Journal of Exclusive Management Science April 2017 - Vol 6 Issue 04 ISSN 2277-5684

A Study on Factors Influences Consumer Buying Behavior of Modular Kitchen in Chennai City
*M. Gomathy
**Dr. K. K. Sabarirajan

*Ph.D Scholar, Dept. of Business Administration, Annamalai University, TN

**Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Annamalai
University-608 002
Abstract
The present study aims to find out the factors which affect consumers buying behaviour of
modular kitchen in Chennai city. The study will serve as a guide to understand the factors which
arouse consumers to make purchase decision. In order to achieve the objectives of this study
descriptive research design was used. The population sample for this study taken from the consumers
who visits modular kitchen showroom and were willing to fill up the questionnaire. Therefore
convenience sampling method was adopted to conduct this study. The instrument used in this study
was a self- developed questionnaire, which contains 27 questions on factors affecting consumer
purchase behaviour. The questionnaire was administered on a total of two hundred and fourteen
respondents which was sample from modular kitchen showroom. The data collected were analysed
using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 16). Kruskal- Wallis test and Pearson correlation
were computed to find the difference between responses of the respondents on the relationship between
the consumers' demographic and personal factors and their purchase decision of modular kitchen. The
results of the study revealed that the influence of consumers' life style, personality is significantly
related to the consumers purchase decision of modular kitchen.
Keywords: consumer buying behaviour, purchase decision, demographic influences, personal
influences.
Introduction
Consumer behaviour is defined as a set of activities people undertake when buying, paying and
using of products and services". Nowadays researchers' interested to study about consumer behaviour
by focusing on the concepts of "why and how they buy". This regards to consumers consumption
analysis. Consumption is the key factor to understand why consumers buy those particular products.
For this a firm should understand how the buyers consume or use a product or service (Roger D.
Blackwell, 2006). Also Duplessis and Rousseau (1999) states, that consumer behaviour is influenced by
such internal influences as demographics, psychographics (lifestyles), and personal factors. External
influences include culture, sub-culture, locality, ethnicity, family, social class, reference groups. This
study attempts to understand the buyers purchase behaviour, and the factors influence characteristics
of individual consumers such as demographics and personal characteristics. An understanding of the
influence of these factors is essential for marketers in order to develop suitable marketing strategies to
appeal the target customer.
The modular kitchen purchase decision making process viewed from the point where the need
for an accessories and appliance is acknowledged until it is installed at home. Major modular kitchen
accessories and appliances include cabinets, sink, lightning, chimney, gas hob and induction cook top
were identified from the point of consumers by the product developers. These appliances and
accessories were selected to conduct this study. Thus the consumers buying behaviour towards the
selected modular kitchen accessories and appliances were studied.
Review of Literature
Few studies have been carried out to investigate the gender difference and consumer behaviour.
Thompson and Walker (1989) have done a research on gender roles in household decision making and
stated that there is no better predictor of the division of household labour than gender. Greenwood
(2001) observes that despite of ones views about gender roles, the resources one brings to the
relationship and the time available for the relationship, there is nothing that predicts who does what
and how much one does in the families than whether one is a woman or a man. Hite and Hite (1994)
stressed the importance of age in the prediction of the criteria used in the evaluation and purchase
decisions made and influenced by young people when they become adults in relation to the brand name
of a product. Alhabeeb (1996) showed that teens income and age separately had negative effects on
food expenditures and positive effects on both clothing and entertainment expenditures. Therefore

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 Journal of Exclusive Management Science April 2017 - Vol 6 Issue 04 ISSN 2277-5684

Insight into this process is beneficial to marketers in as much as the marketers can design marketing
strategies that appeal to demographic characteristics of different consumers.
Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) observe that friends, neighbours and acquaintances have influence
on consumers buying decisions. For consumers, new products and services may represent increased
opportunities to satisfy personal, social and environmental needs, and add to their quality of life. For
the marketer, new products and services provide an important mechanism for keeping the firm
competitive and profitable. Also, environment or culture is another basic determinant of much of our
decision making as well as buying behaviour.
Kotler and Armstrong (1991) state that individual's interest in selecting goods and services
influenced by nationality, religion, race and geographical background. Tian (2001) explained that
interior objects, including household appliances are often used to attract and impress others. Therefore
the impact of the purchase behaviour on modern house interiors like modular kitchen design and its
retail environment present a major exciting challenge for the future.
Green (1993) buying decision are influenced at most by consumers buying habits, if one has a
habit of always buying name brand items, one may think that other brands are inferior. One should try
to evaluate his or her habits to make sure one is learning to be a careful shopper. Thus the past reviews
have shown that there must be an interesting behaviour of consumer which induces them to go for
purchase. The research includes various factors like the demographic factors and personal factors to
find out the major influence on consumer purchase behaviour of modular kitchen.
Objective
The objective of this study is to find out the demographic and personal factors influence on
consumers modular kitchen purchase decision.
Hypothesis
H1: There is a significant positive relationship between demographic factors like age, marital status,
educational qualification, income level, occupation, and family size and consumer purchasing Decision.
H2: There is a significant positive relationship between gender and consumer purchasing Decision.
H3: There is a significant positive relationship between personal factors like personality and life style
and consumer purchasing Decision.
Methodology
This study is to examine the relationship between one factor (a dependent variable) and another
(an independent variable) in a population uses descriptive research design. The study used both
primary data and secondary data to gather necessary information. The population sample for this study
taken from the consumers who visits modular kitchen showroom and were willing to fill up the
questionnaire. Therefore the target respondents of this survey are the consumers who visit modular
kitchen stores for purchase and convenience sampling method was adopted to conduct this study. The
instrument used in this study was a self- developed questionnaire, which contains 27 questions used a
Likert scale to measure responses on factors affecting consumer purchase behaviour. The questionnaire
was administered on a total of two hundred and fourteen respondents (214) which was sample from
modular kitchen showroom. The data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS 16).
Analysis and Findings
Factor Analysis
Factor analysis was conducted based on seven question of Consumer purchasing decision,
seven questions on personality and six questions on life style. The overall of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
measure of sampling adequacy was found to be 0.854 exceeding the recommendation value of 0.6
(Kaiser, 1974) and all twenty items have value range of between 0.50 and 0.90. Furthermore, the three
factors with Eigen values more than 1. These factors captured 43.17 percent of the total variance of the
items. Also loadings with 0.50 or greater on one factor are considered. The reliability test with the
Cronbach alphas of the measures shows were all factors exceeds the lower limit of acceptability that is
a> 0.50. The consumer purchase decision with seven items the value is 0.87, the seven items on
personality scored 0.82 and the life style items got the cronbach alphas of 0.77. Hence all the values
were highly reliable and acceptable thus, provides strong support for further analysis.
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 Journal of Exclusive Management Science April 2017 - Vol 6 Issue 04 ISSN 2277-5684

Kruskal-Wallis analysis
Kruskal Wallis ranked analysis of variance has been computed to test the formulated hypothesis
and the results are presented in following table 1.
Table 1.Kruskal Wallis test for demographic factors
Chi- square p
Demographic factors
value value
Age 11.579 .009
Modular Educational
9.282 .26
kitchen qualification
Purchase
Marital status 7.493 .24
decision
Occupation 12.419 .002
Income level 26.119 .000
Family size 13.178 .012

From the above table 1, it is clear that the value of chi-square statistics is 11.579, 9.282, 7.493,
12.419, 26.119, and 13.178 with its corresponding p (significance value) values are 0.009, 0.26, 0.24,
0.002, 0.000, and 0.012. Since the value of p 0.05, the null hypothesis is getting rejected. So it is
concluded that there exist a significant difference between the average weightage of purchase decision
given by each factors within their group of respondents.
Also Gender is an important factor to examine there exist a significant relationship between the
purchase decision and of consumer gender difference. Mann-Whitney U-test has been computed to test
the hypothesis and the results are presented in below table.
Table 2.Mann-Whitney U-test for gender difference and purchase decision

Mean
Gender N Z value p value
Rank

Purchase Male 120 290.01

decision
Female 94 124.40 -1.621 .052

Total 214

The above Mann- Whitney U-Test table shows that the value of Z value -1.621 with a
corresponding p (significance value) = 0.052. Since the value of p 0.05, the null hypothesis is getting
accepted. Hence it is found that irrespective of their gender difference, the average weightage given to
purchase decision by the two different gender group of respondent remains same.
Correlation analysis
Table 3.Correlation of consumer purchase decision with personal factor
Personality Life style purchase decision

Pearson Correlation 0.821(**) 0.799(**) 1

purchase
decision Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000
N 214 214 214
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Pearson Correlation for Independent Variables (personality and life style) and
Dependent variable (purchase decision)
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 Journal of Exclusive Management Science April 2017 - Vol 6 Issue 04 ISSN 2277-5684

The Person correlation coefficient was performed to obtain the relationship between consumers
purchase decision with personal factors. The value of the correlation coefficients indicates the strength
of the relation between the variables. The correlation between these two variables is shown in above
table is more than 0.50 and is considered strongly correlated between variables. This indicates good
associations between these two variables.
Findings
The first hypothesis tested that there exist a positive relationship between demographic factors and
consumers' modular kitchen purchasing Decision. The Kruskal-Wallis test procedure was used. The
result indicates that the demographic factors like age, marital status, educational qualification, income
level, occupation, and family size are significantly influences purchase decision of modular kitchen.
Therefore the alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted. Hence the income level of consumers' decision
to purchase modular kitchen is highest and followed by occupation, family size, occupation, age,
educational qualification, and marital status.
The second hypothesis tested the relationship of gender difference of consumers on purchase
decision of modular kitchen by the respondents. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to test the
hypothesis. The result indicated that there is no significant relationship between the two variables.
Thus the alternative hypothesis (H2) was rejected. Hence gender difference does not influence their
purchase decision remarkably
The third hypothesis tested the relationship of personal factors of consumers on the purchase
decision of modular kitchen by the respondents. The correlation procedure was used for the test. The
result indicated that there is a significant relationship between the personal factors and purchase
decision. Thus the alternative hypothesis (H3) was accepted. Hence Personality of consumers' has
higher positive relationship with purchase decision of modular kitchen than lifestyle.
Managerial Implications
Based on the above analysis and findings the researcher has made the following implications.
1. Consumers' gender has no effect on consumer purchase decision of modular kitchen, so the
manufacturers and marketers of modular kitchen should design marketing strategies that appeal to
consumers in both male and female alike.
2. Also it was noted that consumers personality highly influences purchase decision. Therefore the
Marketers should establish superior marketing strategies in order to stay connected with happenings in
the market and changes over consumer attitude and perception.
3. The researcher further recommends that marketers need to be aware and cautious of the differences
in the relationship between variables such as gender of a consumer, product perception of consumers,
consumer lifestyle which influences consumers purchasing decision. The result shows fairness between
male and female consumers of their purchase decision of modular kitchen as revealed by analysis is
notable; there may exists benefits in different aspects of marketing to the gender difference.
Conclusion
The objective of this study is to find out the demographic and personal factors influence on
consumers modular kitchen purchase decision in order to assessment the market chance based on the
consumer behaviour. To attain this objective various information from different data sources are
evaluated. Also this research study variables provided noteworthy results, insights, and implications.
This will be useful for the managers in modular kitchen industry to develop new strategies and to
improve their marketing programs to increase sales and market share. Also for researchers who want to
do further research on consumer purchase behaviour relates to modular kitchen which serve as a base
and be useful to them. Finally, this study addressed the most influencing factors of modular kitchen,
which deals with practical issues and are associated with consumer demographic and personal factors.
Findings confirmed that the personal factors were the greatest predictor of consumers purchase
decision.
Future Research
The results of this research add valuable insight to marketers about consumers' buying
behaviour toward modular kitchen, as well as their preference and values associated with their product
selection. Furthermore, the results bring direction for further research, which is mentioned below. A
researcher might evaluate consumer attitudes toward modular kitchen products shopping. It would be
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 Journal of Exclusive Management Science April 2017 - Vol 6 Issue 04 ISSN 2277-5684

more interesting to know which attributes are important to consumers for purchase of modular kitchen
products. Furthermore, psychological and psychographic profile could also be conducted by utilizing
the same survey instrument which would results interesting outputs. Since this research was focused
on the metropolitan Chennai city, comparing this with another metropolitan city would give more
productive results to find out how consumers attitude and their influences on purchase differ.
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