structure the complex system of effects of these different factors, and develop an in-depth understanding of consumers’ attitudes toward internet shopping and their intentions to shop online. 1. Objectives of the Research The objectives of this study are; 1. To determine women shoppers’ shopping attitudes towards website design. 2. To determine women shoppers’ shopping attitudes towards reliability of online retailer. 3. To determine women shoppers’ shopping attitudes towards online shopping customer service. 4. To determine women shoppers’ shopping attitudes towards trust on online retailer. 1. 4Scope of Study Literature Review Factors influencing online shopping intention toward online shopping have been researched and documented in the context of traditional consumer literature. A review of empirical studies in this area shows that the theories of Reasoned Action (Ajzen amp; Fishbein, 1975) and Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) are among the most popular theories used to explain online shopping behavior. Therefore the theoretical framework f this study is based in these theories. Online Shopping Perceived Benefit Perceived benefits are advantageous results derived from attributes. The benefit can be physiological, psychological, sociological, or material in nature. Within the online shopping context, the consumers’ perceived benefits are the sum of online shopping advantages or satisfactions that meet their needs or wants. There are many differences between a physical store and its electronic counterpart. Most of the previous online shopping research has focused on identifying the attributes of online stores that promote success (Davis, 1989; Liu amp; Arnett, 2000). Previous studies of online shopping have established two categories of benefits; intrinsic and extrinsic. Both are important in customers’ selections to patronize the online stores. Extrinsic benefits include features such as wide selection of products, competitive pricing, easy access to information and low search costs. Intrinsic benefits include features such as design and color. Research Framework The key components of the research framework for consumer attitude towards online shopping can be seen in Figure 1. Website Design| | Online Shopping| Reliability| | | Customer Service| | | Trust| | | Hypotheses: A series of testable hypotheses were developed from the proposed research model, as shown below: Hypothesis 1: There is a significant relationship between web site design and online shopping. Hypothesis 2: There is a significant relationship between reliability of online retailer and online shopping. Hypothesis 3: There is a significant relationship between customer service and online shopping. Hypothesis 4: There is a significant relationship between trust on online retailer and online shopping. In general, base on the hypotheses, the research framework will be focusing on four factors as independent variables and propensity to shop online will be the dependent variable. . e. for the hypothesis 1, 2, 3 and 4 which are focusing on Web Site Design, Reliability, Customer Service, and Trust, it is hypothesize that there should be a positive relationship that would likely to influence the online shopping. Research Methodology To undertake this project, two types of data will be gathered. i. Secondary data This type of data will be used extensively in literature review to provide the framework of this study. Textbook, journals and internet shopping reports will be the sources of this desk research. ii. Primary data This type of data will be the main instrument used in evaluating the factors affecting women shoppers’ online shopping attitude and purchase intention. The process of gaining this input is discussed next. In doing so, the rest of this section organized into four main areas; the research design, the target population and the sample size, methods for data collection, and data analysis and interpretation. The research design In getting the shoppers data, I choose to employ descriptive research over exploratory or causal research. This type of research is suitable when a study intends to produce accurate description of variables relent to the decision being faced, without demonstrating that some relationship exists between variables. This description fits well with the objectives of this study. In addition, a cross sectional studies is elected over longitudinal studies. The former allow the researchers to assess to a larger number of customers, thus enabling them to produce a more representative data. Through this method, data is typically cross tabulated against each other to answer specific issues. This kind of data is meaningful to companies that appeal to many segments of the markets such as internet shopping. The target population and the sample size In line with the scope of the project, the population refers to the female employee of Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP). To further define the population, this study will only examine the behavior of women shoppers in the age bracket 20 to 55 years old. The sample elements will be chosen using systematic sampling. Within this pool of shoppers, a sample of 200 shoppers will be selected. This sample size is considered appropriate. Roscoe (1975) for instance stated ‘samples sizes larger than 30 and less than 500 samples are the appropriate for most research. Likewise, Sekaran (1994) agrees that 500 samples are the appropriate upper limit for the sample size. Methods for data collection Since cross sectional study has been chosen for this study, data will be collected through questioning. Using this method, the respondents will be identified systematically and to aid questioning the shoppers, a set of questionnaire will be designed. The questionnaires will be distributed through online and respondents will be invites through UMP Portal.

A Defence of Individual Autonomy in a Multination Liberal State Essay

A Defence of Individual Autonomy in a Multination Liberal State Liberalism is committed to protecting the freedom to choose, question and revise one’s own conception of the good life. For this reason, liberalism defends (among many other things) freedom of conscience, expression and association, as well as mandatory, universal education. In Multicultural Citizenship, Will Kymlicka argues that the state is also obligated to ensure that the lifestyle options which are made available to an individual so that she can choose, question and revise her own conception of the good life, are meaningful to her by being understood by her in relation to her own "societal culture". He concludes, therefore, that in a multination liberal state, self-government rights should be granted to national minorities in order to guarantee that their members will have access to their own societal culture. However, in the case of an illiberal national minority, granting them the rights necessary to preserve their own societal culture will result in violations of the individual rights of their members. This is a serious problem for liberalism. Kymlicka proposes that we must accept such violations because the liberal state is not entitled to impose liberal values and practices on to a national minority. He suggests that the state should promote the voluntary liberalisation of the illiberal culture from within, and is only justified in using force in order to prevent severe violations of individual rights. In this paper I will argue that Kymlicka’s approach is lacking in some areas. I will argue that a multination liberal state should not grant self-government rights to a previously non-self-governing illiberal national minority unless the individual r... ...ial obligation, which does not apply to foreign nations, to take further steps, as outlined above, to their neighbouring fellow human beings. Endnotes 1 Will Kymlicka (1995), Multicultural Citizenship, (Clarendon Press, Oxford). p.76 2 Ibid., p.90 3 Avishai Margalit and Joseph Raz (1990), ‘National Self-Determination’, Jounal of Philosophy, 87/9: 439-61. p.447-9 4 Supra, note 1, p.89 5 Ibid., p.83 6 Ronald Dworkin (1985), A Matter of Principle, (Harvard University Press, London). p.231 7 Supra, note 1, p.78 8 Ibid., p.168 9 Ibid., p.169 Bibliography Ronald Dworkin (1985), A Matter of Principle, (Harvard University Press, London). Will Kymlicka (1995), Multicultural Citizenship, (Clarendon Press, Oxford). Avishai Margalit and Joseph Raz (1990), ‘National Self-Determination’, Jounal of Philosophy, 87/9: 439-61.

CIS8000 GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS Essay

This assignment specifically addresses the following learning objectives of the course: LO5 Demonstrate effective communication by composing writing that communicates ideas, meaning and/or argument in a format that broadly follows conventions in the information systems field. LO6 Apply technology and online skills to locate relevant information for the  assignments, analyse the presented problems and data, and engage in the use of the resources provided on UConnect. Individual submission Students should complete this assignment individually. You are encouraged to discuss the assignment with others to improve your understanding and clarify requirements but you should develop the solution to the assignment on your own. Plagiarism check You must subject your written assignment to a plagiarism check by the TURNITIN software prior to its submission in the EASE system. The TURNITIN software can be indirectly accessed through the Study Desk without the need to provide any login-id or password. Further details on how you should interpret the TURNITIN results will be posted in the Study Desk. No assignment will be marked if it is not accompanied by the TURNITIN summary report. Case Study You are the CTO of a successful software development company that operates internationally. The organisation is human resource intensive and one of the challenges encountered was to provide an upto-date time sheet record for salary calculation purposes. In order to improve the HR system, you recently attended a seminar on technological innovation that can assist automated clocking of employee attendance, and you were very impressed with the concepts presented in the seminar. It occurred to you that this would offer potential solution to some of the challenges encountered by your organisation and would be well received by the management. As a result of attending this seminar, and subsequent consultation with your senior managers, it was decided that wearable computing based identification cards would be worth an investigation. As an initial step, you wanted to present this concept and associated vision of how wearable technology would benefit the organisation, specifically in resolving time sheet issues for payroll system input. You are required to research the background for a  project to implement and manage wearable computing, use Microsoft Excel to model a business plan, perform sensitivity analysis to validate assumptions, and create a presentation to seek funding and authorisation from senior management to implement and manage wearable computing based identification tags in your organisation. 1 CIS8000 Global Information Systems Strategy Assignment A Activity A: Journal (maximum 500 words) Prepare a journal which records your activities and progress related to completing this assignment. In date order, clearly list the following: ââ€"  Date of research activity/discussion ââ€"  Topic researched or discussed ââ€"  Time duration ââ€"  Brief description of research activity/discussion. Submit this journal (Activity A) as appendix A to the actual report (Activity B) to CEO. Your journal must provide all these activity details to be awarded marks. Activity B: Presentation to Senior Management (maximum 2000 words) Before you commence this assignment ensure you have completed Hands-on MIS Project # 1 to 5 in Appendix S.1 in the Study Book. These exercises are designed to familiarise you with the software, techniques and methods used in the assignment. Part 1: Research the background for the wearable identification tags project Conduct an Internet search to gather relevant background information on the above. In particular, you should address the following: 1. How wearable computing is utilised and its associated risks 2. Advantages and disadvantages 3. The infrastructure required 4. Best-practice for how wearable tags should be managed. Submit this part of Activity B (Part 1) as initial section of your report to CEO (the actual report for assignment A) to be able to understand the concept of wearable computing and identification tags concepts. Remember: some of the readers of the report to the CEO are from non-technical background and do not understand technical jargons and technology behind the wearable computing and identification tags. You are advised to adopt a balanced approach in your writing style in this business report to CEO ( any highly technical information can go into the appendix B of the report). Part 2: Develop the Excel model of the business case Once you have completed Part 1, develop a spread-sheet model of your business costs over a 4 year period. Some of the materials provided in the MIS Projects may help you to come up with a simple modelling. For the purpose of modelling, assume a discount rate of 10 per cent. Your business model should include the following analysis to ascertain the financial viability of the project: 1. Payback period 2. Net present value (NPV) 3. Internal rate of return (IRR) 4. Profitability index HINTS: To obtain the payback period you would first need to calculate the cumulative net cash flow. Use the NPV and IRR functions provided in Microsoft Excel. You may need to search the Internet for information if you are not familiar with how to use these functions. Interpret your results. Use the note in MIS Project #4 – Capital Budgeting Methods for Information System Investments to guide you. Remember: some of the readers of the report to the CEO are from non-financial background and do not understand, Payback period, NPV, IRR, and Profitability index. You are advised to provide descriptions, analysis, and implications of these technical aspects in your actual report to CEO. CIS8000 Global Information Systems Strategy Assignment A Part 3: Perform a sensitivity analysis for the business case Using the results you obtained in Part 2 as the base case, conduct a sensitivity analysis to examine the impact of the critical cost and benefit variables on the viability of the wearable tags project. Provide three specific scenarios of consideration. You must clearly specify the basis of the three scenarios i.e. which critical cost variables they are examining in the sensitivity analysis Carefully analyse your results and make appropriate recommendations to the company’s senior management as to how the critical cost variables should be managed to ensure that the wearable tags project is both viable and sustainable in the long term. NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with the business case and sensitivity analysis concepts you should make an effort to read appropriate material, including those from the Internet, to learn about them. Remember: some of the readers of the report to the CEO are from non-financial background and do not understand sensitivity. You are advised to provide descriptions, analysis, and implications of these technical aspects in your actual report to CEO. Part 4: Create a report to senior management 4.1 Consolidate and cross-analyse your results and findings with justifications and implications from Part 1, 2 and 3. Then prepare an executive business report to the company’s senior management to seek their financial support and authorisation to embark on the project. 3 CIS8000 Global Information Systems Strategy Assignment A Marking criteria You are strongly advised to read the marking criteria carefully before starting on your assignment. In particular, note the marks allocation for each part and sub-part in Activities. Ensure that the length of your solution should be commensurate with the allocated marks. General guidelines for Activity B Your submission must be submitted to the CEO as a report in a single document, not an essay. Please note that reports do have subheadings and an appropriate letter of transmittal is required.  The word count does not include the following: executive summary, letter of transmittal, table of contents, figures, tables, references or appendices. The body of the report should be about 2000 words in length and you may lose marks if it varies by more than 10%. You must demonstrate additional research from outside the text. Suggestions for other references include other general texts on information systems  management, industry journals, periodicals, electronic databases etc. (many of which are available online from the USQ Library at: Use the Harvard referencing format for in-text references and the reference list. Your references should include at least one web/electronic link but all the references should not be from the web (ie URLs). Refer to chapter 2 (referencing) of the Communication Skills Handbook 3ed. for further details. Inappropriate referencing or excessive grammar/spelling errors will incur a penalty. You should refrain from cutting and pasting chunks of materials from the Internet as this will be treated as plagiarism. To avoid any allegation of academic misconduct from unintentional plagiarism from Internet sources it is compulsory that you use the TURNITIN software to check your work before submitting it. Remember TURNITIN may take more than 24 hours to produce the report. There are few other free applications available on the net to check plagiarism and you are allowed to use them as well. You must state your assumptions clearly, validate the stated assumptions through proper literature search, provide a compelling case for cost and budget figures. You may use any format for the report, and the Internet provides many examples of Executive Type report, and you are encouraged to search for samples that suit your needs. (each report supposed to have title page, letter of transmission, table of contents, executive summary, conclusion & recommendations, references and appendixes) Report formatting instructions Major headings should be in upper case, 14 point Times New Roman Bold. Minor headings should be in lower-case, 12 point Times New Roman Bold. Body text should be formatted to 12 point, Times New Roman. Page size should be A4. Allow for a 25 mm margin on both sides of each page, a 25 mm margin at the top of each page and a 25 mm margin at the bottom of each page. Use single line spacing. Your assignment should be submitted in one of the following formats: – Portable Document Format (.pdf).

The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe Essay - 1503 Words

The Black Cat Gothic Analysis In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story â€Å"The Black Cat† (1843), Poe creates a gothic narrative that exceeds the suspicions of the audiences predeterminations. Throughout the entirety of his piece Poe creates a scene that continuously leaves his readers wondering what was happening next. Suspicion being a key factor in gothic tales is only one strategy Poe used to illuminate the story of an unnamed psychopath and his attempts to either clear his conscious or set the record straight for his malicious actions before his death the next day. Through Poe’s extensive use of gothic diction, a psychological appeal that develops the personal psyche of a sociopath , and the overall use of death he serves the purpose of the gothic tradition in a macabre mood. To start by understanding the purpose of Poe’s gothic tradition in many of his stories and poems such as â€Å"The Black Cat† we must formerly be connected with the peculiar dic tion Poe prefers on a regular basis each time serving a gothic purpose. For instance, In â€Å"The Black Cat† Poe uses a plethora of phrases such as â€Å"I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection†, â€Å" I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!†, and the extensive use of the word â€Å"perverseness† (Poe 153). The word perverseness meaning a deliberate desire to behave in aShow MoreRelatedThe Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe1117 Words   |  5 Pages Edgar Allan Poe’s narrator in â€Å"The Black Cat† describes himself as a lover of animals and a man with a kind heart. But he uses his animals and alcoholism as an excuse for his perverse behavior. However, Poe drops hints though out the narrative to tell a different story. His violence towards animals tells the story of an irrational man who weeps while hanging his cat. Therefore, Poe employs the narrator to show the human tendency to use scapegoats to shift blame for the wrong thing we do. The narratorRead MoreThe Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe885 Words   |  4 Pagesobserve. An example of these observation and hands on applications would be Edgar Allan Poe, a writer and a poet, whom would be absolutely intrigued in these behaviors. His unique interpretation of the human mind could be seen in â€Å"The Black Cat.† In this short story Edgar Allan Poe embeds himself as the protagonist who are mere victims of the complexities of the mind known as revenge, anger, and perversity. â€Å"The Black Cat† shows the vital side effects of the mind recognized as revenge, anger, andRead MoreThe Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe1778 Words   |  8 Pagesmonster up within the tomb† (Poe 32). This is the ending of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story â€Å"The Black Cat.† This story is one of the many famous short stories Poe has written in his life time. However, this story, in particular, captivities the horror and frightening works of his display. Having his personal history and short story at hand, will help his audience to understand some of his guilty pleasures. In this Critical Analysis Essay, the composition of â€Å"The Black Cat† will be revealed by connectingRead MoreThe Black Cat, By Edgar Allan Poe1240 Words   |  5 PagesLiterature, D.H. Lawrence condemns Americans for dodging their true selves by means of intellectualization and idealization. Both Edgar Allan Poe’s short story â€Å"The Black Cat† and Nathaniel Ha wthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† feature allegorical representations of characters deceiving themselves in order to deny the darker aspects of their inner selves. In Poe’s â€Å"The Black Cat,† the narrator denies the darker aspects of his soul by abstracting his horrific actions with spectral evidence in order to externalizeRead MoreThe Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe Essay917 Words   |  4 Pagesreality.† - Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe is known for his dark and thought-provoking horror stories. In particular, The Black Cat does just that. The story focuses on the rationalizations of the horrific actions of the narrator. A black cat is introduced to pounce down on the rationalization of the narrator’s actions. Edgar Allan Poe also constructs a story where the main basis of the narrator’s decisions are ethical egoism and the principles of conscience. Poe constructs the black cat as the conscienceRead MoreThe Black Cat, By Edgar Allan Poe1900 Words   |  8 Pagesportion of his life writing these kind of stories. Edgar Allan Poe was influenced by his own life experiences, social normalities of the early 19th century, and used literary devices to write horrific works such as The Black Cat, The Raven, and Berenice. Edgar Allan Poe wrote the short story The Black Cat in 1843. The story starts out fairly normal, but very quickly spirals into a horrendous chain of events. The narrator of the story has a cat that he adaores at first, but then he grows irritatedRead MoreThe Black Cat, By Edgar Allan Poe871 Words   |  4 Pages Edgar Allan Poe is a world famous author who writes suspenseful/thriller story that keeps everyone interested. Three of his stories that we have read is â€Å"The Black Cat,† â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. The five questions that will be discussed is how/why does Poe have his narrator plan the murder of his victim, what is the narrators reason for killing his victim, how does the narrator dispose of the body, does the narrator know the difference between right and wrong, and finallyRead MoreThe Black Cat, By Edgar Allan Poe1202 Words   |  5 PagesEdgar Allan Poe is prominent for his literacy style of horror and mystery, in which he had written an innumerable number of short stories and poems in his lifetime. Evidently, many of his writings like, â€Å"The Black Cat,† â€Å"William Wilson,† and â€Å"The Raven,† share the same style, as their protagonists’ demonstrated a paucity of reliability. Readers often become engaged with how the main character of each text showed their rivulet of tales that seem to be quite fictitious. Available evidence suggestsRead MoreThe Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe1142 Words   |  5 Pagescharacter survives eight shots to the torso, all happy endings. Edgar Allan Poe isn’t like that. Most of his characters are dark and insane. They have one last shred of sanity then they refuse to keep it and then they end up going insane, much like the characters in The Black Cat, The Raven, and A Tell-Tale Heart. All three the men reach insanity. In The Black Cat a man expresses his passion over all animals. He has a gorgeous black cat named Pluto,his prized possession. Years later this man has aRead MoreThe Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe1243 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Black Cat,† Edgar Allan Poe states the nameless narrator is in a prison cell, retelling his story of his struggles from the abuse of alcoholism, perverseness, and animal cruelty. He was married to his beautiful wife and had a variety of pet animals. The narrator starts to talk about his beloved black cat, Pluto, and how he believes it’s evil and the reason for his crazy actions. He came home drunk one day assuming his cat was avoiding him. He tried to grab his cat, but with fear, the cat nipped