【Abstract】the purpose of this study is to evaluate the influences that motivation exerts on purchase decision for cosmetics products among Chinese female college students. External stimuli and internal stimuli， the two dimensions of motivation are examined in this research. The study acts as a guide to cosmetics marketers to improve its cosmetic market and make it more attractive and effective to female college students.

【Key words】motivation； purchase decision； cosmetics products

【作者簡介】杨薇，广东海洋大学寸金学院。

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

Cosmetics are the most elemental individual care products of women （or men）.According to the fifth Population Statistics of China in 2010， female account for 48.37% of the whole population and young and middle-aged female who are aged 20 to 50 account for nearly 21.3% of the whole population （Rao， 2010）.

2. Literature

2.1 Purchase decision

Purchase decision involvement is the degree of interest or attention consumers have during the purchase decision（Mittal，2011）.

2.2 Motivation

Motivation is the ‘human drive to attain a goal object. （Mittal 2011， pp30）. Engel et al （2009）

2.3 Stimuli of purchase decision making.

Dann （1977） suggests two steps in a purchase decision， known as push factors and pull factors.

2.3.1 Personality—internal stimuli

Its an individuals psychological makeup that generates typical responses to the external environment in which the person lives （Mittal et al.， 2011）.

（1） Marketers Five

The five personality traits：innovativeness，varietyseeker，hedonism uniqueness seeker， vanity.

3. Conceptual Development and Hypotheses Formulation

This chapter based on the review of the literature， is aimed to focus on two area of the study： the conceptual framework and the resulting hypotheses.

3.1 Conceptual framework

The secondary data identifies 10 main factors that determine consumers decision to purchase for cosmetic products.

4. Research Methodology

4.1 Research Design

Exploratory： It was valuable when the researchers were faced with a problem that was not fully understood.

Conclusive Research： It was more useful to gain further insights into factors influencing female college students decision to shop after completion of the exploratory research.

4.2 Secondary Research Strategy

The recent relative comprehensive surveys concerning this topic are from the Jalalkamali and Nikbins （2010） researches about effects of motivation on purchase decision among Malays female university students and an investigation from Chen et al （2008） about external stimuli to purchase cosmetics among female college student in Shanghai city.

4.3 Primary Research Strategy

4.3.1 Research Approach

The primary data collected by the questionnaire from Chinese female college students. All the items of the mentioned variables were measured on a five-point Likert scale， ranging from ‘1=strongly disagree to ‘5=strongly agree.

Pilot testing：A pilot survey is planning to be carried prior to the data collection across 10 respondents with Guangzhou teacher institute of technology as a guideline to improve my questionnaires.

4.4 Analytical Methods

●One sample t-test was used to test whether the mean value of the factors were significantly higher than the midpoint.

●Multiple Regression analysis was used to measure the degree of association between more than one independent variable （personality traits） and a dependant variable（purchase decision）

●Cross-tabulation& Chi-squared tests were used to analyze the association between two variables.

5. Data Analysis

Data analysis is the process of collecting， modeling and transforming data with the objective of suggesting conclusions and support decision making. effort at data collection yielded 146 samples.

5.1 Results

Demographic information： 1.most of the respondents are aged between ‘18-21， at 71.1%. Second is aged at ‘22-25， at 22.5%.2.most of the respondents are junior and senior students， accounting a proportion of 59.2% totally. Among them， ‘Junior account for the largest amount， at 43.7%.3.most of their monthly money are between‘800-1000RMB. Those who are in the group of ‘Below800RMB， accounting for a percentage of 20.1%. But those whose monthly money is above 1000RMB account for 38% totally.

Shopping experiences： Around 52.1% of respondents agreed that they buy cosmetic products 1-2times in a month； 28.2% of them agreed that they buy 3-4times monthly. Also， those who would do cosmetic products consumption at 5 times and above accounts for a percentage of 16.9% surprisingly.With respect to monthly expending in cosmetic products， there are around 19.7% respondents agreed that their monthly expenditure of cosmetics is below 100RMB. But those who expense above 100RMB monthly on cosmetics are around 80.3%.

5.2 Hypothesis Testing

5.2.1 One sample T-test

H1： Chinese female college students rate certain factors positively influence their purchasing for cosmetic products.

The results show that Chinese female college students consider Vanity trait， Uniqueness Seeker trait， Brand， Quality， Family and Friend， Advertisement as important factors when they shop for cosmetic products.

5.2.2 Multiple regression analysis

H2a： There is a positive relationship between stimuli （external and internal） and cosmetic products purchase decision involvement.

For one hand， the independent variables of internal stimulus ‘vanity are strongly predictors of the criterion variable .Trait of ‘Vanity has the largest beta coefficient （.466）. The p values indicate that this independent variable （‘Vanity） is making a statistically significant contribution to the variation in the dependent variable （‘Purchase Decision Involvement） at p=.000 level. For another， two independent variables of external stimuli， ‘Quality and ‘Brand， are strong predictors of the criterion variable.However， ‘Quality has a larger beta coefficient. （.273）.‘Brand has the second largest beta coefficient （.253）.The P Values indicate that both independent variables （‘Quality and ‘Brand） are key to the variation in the dependent variable，both at p=.000 level.

5.2.3 Chi square test

H3： There is a significant association between shopping experience and Income

The results show that Shopping Frequency is correlated with monthly income （X2=17.827， df=9， p<.05）. There also exists an association between Monthly Expense and monthly income （（X2=31.595， df=9， p=.000）， hence supporting this above hypothesis.

6. Discussions and Suggestions

6.1 For internal stimuli （five traits）：the rest of 7 variables ‘Innovativeness， ‘Variety Seeker and ‘Hedonism are not significant predictors of the criterion variable in the model at p>.1 level. This does not support statements of Mittal （2011），that traits of ‘Innovativeness， ‘Variety Seeker and ‘Hedonism contribute to consumers consumption behavior.

6.2 For external stimuli：The results indicate that students value the quality of cosmetic products most.

6.3 For personal information： the users of cosmetics products are becoming younger and younger. Most of them are aged between18-23， （95%）.The respondents consist of junior mainly and they have strong consumption ability with income level of over 800RMB per month accounting for almost 63.7%. 800-1000RMB per month level consist of 34.7% .

6.4 Implication

In the present competitive environment， advantages of marketplace are usually short-lived. Therefore， in order to survive in this marketplace， it is necessary for companies get a good understanding of consumer behavior. Results of this research will contribute to let companies to get familiar with psychological effects， understand consumer behavior and thus sell more products and goods.

Use of cosmetics in China is increasing gradually， and due to this many organization are investing more in this area. Therefore， in order to be competitive in the marketplace， these organizations should focus on external and internal stimulus in order to know the purchase decision of the consumers. Then， this will be a source of competitive advantage for these companies.

7. Conclusions

Chinese female students are seems to be motivated to purchase cosmetic products. Statistical model for the research and the association between independent and dependent variables could be summarized through the following model. In conclusion this study provides insight about the motivation level of female how motivated is the Chinese female students in deciding to purchase cosmetic products.

References：

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