Authors : Sana Maidullah, Ankita Sharma
DOI : 10.18231/j.jmra.2019.004
Volume : 6
Issue : 1
Year : 2019
Page No : 14-23
According to the report of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and GSM Association (GSMA), in India, there is a huge gender gap in mobile ownership. The report says (GSM Association) Forty two percent of women in India are aware of the Internet and can use mobile phone; yet women hold 28 percent less likeliness than men to own a mobile phone. Researchers relate this gap in ownership to the differences in socio-economic condition and educational background however it could possibly be due to other psychological factors also. Considering this bigger picture in mind, the study was planned to explore ‘the gender difference in information processing for online mobile purchase decision’. The study was conducted on 300 participants (Female, N = 160, Mean age = 24.07; Male, N = 140, Mean age = 25.81) and data was collected during October 2017- March 2018. The data was collected with the help of questionnaires to measure the psychological tendencies and the online shopping experiment to measure the information processing in online mobile purchase decision making. The results clearly shows that males prefer more information before they make a decision and focus on increasing the control and reducing the uncertainty. On the other hand, females prefer the medium amount of information for decision making, and until they have a high need for order and are impulsive, they may prefer to postpone or cancel their decision making altogether.
Keywords: Online decision making, Information load, Gender differences, Psychological tendencies, Information processing limit, Buying behaviour.