Understanding the physical environment impact on the prospective customers

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This research aimed to study the views of prospective customers to two coffee shops in Seomyeon, Busan, South Korea, in relation to their expectation according to the physical environment.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET) Volume 10, Issue 04, April 2019, pp. 31-38. Article ID: IJMET_10_04_005 Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=4 ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359 © IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed UNDERSTANDING THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ON THE PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS Siti Aisyah Muhammad Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 16300 Bachok, Kelantan, Malaysia, Sung Pil Lee School of Design, DongSeo University, 47 Jurye-ro, Jurye 2(i)-dong, Sasang-gu, Busan, South Korea, ABSTRACT Physical environment related to the industrial technology and architecture. The physical environment is a visible and tangible aspect compliment the innovative technology, design and service innovation design. This research aimed to study the views of prospective customers to two coffee shops in Seomyeon, Busan, South Korea, in relation to their expectation according to the physical environment. The methodology used included interviews, surveys and analysis through Semantic Differences and AMOS 22. The components of the physical environment comprised the facility aesthetic, lighting, ambience, layout, service product and social factors. The findings showed the influence of cultural context on the preferences to select and revisit the coffee shops. The components of the physical environment influenced the decision making of the prospective customers in selecting the preferred coffee shops according to the experience and expectation about the potential good tangible and intangible services. This study contributes to understand about the marketing strategy applied the emphasizing of the physical environment of the service business respected to the potential technology. Key words: service technology, architecture, physical environment Cite this Article Siti Aisyah Muhammad and Sung Pil Lee, Understanding the Physical Environment Impact on the Prospective Customers, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 10(4), 2019, pp. 31-38. http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=4 http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 31 editor@iaeme.com
Understanding the Physical Environment Impact on the Prospective Customers 1. INTRODUCTION Design field produces architects, designers, consultants and so on to provide a professional person to produce what people want and need, but the crucial thing is what people most satisfied and preferred. Environmental psychologists suggest that the feelings or emotions of people determine what they do and how they do it (Donovan & Rossiter, 1982; Mehrabian & Russel, 1974). Additionally, perception is described as an instant response to the immediate environment, whereas cognition involves the process of semantic and verbal classification of perception (Bro, 2000). Impression and customer’s behavioural intention are related to customers’ satisfaction, and physical environment and cognitive emotion assist with their retention and decision to revisit the place (Han et al., 2009; Hyun et al., 2011; Ha & Jang, 2013). Coffee shops, presently, are not only a food and beverage business, but they also provide services to customers such as meeting areas, Wi-Fi and event halls. A study argued that the physical environment is closely related to customers’ preferences for selecting coffee shops (Muhammad & Lee, 2016). This study aims to determine the components of the physical environment that influenced the prospective customers in selecting the coffee shop as a service business. The physical environment as a tangible aspects in architecture and industrial technology is an important topic to understand relates to the users and potential future services. 2. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT Findings show that innovation occurs in five distinct design areas including the physical environment, service employees, the service delivery process, fellow customers and back office support which, directly or indirectly, influence customer experience (Voss & Zomerdijk, 2007). Landscape architects, architects, interior designers, retailers, and environmental psychologists acknowledge the influence of physical environment on behaviour (Donovan & Rossiter, 1982; Turley & Milliman, 2000). It is argued that human behaviour is strongly associated with physical environment (Mehrabian & Russel, 1974; Russel & Pratt, 1980). Environmental psychologists, Mehrabian and Russel (1974) theorised that individuals generally react to the environment in two contrasting ways: approach and avoidance. According to several investigations, convincing physical surroundings stimulate emotional/physical responses as well as cognitive responses such as customer beliefs/perceptions (Bitner, 1992; Golledge, 1987). Moreover, Rapoport (1982) agreed that from a cognitive viewpoint, the physical environment is described as a form of nonverbal communication which is also denoted as the object language. Mehrabian and Russell (1974) maintain that the physical environment is considered a key variable influencing customer perception and behaviour from the perspective of environmental psychology. It is also agreed that the physical environment plays a fundamental role in retail atmospherics (Kotler, 1973; Turley & Milliman, 2000) and ‘servicescapes’ (Bitner, 1992). ‘Servicescape’ is described as “the man-made, physical surroundings as opposed to the natural or social environment” (Bitner, 1992, p. 58). Wakefield and Blodgett studied the effects of layout accessibility, facility aesthetics, electronic equipment, seating comfort, and cleanliness on servicescape and found that physical environment significantly affected customer satisfaction (1999). Mattila and Wirtz indicated that the three major reasons that customers patronise their target restaurants in the casual dining sector were food quality, service, and atmosphere (2001). Furthermore, in the context of retailing, atmospherics was a sentient design of a physical environment that had an impact on consumers prone to purchase probability (1973). Kotler (1973) suggested four environmental dimensions: visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile. Then, Berman and Evans (1995) proposed atmospheric stimuli or elements in four categories: the store exterior, the general interior, the layout and design variables, and the point-of-purchase and decoration variables. http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 32 editor@iaeme.com
Siti Aisyah Muhammad and Sung Pil Lee Earlier, Hall (1966) introduced three types of environmental cues: fixed feature elements (such as walls and floors), semi-fixed feature elements (such as furniture type and arrangement, window displays), and non-fixed feature elements (such as ambience and people in the environment). Subsequently, Baker (1986) provided a taxonomy of environmental cues such as design factors, social factors, and ambient factors. Later, researchers in the field of environmental psychology and service innovation proposed extended essential factors of the physical environment, such as décor and artefacts, spatial layout, and ambient conditions that are particularly pertinent to the service industry (e.g., Nguyen & Leblanc, 2002; Raajpoot, 2002; Wakefield & Blodgett, 1999). 3. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS In the world of service marketing, the design quality is one of the main attributes related with environmental psychology that resulted on customers’ behaviour upon selecting the product. Rust and Oliver (1994) argued that the perception of service quality such as reliability is based on the customer’s evaluation of the physical service factors such as design. Previous researches have concluded that people rely on the environment to value of their world and for behavioral guidance (Genereaux, Ward, & Russell 1983; Ittelson et al. 1974; Kaplan 1987; Rapoport 1982; Russell, Ward, & Pratt1981; Russell and Pratt 1980; Russell & Ward 1982). Also, empirical studies suggested in the ways physical environment influences customer satisfaction and expect post-purchase behavior (Hui, Dude & Chebat, 1997; Grove, Fisk &Bitner, 1992, Knutson & Patton, 1995; Mattila &Wirtz, 2001; Voss & Zomerdijk, 2007, Wakefield & Blodgett, 1994). Louviere stated that preference antecedents namely utility as “judgments, impressions, or evaluations that decision makers form of products or services, taking all the determinant attribute information into account” (1988, p. 12). Figure 1. Model of the Choice Process (Louviere, 1988) 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS This study selected two locations in a city in Busan, South Korea, as the case study for a comparative analysis of customer preferences in selecting a coffee shop and their decision to revisit. A pre-test survey of 20 samples was conducted to determine the most visited and most likely to be visited coffee shop, according to expectations of the taste and physical environment of the coffee shop in both locations. The two coffee shops in Busan were selected using the same criteria, namely that they are both local Korean franchise coffee shops located within a 100m area (Fig. 2). Based on the result, two distinct coffee shops were selected: OK Dabang and KAVAN Espresso. Semantic Differential Method (SDM) uses semantic attributes of the product for investigation and analysis, where the sample must assess the products according to their value. The attributes were determined at the pre-test stage using the KJ method http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 33 editor@iaeme.com
Understanding the Physical Environment Impact on the Prospective Customers (Muhammad & Lee, 2016). The proposed hypothesis by Ryu (2012) on attributes of the physical environment, including facility aesthetic, lighting, ambience, layout, service product and social factors, was adapted in this study. Subsequently, 100 participants (male: 49, female: 51) were asked to complete the questionnaires without visiting the coffee shops, where 61% are Design Students and 39% belong to other categories (4% are unemployed; 9% in the arts or entertainment field; 16% in the education domain; 4% in the financial industry; 3% are public servants; 2% in the health care specialty; and 1% in the real estate field). A video and a photographic image of OK Dabang and KAVAN Espresso were displayed to the participants prior to completing the questionnaire. Figure. 2 Location of OK Dabang and KAVAN Espresso The impression is often influenced by the senses, reviews, social media, and personal experiences that have become part of the marketing concept. OK Dabang commenced operations in 2005 and had seven franchises by 2014. It has maintained the tradition of the dabang atmosphere with the DJ and music request. OK Dabang in Seomyeon, Busan, opened in 2011 at the corner of a two-storey building. Located at the same junction with OK Dabang, KAVAN Espresso commenced operations in 2012 with a different atmosphere from OK Dabang. KAVAN Espresso has a contemporary industrial interior design with the look of a modern gallery. The attributes obtained at the pre-test stage using the KJ method generated 101 keywords (Fig. 3), where A represents KAVAN Espresso and B represents OK Dabang. The keywords were clustered according to the proposed attributes of physical environment by a previous researcher (Ryu, 2012). http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 34 editor@iaeme.com
Siti Aisyah Muhammad and Sung Pil Lee Figure. 3 101 keywords from KJ Method Table. 1 The 5-bipolar scale of pairwise matrix for both coffee shops Examples of the physical environment of both coffee shops presented to the participants as shown in Table 2 and Table 3. The attributes were defined in pairs of antonymous adjectives, which lie at either end of a qualitative scale. Derived from the adjectives provided by the samples, 15 adjective pairs were clustered according to highest and similar repetition of meanings in Table 1. It was proven that the proposed classification by Ryu (2012) represents the expectations and impressions of future customers with respect to the physical environment of the specific coffee shops. Table 2. The photographic images of OK Dabang Table 3. The photographic images of KAVAN Espresso http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 35 editor@iaeme.com
Understanding the Physical Environment Impact on the Prospective Customers The results of a 5-bipolar (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5) show significant comparative impression between both coffee shops. Figure. 4 Scattered chart for OK Dabang http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 36 editor@iaeme.com
Siti Aisyah Muhammad and Sung Pil Lee Figure. 5 Scattered chart for KAVAN Espresso The scattered charts above explained that the prospective customers have different preferable views upon both coffee shops. The OK Dabang has selected as Quiet (item 11) place by looking at the ambience o the physical surrounding at 58%. The KAVAN Espresso was selected as Rigid (item 6) with 58% with the industrial interior layout provided. The participants’ expectation and impression of both coffee shops were summarised below: 1. The participants selected the environment that is most consistent with their emotions and behaviours (Bitner, 1992; Golledge, 1987). 2. The participants observe the layout and interior of the coffee shop before making a decision to stay (Kotler, 1973; Matilda & Witz, 2001). 3. The participants stated that exclusivity is important as it represents the service quality of the coffee shop (Bitner, 1992) 5. CONCLUSION The results show significant preference for both coffee shops. Participants preferred OK Dabang for enjoyment and leisure, whereas KAVAN Espresso was favored as the legit and serious place. Hence, as posited by Kotler, the physical environment has an emotional effect on buyers that could enhance their purchase probability and could be described in sensory terms. The components of physical environment as a tangible aspect is understood as one of the factors that influencing marketing. The industrial technology related to the service business will also potentially develop by understanding the physical environmental factors. REFERENCES [1] Aisyah Muhammad, and Sungp Lee (2015), Factors of Customer’s Preference of Visiting the Coffee Shop in South Korea, International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research (IJSBAR) Volume 24, No 7, pp 252-265 [2] Bergenwall, M. (1998). An Overview of Emotion Theory: Incorporating The Concept Of Emotion Into Service Quality Research, Meddelanden Working Papers, No. 367. Helsinki: Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration. [3] Donovan, R.J., and Rossiter, J.R. (1982). Store Atmosphere: An Environmental Psychology Approach,Journal of Retailing 58, 34–57. http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 37 editor@iaeme.com
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