Evaluating Consumers' Perception Towards Ship Breaking Products in Bangladesh: A PLS-SEM Approach

Ship breaking product has distinct impact on socio-economic development for the country. This study investigates the impact of some cues which effect on consumers’ perception towards ship breaking products in Bangladesh. The main objective of the study was to find out consumers' perception towards ship breaking products in the content of Bangladeshi consumers. Descriptive research design has been used and quantitative type research was applied. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from 215 respondents who were Bangladeshi consumers of different residents’ areas, like Chattagram, Cumilla, Dhaka and Mymensingh by using purposive sampling technique. A partial least square structured equation modeling (PLS- SEM) was used to analyze the data and to test the hypotheses to get actual findings of the study. The findings of the study demonstrated that economic benefit, laws & regulations had a significant (p-value <0.05) positive impact on consumes' perception. Another rest of the constructs including environmental hazard, and product features had no significant positive effect on consumes' perception towards ship breaking products in Bangladesh. The study has been provided some guidelines based on findings for ship breaking industry how to create the positive perception of Bangladeshi consumers. This study could provide new insights about how the ship breaking industry in Bangladesh gain competitive advantages improved by examining some constructs (economic benefit, laws & regulations, environmental hazard and product features) development impacts at the perspective of Bangladeshi consumers. Finally, some policy implications followed by findings based on empirical phenomenon can be supportive guidelines for the ship breaking industries at the context of Bangladeshi market.