A Survey on Factors Influencing Coffee Shops Preferences Among the Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Pagoh Students

Abstract

The culture of coffee shops or cafés has become very popular in Malaysia, and the trend seems to have changed coffee drinking into a lifestyle among university students who use coffee shops for studying, relaxing and socializing. This study aims to analyse data collected via a survey administered to 264 Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Pagoh students from different faculties via Google Forms. This study was designed to gain insight into local coffee shops through word cloud analysis, determine the factors that influence the choice of coffee shops through factor analysis, and establish the relationships between factors and perceptions of two brands of coffee shops, A and B, through correspondence analysis. Word cloud analysis provided additional information beyond others, mainly highlighting location, high prices, poor service, and overcrowding as the main determinants of respondents' choice of coffee shops. Four main factors were derived from factor analysis: Brand Performance, Product Value, Service Quality, and Customer Engagement; however, Product Value and Service Quality had the highest loadings. From the correspondence analysis, coffee shop A was found to have a stronger association with tastes, promotions, product quality, popularity, and brand performance, while coffee shop B was found to have a stronger association with service quality and convenience, with overall perceptions showing only slight differences between the two brands.