An Exploration of the Factors Influencing the Intention of University Students towards the Consumption of Instant Noodles

Abstract

Previous studies on instant noodles have been aimed mostly at secondary students, and have been concerned with the demographics, and the development of product attributes. Very few studies have examined the role of convenience (CO), product attributes (PA), advertising (AD) and subjective norms (SN) in predicting the intention of students towards the consumption of instant noodles. The present rising costs of living and education may affect the intention and behaviour of university students towards the consumption of affordable food. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to explore the relationship between these variables and the variables of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) in association with the intention of university students to consume instant noodles. A research model approach was used to reflect the effects of CO, PA, AD, and SN on the TRA constructs. In total, 390 cases were gathered from three universities. Structural equation modelling was employed to assess the proposed research model in terms of the path significance, the general requirements for a model fit, and the testing of the hypotheses. It was found that AD has a direct positive effect on the behavioural intention of university students towards the consumption of instant noodles. Nevertheless, CO, PA, and SN appear to exert no significant influence on the behavioural intention of university students. The
limitation of the study was that the findings were obtained from a small dataset covering only three universities. Therefore, future researches should cover a broader range of research samples. This paper provides additional understanding for marketing managers and researchers into the effects of CO, PA,
AD and SN on the intention of Malaysian university students towards the consumption of instant noodles, which can be used for formulating marketing strategies for instant noodles and for considering future research directions in other countries.