Consumer Decision-Making Styles Among Generation Y Consumers In Namibia

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the decision-making styles of Generation Y consumers in Namibia and the relationship between their decision-making styles and their learning styles, culture and e-literacy. Data were obtained by administering Sproles and Kendal’s Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), Felder & Silverman Index of Learning Style (ILS), Hofstede Cultural Dimensions, demographic and e-literacy questionnaires to a random sample of 505 respondents from the 3 (three) major Universities in Namibia. Responses from the questionnaires were analysed using SPSS version 22. Descriptive statistics were used to report demographic information, measurements of central tendency (mean and median), variety (range, and standard deviation [SD]), percentage (%), and frequency (f) distribution of the survey items. And for inferential statistics, the principal components analysis (PCA) was used. In order to explore the relationships between consumer decision-making styles and learning styles, culture, e-literacy, Pearson correlation, Canonical correlation, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and analysis of variance (ANOVA), were used. The findings confirmed eight (8) consumer decision-making styles among the Generation Y consumers in Namibia in order of importance as follows: Factor 5 - Price Conscious, “Value for Money”, Factor 3 - Novelty-Fashion Consciousness, Factor 2 - Brand Conscious, “Price Equals Quality”, Factor 6 - Impulsive Careless, Factor 8- Habitual, Brand Loyal, Factor 1 - Perfectionistic High-Quality Consciousness, Factor 4 - Recreational, Hedonistic, and Factor 7 - Confused by Over choice. The study concluded that female millennials in Namibia were more brand loyal than their male counterpart and that the three major Universities in Namibia produced millennials with different Profiles of consumer decision-making styles. In terms of learning styles, the Namibian Generation Y consumers reported mild preferences for Activist Learning Style, moderate preferences for Sensing Learning Style, moderate preferences for Visual Learning Style, and mild preferences for Sequential Learning Style. The study found significant differences between ethnic groups as well as age groups. Further, the study concluded that the three major Universities in Namibia produced millennials with different learning style preferences.