Christina Rahardja - How Is The Attitude of Japanese Millennial's

Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 180
Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Management (INSYMA 2021)
How is the Attitude of Japanese Millennials Towards

Indonesian Rattan Furniture?
Komang Yudhi Kamala1, Christina Rahardja2,* Aluisius Henry Pratono3
1
University of Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia
2
3
*Corresponding author. Email: christina_r@staff.ubaya.ac.id
ABSTRACT
Recently, environment and ecology have become critical issues for the global population and
entrepreneurs. The millennial generation is considered one of the most prominent population
groups and an attractive target for many companies to engage. This study aims to understand
the Japanese millennials' attitude toward Indonesian rattan furniture as a green product. In-
donesia is one of the biggest rattan furniture suppliers to the global market where Japan is
listed as the third biggest market for Indonesian rattan furniture after the U.S. and European
region. In this study, the researchers made an exploratory qualitative approach to understand
Japanese millennials’ attitude towards Indonesian rattan furniture by analyzing the data
based on the theory of characteristics of millennials and consumer attitude. This research
was conducted in Indonesia and Japan. The results show Japanese millennials' attitude to-
ward Indonesian rattan furniture is positive. Aesthetic values, price, and “summer” image of
rattan furniture are the findings.
Keywords: Japanese millennials, attitude, values, and Indonesian rattan furniture.
1 INTRODUCTION 2001). Green purchasing behavior means an

ethical decision-making behavior and it is
Environment and ecology have become crit- being recognized as socially responsible be-
ical issues for the global population and en- havior (Joshi & Rahman 2016). Apart from
trepreneurs (Allen & Malin 2008). People the increase of environmental awareness by
are becoming more aware of the environ- the majority of society, one question is
mental impacts of human activities and pointing to the young generation or the mil-
make changes in daily behavior regarding lennial generation. Will the increase of envi-
this issue (Wong 2012). Many companies ronmental awareness in the major society
are trying to find and develop new ideas and make the millennial generation willing to
plan a strategy to position their green brand buy and consume more green products in
in the customer's mindset to compete in the their daily lives? The motive of this question
market (Suki 2016). Eco-innovation and is because there are still a few academic re-
green purchasing are two main important searchers that examine millennial generation
things for sustainable development (Joshi consumption toward green products (Lu et
and Rahman 2016). The focus of eco- al. 2013).
innovation is to assimilate the sustainability One important reason why the research is
environment at a product when producing essential because presently millennial gener-
goods or services (Veleva & Ellenbecker ation that was born between the 80s-90s of
Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press B.V.

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 200
the twentieth century (Stanimir 2015) is one cally towards Indonesian rattan furniture.
of the most prominent groups of the pop- Because, as the market leader of the rattan
ultion, and their purchasing power made furniture exporter to Japan, it is important to
them become an interesting target for many explore the Japanese millennial generation's
industries (Moreno et al. 2017). attitude toward Indonesian rattan furniture.
This research will focus on Japanese mil-
lennials as the subject. Aiming to determine
1.1 Research Purposes
the Japanese millennials attitude towards In-
donesian rattan furniture, this research will This study aims to provide further insight in-
analyze the findings based on consumer tti- to the Japanese Millennials' attitude toward
tude theory by Steenkamp & de Jong (2010) green products, specifically to Rattan Furni-
that consists of multiple levels and types of ture from Indonesia. Therefore, this study
values. Therefore, companies should focus will focus to explore the consumers' attitude
more on creating a product that could attract of Japanese millennials towards Indonesian
young consumers (Millennials) based not rattan furniture. The research question is as
only on the economic value but also on the follows:
economic value. In general, the millennial RQ. How is Japanese Millennials' attitude
generation prefers a brand based on values toward Indonesian Rattan Furniture as a
expressing their individuality (Knight & green product?
Kim 2007). In this study, the researcher A previous empirical study in electronic
chose Indonesian furniture made from rattan devices indicates that green technology fails
as our green product object. The reason for to promote awareness of green consumption
choosing this item as the object is because behavior (Bekaroo et al. 2018). The cost-
furniture made of rattan cane is modern and benefit analysis on green consumption may
environmentally safe (Amoah et al. 2015). justify whether a company needs to get in-
The previous study conducted in Indone- volved in promoting green awareness (Pra-
sia found that rattan cane harvesting does tono et al. 2017). Hence, future studies need
not conflict with forest conservation objec- to explore the intention-behavior gap of
tives because it has little effect on the forest green consumption among the millennial
structure and diversity (Widayati & Carlisle generation (Al Mamun et al. 2018).
2012). Rattan industry is worth billion-
dollar, where Indonesia is the world's big-
gest rattan exporter in the world. In 2012, 2 RESEARCH METHODS
43% of the rattan furniture imports were
coming from Indonesia (Myers 2015). In This research method is exploratory research
addition, Japan is the third biggest rattan in a qualitative approach where the inform-
furniture importer after the United States of ants are the Japanese millennial generation.
America and the European Union. Accord- The researcher will explore and dig deeper
ing to data from the Ministry of Trade Indo- information on how the Japanese millenni-
nesia (2016), it was noted that Japan imports als' attitude toward Indonesian rattan furni-
rattan furniture worth US$ 22,54 million. ture is. Exploration qualitative design is
Japan is one of the biggest markets for rattan flexible, data-driven, and context-sensitive
furniture from Indonesia. According to the that can plug gaps in knowledge. This re-
Ministry of Trade of The Republic of Indo- search relies on an interpretive approach.
nesia, Japan is the second favorable target The interpretive approach sees people as the
export country for rattan furniture from In- primary source of data, along with people's
donesia in 2015. (Ministry of Trade of The interpretations, perceptions, meaning, and
Republic of Indonesia, 2016). Then it is es- understanding (Mason 2002).
sential to explore the Japanese millennials' The research time was conducted during
attitude toward green products and specifi- the university project between the University
201
of Surabaya and Tokai University. This Table 1. Informants

study was conducted in two countries of In- No Informants Informant’s Duration No. of Ses- Nationality
donesia and Japan. In Indonesia, the research (Age) Status Minutes sion
was conducted in Surabaya city. In Japan, 1 Taihei (20) Student of 40 1 Japan
the research was conducted in several loca- TokaiUniver-
tions, namely Kanagawa city (Tokai Univer- sity
2 Kenjiro (21) Student of 27 1 Japan
sity), Shibuya district (Tokyo), Shinjuku dis-
TokaiUniver-
trict (Tokyo), and Akibahara district sity
(Tokyo). Researchers did a company visit in 3 Michiko (20) Student of 19 1 Japan
Mojosari at one of the rattan company pro- University of
ducers to observe and dig more information Surabaya
4 Chico (19) Student of 41 1 Japan
about the rattan furniture industry. This re-
TokaiUniver-
search was conducted by observing and in- sity
terviewing all the chosen Japanese millenni-
5 Ranko (21) Student of 45 1 Japan
als informants in English. Researchers Shih Chien
observed when students and professors from University
Tokai University came to Surabaya, and the Total Interview Time 172 minutes
researcher observed informants' behavior of
consuming products, observing their attitude Source: Data of Interview
and curiosity during the presentation session There are three experts two Professors from
about Indonesian rattan furniture in front of Tokai University Japan and one Senior Re-
twenty Japanese students and three profes- searcher from the University of Surabaya.
sors from Tokai University. Two lecturers
from the University of Surabaya participated
in this project. The observation was also 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
conducted in Japan; the researchers want to
understand the characteristics, behavior, and The researchers discuss the research findings
lifestyle of Japanese millennials in several and evidence based on the theories used for
places mentioned above. this study, and divided them into three parts
The interview activities were conducted in providing deeper understanding of the char-
English to bridge the language barrier be- acteristics of Japanese millennials, findings
tween researchers and informants. The inter- on Japanese knowledge and preferences on
view protocol applied a semi-structured Indonesian rattan furniture as one of the
method containing open-ended questions. green products, and the findings of Japanese
Informants are free to state and answer millennials attitude towards Indonesian rat-
based on informants' personal perceptions, tan furniture based on the values theory.
experiences, and opinions. A detail of in- First, the researcher has made observa-
formants is exhibited in Table 1 below. In tions in both in Indonesia and several places
purpose to minimize bias in this study, the in Japan to provide a deeper understanding
triangulation method was applied in this re- of the characteristics of Japanese millenni-
search. This method is necessary to seek the als, for specific purposes such as going to
corroborate one source and with another work, shopping, and even just for using pub-
(Mason 2002). Triangulation refers to the lic transportation (bus, train, MRT station,
use of a combination of methods to explore a and train station). To support the evidence of
set of research questions. the characteristics of the Japanese millenni-
The researcher will cross-validate all data als, the researchers also cited several state-
collecting methods interview transcript, ob- ments from the informants and using sec-
servation notes, and other documents from ondary sources of information from experts’
articles, news, journal and experts confirma- confirmation and credible articles that will
tion to seek the consistency of the data. support the findings of the data.
202
Japanese millennials possess a close rela- it” – Taihei. “I did not know much about rat-
tionship with high technology products in tan product or furniture and I searched about
daily life. Japanese millennials are familiar it after your presentation” – Kenjiro.
with applying advanced digital technology According to the data from the Ministry of
ranging from home appliances, toilets, Trade of Republic Indonesia in 2016, Japan
transportation, restaurant services, and mul- is the second-largest country after the United
ti-payment in Japan. These are some of the States of America (USA) which is the target
statements from informants: “I think Japa- of the Indonesian market for rattan furniture
nese people prefer a smart product that (Ministry of Trade of The Republic of Indo-
makes you looks ‘smart’ like a business per- nesia 2016). One of the concerns is that even
son I think” – Ranko. “I have an EV (electric though Japan is a big market for Indonesian
vehicle) car in my house (I use the EV car) rattan furniture, rattan furniture product is
every day when I go to school” – Kenjiro. still not popular to some Japanese millenni-
The findings in this research found that als, Three out of five informants had never
Japanese millennials characteristics only seen, bought, or experienced any rattan
match two out of five characteristics accord- product. Only two informants have rattan
ing to the theory from (Syrett & Lammiman products such as bags and chairs.
2004). The two characteristics found in this Third, in this part, to determine the Japa-
study for Japanese millennials are intimacy nese millennials attitude toward Indonesian
(close relationship with high-technology rattan furniture, the researchers concentrate
products) and awareness (social responsibil- on two levels of values which are General
ity). The Japanese millennials attitude of and Consumer domain-specific to be more
discipline, politeness, and the concern for specific. The collected data were taken ac-
the surrounding environment as their aware- cording to each value type in both value lev-
ness. els.
Second, the researcher will show the find- In terms of general values, the researcher
ings of several things related to the relation- took three out of ten value types hedonism,
ship of Japanese millennials with Indonesian self-direction; and universalism to be ana-
rattan furniture, such as knowledge about lyzed. To highlight the findings, table 2 pre-
green products and rattan products and pref- sents facts in the research field related to the
erences on Indonesian rattan furniture. Japan theory use.
is famous for high-technology products and Table 2. Interpretation of General Values Theory and
low-emission transportations; for example, Findings on Attitude TowardIndonesian Rattan Furni-
there are many electric vehicles and hybrid ture
cars with lower gas emissions than ordinary Value Type Definitions Findings
vehicles that use fossil fuels. The most Hedonism Personal pleasure and sen- “Summer” image and Aes-
suous gratification thetic value of Indonesian
common electric and hybrid vehicles are
rattan furniture as a person-
Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius. There was al pleasure
one interesting point found during the inter-
Self-direction Autonomous thinking The curiosity and willing-
view session and observation in Japan. Even
and choice of action, cre- ness to try new and different
though the utilization and usage of green ation, exploration products including Indone-
products such as electric and hybrid vehicles sian rattanfurniture
are widespread for Japanese millennials, the
knowledge of green products' meaning, and
Universalism The possession of broad- Japanese millennials accept
benefits is still lacking. Some of the inform- minded in termof cosuming Indonesian rattanfurniture as
ants mentioned that sometimes they could global products that benefit a global product which sup-
not distinguish between regular and green both consumer andnature port
products. “I have no idea. Because people in sustainability environment
Japan to buy product, (whether) this is a
Source: edited by authors
green product or not, people don’t care about
203
The “Summer Image” brings pleasure to ture). Because, I understand the deforesta-
Japanese millennials. “I think I like the de- tion in Indonesia and I want to solve this
sign of rattan furniture and also even its win- problem” – Taihei. For Japanese millennials,
ter time in Japan, I feel like in the summer or the environmental benefit of the Indonesian
Bali, so it brings like another atmosphere.” – rattan furniture is interesting information
Chico. For Japanese millennials, Indonesian and attracts Japanese millennials to buy the
rattan furniture is a new thing, and the de- product in the future. "Hmm, I think it's im-
sign and quality of the Indonesian rattan fur- portant to think about the environment be-
niture are taking a significant role in influ- cause I've changed my mindset when I start-
encing Japanese millennials' attitudes. The ed to learn about it" – Kenjiro. Table 3 aims
design of Indonesian rattan furniture is at- to provide highlights and brief explanation.
tractive for Japanese millennials because it Table 3. Interpretation between Consumer Domain-
has an aesthetic design with small size and Specific Values Theory and Findings on Attitude To-
lightweight, making the furniture easier to ward Indonesian Rattan Furniture
be arranged in the house interior. In this Value Definition Findings
case, Indonesian rattan furniture possesses a Type

Materialism A central conviction of the im- The enthusiasm of Japanese
good image (good quality) in the Japanese
portance of material posses- millennials tofollow the
market and Japanese millennials, but the sion in the life of a current trend
price of rattan is the obstacle; it would be person
much better if rattan furniture could be low-
Consumer In- The importance of buying The desire of Japanese mil-
er than the current price. novativeness products lennials to buy Indonesian rat-
According to the data from the Ministry of tan furniture in the future
Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, the repu-
tation of Indonesian rattan furniture is out- Nostalgia The perception where things in The history between Indone-
standing in the Japanese market with 61.2% the past wereapparently better sia and Japan does not affect
of the total market share for exporters of rat- than the present Japanese millennials judge-
tan products to Japan in 2015 (Ministry of ment toward Indonesian rattan
Trade of The Republic of Indonesia, 2016). furniture.
Furthermore, after Japanese millennials

knew that Indonesian rattan furniture is also Consumer The possession of a high sense For Japanese millennials,rat-
a part of green products that support sustain- Ethnocentrism of pride in the culture, symbols tan furniture does not have to
ability, they have a very positive image and and product themselves while come from Japan
attitude toward Indonesian rattan furniture. discrediting other cultures.
In terms of consumer domain-specific val-

ues, there are five types of values, which are Environmen- The importance of consuming Environmental benefit of
materialism, consumer innovativeness, nos- talism products withless pollution ef- Indonesian rattan furniture
talgia, consumer ethnocentrism, and envi- fects. is important to know for
Japanese millennials
ronmentalism. This is the beginning indica-
tion where Japanese millennials are Source: edited by authors
possessing materialism. This is the begin-
ning indication where Japanese millennials
are possessing materialism. “The fashion or 4. CONCLUSION
cosmetics brand, so I think I need to get the
trend like them. And also, I really like to get The researcher summarized the data as fol-
information and read about cosmetics to be lows, Japanese millennials possess only two
looks cuter” – Chico. Japanese millennials out of five mentioned characteristics: inti-
know details about Indonesian rattan furni- macy (possess a close relationship with the
ture will increase their desire to buy in the high-technology product) and awareness
future. “if I live by my-self, I will get more (social responsibility). Whereas for loyalty,
space than now, I want to buy (rattan furni- balanced and risk characteristics were not
204
found in this research. For general values, Joshi, Y. & Rahman, Z. 2016. Predictors of young
the research findings reveal three value types consumer’s green purchase behaviour. Manage-
ment of Environmental Quality: An International
that contribute to determining Japanese mil- Journal 27: 452-472.
lennials' attitude toward Indonesian rattan Knight, D.K. & Kim, E.Y. 2007. Japanese consumers
furniture: hedonism, self-direction, and uni- need for uniqueness Effects on brand perceptions
versalism. For consumer domain-specific and purchase intention. Journal of Fashion Mar-
values, the research findings contribute to keting and Management: An International Journal
determining Japanese millennials' attitude 270-280.
Lu, L. Bock, D. & Joseph, M. 2013. Green market-
toward Indonesian rattan furniture, which ing: what the Millennials buy. Journal of Business
are: Materialism, consumer innovativeness, Strategy 34: 3-10.
nostalgia, consumer ethnocentrism, and en- Mason, J. 2002. Qualitative Researching. London:
vironmentalism. Sage Publications.
This research recommends that the subse- Ministry of Trade of The Republic of Indonesia.
2016. Market Brief: Tokyo Trade Attache Rattan
quent research take a more extended period Products. Retrieved from djpen.kemendag.go.id:
to provide further information. The subse- http://djpen.kemendag.go.id/membership/data/file
quent research is recommended to take place s/82e09-produk- rotan.pdf
in the South of Japan, for example, in Oki- Moreno, F.M. Lafuente, J.G. Carreón, F.Á. & More-
nawa, where it is the best place for rattan no, S.M. 2017. The Characterization of the Mil-
products because of its warmer temperature lennials and Their Buying Behavior. International
Journal of Marketing Studies (9): 135-144.
than other places in Japan. The future re- Myers, R. 2015. What the Indonesian rattan export
searcher may collaborate with Japanese na- ban means for domestic and international markets,
tive speaker researchers to mitigate the cul- forests, and the livelihoods of rattan collectors.
tural and language differences as the main Forest Policy and Economics 50: 210-219.
barriers. Pratono, A.H. Suyanto, Marciano, D. & Zurbrügg, C.
2017. Social return on investment for community-
based enterprise in Surabaya City. The Hong
Kong Journal of Social Work 51(1/2): 93-114.
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How is the Attitude of Japanese Millennials Towards

Indonesian Rattan Furniture?
Komang Yudhi Kamala, Christina Rahardja, Aluisius Henry Pratono
Recently, environment and ecology have become critical issues for the
global population and entrepreneurs. The millennia! generation is
considered one of the most prominent population groups and an attractive
target for many companies to engage. This study aims to understand the
Japanese millennials'...
0 Article details
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Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 180

Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Management (INSYMA 2021)

How is the Attitude of Japanese Millennials Towards

1 INTRODUCTION 2001). Green purchasing behavior means an

Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press B.V.

of Surabaya and Tokai University. This Table 1. Informants

case, Indonesian rattan furniture possesses a Type

Furthermore, after Japanese millennials

In terms of consumer domain-specific val-

samples of this study were 388 people visiting a community enterprise in

Trust or Usefulness? QR Code Payment Among Millennials

How is the Attitude of Japanese Millennials Towards

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