Keyword

Cultural factors, personal, Spa, social, service criterions

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the behavior of women in Bahrain as consumers in the field of Spa & Beauty services. Design/methodology/approach: Sample of 384 is divided using a sampling ratio into the four main governorates of Bahrain and a combination of Chi-square & eta correlation along with Pearson product moment correlation is used. Findings: The study found that there is a significant relationship between all the demographical aspects of females except for education with behavior. It was also observed that self-expression along with achieving ideal self-image are highly perceived personal factors when selecting beauty and spa treatments, although null hypostasis with regard to personal, social, cultural, service criterion factors were accepted, it was found that demographics as an integral part of personal factors are significantly correlated to selection of spa services. The other groups of factors variables were also significantly correlated to the selection of the Spa service. Practical implications: This study suggested that Spa owners should fully recognize the factors that really contribute in shaping the behavior of consumers in the Spa industry such as the importance of complementary services as well as designing an ideal spa service mix that matches the needs and wants of women consumers in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Originality/ value: The study concurs with previous research conducted in the Spa industry, as it reflects that some aspects of women consumption behavior could be planned and predictable.


Full Text : PDF

References
  1. Baker, S. (2003). New Consumer Marketing, Managing a Living Demand System, Wiley and Sons, England.
  2. Bhasin, H. (2017). “Personal factors affecting consumer buying behavior”. Available at: 
  3. http://www.marketing91.com/personal-factors-affecting-consumer-buying-behavior/ 
  4. Brown, A. (2015). Sylvia Sepielli Interview: “The World's Most Famous Spa Designer”. Available at: 
  5. http://spas.about.com/od/Spa_People/fl/Sylvia-Sepielli.htm
  6. Crotts, J. and Erdmann, R. (2006). “Does national culture influence consumers’ evaluation of travel services? A test of Hofstede’s model of cross‐cultural differences”, Managing Service Quality, 10 (6), 410 – 419.
  7. Deesomlert, S. and Sawmong, S. (2013). “Actors influencing service innovation and business performance of spa for health in Thailand: Empirical study”, International Journal of Business, Marketing, & Decision Science, 6 (1), 136-156.
  8. EL-Refae, B. (2012). “The Relationships between Service Quality, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intentions of Malaysian Spa Center Customers”, International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3 (1), 198-205.
  9. Engel, J, Kollat, P. and Miniard, P. (1986). Consumer Behavior (5th ed). Dryden Press, Hinsdale, Illinois.
  10. Escalas, J. and Bettman, J. (2003). “You Are What They Eat: The Influence of Reference Groups on Consumers' Connections to Brands”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(3), 339-348.
  11. Fullerton, R. (2013). “The birth of consumer behavior: motivation research in the 1940s and 1950s”, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 5(2), 212–222.
  12. Giritlioglu, I.  Eleri, J. and Cevdet, A. (2014). “Measuring food and beverage service quality in spa hotels: A case study in Balıkesir, Turkey”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(2), 183- 204
  13. Goldstein, S. (2010). “New Priorities of today's Spa consumers: prepared for Coyle Hospitality Gro”. Available at: http://www.coylehospitality.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Coyle-Global-Spa-Report.pdf
  14. Grunert, K. (2005). “Food quality and safety: consumer perception and demand”, European Review of Agricultural Economics. 32 (3), 369–391. doi:10.1093/eurrag/jbi011
  15. Hanksa. L. and Mattilaa, A. (2012). “Verifying the hedonic vs. utilitarian consumer attitudes categorization: the case of spas and salons”, Managing Leisure, 17(1), 47-53. doi: 10.1080/13606719.2011.638201
  16. Ioncică. M, Petrescu. E. Ioncică, D. and Constantinescu, M. (2012). “The Role of Education on Consumer Behavior on the Insurance Market”, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences,  46(1),  4154–4158. 
  17. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.217
  18. Kardes, F, Cronley, M. and Cline, T. (2014). Consumer Behavior (2nd ed), Cengage Learning, Stamford, USA.
  19. Khan, M. (2006). Consumer Behavior and Advertising Management. (1st ed). New Age International Publication. New Delhi, India. 
  20. Khosla, M. and Swati, T. (2010). “Consumer psychology: The essence of Marketing”, International Journal of Educational Administration, 2(2), 220–220. 
  21. Kim, S, Huh. C. and Knutson, B. (2010). “A Predictive Model of Behavioral Intention to Spa Visiting: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior” in 2010 ICHRIE conference proceedings of International CHRIE 2010 Conference-Refereed Track in East Lansing, MI, USA, pp. 1-30.
  22. Kiran, S. (2015). “Report on SPA and Wellness Tourism Challenges Live exposure through: Prepared for the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (An organization of Ministry of Tourism, Govt. Of India”, Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/kiran1k/final-project-47991223
  23. Krystallisa, A, Vassallob, M. and Chryssohoidisc, G. (2012). “The usefulness of Schwartz's ‘Values Theory’ in understanding consumer behavior towards differentiated products”, Journal of Marketing Management, 28(12), 1438-1463.doi: 10.1080/0267257X.2012.715091
  24. Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2013), Principles of Marketing (6th ed), Pearson Education limited, Harlow, England.
  25. Kotler, P, Bowen, J. and Makens, J. (2014), Marketing for hospitality and tourism, (6th ed), Pearson New International Edition.
  26. Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2011). Marketing Management (14th ed), Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
  27. Lu, Y. and Shiu, J. (2009). “Customers' Behavioral Intentions in the Service Industry: An Empirical Study of Taiwan Spa Hotels”, Asian Journal on Quality, 10(3), 73–85.
  28. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, (n.d.), Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/cnsmrbhvr/consumer-needs/maslow-s-hierarchy-of-needs
  29. Mityko, D. (2012), “Consumers’ Education Level Impact on the Perception of the Search Experience Credence Products – Empirical Evidence”, Journal of Internet and e-Business Studies, 48(14), 1-8. doi: 10.5171/2012.617588
  30. Newman, K. (2006). “Spa Products’ Limitless Future: Prepared for GCI magazine”, Available At: 
  31. http://www.gcimagazine.com/file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/2%20(1).pdf
  32. Nicoll, R. (2015), “Soaking up history in a Bath spa”, Available at: 
  33. http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/nov/08/soaking-up-history-spa-bath-luxury
  34. Park, C. and Lessig, P. (1977), “Students and Housewives: Differences in Susceptibility to Reference Group Influence”, Journal of Consumer Research. 4 (2), 102-110.
  35. Perner, L. (2010). “Consumer behavior: the psychology of marketing”, Available At
  36. http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/index.html
  37. Perreau, F. (2013), “The Forces Derive Consumer Behavior and How to Learn from it to Increase your Sales”. Available at: http://theconsumerfactor.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/12/The-forces-that-drive-consumer-behavior-Fanny-Perreau-TheConsumerFactor.pdf
  38. Rani, P. (2014). “Factors influencing consumer behavior”, IJALEL International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2(9), 52-61.
  39. Ritter, N. (2010). “Understanding a widely misunderstood statistic: Cronbach's alpha”, in Southwestern Educational Research Association (SERA) Conference 2010: New Orleans. 
  40. Sachdeva, G. (2013), “Impact of information technology on Consumer Purchase Behavior”, Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce, 7(4), 41-53.
  41. Sachdeva. R. (2015). “A Scale to Assess the Efficacy of Consumer Decision Making”, IUP Journal of Marketing Management. 5(2), 7-25.
  42. Schiffman, L, O'Cass, A, Paladino, A. and Carlson, J. (2013), Consumer Behavior (6th ed.), Pearson Australia. 
  43. Segev. S, Villar. M. and Fiske.R. (2012), “Understanding Opinion Leadership and Motivations to Blog: Implications for Public Relations Practice”, Public Relations Journal, 6(5), 1-31.
  44. Sheth, J, Newman, B. and Gross, B. (1991), “Why We Buy What We Buy a Theory of Consumer behavior”, Journal of Business Research, 22(4), 159-170.
  45. Shields, P. and Rangarajan, N. (2013), A Playbook for Research Methods: Integrating Conceptual Frameworks and Project Management, (1st ed.), New Forums Press. Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
  46. Shields, P. and Tajall, H. (2006), “Intermediate Theory: The Missing Link in Successful Student Scholarship”, Journal of Public Affairs Education, 12(3), 313-334.
  47. Tanner. J. and Raymond, M. (2012). Principles of Marketing (2nd ed.). Saylor Academy, Minneapolis: Open Textbook Library, Arlington, Virginia.
  48. Tawil, R. (2011), “Classifying the Hotel Spa Tourist: A Multidimensional Qualitative Approach”, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 20(1), 155-165. 
  49. Titterington, D. and Cox, R. (2001). Biometrika centenary: One Hundred Years, (1st ed.), Oxford University Press, New York, USA. 
  50. Tubergen, V. and Linden, S. (2002). “A brief history of spa therapy”, Annals of the Rheumatic Disease, 61(3), 273-275. doi:10.1136/ard.61.3.273
  51. Woods, A. (1960), “Psychological dimensions of consumer decision”, Journal of Marketing, 24(3), 15–19.
  52. Zikmund, G, Babin, J, Carr, J. and Griffin, M. (2013), Business Research Methods, (9th ed.), South western Cengage learning, USA.