Malay Culture and Consumer Decision-Making Styles: An Investigation on Religious and Ethnic Dimensions
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The Malays are closely associated with the religion of Islam which constitutes a key element in Malay ethnic identity and its culture. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate the Malays’ decision-making styles pertaining to shopping behavior. This study also examines the relationships between Malays’ cultural value orientations and their decision-making styles. The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) was used to measure the Malays decision-making styles. The research findings indicated that religious factor alone is not sufficient to influence the Malays’ decision-making styles. The findings also showed that there are three decision-making styles related to Malay ethnic: perfectionistic, confused by over choice and impulsive purchase. Significant relationship was also found between religiosity and ethnicity and the shopping behavior of the Malays. The findings also revealed that Malay consumers are quite incompetent in handling product and market information, resulting in information overload and confusion. Therefore, the results of this study suggested that formal consumer education should be introduced in secondary schools in developing knowledgeable and efficient young consumers. Â
References
Abdul-Razak, K. (1993). Culture and Consumer Behaviour: The Influence of Culture on Family Planning Behaviour in Malaysia. Unpublished DBA Dissertation, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Abdul-Razak, K. and Safiek Mokhlis (2001). The Influence of Social Structural Factors on Consumer Socialization and Shopping Orientation. Malaysian Journal of Consumer & Family Economics, 4: 37-48.
Ball, J., Mustafa, S. M. and Moselle, K. (1992). Phenomenology and Prevalence of SelfReported Stress among Malay College Students. In Proceedings of the 1st Asian Conference in Psychology, 29-30. Singapore: Singapore Psychological Society
Brennan, M. (1985). Class, Politics and Race in Modern Malaysia. In R. Higgot & R. Robison (Eds.), Southeast Asia: Essays in the Political Economy of Structural Change, 93127. Boston: Routledge-Kegan
Brislin, R. W. (1970). Back Translation for Cross-Cultural Research. Journal of CrossCultural Psychology 1 (September): 185-216
Bochner, S. (1994). Cross-Cultural Differences in the Self-Concept: A Test of Hofstede's Individualism/Collectivism Distinction. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 25: 273-283
Bouchner, J. D. and Brandt, M. E. (1981). Judgment of Emotion: American and Malay Antecedents. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 12: 272-253
Bettman, J. R. (1979). An Information Processing Theory of Consumer Choice. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
Calder, B. J., Phillips, L. W. and Tybout, A. (1981). Designing Research for Application. Journal of Consumer Research 8 (September): 197-207
Churchill, G., Jr. (1979). A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs. Journal of Marketing Research 16: 64-73
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests. Psychometrika 2 (March): 297-334
Crouch, H. (1988). The Politics of Islam in the ASEAN Countries. In A. Broinowski (Ed.), ASEAN into the 1990s, 184-199. New York: Macmillan
Crouch, H. (1996). Government and Society in Malaysia. Sydney, Australia: Allen and Unwin
Durvasula, S., Lysonski, S. and Andrews, J. C. (1993). Cross-Cultural Generalizability of a Scale for Profiling Consumers’ Decision-Making Styles. Journal of Consumer Affairs 27 (1): 55-65
Edris, T. A. and Meidan, A. (1990). On the Reliability of Psychographic Research: Encouraging Sings for Measurement Accuracy and Methodology in Consumer Research. European Journal of Marketing 24 (3): 23-41
Fan, J. X. and Xiao, J. J. (1998). Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Young-Adult Chinese. Journal of Consumer Affairs 32 (2): 275-294
Hafstrom, J. L., Chae, J. S. and Chung, Y. S. (1992). Consumer Decision-Making Styles: Comparison between United States and Korean Young Consumers. Journal of Consumer Affairs 26 (1): 146-158
Hair, J. F. Jr., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L. and Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate Data Analysis, Fifth Edition, New Jersey, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc
Harman, H. H. (1967). Modern Factor Analysis. The University of Chicago Press.
Heine, S. and Lehman, D. R., (1997) “Culture, Dissonance, and Self-Affirmation,†Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 389-400.
Hiu, Alice S. Y., Siu, Noel Y. M., Wang, Charlie C. L. and Chang, Ludwig M. K. (2001). An Investigation of Decision-Making Styles of Consumers in China. Journal of Consumer Affairs 35 (2): 326-345
Husin Ali, S. (1975). Malay Peasant Society and Leadership. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
Hussin Mutalib, H. (1990). Islam and Ethnicity in Malay Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
Kenson, K. M. (1999). A Profile of Apparel Shopping Orientation Segments among Male Consumers. Unpublished MA thesis, California State University Long Beach, USA.
Kroeber, Alfred L. and Clyde Kluckhohn (1952). Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Papers of Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Lysonski, S., Durvasula, S. and Zotos, Y. (1996). Consumer Decision-Making Styles: A Multi-Country Investigation. European Journal of Marketing 30 (12): 10-21
Mastor, K. A., Jin, P. and Cooper, M. (2000). Malay Culture and Personality. American Behavioral Scientist 44 (1): 95-111
Nagata, J. A. (1974). What is a Malay? Situational Selection of Ethnic Identity. American Ethnologist 1 (2): 331-350
Nunnally, J. C. Jr. (1967). Psychometric Theory, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Ownbey, S. F. and Horridge, P. E. (1997). Acculturation Levels and Shopping Orientations of Asian-American Consumers. Psychology & Marketing 14 (1): 1-18
Rafaei, W. M. (1976). Locus of Control of Reinforcement of Malay and Australian Secondary School Students. Journal Pendidikan UKM 4: 1-4
Rosli Salleh, Jamil Bojei and Tan Boon See (2002). Malaysian Cosumer Decision-Making Styles on Fast-Moving Consumer Goods. In Proceedings of Asia Pacific Economics & Business Conference, Sarawak, Malaysia, 252-258.
Schutte, H. and Ciarlante, D. (1998). Consumer Behavior in Asia. London: Macmillan Press
Shellabear, W. G. (1977). Sejarah Melayu [Malay history] (5th ed.). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Fajar Bakti
Shim, S. and Kotsiopulos, A. (1993). A Typology of Apparel Shopping Orientation Segments among Female Consumers. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal 12, 73-85.
Siu, N. Y. M., Wang, C. C. M., Chang, L. M. K. and Hui, A. S. Y. (2001). Adapting Consumer Style Inventory to Chinese Consumers: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis Approach. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 13 (2): 29-47
Sproles, G. B. (1985). From Perfectionism to Fadism: Measuring Consumers’ DecisionMaking Styles. Proceedings, American Council on Consumer Interests: 79-85
Sproles G. B. and Kendall, E. L. (1986). A Methodology for Profiling Consumers’ DecisionMaking Styles. Journal of Consumer Affairs 20 (2): 267-279
Sproles, E. K. and Sproles, G. B. (1990). Consumer Decision-Making Styles as a Function of Individual Learning Styles. Journal of Consumer Affairs 24 (1): 134-147
Thorelli, H. B., Becker, H. and Engledow, J. (1975). The Information Seekers: An International Study of Consumer Information and Advertising Image, Cambridge, MA: Ballinger
Walsh, Mitchell and Hennig-Thurau (2001). German Consumer Decision-Making Styles. Journal of Consumer Affairs 23 (1): 73-95
Wells, W. D. (1974). Life Style and Psychographics, Chicago: American Marketing Association.
