THE DETERMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING BRAND CHOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A RESEARCH ON THE APPAREL INDUSTRY

Abstract

People's clothing preferences are changing with the rapid development of technology. Success of firms requires knowledge of the target audience in global market. It is necessary to determine the factors that affect consumer attitude and behaviour. The purpose of the study was to determine the factors that influence brand attitude and behaviour among college students for the apparel sector. In this regard, factor analysis was employed to the data acquired from 350 students enrolled at the Ordu University Ünye Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. Exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were carried out in order to determine the construct validity of the factor analysis. Kaiser – Mayer – Olkin and Bartlett criterion was used to test the suitability of the variables in the factor analysis as well as to test the sample size (KMO; 0.928; P<0.01). Exploratory factor analysis showed a structure of 15 items and 3 factors. These factors explained 66.44 % of the total variance. The Cronbach Alpha coefficients revealing that the tests were consistent. The results of confirmatory factor analysis were 2.335 for CMINDF, 0.062 for RMSEA, 0.932 for GFI, 0.942 for NFI and 0.966 for CFI. All factors were significant and fit indices confirmed that the model had a perfect fit. To sum up, the factors effective in the brand preference of students were collected under three headings. These were brand loyalty, turning to alternative brand and brand sensitivity.