Customer decision making and quality dimensions for fixed furniture / Zurwina Sharkawi

In today’s highly competitive furniture industry, market players need to differentiate their product through quality. Therefore, determining tangible and intangible fixed furniture quality dimensions through a study needs to be initiated. This study will help the local players to utilize a key dimension that influences customer decision making. With these objectives in mind, the study sought to explore and examine dimensions for fixed furniture quality and customer decision making that affect purchasing of fixed furniture. This study uses quantitative approach and questionnaires were sent to the respondents in five divisions in the Southern Region of Sarawak; Kuching Division, Samarahan Division, Serian Division, Sri Aman Division and Betong Division. A total of 489 questionnaires were collected by using stratified sampling. The factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted and identified four fixed furniture quality dimensions: features and performance, serviceability, trademark and tangible, and two customer decision making dimensions: information evaluation and information seeking. This study also indicates that respondents perceived feature and performance as the most important quality dimension of fixed furniture, meanwhile information evaluation as the most important decision-making dimension when purchasing fixed furniture. There is a significant and positive correlation between overall fixed furniture quality dimensions and overall decision-making dimensions. Finally, this study is served as a contribution to the scholars and the furniture industry to improve and develop fixed furniture quality and their policies and strategies in a related area.