yet

ETHNIC BASED CUES: REACTION OF MALAY AND

CHINESE

Bong Shak Peng

Bachelor of Business Management with Honours

(Marketing)

2009

Faculty of Economics and Business

UN

IVE

RS

IT

IMALAYSIA

SA

RA

WA

K

U N I M AS

Faculty of Economics and Business

Statement of originality

The work described in this Final Year Project, entitled

“Ethnic Based Cues: Reaction of Malay and Chinese”

is to the best of the author’s knowledge hat of the author expect

where due reference is made.

____________________ ____________________

(Date Submitted) Bong Shak Peng

16034

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost I give thanks to God for his blessings and mercy to me throughout all

the days in preparing final year project. I am grateful to my supervisor, Associate

Professor Dr. Ernest Cyril de Run for his expect advices, guidance, direction and

encouragement throughout the course of this thesis. Thanks for all your guidance and

comment that enable me to finish this thesis on time.

Special thanks go to Dr. Lo May Chiun, Lecturer of Faculty of Economics and Business

for her advices and direction during the initial stages of the thesis.

My sincere thanks go to Rebecca Teo Pao Eeo, for her support and advices in

accomplishing this feat. Besides that, I would like to thanks all my friends and course

mate who have provided me with moral support, kindness and assistance during the

distribution of questionnaires that enabled me to obtain the data and information of

respondents from various states in Malaysia.

Last but no least, my deepest thank to my loving parents and sister, for giving me the

warmest support and advices in my life.

ABSTRACT

ETHNIC BASED CUES: REACTION OF MALAY AND CHINESE

By

Bong Shak Peng

This study presents the impact of advertising cues in billboard advertisements towards

consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral intentions. The conceptual basis of the model is

Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT) to the use of cues in billboards advertisement.

The model was tested on two different ethnic groups in Malaysia. A total of 350

questionnaires were distributed to 350 respondents (175 Malays and 175 Chinese) who

were selected from the population. However, there were only 328 questionnaire

collected. The findings indicated that Malays accepted Malay Cues as part of their

cultural schema. The Chinese reacted as expected, being the non-dominant ethnic group,

similarly to the Malays but in Chinese cues. However, there was no significant

difference between the independent variable and purchase intention. Therefore, a

marketer should consider the types of customer that is being targeted within the market

segment before starting an advertising strategy and in setting up a billboard. Apart from

that, a marketer should look into Malaysia as a multi-cultural society and the

continuation of the market segment because there might be some effect of adapting to

only one culture while the billboard advertisement is for all potential consumers. For

that reason, this study suggests that a marketer would make use of more than one ethnic

cue for a billboard advertisement in the country like Malaysia.

ABSTRAK

ETNIK BERDASARKAN ISYARAT: REAKSI MELAYU DAN CINA

Oleh

Bong Shak Peng

Penyelidikan ini bertujuan mengkaji kesan penggunaan isyarat pengiklanan pada iklan

papan tanda terhadap sikap dan tingkah laku pengguna. Model kerangka konsep yang

digunakan pada iklan papan tanda adalah Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT). Model

ini telah diuji pada dua kumpulan etnik yang berbeza. Sejumlah 350 borang soal-selidik

telah diedarkan kepada 350 responden (175 Melayu dan 175 Cina) yang dipilih dari

populasi. Namun, cuma 328 borang soal-selidik sahaja yang telah berjaya dikumpulkan.

Hasi kajian menunjukkan bahawa Melayu menerima identiti Melayu sebagai sebahagian

bentuk budaya mereka. Kaum Cina bertindak balas seperti yang dijangkakan, sebagai

kumpulan etnik yang tidak dominan, pelakuan mereka hampir kepada Melayu tetapi

masih dalam konteks identiti Cina. Walaubagaimanapun, tiada perbezaan yang

signifikan diantara pembolehubah tak bersandar dan niat pembelian. Dengan itu,

pemasar hendaklah mempertimbangkan jenis pengguna yang disasarkan melalui segmen

pasaran sebelum strategi pengiklan dan papan tanda dibentuk. Sebahagian daripada itu,

pemasar harus melihat ke arah Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara yang pelbagai budaya

dan kesinambungan segmen pasaran kerana ia mungkin akan mempengaruhi adaptasi ke

atas satu budaya sahaja, sedangkan iklan papan tanda adalah berpotensi untuk semua

pengguna. Atas alasan itu, kajian ini mencadangkan supaya pemasar menggunakan lebih

daripada satu identiti kaum untuk sesuatu iklan papan tanda yang dihaslikan di negara

seperti Malaysia.

ETHNIC BASED CUES: REACTION OF MALAY AND CHINESE

BONG SHAK PENG

This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

Bachelor of Business Management with Honours

(Marketing)

Faculty of Economic and Business

UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA SARAWAK

2009

vii

TABLE OF CONTENT

PAGE

LIST OF TABLE ………………………………………………………………...…. xi

LIST OF FIGURE…………………………………………………………………… xii

1.0 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction 1

1.1.1 Background of the Research 1

1.2 Problem Statement 4

1.3 Objective of the Research 5

1.4 Research Question 6

1.5 Significant of Research 6

1.6 Conceptual Framework 7

1.7 Scope of the Study 9

2.0 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 10

2.2 Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity 10

2.3 Culture 12

2.4 Outdoor Advertising (Billboards) 14

2.5 Significant of Advertising Cues on Consumer Behavior 16

2.6 Targeted Advertising 17

viii

3.0 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 18

3.2 Research Design 18

3.3 Population and Sample 19

3.3.1 Population 19

3.3.2 Sampling 19

3.4 Data Collection 21

3.5 Research Instrument 21

3.6 Measurement Scales 22

3.6.1 Attitude 22

3.6.2 Purchase Intention 23

3.6.3 Word of Mouth 24

3.7 Data Analysis 25

3.7.1 Mean 25

3.7.2 Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) 25

3.7.3 General Linear Model -Univariate Analysis of Variance

(ANOVA)

26

3.7.4 Independent Sample T-test 26

3.8 Hypotheses 27

ix

4.0 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction 28

4.2 Frequency Distribution 28

4.3 Respondents’ Demographics 30

4.4 Mean 31

4.5 Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) 32

4.6 General Linear Model–Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 32

4.6.1 Attitude towards the Product 32

4.6.2 Attitude towards the Company 33

4.6.3 Purchase Intention 34

4.6.4 Word of Mouth 34

4.7 Independent Sample T-Test 35

4.8 The Finding of Hypothesis Testing 37

5.0 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF FINDING

5.1 Introduction 41

5.2 Contextual Influence 41

5.3 Discussion of Hypotheses and Finding 43

5.4 Managerial Implication 47

x

6.0 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION, LIMITATION AND FUTURE

RESEARCH

6.1 Introduction 49

6.2 Conclusion 49

6.3 Limitation of the Research 52

6.4 Future Research 54

REFERENCES 56

APPENDICES

xi

LIST OF TABLE

NO. PAGE

1 Advertising Expenditure in Malaysia 2

2 Malay Sample Size 20

3 Chinese Sample Size 20

4 The Amount of Questionnaires Collected from Different Respondents. 29

5 Respondent’s profile 30

6 Overall Means for All Variables by Ads Type 31

7 T-test by Ethnicity (Malay and Chinese) for Ads with Malay Cues 35

8 T-test by Ethnicity (Malay and Chinese) for Ads with Chinese Cues 35

9 T-test by Ads Type for Malay 36

10 T-test by Ads Type for Chinese 36

11 Finding for Hypotheses 47

xii

LIST OF FIGURE

NO. PAGE

1 Speech Accommodation Theory 8

1

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Introduction

This chapter explains the research background, problem statement, objective of the

research, research question, significance of the research, conceptual framework, and the

scope of the study.

1.1.1 Background of the Research

The history of Malaysian advertising can be traced back when the first

advertisement appeared in the country’s first newspaper, the Prince of Wales Island’s

Gazette (Saman, 1980). It was the first advertisement which was published in Penang in

the year 1805 when Malaysia was still known as Malaya (Hashim, 1994). The

advertisements back then were very straightforward and copy-oriented (Kloss &

Abdullah, 2002).

In 1957, after Malaya had gained its independence from the British, the Malaysian

government formulated programmes to attract foreign investors in the manufacturing

and industrial activities of the country. Different marketing activities were carried out

which led to an increase in advertising activities (Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah,

2002). Ever since then, the Malaysian advertising industry was no longer a small

2

industry and this was imminent especially in the early1980s (see Table 1) (Hashim,

1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002).

Table 1: Advertising Expenditure in Malaysia

Year RM Million Year RM Million

1980 226 1991 1,016.0

1981 271 1992 1,128.0

1982 290 1993 1,415.0

1983 349 1994 1,641.8

1984 401 1995 2,021.7

1985 418 1996 2,419.5

1986 382 1997 2,630.0

1987 409 1998 2,180.0

1988 507 1999 2,525.0

1989 645 2000 2,870.0

1990 818

Source: Kloss & Abdullah, 2002

As the world enters the twenty-first century, indications are clear that the major

powers in Europe and United States are fast losing their standing as the world’s driving

force (Hashim, 1994). Economists and analysts are now focusing on Asia as the engine

of economic growth. Malaysia for instance, is already feeling the surge of the events

commercially, and technologically with particular interest in the advertising industry

(Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002). Many branded products are already and will

continue to flood the market to meet the needs of the more sophisticated and more

individualistic Malaysian consumers (Hashim, 1994; Hult et al., 2000; Kloss &

Abdullah, 2002).

3

Furthermore, advertising as practiced throughout the world is a western concept

and the big advertising market of Europe and America are generally homogeneous

(Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002; Laroche et al., 2001; Okazaki, 2005). The

concept of a single, homogeneous advertising market will not hold true in a Malaysian

context (Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002). This is especially true for South East

Asian countries that have their own distinct languages, cultures, norms, regulations and

business environment and are very different from the West (D. S. Waller & Kim, 2000).

Malaysia for example, is a multi-ethnic and multi religious society country in

South East Asia (Ahmad et al., 2006; De Run, 2007). Various races, religions, creeds,

customs and languages from the cultural influence of different countries have help

Malaysia to create its own unique historical background (Rahman & Ali, 2006). It has a

population of 27,728,700 million people with three main ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese

and Indian) (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2008). It has a mixture of languages

where by Malay is the official language and various Chinese dialects such as Cantonese,

Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew, and Mandarin(De Run, 2007). English is also being spoken

widely (David, 2003). Multiple religions are practiced in Malaysia such as Islam,

Buddhist, Taoism, Hinduism and Christianity (De Run, 2007).

It is obvious that, Malay is the largest group or dominant group with the

population of 14,084,700 million people (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2008).

They are the most consistent ethnic group in term of language, religion, culture, and is

the leading ethnic group in Malaysia (Mokhlis, 2006). On the other hand, the Chinese is

4

a non-dominant group with a population of 6,360,400 million people (Department of

Statistics Malaysia, 2008).

Perhaps, in Malaysia the different studies have shown that there is a relationship

between facts, language, religion and time (Fontaine & Richardson, 2003). This is

important to Malaysia, as compared to Western held beliefs (Fontaine & Richardson,

2003). What this implies is that, the advertising strategy in Malaysia might need a

different approach since Malaysians are unique in terms of ethnicity, culture, and value.

Thus, in the process of creating an advertisement for a multicultural marketplace like

Malaysia, marketers have to look for appropriate advertising cues in order to make the

advertisement significant to consumers. Therefore, this study intends to look at the

impact of different ethnic based cues in advertisement towards the reaction of the Malay

and Chinese respondents in Malaysia.

1.2 Problem Statement

The increase in diversity of the comprehensive marketplace drives the marketing

effort across various cultural aspects. The marketer’s challenge is to make advertisement

relevant to as many people as possible without offending anyone. However, once

relevant product information is not present, values for those information might be

"inferred" from existing information, and then integrated into an overall evaluation to be

adjusted downward to reflect uncertainty (Jacard & Gregory, 1988). Therefore, cues in

5

advertising are significant to consumers in order to reduce uncertainty, to make

inferences and to form product preferences (Dwane, 1999).

In Malaysia, there are specific targets of advertising which mainly focus on ethnic

group like the Malays and Chinese communities. For example, the state of Kelantan has

different advertising cues in billboards advertisement as compared to other states and yet

it is the same company who advertise the advertisement. However, there is no research

done in this area.

Therefore, particular attention must be taken into account when using different

advertising cues in an advertisement. The importance of a cue in advertising towards

belief inference with value to product and brand attributes might be affected by a

number of factors such as the types of cue (intrinsic versus extrinsic), types of attribute

related to (experience versus credence), the consumer's level of knowledge and

involvement, and the strength of the cue-attribute link (Steenkamp, 1990). Consumers

may react favorably or unfavorably towards the advertising cues in billboards

advertisements. This study will look into the different cues and determine the reaction of

the respondents.

1.3 Objective of the Research

The objective of the research is to determine the effect of different cues in

billboards and based on the respondents’ reaction. It is measured by their attitude

6

towards the company, attitude towards the product, and behavioral intentions (Purchases

Intention and Word of Mouth).

1.4 Research Question

What is the impact of ethnic based cues in billboards advertisement towards

consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral intention?

1.5 Significant of Research

This study is important to show the effect of adapting cues in billboards

advertisement and the reaction of different ethnic groups towards the billboards

advertisement. Furthermore, marketers will have a better understanding of how Malays

and Chinese perceive the advertisement with different cues. Thus, it will provide an

information and path for marketers in creating and building up an advertisement in

multi-ethnic countries and in differentiating the brand for their product.

This study is conducted in order to contribute ideas to managers in making

managerial decision and provides knowledge of how multi-ethic like Malaysian reacts to

billboards advertisement with different types of cues. In addition, it gives information to

managers of the respondents’ attitude towards the product and their attitude towards the

company. Therefore, this study provides the idea and decision of how managers can

adjust their advertisement based on the consumer’s mind set. Besides that, the study will

provide useful information which could help the managers in order to better understand

7

their products and services, changes of the market environment and the targeted

consumer.

Furthermore, this study is also essential as a reference for other research. The

results and findings can be used as reference for future studies. Therefore, it is able to

expand and widen the knowledge of consumers’ behavior in Malaysia.

1.6 Conceptual Framework

Speech Accommodation Theory framework relates well to the objective of this

research as it is concerned with the actions of the message sender (the advertiser) in

trying to accommodate the receiver (the audience) as well as how the receiver views the

actions of the sender (see Figure 1). The Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT) also

known as the Communications Accommodation Theory or Accommodation Theory has

become quite popular in research during the past few years. It has been used widely in

research areas such as mass media (for example TV and radio) (Bell, 1991; Lipski,

1985; Roslow & Nicholls, 1996), print advertisements (Koslow et al., 1994), billboards

(Touchstone et al., 1999), and in ethnic accommodation (Gallois & Callan, 1991).

The theory is divided into two parts including firstly, the convergence part and

secondly the divergence part. Convergence refers to the processes whereby two or more

individuals alter or shift their speech to resemble those who are interacting with and

reacting more favorably to those converging towards them (Giles et al., 1973). This

8

action is a strategy to integrate the audience with the speaker and to obtain a favorable

response (Giles et al., 1973). Figure 1 posits that once respondents are accommodated

by the cue on billboards, he or she will tend to have a favorable attitude towards the

company and the product.

Figure 1: Speech Accommodation Theory

Source: Giles et al., 1973

On the other hand, the divergence part refers to the strategy for maintaining inter-

group distinctiveness by the receivers (Giles et al., 1987). People use divergence to

maintain their identity, ideological focus, cultural pride and distinctiveness (Giles et al.,

Billboard with

different

Cues

Accommodation

Non-Accommodation

Favorable attitude

and behavioral

intention and

reciprocation of

accommodation if

possible

Negative attitude

and behavioral

intention and no

reciprocation

Action Response

9

1987). Figure 1 posits that when respondents are not accommodated to the cue on

billboards, he or she will tend to have a negative attitude towards the company and the

product.

Speech Accommodation Theory is therefore an excellent foundation for this

research. It allows for the measurement of the respondent’s reactions to both the

company and its message. Furthermore, it had also been used in previous billboards

(Touchstone et al., 1999) and allows for use of advertising cues as a measure of

accommodation.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This research aims to determine the impact of different cues in billboards

advertisement towards Malay and Chinese respondents from selected states in Malaysia.

Throughout this research, advertisements with different cues in billboards were tested.

The significant differences in attitude towards the product, company and behavioral

intention (Purchases Intention and Word of Mouth) between the respondents who have

different views on the advertisements were identified. The population for this research

was limited to Malays and Chinese in Malaysia only. This study utilized 150 Malays

and 150 Chinese as the respondents as suggested by previous research (Clarke, 1984; De

Run, 2004; De Vaus, 1996).

10

Chapter 2

Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

This chapter reviews some of significant concepts as with regards to the topic of

this research based on previous research studies. Ethnicity and ethnic identity, the

meaning of culture and it influence on consumer behavior, outdoors advertising,

advertising cues and target advertising are reviewed.

2.2 Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity

Malaysia is a developing country with a multi-racial society and different

background (Ahmad et al., 2006; David, 2003). Therefore, it is very obvious that each

ethnic group is divergent and disconnected from one another (Ahmad et al., 2006; De

Run, 2004). Generally most Malaysian consumers interact within their own group which

means that they prefer to speak their own mother tongue and identify themselves by

their own ethnic cues rather than to their nationality as a whole (Abraham, 1999;

Furnivall, 1948). Ethnicity refers to the process of self- identification whereby

individuals defined themselves and others into specific groups using ethnic labels

(Jamal, 2003)

Ethnicity can be defined as a subjective view, a personal belief and an individual's

own psychological identity about their cultural attributes (Laroche et al., 1992),

11

behavioral (Fishman, 1977a, 1977b) and psychological phenomenon (Hraba, 1979).

Furthermore, ethnicity also can be defined as an objective view of ethnicity in socio-

cultural features such as religion, language, national origin, wealth, social status,

political power, segregated neighborhoods, and cultural custom (Burton, 1996;

Hirschman, 1981; Keefe & Padilla, 1987; Webster, 1994). Nevertheless, ethnic identity

is a concept that refers to who a person is (Frideres & Goldenberg, 1982). Ethnic

identity can also be viewed as a self-designation which conveys a person’s dedication

and strength of relationship to a particular group (Chung & Fischer, 1999; Zaff et al.,

2002).

Therefore in this study, Malays are defined as individuals who followed Islam,

usually spoke Malay language, conformed to Malay customs, and was born in the

federation of Malaya or Singapore (before independence) (Abdullah, 1996; Snodgrass,

1978). They are the most consistent ethnic group in term of language, religion, culture,

and in forming the leading ethnic group in Malaysia (Mokhlis, 2006). Besides that, the

Malays are also the ethnic group who are considered as the group that control the

political administration and agriculture of the country (Houghton et al., 2006).

On the other hand, the Chinese is the second largest group in Malaysia (De Run,

2007). They are mainly generation of immigrants from the southern coastal provinces of

China (Tan & Lee, 2000). The Chinese in Malaysia speak many different dialects and

they have consistently give high priority on Chinese schools as well as education in

Mandarin (Heng, 1996). Mandarin is the written and spoken language learnt in schools

12

by the Chinese (Tan & Lee, 2000). Since the British rulers extended the number of

Chinese immigrants, they had created an artificial occupational segregation on ethnic

lines where the Chinese are dominants in the commercial sectors (Stockwell, 1982).

2.3 Culture

The study of culture as the silent language in oversea business, is often defined

broadly as national culture, and has fascinated scholars and managers of international

business for a few decades (Hall, 1960; Yaprak, 2008). The contribution of the earlier

pioneers of culture study in business transmit environment analysis into international

and domestic business is as an essential ingredient in understanding the market and its

consumer behavior needs (Hall, 1976; Lee, 1966). So, the contribution of culture study

has become significant to sociologist, anthropologist or even marketers in order to

understand the influence of consumers’ behavior especially the Malaysian consumers.

Sociologist and anthropologist defined culture as the way of life of members of a

society or of groups of people within a society (Abdullah, 1996). Culture is also defined

as a collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group

or category of people from another (Hofstede, 1991). Apart from that, some

anthropologist defined culture as a pattern of learned behavior, value, idea and attitude

that are shared and transmitted by members of a particular society (Linton, 1945; Rein,

1982). Aside from the definition, culture can also be described in some characteristics

(Onkvisit & Shaw, 1997).