CHAPTER2LITERATUREREVIEW2.0 Introduction Inchapter 2, it will discussed about the past research which already discoveredby the researchers from the past. Thepast research is mainly retrieve from the research journal at the past and ithas been further discuss in this topic. It can become an evidence to support this research.
The chapter 2 alsodiscussing about the variables in this research and focus on the influence ofsource of information toward purchasing intention. Furthermore, the relationship between thevariables will be discussed and the adapted theory will be provided to show therelationship between the variable. Then,the hypothesis is come out to support this research.2.
1 Review of key concepts Thedifferent meaning of word regarding the topic will be discussed further in thefollowing part. The key concept ismainly use to reword the question and make in more clearly understand by reader(Keohane & Olmstead, 2016). 2.1.1 Tropical fruits This research is mainly discussedabout tropical fruits which can be found in Kuching, Sarawak. There can found many types of tropical fruitsin Sarawak.
Tropical fruits will only be found in the tropical rainforest. There can found several category of tropicalfruits available in the market, the category of the tropical fruits can becategorized by determine their attributes, ease to consumption, based onseasoning, time to consuming and the characteristics of the tropicalfruits. Some of the examples of tropicalfruits are such as durian, mangosteen, rambutan, langsat, cempedak, guava, roseapple, papaya, starfruit, watermelon, jackfruit, mango, pineapple and sapodilla(Normah, Malik, Chaudhury, Salma and Makeen, 2013).
Then, a lot of rare tropical fruits also canbe found in Sarawak. Since Sarawak hasstrategic geographical area. Malaysiais one of a country which is occupied with several abundance of beautifulnatural resources which is suitable developing for marketable and encouragetourist to visit this country. Anagriculture industry in Malaysia has a lot of contribute to our Malaysiaeconomy nowadays. The fruits andvegetables eaten by consumers are all categorized under the agricultureindustry in Malaysia.
The tropicalfruits can be in several forms which is fresh or canned. Consumers are more willing to buy freshfruits comparing to canned fruits. Although they buy for fresh fruits, but canned fruits still aremarketable.
This is because canned foodcan save consumer time and easily found in supermarket. Some consumer might need to have someexperience on the fruits, but not depend on the sights or sounds of the fruitswhen they make purchase on the tropical fruits (Llin & Gaztelumendi,2012). Thetropical fruits that can be found in Kuching, Sarawak are usually high invitamin content (Hiwilepo, Bosschaart, Twisk, Verkerk, and Dekker, 2012).
There also can found some visitors come fromother countries come to buy the tropical fruits in Kuching, Sarawak. The rare tropical fruits which can found inKuching, Sarawak can be considering also as an iconic food in Kuching,Sarawak. According to Symons (1999),iconic food is a fundamental element of a place’s attribute, increase theattraction and enrich visitor experiences. Then, the local tropical fruits can make visitors to visit to Kuching,Sarawak also. This will contribute tothe local fruits market.
2.1.2 Source of Information Informationregarding a understanding of an individual or consumer when they decide to makea purchase decision is necessary required to have when making purchase towardtropical fruits or some rare fruits.
Itis help to get a better understanding about the fruits which is going to eatand know their functions and attribute. Then, the consumers will not regret to buy the several fruits which arenever tried before. The informationenables consumers to measure among what is right and what is wrong of theinformation. There are several sourcesof information related to the purchase intention. In this research, the source of information inthis study includes electronic word-of-mouth, social interaction andadvertisement.
i. Social Interaction Thefirst of the sources of information affecting consumer purchase intentiontoward tropical fruits is social interaction. A social interaction can be happened in anytime or any place when thereare more than one people is met together and discuss about somethings. The social interaction may be in the positiveform or negative form. The positiveinteraction among people can tend to create a strong information network(Heaphy & Dutton, 2008). Thisinformation network could affect the daily life of individuals and motivate theparticular norms. Within their social circle,the relationships of person’s exchanges information about childbearing choices,learn about other’s preferences, from expectation on their future choice (Khan,Kamble, & Khatri, 2011).
Accordingto Isaacs (1993) defined dialogue as a sustained collective review intoprocesses, assumption and certainties that everyday experience. The powerful of dialogue influences theconsumer behaviour in term of making decision. The experience includes interaction with others, product or service-usedexperiences and any experience brings meaning to embody in society. The consumers will affected by the dialogueand influence the intention towards mentioned tropical fruits which are nevertried before. Freese and Burke (1994)claimed that group process depend on symbolic interaction and interpersonaltransaction. The symbolic interactionuse words as important tool to express people’ experience and as a basic ofsocial interaction (Blumer, 1969). Socialinteraction is formed by non-symbolic interaction and symbolic interaction andpersons tie their situations of interpersonal interaction to their socialsystems of interaction (Freese and Burke, 1994)). Hence, social organization and socialinteraction are influenced by feedbacks that cycle from non-symbolic throughsymbolic interaction and back, in order to understand the way of individuals behaveand social structures function.
Thepersonality as a structure of identities and derived from network of roles,statuses and norms of the individual’s subcultures (Stryker, 1980). The networks provide a structure ofinterpersonal interaction and thus a way to locate, define and identifyindividuals. The identities of theindividual are used to be organized symbolic meaning which relation theindividual social structure. Fromthe recent collected data from Toposophy found that the top prompted consumer’sdecision to choose the tropical fruits which never been tried before is basedon recommendation from their trusted inner circle, such as peers and family(Manolis, 2014). Since the opinion ofconsumer’s reference group have great impact on consumer’s decisionmaking. This is also become the concernof the local tropical fruits market should provide a good services to theircustomer and in order to increase the positive reviews and feedback for thecustomer who will be coming in the future to make the purchase.
Accordingto Scheinkman (2008) claimed that social interaction is refer to particularinformation exchange and communication, verbally or non-verbally, in which theactions of a reference group influence a person’s preferences. The consumers are more rely on theinformation given by their peers. Hence,if the good reviews of the tropical fruits are given, the consumer’s purchaseintention towards the fruits is increase too. Each person’s behaviour changenot only because the direct influence of fundamentals, but also due to thechange of their peers (Scheinkman, 2008). This indirect effect is known as social multiplier which aggregaterelationship that would overstate individual elasticity (Glaeser, Sacerdote& Scheinkman, 2003). The socialmultiplier existing at any social activities that there is a positive socialinteraction.
When an individual choosedestination, the presence of these interaction is result on segregation acrossspace (Schelling, 1971). It is provedthat individuals have different reaction with the presence behaviour of others. VisitorInformation Centres (VICs) is the first place that could enhance friendlyculture to welcome the visitors to a destination.
VICs should able enhance theinteraction between visitors and visitor destination through well-preparedcommunication mediums for tourist information (Deert, Jago, Mistilis, D’Ambra,Richards & Carson, 2007). It is ablethe visitors having quality information exchange with the local people andhence increase the attention for certain promoting tourism products or servicesthat being developed by the destination. According to Sheldon (1997) stated that the model of tourism informationexchange include three main agents, which are supplier, travel intermediariesand visitors. All the relatedinformation sought by consumer within model.
Those information is collected by intermediaries or directly by thesuppliers which enable enhance the quality of information.ii. Electronic Word-of-Mouth eWOMis a concept of word-of-mouth through electronic form, it is transfer throughan informal way among the different individual. It exchange the information among the consumers through internet. The information which is exchange between theconsumer are such as their own perception and preferences about certaintropical fruits which is available at the certain place. This type of word-of-mouth can enhance thepurchase intention on specific tropical fruits especially rare tropical fruitswhich can only buy in Sarawak. Accordingto Dellarocas (2003), the basic of internet differs from mass communication isits bi-directional nature, which is the two way communication among electronicusers. These messages and informationobtained from friends, family, and acquaintances are very important which mightaffect the consumers’ purchase intention towards tropical fruits in Kuching,Sarawak.
Consumers would seek relatedinformation online and interact with those people who have eaten those fruits. They might take those comments as advice tojudge the fruits. This explanation isespecially for some of the special fruits which can only found in Sarawak butno other states in Malaysia.
SinceSarawak has more landmass of natural forest compare to other states, manydelicious fruits can be founded at Sarawak. Those information obtain from the internet may be wrong. So, the information brings the form ofobjective messages in addition to subjective personal opinion andexperiences. It may bring bad impacts orpositive impacts toward those specific fruits in Kuching, Sarawak. This is because everyone has differentpreferences of taste compare to others. Through the advance of technology,the channel of communication is changed and become more active “in theair”. In the traditional way, peopleinteract with other by face-to-face, exchanging letter, even gettinginformation from newspaper, televisions and some related articles that had beenpublished. Now, people can interact withpeople “in the air”, they can virtually “face-to-face” chatting with theirpeers with internet, they can send millions of messages to the worlds withinternet, by the ways, they also can obtain unlimited information in theinternet data world.
According to theHawkins, Best, and Coney (2004), the practice allows users to share informationand experiences that direct buyers towards and away from specify good, brandsand services is known as Word-of-Mouth (WOM) communication. Recently, WOM was defined as face-to-facecommunication about products or brands between consumers (Carl, 2006). However, Westbrook (1987) described WOM whichinclude all informal communication directed at other consumers about theparticular brands, product and services. The informal information is not clearly defining in his study but he isindicated that the communication is opposed through mass media channels thatgiven product information from sellers. Buttle (1998) claimed that WOM can be facilitated by internet. Based on definition of Westbrook (1987),electronic Word-of-Mouth can defined as all informal communication directed atusers through internet-based technology related to particular brands, productsand services. This includescommunicationamong consumers and with producers, two parties are both integral parts of theWOM flow (Goldsmith 2006; Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944). Bruynand Lilien (2008) stated that the electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) is asignificant phenomenon that sellers have tried to exploit the possible profitsand values through efficiency of viral marketing.
This is because the internet is an importanttool to enhance the interconnection among consumers. The effectively of online is the customerreviews as a platforms which promoted by the sellers websites for all usersshare the information and experiences more easily than ever before (Bruyn , 2008). Visitors able obtain thedestination’ iconic foods information and interact with them to furtherunderstand the destination culture and foods. This interconnectivity is a global phenomenon that assists thedissemination of both positive and negative WOM (Shankar, Smith, &Rangaswamy, 2003). This disseminationcannot be easily control.
Some of thevisitors will reject to the destination’ iconic food because the bad reviews ofsome bloggers or some negative news about the certain food ingredient isused. Bruyn and Lilien (2008) specifiedthat the consumers is the most common version of intentional viral marketingwhen they become the promoter of the products or services and spread theexperiences to their friends. This is apositive way of eWOM virally transfer the information among the people. They share the fun, happy or valuableproducts to their peers but also the bad experience with the products too.
Furthermore,the traditional WOM is ranked as the most significant information source thateffect consumer decision making, especially in the hospitality and tourismindustry (Litvin, Goldsmith, & Pan, 2008). It is showed illustrated that the WOM become digital, the internetprompts new ways of capturing, analysing, interpreting and managing onlineWOM. The spread of electronictechnologies changed the traditional WOM to more virtual interaction amongconsumers (Goldsmith, 2006). Theimportant aspect of decision making process of those goods and services is theemotional risk of reference group evaluation (Lewis & Chambers, 2000). Furthermore, Litvin, Blose, and Laird (2004)noted that visitors’ food selections were predominantly affected by WOM recommendationsof opinion leaders and few decisions based on formal media. This change the tourist trade shift theiremphasis from traditional marketing channels to non-traditional interpersonalmarketing strategies, which is more emphasize on food quality, customerrelationship and customer services. TheeWOM brings both new possibilities and challenges for public.
According to Hennin-Thurau, Gwinner, Walshand Gremler (2004) stated that the eWOM is a lost cost, broader scope andincreased anonymity media that available to consumers and consumers are seemslikely increasingly exposed to the advice of online opinion leader. The eWOM is different from the ephemeralnature of WOM, it exists in internet which can be accessed, linked and searched(Litvin, Goldsmith & Pan 2008). Therefore, the visitors are more relying on search engines to obtain thetravel information.
The eWOM wouldunavoidably change the structure and accessibility of travel information andalso the travellers’ experiences and perception of various travel products(Litvin, Goldsmith & Pan 2008). Thus, eWOM can create virtual relationship with societies among readersand creators of WOM. It actually createa new type of reality by influencing readers during their online informationsearch. Website is one to many mediumwhich can used to create the “buss” in order to stimulate eWOM among visitors(Litvin, Goldsmith & Pan 2008). Aneffective website should offering users the ability to access the opinion ofsatisfied users rather than only share information, such as positive review andpersonal experiences of iconic foods.iii. Advertisement Theseveral printed media advertisement which are the sources of information comefrom to affect consumer’s purchase intention are such as newspaper, leaflets,brochures, magazines and catalogues. These types of printed media advertisement can attract consumer’sattention and gain more knowledge about the tropical fruits (Iorache, Parpandeland Rizea, 2010).
Sometime consumer willobtain the information of tropical fruits from newspaper through the salespromotion advertisement of supermarket. Then, for the electronic advertisement tools are such as televisionadvertisement, radio advertisement and internet advertisement. Consumers will tend to get the informationtoward tropical fruits through the electronic advertisement. For example, electronic advertisement throughsocial network apps can spread the information faster and help to reduce theadvertising cost from the tropical fruits seller or people have knowledge aboutthe local tropical fruits (Cooper, 1996). However, Malaysia has not put enough investment into advertising thetropical fruits to public, especially in Sarawak.
Advertisement is a general, passiveand informative media that provides basic ideas about the countries or regionsthat visitors interested to know. Advertisement should able to build awareness and encourage visitors totrial the recommended places and foods. The role of advertisement is create demand for goods and services andthus affect the purchase intention. Iordache,Parpandel and Rizea (2010) noticed that graphical advertising is importanttourist information documents as a source of information. The tourist advertising leads the primaryrole to publish the visitor’ needed information in tem of degree of use,usefulness and effectiveness. Thoseinformation in term of degree of use, usefulness and effectiveness.
Those information should well designed anddistributed to any place that visitors might go and stay, such as tourismagencies, unit accommodation, transport companies and tourist areas. There is various choices of advertisingchannels to distribute the tourist information, such as the printed media andelectronic media. This advertising mediais considering from high-tech possibilities using computers to low tactics suchas flier, leaflets and brochure (Yapparova, 2013). Getzand Sailor (1993) defined brochure is a standard tool of communication in thecourse of interest that provides information, knowledge and create awarenessof the existence of destination. Brochure is the most customary support topromote tourism products through advertising and special qualities from aneconomic (Morgan & Pritchard, 2000). The brochures is cost effectivecompare to other media because it can multiplied in the country in bulk anddistributed in various parts of world. The design of advertisement must choose particular photos to tenfold thetext to root the image and create intention to visit and purchase the touristproducts. The travel catalogue, thetravel guides, the travel magazine, leaflet of flyer and display advertisingare the example of printed advertisement.
Travel catalogue is designed with same structure and with differentsegments of travel (Nedelea, 2003). Thedisplay advertising the oldest tourist promotion tool which is more costly andlocated in highly circulated places, such as airports, stations or shoppingcentres (Morgan & Pritchard, 2000). The display advertising used poster which typically a graphicalrepresentation of a regions with some best text. The Major advantage of these tools is offeredthe utility to guide the visitors in term of choosing route of travel,accommodation and meals, however the important is promote the tourismactivities of particular regions (Iordache, Parpandel, & Rizea, 2010). Furthermore,other than printed media advertising , electronic advertising is anotherconcern to deliver tourist information to visitors. The development of internet lead the changeof commercials and advertising medium.
There is big possible that visitors accept e-commerce and onlineadvertising as main communication tool to obtain the needed tourist information(Kim, Kim, & Han, 2007; Murphy & Tan, 2003). The convenience of internet create aborderless platform for visitors seeking needed information. Buhalis and Licata (2002) claimed that theinternet advertising significantly impacts travel and purchase behaviour. This advertising provides a channel to distributeinformation to consumers in the form of “enterprise and consumer interactivescenarios”. On the other hand, the massmedia is a traditional way to create brand or product awareness among theconsumers. However it is costly, Massmedia advertising is the most visible and prestigious form of advertising(Yapparova, 2013). It is the mostconvenient way to reach large audience in short time. According to Hackley (2010) claimed that themass media advertising is the perfect media to portray brands as accessories tothese aspirations.
Satellite andtraditional TV channels have a great power to convey values and communicateengaging all sorts of people, attract public’s attention on a broad reach(Yapparova, 2013). TV retains theimportance in the media mix, which has huge power holds its audience, diversifyprimetime thereby search for a new audience. Muller,Alt and Michelis (2011) stated that advertising is part of marketing mix. The marketing mix is a marketing instrumentsthat includes 4Ps which are product, price, promotion and place, use to reachtheir target audiences directly (Kotler & Keller, 2008). The detailed tourist information shouldclearly wrote on advertisement, such as the detail of tourist product, theprice of goods and services provided and the seasonal promotion. All the tourist information should distributeat the right place, which able approach large number of visitors. Burmann and Arnhold (2008) claimed advertising is one of the marketing mix as a masscommunication process and designed to change the recipient’s attitudes andbehaviour.
The general goal ofadvertising is deliver information to a specific group of recipients and ensurethe desired effect is achieved. Meffert,Burmann, and Kirchgeorg (2007) said that advertising objective have a directmass-end relationship and its achievement contribute to fulfilment of higherdesire goals.