Chinese Community and Social Network in the Marketing of Agricultural Products: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Social network is a step or an effort to remain competitive with other manufacturers in the agricultural activities. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to examine the types of social networks used by the Chinese farmers in the marketing and finding the best price for their agricultural products. The idealist ontology and epistemology interpretivism were used in this study. Data was collected using the in-depth interviews and non-participation observation. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used in selecting the informants in this study. The total number of informants in the study is determined based on the saturation data. The validity and reliability of the data were determined using the member checked approach. The study found that the type of social network used by the Chinese farmers in marketing of their agricultural products can be divided into eight types, namely friends, family, social environment, dialects, values, experience, aid from the state and the wholesalers. These eight types of social networks have helped the Chinese farmers to remain competitive with the leading producers of vegetables and other fruits although there is lack of support from the government agencies in terms capital and marketing their product compared to their other Bumiputera counterparts.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s3p117