Packaging attributes and consumer buying behavior of packaged foods in Kenya
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Date
2018-07
Authors
Kosgei, Betty Jepchirchir
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Understanding consumer buying behaviour and their preference to product attributes has become
a key success factor in today’s business environment which is highly competitive and rapidly
changing. Consumer are now more discerning and individualistic requiring marketers to gain
insights in the buying behaviour of consumers and the attitude they have on product innovation
before they make the purchasing decision including the innovation used in elements such as
packaging. The general objective of this studywas to determine the effect of packaging attributes
on consumer’s buying behaviour of packaged foods in Kenya. The specific objectives were to
determine whether packaged food graphics, colour, size, shape, product information and
packaging material influence consumer’s buying behaviour in Kenya. The study was supported
by the Theory of reasoned action and Kano’s theory of attractive quality. The study used
descriptive and explanatory research design. A sample of 385 shoppers from three supermarkets
in Nairobi was selected using simple random sampling while datawas collected using structured
questionnaires. The selection of supermarkets was based on judgmental sampling in which
location and foot traffic was considered. Validity of the research instruments focused on content
validity, construct and face validity. Content validitywas established by the academic supervisor
of this study, construct validity was established by administering theoretical and conception
reviews during the preparation of the questionnaire while face validity was established through
the review of the academic supervisor of this study. Reliability of the questionnaire was
evaluated using the Cronbach alpha test, which provided an acceptable threshold of 0.8192.
Variance Inflation factor (VIF) was also used to confirm multicollinearity in which the results
indicated that all variables’ VIF ranged between 1 to 4 hence there was no multicollinearity.
Equality of variance was also evaluated using levene test which resulted to less than 0.05
showing that there no heteroscedasticity. Normality of the variables was also tested using
skewness and kurtosis. The results confirmed that the data collected was normally distributed
with a P-value greater than 0.05. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of
mean, percentages and standard deviations, and inferential statistics in the form of correlation
tests and regression analysis. The data was represented in tables. The study found a statistically
significant relationship between graphics colour, packaging size, shape, product information,
packaging material and consumer’s buying behaviour. More so, this study found out that that
among all the attributes, package information has the most impact on purchase decisions of
packaged foods. The study concluded that the packaging attributes examined, contribute in
communicating product quality and features in a manner that affects purchase behaviour. The
study recommends that foodmanufacturers understand consumer response to their packages, and
integrate the inputs into designing the best packaging style. This can be achieved by involving
consumers in the process of packaging so that the right decisions are made without making any
assumption regarding the final packaging of food products. This study is beneficial to new and
existing food product manufacturers in coming up with strategies and in development of product
packaging. Students and researchers can benefit from this research by using the study as a
reference point in their study on consumer behaviour and packaging. Additionally, they can
formulate studies that further examine each attribute and its effect on product packaging, explain
the impact of packaging attributes on other product categories, or conduct a comparative study to
possibly identify the different effects of packaging attributes on a variety of types of products.
Description
A research project submitted to the school of business in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of master of business administration in marketing, Kenyatta University. July 2018