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Procedia Economics and Finance 35 (2016) 632 – 638
7th International Economics & Business Management Conference, 5th & 6th October 2015
Consumer Attitude and Uniqueness towards International Products
Nor Hazlin Nor Asshidinª * Nurazariah Abidina , Hafizzah Bashira Borhanb
ªDepartment Management & Human Resources, University Tenaga Nasional, Pahang Malaysia
b
School of Business and Law, PTPL College, Pulau Pinang Malaysia
Abstract
Product quality is rapidly becoming an important competitive issue. In addition, several surveys have voiced consumers'
dissatisfaction with the existing levels of quality and service of the products they buy. In a recent study of the business units of
major International companies, managers ranked “producing to high quality standards” as their chief current concern. This paper
is to examine the relationship of individual characteristics (i.e., consumer’s need for uniqueness and attitudes toward international
products.) Samples for this study were 320 consumers at Suria KLCC (Suria Kuala Lumpur City Centre) was chosen randomly and
analyzed using SPSS. This study finds that Malaysian consumers’ need for uniqueness positively influences attitudes toward
international products.
© 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-reviewed
underresponsibility
responsibility
Universiti
Tenaga
Nasional.
of of
Universiti
Tenaga
Nasional
Peer-reviewed under
Keywords: need for uniqueness, atttitudes toward international product
1. Introduction
National economics of the world has been transited by globalization to the growing global market represented by
the global community. Markets are no longer identified by national division; in fact they are being treated as a single
entity with numerous opportunities for marketers to explore. In conjunction with this process, globalization has enable
people to enjoy multinational products made available with better production technologies and through foreign
investments (Khare and Handa, 2011). As a result, target customers in markets worldwide are exposed to and are
selecting from a wider range of foreign products than ever before (Kamaruddin et al., 2002). Due to this rising
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 09-4552020; fax: 09-4552000.
E-mail address: [email protected]
2212-5671 © 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-reviewed under responsibility of Universiti Tenaga Nasional
doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(16)00077-0
Nor Hazlin Nor Asshidin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 35 (2016) 632 – 638
consumption all over the world, global marketers intensify their efforts to capture markets that are emerging to satisfy
increasing transitional of consumers’ desire and needs. Consumers choose products and brands to receive emotional
benefits (e,g display of status, wealth and prestige) as well as utilitarian benefits (e.g, quality and low price). Using
international brands to exhibit one’s social standing is more prominent in developing countries where higher income
disparities and status mobility exist. The brands qualified as global in the media are those that have the same name,
as well as a visual expression and identity as similar as possible across the world (the following brands are good
examples: Coca-Cola, Dior, Samsung , Apple, Twix, L’Oreal, McDonalds). However, the strategy of total
globalization of the international brand is not a one to be followed by every business model, and globalization may be
selective to better serve consumers.
This research builds on the work of Kumar et al., (2009) which examined the effects of few antecedents on purchase
intention toward a U.S retail brand versus a local brand. Kumar (2009) found that individual characteristics (i.e.,
consumer’s need for uniqueness and attitudes toward international products). Like Kumar et al., (2009) this research
examines the effects of those antecedents in Malaysian context. The research departs from Kumar et al., (2009) by
using popular food and beverages brand to measure the effects of individual characteristics and brand-specific
variables. It intends to investigate the relationship between consumer attitude and uniqueness towards international
products.
2. Literature Review
Consumers acquire and display material possessions for the purpose of feeling differentiated from other people
and, thus, are targeted with a variety of marketing stimuli that attempt to enhance self-perceptions of uniqueness.
Because the pursuit of differentness (or counter conformity motivation) varies across individuals to influence
consumer responses, we develop and validate a trait measure of consumers’ need for uniqueness. Consumers' need
for uniqueness is defined as an individual’s pursuit of differentness relative to others that is achieved through the
acquisition, utilization, and disposition of consumer goods for the purpose of developing and enhancing one’s personal
and social identity. According Perner L, (2010) Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s (1) beliefs about,
(2) feelings about, (3) and behavioral intentions toward some object-within the context of marketing, usually a brand
or retail store. These components are viewed together since they are highly interdependent and together represent
forces that influence how the consumer will react to the object.
2.1 Need for uniqueness
Each individual is unique (Ghazali et al., 2008) and individuals may wish to see themselves as different from others
(Kumar et al., 2009). The separation identity or a need for uniqueness (NFU) desire by consumers is understood to be
a universal consumer characteristic (Tian et al., 2001). In order to alleviate identity threat, individuals tend to engage
on self-distinguishing behaviors, and need for uniqueness refers to the trait of pursuing differences relative to others.
A study by reported that, Chinese middle-class group use luxury brands to establish their uniqueness because luxury
products are scarce possessions in China. Only a tiny fraction of consumers in China can afford to spend several
thousand of RMB on a bag or a pair of shoes. The exclusivity in ownership of luxury brands suggests products scarcity
and uniqueness. Besides, situations where individuals see themselves as highly similar to others in their social
environment have threaten their self-perception of uniqueness thus creating the need to see one self as being different
from others.
Consequently, the need for uniqueness among consumers; defined as the trait of pursuing differentness relative to
others is realized through the acquisition, utilization, and disposition of consumer goods in order to enhance one’s
self-inage and social image (Tian et al., 2001). Consumer’s need for uniqueness is pointed out in three behavioral
dimensions:
(1) Creative choice counter-conformity;
Creative chocie counter-conformity demonstrates how consumer seeks social differentness from most others but
makes selections which are expected to be considered as good choices by others (Tian et al., 2001).
(2) Unpopular choice counter-conformity
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Unpopular choice counter-conformity refers to the use of products and brands which diverge from the norms of the
group, thus risking consumers with social disapproval while displaying differentness from others. Nonetheless,
unpopular counter-conformity may also result in an enhanced self-image as well as social image, as observed in the
dimension of creative choice counter-conformity (Tian et al., 2001). These consumers are not concerned about
criticism from other; in fact they tend to make purchase decisions that others might consider to be bizarre (Simonson
and Nowlis, 2000).
(3) Avoidance of similarity
Simonson and Nowlis (2000) argued that the need for uniqueness can yield a significant effect on a consumer’s
purchase decisions. Consumers’ success in creating a unique self-image and social image is often short lived thus
causing disposition and discontinued product use or purchase to avoid similarity to others. This is due to the fact that
consumers’ creative choices may contribute to one’s uniqueness and in turn attract followers who seek to develop or
share the specialness (Tian et al., 2001).
A recent study by Miremadi et al., (2011) investigated the possible effect of need for uniqueness’s dimensions on
fashion luxury brands purchase intentions in the case of Iran and UAE. The uniqueness in both markets is defined in
a same order with respect to three dimensions above: creative choice, similarity avoidance, and unpopular choice.
Findings indicate that the dimensions are respectively important for respondents of both markets, and these consumers
want to express their individuality and also they have the aspiration to maintain social norms.
Some researchers have attempted to draw the rise of need for uniqueness in the context of developing country.
Consumers’ desire to look different is demonstrated through their purchase of brands which enhance self-image.
Global brands are increasingly being adopted among consumers in developing countries as a means to communicate
self-identity. While people can feel lost in a crowd, the use of novel products can create an identity and allows
recognition. The current interest for marketers is young consumers since they represent the global consumer in search
of self-discovery (Khare and Handa, 2011). In another work, researcher studied the need for uniqueness as an
individual characteristic which precedes consumers’ self-expression attitude toward luxury brands and self-expression
and their significance on purchase intention for luxury brands, directly and indirectly through affective attitude (Bian,
2010).
2.2 Consumer attitude
As to attitude, it pertains to a person’s tendency toward an object or an idea and his/her value evaluations and
feelings about something. The impact of country image on the consumers’ perception of products has been widely
studied. Consumer and marketing researchers have extended significant effort to have a better understanding of such
perceptual decisions that are framed by consumers (Ayyildiz and Cengiz, 2007) First of all, country image has been
reported as an attribute to evaluate products among consumers (Johansson et al., 1985; Hong and Wyer, 1990).
Secondly, country image can influence consumers’ attention and evaluation of other products’ dimensions by creating
a ‘halo effect’ (Erickson et al., 1984). Thirdly, it is also found that instead of through attribute ratings, country image
may directly affect consumers’ attitudes towards the brand of a country through country stereotyping (Wright, 1975).
Consumer purchase preferences also are more likely to be influenced by the country in which the product is made
than by the manufacturing company’s national origin (Kamaruddin et al., 2002). note: “. . .in the study of preferences,
we cannot hope to write models that focus on object attributes alone . . . ”. They propose that patriotic responses
toward domestic products or against foreign products may lead to behavioral responses. Factors such as ethnocentrism,
feelings of national pride, and personal experience of the global vision may also influence attitude toward a foreign
product.
Nowadays, more companies are competing on the global market, and these companies manufacture their products
worldwide and the location where they manufacture the products might affect the perception of the consumer on the
quality of the products based on the country where the product is produced (Ghazali et al., 2008). Many USA brands
and products are promoted overseas as representative of an international culture of equality, individualism, freedom,
and progressive ideals. Brands such as Levi’s and Marlboro advertise their products in a typical international cultural
context of individualism and freedom and consequently have substantial market success overseas. Thus, consumer
perceptions on the country of origin effect play a major role in influencing a consumers’ choice of a product (Ghazali
Nor Hazlin Nor Asshidin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 35 (2016) 632 – 638
et al., 2008). Since consumers perceive certain country to be highly competent, they might have favorable evaluations
of products from that specific country. Furthermore, a consumer may carry different and particular impression of
products from America.
Research on evaluation of foreign products has found that inferences about the producing country affect perceptions
of a product’s attributes (Kamaruddin et al., 2002). In a study by Ghazali et al. (2008), in investigating Malaysian
consumers’ perception through products and country of origin effects; they had discovered that respondents perceived
international products to be of higher product quality compared to Malaysian products. Malaysian products are still
regarded with skepticism by local consumer even though the products were being produced in high quality in actual.
The study also shows that as a country becomes more developed economically, the products that it produces will be
perceived to be of a higher and better quality.
Existing research on “country-of-origin” has contributed substantial knowledge of consumer attitudes in various
countries towards foreign products and corresponding marketing strategies. Furthermore, it has provided considerable
insights into the importance of such knowledge for the determination of successful international marketing strategies.
2.3 Purchase intention
An individual's behavioral intention depends on his or her attitude towards the behavior and the subjective norms
associated with the behavior. Among the many different questions pertinent to consumer behavior, one of the most
difficult to explain is why a consumer makes a particular purchase, since such answers are seldom simple or clear.
However, the question is crucial since a firm needs to know what really triggers a consumer to purchase a product
(Ghazali et al., 2008). The concept of buying intentions reflects consumers’ foreseeable behavior in short term future
buying decisions. Purchase intention is one of a very small set of variables that find routine application in consumer
research investigations undertaken for a variety of different purposes (e.g., new product concept and copy tests;
segmentation and tracking studies) and covering a broad range of products and services. For instances, what products
or brand the consumer will buy on his or her next shopping trip. More specifically, buying intention is a future
projection of consumers’ behavior that will significantly contribute to the configuration of attitudes.
Purchase intentions are frequently used to forecast sales of existing products and services. While, previous studies
have shown that intention is one of the predictive of sales. Besides, the measurements of purchase intentions have
been pervasive in modern marketing. Market research firms often use purchase intentions to forecast new products’
sales potential. Moreover, purchase intention measures have been used frequently to identify products buying
probability within defined time periods.
Purchase intentions have been recognized as a part of consumer behaviors. Therefore, firm needs to identify what
makes a consumer wants to purchase a product. Consumer purchase behavior may change from time to time due to
factors such as social lifestyles, country’s industrialization and influence of globalization that might have affected
their judgment towards the products.
Purchase behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products. Consumer
behavior is defined as the study of the buying units and the exchange processes involved in acquiring, consuming, and
disposing of goods, services, experiences and ideas. Consumer behavior can be defined as the behavior that consumers
display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing products and services that they expect will satisfy
their needs. It is an interdisciplinary science that involved psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural
anthropology and economic concepts.
3.0 Methodology
A convenience sample of 350 consumers at Suria KLCC (Suria Kuala Lumpur City Centre) was chosen randomly
among the total population. Sample is mixed between male and female respondents with range of age between 20 to
50 years old consumers. The selected consumers does not include foreign consumers; as the study is aimed at
comparing international products and local products. There is no specific clustering in choosing samples as
respondents were approached in multiple classes regardless of courses and schools they belong to.
Questionnaires were divided into two parts. The first part was to retrieve profile information of the respondents;
consists of four questions such as gender, age, level of education and Income level. The second part of the
questionnaire measures items for individual characteristics which are; need for uniqueness and attitudes toward
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international products. All items measured are the independent and dependent variables and was rated on a 5-point
Likert type scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
4.0 Findings
4.1 Survey response rate
A total of 350 questionnaires were distributed and 320 or 91% were collected from respondents. Upon data
screening process, 30 questionnaires had to be discarded due to incomplete response that resulted in missing data.
According to Hair et. al (1995), missing data can affect the generalizability of the results in research. Furthermore,
when data have many missing values because of people refusing to answer questions, it may be difficult, it is not
impossible, to draw correct conclusions. Therefore, only complete response will be regarded as complete data and in
this research, 236 questionnaires available for data analysis.
4.2 Demographics profile
From the total number of 236 respondents, majority of respondents were female; 155 or 66 per cent while another
81 or 34 per cent are male respondents.
Majority of the respondents were age of 26 to 35 years old which constitutes 216 or 92 per cent of the total
participants. 7.2 per cent of the respondents or 17 of them are from 2 to 36 to 45 years old, while 0.8 per cent or only
2 of respondents are of the age of 46 to 55 years old. Only 1 respondent that aged older than 56 years old with
accounted only 0.4 per cent from the total respondents.
In addition, about 89.4 per cent or 211 respondents are degree holder and 8.9 per cent or 21 respondents are pursuing
master program. Only 4 respondents or 1.7 per cent are PHD holders.
Data collected showed that majority of respondents level of income is more than RM6, 000 per month, which
constitutes 72 per cent or 170 from total respondents. Other than that, 33 of total respondent’s level income are more
than RM10, 000 per month, which mount up to 14 per cent. While the rest consumer’s level of income is below than
RM 5,000 per month, which contribute about 13.99% or 33 from total respondents.
4.3 Reliability
As presented in Table 1 below, the overall coefficient alpha scores exceed 0.6 whereby the value can be
accumulated to 0.8 in average. Hence, the instruments that have been used for measuring various variables in this
study were reliable.
Table 1: Reliability
Variables
Cronbach's Alpha (n=236)
Need for uniqueness
0.685
Attitude toward international products
0.851
Purchase intention
0.833
Nor Hazlin Nor Asshidin et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 35 (2016) 632 – 638
4.4 Correlation
Table 2: Correlation
Need for
uniqueness
Consumer
attitude
Purchase
intention
Need for uniqueness
1
.297**
.340**
Consumer attitude
.297**
1
.353**
.353**
1
.340**
Purchase intention
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (1-tailed).
Based on the result above, it shows a relationship between need for uniqueness toward purchase intention with the
value of 0.340 and the relationship between consumer attitudes toward purchase intention with the value of 0.353. It
shows that, the relationship between both independent variables and the dependent variable are significant, but small
and definite relationship.
5.0 Conclusion
This study was conducted to understand purchase intention in terms of different variables that are forecasted to be
interrelated with each other; which are the need for uniqueness and attitudes toward international products.
Results indicated that the need for uniqueness contribute to the positive attitudes toward international products;
whereby as the need for uniqueness increases, Malaysian consumers have increasingly positive attitudes toward
international products. However, results also indicate that the relationships that exist between these two variables are
very low with only 8 percentage of impact from one to another. Among Malaysian consumers, need for uniqueness is
not a strong reason on their positive attitudes toward international products. The findings of the study is supported by
the previous studies by Kumar et al (2009), that resulted in the positive relationship between Indian consumers’ need
for uniqueness and attitudes toward international products.
It is noted in a previous research by Khare and Handa (2011) that consumers are increasingly adopting global
brands as a means of communicating self-identity, which may be different from social systems. This is due to the fact
that the use of novel products gives people a sense of recognition and identity whenever the feel lost in a crowd. They
have also indicated through their research that there is a notable relationship between the need for uniqueness and the
use of global brands. It was concluded that brands which symbolize status were able to give a dual relevance to
individuals in expressing their identity. Therefore, in the present research, (it is deducable that) higher desire to be
unique among the crowd attracts more customers to have positive attitude towards international products as a result
of consumers’ aspiration to be different.
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