This thesis examines how product quality and product evaluation mediate the relationship between corporate identity and purchase intention of electronic gadgets among young consumers in India. The study reviews literature on consumer behavior and the factors that influence purchase intention, including brand image, product design, corporate identity, perceived quality, and country of origin. The study aims to understand how these factors directly or indirectly impact purchase intention and propose a model of their relationships. A survey was conducted to collect data and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships between variables. The findings provide insight into what drives young consumers' purchase of electronic gadgets in India and suggestions for marketers.
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PhD Viva PPT
1. “CONSUMER PURCHASE INTENTION MEDIATED BY PRODUCT QUALITY AND PRODUCT
EVALUATION: APPRAISAL OF ELECTRONIC GADGETS
BY THE YOUNG”
A Thesis
Submitted for the Award of the Ph.D. degree of
PACIFIC ACADEMY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND
RESEARCH UNIVERSITY
by
Shrinivas
Under the supervision of
Dr. Leena James
Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies,
CHRIST(DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY),
Bengaluru
Faculty of Management
Pacific Academy of Higher Education & Research University
Udaipur
2018
2. Consumer purchase intention mediated by
product quality and product evaluation:
appraisal of electronic gadgets by the young
Research Scholar: Shrinivas
Guide: Dr. Leena James
3. Outline of Presentation
Consumer behavior : An Introduction
Purchase Intention : An Introduction
Review of selected determinants of purchase intention
Theoretical framework of the study
Research Methodology
Analysis and Interpretation
Discussion (Findings and suggestions)
Conclusion
Scope for Future Research
4. Consumer market for electronic gadgets
The advancements in technology can be explained in three stages
(Venkatesh, 2008)
● Pre-internet period (early 1980),
● Transition to internet period (late 1990)
● Internet period (1990 onwards)
Growth in the Indian consumer electronics industry
5. Current scenario of the Indian electronics market
● In the year 2001-2007, the consumer electronics segment of India exhibited a compound
annual growth rate(CAGR) of 18%, whereas the CAGR of 2012 - 2020 is estimated to be
24.4%.
● Among the global players of electronic industry, India has 29th rank in manufacture and
26th rank in sales (IBEF, 2015).
● Among all the electronic devices, the most demand in the global consumer market was
found with respect to smart phones and tablets (Meeker, 2010)
● According to the Ernst and Young (2015) report, the consumer electronics market will
raise up to US$ 29 billion in the year of 2020
● According to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, in the year of 2025, the
consumption of electronic goods in India would have increased by four times, with the
urban population contributing to 68% and rural population to 32% of consumption (Ablett,
2007).
6. Youth as target segments for electronic
gadgets
● Youngsters are the fastest growing demographic in India representing more than 130
million of the urban Indian population (Goldman Sachs, 2016)
● Besides the sheer size of this demographic segment, youth segment has been proved
to be the most brand conscious of all age groups and to be most aware of the latest
trends in the market (MacGregor, 2004)
● Ligerakis (2004) explained the dependency of this demographic segment on
technology as “Mobiles and the Internet are an integral part of their world- a
necessity, not a luxury.”
● Pertaining to the Indian market for consumer electronics, the youngsters formed a
consumer market worth Rs. 4600 Crores with respect to Gizmos, Rs. 150 Crores with
respect to games and Rs. 150 Crores on media and entertainment (Ramaswamy,
2013)
● A study by Zickuhr (2011) revealed the millennials to be the most likely to own all
kinds of electronic gadgets, who also ensured maximum utilization of their functions.
7. Consumer behavior
● The consumer behavior toward a product encompasses
emotional, physical and mental responses of consumers in the
event of purchase, consumption or post-consumption of the
product (Kardes, 2002)
● The present study will assess the appraisal of electronic gadgets
by the youth by studying their purchase intention toward gadgets
and the several factors affecting their purchase intention.
8. Purchase intention
● Purchase intention refers to the way consumers feel about a product,
which drives them to purchase the product or service repeatedly.
● The consumers collect information about a product, compare the
information with their preferences, evaluate other product alternatives,
assess their previous experiences with the product if any and then form
a purchase intention.
Factors affecting purchase intention
● Apart from consumer attitudes, other factors such as perceived value of
products, perceived quality, corporate identity, customer satisfaction,
etc
9. Problem statement
● According to Reuters (2005), the youth market is highly heterogeneous
and constant research is required in order to understand the youth
culture, to target this demographic segment effectively.
● A deeper insight is required regarding the several factors that affect
purchasing intentions of consumers in the field of electronic gadgets so
that the marketers could tap into the relationship between these
variables to identify successful ways of marketing products, to develop
new product ideas, to gain customer loyalty and to increase the overall
profitability of the company.
● There is a gap in research regarding the purchase intentions of younger
generations specifically toward electronic gadgets in the Indian context.
10. Significance of the study
1. The main focus of this study was to evaluate the mediating effects of product quality
and product evaluation on purchase intentions of the younger generation of India
toward electronic gadgets
2. The preferences of youngsters when it comes to electronic gadgets unveiled by the
study will assist the retailers in marketing the right products in the right market.
3. The findings will also help the retailers of India in gaining competitive advantage and
devising successful marketing strategies for growth in sales.
4. This study is valuable for academicians as it gives an overview of the youngsters’
purchase intentions of electronic gadgets, which is rarely encountered in the journals
of marketing.
5. The results of the study will help the manufacturers understand the requirements of
younger consumers and therefore assist them to grow in their competency and to
revamp the product attributes to suit the market needs
6. a model that helps the manufacturers and marketers to identify the reasons behind
changes in the consumer choices, to determine their needs and attitudes toward
products will help them to predict market demand, gain competitive advantage and
ensure profitability.
11. Research objectives
1. To find out the relationship between brand image, country of origin,
design of product, corporate identity and purchase intention.
2. To investigate the direct effect of corporate identity and the indirect
effects of brand image, country of origin and design of product on
purchase intentions of consumers.
3. To investigate the effect of demographic factors like gender,
personal income and frequency of buying on purchase intentions of
consumers.
4. To explore the mediating effect of product quality and product
evaluation on the purchase intention of consumers.
5. To propose a model that would study the effect of various indicators
that influence purchase intention.
12. Hypothesis of the study
hypotheses relating the factors affecting purchase
intention of the consumers were formulated as follows:
H1a: Brand image has a significant positive effect on corporate identity
H2a: Country of origin has a significant positive effect on corporate
identity
H3a: Design of product has a significant positive effect on corporate
identity
H4a: Corporate identity has a significant positive effect on purchase
intention
H5a: Product quality plays a mediating role between corporate identity
and purchase intention
H6a: Perceived price plays a mediating role between corporate identity
and purchase intention
13. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Consumer market for electronic gadgets
● Mobile phone market would grow at 17 to 22% CAGR and reach approximately
USD 44 billion by 2020 ( (Flanders investment and trade market survey (2016)
● Deloitte in its report ‘Technology, Media and Telecommunications India
Predictions’ (2016) predicted that the wearable would become the next
generation smart phones and the global sales of the wearable industry will touch
approximately 250 million units in the year 2018
● The consumer market for used smart phones in India in the year 2016 was
estimated to be 20 million units, which accounted for USD 1.7 billion.
● Desktop computer ownership declined by 5%, gaming console declined by 2% and
DVR by 1%. (The digital democracy survey by Deloitte ,2014)
● The new technologies such as 3D printers, smart watches also exhibit substantial
promise among consumers.
Dependency of youth on electronic gadgets
● smart phones were used most commonly by young adolescents of age 15 and 16
years than youngsters above 19 years of age (Haug et al., 2015)
● Among the global users of iPhone, 43% of them were revealed to be less than 34
years of age
14. Dependency of youth on electronic gadgets
Addiction to electronic gadgets in youngsters
17. Theories of consumer behavior
1. TRA and TPB
2. The Associative Network Memory Theory
3. Aaker’s and Keller’s models
4. Corporate identity model
5. Cue utilization theory
6. The Economic model
18. Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
The TRA proposed two constructs, attitudes of human beings and subjective norms to be the most
important determinants of human intentions
Figure 2.1: Lee’s model
Source: Jin&Hye Kang (2011)
19. The Associative Network Memory
Theory
● a conceptualized structure of human memory (Anderson, 1983; Wyer&Srull, 1989)
indicated that human memory or human knowledge is composed of a collection of
nodes and links
● When a human being is exposed to a new piece of information, encoding of the
information is carried out in a particular node, which then stores the information.
● The strength of association between nodes and the threshold level of nodal
activation depends on the number of times the two nodes were associated in the
past (Till &Shimp, 1998).
● Several researchers have recognized brand image, country of origin and corporate
identity to be important dimensions that helped in activation of several nodes of
the consumer memory and resulted in a number of favorable brand associations,
which in turn led to differential consumer response as well as helped the
marketers in product differentiation (Keller, 1983; Aaker, 1991; Korchia, 1999).
20. Aaker’s and Keller’s models
Aaker (1991) who proposed a typology of brand image with 11 dimensions:
product class, product attributes, price, customer benefits, competitors, lifestyle,
celebrity, intangibles, application, user and country of origin
● Keller (1993) suggested that brand awareness and brand image were the two
dimensions governing brand knowledge. He defined brand image based on the
associative network memory model as “perceptions of a brand as reflected by
brand associations held in consumer memory.”
Keller’s model
Source: Bivainienė&Šliburytė(2008)
22. Corporate identity model
Brown and Dacin (1997) came up with a corporate identity model based on
the associative network theory by exploring the several possible types of cognitive
associations held by the consumers towards corporate companies
Corporate associations and consumer product evaluation
Source: Adapted from Brown and Dacin (1997)
23. Cue utilization theory
● Olson & Jacoby (1972) considered products to be an array of cues, through which the
consumer developed different impressions
● The model suggested two important dimensions of product cues that influenced quality
perception process of consumers: Predictive value (PV) and Confidence value (CV)
A conceptual model of product evaluation
Source: Dodds (1995)
24. The Economic model
● The economic model proposes a uni-dimensional concept of buying behavior that
consumer buying decisions are based solely on utility of the products.
● The income effect suggests that more quantity of a product will be purchased if
the income or purchasing power of the consumer increases
Dodds and Monroe model
Dodds and Monroe model of willingness to buy
Source: Adapted from Grebitus (2008)
25. Review of the selected
determinants of purchase
intention
26. Brand image
Aberdeen and Syamsun (2016) conducted a study among 109 customers of selected
stores in Bogor with respect to the soft drinks, Coca Cola and Big Cola.The study also
established that brand awareness could not affect purchase intention directly and
depended on perceived quality or brand image as the mediator variable.
Hsieh (2016) examined brand image, perceived value, consumption value and purchase
intention of consumers as influential factors governing sales of tea brands in Taiwan.
the study concluded that in the case of tea brands, brand image did not play an
important role in governing purchase intention of consumers.
Mathur and Gangwani (2016) examined the effects of store image on purchase of Indian
private label brands. No significant relationship was found between purchase intention
and brand image dimensions such as convenience, service and atmosphere of the
store.
Thakur and Singh (2012) examined the relationship between brand image, consumer
satisfaction and consumer loyalty by conducting a survey of 150 consumers with
respect to cosmetic products in India. the study concluded that brand image building
will help in enhancing consumer satisfaction which in turn will increase their brand
loyalty.
27. Product design
Walsh et al. (1992) defined the process of design, development and testing as
“conversion of a new idea, invention, or discovery into a novel product or
industrial process in commercial or social use.”
Walsh, Roy and Bruce (1988) the successful companies were not those who had
just concentrated on their design skills but those who had also successfully
integrated their design skills with manufacturing and marketing activities.
Mutsikiwa and Marumbwa (2013) conducted a survey with the help of 150
consumers of dairy products in Zimbabwe to assess the impact of aesthetics
of package design on consumer purchase behavior. However, the packaging
material was not found to be a significant design element in the case of dairy
products
Afzali and Ahmed (2016) the purchase intention was influenced by information
seeking and aesthetic design attributes of the product.
28. Corporate identity
● Nguyen and Leblanc (2001) studied customer loyalty and retention influenced by
corporate image and corporate reputation, which exhibited positive effects on
customer retention.
● Jung and Seock (2016) explored the changes in consumer attitudes and purchase
intentions resulting from negative CSR activities by conducting a survey of 212
participants. The results of the study exhibited that perceived quality and brand
awareness of the consumers had significant positive effects on consumer attitudes
and their purchase intention
● Li, Li and Zheng (2013) investigated the effects of corporate image on perceived
quality, perceived quality on purchase intention and corporate image on purchase
intention of consumers by conducting a survey of 236 participants. corporate
identity also exhibited direct positive relationship with consumer purchase
intention of products.
● Goldsmith, Lafferty and Newell (2000) studied the effects of corporate credibility
and endorser credibility on consumer attitudes towards advertisements, towards
the brand and their purchase intention of products. The study identified that
attitude towards the brand was most affected by corporate credibility while
endorser credibility significantly affected consumer attitudes towards
advertisements.
29. Perceived product quality
● Dodds (2002) conducted a study with the help of 149 subjects by selecting
television as the product. The perceived risks of consumers in buying the products
were found to decrease as price increased only when the objective quality
information available to the consumers was good.
● Shaharudin (2011) conducted a study on motorcycle sales to evaluate the impact
of eight different dimensions of product quality on consumer purchase behavior. .
The study concluded that purchase intentions of consumers with respect to
motorcycles not only rely on quality perceptions butalso on numerous other
factors.
● Fandos and Flavian (2006) examined the impact of perceived product quality on
consumer loyalty and their purchase intentions. The study revealed that the
perceived product quality based on intrinsic attributes of the product did not
affect consumer brand loyalty, whereas the same was found to affect purchase
intention of consumers significantly and positively.
30. Country of origin
● Kala and Chaubey (2016) studied the effects of Country of Origin (COO) on the
purchase behavior of young consumers of India. The study also revealed the
effects of COO to be minimal in the case of less expensive products.
● Yunus and Rashid (2016) evaluated the perceptions of consumers from Malaysia
towards mobile phones. it was found that the consumers in Malaysia were
significantly influenced by country image, perceived quality and brand familiarity
on purchase intention.
● Prendergast, Tsang and Chan (2010) incorporated the decoupled form of COO,
namely, Country of Manufacture (COM) and Country of Origin of Brand (COB) in
analyzing purchase intention of consumers. The study also revealed that
consumers exhibiting low personal involvement were less influenced by COB in
forming purchase intentions while the vice-versa was not found to be significant.
● Lee & Lee (2009) carried out an experimental study to examine the influence of
country of origin on their product evaluation and purchase intention based on
their level of product, subjective and objective knowledge. The study revealed that
product evaluation by consumers did not get affected by country image cues when
they possessed high product knowledge or high objective knowledge.
31. Determinants of Purchase intention of
electronic gadgets
● Naing and Chaipoopirutana (2014) conducted a survey of five different shopping
malls in Myanmar in order to investigate the relationship between several factors
affecting consumer behavior towards smart phones. The study revealed a strong
and a significant positive correlation between product image and consumer
aspiration as well as perceived quality and emotional value.
● Yu and Lee (2014) conducted a survey of 187 students of China to assess the
influence of price, security, compatibility, consumer innovation and social
influence on their purchase intention. The study revealed that the price of the
smart phone was not a concern to the students and therefore did not affect the
level of consumer satisfaction.
● Chew, Lee, Lim, Loke and Wong (2012) investigated factors influencing purchase
intention of young adults of Malaysia with respect to smart phones. According to
their study, social influence of consumers while forming beliefs and preferences
about a smartphone affected their purchase intention significantly and positively.
33. Research design
● In the present study, survey method was adopted,
therefore data collection was carried out with the help
of well-structured questionnaires.
● Testing the instrument was carried out with the help of
reliability and validity analysis performed through pilot
testing.
● As the final step, the information collected was
evaluated with the help of appropriate analytical tools
which were selected based on the objectives of the
study, sampling technique used and desired degree of
accuracy.
34. Operationalization of constructs
● Independent variables
Product design, Brand image and
Country of origin
● Dependent variables
Corporate identity and Purchase
intention
● Mediator variables
Perceived price and Perceived quality
36. Hypothesis testing
H1 The product related factors for evaluating an electronic gadget is
correlated to the purchase intention of the consumers
H2 Purchase intention is significantly affected by product evaluation
factors such as product design, brand image, corporate identity, country
of origin and price.
H3 Purchase intention of consumers significantly varied by gender.
H4 Purchase intention of the consumers significantly varied with their
personal income.
H5 Frequency of Product evaluation prior to purchase significantly
decides the probability of buying electronic gadgets within a year
H6 Price plays a mediating role between corporate identity and
purchase intention.
H7 Quality plays a mediating role between corporate identity and
purchase intention.
37. Hypothesis testing
H8 Brand image has significant impact on the Corporate identity of electronic
gadgets sellers.
H9 Brand image has significant impact on the Purchase intention of electronic
gadgets buyers.
H10a Country of origin has significant impact on the Corporate identity of
electronic gadgets sellers.
H11a Country of origin has significant impact on the Purchase intention of
electronic gadgets buyers.
H12a Product design has significant impact on the Corporate identity of electronic
gadgets sellers.
H13a Product design has significant impact on the Purchase intention of electronic
gadgets buyers.
H14a Corporate identity has significant impact on the Purchase intention of
electronic gadgets buyers.
38. Data collection and analysis
● The survey method was used in the present study for primary data collection from the
respondents with the help ofa questionnaire.
● A well-structured questionnaire was standardized as the research instrument in the present
study.
Levels of measurement used
The researcher gave careful consideration to the type of scale to be assigned to variables and the
number of points to be included in the scales.
● The responses to the Likert scale were coded as follows:
Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly agree = 5, Therefore, the
interval between every response is calculated as 0.8, implying that 1.00 to 1.80 would be
interpreted as Strongly disagree, 1.81 to 2.60 as Disagree, 2.61 to 3.40 as Neutral, 3.41 to
4.20 as Agree and 4.21 to 5 as Strongly agree.
Pilot study
● Pilot study testing was conducted on 55 consumers of electronic gadgets between age groups
18 and 30 years from Bangalore. Reliability analysis using Cronbach’s alpha
● Factor analysis using Principal component extraction method with varimax rotation (PCA) was
performed on the questionnaire for testing the correlation between items and validity of the
concepts used in the questionnaire.
● The KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) test was also carried out to measure the sampling adequacy for
the pilot test
39. Reliability analysis
Based on the data obtained from the pilot study, it was found that all the items
included in the questionnaire exhibited a high correlation with Cronbach’s alpha
value being > 0.7.
Validity analysis
● The KMO and Bartlett’s test for product design, country of origin and brand image
indicated that the data was suitable for performing factor analysis (KMO value =
0.651). When the same tests were repeated for the mediating variables, it was
found that the sampling adequacy result was acceptable (KMO value=0.789) and
that ten items under the two constructs exhibited excellent validity with factor
loadings > 0.7
● The sampling adequacy performed in the case of the dependent variables also
indicated acceptable results with KMO value being 0.733. The factor analysis also
indicated that nine items under corporate identity and purchase intention showed
factor loadings >0.6,
40. Sampling technique
● Sampling was performed using stratified convenience sampling
technique.
● The strata adopted in the present study for sample selection was
customers of electronic gadgets within Bangalore city between the age
18 and 30 years.
Sample size calculation
● the sample size for the present study was calculated with the help of the
Yamane Formula (1973) for 95% confidence interval and 0.05 margin of
error:
n=N/1+(N*e2)wheren=Sample size
N=General population size
e= Level of confidence
41. Research Objectives
Objective 1: To find out the relationship between brand image,
country of origin, design of product, corporate identity and
purchase intention.
Objective 2: To investigate the effects of product evaluation in terms
of brand image, country of origin and design of product on
purchase intentions of consumers.
Objective 3: To investigate the effect of demographic factors like
gender, personal income and frequency of buying on purchase
intentions of consumers.
Objective 4: To explore the mediating effect of perceived product
quality and product price on the purchase intention of consumers.
Objective 5: To propose a model that would study the effect of
various indicators that influence purchase intention.
43. Overview
● The present study was conducted to understand
the mediating effects of product quality and product
evaluation on the purchase intention of youngsters
with regard to electronic gadgets.
● In essence the study appreciated the influence of
brand image, country of origin, design of the product,
corporate identity of manufacturers, perceived
product quality and price on the intention of the young
consumers to purchase electronic gadgets in Bengaluru
city.
44. Plan of Analysis
● In the current study, the measurement model was estimated first,
followed by estimation of the structural model.
● Based on this approach, the measurement model first evaluates
the reliability, validity and uni-dimensionality of each of the
studied construct.
● The measurement model was first estimated by establishing the
reliability, validity, and uni-dimensionality; subsequently,
structural model was estimated by establishing the relationship
between endogenous, exogenous, and mediating variables.
45. Demographic Profile of the
Respondents
● Most of the respondents were females, between age
group of 19 and 20 years, studying under-graduation
with more than half of them having Rs.60,000 or above
as family income. The respondents were mostly
students, not employed and those who were working
had less than Rs.5000 as income. A majority of them
spent less than 20% of their income on gadgets and
bought a gadget once a year.
47. Product Design
The participants were asked multiple questions on product design
1. About 69% (out of which 21% strongly) agreed that the product design
influences their buying decision, whereas 11.8% disagreed and 18.9%
were neutral about it.
2. The majority of participants (55%) concurred that the product design is
better when it is associated with branded products, while 17% differed
and 27% remain unbiased.
3. Most of the participants (44%) contradicted that any good product is
always associated with foreign goods. Only 22% agreed with this
statement, whereas 33% were undecided.
4. About 42% got attracted to buy the product because of the product
design even when they did not require the product. Almost equal
amount of participants disagreed (28%) or were neutral (29%) about this.
5. More than 45% participants always looked for product design that was
superior to others, whereas 25% disagreed and 28% remained
indifferent.
48. Brand Image
● More than half (52%) agreed that the brand of the product was very important
for them as they felt that they are mostly evaluated by the brand that they use.
27participants disagreed with them and 20% were neutral about it. A
● About 59% of the respondents usually chose from the brands that they have
already purchased before, while buying electronic items, whereas 20% each
disagreed or was undecided about this.
● Almost 63% of the respondents (out of which 22% strongly) agreed that the
brand image influenced their purchasing decision, however, 19% were unbiased
and 18% differed with the majority.
● Similarly, 64% (out of which 23% strongly) acknowledged that the brand image is
always associated with a quality product. Nineteen percent disagreed and 17%
were unbiased.
● The majority of participants (36%) were neutral whether brand image was
correlated to the country of origin of the brand, whereas 33% agreed to it and
29% contradicted this.
● Almost three fourth of the sample population (72%; out of which 36% strongly)
disapproved that they usually do not notice the brand that they buy. Only 14%
agreed to this, while 13% took a neutral stand.
49. ● 45 percent agreed that for them, value for money was more important
than the brand, while 33% were undecided and 21% differed.
● More than 1/3rd equally agreed (35%) and disagreed (36%) that they
advocate/recommend a brand based only on its brand image. The rest
28% were undecided on this.
● Greater than half (51%) of the participant felt that it is important for
them to buy products with well-known brand names, whereas 21% were
neutral about it and 18% disagreed with it.
● 64 percent (out of which 31% strongly) opposed that they usually buy
whatever brand is available in the store, while the rest were equally
divided between participants who agreed and were unbiased.
50. Country of Origin
● 36% of the participants disagreed that they always check the make of the
electronic gadget that they buy. However, 33% of them agreed to this and 30%
were neutral about it.
● The majority (40%) of the respondents contradicted that the country in which a
gadget is manufactured has a significant influence on their purchasing decision,
whereas 33% were unbiased and 27% agreed to it.
● 37 percent also did not believe that foreign brands are always associated with
better quality of the product, while 34% were neutral and 28% agreed.
● About 38% of the participants agreed that the products from foreign countries
look more fashionable and appealing, whereas 34% were undecided and 28%
disagreed.
● More than 41% disapproved that buying foreign made products was a symbol of
social status, however, 30% agreed to it and 27% were neutral in their opinion.
● Almost half of the participants (46%) believed that the foreign brands are more
expensive than Indian products, whereas 28% disagreed and 25% were undecided
on this.
51. Corporate Identity
● Half of the participants (50%) agreed that the reputation of the company was very important for
them whenever they buy any product. However, 22% disagreed and 27% took a neutral stand.
● More than half (56%) believed that the reputation of the company is linked to its quality, whereas
25% were undecided and 19% differed.
● The majority (65%) of participants concurred that the reputation of the company makes them feel
whether they can trust the product or not. Only 13.6% disagreed and 20.8%were unbiased about
that.
● Almost 57% admitted that the corporate image of the company helps them decide different brands
of electronic gadgets, whereas 24% were neutral in their opinion, 18% disagreed.
● The statement “The social responsibility of the company helps me to decide whether I buy a
product or not” received a mixed response, with 34% being neutral, 33% agreeing and 32%
disagreeing with the statement.
● Almost 48% of the participants believed that the product was trustworthy based on how they view
the company that manufactures it, while 19% disapproved and 32% were unable to decide.
● Only 37% agreed that some companies donate a part of the amount on selling the product to a
charitable organization, which motivates them to buy their products, however, 30% disagreed and
33% were neutral about that.
● The majority of participants (59%) generally felt comfortable in buying product when the
reputation of the company is good, however, 27% were unbiased on this and 13% differed with this.
52. Product quality
● 67% (out of which 28% strongly) agreed that the overall quality of the product compelled them to
buy the product, 19% were neutral and 13% disagreed with this.
● Almost 63% also concurred that the information provided about the product tells them that the
product can be trusted, whereas 25% were undecided and 12 % differed.
● More than 60% of the respondents believed that the information on product suggested that the
price of the product was worth that much, however, 11% disagreed and 27% were unbiased.
● The majority (61%) of the participants preferred products based on their quality rather than on the
price, whereas, 9.5% opposed that and 28% were neutral about it.
● Sixty five percent of the respondents felt that the product quality makes them a loyal customer for
the brand, while 21% were indifferent and 13% contradicted.
● Maximum respondents agreed (70%; out of which 23% strongly) that when they like the quality of a
product, they recommend to their friends to buy it. About 17% were undecided and 12% differed
with that.
● Almost 60% believed that even when the price is increased, they would like the quality of the
product and will still stick to it. However, 24% were unbiased and 17% disagreed with the above
statement. About 58% of the total participants agreed that the availability of high quality products
provided by the retailer was very important to them, whereas 26% were neutral to it and 16%
differed with it.
● More than half of the respondents (54%) acknowledged that their standards and expectations from
the products that they buy from retailers are very high, while 34% were unbiased and 11.6%
contradicted with this statement.
53. Price
● More than half (54%) of the respondents concurred that price was the most
important factor in making purchases of electronic gadgets. However, 20%
disagreed and 26% were neutral about it.
● Almost 64% of the participants(out of which 28.8% strongly) compared prices to
other brands before they made any purchases of electronic gadgets, while 11.7%
did not compare the prices, 24% were undecided.
● 64% of the participants also choose a specific brand if the price was appropriate.
Almost 22% were unbiased, whereas 14% disagreed with this.This intention of 64%
(out of which 27% strongly) participants got increased when the consumer’s
preferred brand offered a discount.
● Only 40% agreed that they will switch to other brands in case the other brands
offer discounts and promotion. Thirty seven percent respondents were undecided
and 23% contradicted.
● About 55% agreed they still buy the product at a premium price as they believed
it to be of high quality. However, 15% disapproved and 29% neither agreed nor
disagreed.
● The majority (37%) had an undecided opinion on whether they will purchase
their preferred product only if the price is the lowest among competitors, almost
equal amount of participants (34%) agreed, whereas 28% completely disagreed.
54. Purchase intention
● More than one third of the respondents (37%) were undecided on whether they intend to
buy any electronic goods in the near future. Another one third disagreed (33%), while 30% of
them agreed.
● Almost 39% discouraged that even if they have enough money, they would rather buy a
gadget than anything else, whereas, 34% were neutral and only 26% agreed to this.
● More than 42% contradicted that the electronic gadgets were topmost in their priority list
for the shopping in the next 6 months. However, 27% agreed to that and 30% of the
participants took a neutral stand.
● More than half of the respondents (51%) were unsatisfied buying an electronic gadget to
help them show-off their gadget to their friends, whereas 21% supported this and 28%
neither agreed nor disagreed.
● The majority (41%) also disagreed that they intend to buy gadgets to satisfy their inner
cravings. Thirty percent agreed and 28% couldn’t decide whether to agree or not.
● About half of the participants (52%) planned to buy electronic gadgets as these will make
their work easy, 16% differed and 31% took a neutral stand on this view.
● The participants were equally divided on the idea of feeling proud when using popular
gadgets. About 34% agreed to this, another 34% were unbiased, and the rest 32% disagreed.
● Most of them (47%) disapproved that they buy gadgets to make other people envious of
them, while 25% of them were honest enough to admit and 27% could neither agree nor
disagree.
55. Reliability test
● The present study identifies four independent variables, i.e., product
design, brand image, country of origin, and corporate image, which
jointly influence the purchase intention of a buyer, which is a dependent
variable.
● Apart from the above the Perceived price and quality of the gadget are
also the variables that impact the corporate image of the electronic
gadget brand.
● The Cronbach’s Alpha was on the whole more than 0.7 in this study. Hair
and Kline (2008) accept a threshold between 0.6 and 0.7 for Cronbach’s
alpha.
57. Hypothesis testing
H1 The product related factors for evaluating an electronic gadget is
correlated to the purchase intention of the consumers
H2 Purchase intention is significantly affected by product evaluation
factors such as product design, brand image, corporate identity, country
of origin and price.
H3 Purchase intention of consumers significantly varied by gender.
H4 Purchase intention of the consumers significantly varied with their
personal income.
H5 Frequency of Product evaluation prior to purchase significantly
decides the probability of buying electronic gadgets within a year
H6 Price plays a mediating role between corporate identity and
purchase intention.
H7 Quality plays a mediating role between corporate identity and
purchase intention.
58. Hypothesis testing
H8 Brand image has significant impact on the Corporate identity of electronic
gadgets sellers.
H9 Brand image has significant impact on the Purchase intention of electronic
gadgets buyers.
H10a Country of origin has significant impact on the Corporate identity of
electronic gadgets sellers.
H11a Country of origin has significant impact on the Purchase intention of
electronic gadgets buyers.
H12a Product design has significant impact on the Corporate identity of electronic
gadgets sellers.
H13a Product design has significant impact on the Purchase intention of electronic
gadgets buyers.
H14a Corporate identity has significant impact on the Purchase intention of
electronic gadgets buyers.
59. H1:The product related factors for evaluating an electronic gadget is correlated to
the purchase intention of the consumers
● The strongest correlation was observed between product quality
and corporate identity parameters (r=0.64).
● Purchase intention was observed to significantly correlate at
medium level with product design (r=0.3), brand image (r=0.38),
corporate identity (r=0.34), country of origin (r=0.33) and price
(r=0.32).
● There was a low significant correlation between purchase
intention and quality (r=0.29).
● Hypothesis 1: The product related factors for evaluating an electronic gadget are
correlated to purchase intention of the consumers are accepted.
60. H2: Purchase intention is significantly affected by product evaluation factors such as
product design, brand image, corporate identity, country of origin and price.
● These hypotheses were tested using linear regression analysis, which explains the extent and
directionality of relationships between dependent and independent variables of the study.
● R value was 0.45, it means that there is a positive relationship between product evaluation and
purchase intention.
● Only brand image (B=0.211, p<0.05) and country of origin (B=0.165, p<0.05) of the product were
found have a significant positive impact on purchase intention.
● None of the other factors (Product design, Corporate Image and Price) had any impact on purchase
intention.
● As the overall level of significance was lower than 0.05, the Hypothesis 2 were accepted, indicating
that factors for product evaluation makes a significant difference in purchase intention of
consumers.
62. Hypothesis 3: Purchase intention of consumers significantly varied by
gender.
● An independent t test was conducted to investigate the difference in the opinion
of purchase intention between the males and females of our sample population .
● The results showed that there was a significant difference (t=3.192,
p<0.05)between the opinion of the males (2.98 ± 0.89) and females (2.67 ± 0.77).
● Therefore, Hypothesis 3: Purchase intention of consumers significantly varied by
gender is accepted. This implies that men have higher purchase intent than
women.
63. Hypothesis 4: Purchase intention of the consumers significantly varied
with their personal income.
● The results of the ANOVA test revealed significant differences between the two
groups (F=2.52, p<0.05). This implies that Hypothesis 4: Purchase intention of the
consumers significantly varied with their personal income is accepted.
64. Hypothesis 5: Frequency of Product evaluation prior to purchase significantly decides
the probability of buying electronic gadgets within a year
● Table 4.33 presents the descriptive for the product evaluation prior to purchase. When a similar test
(ANOVA) was performed between the likely frequency of gadget purchase within a year with
different frequencies of product evaluation prior to purchasing (Table 4.34) to test this hypothesis,
significant differences existed between the groups (F=3.151, p<0.05).Therefore, it can be inferred
that the Hypothesis 5:Frequency of Product evaluation prior to purchase significantly decides the
probability of buying electronic gadgets within a year is accepted.
● The results of the Tukey post-hoc test revealed that the difference between the categories of product
evaluation before purchase, Never and more frequently alone was found to be significant(p<0.05).
65. Hypothesis 6: Price plays a mediating role between corporate identity and
purchase intention.
● As proposed by the hypothesis, price was positively associated with mediating the relationship
between Corporate identity and Purchase intention. However, there was only a partial
mediation by Price, as the direct effect of Corporate identity on Purchase intention without
Price was found to be significant (=0.3954, p<0.05).
● From the results, it is understood that Corporate identity though important price also plays a
role in making decision on purchase. The r2 mediation effect size was also found to be
significant with =0.0809. Hypothesis 6 was partially accepted.
66. Mediating effect of Price on the relationship between
Corporate identity and Purchase intention
67. Hypothesis 7: Quality plays a mediating role between corporate identity and
purchase intention.
● The result indicates that the total indirect effect of Quality on the relationship
between CI and PI is positive, but not very big (estimate = 0.0898 and quite small.
● The direct effect of CI is large and positive (estimate = .3055).The total effect can
be represented as the sum of direct effect and indirect effect (0.3055 + 0.0898 =
0.3954).
● The results suggest that the extent of total effect CI has on PI of electronic gadgets
by the youth is 0.3954.
In order to find whether Quality plays a mediating role between the constructs or not,
the coefficient of regression analysis is estimated.
● The coefficient for CI PI was found to increase slightly (0.3954),
● from CI Quality PI (0.3055).
● Further, both the relationship was found to be significant suggesting that Quality is
only playing no mediating role between the constructs. Hence it can be said that
this hypothesis is rejected.
68. Mediating effect of Quality on the relationship between Corporate
identity and Purchase intention
69. Hypothesis 8: Brand image has a significant influence on the
Corporate image.
The standardized regression coefficient (B) 0.430 found at 1% significant
level (p<0.01) suggest that Brand image has a significant impact on the
Corporate image perceived by the customers. Thus, the alternate
hypothesis (H8) is accepted.
70. Hypothesis 8: Brand image has a significant influence on the Corporate image.
● The standardized regression coefficient (B) 0.430 found at 1% significant level
(p<0.01) suggest that Brand image has a significant impact on the Corporate image
perceived by the customers. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (H8) is accepted.
Hypothesis 9: Product design has a significant influence on the Corporate image.
● The standardized regression coefficient (B) 0.206 found at 5% significant level
(p<0.05) suggest that Product design has a significant impact on the Corporate
image perceived by the customers. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (H9) is accepted.
Hypothesis 10: Country of origin has a significant influence on the Corporate image.
● The standardized regression coefficient (B) 0.197 found at 5% significant level
(p<0.05) suggest that Country of origin has a significant impact on the Corporate
image perceived by the customers. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (H10) is
accepted.
71. Hypothesis 11: Brand image has a significant influence on the Purchase intention.
● The standardized regression coefficient (B) 0.301 found at 5% significant level
(p<0.05) suggest that Brand image has a significant impact on the Purchase
intention of the customers. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (H11) is accepted.
Hypothesis 12: Country of origin has a significant influence on the Purchase
intention.
● The standardized regression coefficient (B) 0.370 found at 1% significant level
(p<0.01) suggest that Country of origin has a significant impact on the Purchase
intention of the customers. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (H12) is accepted.
Hypothesis 13: Product design has a significant influence on the Purchase intention.
● The standardized regression coefficient (B) -0.143 was significant indicating that
Product design has a significant impact on the Purchase intention of the
customers. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (H13) is accepted.
Hypothesis 14: Corporate image has a significant influence on the Purchase
intention.
● The standardized regression coefficient (B) -0.608 od Corporate image did not
have a significant impact on the Purchase intention of customers, suggesting that
Corporate image may not be influencing the decision making of the electronic
gadgets. Thus, the alternate hypothesis (H14) is rejected.
72. Factor loadings of Purchase intention
CFA model for Product design, Brand image and Country of origin
73. CFA model for Product quality, Price and Corporate
image
76. Buying Behavior vs. Demographics
Buying Behavior vs. Gender
● buying behavior of the respondents with respect to gender found that similar behaviors were
recorded for all genders.
● Maximum percentages of male, female and transgender respondents made a single high-
value purchase in a year
● Following that, males and females were found to purchase electronic gadgets twice a year,
whereas transgendered respondents purchased electronic goods more than three times a
year.
● Purchases can also be analyzed in terms of compulsive buying behavior. Previous studies have
asserted that while adult women are more prone to making compulsive purchase decisions
than adult men
Buying Behavior vs. Age
As the respondent’s age increased, the tendency of the individual to make a high-value purchase
decreased, although most of the participants reported making at least one purchase.
Another possible explanation for our findings is that as the students grew older they needed to
earn their own money and had other responsibilities, thus the amount of money they could
spend on electronics was lower.
77. Buying Behavior vs. Family Income
A majority of the participants in this study were unemployed and were students, , their buying
habits were largely dependent on their family income.
● It was observed that an increase in income led to an increase in purchases.
● This finding is understandable as it can be explained on the basis of the idea that having more
financial resources allows for the purchase of items besides the bare necessities.
● This result matches the findings from an earlier study (Lenhart et al, 2010), which established
that youth coming from high income families had a greater chance of possessing more
electronic gadgets. Junco et al (2010) established similar findings.
Buying Behavior vs. Personal Earnings
● The present study found that personal earnings were directly proportional to frequency of
purchase, meaning that respondents having higher earnings tended to make an increased
number of purchases
● This finding can be explained on the basis of the idea that respondents who have higher
earnings have more money to spend on electronics, rather than spending money only on the
basic essentials.
78. Spending Behavior of the Respondents
● The spending behavior of the respondents on various electronic gadgets was
recorded, covering several factors such as monthly income and financial support.
Income Spent on Gadgets
● The current study found that the majority of respondents spent only a small
portion of their monthly income on the purchase of electronic gadgets.
● Most of the respondents in the current study were students and were not earning
any money, thus were dependent on their families for money.
Family Support in Purchase of Gadgets
● Most families provided some financial support for their children to purchase
desired electronic gadgets.
● Families that were earning less money tended to provide limited or no support at
all.
Frequency of Gadget Purchase in a Year
● The majority of the study group purchased electronic gadgets only once a year.
● it was noted that most of the respondents were students who were not earning
their own income and were dependent on their parents for money.
79. Mode of Gadget Purchase
● More than half of the respondents expressed preference for making an online purchase, either
directly through an online portal or indirectly, after physically viewing the gadget in a store.
● Most of the participants were students from an urbanized population and these individuals
would have ready access to the Internet, which would facilitate easier online purchases.
● Youngsters may have preferred online shopping as the presentation of information in this
medium is creative and the information is up-to-date.
Product Evaluation before Purchase
● . It was seen that close to half the respondents always evaluated their purchases before
finalizing a deal and only a very small percentage of subjects did not analyze the item at all.
● As the majority of the respondents were spending their parents’ money, it can be assumed
that parental influence and control also curbed their spending habits.
Likely Frequency of Buying Gadgets in the Next 12 Months
● it was seen that the majority of the respondents were uncertain as to whether or not they
would purchase electronic goods over the next 12 months.
Factors for Evaluating Electronic Gadgets
● It was seen that among the various characteristics that were analyzed, product quality and
price were the most important factors.
● Packaging and country of origin were the least influential factors for the youth.
80. Product Design
● , it was found that close to half the participants equated product design to brand image, while
a slightly smaller number related the product design to product quality.
● The visual appearance of a gadget was a vital part of a consumer’s decision to make a
purchase.
Brand Image
● The majority of the respondents were reported to attach some amount of importance to the
brand image while making a purchase.
● Many of the participants of the present study reported that product quality was an important
factor to them, thus the researcher took note of potential correlation between brand image
and perceived product quality.
Country of Origin
● , it was observed that the origin of the product was one of the least influential factors in a
consumer’s purchasing decision.
● This presents a possible explanation for the present study wherein other factors, such as
product quality, overshadowed the effect of the country of origin.
Corporate Image
● Slightly more than half the participants agreed that their image of a parent company impacted
their purchasing decisions.
● They associated corporate image with how confident they were of their purchasing decision
and how reassured they were about the quality of the product they were purchasing.
81. Product Quality
● Product quality was found to be one of the most important factors while evaluating purchase
decisions in this study
● Respondents provided multifaceted reasoning, including increased trust, loyalty and improved
perception of quality.
Price
● Price was among the most influential factors for a consumer when making decisions about a
purchase.
● As it was established that families with a greater income were more likely to support their
child’s decision to make a high-value purchase.
● The present study is in agreement with findings from both Wilska (2003) and Autio (2005),
who had reported that while some youngsters adhered to a hedonic and frivolous lifestyle in
terms of purchasing behavior, others were frugal and careful with their money.
Purchase Intention
● It was found that most of the respondents, when provided with a five-point scale, were
neutral about their decisions for making a purchase.
● Findings from the study indicated that the reduction of work and difficulty played a role in
determining a consumer’s purchase decision.
● It can be assumed that the neutrality in the responses is a result of the differences in income
or family composition.
83. Significant Demographic and Financial Status
Findings
● Most participants from the study were found to be female and nearly half of the
individuals fell within the age range of 17 to 18 years.
● Income-related information was recorded during the data collection and it was
observed that slightly more than half the respondents’ families earned more than
Rs. 60,000 per month,.
● More than half the respondents spent under 20% of their monthly income on
electronic gadgets.
● Most of the youth that participated in the study reported only making a single
major electronic purchase every year.
● The purchasing habits of the respondents were also compared to their income and
financial earnings, where it was seen that increased earnings, either of the entire
family or for the individual, as well as increased financial support contributed to
increased purchases.
84. Objective 1: To find out the relationship between brand image, country of origin,
design of product, corporate identity and purchase intention.
● The association between brand image, country of origin, product design, corporate
identity and purchase intention was studied.
● In order to satisfy this objective, a hypothesis H1 was framed, stating that ‘the
product related factors for evaluating an electronic gadget are correlated to the
purchase intention of the consumers’.
● To test this hypothesis, correlation analysis was carried out considering a total of
seven factors, namely product design, brand image, corporate identity, country of
origin, quality, price and purchase intention.
● Using Pearson’s correlation, it was observed that the strongest correlation was
detected between product quality and corporate identity.
● The correlation analysis also indicated that purchase intention showed significant
correlations of differing strengths with all the other six measured factors.
● Based on this finding, hypothesis H1 was accepted and it was determined that the
product related factors were correlated to the consumers’ purchase intention.Thus,
the given objective was satisfied.
85. Objective 2: To investigate the effects of product evaluation in terms of brand image,
country of origin and design of product on purchase intentions of consumers.
● H2 states that ‘the purchase intention is significantly affected by product evaluation
factors such as product design, brand image, corporate identity, country of origin
and price.’ Using linear regression to test the hypothesis, the R value of product
evaluation was calculated, which indicated that there was a positive and
significant relationship between product evaluation and purchase intention.
● Using the coefficients of the studied factors, it was determined that the brand
image and country of origin were the principal factors that exerted a positive and
significant impact on purchase intention. Overall, the product evaluation factors
were found to be significant and this enabled the researcher to determine that the
hypothesis H2 was to be accepted.
● Based on the information that was gathered to test this hypothesis, it was
determined that purchase intention was affected by the product evaluation
factors. Thus, the given objective was satisfied.
86. Objective 3: To investigate the effect of demographic factors like gender,
personal income and frequency of buying on purchase intentions of
consumers.
● Hypothesis H3 stated that the purchase intention of consumers significantly
varied by gender. Results from an independent t-test indicated that there
was a significant difference between the purchase intents of the studied
genders, with men showing greater purchase intent than women.
● It was found that there was a significant difference that could be observed
based on age.
● Hypothesis H5 stated that the frequency of product evaluation prior to
purchase significantly decides the probability of buying electronic gadgets
within a year.
● findings from the study indicated that increased product evaluation
contributed to decreased purchase. Using an ANOVA, it was observed that
there was a significant difference between the studied groups, indicating
the hypothesis 5 was accepted.
87. Objective 4: To explore the mediating effect of perceived product quality and product price
on the purchase intention of consumers.
● The mediating effects of product quality and product price on corporate identity and
purchase intention were analyzed.
● Hypothesis H6 stated that price plays a mediating role between the corporate identity
and purchase intention. In this case, purchase intention was the dependent variable,
corporate identity was the independent variable and price was the mediating factor.
● . Based on the information generated from the analysis, it was found that price
exhibited a positive but partial mediating effect on the purchase intention.
● This partial effect was discerned from the finding that corporate identity exhibited a
significant and direct influence on purchase intention, even without price.
● This emphasized that both corporate identity and price were important factors in
evaluating the purchase intention of a consumer.
● Hypothesis H7 stated that quality played a mediating role between corporate identity
and purchase intention. Based on the analysis that was carried out, it was concluded
that quality did not serve as a mediating factor between the two variables.
● The researcher was able to use the information that was gathered from the two
hypotheses to satisfy the objective.
88. Objective 5: To propose a model that would study the effect of various indicators
that influence purchase intention.
● The model that was constructed by the researcher utilized purchase intention as
an endogenous factor and corporate identity as the endogenous construct.
● The remaining three variables that were adjudged to have an impact on purchase
intention were product design, brand image and country of origin and these
factors were included as dependent variables.
● it was determined that brand image, country of origin and design of product could
have a direct effect on the corporate identity, thus allowing them to have an
indirect effect on a customer’s purchase intention. Thus the three hypotheses, H8,
H9 and H10 were all accepted.
● Combining the information from the hypotheses that were used for SEM analysis,
it can be concluded that while the studied product evaluation factors of brand
image, country of origin and product design have a direct effect on the purchase
intention, they do not have an indirect effect on purchase intention through
corporate identity.
● Corporate identity does not have a direct effect on purchase intention.
89. Policy Implications
● Marketing companies are now aware of the impact that various product
factors have on the purchase intention of an individual and by
understanding which factors have greater impact on consumers, it is
possible for the concerned professionals to focus their attention
accordingly.
● Manufacturers and store-keepers are aware of what factors are more
important to the customers and this helps them focus their marketing
and sales efforts.
● Companies can attempt to create tailor-made marketing strategies
according to the demographics of the population exhibiting the
maximum purchase intent, for instance, creating advertisements that are
aimed at men.
● The finding that price is an important factor related to purchase intention
serves as an indication that shopkeepers and marketing professionals
need to focus on attractive pricing strategies, discounts or the use of
EMIs to attract more customers.
90. Limitations
● The respondents in the present study were limited to the city of
Bangalore.
● Analysis of the information that was collected during the course of the
study indicated that most of the participants were not dependent on
personal income to make major purchases and instead were dependent
on family income, which limited the diversity of our findings.
● Information collected during the present study was limited to the 300
respondents from whom data was gathered.
● The researcher collected information for the given study using the
generalized overhead of electronic gadgets. This could have introduced
limitations in terms of the specificity of the responses that were obtained
from the respondents.
91. Future Research
● Additional metropolitan cities could be included in future studies
to obtain a more comprehensive view of purchase intentions.
● It would be interesting to study the purchase intentions and
impact of various factors such as price, with respect to specific
electronic gadgets, such as mobile phones, televisions and
laptops.
● Increased variety could be introduced into the respondents,
focusing on individuals having different economic capabilities and
attempting to include the perspectives of more employed youth.
Correlation (represented as ‘r’) measures the strength of association between two variables and ranges between -1 (perfect negative correlation) to 1 (perfect positive correlation). It is interpreted on the absolute value of the correlation, with r ≥ 0.5 as large, 0.3≥ r <0.5 as medium and 0.1≥ r < 0.3 as low