The importance of retail behavior quality to maintain consumers’ loyalty: findings from Indonesian micro retail businesses

Technological developments are things that must be followed by companies to achieve a competitive advantage to improve performance. To achieve and improve performance, companies need active employee engagement by encouraging motivation and fulfilling their job satisfaction. This study aims to analyze the effect of motivation and job satisfaction on performance with employee engagement as a mediating variable. The research sample is Information Technology (IT) companies located in the cities of Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia. Research respondents are system developers who handle system development activities for a project or part of an ongoing project. By using the convenience sampling technique 103 responses were obtained from IT developers. The research model analysis method uses Partial Least Square (PLS) with SMART PLS Ver 3.0 software. Empirical findings prove that motivation has a positive effect on the performance of IT employees, while job satisfaction is independent. Employee engagement does not directly affect employee performance, but the effect of mediation through motivation and job satisfaction can have a significant effect on employee performance. The research findings have managerial implications, in increasing high employee involvement, motivation needs to be encouraged to be more active and innovative, and facilitate the achievement of the desired results.

Acknowledgment
This study was made possible because of the full support of the Region III Education Service Institute (LL-DIKTI III), the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Research Center at Mercu Buana University, Jakarta.

Over the years, the number of organizations investing in CSR activities has increased considerably. This increase is partially attributable to the intention of the organizations to give back to the society to repair and reduce the loss their intentional or unintentional actions might have caused to the environment. The government’s decision to make it mandatory for businesses to invest a small part of their net profit in social welfare activities has also helped nudge the organizations towards CSR activities. However, the question whether this investment influences customers’ intention to purchase the product in any manner remains an unresolved paradox. Limited researches have been conducted in this area to explore and establish the relationship if any between CSR and consumer purchase intention. This research focuses on the five different factors of CSR comprising of loyalty, morality, awareness, behavior and environment, which are identified from the previous literature. With the help of these factors, the authors researched and established the relationship between them and consumer purchase intention. In this descriptive research, the research questionnaire was distributed to 1500 respondents, using convenient sampling method, out of which 319 responses were finally obtained for the analysis purpose. After testing the reliability and validity of the data, the five hypotheses were tested using SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). It was found that all the five hypotheses were supported and thereby acknowledged the significant influence of CSR related activities performed by companies on the consumer purchase intention. The CSR driven morality is emerging to be the most important dimension that appears to influence the consumer purchase intentions. These finding will help decision-makers to formulate their promotion activities in such a manner that it aligns with the value system of the consumers and increase the overall consumer base.

The marketing strategy phenomenon improves significantly, narrowing from a general to a specific cultural ethnicity base and from variable to dimension analysis. This study examines the impact of culture, brand image and price on buying decisions. The study population comprised retail consumers in the sampled area of Situbondo, East Java, Indonesia. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to derive a sample of 112 respondents as a primary data source – descriptive statistics allows for the demographic characteristics of retail consumers in East Java, Indonesia. Surprisingly, the data showed that gender involvement in buyer decision-making was dominant. Most retail customers were identified as private-sector employees and indicated for higher income earners. Responses were then analyzed using multiple linear regressions to answer the research hypotheses. The results showed that Hofstede’s culture dimension and the brand image and price significantly affected consumer buying decisions at retail stores in East Java, Indonesia. Regarding the strength of Islamic culture in East Java, price was the primary consideration in buying decisions. Further research, preferably using ethnographic approaches with an emphasis on qualitative research, is needed to investigate the implications of these relationships.

Acknowledgment
We would like to thank the Research Centre (LP2M) of University of Jember, East Java, Indonesia, for their support and funding. We also want to thank Rusdiyanto, a Ph.D. student from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia, for his helpful discussions and contributions.