Determinants of e-Commerce Use at Different Educational Levels: Empirical Evidence from Turkey

Seyda Ünver,Ömer Alkan

doi:10.14569/ijacsa.2021.0120305

Abstract

Rapid spread of internet has made e-commerce an essential and effective tool for commercial transactions. The purpose of this study is to investigate e-commerce use differences between individuals in Turkey according to their educational levels and to specify the relationship between demographic characteristics of individuals and e-commerce use. In this study, the cross-sectional data obtained by Household Information Technologies Usage Survey were used. Binary logistic regression analysis was utilized to determine the factors associated with the e-commerce use of individuals. This study has concluded that the variables of income level, age, gender, occupation, region, social media use, use of internet banking, use of e-government, number of information equipment in a household and the number of people in a household have relationships with e-commerce use. In addition, it has been found out that the variables in e-commerce use showed differences according to educational levels of individuals. It has been determined as a result of this study that as the education level of the individuals increased, their tendency towards online shopping increased. Higher education level refers to higher income level at both state and private institutions and more perception towards innovations. This has naturally a positive effect on online shopping behaviors of individuals.

Highlights

Significant developments are observed in commercial issues due to the significant increase in the impact of information technologies on our lives
As of the date when this questionnaire was administered, it was identified that 12.45% of the individuals with an elementary and lower graduation, 45.57% of the individuals graduated from high school and 71.11% of the individuals with a university degree did a shopping on internet in the recent year
As it is known that demographic characteristics affect the actions of individuals before displaying a certain behavior, the differences regarding internet use among demographic groups in various aspects have become an interesting area of research

Summary

Introduction

Significant developments are observed in commercial issues due to the significant increase in the impact of information technologies on our lives. Electronic commerce refers to internet-based sales [1]. It is usually abbreviated as e-commerce or e-Commerce [2]. The rapid spread of internet has made e-commerce an essential and effective tool for commercial transactions [4]. E-Commerce may be defined as the use of electronic networked computer-based technologies to place new products, services and ideas on the market, to support and develop business operations [1]. Modern electronic commerce generally uses World Wide Web during at least one part of a transaction’s life cycle in addition to other technologies, such as e-mail [5]. E-commerce is used as a quick tool to transform the world into an information society [6]

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