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that has by the consumer on Tiarasa Escape’s Pinterest account. The board that provides in that Pinterest account is the main focus for the
majority of users. The way the management of this destination implementing the Pinterest account to reach the customers and attract them
to help on deciding for travel be as one of the aims of this research. The exact factor that needs to precise in generate any board is the main
focus for them. This destination’s management wonder about the element that needs to use by them to create perceive ease of use, perceive
trust, and more. The factor that push the travelers when searching in the Pinterest account will be focused on.

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of perceive ease of use, perceive usefulness, perceive trust and social capital on
local travellers’ destination selection?

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In order to meet the purpose and objectives of study, the following research questions will be used to frame this study. The study listed 4
main research questions as mentioned below:

i. To what extend the perceive ease of use influence user to use Tiarasa Escape’s Pinterest Page
ii. To what extend the perceive usefulness influence user to use Tiarasa Escape’s Pinterest Page
iii. To what extend the perceive trust influence user to use Tiarasa Escape’s Pinterest Page
iv. To what extend the social capital influence user to use Tiarasa Escape’s Pinterest Page

1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

There are lot of limitation that need to face during along the way to settle this research. The most critical part is about the behavior of
consumers who are fill up the questionnaire by randomly click on the choices given. The questionnaire required the respondents to take 3
minutes to 5 minutes to finish up the questionnaire but with this behavior, they may settle fill up the questionnaire around 1 minutes only.
This effect the result on my study especially on the reliability test. Besides, the researcher also having problem in getting the amount of
respondents because the amount of Pinterest’ users in Malaysia is hard to find, plus the researcher need the amount of users around Malaysia.














































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■ 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 CONSUMER INTENTION

Intention can be defined as the idea that a person plan or intend to carry out. Purpose, goal, or aim is an intention. Usage intention is included
in the theory of planned behavior which are attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control. Consumer intention in making any
decision can be influence by several factors which are situational factors, personal factor, psychological factor and social factors (Lumen,
2016). If discussion the consumer intention for travel, this will be deeper explained. First factor influence consumer intention is knowledge
that consumer gain. In this factor, word of mouth is useful for consumer to make decision. Knowledge give effect on the consumer intention
to purchase travel online and positive word of mouth is beneficial to increase consumer intention to participate in online travel (Agag, et.al,
2016). Second, trust and attitude are the other factors. Any platform that could maintain in providing online trust and develop platform that
easy to use and perceived usefulness (Agag, et.al, 2016) can highly influence consumer intention to choose this platform in planning for
travel. Third, appropriate community policy that provide by the travel application or travel destination itself can influence consumer intention
in travelling. This can be prove by understand that perceived usefulness cannot be identified by the consumer until they participate in the
platform that travel destination provide (Agag, et.al, 2016). Effective ways that provide in the online travel platform such as security approval
symbol or guarantee can enhance the consumer intention to participate (Agag, et.al, 2016). Lastly, factor is focus about the advertisement
which is consider any compatible issues like convenience, low price and time saving, can influence consumer intention (Agag, et.al, 2016).

2.2 SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media can be viewed as an ecosystem that permeates many consumers’ daily lives (Lauren Vasquez, 2014). Through the smart use of
all formats and channels that appeal to consumers, social media may integrated both reach and engagement (Lauren Vasquez, 2014). Almost
two-thirds of Internet users report using social media sites at least once a day via their computer, and almost half of smartphone owners visit
social networks every day (“Digital Consumer”, 2014). Due to the obvious widespread usage of mobile devices, social media has evolved a
symbiotic connection with customers, empowering users by offering a direct line of communication with the brands they use and the material
they consume (Lauren Vasquez, 2014). Social media encompasses a wide range of online word-of-mouth forums, such as blogs, company-
sponsored discussion boards and SNS including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest and creative sharing sites such as YouTube and
Flickr (Mangold & Fauld, 2009). Acknowledging the importance of social media, most of companies either well establish company or small
and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) will go for online. For them, social media not just help to reach out lot of consumers by knowing their
demands and need but can help in managing Omni-channel too.

2.2.1 BENEFIT OF PINTEREST

Pinterest has it specialty that make this platform different than other social networking sites. Pinterest follows an image dominant approach
(Sudip, et al). The other interesting part is Pinterest less hold personal information about user and this is proven by the fact that Pinterest do
not ask for any basic information when creating the account. Pinterest is for curator not for content creator (Sudip, et.al). The owner of
Pinterest account may target users based on their interests, personalities, or life degrees according to Pinterest's unique usage of pinboards.
Besides that, sometimes Pinterest will grouped in with other social networking sites but the firm takes a different approach to its business
and business strategy. By immediately linking a pin to a commercial website where the product featured on the pin may be purchased,
Pinterest has a great business potential (Sudip, et.al). The way of Pinterest link with other social media help users to plan for the future by
categorize image suits with the things that they prefer. The ‘Pin It’ button is the most special function that provide by Pinterest which
differentiate this platform from other social networking sites. Every pin can be republish and becomes a re-pin. As mentioned by Bernardini,
Silverston, & Festor (2014) Pinterest user can follow other user without needed to follow back and the user also gets a timeline where last
friends publication are shown. Pinterest is frequently utilized by women between the ages of 25 to 44 (Sudip, et.al). Plus, Pinterest only
features a like option, which may only capture people’s pleasant perceptions about the pin.

2.2.2 DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL MEDIA (PINTEREST)

Pinterest is an image-sharing social network sites that launched in 2010 to collect and organize image and videos. According to Fisher (2012),
the site encourages curating activities; curators are Internet users that post self-created videos as well as re-posts of other videos. Pinterest
opened its application programming interface (API) to retailers that giving them the ability to embed pins directly onto their websites
(Wagner, 2013). Pinterest’s presence on merchant websites raises exposure, attracts new users and boosts engagement (Wagner, 2013).
Currently self-pins that provide customize boards suit with what users’ needs is the best things in Pinterest. This could help the owner of the
posting get revenue from each pins that make by the users. Pinterest strengthens its social networking site by allowing users to create a
variety of pins for instances, recipe pins, visualize by offering food images, ingredients and directions; product pins provide price and
availability of product; article pins make news story easier to understand; and location pins make vacation planning easier (Wagner,2013).
According to Lauren Vasquez (2014), users who are planning for travel could make some arrangement by including maps, as well as hotels
and restaurants that are located on the social network sites such as Airbnb and Traveloka or may straightly pin at Pinterest account by any
travel destination they preferred.

Pinterest users are five times as likely to be women that males, which is a larger gender gap than on most other social media
platforms (Lauren Vasquez, 2014). Majority of women use Pinterest to get some inspiration whereas males primarily use it as a shopping

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cart (Bercovinci, 2014). Guided search in developed in the Pinterest to help users to follow specific categories, making discovery faster when
looking for and kind of products or services (Weber, 2014). Pinterest can be recognize as fastest-growing social networking site that captured
the users’ and retailers’ attention because of it characteristic which are providing board in visual that can pin and customize by the users as
well as retailers. Seven stage were highlighted by Nichollas (2012) to assist retailers in developing a Pinterest presence: 1) create a user name
that includes profile data and a brand image, 2) leverage brand values rather than just a lengthy list of product images, 3) develop concepts
rather than product promotion to express a visual identity, 4) include prices to indicate that items can be purchased, 5) use hashtags to
guarantee that the brand is visible during consumer searches, 6) add ‘Pin It’ button to the retailer website and finally engage with the users.

2.2.2.1 WORLDWIDE

































Figure 1
Source by Statista Research Department, Nov 11, 2021

Based on Figure 1 above shows the number of monthly active Pinterest users worldwide from first quarter 2016 to third quarter 2021 in
millions. Majority claims that the use on Pinterest is rising around the world year by year because of the special features, ‘Pin It’ button and
image dominant approach. From first quarter 2016 until first quarter 2018, the number of active users keep increase but it the numbers goes
down on second quarter 2018. Surprisingly it keep on growing from third quarter 2018 until first quarter this year. Unfortunately, the number
of active users declining on second quarter 2021 to third quarter on same year. It maybe because of users more focus on other social media
during this duration.























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2.2.2.2 MALAYSIA


























Figure 2
Source by Simon Kemp (2021)

Figure 2 shows the total population, mobile connections, internet users and active social media users in Malaysia in January 2021.
According to that figure total population in Malaysia is 32.57 million. Internet users in Malaysia is 84.2 percent from total population which
are 27.43 million. Besides that, 28 million of user are an active social media users.



























Figure 3
Source by Simon Kemp (2021)

Based on Figure 3 shows that the percentage of internet users aged 16 to 64 that has used each platform in past month in Malaysia.
The most common platforms that use by Malaysians is Youtube, Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram. Besides, Pinterest users that aged 16
to 64 in Malaysia still low which is 30.4 percent out of 22.1 million users in this age. The lowest users in Malaysia is Line, Red Dit and
Tumbler.

2.3 PERCEIVED EASE OF USE

Perceived ease of use is also clarified as the degree to which a person believe that using a particular system would be free of effort (O.Gibreel
et al, 2018). Platform which is easy to use that make consumers' lives easier can lead to positive sentiments about the platform and businesses
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as well (Suki et al, 2012). To add on, perceived ease of use is referring to the ease of use that can operate in the Pinterest sites such as look
on board or used the Pinterest account to straight search for the certain website of tourism destination. Simply said that either this can make
some extra engagement with the Pinterest account or not. A user- friendly and simple-to-operate site guarantees a great social media
experience for the user (Singh & Srivastave, 2019). Normally if the users define that it is hard to use, they will avoid using it and change to
another type of social media or change to use a different Pinterest account. According to previous study by Singh and Srivastava (2019),
there are two type of users that can define according to perceived ease of use variables which are users that ease with technology and quickly
adjust to new features on current sites and the second kind is user that using any social networking sites takes effort. This kind of user will
be terminate any sites that be complicated for them. Besides, user love to use social networking site that link to one another with other sites
(Singh and Srivastava, 2019) like Pinterest.Most of the researchers believe that perceived ease of use have significant relationship with the
intention of user to use social sites like Pinterest. As revealed by Singh and Srivastave (2019), for those that have high level of perceived
ease of use will display high intention to use that social sites or social media. The researchers revealed that perceived ease of use effect
intention to use Pinterest. Based on this discussion, the following hypothesis were proposed.

H1: There is positive significant relationship between perceived ease of use and intention to use Pinterest for travel purpose

2.4 PERCEIVED USEFULNESS

Perceived usefulness is defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job
performance. Researchers (Singh and Srivastava, 2019) mentioned that the percentage of travellers who feel that utilising social media
(Pinterest) would improve their vacation experience is represented by perceived usefulness. Researchers (Koufaris, 2002; Morgan-Thomas
and Velaotsou, 2013) indicate that perceive ease of use has direct positive impact on perceive usefulness, and perceive usefulness has direct
positive effect on the online experience. According to Suki et al. (2012), usefulness influences acceptance of novel technologies. Perceived
usefulness explains that social media can help travelers in their travel experience. Not even travelers, but all consumers want to minimize
the risk in making any decision. Travelers seek for the lesser risk that associated with travel and for what that they get consulted by any
possible resources. Travelers will find the account that much benefit and less risk for them in whatever situation. About 80 percent of the
travelers used social media to research the destination before actually leaving and because of the limited time for a holiday so they did a lot
of research (online) before leaving. (Singh & Srivastava, 2019). Online platform is used by the user to search for destination, flight, itinerary,
weather, culture at travel destination and more. So all in one platform really needed for them. Pinterest adds to the convenience, saves time,
helps in customizing and gives information during travel (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). All the discussion refer to the significant relationship
between perceived usefulness and the intention to use Pinterest for travel. Thus, the hypothesis for this generated below:

H 2: There is positive significant relationship between perceived usefulness and intention to use Pinterest for travel purpose

2.5 PERCEIVED TRUST

Perceived trust (PT) is the belief on the information that the user finds on social media or Pinterest for his or her travel needs is objective,
reliable, and relevant (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). Consumer perceptions of how a site will deliver on expectations, the credibility of a site's
content, and the confidence the site commands are all factors that influence online trust. (Bart, Shankar, Sultan & Urban, 2005). As in
Pinterest, there is a space that users can put their comments. The more positive comments, the more people or travellers will trust them. The
extent to which the travellers rely on these posts to make their own travel decisions is the perceived trust of the Pinterest account. In total 48
percent of travellers relied more on social media postings than posts on official tourist websites, with more than 40 percent trusting the
information to make changes in their schedule (Singh & Srivastava, 2019). Besides that, the official sites are often slow to respond to
immediate changes in the travel circumstances like the closure of the place for a couple of days for maintenance or changes in the visiting
hours (Singh & Srivastava, 2019). Before travel, the tourist will check on the review for a viral place or any interesting activities that can
plan to do at the tourism destination. All of this just by using any social media such as Pinterest to be a trusted platform that they can rely
on. According to the study by Singh and Srivastava (2019), perceived trust is important for destination decision and information search.
During the trip, perceived trust was shown through the usage of social media to research restaurant reviews and activities to do at the
destination (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). Those points proves that perceived trust play an important role in user intention to use social media
(Pinterest) for travel. From this, the following hypothesis were proposed.

H3: There is positive significant relationship between perceived trust and intention to use Pinterest for travel purpose

2.6 SOCIAL CAPITAL

Social capital can be defined as the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society
to function effectively. The social capital theory contends that social relationships are resources that can lead to the development and
accumulation of human capital and in evolutionary terms. Social capital can be defined as any feature of a social relationship that yields
reproductive benefits. (Machalek & Martin, 2015). Individuals with a large social circle who tend to connect and interact more with people
are said to have a higher social capital (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). The concept may be extended to the internet world and translate to the
number of online contact and interactions (Singh & Srivastava, 2019). Social media affect the users’ social capital by maintaining the existing
relationships and creating new connections with those who are geographically dispersed on a large scale in a virtual location (Vitak et

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al., 2011). Some researchers said that internet-based interactions are regarded as positive factors of offline interaction, involvement, and
even social capital (Hampton and Wellman, 2003; Ellison et al., 2007). Users that in high social capital level, they tend to use Pinterest to
search on the high-class destination that provides luxury places. Generating social capital is one of the main motivations of using social
networking sites (Ellison et al., 2007). During travel, generally, social capital was exhibited by the use of social media to stay connected with
friends or to share pictures (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). Social capital been manifested in the following forms which are altruism, sharing,
confirming and bragging (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). Based on research that run by Singh and Srivastava (2019), people use Pinterest to
make review and sharing information to others on what they experience in certain travel destination. Besides that, today situation people
have extended family that scattered around the world through social sites like Pinterest, thus users love to share travel photos like sharing
album photos to family (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). Moreover, at times a degree of peer pressure is also observed as a reason to share
pictures (Singh and Srivastava, 2019). This prove that the highest rate of social capital, the more user intend to use Pinterest especially during
and after a vacation. Based on this discussion, the following hypothesis were developed.

H 4: There is positive significant relationship between social capital and intention to use Pinterest for travel purpose

2.7 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK MODEL

Developed framework has shown below based on the hypothesis that discuss from previous chapter. Figure 4 visualize the framework for
the user’s intention to use Pinterest page for travel purpose among local travelers.


Independent Variable (IV)
H1 Dependant Variable (DV)
Perceived Ease of Use
H2 Consumer Intention in Use Pinterest for
Perceived Usefulness Travel

Perceived Trust
H3
Social Capital H4


Figure 4
Source by Singh and Srivastava (2019)

Figure 4 shows the research framework that uses for this research. The function is to test the relationships between the independent
variable and dependent variable. The framework of the variables in Figure 1 was adopted from Singh and Srivastava (2019). They highlight
that these variables are related to the intention to use social media for travel purposes by Indian outbound leisure travelers during their travel
cycle.





























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■ 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The study will examine the relationship between variables which is the significant relationship between perceived ease of use, perceived
usefulness, perceived trust and social capital towards the consumer intention to use Pinterest for travel. The research design of this study is
a descriptive quantitative research design. This study use survey method in collecting data from local tourist that have Pinterest account. The
target respondents is among local tourist that aged 20 to 30 who are young adult consumers that use Pinterest in their daily life. This
methodology will be accomplished through a survey questionnaire, completed by the young adult Pinterest users by Google Form. All the
variables will be checked on the reliability before proceed to get the 100 respondents.

3.2 POPULATION AND SAMPLING

3.2.1 POPULATION

As mentioned by Banerjee and Chaudhury (2010), population may defined by geographic location, sex, age, with additional definitions of
attributes and variables such as occupation, religion and ethnic group. The population of this research focuses on respondents who are local
tourists which located in Malaysia. This research will focus on the local tourist which are young adult that age 20 years old to 30 years old
that use Pinterest in daily life as well as in making any decisions. According to Simon Kemp (2021), there are 32.57 million people in
Malaysia for first quarter in 2021 and 28 million of them are active social media users. Plus, 6.72 million of them who are 16 years old until
64 years old used Pinterest in their life. This study will aim for young adult users that already have Pinterest account because the dependant
variables of this study is intention of consumer to use Pinterest for travel and young adult consumer is the most category of consumer that
active using social media as well as using internet. This is prove by the survey that done by Malaysian Communication and Multimedia
Commission (2020), the young adult consumers is the highest percentage of consumer that use internet which is 67.2 percent.

3.2.2 SAMPLE SIZE

According to Hair et al. (2010), a recommended sample size of 100 for survey is minimum in survey study. Therefore, the number of samples
is at least 100. Then, 100 sets of questionnaires will be distributed among the 100 respondents from the population of consumers that use
Pinterest through any digital platform like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Pinterest by online Google Form. From the Google Form,
respondents’ email will be recorded for education purpose. Spreading Google Forms online will help to reduce time plus this prevents the
spread of Coronavirus in this country with limited movement. To add on, the users of Pinterest are located in a different state. So, with respect
to the situation of pandemic and the rules by the government, the best way to conduct this research is via online.

3.3 SAMPLING SIZE TECHNIQUE

The sampling technique that used in this research is one of the non-probability sampling technique which is judgemental or purposive
sampling. Non-probability technique is a method where feedback is collected based on a researcher’s or statistician’s sample selection
abilities rather than a predetermined selection process. In the other hand, purposive sampling is based on the researcher’s judgement, and it
is developed solely on the basis of the study’s goal and the target respondents’ knowledge. Homogeneous sampling applied to make the
form. The respondents share the similar traits, which are the respondents that aged 20 to 30 years old that use Pinterest. The idea is on how
this type of respondents relates to the topic or variables that indicate in this survey. In the survey, the first question that will be ask: “Are you
Pinterest’s user, currently 20 to 30 years of age?” The next questions will indicate that if the answer is no, the respondent will be terminated
from the survey. Only the one that said yes will be inclusive to the research. This is the method use in distributing the questionnaires to make
sure that all the 100 respondents is in the circle of target respondents who are needed in this survey.

3.4 DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Primary data and secondary data used in this research. According to Agarwal (2011), primary sources are unique sources from which the
researcher gathers data directly from a sample of consumer by interviewing them. This type of data can be collected through various way
like observation and interviewing. This research will collect primary data from the survey that spread to the target respondents who are young
adult Pinterest’ users which located in Malaysia. Another type of data that used by the researcher is secondary data that readily accessible
and do not necessitate the time and effort of developing and administering instrument. As mentioned by Agarwal (2011), secondary sources
is data that sources include publicly available done in detail, as well as already produced statistical statements and reports, whose data
researchers can utilize for their research. The secondary data that referring for this study are like book, previous research article and statistical
data from any report (i.e., MCMC Report, previous research on social media or Pinterest) that related to the topic discuss in this research.
Secondary data is uses as referenced purpose and bench mark for the finding that have been tested.






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3.5 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

Research instrument define as a tool that use to collect, measure and analyze any data that related to the study by the researcher. Research
instrument that use in this study is survey. Guided response type and free-answer type of survey research implemented in this study. Set of
questionnaire distributed to the target respondent that consist of questions that related to the study. Questionnaire separated to two section
which are Section A and Section B, to make it easier to understand. The question, ‘Are you Pinterest’s user and currently 20 to 30 years of
age?’ will ask first to make sure that only respondents in this category allow to participate in the survey.

3.5.1 SECTION A

Section A developed consists of demographic questions. In this section, respondent will request for their age to make sure that they are in
the right category of target respondents who are the person that aged 20 to 30 years old. Furthermore, a question on the interest of the
respondent either love social activities or not. Additionally, in this section, will be ask on the gender, state and email. Email needed because
will be used for any query in future regarding research purpose.

3.5.2 SECTION B

Section B has four part consist of four independent variables and one dependent variable. First part questions regarding the first variable
which is perceived ease of use. Meanwhile, second part contained four questions according to second variable which is perceived usefulness.
After that, there are five questions in third part that link which third independent variable, perceived trust, the forth part have three questions
about social capital and lastly the fifth part that consist of four questions. 5 Likert Scale used for this questions that anchored by definitely
1=strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neutral, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree. The last question requests respondent to give feedback on Tiarasa
Escape’s Pinterest page.



















































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■ 4.0 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

The questionnaire consists of dependent variable and independent variables that will be evaluated using five-likert scale. SPPS is used to test
the relationship between dependent variable and independent variables. There were 102 respondents fill in the questionnaire.

4.1 DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

Table 4.1 shows two dependent variables that has analyzed by the researcher which are gender and state. The age of respondents that fill this
questionnaire is around 20 years old to 30 years old. Most of respondents that taking part in this survey were female which consist of 77%
out of total respondents. The rest 25% was male respondents. Majority of respondents were stay at Johor (36.3%) and the second highest
number of respondents were from Kelantan (28.4%).

Table 4.1: Demographic Analysis

Demographic Factors Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
Gender Male 25 24.5
Female 77 75.5
State Johor 37 36.3
Kelantan 29 28.4
Pulau Pinang 4 3.9
Melaka 1 1.0
Pahang 2 2.0
Kedah 2 2.0
Perak 3 2.9
Perlis 1 1.0
Negeri Sembilan 3 2.9
Terengganu 5 4.9
Wilayah Persekutuan 3 2.9
Selangor 5 4.9
Sabah 2 2.0
Sarawak 5 4.9

4.2 NORMALITY TEST

The table 4.2 shows the normality test result for all the variables. The table visualize that all the variables is normal distribution because the
value of skewness and kurtosis is between -2 to 2. Skewness means the symmetry of the distribution while Kurtosis stated the “peakedness”
of the distribution (Kim, 2013). The values for asymmetry and kurtosis between -2 and +2 are considered acceptable in order to prove normal
univariate distribution (George & Mallery, 2010).

Table 4.2: Normality test

Variables Items Skewness kurtosis Conclusion
Consumer Intention 4 -.557 1.127 Normal distribution
Perceive ease of use 4 -1.127 1.689 Normal distribution
Perceive Usefulness 4 -.853 .481 Normal distribution
Perceive Trust 5 -1.036 1.691 Normal distribution
Social Capital 3 -.789 .991 Normal distribution

4. 3 RELIABILITY TEST

The reliability test is a technique used by researcher to determine the internal consistency of a scale. The researcher used Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient as the indicator to check the degree of consistency. The variables that were tested for stability and consistency using Cronbach
alpha are listed in Table 4.3. Reliability concerns the faith that one can have in the data obtained from the use of an instrument, that is, the
degree to which any measuring tool controls for random error (Mohajan and Haradhan, 2017). The general rule is that reliability greater than
0.8 are considered as high (Downing, 2004). The value of Cronbach’s Alpha for perceive ease of use is excellent because the value was more
than 0.9. For the perceive usefulness, perceive trust and social capital the value is very good but the value for consumer intention was
moderate as shown as 0.694.


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Table 4.3: Result of Reliability Test

Variables Statement Scale Cronbach’s
item Alpha
Perceive Ease of Use It is easy for me to use this Tiarasa Escape Pinterest page. 4 .905
It is easy to find the information I want on Tiarasa Escape’s Pinterest page.
I feel confident about using Tiarasa Escape’s Pinterest page.
I find it easy to do what I want to do during my travel on Tiarasa Escape’s
Pinterest page.
Perceive Usefulness This Tiarasa Escape Pinterest page provides speedy answers to my questions. 4 .846
This Tiarasa Escape Pinterest page is effective in helping me find the most
relevant information
Overall I find this Pinterest page useful.
This Tiarasa Escape Pinterest page improves my ability to get knowledge about
this destination.
Perceive Trust This Tiarasa Escape Pinterest page is genuinely committed to my satisfaction. 5 .873
I have trust in ths Pinterest page.
This Tiarasa Escape Pinterest page appears to be more trustworthy than other
resorts’ social networking sites.
This Pinterest page is secure.
I feel safe when I use this Tiarasa Escape Pinterest page to choose the
destination for travel.
Social Capital Uisng Pinterest, I can understand what happens in society and help myself to 3 .834
travel in peace.
I can learn about other cultures through Pinterest before travel.
Using Pinterest I can get specialized knowledge and information.
Consumer Intention I believe that using Pinterest to travel would be fascinating. 4 .694
I willingly use Pinterest social networking sites.
I am not opposed to use Pinterest for travel purposes.
I intend to continue using Pinterest.

4.4 MULTIPLE REGREASSION ANALYSIS

Multiple regression is a technique to explore the complex relationship between one dependent variable and several independent variables. In
order to have a better understanding of the relationship between perceive ease of use, perceive usefulness, perceive trust and social capital
towards the intention of consumer to use Pinterest for travel purpose, the multiple regression method was used to examine the relationship
between the independent and dependent variables. The significance level need to get below 0.05 (Fisher, 1962) to show it have significant
relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. Multiple regression analysis is performed to analyze the relationship and
how strong the independent variables does associates with dependent variables. Table 4.4 shows that social capital has significant unique
contribution to the dependent while perceive ease of use, perceive usefulness and perceive trust not significant because the value is more
than 0.05. Besides, R square is 0.439 and it means this model explained 43.9% of the variance in consumer intention had well explained by
all the four independent variables which is perceive ease of use, perceive usefulness, perceive trust and social capital.

Table 4.4: Multiple Regression

Coefficients

Model Unstandardized Coefficient Standardized t Sig. R Square
Coefficient
B Std. Error Beta
Constant 1.660 .300 5.526 .000
Perceived ease of use -.070 .099 -.104 -.711 .479
Perceive Usefulness .175 .133 .220 1.323 .189 .439
Perceive Trust -.075 .105 -.099 .714 .477
Social Capital .423 .077 -.512 5.498 .000




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■ 5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5. 1 DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS

The result of normality test and reliability test that have been analyze in this study may use for future research. The result for the normality
test showed all the data collected by the respondents is normal distribution with value of skewness and kurtosis is between -2 to +2. To make
sure all the variable is reliable to use, the Reliability of Cronbach’s alpha was been test by the researcher. The result form the reliability test
shows that all the variable were reliable with the value of Cronbach’s alpha is more than 0.6. Other than that, the researcher run the Multi-
regression analysis to test on the significant effect for each hypothesis. The result shows that social capital is the only independent variable
that making a significant contribution to the dependent variable which is consumer intention.

5. 2 LIMITATION

There are several limitation that need to be solve when conducting this study. Firstly, the respondents not look into the link of Pinterest page
given before proceed to answer the questions about that Pinterest page. The respondents randomly pick the choice given in the questionnaire
and this effected the result of findings. Next limitation is lack of time in collecting data from the respondents and this effect the data collection.
For example, the data collection for the states were not balance.

5. 3 RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

There are several recommendation that may done for future research. The first recommendation is the future researchers may use qualitative
method in getting data from the respondents. By doing this, the respondents will answer all the questions genuinely and data collected will
be more accurate. The other recommendation is the researcher need to collect data earlier to gain more sample size and help in getting better
result. Other than that, the researcher could use larger scale of target respondents for example targeting consumers that age 16 to 50 to easily
increase the amount of respondents and help in create more accurate result.

5.4 IMPLICATION OF STUDY

This study visualize on how actually consumers focus when using social media especially Pinterest during travel. By get knowledgeable
about the behavior and intention of consumer when using Pinterest, it help in giving the idea on what need to be proposed to the consumer
especially on the content posting. Besides that, any tourism destination’s social sites may know what need to be set up in the page because
consumers demand for security, perceive usefulness and perceive trust.

5.5 CONCLUSION

The researcher study on how Pinterest engage with consumer for travel purpose. Consumer’s social capital impact on how they select the
travel destination page. Most of the consumers strive to get the social media page that consist of complete information about the destinations
and really demand for Pinterest page that may make them feel secure. Then, this survey analyze using SPSS Statistic 26 to get the result for
certain test that already run by the researcher. The amount of respondents for this study is about 102 respondents who use Pinterest in their
daily life and aged 20 to 30 years old. Besides, the total research questions for all the variables is 20 questions that be as statements to analyze
the significant relationship for four hypothesis. After run the multi regression analysis, the researcher get result that shows that 3 variables
are not supported the dependent variable.


























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REFERENCES

Agag, G., & El-Masry, A. A. (2016). Understanding consumer intention to participate in online travel community and effects on consumer
intention to purchase travel online and WOM: An integration of innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust. Computers
in human behavior, 60, 97-111.

Agarwal, B. “Methods of data collection” SlideShare. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.slideshare.net/bintyagarwal/methods-
of-data-collection

Banerjee, A., & Chaudhury, S. (2010). Statistics without tears: Populations and samples. Industrial psychiatry journal, 19(1), 60.

Bercovici, J. (2014, June 24). Still more data shows Pinterest passing Twitter in popularity. Retrieved August 31, 2014 from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/06/24/still-more-data-shows-pinterest-passing-twitter-in-popularity/

Bernardini, C., Silverston, T., & Festor, O. (2014, August). A pin is worth a thousand words: Characterization of publications in
pinterest. In 2014 International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC) (pp. 322-327).
IEEE.

Digital consumer, The (2014, February). Nielsen. Retrieved April 21, October from https://www.nielsen.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/the-digital-consumer-report-feb-2014.pdf

Downing, S. M. (2004). Reliability: On the Reproducibility of Assessment Data. Med Education, 38, 1006-1012.

Fisher, T. (2012, February 1). Pinterest part III: Participating on Pinterest as a brand curator. Social Media Today retrieved
November 16, 2021 from http://socialmediatoday.com/emoderation/438577/pinterest-part-iii-participating- pinterest-
brand- curator.

George, D. & Mallery, M. (2010). SPSS for Windows Step by Step: A Simple Guide and Reference, 17.0 update (10a ed.) Boston: Pearson.

Hagedron, R. (2019, August 21). Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology.
Kim, H. Y. (2013). Statistical notes for clinical researchers: assessing normal distribution (2) using skewness and kurtosis. Restorative
dentistry & endodontics, 38(1), 52-54.

Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commision. (2020). Internet Users Survey 2020. ISSN 1823-2523 Retreive September,2021
from https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/IUS-2020-Report.pdf

Mangold & Fauld (2009) Social Media: the new "hybrid" element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52 (4), 357-36. Retrieved
October 23, 2021 from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681309000329

Mittal, S., Gupta, N., Dewan, P., & Kumaraguru, P. (2013). The pin-bang theory: Discovering the pinterest world. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1307.4952.

Mohajan, H. K. (2017). Two criteria for good measurements in research: Validity and reliability. Annals of Spiru Haret University. Economic
Series, 17(4), 59-82.

Simon Kemp. (2021). Digital 2021: Malaysia. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-malaysia

Singh, S., & Srivastava, P. (2019). Social media for outbound leisure travel: a framework based on technology acceptance model
(TAM). Journal of Tourism Futures.

Wagner, K. (2013, November 20). Pinterest Adds Place Pins for Better Travel Planning.
Mashable. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from http://mashable.com/2013/11/20/pinterest-place-pins/














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FINAL YEAR PROJECT

AHIBS UTM SKUDAI JAN 2022


DEVELOPING ZOOKU MEMBERSHIP CARD ATTRIBUTES TO ENHANCE
CUSTOMER LOYALTY


NURUL HAFIZA BINTI AZRI, DR. NOR ZAFIR BINTI MD. SALLEH

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

*Corresponding author: [email protected] , [email protected]

Abstrak
Disebabkan penularan wabak COVID-19 di seluruh dunia termasuk Malaysia, salah satu tempat tarikan seperti Zoo Negara mengalami kerugian besar dan
ingin menarik pelanggan kembali dengan menambah baik program keahliannya. Zoo Negara bergantung kepada pengumpulan dana untuk menampung
perbelanjaan kerana sekatan dan penjarakan sosial yang membawa kepada pengumpulan dana, penjualan tiket dan ingin menambah baik kad keahlian mereka.
Bagaimanapun, Zoo Negara mahu menumpukan perhatian untuk menambah baik kad keahliannya kerana bilangan orang yang menyertai program keahliannya
semakin berkurangan. Dengan program keahlian yang kukuh, pelanggan akan menjadi lebih setia dan tidak teragak-agak untuk membuat pembaharauan dalam
kad keahlian mereka. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menambah baik Kad Keahlian Zooku dengan menentukan elemen pilihan Kad Keahlian Zooku dalam
kalangan ibu bapa yang mempunyai anak kecil dan harga terbaik serta sifat-sifat terbaik kad keahlian ZooKu dalam kalangan ibu bapa yang mempunyai anak
kecil. Kajian ini menggunakan kajian kualitatif dan data telah dianalisis dengan menggunakan kaedah analisis tematik. Dapatan ini terdiri daripada lapan
responden secara keseluruhan yang menunjukkan perbezaan dan keunikan dalam respon mereka ketika temu bual maya. Adalah disyorkan bahawa
penyelidikan masa depan hendaklah dijalankan di negeri-negeri lain di Malaysia atau di luar negara supaya Kad Keahlian ZooKu sentiasa berada dalam trend
dan dikemas kini.

Kata Kunci: Program Keahlian, Elemen, Harga, Sifat-Sifat



Abstract
Due to the pandemic of COVID-19 outbreaks around the world including Malaysia, one of the attraction places such as Zoo Negara was having a big loss
and wanted to attract the customers back by improving its membership program. Zoo Negara relies on raising their fund to cover their expenses because of
the restriction and social distancing which led to fund raising, sales ticketing and wanted to improve their membership card. However, Zoo Negara wanted
to focus on improving its membership card because of decreasing amount of people to join the membership program. With strong membership program, the
switching barriers will be decreasing because the customers choose to be loyal instead of switching to other competitors or even worse, do not renew their
membership card. This study aims to improve the membership card of Zoo Negara which is ZooKu Membership Card by determining the preferred elements
of ZooKu Membership Card among parents with young children and the best pricing and best attributes of ZooKu membership card among parents with
young children. This research is using qualitative research design and the data has been analyzed by using thematic analysis method. The findings consist ed
of eight respondents in total that showed their difference and uniqueness responds during the virtual interview. It is recommended that future research shall
be conducted in other states in Malaysia or out from the country so ZooKu Membership Card can always in trend and be updated.

Keywords: Membership Program, Elements, Price, Attributes









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1.0 INTRODUCTION


Zoo is a place where wild animals and domesticated animals are publicly displayed for people attraction which in the other name, they
called it as a zoological garden or zoological park. In the zoo, the animals can be treated with intensive care than in nature reserves or even
in sanctuaries. Nowadays, zoo has been specifically grouping its animal into particular group instead of naturally placing them freely like in
a jungle. For instance, primates (group of mammals such as lemurs, monkeys and apes), big cats (large members of the cat family such as
tiger, lion, puma, cheetah and leopard), tropical birds (such as parrots, hornbill and eagle) or waterfowl (such as ducks, geese and swans).
Meanwhile, the marine species are located in big aquariums such as fishes and marine mammals (Britannica, 2020).

Zoo is being modernized where they are not only for visiting the animals or for entertainment purpose, but for other purposes also. For
instance, education, research, conservation and recreation purpose (Rose et al, 2019). Few years back then, zoo has become an education
place where they cooperated with the educational authorities in order to provide educational program to kids and students (Britannica, 2020).
To be precise, around 30 years ago, there has been changes of educating people about conservation of nature wildlife within zoos in order to
avoid the extinction of wildlife. There are many zoos provided and offered varieties of opportunities to educate the visitors about habitat
conservation through programs and activities (McElroy, 2015).

Tourism is where people stay away from their home to enjoy leisure and having business outside their office that is not more than one
consecutive year. Based on the statistics in Association of Zoos & Aquariums in United States (2021) (https://www.aza.org/zoo-and-
aquarium-statistics?locale=en), they served more than 200 million annual visitors worldwide whereas 183 million in the United States.
Meanwhile, around 50 million children visit with their families annually and around 12 million students on field trips visit the zoo annually.
Furthermore, to ensure the customers keep on visiting more often, the zoo must focus of its membership program. Customers tend to purchase
the membership card because they wanted to keep on coming to enjoy the benefits in the membership card and from there, zoo can build
their relationship in a long term. Customers always seek for better deals, always demanding, share or write their reviews from a form of
survey or on social media or even on the zoo’s official website based on they experienced at the zoo (Koo et al, 2020).

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT


Ever since the pandemic COVID-19 strikes last year on March 2020 around the world, New Straits Times by Nuradzimmah (2020)
(https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/12/649305/local-tourism-sector-has-suffered-rm100-billion-losses-due-pandemic) has reported
that Malaysia local tourism sector faces huge loss and suffered RM100 billion in losses. Zoological Park is one of the tourism sectors and it
is in the brink of collapse. Zoo Negara is no exception as they also are suffering due to this pandemic. Zoo Negara relies on fundraising to
cover their expenses because of the restriction and social distancing. Based on The Star article by Agency (2020)
(https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/living/2020/12/19/zoos-on-the-brink-of-collapse-during-pandemic), they reported that many zoos
from Europe, UK, Germany, Berlin, Poland and many zoos had relied on public donations to cover the financial crisis, while Ireland had
relied on ticket sales by 90% of its funding as they needed to close down the zoo due to government restriction. This shows that many people
might not come to visit because of pandemic and the zoos will get lesser visitors as well as their loyal visitors who subscribed on their
memberships program.

To be concluded, Zoo Negara needs to raise their funds through their sales ticketing, fund raising and improving their membership
card so they can attract the visitors back to come and visit the animals with lots of new attributes. ZooKu Membership Card has been lacking
with benefits and membership plan since 2019 compared with another zoological park in the world.


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1.3 THE COMPARISON BETWEEN ZOO NEGARA WITH THE BEST THREE ZOO IN THE WORLD BASED ON
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

Table 1: The Comparison Between Four Zoos’ Membership Cards (Retrieved from Their Official Websites)


ZOO NEGARA, MALAYSIA SAN DIEGO ZOO, US PHILADELPHIA ZOO, US SINGAPORE ZOO, SINGAPORE
THE BENEFITS - Unlimited free entrance for 365 - Weekday-Only admission to both - Free admission on all operating - Annual admission for four parks.
days. zoo and safari. days (with advanced reservation) - Members’ parking pass.
- Parents enjoy 25% off for the - Unlimited admission to both the for one year. - 20% off shopping, special dining
entrance ticket. zoo and safari. - 10% discount at zoo shops and experiences, wildlife tours, rides &
- 10% discount for Tram Ride, - Two 50% off discount admission dining location. rental items, dining and rope course.
Bee Museum, Souvenir and coupons. - Exclusive, members only hours - Complimentary tram rides.
F&B Kiosk. - Free Guest pass. and events. - Caretaker discount.
- Inclusive of Giant Panda - Wild Perks. - Free parking for 1 vehicle - $17 - My Animal Buddy birthday party.
Conservative Centre. - Unlimited Skyfari, zoo Bus Tour & value each visit. - Has membership Gift Voucher for
Kangaroo Bus at the zoo & Africa - Exclusive, members-only friends or families.
Tram at Safari Park. publication.
- Exclusive member specials San - Discounted admission more than
Diego Wildlife Alliance Journal 100 zoos and aquariums across the
subscription. country.
- Free parking at the Safari Park.
- Special early hours at the zoo.
- Accompanying guest benefits.
- Free priority boarding for the Bus
Tour at the zoo and Africa.
- Free preferred parking at the Safari
Park.
- One-Time 50% off special
experience/ Safari Tour.
- Special member Appreciation Day.
- Invitation to annual “Morning with
the Guardians” event.
- Invitation to annual “Evening with
the Directors” event.
THE - Applicable only for age from 3 - The benefits are classified into - Categorized the best Membership - Based on customers’ preference to
MEMBERSHIP to 17 years old. Membership Levels (from regular Plan for new members; Family choose one of four parks or become a
PLAN to premium); San Diego Kids Club, Deluxe, Family Plus, Family, member of all four parks.
San Diego Resident, San Diego Contributor, Dual and Individual. - There are five family packages: 2+1,
Resident Premium, Wildlife 2+2, 2+3, 2+4 and 2+5.
Protector, Wildlife Protector
Premium, Wildlife Guardian and *indicator – ‘2’ is the number of adults. ‘1-
Wildlife Champion. 5’ is the number of children.



















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1.4 SWOT ANALYSIS OF ZOO NEGARA MALAYSIA


Table 2: SWOT Analysis of Zoo Negara


STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
- Reasonable price on entrance fee based on the nationality and - The weather due to the prediction of weather is never accurately
age range. correct.
- Provides education services. - Economic situation such as the strike of COVID-19 pandemic.
- Strategic location because it located only 5km from capital city - Lack of multi-animal show time.
of Kuala Lumpur. - Lack of benefits in membership card.
- Organizing events.
- Provides multi-animal show time.

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
- Has an opportunity to conduct, to develop and train local - Zoo from Singapore has been a threat to Zoo Negara because of
expertise of giant panda conservation research. the high-quality maintenance towards the animals and the zoo
itself.
- There are many zoos with excellent benefits of their
membership card.


The SWOT Analysis in the Figure 1 shows the strengths, the weaknesses, the opportunities and the threats of Zoo Negara. From the
strength’s perspective, Zoo Negara positioned it price at a reasonable price based on demographic; nationality (whether the visitor is
Malaysian or a foreigner) and age, for instance, adults, children (age from 3-12 years old), senior citizen (age from 60 years old and above),
students, teachers, group discounts and free admission for disable (OKU). Not only that, but Zoo Negara also provides an education service
such as outdoor learning experience, volunteering, research program and provides seminars and courses. The location of Zoo Negara also
strategically located only 5km away from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Zoo Negara does organize events for visitors such as birthday
party, family day, wedding, zoo hunt and explorace game. Not to forget, this zoo also provides a multi-animal showtime of sea lion and
macaws.

While from the weakness’s perspective, the weather would be the ultimate reason due to Malaysia’s type of weather. Although Malaysia
is a hot and humid country, the accuracy of the weather prediction will never correct. Next is the economic situation, in which Zoo Negara
is having a big loss due to the pandemic of COVID-19 strikes and the citizens are needed to stay at home for safety purpose. Zoo Negara
also lacked show time where it is not come in variety in whereby sea lions and macaws only for the show. Moreover, Zoo Negara is lacked
with benefits of its ZooKu Membership Card compared to other zoos in the world.

st
Other than that, from the opportunity’s perspective, ever since Zoo Negara conserved a female giant Panda from China on 21 of May
2014, Zoo Negara gets opportunity of conducting, developing and training local expertise of giant panda conservation research. This shows
the shifts of Zoo Negara to get more research of other wildlife animal other than in Zoo Negara.

Finally, from the threat’s perspective, there is no huge threats in Zoo Negara, however, there were some issues regarding animal were
suffering in Zoo Negara and leaded to some visitors started to compare it with a zoo from Singapore where they maintain their zoo in a high-
quality environment and healthy animals. Other than that, there are many zoos in the world have the excellent benefits of their membership
cards which makes the tourists or the visitors would love to purchase it as they come with membership plan, mostly they use Family plan to
attract the customers.

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1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS


This study listed three main research questions:


i. What are the preferred elements of Zooku Membership Card among parents with young children?
ii. What is the best pricing strategy of Zooku Membership Card among parents with young children?
iii. What are the best attributes of Zooku Membership Card among parents with young children?


1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES


This study listed three main objectives:


i. To determine the preferred elements of Zooku Membership Card among parents with young children.
ii. To determine the best pricing strategy of Zooku Membership Card among parents with young children.
iii. To determine best attributes of Zooku Membership Card among parents with young children.



2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW


This chapter represents the membership card, the types of membership card, the elements preferred in membership card, the best pricing
strategy for membership card and the best attributes of membership card.

2.1 THE MEMBERSHIP CARD


Colleran (2020) from Join It article has mentioned that membership cards are given to the customers who have signed up or subscribed
to join a club or an organization. Membership cards seem pretty similar to a loyalty cards or programs where usually many big retailers or
organizations always come with a lot of benefits that are exclusive to the customers. However, many people questions do this program is
worth enough for the customers loyalty? Few researchers found many positive relationships between loyalty program membership and
customer loyalty (Rosenbaum et al, 2005). They indicate that in order to make the brand successful, the organization must encourage the
customer to join the membership program and gain their trust.

2.2 THE TYPES OF MEMBERSHIP CARD


According to Eva, a writer from Springly article (https://www.springly.org/en-us/blog/membership-card/), there are two types of
membership cards which called as physical card and digital card. Physical cards are basically like a common credit card sized that made from
plastic and usually are kept in people’s wallet or purse or card holder. Meanwhile, digital cards are the one was stored members’ information
solely in online. Digital cards are surprisingly very handy whenever people forgot to bring their wallet or lost their card. Apart from the
membership card types, TADA blog shared by Nida Amalia (https://blog.usetada.com/types-of-loyalty-membership-card-and-their-
measurement-metrics) that there are many of membership card comes with different strategies based on their types as the following table
that is shown below.



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Table 3: Types of Membership Card with Different Strategies

TYPES OF MEMBERSHIP CARD EXPLANATION
Point-Based Membership Card Customers earn points whenever they fulfilled conditions and all the points will be collected such
as by making a purchase, referring to perks, share and write reviews on social media and many
more.
Paid Membership Card Customers pay a certain amount to be a VIP member which draws the customers by offering them
an exclusive benefit to differentiate them from regular customers.
Tiering Membership Card Focus on levels that customers need to reach in order to enjoy certain benefits. The higher the
customers are on the tier, the more benefits they gain. For example, Regular to Premium or Bronze
to Platinum types of membership card.
Engagement Membership Card This type of membership is not only to collect points or rewards but to boost engagement and stay
connected with customers. It is like to make them feel close with Zoo Negara. For instance, this
type of card can provide motivations, reminders, tips that related to animals.
Community Membership Card A unique card that can be complemented with point-based or tiering type of membership card.
For example, the customers can connect with same minded people as them to let them discuss
topics and share recommendations and might as well enjoy other benefits.



2.3 THE ELEMENTS PREFERRED IN MEMBERSHIP CARD


According to GlueUp article (https://www.glueup.com/blog/membership-card-designs), they found five preferred elements that many
people prefer to have on their membership card. They will feel rather special through different versions of membership cards they have in
their wallet. Membership cards are the best way to create engagement between the organization and the customers whether the current one
or the new one. The first element is making the card looks simple and clean. The cards shall not look too grand or festive and the organization
must focus on the colours because colours are one of biggest element of how the members view the organization’s brand. The second element
is classic yet look creative. Not all people love classic design because classic might appear as old-design type of card but if the organization
has a good eye for a great and creative design, pretty sure people will feel more attracted to join the membership. The third one is textured
and unique card where this type of card will definitely make the members feel special because the card design is uncommon and has different
material on it such as textured material, metal material and more. The fourth one is elegant and sleek type of card to show the exclusiveness
and luxurious feel towards the brand. The last one is Gold Member Card where this card is suitable to create for a tiering membership card
program because the higher the member on the tier, the more benefits that gain as well as the design of the membership card will differ them
from regular customers.

2.4 THE BEST PRICING STRATEGY FOR MEMBERSHIP CARD


There are varieties of strategy to improve membership pricing strategy where a great membership that experienced by the members
and the higher the satisfaction, the higher the profit of the organizations. Based on Marine, a writer from Springly article
(https://www.springly.org/en-us/blog/membership-pricing-strategy/), she shared five new strategies to improve the pricing strategy for
membership card. The strategies are (1) offering free trials without commitment; for instance, by showing the customers their values and
services before requiring them to pay, (2) offering joining benefits; for instance, develop a promotion for the new members only like putting
a half price or a 50% off discount for the first 2 months of membership, (3) good, better, best approach, for instance, create a choice for the
customers instead of forcing them to pay for what they do not want to have, (4) offering payment by installments, for instance, some


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customers face a cash flow issues where they are interested to join but having a problem to pay it at once, and (5) getting creative with
discounts, for instance, provide a deadline for the offered discounts because it will create a sense of urgency for the indecisive customers.

2.5 THE BEST ATTRIBUTES IN MEMBERSHIP CARD


There are some factors that influence of the loyalty program to success such as the incentive, exclusive offers or benefits provided from
the organization. The influences also more on customers behavior as it focused on the customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers will spend
more for more benefits in which they see the benefits as value (Villace et al, 2013). A loyalty program can deliver few types of benefits to the
customers which can determine the hard and soft attributes to increase value. Hard attribute is a tangible reward, for instance, discounts and
gifts. Meanwhile, soft attribute is more to special communication and treatment where the organization try to give the customers a sense of
recognition or make them feel special (Gyulavari, Tamas 2010).

According to Mimouni and Volle (2010), they categorized into three groups of customer benefits regarding loyalty programs which is
the utilitarian, the hedonic and the symbolic ones. The utilitarian benefits surround by a functional and instrumental value to customers, for
instance in terms of monetary value and the convenience. Other than that, the hedonic benefits are more like emotional or feelings and
experimental aspects of the loyalty program. The customers would find it is entertaining and they also perceived joy from it. Meanwhile, the
symbolic benefits are much more to prestige, social status or it is belonged to any group of customers with a similarity of values and behavior.


3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY


3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN


The research design of this study is a qualitative research design. This method has become increasingly popular because it can find
data where sometimes it might be hard to use the quantitative method. This study is suitable to use qualitative method because we can focus
on the specific data to generate, rather than apply the ready-made structure like a form of survey. The purpose of this method is to collect in-
depth nonnumerical data from small sampling (Forward & Levin, 2021). It is required for the person to think right away and spontaneous,
more like being honest and give their own opinion from the questions given.

3.2 POPULATION AND SAMPLING


Population is a complete set of persons or objects that hold some attributes by defining the sampling criteria established by the
researcher. Meanwhile, sampling is a terminology in which to describe the selected or the chosen person or objects that have been chosen
for the studies and the process of selecting a group of people in order to conduct the study. Due to the pandemic of COVID-19 outbreaks,
the method used is a purposive technique which is a virtual interview. The virtual interview was held in online using WhatsApp platform.
The total of selected respondents was eight respondents and they were interviewed simultaneously. The respondents also were someone who
had experience of being a member for ZooKu Membership Card or the one who are currently a member of ZooKu Membership Card because
they had to answer the questions regarding the experience they had and they may answer some of their idea to make improvement of ZooKu
Membership Card.






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3.3 DATA ANALYSIS


The data was analyzed by using thematic analysis where it is widely used in qualitative research. Thematic analysis is a form of method
of analyzing the qualitative data where they are commonly applying in a set of texts, for instance, the interview scripts. The researcher will
examine the data to identify the common themes such as the topics, the ideas and also the patterns that repeatedly been using from the
interview. There are six process that developed by Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke; familiarization, coding, generating themes, reviewing
themes, defining and naming themes and doing write up. It does involve risks, however this method is rather subjective and relies on
researcher’s judgement and interpretation (Caulfield, 2020)



4.0 FINDINGS


The respondents in this study are based on the criteria on previous chapter 3 where the respondents are the one who had experience of
joining the ZooKu membership card and the one who are currently a member of ZooKu membership card. Following are the list of the
respondents’ background.

RESPONDENT AGE GENDER NUMBER OF CHILDREN CHILDREN’S AGE
Respondent 1 (R1) 32 Female 3 12, 10 & 6
Respondent 2 (R2) 29 Female 2 2 & 5
Respondent 3 (R3) 29 Female 1 4
Respondent 4 (R4) 36 Female 3 8, 5 & 1
Respondent 5 (R5) 33 Male 4 12, 10, 7 & 5
Respondent 6 (R6) 27 Male 5 6, 5, 3, 3 & 10 months
Respondent 7 (R7) 29 Male 2 5 & 3
Respondent 8 (R8) 30 Male 1 7



4.1 TYPE OF MEMBERSHIP CARDS
4.1.1 BASED ON OWN PREFERENCE


(a) Tiering Membership Card


According to the virtual interview, 37.5% of the interviewers have the same preference of types of membership card which is
Tiering Membership Card. R1 and R6 have the same responds towards their preference where R1 stated that she chose Tiering
Membership Card because there are high possibilities of her to visit the zoo frequently, while R6 stated it is worth his money if he
always visits the zoo with his family. Other than that, R7 stated the higher the level of the membership card, the more benefits he will
gain. This shows that all respondents preferred to have levels on their membership card because they believe the often they visit the
zoo, the more benefits they gain that is value for money. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“...sebab kemungkinan utk sye dpt dtg zoo frequently tu ada..” (R1,2021)








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(b) Paid Membership Card


Other than Tiering Membership Card, 37.5% of the interviewers preferred to have Paid Membership Card. R2 and R5 stated that
they would pay more to be able enjoy benefits that is differ from regular visitors by Zoo Negara. Meanwhile, R4 and R5 stated the
same responds about they wanted a fast lane area because they do not like to queue at the entrance, tram ride and much more especially
during holiday season. Paid Membership Card will allow the members to enjoy exclusive benefits during their visits at the zoo. One of
the respondents’ samples is;

“I prefer a paid membership card because I believe if I pay more I will get more benefits like fast lane (every transportation like tram
and all..” (R5, 2022)

(c) Point-Based Membership Card


Point-Based Membership Card is a common type of membership where the customers will accumulate their points to receive
rewards or coupons or discounts. 25% of the interviewers chose Point-Based Membership Card as their best preference for membership
card. R3 stated that this type of membership card is less cost and easy to earn the points by visiting the zoo frequently. Meanwhile, R8
stated that he liked simplicity and not complicated type of card because the more he collects the points, the more rewards he gains.
One of the respondents’ samples is;

“I like point-based because points lagi simple and tak complicated sebab the more points we collect, the more rewards we get” (R8,
2022)

4.2 THE PREFERRED ELEMENTS
4.2.1 THE SATISFACTION TOWARDS THE CURRENT ELEMENTS


50% of the interviewers which is R3, R4, R6 and R8 were satisfied with the current elements because most of them stated that the
design is suitable with the Zoo Negara theme. Meanwhile, 30% of the interviewers which is R2, R5 and R7 were not satisfied with the current
elements because (1) the card is not durable and (2) the design looks unattractive. Another 10% of the interviewer which is R1 was between
satisfied and not satisfied because she stated that the design looks too childish, however, the colours are pretty good because it looks attractive.
This result shows that the current elements need to be improved with their design because card is somewhat one of the main reasons of
customers to join membership program. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“Bg perception sya design dia mcm bdk2 sikit.. colours dia ok sbb sngt attractive.. design dia perlu nmpk mcm sophisticated skit..” (R1,
2021)

4.2.2 THE PREFERRED ELEMENTS BASED ON OWN PREFERENCE


(a) Simple and Clean


25% of the interviewers which is R5 and R8 chose a simplicity as their preferred elements on the membership card because they
like a simple design card, however R8 mentioned that although the design is simple, the design must be in a zoo theme. One of the
respondents’ samples is;
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“If dapat tukar, nak simple tapi masih dalam tema zoo, takde specific preference, semua okay” (R8, 2022)


(b) Textured and Unique


25% of the interviewers which is R1 and R2 where they stated that they preferred a design with a picture of an animal on the top
of the card and they may choose what kind of animal they like, and R1 also stated that she preferred a personalized name on her card
to feel that the card is hers, not anyone else’s. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“Solid colour with animals pattern printing such as tiger, giraffe, tenggiling, any birds, monyet, panda” (R2, 2021)


(c) Different Colours for Each Level of Membership


12.5% of the interviewers which is R7, he preferred a card that can differentiate his card with other’s cards such as Regular –
White, Resident – Silver and Premium – Gold or Black. Not only it can differentiate the card, but the benefits as well. One of the
respondents’ samples is;

“I prefer a card that is more lively and I want the card has different colour based on the levels” (R7, 2022)


4.3 THE BEST PRICE STRATEGY

4.3.1 THE SATISFACTION TOWARDS THE CURRENT PRICE


62.5% of the interviewers which is R1, R3, R4, R5 and R8 were satisfied with the current price of the membership card because of the
unlimited entry and quite affordable. Meanwhile, 37.5% of the interviewers which is R2, R6 and R7 were not satisfied because the price
offer is not worth the benefits offer. One of the respondents’ samples that were satisfied;

“yes! totally affordable!” (R3, 2021)


One of the respondents’ samples that were not satisfied;


“tak berpuas hati sangat sebab harga discount tu tidak berapa banyak” (R6, 2022)


4.3.2 THE PREFERRED PRICE ON ZOOKU MEMBERSHIP CARD


(a) Offering Joining Benefits


Based on the data analysis, 37.5% of the interviewers which is R2, R6 and R7 stated that Zoo Negara may raise their discount price
from 25% to 30% for entrance fee parents discount to encourage people to come as a group, not only as parents especially for adults.
Also, R7 suggested that the first-time member who signed up the program may receive 50% off of entrance fee with other benefits
such as F&B, 50% off discount parking, special member Appreciation Day and might as well to give 10% discount to the foreigners
to join the membership program. One of the respondents’ samples is;


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“first time user will get 50% of F&B with entrance fee, 50% parking, special member Appreciation Day, open for foreigners as well
10%” (R7, 2022)

(b) Getting Creative with Discounts


The results showed that 37.5% of the interviewers which is R1, R5 and R8 where R1 stated that to change their current price by
decreasing the adult’s price from RM45 to RM40 because of the price tackling. People tend to see RM40 is more affordable than
RM45. Meanwhile, R5 stated that rather than change the current price, he would like to add more benefits such as discounts, fast lane
to all entries, a caretaker services and souvenir. Other than that, R8 suggested to change the current adult’s price from RM45 to RM38
and the children who is below 6 years old will entitled to get free entrance. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“harga maybe boleh dikurangkan pd dewasa ke rm40, hrga kanak kanak tu masih ok lgi.. Sbb bg sya ni tentang tackle price, bg sya
RM45 tu nmpk mahal dn RM40 tu nmpk murah” (R1, 2021)

4.4 THE BEST ATTRIBUTES
4.4.1 THE LACK OF ATTRIBUTES IN CURRENT ZOOKU MEMBERSHIP CARD


According to the data analysis, there are 75% of interviewers which is R1, R2, R3, R5, R7 and R8 were stated ZooKu Membership
Card is lacked with benefits and want Zoo Negara to add more attributes so that they would want to keep on visiting the zoo as a member
not as a visitor only. Most of them mentioned that no free snacks during the tour, no free meal for kids, no stroller for kids just in case the
parents need to use a stroller, no free parking at least on weekends, do not have a lot activities such as show time as it always the same show,
and no complementary coupons. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“No free meal for kids, no equipment for kids (like AEON) if the parents forgot to bring stroller sebab the parents might feel tired from carry
their kids.. Takde free parking sebab kita lama dalam zoo jadi rasa tak berbaloi sedangkan kita member, tak banyak sangat activity sebab
show sentiasa sama” (R8, 2022)

4.4.2 THE PREFERRED ATTRIBUTES ON ZOOKU MEMBERSHIP CARD


(a) Hard Attributes


62.5% of the interviewers showed their preference of preferred hard attributes during their virtual interview which is R1, R2, R3,
R4 and R8 were preferred to have more discounts and rewards in their ZooKu Membership Card. For instance, make it an option
whether to have a physical card or digital card which is on Apps, add on the elements of Touch N Go service on the card, change the
plastic card into eco-friendly card, create a transaction card like a token where people can use the card like a debit card instead of using
cash when to pay at the counter, develop a VVIP pass to those who are frequently visiting the zoo, premium parking that is close to
the entrance, free food to feed the animals, entitled to bring one (1) more person (either for the adults or the children) to come visit the
zoo or get free meal voucher for two (2) if the member reached a certain amount of points. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“maybe vvip pass so we dont have to queue long.. more benefits to the member, such as free queue/ vvip pass so during busy season ..
free meal for the kid and premium parking perhaps, close to the entrance” (R3, 2021)


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(b) Soft Attributes


25% of the interviewers which is R5 and R7 preferred soft attributes where they believe of the bond between the customers and
the organization. R5 stated that engagement with customers through digital is pretty much important rather than focusing on discounts
and coupons. Meanwhile, R7 stated that Zoo Negara has to keep on updating with the trend and use media to broaden their scope such
as making a virtual Zoo tour to those who cannot visit the zoo due to some circumstances. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“other than discounts and coupons things, I think engagement with customers through digital is important also..” (R5, 2022)


4.5 NEW SUGGESTION TO IMPROVE OVERALL MARKETING STRATEGY


According to the data gathered, the results are not only showing the improvement towards the membership card but to improve on the
overall marketing strategy by the interviewers such as building a ZooKu Apps to implement digital membership card because it is more
convenient, less hassle, easy access, collaboration with e-Wallet for transaction purpose, easy to renew the membership card as they do not
have to queue and can keep up-to-date directly on the apps. Not only that, but the interviewers also mentioned about open to all people
without any limitation ages because the current system is targeting only to those parents with children of 3 to 17 years old only. R8 also
stated that the seniors’ citizen shall not rent for wheelchair, it should be free of charge. One of the respondents’ samples is;

“i think zoo negara management is a bit outdated, they need to level up” (R3, 2021)


“Digital is a good idea because everything dalam smartphone, like scan qr code and all..” “Build an apps as it is valuable because can
check points, collab with e-wallet so can tolak je dari situ macam tng” (R4,2021)


4.6 DEVELOPMENT OF THEMES FOR THEMATIC ANALYSIS


The table shows the major themes, the sub-themes and the second coding in implementation of Thematic Analysis which was obtained
from the virtual interview results.

Table 4 (a): Theme Development (Types of Membership Cards)

Major Theme Sub-Theme Second Coding

1. High possibilities to visit the zoo frequently.
Tiering Membership 2. Worth the money.
Card
3. The higher the level of the membership card,
the more benefits, the member gains.

Based on Own 1. Willing to pay more money.
Preference Paid Membership Card
2. Love the exclusive benefits.
1. Less cost.
Point-Based 2. Easy to earn points by often visiting the zoo.
Membership Card
3. Like simplicity; earn points and earn
rewards.








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Table 4 (b): Theme Development (The Preferred Elements)

Major Theme Sub-Theme Second Coding
1. Simple design card.
Simple and Clean
2. Simple but the design must be in Zoo theme
1. A design with a picture of an animal on top
The Preferred Elements of the card.
Based on Own Textured and Unique
Preference 2. Personalized name on the card.
3. Animals’ pattern instead of pictures.
Different Colours for 1. Card that can differentiate the level of the
Each Level of membership card such as White, Silver and
Memberships Gold or Black.



Table 4 (c): Theme Development (The Best Price Strategy)

Major Theme Sub-Theme Second Coding
1. Raise the current discount price.
Offering Joining 2. A first-time member received special
Benefits promotion.
1. Price tackling.
The Best Price Strategy 2. Add more new benefits.
Getting Creative with
Discounts 3. Change the demographic age for children to
get free entrance to those who are 6 years old
and below.


Table 4 (d): Theme Development (The Best Attributes)

Major Theme Sub-Theme Second Coding
1. Make an option for members to have a
Hard Attributes physical card or digital membership card.
2. Add new elements and more benefits.

The Best Attributes 1. Engagement with customers through digital.
2. Keep up to date with the trend.
Soft Attributes
3. Use media to widen the scope, for instance,
making a virtual Zoo tour.

























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5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.1 THEMATIC MAP



































Figure 1: Thematic Map

5.2 TYPES OF MEMBERSHIP CARD


After analyzing the data using the Thematic Map, the data of types of membership card was presented. The responds from the
respondents were divided into three (3) types of membership cards which are Tiering Membership Card, Paid Membership Card and Point-
Based Membership Card. TADA blog shared by Nida Amalia that there are many of membership card comes with different strategies based
on their types in which eight (8) respondents responded according to the strategies given.
The respondents described Tiering Membership Card as the higher the level they go, the more benefits they gain. Meanwhile, the
respondents that preferred Paid Membership Card are the customers who willing to pay more to receive exclusive benefits. Other than that,
the other respondents stated they preferred Point-Based Membership Card because this type of membership card is very commonly used at
almost retail because this type of membership will accumulate all the points and the customers have a right to collect their rewards.

5.3 THE PREFERRED ELEMENTS


According to GlueUp article, they found five preferred elements that many people prefer to have on their membership card.
Membership cards are the best way to create engagement between the organization and the customers whether the current one or the new
one. However, based on the information in the thematic map, eight (8) respondents have chosen three out of five elements as their preference.
The preference of elements that the respondents have chosen were based on the types of membership card they chose before. The results
showed that all respondents have their own preference where they chose Simple and Clean element, Textured and Unique element and
Different Colours of Cards. The simple and clean element shows a simplicity element where the cards shall not look too grand or overboard.

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Next is textured and unique card where the respondents wanted the card look different than other common card design. Lastly, is Different
Colours of Cards where this card is suitable to create for a tiering membership card program because the higher the member on the tier, the
more benefits that gain as well as the design of the membership card will differ them from regular customers.

5.4 THE BEST PRICE STRATEGY


In order to create best membership card, not only elements are included but price as well because it will determine of the experience
by members where the higher the member’s satisfaction, the higher the profit of the organizations. Based on Marine, a writer from Springly
article, she shared five new strategies to improve the pricing strategy for membership card. According to the findings, the respondents chose
two out of five strategies to improve the price strategy which is Offering Joining Benefits and Getting Creative with Discounts. The
respondents suggested to Zoo Negara raise the discount price and give a special promotion to those who are the first-time member. Not only
that, they preferred that Zoo Negara to decrease the current entrance fee, add on more new benefits because compared to other top zoos in
the world, Zoo Negara is left behind and they urged also to change the demographic age limit to children where the children who is below
six years old is entitled for free entrance like infant.

5.5 THE BEST ATTRIBUTES


A loyalty program can deliver few types of benefits to the customers where it can determine the hard attributes and soft attributes to
increase the value of the program. Hard attribute is a tangible reward, for instance, discounts and gifts. Meanwhile, soft attribute is more to
special communication and treatment where the organization try to give the customers a sense of recognition or make them feel special
(Gyulavari, Tamas 2010). The results showed that mostly of the respondents wanted Zoo Negara to add new elements and more benefits,
also to make options for members to use physical card or digital card. It is because there must be customers who are still not used to use apps
or website to buy tickets and so on. The respondents also believe of engagement between the customers and organization can create a bond
especially through digital. They also need to keep up-to-date with the trends and making virtual Zoo tour because nowadays many companies
and industries have been using virtual meeting due to the pandemic.

5.6 RESEARCH LIMITATION


The scope of the research was focusing on parents with young children who has been joining the membership card only. Also, there are
some limitations in conducting with this research such as the research can only be conducted through online because restrictions due to
pandemic COVID-19. Other than that, the scope of this research is quite small and it is very hard to find respondents in a limited time.

5.7 RESEARCH RECOMMENDATION


There are few recommendations to conduct this research in future. The research can be conducted with other sampling where not only
restricted to those who has a membership card but to anyone who has experience of visiting the zoo more than once.

5.8 CONCLUSION


To be concluded, findings from this study has discovered that Zoo Negara really must make improvement towards its membership card.
By making improvement on their ZooKu Membership Card with this study, it might can help the management to bring something new that
different from before. Tiering Membership Card is one the popular membership program that is using widely between the top zoos in the

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world. With the new attributes that was suggested by the respondents, Zoo Negara is not only can retain its regular customer, but they can
attract potential customers as well. However, Zoo Negara need to take care of its zoo management because it is one of the most important
elements for customers to keep on visiting and joining their membership card program. Otherwise, the customers would not want to join the
membership program due to some circumstances.


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Berezan, Orie & Raab, Carola & Tanford, Sarah & Kim, Yen-Soon. (2013). Evaluating Loyalty Constructs Among Hotel Reward Program
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Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2020, February 5). Zoo. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/zoo

Casado, José Manuel & Reinares, Pedro. (2010). Loyalty programmes as a tourism service sales channel: a Spanish multi-sponsor programme
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Hikkerovaa, L.. (2011). The effectiveness of loyalty programs: An application in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Business.
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PRESENTATION FYP

AHIBS UTM SKUDAI JAN 2022



UPIN AND IPIN: FACTORS INFLUENCING MALAYSIAN CULTURE THROUGH

ANIMATION


NURUL SYAKIRA BINTI ABDUL KARIM, PROFESSOR. DR. ROHAIZAT BIN BAHARUN

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract
We now live in a world that is influenced by globalization and technology. Animations are no longer unfamiliar to Malaysians, especially
for children. However, not only for children, teenagers and adults also love to watch animations. By watching animation that highlights
more on good values and lessons, most people can lead their life to prosperity and harmony. Upin and Ipin have successfully influenced
young people’s behavior even in different races and religions. The purpose of this study is to identify whether young people’s behavior can
be influenced by character archetypes, storytelling and language used in Upin and Ipin animation. This research would be used for
convenience sampling, which involves the targeted population of UTM students and other people. An online questionnaire would be analyzed
in this research and distributed to 110 respondents through WhatsApp. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software would be
used to evaluate the data.

Keywords: Animation, character archetypes, storytelling, language, young people’s behavior.



1.0 INTRODUCTION

Upin and Ipin is a Malaysian animated television series that premiered in 2007 and portrays the lives and adventures of the main twin
brothers in a fictional Malaysia. Furthermore, Upin and Ipin are five years old Malaysian twins who have unique character and they were
raised in a village house in Kampung Durian Runtuh by their grandmother, Opah, along with their sister, Kak Ros. When they were children,
both of their parents died.

Les' Copaque Production Sdn. Bhd. or Les' Copaque alone (also known as LES' COPAQUE) is a 3D computer animation publishing firm
and studio located in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, with an MSC-status. Les' Copaque is not just an animator, but also a full-fledged
production firm that incorporates concept submissions and other aspects of his animated work such as sound recording and post-processing.
The studio employs a large number of young professionals (Les' Copaque Production, 2021).

Furthermore, Haji Burhanuddin Md Radzi and Hajah Ainon Ariff, publishers, created Les' Copaque in December 2005. The company was
founded by them and three Multimedia University (MMU) graduates. Usamah Zaid bin Yasin, one of the founders of the company, is now
the Creative Director of Les' Copaque. They named their studio in conjunction with the Malay language term "Last Kopek" which means
"last chance" and changed the spelling to seem French (Les' Copaque Production, 2021).

Misi Mustahak, their first animation project, won four awards in 2005: Best Work ("Best of the 10th MVA 2005") and the Gold Medal for
Short Animated Film (Open) at the 10th Malaysian Video Awards (MVA), Tertiary Student Projects (Creative Multimedia) in the
Multimedia Super Corridor-APICTA 2005, and Best of Multimedia University Collection 2005 at Creative Pixels, National Art Gallery
have persuaded the publishers to collaborate with them in the development of animation studios (Les' Copaque Production, 2021).

Besides, in 2006, Les' Copaque's services were utilized to develop community service orders and a Japanese GT advertising. Short
animations were also produced by the firm which is Gang: The Adventure Begins which won the overall title, the best animated film and
the best animated director at the Short Film Awards 2006 (Les' Copaque Production, 2021).

While working on the film Gang: The Adventure Begins, Les' Copaque introduced Malaysia's most renowned animation character, Upin &
Ipin, in conjunction with Ramadan and Aidilfitri which also featured the twin brothers. The film was finally released on 12 February 2009
and managed to garner around RM6.3 million in cinema, making it one of the highest grossing Malaysian films in history (Wikipedia, 2021).


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In 2014, Les' Copaque set up its own animation academy because it realized that education in this field is very important in developing a 3D
production regardless of being an employee, entrepreneur and production owner. The field of 3D Animation is no longer solely dependent on
producing cartoons alone, but this field has expanded to several branches. Les' Copaque Animation Academy (LCAA) was developed not
only to meet the needs of the market but the LCAA also complements the field of education at the skills level up to the university level (Les'
Copaque Production, 2021).


1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

Nowadays, there are various cultures that have been known by teenagers and children apart from the Malaysian culture since information
could be spread easily and fast in this modern world. The most famous culture among Malaysian people today is Korean culture or better
known as K-pop. It is no longer unfamiliar to Malaysians, since several groups of people are obsessed with Korean celebrity groups of
celebrities. These will have an impact on today's young people’s behavior. As we know, everyone has different attitudes and behaviors,
especially teenagers and children. Teens are naturally apathetic or contemptuous of something that does not immediately attract their interest.
And when you focus on trying to change your child’s attitude, you’re setting yourself up for frustration (Devine, n.d.).

The attitude has influenced the broader Malaysian social culture and is reflected in the behavior of people from most backgrounds (Evason,
2016). Moral standards are important as a reflection or representation of Malaysian and Islamic beliefs, as shown by the characters in the
animation series Upin and Ipin. Character archetypes, storytelling and language used in Upin and Ipin animation are similar with these
values. Therefore, this research will focus on the factors that influence young people’s behavior through Upin and Ipin animation (HARIS,
2019).


1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study listed three main research questions:

RQ1: Do character archetypes in Upin and Ipin animation will positively affect young people’s behavior?
RQ2: Does storytelling in Upin and Ipin animation will positively affect young people’s behavior?

RQ3: Does language in Upin and Ipin animation will positively affect young people’s behavior?


1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

This study listed three main objectives:

i. To identify the significant relationship between character archetypes in Upin and Ipin animation and young people’s behavior.

ii. To identify the significant relationship between storytelling in Upin and Ipin animation and young people’s behavior.

iii. To identify the significant relationship between language in Upin and Ipin animation and young people’s behavior.


2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

This part of literature review is about the several elements that can influence young people’s behavior through Upin and Ipin animation
among young generations today.


2.1 YOUNG PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR

Usually, young people can be defined as people around the time between childhood and adulthood, between the ages of 15 to 25 years old,
as well as youth. While behavior can be defined as the way how people act or react. Nowadays, young people can easily be influenced by
several things that they see and read, especially through social media or peer influence, that can affect their behavior.

Malaysia has quite a range of lifestyles, beliefs and moral values. There are many types of cultures in Malaysia that we already know,
including food, dance, clothing, tourism, and etc. Despite the various diversity in races and religions, there are behavioral and cultural
parallels. Having a variety of races and various types of culture can reflect the behavior of young people. A harmonious and prosperous





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environment leads to the formation of unity between the races. With racial unity, Malaysians will be united in doing anything. On the other
hand, it can sustain the image of the country across the world.


2.2 HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

2.3 CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

As shown in Upin and Ipin animation series and movies, there are some characters represent various races and cultural backgrounds. For
example, the Malay characters are Upin, Ipin, Opah, Kak Ros, Mail, Fizi, Ehsan, Ijat, Dzul, Abang Salleh, Cikgu Jasmin and Tok Dalang.
While the Indian ethnic group can be seen by the characters of Uncle Muthu, Jarjit, and Devi, and Mei Mei and Ah Tong represent the
Chinese ethnic group. In addition, there are characters from Indonesia which are Susanti.

These characters illustrate various ethnic characters who are allowed to engage or connect with the main characters, Upin and Ipin, as well
as other characters, and can influence the young people’s behavior. The character archetypes shown in this animation demonstrates that
young people’s behavior is important in this era of globalization and the moral values and good lessons can be learned by today’s people
especially children. Relying on the explanation given above, the researcher hypotheses:

H1: Character archetypes in Upin and Ipin animation will influence young people’s behavior.

H01: Character archetypes in Upin and Ipin animation will not influence young people’s behavior.


2.4 STORYTELLING

The social and cultural activity of exchanging stories, sometimes with creativity, dramas, or elaboration, is referred to the storytelling.
(Wikepedia, 2021). Each culture seems to have its own stories or narratives which are used for enjoyment, learning, environmental
preservation, or ethical intrathecal. In stories and storytelling, storyline, characters, and a storytelling viewpoint are all significant factors.
The element of dialogue in Upin and Ipin animation series uses a deeper understanding of the suitable language style in dialogues for children
(HARIS, 2019). So that, young people can learn and improve their behavior from the animation they watched. Therefore, the following
hypothesis was generated:

H2: Storytelling in Upin and Ipin animation will influence young people’s behavior.

H02: Storytelling in Upin and Ipin animation will not influence young people’s behavior.


2.5 LANGUAGE USED

Since Upin and Ipin is a Malaysian-based animation, it must highly influence young people’s behavior which has a lot of different attitudes.
In this animation, it shows that a lot of the multi-racial characters like Upin and Ipin are Malay, Jarjit and Devi are Indian, Mei Mei and Ah
Tong are Chinese and much more. Even though there is a difference between their races, they still use the same language to communicate
with the Malay language, as it is Malaysia’s main language. In order to sustain the good behavior of young people through language used,
learning Malay language should be emphasized from primary school.

However, other languages such as English, Tamil and Mandarin, should not be neglected and not forgotten. Thus, a multi-racial society can
be maintained. By learning the Malay language at such a young age, Malaysians can communicate easily and be connected. This animation
also can be watched in English too. So, if there are parents who want their children to learn English, can change it. Since this Malaysian
television series is highly influenced, people across the Malay-archipelago can learn these languages from this source. Therefore, the
researcher hypothesizes:

H3: Language used in Upin and Ipin animation will influence young people’s behavior.

H03: Language used in Upin and Ipin animation will not influence young people’s behavior.












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RESEARCH FRAMEWORK MODEL


Characters archetype (H1)






Storytelling (H2) Young People’s Behavior





Language Used (H3)


Figure 1: A research framework for young people’s behavior through Upin and Ipin Animation among UTM students.


Figure 1 shows the research framework of this study. The purpose is to determine the relationships between independent variables (character
archetypes, storytelling and language used) and dependent variable (young people’s behavior). Based on the research framework obtained
above, there are three main hypotheses that we can get from this study. This is because, the study is being focused on young people’s
behavior among Malaysian people today.


3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

This study's research design is descriptive quantitative research design. To define, analyze, forecast, or regulate variables and phenomena
of interest, quantitative research relies on the collection and analysis of numerical data (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2009). This study used the
survey method, which requires distributing questionnaires to targeted respondents in order to collect the data.

3.2 POPULATION

The term "population" refers to a grouping of items that share some feature. The population size is determined by the number of elements in
the population (Singh, 2018). The respondents in this study are students from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Skudai, Johor Bahru, as
well as random people. According to About UTM (n.d.), there are 24,704, of postgraduate and undergraduate students, 4,398 of Master
students, 4,780 of PhD students and 4,912 of, total international students in UTM. A convenient sampling method will be used to distribute
the questionnaire to the respondents. From the result of sample size, the number of samples is 110 respondents. Therefore, the questionnaires
will be distributed to 110 respondents through WhatsApp from the population of students in UTM Skudai and random people through online
Google Form.


3.3 SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

Probability and non-probability sampling are the two forms of sampling (Uprichard, 2013). Probability sampling is a sort of sampling in
which members of the population have an equal probability of being chosen as part of the sample group. This, however, is incompatible
with qualitative research and invalidates qualitative sampling. Non-probability sampling (also known as purposive or deliberate sampling)
is the most recommended sampling method in qualitative research since it involves evaluating the expected respondents within the target
population. Because it is easy to acquire information from respondents on young people's behavior that has been influenced by character
archetypes, storytelling, and language used in Upin and Ipin animation, this study applies a convenience sampling approach. Convenience
sampling can be useful in some situations, such as when a researcher has to complete the research quickly or on a limited budget. It's also
one of the only options when a researcher doesn't have access to a complete list of a population's members (Stephanie, 2015).







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3.4 DATA COLLECTION METHOD

The systematic collection of observations or measurements are known as data collection (Bhandari, 2021). A questionnaire will be delivered
to the respondents as the data gathering strategy in this study. While data can be useful, too much information can also be bothersome, and
the wrong data might be useless. The correct data collection approach can make the difference between time-saving diversions and helpful
insights (Ainsworth, 2021).


3.5 PRIMARY DATA

Primary data can be defined as an information that is gathered directly from a data provider without having to go via any other sources. It is
usually collected for a specific study topic and may be published openly for other researchers to use (Blog, 2015). The primary data of this
research is a questionnaire which will be created based on the research questions in Chapter 1. The questionnaires have five sections. The
first section consists of the targeted respondent’s personal information, and the rest sections contain dependent variable and independent
variables in this study. There are structured questions which require the respondents to answer multiple-choice questions and Likert questions
that have levels of agreement from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree.


3.6 SECONDARY DATA

Secondary data can be defined as an information that has already been gathered and is readily available from other sources. Such data are
more affordable and faster to gather than primary data, and they may also be available where main data is unavailable (Juneja, 2015). This
kind of data for this research is from the internet, journal articles, websites, Google Scholar, articles and e-book. In addition, there are several
researches that have been conducted by the previous researcher also have been collected as the secondary data in order to support this
research.


3.7 RESEARCH MEASURE AND INSTRUMENT

An online questionnaire will be used to collect the primary data. This research using a quantitative approach such as Likert scale and multiple
choices questions which assumed it is the most appropriate for this research. The questionnaire is categorized into five parts, which are part
A, B, C, D and E. Part A consists of simple questions about the targeted respondents’ personal information (gender, race, age, education
level and nationality). Meanwhile, Part B contained several questions about character archetypes in Upin and Ipin animation. Part C
contained several questions about storytelling in Upin and Ipin animation. Next, Part D contained several questions about language used in
Upin and Ipin animation. And lastly, Part E was asked about young people’s behavior.

Furthermore, the respondents are asked to select from a list of options in a series of questionnaires. The Likert scale is to determine the
strength of the answer with levels of agreement such as Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree and Strongly Agree. While multiple
choice allows the respondents to choose one option from a set of options that will define the question. It is straightforward and easy to use
in a variety of methods, assists in the creation of simpler data, and provides mutually exclusive options. The respondents will have the
experience of answering this survey delightful because the answer options are fixed.


Table 3.1: Example of Likert Scale

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

1 2 3 4 5

3.8 QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

A questionnaire is a tool that consists of a set of questions designed to collect data from the respondents. The questionnaires are similar to
written interviews that they use to collect information. They can be done in person, over the phone, on the computer, or through the mail
(McLeod, 2018).

In this study, the researcher distributes the questionnaire to the targeted respondents through an online platform via WhatsApp. Structured
questions are those in which the set of response answers and response format, such as multiple choice, parallels, and a level, are specified.
The respondents need to tick at the correct information and answer based on the option given. Other than that, there are several questions
from multiple choice and Likert scale that the targeted respondents are required to answer.



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4.0 RESULT AND ANALYSIS

The questionnaire created consists of the independent variables and dependent variable that will be assessed based on the questions of Likert
scale, which have five levels of agreement. The demographic factors were requiring multiple-choice questions. The data from the
questionnaire will be assessed by the researcher using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. In order to test the relationship
between the independent variables (character archetypes, storytelling and language used) and the dependent variable (young people’s
behavior), there are several tests that will be used in the SPSS software.


4.1 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF RESPONDENTS’ BACKGROUND

According to the Table 4.1, the result shows five demographic factors that have been assessed by the researcher from the total of 110
respondents which are gender, race, age, education level and nationality and all the data is valid. Based on the research, the majority of the
respondents in this study are female with 88 people (80%), and male with 22 people (20%) from the total 110 respondents. The race of the
respondents is dominated by Malay people with 104 people (94.5%), others from Bumiputera Sabah with 5 people (4.5%) and Chinese with
1 people (0.9%). Furthermore, most of the respondents are in the range of the age 21 to 25 years old with 86 people (78.2%), while for 16
to 20 years old with 14 people (12.7%), above 25 years old with 9 people (8.2%) and below 15 years old with 1 people (0.9%). For education
level, most of them are in degree level of study with 71 people (64.5%), while STPM/Matriculation/Foundation/Diploma students with 25
people (22.7%), SPM students with 8 people (7.3%) and PT3 students with 6 people (5.5%). And the last one, nationality is dominated by
citizens with 109 people (99.1%) and only 1 person is non-citizen (0.9%). This statement can be proved and seen clearly as shown in Table
4.1 below.



Table 4.1: Descriptive analysis of respondents' backgrounds

Demographic Factors Frequency (f) Percentage (%)
Gender Male 22 20.0

Female 88 80.0

Race Malay 104 94.5
Chinese 1 0.9

Others 5 4.5
Age Below 15 years old 1 0.9

16 – 20 years old 14 12.7

21 – 25 years old 86 78.2
Above 25 years old 9 8.2

Education Level PT3 6 5.5

SPM 8 7.3
STPM/Matriculation/Foundation/Diploma 25 22.7

Degree 71 64.5

Nationality Citizen 109 99.1
Non-Citizen 1 0.9









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4.2 NORMALITY TEST

In this normality test, there are two types of tests which are Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk. The Shapiro–Wilk test is a more
appropriate method for small sample sizes which is less than 50 respondents (<50 samples) although it can also be handling on larger
sample size while Kolmogorov–Smirnov test is used for more than or equal to 50 respondents (≥50 samples). For both of the above tests,
null hypothesis states that data are taken from normal distributed population (Anaesth, 2019). Since the total of respondents are 110
people, then this research is appropriate to use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test in this part of the normality test. Table 4.2 shows the results
of a normality test performed using SPSS.


Table 4.2: Normality Test

a
Average (Variables) Kolmogorov-Smirnov Shapiro-Wilk
Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
Character archetypes .180 110 .000 .865 110 .000

Storytelling .166 110 .000 .903 110 .000

Language used .125 110 .000 .922 110 .000
Young people’s .220 110 .000 .817 110 .000

behavior

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction



4.3 RELIABILITY TEST

Reliability test is a method that. In this part, Cronbach’s Alpha analysis is conducted to 110 respondents. The purpose of this analysis was
to assess internal consistency where the entire items for a variable should measure the same thing and should be related to each other
(Amirrudin et al., 2020). On the other hand, Taber (2018) also stated that the minimum acceptable value of Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.7. The
Table 4.3 below shows Cronbach’s Alpha values and the summary of reliability tests for this research.


Table 4.3: Cronbach’s Alpha Analysis

Variables Cronbach’s Alpha No of Item Delete Item
Character archetypes 0.787 5 0

Storytelling 0.819 5 0

Language used 0.767 5 0
Young people’s behavior 0.739 4 1 (YPB3)



Based on Table 4.3, it shows that all the values are more than 0.7. What can the researcher say is all the elements in this research are accurate
and reliable. Hence, the Cronbach’s Alpha values obtained are acceptable because it has exceeded the value of 0.7.











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4.4 MULTICOLLINEARITY TEST

Multicollinearity can be defined as the existence of significant intercorrelations between two or more independent variables in a multiple
regression model (Hayes, 2022). Multicollinearity test is analyzed based on the tolerance values and variance inflation factors (VIF). In
order to avoid any problem, occur with the variables, the tolerance value should be more than 0.1 and the VIF value should be less than 10.
Table 4.4 below shows the multicollinearity test in this study.


Table 4.4: Multicollinearity Test

Model Collinearity Statistics
Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant)

CA .730 1.371
ST .421 2.376

LU .427 2.344


a. Dependent Variable: average YPB


based on the Table 4.4, the independent variables have strong relationship with the dependent variable with the variance inflation factors
(VIF) value is less than 10 approximately. There is another result in this test which all values in tolerance are greater than 0.1. Hence, the
researcher can conclude that there is no evidence of problem in multicollinearity for this study.


4.5 MULTIPLE REGRESSION

Multiple regression can be defined as a technique that can be used by researchers to analyze the relationship between the independent
variables and dependent variable. Multiple regression methods were used to defined the relationship between the character archetypes,
storytelling and language used and young people’s behavior. Table 4.5 shows the multiple regression that have been performed in this study.


Table 4.5: Multiple Regression
a
Coefficients
Model Unstandardized Standardized t Sig. R square

Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) 2.419 .305 7.930 .000 .358

CA .036 .060 .055 .606 .546
ST .199 .100 .239 1.992 .049

LU .272 .088 .367 3.084 .003


a. Dependent Variable: average YPB

Table 4.5 shows the value of R square for model 1 is 35.8, and it means this model explained 35.8% of the variance in dependent variable
(young people’s behavior) accounted for by independent variables (character archetypes, storytelling and language used). ST and LU are
the independent variables that have significant value because the value is more than 0.1 and the independent variable of CA is not significant


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because the value is not more than 0.1. The researcher could say that the independent variables contribute to the dependent variable in a
strong and distinctive way.


5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 DISCUSSION BASED ON DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

In this study, the result of descriptive analysis consists of a normality test and reliability test that have been obtained from the overall data
that were analyzed. For multiple regression tests, in order to know if the variables are significant or not is based on the value which is more
than 0.1. The result in this study shows that the storytelling and language used in Upin and Ipin animation have significant value (0.239 and
0.367) which are more than 0.1. These have resulted that storytelling and language used have positive impact and can influence young
people’s behavior. However, character archetypes in Upin and Ipin animation do not has significant value (0.055) which is less than 0.1.
This has resulted that character archetype has negative impact and cannot influence young people’s behavior.

Other than that, the researcher also did the reliability test of Cronbach’s Alpha to test whether the variables were either reliable or not. The
results show that the variables were reliable and can be seen from the value of Cronbach’s Alpha is more than 0.7. Furthermore, in a
multicollinearity test, it has been proved that there is no problem in variables because the tolerance value is greater than 0.1 and the VIF
value is lower than 10.


5.2 LIMITATIONS

There are some limitations during conducting this study. The first one is lack of data on demographic factors. For example, most of the
respondents are Malays, few of them are Chinese and Bumiputera Sabah, none Indian respondents. Besides, the age of the respondents also
filled with the range of 21 to 25 years old, followed by 16 to 20 years old and above 25 years old. For the age below 15 years old, only one
respondent. Therefore, there is a probability that such limitations have influenced this study directly or indirectly and consciously or
unconsciously. In addition, the sampling scale is insufficient which makes the accuracy of the results for this study difficult to obtain.
Besides, the lack of time in collecting the respondents is the limitation for this study. This matter will cause the data collection process to be
delayed.


5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS

There are some recommendations for future research that can be emphasized. The first one is future researchers have to ensure that the
respondents are from various races, levels of age and education, nationality or other demographic factors that suitable are following the title
of future research. Other than that, this study is also likely to require a large sampling scale. So, the second recommendation is that future
researchers have to increase the number of respondents to improve the accuracy of the results for this study. In addition, the other
recommendation is the researchers need to distribute the questionnaire earlier and allocate more time in the process of data collection to get
more data to be evaluated.


5.4 CONCLUSION

According to the results of the research, the researcher can conclude that hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2 which are the storytelling and
language used can influence the dependent variable which is young people’s behavior through Upin and Ipin animation. Even though
character archetypes do not have a positive impact, young people can apply all the good values of the characters in the animation in their
daily life. However, young people’s behavior should be emphasized from an earlier age. Based on the research objectives: To identify the
significant relationship between storytelling in Upin and Ipin animation and young people’s behavior and to identify the significant
relationship between language in Upin and Ipin animation and young people’s behavior, can be achieved.

















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FINAL YEAR PROJECT

AHIBS UTM SKUDAI JAN 2022



THE IMPACT OF PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY TOWARDS CONSUMER BUYING
BEHAVIOR: A CASE STUDY AT PUSTAKA AZHAR



NURULNISYYAH BINTI MD SAHABANDI, DR. NOR ZAFIR BINTI MD SALLEH

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

*Corresponding author: [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract (Not more than 200 Words)
The research explores the impact of promotional strategy towards customer’s buying behavior with the purpose to identify the relationship
between the promotional strategy and customer’s buying behaviors at Pustaka Azhar. Today, the rapid globalization has made almost every
business whether small or large to compete globally. Hence, the businesses need to know the best and effective promotional strategy that
can help them to survive in this situation. In this study, researcher use promotional strategy method such as advertising, sales promotion,
direct marketing, and social media as independent variables and consumer buying behavior as dependent variable. The method uses for
collecting data in this study is quantitative method. The questionnaire was use in this study because it effective to collect data from large
sample of population. By conducting descriptive research, questionnaire was distributed to 123 respondents. The result of this research was
found that social media have relationship towards consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. This research concludes with some
recommendation for Pustaka Azhar to improve its promotional strategy that has been given by researcher based on analyzed data.


Keywords: Advertising, Social Media, Sales Promotion, Direct Marketing, Consumer Buying Behavior


■ 1.0 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, businesses environment always encounter change with various forms of competition. In the businesses, promotion is an important
marketing tools that can attract customer to purchase their product. Moreover, promotion is also a type of communication between buyer and
seller. Seller will persuade their potential buyer to purchase their products through promotions. Promotions can help customer become aware
of their products or the businesses and to maintain loyal customer.

According to Ville (2012) consumer’s buying behavior is the study of individuals, groups or organization and the processes they use to select,
secure, use and dispose of goods, services, experiences, or ideas to meet needs as well as the impact these processes have on consumers and
society. By understanding customer’s buying behavior, it can help the businesses to achieve their goals.

Therefore, by adopting the good and effective promotional strategies it can bring the success for the businesses. It also can help the businesses
have a better understanding about the customer’s needs and new target market. Moreover, promotional strategy affects customer’s buying
behaviors. Promotional strategy also can create a good impression to the customers about their brand and products.


■ 1.1 Problem Statement

Based on the interview with owner of Pustaka Azhar, the current problem that they are facing is the lack of brand awareness. Hence, this
study aims to determine the impact of promotional strategy towards consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar.

In challenging business world, brand awareness is important because it can help people recognize their business. Brand awareness can help
to keeps business brand on the top-of-mind with the consumers. If the people know the brand, the consumers can become familiar and
comfortable with it. Then, when the consumers faced with a decision to buy from the business or their competitor, the consumers are more
likely to buy from the business because of the familiarity. Moreover, brand awareness also helps the businesses to achieve their goals and
objectives. Other than that, brand awareness also can help to increase market share and sales. By making people aware with business
brand, it can increase business chance to dominating the market.

The purpose of a promotional strategy is to inform, persuade, or remind targeted customers about the products. The goals of promotion are
to raise awareness, encourage people to try products, provide information, retain loyal customers, increase product use, identify potential



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customers, and even educate clients about potential services. Thus, Pustaka Azhar need to use the appropriate promotional strategy to
attract the customers to buy their products.


1.2 Research Questions

RQ 1: Does the impact of direct marketing influence consumer buying behavior?
RQ 2: Does the impact of social media influence consumer buying behavior?
RQ 3: Does the impact of advertising influence consumer buying behavior?
RQ 4: Does the impact of sales promotion influence consumer buying behavior?


1.3 Research Objectives

RO 1: To investigate the impact of direct marketing influence consumer buying behavior
RO 2: To investigate the impact of social media influence consumer buying behavior
RO 3: To investigate the impact of advertising influence consumer buying behavior
RO 4: To investigate the impact of sales promotion influence consumer buying behavior


■ 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Promotion

The process of marketing communication which includes information, persuasion, and influence is known as promotion. Promotion has been
considered to be self-coordinated efforts to establish information and persuasion channels to facilitate the sale of goods or services or the
acceptance of ideas or points of view.

According to Kotler (2013), promotion consists of all activities carried out by a company to communicate and promote its product to its
target market. The promotional element of the marketing mix, also known as marketing communication or promotional mix, consists of
various communication methods and activities directed at the target consumers. Advertising, personnel selling, public relations or publicity,
sales promotion, and direct marketing are all elements of the promotional mix.

2.1.1 Promotional Strategy

A promotion strategy, according to Strydom (2004), is an integrated programmed of promotion mix elements designed to present an
organization and its products to potential consumers, communicate need-satisfying characteristics of products, facilitate sales, and contribute
to long-term profit performance. Promotion is important for every business because customers can have some knowledge about a goods or
services through promotion. It also can help the business to identify its target market and set business goals. Business needs to develop or
adapt the right promotional strategy for the customer become aware about the brands and their products or services.


2.2 Consumer Buying Behavior

Consumer buying behavior is defined as the mental, emotional, and physical activities that people engage when selecting, purchasing using
and disposing of products and services to meet their needs and desires (Schifman & Kanuk, 2009). It includes purchasing and other
consumption related activities of people engaging in exchange process. Consumer behavior is influenced by social and cultural factors, that
also influence individuals buying decision but also decide the type of product to buy.


2.3 Hypothesis Development

2.3.1 Direct Marketing

According to Blythe (2006), direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing which involves one or more advertising media
to evoke a measurable response or transaction in any location. It actually achieves this by collecting, evaluating, and utilizing
information about specific customers and prospects. This data allows us to determine which of the people on our customer and
prospect files are most likely to be interested in a specific product, services or offer. In this study, researcher want
to know whether the use of direct marketing can give an impact toward the consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. Based
on the explanation above, researcher hypothesize:

H1: There is significant relationship between direct marketing and consumer buying behavior.



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2.3.2 Social Media


According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) social media are tools that use the web 2.0 or internet as a platform to run an application
or a site, and through this platform, communication, interaction, and information sharing among users is permitted and encouraged.
Another definition from Berthon et al. (2012) social media is a collection of channels that facilitate and disseminate interaction
between individuals and entities such as businesses. Because of the power that social media has, marketers and businesses can't
help but to notice it, and why not they take advantage of the social media platform. Social media is huge platform, and billions of
people around the world use it. The social media platform enables people to connect and share the information with other people
beyond the geographical area. Therefore, social media is an important factor that can give an impact towards the consumer buying
behavior. Based on the explanation, researcher hypothesize:
H2: There is significant relationship between social media and consumer buying behavior.


2.3.3 Advertising

Advertising, according to Hunt and Mello (2014), is a non-personal promotional communication about goods, services, or ideas
that is paid for by the firm identified in the communication. Advertising can directly influence the consumer buying behavior
decision (Kotler and Armstrong, 2009). Advertising has an impact on people’s attitudes, behavior, and lifestyle. For a company’s
product to become well-known brand, it must invest in promotional activities particularly advertising (Hussein et al, 2008).
According to Latif and Abideen (2011) advertising has the ability to influence consumer brand choice. In this study, researcher
want to know if the advertising can affect the consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. Therefore, the researcher
hypothesizes:

H3: There is significant relationship between advertising and consumer buying behavior.


2.3.4 Sales Promotion

Sales promotions are a diverse set of incentive tools, mostly short-term in essence, intended to encourage consumers or the trade
to start buying specific products or services more quickly and in larger quantities (Kotler et.al., 2013). Sales promotion according
to Stanton (2011) includes all the activities other than advertising, personnel selling, public relations, and publicity that are meant
to stimulate customer demand and improve sellers’ marketing performance. Sales promotions are an essential part of marketers’
and retailers’ marketing strategies. Promotion records for something like a significant portion of a marketers’ sales. Sales promotion
assisted in the reduction of consumer dissatisfaction with a specific product or manufacturer, as well as the creation of brand image
in the minds of the consumers and users. Thus, researcher want to know if the sales promotion has a relation with consumer buying
behavior at Pustaka Azhar. Therefore, the researcher hypothesizes:

H4: There is significant relationship between sales promotion and consumer buying behavior.

























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2.3 Research Framework Model

Independent Variable


Direct Marketing
Dependent variable

Social media
Consumer buying
behavior


Advertising



Sales promotion



Figure 1: Research framework for the impact of promotional strategies towards consumer buying behaviors

Figure 1 illustrate the research framework for this research. Direct marketing, social media, advertising, and sales promotion are the four
main independent variables, with consumer buying behavior as dependent variable. The purpose of this research is to determine the
relationship between the promotional strategy and consumer’s buying behaviors at Pustaka Azhar.


■ 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

In this research, the researcher uses descriptive research design. This type of research design allows the researcher to have an insight about
why and how of research. Based on the objective of this research, the main question of the study requires the researcher to determine what
the impact of promotional strategy and to understand how promotional strategy influence consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. In
this research, researcher is using quantitative research design in conducting the research. Based on the objective of this research, the main
question of the research requires the researcher to determine what the impact of promotional strategy and to understand how promotional
strategy influence consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar.


3.2 Sampling Technique

In this research, researcher use non-probability sampling. In non-probability sampling, the researcher randomly chooses the respondents
for the research. In this research, the researcher chooses judgmental or purposive sampling. This type of sampling technique is the
most suitable for this research because the researcher only chooses the respondents that have buying experience at Pustaka Azhar.


3.3 Population and Sample

Population is the entire group that the researcher wants to draw the conclusion. While a sample is the specific group that the researcher will
collect their data. According to Tabachnick and Fidell (2007), the one-to-five ratio calculate the minimal size from the number variables to
be examined. The following are the equation:

Independent Variables = (2*5) + (3*5) + (3*5) + (3*5) = 55
Dependent Variables = (3*5) = 15
Demographic = (5*5) = 25
Minimum number of samples = (IV + DV + Demographic)
= (55 + 15 + 25) = 95 respondents
The total minimum number of respondents = 95


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Based on the calculation above, the minimum number of respondents is 95. However, in this research, the researcher succeeds to achieve
more than the minimum number of respondents which is 123 respondents.


3.4 Data Collection Method

In this research, researcher use primary data by using questionnaire. Researchers use Google Form to collect the respondent’s data.


3.5 Research Instrument

The questionnaire is the most frequently used instrument for collecting research data from the research participants. In this research,
researcher use Google Form to collect the data from the respondents. The questionnaire is divided into six sections: Section A, B, C, D, E,
and F. Section A contains demographic information. Section B is for the independent variable of direct marketing, Section C is for the
independent variable of social media, Section D is for the independent variable of advertising, Section E is for the independent variable of
sales promotion, and Section F is for the dependent variable of consumer buying behavior.


3.6 Data Analysis Design

In this research, researcher use Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 26 to analyze the data.

3.7 Data Analysis Method

Type of Analysis Definition
Descriptive analysis Descriptive analysis is the process of using statistical technique to describe or
summarize a set of data.
Normality Test Normality test is specific statistical distribution called a normal distribution.
Reliability Test Reliability tests refer to the extent to which a test measures without error. It is
highly related to test validity.
Multiple Regression Multiple regression is a statistical technique that uses several explanatory
variables to predict the outcome of a response variable.



■ 4.0 DATA ANALYSIS PLAN

4.1 Reliability Test

Variables Number of Item Cronbach’s Alpha
Direct Marketing 2 0.643
Social Media 3 0.887
Advertising 3 0.680
Sales Promotion 3 0.710
Consumer Buying Behavior 3 0.809
Table 4.1: Reliability Test Result

Reliability theory is essentially the application of probability theory to the modeling of failures and the prediction of success probability.
Through reliability analysis, reliability is measured with the help of Cronbach’s alpha. The standard value for Cronbach alpha should be
more than 0.60. If the value for Cronbach alpha is below, the instrument will not be considered reliable and need to be revised. Based on
the table 4.2 above, the value for Cronbach alpha for direct marketing is 0.643. For the variable of social media, the value for Cronbach alpha
is 0.887. For advertising, the value of Cronbach alpha is 0.680 and for the sales promotion the value for Cronbach alpha is 0.710. Lastly, the
value for Cronbach alpha of consumer buying behavior is 0.809. Hence, all the independent and dependent variables were above 0.60 the
instruments fulfill the criteria has the internal consistency and reliability.








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4.2 Descriptive analysis

Frequency Percentage
Gender Male 55 44.7
Female 68 55.3
Age 16 - 25 years old 47 38.2
26 - 35 years old 36 29.3
36 - 45 years old 20 16.3
46 years and above 20 16.3
Education Level PT3/ SPM 30 24.4
STPM/ Diploma/ A-Level 43 35.0
Bachelor’s degree 42 34.1
Master/ MBA 5 4.1
PhD 3 2.4
Occupation Student 40 32.5
Employed 72 58.5
Unemployed 8 6.5
Retired 3 2.4
Monthly Income Less than RM 1000 46 37.4
RM 1001 - RM 2000 34 27.6
RM 2001 - RM 3000 19 15.4
RM 3001 - RM 4000 11 8.9
RM 4001 and above 13 10.6

Table 4.2: Descriptive Analysis Result

Table 4.3 summarises the demographic information of 123 respondents, including gender, age, education level, occupation, and monthly
income. According to this table, the male population percentage is 44.7%, which is lower than the female population percentage of 55.3%.
The highest percentage for the age range is 38.2 percent, which belongs to the 16–25 age group. The percentage for the age group 26–35
years old is 29.3%. Furthermore, the age groups 36 – 45 years old and 46 years and older share the same percentage of 16.3%. In this research,
STPM/ Diploma/ A-level contribute the highest percentage (35%) in the education level category. In this research, the Bachelor's degree has
the second highest percentage (34.1%). PT3/SPM respondents contribute for 24.4% of all respondents. Master's/MBA and PhD contribute
4.1% and 2.4%, respectively. Following that, for the occupation category, employed contributes the highest percentage (58.5%) in this
research. Students make up 32.5 %, which is the second highest in the occupation category. In this research, the unemployed account for
6.5%. Only 2.4 % of those who have retired contribute to this category. Finally, 37.4 % earn less than RM 1000 per month. Monthly income
of RM 1001 – RM 2000 and RM 2001 – RM 3000 contributes 27.6 % and 15.4 %, respectively. Monthly income of RM 4001 and above
contributes 10.6 % to this category. The lowest monthly income ranges from RM 3001 to RM 4000, accounting for 8.9 %.

4.3 Normality Test

Variables N Valid Skewness Kurtosis
(Statistic)
Value Std. Error Value Std. Error
Direct Marketing 123 -0.067 0.218 -0.293 0.433
Social Media 123 -0.484 0.218 -0.061 0.433
Advertising 123 -0.432 0.218 -0.560 0.433
Sales Promotion 123 -1.318 0.218 1.555 0.433
Consumer Buying 123 -0.763 0.218 -0.006 0.433
Behavior

Table 4.3: Normality Test Result

Based on the table 4.4, the value of skewness is -0.067 and the value of kurtosis is -0.293 for the direct marketing variables. Thus, this data
for direct marketing can be considered normal distributed. Besides that, the value of skewness is -0.484 and the value of kurtosis is -0.061
for social media and this value can be considered normal distributed. Next, for the advertising variable, the skewness value is -0.432 and the
kurtosis value is -0.560 which can be consider as normal distributed. Sales promotion variable show the skewness value of -1.318 and the
kurtosis value of 1.555 which can be consider as normal distributed. Lastly for the dependent variable which is consumer buying behavior,
the skewness value is -0.763 and the kurtosis value is -0.006 which also can be consider as normal distributed.


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4.4 Multiple Regression

a
Coefficients
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 2.505 .508 4.927 .000
Direct Marketing .061 .060 .094 1.032 .304
Social Media .198 .088 .208 2.255 .026
Advertising .021 .066 .030 .320 .749
Sales Promotion .141 .092 .139 1.530 .129
a. Dependent Variable: Consumer Buying Behavior

Table 4.4: Multiple Regression Result

According to the table 4.5, it depicts the beta ( ) and significance (p) with respect for each independent variables towards consumer
buying behavior. Direct marketing ( = 0.061, p = 0.304), Social Media ( = 0.198, p = 0.026), Advertising = 0.021, p = 0.749) and
Sales Promotion ( = 0.141, p = 0.129), from this result, only one independent variable indicates positive values and one significance
value lie on the accepted range that is p<0.05. Therefore, it can be concluded that the social media indicates a significance positive
relationship towards the dependent variable consumer buying behavior.

In order to test the hypothesis of the current research, multiple regression analysis was adopted. The following result can be shown as the
table below:

Hypothesis Result
H1: There is significant relationship between direct marketing and consumer buying Rejected
behavior
H2: There is significant relationship between social media and consumer buying behavior Accepted
H3: There is significant relationship between advertising and consumer buying behavior Rejected
H4: There is significant relationship between sales promotion and consumer buying Rejected
behavior



■ 5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Hypothesis Discussion

5.1.1 H1: There is significant relationship between direct marketing and consumer buying behavior

Result Hypothesis
Sig: p>0.05 : 0.304 Not supported
value: 0.061
Table 5.1.1: Result of Hypothesis 1

Based on the table 5.1.1, H1 is rejected because the result of direct marketing show that there is no significant relationship towards
consumer buying behavior. Through this finding, ( = 0.061, P = 0.304) shows that direct marketing does not significant
with the consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. In conclusion, direct marketing is not the factor that predict
consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. Therefore, H1 is not supported.

5.1.2 H2: There is significant relationship between social media and consumer buying behavior

Result Hypothesis
Sig: p>0.05 : 0.026 Supported
value: 0.198

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Table 5.1.2: Result of Hypothesis 2

Based on the table 5.1.2, H2 is accepted because the result of social media show that there is significant relationship towards
consumer buying behavior. Through this finding, ( = 0.198, p = 0.026) shows that social media does have significant
relationship with the consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. This is due to the fact that the popularity of social media has
transformed marketing practices such as promotion and advertising. Social media can help businesses engage with potential
customers, increase their sense of intimacy, and help them build relationships with their customers (Hanna et al., 2010).Therefore,
H2 is supported.


5.1.3 H3: There is significant relationship between advertising and consumer buying behavior

Result Hypothesis
Sig: p>0.05 : 0.749 Not Supported
value: 0.021
Table 5.1.3: Result of Hypothesis 3

Based on the table 5.1.3, H3 is rejected because the result of advertising show that there is no significant relationship towards
consumer buying behavior. Through this finding, = 0.021, p = 0.749) shows that advertising does not have significant
relationship with the consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. In conclusion, advertising has no effect on consumer buying
behavior at Pustaka Azhar. Therefore, H3 is not supported.


5.1.4 H4: There is significant relationship between sales promotion and consumer buying behavior

Result Hypothesis
Sig: p>0.05 : 0.129 Not Supported
value: 0.141
Table 5.1.4: Result of Hypothesis 4

Based on the table 5.1.4, H4 is rejected because the result of sales promotion shows that there is no significant relationship towards
consumer buying behavior. Through this finding, ( = 0.141, p = 0.129), shows that sales promotion does not have significant
relationship with the consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. In conclusion, sales promotion is not affecting
the consumer buying behavior at Pustaka Azhar. Therefore, H4 is not supported.


5.2 Research recommendation and limitation

From the result finding in this research, the most suitable promotional strategy that Pustaka Azhar can adopted is social media strategy. This
is because social media has a positive impact on consumer buying behavior. Researcher would like to give a solution and recommendation
to improve Pustaka Azhar promotional strategy. Pustaka Azhar does not active on social media, thus researcher would like to recommend
to Pustaka Azhar to use the social media to attract the consumer. This is because, nowadays most of the people have a social media account
and it can help Pustaka Azhar to engage with their customer. Social media also can help the business to market their products. If Pustaka
Azhar adopt with this strategy, it can attract more consumer to buy company product.

Time limitation and Covid-19 pandemic was a big hinders in this research. Due to the time limitation and Covid-19 pandemic, researcher
could not go anywhere to collect the data. Thus, researcher use another alternative to distribute the questionnaire by using Google Form.


5.3 Conclusion

In conclusion, the overall research has been identified and the finding of the data has discussed. After running the multiple regression analysis,
the independent variable that can be accepted is social media. Social media show there is significant relationship towards consumer buying
behavior at Pustaka Azhar. From the result finding it shown that social media has a great impact on consumer buying behavior. This is
because social media is very useful for consumer to engage with the company, getting product and information very easily which
influence their purchasing decision.

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