1

EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISING ON CONSUMER BRAND PREFERENCES TOWARDS MOBILE PHONE: NORTHERN REGION OF MALAYSIA

1Bibi Noraini Bt Mohd Yusuf,

2Shazwani Bt Shafri

1,2School of Business Innovation and Technopreneurship

Universiti Malaysia Perlis 1bibinoraini@unimap.edu.my,

2shazwanishafri@yahoo.com

Abstract The more advance in technology of the mobile phones, the higher the rank the user is seen in the eyes of other people. Many people in this world believe that their mobile phones seem to be a fashion statement. It says something about the owner, much like owner clothing. Even though mobile technology often simplifies the complexion of everyday tasks, cell phone owners can also encounter some problems and unwanted interruptions in using their phones. Sometimes, consumers do not know why they made the decision in purchasing that particular brand of phone. Perhaps the following factors as proposed by the researcher, which are brand loyalty, price, quality, social influence or the mobile phone features might be the reasons that influence the consumer when deciding to purchase mobile phones. The researcher has selected quantitative research as suitable to obtain the desired results, as this approach was deemed as the most suitable and appropriate to test the hyphotheses. For this research, the researcher chosed the simple random sampling, where the respondents were potential consumers located in the vicinity of Kangar, Perlis. The number of respondents targeted to answer the questionnaires were 100. Based on the analysis conducted earlier and after the results were tabulated, brand loyalty, quality and social influence are lead to consumer purchasing mobile phones. Price and mobile phone features have negative relationship with consumer purchasing mobile phones.

Keywords : brand loyalty, quality, social influence, price, mobile phone features and consumer purchasing mobile phones.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, mobile phones have become very important to people all over the world. In other words, mobile phones have today become a necessity in life and are treated as a vital instrument carried by individuals, allowing them to be kept informed and connected with the rest of the world. It is an opportunity to stay in touch with friends and family members, where having access to emails and business associates, are just a few of reasons for increased in importance of mobile phones. The belief is that mobile phone has a manifest destiny to subsume everything else. According to Bridges, Rempel and Griggs (2010), the worldwide penetration rates for mobile phones usage have gone up from five (5) percent ten years ago, to an estimated 61 percent in 2008. The more

advance in technology of the mobile phones, the higher the rank the user is seen in the eyes of other people. Many people in this world believe that their mobile phones seem to be a fashion statement. It says something about the owner, much like owner clothing. Nowdays, mobile phones are quite affordable and easy to use. There is an increase in the number of mobile phone providers with companies designing and developing their very own platforms and operating systems. Some famous modern platforms available in market today include BlackBerry, iPhone, Samsung and Android for mobile applications development.

Meanwhile, advertisement are considered the lifeline of any company that wants to market their product. It persuades customers to buy their

2

product, enabling the company to increase sales and profit. Everyone can use advertisement but they must respect the laws and the fixed regulations. There are many types of advertisement that can be applied by a company to influence consumer’s attitude to buy the product. Advertising is heavily used in this process of personality creation and this follows logically from the fact that personalities are particularly useful for the creation of brand associations (Rajagopal, 2006). Usually electronic media, such as television (TV), is the most influential type of advertisement because most people watch TV. Furthermore, TV has the ability to convey the company’s messages with sight, sound and motion

and is more accurate to influence consumers because the company can easily reach its target markets. Research has revealed that consumers, when asked about a product they are familiar with and having direct experience of, can predict their choices quite well (Requelme, 2001). Apart from that, mobile phones industry have expanded from time to time because of wireless service providers offering excellent packages and promotions for cell phone users. Overall, both rural and urban subscribers shared their phones occasionally rather than frequently and mostly with friends, however, rural subscribers shared on a more regular basis with family members, friends and neighbours (Sey, 2009).

Frequency Family (n=118)

Friends (n=118)

Neighbours (n=118)

Working Colleagues (n=118)

Daily Occasionally Never Total

15.3 65.3 19.5 100

19.5 60.2 20.3 100

3.4 28.0 68.6 100

11.0 39.0 50.0 100

Figure 1: How often the following people use their mobile phones?

Source: Araba Sey, 2009, Exploring mobile phone-sharing practices in Ghana, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1463-6697 VOL. 11 NO. 2 2009, pp. 66-78.

There are two theories that can be associated with the above mentioned topic. The first theory dwelve with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This theory was developed by Abraham Maslow (1943), emphasizing the psychological and interpersonal needs and also of economic necessities of a human being. An individual has a hierarchy of motivational needs (Cao, Jiang, Oh, Li, Liao and Chen 2012; Maslow, 1954), involving five categories. In the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are at least five (5) sets of goals which will be referred to as the basic needs (Tikkanen, 2011). The basic needs comprise physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization (Tikkanen, 2011). He had focused more attention on specifying individual’s internal needs. The order for reading the hierarchy is from bottom to the top. Psychologists recognize that

needs have a certain priority. As more of the basic needs are satisfied, a person then seeks to move to higher level of needs. If their basic needs are not met, they would claim priority and efforts to satisfy the higher needs must be postponed. Maslow believes that the highest level of needs is the self-actualization needs, which refer to people’s aspirations to achieve self-fulfilment and realize their potential (Cao, Jiang, Oh, Li, Liao and Chen 2012). The levels of priority needs established by Maslow are given below:

a. Basic physiological b. Safety from external danger c. Love, affection and social activity d. Esteem and self-respect e. Self-actualization and accomplishment.

3

Figure

2: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The desire and reason to use the mobile phones can be categorized as a need, which could fit into any category in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs based on the definitions of each category. For example, in the physiological category, people may order food using mobile phones while in safety and security situations, mobile phones can be used to call an important or emergency contact. In the social category, mobile phones can be used in all social and daily communications. Swann, (2012) stated that people borne later in the 20th century are more likely to use telephones for more social reasons. If one loses the ability to use the telephone, due to physical handicap conditions, such as hearing loss, it could negatively impact the individual’s perception of the overall quality of life. Besides that, mobile phone helps in maintaining relationships with people.

Cell phones are tools which individuals use to fulfill their belonging needs. In the esteem stage category, mobile phone is purchased not to fulfill the needs, rather is purchased to fulfill the wants of the individual. It is like purchasing as a status symbol. The more advance the technology is, the more powerful the individuals would be. In the self-actualization category, needs are not directly related to using telephones, because telephones

do not make people feel as though they are better people, a characteristic that defines self-actualization (Swann, 2012). Second theory that is related to this study is the theory of purchasing. In purchasing, there will be two people involved, a Seller, who sells the product and services and also a Buyer that buys the product or services. One of the very few studies of purchasing behaviour in this dominant business sector concluded that many managers in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) do not regard purchasing as a key task and some do not even perceive purchasing as a distinct activity (Ramsay 2008; Ellegard, 2006). The transaction of money from Buyer to Seller is also understood to be as a purchasing.

In the perspective of marketing, consumer’s purchasing processes can be categorized into five (5) problem solving steps. The solving processes are, the first being need, second is information gathering, third is evaluating the given alternatives, forth is the purchase activity and lastly the post purchase status. These processes of decision making is most suitable for a purchase decision that requires problem solving behavior or complex decision making process (Saif, Razzaq, Amad and Gul, 2012; Dorsch, Grove and Darden, 2000). Purchase of goods and services performed by the

Self - Actualization

Self - Esteem

Love (Social)

Safety & Security

Physiological

4

user of an offer made by the seller is a process involving decision-making stages (Panatik, Shah and Rajab (2004); Gordon (1994). According to Yang (2010), by providing personal shopping assistance through availabilities of the mobile phones, mobile shopping services can transform traditional consumer shopping experiences in brick and mortar stores to the following optimized shopping experiences across channels:

a. Creating a real-time interaction between a retailer and a consumer;

b. Assisting a consumer in making smart purchasing decisions by providing customized product/service information; and;

c. Delivering non-intrusive mobile marketing to consumer that is based on consumer preferences and priorities.

The consumer buying decision process is a systematic way of looking at how a consumer makes the decision to purchase a product (mobile phone) in a product category. The purchase of the same product does not always elicit the same buying behaviour.

Research Problems

Even though mobile technology often simplifies the complexion of everyday tasks, cell phone owners can also encounter some problems and unwanted interruptions in using their phones. Sometimes, consumers do not know why they made the decision in purchasing that particular brand of phone. Factors influencing them to purchase a mobile phone seem to be vague. According to Requelme, (2001); Newelland Simon, (1972), most marketers assume that customers know what they want. Unfortunately, customers may not know as much as the customers think they do. Decision makers are not perfectly rational, but they are ``rationally bounded''. Others problem that have been identified by the researcher are weaknesses of other brand of mobile phones. This problem leads the consumers to purchase one particular brand of mobile phone. They will encounter problem in the decision making process. Trust is very important and according to Ballester and Alleman, (2005), when considering brand trust, it is based on the consumer’s belief that the brand

has specific qualities that makes it consistent, competent, honest, responsible and so on, which helps in making a decision of purchasing mobile phones. Perhaps the following factors as proposed by the researcher, which are brand loyalty, price, quality, social influence or the mobile phone features might be the reasons that influence the consumer when deciding to purchase mobile phones.

Research Objectives

Basically, research objectives state what researchers expect to achieve from the study in general terms. It is directly related to the relative values and the usefulness of the output at the end of the study. The three (3)-fold objectives of this particular research are:

a) To determine factors influencing consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones

b) To investigate why consumers choose to purchase certain mobile phones

c) To identify how consumers are influenced to purchase mobile phones

Research Questions

Research questions are clear, focus, brief but detail feedbacks which the researcher develops for his respondents. Each respondent must answer all the research questions provided, so that at the end of the exercise, the researcher will get valid and valuable feedbacks for analysis. Typical questions would include :-

a) Does brand loyalty affect consumer’s purchasing of mobile phone?

b) Does price affect consumer’s purchasing of mobile phone?

c) Does quality affect consumer’s purchasing of mobile phone?

d) Does social influence affect consumer’s purchasing of mobile phone?

e) Does mobile phone features affect consumer’s purchasing of mobile phone?

Scope of the study

The research was conducted in the northern region of Malaysia, covering Kangar, the state of Perlis,

5

Malaysia. The researcher chosed the area because of its location being the main city of Perlis, having several offices and workplaces. The respondents selected were potential customers using mobile phones, especially working people. These group could afford to buy the mobile phones for varied kinds and purposes. This could also led to the accuracy of data obtained and results for this research. In this research, the researcher had focused on five main independent variables as factors that could influence consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones. Those variables were Brand Loyalty, Price, Quality, Social Influence and Mobile Phone Features.

Significance of the study

It is important to undertake this study, thereby enabling a wider knowledge about the consumer brands preference and to investigate why they prefer to own certain brand of mobile phones over the other. In addition, what factors could trigger the consumer to buy the particular brand of mobile phones. The usefulness of this study would be valuable for a mobile phone companies in the areas of marketing. Upon full completion of this research, with the results obtained and analysed, we would know how to help the mobile phone companies to improve their ability in marketing or financing, to more focus more on the preference of the consumers. Consumer’s expectation nowadays are demanding since technologies are increasingly advancing and the shifting of the environment are different (more on the positive note and beneficial to the consumer) every year. Factors influencing mobile phone purchase among consumers can also influence their eventual choice of a particular brand product.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A consumer can be defined as an individual or a group of people that purchases, a product and service, for personal use and not for manufacturing or resale. This is because consumer is for the end user. The consumer can also make a decision whether to purchase or not to purchase the item being sold. It can be sold at the store or virtually and also the consumer is a person who can be influenced by marketing, advertisement and by

many more. As such, the consumer plays a vital role in the economic system of a nation. In the absence of an effective consumer demand, producers would lack one of the key motivations to produce, which is to sell to the consumer. According to Panatik, Shah, Rajab, (2004); Schiffman and Kanuk, (1999), the term consumer is often used to distinguish the difference between individuals and that of organizations. Individual consumers are individuals who purchase goods and services for their own use, households, a member of the household or as a gift to their friends. This differentiates with the consumer organizations, referring to private sector dealers, government agencies and institutions, in purchase of goods, equipment and services, respectively, in order to meet the needs of their organization, either for the purpose of profit or otherwise.

Consumer Purchasing Behavior

Several models have been developed with a view to provide clarity on the consumer’s purchasing behaviors. Although these may vary in form of presentation, most of them are composed of three main stages, such as pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase (Kwok, 2007; Hoyer and Maclnnis, 2001; Rayport and Jaworski, 2003). It is well established in the marketing and consumer behavior literatures that the consumer’s decision making process in purchasing is the most important part for studying consumers’ behavior. The consumers’ buying behavior has always been a popular marketing topic and issue, widely studied many years back while no recently published marketing textbook is considered complete without a chapter devoted to consumers’ behavior. The main approach, in explaining the fundamentals of consumer behavior, describes the consumer’s purchasing process. According to most researchers, the purchasing process by online consumers is affected by various factors such as demographic, social, economic, cultural, psychological and other personal factors that are beyond the control and influence of retailers; and marketing stimuli and web experience that can be controlled by marketers (Kwok, 2007; Constantinides, 2004; Kotler, 2003; Jobber, 2001; Boyd et al., 2002).

6

The Theory of Consumer

There is one consumer theory that can define a consumer in oneself, which is the self-concept theory. The self-concept theory is a person who is a multifaceted picture of himself or herself. It plays an important role in the consumer behavior pattern. For instance, if a young woman views herself as a bright, ambitious and headed for a successful marketing career, she’ll want to buy attractive clothing and jewelry to reflect that image for her. If a middle-aged man views himself as young for his age, he may purchase a sports car or stylish clothing to reflect his self-concept (Boone and Kurtz, 2010). This self-concept theory can affect buying behaviors, being two factors, which are personal and interpersonal. Both factors can be related to a person’s needs, motivations, perceptions, attitudes and learning. A person’s self-concept has four components, firstly being real, which is an objective view of the total person. Secondly, is the self-image, where the way individuals view him/herself may distort the objective view. Thirdly is looking glass self, which is the way individual thinks others see him or her may also differ substantially from self-image because people often choose to project different images to others than perception of their real selves. Lastly is ideal self, which serves as a personal set of objectives, because it is the image to which the individual aspires to be. Usually, consumer will choose to purchase the products that move them closer to the ideal self-stage.

Factors Influencing Mobile Phones Purchase among Consumers

There are several factors that can influence consumer’s purchasing of mobile phone, these being Brand Loyalty, Price, Quality, Social Influence and Mobile Phone Features.

Brand Loyalty

The first factor that influences consumers to purchase mobile phones is brand loyalty. As we can see nowadays, brands can really influence consumer as it exist in the familiarity of the consumer’s knowledge about certain product, in

this case, is the brand loyalty towards mobile phones. As we know, loyalty can be defined as a repeat purchase that consumer only aims for one kind of brand to purchase. Sometimes, due to the customer’s loyalty for one particular brand, he would recommend similar brand that they purchased to others. They are also willing to pay for the higher price. For example, one family would usually purchase only ‘Sony’ brand name in all of their electrical and electronic appliances since that family had been purchasing that brand for about 10 years. They had already put their trust in that brand and will continue to buy the same brand in future. It is called a brand loyalty. According to Tepeci, (1999); Assael, (1991), once customers have made a decision about a brand and its associations, they are often loyal to that brand, will continue to buy it in the future, will recommend it to their friends or choose the product over others, despite those having better features or lower prices. Brands are natural barriers to new competitors because branding reduces consumer’s risks associated with the purchase of products or services. Thus, they support premium prices and sustain increasing revenue because of the consumer’s tendency towards long-term brand loyalty. In the twentieth century, the growing symptom was on purchasing a brand. Now, most of the ads in consumer products are designed to enhance a product name. Therefore, the awareness of a brand of goods can influence the selection of consumer goods. According to the study conducted by Lin, (2010); Day (1996); Oliver (1999), brand loyalty was classified into four parts: cognitive loyalty, affective loyalty, conation loyalty and action loyalty. They also added two indicators, these being action and affection for brand loyalty and furthermore divided brand loyalty into true brand loyalty and spurious brand loyalty.

The spurious brand loyalty consumers may make repeated purchases only because the brand they purchase is the only available choice in the stores. On the other hand, true brand loyalty consumers would show both psychological and affective commitments in addition to repurchase consistency. Brand loyalty is one of the core components of brand equity and also positively and directly affecting brand quality. Under the influence of brand loyalty, consumers continue to

7

buy the brand, regardless of the superior features, prices and convenience offered by its competitors. The more loyal the consumers are towards the brand, the less vulnerable the customers base would be. Based on the practice that repeat buying is one of the indicators for brand loyalty, however, challenges that such measure may not be totally accurate. This is due to the fact that some consumers make habitual purchase towards a particular brand just because of its prominence in stock and effective promotions (Kwok, 2007; Atilgan et al., 2005; Keller, 1998; Aaker, 1991). The consumer behavior model by Panatik, Shah, Rajab (2004); Engel et al. al., (1978) put specific brand factor in the evaluation of the brand. This shows the importance of the brand as a factor involved, largely attributed by the selection process of beliefs and attitudes of consumers. In the study, brand awareness refers to the consumer’s concerned with the brand name chosen. Information about the mobile phones can influence consumers so does information from advertisements, TV and newspapers, family or friends. Obviously it is by any form of explanation audio, visual, or oral.

Price

Price is usually the first factor that the consumer would consider before purchasing mobile phones. This is because the consumer would evaluate his affordability to buy. Price also indicates the level of the consumer’s income. The higher the income, the higher is the purchasing value that the consumer can make. It can also be defined as an amount of money required that we need to pay if we buy some goods or after having some services. It also as the consideration given in exchange for transfer of ownership, where price forms the essential basis of commercial transactions. It may be fixed by a contract or discovered or negotiated during the course of dealings between the parties involved. Some consumers also associate high price with quality product, while low price is for low quality product. According to Swani and Yoo, (2010); Bolton, (1989); Foket al., (2006), in consumer’s heuristics, a high (low) price connotes a high (low) quality and image. High-priced brands are brands on the market whose image are seen as the key factor before a purchase. Consumers of

these brands often purchase them mainly for image and are willing to pay a premium price for their perceived high quality and status, which make them price-inelastic. Low-priced brands tend to be purchased for utilitarian value, with the consumer relying on the perceived value for price.

Consumers would typically look for low prices of these brands or substitutes to get the best value. Low-image brands tend to be more price elastic, as the driving factor for their purchase is seen in value by consumers. According to other researchers, price is probably the most important consideration for the average consumer. Consumers with high brand loyalty are willing to pay a premium for their favored brand, so, their purchase intention is not easily affected by price (Yee and Sidek, 2008; Cadogan and Foster, 2000). In addition, customers have a strong belief in the price and value of their favorite brands so much so that they would compare and evaluate prices with alternative brands (Evans et al., 1996; Keller, 2003). Consumers’ satisfaction can also be built by comparing price with perceived costs and values. If the perceived values of the product are greater than cost, it is observed that consumers will purchase that product (Yee and Sidek, 2008). Loyal customers are willing to pay a premium even if the price has increased because the perceived risk is very high and they prefer to pay a higher price to avoid the risk of any change. Basically, long-term relationships of service loyalty make loyal customers more prices tolerant, since loyalty discourages customers from making price comparison with other products by shopping around. Price has increasingly become a focal point in consumers’ judgment of offer value as well as their overall assessment of the retailer (Yee and Sidek, 2008; DeRuyter et al., 1999). According to Bucklin et al. (1998), price significantly influences consumer’s choice and incidence of purchase. He emphasized that discount pricing makes households switch brands and buy products earlier than needed. Price is described as the quantity of payment or compensation for something. It indicates a value as an exchange ratio between goods that pay for each other. Price also communicates to the market the company’s intended value positioning of its product or brand. Price consciousness is defined as finding the best

8

value, buying at sale prices or the lowest price choice. Additionally, consumers generally evaluated market price against an internal reference price, before they decide on the attractiveness of the retail price.

Quality Quality is something deemed as very abstract, where everybody has their own perception and idea about the quality of the products. Sometimes quality can play a main role for the consumer to make a decision before purchasing a product. They believe that quality can help them to decide whether to buy or not to buy the product. Consumers also believe that quality has a link to the price. The higher the price, the higher is the quality of the product. In manufacturing, it is defined as a measure of excellence or of being free from defects and deficiencies. It is brought about by strict and consistent commitment to certain standards that achieve excellences of a product in order to satisfy specific customer or user requirements. As an example, if an automobile company finds a defect in one of their cars and makes a product recall, customer’s reliability and ultimately future production volume will decrease because trust will be lost in the car's quality. According to Mosadeghrad (2013), quality has caused company managers throughout the world to consider quality as a strategic goal to achieve competitive advantage. If product or service quality improves, costs decrease, productivity increases and a better products or services are available for clients, which in turn enhance organizational performance and provide long-term working relationships for employees and suppliers.

According to Kwok (2007); Yasin (2007); Aaker (1991); Keller (1998), Shermen (1992), customer has their perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service. Since perception is intangible, the overall feelings towards a brand is subjective in nature and hence the knowledge of actual detailed product specifications could have little correlation with the perceived quality. Perceived quality of a brand could help generate values by providing a pivotal reason-to-buy, differentiating the position of a brand, charging premium price, motivating channel

members to perform well and also introducing extensions into new brand categories. In addition, it is found that perceived quality is of utmost importance in determining the brand loyalty as well as repeat purchase Nevertheless, it is becoming more difficult to obtain an acceptable satisfactory level of perceived quality owing to the fact that fast and continuous product advancement have already strengthened consumers’ expectations on product quality. According to Lazarova (2010); Steenkamp (1989), there are four major approaches to explaining the concept of quality, these being : (1) the metaphysical approach of philosophy, (2) the production management approach, (3) the economic approach, and (4) the behavioral or perceived quality approach of marketing and consumer behavior. The first approach focuses on quality. The production management approach looks into standardized manufacturing procedures, quality control and quality costs. The economic approach examines the quality from an economic’s point of view, such as quality competition, market equilibrium within a situation of product quality, variations and consumer behavior towards products with objective quality and variations, both when the consumer is perfectly informed or with incomplete knowledge. (Lazarova, 2010)

Social Influence

Social influence could give the big impact to the consumer in making a decision to purchase mobile phones. This is because people always communicate to other people in their daily life. These people can be categorized as family, friends, relatives, colleagues and so on. These people would suggest and they sometime act as a promoter as they are indirectly promoting about the products to the potential consumers. For family groups, it is perhaps the most important thing in the consumer behavior because in the family, there have close relationships and long-term interactions among the family members. When a person or group uses any types of social power to change the attitudes or behavior of others in a particular direction, they are using the social influence. According to Wang, et al. (2006), social influence generally refers to processes whereby an individual’s beliefs, opinions, attitudes,

9

values and behaviors are affected by other(s) through social interactions. Social influence occurs when one group member expresses an evaluation regarding a focal issue, where it is perceived by a second group member, which in turn influences the second group member’s evaluation of the focal issue. Group members are often influenced by other group members’ evaluations of important issues and subsequently edit or even refrain from offering their own unique perspectives, opinions and information once they become aware of other group members’ evaluations. For example, a persuasive argument might be even more effective if our friend is an expert on the product knowledge as opposed to just having little knowledge about the product. If our friend is able to change our attitude in the direction of the argument, they have used a type of social influence. Psychologically, we can easily accept and agree with the suggestion and attitude of our friends and relatives. Therefore the chances to indirectly promote the products to the family members are high and it can actually help the consumer to make a decision whether to buy or not to buy the product. The researcher also thinks that in the family, he or she has already made a decision on the ‘must-buy-product-brand’ in the house. For example the toothpaste, in any events or circumstances of need, if the family is used to buying a Colgate brand, then they will continue to but only Colgate brand. This more or less helps the consumer to purchase the product. Yang, He and Lee, 2007; Hawkins et al., 1998; Bourne, 1957; Hyman, 1942, said that research on the social and interpersonal influences can be traced back to those who first elaborated the term ‘reference group’ when they asked respondents with which individuals or groups to compare themselves. The term has been redefined thereafter with additional researches and now with a broader definition – the reference group refers to the groups used by an individual to direct one’s purchasing behavior in a particular situation. More specifically, the reference groups in this research consist of not only the groups that an individual has a frequent contact with (such as family members, working associates, friends, classmates and etc.) but also include the groups that an individual does not have a relationship with, direct or indirect contact, such

as certain expected groups or people in a certain social level. Others had also studied the group influence in marketing and behavioral research and concluded that the concept of the reference group has a pervasive influence on marketing studies. Besides family, friends and relatives, there are also some other social influences that can be categorized to some inner thoughts that can influence the consumer to purchase a product. These include feelings and attitude that can affect the purchasing decision. Social influence is distinct from conformity, power and authority. Conformity occurs when an individual expresses a particular opinion or behavior in order to fit in to a given situation or to meet the expectations of a given thought, although he does not necessarily hold that opinion or nor does he believes that the behavior is appropriate.

Power is the ability to force or coerce someone to behave in a particular way by controlling the outcome. Authority is power that is believed to be legitimate (rather than coercive) by those who are subjected to it. Other than the researches above, other researches also stated that social influence have other types of consumer of reference group which can be divided into occupation, interest and many more. The concept of reference groups have been used thereafter as a basis for a variety of applications in several different fields. For example, it has been argued that the reference group concept should be applied in behavior studies of specific groups, such as farmers, scientists, alcoholics, mentally ill patients and of course, different segments of consumers. In some follow-up research, the reference group theory was applied to a wider social groups including physicians, auto owners, cosmetic users, religious charges and alcohol use, students and housewives. In the business practice, marketers have applied these concepts widely by portraying products being consumed in social situations and inviting prominent/attractive spokespersons to endorse their products (Yang, He and Lee, 2007; Chao and Schor, 1998; Beeghley et al., 1990; Bearden and Etzel, 1982; Park and Lessig, 1977; Grubb and Stern, 1971; Hyman and Singer, 1968; Coleman et al., 1966).

10

Mobile Phone Features

Nowadays, we can easily find mobile phones with much variety of features as a result of technological enhancement. It can help to attract the consumer, especially gadget lovers, who always seek and are eager to try the new advancement of technologies in the market. In this key term, we can divide it into two meanings, the first one is mobile phone. Mobile phone is a portable telephone device that does not require the use of landlines. Mobile phones utilize frequencies transmitted by cellular towers to connect the calls between two devices. Mobile phones may also be referred to as cellular phones, handphones or handsets. The second term is features, which means providing benefits to customers. According to Salmi and Sharafutdinova, (2008), freedom of movement and immediate accessibility have been found to be important benefits specific to mobile communications and in some studies have been recognized as decisive in the choice of this technology. Using mobile communications, a person may be accessible, regardless of physical locations. Accessibility, in turn, allows users of mobile phones to be more mobile, even when they need to be reachable at any time. Feature is defined as a unique characteristic of a good or service that sets it apart from similar items. Customers however, want a benefit and do not care much about the features which are touted by every supplier as unique or superior. Examples of features of mobile phone are the camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, games, video call and many more. The mobile phone company’s marketing usually uses these features as competitive advantages to compete with other mobile phone companies. According to Mokhlis and Yaakop (2011); Yun, Han, Hong and Kim (2003), they had investigated the look-and-feel of fifty (50) different mobile phones using a consumer survey. Seventy-eight (78) participants evaluated the design of phones on the perceived scale of image/impression characteristics, including luxuriousness, simplicity, attractiveness, colorfulness, texture, delicacy, harmoniousness, salience, rigidity and finally overall satisfaction. It was found that the image and impression characteristics of the products were closely related

to the human-product interface specifications as well as the overall shape of the product. They carried out a user study on 65 design features of 50 different mobile phones. They developed regression models to link the design features to overall satisfaction and ‘luxuriousness’, ‘attractiveness’ and ‘harmoniousness’. They found out that a number of design features mattered, such as phone size and weight, color, material, button shape and interface features. In addition, it seemed that size played, to some extent, an important role in the decision making process. Karjaluoto et al (2005); Liu (2002) for instance surveyed the Asian mobile phone users and found out that size of the phone had no impact on mobile phone’s choice, but this finding might be due to the fact that all competing brands have quite similar sized phones that are small enough. Researcher beliefs that eventually the trend will not be towards smaller phones but towards phones with better capability and having larger screens. Consumers are inclined to develop stereotypical beliefs about the products from particular countries. Hence, consumers could have their preferences for products made from one country over another. The price is one of the important clues to evaluate perceived quality. It is found that price is more relevant in judging the perceived quality of a product given that a person lacks the ability to evaluate the quality of a product (Mokhlis and Yaakop, 2011; Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002; Aaker, 1991; Papadopoulos et al., 1991). Results of Mokhlis and Yaakop (2011); Mack and Sharples (2009) studies also highlighted the importance of product attributes in predicting the choice of mobile phones. Their experiment showed that usability is important in mobile phone choices but not as much as users themselves believe. In actual fact, other attributes particularly features, aesthetics and cost, may well be more of a priority when it comes to product choice.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Theoretical Framework

The researcher has found a suitable theoretical framework to illustrate the relationships between

11

all the variables in this study. The dependent variable is the consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones and the factors influencing mobile phone’s

purchase among consumers are brand loyalty, price, quality, social influence and mobile features.

Figure 3: Theoretical Framework for Factors Influencing Mobile Phones Purchase among Consumers

Hypothesis Statement

Based on the objectives of the study, the hypotheses were designed to find out the significant relationships or will it lead to the dependent variables of the study. The hypotheses were :-

H1: Brand loyalty will lead to the consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones.

H2: Price will lead to the consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones.

H3: Quality will lead to consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones.

H4: Social Influence will lead to consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones.

H5: Mobile Features will lead to consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones.

Research Approach

There are two types of research approach, qualitative and quantitative. One way of differentiating quantitative research from qualitative is to distinguish between numeric data and non-numeric data. Quantitative research is often used as a synonym for any data collection techniques such as questionnaires or data analysis that generates or uses numeric data. In contrast, qualitative research is often used as a synonym for any non-data collection techniques, such as interviews or data analysis procedure that generates or uses any non-numerical data. Out of the two approaches above, the researcher has selected quantitative research as suitable to obtain the desired results, as this approach was deemed as the most suitable and appropriate to test the hyphotheses. As we know, quantitative research is usually associated with a deductive approach, where the focus is on using data to test theory. The researcher uses questionnaires to collect the data to obtain the results for this research. The researcher decided to use the survey methodology, which involved questionnaires survey to undergo

Mobile Features

Social Influence

Brand Loyalty

Price

Quality Mobile Phone Purchase

12

this present research. This being the most suitable strategy for this study since the anonymity of the surveys, allows each respondent to answer with more valid answers. The researcher could get the most accurate data when respondents answered the surveys with open and honest minds as possible with their answers. Surveys conducted anonymously provided an avenue for more honest and unambiguous responses than other types of research methodology, especially if it clearly stated that survey answers will remain completely confidential. Survey is useful in describing the characteristics of a large population. It also ensures a more accurate sample to gather targeted results, enabling the researcher to draw conclusions and make important decisions.

Data Collection Method

The purpose of conducting a data collection is, firstly, to obtain feedbacks from the questionaires or research questions distributed to the respondents. The research questions are very important as it serves the purpose of conducting the research and it helps the researcher so as not to deviate from developing the research. Secondly, it is to test the hypotheses developed. It is a process by which an analyst tests his statistical hypotheses. Hypothesis is used to determine whether the methodology employed by the analyst depends on the nature of the data used and the goals of the analysis. The goal is to either accept or reject the null hypothesis. Next is to evaluate the outcome. The outcome or result could only be found using the method that the researcher uses. The impact of an incorrect data collection method would lead the researcher to getting wrong results. The data accuracy is deemed low and the researcher cannot pursue the research to a higher degree. The results cannot be used for other researchers to make the research as a reference in the future. All efforts, time and money invested to develop and complete the research will be a complete waste. The most appropriate method to be used in this research is a questionnaire method. Basically questionnaire is a form of a set of questions that will be asked by a researcher to a respondent in order to gain information and evaluation for the data analysis. As stated by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2012); deVaus

(2002), questionnaire, in general, would include all methods of data collection in which each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order. The proposed sample of the questionnaire’s must be knowledgeable about the issues that are to be investigated. In measuring it, the Likert’s Scale will be used. The scale ranges from the numbers (1) to (5), where (1) denotes ‘Strongly Disagree’, (2) denotes ‘Disagree’, (3) denotes ‘Neutral’, (4) denotes ‘Agree’ and lastly (5) denotes ‘Strongly Agree’. The majority of the respondents answering ‘Agree’ or ‘Strongly Agree’ will indicate an impact or showing the independent variables having a significant relationship towards the dependent variable. In evaluating the questionnaires, the use of a Statistical Programs for Social Science (SPSS) version 17.0 will help to analyze the hypotheses and helps the researcher to organize, evaluate and interpret the data. SPSS’s software also helps to determine the appropriate statistical technique to be used and to test the hypotheses made by the researcher.

Sample Selection

There are two major types of sample selection, which are probability sampling and non-probability sampling. Probability sampling is the element in the population that have some known chance or probability of being selected as a sample subject. The non-probability sampling is the element that do not have known or predetermined chance of being selected as a subject. The distribution of questionnaires was selected through the probability sampling method. There are three (3) techniques that can be either used in the non-probability sampling, which are convenience sampling, quota sampling and dimensional sampling, while in the probability sampling, there are four (4) techniques that can be applied, such as simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling and lastly the cluster sampling. For this research, the researcher chosed the simple random sampling, where the respondents were potential consumers located in the vicinity of Kangar, Perlis. The number of respondents targeted to answer the questionnaires were about 100. The reason why the researcher selected the sampling method was because the consumers were located in Kangar area, in the town of Perlis,

13

with many working areas. The respondent might be the employee that used mobile phone either for everyday use, for working purposes or potential to purchase mobile phones. Therefore it would facilitate the researcher to distribute the questionnaire and the accuracy of information obtained would be high. The respondent could also use the same model of mobile phones that were used in this research. The other reason was the time limitation to conduct and complete the research. Time plays an important role in order to get any research completed.

Instrument

In order to understand the factors influencing consumer’s purchase of mobile phones, questionnaires were established. The questionnaires were divided into five (5) sections. The first section dealt with the respondent’s demographics and lifestyles, which could be useful to explain certain behaviors or cultural aspects. Apart from several general information, such as gender, age, education and occupation, for the second section, respondent was asked to specify their usage patterns of the mobile phones, what motivates them to buy a mobile phone and their general attitude towards technology. The third section dealt with customer’s relationships with the mobile phone, asking the respondent to rank the level of satisfaction and their experience with their mobile phone, as well as the reasons why they seek for new products. The forth involved the purchase behavior, analyzing all the variables, the purchase decision criteria, the model of buying and the last section specifically analysed the independent variables dimensions, measuring all the independent variables that form the decision to purchase mobile phone.

FINDINGS

This section discussed the findings obtained from the questionnaires concerning the title of research; factors influencing consumer’s purchase of mobile phones. The main aim for this analysis was to achieve the research objectives. In presenting the findings, the questionaires were divided into several sections. First section dealt with the demographic profile of the respondents (age, gender, race, marital status, education level, monthly income and profession). The next section measured the goodness by using a reliability analysis. This was followed by a third section, which provided the intercorrelation between all variables and the descriptive statistics that showed the mean and standard deviation of all factors. The fourth section dealt with testing the hypotheses through a regression analysis. Lastly, this section concluded with a presentation of the summary of the findings.

Overview of Data Gathered

Figure 4 below showed the sample profile for the questionnaire surveys. The researcher distributed as many as 120 questionnaires among the selected respondents in Kangar, Perlis area. However, only 100 questionnaires were collected back. This made up 83.3% of the total questionnaires distributed. The questionnaires were satisfactorily completed, compiled and subsequently tested by using the SPSS software version 17.0 and tabulated as follows :-

Items Total Questionnaires

Number of questionnaires distributed 120 Number of questionnaires collected back 100 Respondent Rate 83.3% Number of questionnaires used for analysis 100

Figure 4: Sample Profile

Variables Categories Frequency Percentage (%)

Age 21 – 25 years 26 – 30 years

60 18

60.0 18.0

14

31 – 39 years 40 – 49 years 50 years and above

12 6 4

12.0 6.0 4.0

Gender Male Female

50 50

50.0 50.0

Race Malay Chinese Others

92 6 2

92.0 6.0 2.0

Marital Status Single Married Widowed / Divorced

62 37

1

62.0 37.0

1.0 Education Level SPM

STPM Diploma Degree Master Others

22 8

16 50

3 1

22.0 8.0

16.0 50.0

3.0 1.0

Monthly Income RM 1000 and below RM 1000 - 1500 RM 1500 - 2000 RM 2000 - 2500 RM 2500 - 3000 RM 3000 and above

47 25 11

6 4 7

47.0 25.0 11.0

6.0 4.0 7.0

Profession Government Private Students Unemployed

50 14 35

1

50.0 14.0 35.0

1.0

Figure 5: Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

Figure 5 summarized all the demographic data of the respondents, which included age, gender, race, marital status, education level, monthly income and lastly profession. Out of the 100 completed questionaires on age, majority of the 60 respondents were aged between 21-25 years old (60%), 18 respondents were aged between 26-30 years old (18%), 12 of the respondents were aged between 31-39 years (12%), 6 respondents were aged between 40-49 years and 4 respondents (4%) were aged 50 years and above. The result also showed that 50% of the respondents were male with 50% being female. In the ‘race’ criteria, 92 respondents were Malay (92%), 6 respondents were Chinese (6%) and the balance (2%) were other races. In terms of marital status, 62 respondents were single (62%), 37 were married (37%) and under the widowed / divorced category was 1% (1 respondent). In the field of “Education”, 50 respondents obtained a first degree (50%), 22 respondents had a SPM level (22%) qualification,

Diploma level was 16 respondents (16%), 8 respondents had attained STPM level (8%), for a Master’s degree only 8 respondents (8%) and lastly other education levels was represented by 1 respondent (1%). For the monthly income, a total of 47 respondents earned RM 1,000 and below (47%) and there were 25 respondents with monthly income ranging from RM1,000-1,500 (25%), 11 respondents had monthly income between RM1,600-2,000 (11%), 7 respondents earned RM3,000 and above (7%), 6 respondents earned between RM2,000-2,500 (6%) and lastly there were 4 respondents (9%) earning between RM2,500- 3,000. As for profession, the majority of respondents were working in the government sector, totalling 50 respondents (50%), followed by students with 35 respondents (35%). The private sectors comprised 14 respondents (14%) and 1 respondent was unemployed (1%).

15

Reliability Analysis A reliability analysis is used to find and measure the goodness of all data. Reliability analysis is often used to ensure that all items used in each variable are free from errors and thus could provide a consistent result for the research. In this study, the Cronbach’s coefficients alpha values for all factors, that ranged from 0.662 to 0.837, indicated good and acceptable inter-item consistency for each

factor. In Table 4.3, it showed the reliability analysis test results of the variables and the Cronbach’s alpha for each variable. The coefficients for Brand Loyalty was 0.788, followed by Price (0.662), Quality (0.795), Social Influence (0.681) and lastly Mobile Features (0.834). There were three cut-off points for reliability, i.e. Poor (0.6 and below), Acceptable (0.7) and Good (0.8 and above).

Variables Number of Items Items Dropped Cronbach Alpha Indicator

Brand Loyalty 5 - .788 Acceptable Price 5 - .662 Acceptable Quality 5 - .795 Acceptable Social Influence 5 - .681 Acceptable Mobile Features 5 - .834 Good

Figure 6: Reliability Analysis Test

Factors Mean Standard Deviation

Factors Influencing Consumer’s Purchase of Mobile Phones

3.4900 .84202

Brand Loyalty 3.4620 .70191 Price 3.4620 .70191 Quality 3.6900 .74799 Social Influence 3.4880 .71651 Mobile Features 3.7740 .83056

Figure 7: Descriptive Analysis

Based on the above table, the mean for all the variables ranged between 3.4620 to 3.7740 and for the standard deviation, ranged between 0.70191 to 0.84202. The mean and standard deviations for the independent variables were Brand Loyalty 3.4620 (0.70191), Price 3.4620 (0.70191), Quality 3.6900 (0.74799), Social Influence 3.4880 (0.71651) and Mobile Features 3.7740 (0.83056).

Consumer’s

Purchasing of Mobile

Phones

Brand Loyalty Price Quality Social

Influence Mobile

Features

Consumer purchasing mobile phones

Pearson Correlation 1 .554**

.554**

.691**

.646**

.562**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100

Brand Loyalty Pearson Correlation .554

** 1 1.000

** .583

** .582

** .563

**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100

16

Price Pearson Correlation .554**

1.000**

1 .583**

.582**

.563**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100

Quality Pearson Correlation .691**

.583**

.583**

1 .710**

.805**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100

Social Influence

Pearson Correlation .646**

.582**

.582**

.710**

1 .662**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100

Mobile Features Pearson Correlation .562

** .563

** .563

** .805

** .662

** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

N 100 100 100 100 100 100

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Figure 8: Correlation Coefficient Analysis

Figure 8 above indicated a good relation within the variables. It can determine whether that variable had a strong correlation with the other variables. Brand Loyalty, Price, Quality, Social Influence and Mobile Features were strongly correlated with the factors influencing mobile phone purchase among

consumers with coefficients of 0.554, 0.554, 0.691, 0.646 and 0.562 respectively. They had a strong relationship when approaching to a value of 1. The value of Pearson’s correlation also showed a positive value, an indication of a positive correlation.

Variable Beta t-ratio Sig.

Brand Loyalty .554 6.596 .000 Price .174 1.938 .056 Quality .776 3.701 .000 Social Influence .273 2.615 .010 Mobile Features -100 -0.826 .411

R square = .545

Durbin - Watson = 1.970 F = 28.491

Sig. F = .000

Figure 9: Results of Regression Analysis on Acceptance

Table 9 displayed the results of the regression analysis on acceptance. Regression analysis is used to determine the relationships between dependent and independent variables. Regression helps to understand the value of the dependent variables affected by change in the value of two of the

independent variables are varied, while other independent variables remain unchanged. The factors influencing mobile phone among consumers was 54.5% affected by brand loyalty, price, quality, social influence and mobile features. The remaining of 45.5% was affected by other

17

factors. In order to determine the factors influencing mobile phone purchasing among consumers, all the five independent variables must have significant effect of not more than 0.005. If more, the hypothesis has to be rejected and if they are less, the hypothesis can be accepted. In the above mentioned analysis , there was a significant relationship between Hypothesis 1, which was brand loyalty and the dependent variable being consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones since the significant level was 0.000. It showed a level of less than 0.005, indicating that this hypothesis can be accepted. In respect of Hypothesis 2, which was Price, the significant level was 0.5, so this hypothesis has to be rejected. Hypothesis 3 was on Quality. There was significant relationships between Hypothesis 3 and consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones, since the significant relationship

was 0.000, therefore the hypothesis can be accepted. Next was the factor of Social Influence for Hypothesis 4. Hypothesis 4 also showed no significant relationship towards independent variable since the significant relationship was 0.010, more than 0.005 and has to be rejected. Lastly, Hypothesis 5 showed that the significant relationship between social influence and consumer purchasing mobile phones was 0.411, exceeding the level of 0.005 and therefore, Hypothesis 5 has to be rejected.

Summary Based on the analysis conducted earlier and after the results were tabulated, Figure 10 showed the overall results of the five hypotheses testing, summarised as follows :-

No. of Hypothesis

Statement of Hypothesis Results

H1 Brand loyalty will lead to the consumer purchasing mobile phones Accepted H2 Price will lead to the consumer purchasing mobile phones Rejected H3 Quality will lead to consumer purchasing mobile phones Accepted H4 Social influence will lead to consumer purchasing mobile phones Accepted H5 Mobile features will lead to consumer purchasing mobile phones Rejected

Figure 10: Hypothesis Testing Results

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Findings of this study will be presented and conclusion drawn. The implications of the study will be stated and the limitations of research will be elaborated together with any suggestions for further research. Based on these results, recommendations will be proposed to clarify the value of the study. The present study was conducted to examine the factors influencing consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones. There were five independent variables of the present study, which were Brand Loyalty, followed by Price, Quality, Social Influence and lastly, Mobile Features. For the dependent variables, the present research stated consumer’s purchasing of mobile phone as a dependent variable. Hypothesis 1 examined the relationship between Brand Loyalty that would led to consumer’s purchasing of mobile

phones. If the customer had already put their trust in one particular brand name, they would continuously buy the same brand for the next purchase or better described as loyalty. They were loyal to that brand and found it hard to turn to other brand for their satisfaction towards mobile phones. Under the influence of brand loyalty, consumers would continue to buy the brand, regardless of the superior features, prices or convenience offered by its competitors. The more loyal the consumers are towards the brand, the less vulnerable the customers base would be. (Kwok, 2007; Atilgan et al., 2005; Keller, 1998; Aaker, 1991). This hypothes can be accepted.

Hypothesis 2 examined the relationship between Price that would led to consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones. Generally, Price is included among the most important factors that consumer will

18

decide before purchasing items. Price is one element of marketing mix (4P’s). It can change very easily as compared to other elements of marketing mix. The marketer can then decide to lower or raise the Price more frequently. Price is also considered as having a strong relationship with brand loyalty. Consumers with high brand loyalty are willing to pay a premium price for their favored brand, so, their purchase intention is not easily affected by price (Yee and Sidek, 2008). But unfortunately by referring to the result of this present study, this hypothesis has been rejected. Hypothesis 3 examined the relationship between Quality that would led to consumer’s purchasing of mobile phones. Some consumer believes that quality can help them to decide whether to buy or not to buy the product. Quality surpasses the customer’s expectations and the extent to which the customers or users believe the product or service surpasses their needs and expectations. Product Quality in a broad sense is defined as “superiority or excellence” of a product (Alfred, 2013; Zeithaml and Dawar; 1999). This hypothesis can be accepted.

Hypothesis 4 examined the relationship between Social Influences on similar subject. Our environment plays a pivotal role in our daily life. Social Influence can come in a form of people (family members, colleagues and friends) or in a form of environment, such as working place, social place for gathering and so on. Besides the family, friends and relatives, there were also some other social influences that can be categorized into some inner thoughts that can influence the consumer to purchase a product. These include feelings and attitudes that can affect purchasing decision. Hypothesis 4 can be accepted. Lastly, Hypothesis 5 dealt with the relationship between Mobile Features that would led to consumer’s purchase of mobile phones. According to Mokhlis and Yaakop (2011); Yun, Han, Hong and Kim (2003), they had investigated the look-and-feel of fifty (50) different mobile phones using a consumer survey. Seventy-eight (78) participants evaluated the design of phones on the perceived scale of image / impression characteristics and overall satisfaction. It was found that the image and impression characteristics of the products were closely related to the human-product interface specifications as

well as overall shape of the product. However, according to our result, this hypothesis has to be rejected, which means that not all people (especially people in Kangar) will purchase mobile phones based on the features.

The results of the present study showed that it was important to know what factors had influence consumer’s purchase of mobile phones. This study may assist the mobile phone companies in respect of both marketing and advertising their products especially to the people in Kangar, Perlis. They can specify a target group and how to promote the products based on the result form this study. Present study can also help the consumer to make a decision based on the current preferences of the people. Some people are very concern about what other people think. Therefore this study might help them to take into consideration before purchasing the mobile phones. In a nutshell, this study was surely without its own limitations, as the result of the findings might be biased because the data obtained would not be a total representative of change that occurred in Kangar. Incidently, there were a number of respondents who were not able to answer the questionnaires correctly, as the conditions and environment of the questionnaires were targetted to working people only. The sample was limited to a selected region in Malaysia, this being in Kangar, Perlis. Furthermore, the respondents might not be a true representation of the Malaysian context as a whole since the study was only confined to 100 respondents. In addition, time constraint hindered this study as the researcher did not have much time to collect the data. Given sufficient time, perhaps the researcher could get more reliable and valid data collection processes in the future.

Regarding future research recommendations, the researcher suggests that all the limitations stated above should be overcome. Future studies should take into account these factors and the researcher would suggest obtaining a larger sample size and adding more number of respondents, preferably two-hundred (200) respondents and above. Different people have different preference in purchasing anything. In this case, mobile phone is the subject of the people in purchasing. The decision to purchase is sometimes driven by the

19

basic needs and wants, which are increasing and improving to a better stage. It is also driven by the other factors, such as for the mobile phone itself, brand loyalty, price, quality and also the mobile phone features. The other factors driving it is social influence. The data that the researcher obtained from the present study has been briefly presented above. Having a total respondent of one-hundred (100), representing 83.3% of the total respondent rate of the total sample, the present study found out that three out of the five (5) independent variables tested, were positively related to the dependent variable and the other two (2) were not. Brand Loyalty, Quality and Social Influence were the factors that had influenced consumer’s purchase of mobile phones, whereas, Price and Mobile Features were not the factors that had influenced them. In concluding this present study, the researcher has also contributed to a better understanding of the factors on why consumers purchase that particular brand of mobile phones. This present study focuses only at one area, in Kangar, Perlis. Having limited methods and a few number of respondents, this result cannot assume in general that all consumers in Malaysia also consider the factors of Brand Loyalty, Quality and Social Influence in purchasing of mobile phones.

REFERENCES

1. Alfred O., (2013), Influences of Price And Quality on Consumer Purchase Of Mobile Phone In The Kumasi Metropolis In Ghana A Comparative Study, European Journal of Business Management, Vol. 5, No 1

2. Araba Sey, (2009), Exploring mobile phone-sharing practices in Ghana, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1463-6697 VOL. 11 NO. 2 2009, pp. 66-78,

3. Ballester E. D., Aleman L, M., (2005), Does Brand Trust Matter To Brand Equity?, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol 14, No. 3, pp. 187-196

4. Boone, L.E.,& Kurtz, D.L. (2010). Contemporary business (14

th ed). Hoboken, New Jersey: John

Wiley & Sons, Inc. 5. Bridges L, Rempel H. G, Griggs K.,

(2010),"Making the case for a fully mobile library web site: from floor maps to the

catalog", Reference Services Review, Vol. 38 Iss: 2 pp. 309 – 320

6. Hernan Riquelme (2001), Do consumers know what they want?, Journal of Consumer Marketing, VOL. 18 NO. 5 2001, pp. 437-448.

7. Huanhuan Cao, Jinhu Jiang, Lih-Bin Oh, Hao Li, Xiuwu Liao and Zhiwu Chen (2012), A Maslow’s hierarchy of needs analysis of social networking services continuance, Journal of Service Management Vol. 24 No. 2, 2013 pp. 170-190

8. Irma Tikkanen (2011), Nutritionally balanced school meal model for a comprehensive school, British Food Journal Vol. 113 No. 2, 2011 pp. 222-233

9. John Ramsay (2008), Purchasing theory and practice: an agenda for change, European Business Review Vol. 20 No. 6, 2008 pp. 567-569.

10. Karjaluoto H., Karvonen J., Kesti M., Koivumaki T., Manninen M., Pakola J., Ristola A., Salo J. (2005), Factors Affecting Consumer Choice of Mobile Phones: Two Studies from Finland, Journal of Euromarketing Vol 14, pp. 24

11. Kwok K. T. (2007), Effect of Brand Image on Consumer Purchasing Behaviour on Clothing: Comparison between China and the UK’s Consumers, MSc International Business, pp. 96

12. Lazarova R. (2010), Consumer’s Perception of Food Quality and Its Relation to the Choice of Food, Master of Science in Marketing, Department of Marketing And Statistics, Aarhus Universitet, pp. 86

13. Lin L.Y., (2010), The Relationship of Consumer Personality Trait, Brand Personality and Brand Loyalty: An Empirical Study of Toys and Video Games Buyers, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol 19/1, pp 4-17.

14. Mokhlis S., Yaakop A. (2011), Consumer Choice Criteria in Mobile Phone Selection: An Investigation of Malaysian University Students, International Review of Social Science and Humanities, Vol 2, No. 2, pp. 203-212

15. Mosadeghrad A. M., (2013), Healthcare Service Quality: Towards a Broad Definition Journal of Healthcare Quality Assurance, Vol. 26(3), pp. 203-219

16. Panatik. S. A., Shah I. M., Rajab A. (2004), An Investigation Of Decision-Making Process In Consumers’ Purchasing Behavior: Case Study At Johor Bahru, Jabatan Pembangunan Sumber Manusia, Fakulti Pengurusan Sumber Manusia,

20

Universiti Teknologi Mara, pp. 81. Rashotte, L., 2006, Social Influence, January, pp. 4.

17. Rajagopal, (2006), Insights from research Brand excellence: measuring the impact of advertising and brand personality on buying decisions, Emerald Journal, VOL. 10 NO. 3 2006, pp. 56-65, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1368-3047.

18. Requelme H., (2001), Do Consumers Know

What They Want?, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18(5), pp. 437-448

19. Saif N., Razzaq N., Amad A. Gul S. (2012), Factors Affecting Consumers; Choice of Mobile Phone Selection in Pakistan, European Journal of Business and Management, Vol 4. No. 12, pp. 12.

20. Salmi A., Sharafutdinova E., (2008) Culture and Design in Emerging Markets: The Case of Mobile Phones in Russia, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol 15. No. 7, pp. 442-449

21. Saunders M., Lewis P., Thornhill A. (2012) Research Methods for Business Students (6

th

ed.) United States: Pearson 22. Swani K., Yoo B., (2010), Interaction between

price and price deal, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol 19/2, pp 143-152

23. Swann M. (2012), The Application of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to College Student Cell Phone Use, Int. Central Michigan, pp. 17

24. Tepeci M., (1999), Increasing Brand Loyalty in the Hospital Industry, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol 11/5, pp 223-229.

25. Wang L., Doucet L., Northcraft G., (2006), Culture, Affect, and Social Influence in Decision-Making Groups, Research on Managing Groups and Teams, Vol 9, pp 147-172

26. Yang J., He X., Lee H., (2007), Social Reference Group Influence On Mobile Phone Purchasing Behaviour: A Cross-Nation Comparative Study, Int. Journal Mobile Communication, Vol 5, No 3, pp. 20

27. Yee W. F., Sidek Y., (2008), Influence of Brand Loyalty on Consumer Sportswear, Int. Journal of Economics and Management, Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia 2(2), 221-236 pp. 16