Factors affecting Vietnamese consumers' intention to purchase Chinese garments

y Giang and Nguyen Thi Thuy Ha (2012) mentioned buying intention Chinese electronics but in the view of the effect of factors attached to characteristics of products (price, designs) without mentioning cognitive factors. This research also mentioned that to Chinese electronics, consumers may not want to but still come to a buying decision, but have not mentioned the effect of cognitive factors in this buying behavior. According to customer behavior theory, consumers often make buying decisions based on positive feelings of themselves to the products. But according to results of the research by Pham Thuy Giang and Nguyen Thi Thuy Ha (2012) there is a conflict between consumer intention and consumer behavior to the Chinese products. Therefore, it can be seen that the positive and negative feelings of consumers have an independent influence in intention to purchase Chinese products of Vietnamese consumers. Therefore, the author has considered and put the factors of consumer affinity and consumer animosity to the research model of the thesis. On that basis, the thesis author has built a research model with independent variables includes consumer ethnocentrism; consumer animosity; consumer affinity; subjective norms; attitude towards behavior; perceived behavioral control. 2.2.2 Overview of foreign studies 2.2.2.1. Consumer ethnocentrism ✓ Shankarmahesh (2006) reviewed previous research and showed that consumer ethnocentrism had a major influence on not buying imported products (and buying domestic products). Besides, when reviewing research models about imported product buying behavior the author realized that researchers have used many concepts to indicate this influence of consumer ethnocentrism such as "buying intention", "attitude towards buying imported products", “readiness to buy domestic products”, “readiness to buy imported products”. On that basis, the author has put the factor Consumer ethnocentrism to this thesis to research Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. ✓ Shimp and Sharma (1987) built consumer ethnocentrism as “specific concepts in researching consumer behavior and marketing implications” (Sharma et al., 1995). Consumer ethnocentrism is considered to be the only economic form of ethnocentrism that expresses the belief of consumers on moral standards in purchasing foreign products (Shimp and Sharma, 1987, pg.280). Therefore, consumer ethnocentrism indicates the trend where consumers distinguish products of domestic and foreign groups, and avoid buying foreign products for ethnic reasons. Even when consumers rate products based on particular values (price, quality, features), consumer ethnocentrism will make consumers consider in purchasing imported products due to the perception of the damage to the country's economy (Shimp and Sharma, 6 1987). ✓ Studies proved that the differences among ethnic groups were similar due to different types of products (Thelen et al., 2006). It is also mentioned that differences in demographic and psychosocial psychology of consumers will affect the level of ethnocentrism. Political, economic, demographic, social and psychological factors have been identified as an important premise of ethnocentrism (Shankarmahesh, 2006). Marketing documents have made efforts to investigate age, gender and income as the regulatory variables when consumers buy and consume products (Homburg and Giering, 2001; Lambert-Pandraud et al., 2005). ✓ Some research pointed out that consumers with high ethnocentrism will be more likely to buy local products and keep negative attitude towards foreign brands (Bandara and Miloslava, 2012). This may be due to an appreciation of the properties and quality of products in the country and a low appreciation of quality foreign products (Sharma et al., 1995). It has also been suggested that consumers with high ethnocentrism have positive attitude to the products from countries with similar cultures (Sharma et al., 1995; Watson and Wright, 2000). Shankarmahesh (2006) summarized reviews of documents on ethnocentrism and also mentioned that most of previous research all found results that ethnocentrism negatively affects buying intention foreign products of consumers. 2.2.2.2 Consumer animosity Consumer animosity mentions strong negative emotions for buying products from a country that the buyer doesn't like. The majority of consumer animosity studies look at the attitude of members in one country to the products of another country. Specifically, studies on American attitudes toward Chinese products (Witkowski, 2000); attitude of Australians to French products (Ettensen and Klein, 2005); attitude of Dutch to German products (Nijssen and Douglas, 2004); attitude of Americans (Klein, 2002; Klein and Ettensen, 1999) and Korea (Shin, 2001) to Japanese products. Along with the concept of consumer ethnocentrism, consumer animosity also is a useful concept for marketing managers to study the reasons behind the purchase decisions of consumers to the imported products. Therefore, the thesis author takes the factor of Consumer animosity to the research model to test its effect to Vietnamese consumers' intention to purchase Chinese garments. 2.2.2.3 Consumer affinity Consumer affinity comes from the theory of social identification (Tajfel, 1982). This theory is used to distinguish between in-group and our-group. Different social contexts can affect thoughts, feelings and actions based on different levels of each person. The unique identity of each group is indeterminate (Schlenker, 1986), and it is often the individual's choice (Swann, 1987). Marketing documents pointed out that interest of consumers and product evaluation not only base on product signs (quality, brand, price) but also depends on emotional factor (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Batra and Holbrook, 1990). In fact, positive emotions to another country can lead to purchasing products of that country because of the affinity of consumers. Affinity is a term for “sympathy or attraction by a person or thing; towards something in a natural way; sympathy and understanding for something” (according to online Oxford dictionary). Jaffe and Nebenzahl (2006) introduced the term “consumer affinity” but their model was not tested experimentally. Oberecker et al. (2008, pg.26) expanded this concept in a qualitative 7 research, and defined consumer affinity as a “feeling of liking, sympathy, and even attachment toward a specific foreign country that has become an in-group as a result of the consumer’s direct personal experience and/or normative exposure and that positively affects the consumer’s decision making associated with products and services originating from the affinity country”. According to this research, affinity is conceptual in 2 dimensions: (1) low emotions will affect "sympathy" and (2) high level of emotions affect “attachment”. Consumers can experience directly or indirectly (or both) a specific country and tends to see that country as a part of their group (Baumgartner and Goldberg, 2002), make they have high level of trust and have affinity to that country, at the same time expressing connection by consuming products of that country. 2.2.2.4 Attitude towards behavior; subjective norms and perceived behavioral control One of the most influenced and supportive theories in predicting human behavior, including buying behavior of consumers is Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) of Ajzen (1985, 1991). The model proposed that attitude towards behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control primarily affect the behavior through the effect of behavioral intention. In this model, intention is considered to be a determinant of behavior. The ability to predict behavior of TPB is proved through a series of researches in the field of consumption such as buying intention of travel products (Lam and Tu Hy Vien, 2004), retail negotiation behavior (Lee, 2000), green buying behavior (Chan and Lau, 2001), and the unsatisfied reaction of customers (Cheung et al., 2005). Joanne et al. (2009) tested all three factors of the TPB model in predicting buying behavior for products originating from Australia of Chinese consumers. Research has confirmed these three factors all affect Australian-imported product buying intention of Chinese. However, research on the ability of the model to predict buying intention of imported goods is limited. To ensure strictness for the research model of the thesis and to test Theory of Planned Behavior in research context of intention to purchase foreign products of consumers in Viet Nam, the thesis author has put three factors according to Theory of Planned Behavior to the research model and consider their contribution in the interpretation of Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. 2.2.2.5 Controlling variables The research by Chaney and Gamble (2008) tested the relationship between attitude of consumers to local and foreign retailers and corresponding buying behavior of consumers. Research results showed that demographic and geographic factors contribute to the difference in attitude of consumers. Therefore, there are consumers who likes domestic retailers and there are other consumers who prefer foreign retailers. Most of research in marketing (Cooil et al., 2007; Crask and Reynolds, 1978; Korgaonkar et al., 1985) showed that income is closely related to attitude and buying intention of consumers. Consumers with higher income have fewer financial restrictions on what they can buy, and therefore they can buy anywhere. Consumers with high income are thought to be more valuable in time than consumers with low income (Murthi and Srinivasan, 1999), therefore will reduce information search time in purchasing products. The research by Alexander Josiassen et al. (2011) showed that the effect of consumer ethnocentrism to readiness to 8 buy increase when income of consumers increase, and will decrease when income of consumers decreases. According to a report of the survey about the habit of fashion consumption of the Vietnamese in 2012 conducted by the online market researching company named W&S, the expenditure for clothing of Vietnamese consumers is the third highest (lower than food and savings), account for 13.9% in the total personal spending. Women have the tendency to choose and buy their own clothes more than men with the percentage of 13.6%. Women are more likely to shop than men and this likelihood decreases due to older age. Simultaneously, the results also showed that the needs to shop of consumers usually increases when they have much money or recently receive their salary. According to Bui Thanh Huan and Nguyen Hoang Tran (2011), the youth buys items of garments when they are satisfied with their selection criteria. Thus, there might be a difference in the intentions to buy clothes between groups of people categorized by some controlling variables. On that basis, to ensure the rigor and reliability of the research results, the thesis author has put controlling variables including age, gender, educational level, income to the research model of the thesis. 2.3 Research model and hypotheses 2.3.1 Research model In the research model of the thesis, the thesis author proposed six factors whose effect can be meaningful in the Vietnamese context. They are the factors: (1) consumer ethnocentrism; (2) Consumer animosity; (3) Consumer affinity; (4) attitude towards behavior; (5) subjective norms; (6) perceived behavioral control. The relationship of six independent variables mentioned above with independent variables intention to purchase Chinese garments will be tested in the conditions that have controlling variables. The reason why the demographic variables is put in to be controlling variables is because of the overall basis in previous research, these variables are statistically meaningful to independent variables. To ensure strictness, the author has put to the research model of the thesis four demographic variables including (1) Age; (2) Gender; (3) Education level; (4) Income. Intention to purchase Chinese garments Controlling variables age, gender, educational level, income Consumer ethnocentrism Consumer affinity Consumer animosity Attitude towards behavior Subjective norms Perceived behavioral control 9 2.3.2 Hypotheses H1: Consumer ethnocentrism has an opposite effect to Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. H2: Consumer animosity has an opposite effect to Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. H3: Consumer affinity has a positive effect to Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. H4: Attitude towards behavior has a positive effect to Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments H5: Subjective norms has an opposite effect to Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. H6: Perceived behavioral control has a positive effect to Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD 3.1. The scale of factors The scale of Buying intention is extracted from the research by Mathur (1998). The scale of Consumer ethnocentrism is extracted from the research by Shimp and Sharma, 1987. The scale of consumer animosity is extracted from the research by Klein et al. (1998) The scale of consumer affinity is extracted from the research by Nes et al. (2014) The scale of attitude towards behavior is extracted from the research by Icek Ajzen (2002) The scale of subjective norms is extracted from the research by Ajzen (2002) The scale of perceived behavioral control is extracted from the research by Icek Ajzen (2002) 3.2. Research design 3.2.1. Research method Research process has three steps which are qualitative research, preliminary quantitative research and official quantitative research. Qualitative research was conducted by in-depth interview method with experts in marketing field and experts in garment industry, as well as direct interviews with some Vietnamese consumers. Research results help the author check suitability and adjust theoretical models, ensuring that scale was built in consistent with theory. Results of qualitative research are expected to be used as a basis for adjusting the scales of foreign scholars to suit the research context in Vietnam before conducting quantitative research and formal testing of the model. Quantitative research is the method to collect data from which to test the impact of some factors (consumer ethnocentrism; consumer affinity, consumer animosity, attitude towards behavior; subjective norms; perceived behavioral control) to Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. Preliminary quantitative research was conducted with 100 consumers through survey method. The data collected is used to assess the reliability of the scale before conducting official research on a large scale. Official quantitative research was conducted with 600 consumers through survey method. The data collected is used to re-evaluate the scale, analyze factors, analyze correlation and test models and research 10 hypotheses by multiple regression method with the support of SPSS software version 18. 3.2.2. Choosing research sample Overall research sample of this thesis is Vietnamese consumers. They are the decision makers who choose and buy Chinese garment products or have an important influence on the decision to choose and buy Chinese garment products. Due to the above conditions, the overall audience of this research is Vietnamese consumers over the age of 18, living and working in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, they can be students or do other jobs, belonging to different organizations (freelancing, administrative units, businesses, ...) 3.2.3. Qualitative research results 03 in 04 experts all agree that there is a relationship between the factor of Consumer animosity and Consumer affinity with Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments. 05 in 06 consumers who were interviewed mentioned that normal Chinese garments is the item with affordable price, diverse designs and easy to find and buy. The remaining factors: Consumer ethnocentrism, Attitude towards behavior, Subjective norms are agreed by all interviewees to be related to Intention to purchase Chinese garments. 3.2.4. Preliminary quantitative research results The scale of Consumer ethnocentrism, Consumer animosity, Consumer affinity, Subjective norms, Attitude towards behavior, perceived behavioral control all have Cronbach Alpha and Corrected Item-Total Correlation coefficients that meet the requirements for subsequent analyzes. 3.2.5. Descriptive statistics of research sample by control variables - There are 312 females, accounting for 76,8% of the samples. There are 94 males accounting for 23,2%. - Regarding the age structure of the samples, we can see the number of people from 18 to 25 years old is the most including 245 people accounting for 60,3%, number of people from 26 to 35 years old is of second largest quantities (92 people) accounting for 22,7%. - Regarding residence, there are 223 people with a permanent address in Ha Noi accounting for 54.9%. Number of people with a permanent address in Ho Chi Minh City is 183 people accounting for 45.1%. - Regarding education level, there are 6 people whose education level is under high school accounting for 1.5%. Number of high school graduates in the samples is 99 people, accounting for 24.4%. Number of people with intermediate, college graduates in the samples is 230 people accounting for 56.7%. - Regarding income, it can be seen that the group whose income is under 5 million dong is the most with 55,7% equal to 226 people. The group with the highest rate includes 70 people is the group whose income is from 5 million to 7,5 million accounting for 17,2%. The group whose income is from 7,6 million to 10 million includes 54 people accounting for 13,3%. The group whose income is from 10,1 million to 12,5 million includes 25 people accounting for 6,2%. There are 09 people whose income is from 12,6 million to 15 million accounting for 2,2%. There are only 2 people whose income is from 15,1 million to 17,5 million accounting for 0,5%. The group whose income is from 17,6 million to 20 million includes 3 people accounting for 0,7% and the group whose income is above 20 million includes 17 people accounting for 4,2%. 11 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS 4.1 Scale assessment 4.2.1 Descriptive statistics of independent variable and testing the distribution format of the scales the independent variable Skewness and Kurtosis testing results show that the absolute value of these two indices is within the corresponding allowable limit of Skewness less than 3 and Kurtosis 5. Above results show that the scale of the independent variable has a standard distribution, making sure the requirements for subsequent tests and analysis in the next sections. 4.2.2 Descriptive statistics of the dependent variable Statistical results with min, max value of each observed variable average value of observed variables in the scale of Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments is even and below average (mean = 1,90; 2,04; 2,13; 2,24). Through this average value it can be seen that Vietnamese consumers’ intention to purchase Chinese garments in two big cities which are Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City is not higher than average. 4.2.3 Testing value of the scales KMO and Bartlett testing results showed that KMO = 0.815 satisfied the condition of 0.5 ≤ KMO ≤ 1 (Kaiser, 1974). Therefore, it can be concluded that factor analysis is suitable with given data. Similarly, Barlett testing results showed that p = 0.000 < 0.05 therefore it can be concluded that observed variables are correlated with each other in each factor group and are eligible for factor analysis by EFA testing. Results show that 56 observed variables focused on 11 factor groups. The total variance explained when factor groups are drawn is 67,441% (>50%). Results of EFA analysis showed that: 1) 10 measurement criteria of the factor Consumer ethnocentrism are CNDT1, CNDT2, CNDT3, CNDT4, CNDT5, CNDT6, CNDT7, CNDT8, CNDT9, CNDT10 are loaded into one group. The factor loading reached from 0,635 to 0,880, ensuring the standard > 0,3 and show that observed variables are significantly related to the factor. 2) EFA results of the factor Consumer animosity showed that measurement criteria all have factor loading > 0,3 and load 2 corresponding factor groups with two different aspects of a concept. Therefore, these 2 criteria groups are indicators of two independent factors, showing two different categories of Consumer animosity concept. First factor includes observed variables ACDT-C1, ACDT-CT2, ACDT-CT3, ACDT-CT4 has a factor loading from 0.732 to 0.796 Second factor includes observed variables ACDT-KT5, ACDT- KT6, ACDT-KT7, ACDT-KT8, ACDT-KT9 has a factor loading from 0.750 to 0.822 Therefore, observed variables having relationship with the corresponding factors and scales have met the requirements. From EFA results showed that the variables of Consumer animosity are divided into two independent factors, to facilitate the next analysis, the thesis author named and encoded the 2 new factors that were divided as follows: - A factor has observed variables ACDT-CT1, ACDT-CT2, ACDT-CT3, ACDT-CT4 running to one group, showing negative attitudes or animosity of consumers stemming from political conflicts with one nation or group of nations. This new factor is named Consumer 12 political animosity and is encrypted as ACDT-CT - A factor has observed variables ACDT-KT5, ACDT-KT6, ACDT-KT7, ACDT-KT8, ACDT-KT9 running to one group, showing negative attitudes or animosity of consumers stemming from economic conflicts with one nation or group of nations. This new factor is named Consumer economic animosity and is encrypted as ACDT-KT The observed variables still keep the original encryption symbols 3) EFA results of the factor Consumer affinity showed that measurement criteria load corresponding groups with five different aspects in the concept. Therefore, these 5 indicator groups are scales of five independent factors, expressing five different categories of Consumer affinity concept. The first factor including observed variables TCDT-C1, TCDT-C2 has a factor loading equal to 0,920 The second factor including observed variables TCDT-PC3, TCDT-PC4, TCDT-PC5, TCDT-PC6, TCDT-PC7 has a factor loading from 0.680 to 0.880 The third factor including observed variables TCDT-GT8, TCDT- GT9, TCDT-GT10 has a factor loading from 0.773 to 0.829 The fourth factor including observed variables TCDT-CN11, TCDT-CN12, TCDT-CN13, TCDT-CN14, TCDT-CN15, TCDT-CN16 has a factor loading from 0.671 to 0.844 The fifth factor including observed variables TCDT-CT17, TCDT- CT18, TCDT-CT19 has a factor loading from 0.638 to 0.893. From EFA results showed that the variables of consumer affinity are divided into five independent factors, to facilitate the next analysis, the thesis author named and encoded the 5 new factors that were divided as follows: - The factor that has observed variables TCDT-C1, TCDT-C2 expressing feeling of like, sympathy and even attachment of consumers towards a specific foreign country. This factor is named Affinity – General and is encrypted as TCDT-C - The factor that has observed variables TCDT-PC3, TCDT-PC4, TCDT-PC5, TCDT-PC6, TCDT-PC7 expressing the affinity of consumers to a foreign country comes from exploration of cultural features (history, value, tradition, language, cuisine, etc.) and landscapes (location, landscape, environment) of that country. The new factor is named Consumer cultural/scenic affinity and is encrypted as TCDT-PC. - The factor that has observed variables TCDT-GT8, TCDT-GT9, TCDT-GT10 expressing affinity of consumers to a foreign country comes from the exposure to entertainment forms of that country such as music, movies and other entertainment forms. The new factor is named Consumer entertainment affinity and is encrypted as TCDT-GT. - The factor that has observed variables TCDT-CN11, TCDT- CN12, TCDT-CN13, T