Generational differences in South African consumers' brand equity perceptions

[摘要] South Africa has undergone profound political and social transformations since 1990.These changes influenced the perceptions of individuals in Generations X and Y. In SouthAfrica, the members of Generation X experienced their formative years during thetransitional years of South Africa's young democracy during the 1990s, while the membersof Generation Y were born during the last decade of apartheid. For the purpose of thisstudy Generation X was classified as those consumers who were born in the period of1961 to 1981, while Generation Y was born in the period of 1982 to 1994. Generation Ywould recall the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and the political transition in thecountry.The study focused on generational cohorts instead of generations. Generational cohortsare distinct from generations as they are defined according to their transition fromchildhood to adulthood. A generation on the other hand is defined by its year of birth.This study investigated possible differences in the brand equity perceptions of SouthAfrican consumers in Generations X and Y. It generated insights regarding generationaldifferences in consumers' perceptions of four specific brand equity dimensions, namelybrand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. Equallyimportant was a comprehensive understanding of how consumers in Generations X and Ydiffered with regard to the aforementioned four consumer-based brand equity (CBBE)dimensions when making a purchase decision regarding electronic consumer goods,particularly a television set. Consequently, this study extended the existing knowledge ofconsumer behaviour and CBBE by investigating pertinent perceptual differences betweenGenerations X and Y.A mall intercept survey using a self-completion questionnaire was used to gatherquantitative data from 223 respondents in Generations X and Y who purchased or wereexposed to television sets.A demographic profile of the respondents who participated in the study indicates that 67 ofthe 114 respondents in Generation X (i.e., 53.2%) were males, compared to 59 of 108respondents in Generation Y (i.e., 46.8%). The majority of respondents in bothGenerations X and Y had a diploma as their highest qualification. The Generation Xsample contained a higher proportion of African respondents (i.e.,59.5%) compared to theGeneration Y sample (i.e., 40.5%). The income profile suggested that there were distinctdifferences in terms of net monthly household income between respondents from the twogenerations.Serveral exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted in which the Likert scalestatements in question 3 to 6 (see Appendix A p.170-174) measuring different subdimensionsof consumer-based brand equity dimensions were subjected to a principalcomponents analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation. The results of the final EFA analysisinvolved 17 Likert scale items. The PCA revealed four factors (components). Thesecomponents were brand associations in terms of product quality and value, brandawareness, brand loyalty and brand associations in terms of product manufacturer.Further statistical analysis was conducted based on the four components to test forsignificant mean differences. The non-parametric test, Mann-Whitney U Test, wasconducted. The results confirmed the alternative hypothesis that, there are significantdifferences between Generation X and Y with regard to their perceptions of brand loyalty.The implications of the findings of the study, to marketing practitioners and brand managers is that they need to understand the type of association Generation X and Yhave regarding their brands for effective and strategic planning in order to remaincompetitive. In addition to that, Generation X's perception of quality does not differsignificantly to that of Generation Y, thus it will be beneficial for practitioners to developunique quality features. Consequently, they must intensify awareness around their brands.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria