[01] Kavya Shree Kuduvalli Manjunath, ISBR Research Centre, University of Mysore, Mysore, India. [02] Manasa Nagabhushanam, ISBR Research Centre, University of Mysore, Mysore, India.

Online retailers are proliferating in huge numbers and they have observed a shift in the trend of consumers making buying decisions virtually over buying in brick and mortar retailers. There are various factors which is influencing this change of pattern. The generation cohort groups referred to as Gen X and Gen Y in the study refers to the group who belong to same age group, who share common beliefs, values, attitudes and who share common experiences during their life cycle. It is been considered as one of the basis for market segmentation (Kotler, 2000). Consumer continuously unlearns and learns based on his experiences in making purchase decisions. As technology advances and there are new ways of selling and buying, consumer evolves himself and the whole trend changes. The mind set of people born in different generations differs [19]. Though the internet purchases are slowly increasing, because of the media and negative publicity of a few bad experiences, consumers especially the Generation X category lack the trust and confidence to go a step ahead and shop online. To understand the deeper behaviour of consumers of different generations, this study makes an attempt to understand the perceptions and attitudes of different generation groups towards information and communication technology (ICT) for buying decisions. It becomes important for the online marketers to understand this diversified market segments so that they can respond with suitable strategies and can further capture the market share. The current paper is designed to yield results on awareness, perception, and attitude of different generations towards the information and communication technology for buying decisions. The study was carried out in Bangalore City with the sample size of 100 respondents using stratified sampling technique. The Hypothesis was proposed for the variables under study and tested. The data collected were analyzed using chi-square test and two population t test.

Generation Cohorts, ICT, Perception, Attitude

[01] Ajzen, I.; Fishbein, M (1980), Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-H [02] Ajzen, Icek (2001). "Nature and Operation of Attitudes". Annual Review of Psychology. 52: 27–58. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.27 [03] Allport, Gordon. (1935). "Attitudes," in A Handbook of Social Psychology, ed. C. Murchison. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press, 789–844 [04] Borkowski, N. (2005). Organizational Behavior in Health Care. Massachusetts:Jones and Bartlett [05] ChuleepornChangchit, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi chuleeporn.changchit@tamucc.edu (2006), Issues in Information Systems, Volume VII, No. 2, 2006 [06] Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease Of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology, MIS Quarterly, 13, 983-1003 [07] Dillon, T. D., & Reif, H. L. (2004). Factors influencing consumer’s e-commerce commodity purchases. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance, 22(2), 1-12. [08] Egri and Ralston, (2004), Generation Cohorts and Personal Values: A Comparison of China and the United States, online publications of organization sciences, Permalink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1030.0048 Published Online: April 1, 2004Page Range: 210 - 220 [09] Elizabeth A. Minton, Lynn R. Khale (2014). Belief Systems, Religion, and Behavioral Economics. New York: Business Expert Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-60649-704-3. [10] EzgiAkar, V. AslihanNasir, (2015), A review of literature on consumers’ online purchase intensions. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 2015, Vol.14, No.3, ISSN1475-3928 print/ISSN 1477-6421 online, Westburn publishers Ltd [11] Fishbein, M., and Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Rresearch, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. [12] Gursoy, Maier, & Chi, (2008) Generational differences: An examination of work values and generational gaps in the hospitality workforce, International Journal of Hospitality Management 27(3):448-458 • September 2008 [13] Heejun Kim, Zheng Xiang & Daniel R. Fesenmaier (2015) Use of The Internet for Trip Planning: A Generational Analysis, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 32:3, 276-289, DOI: 10.1080/10548408.2014.896765. [14] Helen Duh, Miemie Struwig (2013), Justification of generational cohort segmentation in South Africa, International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 10 No. 1, 2015, pp. 89-10, ©Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1746-8809, DOI 10.1108/IJOEM-08-2012-0078. [15] India's Retail Ecommerce Sector Is Small but Still Growing, August 15, 2016 Retail & Ecommerce (http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Indias-Retail-Ecommerce-Sector-Small-Still-Growing/1014342). [16] Kosei Fukuda (2010), An empirical analysis of US and Japanese health insurance using age–period–cohort decomposition, journal of Health Economics, Volume 16, Issue 5 May 2007 Pages 475–489. [17] Kotler, Philip. (2002). Marketing Management. Prentice Hall of India. [18] Lynn R. Kahle, Pierre Valette-Florence (2012). Marketplace Lifestyles in an Age of Social Media. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7656-2561-8. [19] Norman B. Ryder, The cohort as a concept in the study of social change, American Sociological review, Vol. 30, No. 6 (Dec 1965), 843-861. [20] Rachel Ashman, Michael R. Solomon, Julia Wolny (2015), An old model for a new age: Consumer Decision making in participatory digital culture, Journal of Customer Behaviour, 2015, Vol.14, No.3, ISSN1475-3928 print/ISSN 1477-6421 online, Westburn publishers Ltd. [21] Rebecca Howell (2012), Market Segmentation: the Importance of Age Cohorts (http://www.neumann.edu/about/publications/NeumannBusinessReview/journal/Review2012/Howell.pdf [22] Rentz, JO, Reynolds, FD & Stout, RG 1983, 'Analyzing Changing Consumption Patterns with Cohort Analysis', Journal of Marketing Research, Vol 20, February, pp.12-20. [23] Sarah Gardiner and Debra Grace, Ceridwyn King (2013) Challenging the use of generational segmentation through understanding self-identity, Marketing Intelligence & Planning Vol. 31 No. 6, 2013 pp. 639-653, Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-4503 DOI 10.1108/MIP-06-2012-0062. [24] Schewe and Meredith (2004). Segmenting global markets by generational cohorts: determining motivations by age, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Volume 4, Issue 1 September 2004 Pages 51–63. [25] Schiffman Lenon G., & Kanuk Leslie Lazar (2006). Consumer Behaviour. Prentice Hall of India. [26] Shumaila Y. Yousafzai, Gordon R. Foxall and John G. Pallister, (2007) Technology acceptance: a meta-analysis of the TAM: Part 1, Journal of Modelling in Management, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2007, pp. 251-280, q Emerald Group Publishing Limited,DOI 10.1108/17465660710834453. [27] Timothy Reisenwitz, Rajesh Iyer (2007), “A comparison of younger and older baby boomers: investigating the viability of cohort segmentation”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24/4 (2007) 202–213q, ISSN 0736-3761, DOI 10.1108/07363760710755995]. [28] Ting, H., Cyril de Run, E., & Liew, S. L. (2016). Intention to Use Instagram by Generation Cohorts: The Perspective of Developing Markets. Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal, 8(1), 43-55. [29] ZuroniMdJusohGohHai Ling 2012,Factors influencing consumers’ attitude towards e-commerce purchases through online shopping, International Journal of Humanities and Social Scienc, Vol. 2 No. 4 [Special Issue – February 2012]. [30] S. M Satish, Sivakumaran Bharadhwaj 2010, Information search behaviour among new car buyers: A two step cluster analysis, IIMB Management Review (2010) 22, 5-15.