Analyzing the Business Decision or Problem

Discuss about the Chinese Events and Tourists Experience on Visiting Australia.

Classical economics depend on human rationality. This explains the fact that a majority of people understand a number of available options and no matter the nature of the situation, they seem to understand available choices and those that are not. Nicchio Loriato & Soncini Pelissari, 2017) explain in his paper that it is because of this that people tend to make clear identification as well as classification according to the number of preferences, concerning the sets of choices and the people known to them. People tend to select from the available options when they know that they are likely to achieve the best value. Remar, Campbell and DiPietro (2016) maintain that that people choose products or services and rank them at the top among the available options.

However, while the above background might be true, things do not work out as explained. Asiedu, et al (2018) argues that people fail to show practice rationality in most of their actions. Huang and Dubinsky (2014) contend that in most cases, people tend to be irrational or predictably irrational. Several studies have gone ahead to explain behavioural aspects of customers when it comes to their purchase decisions. Consumer behaviour spans from economics, music, health, to human resource. Companies that provide products and services such as those in hospitality and tourism are always very careful towards their customers.

The tourism industry is becoming competitive with time. Customers continue to change their preferences as well as tastes. The fact that customers have become sophisticated, so are their expectations and demands. Tourism providers should always aim at offering top-notch customer services for them to create sustainable competitive advantage (Noe, Magnini and Uysal, 2010). Consequently, this will help attract a considerable number of customers. The journalistic accounts about the arrival of tourists across the world at the recent Australian Townsville region is astonishing and more particularly, from Chinese tourists. For example, the story by Ozdipciner, Xiangping and Uysal (2010) paints a picture that over the last two years, the number of Chinese tourists travelling to Australia has more than doubled.

However, current academic research that focus on tourists and their purchase decisions to visit such locations, have only offered robust account of how companies have succeeded to make changes in their strategies to attract tourists from across the globe. Little critical attention has been made to the elements of customer service that influences Chinese consumers purchase decision. In other words, there has been little effort by studies to attend to the embodied work of understand important elements that shape purchase decision-making process among tourists.

1. To explore the current service elements that Chinese customers consider important in determining the purchase decision
2. To examine the current imperfections in customer service strategies in Australia Tourism sector
3. To understand where Chinese tourists visiting Australia are satisfied by the level of services that Australia tourism offer to them
4. To recommend ways that tourism agencies could improve customer service to help determine purchase decision

Research Objectives

What are the elements of customer service that influences Chinese consumers purchase decision?

In order to answer the above main question, this study seeks to answer the following three questions:

What are the important service elements that influence Chinese consumers in making purchase decisions?

What are the current imperfections that affect customer service identified by Chinese consumers

What is the level of satisfaction that customers have with tourism services they receive from Australia

Research Philosophy

The study will also apply interpretivism in order to understand differences that occur among Chinese tourists visiting Australia. Adams, Raeside and Khan (2014) maintain that researchers that follow interpretivism must gain stringer understanding about the existing differences that occur among people and social actors. This will therefore, help explain that the difference when conducting a research among people and when conducting research on objects such as computers. As consumers, the Chinese customers might use different important elements to formulate decisions before purchasing tourism products while visiting Australia.

Research Approach

Researchers apply either deductive approach or inductive approach. The former approach involves testing a theory. Researchers develop a theory then subject it to several tests. Furthermore, the approach remains dominant among natural sciences. While on the other hand, the latter approach involves the use research findings in order to build a theory. It is a do it yourself. The nature of this study will involve the use of induction approach by interviewing Chinese tourists visiting Australia to understand important factors they consider as important on shaping how they make purchase decisions. Furthermore, the objective would involve getting the feeling of what is happening among Chinese tourists and gain more insight about the nature of the problem. Therefore, the task of a researcher would be to make some sense out of the interview data that will be collected while using structured interviews. The findings from the interview information would then assist me formulate a theory. For instance, the study expects to find a relationship between different important element of customer service and purchase decision. The second advantage for adopting the use of induction is to create a case-effect link between dependent and independent variables without necessarily understanding the manner in which people interpret the social world.

Research Strategy

My research study will be qualitative in nature. I will use qualitative approach to design structured interviews. Mukhopadhyay and Gupta (2014) explain that qualitative research design involves the collection of non-statistical data in terms of opinion of participants. Furthermore, Mason, Augustyn and Seakhoa-King (2010) categorize approaches of collecting qualitative data into interviews, focus groups, or observation. Depending on the nature of this study, therefore, I will select on interview method. Besides, Johnson (2015) outlines that researchers can opt to apply either structured, semi-structured, or in-depth/unstructured interviews.

Overall Research Design – Evaluating options

Following the objective of this study, I will conduct an exploratory research. Huber, Milne, and Hyde (2017) reiterate that when conducting an exploratory research, structured interviews are useful in findings out whatever that is already taking place in order to gain new insights. Most importantly, this study seeks to apply structured interviews to identify general patterns. The researcher seeks to gain more information from Chinese Australians to understand the research problem (McCallum, et al., 2016). As indicated in the problem statement, it is apparent that not many studies have been conducted to elements of customer service and the impact that they having shaping decision making process. Catalá-López, et al (2018) differentiates exploratory in one of the study conducted to discover a field where less concrete information remain evident in order to evaluate possibilities attached to different research endeavour.

Data Collection

The face-to-face structured interviews will have predetermined and standardized sets of questions to direct me while collecting data. During the interview process for instance, I will make contact with the targeted Chinese tourists who have visited Australia. I will also record all the responses on a standardized interview schedule using already pre-coded answers. Ramani and Mann (2016) explain in their study that while researchers achieve social interaction with their participants, there is always the need to offer preliminary explanation by reading out the introduction part of the interview. For example, I will ensure that I explain to the participants the objective of my study and the freedom to opt out of the interview.

While different scholars have used focused group, this study will apply structure interviews. The approach will help in collecting the opinion of different Chinese tourists that already have first-hand experiences after visiting Australia. In addition, the study acknowledges the need to obtain accurate data that could give insight about elements of customer services that have helped in shaping their purchase decisions. As explained in the sampling section, is the study will allow participants to volunteer to participate in the research? It is only through this that we could gain insight into what Chinese tourists think concerning Australia tourism sector. Furthermore, this could include their thoughts about different services offered by different tourism agencies.

Interview Design

The study will use structured-designed interviews. Such interviews will have predetermined and standardized sets of questions. Narasimhan and Schoenherr (2013) refer to these types of questions as interviewer-administered questions. The entire interview schedule will be divided into four sections. Section 1 will focus on back demographic information about the participants. Some of the questions to be asked in this section will include the gender, the age, period of visit to Australia, the amount of spending, and others. The section will be designed to have 5-point Likert scales to allow participants rate different statements (1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree). In overall, this section will be designed to have 7 items. Section 2 will be designed to cover 9 items on imperfection of customer service that affect strategies to deliver high quality services. Similarly, the question items will have 5 point Likert scales (1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree).

Data Collection

The Key Variables and How I will measure them

The original interview questions will be prepared in English and translated into Chinese language. I will do this on the basis that because the native language of a majority of Chinese residents (Chinese tourists) understand Chinese language; I will then translate all interview schedules into Chinese language. I will use standard back-translation process outlined by Johnson (2015). I will also conduct a pre-test to the translated version of the interview schedule with 10 participants that are Chinese tourists. I will ask them to comment on any of the items that they find to be complex. The process will help identify possible areas of the items to make some changes (Tijdink, et al. 2016). In overall, I will ensure that I anchor all questions within a 5-point Likert scale. The scales will range from 1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree.

Purchase decision

Consumer purchase decision forms a complex process. Therefore, a purchase decisions relates to attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours of customers. Purchase behaviours that customers develop towards tourism services forms an important point for Chinese customers to access and evaluate Australian tourism services. Whitman, Menon, Kuo and Woodward (2013) explain that purchase decisions are a critical tool that customers can use to predict their buying process. This implies that purchase decisions could be changed through the influence of perceived quality, value, and price. Additionally, customers could be affected by either external or internal motivations at the time of buying process. Scholars have proposed that measures of purchase decision could cover categorical scales around the six stages before making decision to pay for tourism services. The dependent variables will cover awareness, knowledge, interest, preference, persuasion and purchase.

Elements of customer service

In order to measure elements of customer service, the researcher will ask participants to rate different categorical items within Chinese tourists. By doing this, it will provide an opportunity to capture shared perception among Chinese tourists as a defining characteristic of services. The study will use 12 different items from a study conducted by Ku?yk, Micha?owska and Kotylak (2017) scales to measure elements of tourism services that Chinese enjoys while visiting Australia. During the interview time for instance, I will ask them to rate the level at which every item has managed to describe participants. A study by Gallagher (2013) suggests that service elements include respect, understanding, listening, responding, and serving.

Sample Requirements and Sampling Options

It is always good to make a study depend on a given portion of the total participations to participate in the research. Sampling involves methods for demonstrating a group of individuals from an entire population to participate in the study. Furthermore, the sampling requirement should involve utilization of primary data in order to meet the purpose of this research. Beail and Williams (2014) categorize sampling into probability and non-probability sampling approaches. The current study will use non-probability sampling because it offers numerous alternatives techniques in order to select samples based on my subjective judgement. Yoshikawa, Mistry and Wang (2016) reiterate that in any exploratory stages for research projects, a non-probability sample will remain appropriate for this study.

The requirements to select suitable sample for a non-probability study remain ambiguous. Unlike probability sampling approach, Valerio, et al (2016) explains that non-probability sampling does not have rules for selecting a given sample of participants. Besides the technique having different sampling approaches, this study will use self-selection sampling. Adams, Raeside and Khan (2014) explain that self-election sampling comes from the fact that researchers allow every case to identify their desire to participate in the study. Paquette, Bryant and De Wit, 2012) recommends that in order to use this approach, a researcher must publicise the need for those that want to participate in the study (Keiding and Louis, 2016). This could involve advertising through different media or asking participants to accept to participate in the study. The second process would then involve interviewing only those that accept to participate in the current study.

Publicity for convenience samples takes numerous forms. The current study will post a message on social media accounts for Chinese tourists visiting Australia. The message on such groups will be a way of requesting to participate in the study and arranging for an interview schedule. According to Yoshikawa, et al (2016), is that cases involving self-select tend to consider the feelings as well as opinions of people concerning the research question. Furthermore, the fact that the nature of study relies on interviews, I will only send a message to the group requested them to accept and arrange for appropriate day for conducting interview.

The current study seeks to collect primary data from a sample of 150 Chinese tourists visiting Australia. While there are different types of non-probabilistic sampling technique, selecting on self0seleft sampling with help achieve different benefits. First, the sampling process will allow inclusive of Chinese tourists without bias. I will give an opportunity for any Chinese tourist to show their willingness to participate in the study. Besides, the approach will help increase an engagement with the research. Hopwood (2013) maintains that allowing participants the freedom to participate in the study will be a good insurance policy to cover numerous parts of the Chinese tourist visiting Australia that I seek to find more information about. Lee and Cassell (2013) reiterates that self-selected sampling approach ensures that participants schedule their own time and accept to answer some interview questions. Falk, Meier and Zehnder (2013) explain that researchers that use this approach are because they find it hard to reach out to specific participants because of their geographical spread across the country.

Second, the self-select approach will provide the ability to compare and contrast findings against those in the random sample of Chinese tourists in Australia. Third, the process will help increase a response rate (Repenning, 2018). For example, the approach will increase the number of Chinese tourists that are willing to participate in the study. Allowing for a high number of participants to respond to the interview questions would be a good thing, as it would provide the participants a voice on the subject under research.

Ethical Issues

Ethical issues will remain important in four major stages of my research. It is because of this that they will require that I apply ethical integrity from me as a researcher. The most ethical problem will arise during the design period (Luo and Trott, 2016). For example, as indicated in the design stage, is trying to apply pressure to any intended participant in order to gain access. People always have a right to privacy. Any researcher should not make participants to feel coerced or pressured to participate in the study. In case the study fails to respect this, it could be one way of casing hard. Furthermore, a researcher should be ready to accept that some participants might opt out of a study.

Therefore, in order to ensure that the study meets above ethical issue, it would be appropriate to design a checklist that would become useful in ensuring that I do not impose any form of pressure on participants. Luo and Trott (2016) reiterates that consent for participants to participate in any given research project could not be a straightforward matter. However, in overall terms, pproaches that participants find appropriate would be through gaining access. Nonetheless, this is likely to raise numerous questions over the nature of consent provided by a participant.

This study will consider a number of aspects to obtain consent from the Chinese tourists visiting Australia. I will record checklist in a participant information sheet. According to Herlihy and Dufrene (2011), is that researchers must ensure they have informed participants about several aspects. The first item in the checklist will be about the nature of the study. Most importantly, I will use the work of Evenson (2011) to come up with some of the points such as the purpose of the study, who will be participating in the study, and how far the project has reached. The second item in the checklist will involve explaining the requirements for taking part in collection of data (Hunter, et al. 2018). The third item will involve explaining the implications of taking part and the rights of participants. The checklist will also identify a number of items to explain the use of data that will be collected and the manner of reporting the findings.

The second ethical issue will involve selecting Chinese tourists who have visited Australia. Hence, the ethics question will be the sample of participants to include in the study or those to exclude from the study. In order to solve this issue, I will ensure that my research ethics application remain clear. Most importantly, the clarity will be why the Chinese tourists that the study seeks to focus on should be involved in the study. In order to ensure that my research focuses on adults only, I will ensure that I indicate the age limit for those supposed to participate in the interview.

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