Does the ‘Room Effect’ Generalise to Designed Products?

Does the ‘Room Effect’ Generalise to Designed Products? An Investigation of the ‘Product Effect’ Azhari bin Md Hashim Submitted in the fulfilment of requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Design, Swinburne University of Technology 2012 Abstract Successive Malaysian governments have pursued a vision of achieving ‘industrialized country’ status by 2020. Within this, the Malaysian transport industry comprises motorcycle manufacturers, and Modenas has played a major role, receiving considerable internal investment and acting as a flagship for national ambition. As international competition increases, Modenas risks a reduction in its share of the home market and curtailment of its export ambitions due to free trade tariff reductions; the latter being due to China entering this market. As with the entire automotive industry, market research methods play an important role in product development. Automotive market research consistently focus on how people perceive the product itself, but not on the effect the product has upon how people perceive its owner. In other words, does the product confer its own qualities onto its owner. The present research explores the value products bestow upon the owner by applying a method called the Room Effect, developed in a study by Canter, West and Wools (1974). The research employs both qualitative and quantitative techniques using the Motorcycle Positioning Task and the Room Effect method for pilot surveys, in order to investigate how association with the product, in this case different motorcycles, bestows characteristics upon the person associated with it, which was carried out in Malaysia and Australia. Actual surveys of the Room Effect method finally was carried out by international participants on the Internet. The latter focused upon possible differences due to nationality and gender. The results indicated that the Room Effect method can be applied to products with indications of strong gender and Product Effect. The research indicated that the presence of a motorcycle effected how people were perceived, and that a Product Effect exists in a similar way to the Room Effect. This research provides a new market research method for application in the motorcycle industry, and in the consumer product domain generally. i Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the following people for their contribution to preparing the thesis: Professor Allan Whitfield – supervisor extraordinaire, for his guidance, encouragement, patience, and unfailing optimism. Dr Simon Jackson – my second supervisor for his support, timely comments and attention to detail. To all friends and colleagues – especially Azmeer, Zaffwan, and Arnis, thank you for their empathy and encouragement in Swinburne University of Technology and Universiti Teknologi MARA. Thank you mom, Saleha Hj Hussin and dad, Md Hashim Hj Bakar and families for their endless reassurance support and continuously inspire me. ii Signed Declaration I, Azhari Hashim, declare that this thesis: contains no material which has been accepted for the award to the candidate of any other degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis; to the best of the candidate’s knowledge contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis; and where the work is based on joint research or publications, discloses the relative contributions of the respective workers or authors. ___________________________________________ / / iii List of Figures Figure 2.1 Market share in Malaysian motorcycle industry 15 Figure 2.2 Examples of motorcycle models by Chinese manufacturers 18 Figure 2.3 Modenas share holders 20 Figure 2.4 Modenas company website 21 Figure 2.5 Modenas production model of motorcycles 1 22 Figure 2.6 Modenas production model of motorcycles 2 23 Figure 2.7 Motorcycle production year 1999-2000 24 Figure 2.8 Motorcycle sales year 1999-2000 25 Figure 2.9 Share market by main competitors in Malaysia 27 Figure 2.10 Share market and production unit of motorcycles in Malaysia. 29 Figure 2.11 Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners’ convoy 31 Figure 2.12 Vespa model of 98, production year 1946-1947 33 Figure 2.13 Honda C100 Super Cub motorcycle model 34 Figure 2.14 Honda DN-01 motorcycle model 35 Figure 2.15 Semantic Differential scales 46 Figure 2.16 Semantic Differential questionnaire 47 Figure 2.17 Two dimensional plot of the Semantic Differential 49 Figure 2.18 Multidimensional Scaling 50 Figure 2.19 Automobile perceptual map based from Multidimensional Scaling 51 Figure 2.20 Room Effect method 53 Figure 3.1 Summary of the research process 56 Figure 3.2 Parallel method of approach 59 Figure 3.3 Sample of stimulus material for the Motorcycle Positioning Task 64 Figure 3.4 Sample of stimulus material for paper based questionnaire 67 Figure 3.5 Sample of stimulus material for online questionnaires 70 Figure 4.1 Motorcycle Positioning Task process 72 Figure 4.2 Process of motorcycle stimuli selection 75 Figure 4.3 Picture of selected motorcycles 77 Figure 4.4 Stimulus material for task 1 78 Figure 4.5 Stimulus material for task 2 78 Figure 4.6 Motorcycle Positioning Task procedure 80 Figure 4.7 Plot 1 - Evaluation and Social factors for the Malaysian participants 82 Figure 4.8 Plot 2 - Evaluation and Social factors for the Australian participants 83 iv Figure 4.9 Plot 3 – Potency and Activity factors for the Malaysian participants 85 Figure 4.10 Plot 4 – Potency and Activity factors for the Australian participants 86 Figure 5.1 The Room Effect method survey process 89 Figure 5.2 Process of motorcycle-scooter stimuli selection 92 Figure 5.3 Process of people’s stimuli selection 93 Figure 5.4 Stimuli pictures of eight different combinations of independent variables 95 Figure 5.5 Factor Analysis output, Scree Plot 102 Figure 5.6 Repeated Measures output for Personality (Reliable, Trustworthy, 106 Generous, New Ideas, Positive Attitude, Kind, Friendly, Creative, and Efficient) Figure 5.7 Repeated Measures output for Appearance (Attractive, Sporty, Stylish, 107 and Masculine/feminine) Figure 5.8 Repeated Measures output for Neuroticism (Unstable, Anxious, and 108 Vulnerable) Figure 5.9 Repeated Measures output for Neuroticism (Unstable, Anxious, and 109 Vulnerable) Figure 5.10 Repeated Measures output for Physical Attributes (Height and Weight) 110 Figure 5.11 Repeated Measures output for Social Attributes (Education level, Age, 111 and Parents’ Annual Income) Figure 5.12 Repeated Measures output for Social attributes (Education level, Age, 112 and Parents’ Annual Income) Figure 5.13 Repeated Measures output for Elegant 113 Figure 5.14 Repeated Measures output for Organised 114 Figure 6.1 Actual survey method process 117 Figure 6.2 Process of motorcycle-scooter stimuli selection 121 Figure 6.3 Process of people’s stimuli selection 122 Figure 6.4 Stimuli pictures for questionnaire 124 Figure 6.5 Factor Analysis output, Scree Plot 129 Figure 6.6 Repeated Measures output for Personality (Motorcycle x Model 133 nationality) Figure 6.7 Repeated Measures output for Personality (Model gender) 134 Figure 6.8 Repeated Measures output for Physical Attributes (Model gender) 135 Figure 6.9 Repeated Measures output for Physical Attributes (Model nationality) 136 Figure 6.10 Repeated Measures output for Age (Motorcycle) 137 Figure 6.11 Repeated Measures output for Age (Model gender) 138 Figure 6.12 Repeated Measures output for Age (Model nationality) 139 Figure 6.13 Repeated Measures output for Education (Motorcycle x Model gender) 140 Figure 6.14 Repeated Measures output for Parents’ Annual Income (Motorcycle x 141 Model gender) Figure 6.15 Repeated Measures output for Parents’ Annual Income (Model gender x 142 Model nationality) Figure 6.16 Repeated Measures output for Personality (Motorcycle x Caucasian 144 female) v Figure 6.17 Repeated Measures output for Physical Attributes (Motorcycle x Asian 145 female) Figure 6.18 Repeated Measures output for Parents’ Annual Income (Motorcycle x 146 Caucasian male) List of Tables Table 4.1 Background characteristics of survey participants 76 Table 4.2 Type of selected stimuli motorcycles 79 Table 5.1 Background characteristics of participants 90 Table 5.2 Combinations of eight different stimuli 94 Table 5.3 Questionnaire formation 97 Table 5.4 Types of personality adjectives used based on the Five-Factor Model of 98 Human Personality traits Table 5.5 Factor Analysis output, Communalities 100 Table 5.6 Factor Analysis output, Variance Explained 101 Table 5.7 Factor Analysis output, Pattern Matrix 103 Table 5.8 Factor Analysis output, Descriptive Statistics 104 Table 5.9 Mixed ANOVA results, Significant Effects 105 Table 6.1 Background characteristics of participants 119 Table 6.2 Combinations of eight different stimuli 123 Table 6.3 Types of personality adjectives used based on the Five-Factor Model of 125 Human Personality traits Table 6.4 Questionnaire formation 126 Table 6.5 Factor Analysis output, Communalities 127 Table 6.6 Factor Analysis output, Variance Explained 128 Table 6.7 Factor Analysis output, Pattern Matrix 130 Table 6.8 Factor analysis output, Descriptive Statistics 131 Table 6.9 Univariate ANOVA results, Significant Effects 132 Table 6.10 Univariate ANOVA results, Significant Effects 143 vi List of Abbreviations OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations AFTA ASEAN Free Trade Area CEO Chief Executive Officer

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