What is the relationship between the influence factors and the preference of Malaysian young women for cosmetic brands. To investigate the relationship between the factors of influence and the preference of Malaysian young women for cosmetic brands.
INTRODUCTION
- Research Background
- Problem Statement
- Research Questions
- Research Objectives
- Hypotheses of the Study
- Significance of the Study
- Chapter Layout
- Conclusion
This research gives local companies insight into ways to attract and retain potential consumers, as well as ways to compete with foreign companies. This study will include a total of five chapters, namely introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis, discussion and conclusion.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Review of Literature
- Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Advertising
- Publicity
- Word of Mouth
- Price
- Quality…
- Country of Origin
- Satisfaction
- Perceived Risk
- Reference Group
- Review of Relevant Theoretical Framework
- Basic Model by Alamro and Rowley (2011)
- Conceptual Model by Alamro and Rowley (2011)
- Proposed Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
- Hypothesis Development
- Advertising and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Publicity and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Word of Mouth and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Price and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Quality and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Country of Origin and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Satisfaction and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Perceived Risk and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Reference Group and Consumers’ Brand Preference
- Conclusion
Through this study, local firms are able to better understand how the stated factors can influence the cosmetic brand preference of young Malaysian women. The theoretical framework will be outlined according to the developed hypotheses and will be used for further hypothesis testing.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design…
- Quantitative Research
- Descriptive Research
- Casual Research
Descriptive research explains about the characteristics of population and provides answers to questions about who, what, where, when as well as how (Zikmund et al., 2010). This study explains about advertising, publicity, word of mouth, price, quality, country of origin, satisfaction, perceived risk, reference group and consumer preferences of cosmetics brands. 2007) stated that researchers can conduct descriptive research through observation, interview as well as questionnaire consisting of structured questions. The survey approach, which uses standardized questions and measurement scales, was used in this research.
Causal research design is used to identify the cause-and-effect relationships between independent variables and dependent variable (Zikmund et al., 2013). The central focus of this research is to identify the significant factors that influence consumers' cosmetics brand preferences. This research can be considered as causal research because this research aims to investigate whether the independent variables (advertising, publicity, word of mouth, price, quality, country of origin, satisfaction, perceived risk, reference group) influence the dependent variable (Malaysian young women's preference towards local and foreign cosmetics brands).
Data Collection Methods
- Primary Data
- Secondary Data
Secondary data is information collected from existing sources developed by other researchers in the past (Sekaran, 2003). Secondary data can be obtained through various online journals and articles as well as textbooks related to the research topic (Hui et al., 2014). Secondary data can be collected more easily, faster and cheaper, compared to primary data (Zikmund et al., 2010).
However, there are also disadvantages of secondary data, such as insufficient, inaccurate and inconsistent data with the research, so it can affect research reliability (Zikmund et al., 2010). In this research, researchers make use of secondary data obtained from related previous studies found in various sources. Secondary data helps the researchers to understand the constructs in this research and use them as references to develop questionnaire.
Sampling Design
- Target Population…
- Sampling Frame and Sampling Location
- Sampling Elements
- Sampling Techniques
- Sampling Size
The survey respondents were Malaysian young women aged 18-35, especially those who frequently use cosmetic products. For the young women who do not use cosmetic products, the researchers are also interested in investigating their preferences for the cosmetic brand they intend to buy in the future. In this research, non-probability sampling is used, where the sample is selected by personal judgment and easy to obtain.
In non-probability sampling technique, convenience sampling is adopted. 2010) explained convenience sampling as obtaining respondents who are most convenient and easily accessible. In addition, purposive sampling, which is categorized as a non-probability sampling technique, was also adopted by the researchers in this research. Therefore, persons who do not meet this condition are refused to participate in the survey.
Research Instrument
- Questionnaire Design
- Pilot Study
The questions in the questionnaire are made using different journals as references and English is used as most people understand this language. Therefore, the respondents can answer the questions more easily, and it takes less time for the respondents to answer the questionnaire (Zikmund et al., 2010). In section B, the questionnaire was created according to the independent variables of the study, which are the possible factors that affect consumer preferences towards cosmetics brand.
Therefore, the pilot test was conducted on 30 respondents before the actual study of this research was conducted. The purpose of the pilot study is to ensure that the questionnaire used in the research is reliable. Based on the result of the pilot study, it showed that the questionnaire is reliable and therefore the researchers can proceed to the actual study without changing the questionnaire.
Constructs Measurement
- Origins of Construct
- Scale of Measurement
- Nominal Scale
- Interval Scale
The level of measurement scale is significant as it enables researchers to compare the variables and make evaluation easier and more convenient (Zikmund et al., 2013). Nominal scale is the most fundamental level of measurement and is used to assign items into groups or categories. Using nominal scale, each item is given a number as a label and this serves the purpose of identifying and classifying items.
For example, the questions regarding race, education level, preferences of local and foreign cosmetics brands and so on were designed according to nominal scale. Interval scale helps the researchers to identify and understand the degree of differences between ranks (Kumar, Talib & Ramayah, 2013, p.88). The researchers used Likert scale to measure the factors influencing Malaysian young women's preference of cosmetics brands.
Data Processing
- Questionnaire Checking
- Data Editing
- Data Coding
- Data Transcribing
- Data Cleaning
H3: Word of mouth has significant positive relationship with young Malaysian women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H6: Country of origin has a significant positive relationship with young Malaysian girls' preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H3: Word of mouth has a significant positive relationship with young Malaysian women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands.
H7: Satisfaction is significantly positively related to Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H6: Country of origin has a significant positive relationship on Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H6: Country of origin has a significant positive relationship on Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands.
Data Analysis
- Descriptive Analysis…
- Scale Measurement
- Reliability Analysis
- Inferential Analysis
- Pearson Correlation Analysis
- Multiple Regression Analysis
Conclusion…
Introduction
Descriptive Analysis
- Respondent Demographic Profile
- Race
- Age
- Current Education Level
- Income Level
- General Information
- Usage of Cosmetic Products…
- Usage of Cosmetic Brand
- Preferences of Cosmetic Brands
- Preferences of Country’s Cosmetic Products…
- Central Tendencies Measurement of Constructs…
According to Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1, it can be seen that Chinese people occupy the largest share among the respondents in this survey, namely 84% or 252 out of 300 respondents. Based on Table 4.5 and Figure 4.5, most of our respondents currently use cosmetic products, 86.7% or 260 out of 300 respondents. According to Table 4.6 and Figure 4.6, there are 242 respondents (80.7%) who often use foreign brand cosmetics, while there are only 18 respondents (6.0%) who often use local brand cosmetics.
According to table 4.7 and figure 4.7, most of the respondents prefer to use foreign brand cosmetics, which contribute to 96% or 288 out of 300 respondents. According to Table 4.8 and Figure 4.8, out of 300 respondents, 56% or 168 respondents prefer to buy Korean brand cosmetics, which is the highest percentage or number of respondents among other country brands. Finally, Thai and Singapore cosmetic brands have the least preference, which is 1.3% or 4 respondents for each country.
Scale Measurement
- Reliability Test
Among all variables, satisfaction has the highest alpha value, which is 0.925, and 5 items are used to measure it. In addition, Cronbach's alpha coefficient for perceived risk is 0.917 and 9 items are used to measure it, while Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the reference group is 0.909 and 8 items are used to measure it. In addition, the publicity, price and word of mouth variables have the lowest Cronbach's alpha coefficient, compared to the other variables.
However, they still have good association power because according to Cronbach's alpha coefficient rule, the association power for a variable with an alpha value greater than 0.7 is good. As shown in Table 4.10, Cronbach's alpha coefficient for advertising is 0.792 and 3 items are used to measure it, while Cronbach's alpha coefficient for price is 0.767 and 9 items are used to measure it. Finally, Cronbach's alpha coefficient for word of mouth is 0.729, and 6 items are used to measure it.
Inferential Analysis
- Pearson Correlation Analysis…
- Multiple Regression Analysis
- Test of Significance…
H1: Advertising has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H2: Publicity has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H4: Price has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands.
H5: Quality has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H7: Satisfaction has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H9: The reference group has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands.
Conclusion
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Summary of Statistical Analyses
- Descriptive Analysis
- Respondent Demographic Profile…
- General Information
- Scale Measurement
- Inferential Analysis
- Pearson Correlation Analysis…
- Multiple Regression Analysis
H1: Advertising has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. H2: Publicity has a significant positive relationship with Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. This indicates that word-of-mouth significantly influences Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands.
Therefore, word of mouth is one of the important factors that increase the brand preferences of Malaysian young women in cosmetics. This indicates that the country of origin significantly influences Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. There is a significant positive relationship between the country of origin and the preference of Malaysian young women for cosmetic brands.
Discussion of Major Findings
- Advertising
- Publicity
- Word of Mouth
- Price…
- Quality…
- Country of Origin
- Satisfaction
- Perceived Risk
- Reference Group
Implications of the Study…
- Managerial Implications
- Theoretical Implications
From a practical standpoint, this research helps cosmetics companies better understand the factors that influence consumer preferences for cosmetic brands. According to this study, advertising (H1), word of mouth (H3), quality (H5), country of origin (H6) and satisfaction (H7) significantly influence Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands. In this study, satisfaction is the most important factor influencing Malaysian young women's preference for cosmetic brands.
The results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between satisfaction and Malaysian young women's preference for cosmetic brands. The study found that there is a significant positive relationship between advertising and Malaysian young women's preference for cosmetic brands. This research found that advertising, word of mouth, quality, satisfaction and country of origin have significant influence on Malaysian young women's preference for local and foreign cosmetic brands.
Limitations of the Study
There are more studies regarding the preference of overseas cosmetic brands as compared to those from Malaysia. The reason for this is that they are not interested in the research topic and they felt it was a waste of time to complete the questionnaire. Some of the respondents also gave the researchers feedback that the questionnaire is too long and that there are too many questions.
In addition, the researchers found that some respondents did not want to answer some questions, such as income level. This may be because they are not willing to disclose their income to others.
Recommendations of the Study
Recommendations from people who are important to me will encourage me to buy the brand. I think the brand is better than other brands of the product in terms of features/packaging. There is a risk that the purchase of the brand may be a bad decision and not live up to my expectation.
1 2 3 4 5 Recommendations from people who are important to me. encourage me to buy the brand. I think the brand is better than other brands of the product in terms of features/packaging. and durable than the small brand.
