INFLUENTAL FACTORS ON BRAND CHOICE AND CONSUMPTION BEHAVIORS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON COLLEGE STUDENTS AND BEER By DAVE RITTER A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ADVERTISING UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2008 1 © 2008 Dave Ritter 2 To my family, friends, educators, and colleagues, cheers! Without your love, support, and guidance none of this would be possible. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my entire family for supporting my education and research at the University of Florida. I would like to thank Lakeland College, the University of Illinois, and the University of Florida for providing me with the skills and education possible to complete this document. I also would like to express my gratitude to all of my committee members for their help, guidance, and comments throughout this process. In addition, I would like to give a special thank-you to my thesis chair, Hyojin Kim. Finally, I would like to thank God for giving me faith, ability, and opportunity to persevere. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................................7 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................8 ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................10 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................13 Brand Choice ..........................................................................................................................13 Desired Brand Benefits...........................................................................................................19 Performance/Quality........................................................................................................20 Price/Value for Money ....................................................................................................22 Emotions..........................................................................................................................23 Normative/Personal (Social) ...........................................................................................23 Environment (Stewardship).............................................................................................24 Health ..............................................................................................................................25 Situational Factors ..................................................................................................................27 Consumer Factors ...................................................................................................................29 Exploratory Shopping Behaviors ....................................................................................30 Interpersonal Influence....................................................................................................30 Consumption Behaviors ..................................................................................................31 Product Category Involvement........................................................................................32 Demographics..................................................................................................................32 Theory of Reasoned Action....................................................................................................33 Research Questions.................................................................................................................36 3 METHOD ...............................................................................................................................37 Pretest .....................................................................................................................................37 Subjects............................................................................................................................37 Design and Procedure......................................................................................................38 Measures.................................................................................................................................38 Brand Choice...................................................................................................................38 Situational Variation........................................................................................................39 Desired Brand Benefits....................................................................................................39 Consumption Behavior....................................................................................................39 Demographics..................................................................................................................40 Main Study..............................................................................................................................40 5 Subjects............................................................................................................................40 Design and Procedure......................................................................................................42 Measures.................................................................................................................................43 Brand Choice...................................................................................................................43 Situational Variation........................................................................................................43 Desired Brand Benefits....................................................................................................46 Exploratory Shopping Behaviors ....................................................................................46 Interpersonal Influence....................................................................................................47 Consumption Behavior....................................................................................................47 Product Category Involvement........................................................................................49 Demographics..................................................................................................................50 4 RESULTS...............................................................................................................................51 Brand Choice among Situational Variation............................................................................51 Consumption Behavior among Situation Variation................................................................58 Variables Affecting Beer Brand Choice.................................................................................67 Variables Affecting Beer Consumption..................................................................................79 5 DISCUSSION.........................................................................................................................90 6 LIMITATIONS.......................................................................................................................96 APPENDIX A PRETEST ...............................................................................................................................99 B MAIN STUDY .....................................................................................................................109 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................120 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................130 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 2-1 Brand Choice Studies.........................................................................................................16 3-1 Beer Brand Choice.............................................................................................................41 3-2 Demographic Frequency Distribution................................................................................42 3-3 Situation Frequency Distribution.......................................................................................45 3-4 Average Beers Consumed and Average Occasions Drinking Beer...................................48 3-5 Consumption Behavior Frequency ....................................................................................49 4-1 Situational Groups and Brand Choice................................................................................53 4-2 Situational Groups and Consumption Behavior ................................................................61 4-3 Multiple Discriminant Analysis: Beer Brand Choice ........................................................73 4-4 Structure Matrix for Beer Brand Choice............................................................................75