The general purpose of the study is to conduct an experimental research on the consumer attitudes and behaviors toward milk powder among various households in Mauritius. Quantitative research will be conducted.

The group has observed how variables such as income, decrease in prices and country of origin can have a direct impact on how Mauritians choose the branded milk powder they wish to purchase. Their implications are presented in the research work.

Further, the study also purports to review related literatures on measurement of attitude by different theorists; researches on customer attitudes and satisfaction on different retail formats have been conducted to enable us acquire greater knowledge of this subject.

The team members have as far as possible try to sustain this secondary knowledge with the primary data collection that we have ourselves conducted among several demographic households.

Introduction

Wikipedia defines milk as being the white liquid that comes out of the mammary glands of living things(mammals). Milk is known as being the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of nutrients. Milk can reduce the risk of many diseases in new born. It holds important amounts of saturated fats, protein and calcium as well as vitamin C.

SYLVIA ET LES AUTRES AJOUTEZ ENCORE JOUTE CE KE NATHASIA VIENT DENVOYER Š

1 evolution of milk in Mauritius

Milk in Mauritius

2 literature review

2.0Measurement of attitude

Recent theories in social psychology assume that people may have two different attitudes toward an object at the same time, one that is explicit and one that is implicit (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Wilson, Lindsey & Schooler, 2000). Although different definitions of implicit attitudes have been proposed, for the present purpose implicit attitudes may be described as evaluative responses towards an attitude object, which, in contrast to explicit attitudes, are not necessarily subject to introspection. In other words, individuals may not be aware of their implicit attitudes. Nevertheless, implicit attitudes may influence information processing and behavior. In general, it has been suggested that implicit attitudes guide spontaneous behavior whereas more deliberative behavior is influenced more strongly by explicit attitudes (Fazio & Towles-Schwen, 1999; Wilson, et al. ,2000). The assessment of both attitudes, therefore, would overall improve the prediction of behavior. At present, there is relatively little research on the prediction of consumer behavior by implicit attitudes.

A measure of implicit attitudes that is easily adaptable to different contexts has been presented by Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz (1998): The Implicit Association Test (IAT). In the present study, the IAT was adapted to measure implicit attitudes towards two brands of coffee. In a first task, participants were presented with photos of the two brands and were instructed to categorize each photo as quickly as possible according to the brand by pressing one of two keys on a keyboard. In a second task, words of unambigous valence were presented and participants¦ task was to categorize them as quickly as possible according to positive or negative valence. Two further sequences combined both tasks. In one double discrimination task participants were presented with the brands and words in mixed order and had to press one specified key for brand A or a positive word and another key for brand B or a negative word. In the second double discrimination task the key assignment was switched and participants pressed one specified key for brand A or a negative word and the other for brand B or a positive word. The difference in response latencies in these two tasks is taken as an indicator for the difference in the strength of associating brand A versus brand B with positive valence. Thus, the IAT in its usual version measures relative attitudinal preferences between two categories.

In order to control for order effects, we varied the order of the initial and the reversed discrimination task. Order of sequence however did not how any effects. As additional measures, explicit attitudes toward the brands and brand choices were assessed. While in previous studies on implicit attitudes implicit and explicit measures were often unrelated, we found a considerable correlation (r=.44, p<.01) between both measures. Nevertheless both measures contributed independently to the prediction of brand choices as reflected by the standardized beta coefficients: .23, t(59)=2.08, p<.05 for the IAT, and .56 t(59)=5.60,p<.01, for the explicit attitude.

Although in our study explicit attitudes had a higher predictive value than implicit ones this is not necessarily so. As mentioned above, the influence of implicit attitudes on behavior should be higher for spontaneous behavior. In our study, we had not manipulated the conditions under which participants made their choices. As in real life some participants may have involved some thought, others may have chosen spontaneously. While we would expect that the IAT would predict spontaneous behavior better than explicit measures and explicit measures would better predict controlled behavior. Our results suggest that in general assessing implicit attitudes in addition to explicit ones may improve the prediction of behavior. The IAT may serve as a valid instrument in assessing such attitudinal predictors.

As a second aspect, we investigated to what extent explicit and implicit attitude measures reflected the influence of a persuasive message regarding the brand. Prior to the assessment of attitudes we presented a persuasive message and varied its favorability. Some participants read a journal article favoring the target brand whereas others read an article presenting unfavorable information about that brand. A control group did not receive any persuasive information. Originally it had been argued that implicit attitudes are relatively immune against situational influences (Greenwald et al., 1998) but recent research casts doubt on the assumption that implicit measures of attitudes are context independent (Greenwald & Nosek, 2001).

We too found that IAT scores were sensitive to persuasive appeals prior to the attitude measurement. Participants who were presented with a message arguing in favor of the target brand showed significantly more favorable responses on explicit measures, choice behavior (both p<.01) and implicit measures (p<.05) compared to participants who were given an unfavorable message, while differences to the control group were not always significant. While this may spoil market researchers¦ hopes for getting rid of external influences in their measures, it suggests that implicit measures may also be used to evaluate the success of communicative appeals. While the fact that even implicit measures reflect communicative influences suggests that implicit attitudes are not as fixed and context independent as has originally been claimed, the IAT may be useful in order to evaluate the effect of persuasive communications or other marketing strategies.

2.1 Customer Attitudes And Satisfaction On Different Retail Formats By Gender

Various researches have investigated the impact of gender on consumer attitudes. Women and men’s shopping behavior have been explained by the theory of shopping (Miller 1998). The theory argues that women’s shopping behavior is really a “devotional rite” or sacrifice enacted to express love and increase the happiness and stability of the family, while shopping-as-love is not usually an accurate motivation for male shoppers.

A study by Alreck and Settle (2002) stated that women find shopping and buying more satisfying or pleasurable, and/or less dissatisfying or irritating than do men. Previous studies have explored the impact of gender effects on Internet and catalogue businesses (Alreck and Settle 2002). The study by Alreck and Settle (2002) found that women found catalogue browsing easier, more relaxing and more informative than store shopping and they were markedly more positive about the catalogue shopping experience than were men. While women tend to purchase more from catalogues than men, more men than women shop online (Flynn 2000).

However, shopping over the Internet seems particularly appealing to men (Otnes and McGrath 2001). Further, Otnes and McGrath (2001) also stated that sometimes men become expert in a “feminine” area because they recognize that to do so will help them further a relationship, even if it means having to develop expertise in a “feminine” or domestic shopping arena. Shopping outlet means that men are able to distance themselves from the more feminine sphere of the marketplace and use technology as a tool for achievement, such as shopping for the best value or most feature-laden items (Otnes and McGrath 2001).

A particular concern of this study is to examine male consumers’ attitudes and satisfaction levels toward online and catalogue businesses that target female products. This study also investigates how their attitudes and satisfaction differ among retail formats. Purchasing apparel as a sensory product (Kiely 1996) from direct marketing such as catalogue and e-businesses involves a certain amount of risk and effort. Therefore, this study posits that perceived ease of use and usefulness (Davis 1989) dimensions measuring perceived risk and effort before making a purchase decision are important factors with which to measure consumer attitudes and satisfaction for this study.

2.2 Consumer Attitudes And Satisfaction On Different Retail Formats By Brand Familiarity

Brand is defined as a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competition (Kotler 2003).” Mohammed (2004) introduced various types of brands, such as pure online or pure offline brand, or a combination of online and offline brands. Brands are often extended to other retail formats, for example, some brands have been established as a catalogue business, then extend those to either or both online and/or offline brands.

Keller (1993) mentioned that brand knowledge consists of brand awareness and brand familiarity. Brand awareness consists of brand recognition and brand recall performance (Keller 1993). The role of brand recognition has been frequently addressed in previous studies. Brands help buyers recognize certain products that they like and dislike The Journal of Applied Business Research – Fourth Quarter 2007 Volume 23, Number 4 82 and also facilitate the purchase of items that satisfy their needs and reduce the time required purchasing the product (Pride & Ferrell, 2003). Brand familiarity is defined as perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory (Keller 1993).

Previous studies found that both brand awareness and familiarity play a crucial role on consumer decision-making for many reasons (Keller 1993 and Baker and Nedungadi 1986). Various researchers (e.g., Levy 1989) have proven that firms with extremely memorable brand names often regard the names as their most valuable asset because these labels provide immediate recognition, and often, acceptance of new products that may be introduced under the brand name.

Similarly, Park, Jaworski, and Maclnnis (1986) restated that a well-communicated image should help establish a brand’s position, insulate the brand from competition (Oxenfeldt and Swann 1964), and enhance the brand’s market performance (Shocker and Srinivasan 1979). According to Baker and Nedungadi (1986), consumers think of the brand when they think about the product category. Keller (1993) stated that brand familiarity can be classified into categories, such as association from product and non-product related attributes, perceived benefits, and attitudes.

According to the definition by Baker and Nedungadi (1986), brand familiarity is a unidimensional construct that is directly related to the amount of time that has been spent processing information about the brand, regardless of the type or content of the processing that was involved. Baker and Nedungadi (1986) also state that brand familiarity is a viable independent mediator of brand liking and choice, but only in limited decision contexts. A study by Baker and Nedungadi (1986) also stated the role of brand familiarity as specific attributes/benefits and product class cues.

Brand familiarity may be a viable marketing strategy if sources of evaluation (i.e., brand attribute beliefs or source credibility), which require greater information processing intensity, are not accessible or cannot discriminate between brand alternatives (Baker and Nedungadi 1986). While many researchers have examined how brand familiarity affects consumers’ willingness to purchase products online, few researchers have explored the impact of brand familiarity on catalogue businesses.

3 Research methodology

3.0 Research methodology

This chapter highlights the type of research method that will be adopted to carry out the research proposal. Simply defined, research is the systematic design, collection, analysis and report of data relevant to a specific situation facing an organisation (Kotler et al, 2004). Every marketing research problem has to follow a research procedure to attain certain objectives. In other words, it briefs out the research plan to be carried out for in -depth analysis so as to be able to assess consumer attitude towards Farmland milk. In the first instance, a questionnaire was set up so as to get an overview about the brand of milk powder that was preferred by the respondents.

The chapter is further fragmented into the following:

3.1 Research Process

In the research process, data is collected and analysed after being systematically designed, in order to address to the core issue.

3.2 Research Design

Research design refers to the strategy to integrate the different components of the research project in a cohesive and coherent way (Trochim et al, 1982).

The research design structures the central research question. This framework specifies the type of information to be collected, the source of data, the research approach, the research instrument, the sampling plan and contacts methods. Thus,

Source of data: Primary and Secondary data

Research Approach: Survey and interviews

Research instrument: Structured questionnaire

Contact method: Personal interview, mail, and postal enquiry

Target population: Mauritian in general.

3.3 Sources of data

To gain a better view of the project, both primary and secondary data have been used.

Primary data

Primary data are collected exclusively to serve the purpose of the research. Data are collected through survey, observation, focus group and experiments. Primary data collection is more costly in comparison to secondary data and the usually conducted by interviewing people, observation or by working in the relevant field/project or even when doing particular research in a laboratory. While for this particular case, survey was chosen as the most appropriate source of collecting primary data, due to its flexibility and speed.

Secondary data

These involve the collection of historical data related to the issue in question. Secondary data was retrieved from books, financial magazines, journals and mainly from internet, which, nowadays, is an easy and quick source of collecting secondary data. From the data collected only relevant ones were sorted out.

3.31 Research Approach

Survey and interviews served as the research approach. A questionnaire was designed to gather relevant information for the analysis. Questionnaires should be designed in such a way to address the central research question in order to get relevant response from the respondents.

Interviews were also carried out to overcome the uncertain part that is bias one. This further helped to view the main issue form various perspectives.

3.32 Research Instrument

As afore mentioned, a structured questionnaire was used as the main research instrument. Being the easiest and most flexible means of gathering information, nowadays questionnaire is the most prominent means of gathering data.

While designing the questionnaire the following steps were adhered to:

-an evaluation of the information required

-choose the most relevant questionnaire format

-ensure that the questions are clear, concise and explicit

– review the questionnaire to remove any confusing point and produce the final questionnaire.

3.4 Sampling Plan

3.41 Population

The target population was mainly married people, those have a family. This is so because most of the respondents will be households, businessmen, in brief the working class people. Thus the total amount of the population is unknown, since there is no clear definition about the target group.

3.42 Sample Size

Since time and budget constraints make it impracticable to survey the whole population, a sample will be selected. Thus, the sample size will be calculated using Glen formula which is:

Using an error of 5% and population size would be determined.

But since time and other resources will be limiting a sample size of 100 respondents was considered for the study.

3.5 Sampling method

The sampling method that was used in the survey was simple random sampling. This is so because the population size was quiet big and thus different people were targeted.

Every marketing research problem has to follow a research procedure to attain certain objectives. Basically we have followed those same steps. The different stages in the research process are illustrated below:

Formulate Problem and Research Objectives

Determine Research Design

Determine Data Collection Methods

Design Data Collection Forms

Analysis and Interpretation of Data

Presentation of Findings and Limitations of Study

Fig: Stages in the research process

Source: Adapted from Churchill (1996)

3.6 Sampling Plan

3.61 Population

The target population was mainly married people, those have a family. This is so because most of the respondents will be households, businessmen, in brief the working class people. Thus the total amount of the population is unknown, since there is no clear definition about the target group.

Sample Size

Since time and budget constraints make it impracticable to survey the whole population, a sample will be selected. Thus, the sample size will be calculated using Cochran (1963:75) formula which is:

Or else another formula can be used that is Glenn (1992) formula:

Using an error of 5% and population size would be determined.

But since time and other resources will be limiting a sample size of 100 respondents was considered for the study.

Sampling method

The sampling method that was used in the survey was simple random sampling. This is so because the population size was quiet big and thus different people were targeted.

Research method

Quantitative research was carried out for the survey in order to have detailed information as much as possible.

The purpose of the research was explained to the respondents before the data collection was carried out so as the respondents would not be biased in their answers. Thus, this had lead to a quasi effective survey.

Quantitative Approach

A quantitative approach was used to have a more structured research where the responses of the sample were easily replicated and compared.

The type of quantitative approach which was used:

Self- Administered Survey

Self -Administered Survey, i.e. paper-based questionnaire was used to interview respondents. The questionnaire was placed where respondent were more to apt to answer places where they would be at ease. This approach was mainly for respondents who are involved in the buying milk powder. Even though this approach was more structured and less flexible than qualitative, it helped to have a broader range of responses.

So, for the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was designed in order to cover the opinions of respondents regarding their attitudes on buying milk powder.

Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a formalized set of questions for obtaining information from respondents (Saunders et al. 2004). The questionnaire design stage was planned so as to avoid surrogate information error and measurement error. As stated above, a questionnaire was designed to cover the answer of the respondents on their attitude in buying milk powder.

Concepts that were considered when designing the questionnaire were:

Representative: the extent to which the sample reflects the ‘truth’ for the whole population in the study. The sample to be interviewed is a representative of the whole population to be interviewed. The sample size of 100 respondents will randomly be chosen from the population.

Questions Design: the questionnaire consisted of various types of questions such as open-ended, dichotomous, multiple-choice, likert scale question and semantic differential scale questions so as to keep the interest of the respondents all along the interview. Moreover, the questionnaire made use of simple, clear and understandable words so as to avoid any misunderstanding. The questionnaire tried to avoid the use of leading questions.

A variety of questions will be used, such as:

Multiple-choice questions which provide a list of possible answers from which the respondent will have to choose. Since the list cannot include all possible alternatives, the respondent will be asked to specify the category he/she falls into.

Likert scale questions, which will require respondents to indicate degree importance with each of a series of statements about the stimulus objects. Generally, the level of agreement or disagreement is measured. A 5-point scale will be used for the questionnaire. So the format of a typical 5-level Likert question is:

Not Affected

Slightly Affected

Neutral

Influenced

Very influenced

Semantic Differential scaling, it is a type of rating scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of objects, events, and concepts. The connotations are used to derive the attitude towards the given object, event or concept.

For example,

Never Always

1 2 3 4 5

/////

Dichotomous questions where two or more options will be offered to the respondents. They will be questions with 2 possible responses.

For example, Yes/ No

Administration of Questionnaire: The questionnaire was distributed personally to each respondent by hand and collected the same way so as to have the maximum response rate.

4 Data collection

5 analysis and findings

6 conclusion

7 recommendations

8 appendixes

SURVEY FORM

…………………………………

Purpose:

The aim of this survey is to measure the attitude of consumers regarding the purchase of milk. The data obtained will be used solely in a project for the Bsc (HONS) Marketing Management and all information will be kept confidential.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

A.1. Your age:

A.2. Gender:

Male Female

A.3. District:

Pamplemousses/ Riviere du Rempart

Port Louis

Plaines Wilhems

Moka/ Flacq

Grand Port/ Savanne

Black River

A.4. For the following, please tick where appropriate:

If you are employed, your monthly earnings:

Under Rs5, 000

Rs5, 000 – Rs10, 000

Rs10, 000 – Rs25, 000

Over Rs 25, 000

INFLUENCING FACTORS

Please rate the following between 1-5, where 1 is not at all affected, 2 is slightly affected, 3 is neutral, 4 is influenced and 5 is very influenced:

1 2 3 4 5

Not Slightly Neutral Influenced Very

Affected Affected Influenced

When buying product

from china, how

are you affected by

the “melamine china scandal”

To what extent are

you influenced by the

price of a product

To what extent

are you influenced

by the advertising of a product

To what extent

are you influenced

by the country of origin

of a product

To what extent

are you influenced

by the ingredient of a product

C.3. CHOSEN PRODUCT:MILK

Please answer with a tick ( )

Always Almost Neutral Never

Does the quality of a milk

powder product affect you?

Do you care about having a balance

diet?

Does the brand play a great

role in the choice of the milk?

Do you buy the same brand of the

milk every month?

Is the choice of the brand influence

by family traditional buying?

Do you look specifically at the country

of origin of a milk poroduct before purchase

it?

C.3.1. How likely would you buy milk from the following countries:

Never Always

1 2 3 4 5

India

Australia

Mauritius

New Zealand

China

C.3.2. According to the above, how likely would you shift to the country you rated as 4, if:

Unlikely Very Likely

1 2 3 4 5

The country you rated as 5 (Always)

were to increase the price of his milk

Your income falls

Price of the 4 falls

C.4. Please list the following in order priority when making a purchase of milk:

Never Always

1 2 3 4 5

Taste

Hydration

Physical Boost

Mental Stimulant

Price

Availability

Image

Shape,Colours and size

Other please state and rank ……………….

C.5. Do you think drinking milk is a trend?

Yes No

C.6. Do you drink milk because your famous singer/ artist drink the same milk?

Yes No

C.7. Does brand matters to you or as long as it is milk powder you don’t care?

Care Don’t Care

C.8. Does the promotion strategies adopted by the milk product affect your choice of a milk? for example : By a milk powder and get a mug/ packet of oil/ the smaller for free.

Always

Almost

Neutral

Never

C.9. Does the advertising of a milk powder attract you to shift from one brand to another?

Always

Almost

Neutral

Never

C.10. Can you specify the rate of satisfaction that you encounter with your daily milk powder.

1 Low ……………………….10 High

Shade the circle below for your specific answer.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

C.11. If you have to rank the various brand below, how much would they rank form 1-10 in terms of quality and brand equity.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Snowy

Red Cow

Farmland

Leader

Twin cows

Surlait

Anlene

Anchor

Mon lait

Green Meadow

Island dairy

D.1. Which is the brand you buy more often/always?

D.2. Is the price of your preferred milk powder always affordable?

Yes No

D.3. What is the first word that springs to mind when you hear the words of your preferred milk powder?

Quality

Whiteness

Pure

Others please specify…………

D.4. How do you find the packaging of your preferred milk powder?

Atractive

Colourful

Proper use of colours

Others please specify………..

D.5. How would you rate your preferred milk powder’s image?

Cool

 

 

 

Un-cool

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

D.6. Which of the following statements – if applicable – best describes why you buy your preferred milk powder?

Please tick on the right hand side of the box.

It fits my lifestyle choice.

 

 

It has an image I’d like to be associated with.

It gets my mind in gear.

 

It provides good value against the competition.

 

It tastes good on its own or as a mixer.

 

The End