Journal of Entrepreneurship Education (Print ISSN: 1098-8394; Online ISSN: 1528-2651)

Research Article: 2018 Vol: 21 Issue: 4

The Determinant Factor of Consumer Attitudes of the Robusta Coffee Processed in East Java, Indonesia

Sri Tjondro Winarno, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa Timur

Darsono, Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta

Mohamad Harisudin, Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta

Sudiyarto, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa Timur

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the factors that influence consumer attitudes (Culture, Personality, Psychology, and Marketing Mix) in buying Robusta coffee processed in East Java. The study conducted in Jember, Lumajang, and Malang Regency which were chosen purposively. The technique of used for determining unit sample was Quota Sampling technique. Each regency has 60 respondents so that total for three regency was 180 respondents. The data type is primary data and secondary data from publications or important notes related to the study theme. Statistical technique uses Structural Equation Modeling with Wrap PLS program, 6.0. The study result proves that cultural variables do not give significant influence to consumer attitude of robusta coffee. While the variable of personality, psychology, and marketing mix have positively significant influence to consumer attitude of robusta coffee processed.

Keywords

Culture, Personality, Psychology, Marketing Mix, Consumer Attitude.

Introduction

Coffee is one of Indonesia's important commodities which have several roles, among others: as an income source for coffee farmers, foreign exchange sources, industrial raw materials producers, and provider of employment field through processing, marketing and trading. The need for coffee is increasing, indicated by the increasing demand for Robusta coffee and other coffee types. In addition, the number of coffee cafes, coffee shops, and traditional coffee shops both in rural and in urban areas are growing almost throughout East Java. Small business micro of processing coffee powder in household scale has a potential opportunity to develop and likely to take a portion of the market share owned by large coffee companies with niche markets in each region. By using attractive packaging technology, strict quality control, and supported by raw coffee beans obtained from their own farms or farmer groups in red cooking conditions, it is expected that these small micro business will be able to compete.

Fadah and Handriyono (2016) say that the main problem faced in the processed coffee business in Sidomulyo, East Java is the low quality of human resources in the knowledge of processing and post-harvest cultivation, and also the marketing efforts are relatively small. Cailleba and Casteran (2010) say that all traditional coffee cannot be considered as a single product because they have very different marketing characteristics. Currently, there is a tight competition in the coffee processing industry, and many brands and variants of processed coffee from large industries, home industries and farmer groups. Nowadays, consumers in buying and enjoying coffee begin to pay attention to the quality and attribute possessed by processed coffee. For coffee enthusiasts, the enjoyment and privilege of coffee flavor is very important because it is able to give its own satisfaction that is characterized by the effort to gather information about the product, compare the product, then determine the best product choices. This will be related to the producer’s way to provide knowledge and as a medium of learning for consumers and motivate to improve education and entrepreneurial knowledge indirectly. The purpose of this study is to test and analyze cultural, personality, psychology, and marketing mix factors toward consumer attitude of Robusta coffee consumer in East Java.

Literature Review

Culture

Tirelli and Mart?'nez-Ruiz (2014) say that food attributes affect all the decision-making processes of the purchasing stage especially in the choice phase. Cultural differences appear to be related to the age of consumers (Miltgen and Peyrat-Guillard, 2014). Haiyan (2012) adds that global brand strategy is closely related to cross cultural and consumer attitude. Religious belief, denomination, and devotion have an influence on purchasing habits (Evans et al., 2012). According researchers, the success of international marketing depends on the consistency of marketing decisions with cultural measures and steps which considered as criteria for acceptance or rejection of marketing. Successful marketing strategy understands the cultural influences and consumer attitudes (Chuan Lu et al., 2013). Ali and Lee (2011); Sugandini et al. (2018) say that online network in a country is influenced by the same culture. Salvador et al. (2014) says that religion is important in organizing organizational decisions regarding positively commitment when purchasing on behalf of the organization. Likewise, Irini et al. (2015) adds that the cultural aspects associated with collective identity have a significant impact on attitudes to foreign products.

H1: Culture has an influence toward attitude.

Personality

Chen and Cai (2012) say that in formulating various promotions, we need to communicate with consumers to improve brand image and consumer psychological variables that can be useful to help marketing. Almousa (2011) adds that the perception of ease and benefits of online shopping is felt to have a strong positive effect on the attitude to shop. Even consumer emotions can create relationships of loyalty, trust and affection between brands and consumers. Consumer perceptions and attitudes toward virtual stores can be altered by virtual store personalization (Barkhi and Wallace, 2007). In the the UK, tea and coffee consumption is strongly associated with lower or higher social status (Hamer et al., 2008).

Coppola et al. (2015) also states that socio-demographic variable affects consumer attitudes in Italy. The rapid growth of the current number of sites requires marketers to develop an understanding of consumer behavior intentions (Wang and Chou, 2014; Wijayani et al., 2018). Salkova and Hoskova (2016) find that between economic status and facility selection has a positive correlation. This means that if someone has a high economic status, he would choose a better facility compared with consumers who have low economic status. On the other hand, Bidel et al. (2010) find no association between coffee consumption and colorectal, colon, and rectal cancer risk. While researchers explain that consuming coffee can reduce cognitive decline in older men. Coffee intake is inversely related to mortality in the elderly. Some of these findings conclude that personality can significantly influence consumer attitudes in considering a product.

H2: Personality has an influence toward attitude.

Psychology

Kuk-Shin et al. (2011) explains that an environmental stimulus provides an emotional and behavioral reaction that ultimately determines passion and consumer judgment of the purchased product. Edu et al. (2013) finds that consumer behavior on cold drink products in South Africans teenagers has a tendency towards objective purchasing decisions with certain loyalties. While Martínez-López et al. (2014) proves that the satisfaction of an online store has a strong influence on buying one item related to its shopping goals. The most important attributes for each product are the sensory aspects and in terms of brand positioning that can be considers as functional characteristics (Wood, 2007), the new Emotional Model has high validity over the conventional emotional model in which emotional factors influence cognitive factors (Tanaka et al., 2015).

Besides the anxiety caused by cognitive imbalance after purchase, the experience of using and product reviews information can also ease tension and reduce psychological imbalances (Huang and Yang, 2008). Leung et al. (2015) adds that self-monitoring and self-concept affects awareness among consumers of a certain age group. Therefore, the efforts to improve sustainability marketing for products and other services should take a more important approach towards sustainable industrial upgrading (Howard and Jaffee, 2013). The investor's psychological tendency affects the delays in purchases (Howard and Jaffee, 2013); Goi et al. (2014) finds result that respondents with low hospitality strongly influence the relationship between response and stimulus.

H3: Psychology has an influence toward attitude.

Marketing Mix

Hewlett and Wadsworth (2012) say that the relationship between demographics and health-related lifestyles is related to the pattern of drinking tea and coffee. The faster brand-coffee competition in innovation, the more market share is increase in different segments (Alejandra et al., 2012). Raheem et al. (2014) adds that packaging materials have a direct impact on consumer purchases for food products. It proves that information is a priority point. Communicating socially, environmentally responsible behavior, customer engagement in terms of ideas can be used as a strategy to rebuild and offer healthy products. This is a very profitable long-term investment strategy (Stoyanov, 2015; Muafi and Uyun, 2018).

An approach that combines commercial and social marketing orientation has the greatest potential to retain its distinctive traits and contribute to social and economic goals (Golding and Peattie, 2005). The women emancipation as a factor that influence the consumption structure in households also has significant influence in consumption from both consumer and producer aspects (Mihic et al., 2013). There is a significant variation in differences between rural and urban products where television advertising is involved in improving the purchasing process (Hassan, 2015). Decisions on various products play a major role in strategic marketing (Klapper, 2005). Consumers with low levels of ethnocentrism are more interested in the safety of food supplements regardless of producer country (Smaizien and Vaitkiene, 2014). Prokeinova and Hanova (2016) add that the main factors affecting food consumption are consumer’s revenues and food prices. In order to better understand the international market environment, companies can set prices effectively and become competitive (Snieskiene and Cibinskiene, 2015).

H4: Marketing Mix has an influence toward attitude.

Research Methods

Survey research was conducted in the research location which determined purposively in 3 (three) Regency such as Jember, Lumajang, and Malang. The regency has chosen because those regency have a large Robusta coffee plantation area and also have a coffee processing industry. The sampling of respondents was conducted by using Quota sampling technique. The number of respondents is 180 consumers with the details of each district respectively as many as 60 respondents. The data used for this study is primary data and secondary data. The dependent variable consists of consumer attitudes. While the independent variable consists of culture, psychology, individual, and marketing mix. Statistical technique uses Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Warp-PLS software version 6.0.

Result and Discussion

The study results based on data processing using Warp PLS can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1
THE STUDY RESULTS BASED ON DATA PROCESSING USING WARP PLS
Hypothesis Path Path Coefficient P values Standart of Error for Path Coefficient Effect size for Path Coefficient Sig.
H1 Culture à attitude 0.024 0.371 0.074 0.006 p>0.05
Non Significant (H1 rejected)
H2 Personality à attitude 0.166 0.011 0.072 0.049 p<0.05
Significant (H2 accepted)
H3 Psychology à attitude 0.352 <0.001 0.069 0.233 p<0.05
Significant (H3 accepted)
H4 Marketing mix à attitude 0.597 <0.001 0.066 0.429 p<0.05
Significant (H4 accepted)

The influence of culture on attitude shows an unreal result with path coefficient value of 0.024 and p=0.371>0.05. The result of this study not supports the Moser et al. (2011) result that a specific culture can be defined through its characteristics and will always exist in individuals who may not act on general norms and can be developed on the basis of certain cultural values and beliefs. Rets (2016) says that popular culture language is characterized by excessive use of neologism, emotional intensive, slang, and fashionable words. Endres (2012) adds that popular culture as embodied in a movie is what consumers buy and what drives most consumers to transact within the global economy.

Cultural considerations are less important factor in choosing products, but cultures tend to play a more important role adjusted to unique products (Constantinides et al., 2010). Stancu (2015) adds that the cultural model of each country influences consumption patterns and food types which will be consumed. If the producer appreciates the diversity and credibility of the traditions then it is a good sign for globalization (Moraru, 2013). Nowadays, consuming coffee is a necessity, where the lovers are not only dominated by the oldster but have been transmitted to adolescence both men and women. Consumption of coffee has been a habit for certain group of people, it is a tradition that passed down from generation to generation. Even it has been entrenched in all circles. This condition causes the emergence of coffee shop, cafes or stalls both in the countryside and in urban areas. Ali and Lee (2011) stated that culture has been regarded as one of the main factors influencing behavioral design. Gountas and Gountas (2016) even say that it is important to pay attention to standards of service delivery as an organizational culture and a driving force for sustainable competitive advantage (Ozcelik et al., 2016). In addition, Hosseini (2010) finds that global forces have also impact on value and local culture.

The influence of the personality on the attitude shows a real result with the path coefficient value of 0.166 and p=0.011<0.05.Nowadays, coffee is a lifestyle for all people of both male and female, all groups who have income or not, old or young, and have different types of work. Harith et al. (2014) corroborates the results that respondents' opinions on appearance, brand and price correlate each other in order to convey the right message. Tarigan et al. (2015) states that respondents generally prefer 3:1 coffee mix, especially the color, flavor, and taste. The higher the age of the male consumer the more they like the taste. Higher the age of the female consumer, higher the dislike of the after taste. Vlahovic et al. (2012) finds that the main motive dominates coffee purchases is quality. Tirelli and Mart?'nez-Ruiz (2014) explain that appearance, accessibility and taste are the three factors that form the basis of food product attributes. Even personal values affect the level of wine consumer exploration in Poland (Schaefern et al., 2018).

The influence of psychology on attitude shows significant result with the path coefficient value of 0.352 and p=0.001<0.05. The driving factor of consumers in buying Robusta coffee is they are drinking coffee, and it becoming a necessity in life especially when it has become a trend and lifestyle. The purpose of this coffee consumer is very varied, such as they are fond of coffee or for health purpose. In general, consumers have a similar perception. Calvo-Porrala and Levy-Mangin (2017) find that low perceived quality customers would emphasize the importance of the brand on buying intentions. Store brand affordability affects them and it is not significant for high perceived quality consumers. High perceived quality customers show lower value and purchasing perceptions that are affected by confidence compared to low perceived quality customers.

Orzan et al. (2013) stated that the social influence on consumer intent to behave in an environmentally friendly manner is small but significant. From the product side, considering that people in East Java generally have an open nature, friendly and straightforward then if evaluating something is simple. Robusta coffee is very familiar in their life. Robusta coffee has a slightly bitter taste with a bit of bitterness and can give a sensation for the lovers. The quality of coffee, brands, packaging materials, and product packaging is the main attraction for consumers. Besides that, smell and taste are the main choice for this robusta coffee consumer. Y?lmaz et al. (2017) adds that coffee is a stimulant of the heart and mind, and it is a mysterious plant that strengthens friendships and also relieves your fatigue throughout the day.

The effect of marketing mix on attitude shows significant result with the path coefficient value of 0.597 and p=0.001<0.05. Coffee already has its own market share so that in terms of promotion, this condition is very profitable for the producers. Nowadays, many manufacturers put on the packaging with the type of robusta coffee. It is supported by the increasing number of leaflets, advertisements in print, electronic and social media. Robusta coffee price is still affordable by all levels of society because coffee products are available in various sizes on packaging materials, shapes, and appearance, so the consumers can choose according to his ability. Usually, the Robusta coffee consumer is not so concerned with the price. This is due to drinking coffee is a necessity so the price is not questioned, but it has led to the product quality such as smell and taste, then the product packaging, because the attractive packaging is also the main attraction for consumers.

There is Robusta coffee products in almost all hawker centers spread across East Java, and there have a special window for robusta coffee from various regions in strategic places with an attractive arrangement which makes consumers interested to buy it. These results simultaneously reinforce previous study findings from Bacon et al. (2014); Rehman and Ibrahim (2011). It is impossible without a promotion to sell products in a competitive global marketplace. The new design of eco-friendly packaging with new materials which is suitable and good is an important integral part (Zheng, 2013). Syafinara et al. (2015) says that the right marketing strategy can support its production growth. In order to achieve greater market share with sales growth, it is necessary to combine good quality and distribution (Davies et al., 2010).

Conclusions and Implications

Based on the study result, it can be conclude that personality, psychology, and marketing mix factors give a real positive influence on consumer attitudes. It can contribute a significant theory in terms of consumer behavior. Furthermore, this study can provide practical implications such as coffee is one of the interesting commodities to grow. This is in line with the increasing number of coffee lovers, especially coffee in East Java, and it has become a society habit and has become a trend and lifestyle today. Robusta coffee processed products need to be introduced to consumers to better understand so that the consumer can expand knowledge on ways and how to influence the behavior in consuming these coffee drinks. It can motivate business actors to be able to design and implement the right strategy in order to always be able to increase sales volume and market share.

References

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