The Role of Attitude, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioral Control in Shaping Gen Z’s Behavioral Intentions Towards Gig Economy Participation

Although Malaysian gig economy has been developing rapidly in recent years with the continuous influx of Gen Z, there is little research on the factors that influence their willingness to join the Malaysian gig economy. Therefore, this study seeks to determine the influences of the independent variables, Readiness to engage (mediator), and Commitment (moderator) on the Gen Z’s Willingness to engage in the gig economy in Malaysia. Besides, we used a higher order construct approach to classify our independent variables, such as Attitude toward gig economy (learning and development, and work-life balance), subjective norm (social media use), and Perceived behavioral control (leadership qualities, and technology and digitalization). Furthermore, we have used the questionnaire method to collect relevant data, followed by PLS-SEM and higher-order construct analysis using SMARTPLS4 software. The analysis results show that other than Leadership Qualities and Commitment (moderator), which did not significantly affect Gen Z’s Willingness to engage in the gig economy in Malaysia, other independent variables show significant results. In addition, it is worth noting the mediation effect (Readiness) in our research, show three different situations in our model, which are complete mediation, partial mediation, and no mediation.