Title: Sustaining a stunning physical appearance among career women in Malaysia

Authors: Hasliza Hassan; Muhammad Sabbir Rahman; Abu Bakar Sade

Addresses: Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Marketing and International Business, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh ' Putra Business School, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: Having a presentable physical appearance may be one of the hidden success factors for most career women. The continuously increasing number of career women in the workforce, especially in professional fields, may start a revolution in the beauty industry, especially in slimming centres. In line with the current competitive work culture, the number of slimming centres has increased to cater to the needs of career women. This research is based on a cross-sectional data collection design and uses 308 responses for the structural equation modelling analysis. Promotion, social influence and price value are found to positively influence hedonic motivation to patronise a slimming centre. In addition, hedonic motivation may encourage customers to make patronising a slimming centre a positive habit. This research is expected to advance the literature by investigating the beauty industry, especially slimming centres, in the Malaysian market.

Keywords: habit; hedonic motivation; physical appearance; price value; promotion; social influence; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2025.150909

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2025 Vol.17 No.4, pp.392 - 408

Accepted: 02 Mar 2024
Published online: 05 Jan 2026 *

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