An Empirical Research of Students' Perceptions Regarding M-Commerce Acquisitions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The emergence and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly changed the way commerce processes have been carried out over the last two years. Considering the development of the Internet and the increasing use of digitalization in recent years, electronic commerce has become an important part of the global retail framework. Accordingly, mobile commerce has emerged and developed through various applications as a modern alternative for buying and selling products and/or services using only mobile devices. This paper aims to identify and analyze several key factors that influence students' perceptions regarding m-commerce acquisitions. It also attempts to illustrate some of the main advantages and disadvantages of m-commerce acquisition and to investigate its influence on students' perceptions regarding m-commerce purchases. In order to achieve these objectives, the authors gathered data through a quantitative research method by using a questionnaire. The data were analyzed and interpreted through a factorial analysis that uses the presentation of the main components as an extraction method, with the varimax rotation method adopting Kaiser normalization, and processed with SPSS statistical software. The results of this research show that mobile-commerce acquisitions are influenced by five factors (social, political-legislative, technological, financial, and economic). In this respect, social and political-legislative factors influence, at a moderate level, the general frequency of m-commerce acquisition, while the economic factor does not influence the general frequency of m-commerce purchases. The study provides a theoretical model that takes into account the factors that influence m-commerce acquisition, including the influence of the perceived advantages and disadvantages on m-commerce purchase. The paper also displays the way in which these items influence students' perception on m-commerce acquisitions.