Role of store image and cause-related marketing in hypermarket visit intention
As the number of hypermarket outlets in Malaysia increase substantially each year, they become more sophisticated in their marketing strategies and more competitive in their products quality, price and services, resulting in an intense competition to attract patrons. Hence, apart from possessing...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68498/1/FEP%202018%2010%20-%20IR.pdf |
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| Summary: | As the number of hypermarket outlets in Malaysia increase substantially each year,
they become more sophisticated in their marketing strategies and more competitive in
their products quality, price and services, resulting in an intense competition to attract
patrons. Hence, apart from possessing strong store image, this study addresses the
issue of high competitiveness by looking at how hypermarkets may draw more
consumers to them by involving Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) aspects as part
of their marketing strategy. Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) is a type of CSR
technique that allows companies to boost sales while simultaneously contribute to a
worthy cause. By drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Stimulus-
Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, this study follows a positivist research paradigm
which proposes a conceptual framework that include store image factors and CRM
factors to understand their relative influence on visit intention. Questionnaires were
distributed to Malaysian consumers using a mall-interception technique throughout
the states of Selangor, Johor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
A total of 460 consumers completed the questionnaire. In this study, two statistical
software were used to analyze the data collected, namely: i) Statistical Package for the
Social Science Window software (SPSS) and ii) Structural Equation Model (SEM)
using SmartPLS 3.2.3. The outcome of this study revealed that i) respondents had
significant intention to participate in the cause of “supporting underprivileged
individuals”, ii) all store image factors had a positive direct relationship with overall
store image which in turn had a significant relationship with hypermarket visit
intention, iii) CRM factors (i.e. consumer-company identification, perceived CSR
image and perceived company-cause fit) were related to consumers’ attitude towards
CRM, iv) attitude and perceived behavioural control were positively significant
towards CRM participation intention, and lastly, v) CRM participation intention was
positively associated with hypermarket visit intention and this leads to a significant
relationship with hypermarket patronage behavior. The study extends the S-O-R model to the context of hypermarket and enhances the study of store image. Besides
that, it extends the TPB model by adding antecedents to attitude to assess their
influence on CRM participation intention and hypermarket visit intention. This study
indeed found that CRM paired with a good store image contributed to a higher increase
of hypermarket visit intention compared to just having a strong store image alone. On
the practical side, hypermarket managements could use CRM as a differentiation
strategy to attract more consumers to their hypermarkets. Furthermore, hypermarket
managers should consider factors such as consumer-company identification, perceived
CSR image and perceived company-cause fit when designing a CRM campaign. |
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