Exploring the Effect of Consumers’ Food-Related Decision Making Styles on National Brand vs. Store Brand Choice

It is important for marketers to understand individuals’ buying decisions in a competitive environment. The concept of decision making style is one of the key determinants of consumers’ behavioral patterns. This study aims to explore the effects of consumers’ decision making styles on buying national and store brand food products. To examine consumer decision making styles, Sproles & Kendall’s (1986) The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) is adopted for the study. The framework of the study is based on eight consumer decision making styles, expected to shape consumers’ national and store brand choices on food products. The empirical analysis is based on data obtained from consumers living in Kırşehir, a city in Turkey. Questionnaires are handed over to customers of retail stores both selling national and their own brands. The sample consists of 400 customers. The data is gathered by using convenience sampling and face-to-face survey methods. Multiple regression analysis is used to test some hypotheses of the research and to compare consumers’ national and store brand choices in the context of their decision-making styles. Besides, independent samples t-test and one way ANOVA are also used to see whether national and store brand choices significantly differs in demographic characteristics. The results of the study reveal that lower price seeking, habituation/brand loyalty, recreation consciousness and impulsiveness/carelessness have significant effects on the choice of store brand food product, whereas novelty/fashion consciousness, confused by over choice and value seeking have statistically significant effects on consumers’ choices of national brand food products. Lower price seeking is found to have the strongest effect on consumers’ store brand choices, whereas novelty fashion consciousness has the strongest effect on national brand food product choice. Besides, both store and national brand food product choices differ according to gender and income level.