The role of informational cues in young adult males’ quality assessment ofsmart casual wear during purchase decision - making
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Apparel purchase is an everyday decision process for consumers and the decision is motivated by various \nconsumer needs. As an important aspect in the study of consumer behaviour, the link between South African \nyoung adult male consumers’ perception of apparel quality, use of informational cues, and apparel \nevaluation criteria needs to be established. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the role of \nintrinsic and extrinsic apparel features as informational cues on young adult males’ assessment of apparel \nquality during purchase decision-making. \nThe quantitative research approach involved a structured questionnaire with Likert-type four-point scales to \nmeasure the importance of informational cues in the quality assessment of smart casual wear. This study \ninvolved a non-probability purposive sample of 330 young adult males between the ages of 24 and 36 living \nin Pretoria and Johannesburg, Gauteng. The study included purposive and snowball sampling techniques. \nDescriptive analyses were used to determine the importance of apparel features in the assessment of \napparel. Correlation analyses were conducted to explore relationships among the quality dimensions. Lastly, \nexploratory analyses were done to measure the interaction of demographics and shopping behaviour with \nthe importance of apparel quality dimensions. \nResults showed that South African young adult male consumers rank comfort most important in their quality \nassessment criteria, next to durability, in assessment of smart casual apparel. The country where garments \nare manufactured or assembled is the least important to the young adult South African males. The strongest \nrelationship among the various apparel dimensions existed between extrinsic features and aesthetic performance. The weakest relationship, although positively significant, existed between the extrinsic \nfeatures and functional performance. This suggests that to some extent, male apparel consumers form links \nbetween apparel features as each feature to some extent influences the importance placed on other apparel \nquality features. \nFurthermore, findings suggest that male consumers differ in their apparel assessment criteria based on how \nmuch money they have for apparel, and that income is an important socio-economic variable in apparel \npurchase decision-making. Most of these male consumers, although not experts in the field of apparel \nquality, considered it important to assess apparel for perceived quality during the pre-purchase phase of \nconsumer decision-making. In all, informational cues, although varying in importance, play a role in the \nyoung adult male’s quality assessment of smart casual wear.
Author: Ruth Kawira Njagi
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2124514785