Chapter 6 Profiles’ Influence and Models
6.3 Results between Different Independent Variable Groups
This section analyses how important a dependent variable, such as cleanliness, was perceived by each group member in each independent variable; for example, males and females as the group members for the independent variable ‘gender’. The objective is to understand the differences between different profiles in each destination. The other eight selected
independent variables are: (i) age-group, (ii) type of traveller, (iii) employment status, (iv) number of travel companion, (v) education level, (vi) region, (vii) room average cost per night and (viii) travel duration. Details of the mean values for these variables can be found in
Appendices I.1 to I.54. New Zealand
Overall, for the New Zealand sample 183 out of 405 (45%) total combinations of variables were found to have significant differences between mean values (see Table 6.1). While attributes with high variations are mostly in the middle- and lower-ranked bands, the independent variable ‘traveller type’ shows a different result; the attributes that are significantly different are only those in the high rankings (Bands A1 to A3): ‘price’, ‘location’, ‘staff attitude’ and ‘comfort of bed’ signifying that the different level of travel experiences only influences the most important attributes in accommodation selection. These four attributes are significantly more important to frequent travellers over infrequent travellers in New Zealand. In contrast, significant variations for ‘education’ only appear at the lower bands, suggesting that travellers with different education levels have no different influence on
the high-ranking attributes and more varied influence on the low-ranking ones when selecting accommodation in New Zealand.
The most varied profile in regard to selection of attributes in New Zealand is ‘region’, whereby 16 out of 22 attributes are rated differently by at least one of the regions against others. While this implies the most heterogeneous variable in relation to accommodation attributes selection, the differences are mostly in the lower-rated attributes. Other variables with relatively high variations include ‘employment status’ and ‘room average cost’.
With regard to purchase motives (personal factors), ‘age group’ shows the highest significant difference (11 out of 15 motives) between the younger young and the older young, indicating the most varied purchase motive is held between these two. The significant differences are also recorded for all of the three centrally held motives in the top two bands (M1 and M2) with two motives, ‘to feel safe’ and ‘to have a peaceful and calm environment’ being more important to the older young travellers, suggesting that the older have less interest in social interaction, and instead give priority to privacy at their accommodation. This rather private purchase motive finding is in accordance with Richards and Wilson’s (2003) travel
motivation research, which found that older respondents seek more individualised travel experiences, while younger respondents (under 26 years) are interested in establishing social contacts. It also appears that the younger young travellers place more emphasis on basic needs in New Zealand: the purchase motive ‘a place to sleep’ was found to be significantly more strongly held by the younger young than the older young travellers.
The most homogeneous variable associated with purchase motive is ‘traveller type’: the difference between frequent and infrequent travellers is significant for only one motive. The same is also evident in relation to purchase constraints, with one low-ranked constraint being significantly different between the two. These findings imply that while level of experience greatly affects the high-ranked attributes mentioned earlier, this variable has no great effect on the personal factors—that is, purchase motives and constraints—when selecting
accommodation in New Zealand.
On the other hand, in relation to purchase constraints, ‘length of travel’ (travel duration) appears to have the greatest influence on purchase constraints, with 6 out of 8 constraints being rated differently between the different lengths of travel taken. Therefore, this represents the most varied variable on the effect of limitation faced when selecting accommodation in New Zealand.
Overall, the variables with the highest differences in New Zealand are related to age group, travel duration and region (28 differences each). Other relatively heterogeneous variables are employment status and average room cost (27 differences each). These indicate that most variation in preferences occurs between members of these five independent variable groups when choosing accommodation in New Zealand. In contrast, traveller type is the most homogeneous variable, with only six differences observed between frequent and infrequent travellers.
Malaysia
The total mean difference between variables was slightly less in the Malaysian sample (see Table 6.2) compared to the New Zealand sample. Out of 405 combinations of variables, 161 combinations (40%) were significantly different in mean values between groups. The relatively lower level (40% compared to 45% for the New Zealand sample) indicates a relatively lower heterogeneity effect in the Malaysian sample.
The results for the highly-ranked attribute ‘price/value for money’ indicate no significant difference across the nine independent variable groups. This shows that regardless of the different profiles, travellers to Malaysia equally agree on the level of importance of this attribute in accommodation selection.
The independent variable ‘education’ is the most homogeneous variable. The only attribute that is significantly different for this group is the lowest-ranked attribute ‘parking’. This indicates that regardless of the travellers’ educational background, almost all attributes were rated similarly, except parking, which was rated significantly differently by at least one education level. On the other hand, profile features with the strongest heterogeneity effect on attributes for Malaysia as a destination are region and room average cost: 18 out of 22
attributes are rated differently between members of these two variables. The high variation of these variables is similar to what is found for the New Zealand sample, signifying that
regardless of travel destination, a significantly different demand of attributes among regions where travellers came from and among different amounts spent on the room can be observed among young travellers in both destinations.
Moreover, the same variables (region and room average cost) continue to reveal the highest variation in regard to purchase motive, with the region variable also recording the highest variation in purchase constraint. These indicate that region does not just influence the selection of product attributes, but also strongly influences purchase motives and limitations faced by young travellers to Malaysia. In contrast, the variable ‘travel duration’ shows no
significant differences in any of the purchase motives, while ‘gender’ and ‘age group’ also have no significant differences towards any purchase constraints, reflecting the most
homogeneous profile features associated with common motives held and purchase constraints faced respectively, when selecting accommodation in Malaysia.
The highest rated constraint ‘time constraint’ recorded no different influence by any of the nine independent variables, indicating the common agreement by all different profiles on the importance of this limitation.
Overall, other than ‘region’, which recorded the highest variations (36 differences), a high difference is also seen for ‘room average cost’ (32 differences) in the Malaysian sample. This is similar to what was found in the New Zealand sample. However, a stark difference is observed for the variables ‘age group’ and ‘travel duration’: while the variations are high in New Zealand, they are very low in the Malaysian sample, indicating the influence of travel destination on these profile features in accommodation selection.
The results presented in this section and in the previous section enable a comparative analysis between the two samples (New Zealand and Malaysia) of the relationships between the
dependent and independent variables, and so answer Research Question Three: What are the differences and similarities in relation to selection of commercial accommodation, between young international leisure travellers visiting Malaysia and New Zealand? Where there are significant differences in each sample, the variables will be highlighted in the purchase selection model (see Figures 6.6 and 6.7 below) and thereafter discussed in Chapter 7. Nevertheless, the following section intends to further strengthen the establishment of the model by examining the strength of the relationships between the independent variables and the highly influential dependent variables.