Showing papers on "Psychographic published in 2015"

Tugging on Heartstrings: Shopping Orientation, Mindset, and Consumer Responses to Cause-Related Marketing

Abstract: Donating money to a charity based on consumer purchase is referred to as cause-related marketing (CRM). In this research, we profile consumer psychographics for skepticism toward advertising in a CRM context. To be specific, this study investigates whether and how psychological antecedents (i.e., consumer shopping orientation and mindset) and gender differences influence consumer skepticism toward advertising. An empirical study was conducted with 291 participants. Structural equation modeling was employed for hypothesis testing. The results suggest that a utilitarian orientation and an individualistic mindset are positively related to skepticism toward advertising, while a hedonic orientation and a collectivistic mindset are negatively related to skepticism toward advertising. Gender differences are also found in the aforementioned relationships. The segmentational approach of gender and psychographics can assist marketers to explain consumer attitudes toward CRM and then to communicate with those CRM advocates better.

Second-hand clothing shopping among college students: the role of psychographic characteristics

Abstract: Purpose – The study aims to examine whether and how second-hand clothing shoppers differ from non-shoppers on various psychographic variables, including environmentalism, perception of contamination, price sensitivity and perception of vintage clothing. Additionally, this study hopes to uncover whether and how the aforementioned psychographic variables help predict second-hand clothing shopping behaviour, specifically shopping frequency at second-hand clothing stores. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a survey method from 152 college students. Findings – Results showed that college students who shopped at second-hand clothing stores were more likely to be environmentally conscious, more sensitive to higher prices and more likely to wear used clothing to express a vintage look and to be “green”, and to perceive used clothing to be less contaminated, as compared to those who did not shop at second-hand clothing stores. This study concluded that, among college students, second-hand cl...

The Myth of the Average User: Improving Privacy and Security Systems through Individualization

Abstract: While individual differences in decision-making have been examined within the social sciences for several decades, they have only recently begun to be applied by computer scientists to examine privacy and security attitudes (and ultimately behaviors). Specifically, several researchers have shown how different online privacy decisions are correlated with the "Big Five" personality traits. In this paper, we show that the five factor model is actually a weak predictor of privacy attitudes, and that other well-studied individual differences in the psychology literature are much stronger predictors. Based on this result, we introduce the new paradigm of psychographic targeting of privacy and security mitigations: we believe that the next frontier in privacy and security research will be to tailor mitigations to users' individual differences. We explore the extensive work on choice architecture and "nudges," and discuss the possible ways it could be leveraged to improve security outcomes by personalizing privacy and security mitigations to specific user traits.

Characterising convinced sustainable food consumers

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the distinguishing socio-demographic and psychographic features of convinced sustainable consumers in contrast to convinced conventional consumers. Furthermore, it contributes to the sparse literature about tea consumption. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on data collected via an online consumer survey. First respondents took part in a choice experiment with tea varying in its price (four levels) and quality (conventional/organic/fair trade/organic and fair trade). Then they had to complete a questionnaire about their attitudes towards food consumption. Respondents, who always chose sustainable tea, at no matter what price, were grouped and those that always chose the conventional tea. A bivariate logistic regression is used to analyse the influencing socio-demographic and attitudinal dimensions that characterise the two groups of convinced consumers. Findings – Convinced sustainable consumers are more often female than male and perceive...

One Size (Never) Fits All: Segment Differences Observed Following a School-Based Alcohol Social Marketing Program

Abstract: BACKGROUND: According to commercial marketing theory, a market orientation leads to improved performance. Drawing on the social marketing principles of segmentation and audience research, the current study seeks to identify segments to examine responses to a school-based alcohol social marketing program. METHODS: A sample of 371 year 10 students (aged: 14-16years; 51.4% boys) participated in a prospective (pre-post) multisite alcohol social marketing program. Game On: Know Alcohol (GO:KA) program included 6, student-centered, and interactive lessons to teach adolescents about alcohol and strategies to abstain or moderate drinking. A repeated measures design was used. Baseline demographics, drinking attitudes, drinking intentions, and alcohol knowledge were cluster analyzed to identify segments. Change on key program outcome measures and satisfaction with program components were assessed by segment. RESULTS: Three segments were identified; (1) Skeptics, (2) Risky Males, (3) Good Females. Segments 2 and 3 showed greatest change in drinking attitudes and intentions. Good Females reported highest satisfaction with all program components and Skeptics lowest program satisfaction with all program components. CONCLUSION: Three segments, each differing on psychographic and demographic variables, exhibited different change patterns following participation in GO:KA. Post hoc analysis identified that satisfaction with program components differed by segment offering opportunities for further research.

Segmentation of Reward Program Members to Increase Customer Loyalty: The Role of Attitudes Towards Green Hotel Practices

Abstract: Many organizations use reward programs to cultivate and retain loyal customers Most programs classify customers into tiers and provide standard benefits at each level Customers within each tier may have different psychographic and attitudinal characteristics even though their visitation frequency is similar This study segments hotel reward program members using a matrix approach that classifies loyalty on attitudinal and behavioral dimensions It introduces a new psychographic dimension, attitudes towards green hotel practices, which are becoming increasingly important in industry and society Six clusters were produced and validated All tier levels were present within each segment, and even upper tiers contained members who lacked elements of loyalty The findings suggest that hotel companies can enhance reward program effectiveness by using a refined segmentation process that allows them to tailor benefits to the characteristics of each segment Companies can promote sustainable practices by identif

Justification of generational cohort segmentation in South Africa

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the successful generational cohort segmentation from global and country-specific formative experiences in the USA, to examine the justification of cohort segmentation in South Africa. It also describes the demographic and psychographic characteristics of the latest consumer cohort – Generation Y for the interest of retailers and marketing managers. Design/methodology/approach – The study gathers secondary data by carefully scrutinizing books, journal articles, essays and dissertations. From these secondary sources, summaries of various findings and important scholarly insights into the qualifying factors for cohort formation and the important characteristics that make Generation Y an attractive consumer segment are provided. Findings – Findings show that, generational cohort segmentation is reserved for countries whose defining moments meet some qualifying conditions. South Africa can segment consumers in terms of generational cohorts because the historic ...

A theoretical approach to segmenting children's walking behaviour

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to extend research applying the principle of market segmentation to gain insight into changing the physical activity behaviour of children, particularly their walk to/from school behaviour. It further examined the utility of employing theory, specifically the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), for this purpose. Childhood obesity is a leading public health concern globally. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was conducted with 512 caregivers of primary school children. Caregivers were targeted given their control over children’s walk to/from school behaviour. Two-step cluster analysis, based on 14 geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural variables, was used to investigate groupings within the data set. Findings – The analysis revealed three distinct segments of caregivers, each with unique beliefs about their children walking to/from school: short-distance frequent walkers, middle-distance sporadic walkers and long-distance non-walkers. Four variables wer...

The Influence of Others on the Vacation Experience: An Ethnographic Study of Psychographics, Decision Making, and Group Dynamics Among Young Travelers

Abstract: The vacation experience is often enjoyed in the company of others. Whereas scholars have focused on the consumer behaviors of mature travelers, young travelers have received less attention. The present study explores customer-to-customer interactions among young travelers (in their 20s and 30s) within a European tour-group setting. Furthermore, it attempts to understand the influence such travelers have on one another. The decision-making patterns, role of the tour guide, group dynamics, and psychographic preferences are studied from an ethnographic approach. Results indicate that the young travel segment is not as homogeneous as previously conceived. Notable differences in activities, interests, and opinions were observed. Additionally, several cases of en-route group purchase decisions were observed. This article draws upon the concept of compatibility management to advocate for a more targeted approach in appealing to this particular market segment. Conclusions are made regarding the differences among ...

Profiling Donors of Blood, Money, and Time : A Simultaneous Comparison of the German Population.

Abstract: Understanding donor profiles is crucial for donor relationship management. Whereas previous research has focused on profiling blood, money, or time donor segments separately, we define seven donor profiles based on their former donation behavior for blood, money, and time donation and compare them to non-donors. Relying on representative data from the German Socio Economic Panel, we use an extensive set of characteristics that include sociodemographic, psychographic, health-related, and geographical measures and simultaneously investigate profiles of donors for single and multiple donation forms and non-donors by means of a multinomial logistic model. Our results reveal valuable insights for donor acquisition and retention strategies of nonprofit organizations along the identified profiling characteristics of donor segments. By this, our findings help nonprofit organization managers to better target single and multiple donors across three donation forms.

Tourist Segments for New Facilities in National Park Areas: Profiling Tourists in Norway Based on Psychographics and Demographics

Abstract: The pursuit of sustainable tourism may involve development of more facilities in the buffer zones of national parks and other pristine nature areas. Two independent samples of domestic and foreign tourists in Norway were segmented based on expressed preferences for a diversity of new facilities in an alpine national park region, all facilities potentially with different impacts on the natural habitat. One sample was recruited inside the alpine area, the other outside. Post hoc market segmentation was carried out using a combined two-stage hierarchical and nonhierarchical clustering of facility quest factors identified from a set of survey items. We assessed stability of the clusters by comparing independent sample solutions against the pooled sample and further assessing the extent to which the clusters differed with respect to demographic or psychographic characteristics.

Key Drivers Influencing Shopping Behavior in Retail Store

Abstract: Retail has changed and expanded in all lines of business, be it apparel, jewelry, footwear, groceries, etc. In today's competitive world, with increasing number of retail stores, the retailers need to be more customer-oriented. The modern consumer is more aware, confident and much more demanding, and is posing a challenging task for the Indian retailers. Therefore, the retailers are looking for ways to deliver better consumer value to increase consumer purchase intention. The study aims to determine the key drivers which influence the shopping behavior of the customers in the retail store. A survey (store intercept) method is employed to elicit primary information from 300 shoppers in different retail stores of Lucknow. A questionnaire based on a five-item Likert scale as well as random sampling is employed for data collection. As such, a survey of retail store customers' attitude towards reduced price, sales promotion, quality of the products, proximity to the home, customer service, store atmospherics is done to identify the key drivers influencing shopping behavior in retail store. The paper finds shopping experience, store image and value for money as the three important variables, out of which shopping experience emerged as a dominant factor that influences the consumer's shopping behavior in the retail store. As the findings reveal the factors that play a greater role in influencing the shopping behavior of customers in the retail store, the study serves as a foundation for a deeper probe into the shopping behavior of the customers in the retail store research domain in the Indian context.IntroductionEconomists have viewed shopping as an activity that allows consumers to maximize their utility function (Michelle et al., 1995). But customers tend to exhibit 'economic' as well as 'recreational' shopping behavior (Bellenger and Korgaonkar, 1980). For some, it is an act of killing boredom, for others it leads to self-gratification and to another category of shoppers it gives a sense of emotional fulfillment (Tauber, 1972). Involvement has also been described as leisure behavior (Bloch and Bruce, 1984). The service industry, and in particular the retail sector, has faced tough competition following the recent economic crisis, therefore it is essential for retailers to use the strategies which focus on satisfying the current customers. New retail formats are growing at a rapid pace in India. There remains a need among Indian businesses to understand the changing behavior of customers towards shopping in organized retail outlets. The paradigm shift in consumer socioeconomic, demographic and geographical proportions are driving what was once a traditional small-scale retail outlets into an organized retail format aimed at catering to the evolving needs and tastes of discerning consumers. But the ever changing consumer's psychographic variables like values, activities, interests, opinions, motives and lifestyles have contributed immensely to the growth of store format typologies such as convenience stores, discount stores, super markets and hypermarkets.People's motives for shopping are a function of numerous variables, many of which are unrelated to the actual buying of products. Shopping experience is a utilitarian effort aimed at obtaining needed goods and services as well as hedonic rewards. Literature in marketing and related behavioral sciences suggests a breadth of consumer motives for shopping. The idea that consumers are motivated by more than simply the utilitarian motive to obtain desired items has been acknowledged at least as far back as the 1960s by Howard and Sheth (1968). Their consumer behavior model, in addition to considering traditional explanator y variables such as needs, brand attitudes, and the impact of shopping behavior on promotions, also examined less explicitly utilitarian consumer motives such as arousal seeking and symbolic communication. Tauber (1972) advanced the idea that shoppers were often motivated by a number of personal and social factors unrelated to the actual need to buy products. …

Consumer Segmentation Methods for the Wine Market

Abstract: This chapter provides an overview of wine consumer segmentation methods and the application of them in wine consumer research. The first section briefly reviews general aspects of consumer segmentation, including segmentation variables and bases. The second part describes different segmentation methodologies and their application for wine consumer segmentation using published studies as examples. The final section covers practical considerations based on the authors' expertise and areas of future research.

Resveratrol food supplements: a survey on the role of individual consumer characteristics in predicting the attitudes and adoption intentions of US American and Danish respondents

Abstract: Background Consumers increasingly choose food supplements in addition to their diet. Research on supplement users finds they are likely to be female, older and well-educated; Furthermore, supplement users are often characterised as being especially health-oriented, an observation which is termed the ‘inverse supplement hypothesis’. However, results are dependent on the substance in question. Little is known so far about botanicals in general, and more specifically, little is known about resveratrol. The psychographic variables of food supplement users are yet relatively underexplored. By comparing US and Danish respondents, we aimed to identify whether sociodemographic variables, health status, health beliefs and behaviour and interest in food aspects specifically relevant to resveratrol (e.g., naturalness, indulgence, and Mediterranean food) explain favourable attitudes and adoption intentions toward resveratrol supplements.

Windowed Distribution Strategies for Substitutive Television Content: An Audience-Centric Typology

Abstract: An audience-centric typology is conceptualized to assist media managers implementing windowed distribution strategies in an attempt to account for media consumption cannibalization. Diffusion theory identifies the demographics most likely to consume substitutive television content, while uses, gratifications, media habits, and consumption values are collaboratively used to re-segment the audiences based on platform selection motivators. Psychographic labels are then applied using the dominant characteristic of each audience type and then matched to a specific windowed distribution strategy. The strategies are based on existing windowing tactics used by ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC or emerging strategies that are reflective of changing market trends. ACCESS TO FULL TEXT

Demographic and psychographic associations of consumer intentions to purchase healthier food products.

Abstract: Objective This study investigated the associations of nutrition concerns, demographics, universalism (community oriented) values, perceived control over personal health and food buying, and perceived influence over the food system with intentions to purchase low fat, sugar and salt (LFSS) food products

Restaurant recommender system based on psychographic and demographic factors in mobile environment

Abstract: Today the number of smart phone users is approximately 1.6 billion and with drastic improvement in internet technology, the way information is accessed and used is changed completely. Recommendation systems filter and recommend only relevant data to the user using different filtering techniques. Restaurant recommendation is one of the latest research area which requires further effort. In this paper, a new model is introduced for the restaurant recommendation which uses first psychographic attributes where lifestyle, interest and personality of an individual can be predicted based on mobile usage pattern, second demographic attributes such as age, gender etc. and third current location. We have verified over results using standard statistical metrics like root mean square or variance.

Hedonic Consumption Characteristics Related to Products and Services where Fashion Involvement Plays an Important Role, A Field Study from Eskisehir, Turkey

Abstract: This study intends to find out the relationship between hedonic consumption and consumers’ demographic and psychographic traits as within the scope of fashion goods and expensive services. A survey is applied to 1020 respondents selected via stratified sampling from EskiAŸehir, a city of Turkey with 700.000 inhabitants. The respondents are required to answer 44 questions of which five are related to demographic characteristics of these respondents. The rest 39 are statements which are designed to reflect the hedonic consumption behavior of these people. The study consists of five parts. The first part is an introduction where the scope and the purpose of the study are concisely stated. The second part relates to the theoretical background of the subject matter and the prior researches carried out so far. The third part deals with research methodology, basic premises and hypotheses attached to these premises. Research model and analyses take place in this section. Theoretical framework is built and a variable name is assigned to each of the question asked or proposition forwarded to the respondents of this survey. 39 statements or propositions given to the respondents are placed on a five-point Likert scale where 1 stands for ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 represents ‘strongly agree’. The remaining five questions about demographic traits as age, gender, occupation, educational level and monthly income are placed either on a nominal or ratio scale with respect to the nature of the trait. Ten research hypotheses are formulated in this section. The fourth part mainly deals with the results of the hypothesis tests and bivariate and multivariate analysis is applied to the data on hand. Here exploratory factor analysis reduces 39 variables to six basic components. In addition non-parametric biraviate analysis in terms of Chi-Square is applied to test the hypotheses formulated in this respect. The fifth part is the conclusion where findings of this survey are listed.

An exploratory investigation of deal proneness at the bottom of the pyramid

Abstract: INTRODUCTION Research in the area of sales promotion has shown that a combination of tactics are effective in driving consumer action such as purchase, new product trial and brand switching among others. Odd as it may sound, the bulk of research in deal proneness has been conducted within the context of the developed, western societies. Despite this lack of information, consumer marketers in low income markets continue to spend increasing amounts of funds in promotional offers in the fast moving consumer good (FMCG) category. A growing stream of research under the labels of bottom of pyramid (BoP) and subsistence consumers has increasingly pointed out the market attractiveness of this low income population to multinational companies especially in the FMCG sector. These poor consumers are individuals who earn approximately $2 per day. In this paper, we identify the level of deal proneness amongst the BoP consumer, promotional offers that are successful in the BoP segment and the reasons "why" the poor don't respond favorably towards promotional offers. The findings point to significant insights for marketing managers that propose that deal proneness might not transfer universally across all cultural and/or socioeconomic groups. The data for this paper comes from a qualitative study conducted with 58 urban poor consumers in India. Findings show two dominant patterns in deal proneness amongst the BoP consumer: First, a low level of deal proneness and second, a presence of deal specificity, when deal prone. Four reasons are offered each to explain why BoP consumers are deal insensitive at a generalized level and why two promotional offers--price and volume discount along with a product premium offer are well received and signal the presence of deal specificity amongst the consumers. Finally, implications of the above findings for marketers and public policy makers are offered to address the needs of the subsistence marketplace. CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND Meaning and Profile of a Deal prone consumer Research in the area of deal proneness falls has followed two streams. The first stream is interested in identifying the deal prone consumer. Research in this area describes the deal prone consumer by drawing correlation with demographic and psychographic traits. The second stream of research investigates the value component that customers derive from a deal. Researchers have defined deal-proneness as "a function of both the consumer's buying behavior and the frequency with which a given brand is sold on a deal basis", p. 186 (Webster, 1965); as "the propensity of some consumers to purchase products when they are offered on a 'deal' basis", p. 333 (Hackleman & Duker, 1980); and as "a general proneness to respond to promotions because they are in deal form" p. 55, (Lichtenstein, Netemeyer, & Burton, 1990). Important in all of the above definitions is that deal proneness signals the psychological propensity to buy and doesn't stress on the actual purchase of goods on promotion. In addition, a deal-prone consumer responds to monetary benefits because it is in the form of a deal rather than a lower price. Thus, deal-prone consumers place value on the transaction utility rather than, or in addition to, the acquisition utility associated with buying on deal (i.e., buying on deal has psychological benefits irrespective of the financial consequences) (Lichtenstein, et al., 1990; Ramaswamy & Srinivasan, 1998). Deal Proneness maybe subdivided into three categories (Lichtenstein, G., & Burton, 1995): First, is the generalized level, which is the broadest and encompasses a variety of promotional deals. The second level is deal-specific, where deal-proneness is specific to a domain (i.e. coupon, rebate, or a price discount). Last is the intermediate level which assumes that deal-proneness is specific to monetary and nonmonetary deals with an active and passive orientation. In a separate study, (Burton, Lichtenstein, & Netemeyer, 1997), extend the above findings of deal-proneness at differing levels to argue that deal-proneness may be used as a segmentation base by marketers. …

Intrinsic antecedents of academic research productivity of a large South African university

Abstract: Across different contexts, the human resources literature suggests that a range of intrinsic factors – typically measured as psychographic, or intrinsic, variables – are antecedents of individual job performance. What is not clear from this literature, however, is the relative contribution of different dimensions of these factors to research output as a measure of individual job performance in the South African academic context. This research seeks to address this lack of knowledge. A large South African university was comprehensively sampled. Structural equation modelling was used to test a model of these relationships predicted by this body of theory. The fi ndings contest certain predictions of seminal theory. This context is found to potentially be atypical of other work contexts. It is argued that certain theory and research fi ndings might not all necessarily generalise into this context because (i) research productivity as a form of job performance may differ from other forms of job performance, and (ii) a cohort of academics may differ from other professional cohorts in other contexts. New insights into the antecedents of research productivity in this context are offered, and recommendations are made for how academics might increase their research productivity. Key words : job performance, South Africa, research productivity, human resources management

Analyzing psychographic factors affecting green purchase intention

Abstract: Along with Businesses, consumers also play a vital role in promoting green revolution in any country by conscious environmentally responsible purchase decisions. And thus, understanding the consumer behavior towards environmentally safe products is important for enterprises. Studies have identified different psychographic factors that can be considered as predictors of environmentally responsible behavior. This paper tries to build a comprehensive regression model considering psychographic factors such as Environmental Attitude, Environmental Concern, Collectivism, Subjective Norms, Perceived consumer effectiveness, Self-transcendence and Self-enhancement as predictors of Green Purchase Intentions of consumers. A survey of students of a private university of India was conducted to collect the data. The correlation and regression model identified Environmental Attitude, Environmental Concern, Subjective Norms, and Perceived consumer effectiveness as strong predictors of Green Purchase Intention.

What Social Media Data We Are Missing and How to Get It

Abstract: Most electronic behavior traces available to social scientists offer a site-centric view of behavior. We argue that to understand patterns of interpersonal communication and media consumption, a more person-centric view is needed. The ideal research platform would capture reading as well as writing and friending, behavior across multiple sites, and demographic and psychographic variables. It would also offer opportunities for researchers to make interventions that make changes and additions to the information presented to people in social media interfaces. Any attempt to create such an ideal platform will have to make compromises because of engineering and privacy constraints. We describe one attempt to navigate those tensions: the MTogether project will recruit a panel of participants who will install a browser extension and mobile app that enable limited data collection and interventions.

Determinantes do Comportamento Ambiental em Brasília

Abstract: The growing concern about the environment has been changing the people's behaviour, leading to questions about the origin of products and the damage they cause to the environment, resulting in a new type of consumer, known as "green consumer". The purpose is to identify the influence of socio-demographic and psychographic factors on the environmental behaviour of individuals in the city of Brasilia and to provide information for the planning of environmental marketing strategies. Data were collected through a questionnaire and by way of logistic regression as analytical tools.The results indicated that the environmentally conscious individuals are those with higher levels of education and, especially, those who perceive the effectiveness of their environmental actions, however small or isolated.

How to increase attention to advertisements across baby boomers, x and y generations

Abstract: The article includes examination of the general aspects of Baby Boomer, X and Y generations in terms of demographic and psychographic dimensions and focuses on adding a new cluster of dimensions to discriminate them regarding their attention level to the communication content and advertisements that they incur. In this study it is found out that the cohorts can be discriminated through their attention level on the shared platform of advertising appeals of ; Creativity, Celebrity Endorsement, Reference Group, Emotion Evoking and Sexual Connotation. The variance between the old and the young generations explained on the ground of existential philosophy.

System and method for creating comprehensive profile of one or more customers of an organization

Abstract: A method for creating a comprehensive profile of one or more customers of an organization is provided. The method comprises generating a demographic profile of a customer selected by the organization. The method further comprises generating psychographic profiles and network activity profiles of one or more users of one or more social networks. The generated psychographic profiles and network activity profiles are updated by analyzing them at predetermined intervals of time. The updated psychographic profiles and network activity profiles of each user is then matched with the demographic profile of the selected customer, such that a successful match indicates presence of the selected customer on the one or more social networks. Finally, the comprehensive profile of the selected customer is created by analyzing the demographic profile, the psychographic profile and the network activity profile, the updated psychographic profile and the network activity profile of the selected customer.

Service interest and cluster membership - Who are the pioneering users in energy efficiency service markets?

Abstract: This article studies the structure of the energy efficiency service markets in Finland. The research focuses on studying who are the most pioneering users of energy efficiency services. In a previous paper, consumer’s interest in different types of innovative energy efficiency services was identified. Psychographic characteristics were found that describe people according to their leaduserness, skepticism and mass market following behavior. The aim of the present paper is to fill in the gap and deepen the understanding by studying how the most pioneering users differ from other consumers in the market. We draw on the background of lead user theory by von Hippel (1995) and of diffusion of innovations theory by Rogers (1995) and Moore (1991). The research is based on an empirical survey conducted in Finland in 2013. The results show that the most pioneering users differ statistically from the mass market consumers.

Modelling analysis of Australian international education market for mainland Chinese students

Abstract: There has been a worldwide trend towards international study. The dominant stream of international students is from developing countries to Western developed countries. China is among the largest sources for international students, and this trend will become more significant in the near future (Liu et al. 2007). The top four destination countries for Chinese students are America, Great Britain, Australia and Canada. The Australian international education sector has undergone changes in recent years. After continuous growth of international students’ enrolments in Australia for several years, enrolments started to decrease from 2010. As China is the largest international student market for Australia, therefore, it is necessary to conduct deep research to find the reasons for the decline of mainland Chinese students choosing Australia as their study abroad destination since 2010. Few studies have clearly explained the reasons why there is a trend for the decline of mainland Chinese students study in Australia after the growth of many years. The existing literature studied some variables that can affect mainland Chinese students’ decision to study in Australia. However, these factors are not comprehensive and systematic. They cannot help us to find the answers for the enrolment decline of mainland Chinese students in Australia and why Chinese students choose different countries as their study abroad destinations. The research problem addressed in this thesis is this: No consensus has been reached as to which variables play decisive roles in making mainland Chinese students choose Australia as their destination of foreign education. How do these variables influence those students’ choice? To provide an answer to this research problem, the researcher reviewed the literature regarding international students’ decision making process to study abroad and considered findings relating to which push and pull factors influenced international students’ choice. College choice model, push pull framework, utility theory and theory of reasoned action relevant to this research were discussed. A number of influential demographic, psychographic and influencing variables relevant to these theories were identified and used to develop primary hypotheses depicting the influence of these factors on Chinese students’ intentions to choose their study abroad destination. Next, the methodology which applied in this research was presented and justified. The discussion began with the research paradigms and then justified the selection of the mixed research method. The research design was discussed and the convergent research design was selected for this research. Methodology of individual interviews and the reported findings of the interviews were discussed to gain a good general picture regarding Chinese students’ decision to choose their study abroad destination. Methodology of the survey research was discussed to find different variables influencing Chinese students to choose the study abroad destination. The advantage of mixed research method over the other research methods is that the mixed research method can enhance the understanding of the research questions, to mitigate the weakness of the other methods to be used in this study, to obtain a comprehensive understanding for research questions, to help us to answer different research questions, to explain the findings from each method by another method, to help us to better understand the unexpected results and to increase the credibility of this research. In summary, the findings of this research have satisfied the research problem proposed by firstly identifying key push pull factors that could have an impact on Chinese students’ intention to study abroad and secondly determining how these factors influence Chinese students to choose a particular English-speaking country as their study abroad hosts country. In general, demographics tended not to have a relationship with psychographics and influencing factors. In addition, none of the demographics were considered to influence Chinese students’ intention to study abroad and choose their destination country. The main contribution of this research is that this research will integrate quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyse factors influencing mainland Chinese students’ choice of Australia as their overseas study destination rather than other main English-speaking countries, for instance, America, Great Britain and Canada. It will help Australian education to find the key points to win the competition of enrolling Chinese international students. Another contribution of this research is to combine overseas-based and China-based research to further identify and analyse the process of Chinese students study abroad. Previous researchers have identified some push and pull factors that influence Chinese students’ overseas study destination choice. Nevertheless, scholars hold different viewpoints on those factors. Those findings may be limited because most research work published in the English literature was carried out by overseas researchers rather than Chinese domestic researchers who may have deeper insights into Chinese students’ needs and wants. Due to the language barrier and cultural differences, those overseas-based researchers may not be able to fully understand the Chinese changing cultural, social and economic environments’ impact on potential Chinese students’ motivation to pursue higher degree studies overseas, because they do not have access to much of the Chinese research literature which is more relevant to Chinese students’ realities. Most Chinese researchers have not had overseas experience and due to the language barrier cannot fully analyse the variables. The results of this research also provide practical contribution to destination countries: • To be successful in implementing an attractive marketing policy, the potential host country and its education department should be able to identify Chinese students real needs and wants and in turn, to develop appropriate marketing policy to persuade Chinese students to choose that country as their study abroad destination. • This research has provided information specifically about push pull factors that could influence Chinese students’ intention to choose their study abroad destination through attractive marketing policy. The different English-speaking country tends to address the different points. The different elements have been identified to be influential in explaining Chinese students’ intention to study in Australia, America, Canada and Great Britain. This research also suggests future research to extend the knowledge relevant to this research area: • Future research could study the other key factors. • To determine whether the findings of this research can be generalized, additional research may be conducted to investigate if similar patterns can be repeated in other research context. • Future studies may repeat this research project with the use of other probability sampling techniques. • Future studies also can refine the measurement scales used in this research by using multi-items (at least 4 items) for each construct. • Future research can use a more complex data analysis technique to examine the relationship between push pull variables and the dependent variables of Chinese students’ intention to study abroad.