Abstract

Few studies discuss gender differences in online shopping motivations among adolescents. This study was to investigate gender differences in adolescents' online shopping motivations based on utilitarian and hedonic motivations. Utilitarian motivations consist of convenience, choice, availability of information, lack of sociality, and cost saving, whereas, hedonic motivations comprise adventure, sociality, fashion, value and authority. 639 high school students in Taiwan were selected and the result indicated that male adolescents hold significantly more positive attitudes toward online shopping on utilitarian motivations (for example, convenience, lack of sociality and cost saving) than the female adolescents whereas, female counterparts put more emphasis on hedonic motivations (for example, adventure, sociality, fashion and value) on internet consumption. It suggests that, gender differences really exist in online shopping. The study provides a direction for the further research of internet marketing.

Key words: Online shopping, gender differences, utilitarian value, hedonic value, adolescents.