Sellected antecedents of consumers'''' ethics: An empirical study in Vietnam

1.2 Research gap In the area of marketing ethics, there are studies involving consumers, however most of them investigate consumers’ ethical perceptions regarding business and marketing

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business -

Luu Chi Nhan

SELLECTED ANTECEDENTS OF

CONSUMERS’ ETHICS: AN

EMPIRICAL STUDY IN VIETNAM

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City - Year 2015

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business -

Luu Chi Nhan

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

Luu Chi Nhan

Mbus 3.2

Sellected Antecedents of Consumers’ Ethics: An Empirical Study in Vietnam

Supervisor: Dr Le Nhat Hanh

Ho Chi Minh City- Year 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the timely and proper advice and support from a number of people around me First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisors Dr Le Nhat Hanh for her unsparing academic advice as well as moral support All constructive suggestions and insightful advice based on her admirable expertise and erudition always impressed me I am sure that this thesis would not have been possible without her support

Many thanks go to my MBUS colleagues who have been unforgettable companions

on our common journey I also extend my hearty thanks to the staff members of the

International School of Business for their efficient service and support all these years

My special thanks go to all the participant group of this thesis They played an

essential role in carrying out the research for this thesis I appreciate their precious time and endeavour

Last but not least, I have to earnestly thank my family for their unending moral support and affectionate attention to me at all times Words cannot express how grateful I am

to my parents and my family

Luu Chi Nhan

Ho Chi Minh City, December 22, 2015

ABSTRACT

These have been wide range of critical questions about the role of ethics in today’s business and society Consumers are major participants in the business process and not considering them in ethics research could result in an incomplete understanding of that process With the increasing international trade, there is a growing need to increase our understanding of consumer ethics from different countries

A report revealed that Southeast Asia has become Asia’s safe haven as China and India falter (NewsMax, 2012) As a result, more studies are needed to understand consumer ethical behaviour in Asian countries, particularly as a consequence of the prevalence of piracy and counterfeit goods (Ang et al., 2001; Chan et al., 1998; Lu and Lu, 2009) In Vietnam, around 81% of software used is pirated comparing to average 62% in Asia (Global Study, 2014)

The general purpose of the present study was to contribute to the existing knowledge

by getting a more thorough understanding of the why of consumer ethics, allowing marketers

to predict unethical consumer behavior, and ultimately prevent consumers from taking advantage of the seller Particularly, this study investigates the possible effects of self-

monitoring, Machiavellism, and oppotunism on all dimensions of consumers’ ethical

attitudes The sample is drawn from 340 Vietnamese has results in many significant findings For the dimension of ‘actively benefiting from illegal actions (ABIA)’, the result indicates positive relationship with self-monitoring and oppotunism but no relationship with Machiavellism As for ‘actively benefiting from questionable but legal actions (ABQA)’, the outcome shows a positive relationship with oppotunism and Machiavellism but no

relationship with self-monitoring Same resuls found for ‘passively benefiting at the expense

of the seller (PBEO)’, and ‘no harm, no foul actions (NHNF)’

In this study, literature on consumer ethics, self-monitoring, Machiavellism, and oppotunism as well as the introduction of Vietnam, are presented along with implications and recommendations for academic scholars, practitioners and the like

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research gap 3

1.3 Research objectives 4

1.4 Research scope 4

1.5 Research contributions 5

1.6 Research structure 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENTS 7

2.1 Theoretical background 7

2.2 Hypotheses development 16

2.3 Summary 17

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Research Process 18

3.2 Measurement scales 18

3.3 Qualitative Research 22

3.4 Sampling method 24

3.5 Data analysis methods 24

3.6 Summary 26

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 27

4.1 Respondents’ demographic 27

4.2 Reliability Analysis 28

4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 31

4.4 Multiple Regression Analysis 35

4.5 Discussion of findings 43

4.6 Summary 44

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 45

5.1 Conclusion 45

5.2 Managerial Implications 45

5.3 Limitations and future research 47

REFERENCES 49

APPENDICES 59

APPENDIX A: Survey Questionnaire 59

APPENDIX B: Survey Questionnaire 62

APPENDIX C: Total Variance Explained of Independent Variables 66

APPENDIX D: Histogram, Scatter plot & Normal Regression of Dependent Variable 68

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Research model 16 Figure 3.1 Research Process 18

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 The study’s hypotheses 17

Table 3.1 Scales of Consumer Ethics 19

Table 3.2 Scales of Self-monitoring 20

Table 3.3 Scales of Machiavellianism 21

Table 3.4 Scales of Opportunism 22

Table 3.5 Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient 24

Table 4.1 Demographic Variables 28

Table 4.2 Reliability Statistics 29

Table 4.3 KMO and Bartlett's Test of Independent Variables 32

Table 4.4 Rotated Component Matrixa for Independent Variables 32

Table 4.5 Summary of EFA for Dependent Variables 34

Table 4.6 Correlations 35

Table 4.7 Coefficients tablea 36

Table 4.8 Model Summaryb for Dependent Variable: ABIA 37

Table 4.9 Coefficientsa for Dependent Variable: ABIA 38

Table 4.10 Model Summaryb for Dependent Variable: PBEO 39

Table 4.11 Coefficientsa for Dependent Variable: PBEO 39

Table 4.12 Model Summaryb for Dependent Variable: ABQA 40

Table 4.13 Coefficientsa for Dependent Variable: ABQA 41

Table 4.14 Model Summaryb for Dependent Variable: NHNF 42

Table 4.15 Coefficientsa for Dependent Variable: NHNF 42

Table 4.16 Summary of the hypothesis testing results 43

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research background

Business ethics research has focused heavily on marketing exchange and participants within this process (Rawwas, Patzer, & Klassen, 2005; Liu, Zeng, & Su, 2009; Zhao et al., 2013), because marketing exchange is the focal point of most ethical problems in business (Vitell, Singhapakdi, & Thomas, 2001) Although the role of business ethics in the global economy has been thoroughly investigated (e.g., DeGeorge, 1993; Vogel, 1992), international consumer ethics has received growing attention In business, consumers are also the major participants (Vitell and Muncy, 1992) The importance of consumer ethical decision making has received considerable interest (e.g., Fullerton et al., 1996; Muncy and Vitell, 1992; Rawwas, 2003; Vitell et al., 1991)

However, consumer ethics in Asian countries have been addressed less frequently (Ang et al., 2001; Chan et al., 1998; Erffmeyer et al., 1999; Rawwas, 2001; Rawwas et al., 1998; Thong and Yap, 1998) There were a few ethical studies targeting Indonesian markets (Rawwas, 2001; Sawono and Armstrong, 2001; Wu, 2001) In addition, although the ethical judgment of consumers in the United States and other industrialized countries has received considerable attention, consumer ethics in Asian-market settings have received less attention (e.g., Ang et al., 2001; Chan et al., 1998; Erffmeyer et al., 1999; Rawwas, 2001; Rawwas et al., 1998; Thong and Yap 1998) Vitell (2003) recommended additional cross-cultural

studies Further research is warranted to examine ethical beliefs with more detail and cultural depth to examine the universality of consumers, or lack thereof, with respect to ethical

beliefs

On the eastern tip of the Indo-China peninsula in south-east Asia, Vietnam is one of the larger and more densely populated countries in the region Confirmed population figures are hard to obtain, but an estimate puts the Vietnam population in 2014 at 92.5 million, up from the 2012 estimate of 91.5 million and this impressive figure would make the country the

14th most populous on the planet or 46th most densely populated country on earth Moreover, this is one of the most diverse countries on earth when it comes to ethnicity splits and in fact, the Vietnamese government recognises no less than 54 ethnic groups within the country Furthermore, through the long years of the Vietnam War which have had some form of impact on the standard of living of Vietnamese This truth more or less affects Vietnamese consumers’ ethics on their daily practice

The statistical figure shows that global rate at which PC software was installed

without proper licensing rose from 42 percent in 2011 to 43 percent in 2013 The commercial value of these unlicensed installations slipped marginally to $62.7 billion, with emerging economies continuing to account for the majority Particularly, unlicensed PC software in Vietnam is 81% comparing to average 62% in Asia-Pacific - the region with the highest overall rate of unlicensed PC software installations (Global Study, 2014) On 09 April, 2015, the Department of Market Management under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and

Cooperative Vereniging SNB–REACT U.A (React), an anti-counterfeit network in Vietnam, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in combating fake goods and enforcing intellectual property rights Do Thanh Lam, Vice Director of the Department said market-management forces nationwide inspected and settled over 100,000 cases of legal violations, including over 10,000 cases concerning fake goods and intellectual property right infringement However, he also notes that the fight against counterfeit goods is still facing difficulties and requires a stronger effort from and joint collaboration of all sectors and legal enforcement forces (VietnamPlus, 2015)

The shift of much of the world's manufacturing to countries with poor protection of intellectual property has been a significant factor contributing to the growth of counterfeiting

in recent years Internet in general and e-commerce sites like eBay in particular, have also made it easier to distribute counterfeit goods Equally important, far too many consumers in Vietnam with little disposable incomes are willing to accept a product of lower quality for a cheaper price but little do they realize they are undermining Vietnam’s chances at building a better future for all

The World Health Organization has estimated that 60% of counterfeit medicine cases occur in developing countries The popular view is that buying a fake is a win-win game, so long as you know what you are paying for Everyone enjoys a bargain But it's far too easy – and wrong – to write off this kind of crime as not really harmful to anyone

In 2014, law enforcement agencies detected and prosecuted 17,396 cases of trading in knock off products seizing an estimated total value of fake goods of VND36 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24.2% in the number cases and 12.1% in value Of course these numbers are somewhat nebulous as no one really knows the true extent and cost of counterfeit

products

Law enforcement in Vietnam simply does not have the wherewithal to counter these pirates as they have become far too sophisticated and to do so effectively demand high

technology, which currently Vietnam does not have Due to the complicated and

sophisticated situation, there must be a joint effort and comprehensive involvement of

relevant authorities, businesses and customers to combat counterfeiting (The Voice of

As illustrated above, there are opposed ethical viewpoints regarding what is right and what is wrong that need further study in examining the ethical perspectives of Vietnamese consumers so as to identify effective means of understanding important factors influence on consumer behavior Such an understanding can not only provide further insight into firm-level approaches designed to minimize the adverse impact of counterfeiting on company operations in Vietnam, but also for the government-level policies released to raise awareness and to combat against illegal actions in general and unethical consuming practices in

particular

1.2 Research gap

In the area of marketing ethics, there are studies involving consumers, however most

of them investigate consumers’ ethical perceptions regarding business and marketing

practices, rather than their perceptions of consumer practices (Vitell et al., 1991) Vitell et al (1991) emphasize that ‘‘there is a ‘gap’ in the marketing ethics literature concerning the ethical beliefs and attitudes of the final consumers regarding potentially unethical consumer practices.’’ Recently, Rao and Al-Wugayan (2005) point out that there is growing interest in researching consumer ethics Rao and Al-Wugayan (2005) state that cross-cultural studies have started to appear in consumer ethics; however, considering the diversity of world

cultures, their number is insufficient In addition, most of them focus on a specific geographic region (Al-Khatib et al., 2002; Polonsky et al., 2001) or even in a single country (Al-Khatib

et al., 1995; Chan et al., 1998; Erffmeyer et al., 1999; Van Kenhove et al., 2001)

However, even cross-cultural studies comparing different cultures (Al-Khatib et al., 1997; Rawwas, 2001; Rawwas et al., 1995) are also not involve Vietnam Since Vietnam has integrated into the global economy but yet remained a very new research site, there is an

urgent quest to investigate the ethical judgment of consumers in this emerging economy in

order to fill in the research gap in consumer ethics across cultures

1.3 Research objectives

Consumers are major participants in the marketing process Ignoring them in ethics research may result in our inability to develop a comprehensive understanding of the ethical behavior of all parties to the exchange process Additionally, despite repeated calls in the marketing literature for the inclusion of personality and attitudinal factors into marketing ethics research, only a limited number of studies have investigated the role of self-

monitoring, Machiavellianism, and opportunism in understanding consumers' ethics

Nevertheless, this remains a critical field for research endeavors that is needed

especially since these variables are likely to arise in exchange and affect the efficiency of the exchange relationship Researchers should find a way of systematically exploring their joint occurrence and the associations between them particularly within the ethical context As the success of a marketing model lies in the researchers' ability to investigate variables that truly distinguish consumers' performance in the marketplace, the present study will go beyond previous research in that it will examine the roles of personality factors such as

machiavellianism and opportunism, in addition to attitudinal factors such as self-monitoring,

in consumers' ethical perceptions/judgments toward potentially unethical consumer practices

in Vietnam located in a region of the world that represents dynamic and economic developing

in the global market

The overall objective of this study is to examine some factors that are associated with consumers’ ethical beliefs Specifically, it investigates:

The relationship between self-monitoring and consumers’ ethics

The relationship between machiavelianism and consumers’ ethics

The relationship between oppotunism and consumers’ ethics

1.4 Research scope

Much of the research that has been done on business ethics has focused on the

marketing exchange process and the participants within this process (Ferrell and Gresham, 1985; Hunt and Vitell, 1986; Ferrell et al., 1989; Hunt and Vitell, 1992; Chonko and Hunt, 1985), due to the fact that the marketing exchange process is the focal point where most of the ethical problems in business arise (Baumhart, 1961; Brenner and Molander, 1977; Vitell

and Festervand, 1987) Despite the large body of marketing ethics literature produced to date, limited numbers of studies have examined ethical issues in the developing regions of the world This situation urges to a need to study the ethical judgments of consumers in such areas so as to find which factors that influence those judgments This study framework is conducted in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong City, Vietnam with respondents’ age from fifteen years or above

1.5 Research contributions

This research contributes to the previous studies in the literature of consumer ethics study by provide an additional and interesting insight into the formation of consumers' ethical orientation and beliefs Since a primary objective of marketers is to satisfy the culturally learned needs of their targeted customers, global marketers must understand the habits, customs and inherent ethical differences of their customers before marketing their products in

a foreign country (Kramer and Herbig, 1994)

One of the biggest problem multinational firms face is learning how best to market their products and treat customers in emerging global markets (Miles, 1995) This is because the cultural and ethical values of consumers can vary entirely from those of a multinational firm's home country Apparently, multinational firms face a continual imperative to struggle with these culturally-driven differences in how consumers will respond to a given marketing mix (Jeannet and Hennessey, 1992) Cultural and ethical differences can exercise tremendous effects on the form, content and consequences of marketing communications (McDonald, 1994)

"Like politics, all ethics are local" as Kerlin said (1997) In commenting on the locality of ethics, Rawwas (2001) correctly states that international marketers should

recognize that "different cultures achieve ethicality by adopting different avenues As such, with a deeper understanding of the impact of environmental factors, “various strategies need

to be implemented when dealing with consumers of different cultures" Marketing

practitioners may use these findings to better understand international consumer ethics, thus enabling them to develop different strategies when dealing with consumers of various

cultures

Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang said the problem and scale of

counterfeiting matters enormously as it destroys the comparative advantage of products and Vietnam’s ability to attract foreign investment As such, the government needs to know from

such similar study so as to strengthen law enforcement to ensure that foreign investors comparative advantages be respected and protected

In summary, such an understanding can not only provide further insight into level approaches designed to minimize the adverse impact of counterfeiting on company operations in Vietnam, but also for the government-level policies released to raise awareness and to combat against illegal actions in general and unethical consuming practices in

firm-particular

Therefore, the expected contribution of this study is to close this gap in the literature

In this framework, the present study will give special emphasis to examine the main and interaction effects of those selected personality factors on consumers’ ethical attitudes

1.6 Research structure

This thesis is organized as follows:

- Chapter 1 presents the research background, research gap, research questions

and objectives, research contribution, and research structure

- Chapter 2 introduces research model and its hypotheses as well as its literature review

- Chapter 3 illustrates the methodology conducted in this paper

- Chapter 4 presents research results is based on data collected

- Chapter 5 summarizes the research results, provide the findings and

recommendations

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENTS

The purpose of this chapter is to review concepts of consumers’ ethics and moral philosophies which include self-monitoring, machiavelliasism and oppotunism It discusses previous research concerning the impacts of self-monitoring, machiavelliasism and

oppotunism on ethical beliefs of consumers In this chapter, literature on consumer ethics, self-monitoring, machiavelliasism and oppotunism is presented In addition, a research model

as well as all hypotheses are proposed and discussed accordingly

1994, 1995: Rawwas, 1996), and consumer materialism In addition, several general

marketing ethics theories have been developed (for example, Ferrell et al., 1989: Hunt and Vitell, 1986, 1992: Ferrell and Gresham, 1985) As the globalization of business continues, the need arises to understand the influence of culture on consumer ethics But marketers have

by no means exhaustively examined the perplexing dynamics surrounding consumer ethics Ethical concerns in business have been extensively studied since the early 1980s In business, consumers are the major participants (Vitell and Muncy, 1992) Although consumer ethics research was conducted before 1990 (i.e., DePaulo, 1986; Moschis and Churchill, 1978; Moschis and Powell, 1986; Wilkes, 1978), the majority of such literature has appeared only since 1990 (Vitell, 2003) Consumer attitudes toward unethical consumer practices have received considerable attention For instance, Vitell addressed this issue with other scholars

(e.g., Al-Khatib et al., 1997; Muncy and Vitell, 1992; Vitell and Muncy, 1992; Vitell et al., 1991; Rallapalli et al., 1994; Rawwas et al., 1994, 1998; Strutton et al., 1994) In addition, consumer perceptions of unethical consumer behavior have been examined (Chan et al., 1998; Fullerton et al., 1996; Higgs-Kleyn, 1998; Muncy and Eastman, 1998; Polonsky et al., 2001; Rawwas, 1996, 2001; Rawwas et al., 1995, 1996, 1998; Swaidan et al., 2003) Most related empirical studies have adopted the consumer ethics scale of Muncy and Vitell (1992) Vitell (2003) states that there are mainly three major comprehensive theoretical models to explain the ethical decision-making process of individuals They are the models of Ferrell and Gresham (1985), Hunt and Vitell (1986, 1993), and Trevino (1986) However, only the Hunt–Vitell model can easily be applied to consumers’ ethical behavior The model identifies the individual’s moral philosophy or ethical ideology as the key factor in explaining the differences between the ethical judgments and behaviors of individuals According to Hunt and Vitell (2006), this ethical evaluation process is influenced by several background factors including the cultural environment, professional, industry, and organizational

environment, and personal characteristics of the individual As seen, the Hunt–Vitell model contains several distinct background factors; however, only personal characteristics and cultural environment are relevant to consumer ethics (Vitell, 2003) Similar to the Hunt–Vitell model, other models also recognize the presence of both individual and situational variables in ethical decision making For instance, Ferrell and Gresham (1985) propose a contingency framework that proposes multifaceted factors in the process of ethical decision-making

Among the personal factors in the Hunt–Vitell model, a number of possible

dimensions are proposed, including the individual’s moral development level as suggested by Kohlberg (1981) and the individual’s personality Vitell (2003) states that the impact of several personal characteristics on the ethical judgments and intentions of individuals have been tested as independent variables Among those, value consciousness, Machiavellianism, high propensity to take risk, high need for closure, age, and gender can be mentioned Vitell (2003) suggests that ‘‘these as well as other personality variables should be included

insubsequent research studies.’’

In the present study, self-monitoring, Machiavellianism, opportunism will be

investigated as personality characteristics influencing of consumers’ ethics Although a few studies examined the relationship between machiavellianism and consumer ethics (e.g., Chen

et al., 2008; Kavak et al., 2003; McGregor, 2006; Tan, 2002), in previous research monitoring and opportunism in consumer ethics have been ignored

self-A number of researchers (e.g., Swaidan et al., 2004, p 752; Vitell, 2003, p 33) point out that, although there is large bodies of empirical research concerning ethics in the market place, most of them have focused on the seller side As Rao and Al-Wugahan (2005)

emphasize, marketing is an exchange process between buyers and sellers, and unethical behaviors can be exhibited by both parties Therefore, ignoring consumers may result in an incomplete understanding of that process (Vitell, 2003) and in the development of ineffective marketing strategies (Swaidan et al., 2004) As a result, in the last decade, consumer ethics has emerged as an important area for research (Steenhaut and Kenhove, 2006)

Consumer ethics has been defined as the moral rules, principles and standards that guide the behavior of an individual (or group) in the selection, purchase, use, or selling of a good or service (Muncy and Vitell, 1992) Past empirical research on consumer ethics has attempted to understand the ethical decision making of consumers Davis (1979) investigates the extent to which people are willing to take on the responsibilities corresponding to their rights as consumers She finds that more subjects were likely to insist on their rights as consumers than were willing to accept their corresponding responsibilities De Paulo (1986) investigates students' perceptions about how wrong they believed certain behaviors to be Some situations presented to various subjects focus on the behavior of sellers and some focus

on the behavior of buyers There are pairs of behaviors that were conceptually similar but

differed in terms of whether it was the buyer or seller engaging in the unethical behavior (e.g the buyer misleading the seller when negotiating versus the seller misleading the buyer when negotiating)

Consistent with Davis (1979), consumers are more critical of sellers who engage in potentially unethical behavior than they were of buyers who engage in the same behavior Vitell et al (1991) investigate the elderly consumers' perception of 20 consumer situations having potentially ethical implications Respondents are asked to rate each of these situations based on whether or not they thought the action was wrong

In addition, various personality characteristics relating to one's general moral

philosophy such as Machiavellianism were examined Similarly, Muncy and Vitell (1992) investigate 27 consumer perceptions of various consumer dilemmas involving ethics, and examine various demographic variables relative to these perceptions More recent studies have examined foreign consumers' perception of ethically questionable situations and the

impact of consumers' preferred ethical ideology on their perception of ethically questionable actions Rawwas et al (1994) examine the effect of war and civil unrest on consumers' ethical beliefs, preferred ethical ideology and degree of Machiavellianism in Lebanon and Egypt Results indicate that consumers in Lebanon, which has been tom by war and terrorism, tend

to be more Machiavellian, less idealistic and more relativistic than their Egyptian

counterparts Additionally, Lebanese consumers tend to be more accepting of "questionable" consumer practices AI-Khatib et al (1995) examine the impact of Egyptian consumers’ preferred ethical ideologies on their choice of action in ethically questionable situations Their results indicate that personal ethical ideology influences perception of the "rightness"

or "wrongness" of the action in question AI-Khatib et al (1997) compare US and Egyptian consumers' ethical beliefs and ideologies Significant differences are found between the two groups and were explained by variations in level of economic development, consumer

sovereignty, and cultural value Focusing on Asian consumers, Chan et al (1998) study the ethical judgments of Chinese consumers and the impact of their personal attitude toward business, mankind and illegal acts on their choice of ethically questionable actions Similar to previous studies, this study confirms that consumer ethical judgment is affected by the magnitude of the unethicality of the action Moreover, ethical judgment of the Chinese consumers tends to be less affected by their personal attitude Erffmeyer et al (1999) finds that Machiavellianism, idealism and relativism affect Japanese consumers’ perceptions of questionable actions McHoskey et al (1999) also confirm the relationship between ethical

orientation, Machiavellianism, and individual perceptions of unethical practices

refmed and condensed eighteen-item form (Snyder and Gangestad 1986)

Self-monitoring is about self-observation and self-control to notice situational cues for socially appropriate behavior in order to modify one’s behavior accordingly (Snyder, 1974)

In other words, ‘‘self-monitoring refers to the extent to which an individual looks internally

or externally for cues to appropriate behaviors in a given situation’’ (Snyder, 1974)

According to Snyder (1974), individuals exercise control over their expressions in line with various norms of social appropriateness

Traditionally, consumer research has focused on the person/actor, the situation, or the interaction of the person and the situation The relative influence of dispositional versus situational determinants of individual behavior has been of interest to consumer researchers for some time (e.g., Belk 1974; Kassarjian 1971) This has resulted in efforts to identify enduring personality traits and/or to investigate the strength and consistency of attitude behavior relationships Recognizing that individuals vary in their sensitivity to social cues and the ability to adapt their behavior to the requirements of the situation, Snyder and his colleagues develope the concept of self-monitoring along with a scale to measure the

construct (e.g., Snyder 1974; Snyder and Swann 1976) Self-monitoring is offered as a means

of identifying those individuals for whom situational or dispositional variables have primary influence (Becherer and Richard 1978)

Individuals vary widely in expressive control Some people are better than others in expressing or controlling their attitudes and behaviors Understanding individual differences

in self-expressive control is very important in explaining how social interactions and

interpersonal relationships are regulated by expressive behaviors (e.g., brand choice and preference) One theory of expressive control is self-monitoring theory (Snyder, 1974) The theory of self-monitoring concerns the antecedents and consequences of variation in the extent to which individuals strategically cultivate public appearances (Gangestad and Snyder, 2000)

Self-monitoring theory divides individuals into two different groups: high

monitoring and low monitoring groups based on how individuals guide their

self-presentation (Snyder, 1974) High self-monitors will behave in response to a specific social and interpersonal situation Because of their concern with the situational appropriateness of their self expressive self-presentation, they tend to monitor their expressive behavior and will regulate their self-presentation for the sake of desired public appearance (Gangestad and Snyder, 2000) Thus, they often change and tailor their attitudes and behaviors to fit social and interpersonal considerations of situational appropriateness and often show situation-to-situation shifts in the images they convey to others (Snyder and DeBono, 1985) High self-monitors are willing and able to project their images to impress others in different social situations and believe the appearances they create can become social realities (Gangestad and Snyder, 2000) In contrast, low self-monitors, those who engage in less expressive control

and are not as concerned with what is or is not appropriate, will behave consistently across situations and interpersonal relationships They do not have either the ability or the

motivation to regulate their self-presentations (Snyder, 1974), suggesting that their expressive behaviors are not controlled by deliberate attempts to appear situationally appropriate, but by their own inner attitudes, feelings, and dispositions Low self-monitors typically do not attempt to change their attitudes and behaviors to fit situational and interpersonal

considerations Thus, they tend to show consistency between their inner attitudes and their actual behavior in a variety of social contexts (Gangestad and Snyder, 2000)

Gangestad and Snyder (2000) review the published literature on self-monitoring and point out that the construct has been used in various research domains including consumer behavior As Browne and Kaldenberg (1997, p 31) quote from Guilford (1959) that

‘‘personality’’ can be defined as ‘‘a set of characteristics or traits that are relatively enduring and differentiate one person from another’’ and state that, among the various personality traits associated with marketplace behavior, self-monitoring has been investigated in a

number of studies

Since its introduction, self-monitoring construct has attracted attention from social psychologists and personologists In literature, there is substantial body of knowledge on the moderating role of self-monitoring with respect to consumer behavior (Gangestad and

Snyder, 2000) According to Gangestad and Snyder (2000, p 532), ‘‘self-monitoring theory promised an appealing moderating variable resolution to debates concerning the relative roles

of the person and the situation in determining behavior.’’

Research from other related domains may include consumer ethics However, our search reveals that in literature there is no empirical research that investigated the relationship between consumer ethics and self-monitoring The two important research studies that

investigate the relationship between ethical decision-making and self-monitoring are

conducted by Uddin and Gillett (2002) and Ross and Robertson (2003) In their study, Ross and Robertson (2003) find that personal factors act independently and interact with

situational factors in ethical decision-making On the other hand, Uddin and Gillett (2002) find that, contrary to their expectations, low self-monitors are found to be more influenced by the attitudes of others (subjective norms) than high self-monitors when forming intentions to act in an unethical manner As seen, research findings regarding the influence of self-

monitoring produced conflicting results Quoting from Covey et al (1988), Uddin and Gillett (2002) state that, as high self-monitors adjust their self presentations based on their

perception of the demands of the situation, they cheat in their self presentation; therefore, they are more likely to intend to cheat in a task

Among the many variables that moderate the relative influence of traits and/or

situations, self-monitoring may be an important one (Snyder 1974; Snyder and Monson 1975) The high self-monitoring individual is one who is particularly sensitive to the

expression and self-presentation of others, and uses social cues as behavioral guidelines (Snyder 1974) One might hypothesize that the behavior of low self-monitoring individuals will be associated with dispositional variables such as personality traits, while the behavior of high self-monitors will relate more closely to situational cues

Therefore, we hypothesize:

H1a: Self-monitoring is negativety related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting

from illegal actions

H1b: Self-monitoring is negativety related to beliefs regarding passively benefiting at

the expense of the seller

H1c: Self-monitoring is negativety related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting

from questionable but legal actions (deceptive practices)

H1d: Self-monitoring is negativety related to beliefs regarding ‘no harm, no foul’

actions

Machiavellianism

A machiavellian person is the "one who employs aggressive, manipulative, exploiting, and devious moves in order to achieve personal or organizational objectives "These moves are undertaken according to perceived feasibility with secondary considerations to the

feelings, needs, and/or rights of others" (Calhoon, 1969, p 211) In another study, Hunt and Chonko (1984, p 30), note that "the label machiavellian [is] becoming a negative epithet, indicating at least an amoral (if not immoral) way of manipulating others to accomplish one's objectives" It would be inappropriate, however, to equate "machiavellian" with such extreme labels like "dishonest" or "deceitful" Therefore, the more Machiavellian the individual, the more aloof (i.e less helpful to others) he/she is likely to be It is therefore appropriate to examine the possible influence of this construct on consumers' ethics

Several studies have found that people in individualistic societies are less apt to follow formal moral rules For example, Chonko and Hunt (1985) find that codes of ethics are often developed by US corporations, but never referred to in solving moral issues In the same manner, Robin and Reidenbach (1987) observe that most codes of ethics of US firms have no effect on modifying behavior Verma (1985) find a relationship between

individualism and the willingness of people to violate norms Morris et al (1994) argue that individualistic people are motivated by self-interest and achievement of personal goals (i.e Machiavellianism)

Hofstede (1983) has found that people within wealthy countries (leaders) have higher individualism scores, and people within poorer countries (followers) have higher collectivism scores Leaders tend also to have greater personal initiative, ambition and success They also tend to ignore formal rules and standards However, followers tend to have less individual initiative, drive and fulfilment: but they tend to closely follow rules and regulations Christie and Geis (1970) caution against this interpretation More appropriately, Machiavellian

persons possess a kind of cool detachment that makes them less emotionally involved with others or with saving face in potentially embarrassing situations

Numerous studies have investigated the impact of Machiavellianism on consumers' ethical perceptions (Rawwas, 2001; Rawwas and Singhapakdi, 1998; Muncy and Vitell, 1992; AI-Khatib et al., 1997; Chan et at., 1998; McHoskey et at., 1999) The conclusions of these studies suggest that the higher the individual's machiavellianistic tendencies, the less

likely that individual will negatively perceive unethical or questionable actions Overall,

Vitell (2003) points out that less Machiavellian, less relativistic, and more idealistic

consumers were found to be more ethical

Researchers have also used Machiavellianism to explore differences in consumers' ethical beliefs within one country or one culture They have studied ethical beliefs of

consumers in Egypt (AI-Khatib et at., 1995), Japan (Erffmeyer et al., 1999), Austria (Rawwas 1996), Lebanon and Egypt (Rawwas et at., 1994), and the US (Vitell et at., 1991) They have all reported that Machiavellianism did discriminate across subgroups within a certain country

or culture in such a way that the machiavellianistic participants overwhelmingly defected when it was to their advantage to do so

Christie and Geis (1970) develope the Mach IV scale to measure Machiavellianism Based on their Ethical segmentation of consumers’ review of 38 studies utilizing the MACH scale, the authors report that "high Machs" differ in their behavior and characteristics from

"low Machs" The study conclude that individuals who score high in the Mach scale tend to manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and influence others more than those who score low in the same scale The study also reports that high Machs tend to exhibit a relative lack of affect in interpersonal relationships, a lack of concern with conventional morality, and

a lack of ideological commitment This lack of involvement with others, perhaps, leads the more Machiavellian individual to be more accepting of potentially less ethical consumer

practices

Based on above discussion and research findings, we hypothesize that

H2a: Machiavellianism is posivety related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting

from illegal actions

H2b: Machiavellianism is posivety related to beliefs regarding passively benefiting at

the expense of the seller

H2c: Machiavellianism is posivety related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting

from questionable but legal actions (deceptive practices)

H2d: Machiavellianism is posivety related to beliefs regarding ‘no harm, no foul’

actions

Opportunism

One of the key behavioral variables that drive marketing exchange and transaction cost is opportunism Opportunism has been interpreted as "a lack of candor or honesty in transactions, to include self-interest seeking with guile" (Williamson, 1985, p 9) Such a behavior may be exhibited, sequentially or simultaneously, by either one or both the parties in

an exchange relationship (Joshi and Stump, 1999) It can be proactive and/or reactive It may involve violation of contractual norms (the stronger form opportunism) or violation of

relational norms (the weaker form opportunism)

According to Brown et al (2000), the partners can engage in opportunism even before actual formation of a relationship (Ex-ante opportunism), or they may behave

opportunistically after the relationship has been launched (Ex-post opportunism) If the opportunistic players feature a fly-by-night predisposition and do not expect to be a part of future alliance(s) with these players, they may ignore the loss of reputation caused due to such cheating Hill (1990) suggests that opportunism is viable if the future is not important to

the provoker Therefore, opportunistic hazards increase when social mobility increases i.e individual members perceive exchanges in a non-recurring manner

The concept has not been limited to the self-interest alone, but has included malicious behavior such as lying, cheating, deceit and violations of agreements (Rodney and Heide, 1996) Furthermore, it has been assumed that humans have a tendency to act

opportunistically, whenever it is feasible and profitable (John, 1984) Opportunistic behavior can take several forms including withholding or distorting information and shirking or failing

to fulfill promises for obligations Opportunism is also witnessed in buyer-seller relationships where sellers misrepresent information about the quality of their products prior to the buyer‘s purchase—a manifestation of adverse selection (Akerlof, 1970) In addition, the sellers also exert low effort after buyers agree to acquire their services, a problem of moral hazard

(Pauly, 1968)

Based on above discussion and research findings, the author hypothesize that

H3a: Oppotunism is posivety related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from

illegal actions

H3b: Opportunism is posivety related to beliefs regarding passively benefiting at the

expense of the seller

H3c: Opportunism is posivety related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from

questionable but legal actions (deceptive practices)

H3d: Opportunism is posivety related to beliefs regarding ‘no harm, no foul’ actions

2.2 Hypotheses development

Figure 2.1 Research model

H3 (+) H2 (+) H1 (-) Self-monitoring

The research hypotheses for this study, therefore, are as follows:

Table 2.1 The study’s hypotheses

Self-monitoring and Consumers’ Ethics

Self-monitoring is negatively related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from illegal actions

Self-monitoring is negatively related to beliefs regarding passively benefiting at the expense of the seller

Self-monitoring is negatively related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from questionable but legal actions (deceptive practices)

Self-monitoring is negatively related to beliefs regarding ‘no harm, no foul’ actions

H2a

H2b

H2c

H2d

Machiavellianism and Consumers’ Ethics

Machiavellianism is positively related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from illegal actions

Machiavellianism is positively related to beliefs regarding passively benefiting at the expense

of the seller

Machiavellianism is positively related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from

questionable but legal actions (deceptive practices)

Machiavellianism is positively related to beliefs regarding ‘no harm, no foul’ actions

H3a

H3b

H3c

H3d

Opportunism and Consumers’ Ethics

Opportunism is positively related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from illegal actions Opportunism is positively related to beliefs regarding passively benefiting at the expense of the seller

Opportunism is positively related to beliefs regarding actively benefiting from questionable but legal actions (deceptive practices)

Opportunism is positively related to beliefs regarding ‘no harm, no foul’ actions

This chapter presents the definition of the dependent and independent variables It also reviews the pertinent literature on the research topic with the key aims of rationalizing the significance of the research problem, developing a theoretical framework for the study The next chapter details the justification for the research methodology followed by an

explanation of the methods used

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter includes five parts: the first part is research process in which is the way

to conduct research will be presented, the second part is measurement scales, the third part

is the results of in-depth qualitative research interviews, the forth part is sampling methods , and the last part introduces the methods to analyze data

3.1 Research Process

This study is conducted as given in the chart below

Figure 3.1 Research Process

3.2 Measurement scales

Vitell (2003) reviewed the major research studies involving consumer behavior that have appeared since 1990 Among the first consumer ethics research in this period, the studies of Muncy and Vitell (1992) and Vitell and Muncy (1992) should be mentioned By developing a consumer ethics scale, these authors examined the extent to which consumers

Testing of hypotheses (Standard multiple regression)

Problem

Literature review

believe that certain questionable behaviors are ethical or unethical and found that consumers’ ethical beliefs that differentiate their behaviors has four dimensions: (1) actively benefiting from illegal activities (e.g., changing price tags on merchandise in a retail store), (2) passively benefiting (e.g., getting too much change and not saying anything), (3) actively benefiting from deceptive (questionable) practices (e.g., using an expired coupon for merchandise), and (4) no harm/no foul (e.g., using computer software or games that you did not buy) (Vitell and Muncy, 1992)

Their findings revealed that actions in the first dimension are initiated by consumers, most of whom perceive that these actions are illegal The second dimension involved actions where consumers passively benefit from sellers’ mistake The third dimension was also initiated by the consumers, however these actions were not perceived to be illegal Yet, they were still morally questionable Study findings indicated consumers believe that it is more unethical to actively benefit from an illegal activity than to passively benefit Finally, the fourth dimension involved actions that most consumers perceive as not even being unethical

at all Most of these actions involved the copying of intellectual property such as software, tapes or movies (Swaidan et al., 2004; Vitell, 2003)

Table 3.1 Scales of Consumer Ethics

No Item

Actively benefiting from an illegal activity

1 Returning damaged merchandise when the damage is your own fault

2 Changing price tags on merchandise in a retail store

3 Reporting a lost item as “stolen” to an insurance company in order to collect the money

4 Using a long distance access code that does not belong to you

5 Drinking a can of soda in a supermarket without paying for it

6 Giving misleading price information to a clerk for a nonpriced item

Passively benefiting

1 Saying nothing when the waitress miscalculates the bill in your favor

2 Getting too much change and not saying anything

3 Not informing the cashier about an unscanned item placed in the grocery bag

4 Getting more food than you paid for at a fast-food restaurant and not informing the cashier

5 Moving into a new residence and using a preexisting cable service that has not been purchased

6 Lying about a child’s age in order to get a lower price

Actively benefiting from a questionable action

1 Using an expired coupon for merchandise

2 Observing someone shoplifting and ignoring it

3 Breaking a bottle of salad dressing in a supermarket and doing nothing about it

4 Stretching the truth on an income tax return

5 Not telling the truth when negotiating the price of a new automobile

6 Using coupon for merchandise that you did not buy

7 Returning merchandise to a store by claiming that it was a gift when it was not

No harm, no foul

1 Returning merchandise after trying it and not liking it

2 Tasting grapes in a supermarket and not buying any

3 Spending over an hour trying on different clothes and not purchasing any

4 Taking an ashtray or other “souvenir” from a hotel or restaurant

5 Taping a movie off the television

6 Recording an album instead of buying it

7 Using computer software or games that you did not buy

Self-monitoring was assessed by using a widely utilized measure: Snyder and

Gangestad’s (1986) 18-item Self-Monitoring Scale The original scale consisted of 25

true/false questions As Snyder (1974) reported, the scale was internally consistent, stable, and uncorrelated with measures of related concepts In this study, we utilized the 18-item true/false Self-Monitoring Scale which includes ten reverse statements Typical statements found on the Self-Monitoring Scale include: (1) ‘‘I’m not always the person I appear to be,’’ and (2) ‘‘I would probably make a good actor.’’ As Browne and Kaldenberg (1997)

emphasized, the scale was scored in the direction of high self-monitoring; therefore, higher scores indicated higher self-monitoring ‘‘Participants received one point for each item they endorsed in the high self-monitoring direction For eight items, a response of ‘True’ was the high self-monitoring response; for the remaining 10 items, a response of ‘False’ was the high self-monitoring response’’ (Ratner and Kahn, 2002, p 251)

Table 3.2 Scales of Self-monitoring

No Item

1 I find it difficult to imitate the behavior of other people

2 At parties and social gatherings, I do not attempt to do or say things that others will like

3 I can only argue for ideas which I already believe

4 I can make important speeches even on topics about which I have almost no information

5 I guess I put on a show to impress or entertain people

6 I would probably make a good actor

7 In groups of people, I am rarely the center of attention (reverse)

8 In different situations and with different people, I often act like very different persons

9 I am not particularly good at making other people like me (reverse)

10 I am not always the person I appear to be

11 I would not change my opinions (or the way I do things) in order to please someone else or win their

favor

12 I have considered being an entertainer

13 I have never been good at games like charades or improvisational acting (reverse)

14 I have trouble changing my behavior to suit different people and different situations

15 At a party, I let others keep the jokes and stories going (reverse)

16 I feel a bit awkward in company and do not show up quite as well as I should

17 I can look anyone in the eye and tell a lie with straight face (if for a right end)

18 I may deceive people by being friendly when I really dislike them

Machiavellianism was measured using the Mach IV scale developed by Christie and Geis (1970) This scale contained 20 items with ten items worded in a Machiavellian

direction and ten items worded in the opposite direction Each respondent was asked to indicate either agreement or disagreement with each of the 20 items using a seven-point Likert scale where a 7 indicated strong agreement

Table 3.3 Scales of Machiavellianism

1 Never tell anyone the real reason why you did something unless it is useful to do so

2 The best way to handle people is to tell them what they want to hear

3 One should take action only when sure it is morally right

4 Most people are basically good and kind

5 It is safest to assume that all people have a vicious streak and it will come out when given the chance

6 Honesty is the best policy in all cases

7 There is no excuse for lying to someone else

8 Generally speaking, people won't work hard unless they're forced to do so

9 All in all, it is better to be humble and honest than to be important and dishonest

10 When you ask someone to do something for you, it is better to give the real reasons for wanting it to than give reasons which carry more weight

11 People who get ahead in the world lead clean, moral lives

12 Anyone who completely trusts others is asking for big trouble

13 The biggest difference between criminals and others is that the criminals are stupid enough to get caught

14 Most people are brave

15 It is wise to flatter important people

16 It is possible to be good in all respects

17 It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners

18 Barnum was wrong when he said that there's a sucker born every minute

19 People suffering from incurable diseases should have the choice of being put painlessly to death

20 Most people forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their property

Opportunism was measured using eight items related to the individual's masking information, audited compliance only in the face of audit, overstatement of difficulties, empty promises, information falsification, exaggerated claims, neglected obligations, and

perfunctory role performance Respondents were asked to indicate either agreement or disagreement using a seven-point scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" (Dwyer and Oh, 1987, 1989)

Table 3.4 Scales of Opportunism

1 At times, I may have to overstate my difficulties in order to get others attention

2 Sometimes data falsification is acceptable

3 With minor injury, people tend to exaggerated claims for bigger compensation

4 It is commonly seen that the insurer often neglected obligations to the claimant

5 In the absent of the boss, the employee shows perfunctory role performance

6 It is acceptable with masking information to the self-benefit

7 In developing countries, the company shows compliance only in the face of audit

8 When love gone, empty promises come with love

3.3 Qualitative Research

The purpose of qualitative research is to explore factors affecting the consumers’ ethical beliefs and their items According to Vishnevsky and Beanlands (2004, p 235), “the term ‘qualitative research’ encompasses a number of research methods within the naturalistic paradigm that take different approaches to the research design” There are three commons of qualitative designs such as ethnography, phenomenology and grounded theory In there, Polit, Beck, and Hungler (2001, cited in Vishnevsky and Beanlands, 2004, p 236) supposed that

“the main resource of data collection of phenomenology is in depth-discussions with both the researcher and informant participating fully” Therefore, phenomenology would be suitable for this research Method of sampling, data collection and the results of in-depth interviews

will be presented in the next section

3.3.1 Sampling

Seven participants are consumer representatives Participants were drawn from

different social classes and have been considered ethic basing on these indicators: marriage & have child Each participant will be investigated separately All participants are living in Ho Chi Minh City

3.3.2 Data collection

Before collecting data, the in-depth interviews are conducted in order to modify and revise all observed items of the draft questionnaire to make improvement for the official questionnaire In-depth interview has three steps Firstly, the participants are asked a couple

of questions (like “Drinking a can of soda in a supermarket without paying for it.”, “Lying about a child’s age in order to get a lower price.”) Secondly, they received a questionnaire and examined all factors in more detail Finally, the researcher recorded the results of in-depth interview

3.3.3 Results

Details are as follows:

In measurement scales of consumers’ ethics:

 The item of “Stretching the truth on an income tax return” and the item of

“Not telling the truth when negotiating the price of a new automobile.” had both not suitable to Vietnam context So, these two items was eliminated

 The item of “Spending over an hour trying on different clothes and not

purchasing any” and the item of “Returning merchandise after trying it and not liking it” had similar meaning Therefore, the item of “Spending over an hour trying on different clothes and not purchasing any” was discounted The original official questionnaire English questionnaire is translated into Vietnamese and back translated for validity check purposes The questionnaire is divided into two

sections The first section explores demographics information which includes gender, age, marital status, education, monthly income, family size and occupation of the respondents Such information is used to classify and compare groups of respondents The second section explores the determinants affecting to the consumers’ ethics

The questionnaires are delivered to respondents through two ways of handling

directly to respondent or indirectly by social networks which provides link to online Google Drive to survey A cover letter is also attached explaining the purpose of the study Moreover, informed consent, explanation of study, procedure of maintaining confidentiality, and

detailed instructions on how to complete the questionnaire successfully is included For those questionnaires completed through hard copy format, the data is entered manually For those questionnaires completed through the Google Drive web link, the data is converted into a

database in an SPSS format file for analysis All items were measured by a seven-point Likert scale, anchored by 1: strongly disagree and 7: strongly agree

quantitative method (questionnaire survey) to empirically examine the relationship between

self-monitoring, Machiavellianism, opportunism, and the consumers’ ethical beliefs in Vietnam

In terms of sample size, Haire et al (2010) stated that the minimum sample for

appropriate use for statistical analysis is equal to or greater than five times of number of variables, but not less than 100

n>=100 and n>=5k (k: number of variables)

The model in this study consisted four factors with sixty-two variables, thus, the necessary sample size should be: 69*5=345 observations

For Exploratory Factor Analysis, a general rule is that the minimum sample size is to have at least five times as many observation as the number of variables to be analyzed and larger than 100 (Hair et al., 2010) The minimum sample size by EFA in this research is: n=69*5= 345 observations

3.5 Data analysis methods

All accepted questionnaire were reviewed for completion, coded and input the raw data in IBM SPSS Statistic version 22 The reliability and validity of measurement scales were evaluated by using Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis Then, multiple regression analysis is used to provide for interpreting the results of its application from a managerial and statistical viewpoint (Hair et al., 2010)

3.5.1 Cronbach’s alpha

According to Connely (2011, p 45), “Cronbach’s alpha is used as only one criterion for judging instruments or scales It only indicates if the items “hang together;” it does not determine if they are measuring the attribute they are supposed to measure Therefore, scales also should be judged on their content and construct validity”

Table 3.5 Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient (adapted from George and

Malley, 2003, cited in Matkar, 2012, p 94)

3.5.2 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)

Norris and Lecavalier (2010, p 9) supposed that “EFA is based upon a testable model and can be evaluated in terms of its fit to the hypothesized population model; fit indices can

be generated to help with model interpretation” Moreover, “EFA’s purpose is to identify latent constructs underlying a set of manifest variables”

Hair et al (1998, cited in Lee and Hooley, 2005, p 376) claimed that with samples of

350 or more, a factor loading of the attribute higher than 0.3 is significant In addition, with samples of 200, a factor loading of 0.4 or greater will take to indicate Therefore, the

researchers must carefully consider the sample size for choosing significant factor loadings Factors with a total eigenvalue of 1 or greater will take into account; hence, any factors with

an eigenvalue of less than 1 are discounted (Kim and Mueller, 1978, cited in Lee and Hooley,

2005, p 376)

Based on these studies, any factors with eigenvalue greater than 1 will be retained In addition, any factor loadings of 0.3 or higher on a factor are counted

3.5.3 Multiple regression analysis

Hair et al (2010, p 156) claimed that there is the difference between the actual and predicted values of dependent variable That means the random error will occur when

predicting sample data It is called the residual (ε or e) Based on these studies, the multiple regression formula will be

Y = a + β1X1 + β2X2 + … + βnXn + ε Where in: Y: is the dependent variable

a: is constant β: is called beta weight, standardized regression coefficient, or beta coefficient

X: is the predictor entered into the equation in a single step ε: is the residual

Moreover, Meyers, Gamst, and Guarino (2006, p 161) introduced the value of R2 indicating how much variance of the dependent variable is accounted for by the full

regression model Therefore, the higher the value of R2, the greater the explanatory power of the regression equation (Hair et al., 2010)

This chapter reports the research methodology for the study, also the different

analyses to scientific research are Progressive decisions are reported about the detail of the research design and process, identifying that the study is conducted with a survey that uses Detail of the questionnaire design and administration is addressed and the results of pre-testing the questionnaire are reported Analysis and results of the survey are presented in Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

In this chapter, results of study were analyzed and presented with sample n=340 First, respondents’ demographic were analyzed using SPSS Secondly, results of scale validation were presented

4.1 Respondents’ demographic

As seen in Table 4.1, majority of respondents were under 30 years old (50%) There were more female (61%) than male respondents (39%) with 75% of respondents are under graduate and the worker takes 42% This could be explained by the “golden population structure” of Vietnamese people This population structure indicates that the number of working people exceeds the number of dependent people

As a result, young consumers are the key feature of Vietnamese market, with the median age of 30 years (CIA fact book, 2014) More than 25 million of Vietnamese are aged 15-29, representing nearly 28% of total population (HKTDC, 2013) Consequently, the role

of young consumers in family decision making has been growing and their purchasing power has also been increasing significantly Many young consumers actively participate in

shopping for their own and their families’ needs Due to the rising purchasing power and significant consumption patterns, the segment of teenagers and young professionals in

Vietnam are the target audience of many international brands Therefore, young consumers are also the main focus of this study

Table 4.1 Demographic Variables (N=340)

Variables Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent Gender

Education

Under graduate 256 75 75 Bachelor 70 21 96

as cited in Nguyen, 2011) In addition, the Corrected Item-Total Correlation was also very important Specifically, if the correlation of each specific item with total of the other items in

the scale was higher than 0.3, such item was assumed to be correlated with most other scale items and become a good part if this total rating rate (Nunnally & Burnstein, as cited in Nguyen,2011)

Table 4.2 Reliability Statistics

Observed variable

Scale Mean if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

ABIA : Alpha= 0.969

ABIA01 10.259 58.245 0.913 0.962 ABIA02 9.894 56.455 0.907 0.962 ABIA03 10.050 55.977 0.931 0.960 ABIA04 10.265 59.151 0.897 0.963 ABIA05 10.015 59.053 0.863 0.967 ABIA06 10.121 57.280 0.888 0.964

PBEO : Alpha= 0.753

PBEO01 17.312 52.687 0.589 0.693 PBEO02 16.862 52.019 0.557 0.699 PBEO03 18.065 52.598 0.558 0.699 PBEO04 18.471 55.459 0.516 0.712 PBEO05 17.268 52.309 0.470 0.725 PBEO06 17.729 57.413 0.307 0.771

ABQA : Alpha= 0.839

ABQA01 9.388 31.943 0.673 0.797 ABQA02 9.738 34.560 0.653 0.806 ABQA03 9.018 32.301 0.556 0.834 ABQA04 9.500 31.867 0.700 0.790 ABQA05 9.544 31.818 0.649 0.804

NHNF : Alpha= 0.744

NHNF01 17.335 50.855 0.480 0.708 NHNF02 17.338 50.868 0.576 0.682 NHNF03 16.885 48.302 0.619 0.667 NHNF04 18.285 53.154 0.465 0.712 NHNF05 18.724 59.009 0.311 0.749 NHNF06 17.329 50.664 0.450 0.718

SELF-MONITORING: Alpha= 0.956

SELFMON01 68.074 473.732 0.825 0.952 SELFMON02 67.894 482.868 0.809 0.952

SELFMON03 67.541 480.491 0.821 0.952 SELFMON04 68.074 479.118 0.822 0.952 SELFMON05 68.129 484.868 0.809 0.952 SELFMON06 68.285 490.399 0.777 0.953 SELFMON07 68.429 488.151 0.819 0.952 SELFMON08 67.971 485.822 0.823 0.952 SELFMON09 67.841 497.237 0.664 0.955 SELFMON10 67.738 492.318 0.664 0.955 SELFMON11 67.771 489.334 0.662 0.955 SELFMON12 67.994 492.484 0.675 0.955 SELFMON13 68.065 496.562 0.653 0.955 SELFMON14 68.059 497.336 0.674 0.954 SELFMON15 68.012 498.330 0.647 0.955 SELFMON16 68.235 500.623 0.641 0.955 SELFMON17 68.259 497.632 0.638 0.955 SELFMON18 68.029 497.787 0.610 0.956

MACHIAVELLISM: Alpha= 0.976

MACHIA01 82.006 815.522 0.874 0.974 MACHIA02 81.929 827.806 0.848 0.975 MACHIA03 81.562 824.223 0.863 0.974 MACHIA04 81.971 837.462 0.857 0.975 MACHIA05 81.985 833.867 0.843 0.975 MACHIA06 81.612 831.070 0.809 0.975 MACHIA07 81.806 827.738 0.819 0.975 MACHIA08 81.800 829.075 0.835 0.975 MACHIA09 81.503 819.708 0.854 0.975 MACHIA10 81.285 814.352 0.867 0.974 MACHIA11 81.400 823.155 0.838 0.975 MACHIA12 81.585 829.712 0.832 0.975 MACHIA13 81.668 831.674 0.828 0.975 MACHIA14 82.097 845.268 0.810 0.975 MACHIA15 81.982 834.112 0.809 0.975 MACHIA16 81.968 840.922 0.795 0.975 MACHIA17 81.791 839.841 0.781 0.975 MACHIA18 81.065 840.598 0.681 0.976 MACHIA19 81.374 845.733 0.685 0.976 MACHIA20 81.947 842.416 0.704 0.976

OPPOTURNISM: Alpha= 0.917

OPPO01 28.691 111.052 0.748 0.904 OPPO02 28.597 112.991 0.756 0.904