ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION

NAME: EGWUMBA CHIDI VINCENT

ID: 0070EFHEFH0218

LECTURER: GOBU NACHIAPPAN

COURSE: BUSINESS RESEARCH PROPOSAL

I DECLARE THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT IS ALL MY OWN WORK AND THAT I HAVE
ACKNOWLEDGED ALL MATERIALS USED FROM THE PUBLISHED OR
UNPUBLISHED WORKS OF OTHER PEOPLE. ALL REFERENCES HAVE BEEN DULY
CITED.

EGWUMBA VINCENT CHIDI

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Table of Contents
1.0 RESEARCH PROPOSAL TITLE...................................................................................................3
2.0 ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................................................3
3.0 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................4
3.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT................................................................................................................5
3.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY...........................................................................................................5
3.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS...............................................................................................................5
3.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES..............................................................................................................6
4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................................................6
4.1 CULTURAL FACTOR.....................................................................................................................8
4.2 SOCIAL FACTORS..........................................................................................................................9
4.3 PERSONAL FACTORS..................................................................................................................10
4.4 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS.....................................................................................................11
4.5 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK....................................................................................................12
5.0 METHOD............................................................................................................................................13
5.1 RESEARCH DESIGN.....................................................................................................................13
5.2 DATA COLLECTION METHOD:.................................................................................................13
5.3 DATA ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................14
5.4 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION.......................................................................................................14
5.5 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY...................................................................................................15
5.6 RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS.....................................................................................................15
5.7 GANTT CHART.............................................................................................................................16
Works Cited...............................................................................................................................................17

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1.0 RESEARCH PROPOSAL TITLE

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS COSMETIC

PRODUCTS IN MALAYSIA

CASE STUDY: COSMETIC PRODUCTS IN SUBANG JAYA

2.0 ABSTRACT
Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-religious country where there are diverse cultural
background that is peculiar than most countries in the world. This unique characteristic in
demography has made Malaysia an interesting subject to study consumer buying behaviour of a
diverse group and how it affects the sales of certain products.

Furthermore, the cosmetic market in Malaysia is on an upward spiral with continuous expansion.
The demand has been so high that it depends on imports to meet these demands. This has given
room for a variety of products with increasingly stiff competition.

The research proposal is to investigate the factors that influence consumers in Malaysia in
making purchases and the extent to which these factors affect their buying behaviour towards
these range of cosmetic products while taking their diverse background into consideration.

3.0 INTRODUCTION

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The Cosmetic Industry in Malaysia is distinctively different because there are so many factors
that determine potential consumers buying behaviour towards the variety of products in the
market. Firstly, most consumers are influenced by advertising; that is, people are influenced by
premium brand especially the middle class. These branded cosmetic products are often imported
from overseas. Secondly, there is an interesting factor that associates with the environment.
Products that are considered from natural sources are often favoured because of its
environmental friendliness. [ CITATION Fut15 \l 17417 ]

Also in recent times, religion also seems to be playing a role in consumer decision making. There
has been introduction of cosmetic products known as Halal cosmetic products; these products
appeal to the Muslim majority in Malaysia. Halal products do not contain materials or
ingredients that are considered forbidden by Islamic laws. To have the Halal certification, these
products must comply with Malaysian standard MS 2200:2008 requirements of Halal
certification. It is interesting to note that the Halal cosmetic sub industry is one of the fastest
growing sections in the Malaysian cosmetic industry. [ CITATION MYH17 \l 17417 ]

The purpose of this research is to examine critically and have a detailed understanding of how
these factors as well as other factors affect the decision and buying behaviour of consumer of
cosmetic products in Malaysia.

3.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

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The competition in the cosmetic industry in Malaysia has been very high and this is due to the
fact that the industry is growing tremendously in a lightening pace. This poses a problem for
marketers in the cosmetic industry in Malaysia. In a huge market such as this where consumers
are spoilt for choices, it becomes interesting and crucial to know what affects consumers buying
behaviour towards these cosmetic products.

3.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This research will be of great benefit to marketers in the cosmetic industry to understand the
personal and social factors that affects the buying behaviour of consumers and this will help
them to find ways to improve their marketing strategy. It will also provide foundation for further
research in this topic in the future.

3.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

- Do cultural factors affect consumer buying behaviour towards cosmetic products in Malaysia?

- Does the influence of social factors affect how consumers buy cosmetic products in Malaysia?

- Do the effects of Personal factors affect consumer buying behaviour in Malaysia?

- Do psychological factor how consumers buy cosmetic products in Malaysia?

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3.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

- To investigate how consumers buying behaviour of cosmetic products in Malaysia are

influenced by Cultural factors

- To investigate how social factors affect the consumer buying behaviour towards cosmetic
products in Malaysia.

- To understand the influence of personal factors on consumer behaviour of cosmetic products in

Malaysia

- To investigate how consumer buying behaviour of cosmetic products in Malaysia are affected
by psychological factors.

4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

In Malaysia, different consumers make buying decisions daily, and these decisions are crucial for
marketers. The efforts and effectiveness of marketers are measured by how well they can
influence these buying decisions of potential buyers. The more established firms invest a lot,
both financially and otherwise to be able to provide answers on some critical questions on
consumer buying behaviour. Questions like what do they buy, how they buy, when they buy,
where they buy and how much they are willing to buy are some of the questions marketers want
answers for. Finding precise answers to these questions is not easy and straightforward to
decipher, because the reasons are locked deep in the consumers' mind. [ CITATION Has15 \l 17417 ]

The consumers in Malaysia are diverse and they differ greatly in many areas. Consumers differ
in ethnicity, religion, education level, age, income, social class and tastes. To complicate the
discourse, there is a huge pool of cosmetic products in Subang Jaya and Malaysia at large. What

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influences the consumers’ choices and behaviour is how they interact with themselves and with
things in their surroundings. These interaction and experiences shape their buying behaviour
towards cosmetic products. [ CITATION Has15 \l 17417 ]

There are several models for consumer buying behaviour that has been in use over the years. One
of such models is the Stimulus-Response model; where different stimulus like economic,
political, technological, social and marketing stimuli goes through the potential consumer's black
box and initiates a certain response from them. A consumer's interpretation of a external stimuli
is often shaped by his/her characteristics and the decision he/she makes determines his/her
buying behaviour.[ CITATION Kot161 \l 17417 ]

4.1 CULTURAL FACTOR

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According to [ CITATION Kot161 \l 17417 ] , culture can be defined as a set of basic values
behaviours, wants and perceptions that are learned or adopted consciously and subconsciously
from family and other institutions. Culture is the most fundamental reason for a consumer's
behaviour and wants. How a child behaves or acts are mostly learned from the culture of his/her
kinsmen, and every society or group have a distinct culture; these cultures differ from place to
place and country to country. It is critical for marketers to understand these variations in culture
and adjust accordingly when carrying out marketing. A good example is how P & G targeted
African Americans in the cosmetic industry in the US. Lately, Angela Bassett is seen promoting
Olay body lotion as beneficial for black skin.

In a research carried out by [ CITATION Dur11 \l 17417 ], they concluded that one of the main
things that constitute culture is belief and these beliefs often show a similar pattern. In France for
example, the use of Cosmetic products is surprisingly more among men than their women. This
underlines the fact that their French men are highly self-conscious. As a result, it is important to
understand the cultural aspects while analysing consumer behaviour in marketing.

[ CITATION Kha15 \l 17417 ] is of the opinion that cultural background of consumers is crucial in a
buyer's decision making when buying a product. And because consumers are often from several
different cultural backgrounds, they have different opinions, perception and views about
different products. As a result of this, it is important for marketers to take into consideration the
cultural wants and needs of consumers before segmenting their market/product.

Although the research done by [ CITATION Dur11 \l 17417 ] tool examples from France, the
research itself was carried out in Turkey; it indicates that Cultural factors is Universal. One of
the conclusions of the research was that one of the major factors affecting consumer buying
behaviour is Cultural factors

H1: Cultural factors have a major influence on consumer buying behaviour

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4.2 SOCIAL FACTORS

Social status also plays a huge role in the buying behaviour of consumers. Social status of
consumers consists of social roles, family, small groups and status of the consumer. People often
make decisions based on influences from small groups in which they belong, while some are
affected indirectly by certain groups known as reference groups. Reference groups are groups
which consumers look up to and aspire to be part of. Consumers try to identify with their
reference group and do everything possible to be part of the group including choice of products
that these groups are associated with. [ CITATION Bri18 \l 17417 ]

Another effective way of consumers behaviour towards buying a product is the word of mouths
from people they trust like close friends, relatives and family. Also, the social class of consumers
play a huge role. A consumer from a high class would shrug at cheap cosmetic products while a
lower class would often find cheaper alternative.

According to [ CITATION Kha15 \l 17417 ], most consumers are concerned about what is perceived
of them by their society, it is important for them how people treat them and see them in the
society. Social factors like these affects consumer buying behaviour and marketers need to
carefully observe these factors and develop a strategy based on these factors.

In [ CITATION Tie14 \l 17417 ] research about Faceshop products, he came to the conclusion that
social factors indeed have a stronger influence than personal factors on consumer buying
behaviour of cosmetic products. In his conclusion, consumers are said to be easily influenced by
other people and they rate highly the preference and opinion of their reference person.

The researcher is of the opinion that social factors have a high influence on the buying behaviour
of consumers towards cosmetic products in Malaysia.

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H2: The buying behaviour of consumer towards cosmetic product in Malaysia is significantly
affected by social factors.

4.3 PERSONAL FACTORS

Personal factors are the life cycle stage and angle of consumers, lifestyle, personality, self-
concept, economic situation and occupation. Consumers’ choice of cosmetic products often
change overtime with age; for example, a 60years old married woman cosmetic choice will be
quite different from a young teenage girl. Another aspect of personal factor is occupation;
someone working in the office can afford to have sophisticated cosmetic make up on, on the
contrary, an engineer who works outdoors most of the time wouldn't want that. Most brands
represents a lifestyle and consumes tend to follow the brand that represents their lifestyle.
[ CITATION Kot161 \l 17417 ]

In [ CITATION Kim173 \l 17417 ] work, he was of the opinion that personal factors are peculiar for
everybody and it has a way of influencing the behaviour in buying cosmetic products. In his
words, the impacts are considered significant and valuable.

[ CITATION Tie14 \l 17417 ] opined that personal factor is the weakest factor, but nonetheless also
affects consumer buying behaviour of cosmetic products. In his case study of the Faceshop, their
products appeal to the middle class who regard them as sophisticated.

The researcher is of the opinion that this factor affects significantly consumer buying behaviour
of cosmetic products in Malaysia. Depending on the individual, cosmetic products may not be
seen as a necessity and there are wide ranges of products to choose from

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H3: Personal factors impacts significantly consumer buying behaviour towards cosmetic
products in Malaysia.

4.4 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

In[ CITATION Kot161 \l 17417 ] text, it is said that a consumer buying decision are affected by four
major psychological factors namely Learning, motivation, beliefs and attitude and perception.
Sigmund Freud opined that consumers often get influenced by subconscious motives that are too
subtly that they are barely aware of. Also, Maslow explained how esteem needs drives people
after satisfying their basic needs. Lastly, people's perception and beliefs plays a crucial role In
their buying decision. A good example is how Muslim consumers prefer Halal cosmetic products
to Non-halal cosmetic products.

It is the opinion of [ CITATION Tie14 \l 17417 ] that the strongest influence on consumer buying
behaviour of cosmetic products is the psychological factors. As such, these factors need the
utmost attention when developing a marketing strategy.

[ CITATION Kha15 \l 17417 ] suggested that psychological factors such as inner feelings and
thoughts have the strongest influence on consumer buying behaviour of cosmetic products. Their
behaviour and personality are shaped by their psychology.

The researcher considers psychological factors as a highly significant influence on the buying
behaviour of consumers towards cosmetic products in Malaysia, and this was partially due to fact
that some products were introduced based on belief (Halal) and it’s on the rise in Malaysia.

H4: Psychological factors have a highly significant impact on consumer buying behaviour on
cosmetic products in Malaysia.

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4.5 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

CULTURAL

SOCIAL
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

PERSONAL

PSYCHOLOGICAL

FIGURE: The theoretical framework was adapted from [ CITATION Kot161 \l 17417 ]

5.0 METHOD

5.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design is regarded as the blueprint for gathering, the quantifying and data analysis. It is
a strategy that is used to put together all the aspects of the research in a systematic and logical

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manner in order to study the problems that catalysed the research effectively. [ CITATION Kim173 \l
17417 ]

It can be segmented into three divisions, which are Descriptive, exploratory and causal study. In
this research, the researcher will be using Descriptive design because the data of the research
have been gathered through systemized questionnaires, and the independent variables have been
explained distinctively to analyse the factors that affects consumer buying behaviour of cosmetic
products in Malaysia.

5.2 DATA COLLECTION METHOD:

Data can be collected in two ways: Primary and Secondary data collection. Primary data is the
data collected directly from correspondents for the first time and the data have not existed before.
Primary data can be collected in several ways, they are: Surveys, Interviews, online surveys, etc.
Online surveys are fast and the most convenient, interviews are in details and the information
provided are mostly accurate and robust in terms of the respondent's feelings and body language,
while surveys can be done through questionnaires given directly to consumers in cosmetic shops
around Subang Jaya.

Secondary data is gathered from existing sources like Journals, books, published articles, etc.
The use of Secondary data saves time and provides better understanding of concepts for the
researchers.

In this research, the researcher is going to utilize both secondary and primary data collection
methods to have detailed information about the research.

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5.3 DATA ANALYSIS

Data analysis is where the gotten data from the research are analysed to validate or invalidate the
hypotheses that were created by the researcher. These hypotheses are tested with the right
statistical analysis. It is important to find the link between the collected data and the research
questions/objectives. There are two types of data analysis; they are the quantitative and the
qualitative data analysis. [ CITATION Pat13 \l 17417 ]

Qualitative data analysis deals analyses data in a non-numeric and subjective manner which is
often deeper while quantitative data analysis deals analyses data in a numerical and statistical
manner.

For the purpose of this research, the researcher will make use of quantitative data analysis with
the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.

5.4 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

Ethical problems can arise when researchers try to balance the requirements of the research with
social problems. There are ethical issues that are related with confidentiality, privacy and product
marketing ethics which are critical for researchers. One of the major issues is that consumers will
be sharing personal information to the researcher and it is important that this information are
protected. Another aspect is that the respondents have the right to know the purpose of the said
research and these researchers should avoid the use of deception. [ CITATION Kim173 \l 17417 ]

In order to overcome these problems, researchers need to find ways to make the respondents
information as confidential as possible while taking their privacy into consideration. They have
the right to be told the purpose of this research and be pre-informed about the process. The
researcher will address all responsibilities regarding ethical collection of data.

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5.5 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

A scientific research has to be reliable and valid for it to be considered credible. In simple terms,
validity means the correctness or accuracy of the measurement used in the research while
reliability is regarded as the consistency of this measurement. The quality of a research is hinged
on these two factors. [ CITATION Bri18 \l 17417 ]

The questionnaires in the research are prepared in such a way that the questions were clear and
understood by the correspondents and they needed no assistance in explaining what it really
means to the researcher. The sample group were chosen randomly so as to results those are
accurate, and above all the questionnaires do not contain any preference words that could coax
respondents to choose certain answers. The questions were clear and the respondents didn't need
assistance in answering the questions.

5.6 RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS

The research is a student research and due to financial restrictions, the research was carried out
in Subang Jaya. The resources used where three paid workers who help distributed the
questionnaires, a borrowed printer from a store for printing the questionnaires and a Pack of A4
Paper.

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5.7 GANTT CHART

Works Cited

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