Kim-Shyan Fam

The influence of religion on attitudes towards the advertising of controversial products

In a constantly changing and increasingly globalized world, religion still plays a significant role in influencing social and consumer behavior. This study will analyze what influence religion and intensity of belief has on attitudes towards the advertising of particular controversial products and services. A questionnaire was distributed to 1,393 people across six different countries and resulting in samples of four main religious groups. The results indicated some statistically significant differences between the groups, which can have important implications for global marketers.

Branding universities in Asian markets

Although universities are increasingly competing for international students, little has been written about the influence of cross‐cultural values on the positioning of international education brands. This study investigates the values that students in three Asian markets place on overseas university education, and the media they use to gain information about universities. The results suggest that a common media mix can be utilized in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, and that a standardized or adapted branding strategy could be adopted, depending on how many of these markets universities wish to target. The results have important implications for the positioning of international university brands in Asian markets.

Dealing with Institutional Distances in International Marketing Channels: Governance Strategies That Engender Legitimacy and Efficiency

Firms doing business in foreign institutional environments face pressures to gain social acceptance (commonly referred to as legitimacy) and difficulty in evaluating market information, both of which undercut firm performance. In this article, the authors argue that firms can design governance strategies to deal with foreign institutions to secure both social acceptance and firm performance. Using a Chinese sample of manufacturers that export products to various foreign markets through local distributors, the authors develop and test a model that bridges the effects of institutional environments and governance strategy on channel performance. Specifically, they find that firms can use two governance strategies, contract customization and relational governance, to deal with both legitimacy and efficiency issues and to safeguard channel performance. Thus, international channel managers are advised to maintain an integrated management of legitimacy and efficiency in foreign marketing channels.

Advertising of controversial products:a cross‐cultural study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine attitudes towards the advertising of certain controversial products/services and reasons for being offensive across four different countries, Malaysia, New Zealand, Turkey and the UK.Design/methodology/approach – This was achieved by analyzing the responses to a questionnaire that was distributed to a convenience sample of university students in the four countries. A total of 954 were sampled for this study. The results indicated that geography is not a major determinant of attitudes, and that religious and historical factors play a very important role.Findings – Of the 17 products presented, 11 resulted in similar answers for New Zealand and the UK, and seven were similar for Malaysia and Turkey. However, it was apparent that the two countries mostly populated by Muslims had some differences as Malaysia has a multicultural society that must make some allowances for other ethnic groups. It also appears that racism and racist images are of concern to all ...

Trust and the online relationship—an exploratory study from New Zealand

Abstract This study examines the importance of trust in an online accommodation booking relationship. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the trust criteria that are important to consumers in deciding whether to purchase online and also the trust criteria that the accommodation service providers (i.e. motel/hotel owners/operators) think are important in prompting the consumers to make the online purchase decision. In total 108 consumers and 44 motel/hotel owners/operators in New Zealand were examined. The results showed vast discrepancies between the two parties. For instance, consumers think a Web site should provide a formal guarantee of service and offer a refund of price paid. However, these trust criteria were deemed unimportant by the accommodation service providers. Our study concludes by recommending a number of actions, which the accommodation service providers need to include in their Web sites in order to increase trust, relationship and ultimately online purchases.

Cultural values and advertising in Malaysia: views from the industry

Considers the environmental differences that may need to be considered when marketers enter into a new country such as media restrictions. Cultural and legal factors. Observes a study of Malaysian media professionals’ perceptions towards various media and advertising restrictions in their country. Presents findings suggesting that advertising images, particularly nudity, indecent language, and sexist images were perceived as major reasons for advertising restrictions.

Attitudes towards offensive advertising: Malaysian Muslims' views

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Malaysian Malays attitude towards offensive advertising and the reasons that make these advertisements offensive. This paper aims to explore the role of religiosity on attitudes towards controversial advertisements and the reasons why they are controversial.Design/methodology/approach – This paper consists of 279 randomly selected Malay participants. Data were analyzed using means, correlations, and ANOVA.Findings – Results indicate that those high on religiosity differ on the nature and manner of controversial advertisements from those of low religiosity. Malay Muslims when compared on their degree of religiosity differ in terms of their evaluation of offensive nature of advertisement. More important they differ more on the reason that make these advertisement offensive compared to the nature of the products.Research limitations/implications – Respondents are somewhat more skewed towards a younger population causing concern that the results might ...

Cultural values and effective executional techniques in advertising

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine likeable executional techniques in advertising across five Asian countries and their impact on purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 1,000 urban young adults in five Asian countries (HK, China, Indonesia, Thailand and India) were telephone interviewed on their thoughts about the TV advertisement/s that they liked, product that was being advertised and purchase intention. Their responses were summarised into seven likeable executional techniques and product categories.Findings – There is not a specific likeable executional technique that influences a purchase in four of the five countries. India is the only country where significant but weak overall model fit observed. These results demonstrate that, while there are differences among the countries, people in the same cohort broadly share the same values. For product categories, our findings demonstrate that product nature may moderate cultural influence on advertising effectiveness.Pr...

Cultural values and personal selling: A comparison of Australian and Hong Kong retailers’ promotion preferences

This paper compares the promotional practices and perceptions between two countries of disparate cultural backgrounds, namely Australia and Hong Kong. The paper argues that the preference for a particular promotional tool is influenced by the degree of cultural orientation as measured by Hofstede’s collectivism index. The central hypothesis is that countries with a higher score on the collectivism index are likely to favour personal selling promotion tools than will countries with a lower score. This hypothesis is tested with two separate samples of clothing and shoe retailers from Australia and Hong Kong. The hypothesis is supported from the statistical results.

Attributes of Likeable Television Commercials in Asia

ABSTRACT Many advertisers aim to present advertisements that will at least be liked by those who see them, as it has been suggested that advertising likeability can lead to advertising recall, favorable brand attitudes, and possibly purchase intention. This study investigates consumer attitudes in Asia toward television commercials by determining attributes that are liked and disliked in advertisements. Data were obtained from telephone interviews conducted in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Mumbai, each country with distinct cultural and religious beliefs. The results show that “Entertaining” is the most liked attribute across the five cities. However, the importance of other likeable attributes varied, and the study concludes by providing several explanations to the variations in an Asian context.