Decision making styles and therir relationship with choice criteria towards fashion clothes purchase a study of ho chi minh city consummers

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY *********** TRƯƠNG THANH THẢO DECISION-MAKING STYLES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHOICE CRITERIA TOWARDS FASHION CLOTHES PURCHASE A STUDY O

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

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TRƯƠNG THANH THẢO

DECISION-MAKING STYLES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP

WITH CHOICE CRITERIA TOWARDS FASHION CLOTHES PURCHASE

A STUDY OF HO CHI MINH CITY CONSUMERS

ECONOMICS MASTER THESIS

HO CHI MINH CITY – 2010

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

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TRƯƠNG THANH THẢO

DECISION-MAKING STYLES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP

WITH CHOICE CRITERIA TOWARDS FASHION CLOTHES PURCHASE

A STUDY OF HO CHI MINH CITY CONSUMERS

ECONOMICS MASTER THESIS

Major: Business Administration

Major code: 60.34.05

Academic Supervisor: Dr Trần Hà Minh Quân

Ho Chi Minh City - 2010

In addition, I would like to thank all the teachers in the Economics University,

Ho Chi Minh City, especially faculty of Business Administration and Postgraduate Faculty, who have taught me a lot about marketing and management knowledge in the past three years, for their suggestionsandsupports for this research

I also would like to express my gratitude to my classmates in MBA classes,

Batch 16, especially Mr Phong, Mr Trung, Mr Phuc (Faculty of Business Administration), all my friends in Batch 18, 19 for their share of knowledge, experience and their enthusiastic support in conducting survey for this research

I would like to express my sincere thanks to my dearest friends for squeezing lots of time for helping me in conducting survey, share of knowledge and information for this research

Finally yet importantly, I would like to thank my family members who always gave me supports and encouraged me when I had difficulties in doing the research

Trương Thanh Thảo

ABSTRACT

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This research explores the decision-making styles of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City, tests the differences in these styles among gender, age, monthly income groups Specifically, it offers empirical results on the relationship between consumer decision-making styles and choice criteria towards fashion clothes purchase The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), developed by Sproles and Kendall (1986) for examining different consumer decision-making styles, is adapted in this research A survey by questionnaire is employed as the tool to collect primary data and the research instrument is administered to 490 young consumers in Ho Chi Minh City,

410 are identified to be valid for the research

The research results find that eight factors representing the decision-making styles regarding fashion clothes purchase of Ho Chi Minh City consumers are

“Brand and “Price equals Quality” consciousness”, “Fashion and Novelty consciousness”, “Perfection and High Quality consciousness”, “Impulsiveness and Carelessness”, “Confusion by Overchoice”, ‘Habit and Brand Loyalty”,

“Price and “Value for Money” consciousness” and “Recreational and Hedonic consciousness”

Five factors representing clothes choice criteria including “product and quality related criteria”, “store and salesperson related criteria”, “style and design related criteria”, “brand and image related criteria” and “price related criteria”

are found to positively or negatively correlate with 6 decision-making styles such as

“Brand and “Price equals Quality” consciousness”, “Fashion and Novelty consciousness”, “Perfection and High Quality consciousness”, “Habit and Brand Loyalty”, “Price and “Value for Money” consciousness and “Recreational and Hedonic consciousness”

The testing results show that there are differences in Ho Chi Minh City consumer decision-making styles among gender, age, monthly income groups

Keywords: decision-making style, consumer style inventory, fashion clothes

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Acknowledgement i

Abstract ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Research introduction 2

1.2 Research rationale 3

1.3 Research objectives 5

1.4 Scope of the research 5

1.5 Research method and process 5

1.6 Theoretical and practical implications of the research 8

1.7 Structure of the research 9

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11

2.1 Consumer decision – making styles 12

2.2 Clothes choice criteria 17

2.3 Some main characteristics of fashion clothes market and consumers in Ho Chi Minh City 19

2.4 The research model 21

2.5 Research hypothesis 21

2.6 Measurement scale 22

Chapter 3: RESEARCH DESIGN 24

3.1 Preliminary research 25

3.1.1 Stages in the preliminary research 25

3.1.2 The preliminary research outcome 25

3.2 Official research 30

3.2.1 The questionnaire 30

3.2.2 Sample size 30

3.2.3 Sampling method 31

3.2.4 Data analysis method 31

Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 33

4.1 Characteristics of sample 34

4.1.1 Descriptions of sample 34

4.1.2 Characteristics of sample 34

4.2 Descriptive statistics 35

4.2.1 Descriptive statistics for variables of decision-making styles 35

4.2.2 Descriptive statistics for variables of clothes choice criteria 37

4.3 Exploratory factor analysis 38

4.3.1 Exploratory factor analysis for decision-making styles 39

4.3.2 Exploratory factor analysis for clothes choice criteria 42

4.4 Scales reliability analysis 44

4.4.1 Scales reliability analysis for decision-making styles 45

4.4.2 Scales reliability analysis for clothes choice criteria 47

4.5 Testing the differences in decision-making styles among gender, age, monthly income groups 49

4.5.1 Testing the differences in decision-making styles among gender groups 49

4.5.2 Testing the differences in decision-making styles among age groups 50

4.5.3 Testing the differences in decision-making styles among income groups 50

4.6 Multiple regression analysis 52

4.6.1 Correlation analysis 52

4.6.2 Multiple regression analysis 54

4.7 Conclusion 67

Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 69

5.1 Summary of the research 70

5.2 Implications of the research 72

5.2.1 Theoretical implications 72

5.2.2 Practical implications 72

5.3 Limitations and recommendations for further research 78

5.4 Conclusion 78

References Appendix 1 – Questions for “face to face” discussion 1

Appendix 2 – Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) 2

Appendix 3 – Sample characteristics 5

Appendix 4 – Exploratory Factor Analysis Results 7

Appendix 5 – Scale Reliability Analysis Results 14

Appendix 6 – t-test and ANOVA test results 19

Appendix 7 – Multiple regression analysis results 32

Appendix 8 – Graphs for testing linear regression hypothesis 36

… …….***………

ABBREVIATIONS

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CSI: Consumer Style Inventory

EFA: exploratory factor analysis

HCMC : Ho Chi Minh City

m: million

VND: Viet Nam Dong

WTO: World Trade Organization

LIST OF FIGURES

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Figure 1.1 The research process 7

Figure 1.2 Structure of the research 9

Figure 2.1 The research model 21

Figure 3.1 Stages in preliminary research 25

Figure 4.1 The result of research model 67

LIST OF TABLES

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Table 2.1: Summary of findings from 21 studies of clothes choice criteria 18

Table 2.2: 40 items of Consumer Style Inventory 22

Table 3.1: Variables for measuring decision-making styles 26

Table 3.2: Variables for measuring clothes choice criteria 29

Table 4.1: Characteristics of sample 34

Table 4.2: Descriptive statistics for variables of decision-making styles 35

Table 4.3: Descriptive statistics for variables of clothes choice criteria 37

Table 4.4 – Rotated component matrix of decision – making styles 39

Table 4.5 – Rotated component matrix of clothes choice criteria 43

Table 4.6 – Scale reliability of decision-making styles 45

Table 4.7 – Scale reliability of clothes choice criteria 47

Table 4.8– Correlation matrix 53

Table 4.9 Coefficients in multiple regression analysis of Brand style 55

Table 4.10 Coefficients in multiple regression analysis of Fashion style 57

Table 4.11 Coefficients in multiple regression analysis of Quality style 59

Table 4.12 Coefficients in multiple regression analysis of Habit style 62

Table 4.13 Coefficients in multiple regression analysis of Price style 64

Table 4.14 Coefficients in multiple regression analysis of Recreation style 66

Table 4.15 Summary of multiple regression analysis 68

……… ***………

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents general introduction of the current research with which the research introduction, research rationale, research objectives are provided An introduction to the research method to be used, research process and scope of the research are also addressed in this chapter At the end of the chapter, the implication and structure of the research are provided

1.1 RESEARCH INTRODUCTION

After Vietnam’ entrance into World Trade Organization (WTO), Vietnam fashion clothes market in general and Ho Chi Minh City clothes market in particular have developed more strongly A lot of foreign brands and retailers have come into local market and expanded their businesses such as Gucci, Lacoste, Thump, Tommy, Guess, Calvin Klein, Bossini, John Herry, Nike, Valentino, Esprit, Giordano, Kappa

… Moreover, there are more and more department stores, trade and shopping centers, specialty stores…selling a wide range of fashion clothes products, especially foreign brands in more professional way of selling such as Diamond Plaza, Parkson Plaza, Jen Plaza, Sai Gon Center, Saigon Paragon, Vincom center…These are places selling many foreign and local brands with diversified and fashionable styles and designs, high quality and with different prices These have attracted the attention and interest of consumers and open up abundant choices for them…The increase in number of foreign brands and retailers as well as their sales promotion programs and events have contributed to create the dynamic and tenser competition in the market

Regarding Ho Chi Minh City consumers, when their income increases, their requirements for fashion clothes are also stricter in terms of product quality, brand name, style as well as fashionableness, Consumers are provided with more choices from local to foreign famous brands They are also provided with more product information in magazines, on advertisements, on television and especially on the internet, These have contributed to make their buying decision-making more complex In addition, local fashion clothes companies face more challenges as they have to compete with more and more foreign strong brands The question is raised about how local clothes companies can strengthen their firm position in the market, maintain and expand market share, keep trust and loyalty of consumers

According to George E.Belch1, before a marketing campaign, it is very important that businesses have to know about their target consumers, particularly what their needs are, how they think and decide when buying different products Purchase decision – making is one of the most important issues of research on consumer behavior as it relates directly to the product sales

Also according to Hafstrom, Chae and Chung (1992), decision-making is more complex and even more important for consumers today than in the past Consumers are besieged by advertisements, news articles, and direct mailings that provide an abundance of information In addition, increases in the number and variety of goods, stores, and shopping centers and online purchasing capabilities have broadened the sphere for consumers’ choice and have complicated their decision-making

In front of tenser competition in the market, clothes companies and marketers need to know more about consumer buying behaviour, especially decision-making behaviour as well as their critical choice criteria in clothes buying Having a deep and comprehensive understanding about target consumers will assist them to compete more efficiently and successfully in the market

1.2 RESEARCH RATIONALE

o In view of keener competition in the future clothes market in Vietnam and especially in Ho Chi Minh City, it is very important that clothes companies, marketers,…need to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding about consumer buying behaviour, especially consumer buying decision-making but researches on this issue in Vietnam are still limited After studying many different theories on consumer decision-making, this research will employ the widely used US-based scale, Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) developed by Sproles and Kendall in

1986 to identify Ho Chi Minh City consumer decision-making styles

1

(Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communication perspective, E.Belch, 1997)

towards fashion clothes purchase The use of Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) for identifying consumer decision – making styles in fashion clothes industry has been made in previous researches in some countries

o Research into choice criteria also helps marketers understand more about consumer buying decision-making According to Sproles (1979), different criteria may have varied importance in every consumer’s mind and consumers would assign high importance on the criteria that can really reflect their underlying characteristics and experiences Besides, the critical characteristics or attributes of clothes products can always determine its ultimate purchase acceptance or rejection by consumers, the criteria that consumers use in clothes purchase decisions are often postulated by researchers as important factors to be considered in the investigation of consumers’ clothes buying behaviour

o In Wickliffe’s (1998) study, the author concluded that consumer making styles have been found to be highly correlated with some product characteristics (e.g price, country of origin, brand name,…) In Kwan C.Y Yeung K.W and Au K.F (2004) study on the relationship between decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria in China, they also found that the consumer decision-making styles have relationship with clothes choice criteria

decision-o Based on previous researches and in order to understand more about consumer buying behaviour, this research also investigates the relationship between decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria

o It is hoped that by identifying the decision-making styles and the relationship between these styles and choice criteria towards fashion clothes purchase of Ho Chi Minh City consumers, this research will help clothes companies, marketers, retailers… have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of buying characteristics of their target customers and to further sustain their competitiveness in

the marketplace

The research focuses mainly on identifying the decision-making styles of the

consumers in HCMC, testing the differences in decision-making styles among gender, age and income groups and then investigating the relationship of these styles with

clothes choice criteria

This study focuses on young individual consumers from 18 to 40 years old in Ho Chi Minh City

Fashion clothes: is defined to all clothes with clear brand and origin, be legally manufactured and traded in Vietnam

1.5 RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCESS

The research is divided into 2 stages: the preliminary research using qualitative method and official research using quantitative method

Stage 1: Preliminary research

 Preliminary research is made using qualitative method “Face to face” discussion method is used The interviewees are typical consumers The research aims at adjusting measurement scales to be suitable with conditions in Vietnam

Stage 2: Official research

 Official research is made using quantitative method, using direct interview method by questionnaire Convenient sampling is used in this survey Interviewees are consumers in Ho Chi Minh City

 The official questionnaire is formed through stages from draft questionnaire to official questionnaire after “face to face” discussion

- Using SPSS software 16.0 for descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, scale reliability analysis, t-test, ANOVA test, multiple regression analysis The

research process is described below:

Exploratory factor analysis Scale reliability analysis

t- Test, ANOVA test Multiple regression analysis

Draft questionnaire

Research model

Adjusting the research model

Conclusion and implication

Figure 1.1: Research process

Decision - making styles and their relationship with choice criteria towards fashion clothes purchase

Literature review

“Face to face” discussion Pilot interview

Official questionnaire

Official survey

1.6 THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

Consumer decision-making is of great interest for marketers, retailers and consumer researchers, interested in serving the consumer (Canabal, 2002)

This study attempts to identify the decision-making styles of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City It brings various practical meanings to policy-makers, clothes companies, managers, marketers, retailers,… doing business in the fashion clothes industry in Ho Chi Minh City, particularly:

o Firstly, the results of the research aid the clothes companies and marketers to more deeply understand about the decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria of consumers in the context of tenser competition in the market, which resulting in their

profound knowledge in designing appropriate marketing programs for building and

developing brand name, improving product quality, increasing market share, turnover and profit…

o Moreover, understanding consumer decision-making styles, the differences in decision-making styles among gender, age, and income groups is vital for clothes companies and marketers, retailers in gaining valuable information that they can use for market segmentation, facilitating product positioning and decision - making of marketing mix, in order to more satisfy their target consumers

o The research results can be used by policy-makers, researchers in orienting consumer behaviour, making policies to develop fashion clothes industry and the related areas

o The result of the research contributes complementarily to the literature on consumer decision-making styles in Vietnam The research result will be the basis for further researches on consumer decision-making styles and be a reference for researchers, lecturers and students in studying consumer behaviour in Vietnam and in the world

o The research results help the author understand more deeply about literature on consumer decision-making, provide basic knowledge for further research in this area and the related areas

1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH

The research paper is arranged into 5 chapters Chapter 1 introduces the research introduction, research rationale, research objectives, scope of the research, research method and process as well as implication and structure of the research Literature review is presented in chapter 2 Chapter 3 describes the research design Research results are presented in chapter 4 Chapter 5 summarizes the research results, provides implications for policy-makers, manufacturers and marketers, retailers,…in fashion clothes industry and suggests further researches The last part is the conclusion which ties the research together The structure of this research is shown in figure 1.2

Figure 1.2.: Structure of the research

Chapter 2 Literature review Chapter 3 Research design Chapter 4 Data analysis and findings Chapter 5 Conclusion and implication

In conclusion,

At the end of this chapter, the reader may have an overview of the whole research: research rationale, research objectives, scope of the research, research process, research method, research implication and research structure The next chapter will present literature review of the research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews relevant theories, concepts, definitions through which understanding about decision - making styles and clothes choice criteria can be obtained

This chapter also proposes the research model, measurement scale and generates hypotheses that will be tested to confirm the research model

2.1 Consumer Decision-Making Styles

Historical Researches on Decision-making Styles

 Consumer researchers have long been interested in identifying the underlying decision styles of shoppers For example, consumers are identified as economic shoppers, personalizing shoppers, ethical shoppers, apathetic shoppers (Bellenger and Korgaonkar, 1980; Darden and Reynolds, 1971; Stone, 1954), store-loyal shoppers (Moschis and Gorge, 1976; Stephenson and Willett, 1969), recreational shoppers (Bellenger and Korgaonkar, 1980; Stephenson and Willett, 1969), convenient shoppers (Korgaonkar, 1984; Stephenson and Willett, 1969; Williams et al., 1978), price-oriented shoppers (Korgaonkar, 1984; Stephenson and Willett, 1969; Williams et al., 1978), brand-loyal shoppers (Jocoby and Chestnut, 1978; Moschis and Gorge, 1976), name-conscious shoppers (Darden and Ashton, 1975), fashion shoppers (Lumpkin, 1985), brand conscious shoppers (Korgaonkar, 1984) and impulse shoppers (Gehrt and Cater, 1992) These classifications have provided a number of measuring methods for the marketers to segment the general public in the consumer markets (Alice and Noel, 2001)

 Consumer decision-making styles are acknowledged to be one of the most widely studied topics in consumer behaviour research Research on consumer

decision-making styles can be categorized into three main approaches: the

psychographic/life style approach (Lastovicka, 1982), the consumer typology approach (Darden and Ashton, 1974; Moschis, 1976), and the consumer characteristics approach (Sproles, 1985; Sproles and Kendall, 1986; Sproles and

Sproles, 1990) Lysonksi, Durvasula and Zotos (1996) indicated that among these three approaches, the consumer characteristics approach seems to be the most powerful and explanatory since it focuses on the mental orientation of consumers in making decisions

The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI)

 Consumer decision-making has been of great interest for marketers, consumer researchers,…for a long time In the past, investigations on consumer

decision-making issues were mainly focused on the decision-making process

However, Bettman (1979) argues that consumers may sometimes typically rely on simple strategies, rather than go through a series of steps or processes rationally when they made purchase decisions They may simply emphasize or analyze some typical dimensions or characteristics that are obvious and being conscious of (Sproles, 1985)

In this regard, Sproles and Kendall (1986) pioneered to investigate consumer decision-making processes by profiling consumers into different decision-making styles and developed the Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) Such styles have recently been found to be highly correlated with some product characteristics (e.g price, country of origin, brand name,…) in Wickliffe’s (1998) study

 According to Sproles and Kendall (1986), consumer decision-making styles are patterned, mental and cognitive orientations that consistently dominate a consumer’s approach in making purchase choices

 Based on examination of consumer decision-making styles in the previous literature, Sproles (1985) has identified 50 items related to consumers’ cognitive and affective orientation towards shopping and buying The author believes that measuring consumers’ general orientations toward shopping and buying can identify their decision-making styles The underlying assumption is that all consumers are thought

to approach the market with certain fundamental decision-making orientations Sproles and Kendall (1986) have refined this inventory and accordingly developed a more parsimonious scale consisting of 40 items The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) that they have developed consists of eight mental characteristics of consumer decision-making styles namely: “perfection and high quality conscious”, “brand and “price equals quality” conscious ”, “novelty and fashion conscious”, “recreational and hedonic”, “price and “value for money” conscious, “impulsive and careless”,

“confused by overchoice” and “habitual and brand loyal” Consumer

Decision-Making Style: style is defined as the way a consumer mentally (or cognitively)

approaches choices in the marketplace (Sproles and Kendall, 1986) According to Sproles and Kendall (1986) eight decision-making styles are as below:

1 Perfection and High Quality consciousness: a characteristic identifying consumers

who have specific ideas about best quality products and consistently look for these qualities

2 Brand and “Price equals Quality” consciousness: a characteristic identifying

consumers who associate quality with higher priced, national brands

3 Novelty and Fashion consciousness: a characteristic identifying consumers who

gain pleasure for seeking out the newest, most modern products

4 Recreational and Hedonic consciousness: a characteristic measuring the degree to which a consumer gains pleasure from the shopping experience

5 Price and “Value-for-Money” consciousness: a characteristic identifying

consumers who consistently search for sales, bargains, and lower-priced products

6 Impulsiveness and Carelessness: a characteristic identifying consumers who do not

plan shopping trips and are not concerned about the amount of money spent

7 Confusion by Overchoice: a characteristic identifying consumers who are confused

and overwhelmed with too much product information and/or too many product choices

8 Habit and Brand-Loyalty: a characteristic indicating consumers who tend to

consistently stick with the same brands of product (Sproles and Kendall, 1986)

The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), which is used to measure consumer decision-making styles, has been developed on the basis of a sample of 482 United States (U.S.) youngsters The consumer style inventory (CSI) has 40 items compared with the inventory with 50 items previously developed by Sproles (1985)

 Sproles and Kendall (1986) recommended that to determine generality to its applicability, the CSI must be administered to different populations, across different cultures The main reason for applying the inventory to different cultures is that, although consumer decision-making style represents a relatively consistent pattern of cognitive and affective responses, national culture has been proven to impact significantly on individual values and attitudes (Leo, Bennett and Hartel, 2005) At this point, one can argue that as a result of globalization, cultures tend to become more similar to one another However, as De Mooij (2000) points out “although there is evidence of convergence of economic systems, there is no evidence of convergence of

people’s value systems.” Thus, culture is expected to have a significant influence on consumer decision-making styles Besides, models and empirical findings developed with United States data may not be valid in other countries and further research is required to demonstrate their applicability (Albaum and Peterson, 1984; Hui and Triandis, 1985; Lee and Green, 1991) This supports the need for the validation of the CSI instrument in different cultures The identification of the decision-making styles that are common and different across cultures will help marketers to adjust advertising and other marketing elements of the marketing mix to accommodate these differences (Lysonski et al., 1996) Although there are still some concerns about the generality of the inventory, the CSI represents the most tested instrument currently available to assist marketers in examining cross-cultural decision-making styles (Walsh et al., 2001)

Application of Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) across Cultures

 This instrument has been applied to different cultures and different countries, including the U.S (Sproles, 1985; Sproles and Kendall, 1986; Lysonski et al., 1996), South Korea (Hafstorm et al., 1992), New Zealand (Durvasula et al., 1993; Lysonski

et al., 1996), Greece, India (Lysonski et al., 1996; Canabal, 2002), United Kingdom (Mitchell and Bates, 1998), China (Fan and Xiao, 1998; Hui et al., 1999, Hui et al., 2000), Germany (Walsh et al., 2001), Australia, Singapore and Turkey, Iran, Taiwan

…

 There were eight orientations, the same as in Sproles’ (1986) findings, identified in Durvasula’s (1993) research by using 210 university student samples in New Zealand However, the factor of “price and “value for money” consciousness” was not found in Lysonski’s study in New Zealand (1996) Lysonski (1996) identified three consumer decision-making orientations (“brand consciousness”, “novelty and fashion consciousness” and “habit and brand loyalty”) in two developed countries (USA and New Zealand) and two developing countries (Greece and India) In the study, the influences of the market environment, in particular, the economic environment and market structure on consumer decision-making styles were suggested Mitchell (1998) and Walsh (2001) had also applied the CSI in his study in the United Kingdom and German consumers respectively Mitchell (1998) suggested that two additional styles (“Time-energy conserving” and “store-loyal consumer”) in

addition to Sproles’s (1986) eight styles structure were identified with U.K consumers, while only six out of these eight styles were identified in the study for Germans They were “brand consciousness”, “perfection consciousness”, “recreational and hedonic consciousness”, “confusion by overchoice”, “carelessness and impulsiveness”, and “novelty and fashion consciousness” In addition to these,

“variety-seeking” was a novel style that found in Walsh’s study in Germany (2001)

 In addition to the studies conducted in the western countries, the CSI has also been administered to the consumers of South Korea, China, However, only five styles were found in South Korea and varied results were shown in Fan’s (1998) and Hui’s (1999 and 2000) studies on China’s consumers

 There are many studies on consumer decision-making styles using CSI in in many countries, researches on this issue have not still made with Ho Chi Minh City consumers Therefore, this research attempts to identify consumer decision-making styles, using a widely adopted US-based Scale, Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), with

a sample in Ho Chi Minh City and in fashion clothes industry The research results will also let us know whether CSI is reliable in Vietnam culture

2.2 Clothes Choice Criteria

 Clothes choice criteria are defined as the intrinsic (inherent to the product) and extrinsic (product-related, but not part of the physical product) product attributes that associated with desired benefits or incurred costs as consumers make buying decision among clothes alternatives (Davis, 1985; Hatch and Roberts, 1985; Eckman et al., 1990; Hawkins et al., 1995; Forney et al., 1999)

 Intrinsic product attributes are those that cannot be changed without altering the physical characteristics of the product, while extrinsic ones are those that are exerted by manufacturers or retailers and do not form the component parts of the product

 Researchers have identified many product attributes and criteria that are critical for consumers in clothes purchase, and all these can be summarized under intrinsic and extrinsic categories Eckmanet al (1990) has summarized the criteria that influence consumers’ evaluation of clothes products in 21 clothes related studies from

1971 to 1988 into extrinsic and intrinsic attributes (Table 2.1)

Table 2.1 Summary of findings from 21 studies of clothes choice criteria 2

Extrinsic criteria Intrinsic criteria

 Price

 Brand Style

 Country of origin

 Store; Store image

 Coordination with wardrobe

2

(Source: Eckman, M., Damhorst, M.L and Kadolph, S.J (1990) "Toward a model of the in-store purchase decision

process: consumer use of criteria for evaluating women's apparel", Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Vol 8 (2), pp.13-22)

Results found that fit, comfort, style, colour and workmanship were the most important attributes for Chinese consumers in buying fashion clothes

 Previous studies also found that some attributes like fashion and style of clothes, store design and layout, price, quality of the clothes, refund and exchange policy, company reputation, selection of clothes, knowledge and friendliness of staff were particularly important to consumers (Birtwistle and Freathy, 1998; Partolese and Dias, 2003)

 The result of a research on factors affecting fashion clothes consumption behaviour of female consumers in Ho Chi Minh City showed that psychological factors such as salesperson, sales promotion, store related criteria,…had the strong effect on consumer purchase decision-making

 A study on relationship between decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria in China (Kwan C.Y., Yeung K.W., Au K.F., 2004) identified five underlying factors of clothes choice criteria, named “product and self-image related criteria”,

“style and quality related criteria”, “durability and easy care”, “fit and sex appropriateness” and “price related criteria” Among them, “Product and self image related criteria”, “Style and quality related criteria” and “Price related criteria” were found to positively and/or negatively affect some of the consumer decision-making styles such as “recreational and hedonic consciousness”, “brand and fashion consciousness”, “habit and brand loyalty” and “price and value consciousness”

 In order to understand more about the fashion clothes consumer buying behavior, this study also investigates the relationship between the decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria

2.3 Some main characteristics of fashion clothes market and consumers in Ho Chi Minh City

The same as in some Asia countries such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand… the clothes market in Vietnam in general and in Ho Chi Minh City in particular is more dynamic since Vietnam’ entry into WTO in 2006 Many foreign brands have come into local market such as Taylor, Levi’s, Gucci, Perrie Cardin, Kevin Lein, Versace, Calvin Klein, Bossini, John Herry, Local brands also have some strong brands such

as Viettien, An Phuoc, N&M, Vietthy, Dan Chau, Hoang Tan, Blue Exchange, Minh Hanh,…The number of shopping and trade centers, specialty stores selling fashion clothes,…also increase considerably Clothes products from local manufacturers also increase although they are not diversified in material, style, design, Clothes products from designers have increased but the number of products is still limited In the future, there will be more new foreign brands to be estimated to come into local market and create tenser competition for local fashion clothes companies

o According to clothes experts, with population of over 7 millions, income of nearly 2,534 USD per capita3 (2008), clothes market in HCMC in the coming time will become very potential for both local and foreign clothes companies when trade obstacles have fully released and income per capita increases …

o When consumer income increases, their requirements for fashion clothes have changed, too They seem to be more interested in product quality, style and design,…when buying fashion clothes products…Their shopping styles have also changed respectively The survey results show that in general, consumers like shopping at modern shopping centers, department stores, specialty stores… with nice layout and design, products diversifying in material, colour, style and design, professional salespeople, flexible after-sales services,…

o According to fashion clothes experts, although a number of consumers are more and more concerned about brand name and fashionableness, most of them still put priority on price, quality, style,… when buying fashion clothes products Consumers also have more and more choices as there are more and more new brands with different style and design, quality and price,…to choose in the market They are also provided with more information relating to fashion clothes products at the clothes store, on advertisements, in magazines, on television, on internet, and often attracted

by sales promotion programs and events

3

Source: www.vi.wikipedia.org

o In general, consumers often buy clothes more in occasion of holidays, New Year, Christmas, They are often attracted by convenient place of selling….and in case of sales promotion programs such as discounts, free gift,… and in shopping and recreational events such as fashion clothes fair, exhibition,…

2.4 The research model

Based on the literature review of previous researches and characteristics of Ho Chi Minh City fashion clothes consumers, the research model is proposed as below:

Figure 2.1: Decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria

2.5 Research hypothesis

This research has the following hypotheses:

H1: There are differences in the decision-making styles among gender, age, monthly income groups

H2: There are relationships between the decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria

Habit and Loyalty

Brand-Brand and “Price

equals Quality”

consciousness

Novelty and

Fashion consciousness

Impulsiveness and Carelessness Recreational and

Hedonic consciousness

Clothes choice criteria

2.6 Measurement scale

In order to measure consumer decision making styles, this research uses Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) scale with some modifications to be suitable with conditions in Vietnam and fashion clothes industry All items are measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree The reliabilities of the CSI Scale, according to Sproles and Kendall‘s model (1986), ranged from 0.48 to 0.76 Clothes choice criteria are measured using scales of previous researches which are adjusted to be suitable with conditions in Vietnam

Table 2.2 40 items of Consumer Style Inventory (CSI)

Items

1 Getting very good quality is very important to me

2 When it comes to purchasing products, I try to get the best or perfect choice

3 In general, I usually try to buy the best overall quality

4 I make special effort to choose the best quality products

5 I really don’t give my purchases much thought and care

6 My standards and expectations for products I buy are very high

7 I shop quickly, buying the first product or brand I find that seems good enough

8 A product doesn’t have to be perfect, or the best, to satisfy me

9 The well-known national brands are best for me

10 The more expensive brands are usually my choices

11 The higher the price of a product, the better its quality

12 Nice department and specialty stores offer me the best products

13 I prefer buying the best-selling brands

14 The most advertised brands are usually very good choices

15 I usually have one or more outfits of the newest style

16 I keep my wardrobe up-to-date with the changing fashions

17 Fashionable, attractive styling is very important to me

18 To get variety, I shop different stores and choose different brands

19 It’s fun to buy something new and exciting

20 Shopping is not a pleasant activity to me

21 Going shopping is one of the enjoyable activities of my life

22 Shopping the stores wastes my time

23 I enjoy shopping just for the fun of it

24 I make my shopping trip fast

25 I buy as much as possible at sales prices

26 The lower price products are usually my choice

27 I look carefully to find the best value for the money

28 I should plan my shopping more carefully than I do

29 I am impulsive when purchasing

30 Often I make careless purchases I later wish I had not

31 I take time to shop carefully for best buys

32 I carefully watch how much I spend

33 There are so many brands to choose from that often I feel confused

34 Sometimes, it’s hard to choose which stores to shop

35 The more I learn about products, the harder it seems to choose the best

36 All information I get on different products confuses me

37 I have favourite brands I buy over and over

38 Once I find a product or brand I like, I stick with it

39 I go to same stores each time I shop

40 I change brands I buy regularly

(Sproles and Kendall, 1986)

In conclusion,

This chapter has presented some previous researches and theories relating to decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria The research model, hypotheses and measurement scale are also suggested With these results, the next chapter will present the research design

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN

The previous chapter provides theoretical framework of the research This chapter will provide research design including preliminary research, official research and introduces data analysis methods which are used to assess the measurement scales reliability, conduct exploratory factor analysis and test the research hypotheses and research model as well

3.1 Preliminary research

The purpose of the preliminary research is to explore new ideas and information

to complete the questionnaire for official research

3.1.1 Stages in the preliminary research

Stage 1: Making draft of questionnaire with 64 variables based on Consumer Style

Inventory (CSI) scale and scale from previous researches The first draft of questionnaire is developed in English A Vietnamese version of questionnaire is made

by translating the English version During the translation, some references to previous researches have been made to improve consensus of the items

Stage 2: “face to face” discussion with 12 typical consumers (4 male and 8 female) to

delete unsuitable variables and add the variables suitable with conditions in Vietnam and to pre-test the suitability of items (questions for “face to face” discussion is in Appendix 1)

Stage 3: pilot survey with 50 consumers to correct and clarify the items, to test the

wording and interpretation of items

Stage 4: complete the official questionnaire for quantitative research The final

version of questionnaire is made in Vietnamese (Appendix 2) and then is translated back into English

Figure 3.1: Stages in the preliminary research

Stage 1

Draft questionnaire,

64 variables

Stage 2

Face to face discussion,

64 variables

Stage 3

Pilot interview to clarify the items, 60 variables

Stage 4

Completing the questionnaire,

60 variables

3.1.2 The preliminary research outcome

After the preliminary research, six variables (4 variables of clothes choice criteria and 2 variables of decision-making styles ), which are unsuitable and overlapped, are deleted including “sex appropriateness”; “comfort”, “rarity”,

“manufacturer reputation”; “I usually purchase fashion clothes from reputable international clothes brands”; “The most well-known fashion clothes brands are usually my good choices” Two variables of clothes choice criteria, which are added, are “accessory” and “after-sales services”

The measurement scale for decision-making styles is suggested with 40 variables

decision-Items

Item code

1 Buying fashion clothes is one of the enjoyable

2 I enjoy shopping fashion clothes just for the fun of it Recre_2

3 Shopping the clothes stores wastes my time Recre_3

1

Recreational

and Hedonic

consciousness

1 I usually have one or more fashion clothes of the

2 Fashionable and attractive styling is very important

3 To get variety, I shop different fashion clothes stores

2

Novelty and

Fashion consciousness

4 I keep my wardrobe up-to-date with the changing

5 I change the clothes brands I buy regularly Novel_5

1 In general, I usually try to buy fashion clothes with

2 My standards and expectations on the quality of the

3 When I want to buy fashion clothes, I try to get the

4 Buying fashion clothes with very good quality is

3

Perfection and

High-Quality

consciousness

5 I use much time and effort to buy the best quality

1 I have favourite clothes brands that I buy for fashion

2 I always go to the same store/stores to shop fashion

4 Habit,

Brand-Loyalty

3 I tend to stick to the clothes brands I like for buying

1 I look carefully to find the fashion clothes with the

2 I carefully calculate how much I spend in buying

3 The lower price clothes are usually my choice Price_3

4 I take time to shop carefully for best buys Price_4

1 The higher the price of a clothes product, the better

2 The well-known national clothes brands are best for

4 The most advertised clothes brands are usually very

5 The more expensive clothes brands are usually my

6 Nice department and specialty stores offer me the

1 I often feel confused because there are many clothes brands to choose when buying fashion clothes Confu_1

2 The more clothes information I learn, the harder it

3 All information I get on different clothes products

4 Sometimes, it’s hard to choose which clothes stores

7 Confusion by

Overchoice

5 Shopping clothes is not a pleasant activity to me Confu_5

1 I am impulsive when purchasing fashion clothes Impul_1

2 A fashion clothes product does not have to be

3 I shop quickly, buying the first product or brand I

4 I really don’t give my clothes purchases much

5 Often I make careless clothes purchases I later wish I

6 I make my clothes shopping trips fast Impul_6

8

Impulsiveness

and Carelessness

7 I should plan my clothes shopping more carefully

After the preliminary research, measurement scale for clothes choice criteria is suggested with 20 variables as below:

Table 3.2 Variables for measuring clothes choice criteria

2 Image and

brand related criteria 3 Country of origin Image_3

4 Price related

criteria 2 Sales promotion Price_2

5

Store and salesperson related criteria

4 After-sales services (such as exchanging or returning product) Store_4

3.2 Official research

The purpose of the quantitative research is to identify decision - making styles, test the differences in these styles among gender, age, income groups and investigate the relationship of these styles and clothes choice criteria by analysing data from official survey

3.2.1 The questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of closed-end questions expressed in items, obtaining from outcome of preliminary research together with questions regarding the demographic characteristics of the respondents such as age, gender, monthly income, education, job

The questionnaire includes 3 parts:

Part 1: 40 questions relating to decision - making styles

Part 2: 20 questions relating to clothes choice criteria

Part 3: 8 questions regarding the demographic characteristics of the respondents, such

as age, gender, monthly personal income, education, job,…

A 5-point Likert scale with 1 for “strongly disagree” and 5 for “strongly agree” is used to measure items of decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria Nominal and ordinal scales are used to measure variables of classification

3.2.2 Sample size

Sample size depends on the method of estimate in the research According to Hair and Stg (1998), the minimum sample size should be from 100 to 150 Hoelter (1983) suggested that the minimum sample size is 200 According to Bollen (1989), the minimum sample size is five observations per a parameter (Tho and Trang, 2002) Based on the number of parameters to be estimated, the sample size targeted in this study is from 300 upwards

3.2.3 Sampling method

The questionnaire is administered to a non-probability sample of 490 male and female graduate and postgraduate in Economics University and in organizations, companies in Ho Chi Minh City (see sample profile in chapter 4) Using a relatively more homogeneous group such as postgraduate students is particularly helpful to minimize random error that might occur by using a heterogeneous sample such as the public (Calder, Philips and Tybout, 1981) This is because the likelihood of error within the measurement model being inflated by situational factors inherent in diverse samples (e.g income, social class,…) is reduced when respondents are homogeneous across demographic and behavioral characteristics (Assael and Keon, 1982)

The convenient sampling is used With 490 surveys being distributed, the number of surveys obtained is 450 (accounting for 92%) Among them, 410 surveys (accounting for 84%) are usable

3.2.4 Data analysis method

o After data input is completed, descriptive statistics is initially conducted to provide an overview of the data

o Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is applied to the data of official survey Items are analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) method to determine the actual dimensions of each construct In this step, an accepted method of interpretation of factor loadings is to regard as significant any variable with a loading of 0.5 or greater

as associated with the appropriate factor The EFA results will identify making styles and clothes choice criteria

decision-o Scale reliability analysis is applied to the data in order to conduct a primary test

of the validity and reliability of the instrument The purpose of this test is to assess the scales used to measure the constructs, to refine the measures The measures of each construct are refined by Cronbach alpha coefficients Scale reliability analysis is also used to remove items with low item-total correlations (lower than 0.3) The reliabilities of the CSI Scale, according to Sproles and Kendall model (1986), ranged

from 0.48 to 0.76 The exploratory factor analysis is run again in case there are changes of items of construct after scale reliability analysis

o In order to find the differences in decision-making styles among gender, age, income groups, factors are run with t-test and ANOVA test

o Finally, the factors are run with correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis (MLR) to investigate the relationship between decision-making styles and clothes choice criteria The methods used in this research are the same as methods used in previous researches on identifying decision-making styles and their relationship with choice criteria

In conclusion,

At the end of this chapter, the official questionnaire has been available for official survey Research sample is also confirmed Data analysis methods are also chosen The official empirical results will be presented in the next chapter