Effects of Hofstede’s dimensions of culture on consumer purchase decisions among the Kipsigis community: A case of Bomet County, Kenya

Abstract

The rapidly increasing complexity and dynamics of consumers has led marketers, practitioners and academics alike, to seek a deeper understanding of how consumers and marketers differ in their ways of making purchase decisions. To date, little research examines culture as a factor influencing consumer purchase decisions. There is evidence of cultural differences in consumer decision-making styles for fashion, although, no study has examined whether this effect extends to the purchase of goods or services in general. This study therefore sought to address this gap by establishing the relationship between culture and consumer purchase decisions using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The general objective of the study was to establish the influence of Hofstede’s dimensions of culture on consumer purchase decisions among the Kipsigis community. The scope of the study was limited to a set of four independent variables i.e. individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, and power distance; which were measured against consumer purchase decisions, which was the dependent variable. Respondents were drawn from adult household members from Tumoi sub-location in Bomet County. A descriptive research design was adopted to carry out the study. The study’s target population was the Kipsigis people. Purposive sampling was employed to select the Kipsigis community of Bomet County as respondents, where 236 households were sampled. The researcher used multi-stage sampling method to select a sub-location and simple random sampling to select the respondents. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software. Multiple regressions were used in testing the effect of Hofstede’s dimensions of culture on consumer purchase decisions among the Kipsigis community. The results on the effects of Hofstede’s dimensions of culture on consumer purchase decisions manifested in individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, and power distance aspects of members of the society was observed to have influence on consumer purchase decisions. The results demonstrate that most of the expected relationships were present in the data. The multiple regression model of consumer purchase decisions on the four independent variables showed positive significant effects of Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/ Femininity and Power Distance on consumer purchase decisions.