A Study of Future Prospect of Korean Cuisine in Two States of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur from Customer Decision Making Perspective

This study intended to fill the gap of defining four different facets pertaining to which factors consumers perceived when fulfilling their Korean food cravings. Primary factors that are directly linked with the consumer consideration when selecting the Korean restaurant are surveyed and analysed. The research results can be used by owners or managers of Korean restaurant to enhance their current performance, services, and products by transforming business strategy in accordance with consumers’ preference perception. This research also enlightens managers from the different industrial sector to adopt the proposed strategies to increase the business success rate. To complete the research, a positivism quantitative research paradigm and a deductive research approach were selected. 100 sample size of consumers from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur were selected through snowball sampling. The statistical analysing method applied are one sample t-test, ANOVA and Pearson Correlation and the research variables are quality of food, customer service, menu selection, reputation, cleanliness, and ambience. This study showed that the relationship between gender and purchase intention are statistically significant however ANOVA results proved no significant value result hence the test failed to reject the null hypothesis. On the other hand, it is concluded from the findings that there is no statistical relationship between age, gender, and ethnicity while making purchase decision for any Korean restaurant in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. The findings revealed that Malaysians have become highly interested in Korean food and generally prefer ramen, chigae, chimek and samgyupsal as their food choice. In addition, the report pointed out that among the 11 street foods, the most used term is "spicy", reflecting Malaysians' love for Korean food. Moreover, the factors perceived by customers hold greater significance for making a purchase decision for them regardless of the nature of the business.