This study also observes and analyzes the growth and trends of Thai consumers towards Western fast food restaurants. In conclusion, the results of this research will investigate the factors that could influence Thai consumers in purchasing Western fast food products. The fast food industry has become one of the largest companies in the world with one of the most important commercial products in global trade.
Justification
Research Aims
Research Objectives
Research Outline
LITERATURE REVIEW
Importance of Understanding Perception of Consumer Behaviour In all areas of business, the customer is the most powerful primary factor
- Consumer Behaviour towards Fast Food
Euromonitor's (2015) data shows the growth of the fast food industry in Thailand during the period between 2010 and 2014. Nevertheless, Thailand is one of the countries that has experienced a high growth rate in the fast food industry every year during the period 2010-2014. Therefore, these results could be evidence to support the study of Ritzer (2001) who argued that economy and time are the significant factors that influence consumer behavior and promote the growth of the fast food industry in a positive way.
Market Growth of Thailand’s Fast Food and Full service restaurant industry
- Attitudes towards Eating Fast Food and Western Food
- Health impact
- Brand
- Consumer’s environment
- Marketing Mix in the Fast Food Restaurant Industry
- Conceptual Framework (Theoretical Framework)
- Consumer Behaviour Model
- Consumer Decision-Making Process
- Marketing Mix
- Summary the literature review
Consequently, Schlosser (2002) points out that people should be aware of the impact of fast food. The consumer behavior and consumer decision-making process can help to deeply understand Thai consumers' perception and attitude who eat western fast food in junk food restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand. The theory of subsequent models is presented in order to analyze how consumers respond to marketing activities based on the Western fast food industry.
METHODOLOGY
- Research Design and Tools
- Research Approach
- Method Choice
- Research strategy
- Development of Hypotheses
- Method and Data Collection
- Questionnaire survey
- Sampling Strategy
- Data Analysis
- Conclusion of Methodology
Furthermore, the last step of the research approach is the confirmation step, which concerns the examination of these hypotheses. This research will use the quantitative approach to discover Thai consumers' attitudes and perspectives towards Western fast food in Bangkok, Thailand. In order to use and apply this method, this study must further ensure that the respondents can understand the research question in the same way.
As previously indicated in the explanation of this research process, the quantitative approach is the method chosen as suitable for the collection and analysis of the data, as well as the evaluation of the hypotheses and theory to answer the research questions. In general, the research purpose can be classified into 3 primary types, which are descriptive, exploratory and explanatory studies. It is necessary to choose a research strategy that links with the research philosophy, methodological choice and the research approach (Daniel 2007).
Nevertheless, there are several determinants that a researcher should consider before selecting the research strategy as it should be based on the objectives, questions, philosophy and research approach. These factors are important considerations for the researcher before selecting the research strategy (Saunders et al., 2009). These hypotheses were formulated to reflect the assumptions regarding questions one through four respectively, to explore the factors that could influence consumers to purchase Western fast food products and to achieve the purpose and objectives of the study.
In general, data collection could be classified into two types, namely primary and secondary data to answer the research question and obtain reliable results which are crucial to this study.
ANALYSIS AND FINDING
Descriptive analysis
- Demographic characteristics
- Consumer behaviour
According to table 4.3, there were 143 respondents who prefer western fast food food, which shows the appropriate number of fast food consumers in this research. Furthermore, the result also shows that 20% of the respondents consume western fast food almost every day, followed by 21% and 19% 2 – 4 times and once a week respectively. From figure 4.1 – 4.2 it can be seen that the participants in this study mainly preferred fried chicken counted for half of the respondents, while pizza and hamburger share the similarity of percentage distribution.
45% of them have consumed it from the restaurant, while 33% and 22% prefer delivery and pickup. They prefer to eat out rather than cook themselves, especially for most of the participants in this study are employees and students. According to table 4.4, it clearly explained that most of the respondents were motivated by friends in terms of consumption of western fast food food (45%), followed by advertising and family.
When comparing between traditional and online advertising channel, TV is the most effective advertisement that attracts their attention and informs them about fast food brand information (43.5%), but 24.5% and 15.5% of the respondents are affected by the source online. According to Table 4.5, the result shows the overall mean score of the respondent's perception of the important factors that influence consumers' purchase intention towards Western fast food products. From the average value, the average health effect score is the highest ranking, which reflects that most respondents are aware of the negative effect of fast food consumption as they perceived that it contains fat or preservatives and the cooking process will affect their health.
From this result, it is appropriate to apply the test of relationship between factors and purchase intention of Western fast food product in the further section of the research.
Reliability Analysis
Hypotheses Testing
To measure the most important factors influencing consumer purchase intention towards western fast food products based on seven related variables, multiple regression test is suitable for extracting the main findings from multiple variables which is the most predictor well to motivate the consumer purchase intention of the respondents. By analyzing the multiple regression, it can be seen that the purchase intention of the Thai consumer's purchase intention towards western fast food products can be predicted by seven predictor factors with 64.3% (adjusted R2 = 0.643). From the correlation section, it can be concluded that partial independent variables influenced Thai consumer's purchase intention towards Western fast food products, including promotion, brand and product (p < 0.01).
This means that those variables had a significant impact on the purchase intention of Thai consumers at 95% acceptance of a significant level. However, the result found that negative health outcome has no impact on Thai consumer's purchase intention towards Western fast food products (β = -0.006, p > 0.05). Furthermore, hypothesis 3 was rejected because the lifestyle and economic environment has no impact on Thai consumer's purchase intention towards Western fast food products (β = 0.131, p > 0.05).
As the third had the highest impact on purchase intention towards Western fast food products, hypothesis 4 was supported with this result. Moreover, hypothesis 5 was rejected due to the price factors having no impact on Thai consumer's purchase intention towards Western fast food products (β = 0.114, p > 0.05). As seen in table 4.8, the significant level shows that location has no impact on the Thai consumer's purchase intention towards Western fast food products (β = 0.070, p > 0.05).
Promotion was found to be the most influential factor in increasing purchase intention for Western fast food products.
CONCLUSION
- Conclusion
- Recommendations for Western Fast Food Businesses
- Limitations
- Further Research
Therefore, creating taste, smell, texture of fast food product that meets consumers' expectation is crucial for successful fast food businesses in Thailand, as sensory appeal of food is still an important motive when choosing food for the consumer (Asaad and Serdar 2015). For successful business, the following recommendations can be useful for a company involved in the fast food business in Thailand. First, in terms of Thai consumers' perspective on fast food, Thai people agree that fast food products are associated with negative health benefits.
Even though the finding shows no relationship between the negative health effect and customer purchase intention, fast food companies should think about this attitude towards fast food products of Thai consumers and use it as a marketing message to encourage consumers to purchase fast food products. Third, building brand awareness appears essential for a successful fast food business, as the findings of this study illustrate that brands can have a significant impact on Thai consumers' purchase intention. Thus, fast food companies must pay significant attention to their branding strategy to gain market advantage through effective competitive branding strategies.
The findings also suggest that the most attractive promotion that attracts Thai consumers when purchasing fast food is '50% off'. Last but not least, this research highlights only the seven main factors that influence Thai people's attitudes towards purchasing fast food products, and although the research results clearly show that only three of the seven factors including promotion, brand and the product have significant influence on Thai consumers. Attitudes, other important factors can still be discovered and analyzed such as tangibles, service reliability, responsiveness, security and sensitivity or even customer loyalty, etc. First, the addition of more independent factors should be considered as those used in this research cannot sufficiently explain all Thai people's purchase intentions towards fast food products.
For example, although this research indicates that television advertising should be used as an advertising channel for fast food businesses in Thailand, it is questionable which time frame on the television time slot can be used most effectively.
Available from: http://www.asiabriefing.com/news/2014/12/fries-mcaloo-tikki-fast- food-asia-pacific-part-1/ [Accessed on 24 Apr. _in_Korea /. Fast food marketing and children's fast food consumption: examining parents' influences in an ethnically diverse sample.
Downloads\Documents\Comparative report on lifestyle survey in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam in 2014.pdf [Accessed 23 June.
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Research Questionnaire
Personal information 1. What is you gender?
- How old are you?
- What is your education background?
- Marital status
- Do you prefer western fast food meal?
- How often do you consume western fast food meal?
- Which type of western fast food meal being the most preferred?
- Which branding is your favorite brand?
- Which time being the most preferred to have western fast food meal?
- Which way do you prefer to have a western fast food meal?
- What is the most influential factor in consuming western fast food meal?
- What is the most influential marketing factors according to your own opinion about fast food consumption?
- Which is the most effective advertising channel that attracting your attention and informing you about the brand information?
Brand *Choose an answer from each of the following statements (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree). The brand is one of the most important factors before I decide to buy western fast food. Health *Choose an answer from each of the following statements (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strong agree).
Western fast food can be influenced to the term obesity The process of preserving food can affect the health of the consumer. Not just a place to eat, western fast food restaurant is a social place for me to meet friends or family. Product *Please choose one answer from each of the following statements (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree).
Price *Please choose one response from each of the following statements (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree). City *Please choose one response from each of the following statements (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree). Promotion*Please choose one response from each of the following statements (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree).
What do you think is the most influential marketing factor in fast food consumption?
Appendix B: Descriptive Statistics
Appendix C: Coding
I like the taste of Western fast food d1 Likert 5 point scale I like Western fast food because of several in.
