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ETHNIC BASED CUES: REACTION OF MALAY AND
CHINESE
Bong Shak Peng
Bachelor of Business Management with Honours
(Marketing)
2009
Faculty of Economics and Business
UN
IVE
RS
IT
IMALAYSIA
SA
RA
WA
K
U N I M AS
Faculty of Economics and Business
Statement of originality
The work described in this Final Year Project, entitled
“Ethnic Based Cues: Reaction of Malay and Chinese”
is to the best of the author’s knowledge hat of the author expect
where due reference is made.
____________________ ____________________
(Date Submitted) Bong Shak Peng
16034
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost I give thanks to God for his blessings and mercy to me throughout all
the days in preparing final year project. I am grateful to my supervisor, Associate
Professor Dr. Ernest Cyril de Run for his expect advices, guidance, direction and
encouragement throughout the course of this thesis. Thanks for all your guidance and
comment that enable me to finish this thesis on time.
Special thanks go to Dr. Lo May Chiun, Lecturer of Faculty of Economics and Business
for her advices and direction during the initial stages of the thesis.
My sincere thanks go to Rebecca Teo Pao Eeo, for her support and advices in
accomplishing this feat. Besides that, I would like to thanks all my friends and course
mate who have provided me with moral support, kindness and assistance during the
distribution of questionnaires that enabled me to obtain the data and information of
respondents from various states in Malaysia.
Last but no least, my deepest thank to my loving parents and sister, for giving me the
warmest support and advices in my life.
ABSTRACT
ETHNIC BASED CUES: REACTION OF MALAY AND CHINESE
By
Bong Shak Peng
This study presents the impact of advertising cues in billboard advertisements towards
consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral intentions. The conceptual basis of the model is
Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT) to the use of cues in billboards advertisement.
The model was tested on two different ethnic groups in Malaysia. A total of 350
questionnaires were distributed to 350 respondents (175 Malays and 175 Chinese) who
were selected from the population. However, there were only 328 questionnaire
collected. The findings indicated that Malays accepted Malay Cues as part of their
cultural schema. The Chinese reacted as expected, being the non-dominant ethnic group,
similarly to the Malays but in Chinese cues. However, there was no significant
difference between the independent variable and purchase intention. Therefore, a
marketer should consider the types of customer that is being targeted within the market
segment before starting an advertising strategy and in setting up a billboard. Apart from
that, a marketer should look into Malaysia as a multi-cultural society and the
continuation of the market segment because there might be some effect of adapting to
only one culture while the billboard advertisement is for all potential consumers. For
that reason, this study suggests that a marketer would make use of more than one ethnic
cue for a billboard advertisement in the country like Malaysia.
ABSTRAK
ETNIK BERDASARKAN ISYARAT: REAKSI MELAYU DAN CINA
Oleh
Bong Shak Peng
Penyelidikan ini bertujuan mengkaji kesan penggunaan isyarat pengiklanan pada iklan
papan tanda terhadap sikap dan tingkah laku pengguna. Model kerangka konsep yang
digunakan pada iklan papan tanda adalah Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT). Model
ini telah diuji pada dua kumpulan etnik yang berbeza. Sejumlah 350 borang soal-selidik
telah diedarkan kepada 350 responden (175 Melayu dan 175 Cina) yang dipilih dari
populasi. Namun, cuma 328 borang soal-selidik sahaja yang telah berjaya dikumpulkan.
Hasi kajian menunjukkan bahawa Melayu menerima identiti Melayu sebagai sebahagian
bentuk budaya mereka. Kaum Cina bertindak balas seperti yang dijangkakan, sebagai
kumpulan etnik yang tidak dominan, pelakuan mereka hampir kepada Melayu tetapi
masih dalam konteks identiti Cina. Walaubagaimanapun, tiada perbezaan yang
signifikan diantara pembolehubah tak bersandar dan niat pembelian. Dengan itu,
pemasar hendaklah mempertimbangkan jenis pengguna yang disasarkan melalui segmen
pasaran sebelum strategi pengiklan dan papan tanda dibentuk. Sebahagian daripada itu,
pemasar harus melihat ke arah Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara yang pelbagai budaya
dan kesinambungan segmen pasaran kerana ia mungkin akan mempengaruhi adaptasi ke
atas satu budaya sahaja, sedangkan iklan papan tanda adalah berpotensi untuk semua
pengguna. Atas alasan itu, kajian ini mencadangkan supaya pemasar menggunakan lebih
daripada satu identiti kaum untuk sesuatu iklan papan tanda yang dihaslikan di negara
seperti Malaysia.
ETHNIC BASED CUES: REACTION OF MALAY AND CHINESE
BONG SHAK PENG
This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Bachelor of Business Management with Honours
(Marketing)
Faculty of Economic and Business
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA SARAWAK
2009
vii
TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGE
LIST OF TABLE ………………………………………………………………...…. xi
LIST OF FIGURE…………………………………………………………………… xii
1.0 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction 1
1.1.1 Background of the Research 1
1.2 Problem Statement 4
1.3 Objective of the Research 5
1.4 Research Question 6
1.5 Significant of Research 6
1.6 Conceptual Framework 7
1.7 Scope of the Study 9
2.0 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction 10
2.2 Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity 10
2.3 Culture 12
2.4 Outdoor Advertising (Billboards) 14
2.5 Significant of Advertising Cues on Consumer Behavior 16
2.6 Targeted Advertising 17
viii
3.0 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 18
3.2 Research Design 18
3.3 Population and Sample 19
3.3.1 Population 19
3.3.2 Sampling 19
3.4 Data Collection 21
3.5 Research Instrument 21
3.6 Measurement Scales 22
3.6.1 Attitude 22
3.6.2 Purchase Intention 23
3.6.3 Word of Mouth 24
3.7 Data Analysis 25
3.7.1 Mean 25
3.7.2 Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) 25
3.7.3 General Linear Model -Univariate Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA)
26
3.7.4 Independent Sample T-test 26
3.8 Hypotheses 27
ix
4.0 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS
4.1 Introduction 28
4.2 Frequency Distribution 28
4.3 Respondents’ Demographics 30
4.4 Mean 31
4.5 Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) 32
4.6 General Linear Model–Univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 32
4.6.1 Attitude towards the Product 32
4.6.2 Attitude towards the Company 33
4.6.3 Purchase Intention 34
4.6.4 Word of Mouth 34
4.7 Independent Sample T-Test 35
4.8 The Finding of Hypothesis Testing 37
5.0 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF FINDING
5.1 Introduction 41
5.2 Contextual Influence 41
5.3 Discussion of Hypotheses and Finding 43
5.4 Managerial Implication 47
x
6.0 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION, LIMITATION AND FUTURE
RESEARCH
6.1 Introduction 49
6.2 Conclusion 49
6.3 Limitation of the Research 52
6.4 Future Research 54
REFERENCES 56
APPENDICES
xi
LIST OF TABLE
NO. PAGE
1 Advertising Expenditure in Malaysia 2
2 Malay Sample Size 20
3 Chinese Sample Size 20
4 The Amount of Questionnaires Collected from Different Respondents. 29
5 Respondent’s profile 30
6 Overall Means for All Variables by Ads Type 31
7 T-test by Ethnicity (Malay and Chinese) for Ads with Malay Cues 35
8 T-test by Ethnicity (Malay and Chinese) for Ads with Chinese Cues 35
9 T-test by Ads Type for Malay 36
10 T-test by Ads Type for Chinese 36
11 Finding for Hypotheses 47
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Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
This chapter explains the research background, problem statement, objective of the
research, research question, significance of the research, conceptual framework, and the
scope of the study.
1.1.1 Background of the Research
The history of Malaysian advertising can be traced back when the first
advertisement appeared in the country’s first newspaper, the Prince of Wales Island’s
Gazette (Saman, 1980). It was the first advertisement which was published in Penang in
the year 1805 when Malaysia was still known as Malaya (Hashim, 1994). The
advertisements back then were very straightforward and copy-oriented (Kloss &
Abdullah, 2002).
In 1957, after Malaya had gained its independence from the British, the Malaysian
government formulated programmes to attract foreign investors in the manufacturing
and industrial activities of the country. Different marketing activities were carried out
which led to an increase in advertising activities (Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah,
2002). Ever since then, the Malaysian advertising industry was no longer a small
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industry and this was imminent especially in the early1980s (see Table 1) (Hashim,
1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002).
Table 1: Advertising Expenditure in Malaysia
Year RM Million Year RM Million
1980 226 1991 1,016.0
1981 271 1992 1,128.0
1982 290 1993 1,415.0
1983 349 1994 1,641.8
1984 401 1995 2,021.7
1985 418 1996 2,419.5
1986 382 1997 2,630.0
1987 409 1998 2,180.0
1988 507 1999 2,525.0
1989 645 2000 2,870.0
1990 818
Source: Kloss & Abdullah, 2002
As the world enters the twenty-first century, indications are clear that the major
powers in Europe and United States are fast losing their standing as the world’s driving
force (Hashim, 1994). Economists and analysts are now focusing on Asia as the engine
of economic growth. Malaysia for instance, is already feeling the surge of the events
commercially, and technologically with particular interest in the advertising industry
(Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002). Many branded products are already and will
continue to flood the market to meet the needs of the more sophisticated and more
individualistic Malaysian consumers (Hashim, 1994; Hult et al., 2000; Kloss &
Abdullah, 2002).
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Furthermore, advertising as practiced throughout the world is a western concept
and the big advertising market of Europe and America are generally homogeneous
(Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002; Laroche et al., 2001; Okazaki, 2005). The
concept of a single, homogeneous advertising market will not hold true in a Malaysian
context (Hashim, 1994; Kloss & Abdullah, 2002). This is especially true for South East
Asian countries that have their own distinct languages, cultures, norms, regulations and
business environment and are very different from the West (D. S. Waller & Kim, 2000).
Malaysia for example, is a multi-ethnic and multi religious society country in
South East Asia (Ahmad et al., 2006; De Run, 2007). Various races, religions, creeds,
customs and languages from the cultural influence of different countries have help
Malaysia to create its own unique historical background (Rahman & Ali, 2006). It has a
population of 27,728,700 million people with three main ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese
and Indian) (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2008). It has a mixture of languages
where by Malay is the official language and various Chinese dialects such as Cantonese,
Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew, and Mandarin(De Run, 2007). English is also being spoken
widely (David, 2003). Multiple religions are practiced in Malaysia such as Islam,
Buddhist, Taoism, Hinduism and Christianity (De Run, 2007).
It is obvious that, Malay is the largest group or dominant group with the
population of 14,084,700 million people (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2008).
They are the most consistent ethnic group in term of language, religion, culture, and is
the leading ethnic group in Malaysia (Mokhlis, 2006). On the other hand, the Chinese is
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a non-dominant group with a population of 6,360,400 million people (Department of
Statistics Malaysia, 2008).
Perhaps, in Malaysia the different studies have shown that there is a relationship
between facts, language, religion and time (Fontaine & Richardson, 2003). This is
important to Malaysia, as compared to Western held beliefs (Fontaine & Richardson,
2003). What this implies is that, the advertising strategy in Malaysia might need a
different approach since Malaysians are unique in terms of ethnicity, culture, and value.
Thus, in the process of creating an advertisement for a multicultural marketplace like
Malaysia, marketers have to look for appropriate advertising cues in order to make the
advertisement significant to consumers. Therefore, this study intends to look at the
impact of different ethnic based cues in advertisement towards the reaction of the Malay
and Chinese respondents in Malaysia.
1.2 Problem Statement
The increase in diversity of the comprehensive marketplace drives the marketing
effort across various cultural aspects. The marketer’s challenge is to make advertisement
relevant to as many people as possible without offending anyone. However, once
relevant product information is not present, values for those information might be
"inferred" from existing information, and then integrated into an overall evaluation to be
adjusted downward to reflect uncertainty (Jacard & Gregory, 1988). Therefore, cues in
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advertising are significant to consumers in order to reduce uncertainty, to make
inferences and to form product preferences (Dwane, 1999).
In Malaysia, there are specific targets of advertising which mainly focus on ethnic
group like the Malays and Chinese communities. For example, the state of Kelantan has
different advertising cues in billboards advertisement as compared to other states and yet
it is the same company who advertise the advertisement. However, there is no research
done in this area.
Therefore, particular attention must be taken into account when using different
advertising cues in an advertisement. The importance of a cue in advertising towards
belief inference with value to product and brand attributes might be affected by a
number of factors such as the types of cue (intrinsic versus extrinsic), types of attribute
related to (experience versus credence), the consumer's level of knowledge and
involvement, and the strength of the cue-attribute link (Steenkamp, 1990). Consumers
may react favorably or unfavorably towards the advertising cues in billboards
advertisements. This study will look into the different cues and determine the reaction of
the respondents.
1.3 Objective of the Research
The objective of the research is to determine the effect of different cues in
billboards and based on the respondents’ reaction. It is measured by their attitude
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towards the company, attitude towards the product, and behavioral intentions (Purchases
Intention and Word of Mouth).
1.4 Research Question
What is the impact of ethnic based cues in billboards advertisement towards
consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral intention?
1.5 Significant of Research
This study is important to show the effect of adapting cues in billboards
advertisement and the reaction of different ethnic groups towards the billboards
advertisement. Furthermore, marketers will have a better understanding of how Malays
and Chinese perceive the advertisement with different cues. Thus, it will provide an
information and path for marketers in creating and building up an advertisement in
multi-ethnic countries and in differentiating the brand for their product.
This study is conducted in order to contribute ideas to managers in making
managerial decision and provides knowledge of how multi-ethic like Malaysian reacts to
billboards advertisement with different types of cues. In addition, it gives information to
managers of the respondents’ attitude towards the product and their attitude towards the
company. Therefore, this study provides the idea and decision of how managers can
adjust their advertisement based on the consumer’s mind set. Besides that, the study will
provide useful information which could help the managers in order to better understand
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their products and services, changes of the market environment and the targeted
consumer.
Furthermore, this study is also essential as a reference for other research. The
results and findings can be used as reference for future studies. Therefore, it is able to
expand and widen the knowledge of consumers’ behavior in Malaysia.
1.6 Conceptual Framework
Speech Accommodation Theory framework relates well to the objective of this
research as it is concerned with the actions of the message sender (the advertiser) in
trying to accommodate the receiver (the audience) as well as how the receiver views the
actions of the sender (see Figure 1). The Speech Accommodation Theory (SAT) also
known as the Communications Accommodation Theory or Accommodation Theory has
become quite popular in research during the past few years. It has been used widely in
research areas such as mass media (for example TV and radio) (Bell, 1991; Lipski,
1985; Roslow & Nicholls, 1996), print advertisements (Koslow et al., 1994), billboards
(Touchstone et al., 1999), and in ethnic accommodation (Gallois & Callan, 1991).
The theory is divided into two parts including firstly, the convergence part and
secondly the divergence part. Convergence refers to the processes whereby two or more
individuals alter or shift their speech to resemble those who are interacting with and
reacting more favorably to those converging towards them (Giles et al., 1973). This
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action is a strategy to integrate the audience with the speaker and to obtain a favorable
response (Giles et al., 1973). Figure 1 posits that once respondents are accommodated
by the cue on billboards, he or she will tend to have a favorable attitude towards the
company and the product.
Figure 1: Speech Accommodation Theory
Source: Giles et al., 1973
On the other hand, the divergence part refers to the strategy for maintaining inter-
group distinctiveness by the receivers (Giles et al., 1987). People use divergence to
maintain their identity, ideological focus, cultural pride and distinctiveness (Giles et al.,
Billboard with
different
Cues
Accommodation
Non-Accommodation
Favorable attitude
and behavioral
intention and
reciprocation of
accommodation if
possible
Negative attitude
and behavioral
intention and no
reciprocation
Action Response
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1987). Figure 1 posits that when respondents are not accommodated to the cue on
billboards, he or she will tend to have a negative attitude towards the company and the
product.
Speech Accommodation Theory is therefore an excellent foundation for this
research. It allows for the measurement of the respondent’s reactions to both the
company and its message. Furthermore, it had also been used in previous billboards
(Touchstone et al., 1999) and allows for use of advertising cues as a measure of
accommodation.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This research aims to determine the impact of different cues in billboards
advertisement towards Malay and Chinese respondents from selected states in Malaysia.
Throughout this research, advertisements with different cues in billboards were tested.
The significant differences in attitude towards the product, company and behavioral
intention (Purchases Intention and Word of Mouth) between the respondents who have
different views on the advertisements were identified. The population for this research
was limited to Malays and Chinese in Malaysia only. This study utilized 150 Malays
and 150 Chinese as the respondents as suggested by previous research (Clarke, 1984; De
Run, 2004; De Vaus, 1996).
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Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This chapter reviews some of significant concepts as with regards to the topic of
this research based on previous research studies. Ethnicity and ethnic identity, the
meaning of culture and it influence on consumer behavior, outdoors advertising,
advertising cues and target advertising are reviewed.
2.2 Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity
Malaysia is a developing country with a multi-racial society and different
background (Ahmad et al., 2006; David, 2003). Therefore, it is very obvious that each
ethnic group is divergent and disconnected from one another (Ahmad et al., 2006; De
Run, 2004). Generally most Malaysian consumers interact within their own group which
means that they prefer to speak their own mother tongue and identify themselves by
their own ethnic cues rather than to their nationality as a whole (Abraham, 1999;
Furnivall, 1948). Ethnicity refers to the process of self- identification whereby
individuals defined themselves and others into specific groups using ethnic labels
(Jamal, 2003)
Ethnicity can be defined as a subjective view, a personal belief and an individual's
own psychological identity about their cultural attributes (Laroche et al., 1992),
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behavioral (Fishman, 1977a, 1977b) and psychological phenomenon (Hraba, 1979).
Furthermore, ethnicity also can be defined as an objective view of ethnicity in socio-
cultural features such as religion, language, national origin, wealth, social status,
political power, segregated neighborhoods, and cultural custom (Burton, 1996;
Hirschman, 1981; Keefe & Padilla, 1987; Webster, 1994). Nevertheless, ethnic identity
is a concept that refers to who a person is (Frideres & Goldenberg, 1982). Ethnic
identity can also be viewed as a self-designation which conveys a person’s dedication
and strength of relationship to a particular group (Chung & Fischer, 1999; Zaff et al.,
2002).
Therefore in this study, Malays are defined as individuals who followed Islam,
usually spoke Malay language, conformed to Malay customs, and was born in the
federation of Malaya or Singapore (before independence) (Abdullah, 1996; Snodgrass,
1978). They are the most consistent ethnic group in term of language, religion, culture,
and in forming the leading ethnic group in Malaysia (Mokhlis, 2006). Besides that, the
Malays are also the ethnic group who are considered as the group that control the
political administration and agriculture of the country (Houghton et al., 2006).
On the other hand, the Chinese is the second largest group in Malaysia (De Run,
2007). They are mainly generation of immigrants from the southern coastal provinces of
China (Tan & Lee, 2000). The Chinese in Malaysia speak many different dialects and
they have consistently give high priority on Chinese schools as well as education in
Mandarin (Heng, 1996). Mandarin is the written and spoken language learnt in schools
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by the Chinese (Tan & Lee, 2000). Since the British rulers extended the number of
Chinese immigrants, they had created an artificial occupational segregation on ethnic
lines where the Chinese are dominants in the commercial sectors (Stockwell, 1982).
2.3 Culture
The study of culture as the silent language in oversea business, is often defined
broadly as national culture, and has fascinated scholars and managers of international
business for a few decades (Hall, 1960; Yaprak, 2008). The contribution of the earlier
pioneers of culture study in business transmit environment analysis into international
and domestic business is as an essential ingredient in understanding the market and its
consumer behavior needs (Hall, 1976; Lee, 1966). So, the contribution of culture study
has become significant to sociologist, anthropologist or even marketers in order to
understand the influence of consumers’ behavior especially the Malaysian consumers.
Sociologist and anthropologist defined culture as the way of life of members of a
society or of groups of people within a society (Abdullah, 1996). Culture is also defined
as a collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group
or category of people from another (Hofstede, 1991). Apart from that, some
anthropologist defined culture as a pattern of learned behavior, value, idea and attitude
that are shared and transmitted by members of a particular society (Linton, 1945; Rein,
1982). Aside from the definition, culture can also be described in some characteristics
(Onkvisit & Shaw, 1997).