IJCBS_Vol_3_No_5_May_2012_ISSN_2156-7506

Copyright © 2012. Academy of Knowledge Process

International Journal of Contemporary Business Studies

Vol: 3, No: 5. May, 2012 ISSN 2156-7506

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ISSN 2156-7506

Copyright © 2012 IJCBS

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VOLUME 3

NUMBER 5

May, 2012

International Journal of

Contemporary Business Studies

Academy of Knowledge Process

w w w . a k p i n s i g h t . w e b s . c o m

An International Journal Published by

The Relationship between Islamic Work Ethics and Job Satisfaction in

Healthcare sector of Pakistan

Muhammad Haroon,Hafiz Muhammad Fukhar Zaman, Waiza Rehman

Effects of Television Advertisement on Brand Switching

Atif Hassan, Dr. Rizwana Bashir

The Relationship between Religiosity and Customers’ Adoption of

Islamic Banking Services In Morocco

Abdelghani Echchabi, Prof. Dr. Hassanuddeen Abd. Aziz

Cross-Cultural Orientation Inventory: Development and Measure of a

New Instrument

Rakesh Mittal

Determinants of Communication about Corporate Social

Responsibility: Case of French Companies

Ben Mahjoub Lassaad, Halioui Khamoussi

Young Female Motivations for Purchase of Organic Food in Malaysia

Jane See Siou Zhen, ShaheenMansori



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Saddal H.A Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Board



International journal of Contemporary Business Studies

A journal of Academy of Knowledge Process



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VOLUME 3, NUMBER 5

May, 2012 Contents:

The Relationship between Islamic Work Ethics and Job Satisfaction in

Healthcare sector of Pakistan

Muhammad Haroon,Hafiz Muhammad Fukhar Zaman, Waiza Rehman…….6

Effects of Television Advertisement on Brand Switching

Atif Hassan, Dr. Rizwana Bashir………………………………………………………13

The Relationship between Religiosity and Customers’ Adoption of Islamic

Banking Services In Morocco

Abdelghani Echchabi, Prof. Dr. Hassanuddeen Abd. Aziz ……………………25

Cross-Cultural Orientation Inventory: Development and Measure of a New

Instrument

Rakesh Mittal …………………………………………………………………………..32

Determinants of Communication about Corporate Social Responsibility:

Case of French Companies

Ben Mahjoub Lassaad, Halioui Khamoussi……………………………………… 49

Young Female Motivations for Purchase of Organic Food in Malaysia

Jane See Siou Zhen, ShaheenMansori …………………………………..………..61



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The Relationship between Islamic Work

Ethics and Job Satisfaction in Healthcare

sector of Pakistan

Muhammad Haroon

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Management Sciences

National University of Modern Languages

Islamabad,Pakistan

Hafiz Muhammad Fakhar Zaman

PhD Scholar,Faculty of Management Sciences

Al-Khair University, AJK, Pakistan

Waiza Rehman

Research Scholar, Faculty of Management Sciences,

National University of Modern Languages

Sector H-9, Islamabad, Pakistan

ABSTRACT The research study carried to examine the relationship between Islamic Work

Ethics and job satisfaction among the nursing staff in healthcare sector of

Pakistan. The sample for this was 80 nurses working in ten private hospitals

with different age group, experience and educational level. The empirical

finding offers the evidence of a direct, positive and significant relationship

between Islamic work ethics and job satisfaction. The implication, limitation

and future research area in the study also described.

Key words: Islamic Work Ethics, Healthcare, Pakistan, Job Satisfaction

1. INTRODUCTION

You are the best nation that has been raised up for mankind; you enjoin right conduct,

forbid evil and believe in Allah (Al Qur'an, 3:110)

Saying of Prophet Muhammad (S.W.W.S): I have been sent for the purpose of perfecting

good morals (Ibn Hambal, No: 8595)

Ethics is the study of right and wrong choice made by a person. Ethics can be defined as the

set of moral values that make a sense between the right and wrong deeds (Haroon &

Fakhar,2011). Unethical behaviors in work setting lead the failure of corporations and the

great anxiety of the general public. Since Max Weber's Treatise on the Protestant ethic, the

issue of productivity and economic development and their relation to religious beliefs have

attained ever increasing popularity. According Weber's school of thought and his followers



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pp.6-12

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(i.e. Furnham, 1982, Furnham and Rajamanickam, 1992) concentrated on protestant workethics. In Islam,

the duty of every Muslim is to obey value system of The Holy Book Quran and Sunnah (The saying and

acts of The Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W). People groomed through value system of Quran and Sunnah

exhibit these qualities in their personal and professional lives. Islamic value based system provides

comprehensive pattern of management which protect all stakeholders of the society. Islamic value based

system (IVBS) focuses moral development of human beings, thereby making sure that people follow the

rule of law through their own will, not through fear or force. IVBS stipulates tested principles of value

building among members of organization. ‗Umar (R.A) would say: ‗Seek Adab, and then learn

knowledge‘. The Islamic principle is based on individual enterprise in business and likewise individual‘s

reward. It is essentially based on promoting the humanity while upholding God‘s orders. Islam firmly

forbids any favoritism in business relationships, between

people based on their religion or gender. There is no basic clash between good business practice and profit making in Islam. According to Islam

profit is the secondary judgment to measure efficiency. Islam gives priority to do business under some

rules and there must be some code of ethics for business activities, some of Business Ethics are Trust,

Justice, Honesty, Mutual respect, Faith, Truth, Tolerance, Forgiveness, and Obligation. These are all

essentials to lead the Ethics.

(Quran 45-13): and He has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the heavens

and on earth: behold, in that are Signs indeed for those who reflect.

(Quran 6:164): It is He who hath made you (His) agents, inheritors of the earth: He

hath raised you in ranks, some above others: that He may try you in the gifts He hath

given you: for thy Lord is quick in punishment: yet He is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most

Merciful.

(Quran 11:85): O my people! Give full measure and full weight in justice, and wrong

not people in respect of their goods.

The prophet (S.A.W.W) said: "You will not attain righteousness, unless you give of that which you love.

And said "God loves kindness when you deal with any matter" And also said: "You will not enter

Paradise until you have faith and you will not have faith until you love one another".

The Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophets (S.A.W.W) are the major sources of ethical models and

moral codes. There is great shrewdness to carry on the research on Islamic work Ethics for revival of

application of Islamic Work Ethics that brought the Muslims to the golden age in the eight to fourteen the

century as noted by (Ali, 2005).In early 1980's, the Islamic work Ethics got remarkable attention by

Muslim Researchers (See Ali 1988, 1992; yousef, 2000 and 2001; Rahman et al. 2006; Ali and Al-

Kazemi, 2007). For example, yousef (2001) investigated the moderation effect of the Islamic works ethics

on the relationship between the Organizational Behavior and Job satisfaction and found the direct effect

on Islamic Work Ethics on Organizational Commitment & Job Stress. Rokhman (2010) studied the effect

of Islamic Work Ethics on Job satisfaction, OC and turn over intension. But they were not tested the

relationship by one to one variable; without taking the effect of other variables.

Pakistan is the 3rd

largest Muslim country in the world, situated on important strategic location. It gained

the attention of the world community during the war against Soviet Union during its occupation on

Afghanistan. Since then many multinational organizations rushed in, after it the events of 9/11 in 2001

and the start of war against terror in this region, and in 2005 the earthquake of October 8, again hide this

part of world. All these events opened up the new avenues of opportunities for public, private, profit and

nonprofit sector organizations.



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In last decade there is also the rapid development has been seen the economy especially in telecom,

banking, education, development and other sectors. The private sector promoted the Islamic Banking and

Islamic education institution in the country. Islamic social sector and international Islamic organizations

played a vital role in emerging the Islamic institution and introducing Islamic Work Ethics.In 2010 and

2011, the worst flooding disaster in the history of the region, more floods triggered by heavy rains have

devastated parts of northern and Southern Pakistan. About a 3 million people have been affected and

millions of people have lost their homes in these regions which have still not recovered from last year's

floods. In these disasters the NGO‘s and civil society played very vital role to rescue the people. On the

other hand demand for hospitals increased and the nursing staff as well. The nursing duty is very hard and

tough. They people look after the patients and fulfill all their duties with patience. These are the duties

and ethics that Islam taught us in Holly Quran and we can see this in Sunnah. These are the ethics and

teachings of The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWW)

In Holly Quran Almighty ALLAH says, ―Not unto the weak nor unto the sick nor unto those who can find

naught to spend is any fault (to be imputed though they stay at home) if they are true to Allah and His

messenger. Not unto the good is there any road (of blame). Allah is Forgiving, Merciful‖ (09:91).

Work ethics are closely related to job satisfaction (Yousef, 2001; Koh and Boo, 2001; Viswesvaran and

Deshpande, 1996; Vitell and Davis, 1990). Understanding the relationship between work ethics and job

satisfaction is essential in determining methods on intervention and strategies for extenuating factors that

reduce satisfaction towards the work conditions (Yousef, 2000). Robbins (2005) described job

satisfaction as a collection of feelings that individual holds towards his or her job. This means that an

employee who has a high level of job satisfaction will hold positive feeling towards job and vice versa

and will give its best in work. Typically, job satisfaction is a person‘s evaluation of the overall quality of

his or her present job. The evaluation measures may include either an effective orientation towards one‘s

job or job position or an attitude one holds about the job (Spector, 1997).

Job satisfaction is defined as a enjoyable emotional state resulting from the judgment of one‘s job; an

sentimental response to one‘s job; and an approach towards one‘s job. Weiss (2002) has argued that job

satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive

evaluation which are affect (emotion), beliefs and behaviors. According to this definition we form

different attitudes towards our job, which is effected by our feelings, beliefs and behaviors.

Job satisfaction describes that how an individual is motivated towards his/her job. The satisfied people are

happy with their jobs. Job satisfaction is not same as the motivation and aptitude but it is linked with it.

Job design also aims to enhance job satisfaction and performance. Along with the motivational aspects,

there are some influences which effect the satisfaction; the management style and culture, employee

involvement, empowerment and autonomous work position. In other words Job satisfaction is a very

important attribute which is frequently measured by organizations.It is important to note that the leading

features of the IWE are contained in all Islamic schools of thought, when we apply Islamic work ethics

that are driven from Holy Quran and Sunnah, the employee performs there jobs in a better way and the

efficiency of employees are enhanced. IWE are behaviors as well as techniques to do the best out of job.

While we are working under the Islamic code of ethics, the joy or some sought of motivation that comes

from inside an individual, they look better and they are seemed satisfied. Therefore, base on previous

research, we formulated the following relationship between IWE and Job Satisfaction in healthcare sector

of Pakistan.

Figure: 1 Relationship between Islamic work ethics and job satisfaction

Islamic Work

Ethics

(IWE)

Job

Satisfaction



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Islamic Work Ethics is taken as an independent variable, which has numerous items, like; laziness is a

vice, dedication to work, justice and generosity etc. This IWE has the positive and strong relationship

with Job Satisfaction and Job Satisfaction is serving as a dependent Variable. Base on Literature Review

and model to following hypothesis has been generated for this study.

H 1: There is positive & strong relationship between Islamic work Ethics and job satisfaction

2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 Sampling & sample size

The research was conducted in healthcare sector of Pakistan. The ten private hospitals were selected for

this research. The study used self-administered questioners as because health care sector is care public

service provider the data collection technique. Of the eighty questioners that were distributed, seventy one

were returned (response rate 80 percent), but only sixty nine were complete and can be used in further

analysis. Table 1 below provides a demographic summary of the respondents in the study.

Table :1 Demographic Characteristics of the Sample

Characteristics Frequency Percentage

Gender

Female

Total

80

80

100

100

Education

College

Graduate

Total

35

45

80

44

56

100

Age

25 years or less

26-30 years

31-35 years

36-40 years

Total

24

27

23

06

80

30

33

29

08

100

Length of employment

2-4 years

5-7 years

8-10 years

11-above

Total

22

29

20

09

80

28

36

25

11

100

Marital status

Single

Married

Total

6

74

80

8

92

100

2.2 Process & Measurement

The self administrated questionnaire used to measure IWE is developed by Ali (1992). The short version

of this instrument has 17 items. These items include: laziness is a vice, dedication to work is a virtue, and

justice and generosity in the work place are a necessary condition for the societal welfare, etc. This short

edition of the same questionnaire has also been tested in numerous Muslim countries, like, Malaysia,

United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the results were significant in those



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studies which are conducted in above mentioned countries. 0.85 was the value of cronebach‘s alpha for

this five-point scale that was employed ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

A 3 item scale was used to measure Job satisfaction prepared by Dubinsky and Harley (1986). There is an

example for Job Satisfaction scale ―generally speaking, I am satisfied with this job‖. A five-point scale is

used to rating from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The coefficient alpha value of this scale

was 0.89.

Table: 2 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations of the variables

No Variables 2 Means SD

1 Islamic Work Ethics (IWE) 0.38* 4.27 0.58

2 Job Satisfaction 3.77 0.57

*p<.01

**p<.05

Table: 3 Regression analysis

Variables

Independent Variable

Islamic Work Ethics (IWE)

R Adj R2 R

2 Change F Change ß Sig

Dependent Variable

Job Satisfaction .382 0.117 0.135 7.081 0.754** 0.012

Note: *p<0.01, **p<0.05

4. FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

The captured edited data were analyzed by applying statistical measurement techniques which included

descriptive statistics, such as, frequency and percentage of the sample size characteristics. The simple

regression was used for the testing purpose of hypothesis. We analyzed the relationship between Islamic

Work Ethics with Job Satisfaction in health care sector of Pakistan. Table 2 shows the means, standard

deviation and correlation of the variables; results show the mean value is comparatively high for

IWE.This indicated that nursing staff in hospitals are strappingly hold on to IWE.The job satisfaction in

general is above the central point,it means that nursing staff is not fully satisfied, but they were more apt

to being more satisfied. Table 3 also shows the positively significant relationship between IWE and job

satisfaction (r = 0.38;p<0.01).The test of hypothesis, relationship between IWE and job satisfaction

regressed and its highly significant, showing in table 3 (R2 =0.135,p<0.05).Therefore, the study

hypothesis are accepted.

The result that nurses in the healthcare hospitals investigated scored high on the IWE scale; they are

highly supportive of the Islamic ethics as indicated by the means. That overall mean of job satisfaction is

slightly below than Islamic Work Ethics (IWE), implies respondents were fully satisfied with their current

jobs. The high score on the IWE indicates that the employees in the healthcare organizations investigated

have highly committed to adopt IWE in their work practices. For hypothesis testing, the results indicate

that the relationships between the IWE to job satisfaction is positive and significant. These are according

to the prior research (Yousef ,2001; Koh and Boo, 2001; Viswesvaran and Deshpande, 1996; Vitell and



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Davis, 1990), which confirmed the positive effect of work ethics on job satisfaction. According to results

found in this study, the respondents would be more satisfied with their job that strongly supports IWE.

5. LIMITATIONS & FURTHER RESEARCH

This research study focused two variables in healthcare sector of Pakistan, and only nurse‘s staff was

taken as a sample. The sample size was also limited in few private hospitals. Moreover staff people like

administrative and medical doctors may also be included in the study. The other variables, Job Stress,

Commitment may also be checked in the same sector. The public sector hospital and other industries

seine open get test different work related variables with IWE.

6. CONCLUSION

The effect of IWE on job satisfaction is discussed in this study. This has been proved that there is a

positive and significant relationship between Islamic Work Ethics and job satisfaction. The finding of this

study has some insinuation. The results present the theoretical and empirical research regarding the effect

of the Islamic work ethic, since there have been few researches in this regard. As expected, the study

revealed the importance and impact of the Islamic work ethics on the employee‘s perception on job

satisfaction. Thus, this study provides a basis for further research in the field of Islamic work ethics. For

practical implication, it offers some interesting guidelines for managers in the healthcare organizations,

formulating their human resource policies and strategies in the light of Holly Quran and Sunnah.

Moreover, as it relates to the importance of developing ethics in the healthcare sector and the significance

of Islamic Ethics. In addition, in order to enhance job satisfaction, managers must support the Islamic

work ethics (IWE) in their respective organizations. Thus, the manager can ensure that every employee

should actively participate in the training and educational programs that place more emphasis on the

application of the Islamic morality and values in the work place.

7. REFERENCES

Ali, J.A. (1988) ‖Scaling an Islamic work ethic‖, Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 128 No. 5, pp. 575-

583.

Ali, J.A. (1992) ―Islamic work ethic in Arabia‖, Journal of Psychology, Vol. 126 No. 5, pp. 507-517.

Ali, J.A. (2005). Islamic Perspectives on Management and Organization. Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.

Ali, J.A. and Al-Kazemi, A. (2007) ‖Managerial problems in Kuwait‖, The Journal of Management

Development, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 366-375.

Dubinsky, A.J., and Harley, S.W. (1986) ―A path-analytic study of a model of salesperson performance‖.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 14, pp. 36–46.

Furnham, A. (1982) ―The Protestant work ethic and attitudes towards unemployment‖, Journal

Occupational Psychology, Vol. 55 No.4, p. 277-285.

Furham, A. and Rajamanickam, R. (1992). The Protestant work ethic and just world belief in Great

Britain and India‖, International Journal of Psychology, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 401-416.

Haroon, M., & Fakhar, M. (n.d.). Application of Islamic Work Ethics in Contemporary era and its

relationship with Job Stress & Organizational Citizenship Behavior(Un Publish).

Koh, H.C. and Boo, E.H. (2001) ―The link between organizational ethics and Job satisfaction: A study of

managers in Singapore‖, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 29, pp. 309-324.



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Rahman, N.M., Muhamad, N. and Othman, A.S. (2006) ‖The Relationship between Islamic Work Ethics

and Organizational Commitment: A Case Analysis‖, Malaysian Management Review, Vol. 41

No.1.

Rokhman, W. (2010). The Effect of Islamic Work Ethics on Work Outcomes. Electronic Journal of

Business Ethics and Organization Studies , 15 (1), 21-27.

Spector, P. (1997), Job Satisfaction: Application, Assessment, Cause and Consequences. Sage

Publications, London.

Viswesvaran, C. and Deshpande, S. P. (1996) ―Ethics, success, and job satisfaction: A test of dissonance

theory in India‖, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 15, pp. 1065-1069.

Vitell, S.J. and Davis, D.L. (1990) ―The relationship between ethics and Job satisfaction: an Empirical

Investigation‖, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 9, pp. 489-494.

Weiss, H. M. (2002). Deconstructing job satisfaction: separating evaluations, beliefs and affective

experiences. Human Resource Management Review, 12, 173-194

Yousef, D.A. (2000) ―Organizational commitment as a mediator of the relationship between Islamic work

ethic and attitudes toward organizational change,‖ Human Relations, Vol. 53 No. 4, pp. 513-537.

Yousef, D.A. (2001) ―Islamic work ethic - A moderator between organizational commitment and job

satisfaction in a cross-cultural context‖, Personnel Review, Vol. 30 No.2, pp. 152-165.



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Effects of Television Advertisement on Brand

Switching

Atif Hassan

Faculty Member

(DACB) Defence Authority College of Business,

Karachi.Pakistan

Dr. Rizwana Bashir

Faculty Member

(DACB) Defence Authority College of Business,

Karachi.Pakistan

ABSTARCT This paper presents an analysis of the issues related with stickiness to a

brand or go for a brand switching after the advertisement. Advertisement

leads to many people being overwhelmed by the endless need to decide

between competing demands on their attention; this is known as the choice

overload. People cannot just choose to ignore Television advertising,

because advertisers use many methods to get their message across by

targeting people‘s unconscious thoughts ads are a form of brainwashing that

take away people's freedoms to make choices. This research paper contains a

public survey study of professionals and students about Television

advertising playing with people‘s mind to get what they want from viewers

or they are just trying to promote their products. Our study shows the effect

of TV advertisement on children and how professionals react to this matter.

Keywords: Affects of television advertising, Advertisement Impacts, Brand

Switching, Brand Stickiness

1. INTRODUCTION

Fast pace changes in today‘s world has given rise to many emerging trends in different fields.

People are more concerned and aware about the facts and figures of what they buy, what they

use and what they prefer to be assoiated with. They want to know about the insight and

background of the different products that they come in contact with in their daily lives. Its not

easy rather possible now to keep the consumers in confusion or in the blurry image regarding

what they purchase. Initially, brand loyalty was something that most of the firms used to

enjoy, but today the changing patterns have certainly take over the markets with a term called

―Marketing.‖

―Marketing is the set of human activities directed at facilitating and consummating

exchanges.‖ (Philip Kotler) According to The Chartered Institute of Marketing(CIM):

―Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies consumer

requirements profitably.‖ These definitions show that the marketing of different products is

being done to meet the needs and wants of consumers and at the same maintain profitable



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relationships with them, i.e, capturing value in return from them. So, there are two broad categories for

which the companies or firms work for. One is that they market their product to such an extent that it

becomes the top priority of the majority of customers,i.e, they want to attract as many people toward their

product/service as good enough they can. The second thing that different companies do is that they do not

want to lose their customers. It is like their most valuable asset. Retaining your customers refer to Brand

Loyalty.

The market in Pakistan is also targeting day to day advertisement. The competition has grown to its

greatest extent and the companies are busy in the activity of capturing people‘s minds. This paper covers

this broader concept by approaching it in a narrower way. The focus is particularly on Shampoos. The

response that people pay towards shampoo‘s advertisements, either on television or while driving where

they encounter with bill boards and banners. It has been seen that the number of bill boards are increasing

every other day and they have become so common like they were never before.

If we talk about particularly Karachi in Pakistan, being the largest and populous city, the companies try to

market and target their customers here to a larger extent. Compared to any other city of the country

Karachi holds the largest number of these bill boards on the roadside. According to one study it has been

proved to be one of the reasons of increased traffic accidents. But the point discussed in the paper is how

people respond to those ads, how they change their perceptions and do they actually change their minds

and attitudes towards buying a particular product? The paper evaluates the views of both men and women

regarding their shampoo choice, the factors that affect the change in what they choose, the most

preferable brands and what cause them to be loyal to the brand they are already using. The research is

being carried out viewing on specifically the marketing strategies adopted by different companies.

Companies go for marketing to be fully intact in the competition, to be competent towards attracting their

customer line and increasing their number. It throws light on the fact that the marketing factor is dominant

over the loyalty aspect that is why firms are constantly putting their efforts and a large amount of their

finance to market the products for their targeted customers. Focusing on shampoos particularly, we can

say this that a lot of types and characteristics are now associated with them in order to fulfill the

customers‘ specifications. There are various sort of problems identified related to hair, including hair fall,

dandruff, split ends, black shine, long hair, strong hair and many more. This paper presents an overview

and analysis of all these issues and tries to find out the answer of whether or not sticking to a brand or go

for a product after the marketing?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

The core purpose of the study was to highlight the major purpose for television advertisements i.e. are

they promoting their products ethically or they are using subliminal messages to brainwash their

customers? The researcher studied the topic thoroughly and found that in countries other than Pakistan

this topic has been discussed continuously but in Pakistan advertising and its related topics did not

interested the researchers. Subliminal messages by definition are a form of brainwashing by attacking the

mind on a subconscious level. .

Brad Paul stated ,we are unaware of how frequently we are brainwashed by the television advertisings. He

said advertiser‘s work day and night to handle skillfully our behaviors so that people should continuously

watch their ads and as a result buy their products. They fascinate our abilities to perceive things with

different images and scenes and choose tag lines and words which will hit viewers emotionally and will

turn their behavior to the direction they want-Buy their product.

Augustin (2006) Quoted ―I progressively stopped watching television when I started figuring out how

detrimental it was for my health.‖ Television advertisements have intense control on our psyche



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according to him if advertisements did not affect our brains then why the companies spend millions on

advertising their products thus advertisements do brainwash the viewers and that‘s the reason they make

every possible effort to force people to watch their ads they have taken a strong hold on our daily life so

the next time we buy the product we should ask ourselves Why am I choosing this product? And the

answer would remind us of its ad Apart from all this it is interesting to see advertisements and find the

hidden messages in them as in our world its is extremely difficult to avoid advertisements but by finding

techniques and hidden messages behind the ads we can save ourselves from the brainwashing techniques

of big corporations. Advertisers know well that they can easily manage mass audiences through their ads

and they make every effort to make us watch their ad they have taken a firm hold on our daily lives.

Claudia Miclaus urged that television advertisements force people to think they are in great need of the

product. TV is by far the most widely used medium for commercializing the products and we cannot even

imagine how high the prices are charged by TV networks for putting ads on-air during public‘s most

favorite programs. Advertising is more than passing information to viewers it‘s a mean to induce people

to buy the particular product and to accomplish this purpose they use different psychological ingredients

and people end up buying the things which they actually do not really need. Most ads have different and

attractive graphics and jingles which symbolizes their products and people get attracted to them but we

should not fall in their traps of buying and everlasting list of items which in actual we do not need.

Mark Shepard, started his article with a very good question that Have you ever suddenly felt carving

about a Big Mac or dying to buy a BMV car or just fought with your parents to have those special tooth

whitening strips so that you‘ll look more attractive? And seconds before you watch the ad, you weren‘t

even thinking about it? An effective ad can give us an idea as how to get rid of the pain we are already in

and what corrective action or decision we can take in such a situation so, he concluded his views that TV

advertising, is not brainwashing. Ads can be compelling. They can be forceful. Their jingles at times get

stuck in your mind and play over and over again. They may be hugely influential. They may not always

be useful for us but you can always hit the off button so it is not brainwashing.

Sean Poulter states that ―Youngsters are being brainwashed into demanding foods high in fat, salt and

sugar, concludes an official report.‖ The research has been carried out by Food Standard Agency to know

the reason of overweight children and the results showed a straight linkage between overweight children

and the strong effect of TV advertising around 8.5 percent of 6 year olds are already considered obese,

while the figure rises to 15 percent of 15-year-olds.According to him proof were found that TV

advertisement modify what youngsters think is good for them.

According to Intrepid Learning‘s article if we will watch TV advertisements with total focus of not to

make them take place in our mind then too we will be flooded with too many product‘s advertisements in

our brains. To an advertiser we are a clear target. We are not people but consumers for them and a part of

their thoroughly studied and segmented ―target‖ market and that the reason advertisements work. We

should start watching things from their perspective and once we do that automatically we will start

watching fewer advertisements and once we are not exposed to advertisements they cannot harm us.

Harris Murray found out that traditionally TV advertising is king of advertising media as its impact on

people is wide-spread but along with that it is also considered as king of cost media because of its

expensiveness. Animated advertisements are very popular under TV ads for example (Kellogg's) and they

are long running (series of advertisements can be done). Creative television advertisements can easily

attract people and makes them to buy products. This is very advantageous for small businesses. On the

other hand these ads are short so they do not provide complete information of the product and also at

times TV advertisement is messed up i.e. do not show relevant information about a product. If it‘s

presented in flawless way it hits the target and forces viewers to react the way advertiser want them to.



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George Monbiot (2011) Claims that we know who our enemies are: big business, politicians who only

exist to satisfy themselves but somehow the sector which bounds all these together gets overlooked which

is Advertising industry. This industry assert to improve our choice but gives us a very little choice of

whether we see it and even more less choice about whether we should respond? Most advertising appeals

to extrinsic values. It doesn't matter what the product is: by celebrating image, beauty, wealth, power and

status, it helps create an environment that shifts our value system. Some ads promote intrinsic values,

associating their products with family life and strong communities. But they also create the impression

that these values can be purchased, which lowers their dignity.

Vivian (2010) said it is a very wide field some advertisements could be important for us and some on the

other hand could be humorous where as some could be dangerous for children because children perceive

things different than adults, after just one exposure to a commercial, children can recall the ad's content

and have a desire for the product. The question arises here is that it is trustworthy subject for people or its

just brainwashing? Advertising effect our logical thinking abilities as we are bombarded by hundreds of

advertisements daily and each one of it tries to affect our sensation.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In the primary research, the sample frame has been set worldwide. We found research and studies

conducted internationally. International researchers tried to fetch the information from all the users that

could respond them according to their particular shampoo brands and specifically conditioners and hair

sprays as well.

Our sample design includes two dimensions/phases:

Phase I (Colleges/Universities‘ Students as Sample)

Phase II (People aging 18-30 as Sample)

Phase I (Colleges/Universities’ Students as Sample)

The sampling procedure used is Random Sampling, i.e, each and every member of the sampling frame

has a known and unequal chance of being selected in the sample. The sampling frame is regarded as a list

of population members used to obtain a sample. The research was carried out from within Karachi and

particularly the students of different colleges and universities. There was no gender restriction, infact both

male/female respondents were asked to share and cooperate with us with the all the possible information

they can provide us.

Phase II (People aging 18-30 as Sample)

The sample frame also has a specification of having people that age from 18 to 30. The purpose behind

this age range was having the youngsters in sampling frame since the topic for research was confined to

brand loyalty and it according to us the old people are not very much concerned with whatever brand they

use. It was a successful experiment to conduct the study with youngsters analyzing the final result.

A questionnaire was prepared and designed to know the responses of people regarding their brand loyalty,

perception of being loyal to particular kinds of products, the influential factors of their purchase decision,

effect of marketing/advertising on their brand choices and preferences, threat of competitor shampoo

brands, and the factors and responses to how and what are the factors that are involved in the choice and

decision of a shampoo and what causes them to either stick or switch to a particular shampoo brand?



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4. ANALYSIS

4.1 The Respondents’ ratio(Male/Female)

The desired respondents were to be both the male and female college/university students aging from 18 to

30. We wanted an equal ratio of both to respond towards our questionnaire which was specially designed

for the mental psychy of young people. Fortunately, we had a good response and an equal contribution of

the sample. There was no non-response error and the study was completed successfully.

4.2 Response towards Brand Loyalty

There was a 49/49 ratio of being ‗moderately loyal‘ and ‗keep switching‘ category while only 2%

responded that they were ‗hard core brand loyal‘. Usually, the youngsters are more likely to be brand

loyal as they look more into the brands‘ details, advertising stuff, influenced by marketing strategies by

the firms but when it comes specifically to shampoos they were not very much into the brand name and

were using the shampoo irrespective of its brand.

4.3 Reasons of not being Loyal to a Shampoo Brand

Shampoos are to clean up the soil and dirt from the hair so its not a big deal what brand is there to do that

job. Sticking to a brand just involves the degree and tendency of a shampoo to suit your hair or working

effectively for your hair care. When you are concerned with the hair care and other hair problems such as

hair fall, dandruff, long hair, shine in hair, curly hair, straight hair, oily hair and sheild from sun or hair

color damage. So, different customers have different needs that are catered by different shampoo brands.

Some fulfill the desired needs and some do not do so as to what they say. Consumers keep on trying

different shampoos to test what is the best solution to their hair, which takes quite a long deal of time.

Therefore, it can be concluded that if you are not Brand loyal (particularly for a shampoo), usually it is

because of the dissatisfaction with your current brand.

4.4 Influence of Marketing/Advertising

The firms are taking many measures to promote their products in the clustered environment of today‘s

advertisement. Likewise, shampoo brands are also taking their part in the race. They also are spending

much of their finance towards advertising. But in case of shampoos people do not change their minds

seeing the ads and influenced by other marketing strategies. They remain brand loyal only if the shampoo

is doing good enough for them and is satisfying them to a large extent. If they saw an effective TV

commercial of their competitor brand 60-65% of the people response was not reacting to it but just to

appreciate it.

There is also a certain percentage that does not even react to any of the advertising effort by different

firms. They responded to the option that ―you will do nothing‖.

4.5 Determining a final Brand for Shampoo

Since its evident from the study that it is not the marketing strategy or the advertisement appeal that

influence the shampoo brand, rather the most important factor in determining a final brand for shampoo is

the ―Past Experience‖. Like said before it is based on how a shampoo is being proved to be good enough

for a consumer that he/she uses it and it depends on when a consumer keeps on using or experiencing a

particular shampoo. Only then they can decide whether the past experience was good?



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4.6 Final Purchase Decision

About 70% among the youngsters sampling frame were of the view that the final purchase decision in

their family for a shampoo is their ownselves. It is they who decides what shampoo to be bought and used

by them. This is the reason why they were our choice for the sample frame and they were the right choice

for this purpose as 70% is a large ratio that can analyze about their Brand Loyalty.

Figure 1: Final Purchase Decision

Source: Computed

4.7 Exposure to Television (TV)

The first question of the survey was about the time people give watching TV starting from 2 hours to less

than 4 hours,4 hours to 6 hours and more than 6 hours. Though it was not the direct relevant question to

the topic but it was related indirectly. 60% of students watch 2 hours to less than 4 hours of TV where as

75% of the professionals watch 2 hours to less than4 hours of TV.

Figure 2 : Showing Professional’s analysis

Source: Calculated

D: No Shampoo

Brand Loyalty 70%

A: Hard Core

Loyal 5%

B: Influenced

by Marketing Efforts 5%

C: Influenced by Past

Experience 15%



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Figure 3: Showing Student’s Analysis

Source: Calculated

4.8 Elements that a good TV commercial constitutes

Both the samples were then analyzed on the elements which makes a good TV Ad They were given four

options to choose from graphics ,music, concept and story or celebrity endorsement. According to the

students and professionals data calculated story line and concept makes up a good TV advertisement. 56%

of Students like ads on basis of storyline and concept and 40% professionals agree with it.


Source: Calculated



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Figure 5 : Showing Student’s Analysis

Source : Calculated

4.9 Viewer’s ratio of recalling advertisements

Next respondents were surveyed about the behaviors they tend to show when they watch a certain ad

again and again. They were given four ratings from strongly agree ,agree, undecided to strongly disagree.

Majority Students strongly agree that they have more chances of recalling a ad when they are exposed to

it more where as professionals agree that they recall a certain ad when they watch it again and again.


Source: Calculated



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Figure 7: Showing Student’s Analysis

Source : Calculated

4.10 Advertisement Brainwash Viewers

The most important point was then raised to the respondents that television advertisement is just doing

their product‘s promotion or they are using viewers for sale of their products through brainwashing them.

68% of Professionals are very clear that TV advertisement brainwash viewers where as students are

confused about the fact that whether TV ads brainwash them or not as 52% agreed that they are

brainwashed by ads.




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Figure 9 : Showing Student’s Analysis

Source : Calculated

5. FINDINGS

In Pakistan advertisement does not have broader horizon. Advertisers don't have the good of society in

mind when they do their work they only care about making profit. This means that they regularly

advertise unhealthy or harmful things. Fast food ads are a large part of the reason so many children are

obese. The media and celebrity endorsement do much more harm, by making fun of unattractive or

overweight people, and glorifying models that are often dangerously thin some of the respondents even

added extra views that the ads which have celebrities in it are often disliked by them in spite of the fact

that the ad have good content.

Also products which are related to age or skin their ads are viewed by viewers in great interest but they do

not purchase the product because of the side effects attached to it. Ads have always won viewers through

their emotional appeal and it will continue to do so as people in Pakistan are more emotional.

The basic thing to enlighten is that advertisers do not consider society values in their ads and often use

distorting visuals to brainwash their viewers so they should go for their products.

Trend that people use shampoo on the basis of their past experience instead of the marketing efforts by

the different firms is more of attention in Karachi, Pakistan. The young people aging from 18 to 30,

majority holds the belief that it doesn‘t really matter how good or strong their brand name is, how

effective and fast their competitors are doing or how influential is the celebrity chosen by their own

and/or the competitor brand advertisement. They‘d stick to the current shampoo brand if it is satisfying

their needs, and if some problem arises they would try to some other shampoo seeing to its service and

solution.

If there is a change in their shampoo choice it is not because of the strong advertising threat by the

competitor but may be due to the dissatisfaction with their current brand. Most of the people do not even

think twice before changing their shampoo. So, it strongly refers to the result that shampoo is not a

product for which people would be loyal and it is hard to attract and even keep up your current Shampoo

Brand customers.



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6. CONCLUSIONS

The brand loyalty demands the participation of either highly specialty products or the personal care

products. Specialty products are products not purchased on a regular basis and consumers do extensive

research before purchasing these items. Specialty products are typically expensive, are unique in nature—

meaning not easily substituted. So, it shows that people would like to stick to one brand for such products,

because it would require them to spend a handsome amount of their income for that. There are broad

categories of the specialty products, e.g, diamonds, antiques, furniture, jewelry, automobiles etc. While on

the other hand, personal care products are those used for beautification and in personal hygiene. It is

obvious that people would not prefer to experiment on their physical appearance and personal hygiene, it

deals with great sense of responsibility and commitment on the companies‘ hands as well as on the

consumers. They look deeply into the Brands‘ details and are more curious to know about whose better in

the industry. Therefore, marketing plays a vital role in such products and consumers are being influenced

by such efforts of the firm.

Sometimes, people do think that the celebrities coming in certain advertisements are reliable and they

have some credibility. In that case celebrities like to be associated with such brands that provide authentic

information in their advertisements and the firms want to be really good in all the services and ingredients

that they are giving to their customers.

In case of shampoos, they are one of the personal care products but according to our study they do not

require brand loyalty to a large extent. Because shampoos have nothing to do with the authentic and

reliable ingredients for the customers. More or less, all of the shampoo companies provide with the same

benefits and similar results and effects. They all serve the same purpose, i.e, cleaning up your hair from

soil and dirt. People respond almost very ineffectively towards the advertising campaign of the shampoo

brands but still there is a lot of focus given by the firms in this regard only to remain in the minds of

customers in the clusters of other brands. So that their brand will be the reminder call every time they go

to purchase shampoo. So, the basic idea is to grab the attention of people all the time. The use of celebrity

endorsement is also the same. The young sample frame responded negatively towards the brand loyalty of

shampoos. They prefer any of the brands that suits best to their hair, and the change in that choice is

mostly because of the dissatisfaction with their current brand. And if they stick to any particular brand,

the reason behind is the past experience of the customers, i.e, they are satisfied with their current

Shampoo Brand.

TV Advertising has a positive role to play in modern society, helping us choose between competing

goods. Many adverts are drawing our attention to products with new features, for example more powerful

computers, telephones which are also cameras and music players, or foods with added vitamins. Other ads

try to compete on price, helping us seek out the cheapest or best value products. Ads which use very sly

methods like subliminal images (images which are shown so quickly the viewer doesn't consciously

realize they saw them) are already banned. The other forms of advertising are just companies being

creative. There is no difference from supermarkets being painted bright colors‘ to make their food seem

more appetizing or even people wearing make-up to improve their image. People make unconscious

judgments all the time and we frequently try to influence these choices by the way we present ourselves.

This isn't brainwashing, so neither is advertising.

Many TV ads do more than just advertising products. Some try to make people feel inferior if they don't

have the product, or if they have something which the product would change. Perceptions of beauty and

fashion in particular have been terribly distorted. Many young people have low-self esteem, and lead

unhealthy lifestyles because they feel they should be thinner and more attractive like the models they see

in ads. This leads to serious problems like eating-disorders and self-harm.TV Advertising gives the



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impression, especially to children, that they can and should have everything they want. This makes people

too interested in material things. People are becoming more selfish and obsessed with their possessions,

and losing their values of patience, hard work, moderation and the importance of non-material things like

family and friends. This harms their relationships and their personal development, which has serious

effects for society as a whole.

REFERENCES

Paul, Brad (2004). ―How We Are Brainwashed by the Media (And How to Avoid Being a Victim).‖

Retrived from http://www.guruhabits.com/brainwashed.html

Miclaus, Claudia (2009). "The Brain-Washing Power of Commercials." Retrived from

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-brain-washing-power-of-commercials.html

Vivian (2010). ―Is Advertising Brainstorming?.‖ Retrived from

http://vivianast.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/is-advertising-brainwashing/

Augustin (2006). ―Forcing TV viewers to watch advertising... and more...‖ Retrived from

http://www.wechange.org/b/augustin/television_advertising_brainwashing

Mark, Shepard (2009). ―The Difference Between Being Influenced and Brainwashed.‖ Retrived from

http://www.persuasive.net/blog/the-difference-between-being-influenced-and-brainwashed/#

George, Monbiot (2011). ―Advertising is a poison that demeans even love – and we're hooked on it.‖

Retrived from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/24/advertising-poison-hooked

Sean, Poulter (2010). ―TV ads lead to junk food diets.‖ Retrived from

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-197596/TV-ads-lead-junk-food-diets.html

Harris, Murray (2010). ―Pros And Cons of Television Advertising.‖ Retrived from

http://www.sooperarticles.com/business-articles/advertising-articles/pros-cons-television-

advertising-42374.html#ixzz1ct8pQu7t



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The Relationship between Religiosity and

Customers’ Adoption of Islamic Banking

Services In Morocco

Abdelghani Echchabi

International Islamic University

Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, 53100, Malaysia

Prof. Dr. Hassanuddeen Abd. Aziz

International Islamic University Malaysia

Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, 53100, Malaysia

ABSTRACT The main purpose of the paper is to examine the relationship between

religiosity and the adoption of Islamic banking services. At the same

time the study attempts to inspect the willingness of the Moroccan

customers to adopt Islamic banking services. A total of 300

questionnaires were randomly distributed among Moroccan banking

customers, out of which, 252 were returned and usable. T-test and linear

regression analyses were then employed to analyse the data, whereby the

dependent variable is adoption of Islamic banking services, and the

independent variable is religiosity. The results indicate that religiosity

has a significant positive influence on the adoption of Islamic banking

services in Morocco. The results also indicate that the Moroccan

customers are willing to adopt Islamic banking services.

Key words: Morocco, Islam, Banking, Linear regression, Consumer

behaviour.

1. INTRODUCTION

The first Islamic bank was established in Egypt in 1963 and was called Mit Ghamr Local Savings Bank.

This was followed by Nasir Social Bank in 1967, which was the first social bank to be established based

on shari‘ah principles (Venardos, 2006). Following these establishments, a number of other Islamic banks

have been set up including IDB (1975), Faisal Islamic Bank (1976), etc.

In the case of Morocco, the governor of Bank Al Maghrib (Moroccan Central Bank) has

signed the recommendation permitting the banks to market and launch their Halal

products on 17th of September 2007. According to Elmostali (2009), the delay by Bank

Al Maghrib to officially launch these alternative products is justified by the fact that

financing companies should have agreed on the basic rules of offer which include

denominations, juristic rules, etc. The authors added that the delay can be also explained

by the fact that the Moroccan authorities want to adapt the Moroccan environment in

order to meet the expectations and desires of the Gulf investors as well as the increasing International Journal of


Vol: 3, No: 5. May, 2012

pp.25-31




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demand on the Islamic banking services. Few years later, specifically, in August 2010, the AWB group

opened a new subsidiary named Dar Assafaa offering Islamic banking services only such as Murabaha,

Musharakah and Ijarah. Nevertheless, the Moroccan banking sector is dominated by eight main banks that

are conventional in nature. These are Attijariwafa Bank (AWB), Banque Populaire du Maroc (BPM),

Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur (BMCE), Banque Marocaine du Commerce et de l‘Industrie

(BMCI), Societe Generale Maroc (SGM), Credit Agricole du Maroc (CAM), Credit Du Maroc (CDM),

and Credit Immobilier et Hotelier (CIH). In a similar context, it is crucial to understand the banking

customers‘ behaviour, particularly, the position of religiosity vis-a-vis the adoption of Islamic banking

services in a country with 99 per cent Muslim population.

In the previous studies, the adoption of Islamic banking services was found to be a function of several

factors, one of which is the religious motivation (Metwally, 1996; Edris, 1997; Gerrard and Cunningham,

1997; Metawa and Almossawi, 1998; Al-Sultan, 1999; Okumus, 2005). Nevertheless, the studies on the

influence of the religiosity on the adoption of Islamic banking services are still scarce (Rehman and

Shabbir, 2010), especially in the case of Morocco, whereby there is no existing study that fills this gap.

This study is crucial in light of the current criticisms of the non-compliance of the existing Islamic banks

with the shari‘ah law (Abdullah and Dusuki, 2004; Kamali, 2007; Dusuki and Abozaid, 2007; Meera and

Larbani, 2009; Meera and Dzuljastri, 2009; Sairally, 2002; Siddiqi, 2007; Rosly, 2010). Moreover, the

study focuses solely on religiosity due to the new wave of secularism that is slowly invading the North

African region recently.

Thus, the current study attempts to study the influence of religiosity on the adoption of Islamic banking

services, by using linear regression analysis, with religiosity as the independent variable and the adoption

as the dependent variable. In other words, the current study attempts to answer the following two

questions: Does religiosity have any influence on the adoption of Islamic banking services in Morocco?

Are the Moroccan customers willing to adopt Islamic banking services? The current study uses a multi

dimensional measurement of religiosity comprised of five dimensions based on the index established by

Rehman and Shabbir (2010). Following this brief introduction, the next section will present an overview

on the previous studies on new products adoption as well as adoption of Islamic banking services. The

methodology employed in this study, as well as the results and discussion will then be presented

sequentially.


Intuitively, Islamic banking services are considered relatively new compared to the long existing

conventional banking services. According to Rehman and Shabbir (2010), the adoption of new products

by customers is affected by their perception of their features as well as some external factors. Previous

studies have shown that a new product is more likely to be adopted if it has a higher relative advantage

compared to the existing ones, if it is compatible with the values, experiences and needs of the customers,

and if it is easier to use compared to the previous products (Rogers, 1983). Furthermore, awareness or

knowledge about a given product has also been identified as one of the factors that lead the customers to

opt or reject a given new product (Lai, 1991).

The previous studies have also found that the adoption of a new product is a function of three kinds of

beliefs. The first is the behavioural belief, which refers to the subjective probability that the behaviour

will achieve expected outcomes positively or negatively. Second is subjective norm which is determined

by the sum of normative beliefs which reflects the perceived behavioural expectation or opinions of

important referents individuals or groups. And the third one is perceived behavioural control which is

determined by the sum of accessible control beliefs which refers to the perceived presence of requisite

resources and opportunities to perform a given behaviour (Ajzen, 1991).



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In the context of Islamic banking, previous studies have shown that the primary factors that lead the

customers to opt for Islamic banks include fast and efficient service (Haron, Ahmad and Planisek, 1994),

bank‘s reputation (Naser, Jamal and Al-Khatib, 1999), economic factors (Ahmad and Haron, 2002).

These above studies found that the religious motivation was not one of the primary factors that influence

the customers‘ product adoption decision. However, Hegazy (1995) found that most of the Islamic banks‘

customers in Egypt chose Islamic banks in order for them to remain complied with the Islamic law. These

results are similar to those of Metwally (1996), Edris (1997), Gerrard and Cunningham (1997), Metawa

and Almossawi (1998), Al-Sultan (1999), as well as Okumus (2005).

Thus, in some contexts, religiosity was found to be one of the important factors in the customers‘

selection of Islamic banking products. In the context of Morocco, this area still needs to be explored,

given that none of the above studies have examined the Moroccan customers‘ willingness to adopt

Islamic banking products and the factors that may lead to it, specifically the religious factor. Even though

the factors that lead to adoption of Islamic banking services maybe several, the current study focuses

mainly and solely on religiosity because of the recent wave of secularism that is spreading in the North

African region, especially with the Arab spring movements, and also because of the negligence of

religiosity in the above attitudinal models.

The measurement of religiosity, which is the independent variable, is based on the scale established by

Rehman and Shabbir (2010). The authors define religiosity based on five dimensions, namely,

ideological, ritualistic, intellectual, consequential and experimental. The ideological dimensions refer to

the overall beliefs associated with a religion, for instance, beliefs about God, Prophet, fate, etc. Ritualistic

dimensions are determined by the actions prescribed by religion such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, etc.

Intellectual dimensions refer to an individual‘s knowledge about religion. Consequential dimensions refer

to the importance of religion while experimental dimensions describe the practicality of the religion

(p.65). It is noteworthy that religiosity in the current study refers to the religion of Islam, given that 99 per

cent of the Moroccan population are Muslims, while the remaining one per cent is comprised of Jewish

and Christian.

Based on the above discussion, the following hypotheses have been developed and both constitute the

main hypotheses in the study:

H1: Religiosity has a positive influence on the adoption of Islamic banking services in Morocco.

H2O: The Moroccan customers are indifferent to adopt Islamic banking services (i.e. mean=3).


In line with the above objective, the data for this study was collected using self administered

questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed randomly to the bank customers in the cities of Rabat,

Casablanca, Marrakech and Agadir that are the four main cities in Morocco. The banks covered include

Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur (BMCE), Attijari wafabank (AWB), Banque Marocaine du

Commerce et de l‘Industrie (BMCI), as well as Banque Populaire (BP). The respondents were approached

at the corresponding branches. T-test and linear regression analyses were applied to analyse the data,

using SPSS18.

The questionnaire contains two main sections. The first one is designed to collect information about the

religiosity and adoption willingness constructs (Rehman and Shabbir, 2010), the items under this section

are measured using five points likert scale (1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree). The second part is

meant to collect information about the demographic variables of the respondents.



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The questionnaire was made in English and was subsequently translated into French and distributed as

such. This is because French is the second language in the country and majority of Moroccan people can

speak French fluently. The translation process was guided by language experts in both French and English

to avoid any kind of biasness. The target sample size in this study is 300 respondents. This sample size is

considered to be sufficient according to Hair, Black, Babin and Anderson (2010) and Field (2000). Out of

the questionnaires distribute, 252 were returned and usable, making a response rate of 84 per cent, which

is acceptable compared to the previous studies (Gerrard and Cunningham, 1997; Metawa and Almossawi,

1998; Naser et al., 1999).

The results indicate that out of these 252 respondents, around 58 per cent of the respondents are male,

while 42 per cent of them are female. Furthermore, the age grouping indicates that 39 per cent are

between 31 to 40 years old, 32 per cent are between 41 and 50 years old, and 20 per cent are between 20

to 30 years old, while the remaining 9 per cent are above fifty years old. It is worth mentioning that none

of the respondents was below 20 years, which occurred randomly. With regards to the educational level,

34 per cent are holding a bachelors‘ degree, 17 per cent are holding a higher secondary certificate, 16 per

cent are holding a technician diploma, 15 per cent are holding a baccalaureate, 10 per cent are holding

Masters, and 8 per cent are holding a PhD.

For the employment status, around 42 per cent of the respondents are working in the private sector, 25 per

cent are working in the public sector, and 18 per cent are self employed, while the remaining 15 per cent

are students. Regarding the salary distribution, around 33 per cent of the respondents earn a monthly

salary between 6,001 and 10,000 Moroccan Dirham, 25 per cent gain a salary between 2,000 and 6,000

Moroccan Dirham, 20 per cent have a salary of less than 2,000 Moroccan Dirham, 14 per cent have a

salary between 20,001 and 40,000, while the remaining 8 per cent of the respondents gain a salary

between 10,001 and 20,000 Moroccan Dirham.

4. FINDINGS 4.1. Reliability

An important step in data analysis when using a set of items to measure the studied variables is the

reliability measures. Cronbach alpha is the most widely used objective measure of reliability (Vehkalahti,

2000). Hair et al. (2010) suggest that the Cronbach Alpha should be at least 0.6. This requirement is met,

since the results in Table 1 indicate that all the reliability values are above 0.6, ranging from 0.677 to

0.886.

Table1: Reliability measures

Variables Reliability

Religiosity 0.886

Ideological dimensions 0.872

Ritualistic dimensions 0.708

Intellectual dimensions 0.677

Consequential dimensions 0.727

Experimental dimensions 0.681

IB adoption 0.735

4.2. Linear regression results

In order to examine the validity of the first hypothesis, initially claiming that religiosity has a positive

influence on the adoption of Islamic banking services in Morocco, linear regression analysis was applied.

The linear regression results in Table 2 below indicate that the model is significant, with the F-test

significance value of 0.0000. Furthermore, R square value was found to be equal to 33.4%, which is



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significant at alpha equal 0.05. This means that religiosity explains 33.4% of the variation in the adoption

of Islamic banking services in Morocco. Thus, the initial hypothesis is supported.

Based on the results shown in Table 3 below, the correlation equation can be written as follows:

Adoption of Islamic banking services = 1.267 + 0.656 religiosity

Table 2: ANOVA output

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Regression 126.446 1 126.446 125.282 .000

Residual 252.324 250 1.009

Total 378.770 251

The above results are similar to those of Rehman and Shabbir (2010), who have found that religiosity has

a significant positive influence on the adoption of new products in the case of Pakistan. The results are

also similar to those of Hegazy (1995), Metwally (1996), Edris (1997), Gerrard and Cunningham (1997),

as well as Metawa and Almossawi (1998) who have found that religion is the main factors for the

customers to opt for Islamic rather than conventional banks.

Table 3: Coefficients

Model Unstandardised Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients t Sig.

B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.267 .268 4.724 .000

Religion .656 .059 .578 11.193 .000

4.3. T-test

In order to test the second hypothesis, claiming that the Moroccan customers are neutral as to the adoption

of Islamic banking services (i.e. mean=3), one sample t-test has been performed to check whether the

mean of the items measuring adoption is significantly different from 3. The results in Table 2, indicate

that the mean is significantly different from 3 for all the adoption items. This means that the Moroccan

customers are not neutral with regards to these statements. Subsequently, hypothesis 2 is rejected. By

referring to the means for the said items in Table 4, it is clear that all of them are above 3, meaning that

the customers are willing to adopt Islamic banking services. And this is in line with the findings of

Rehman and Shabbir (2010).

Table 4: One sample t-test

Items t df Means Sig. (2-tailed)

Int1 12.638 251 4.16 .000

Int2 19.107 251 4.33 .000

Int3 17.924 251 4.33 .000

Int4 12.638 251 4.16 .000

Int5 9.048 251 3.91 .000

Intention 15.292 251 4.18 .000



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5. DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

The main aim of the study was to examine the relationship between religiosity and Islamic banking

services adoption by Moroccan customers, and to explore the willingness of the Moroccan customers to

adopt Islamic banking services. The study has shown that in the context of Morocco, religiosity has a

significant positive influence on the adoption of Islamic banking services. In addition, it was found that

the Moroccan customers are willing to adopt Islamic banking services. These findings have strong

implications for the body of knowledge, the practitioners and stakeholders, as well as for the policy

makers and regulators.

The results enrich the literature on the religiosity and its influence on the human behaviour, particularly in

the adoption of new products and services. At the same time, the study extends this knowledge to another

context that has not been explored in the previous studies i.e. that of Morocco and the Moroccan banking

sector. The findings also provide hindsight for practitioners and stakeholders, in the sense that religiosity

should be given high importance, while conceiving and marketing new Islamic banking services. In other

words, the Islamic banks in Morocco should ensure that the services they offer are compliant with the

Islamic law (shari’ah). On the other hand, the policy makers and regulators should consider this

relationship between religiosity and adoption of Islamic banking services by establishing a concise

regulatory framework for the practice of Islamic banking, and ensure that the Islamic banks will conform

to it.

The main limitation of the current study is its focus on the Moroccan customers only, which means that it

cannot be generalised to other countries. Likewise, the study focuses only on Muslim customers, while

Moroccan population is comprised of Jewish and Christian as well. Hence, the future studies are

recommended to extend the current study to other countries and other religions as well. For instance, in

France, there are efforts that have been done in order to introduce Islamic banking in the country.

However, the success of Islamic banking in this setting in highly depending on the acceptability of French

customers of Islamic banking, especially in the current era. At the same time, future studies are

recommended to include other factors such as relative advantage of Islamic banking, trust, awareness, etc.

6. REFERENCES

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Ahmad, N. and Haron, S. (2002). Perceptions of Malaysian corporate customers towards Islamic banking

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Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision

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Al-Sultan, W., (1999). Financial Characteristics of Interest-free Banks and Conventional Banks.

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Shari`ah in Islamic Banking and Finance. IIUM Journal of Economics and Management, 15(2),

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Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J., & Anderson, R.E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis, seventh

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University: Islamic economics, 20(1), 3-22.

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European Journal of Marketing, 25(10), 55-67.

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Meera, A.K.M., & Dzuljastri, A.R. (2009). Home financing through Musharakah mutanaqisah contracts:

some practical issues. Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, 22(1), 3-27.

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implications. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 16(7), 299-315.

Metwally, M. (1996). Attitudes of Muslims towards Islamic banks in a dual-banking system. American

Journal of Islamic Finance, 6, 11-17.

Naser, K., Jamal, A., & Al-Khatib, K. (1999). Islamic banking: a study of customer satisfaction and

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Rehman, A.U., & Shabbir, M.S. (2010). The relationship between religiosity and new product adoption.

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Tabachnick, B.G., & Fidell, L.S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics, fifth edition. Boston: Allyn and

Bacon.

Sairally, B. (2002). Murabahah financing: Some controversial issues. Review of Islamic Economics, 12,

73-86.

Siddiqi, M.N. (2007). Economics of Tawarruq, how its mafasid overwhelm its masalih. At the workshop

on Tawarruq: a methodological issue in shari’ah compliant finance. London School of

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Vehkalahti, K. (2000). Reliability of measurement scales. The Finnish Statistical Society, Helsinki.

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Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.



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Cross-Cultural Orientation Inventory:

Development and Measure of a New

Instrument

Rakesh Mittal

College of Business

Department of Management, MSC 3DJ

New Mexico State University

Las Cruces, NM 88003 – 8001

ABSTRACT In this study we design and present a new instrument, Cross-Cultural

Orientation Inventory (CCOI), to measure the cross cultural orientation of

a person. We define cross-cultural orientation as the readiness of a person

to interact with, and form a sustainable relationship with a person from a

different culture. We posit that CCOI would be a valid measure of cross-

cultural orientation of a person, which in turn, would be related to the

cross cultural behavioral competence of that person. We design a

questionnaire to represent CCOI, and assess its reliability and validity

empirically. We discuss our results and the utility of the new measure for

HR practitioners in recruitment and selection processes.

Keywords: Cross-Cultural Orientation, Intercultural Competence, Cross-

Cultural Experience

1. INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In today‘s globalizing world, there is a need of cross-culturally competent managers. Treatments of

intercultural sensitivity have played an important role in the scholarly literature. This concept also has an

important place in the work of practitioners who work closely with people who engage in extensive

intercultural encounters. Foreign students are forced to spend one or more extra years to attain their

degrees if they are not sensitive to different academic requirements in different countries (Klineberg &

Hull, 1979). Research has been designed to explain and predict successful intercultural encounters

(Gudykunst & Nishida, 1989; Searle & Ward, 1990).

Researchers have investigated a number of personal characteristics and skills

hypothesized to be predictive of competent interaction with culturally different others

(Abe & Wiseman, 1983; Dinges & Baldwin, 1996; Hammer, Nishida & Wiseman, 1996

etc.), resulting in a list of potentially useful factors. Generally, the ability to interact is

given more emphasis in the majority of studies on cross-cultural competence, with a view

to delineate a valid and accurate measurement of such ability (Chen & Starosta, 2000).

However, much less work seems to have been done in examining the antecedents of

interculturally competent behavior, and in understanding the psycho-social processes

resulting in the desired behavior. Even on the behavioral side, there seems to be a



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conceptual overlap between cross-cultural competence and interpersonal competence, both of which seem

to emphasize the fundamental ability to show consideration for others‘ needs while also fulfilling one‘s

own satisfaction and obligations to a reasonable degree (Chen & Starosta, 1996).

Although some measures have been developed to measure the behavioral competence of a person in

cross-cultural settings, there is no consensus in the extant literature about the antecedents of cross-cultural

competence. This study is an attempt to bring more clarity to this field. We believe that a salient

antecedent of cross-cultural behavior is the mindset of a person in a cross-cultural setting. When a person

is well disposed towards a cross-cultural interaction, his responses in a cross-cultural interaction are likely

to be more receptive and positive. On the other hand, if the person‘s mindset is not suitable for a cross-

cultural encounter, he or she may not exhibit the desired behavior in the interaction. We use the term

―Cross-cultural Orientation‖ (CCO) to describe the mindset of a person that governs his cross-cultural

behavior.

CCO, as conceptualized by us, is a new construct in the field of cross-cultural management. We define

CCO as the ―readiness of a person to interact with and form a relationship with a person from a different

culture‖. CCO is conceptualized as having two dimensions; cognitive – which refers to the awareness and

knowledge about other cultures, and affective – which captures the attitudinal orientation towards other

cultures. In essence, a person‘s CCO would be a measure of the extent to which a person seems ready to

interact with people from other cultures on a sustainable basis.

Although the extant literature has described a number of other constructs to capture the various facets of

cross-cultural manifestation, these differ from CCO in their nuances. For example, a similar construct is

cross-cultural experience (Olson, 2009) that seeks to represent the degree of interaction a person has with

people from other cultures. Conceivably, each episode of interaction with a person from other culture

builds on prior experience and prepares a person for future interactions. Thus, it is somewhat similar to

CCO but differs from CCO in the sense that its focus is on prior experience. Another construct is

Intercultural competence (Buhrmester, Furman, Wittenberg & Reis, 1988) which refers to the

competence of a person in dealing with people from other cultures. It is a wider construct, which takes

into account the totality of cross-cultural competence of a person in a cross-cultural setting. Thus, it

would seem to partially overlap with CCO but is distinguished from the latter in terms of its focus on the

behavioral skill rather on awareness or attitude.

Since the behavior of a person is primarily governed by his cognitive and affective frame of mind

(Luthans & Davis, 1980), we submit that Cross-cultural orientation, which captures both attitudinal and

affective dimensions of a person‘s mindset, is likely to be a good predictor of the behavior of a person in

a cross-cultural setting. Carrying this chain of thought further, we posit that the cross-cultural orientation,

in turn, is likely to be affected by the kind of education a person has received, as well as his prior

experience of cross-cultural encounters. We base our logic on the fact that attitudes get formed since

childhood, in which the educative years play a great role. If the instructors in a person‘s high

school/college exhibit sensitivity towards cross-cultural issues, this is bound to develop a positive attitude

in the student towards culturally different others. Similarly, opportunities for cross-cultural interaction in

school, and participation in multi-cultural events also shape the intercultural attitude of a person. An

equally important role in developing the cross-cultural orientation of a person is played by his cross-

cultural experiences. While his initial behavior might be governed by his cognitive store and current

attitude, each cross-cultural experiential event serves to further develop and shape his orientation towards

future events. We therefore conceptualize cross-cultural orientation in a nomological network, where

education and experience of a person are antecedents of his cross-cultural orientation, while his

behavioral competence is a consequent of the cross-cultural orientation. Our conceptualization can be

depicted as below:



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Figure. 1 Conceptual model of cross-cultural orientation (CCO)

Cross-cultural

Education

Cross-cultural

Experience

Cross-cultural

Orientation, comprised

of affective and

cognitive components

Cross-cultural

Behavior

Because the new construct defined by us is different from the constructs existing in the literature, none of

the existing measuring instruments, such as the Behavioral Assessment Scale for Intercultural

Communication Effectiveness (BASIC) (Koester & Olebe, 1988), Interpersonal Competence

Questionnaire (ICQ) (Buhrmester et al, 1988), or the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) (Chen &

Starosta, 2000), can be used to measure Cross-cultural Orientation (CCO). To fill this void, we developed

a new instrument, termed as Cross-Cultural Orientation Inventory (CCOI), to measure the cross-cultural

orientation of a person. Moreover, since we conceptualized CCO as a two-dimensional construct,

comprising attitudinal and awareness components, we needed to develop and validate two sub-scales to

represent these two components of CCO.

2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEASURE

Based on the conceptualization and components previously discussed, we developed items to measure

cross-cultural orientation. A five-point Likert scale was used to respond to each item: 5 = strongly agree,

4 = agree, 3 = neutral, 2 = disagree, and 1 = strongly disagree. Items were written to capture both the

affective and cognitive dimensions of the construct. Sample items are: ―I am happy to interact with people

from different cultures‖ (affective) and ―I know the cultural values and beliefs of other culture (s)‖

(cognitive). 49 items were initially developed for the full scale. These were made available to a group of 9

experts who had been briefed about the definition of the hypothesized construct and similar construct. The

experts were asked to select items which they thought captured cross-cultural orientation, and if so,

categorize them in Attitude (affective) and Awareness (cognitive) categories. Items which were not

agreed upon by 5 experts were eliminated, leaving 22 items. These items were further scrutinized and

discussed in the group of experts. Finally, 17 items were shortlisted, 9 for cross-cultural Attitude, and 8

for cross-cultural Awareness dimensions of CCO, for incorporating in the questionnaire.

In line with our conceptual model, we searched for valid measures for other variables in our study. We

used a 5-item scale for measuring Cross-cultural Education (adapted from Olson, 2009). Similarly a 5-

item scale was used for measuring Cross-cultural Experience (adapted from Rew, 2003), and a 9-item



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scale for measuring Cross-cultural Behavior (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Thus a total of 36 items were

included in the questionnaire, to measure the new construct as well as other, established constructs. A few

questions were also included for ascertaining demographic information of the respondents.

3. QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION AND SAMPLE

Undergraduate students in the colleges of Business and Engineering in a South-West University in U.S.A.

comprised the sample population for the study. It was felt that these students, having been exposed to

some cross-cultural education and activities, would be fairly representative of the general population. The

questionnaire was made available to students through SurveyMonkey web site, and also manually in some

classes. The responses were completely voluntary and anonymous. A total of 233 students were targeted

for completing the survey, of which 88 responded. The survey responses were entered into an excel sheet.

Since three responses contained no demographic information, these were removed from the data set,

leaving a total of 85 responses, denoting a response rate of 36.5%. 54 % of the respondents were male and

the rest female. 48.2% belonged to White Caucasian ethnic group while the rest were from other ethnic

groups. 17.6% of the respondents were full-time students while the rest were also holding part-time or

full-time jobs.

4. VALIDATION OF THE MEASURE

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), AMOS 16.0 and SPSS was employed to carry out statistical

analyses of the data. When developing a new scale, researchers have recommended using a two-step

approach in which the measurement models are run first to establish the unidimensionality of the scale (s)

and its discriminant validity. Thereafter the structural model is analyzed to examine the relationship

among various constructs (see Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). In accordance with this approach, we carried

out confirmatory factor analysis of the two sub-scales of CCO in the first stage of analyses.

4.2 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) As indicated earlier, we had incorporated 9 items for the Attitude dimension of CCO and 8 items for the

Awareness dimension of CCO. Following the procedure recommended by Gerbing & Anderson (1988)

for scale development, we carried out separate CFAs for the two sub-scales. Firstly, we ran the

measurement model for the Attitude dimension, using AMOS 16.0. We found that some item loadings

were not very high and the fit indices showed a poor fit of the model. We eliminated two items that had

low loadings; this improved the model fit somewhat. However some of the residual variances were still

quite high. After continuing with this iterative process, we finally ended up with 4 items (Qs 10, 11, 14

and 16 of the questionnaire) which seemed to capture the construct well. This is shown in figure 2.



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Figure 2

CFA – Attitude dimension of CCO

Attitude

.76

attitude16d16

.87

.42

attitude14d14

.65

.56

attitude11d11 .75

.68

attitude10d10

.83

As may be seen in the figure, the standardized factor loadings are much higher than 0.5. The Chi-square

value for the model was 4.37, df = 2, p = 0.11 (not significant). The fitness indices were: CFI = 0.98, GFI

= 0.98, RMSEA = 0.11. There is a broad consensus in the extant literature that values of CFI and GFI

greater than 9.00 indicate a good fit, whereas the RNSEA is recommended to be less than .05. In our

sample, the RMSEA was estimated to be 0.11. However, the PCLOSE value for RMSEA was 0.16. Since

PCLOSE tests the null hypothesis that RMSEA in not greater than .05, a non-significant PCLOSE

indicates a close-fitting model (Kenny, 2011). Furthermore, as pointed out by Bollen & Long (1993), a

number of fitness indices should be seen rather than relying on a single index. From these results

therefore, we can safely conclude that our modified sub-scale of 4 items for the attitude dimension of

CCO exhibits unidimensionality and internal consistency. The coefficient Alpha for this scale was 0.85,

which is well above the recommended cutoff of 0.70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).

After finalizing the sub-scale of attitude, we carried out CFA for the second sub-scale, that of Awareness

dimension of CCO with 8 items that had been used in the questionnaire. Again, we found that some item

loadings were not high and that some of the residual covariances were very high. We examined the items

and dropped those items that seemed ambiguous since this could be a reason for low loadings. The

iterative process finally culminated by cutting down the items to 4 (Qs 19, 23, 25 and 26 of the



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questionnaire), that had high factor loadings and the fitness indices showed every good model fit. The

four-item model is shown in figure 3.

Figure 3

CFA – Awareness dimension of CCO

Awareness

.31

awareness26d26

.55

.71

awareness25d25

.84

.55

awareness23d23 .74

.56

awareness19d19

.75

The Chi-square value for the model was 2.10, df = 2, p = 0.35 (not significant). The fitness indices were:

CFI = 0.99, GFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.02. In accordance with the norms prevalent in the field, as also

quoted earlier, these values indicate excellent fit of the model to the data. From these results therefore,

we can safely conclude that our modified sub-scale of 4 items for the awareness dimension of CCO

exhibits unidimensionality and internal consistency. The coefficient Alpha for this scale was 0.81, which

is also quite reasonable.



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4.3 Discriminant validity After satisfying ourselves about the unidimensionality and convergent validity of each of our two sub-

scales, we proceeded to examine the discriminant validity of our sub-scales. Conceptually, a measure can

be said to be discriminant valid if it is able to explain more than half of the variance in the focal construct,

and if this variance explained is more than what can be explained due to correlation of the construct with

another construct. In practical terms, discriminant validity can be assessed for two estimated constructs by

comparing the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for each of the constructs with the Squared Inter-

Construct Correlation (SIC). AVE for each construct should be greater than 0.5 (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988)

and AVE of each construct should be greater than the SIC between them.

According to our conceptualization, the focal construct, Cross-cultural Orientation construct, consists of

two dimensions of Attitude and Awareness, and is part of a nomological network where in Cross-cultural

Education and Cross-cultural Experience function as antecedents to the focal construct and the focal

construct serves as an antecedent to Cross-cultural behavior. Our structural model may be seen in figure

4.



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Figure 4

Structural model

As per this structural model, we would need to test for discriminant validity of each of our sub-scale by

pair-wise comparisons of each focal construct with all other constructs. Therefore we calculated the AVE

for each construct and compared it to the SIC for each pair of constructs. Our calulations show that AVE

of our focal constructs is in the range of 0.53 to 0.67, and that AVE is more than SIC for each pair of

constructs. Thus we can conclude that our sub-scales for Attitude and Awareness dimensions of CCO

exhibit good discriminate validity.

4.4 Nomological validity In order to establish the nomological validity of our new sub-scales, we need to carry out path analysis of

our structural model, to confirm that the model fits the data well. This would be an indication that our

measures behave as expected. We carried out path analysis with a number of methods, to examine the fit

of our model to the data



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4.5 Path analysis with observed variables In this mode of path analysis, we treated the constructs as observed variables. As indicated earlier, each

construct had been measured with a number of items. We computed variables CROSS-CULTURAL

EDUCATION, CROSS-CULTURAL EXPEREINCE, CROSS-CULTURAL ORIENTATION-

ATTITUDE, CROSS-CULTURAL ORIENTATION-AWRENESS, and CROSS-CULTURAL

BEHAVIOR, by summing the items. The descriptive statistics of these five variables in our model are

given in figure 5.

Figure 5

Descriptive statistics (N = 85)

Treating latent constructs as observed variables is tantamount to assuming that the constructs have been

measured without any error. Based on this assumption, we ran the path analysis in AMOs 16.0. The

standardized path coefficients are shown in figure 6.



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Figure 6

Path analysis with observed variables

Standardized estimates

.35

Attitude_observed

Education_observed

Experience_observed

.11

Awareness_observed

.52

Behavior_observed

.55

.27

.21

r2

r3

.19

.12

r1

.40

.26

.39



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The SEM analysis provided good evidence of a well-fitting model. The chi-square for this model was

2.16, df = 2, p = 0.34. Furthermore, other fitness indices were within acceptable limits: RMSEA = .03.

CFI = .99, GFI = .99. All the paths in the model were significant except the path Experience

Awareness. However, there is adequate theoretical justification to reason that cross-cultural experience of

a person contributes to his cross-cultural awareness. Therefore, it is justifiable to retain this path in the

model.

4.6 Path analysis with reliabilities Since treating constructs as observed variables ignores measurement error, we ran a more exact analysis

of our model by taking the errors into account. This procedure involves calculating and fixing the

measurement error of each observed variable. This procedure ensures that the measurement error at the

observed variable stage is not allowed to spread throughout the structural model. So this procedure is

expected to yield a better estimate of path coefficients. We calculated the error for each observed variable

as per the formula; Error = (1-cronbach Alpha) X Variance. The resulting values were used to fix the

error parameter values of observed variables in AMOS 16.0 and the model was run. Figure 7 shows the

standardized estimates for this model.



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Figure 7

PATH ANALYSIS WITH RELIABILITIES

Standardized estimates

Awareness

Behavior

Attitude

Experience

1.66

.22

r2

r1

r3

Experience_observed

Attitude_observed

Awareness_observed

Behavior_observed

e3

e2

e4

e5.30

.53

.41

.44

.39Education

Education_observed

e1

.62

.24

.78

-.351.54

1.97

The fitness indices for this model were: Chi-square = 2.47, df = 2, p = 0.29. RMSEA = .05, CFI

= .99, GFI = .99. These results indicate a good fit of the model with data. Some path coefficients



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were observed to be greater than one. This could be an artifact of low sample size. Based on the above

path analyses, we conclude that the structural model specified by us fits the data well. This means that the

new sub-scaled developed by us for the Attitude and Awareness dimensions of Cross Cultural Orientation

(CCO) behave as expected in a specified nomological network.

4.7 Multi-group path analysis As a final step in our examination of the construct validity of our measures, we carried out a multi-group

analysis of our Configural model, to assess invariance across multiple groups. We split our sample in

males (n=46) and females (n=37), using the demographic variable GENDER as the grouping variables.

We ran the Configural model (shown in figure 8) across both groups simultaneously, as recommended by

Byrne (2009 p. 209). A baseline model was computed and compared to more constrained models by

specifying Measurement weights to be equal, and then by specifying both measurement weights and

structural covariances to be equal across groups. The results indicate that he models fit the data well. The

fitness indices for these models are shown in figure 9.



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Figure 8

Configural model for multi-group analysis



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Figure 9

Results of multi-group analysis

5. CONCLUSION On the basis of results presented in foregoing paragraphs, we can safely conclude that the scale developed

by us to measure Cross Cultural Orientation (CCO) has two dimensions, cross-cultural attitude, and cross-

cultural awareness, each of which is measurable by a four-item scale. The sub-scales exhibit excellent

internal and external consistency and nomological validity. Further, the scales developed by us seem

invariant across multiple groups. The final scale, Cross-Cultural Orientation Inventory (CCOI) is given in

the Appendix.

6. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Increasing globalization of business has highlighted the need of managers who have cross-cultural

competence and are thus able to function effectively across cultures and also deal with a culturally diverse

work force. It is therefore imperative that recruiters are equipped to adequately assess the suitability of

persons they are hiring, for functioning in a cross-cultural environment. As we discussed in earlier

paragraphs, cross-cultural orientation (CCO) is an antecedent of cross-cultural behavior of a person. Thus,

an assessment of a person‘s cross-cultural orientation is useful in predicting his behavior in cross-cultural

scenarios. The measure developed by us is parsimonious and simple to administer. It can be used at the

time of initial recruitment, and also while selecting existing employees for assignments that might require

cross cultural adaptation and competence. Thus, the new instrument would be a useful addition to the



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toolkit of HR practitioners as they grapple with the challenges of shaping the work force to meet the

needs of globalization.

7. LIMITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Although our analysis has developed reasonable confidence in the construct validity of our scale, it must

be pointed out that construct validity is an ongoing process (see J Paul Peter, 1981). A number of studies,

at different times may be needed to fully validate our scales. Our study is not without limitations. One

limitation is small sample size, which can lead to fluctuation in the estimations at times. It is therefore

recommended to validate the scales using a larger sample size, preferable more than 300.

8. REFERENCES

Abe, H., & Wiseman, R. (1983). A cross-cultural confirmation of the dimensions of intercultural

effectiveness. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 7, 53-67.

Anderson, J. C. & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural Equation Modeling in Practice: A Review and

Reecommended Two-Step Approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411-423

Bagozzi, R .P. & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy

of Marketing Science, 16, 74-94.

Bollen, K. A. & Long, J. S. (1993). Introdiction, In Kenneth A Bollen & J Soctt Long (eds), Testing

Structural Equation Models. Newbury Park. CA. Sage, 1-9

Buhrmester, D., Furman, D., Wittenberg, M., & Reis, H. (1988). Five domains of interpersonal

competence in peer relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(6), 991-1008.

Byrne, Barbara M. (2009). Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS – Basic Concepts, Applications,

and Programming, second edition, New York: Routledge.

Chen, G. & Starosta, W. (1996). Intercultural communication competence: A synthesis. In B. Burleson

(ed), Communication yearbook 19, Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Chen, G. & Starosta, W. (2000). The development and validation of the Intercultural communication

sensitivity scale. Human Communication, 3, 1-15.

Dinges, N., &Bladwin, K. (1996). Intercultural competence: A research perspective. In D. Landis, & R.

Bhagat (eds), Handbook of intercultural training. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Gerbing, D. W. & Anderson, J. C. (1988). An updated paradigm for scale development incorporating

unidimensionality and its assessment. Journal of Marketing Research, 25, 186-192

Gudykunst, W., & Nishida, T. (1989). Theoretical perspectives for studying intercultural communication.

In M. Asante 8~ W. Gudykunst (Eds.), Handbook of international and intercultural

communication (pp. 17-46). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Hammer, M., Nishida, H., & Wiseman, R. (1996). The influence of situational prototypes on dimensions

of intercultural communication competence. Journal of cross-cultural Psychology, 27(3), 267-

282

Kenny, D. (2011). Measuring Model Fit. URL: http://www.davidakenny.net/cm/fit.htm. Retrieved

11/26/2011.

Klineberg, O., & Hull, F. (1979). At a foreign university. New York: Praeger.

Koester, J., & Olebe, M. (1988). The behavioral assessment scale for intercultural communication

effectiveness. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 12 233-246.

Luthans, F. , & Davis, T. (1980). A social learning approach to organizational behavior. Academy of

Management Review, 7, 281-290.

Nunnally, J. C. & Bernstein, I.H. (1994). Psychometirc Theory, third edition, New York: McGraw-Hill

Olson, s., Reed, K., & Schweinle, A. (2009). Human Relations: Assessing the affect of cultural awareness

curriculum on preservice teachers. Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education, 2(2), 120-139.



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Peter, J. Paul. (1981). Construct Validity: A review of basic issues and Marketing Practices. Journal of

Marketing Research, 18, 133-135.

Searle, W., & Ward, C. (1990). The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during

cross-cultural transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 14, 449-464.

APPENDIX

Cross-Cultural Orientation Inventory (CCOI)

A scale to measure cross-cultural orientation of a person

(Attitude dimension)

1. I am happy to interact with people from different cultures

2. I feel I should make friends with people from diverse cultures

3. I think my beliefs and attitudes are shaped by my culture

4. I should know about other cultures to be fair to people from different cultures

(Awareness dimension)

5. I know the cultural values and beliefs of other culture (s)

6. I know about body language practices of cultures other than mine

7. I am open-minded to people from other cultures

8. People from some cultures avoid eye contact while talking

Note: Response to each item is to be obtained on a Likert-type 5-point scale; strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree,

and strongly disagree



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Determinants of Communication about

Corporate Social Responsibility: Case of

French Companies

Ben Mahjoub Lassaad

Assistant professor of accounting, Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Economic

Sciences and Management, Sfax, Tunisia

Halioui Khamoussi

Associate Professor of Accounting, College of Economics, Management and Information

Systems, University of Nizwa, OMAN

ABSTRACT This study presented a framework to explain corporate social responsibility

disclosure in terms of determinants and consequences. We are interested by

economic factors which may influence the level of social and environmental

disclosure by French companies listed in Paris Stock Exchange.It measure

social and environmental disclosure using a score of two dimensions (social

and environmental), each dimension comported some items grouped in

categories. The evaluation of each item is based on content analysis of

annual reports reported by French companies listed in Paris Stock Exchange

during 2005 to 2010. To examine the effect of factors on social an

environmental disclosure, we apply a panel data regression. Our final

conclusion, that level of social and environmental disclosure depends on

several factors which cannot be limited to one study.

JEL: M14; M41

Keywords: CSR; Disclosure; Size; Performance; French Companies

1. INTRODUCTION

Communication about extra-financial information has become a cornerstone of

contemporary business and management and can result in managerial

legitimization, consumer loyalty, and increased organizational financial

performance (Abdoun, 2011).Talking about the extra-financial information, it is

obvious to discuss the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in increasing

of corporate profitability.The European Union defines as CSR ―… the concept

that an enterprise is accountable for its impact on all relevant stakeholders. It is

the continuing commitment by business to behave fairly and responsibly and

contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the

work force and their families as well as of the local community and society at

large…‖1The emergence and increasing interest in social and environmental

accounting and disclosure reflects the ever-increasing demand for transparency

driven by a number of factors, including:

1 See the EU Green Paper: Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility (18/07/2001)

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-dial/csr/greenpaper_en.pdf



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pp.49-60




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Societal interest in social and environmental issues has become increasingly mainstream.

The development of the CSR field generally and of CSR standards in particular.

Increasing demand for new and better information to meet the information needs of

different stakeholders. Advances in communication technology.

Investor interest in CSR performance as a business issue.

Declines in the levels of trust afforded to some institutions.

Since the 1990s, France has attempted extensive economic reorganizations in an effort to transition the

country‘s economy from one of wide government intervention and ownership to one of privatization and

openness to market forces. For the French government, investment has been an important way to develop

the economy and enlarge employment.The government perceives CSR as a manner to promote social and

environmental issues as well as augment competitiveness and stimulate investors. In recent years,

disclosure of corporate social responsibility data has been mandated by a number of governments

throughout the world including those of Sweden, France, Malaysia and the UK. France was the first

country to require companies to report on non-financial information in 1977, when it mandated that

companies employing more than 300 people report annually on 134 issues relating to employees and the

workplace.1 France expanded its requirements in 2001 under Article 116 of the ―Nouvelles Régulations

Economiques‖ which mandates that companies publicly listed on the Paris Stock Exchange‘s Primary

Market include a report on social and environmental issues in their annual reports.

Mandating social and environmental disclosure, this is not sufficient to have more socially responsible

firms. Many factors may be involved and could affect the level of social and environmental disclosure, we

will develop some determinants suggested or studied by previous literature. The rest of the paper is

organized as follow: first we will talk about the effect of some variables on social and environmental

disclosure in order to develop our hypotheses; next, we present our research design. Finally, we conduct

the empirical analysis, in term of which we discuss the obtained results.

2. PRIOR LITERATURE AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

Each company differs in how it implements corporate social responsibility, if at all. The differences

depend on such factors as the specific company‘s size, the particular industry involved, the firm‘s

financing, the profitability, and others determinants.Empirical studies have shown that CSR disclosure

activism varies across companies, industries, and time (Gray et al., 1995, 2001; Hackston and Milne,

1996). They have also shown this behavior to be importantly and systematically determined by a variety

of firm and industry characteristics that influence the relative costs and benefits of disclosing such

information (Belkaoui and Karpik, 1989; Cormier and Magnan, 2003; Cormier et al., 2005; Hackston and

Milne, 1996; Patten, 2002). The theories that seem to have been most successful in explaining the content

and extent of social and environmental reporting are system-oriented theories, above all legitimacy and

stakeholder theories (Gray et al., 1995; Milne, 2002). According to these theories, social disclosure is in

first hand used in order to guard corporations‘ reputation and identity.

A first step to identifying stakeholder expectations is identifying stakeholders within an organization.

Donaldson and Preston (1995) defined stakeholders as the employees, customers, shareholders,

government, and community within which an organization operates. The assumption behind stakeholder

theory is that organizations are required to interact with internal and external environments to meet

organizational goals (Jonker and Foster, 2002).Internal determinants, like size or industry, were hardly

taken into account in comparative studies on European firms, although they should at least have been

considered as control variables. Only Adams (2002) explicitly set out to identify ‗internal organizational

factors influencing corporate social and ethical reporting‘ (p. 223) and demonstrated that corporate size

and corporate culture were important variables. Adams et al. (1998) also found that industry had an

impact on reporting practices.



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2.1. The size effect (SIZE) The political cost hypothesis of Watts and Zimmerman (1986) suggests that due to the attention of the

press and the investment community, large firms are more sensitive to ethical issues than small ones.

From an empirical perspective, various studies have found that there is a positive relationship between

CSR disclosure and firm size or political visibility (Patten, 1991; Adams et al., 1998; Neu et al., 1998;

Haniffa and Cooke, 2005). The expectation is that larger firms are more subject to political scrutiny

because they play a larger role in a country‘s economy (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990).

Udayasankar (2008) and Waddock and Graves (1997) argue that the explanation for a positive relation

between firm size and social and environmental disclosure is the high visibility of larger firms. They

engage in socially activities because of the increased public attention they receive derived from their size

and reach of operations.Stated differently, larger firms are watched more closely than smaller companies

in any nation. When a firm provides high levels of income, it is suggested, the regulatory bodies question

whether the company is exercising monopoly power.Study of Hossain et al. (1995), from New Zealand,

have also focused on the environmental dimension of responsibility reporting, but have placed more

emphasis on company-inherent determinants. The authors examine voluntary disclosure by 55 companies

listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange and establish size, leverage and additional foreign listing to

positively correlate with reporting.

Hypothesis 1: Our study proposes a positive effect of firm size on social and environmental disclosure.

2.2. The industry effect (INDT) Gamble et al. (1995), Deegan and Gordon (1996), Frost and Wilmhurst (2000), Gray et al. (2001) and Liu

and Anbumozhi (2009) have found findings demonstrating that environmental disclosures are industry-

specific: environmentally-sensitive companies are more likely to diffuse environmental information than

are less sensitive ones. Similarly, firms from industries that have high sensitivity to potential

environmental legislation, usually categorized as the petroleum, chemical, metals, and paper industries

(Patten, 1991, 2002), tend to make more extensive disclosures than companies from less environmentally

sensitive industries.

Hypothesis 2: we expect a positive relationship between industry sensitivity and level of social and

environmental disclosure.

2.3. The risk effect (RISK) Risk is another variable widely controlled for in reputation and CSR models. Measures of risk also

encompass market-with β (beta) as the usual indicator (Fombrun and Shanley, 1990; Black et al., 2000;

Hillman and Keim, 2001)–and accounting based, most commonly represented by the ratio of total debt to

total assets (Waddock and Graves, 1997).

Hypothesis 3: We expect a negative link between risk and social and environmental disclosure.

2.4. The financial performance effect (PERF) Empirical studies of the relationship between CSR and financial performance comprise essentially two

types. The first uses the event study methodology to assess the short-run financial impact (abnormal

returns) when firms engage in either socially responsible or irresponsible acts. The results of these studies

have been mixed. Wright and Ferris (1997) discovered a negative relationship; Siegel and Vitaliano

(2007) reported a positive relationship, while Teoh et al. (1999) establish no relationship between CSR

and profitability. Other studies, discussed in McWilliams and Siegel (1997), are similarly inconsistent

concerning the relationship between CSR and short run financial returns. The second type of study

examines the relationship between some measure of corporate social performance (CSP) and measures of

long term financial performance, by using accounting or financial measures of profitability. The studies

that explore the relationship between social responsibility and accounting-based performance measures

have also produced mixed results. Cochran and Wood (1984) located a positive Stanwick and Stanwick‘s



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(2000) examined a sample of 697 firms between 1989 and 1992 and found that large, profitable firms

were more CSR active than poorly performing small organizations. The finding supported the notion that

CSR activities are a product of successful organizations, and suggested that firm characteristics such as

reputation also play a role in the effectiveness of CSR activities.

Finally Clarkson et al. (2011) argue that Firm performance is included following evidence that firms with

superior earnings prospects are likely to reveal their ‗good news‘.

Based on the assertions cited above we hypothesize:

Hypothesis 4: The more financially performing companies are likely to disclose social and environmental

information more than less financially performing companies.

2.5. The audit quality effect (AUDQ) We choose audit quality as a control variable because of the importance accorded by literature to Big4

2

auditors. In addition, some studies (Francis and Wang 2008; Francis and Yu 2009) argue that Big4

auditors are more sensitive to the legal liability changes and adjust their behavior to the changes

consequently, but non-Big 4 auditors are less inclined to the legal liability. In the same vein, Dechow et

al. (2010) argue that audit quality has an implication on the credibility of financial statements.

Hypothesis 5: Good audit quality incites companies to disclose more information about the effect of their

activities on the environment and community.

3. RESEARCH DESIGN

3.1. Sample selection and gathering data France is ranked 4

th with a publication rate of an environmental report (or sustainable development report)

by its largest companies (Capron, 2003, p. 4). It is one of the first countries convinced of the importance

of implementing an environmental measure within the organization (Capron and Gray, 2000). Cormier

and Magnan (2003, p.1) talked about pressures exerted on French companies, by the market, in the

purpose to disclose more and good information about the effects of their activities. Any time, the current

economic crisis has strengthened even more discussion on this theme of communication on social

responsibility. France's commitment to CSR is characterized by both its full participation in many

international negotiations. This commitment is stated in terms of legislation including the Law on New

Economic Regulations and the Law N° 2010-788 of 12 July 2010 related to a national commitment to

environment. Also, we note the promotion of responsible investment by various devices and improving

transparency with a labels policy. Finally, initiatives by private actors demonstrate the collaboration of

French society in corporate social responsibility. Data were gathered from Worldscope and DataStream.

Our study focuses on a final sample3 of 128 non-financial companies as part of SBF 250 index between

2005 and 2010.

3.2. VARIABLES DESCRIPTION AND MEASUREMENT

3.2.1. Social and environmental disclosure For measuring environmental and social disclosure, a review of past research shows several techniques.

The majority of studies, in the field, have used content analysis method based on indexing and weighting

scales (Wiseman, 1982; Patten, 1991, 1992; Patten and Nance, 1998; Clarkson et al., 2011).

2 The Big 5 became the Big 4 after the demise of Arthur Andersen in 2002. Big 4 are: PricewaterhouseCoopers;

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; Ernst & Young; KPMG 3 the number of population companies was 250, the elimination of some companies is for these reasons:

- the financial companies

- date of the financial year end is different from 31 December

- firms missing the data necessary to measure some variables

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deloitte_Touche_Tohmatsu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_%26_Young

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPMG



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According to Wiseman (1982) the simplest structure of content analysis techniques makes out the

presence or absence of bring up of a particular event in a document (annual report for example). Previous

studies assessed environmental disclosures mainly from annual reports and other regulatory filings such

as 10Ks and many of those studies rely on a Wiseman (1982) based content analysis index to measure the

extent of environmental disclosure. The Wiseman index focuses on the financial consequences of

corporate environmental activities and puts more weight on quantitative disclosures. Using this measure,

poor environmental performers may actually have higher disclosures cores than good performers because

they have greater exposures and must discuss any material financial information in their regulatory filings

such as annual reports and 10Ks.After the emergence of new normalizations attempts on international and

French levels, such as the French law for New Economics Regulations (2002), the Global Reporting

Initiative (Clarkson et al., 2011), the Global Compact and the ISO 26000, we opt to a scale composed

from 58 items (see Appendix). This scale encompasses both environmental and social aspects. Index

items are empirically verified by Ben Rhouma (2008), Aerts, Cormier and Magnan (2006) and recently by

Cormier et al. (2011).The rating is based on a score from zero to three; three points are awarded for an

item described in monetary or quantitative terms, two when an item is described specifically, one for an

item discussed in general and zero for no information about the item.

We consider that the use of a coding scale to qualify a firm's SED is appropriate for two causes. First, it

allows for some incorporation of different sorts of information into a single figure that is comparable

across firms in terms of importance. Second, while other disclosure studies rely on word counts to

measure environmental disclosure (e.g., Neu, Warsame and Pedwell, 1998; Williams and Ho Wern Pei,

1999), a qualitative scale allows for the researcher's judgment to be used in rating the value or quality of

the disclosures made by a firm. While this process is more subjective, it guarantees that irrelevant or

redundant generalities are not regarded as strategic social and environmental disclosure (Aerts et al.,

2008).

3.2.2. Firm size Following prior research, size is measured as the natural logarithm of total assets (Uwalomwa, 2011; de

Viellers et al., 2011).

3.2.3. Financial performance In order to measure corporate performance, either accounting- or market based measures can be used. In

contrast with accounting-based measures, market-based measures are less subject to bias by managerial

manipulation and they do not rely on past performance (McGuire et al., 1988). However, they are based

on investors‘ viewpoints on company performance, thus ignoring other important stakeholder groups.

This is the main reason for adopting an accounting-based variable in our paper, such as return on assets

(ROA) (Belkaoui and Karpik, 1989; Brammer and Millington, 2008; Cormier et Magnan, 2003, 2006;

Patten, 1991).

3.2.4. Industry sensitivity In this study, ‗‗more sensitive‘‘ industries are considered to be those with more risk of being criticized in

CSR matters because of their activities involving higher risk of environmental impact. Based on prior

literature, the following ‗‗more sensitive‘‘ sectors are identified: mining, oil and gas, chemicals, forestry

and paper, steel and other metals, electricity, gas distribution, and water (Patten, 1991, 1992, 2002). All

others are considered as ‗‗less sensitive.‘‘ A one/zero variable is used to designate companies from these

industries: one if the company is from a more sensitive industry and zero if it is from a less sensitive

industry.

3.2.5. Risk By referencing to prior literature we measure risk by the ratio of total debt to total assets.

3.2.6. Audit quality The audit quality is a dummy variable, it take one if company was audited by a big 4 firm, zero

otherwise.We illustrate the variables description in Table 1.



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Table 1. Variables Description

Variables Type Code Measure

Environmental and

Social Disclosure

dependent SED Content analysis of social and environmental items

Firm Size explanatory SIZE Natural logarithm of total assets

Audit Quality explanatory AUDITQ Dummy: coded one in case of company audited by big

4 auditor, and zero otherwise

Industry Sensitivity explanatory INDT Dummy: coded one in case of sensitive industry, and

zero in case of non sensitive industry

Risk explanatory RISK debts/total assets

Financial performance explanatory PERF ROA=Net income/Total assets

4. RESEARCH DESIGN

4.1. Descriptive statistics We show in Table 2 the descriptive analysis of our variables. The outputs are determined by Stata 10.

These results argue that SED mean is 74.186, compared to the maximum value possible which can be

obtained (174)4. Despite the mandatory requirement of the environmental and social disclosure of French

listed companies, the disclosure level is very low. But, this average has increased compared to what was

found in studies before the advent of the French law about the new economic regulations of 2002; the

thesis of Ben Rhouma (2008) show three means of social and environmental disclosure of 2001, 2002 and

2003, she obtain respectively 21.7, 44.98 and 58,95.About the risk average of our sample, it is quite low

(0.047%), this value is not far from those obtained by several studies in the field (for example Cormier et

al., 2005 found 0.51%).

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for all variables Panel A. Descriptive Statistics for continuous variables

Variable Obs. Mean Std. Dev. Min Max

SED 764 74.186 39.555 5 195

PERF 765 0.154 2.890 -0.676 79.904

RISK 765 0.047 0.114 -0.040 2.289

SIZE 765 7.423 1.933 2.721 12.083

Panel B. Descriptive Statistics for dummy variables (AUDITQ and INDT)

Proportion Std. Dev.

Binomial Wald

[95% Conf. Interval]

AUDITQ 0 0.330 0.017 0.297 0.364

1 0.670 0.017 0.636 0.703

INDT 0 0.254 0.016 0.223 0.286

1 0.746 0.016 0.714 0.777

N= 751

4 (174) is calculated as: the maximum value accorded to an item multiplied by the total number of items, i.e.,

3*58=174.



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4.2. Model specification, Multicollinearity and heteroskedasticy Multicollinearity is a situation where two or more of the independent variables are highly correlated;

therefore, it has damaging effects on the regression analysis results. Since the model employs more than

one independent variable, it is of importance to check the existence of multicollinearity.

The high value of the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) is generally seen as indicative of severe

multicollinearity. By referring to Panels A, B and C (Table 3), we conclude that the VIF values of most of

our variables are less than 2 and tolerance values are greater than 0.3. This indicates that multicollinearity

is kept to acceptable levels in the three Models.

Table 3. Multicollinearity test for explanatory variables

Variable VIF Tolerance

AUDITQ 1.13 0.882

SIZE 1.10 0.905

INDT 1.03 0.967

RISK 1.01 0.995

PERF 1.00 0.997

Mean VIF 1.06

Relating to the heteroskedasticity, Table 4 shows that our model suffer from heteroskedasticity problem

(A large chi-square would indicate that heteroskedasticity was present (p>chi2=0.000). In order to correct

the situation we estimate the model by the White (1980) test, the purpose is the control of

heteroskedasticity in the error terms.

Table 4. Heteroskedasticity test for linear panel regression

White's test for Ho: homoskedasticity

against Ha: unrestricted heteroskedasticity

chi2(18) = 112.77

Prob > chi2 = 0.000

Cameron & Trivedi's decomposition of IM-test

Source chi2 df p

Heteroskedasticity 112.77 18 0.000

Skewness 55.88 5 0.000

Kurtosis 0.30 1 0.587

Total 168.94 24 0.000

4.3. Empirical results and discussion For the model regression, the explanatory power is medium (39.9 %) but compared to similar studies, this

level is eligible; for example, in the study of Patten (2002), the adjusted R-square is 34.5%; in addition,

Reverte (2008) found values of adjusted R2 ranging between 0.9% and 47.5% and recently Kim et Al.

(2012) obtain a maximal value of adjusted R2 equal to 18.5%.



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Table 5. Regression outputs of the social and environmental disclosure determinants

dependent

variable: SED

coeff. Robust

Std.Err.

t P>|t| [95% Conf. Interval]

PERF 0.528 0.031 16.79 0.000 0.466 0.590

SIZE 11.304 0.714 15.82 0.000 9.901 12.706

INDT 22.235 2.390 9.30 0.000 17.543 26.928

AUDITQ -2.842 2.981 -0.95 0.341 -8.694 3.009

RISK 4.050 2.563 1.58 0.114 -0.981 9.081

constant -22.600 4.960 -4.56 0.000 -32.337 -12.863

Obs. 747; Adj-R2 = 0.389; F(5, 741) = 931.50; Prob > F = 0.000; Root MSE = 31.153

The statistical analysis conducted in this study includes the use of linear regression models to analyze the

relationship between SED level and each of the influencing factors.Regarding the output of STATA in of

Table 5, we conclude from the regression results that the relation between SED and most factors is

significant and positive.

The regression results show a significant and positive effect (at the 1%) of financial performance on

social and environmental disclosure, confirming our hypothesis. This finding is aligning with those

obtained by McGuire et al. (1988). We explain this by the fact that company‘s pprofitability is the most

important aspect affecting a firm‘s growth and survival. It seems unlikely that a company could spend

shareholders‘ funds without providing some kind of return. Environmental and social disclosure can be a

very costly process. Most researchers consider increasing financial performance as the key motivator for

firms to report no-financial information. The argument is that firms who communicate about

environmental and social aspects will experience increased profits, and those that do not will suffer

adverse effects on financial performance.

Besides financial performance, SED is influenced by firm size; our empirical results show a positive and

significant (at 1% level) effect of this variable on SED. Déjean and Martinez (2009) argue, in French

context that firm size is an important variable to be controlled and they found a positive effect of this

variable on the environmental disclosure. Recently, Suttipun and Stanton (2012) obtained the same result

in Thai firms.

Always in the significant effects of the determinants of SED, we have obtained a positive and significant

effect of the industry sensitivity. This variable is mostly studied by several studies in the domain, Patten

(1992, 2002) has based her survey on specific samples and he has classified companies into sensitive

sectors and non sensitive sectors. He obtained a positive linkage between this variable and level of

environmental disclosure. Reverte (2011) obtained, in Spanish sample, similar results.Now, we discuss

the non significant effect of certain variables. In Table 5, both RISK and AUDITQ, have no effect on

SED. The results seem weird when we compare our results with those found by other studies in the field.

The majority of contradictory results were obtained in Anglo-Saxon context; however, our study focuses

on the French companies which are different in their culture and their market capitalization (Cormier and

Magnan, 2003). In the other hand, we conclude that our sample companies are not all audited by Big 4

firms (only 67%).

5. CONCLUSION

Our paper contributes to the literature by studying both the use of the same sample (French companies)

and time-frame (the period 2005-2010). We draw results based on a sample consisting of non-financial

French companies listed in Paris Stock exchange from SBF 250 index. For this reason, conclusions

concern only French organizations without generalizing to international context. In general, our paper



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attempts to extend empirical and theoretical knowledge and to add to current literature of social and

environmental disclosure, we tried to expand the number of factors that could affect the level of

disclosure.

Our empirical results show, in general, a significant and positive effect of studied factors on social and

environmental disclosure. Our findings suggest that disclosure by companies is not limited to the

judgment of managers, but subject to several factors that influence their decisions for disseminating

information in annual reports, and this to entice investors by increasing the company's reputation. Among

the limitations of this study is the short period of investigation, it is possible to undertake our problematic

over a longer time period. A probably comparison between two periods, before and after International

Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption, can be made. Always within the limits, there is an

imbalance in the number of items that make up the two dimensions of disclosure, we have a number

higher for the environmental disclosure than for social disclosure, and consequently our results were

partially biased. For this, current items could be updated or revised by referencing to new French acts or

regulations in the social and environmental field; the new items may be confirmed by qualitative research.

Finally, as our study finds a positive linkage between social and environmental disclosure and certain

factors, we do not formally look into the mechanism behind this positive association. Future extension of

this study may examine why good socially and environmentally responsible firms are more profitable

than their counterparts.

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Appendix: Social and environmental disclosure index

Environmental Items Social Items

Expenditures and risks

Investments

Operation costs

Future investments

Future operating costs

Financing for investments

Environmental debts

Risk provisions

Risk litigation

Provision for future expenditures

Laws and regulations conformity

Litigation, actual and potential

Fines

Orders to conform

Corrective action

Incidents

Future legislation and regulations

Pollution abatement

Emission of pollutants Discharges

Waste management

Installation and process controls

Compliance status of facilities

Noise and odors

Sustainable development

Natural resource conservation

Recycling

Life cycle information

Land remediation and contamination

Sites

Efforts of remediation

Potential liability- remediation

Implicit liability

Spills (number, nature, efforts of reduction)

Environmental management

Environmental policies or company concern for the

environment

Environmental management system

Environmental auditing

Goals and targets

Awards

Department, group, service affected to the environment

ISO 14000

Involvement of the firm in the development of

environmental standards

Involvement in environmental organizations (e.g.

industry committees)

Joint projects with other firms providing environmental

management services

Labor practices and decent work

Absenteeism and reasons

Employment opportunities

Labor rights / Job creation

Rehiring, accompanying, social communication

Equity programs

Human capital development / training

Accidents at work

Health and safety programs

Employee savings

Society

Regional development

Gifts and sponsorships

Business ethics / measures anti-corruption

Strategic alliances

Community involvement

Dispositions of the International Labor Organization

Relations with stakeholders (environmental groups,

consumer associations, …)

Consumer and product responsibility

Purchases of goods and services

Product-related incidents

Product development and environment

Consumer health and safety /Product safety



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Young Female Motivations for Purchase of

Organic Food in Malaysia

Jane See Siou Zhen

INTI International University

Faculty of Business, Communications and Law

PersiaranPerdana BBN,

Putra Nilai,71800 Nilai,

Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

ShaheenMansori (PhD-Marketing)

INTI International University

Faculty of Business, Communications and Law

PersiaranPerdana BBN,

Putra Nilai,71800 Nilai,

Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

ABSTRACT

Malaysia consumers have become more health conscious and

consequently organic food consumption has increased recently.

Even though the market of organic product is growing, still the

demand on organic food is unstable at market place. This research

studies the impact of factors that (4As: Acceptability, Affordability,

Availability and Awareness and Consumer Innovativeness) might

influence the consumer intense to purchase organic food.145

questionnaires were collection from the female participant age

between 20-34 years old based on convenience sampling. The

results have discovered that acceptability, affordability, and

awareness are main important factors that can influence consumer

purchase intention. These finding can be helpful for marketing

managers in order to develop the most suitable strategy to gain

higher level of market share.

Key Words: Consumer Innovativeness, Acceptability, Affordability,

Availability, Awareness, Organic Foods.

1. INTRODUCTION

The development of agriculture was complemented with concern on food safety and

human health from well-developed agriculture sector thus consumers become more

health-conscious and the demand for organic food growths. Consequently, the demand

for organic food is increasing determined by consumer‘s awareness of the safety and

quality of the organic food and by the environmentally friendly effect of organic

agricultural performs (Vindigni, Janssen and Jager, 2002). Organic food is an improved International Journal of


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quality of food without any hormones, antibiotics, poisons, genetically modified and

irradiation(Betterdietislam.com, 2011). Hence, organic agriculture practices started designed to encourage

soil and water conservation in order to reduce pollution and improve human health.

The organic foods markets are expanding to globalization with annual growth rate of 15 to 30 percentages

especially in Eupore countries, United States and Japan (Lohr, 2011). During 2010, the Nielsen Company

conducted an international online survey to measure world‘s assessment of healthy conscious and organic

foods and discovered around 27,000 of consumers are come from different 55 markets, where are Europe,

Asia Pacfic, North America, Latin America and Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan).

Malaysia is a vibrant country with moving constantly where from dependent on agro-based industry and

now become export-based economy stimulate by advance technology, knowledge-based and capital-

intensive industries. During year 2011the population growth rate is 1.576% with consist many types of

ethnic group and the three main ethnic groups are Malay, Chinese and Indian. Malaysia food production

is a significant component within the agriculture industry due to Malaysia is sufficient with tropical and

agricultural resources. According to Malaysia Food and Drink Report Q1 2011 stated Malaysia Per Capita

Food Consumption growth by 3.64% in 2010 to reach MYR1, 564, driven by economic recovery, hence

reversing the economic recession during 2009.

In this recent year, Malaysia begins to grow a huge quantity of fresh vegetables and fruits due to the local

production are relatively low and fresher than imported products. Therefore, these amounts of local fresh

vegetable and fruits become Asia-centric food of Malaysia. Additionally, consumers in Malaysia start

becoming health conscious consumers and aware on their foods in daily life. Consequently, the

consumption of fresh vegetable and fruits is increasing rapidly. Beside, most of Malaysians are becoming

well educated on the way their eating can influence health and tend to be highly consumed on organic

fruits and vegetables. In Malaysia food industry, health consciousness and organic food become new

important trend in past decades year. However, this is not a popular trend in Malaysia and the market of

organic products increasing rapidly as number of consumers willing to eat organic food for example, fresh

fruits and vegetables in addition pay for premium price is increasing (Aryal, Chaudhary, Pandit and

Sharma, 2009). According to Euromonitor International (2012) stated the demand on organic foods are

low in Malaysia due to the price of organic foods are high and very expensive for most consumers in

Malaysia. In addition, some of organic foods‘ suppliers and farms are not certified by local or

international organic foods certificate. For suppliers and farmers protected by organic food certification

and they are complying with high price of standard of qualification.

According to Fourth National Health and Morbidity Survey as in Euromonitor International (2012)

discovered Non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension was increasing

to alarming level in Malaysia. From the survey found out around 7.5% of Malaysians consume on fruit

and vegetables everyday which recommended by WHO. Besides, Malaysians obesity level also increasing

to alarming level from 7.1% (2005) to 8.5% (2010) of Malaysians aged 15 years old and above

(Euromonitor International data, 2012). In future, the number of chronic diseases for example diabetes,

high blood pressure and heart or kidney problems will increase and become a gateway for the diseases.

In Malaysia, the female population is 9,253,574 whichrange between above 15 to 64 years old (Malaysia

Demographics Profile, 2012), and they are future wives and mothers; therefore they shops for foods and

groceries which the products are benefits for their families‘ health and they will always give the best to

their babies and kids. Consequently, many researchers discovered that women are more consume on

organic foods compared to men (Radman, 2005; Hofmann 2006, Fotopoulos et al., 2002, Zanoli et al.,

2004, Davies et al., 1995 as in Becker 2007). Female consumers believe that family health is important

and bring them to purchase more on organic food. As a result, organic foods are market opportunities to

female consumers in the marketplace. Thus, this research reflect a better understand on female consumer

purchase intention towards organic foods. Therefore, many researchers were done on factors influencing



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purchase intention and consumer behaviour on organic food. However, there are still less and far of

research on understanding consumer perception and knowledge on organic food in different categories of

adopters.


2.1 Diffusion of innovations Theory

Innovation can be defined as any idea, object or practice that considered as novel by any groups of society

(Roger, 1995; Mansori, 2010, Nezakati, Ali, Mansori, Ang, 2011). According to Schumpeter (1939);

Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt (1997) as in Nezakati, et al., (2011) mentioned that innovation marketing idea

where is a process of creation of new ideas into products. Diffusion of innovations theory have four

fundamental theoretical elements of diffusion of innovation theory which assist marketers to analyse

product information, characteristics of innovation and categories of adopters in order to classify potential

consumers to adopting the novel product or organic food. Furthermore, innovation decision process is a

very significant tool in the marketing communication field due to it can examine on minor level that who

are the possible target audience or examine on major level that the company who are considering

technology and economic development.

2.2 Theory of Planned Behaviour

Personality trait and social attitude are referring to concepts of behavioral dispositions and played an

important role to explain and foresee human behavior (Ajzen, 1988; Campbell, 1963; Sherman & Fazio,

1983 as in Ajzen, 1991). According to Ajzen (1991) interpret Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is a

theoretical model using measure of behavioural disposition and foresee behaviour in a brief examination

of past efforts. It is important area in cognitive self-regulation. Furthermore, TPB used to examine human

behavior where lead by three aspects; first aspect is behavioral belief define as beliefs towards expected

consequences of behavior, second aspect is normative belief where define as belief towards normative

expectations of others, and last aspect is control belief which is belief towards the existence of issues that

can enable performance of behavior (Ajzen, 1991). TPB is a theory use to evaluate and foresee consumer

actual behavior and consumer intention. The definition of individual‘s intention is to capture the

motivational factors that affect behavior and how tough individual ready to try so as to perform the

particular behavior.

TPB is an important theoretical method for researchers to investigate consumer intention to purchase

organic food. In previous studies, there are not many researchers investigate consumer behavior on

organic food by using TPB as theoretical method to discovered the result especially in Malaysia.

Whereas, diffusion of innovation theory is another important theoretical method for market researchers to

examine consumer intention to purchase organic food in different category of target audience. There are

several studies about adoption and diffusion of innovations in food industry was discovered by

researchers (Nezzakati, Ali, Mansori and Naghondari, 2011). As a result, TPB and diffusion of innovation

theory is proper theoretical models to examine the consumer purchase intention and consumers‘

willingness to try and practice the new product on organic food in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

2.3 Factors influence consumer purchase intention towards organic foods

2.3.1 Marketing Mix (4As)

In general, marketers are using fundamental marketing mix (4Ps – Product, Price, Place and Promotion)

to identify their marketing strategy in order to growing the market share (Ehmke, Dobbins, Gray, Boehlje

and Miller, 2004 as in Nezakati, et al., 2011). Nevertheless, this marketing mix theory was not affective

and accurate to apply in the marketing strategy. Consequently, in this study looks on new model of

marketing mix, which is 4As: accessibility, acceptability, affordability and awareness in order to identify

and evaluate the relationship between factors and consumers‘ purchase intention towards organic foods.



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2.3.2 Acceptability

Rajagopal (2005) justified that consumer value is an instrument to scale the long-term satisfaction and

continuing tendency to purchase the product or services as well as he identify the consumer value can be

measure on the viewed of product efficiency from consumer perspective for instance relative to output

(quality, reliability, safety) that consumer receive from a product relative to inputs which is price and cost

that consumer have to spend. Consumer value is assist marketers or organizations to examine the

opportunities that consumer to become a repeat customer providing on-going business. Thus, organization

analyse consumer value seek to strengthen a target market, study product performance and to advertise

the product more successfully.

By using TPB and diffusion of innovation theory as a method to examines customer value in organic

food. From previous research implies that product acceptability have strong positive relationship with

attitude towards behaviour and social norms in five categories of adopters. Consumer value assists

marketers to discover the elements on acceptability in order to create positive attitude towards behaviours

and motivate consumer to purchase organic food. In addition, subjective norms consider as an element

that influence degree of acceptability in five segments of adopters due to individual intention to buy

organic food will influences by other consumer‘s perception or opinion on certain product features.

Hypothesis 1: There is relationship between acceptability of organic food and consumer purchase

intention.

2.3.4 Affordability

There is a basic economic theoretical term about the supply and demand proposed that when the price

goes down, consumer will adopt or purchase more and it is seek to create demand is increase (Casassus,

Liu & Tang, 2009 as in Nezakati, et al. 2011). In academic, there are many researches were done many

researches on consumer willingness to pay for organic food (Rodriguez, Lacaze&Lupin, 2007; Griffith

&Nesheim, 2008). According to M.harris (2007) as in Ahmad &Juhdi (2010) there are possibly with

considerable proof to support the increasing of environmental friendliness consumer behaviour is growing

number of consumers who are willing to compensate more for eco-friendly product.

Consumer attitude and consumer perception are interrelated to consumer‘s willingness to pay for organic

food. In the market place, the most of consumers are concern on the money spend on organic food‘s value

whether is worth or not. Furthermore, others consumer‘s opinion may influence consumer willingness to

purchase on organic food, especially amount they spend on due to most of customers are sensitive on

money. Hence, degree of affordability is an element influence consumer intention to purchase in five

group of customer.

Hypothesis 2: There is relationship between affordability of organic food and consumer purchase

intention.

2.3.5 Accessibility

In order to distribute the products to reach to each customer, distribution channel is one of important tool

in marketing concept. Anderson, Chatterjee and Lakshmanan (2003) as in Nezakati, et al. (2011) justify

that organizations are need to discover substitute distribution tools to distribute the products and services

to even the greatest isolated of groups. There are several studies acknowledged that lack of organic food

availability in shops or in hypermarket‘s store is considered as barriers to consumer obtain (Beardworth

et.al., 2002; Davies, 1995; as in Ahmad &Juhdi, 2010). Even the customers have intention to purchase the

organic food, but they cannot obtain the organic foods products in daily life.

According to TPB, the attitude towards the consumer behaviour is referring to the consumer positive or

negative perception about the specific product. In addition, perceived behavioural control where the

consumer‘s perception whether behaviour performance ease of difficult to obtain. The interaction

between the five groups of customers with positive perception on product, high product accessibility or



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availability and without difficulty to obtain may determine to create high level of positive attitude towards

purchase behaviour which is generating a result in massive intention to purchase eco-friendliness foods.

Hypothesis 3: There is relationship between availability of organic food and consumer purchase intention

2.3.6 Awareness

The meaning of awareness is consciousness. In term on marketing concept, awareness refers to consumer

consciousness where purchaser‘s knowledge of specific product and company, allows the consumers to

obtain the greatest form what they purchase (Thomas, 2011). According to Kumar and Ali (2011) stated

that awareness and knowledge has turn into a significant elements in consumer attitude and behaviour

towards buying organic foods. Consumers have many choices to choose what they want based on what

they understand and know on the specific product whether safety or nor.

Raab and Grobe (2005) conclude their research and stated to maintaining good organic foods quality can

emphasizing consumer opinion turn into positive view by supported with marketing campaigns in order to

counter consumers with negative perceptions such as high price of organic food. Furthermore, several

scholars discovered that product information is important element where consumers have clear

information about the products or services, place to shop and originate a discussion with customers and

answer to requests form consumer towards market information (Feick and Price 1987, as in Ahmad

&Juhdi, 2010). Therefore, company need to make sure the intended consumers understand and interpret

the messages in the right way through the complete communication delivered to the consumers.

Hypothesis 4: There is relationship between availability of organic food and consumer purchase intention

2.3.7 Consumer Innovativeness

According to Hirschman (1980) as in Dobre, Dragomir&Preda (2009) stated innovativeness is important

concept to consumer behaviour, when consumers adopt new ideas, goods or services play an significant

role of the concepts on relating to communication and preferences, brand loyalty, decision making. Hui,

et al. (2004) stated the innovativeness is influenced by personality construct whether greater or lesser

degree since all consumers are adopts a new product at a same time. Goldsmith (2001) as in Goldsmith

and Flynn (2003) describes the consumer innovativeness is a consumer who are educated, slightly price

insensitive and possible to be heavy consumers as well as willing to purchase and learn about novel

product.

Innovativeness is a different group of adopters that refer to responses to the novel products. Nevertheless,

Clark and Watson (1995) as in Goldsmith, et al (2003) stated innovativeness can indicate at different

levels of abstraction or breadth and generality or specificity. Therefore, Goldsmith, et al (2003) said the

common innovation element is contained within theories of personality trait where describing broad

feedback to the environment.

As a result, Goldsmith, et al (2003) and several researchers discovered that there is a linkage between

consumer innovativeness and consumer characteristic and purchase intention. Therefore, innovativeness

is associated TPB‘s determination which is consumer‘s attitudes and consumption acts based on the social

norms in five groups of consumers.

Hypothesis 5: There is relationship between consumer innovativeness of organic food and consumer

purchase intention.



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Proposed Theoretical Model


To analyze the outcome of the study, 5 Likert scale measurement will used in questionnaire design in

order to test consumers‘ perception for agreement or disagreement level in purchase intention towards

organic foods influence by different variables (acceptability, affordability, accessibility, awareness and

innovativeness). Besides, the questionnaire also designs to analyze consumers‘ experience on marketing

related activities in organic foods market. A simple size of 180were distributed to female respondents in

Klang Valley area for the study. The convenience sampling is most economical and convenient to

intercept people in shopping centers during conducting a survey or interview. The research has identified

the target population as consumer who are generally purchase Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and

aged above 21 years old which refer to retail products are replaced in short period of days, weeks, and

months. Normally, this group of consumers are considering as high consumer demand due to product

depreciates promptly. Hence, the respondents are aiming from Klang Valley area because this region of

respondents mostly has great recognition level than other regions in Malaysia.

5. RESULTS AND FINDINGS

The questionnaires are distributed 180 copies to respondents in Kuala Lumpur, Sepang and Nilai public

areas which is public transport hubs. Finally were, 159 completed questionnaire and fifteen (15)

questionnaires had to be rejected due to there were too much on missing and inaccurate data, therefore the

overall number of usable responses was 144. This study consists of 144 people of respondents which

80.6% of respondents‘ age ranges from 21 to 30 whereas 19.4% of respondents come from age range 31

to 40. The result determines that number of FMCG buyers in ages range from 21 to 30 is higher than ages

range from 31 to 40. There 83.3% of respondents are still single status and 16.7% of respondents are

married status. Majority of respondents are Chinese respondents (52.8%) followed by Malay (30.6%),

Indian (13.9%) and others races (2.8%) who are Kadazan, Dusun and others. Besides, majority of

respondents come from high educated category which are bachelor degree (72.2%) master program and

above (13.2%) and diploma (9%) However, only 5.6% of respondents had high school or equivalent. The

Acceptability

Affordability

Awareness

Availability

Innovativeness

Product (4As)

Consumer

Intention to

Purchase



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67

result shows that majority of Malaysian are highly educated, still Malaysia is a developing country in

Asia Pacific. Furthermore, most of the respondents are student and the income range is less than RM1000.

For those respondents with high range of income (above RM1000) are working respondents.

5.1 Descriptive analysis

From Figure 1 shows the first five highest frequencies of organic foods are fruits and vegetables (72)

followed by juice or drinks (41) wheat or rice (36), eggs (35) and bread (30) that usually consume by

respondents. The least frequency of organic foods which less than 30 are can foods, supplements, meats,

milk and others. From the result shows that the first five highest frequencies of organic foods are ready

accepted by consumers in market place and it is accomplished the research objective four.

Whereas, from the result (firgure2) the common marketing communication tools for organic food

shows magazine (94), newspapers (67) and TV channels (47) are first three significant methods

for organic foods. However, the number of frequency less than 45 are brochure, posters, videos,

books, billboard, radio and others. This result has shown buyers are easily to get organic foods‘

information through the magazine, newspaper and TV channels.

5.2 Validity Test and Reliability Test The factor loading is accepted at 0.45 due to the sample size of this research is 144 where in the range 150

sample size. From the table as above indicates that factor loading for each item is higher than 0.45 which

in the range of 0.532 and 0.896. Besides, the result of cronbach‘s alpha value of IVs (Acceptability,

Figure 1: Common Marketing Communication Tools for

Organic Foods

Figure 2: Organic Foods that Buyers Usually Consume



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Affordability, Availability, Awareness and Consumer Innovativeness) and DV (purchase intention) is

0.596, 0.658, 0.571, 0.747, 0.528 and 0.851 correspondingly. The result shows that questionnaire of this

research can consider as internal consistency.

Table 1: Summary Result of Validity Test and Cronbach’s Alpha

Constructs Measurement Items Factor

Loading

Cronbach’s

Alpha

Purchase

Intention

I would definitely have no doubt buying organic foods. 0.778 0.851

I expect to buy organic foods. 0.829

I would consider buying organic foods rather than non-organic

foods.

0.820

I absolutely plan to buy organic foods. 0.896

Acceptability Organic foods are good for health. 0.606 0.596

Organic foods usually have high quality. 0.766

Overall organic foods taste good. 0.651

The packaging of organic foods is unique and attractive. 0.534

The various choices of organic foods can influence my purchase

intention.

0.532

Affordability The prices of organic foods are high. 0.808 0.568

Price is the most important factor when it comes to purchasing

organic foods.

0.737

Overall the price of the organic food is reasonable. 0.669

Availability Organic foods are available and can be obtained conveniently in

store.

0.745 0.571

Organic foods are located at high visual of shelves area for me to

grab.

0.745

Organic foods are available in many hypermarkets and supermarkets. 0.712

Awareness I may buy organic food because of family and friend‘s

recommendation.

0.872 0.747

I may buy organic food because of advertisement. 0.736

I understand the information about and benefit of organic foods. 0.644

The most advertised organic foods tend to be a good choice. 0.664

Sufficient information of organic foods can influence my purchase

intention.

0.604

I can read many organic foods information and benefits through

magazines, newspapers, book, articles, advertisement and TV

Channels.

0.744

I am a person who is always looking for organic foods information. 0.636

Consumer

Innovativeness

I never buy the product that I don‘t concern about with the threat of

making a mistake.

0.657 0.528

I choose a brand that I frequently consume rather than trying

something that I am not confident on it.

0.792

Before trying a new product, I try to study friends‘ experience and

opinions who are own this product.

0.696



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Multiple Regression

Table 2: Result of Multiple Regression

Model Summaryb

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate

1 .717a .514 .497 .54797

a. Predictors: (Constant), Acceptability , Consumer Innovativeness , Affordability , Availability ,

Awareness

b. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

ANOVAb

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 43.903 5 8.781 29.242 .000a

Residual 41.437 138 .300

Total 85.340 143

a. Predictors: (Constant), Acceptability , Consumer Innovativeness , Affordability , Availability , Awareness

b. Dependent Variable: Purchase Intention

From the table of Model Summarybshows the value of adjusted R square is 0.497, so indicates that 49.7%

of the variation in rating of consumer purchase intention is explained by the regression model. In the table

of ANOVAb shows the overall regression result is significant at 0.1% level where the value of F test is

29.242 (sig=0.000). Thus, the data is fit to regression model.

When the value of Sig is less than equal 5% (≤ 0.05), it is shows the variable is significant and the result

is acceptable. In conversely, when the value of Sig is more than equal 5% (≥ 0.05), the variable consider

as not significant and the result is rejected.There are two variables (availability and consumer

innovativeness)are tested as not significant to dependent variable (purchase intention). Where variables

consider as significant factors are acceptability, affordability and awareness.

Table 3: Summary Result of Multiple Regression Analysis

6. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The key purpose that research conducted this empirical study is to understand and discovers the

significant factors influence consumers‘ purchase intention towards organic food in market place.

According to result, acceptability is significant factor affecting consumer purchase intention towards

Hypotheses Variables t value Sig Result

H1 Acceptability 2.580 0.011 Accepted

H2 Affordability 4.783 0.000 Accepted

H3 Availability -1.502 0.135 Rejected

H4 Awareness 6.754 0.000 Accepted

H5 Consumer Innovativeness 0.076 0.939 Rejected



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organic foods. Several researchers (Ploeger; Rezai, Mohamed, Shamsudin, 2011 and Shaharudin, Pani,

Mansor& Elias, 2010) said that consumer consider on several criteria of organic food production such as

quality, natural of raw material, taste, health value and environmental degradation. In addition, the result

showed affordability is one of a factor affecting consumer purchase intention towards organic food and

several scholars (Aryal, Chaudhary, Pandit, & Sharma, 2009; Becker 2007 and Griffith &Nesheim, 2008)

found out that higher price of organic food over those of conventional foods is one of factor influences

consumer purchase intention, while, the lower price or reasonable price of organic foods will increase

consumer purchase intention.

From the result, awareness is one of important factor that can influence consumer purchase intention.

Researchers (Ronteltap, Trijp, Renes, Frewer, 2007) discovered that consumer innovativeness have an

influence on consumer acceptance and mostly on behavioural intention. However, availability and

consumer innovativeness are not significant factors in this research.Furthermore, the types of organic

foods ready highly accept and consume by consumers are fruits and vegetables, juice or drinks and wheat

or rice. Besides, marketing communication tools one of important findings in the research. From

respondents‘ opinion, the magazine, newspapers and TV channels are significant methods to reach

consumers. Finally, among the respondents, scholar discovered that respondents with high education

level (Diploma, Bachelor degree and Master level) are tends to purchase more on organic foods. They

believe that organic foods are good for health, safe product and high quality especially female

respondents. The reason is female respondents are future mothers or wives, thus they are willing to give

the best to their families and kids.

After data analysis, discovered acceptability, affordability and awareness are main important factors that

can influence consumer purchase intention. Therefore, there several implications that assist marketers

bring succeed to organic foods products suppliers and retailers in Malaysia. First of all, in order to create

high consumer awareness on organic foods developing an effective marketing communication plan and

brand building are marketing strategies for organic food suppliers and retailers. These strategies assist

suppliers and retailers increase organic food sales and dominate the market. Besides, economies of scales

is another method help suppliers and retailers reduce the price if organic food. For example, retailers can

get volume discount by purchasing the organic foods in bulk from suppliers with long term contract.

Additionally, Retailers and suppliers can concern on product development of organic foods in order to get

consumer attention. For instance, improve organic food packaging and quality. It will lead to have

repeated sales and building good image on organic foods.

7. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE STUDY

There are several research limitations that faced by scholar. First, the sample size for this research is 144.

It is not accurate and not suitable to represent the whole Malaysia. Due to time constraint, scholar selected

the small sample size to examine and cannot reflect better outcomes of organic foods market trend in

Malaysia. Besides, the questionnaire distribution locations were restricted in Kuala Lumpur, Nilai,

Sepang areas and cannot represent the whole Malaysia market trend. Lastly, there is challenge while

distribute the questionnaire to respondents, noticed that respondents are answered the questionnaire

without truthfulness and faithfulness. Hence, the result tested after data analysis might not be validity and

reliability for the study.

In order to develop an excellence quality work for this research, scholar recommends a several

implications to improving the literatures regarding to organic foods market research for this study. First,

increase number of sample size. It is difficult to examine an accurate and reliable result on consumers‘

purchase intention towards organic foods with small sample size. For that reason, it is possible to increase

the sample size to achieve a better result in future study. Second, combine both qualitative and

quantitative research method to produce a good quality presentation of data analysis and discovervarious



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significant factors that related to consumers‘ purchase intention on organic foods. Third, Study both

gender male and female. Although female is important respondent in this study, however male

respondents also imperative to in this research topic due to male consumers are starts become a health

conscious consumers. Besides, it also can examine on level of purchase intention towards organic foods

between male and female in order to have a depth understanding on which factors are most influence for

each gender. Lastly, examine the level of consumer awareness on organic foods and investigate which

promotion and advertising factors that highly influence consumer purchase intention on organic foods to

expand the literature in further study.

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