CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING STYLES AND YOUNG-ADULT CONSUMERS AN INDIAN EXPLORATION.docVIP

CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING STYLES AND YOUNG-ADULT CONSUMERS: AN INDIAN EXPLORATION PhD Candidate Anubhav Anand MISHRA The ICFAI University Dehradun, India Abstract: The economy of India is on a growth spree since the last two decades. This growth has increased the shopping options available to the consumers. The present study has tried to ascertain the decision-making styles of young-adult consumers so as to provide information to marketers interested in the decision-making profile of Indian consumers and thus enabling them to build their marketing efforts accordingly. The research has made use of Sproles and Kendall’s (1986) consumer styles inventory (CSI) on a sample of 425 young-adult Indian consumers and has attempted to examine the generalisability of the scale. Factor analysis has been employed to summarise the 38 variables identified into smaller sets of linear composites that preserved most of the information in the original data. The study has confirmed the applicability of the original US characteristics as well as two new traits specific to the Indian context. Furthermore, similarities and differences between different cultures have been discussed and implications have been proffered. Key Words: Consumer decision-making, Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), Young-adult consumers, Factor analysis, India Introd uct io n strategies (e.g. Hafstrom, Chae and The last two decades has ushered Chung 1992; Lysonski, Durvasula and Zotos 1996; Mitchell and Bates 1998). economy of India. An ever increasing Since a long time, consumer-interest of consumer researchers have been interested in being offered, many of which are new, an unprecedented growth in the plethora products are identifying the underlying decision- and technologically complicated. This is, making styles of shoppers (Sproles and in addition to,