• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.902-912
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• 2010

This study compares and contrasts the consumer decision-making styles (CDMS) of South Korean and American Generation Y females. A total of 117 American female and 206 Korean female consumers completed self-report survey questionnaires to assess their consumer decision making styles. Exploratory principal components factor analysis using varimax rotation was used to categorize the items into an underlying set of American and Korean decision-making characteristics. Two-tailed independent t-tests were conducted to examine the differences between the two groups when items appeared to have common factors. Factor analysis identified five common factors between the two samples (i.e., enjoyment, shopping aversion, price consciousness, brand consciousness, and quality consciousness). The t-test results report significant differences in the items reported in each factor between American and Korean females. Some of the factors are more indicative of American female Generation Y consumers than Korean female Generation Y consumers. For example, the American female sample seemed to enjoy shopping and prefer brand names more than the female Korean sample. Koreans females seem to have a higher aversion to shopping than Americans; in addition, Koreans females seem to be more accepting of discount and outlet stores, will wait until the price is low before buying a product, and prefer sales when shopping. Based on the findings, the instrument identified varying CDMS between the two samples used. Previous studies using the Sproles and Kendall (1986) instrument experienced the same issue (Bakewell & Mitchell, 2004, 2006; Bauer et al., 2006; Durvasula et al., 1996; Fan & Xiao, 1998; Hanzaee & Aghasibeig, 2008; Mitchell & Walsh, 2004; Siu et al., 2001; Walsh et al., 2001). The results support the idea that no single instrument can be used to examine CDMS in different cultures. This suggests that each country has a CDMS with internal characteristics. Limitations and research for future studies are also discusse.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.107-116
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• 2013

Purpose - Eggs are nutritionally complete and one of the most popular natural foods. Moreover, the poultry industry is one of the important food industries. However, early industrialization of the poultry industry on its own did not lead to further development compared to other livestock industries. In this study, we investigate what factors influence consumers' behavior and how consumers' understanding of retail business affects their propensity to consume. This study is different from other studies as it analyzes how the brand names of manufacturers and distribution companies affect the purchasing characteristics or actual purchase behavior of consumers in order to suggest how these manufacturers and distribution companies can increase their competitiveness. Research design, data, methodology - This study conducted a survey of 250 randomly selected egg purchasers in discount stores from January to April 2013. Consumers' purchase tendencies were calculated through frequency analysis. This result was then utilized using cluster analysis to draw a conclusion about which purchase tendency influenced consumers buying three different brands of eggs or whether this tendency really affected consumers. As a result, the outcomes of Hypotheses 2 and 3 were not clear so we drew a conclusion with our analysis of Hypothesis 1. Results - While the outcomes of Hypotheses 2 and 3 did not clearly indicate whether purchasing tendencies affected consumers when buying eggs, our analysis of Hypothesis 1 indicated that consumers were affected by the quality of the eggs rather than exterior factors such as the brand name. Thus, we concluded that it is important to promote the excellence of the quality of the eggs. Usually firms buy eggs from farms and repackage them in order to sell them. In this sense, if consumers were aware of this egg production process, and eggs were fairly distributed to retailers, large retail PB businesses would also be able to enhance their competitiveness. Conclusions - The brand, packaging, retail outlet, and other external features influenced the purchase of eggs to a certain degree, while shelf life, grade of the eggs, cleanliness, and other intrinsic characteristics had more influence. In particular, shelf life was the most important factor influencing purchase. Consumers were influenced not only by intrinsic characteristics of the eggs but also by large-scale producers' brands. Consumers relied upon the brand despite reduced competition because they found it difficult to identify shelf life and/or cleanliness. Small businesses and/or large-scale retailers can remain competitive by maintaining the freshness and cleanliness of the eggs. Further studies need to investigate areas in which consumers' cognition of the product is poor and/or the purchase inclination with regard to less developed industries such as eggs. In this study, the greatest problem was that consumers did not consume in accordance with the current situation as consumers have preferred fresh and clean eggs for a long time compared to purchase decisions based on external brands and/or packaging.