Exploring consumer doubt towards local new products innovation and purchase intention
| Pages | 2-17 |
| Published date | 14 March 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-05-2015-0022 |
| Date | 14 March 2016 |
| Author | Mehdi Afzali,Elsadig Musa Ahmed |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Business ethics,Sustainability |
Exploring consumer
doubt towards local new
products innovation
and purchase intention
Mehdi Afzali and Elsadig Musa Ahmed
Faculty of Business, Multimedia University, Melaka, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to develop a scale to find the relationship between consumer
doubt, skepticism, familiarity, information seeking, value for money and aesthetic design with
customers’purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach –This study focussed on students of Malaysian university of
multimedia in Melaka campus and used questionnaires to obtain the relevant data. Convenience
random sampling method is used whereby 200 questionnaires were distributed among the target
population and exactly 200 completed answers were collected.
Findings –The survey results show that aesthetic design and information seeking of a product has a
positive significant relationship with customers’purchase intention. Respondents reported a
consideration on these two factors and it is revealed that the scale used in this study is reliable and
valid kind of measurement to assess customers’purchase intention.
Practical implications –To minimize the innovating failure among launched new innovative
products, managers and decision makers should focus on variables used in this study. By focussing on
aesthetic design and information seeking they can overcome some of the problems cause failure.
Originality/value –This research focus on customers’purchase intention to buy a Malaysian-made
innovative new product and their lack of confidence and trust if the product satisfy their needs.
The scale in this study show that this research is valid and it gives new perception toward purchase
intention and innovation.
Keywords Marketing, Sustainable development, Management
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Malaysia is one of the most competitive countries between ASEAN-5 countries
(Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (He, 2012)). In the last
two decades because of high amount of demand from customers, competition has
become a challenging fact among the firms.Firms are not only competing withtheir local
competitors but also they are competing with foreign competitors (Kim et al., 2004).
Therefore the companies which have met the competitive priorities can survive in the
market (Singh et al., 2007).
For meeting these competitive priorities they need to have better and stronger core
competencies and comparative advantages that can be provided with different
solutions such as technology, price and, etc. However, in addition to the above aspec ts,
managers’decision making and actions can play an important role in company’s
success. Managers can make a better decision when they have more information about
the factors that affect the performance of a company. Moreover company’s
performance is related to the customers’demand and purchasing of the products.
Customers’purchasing intention of products will have a greater influence on
company’s performance and revenue, and this will be more important when a company
World Journal of
Entrepreneurship, Management
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 12 No. 1, 2016
pp. 2-17
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/WJEMSD- 05-2015-0022
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
2
WJEMSD
12,1
is launching a new product to the market, since customers do not have enough
information and familiarity with a product.
It should be recalled in the developing countries like Malaysia firms will put more
focus on these competitive advantages and core competencies and they will improve
their strategies to compete in the market, because firms intend to compete with global
companies besides domestic firms (Karagozoglou and Lindell, 1988). So they put their
competitive strategies in their top priorities and they try to be on track in this
competitive market (Porter, 1980). These competitive strategies show how a business
should compete in a specific industry (Parnell, 2006), they will make firms to be
distinguished in the market (Porter, 1986). And in different researches is suggested to
firms to use mixed strategies such as innovation and cost reduction to be differentiated
from other rivals either domestic or international (Jonsson and Devonish, 2009). So as
Awuah and Amal (2011) mentioned innovation and internationalization are one of the
best factors in differentiation, and in another research done by Roberts and Amit (2003)
is proved that innovation can be a leading core competency in firms’profitability.
In market, company’s relationship with customers and competitors has become an
organized strategy for maintaining the companies on the track with other rivals
(Porter, 1980). One of the factors that makes a company different from other rivals is
innovation or new product development (NDP). In marketing, innovativeness has been
mentioned as the ability of a company to develop a new product as fast as it can in a
particular period of time (Roehrich, 2004). NDP has been considered as one of the main
factors in businesses economic growth and it has been working as the factor of
competition (Business Week, 2008), because companies cannot only be superior to other
competitors by financial performance. There fore, their proactive and reactive
innovation has been considered challenging (Day and Nedungandi, 1994; Ham el and
Prahalad, 1990; Teece and Pisano, 1994).
Moreover, later in researches conducted by Baker and Sinkula (2002), Balkin
et al. (2000), Darroch and McNaugton (2002), Lyon and Ferrier (2002), Utterback et al.
(2007), Vrakking (1990) and Wolfe (1994) are shown that innovation has become as one
of the success factors for companies and it is thought that the ability of companies in
providing innovative products has increased that it can have a long-term success for
a firm in today’s competitive market. And the reason is that, when a company is
considered as innovative its ability in reacting toward different situational and
environmental confrontations will be more effective (Brown and Eisenhard, 1995;
Miles et al., 1978).
In addition, another reason that makes companies interested in innovation
participation is to reach higher benefit. This situation is when a company can achieve
the positive impact of its innovation and feel its effect (Dosi, 1988). Since new products
have been improved in their quality and their features depended on consumers
purchasing intention of these new products their launching to the market will be more
profitable than others (Sheremata, 2004; Song and Montoya-Weiss, 1998).
Consumer purchasing intention depends on their satisfaction toward those products
( Johnson et al., 2006; Mazursky and Geva, 1989). Because when consumers are satisfie d
with what they have bought their perception toward that company will be be tter and it
will be stronger relationship between their purchasing behavior and product
(Chandrashekaran et al., 2007). And when customers are satisfied with a product, the
probability of their buying from the same brand will be higher (Zeithaml et al., 1996).
And additionally this satisfaction can play as a forecaster for future consumer
purchasing (Newman and Werbel, 1973; Kasper, 1988).
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Exploring
consumer
doubt
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