Consumer Behaviour of McDonalds Clients - Research Proposal Example

Introduction McDonalds is one of the leading fast food restaurants with branches in different parts of the globe. Although the company is a leader in the industry, it still faces a level of competition which has prompted it to establish factors that affect consumer behaviour regarding fast foods. Notably, different people are motivated by various factors to consume certain fast foods. Understanding the factors that influence consumer behaviour has been the focus of McDonalds in a bid to understand how it can maintain customer loyalty. There is a salient need for McDonalds to constantly monitor attitudes and behaviours of consumers as it makes the efforts of maintaining its niche in the market. There is also an outstanding pressure that McDonalds faces as it pursues its determination to deliver quality services and products to its loyal customers (Chavadi and Kokatnur 15). This compels it to carry out surveys in an effort to understand consumer behaviour in depth. Consumer behaviour has been studied over the years by different companies. The purpose of studying consumer behaviour has been a marketing strategy of ensuring that an organization is aware of how consumers perceive its products and services. With the current emphasis on business research, many organizations have settled on a rigorous research process in the marketing department (Chavadi and Kokatnur 15). After understanding the consumer behaviour and different attitudes exhibited by such consumers, a business can make informed choices. For many organizations, consumer behaviour is accorded the attention it requires ensuring that their marketing strategy incorporates the views of the people. Background Information Consumer behaviour is one of the aspects that many companies have sought to understand as a strategy of ensuring a higher level of customer satisfaction. With the increasing competition in the modern business world, organizations have been compelled to step up in a bid to strive irrespective of the competition. Therefore, organizations have focused on describing the factors that determine behaviour exhibited by consumers. McDonalds is one of the companies that require to precisely understand the factors that determine consumer behaviour in the fast food industry. McDonalds has been providing fast foods in different sections of the globe with its focus on delivering an outstanding eating experience to its customers remaining evident (Chavadi and Kokatnur 15). However, in the modern day, health campaigns promoting healthy eating have posed a potential challenge for McDonalds, whose main products are fast foods. Fast foods are considered as junk foods and are described as unhealthy because of their nutritional composition. Notably, many target markets of McDonalds products are nations that have been struggling to address the issue of obesity. The increased consumption of fast food has been described as a factor following the occurrence of obesity. Therefore, these healthy eating campaigns have proved to have the potential of altering consumer behaviour exhibited by consumers of fast foods. The emergence of other fast food restaurants such as subway, which serves healthy foods, has proved to be a potential competitor of McDonalds. These reasons explain why McDonalds need to carry out a survey in a bid to understand the emerging patterns of behaviour exhibited by consumers of fast foods (Chavadi and Kokatnur 15). Many researchers have described both internal and external factors that determine the consumer behaviour. One of the critical internal factors motivating consumers to purchase a certain product is self concept. Notably, the way in which consumers perceive the self determines the view he or she is likely to have towards certain products. Demographic factors such as gender, age, occupation, lifestyle, and culture are other potential factors affecting the consumer behaviour. For example, consumers of a higher education level and who have a stable income live a different lifestyle from consumers earning less income. This is a factor likely to motivate the consumer to purchase products of high prices in a bid to maintain a certain class. Research has revealed that, external factors exert a considerable influence on consumer behaviour. The quality of products and services offered by fast food restaurants as well as their overall eating experience potentially determines the consumer behaviour. Although there is a common understanding of these factors that influence the behaviour exhibited by consumers, it is critical for each company to identify which of the many factors exerts more influence on its consumers (Elbel et al 2172). In the case of McDonalds, it should understand which factor is highly influential in order for the company to identify strategies of increasing customer satisfaction. Population The proposed study of understanding the consumer behaviour at McDonalds will focus on its customers in London. McDonalds has operated in the UK for sometimes, opening about 1200 outlets of its products. However, London is a central location of its biggest outlet and considering the population of London, it becomes critical to understand the factors that affect their consumer behaviour. Therefore, the study that will be carried out will specifically focus on its customers visiting its largest restaurant in London (Elbel et al 2172). A representative sample of the customers will be obtained in order to ensure that the sample size is manageable for the research. Problem Statement Understanding consumer behaviour cannot be underestimated because it is an aspect deserving the attention of organizations. With increasing competition, businesses that lack awareness of the factors that determine the consumer behaviour have only lagged behind. There is a salient need for organizations to integrate their marketing strategies with the core business strategy. Therefore, research has remained as the only option which can provide valuable information with the potential of helping organizations to make critical decisions. Effective decision making in the modern day requires an integrated approach which invites the opinions of the consumers. Failure to incorporate the customers opinions in decision making, eventually registers negative effects with businesses registering losses or a lower percentage of sales. Although McDonalds in a leader in the industry, and has continuously delivered quality products to its London consumers, it needs to establish modern trends in consumer behaviour. Worth noting is the fact that consumer behaviour changes over time, a factor that places emphasis on the need for this study (Elbel et al 2172). Research Objectives To identify the factors that motivate consumers in the consumption of fast foods. To identify the specific factors that determine the consumer behaviour towards McDonalds product. To understand the perception of McDonalds by consumers in terms of quality and the overall eating experience. To determine whether the health eating campaigns have altered the consumer behaviour in the fast food industry. Hypotheses This research will rely on both a null and alternative hypotheses. The null hypothesis will be; ‘Healthy eating campaigns have served to alter consumer behaviour in the fast food industry.’ The alternative hypothesis will be; ‘Healthy eating campaigns have had minimal influence in determining the consumer’s perception of McDonalds products.’ Proposed Data Collection Methods This research will rely on the mixed method approach. This approach utilizes both quantitative and qualitative data. Therefore, data collection method for both approaches should be identified. In order to obtain the quantitative data, questionnaires will be used. The design of the questionnaires will include two sections, one based on the demographic information while the other section will comprise of questions seeking to determine the factors determining the consumer behaviour. The questionnaires will be properly designed relying on the Likert scale which is a five point scale in a bid to yield valid data that can address the research question (Elbel et al 2172). One advantage of using questionnaires is that they enable a researcher to obtain data from a large population within a limited period of time. Moreover, this data collection method proves to be less costly when compared to others. Data obtained from questionnaires is easily analysed using the SPSS software package, a factor the makes questionnaires a preferred method of data collection. On the other hand, interviews will be conducted to yield qualitative data for the research (Elbel et al 2172). The interviews will be carried out in different sessions with the researchers interviewing the participants on the factors that determine their consumer behaviour and their perception of McDonalds products. Interviews are beneficial as they present an opportunity for the researcher to have an in-depth discussion with the interviewee concerning the research topic. Notably, interviews enable the researcher to understand the feelings and emotions of the interviewees. Since interviews are conducted in a favourable environment, promoting a health research relationship, the respondents are likely to be able to discuss sensitive topics (Elbel et al 2172). The fact that any form of ambiguity can be clarified during the interview session presents an additional advantage. Therefore, the proposed study will rely on both questionnaires and interviews in collecting data. Proposed Sampling Plan In any research, it is critical for the researchers to adopt an effective sampling technique. Usually, it is impractical to rely on the entire population in research because of the limitations of the resources and in a bid to avoid statistical challenges of analysing large volumes of data. Therefore, it is usually practical to obtain a representative sample of the population. There are different sampling techniques that researchers rely on as they seek to obtain a representative sample. In the proposed study, the random sampling technique, this ensures that each of the subjects has an equal chance of being part of the sample. Using this technique, participants will be chosen from McDonalds customers. From the randomized sample, the researcher will use purposive sampling to identify customers that will be interviewed (Mamalis 191). The researcher will use different criteria to identify the participants that will be interviewed. Proposed Survey Instruments As highlighted above, the questionnaire method of data collection will be used in this research. Therefore, the survey instrument will be a questionnaire tailored to address the research question effectively. In order to design an effective survey instrument, the language used in formulating the questions as well as their structure is critical. The first section of the survey instrument will focus on obtaining demographic information from the researchers. Prior to administering the questionnaire to different participants, the researcher will seek the opinion of peers concerning the efficiency of the questions (Venkatesh, Brown, and Bala 25). Specific questions will be used in designing the questionnaire so that the participants do not face any confusion when trying to answer the question. Proposed Data Analysis Method As mentioned above, this research will rely on the mixed method approach in a bid to understand factors that affect consumer behaviour at McDonalds. Since there are both qualitative and quantitative data, the analysis strategies defined by mixed method research experts will be used. One of the strategies is data transformation which involves an inter-conversion of data from one version to the other. A second strategy is the analysis of the extreme cases which are usually identified using one type of data and pursued with the other type. A third strategy involves data merging, which may involve bringing together the available data to be analysed together. The fourth approach is integrating both types of data during analysis (Mamalis 191). In a bid to understand the factors affecting consumer behaviour in depth, a thorough analysis of the two types of data is significant (Venkatesh, Brown, and Bala 25). Potential use of Findings The findings from the proposed study will be of significant benefits to McDonalds and the public. This is because, the research topic seeks to address the different factors that affect the purchasing decision of consumers as well as other behaviours and attitudes. McDonalds seeks to establish whether the emergence of healthy eating campaigns has affected the perception of customers to their products. Notably, McDonalds will be able to realize whether there is the fear of being overtaken in the market. The restaurant seeks to improve the eating experience of its customers and can rely on the findings in a bid to identify the areas that need modifications. Customer satisfaction is an aspect that many businesses focus on. Therefore, they conduct research to identify the areas requiring improvement (Venkatesh, Brown, and Bala 50). McDonalds therefore will be able to register a high level of customer satisfaction if they rely on the findings from the research. Timeline Cost Estimates Activity Time in Days Cost Development of the Research Proposal 5 - Literature Review 14 - Preliminary Field Work 2 $100 Actual research 10 $500 Analysis of Findings 7 $300 Documentation and Recommendation 5 - Presentation of the Report 2 - Work Cited  Chavadi, Chandan A., and Shilpa S. Kokatnur. "Consumer Expectation And Perception Of Fast Food Outlets: An Empirical Study In Davangere." ICFAI Journal Of Services Marketing 6.2 (2008): 6-21. Business Source Complete. Web. 23 July 2014. Elbel, Brian, et al. "Calorie Labeling, Fast Food Purchasing And Restaurant Visits." Obesity (19307381) 21.11 (2013): 2172. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 23 July 2014. Mamalis, Spyridon. "Critical Success Factors Of The Food Service Industry." Journal Of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing 21.2/3 (2009): 191. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 23 July 2014. Venkatesh, Viswanath, Susan A. Brown, and Hillol Bala. "Bridging The Qualitative-Quantitative Divide: Guidelines For Conducting Mixed Methods Research In Information Systems." MIS Quarterly 37.1 (2013): 21-54. Business Source Complete. Web. 23 July 2014. Read More