Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Statement of problem
Recent years, China’s sporting industry has developed rapidly. The industry is getting more and more mature (Hu,2015). Chinese sport brands even started to aim high and to be at the same level with world leading sport brands (Bloomberg, 2016). What more is they are investing millions in sponsoring major sport events as well as brand ambassadors, in order to develop positive brand image (Bloomberg, 2016).
With the opportunity of Beijing Olympic Games, lots of China’s sports brand like Li Ning, Anta, Xtep and Jordon got rapid growth. In 2012, China’s sports brand accounted for more than 80% on the overall proportion of the sports industry (Hu, 2015). The firms uses different marketing strategies to boost up their business in China and worldwide such as major sport events and sportsmen sponsorship. Chinese sports brand “Peak” Sponsored WTA Sydney Open Tennis Tournament and Mo Lila Hobart International Tournament. Erke Sponsored International Women’s Tennis Tour Sponsored Snooker China Open (Hu, 2015) etc. Moreover, brand ambassadors are also used. According to a news report, “Li Ning”, signed its first top-level star with NBA player Shaquille O’Neal in 2006 as well as the Swedish Olympic delegation and the Spanish and Argentinian basketball squads. Anta sponsors athletes including top women’s tennis players Zheng and Jelena Jankovic, while Xtep has a partnership with Birmingham City in the English Premier League (ChinaDaily). There is no doubt that the ambition of Chinese sport brands are at the peak level. They are trying different ways and methods to enter the international market. Apart from expanding the business, they are also transforming at the same time to ingratiate with the customer’s needs and expectations. Li Ning even changed its logo, slogan as well as with a more upscale product line-up (CKGSB).
On the other hand, Hong Kong, a British colony for over 150 years. Hong Kong people have long been exposed to, and fast to learn from, Western culture (Alex, Guijun, Fuan, Nan, 2003). It’s also a place which is full of brand followers. Brand conscious or brand awareness plays an important role in brand construction and brand recognition, which is regarded as the foundation for brand development. To some extent, brand awareness can directly influence consumers’ purchase intention (Wen & Zhang, 2013). According to a global online survey of 23,500 consumers in 42 countries conducted by ACNielsen in November 2005, Nearly half the Hong Kong online population is fans of designer brands and most after Gucci and Louis Vuitton among all. There is no doubt that Hong Kong people are brand conscious. If we look into the Hong Kong sports market, famous sports brand leads the market. Adidas was the Hong Kong leading Sportswear brand in 2015. The runner-ups are not other than Western sport brands (Euromonitor International).
As part of China, Chinese sport brands are striving to success in the Hong Kong market. However, very few succeed. According to the press release by (Xtep International Holding Limited), since 2012, Xtep has been the only sportswear brand appointed as the cooperative partner of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Providing running apparel to the 74,000 race participants from around the world. On the other hand, Li Ning, has closed its only shop in Hong Kong on September, 2011 (ChinaDaily). It is clear that Chinese sport brands are struggling and are facing hardships entering the Hong Kong sport industry.
According to this phenomenon, there will be lots of different opinions and perceptions for buying China’s sportswear. More than that, research indicates that Asian youth segment is an important market for products and social ideas. Young people love to consume and are conscious of their experience (Sproles and Kendall, 1986). They also have more disposable income (Sharma, 2002). Talking about brand consciousness, it is one of the eight mental orientation developed by (Sproles and Kendall, 1986). These eight mental orientation or Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) is part of the consumer decision making styles. Through CSI, we can understand which type of styles individual or groups adopts when making a purchase decision. There is a need of research Chinese sport brands along with the dimension of consumer behavior. Therefore, it is worth investigating how brand consciousness influences HK youth’s buying behavior towards Chinese sport brands.
1.2 Purpose of the study
As there are lack of information and researches discovering how Hong Kong people specifically Hong Kong youth feels towards Chinese sport brands. Though study has shown that Hong Kong people are brand conscious. The purpose of this study is to discover which decision-making style Hong Kong youth’s affects most when they purchase Chinese sports brand. More than that, this study will explore whether gender differences and income will affect the Hong Kong youth’s decision-making style towards purchasing Chinese sports brand. Finally, through these results and findings, Chinese sports brands would have an in-depth idea about the needs and expectations of the Hong Kong youth’s on Chinese sports brand.
1.3 Objectives
1. To identify Hong Kong youth consumer’s decision-making styles towards Chinese sport brands purchase.
2. To explore relationship of gender difference and Hong Kong youth decision-making styles towards Chinese sport brands purchase.
3. To explore the relationship of income differences and Hong Kong youth decision-making styles towards Chinese sport brands purchase.
4. To give suggestion or idea to Chinese sport brands for better brand development in Hong Kong.
1.4 Research question
This investigation attempts to answer the following research questions.
1. Is brand consciousness the most influential decision making style among Hong Kong youth towards Chinese sports brand purchase?
2. Is there any relationship between gender and decision making styles?
3. Is there any relationship between income and decision making styles?
1.5 Significance of the study
Consumer behavior is a very board study involving different elements components and processes. As for this study, it will focus on one of the main process which is the decision making styles. Adoption of CSI will help discover the most as well as the least important style which influences HK youth’s buying behavior towards Chinese sport brands. Apart from that, the exploration of gender and income differences regarding the CSI can provide a wider discussion of whether it will or will not affect decision making. Chinese sport brands can also take this research as a reference for better understanding of HK youth market in order to establish the right marketing strategy.
Chapter 2 Literature review
2.1 Hong Kong youth
First of all, “Youth” is best understood as a period of transition from he dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence and awareness of our interdependence as members of a community. Youth is a more fluid category than a fixed age-group ( UNESCO). The UN, for statistical consistency across regions, defines ‘youth’, as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States. However, as for this research investigation, due to the limited resources, the age group of youth is narrowed to between 18 to 14 year old. According to the latest public report (CENSUS, 2011), the total population of youth in Hong Kong by the date was 860,002 people which is 12.6% of the total population. Although the youth population does not play a big part in the total population of Hong Kong, among the world population of 1.8 billion youth aged 10 to 24, 1.0 billion which is 61% of the total world youth population, live in Asia (Nugent,2006), making the Asian youth segment an important target market for products as well as social ideas. Furthermore, Hong Kong is a major market with a distinct status as a world city and a long history of western influence (Fam and Waller, 2006).
2.2 Consumer behavior
“Consumer behavior” or in other word “buying behavior” refers to the selection, purchase and consumption of goods and services for the satisfaction of their wants (Rani, 2014). It can also be understood as “ the study of the processes involved when individual or group select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.” (Solomon, 2015). Consumer behavior is a no other than a process and it study plays a vital part to the businesses. Marketing personnel frequently do analysis on consumer buying behavior as well as the purchase decision in order to measure the business success and to predict the future trend (Kumar, et al, 2014). Consumer behavior involves numerous concepts and models from other scientific disciplines. Including psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology and economics (Schiffman, et al, 2001). There are lots diverse researches and literatures are established regarding consumer behavior. Paradigms in consumer research can be broadly classified as a set of fundamental assumptions that researchers make about what they are studying and how they study it (Kuhn, 1962). As mentioned, consumer behavior is a process. One of the main component within this process is decision making.
2.3 Consumer decision-making
Decision making is one of the key element while purchasing a goods. Understanding the buying decision making behavior of consumers is important for companies’ strategic marketing activities (Khan, Niazi, et al. 2012)
To further investigate the disciplinary of consumer decision making. It is important to understand the evolution of decision making models developed by different researchers throughout years. Four models of consumer which depict decision making in distinctly different way. These four models are: economic model, passive model, cognitive model and emotional model (Schiffman, et.al, 2001).
In economic man model, consumer is viewed as a rationalist who make rational decision in an economic sense in the world of perfect competition (Maynes, 1976). To behave rationally in the economic sense, consumer would have to be aware of all types of product alternatives. They need to have the knowledge of different products and are able to compare the advantages and disadvantages as well as benefits among all the alternatives. However, this model is criticized by researchers as consumers rarely have all the accurate information and is impossible to make rational decisions. The opposite of this model is the passive man model. Passive man model is unlike economic man. Consumers are viewed as impulsive and irrational purchasers. However, researchers argued that saying such statement is too extreme. Although consumers are not able to dominant in many buying situation, they can at least play an equal role.
Moving on to the cognitive man model, consumers are pictured as either receptive to, or actively seeking, products or services that fulfil their needs and enrich their lives (Schiffman, et.al, 2001). In the cognitive model, consumers are viewed as an information processing system. They are not able to be rational in the economic sense yet they try make the best decision they can.
The last model which is the emotional man model. It is a model which involves different feelings and emotions like joy, hope, fear, fantasy etc. These feelings plays a vital part among emotional driven consumers. Their purchase mostly occurs due to their feelings.
Although the above four models have different limitation as well as being criticized by different researchers, these four models provides a better understanding about the purchase decision made by different type of consumers. Apart from that, different style of decision making has been discovered through these models.
2.4 Decision making styles
Through the evolution of consumer decision making, researchers discovered different decision making styles. Decision making styles are essential to determine consumer behavior and are relatively constant over time and thus are significant for market segmentation. A consumer decision-making style is also defined as the way a person reacts overall to a purchase decision and it focuses more on the way a decision is made rather than on the actual person making the decision (Arroba, 1977; Thorelli et al., 1975). When consumers make decision while purchasing, they don’t really go through a complex of process. They just simply follow their conscious which they are more familiar with (Bettman, 1979).
Decision-making styles can be categorized into three approaches, which are psychographic approach, the consumer typology approach and the consumer characteristics approach. Psychographic approach identifies hundreds of characteristics related to consumer behavior; the consumer typology approach classifies consumers into several types; and the consumer characteristics approach focuses on different cognitive dimensions of consumer decision making (Sproles and Kendall, 1986). The strongest approach among these three in consumer study is the consumer characteristics approach which focuses on the metal orientation of consumers in making decisions (Tanksale, et.al, 2013). In conceptualizing these consumer decision-making styles, a model of eight mental orientated styles of consumer decision-making was established by (Sproles and Kendall, 1986). It is also likely to be called as the Consumer Style Inventory.
2.5 Consumer Style Inventory (CSI)
CSI measures the decision making styles through eight mental orientation. The eight mental orientations are: 1. Perfectionistic, high-quality conscious consumer 2. Brand conscious, “price equals quality” consumer 3. Novelty-fashion conscious consumer 4. Recreational, hedonistic consumer 5. Price conscious, “value-for-money” consumer 6. Impulsive, careless consumer 7. Confused by overchoice consumer 8. Habitual, brand-loyal consumer. The description of these Consumer Style Inventory are as following (table 1).
Decision-making Traits
Description
Perfectionism or high-quality consciousness
A characteristic which assesses the degree to which a consumer searches carefully and systematically for the highest or very best quality in products.
Brand consciousness
Measures a consumer’s orientation towards buying the more expensive and well-known brands in the belief that the higher price of a product is an indicator of better quality.
Novelty-fashion consciousness
A characteristic that identifies consumers who like new and innovative products and who gain excitement from searching new things.
Recreational, hedonistic consciousness
A characteristic which measures the degree to which a consumer finds shopping a pleasant activity and shops just for the fun of it.
Price conscious, and “value-for-money” shopping consciousness
A characteristic which identifies the consumers with a high consciousness of sale prices and lower prices in general. Impulsiveness A characteristic that identifies the consumers who like to buy
Impulsiveness
A characteristic that identifies the consumers who like to buy without thinking and who are careless about the amount of money they spend on buying the best things
Confused by overchoice
A characteristic which evaluates those who Know a lot of brands and stores and know where to buy, and thus they experience an information overload.
Habitual, brand-loyal
A characteristic which indicates consumers with their favorite brands and stores, and those who like to choose these things repetitively.
(Table 1, S.Azizi, 2012)
CSI has been widely used by researchers and it is been used to measure the consumer decision making styles in different countries including the USA (McDonald, 1994; Lysonski, Durvasula and Zotos, 1996), South Korea (Hafstrom, Chae and Chung, 1992), China (Fan and Xiao, 1998; Hiu, Siu, Wang and Chang, 2001; Siu, Wang, Chang and Hui, 2001), New Zealand (Durvasula, Lysonski and Andrews, 1993; Lysonski et al., 1996), Greece (Lysonski et al., 1996), India (Lysonski et al. 1996; Canabal, 2001; Patel, 2008), Germany (Walsh, Mitchell and Thurau, 2001; Walsh and Vincent, 2001), UK (Mitchell and Bates, 1998), South Africa (Radder, Li and Pietersen, 2006) and Turkey (Gonen and Ozmete, 2006; Kavas and Yesilada, 2007).
In the study of South Korea (Hafstrom, Chae and Chung, 1992), they found that five of the styles, Brand Consciousness, Quality Consciousness, Recreational Shopping Consciousness, Impulsiveness, and Confused-by-Overchoice were common in both Korean and U.S. cultures. Besides, they suggested an additional factor of Time/Energy Conserving.
All these studies varies some part of the CSI. Unfortunately, none of the above researches has successfully reproduce all eight mental orientation styles. Apart from that, the cross-cultural studies of CSI displayed that four consumer styles are relatively more applicable to different countries as suggested by the factor structure and reliability estimates of the factors. The four styles are quality conscious, brand conscious, fashion conscious and recreational conscious. Comparing the researches completed on this context within Asia continent, China (Fan & Xiao,1998), India (Canabal, 2002) and Korea (Hafstrometal, 1992) all shows that brand consciousness plays a role in decision making while consuming. As Hong Kong is a dynamic and a capitalism city in Asia, people around the word lives in Hong Kong. More than that, Hong Kong people enjoys different cultures such as Korean and Japanese. There will definitely have connections and similarities among the decision making styles particularly the brand consciousness. What more is according to (ACNielsen), it has been proven that Hong Kong people are brand conscious. It will be interesting to see which of the consumer decision making styles Hong Kong youth adopts.
Sproles and Kendall (1986) recommended using the inventory with different population groups to determine the generality of its applicability. Studies are also available regarding CSI in Hong Kong. However, there’s no study aiming particularly on the decision making styles in consuming Chinese sport brands among Hong Kong youth’s segment
2.6 Gender and income differences
Gender and income are both demographic variables which plays an essential role for marketing personnel for product positioning and promotions.
“Gender identity will be used to refer to the personality traits of masculinity and femininity, and gender role attitudes to refer to attitudinal differences regarding the roles, rights, and responsibilities of women and men”, (Fischer & Arnold 1994, p. 164). Gender differences do exist in purchase behavior and they purchase same products for different reasons (Dittmar, Beattie and Friese, 1996). Gender differences determines the characteristics of men and women during shopping. based on theory of nurture (Tingley & Robert 2000) explained the differences, men and women are both taught by the society about how a men or a women should be. For example, men are expected to be tough, strong and gentlemen to women. On the other hand, women are expected to be considerate, loving and warm. Therefore, in the same way, both men and women have different shopping or buying behavior.
As for income, it is somehow related to social class as because the people who belong to the same social class are approximately equal in income and social standings. They tend to have similar taste in music, clothing, leisure activities and art (Solomon, 2015). From this statement, it can be said that people from different social class have different views towards different things. Therefore, difference in income would have led to consumers have different type of decision making styles.
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Research design
There are two approach for research methodology which are quantitative approach and qualitative approach. In this study, quantitative approach was used to investigate how brand conscious influences Hong Kong youth’s buying behavior towards Chinese sport brands. Quantitative is an inquiry into an identified problem, based on testing with a theory, measured with numbers, and analyze using statistical techniques Creswell (1994). Besides, Clear documentation can be provided regarding the content and application of the survey instruments so that other researchers can assess the validity of the findings. As for qualitative approach, it can evaluate the issues and subjects covered in depth and in detail. Moreover, the data in qualitative research depends on human experience and which is more compelling and powerful. However, The reason for not using qualitative approach in this research is because it was time-consuming, difficult to general the results from the large population and lack of consistency in methods of data collection (Rick, 2009).
This study referenced the questionnaire developed by (Kwan, C.Y., 2014) which was an investigation on the factors affecting young Chinese consumer’s decision-making behavior towards casual wear purchase, which is similar to this study. (Kwan, C.Y., 2014) study was on a larger scale involving buying behavior, clothing choice criteria, consumer individual characteristics, environmental influences, consumer decision making styles and personal information. As for this study, only two part of the questionnaire was adopted. They are personal information and consumer decision making styles.
For personal information, it contains question of age, gender and monthly personal income. As for the consumer decision making styles, Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) developed by (Sproles and Kendall, 1986) is designed to measure consumer decision-making styles on eight mental orientation.
3.2 Selection of participants
Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire developed by (Kwan, C.Y., 2014) to investigate the influence of brand conscious as well as other decision making styles of Hong Kong youth’s towards Chinese sport brands. Questionnaires were distributed from 1st October, 2016 and were fully received by 20th November, 2016. All questionnaire participants were Hong Kong residence and were aged between 18 and 24 who had experience of purchasing Chinese sport brands.
3.3 Instrumentation
The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part is the personal information which contains three demographic question which are age, gender and personal monthly income.
As for the second part, it focus on the consumer’s decision making styles. The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) developed by (Sproles and Kendall, 1986) was broadly used in this section. The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) determines consumer’s decision making styles on eight mental orientation. The eight mental orientation are 1) perfectionistic and high-quality conscious; 2) brand conscious and price equals quality; 3) novelty and fashion-conscious; 4) recreational and hedonistic; 5) price conscious and value for money; 6) impulsive and careless; 7) confused by over choice and 8) habitual and brand-loyal. Participants were required to answer 38 questions surrounding all eight mental orientation in this section. Question 1-7 were about “perfectionistic and high-quality conscious”. Question 8-13 were about “brand conscious and price equals quality”. Question 14-17 were about “novelty and fashion-conscious”. Question 18-22 were about “recreational and hedonistic”. Question 23-26 were about “price and value consciousness”. Question 27-30 were measures “impulsiveness and carelessness”. Question 31-34 measures “confused by over-choice” and finally question 35-38 measures “habitual and brand-loyal”. Table(No.) provides a clear view of the question distribution regarding the CSI. Respondents were asked to indicate their degree of agreement with each statement on a five-point likert scale raking from “1- strongly disagree”, “2- disagree”, “3-neutral”, “4-agree” and “5-strongly agree”.
Question No.
CSI
1-7
perfectionistic and high-quality conscious
8-13
brand conscious and price equals quality
14-17
novelty and fashion-conscious
18-22
recreational and hedonistic
23-26
price and value consciousness
27-30
impulsiveness and carelessness
31-34
confused by over-choice
35-38
habitual and brand-loyal
(Table 2)
3.4 Pilot test
The pilot test was conducted on 15th September, 2016. The researcher distributed 10 questionnaires to university students who had experience of purchasing Chinese sport brands. Participants were first required to sign up an informed consent to explain the research purpose, procedures, compensation and potential benefits. After the completion of the questionnaire, participants provided useful feedbacks regarding the questionnaire questions. Chinese version of questionnaire and consent form were developed through the participants suggestions. Overall the participants thought the questions were easy to understand and was in the right level. However, respondents said that some demographic questions such as educational level, marital status and household income has no relationship between the decision making styles. Therefore, it was then deleted from the questionnaire. After the pilot test, the questionnaire was ready for distribution.
3.5 Data collection procedure
Convenient sampling method was used in this research. The reason for not adopting the random sampling method is due to the limited resources. Researcher was not able to have the list of population as random sampling selects participants from a list including the total population (Gravetter & Forzano, 2010). Therefore, the convenient sampling method was adopted.
Questionnaires were distributed at the Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok from 1st October, 2016 to 20th November, 2016. The reason for choosing Fa Yuen Street for questionnaire distribution is because it is located in Mong Kong, Kowloon side, one of the busiest place in Hong Kong. Fa Yuen Street can be also called as Sneakers Street as it is famous for various number of sneakers and sport stores. Stores from Eastern to Western, famous to local, can be found on this street. It is a very busy spot in Hong Kong and the young generation loves to hang around in this area, which is a perfect location to distribute and collect data.
Before conducting the questionnaire, researcher first confirmed the age of the participants, experience of purchasing Chinese sport brands and is a Hong Kong resident. Afterwards, the participant was then required to read and sign the informed consent regarding the research purpose, procedures, compensation and potential benefits before moving on to answer the questionnaire.
The questionnaire is a combination of two parts. The first part is about the participant personal information. As for the second part, it is a mixture of questions regarding the decision making styles through CSI which was developed by (Sproles and Kendall, 1986).
3.6 Procedure of data analysis
The data received were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 24). First the researcher performed descriptive analysis to calculate the mean as well as the standard deviation among the 8 decision making styles. Independent T-test was performed to examine the difference of gender on decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands purchase. Finally, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify the difference of income affecting decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands purchase.
The P value was set at 0.05 to check the data for statistic significant. P value was below 0.05 was determined as statistically significant. On the other hand, P value over 0.05 was determined as statistically not significant.
Chapter 4 Result
4.1 Demographic descriptives
Age (Table 3)
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid
18
14
14.0
14.0
14.0
19
16
16.0
16.0
30.0
20
13
13.0
13.0
43.0
21
19
19.0
19.0
62.0
22
12
12.0
12.0
74.0
23
17
17.0
17.0
91.0
24
9
9.0
9.0
100.0
Total
100
100.0
100.0
(Table no.1)
Gender (Table 4)
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid
male
49
49.0
49.0
49.0
female
51
51.0
51.0
100.0
Total
100
100.0
100.0
(table no.2)
monthly income (Table 5)
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid
201-500
7
7.0
7.0
7.0
501-1000
12
12.0
12.0
19.0
1001-1500
13
13.0
13.0
32.0
1501-2000
10
10.0
10.0
42.0
2001-3000
7
7.0
7.0
49.0
5001-10000
6
6.0
6.0
55.0
10001-15000
12
12.0
12.0
67.0
15001-20000
15
15.0
15.0
82.0
20001-30000
11
11.0
11.0
93.0
30001-40000
7
7.0
7.0
100.0
Total
100
100.0
100.0
According to table 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3, there were a total of 100 participants (n=100) from the sample. All the respondent were aged between 18 and 24 years. Majority of the respondents were age of 19 (19%) and the least participated age respondent were 24 years (9%). Both male and female were involved in the study with 49 male (n=49) and 51 female (n=51). Apart from that, respondent’s income varies from HKD 201-500 (n=7) to HKD 30,001- HKD 40,000 (n=7) the majority of respondent’s income was between HKD 15,001- HKD 20,000 (15%).
4.2 Descriptive statistic of HK youth’s eight mental orientation styles
Descriptive Statistics (Table 6)
N
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
PC
100
2.86
4.14
3.5343
.23646
BC
100
3.17
5.00
4.2733
.31740
NFC
100
2.00
4.50
3.2375
.77718
RHC
100
2.40
4.40
3.5040
.35332
PVC
100
1.50
4.50
3.0142
.92197
IC
100
1.75
4.50
3.1400
.62393
CO
100
1.50
3.75
2.6175
.49423
HBO
100
2.75
13.50
3.6675
1.03417
Valid N (listwise)
100
PC=Perfectionism Consciousness; BC= Brand Conscious; NFC+ Novelty and Fashion Conscious; RHC= Recreational and Hedonistic Conscious; PVC= Price and Value Conscious; IC= Impulsiveness and Carelessness; CO= Confused by Over choice; HBO= Habitual and Brand Loyal Orientation
Referring to table no.4, the descriptive statistic displayed that “brand conscious” got the highest mean rate from other styles. Brand conscious had the mean rate of 4.27. It is the highest among other decision making styles. Perfectionism Consciousness and recreational and hedonistic consciousness both have very close mean which are 3.53 and 3.50. The decision making style which has the lowest mean rate is “confused by over choice”, the mean rate is 2.62.
Find discussion on the descriptive statistic of HK youth’s eight mental orientation styles in chapter 5.1.
4.3 Relationship between gender differences and Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands. (Table 7)
P< 0.05 = significance
PC=Perfectionism Consciousness; BC= Brand Conscious; NFC= Novelty and Fashion Conscious; RHC= Recreational and Hedonistic Conscious; PVC= Price and Value Conscious; IC= Impulsiveness and Carelessness; CO= Confused by Over choice; HBO= Habitual and Brand Loyal Orientation
According to table 4.5, the independent T-test was used to analyze the relationship between gender differences and Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands. The result indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between gender and Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles. (Perfectionism Consciousness- P= 0.835, Brand Conscious- P=0.196, Novelty and Fashion Conscious- P=0.972, = Recreational and Hedonistic Conscious- P= 0.159, Price and Value Conscious- P=0.711, Impulsiveness and Carelessness- P= 0.502, Confused by Over choice- P= 0.544, Habitual and Brand Loyal Orientation- P= 0.180). Thus, gender differences would not affect Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands.
4.4 Relationship between income differences and Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands.
Table 8
P< 0.05 = significance
PC=Perfectionism Consciousness; BC= Brand Conscious; NFC= Novelty and Fashion Conscious; RHC= Recreational and Hedonistic Conscious; PVC= Price and Value Conscious; IC= Impulsiveness and Carelessness; CO= Confused by Over choice; HBO= Habitual and Brand Loyal Orientation
According to table 4.6, the ANOVA test was performed to analyze the relationship between income and Hong Kong youth decision making styles. There were a total of 17 income options which were 200 or below; 201-500; 501-1,000; 1,001-1,500; 1,501-2,000; 2,001-3,000; 3,001-5,000; 5,001-10,000; 10,001-15,000; 15,001-20,000; 20,001-30,000; 30,001-40,000; 40,001-50,000; 50,001-60,000; 60,001-70,000; 70,001-80,000; and 80,001 or above. The results indicated that six of the decision making styles were statistically significant (Perfectionism Consciousness- P=0.000, Brand Conscious- P= 0.026, Novelty and Fashion Conscious- P= 0.000, Price and Value Conscious- P= 0.000, Confused by Over choice- P= 0.000). Therefore, income would affect these six decision making styles of Hong Kong youth in purchasing Chinese sport brand. However, two decision making styles were found statistically insignificant (Recreational and Hedonistic Conscious- P= 0.102, Habitual and Brand Loyal Orientation- P= 0.821), which will not be affected by income.
5.1. Find discussion on the relationship between income differences and Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands in chapter 5.3.
In most traditions, the shopping activity is regarded as the female affair, but when it comes to clothing, every individual is involved. The Hong Kong youths, just like any other youths in the world follows the same trend. The results imply that brand and perfectionism consciousness in youths have different significance levels of 0.196 and 0.835 respectively which is an indication that decision making highly depends on perfectionism when compared to brand option. The way youths make decisions vary but for the youths in Hong Kong is quite different when it comes to Chinese sportswear. The data from the research reflects that there is no much difference in the gender buying of the Chinese sportswear among the Hong Kong youths. The result indicates that even though the youths share the same trend of purchasing, some issues bring the difference in purchasing style like the checking on the quality, and the level of recreation fitness of the sportswear. Among the Hong Kong youths, female gender appears to be much keen on these issues compared to the males. (Fischer & Arnold, 1990). The result also indicates that female youths in Hong Kong spends much time in the Chinese sportswear house than men and are likely to fail to buy anything as they still require assistance to make such kind of decision on what sportswear to go for. It also indicates that female Hong Kong youth prefers more expensive Chinese sportswear compared to the male youths. Even though female spent much time in the sportswear shops, in most cases men spent much money on buying than the female.
The study also reflects that both the male and female youths are always ready to inquire about the new products equally. The research shows that both the sexes require to something trendy equally regardless of the gender. The Chinese sportswear reflection on the brands also has an influence on the decision of the Hong Kong youths. The female youths are much interested in the following of the sportswear brands compared to the ladies. The study has indicated that both the male and females like the t-shirts in an equivalent manner. The youths will buy the Chinese sports t-shirts in the way regardless of the quality and the brand name. The research reflects the increasing number of the girls in Hong Kong buying more frequent than the previous years as a result of the expanding sports in the world and some increasing female participation in sports. The research has identified that most Hong Kong female youths even though not associated with high social affiliations, they happen to be much involved in buying the Chinese sportswear more frequent across the social stratification. The results also indicate that gender plays a role in the most of the products the Chinese sportswear, as the men are more male youths prefers other Chinese sportswear compared the females apart from the T-shirt they both share almost equally in terms buying. The sportswear especially the tracks are more often taken by the male youths
Chapter 5 Discussion
5.1 Descriptive statistic of HK youth’s eight mental orientation styles
Based on the real search conducted on the preference of Chinese brands, it is important to note that the Hong Kong youths have different motivate factors that make them consume the Chinese sport brands. This is based on the factors like the level of income, gender and the age of these youths. It is therefore clear that the taste and preference of the youths will always be affected by the factors that varies across age gender and the income level.
The research was conducted in a controlled environment where the primary source of data was easily obtained. In this case, the research will help the production companies to know their level of production and the specific groups to target when they are taking a study of the market. This will help them to make maximum profit by producing the products that are purchased more by the youths (Kwan etal, 2004). In this case, there is a need to produce more female designed Chinese brand than the male ones. The research will also be used for future academic reference on the market structure.
The depth of the research is based on a critical analysis and the use of statistically designed program that reveal in depth analysis of the data (Chan and Leung, 2012). Therefore, the use of SPSS in the data analysis shows the level of reliability that the research can be graded. This also provides an accurate record that is important to be stored for academic purposes. In this case, the project achieved its desired goals and objective of studying the market trend and ensuring a well presented way of taking a market study. It will hence help to make the companies aware of the emerging trends in the market and use it for marketing strategies.
5.2 Relationship between gender differences and Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands.
In most traditions, decision making decision making in regards to shopping preferences is regarded as a female affair, but when it comes to Chinese sport brands, every individual is involved as implicated in the previous researches on the topic. The Hong Kong youths, just like any other youths in the world follows the same trend. The way youths make decisions vary but for the youths in Hong Kong is quite different when it comes to Chinese sportswear. The data from the research reflects that there is no much difference in the gender buying of the Chinese sportswear among the Hong Kong youths. The result indicates that even though the youths share the same trend of purchasing, some issues bring the difference in purchasing style like the checking on the quality, and the level of recreation fitness of the sportswear.
Among the Hong Kong youths, female gender appears to be much keen on these issues compared to the males. (Fischer & Arnold, 1990). The result also indicates that female youths in Hong Kong spends much time in the Chinese sportswear house than men and are likely to fail to buy anything as they still require assistance to make such kind of decision on what sportswear to go for. It also indicates that female Hong Kong youth prefers more expensive Chinese sportswear compared to the male youths. Even though female spent much time in the sportswear shops, in most cases men spent much money on buying than the female (SHARMA & LECTURER, 2011)
The study also reflects that both the male and female youths are always ready to inquire about the new products equally. The research shows that both the sexes require to something trendy equally regardless of the gender. The Chinese sportswear reflection on the brands also has an influence on the decision of the Hong Kong youths. The female youths are much interested in the following of the sportswear brands compared to the ladies.
The study has indicated that both the male and females like the t-shirts in an equivalent manner. The youths will buy the Chinese sports t-shirts in the way regardless of the quality and the brand name. The research reflects the increasing number of the girls in Hong Kong buying more frequent than the previous years as a result of the expanding sports in the world and some increasing female participation in sports. The research has identified that most Hong Kong female youths even though not associated with high social affiliations, they happen to be much involved in buying the Chinese sportswear more frequent across the social stratification.
The findings also indicate that gender plays a role in the most of the products the Chinese sportswear, as the men are more male youths prefers other Chinese sportswear compared the females apart from the T-shirt they both share almost equally in terms buying. The sportswear especially the tracks are more often taken by the male youths (Chan, 2006).
5.3 Relationship between income differences and Hong Kong youth’s decision making styles towards Chinese sport brands.
The research reflects that the Hong Kong youths’ purchasing power varies greatly depending on the level of income. The research findings indicate that the Hong Kong youths from low-level income tend to purchase higher than the highest income earners. The data show that the averagely high middle-income youths have the highest purchasing power towards the Chinese sports brands. The results also reflect that the highest income earners do not purchase much of the Chinese sportswear; this is an indication of economic behavior as stated by (Maynes, 1976).
It can also be deduced from the research findings that the purchasing power among Hong Kong youths entirely depends on the social class. The low-level income class, that is to say, the lower social class happens to do much of the shopping of the Chinese sports wears. The study has also provided the information about the gender and the income purchasing ability. It indicates that female youths with high-income level income buy much of the Chinese brands compared to male counterparts. It is also reflected in the frequency of shopping whereby male Hong Kong youths are staggering behind as the female youths lead them with 51% and 49% respectively. According to (Solomon, 2015), the male youths are expected to buy much of the sportswear as compared to the ladies as the sports affiliation is much of a man activity than the females. It is probably not the case in Hong Kong where ladies does much of it compared to the male,(Maynes, 1976).
The study reflects that Hong Kong youths also have preferences depending on the level of income. The data reflect that most of the youths will consider what kind of the wear to have as per the amount they earn, for instance, the highest level income earners happens not to buy much of the Chinese sportswear, is an indication that the preference is much of the influence of the level of income. The level of income also reflects on the quality of the wear an individual will go for. The Hong Kong youths especially low-income earners prefer the quality of the Chinese sportswear, and that is reflected in the number of the frequencies they buy the Chinese sportswear. According to (Kendall 1986), the level of income is the major determinant of what an individual aspires to achieve or have. The Hong Kong youths also happen to have the same reflection on the way they make their purchasing plan.
The reflection from the research shows similarities from the previous research that were carried out in china, comparing the way the Chinese youths perceive the international products in their country and how they respond in buying the clothing especially from Europe.(Wang & Hui,2004).
Chapter 6 Conclusion
The research shows key aspects of the findings as identified through consumer style inventory. Consumer behavior plays a major role in the acquisition and decision making process. The youths are faced with a range of priorities that prompt the decisions they are likely to make before acquiring the sport brand. The study shows no significant influence of gender on sports brands Purchase. Both males and female almost have the same psychographic influences thus making the same decisions. A section is perfectionists; they expect the best quality, while a few more are recreational; consumers that find shopping pleasant. A good number of correspondents are brand conscious in that they believe that much known and more expensive brand is a an indicator of best quality. A significant number are price conscious while a few others are habitual buyers. Impulse buying is also a factor to consider as the youth would literally spend on a product they had not planned for. As Hong Kong is a dynamic and a capitalism city in Asia, people around the word lives in Hong Kong. In the sports market, there exists brand loyalty amongst customers. Brand loyalty is evident on the international stage with individuals only associating with certain brands. The love for a variety of cultures in Hong Kong, connects similarities among the decision making styles particularly the brand consciousness. Hong Kong people have been proven as brand conscious and it will be interesting to see which of the consumer decision making styles Hong Kong youth adopts. Decision making in the market is however dependent on customers’ level of income. A sport brand potential customer will only acquire a good that matches his/her financial ability. Financial constraints are sometimes underrated and people tend to admire and live beyond their means. This has led to production of poor quality goods to serve the appetite of low end customers. The findings of this study lay brand recognition and literatures by understanding and interpreting the factors that affect consumer market.
Contrary to popular belief, gender plays a very unnoticeable role in the sport brand market. Statistics show that there is no significant difference in the composition of gender in making decisions. In addition to the research results, women, generally fancy fashion and hare more intrigued by fashion than men. They also find excitement in shopping and acquiring new things. This is also evident on this research indicated by the slight margin of a bigger female correspondence. To marketers doing branding in China, they should have customer perception towards their brand in mind while doing advertisements for their brand. The sport Brand should expand its services online as more youth spend most of their time on the internet than any other age group. Lastly, lack of homogeneity in the Chinese market makes it difficult to understand the different groups in different regions. To counter this, the Chinese Sports Brand needs to segment its market effectively and introduce market policies that will promote their sports brand to a wider market within and beyond the borders.
References
Fischer, E., & Arnold, S. J. (1990). More than a labor of love: Gender roles and Christmas gift shopping. Journal of consumer research, 17(3), 333-345.
Wang, C. L., Siu, N. Y., & Hui, A. S. (2004). Consumer decision-making styles on domestic and imported brand clothing. European Journal of Marketing, 38(1/2), 239-252.
Maynes, E. S. (1976). The concept and measurement of product quality. In Household production and consumption (pp. 529-584). NBER.
Chan, K. (2006). Young consumers and perception of brands in Hong Kong: a qualitative study. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 15(7), 416-426.
SHARMA, D. P. M., PATHAN, R., & LECTURER, S. (2011). Factors Effecting Purchase Decision of Branded Sports Accessories With Special Reference to Reebok. CHIEF PATRON CHIEF PATRON.
Kwan, C.Y., Yeung, K.W. and Au, K.F., 2008. Relationships between consumer decision- making styles and lifestyle characteristics: Young fashion consumers in China. Journal of the Textile Institute, 99(3), pp.193-209.
Kwan, C.Y., Yeung, K.W. and Au, K.F., 2004. Decision-making behaviour towards casual wear buying: A study of young consumers in Mainland China. Journal of Management & World Business Research, 1(1), pp.1-10.
Zhou, J.X., Arnold, M.J., Pereira, A. and Yu, J., 2010. Chinese consumer decision-making styles: A comparison between the coastal and inland regions. Journal of Business Research, 63(1), pp.45-51.
Vitell, S.J., 2003. Consumer ethics research: Review, synthesis and suggestions for the future. Journal of business ethics, 43(1-2), pp.33-47.
Lin, L., Xi, D. and Lueptow, R.M., 2013. Public face and private thrift in Chinese consumer behaviour. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 37(5), pp.538-545.
Kwan, C.Y., 2006. An investigation on the factors affecting young Chinese consumers’ decision- making behaviour towards casual wear purchase(Doctoral dissertation, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University).
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Appendix 3. SPSS Outputs
Age
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid
18
14
14.0
14.0
14.0
19
16
16.0
16.0
30.0
20
13
13.0
13.0
43.0
21
19
19.0
19.0
62.0
22
12
12.0
12.0
74.0
23
17
17.0
17.0
91.0
24
9
9.0
9.0
100.0
Total
100
100.0
100.0
gender
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid
male
49
49.0
49.0
49.0
female
51
51.0
51.0
100.0
Total
100
100.0
100.0
monthly income
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
N=100
201-500
7
7.0
7.0
7.0
501-1000
12
12.0
12.0
19.0
1001-1500
13
13.0
13.0
32.0
1501-2000
10
10.0
10.0
42.0
2001-3000
7
7.0
7.0
49.0
5001-10000
6
6.0
6.0
55.0
10001-15000
12
12.0
12.0
67.0
15001-20000
15
15.0
15.0
82.0
20001-30000
11
11.0
11.0
93.0
30001-40000
7
7.0
7.0
100.0
Total
100
100.0
100.0
Descriptive Statistics
N
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
PC
100
2.86
4.14
3.5343
.23646
BC
100
3.17
5.00
4.2733
.31740
NFC
100
2.00
4.50
3.2375
.77718
RHC
100
2.40
4.40
3.5040
.35332
PVC
100
1.50
4.50
3.0142
.92197
IC
100
1.75
4.50
3.1400
.62393
CO
100
1.50
3.75
2.6175
.49423
HBO
100
2.75
13.50
3.6675
1.03417
Valid N (listwise)
100
Group Statistics
gender
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error Mean
PC
male
49
3.5394
.20879
.02983
female
51
3.5294
.26232
.03673
BC
male
49
4.2313
.33301
.04757
female
51
4.3137
.29935
.04192
NFC
male
49
3.2347
.80105
.11444
female
51
3.2402
.76151
.10663
RHC
male
49
3.4531
.37143
.05306
female
51
3.5529
.33127
.04639
PVC
male
49
3.0493
.96614
.13802
female
51
2.9804
.88578
.12403
IC
male
49
3.0969
.57240
.08177
female
51
3.1814
.67283
.09421
CO
male
49
2.5867
.48291
.06899
female
51
2.6471
.50788
.07112
HBO
male
49
3.5255
.25127
.03590
female
51
3.8039
1.42066
.19893
37
