Cultural, social, personal and psychological factors were identified by Rani (2014) as the four major influences on consumer’s buying behavior. While There are many studies about the personal values and consumer purchase behavior, but there is very little research to study Africa women’ consumer behavior, and in Zambia there is even less studies which are conducted to analyze their women’ values and their consumer decision-making styles. The purpose of this study is to explore Zambian women’ personal values and their consumption decision-making styles and how personal values influence their consumer decision-making styles in the context of human hair extension products. It is very important to analyze the consumer values of Zambia women and their consumer decision-making styles in the context of human hair extension, because the demand for hair extension in Zambia is growing fast and the hair extension has become a muti-billion dollars industry This paper had reviewed literature regarding consumer behavior, in specifically personal values and consumer decision-making styles. The LOV scale proposed by Kahle (1983) and the Consumer’s decision making styles proposed by Sproles and Kendall (1986) were adopted to analyze the inter relationship through methodology of multiple regression. The author conducted a descriptive analysis of the primary data collected by a field survey of research questionnaire toward Zambian women. All the questionnaires are distributed and collected at the main shopping malls and universities in Lusaka, Zambia. Through a series analysis of the sample by SPSS, the paper had detected all the list of values and decision-making styles of Zambian women. There are only two consumer values namely Security related with physical and financial safety and Self-fulfillment related with achievement of consumption which achieved a reasonable degree of reliability, and the consumer decision-making styles of Confused by Over-choice related with lacking ability of information analysis and Novelty-Fashion Consciousness related up-to-date fashion pursuit achieved a reasonable degree of reliability. The results reveal that the higher the value of Security, the greater the adoption of Novelty-Fashion Consciousness, and the higher the value of Self-fulfillment, the greater the adoption of Confused by Over-choice Decision-making Styles. However the Security value does not have any significant impact on the adoption of Confused by Over-choice Decision-making styles and the effect of Self-fulfilment value on Novelty-Fashion Consciousness is not significant.

Submitted by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-01T13:34:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-01T13:35:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-01T13:35:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-01T13:35:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / The influence of the national culture on consumer decision-making styles is investigated using a sample of Americans, Brazilians, Chinese, and Japanese consumers who have purchased a cell phone in the past three years. To make the research possible, a survey was used as a method of data collection. It relates Hofstede’s cultural classification typology with Sproles and Kendall’s consumer style inventory (CSI). The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) results indicate six decision-making styles together with other consumer behavioral characteristics that can be used to distinguish and profile consumers who purchase cell phones. Empirical findings reveal that among Americans, Brazilians, and Japanese; Americans are the most quality conscious, brand conscious, innovative, and hedonistic shoppers; Brazilians are the most loyal, and Japanese, the most confused by overchoice consumers. Conceptual contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

Bakgrund Klädesbranschen står inför nya möjligheter i form självserviceteknologi (SST). Ett flertal butiker har redan börjat använda olika typer av teknologiska lösningar. Det verkar dock finnas meningsskillnader angående om det är en god idé att införa SST i alla typer av butiker. Syfte Syftet med studien var att skapa en djupare förståelse för hur svenska konsumenters shoppingstil och teknikmognad möjliggör användningen av SST i klädesbutiker. Genomförande Efter en utförlig litteraturstudie konstruerades en enkät baserad på inom ämnet etablerade metoder inom köpbeteende och teknikmognad. Enkät delades ut i Linköping. En statistisk analys genomfördes därefter med hjälp av programvaran SPSS. Resultatet jämfördes och utvärderades till sist mot tidigare genomförda studier inom området. Slutsats Svenska konsumenter har olika shoppingstilar samt olika nivåer av teknikmognad. Studien identifierade fem konsumentgrupper av shoppingstilar samt fem konsumentgrupper av teknikmognad. De konsumenter som klassificerats som vane- och lojalitetsshoppare samt undvikare av shopping har en hög teknikmognad således är implementering av SST en god idé för dessa konsumentgrupper. För stilarna: shoppingälskaren och den förvirrade shopparen verkar potentiellt användande av SST mindre positivt då dessa karaktäriseras av lägre teknikmognad. / Background The apparel industry faces new possibilities in the form of selfservice technology (SST). Several stores have already started using different types of technological solutions. There seem to be a disagreement regarding whether or not this is a good idea to implement SST in all types of apparel stores. Purpose The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding regarding Swedish consumers decision making styles and their technology readiness and how this enables the use of SST in apparel stores. Completion After an extensive literature review a survey was created. The survey was based on well established tools for measuring consumer decision making styles and technology readiness. The survey was distributed in Linköping, Sweden and then analyzed in SPSS. Conclusion Swedish consumers have different consumer decision making styles and different levels of technology readiness. The study showed that it was possible to divide the consumers into four different groups regarding consumer decision making style. The consumers classified as habitual and brand loyal and shopping avoiders showed high levels of technology readiness, the enabling of SST for this type of consumer seems promising. The shopping lover and the confused shopper enabling of SST seems less promising since they show low levels of technology readiness.

Denna studie beskriver vad handelsorganisationer med butiksförsäljning som primär försäljningskanal bör fokusera på för att öka sin lönsamhet. För att samla in information har vi gjort en kvantitativ enkätundersökning som skickades ut till primärt 96 stycken VD:ar i Svenska handelsorganisationer inom B2C. Denna studie visar att handels-organisationer har stora utmaningar när det gäller att hantera digitaliseringen och bli digitalt mogna, även om de aldrig tidigare investerat så mycket i digital teknik som under senare år. Det mest anmärkningsvärda i denna studie är dock att det inte finns något samband mellan deras lönsamhet och digitala mognad. Det indikerar på att deras investeringar de senaste åren inte bidragit till vare sig en ökad lönsamhet eller en ökad effektivitet. Slutsatsen belyser att handelsorganisationer bör se över synen på digital innovation och förbättra styrningen genom att ge anställda möjligheten att skapa bättre strategier med hjälp av digital teknik. Vidare bör de fortsatt värdesätta intuition men till mycket högre grad säkerställa att de har resurserna och möjligheterna att nyttja kund- och affärsdata, för att på så vis kunna använda sig av ett teknokratiskt beslutsfattande. Slutligen bör de behålla satsningar mot en mer organisk organisationsstruktur och säkerställa att de har mätbara målsättningar i deras digitaliseringsstrategier. / This research paper describes what brick-and-mortar organizations, in the new technological world, should focus on in order to increase their profitability. Information was collected primarily from 96 CEO:s at Swedish retail organizations working within B2C. This study shows that retail organizations have great challenges in managing digitalisation and becoming digitally mature, even though they never invested as much in digital technology as in the recent years. The most remarkable result in this study, however, is that there is no link between their profitability and digital maturity. This indicates that their investments in recent years have not contributed to either increased profitability or increased efficiency. The conclusion highlights that retail organizations should review the view of digital innovation and improve management by giving employees the opportunity to create better strategies using digital technology. They should also continue to value intuition but to a much greater degree ensure that they have the resources and opportunities to use customer and business data, in order to be able to use technocratic decision-making. Finally, they should maintain their efforts towards a more organic organizational structure and ensure that they have measurable objectives in their digitization strategies.

Objective. Research testing the concept of decision-making styles in specific contexts such as health care–related choices is missing. Therefore, we examine the contextuality of Scott and Bruce’s (1995) General Decision-Making Style Inventory with respect to patient choice situations. Methods. Scott and Bruce’s scale was adapted for use as a patient decision-making style inventory. In total, 388 German patients who underwent elective joint surgery responded to a questionnaire about their provider choice. Confirmatory factor analyses within 2 independent samples assessed factorial structure, reliability, and validity of the scale. Results. The final 4-dimensional, 13-item patient decision-making style inventory showed satisfactory psychometric properties. Data analyses supported reliability and construct validity. Besides the intuitive, dependent, and avoidant style, a new subdimension, called ‘‘comparative’’ decision-making style, emerged that originated from the rational dimension of the general model. Conclusions. This research provides evidence for the contextuality of decision-making style to specific choice situations. Using a limited set of indicators, this report proposes the patient decision-making style inventory as valid and feasible tool to assess patients’ decision propensities.

No description available.

Hansen and Hansen (1988) found that angry targets in happy crowds were found more quickly and accurately than happy targets in angry crowds. This finding, they dubbed the Face-in-the-Crowd effect. Gilboa-Schechtman and colleagues (1999) found that high anxious participants show a greater enhancement of detecting angry versus happy targets. The purpose of the current studies was to replicate these findings, and to determine whether Rational and Experiential decision-making styles play a role in target detection (Study One) and crowd searching (Study Two), and if these decision-making styles interact with affective predisposition for both reaction time and galvanic skin response in the face-in-the-crowd task. In Study One, I replicated the anger superiority effect and the Anxiety x Target interaction. I also found that the Rational Group tended to be faster than the Experiential Group overall. I found that the High Trait Anxious group had higher GSR than the Low Trait Anxious group averaged over both target conditions. The Rational group had higher GSR when presented with happy targets than when presented with angry targets whereas the Experiential group did not show this difference. In Study Two, I failed to replicate the anger inferiority effect of crowd searching, but I did find that the Rational group tended to be faster than the Experiential group, especially for angry crowd searching. I also found that the Low-State-Anxious-Rational group had lower galvanic skin responses than all other groups across all analyses. The most exciting finding of these two studies was that he Rational Group demonstrated a facility for the face-in-the-crowd task, validating decision-making style as an important dimension to be considered in future face-in-the-crowd research. The research also provided support for network theories and it is hoped that future studies might endeavor to explore facial processing with this theoretical framework in mind.

Hansen and Hansen (1988) found that angry targets in happy crowds were found more quickly and accurately than happy targets in angry crowds. This finding, they dubbed the Face-in-the-Crowd effect. Gilboa-Schechtman and colleagues (1999) found that high anxious participants show a greater enhancement of detecting angry versus happy targets. The purpose of the current studies was to replicate these findings, and to determine whether Rational and Experiential decision-making styles play a role in target detection (Study One) and crowd searching (Study Two), and if these decision-making styles interact with affective predisposition for both reaction time and galvanic skin response in the face-in-the-crowd task. In Study One, I replicated the anger superiority effect and the Anxiety x Target interaction. I also found that the Rational Group tended to be faster than the Experiential Group overall. I found that the High Trait Anxious group had higher GSR than the Low Trait Anxious group averaged over both target conditions. The Rational group had higher GSR when presented with happy targets than when presented with angry targets whereas the Experiential group did not show this difference. In Study Two, I failed to replicate the anger inferiority effect of crowd searching, but I did find that the Rational group tended to be faster than the Experiential group, especially for angry crowd searching. I also found that the Low-State-Anxious-Rational group had lower galvanic skin responses than all other groups across all analyses. The most exciting finding of these two studies was that he Rational Group demonstrated a facility for the face-in-the-crowd task, validating decision-making style as an important dimension to be considered in future face-in-the-crowd research. The research also provided support for network theories and it is hoped that future studies might endeavor to explore facial processing with this theoretical framework in mind.

The purpose of this study is to generate an understanding of first-time buyers of high involvement products, by examine how they search for information and evaluate alternatives. Three research questions were formulated to achieve the purpose of the study. Two of them concern first-time buyers’ behavior and the third one aims to answer if any possible explanations to their behavior could be identified. The study is based on theories within the research field of consumer behavior regarding purchase behavior, the consumer decision process, decision making style, involvement and knowledge along with uncertainty. In order to answer the purpose and the associated research questions, data was collected with a qualitative approach through semi structured interviews. The empirical data was analyzed by a thematic analysis, derived from a model based on the theoretical framework. The results of the study indicate that first-time buyers do not consider their internal information search adequate, and therefore search for further information externally. Their external information search tends to involve several sources. The sources credibility seems to be based on previous experiences from other situations. How they evaluate alternatives also seems to be influenced by previous use of cut-offs and decision rules, to simplify their decision making. Further the results argue that the stages search for information and evaluation of alternatives is rather integrated and iterative than detached. However, it appears that the decision-making style of first-time buyers of high involvement products differ in their degree of involvement, levels of knowledge and experienced uncertainty. Both the complex and the dissonance reducing buying behavior is occurring in first-time buyers of high involvement products. Additionally, the results indicate that tendencies of both a complex and dissonance reducing buying behavior could be identified in one individual.This study is written in Swedish. / Syftet med den här studien är att skapa en förståelse för förstagångsköpare av högengagemangsprodukter genom att undersöka hur de söker information och utvärderar alternativ. Tre forskningsfrågor formulerades utifrån studiens syfte, varav två rör förstagångsköpares beteende och den tredje ämnar ge svar på eventuella förklaringar till deras agerande. Studien utgår från teorier inom forskningsfältet för konsumentbeteende som berör köpbeteende, köpbeslutsprocessen, beslutsfattarstil, engagemang samt kunskap och osäkerhet. Med ett kvalitativt angreppssätt samlades data in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer för att ge svar på syftet med tillhörande forskningsfrågor. En modell togs fram baserat på den teoretiska referensramen som sedan låg till grund för en tematisk analys av empirin. Studiens resultat visar att förstagångsköpares interna informationssökning inte är tillräcklig vid högengagemangsköp, vilket resulterar i att ytterligare information söks externt. I den externa sökningen tenderar de att söka information från flera källor. Källornas trovärdighet verkar bedömas utifrån deras tidigare erfarenheter från andra sammanhang. Även utvärderingen influeras av tidigare tillämpning av brytpunkter och beslutsregler som underlättar beslutsfattandet. Det framgår också att stadierna informationssökning och utvärdering av alternativ snarare sker integrerat, i en iterativ process, än var för sig. Studiens resultat bekräftar att beslutsfattarstil, engagemang samt kunskaps- och osäkerhetsnivå influerar informationssöknings- och utvärderingsprocessen hos förstagångsköpare av högengagemangsprodukter. Däremot framgår det att förstagångsköpare av högengagemangsprodukter har olika beslutsfattarstil, grad av engagemang samt besitter olika nivåer av kunskap och upplever varierad grad av osäkerhet. Både ett komplext och dissonansreducerande köpbeteende förekommer hos förstagångsköpare av högengagemangsprodukter. Dessutom visar resultatet att det kan identifieras tendenser som tyder på både ett komplext och dissonansreducerande köpbeteende hos en och samma individ. Studien är skriven på svenska.