A Lifestyle Analysis of Female Consumers in Greater China

Susan H. C. Tai and Jackie L. M. Tam

ABSTRACT
This study compares the lifestyles of female consumers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, which together make up Greater China. The investigation revealed that signicant differences exist among the three groups of female consumers in nine different areas. These are (a) womens role and perception, (b) family orientation, (c) home cleanliness, (d) brand consciousness, (e) price consciousness, (f) self-condence, (g) addiction to work, (h) health consciousness, and (i) environmental consciousness. Although the women studied in the three groups were found to be heavily inuenced by Confucianism, they were also affected by western culture to varying degrees. Thus, the three groups were found to have a mixture of traditional and modern values. Hong Kong women were found to favor a more modern view of the role of women than their counterparts in China and Taiwan. However, women in China, especially the younger ones, were quickly adopting new values and Western ideas. The authors foresee that female consumers in Greater China will become increasingly similar in their lifestyles in the near future. 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Taiwan and Hong Kong are ranked with Singapore and South Korea as the Four Pacic Dragons. The Far Eastern Economic Review (1992) reported that the economic development of Hong Hong would be increasingly dependent on the China factor, as China opens up its market and experiences rapid economic growth. Taiwan was said to be

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ahead of the other Asian dragons and was attempting to turn its capital city into one of Asia Pacics leading regional centers. The report also pointed out that although Chinas relations with Taiwan and Hong Kong were shaded by diplomatic rivalry, political tension, and a pervasive lack of trust, at the human level the three continued to form closer ties. The increasing interaction between Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China is creating a powerful, new economic entity. By the year 2000, the Greater China economic region will be a truly signicant force in the world economy. Asian and Media Advertising (1992) reported that these markets, mainly populated by Chinese, were closely located but divided by historical events that have created a distinct economic and cultural environment in each market. Hong Kong has been a British colony for many years and the people were exposed to western culture much earlier than they were in Taiwan. Hong Kong people are, therefore more Westernized, and the English language is more widely used in business communication. The people of Taiwan, on the other hand, were reported to be more traditional, more nationalistic, and heavily inuenced by Japanese culture. Consumers in China were not exposed to western ideas until China implemented its open-door policy in 1979. They rely heavily on advertising or word of mouth for information. Hence, each market has its own characteristics and is exposed to a different degree of political inuence. In recent years, there have been some profound changes in consumer lifestyles in Greater China. According to Asias Media and Marketing Weekly (1994), the changing role of women, the aging of society, trends toward delayed marriage, smaller families, and single parents have combined to redene the consumer markets in Greater China. Traditional household decision making is undergoing signicant changes as a larger number of women join the work force. As women now have greater purchasing power, marketers need to have a better understanding of womens changing values and roles in modern society. One approach to studying womens behavior is by exploring how women feel about their lives, their attitudes toward their work, and how they approach the various aspects of life that lead to the consumption of many products and services. This study aims to compare the lifestyles of female consumers within Greater China. Signicant differences are expected to be found among different age groups of Chinese females, as well as between working women and housewives. A woman in her 40s or a housewife is likely to exhibit different lifestyle characteristics than a woman in her 20s or a career woman, even within the same region. In order to make a direct comparison of lifestyles across the three regions, only working females aged between 18 and 35 were chosen for the study. This group also makes up a relatively large percentage of the female population in the three regions

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and appears to be a very lucrative target for the marketers. The samples were selected from the cities of Hong Kong, Taipei, and Guangzhou. Characteristics of Chinese Female Consumers Asias Media and Marketing Weekly (1992) reported that in the 1990s, as Asian and Chinese women increasingly move out of the home and into the workplace, marketers are waking up to the fact that women are exerting a greater inuence on a variety of consumer decisions that used to lie within the sole domain of men. Accordingly, companies are starting to direct their marketing efforts toward working women. As women begin to view themselves differently, the marketing industry is also changing the way women are portrayed. In the past, advertising generally portrayed women in the context of the home: cooking, cleaning, and caring for their husbands and children. Multinationals, however, are cautious about challenging the norms, so Chinese women are still depicted as pretty girls, only now they are shown with briefcases and mobile phones. In a survey conducted by the Far Eastern Economic Review in 1993, afuent Asian women showed a greater preference for quality over quantity in all aspects of their lives. They preferred to have a less polluted environment, and more leisure time, and they also appreciated value more than prestige. Convenience was, thus, becoming the most popular focus of marketing directed at Asian women. A report in the Wall Street Journal (1993) stated that the regions increasingly busy consumers were looking for ways to simplify their lives and were willing to pay for the right solutions. The desire to save time was revolutionizing how Asian women shopped. The article added that self-service food stores and convenience chains were replacing familyrun shops and street markets. Time-saving products such as 2-in-1 shampoos, which combine shampoo and conditioner, were a hit with working women. Women in Hong Kong Hong Kong people place particular value on achievement and material goods. This view was conrmed by Asias Media and Marketing Weekly (1990), which reported that the pace of life in Hong Kong was faster than in Taiwan and China, and that Hong Kong workers were more driven to succeed and more materialistic. Yet the rapid material changes experienced by Hong Kong society during the past few decades have not been accompanied by a substantial transformation in consumption attitudes and behavior. Hong Kong people still hold on to many traditional attitudes and inuence how they respond to advertising messages and what they buy.

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It was reported in Asias Media and Marketing (1993) that the biggest change in consumer attitudes among the Hong Kong Chinese could be seen in the younger generation. They were more interested in living in the present, rather than saving their money for the future, which may be linked to their uncertainty over 1997. This live for today philosophy has a substantial effect on the spending pattern of the community. It was also reported that women in Hong Kong were achieving steady gains in education and work and were attaining considerable economic power. As a result, women were making more decisions related to household spending, including big ticket items such as cars, and they were playing a major role in the buying process. The report continued that although women believed in careers and nancial independence, they still strongly adhered to the traditional view of womens role in the home and family. They were also very status conscious and concerned about how they were being perceived by other people. Women in Taiwan Over the past 40 years, Taiwan has proposed economically and has seen a remarkable rise in living standards. Taiwan has a population of 20.6 million people and the capital, Taipei, is the biggest city, with a population of 2.6 million (Republic of China Year Book, 1993). Asias Media and Marketing (1994) described Taiwan as a market where traditional values persisted, where little English was spoken, and where the West had just begun to inuence lifestyle and aspirations. According to the report, Taiwanese customs and social practices emphasized the Confucian principles of familial loyalty, obedience, and respect. Contemporary Taiwanese female consumers were searching for the equivalent of traditional Confucian status symbols in modern-day goods. Consumption choices were not always based on function, but more on the prestigious image of imported foreign brands. Survey Research Taiwan estimated that 60% of Taiwans population was under 35 years old, with shopping being the main pastime for this large and afuent group. Asian Media and Advertising (1989) described young Taiwanese women as especially brand-conscious when buying clothes and accessories. American brands, which were the rst to enter Taiwan, are highly regarded in the surging Taiwanese consumer market. The most successful products in Taiwan are foreign in image and local in usability. With economic growth and increased exposure to the western world, Taiwanese womens tastes have become more sophisticated and are moving towards the high-end of the market. The women, educated and afuent, are willing to spend their savings on imported products, despite the fact that these are comparatively more expensive than local goods.

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Women in China China, with a population of over 1.2 billion people, is experiencing a virtual explosion of consumer spending. Consumers preferences are also beginning to change signicantly. Rising consumer demand has been brought about by a substantial increase in income and by changing demographics. Hang Seng Economic Monthly (1993) stated that almost half of Chinas population was between 15 and 39 years of age, and that this group was more willing than previous generations to absorb new products and ideas. It was also reported in Hang Seng Economic Monthly that the Chinese market was a collection of heterogeneous submarkets with distinct spending patterns. Consumption power in southern China was generally higher than in the north, but the people in the north tended to be more selective. For instance, consumers in Shanghai were more receptive to international fashion styles and trends, whereas people in Guangzhou, who had greater purchasing power, were heavily inuenced by Hong Kong. China in Focus (1995) reported that during the 1931 1949 revolution, which led to the creation of the Peoples Republic of China, women played an equal role in the building of a new China. As womens education and their participation in the work force grew, their status improved. However, the goal of absolute equality between the sexes remain unfullled and gender-role differences were openly admitted. The potential of the female consumer market in China is large. As more women become wealthier and increasingly sophisticated, they demand higher-quality products with new and diversied designs. Younger women in particular are becoming very fashion conscious and are able to indulge in costly foreign brands.

PREVIOUS LIFESTYLE RESEARCH Lifestyle research is a quantitative research procedure to determine how people spend time and money, in terms of activities, interests, and opinions. The AIO statements, as described in Plummer (1974), measure (a) activities: how people spend their time and money, (b) Interests: what they consider to be of importance in their immediate surroundings, and (c) opinions: how they feel about themselves and the world around them. Wells (1974) suggested that the AIO statements can be either general or product specic, and either standardized or ad hoc in scale. The choice of statements depends on the objective of the study and it is possible to use either one or both types mentioned above. The concept of lifestyle and its relationship to marketing was rst introduced by Lazer (1963). Since then, much lifestyle research, using

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AIO variables, has been conducted. The studies include Wells and Tigert (1971); Plummer (1974, 1977); Reynolds and Crask (1977); Douglas and Urban (1977); Roberts and Wortzel (1979); Venkatesh (1980); Cosmas (1982); Aaker, Fuse, and Reynolds (1982); Wells (1985); Parameswaran and Yaprak (1987); Lesch, Luk, and Leonard (1991); and Hui, Joy, Kim, and Laroche (1993). Despite the large body of lifestyle studies, very little research has focused on the Asia Pacic region. Lifestyle information is very useful for product positioning and market segmentation, and also helps multinationals to understand consumers in different cultures (Plummer, 1974, 1977). Douglas and Urban (1977) conducted a study to compare the patterning of womens lifestyles in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The study found that the pattern and underlying dimension of womens lifestyles were very similar in all three countries, although specic attitude statements, which characterized each factor, differed from country to country. They concluded that the implications of differences in lifestyle patterning varied from one product class to another, and that the ndings concerning the response of specic customer targets to products or marketing strategies in one country could not always be easily applied to another country. Tai and Tam (1997) examined the similarities and differences of the lifestyles between Hong Kong and Singapore consumers. Their results showed that the major difference between Hong Kong and Singapore consumers lies in cultural and traditional values. Hong Kong consumers were generally more traditional and conservative, and it was recommended that marketers accommodate the norms and customs of their target consumers when developing brand positioning. Although lifestyle data are very useful in market segmentation and in developing international marketing strategy, Wells (1975) suggested that marketers have to be cautious when choosing lifestyle variables in their studies, as these variables are not as stable as demographic variables. METHODOLOGY Questionnaire Design A rigorous review of the literature on lifestyle-related research preceded the development of the questionnaire for the present study. The nal version of the questionnaire consisted of three parts. The rst part comprised the interest and opinion statements, the second part contained frequency of participation activity statements, and the third part consisted of items related to demographic information. The selection of lifestyle statements for this study was based on three criteria: relevance to women, value to marketers, and measurability.

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The questionnaire contained both standardized and ad hoc lifestyle statements. The reason for using a standardized scale was that the scale had already been tested by different researchers for reliability and validity, and ad hoc lifestyle statements were used to gain better insight into the signicant differences in social and cultural values across the three regions. Sample Design The target population was white-collar working women between the ages of 18 and 35. The objective of the survey was to obtain three groups of females matched in terms of age, rather than the groups representativeness of the female working population in each region, in order to facilitate a more meaningful evaluation of the similarities and differences among the groups. Samples were drawn from the commercial districts of Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Taipei. A quota sampling method was used. The questionnaires were dispatched to respondents in Taipei in the summer of 1993, and responses were collected through personal interviews, using the same questionnaire, within a 6-month period in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. After a preliminary analysis of the data, the number of usable questionnaires for analysis was 188 from Taipei, 182 from Guangzhou, and 188 from Hong Kong. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Demographic Characteristics Respondents from Taiwan and Hong Kong were comparable with respect to marital status. Although the majority of respondents in these two regions were single, more than half of those in China were married, despite the similar age distribution across the three groups. The distribution of education levels attained by Taiwan and China respondents was very similar in that more than 60% of them had achieved university-level education. In contrast, the education level of Hong Kong respondents was much lower. Only 19.1% had attained university-level education. Although Taiwan and China respondents on average had attained a higher education level than Hong Kong respondents, the Hong Kong sample contained a relatively larger proportion of administrators and managers. See Table 1. Factor Analysis of Lifestyle Variables A principal-component factor analysis was performed on the lifestyle variables for each group to assess the stability of the dimensions across the groups. Variables that had low correlations with other variables

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Table 1. Summary of Demographic Characteristics of Respondents. Demographic Variables Age 18 25 26 30 31 35 Marital Status Single Married Divorced Number of Children None One Two Three Educational Attainment Secondary level Postsecondary level University level Professional level Occupation Professional Managerial/Administrative Technical White Collar Personal Income Below $10,000 $10,001 $20,000 $20,001 $30,000 $30,001 $40,000 Taiwan (%) 34.6 48.4 17.0 79.3 20.2 0.5 13.8 8.5 5.9 1.6 9.6 16.0 60.1 11.2 22.9 5.3 2.1 62.2 71.3* 28.2* 0.5* 0.0* Hong Kong (%) 34.6 44.1 20.2 72.9 26.1 1.10 17.0 9.0 7.4 0.0 58.5 12.2 19.1 9.0 22.3 11.7 3.7 53.2 47.9* 41.5* 6.9* 3.8* China (%) 36.3 46.2 17.6 44.5 53.3 2.2 17.6 37.4 2.7 0.0 6.0 8.8 69.8 11.0 14.3 1.6 10.4 68.1 15.4a 30.2b 20.3c 23.1d

*Incomes have been converted to Hong Kong dollars except for the China group. a Represents Yuan below 500. b 501 1500. c 1501 2000. d 2001 2500.

and had low loadings on the factors were removed. As a result, 36 lifestyle variables were retained. A scree test and eigenvalues greater than 1 were selected as the criteria in determining the number of factors to be extracted. A varimax rotation procedure was also performed to facilitate the interpretation of each factor. It was found that the factor solutions across the three groups were comparable. Thus, the three samples were pooled and a principal-component factor analysis was conducted on the whole sample. The purpose of conducting the factor analysis at this stage was to extract the underlying lifestyle dimensions and then to use the factor scores in a discriminate analysis.

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Twelve factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, accounted for 60.4% of the total variance extracted. After a closer examination of the loading on the factors, a name was given to each factor according to the content of the variables making the greatest contribution to each of the dimensions. Cronbachs alpha coefciencies were computed to assess the internal consistency among the set of items on each factor, and they were found to be in the range of 0.47 0.73. Nunnally (1978) suggested that in the early stages of research, modest reliability in the range of 0.50 to 0.60 will sufce. In Peters (1979) study reviewing the reliability assessment of marketing measures, the lowest coefcient alpha reported was 0.514 and the highest coefcient alpha was 0.98. Because this study was not in applied settings, the reliability of the scales was considered as acceptable. Table 2 summarizes the results of the factor analysis. Each of the lifestyle statements was measured on a 6-point scale, with 1 representing strongly disagree and 6 representing strongly agree. In order to better understand the similarities and differences in lifestyles between the three groups, the statements were condensed by combining 1 3 in the disagree category and 4 6 in the agree category. Table 3 shows the percentage of each group that agreed with the statements. The following is a brief description of each factor in order of its contribution to the total variance.

Factor 1: Womens Role and Perception. This factor accounted for the largest variance among the three groups of female consumers. It contained ve statements, one of which had a reversed scale. The majority of the females in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China agreed that both husband and wife should share the housework and decide on any major purchases together. They also tended to agree that males and females should be treated equally at work, and women should seek their own careers. However, with respect to the view that a womans place is in the home, the proportion of Hong Kong women agreeing with this statement was signicantly lower than in Taiwan and China. Hong Kong women appeared to possess a more modern view of the role of women than their counterparts. Although they have made steady gains in education and at work in recent years, and have achieved considerable economic power, they were still expected to fulll traditional roles as mothers and wives while developing their careers. Taiwanese women, in general, strongly identied with traditional Chinese symbols and accepted new denitions of womens roles as they received higher education and became more independent nancially. Younger women, in particular, blended Western culture well with their traditional Chinese values.

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Table 2. Summary of Factor Analysis Results. Lifestyle Factors Womens role and perception ( 0.53) Husband and wife should both share the housework Men and women should be treated equally at work Women should seek their own careers On any major purchase, the husband and wife should decide together what to buy A womans place is in the home(*) Family orientation ( 0.65) My family is the most important thing to me Youngsters should have more respect for the elders I listen to the advice of elders I am always proud to have a close-knit family Brand consciousness ( 0.71) I am willing to pay higher prices for famous brands I care for well-known brands rather than their quality I prefer to buy foreign brands than local brands Home orientation ( 0.57) I would rather spend a quiet evening with my family than go out to meet friends I am a traditional and conservative person I am a homebody
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Means 5.45 5.39 5.02 5.35 3.77 4.90 5.53 4.46 4.89 3.28 2.59 3.58 3.48 3.54 3.19 4.08 3.86 4.43

Loadings 0.69050 0.58757 0.57115 0.52554 0.41910 0.67455 0.65157 0.61923 0.53748 0.79156 0.77486 0.71919 0.70983 0.70949 0.66005 0.77984 0.63038 0.62147

Self-condence ( 0.62) I think I have more self-condence than most people of my age I will probably get a job promotion in the near future When I set my mind to achieve something, I usually can achieve it (*) The scale has been reversed.

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Addiction to work ( 0.56) I am a workaholic Work is an important part of my life I always work in the ofce after ofce hours or during weekends Price consciousness ( 0.60) I shop a lot for specials I usually watch the advertisements for announcements of sales I check the prices even on small items Political interests ( 0.73) I always keep myself informed of the latest changes in politics I am interested in reading news on political and economic affairs Environmental consciousness ( 0.63) I am willing to pay a little bit higher prices to buy green products I frequently purchase products which claim to be environmental friendly Weight watching ( 0.52) No matter how busy I am, I always nd time each week to do a few hours of exercises I am careful in what I eat in order to keep my weight under control To maintain a nice gure, exercise is very important Home cleanliness ( 0.47) I feel uncomfortable when my house is not completely clean I always keep my house very neat and tidy My home is furnished for comfort, not for style Health consciousness ( 0.50) I am more health conscious than most of my friends I frequently purchase health food / natural food

3.01 4.23 2.49 3.48 3.58 3.45 3.48 3.70 3.95 2.52 3.30 3.90 5.12 4.92 4.76 5.17 4.32 3.31

0.76142 0.67405 0.55525 0.79841 0.77149 0.60000 0.80701 0.80457 0.80419 0.77791 0.70544 0.67329 0.52136 0.76288 0.63715 0.37424 0.71909 0.69353

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Table 3. Lifestyle Characteristics of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China Females. Lifestyle Factors Womens role and perception ( 0.53) Husband and wife should both share the housework Men and women should be treated equally at work Women should seek their own careers On any major purchase, the husband and wife should decide together what to buy A womans place is in the home(*) Family orientation ( 0.65) My family is the most important thing to me Youngsters should have more respect for the elders I listen to advice of elders I am always proud to have a close-knit family Brand consciousness ( 0.71) I am willing to pay higher prices for famous brands I care for well-known brands rather than their quality I prefer to buy foreign brands than local brands Home orientation ( 0.57) I would rather spend a quiet evening with my family than go out to meet friends I am a traditional and conservative person I am a homebody
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Taiwan (%) 99.5 96.8 93.1 97.9 46.3 94.7 98.4 84.6 84.6 43.6 21.3 48.4 54.3 60.1 47.9 69.1 69.1 82.4

Hong Kong (%) 96.8 89.9 95.2 92.0 34.0 79.8 95.2 78.7 78.2 48.9 19.7 55.9 34.0 49.5 31.9 67.0 60.6 81.4

China (%) 94.0 95.1 94.5 96.2 55.5 89.6 98.4 89.6 94.5 45.1 40.1 59.9 58.2 51.1 48.9 74.7 58.8 80.8

Self-condence ( 0.62) I think I have more self-condence than most people of my age I will probably get a job promotion in the near future When I set my mind to achieve something, I usually can achieve it (*) The scale has been reversed.

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Addiction to work ( 0.56) I am a workaholic Work is an important part of my life I always work in the ofce after ofce hours or during weekends Price consciousness ( 0.60) I shop a lot for specials I usually watch the advertisements for announcements of sales I check the prices even on small items Political interests ( 0.73) I always keep myself informed of the latest changes in politics I am interested in reading news on political and economic affairs Environmental consciousness ( 0.63) I am willing to pay a little bit higher prices to buy green products I frequently purchase products which claim to be environmental friendly Weight watching ( 0.52) No matter how busy I am, I always nd time each week to do a few hours of exercises I am careful in what I eat in order to keep my weight under control To maintain a nice gure, exercise is very important Home cleanliness ( 0.47) I feel uncomfortable when my house is not completely clean I always keep my house very neat and tidy My home is furnished for comfort, not for style Health consciousness ( 0.50) I am more health conscious than most of my friends I frequently purchase health food / natural food

44.1 75.5 20.2 56.9 59.0 57.4 51.1 57.4 83.5 22.3 41.5 59.0 92.0 92.6 90.4 98.4 75.5 35.1

42.0 75.0 26.6 53.7 48.4 41.5 39.4 45.2 52.1 13.8 30.9 61.7 87.8 83.5 81.9 93.1 64.9 31.4

24.2 48.6 24.2 34.1 46.2 45.1 67.6 75.3 62.6 26.4 53.3 67.6 95.1 89.0 92.9 93.4 81.9 67.0

There has been a great change in the perception of gender roles among women in China. Women were traditionally valued according to the sacrices they made for men. In a recent survey carried out by Asia Week (1993), 40% of the couples interviewed in Guangzhou reportedly shared housework, whereas 76% of the sample in Shanghai said that they shared the tasks at home. Sixty percent of the couples made purchasing decisions together. Many women took helping with housework as one of the criteria when choosing a husband, and many wanted to establish their own careers. However, the majority of men still expected women to make only moderate changes to their traditional roles. Factor 2: Family Orientation. Women in Taiwan and China were found to be more family oriented than Hong Kong females. The proportion of the Chinese and Taiwanese women agreeing with the following statements My family is the most important thing to me, I listen to the advice of my elders, and I am always proud to have a close-knit family were signicantly higher than that of women in Hong Kong. Most families in Hong Kong were willing to work hard, make sacrices for their childrens education, and to acquire their own accommodation. Although Hong Kong women were fully exposed to Western culture, they were quite conservative in their attitudes and values toward family and marriage. Compared with Western societies, Hong Kong still has a distinctively lower divorce rate, even though there has been a signicant increase over the past decade. Traditional Confucian values remain a predominant inuence on Hong Kong womens behavioral patterns. Taiwanese women were found to be even more inuenced by Confucianism than Hong Kong women. Their philosophy of living emphasized the family system, and they had a strong sense of family responsibility. In China, the traditional view toward marriage has also declined in recent years, under the inuence of contemporary and Western culture. It was reported in China in Focus (1993) that the divorce rate increased 135% from 1980 to 1990. Factors 3 and 4: Home Orientation and Cleanliness. Women in Taiwan and China were more home oriented than were their Hong Kong counterparts. The majority agreed that they would rather spend a quiet evening with their families than go out to meet friends, and considered themselves as traditionalists. This indicates that women in Taiwan and China are more traditional and claim to be homebodies, whereas Hong Kong women are more career minded and independent. A few differences were also found between the three groups on individual items under home cleanliness, although the majority of them agreed with the following statements, My home is furnished for comfort, not for style, and I feel uncomfortable when my house is not

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completely clean. The majority of Hong Kong families employed a domestic helper, especially if the woman was a working wife with young children. As a result, Hong Kong women were devoted to establishing their careers and maintaining their own circle of friends. They were found to be less home oriented than their counterparts in this study. Factors 5 and 6: Brand and Price Consciousness. The women in China were found to be the most brand conscious and the least price sensitive of the three groups. Although more Hong Kong women agreed that they were willing to pay higher prices for brand-name goods, the proportion of Chinese women caring about well-known brands and prepared to buy foreign brands was signicantly higher than the proportion of their counterparts in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In fact, Chinese women perceived foreign brands to be a status symbol and to be superior to local brands. They sought the prestige associated with the image of the brand, regardless of the value of the product. In contrast, Hong Kong women were changing from brand consciousness to a value-seeking attitude. Taiwanese women were less likely to pay higher prices for famous brands and did not have a preference for foreign brands. They were found to be more price conscious and tended to shop around a great deal more for bargains, compared to their counterparts in Hong Kong and China. They compared prices even on small items and usually paid attention to advertisements for the announcements of sales. Factors 7 and 8: Self-Condence and Addiction to Work. The three groups exhibited a similar degree of self-condence; however, Taiwanese females were found to be more optimistic about their chances of job promotion than their counterparts in Hong Kong and China. The three groups also agreed that work was an important part of their lives; however, with regard to their enthusiasm for work, more than 40% of the Taiwan and Hong Kong respondents admitted that they were workaholics, whereas only about 24% of the China respondents made the same admission. In spite of this, the percentage of Chinese women working overtime after ofce hours or during weekends was higher than the percentage of Taiwanese women but lower than that of Hong Kong women. It was also found that young female employees were less addicted to work than their elder counterparts, as the demand for leisure and the pursuit of individual interests keeps pace with the growing afuence of society. Factors 9 and 10: Weight and Health Consciousness. The women in China were slightly more weight conscious and concerned about their appearance than their counterparts. About 53% of the Chinese women surveyed agreed that they would nd time to do a few hours of exercise no matter how busy they were. In comparison, 42% of

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Taiwanese women and 31% of Hong Kong women said they would do the same. About 68% of the women in China agreed that they were careful in what they ate in order to keep their weight under control. The Chinese women were also more health conscious and they tended to purchase health food more often than the women in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Factor 11: Political Interests. Chinese women were found to be the most interested in political affairs of the three groups. They were more sensitive to political issues that had a substantial effect on their lives. They kept up to date on the latest changes in politics and were more interested in reading news on political and economic affairs. Taiwanese women showed a modest interest in political affairs, whereas Hong Kong women expressed the least interest in political affairs. Factor 12: Environmental Consciousness. Taiwanese and Chinese women were more environmentally conscious than Hong Kong women. More agreed to being willing to pay a slightly higher price for green products, and the amount and frequency of purchases of green products made by female consumers were signicantly higher in Taiwan and China than in Hong Kong. This nding might be due to the fact that the women in China considered imported green products to be fashionable, and were therefore willing to pay higher prices to keep up with the trend. Discriminant Analysis Factor scores for each respondent were computed by the regression method and then used in discriminant analysis. The purpose of the discriminant analysis was to determine the differences of lifestyles between the three groups with the use of the 12 derived lifestyle factors. Two discriminant functions were derived and both were found to be statistically signicant at the 1% level. The rst function accounted for 71.41% of the variance with an eigenvalue greater than 0.6340 and had a canonical correlation of 0.6229. An analysis of variance was conducted for each factor and signicant differences were found between the group means at the 5% level for the following lifestyle factors: Womens Role and Perception, Family Orientation, Brand Consciousness, Self-condence, Addiction to Work, Price Consciousness, Environmental Consciousness, Home Cleanliness, and Health Consciousness. The centroid for the Taiwan group, with the use of the rst discriminant function, was 0.19429; for the Hong Kong group it was 0.74645; and for the China group it was 1.61828. The centroid of the Taiwan group was closer to the centroid of the Hong Kong group than

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Table 4. Summary of Three-Group Discriminant Analysis Results. Standardized Coefcients Function 1 0.34755 0.08513 0.48300 0.01954 0.25395 0.71062 0.31808 0.11070 0.04832 0.11767 0.45312 0.40115 Univariate F Ratios 7.433* 4.435* 13.85* 0.7098 7.475* 25.89* 6.045* 0.6349 6.785* 1.166 11.45* 3.994*

Lifestyle Factors Womens role and perception Family orientation Brand consciousness Home orientation Self-condence Addiction to work Price consciousness Political interests Environmental consciousness Weight watching Home cleanliness Health consciousness
*Signicant at 0.05.

Loadings 0.54391 0.38823 0.26022 0.21487 0.09126 0.18833 0.01742 0.30897 0.18615 0.00244 0.00319 0.04664

to that of the China group. A closer review of the rst discriminant function loadings revealed that the rst function corresponded most closely to Addiction to Work, Brand Consciousness, Womens Role and Perception, and Health Consciousness. These factors distinguished the lifestyles of the women in Taiwan and Hong Kong from those in China. The primary lifestyle factors on the second discriminant function, which separated the Taiwan group from the other two groups, were Environmental Consciousness, Self-Condence, and Family orientation. The results of the discriminant analysis are presented in Table 4. In order to assess the validation of the discriminant results, the sample was randomly divided into two halves. One half of the respondents were used to develop the discriminant function, and the other half was used for validation purposes. The hit ratio for the analysis sample was 66.67%, whereas for the holdout sample it was 64.26%. The maximum chance criterion and the proportional chance criterion were used to assess the classication accuracy. The maximum chance criterion obtained was 37.83% and the proportional chance criterion was computed to be 33.68%. Because the hit ratios for both the analysis sample and holdout sample exceeded the two criterion measures, this conrms that the discriminant analysis predicts more accurately than chance. With the use of the analysis sample, the discriminant function correctly classied 65.5% of the Taiwanese women, 61.4% of the Hong Kong women, and 74.7% of the women in China. The classication results for the analysis sample are presented in Table 5. The predicted values for the holdout sample were 65.3%, 60.9%, and 66% respectively, and they were not statistically different from the results for the analysis sample at the 5% level.

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Table 5. Classication Results of Analysis Sample. Actual Group Taiwan Hong Kong China Total Sample Size 87 101 79 267 Predicted Group Membership Taiwan 57 (65.5%) 30 (29.7%) 13 (16.5%) 100 Hong Kong 18 (20.7%) 62 (61.4%) 7 (8.9%) 87 China 12 (13.9%) 9 (8.9%) 59 (74.7%) 80 Total 87 101 79 267

CONCLUSION AND MARKETING IMPLICATIONS The working women in the three regions were heavily inuenced by Confucianism and traditional values in their views on womens roles, families, and homes. Although the women in Hong Kong exercised substantial nancial power as they rose in the business world, most of them still shared many of the attitudes held by their mothers and grandmothers. It was only a matter of degree to which females in China and Taiwan were more traditional than women in Hong Kong. Women in China, especially the younger ones, had changed their attitudes towards marriage and were more career minded. Thus, the gap between women in China and their counterparts in Taiwan and Hong Kong has narrowed. Female consumers in China were reported to be more brand conscious than their counterparts, as they were strongly attracted to imported goods, regardless of their value and quality. Hong Kong women had become more value seeking and quality conscious, whereas Taiwanese women, apart from the younger ones, were comparatively more price conscious. More women in Taiwan and Hong Kong were reported to be workaholics than Chinese women, and the younger women in general were less addicted to work and showed more demand for leisure time. However, women in China were the most weight and health conscious of the three groups. Women in China and Taiwan were also more environmentally conscious than Hong Kong women. It can be concluded that women in the three groups were inuenced by Western culture to different degrees and were found to have a mixture of traditional and modern values. Hong Kong women were found to hold a more modern view of the role of women than their counterparts. However, women in China were picking up new values and Western ideas very rapidly. The authors foresee that female consumers

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within Greater China will become more and more similar in their lifestyles in the near future. As women become more career minded, prefer living independently, and play the dual role of professional worker and mother/wife, marketing strategy should be tailored to meet their special needs and be aware of their self-image. Chinese women in Greater China still desire a feminine image, because most of them have not yet discarded older beliefs on traditional womens roles. When formulating a segmentation strategy for the Greater China female consumer market, it is suggested that the target group in the Hong Kong market be young, married women who have substantial earnings and decision-making power. For the Taiwan market, it would be most protable to target younger working women who are eager to follow the latest trend in foreign markets and willing to spend money on brand-name goods. In contrast, the biggest market in China is mature women in their 30s, who are the decision makers, users, and inuential force in their families. They also prefer imported goods and top-class, brand-name products. Concerning the feasibility of employing just one strategy for the Greater China female consumer market, marketers should consider the cross-cultural similarities rather than the cross-cultural differences. The women in the three groups actually share many traditional values toward the home and family. If market brands are directed at young working women, a regional approach is feasible, as the younger women in Greater China are more likely to share the same attitudes and lifestyles. Because signicant differences were also found along many lifestyle dimensions between women in the three groups, marketers should proceed with caution when choosing to adopt a common strategy for the Greater China female consumer market.

LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE STUDY This study focused on the lifestyles of working women between the age of 18 and 35, and the quota sampling method was employed across the regions to facilitate a more meaningful evaluation of the similarities and differences between the groups. Therefore, it is difcult to generalize the results to a larger population. Moreover, the sample of women in China was chosen from Guangzhou, which is heavily inuenced by Hong Kong culture. Consumers in Guangzhou may, therefore, behave differently from those in Shanghai and Beijing. A cross-sectional comparison of female consumers in the three cities could be conducted in future research.

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APPENDIX 1:
Female Economically Active 36.7% 36.8% 43.8% Average No. in a Urban Household Population 3.61 3.83 4.28 93.1% 57.4% 26.2% GDP (US$) 82.7B 175.7B 371.2B Per Capita GDP (US$) 15180* 6837* 2656*

Region Hong Kong Taiwan China

Population 1.6M 20.6M 1.2B

Female 48.9% 48.5% 48.5%

*Adjusted for purchasing power in 1989. Source: Asian Advertising, Marketing and Media Handbook 1994, Euromonitor PLC, 1994

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