4.3 Effect of Demographics
In order to check whether there are any differences in choice of different demographical groups, a possible influence of status was tested. The main point was finding out, whether there were any differences between the choices of participants, who were students, and participants who are working in a job. Jobs vs. Study was chosen over the age clue, as it is supposed that having a job influences ones choices and thinking stronger than age. For example may an 18-year old worker make more “mature”
decisions than a 24-year old student who hasn’t made any experiences outside of school in her/his life.
Each participant had to answer six multiple choice questions stating different situations in which the participant had to either choose the better brand or the better country. If the better brand was chosen, this was marked with “0”. The better country was marked with “1”. When the average result that a participant reaches in the multiple questions part lies over 0.5, this shows that this person chose the better country more often than the better brand. If the average of a person would be 0, this would mean that he or she chose the better brand in all six questions asked.
An independent sample t-test was conducted and no significant difference of choice was found between participants that were still students (S) and those who had started their careers already (W) (t(219) = 0.981, p = 0.328).
4.4 Hypotheses Testing
An Anova analysis is conducted with loyalty, need for authenticity and risk, as well as with gender, which also affects the relative importance of brand vs country in consumer
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Risk is found to have a significant effect on choice, whereby higher risk makes it more likely for people to choose the better country of origin rather than the better brand. Also the effect of gender is significant, with female consumers being more likely to choose the better country of origin.
A closer look can be taken at the two way interaction between loyalty and risk. Risk is split into four categories, which equals the product categories. 1 stands for the least risky product sports clothing (Risk: 7.973), 2 for luxury watch (Risk: 6.459), 3 for
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electric kettles (Risk: 6.336) and 4 for cars, the product category with highest perceived risk (Risk: 5.018). At the lowest level of risk, choice of both low and high loyalty participants lies under 0.5, and therefore tends towards brand rather than country. With the other three product categories, speaking with increased risk, it becomes more likely for the better country to be chosen. The image below shows that the effect of risk is stronger on high loyalty participants, with high loyalty people being more likely to choose brand when risk is low (Average choice of sports clothing = 0.358, Average choice of cars = 0.682) compared to low loyalty participants (Average choice of sports clothing = 0.469, Average choice of cars = 0.571) and more likely to go for the better country when risk becomes higher (versus low loyalty participants).
Image 3: Loyalty * Risk
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An interaction between need for authenticity and gender was detected. There is only a small difference in choice between low and high need for authenticity males (Choice of high NFA = 0.534, choice of low NFA = 0.516). However, choice of low vs. high need for authenticity females differs greatly (Choice of high NFA = 0675, choice of low NFA = 0.589), with high need for authenticity females being much more likely to choose the product manufactured in the better country.
Image 4: NFA * Gender
Female participants were in three out of for product categories or risk conditions more likely to choose the better country than their male counterparts. The greatest difference between males and females can be seen when risk is at its lowest (Choice female = 0.513, choice male = 0.307), whereby men are very likely to choose the better brand
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and women are rather indifferent.
Image 5: Risk * Gender
A three-way interaction between need for authenticity, risk and gender was found. Two images below show choices of low and high need for authenticity participants of each gender. When having to choose sports clothing, it is obvious that males were more influenced by the better brand then females. Females who had to choose cars were more likely to choose a weaker brand manufactured in a favorable country, with high need for authenticity females displaying this trend even stronger. In the male group however, only high need for authenticity participants tended to choose the better country, while low need for authenticity males chose the better brand more often, although risk was
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high.
Image 6: Risk * NFA * Gender
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Image 7: Risk * NFA * Gender
4.4.1 H1
The hypothesis that a consumer’s level of loyalty has a significant influence on the relative importance of brand vs. country of origin in product choice, with more loyal consumers tending to put more importance on brand could not be supported (F(1.410)
= 1.034, p = 0.310).
4.4.2 H2
H2 assumes that product choice of high loyalty and low need for authenticity consumers is more influenced by brand than by country of origin.
The average of choice of high loyalty and low need for authenticity consumers over
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all four products is 0.5698. Although there seems to be a trend towards country, it is not significant (t(26) = 1.312, p = 0.201). This may be due to the relatively low amount of people that fit in the group of high loyalty and low need for authenticity.
Only 27 people fit in this condition, of whom 9 were male.
4.4.3 H3
H3 supposes that a consumer’s level of need for authenticity has a significant influence on the relative importance of brand vs. country of origin in product choice, with consumers having a stronger need for authenticity tending to put more importance on country. The hypothesis is not supported (F(1.410) = 0.356, p = 0.551)
4.4.4 H4
H4, which states that product choice of low loyalty and high need for authenticity consumers is more influenced by country of origin than by brand, is supported.
Making no difference between product categories, the average choice of all low loyalty, high need for authenticity participants is 0.619. Being over 0.5, this shows that low loyalty and high need for authenticity people tend to choose the better country. A one sample t-test shows that this result is significantly different from neutral 0.5 (t(43) = 2.662, *p < 0.05). Out of all participants, 44 people were of low loyalty and high need for authenticity background. However, as need for authenticity was not found to have an effect on choice in the Anova table, this hypothesis’ result being significant may be partly due to gender, with 28 participants being female and 16 being male in the low loyalty and high need for authenticity group.
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4.4.5 H5
Level of perceived risk is found to have a significant influence on the relative importance of brand vs country of origin in product choice, with the country clue becoming more important when risk is high (F(3.410) = 11.190, **p < 0.01)
4.4.6 H6a and H6b
Product choice of high loyalty and high need for authenticity consumers is said to be more influenced by brand when risk is low.
As electric kettles have turned out to be not suitable for grouping in the low risk condition, only sports clothing, which was rated as the least risky product, is used to test this hypotheses. Although only 24 participants were in the high loyalty and high need for authenticity group, the trend is strong enough to be marginally significant even with this small sample size (t(23) = 1.940, p = 0.065). The average choice of high loyalty and high need for authenticity participants when buying sports clothing lies at 0.316. This group is therefore likely to choose the better brand when risk is low. The female to male ratio in this group is 50/50.
When risk is high, H6b supposes that product choice of high loyalty and high need for authenticity consumers is more influenced by country.
Cars were rated to be the product with the most risk. 20 high loyalty and high need for authenticity participants were asked for their choices between different automobile brand and country combinations, whereby their average lies at 0.658, which shows a trend to choose the better country, but is only marginally significant because of the small sample size (t(19) = 1.742, p = 0.098). The average might have been brought
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down by an unfavorable gender relation of 14 male and 6 female participants in this group.
4.4.7 H7a and H7b
Like in H6a only sports clothing was used to test the hypothesis that product choice of low loyalty and low need for authenticity consumers is more influenced by brand when risk is low. 51 low loyalty and low need for authenticity made their choices in purchasing sports clothing. The average lies at 0.441, which shows a trend for choosing the better brand, but is not significant (t(50) = 1.225, p = 0.226). 22 out of 51 participants were male, 29 female.
Cars were used to represent a high risk product. However, low loyalty and low need for authenticity consumers do not have a significant trend for neither brand nor country in their choice making regarding cars, with their choice lying around 0.533 (t(49) = 0.612, p = 0.544). 50 participants were asked for their car choices, of which 31 were female and 19 male.
4.4.8 H8
There is a significant difference in risk perception between high loyalty and high need for authenticity vs. low loyalty and low need for authenticity participants (t(143) = 5.132, **p < 0.01). High loyalty and high need for authenticity consumers reported higher perceived risk than low loyalty and low need for authenticity consumers. High loyalty and high need for authenticity participants reported an average perceived risk of 5.546 among all product categories, while low loyalty and low need for authenticity
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participants showed an average perceived risk over all product categories of 7.119.
Taking a look at the different products table 24 shows that low loyalty and low need for authenticity participants perceived less risk in every product category.
Table 5: Perceived for high loyalty, high NFA versus low loyalty, low NFA participants
Group Total average perc. risk
Sports clothing
Electric kettle Car Luxury Watch
HighL HighN 5.5455 7.2083 5.2083 4.05 5.45
LowL LowN 7.1188 8.5098 7.0196 5.66 7.26
Of all low loyalty and low need for authenticity participants 18 were female and 26 were male. In the high loyalty and high need for authenticity group 60 people were female and 41 people were male.
4.4.9 H9
Gender has a significant impact on the relative importance of brand vs. country of origin in consumer choice (F(1.410) = 6.828, **p < 0.01)
The average choice of female participants was found to be significantly higher (Average choice of females = 0.618) than that of males (Average choice of males = 0.518). This shows a trend that females are more likely to go for the better country compared to their male counterparts.
Gender is not related with a person’s loyalty (t(219) = 0.782, p = 0.435), need for authenticity (t(219) = 0.287, p = 0.774) or perceived risk (t(219) = 0.850, p = 0.396).
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It therefore cannot be said that females perceive higher risk and as a result tend to focus on the country, but rather that reactions to the same level of risk are different between male and female participants.