German Millennials' Decision-Making Styles and Their Intention to Participate in Online Group Buying

This study focuses on the relationship between consumer decision-making style (CDMS) of German millennials and their intention to participate (ITP) in online group buying (OGB). We make substantive contributions to the literature of consumer behavior and electronic commerce in particular. The study conducts structural equation modeling to analyze data obtained from a sample of 591 German millennials, an economically powerful young generation constituting the main beneficiaries of OGB websites. Data analysis yields significant relations among millennials between a perfectionistic, brandconscious, price-conscious, impulsive, and novelty-seeking CDMS and their ITP in OGB. Whereas the price-conscious CDMS dominates the picture, there are also gender-based differences, with female millennials who occupy impulsive or novelty-seeking CDMSs having a higher ITP in OGB. In contrast, male millennials with a brand-conscious CDMS have a higher ITP, and male perfectionists avoid OGB sites. Our results offer managerial value to OGB websites to cater to specific CDMSs of millennial buyers.